- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
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- www.cathyclamp.com
Hi, ladies & gents!
I'm starting on a new WIP that's going to be heavily based in magic, but with two different systems. The first one will be inherent magic---pure energy that can be transmuted by thought (think pointing a wand and turning someone into a toad.) The other will be more ritual magic that, in a way, CREATES the pure energy magic. One feeds on the other. The basis for the magic will be pre-Christian Ukrainian folklore magic. My question: Is there a CURRENT pagan or white/black magic system that exists in the Ukraine (or western Poland, Lithuania, or ancient Kievan Rus) that I can scavenge for elements of my new magical system? Someone elsewhere mentioned Strega, but I don't know much about it.
Here's the hook that sold the book, to give you an idea of what's going to happen:
******
Working title: Bound by Design
As I watched bloodied and powerless, Vegre, the most powerful dark mage to ever ravage the Earth, escaped through a portal to the Overworld. Nobody ever thought the magical seals that kept the human world safe from the prisoners of Rohm---evil magicians who caused the black plague---would fall. We were wrong . . . on so many levels. Magic has been short circuiting all over the underground world of Aghathia, dying just as our Tree of Life is. The warrior guards who were accompanying me to secure the prison closed the portal with their lives and now I, Talos Onan, an Overworld Intelligence agent, am trapped in the world of the humans in a location known as Colorado. My only hope is to convince a human mage to help us once more. According to our records, a young woman named Mila Penkins is a descendent of the original Ukrainian magicians who raised the gates. Unfortunately, she's not only untrained, she's completely unaware of her ties to my world save for a few fables told to her by an elder relative when she was a child. She's also unaware of the rather . . . disturbing effect she's having on me, and I plan to keep it that way since I have no intention of getting emotionally entangled with an Overworlder. But I'm certain she has the ability to save my home inside her, especially since one of the designs inscribed on her feet exactly matches the birthmark that brands me a mage. What I haven't yet determined is the role of the elaborate painted eggs she calls pysanky. She claims to create them as a "hobby" . . . but the eggs glow and sing when I walk nearby. If they speak to me, one of the lesser mages in Aghathia, then Vegre will certainly find a way to make use of them to kill us both, and turn both of our worlds into smoking wastelands.
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Any thoughts or suggestions of books, websites, or articles to read would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!
I'm starting on a new WIP that's going to be heavily based in magic, but with two different systems. The first one will be inherent magic---pure energy that can be transmuted by thought (think pointing a wand and turning someone into a toad.) The other will be more ritual magic that, in a way, CREATES the pure energy magic. One feeds on the other. The basis for the magic will be pre-Christian Ukrainian folklore magic. My question: Is there a CURRENT pagan or white/black magic system that exists in the Ukraine (or western Poland, Lithuania, or ancient Kievan Rus) that I can scavenge for elements of my new magical system? Someone elsewhere mentioned Strega, but I don't know much about it.
Here's the hook that sold the book, to give you an idea of what's going to happen:
******
Working title: Bound by Design
As I watched bloodied and powerless, Vegre, the most powerful dark mage to ever ravage the Earth, escaped through a portal to the Overworld. Nobody ever thought the magical seals that kept the human world safe from the prisoners of Rohm---evil magicians who caused the black plague---would fall. We were wrong . . . on so many levels. Magic has been short circuiting all over the underground world of Aghathia, dying just as our Tree of Life is. The warrior guards who were accompanying me to secure the prison closed the portal with their lives and now I, Talos Onan, an Overworld Intelligence agent, am trapped in the world of the humans in a location known as Colorado. My only hope is to convince a human mage to help us once more. According to our records, a young woman named Mila Penkins is a descendent of the original Ukrainian magicians who raised the gates. Unfortunately, she's not only untrained, she's completely unaware of her ties to my world save for a few fables told to her by an elder relative when she was a child. She's also unaware of the rather . . . disturbing effect she's having on me, and I plan to keep it that way since I have no intention of getting emotionally entangled with an Overworlder. But I'm certain she has the ability to save my home inside her, especially since one of the designs inscribed on her feet exactly matches the birthmark that brands me a mage. What I haven't yet determined is the role of the elaborate painted eggs she calls pysanky. She claims to create them as a "hobby" . . . but the eggs glow and sing when I walk nearby. If they speak to me, one of the lesser mages in Aghathia, then Vegre will certainly find a way to make use of them to kill us both, and turn both of our worlds into smoking wastelands.
*********
Any thoughts or suggestions of books, websites, or articles to read would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!
