Magical Systems

Jewel,

Check out "Diana's Magick Thread" for lots of info on the magical systems my books employ. We also discuss a wide variety of systems, and will get to many more soonish. Perhaps it will give you some ideas. Best.

Magic in my book, is spoken in an ancient language of the Cantar, spirits of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This is a gift, provided to my magic-users by the Cantar themselves, these people are independant, and seperate from ordinary Humans to follow their own seperate ways. Known as the Weer-Zaards, they extend the population, as Wizards.

Is magic inherent? Is there so much mana about that all the arm-waving & incantations is nothing but a way of placing the energy safely behind doors where they can't be accidentally released? If so, doesn't this say something about the inability of the world's inhabitants to concentrate, & about their level of discipline of mind & spirit? Then again, are your gods so capricious & smug that they have particular need for butt-kissing toadyism that tickles them so much they roll over & deign to bestow their favours on you?

Were you referring to my magic system. If so, magic is inherited, it comes from the Mortal Children of the Cantar. Other people cannot use magic because they do not inherit the bloodline, no matter how many wand waving, word singing things they do, they cannot do it. Wizards, on the other hand, do have a choice, they can persue a magical life, or a warrior or even farmer one if they don't want to. The Wizards walk among us.

i've never made a study of magick systems, so when i use one it's probably a cliched mess. i've used music systems (one virtuoso violinist finds a lost paganini etude, and because she's the only one technically proficient enough to play it, she does, and it turns out to be a spell that unleashes him from hell... and hell follows him), countless 'plucking invisible magick strings'/butterfly effects/'spiderweb' stuff, gesture and/or spoken magick. potions aren't really my thing, but i've done that kind of stuff.

i dunno, it really doesn't matter what kind of magick system someone uses to me. i don't care if it's a miss-mash of ideas. one thing i don't care for is a detailed explanation of the system. i don't want to know the history of the gawds who gave the gift of magick, either.

In my WIP I have split it into 6 types. Only three of them are actually used in the novel though. I didn't want to make things too complicated in the first novel. But I did want to leave open some room to play with later on.

The three are Sorcery, Summoning and Hexing. Hexing is the art of curses and gifts. Summoning is the art of calling creatures (mainly Demons) into servitude and make them do what you want. Sorcery is the art of tapping into the ancient source of power and redirecting and/or reforming it into something you want.

Sorcery is the most powerful type, but tends to be crude and have a very narrow scope of usefulness. You can only manipulate the basic forces of nature. Summoning is #2 when it comes to potential power. It tends to be a bit more useful than Sorcery, though that depends entirely on which kind of specific creatures you summon. Hexing is completely on the other side of this spectrum (#6 on the powerscale, hence the name Hexing). While it is the least powerful of all you can do just about anything with it as long as you put the right specifications in your incantations.

The other three fill in the spectrum between power and usefulness. I haven't worked out the specifics yet, but I did decide to split Witchcraft and Wizardry. They are #3 and #5 on the powerscale. Witchcraft includes the use of Spirits, though in friendly cooperation (instead of the forced labor that is Summoning) as well as any other powersource that Nature has to offer (mainly in the form of potions). Wizardry uses mundane things to do magic (wands, drawn sigils, hand gestures and words for instance). #4 is the art of shapeshifting, for which I have yet to begin working out even the basics.

Any given person can only manage to work with just one or two of these methods. Learning three or more is generally too stressful for the body and mind to handle. This cuts out potential omnipotent people, who tend to be boring and unbeatable.

In my world, magic is an inherent ability in a small percentage of the human population, but most of those with the Gift can only tap into a tiny bit of the energy available. And it can't be done without training. In most countries, there's a system in place for screening youngsters, so that those with a Gift can be found and trained. Of course, if your Gift is only a very small one, and your parents can't afford the schooling, you're out of luck. Those with a stronger Gift may qualify for a scholarship, and the extremely rare ones with a genuine Talent qualify for an apprenticeship with an actual wizard. In some places, they are forced by law to take it.

Most folks with very small Gifts learn to do one or two useful things with it and are then cut loose. They're told that's all they can handle. A baker's son may be taught to accelerate the rising of yeast, or a shopkeeper's daughter may be taught to sense the percentage of gold and silver in coins. Those with more are often apprenticed to healers or seers, or go into the priesthood. The Talented who survive their apprenticeships with their minds intact may become wizards one day.

Not a lot do keep their sanity. Using magic is basically bending reality, which most people can only handle in small doses. The Talented who can't deal with it tend to go mad and have to be put down for safety's sake. Consequently, there are probably only a couple of hundred actual wizards in the world at the moment. Human ones, anyway.

Of course, sometimes the simply Gifted will also lose their minds, but they aren't as dangerous because they can't do as much damage.

I have more than a dozen in my world, though none of them are "extreme" like some Dungeons and Dragons junk.

I don't see why you can't have more than one type of magic. I have three so far. One type is an inherited skill that you either have or you don't, though if you have it it still takes study before you can use it. One type can be used by anyone, but it's difficult to do and the effects are crude - it's mainly useful for breaking pre-existing spells. The third type has weird and wonderful capabilities that the first two can't touch, but it requires a very specific kind of sacrifice in order to work. Just in case I reuse the world, I'm leaving it open whether there are any more. For all I know there could be hundreds. I quite like that idea. One of my existing three is already so obscure that most magic users, let alone ordinary people, don't know about it.

The magical scale is:

1. Sorcery- The ability to do D&D style magic with lightning bolts, fireballs, thunderbolts etc.

2. Necromancy- The ability to summon and raise the dead.

3. Chronomancy- The ability to journey through time and space, and to teleport.

4. Wizardry- The abillity to call up ancient spirits to aid you, or to bend the elements using raw power.

5. Shapeshifting- To communicate with and become animals.

6. Healing- Healing people using herbs with magical properties.

7. Illusionism- Disguising, making fake magic to trick people.

8. Divining- Studying the future, fortune-telling, Humans using magic, which is illegal.

9. Telepathism- Erasing minds, reading minds, throwing things around.

These follow 'White' and 'Grey' Mage Cultures. The next are the Mages who follow the 'Black' Culture, a race skilled in swords and weapons, as well as magic, which make them formidable foes, but they're not all bad, they are a FEW RARE exceptions.

10. Alchemism- Using potions.

11. Warlockdry- Battling, hurling fire-spitting arrows of magic fire, firing catapults of water.

12. Uber-Sorcery- Causing mutations on enemies fighting, hurting enemy armies with diseases, breeding feirce elemental creatures.

13. Conjurism- Conjuring dreams and spirits, flying through space, brewing drugs, getting high. (Not 'true' magic, but it is an Art.)

14. Rheomancy- Making swords and metallic weapons fly and shoot magic from the tip.

15. Geomancer- Becoming a weapon, using ruby or diamond hands to break through walls castle walls.

What I use is based on the magic of folklore. I tweak it when necessary to serve the story but I start with historical anectdotes about magic and work from there.

In my manuscript magic is basically availiable to anyone, but to varying degrees. The analog I use is mathmatics. Anyone can do it but it isnt easy and some folks avoid it entirely. Ultimately though it is very difficult to master. The people with the "touch" are those to whom it comes more easily. I like math as an analog beacuse it also requires you to organize you mind to do it right but at the higher levels it becomes more creative and abstract.

This works for me anyway...

I have:

Magic granted by the gods.
Magic innate to certain races.
Magic learned through a scientific/empirical approach.
Magic learned by living amongst magic and "listening to the earth".

Basically it all boils down to one thing - the world is magical. Our world is made up of atoms, my story world is made up of, well, magical atoms. The magic of the world can be drawn upon, some have it easier than others but it is available to all those who seek it, and that's how it works. I'm not at all into creating magic systems, so I tend to keep things simple and not really go into it all that much.

I like Ardellis' version.
I try to imply that magic is rare in my world, too. Some of it is also hereditary, and linked to left handedness, so there are a very few magical families around, and any kid who is left handed tends to have an eye kept on them as they're coming up to puberty to see if any Talent manifests in them.

More on my magical system, the Rudderlete:

There is an Academy built in the desert, and young Mages go there from the age of three to learn the Arts of Magic. When they arrive, they must be sorted into groups based on ability, and have a training session in the Courtyard. If they survive training, they are allowed into the Academy. They can sleep, explore, study the Arts in the Library, tutoring with a Magic Mentor, (experienced adult Arch-Mages), or elsewhere. They can eat, and explore, and practise the Arts, engage in combat, can master creatures and solve magical puzzles to survive around the Academy. If they suceed, and are accepted after one year, they get a private Tutor/Mentor and study any chosen Arts. They are then drugged so they lose all past memory of ever coming, or their families, who never see them return.

Evaine said:

I like Ardellis' version.
I try to imply that magic is rare in my world, too. Some of it is also hereditary, and linked to left handedness, so there are a very few magical families around, and any kid who is left handed tends to have an eye kept on them as they're coming up to puberty to see if any Talent manifests in them.

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Thanks, Evaine. I've put a lot of thought into it. I don't want my stories to end up being entirely about the magic. The one I'm writing now has very little magic in it at all, in fact.

I like your left-handed thing. That's very clever.

A question to all here: Does your Magical System allow for learning magic on your own or do people have to have a mentor to teach people?

My system allows for people to learn it on their own. Of course, a mentor helps a lot.

In my system folks can learn it on their own but they wont get very far without proper training. Even with training you have to be lucky enough to get a good teacher.

The problems occur when someone without the proper training trys to do something requireing a high degree of skill. That can lead to all sorts of trouble.

Wizards must be taught. They also have inherited magic, but it is rough, and using it could severely damage their health, shorten their life, or kill people around them.

Mr. Jinx said:

In my system folks can learn it on their own but they wont get very far without proper training. Even with training you have to be lucky enough to get a good teacher.

The problems occur when someone without the proper training trys to do something requireing a high degree of skill. That can lead to all sorts of trouble.

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I also included much trouble for people attempting magic without proper knowledge. For instance: Summoning without proper warding and binding can turn out to become quite problematic for the newbie summoner.

In my system, those with a small Gift usually can't tap into it at all without training. The ones with Talent, the ones with real potential, can sometimes stumble onto it, but using magic without training is going to warp your mind pretty quickly.

One of the great wizards in my world has said that the main responsibility in having power is keeping it under control, and in teaching others to do the same.