Angels are not incapable of doing bad things and demons can be nice every now and then. Why should I only have one source of magic? I wanted to try my hand at creating a really fleshed out magic system for fun, and never planned on making a story or doing anything with it. If you read up on no other system of supernatural beliefs, check out that one. If you use this source, decide why reality is so malleable is everyone in a dream or a virtual reality game? How to Write Mind-Blowing Fantasy Fiction - Reedsy And this is why I post my ideas on places like this someone will ask the really obvious questions I forgot to ask myself. On the other hand, there could be a group of people allergic to the plant. Mind energies are bit different: they could be bonded with any type of energy. Also Im thinking about the idea when none of characters can store those energy. Hermione explains this to Ron in the seventh book when he mentions bringing food out of nowhere. (For example, no effects that cover too large an area or are too far from the caster or use too much energy). They have to learn magic to use it. If one were to observe the Vibrations and the way they Flow(this is another process, different from the other Four Laws) it would seem whacky, but they are extremely intricate and complex. Can they simply stretch their arm, make a gesture with their hands and shoot out a ball of fire or do they need a wand do direct the magic? a disease caused by the nanites Just remember that great ideas are only the start, solid implementation has to follow, and learning that takes a lot of time and practice. Know How Your Magic Works Here we discuss considerations outside the scope of this article, such as the effect magic has on society. They dont lead sermons or pray for people. I think that Ill change the names to be about the Towers, instead of what I have now. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality This fun fan fiction explores rational explanations for how the Potterverse might work. If you are the child of a Given and you are born with magic, you are called a Twisted mage, and have the same powers as your Given parent. I feel that doing so, would provide some much needed structure as I go through the worldbuilding process but Im worried that it could make my Mages feel less wizardy, and more like X-men? Its the same way you need to build your world logical for a novel. Is magic inherited, gifted, obtained, or learned? Random Magic Shop Generator. Even though there are no physical costs to using magic, being Grisha means losing their freedom to pursue the life they wanted. The only limit is your imagination. What about their views on the consumption of food and water? You could explain telekinesis (telepathy, too, I guess) with having invisible energy arms which are connected to your body and grab the object in question (or create a connection to another being for telepathy). There's a wide range of elements you can change to make your magic system unique, whether it's how it is wielded, what its source is or even what types of spells are used. The costs of magic can be physical, societal, or even financial. Sometimes this is unavoidable, it happens a lot in games and long stories spanned over many seasons/novels, but for shorter stories it's best to think about what the power limit would be. Youll need to set guidelines for how these beings operate so that you can explain why they do or dont answer prayers whenever theyre asked. Those that dont meet the selection criteria die screaming, but in a chosen few, the nanites alter and enhance their hosts, granting abilities that are perceived as mystical by the ignorant population which includes the majority of the Order of Mages themselves as generations of information suppression have led to them buying into their own lies, the truth being known only to the mysterious Council of Nine. This version of my storys magic system is like a combination of magic in the Marvel movies and in The Magicians. What fuels the use of magic? These symptoms will get worse over time. However, set guidelines for how people react to exposure. Broken cities, old equipment, enchanted odds and ends from modern society. By the time of my story, the nanites have taken up residence pretty much EVERYWHERE. Waving around a wand isnt as simple as you bang it out to be. Once you examine all the implications of this change, youll discover their powers are different indeed. When youre brainstorming magical costs, try to be creative. Are there any natural elements which are home to magical powers or are there any which could house magical powers? Hard magic systems provide interesting limitations that allow your protagonist to solve problems using their own wits, not raw magical power. In general, hard magic should solve problems for your protagonists, while soft magic should cause problems for your protagonists. Either way, the recipients of the power lose whatever memories gained before or during their stay at the Towers. Examples of what an Interferer could do that Ive though of so far: make a gust blow faster (maybe carrying something along with it), making something fall/rise faster, increase the air pressure in a certain spot (very useful for strangling or pressure-point pushing!) But usually a person can only ever do one of those three (create, increase or decrease), and only do it for a certain energy type. I thought, What if energy isnt conserved after all? Gaining power can be done through a whole range of methods, you could train, gain power through an artifact, channel power into 1 person or spell, enhance a body through magic (or other means), simply study magic and how it works, siphon souls from other magical beings, gain a blessing (or curse) of a god or demon and much more. If magic is based on emotion, those Apaths could, perhaps, nullify it? While I have thought of several different magic systems, Ill present the one I conceived of first. The World we perceive and interact with all stems from the Energy, called Aether, and the Vibrations that come from it, all make up our world. Without the explanation you added (glutton for punishment), that sounds more like someone who consumes a lot. One might be cost, but only if your magic source is limited. Rituals are easy to execute, but can be dangerous. But it feels as if it all fits together, not least because Tolkien himself had a clear notion of what was going on. It doesn't have to be something natural either, it could be a machine or body enhancement, like a tattoo. This creative freedom is exciting, but it also requires a lot of world building work to invent a fleshed out and textured fantasy world. It will first appear has a reddish purple mark that will slowly spread across the whole body. Because I have 3 systems and they all lean soft-irrational, Im concerned that I have glaring problems that I overlooked. As far as the potions issue, again, these are based off historical ideas about magic and potions. Now, its VERY early days for me with this thing, but Im wondering: Of course, I wholeheartedly believe that considering each element of your story is the surest way to craft an engaging novel. And the One became Two, Two became Three, and Three became All Things, (Actions) You have the tank, often a warrior, who has great armour and a lot of health and will draw attacks and take the damage. The God of Parties, on the other hand, would be very chaotic. Those affected will suffer from chronic pain, skin lesions, and become prone to violence; but they will also gain super human strength. Its important to note, that the Elements dont just represent their Physical Aspects, but also their Symbolic and Conceptual inferences as well (Through their Mental/Spiritual Aspects), for instance: Water is often associated with the concepts of Healing & Nourishment. Thats why we have a character (in the Silmarillion, and referenced in passing in the songs and stories Aragorn tells the hobbits on Weathertop and they later hear much more about in Rivendell: a character like Luthien Tinuviel, who inherited her power from her connection to both the mortal (in the sense of not being a divinely descended spirit who chose to take bodily form; Tolkiens equivalent of greater and lesser angels whom he sees as having a role in the world; her father was a powerful Elf king but still in that sense mortal) and angelic (her mother, who was a lesser angel who fell in love with her father and chose to take on bodily form enough to bear his child but still remained of divine race) lines in her ahcestry. Trying to do anything that involves pushing against or even breaking natural law will require aid from outside forces. Im not a novel writer, but I am a worldbuilder. Fantasy Random Generator. It will allow to make some zones where one or other magic will not work, or otherwise where will be much easier to cast specific spells. However, you can mix pieces of magic plants and animals in a pot and get powerful effects. Or you could think of the world like a house, a house has wood beams to hold the roof up, pipes to run water, electrical lines to power appliances, etc. Grab a sheet of paper and brainstorm a list of magical effects that fascinate you: ones youve already seen before, or ones you come up with from scratch. The cosmic balance is set up to where the Aether and Souls rely on eachother, Aether creates and maintains the World and Aether flourished and continues to exist through our Actions. Thank you so much for the reply! This article will help you write a magic system for your fictional world that readers will remember long after theyve turned the last page. that you realize that the magic system in Tolkien is actually much more a spiritual and religious system based on the two fudamental pillars of his sincere Catholicism and his strong distaste for the worlds of contemporaries like C,S, Lewis where the Christian allegory was blatant or at best obvious enough to leave the writer open to the charge of being preachy. Honestly, I cant think of a reasonable or cohesive cap on what it can do so I hope the limitations will balance it out. All magic is governed strictly by the Law of Equivalent Exchange, which says that in order to obtain something, something else of equal value must be lost. When the protagonists need to create something, the readers understand exactly what materials they need to sacrifice. Its a life for a life type meaning it will kill the caster to save the person their healing, thats why nobody even bothers to learn it. The expeditions that have come back tell of fantastical landscapes, filled with mystic flora and fauna. Energy-based magic is easy to use because it comes with limitations. but humanity is creative and designs massive jammers that are able to disable the nanites that enter within X radius of them. Nanite clustering effects::kind of dangerous though, theyre a lot like tumors, and have a tendency to grow. Why should the magic be complete or symmetrical? Magic should be limited when its used by humans or other mortal beings as opposed to being used by divine or other immortal beings.