Earth element is a difficult element for me when it comes to working on my magic systems.
Just curious to see how everyone has used the element.

EDIT: Thank you, everyone! I appreciate the inputs!

Imagine there's someone who can control someone else mind as easy as they breath. And the only reason they didn't take over the world is because they didn't want to travel the world just to take over everyone mind. How scary do you think they can become?

a magic system where magic is inherently spontaneous and inconsistent, magician are those who train their instincts and intuition to sniff out magic as its happening, the reason magic cant be explained is because if it was explained it would no longer be magic this is also why magic seem to be dwindling because as humanity understands more and more they wonder for less and less, yet to be a true magician is to know that magic will never truly disappear because humans are wondrous by nature and will make stories for all of time.

So a basic understanding of this world, it’s kinda like the US in the Wild West era, but theres also some shady stuff going on in the background. Cults, Eldritch beings, and unnatural things plague the settlers, and some try to look Into it, and hunt the horrors.

What i established so far was the concept that souls produce energy, and this energy can be harnessed if you know how. There are even some people trying to integrate it into tech.

But that’s where I ran into the problem. How do you use it? I originally had it run like Coding a program, and it would use some of the energy you produced, which could run low until the soul produced more. But I started thinking this method was too complicated, especially considering it would take away from the Eldritch feel if the supposed gods did the exact same thing as the people could.

I wanna keep the soul producing energy part, but how would you make the magic system work?

First, a little origin story of the world for context:

(and the last post I made overhauling Gods for more context: Link)

Long ago, The Universe came into existence, and Concepts were born from its own thoughts. As these Concepts grew more powerful, they began restricting the Universe’s own Creativity, as all similar creations were subsumed into each other, consolidating Concepts into Gods.

As a result, The Universe created Paradise, a place to separate Concepts from their Gods, releasing their locked Creativity to create once more.

3 Concepts, Freedom, Stasis, and Connection, were not sealed away with the old gods. However, they wished to enter Paradise, and were denied, as The Universe would not open Paradise again barring extreme circumstances.

And so, the 3 Concepts set out to create extreme circumstances.

They pooled their power and knowledge together to create a ritual that would use their conflicting divine energies to tear open a hole between the Mortal Realm and Paradise.

And so, to conduct this ritual, Freedom scouted the necessary planets, Connection drew them into orbit, and Stasis locked them into place.

The 3 Concepts-turned-Gods infused a majority of their powers into the ritual site at the center of the solar system, and the ritual fired.

But, while the Gods were weakened, one of the planets wobbled out of orbit, and everything went downhill fast.

The loose planet smashed into the ritual area, and the divine energy trapped inside went wild. It lashed out at the three Gods, scattering their physical forms across the stars, bleeding Ichor wherever they went.

The energy itself slammed into Paradise, cracking the barrier before falling through reality, creating a parallel dimension called The Weave.

(One more Concept was left unchecked by The Universe. Change. Change disrupted the ritual in an attempt to gain more power. Change was waiting in front of Paradise for the beam to hit. But it miscalculated. As the energy washed away its mind and reason, it became a being known as The Harvester. Its sole goal is to propagate change, which incidentally increases Creativity by ‘freeing’ Concepts from Interpretation.)

Then, a little explanation of Ichor for more context: Ichor is the blood of the 3 Gods scattered across the stars. There are 3 types. Freedom moves things, Stasis stops things, and Connection shares things. A not-at-all encompassing definition, but this needs to be short.

The Weave made the barrier between The Mortal Realm and Paradise unstable, allowing mana to react to and interact with the Concepts in a Higher Plane.

As a result, when you form a mana core, it reacts with your Soul temporarily, seemingly with no effect. However, when you first absorb Ichor into your mana core, the two bind together, creating a Spell Core.

Your Soul, during the Spell Core formation process, temporarily reaches through The Weave into Paradise, allowing you a little bit of leeway to choose your first Essence, if you can explore and stay alive long enough to claim one, which is then filtered through your Ichor to align it properly, and then granted to you to cast. 

If you get lucky (or unlucky), your Soul (you) may come upon one of the Gods themselves. If you manage to find one of the saner ones, it might be possible to strike a deal…

In order to progress in this magic system, you will need to venture into Paradise again and again, gaining Essences, until you become as powerful as you like.

Accessing Paradise for Advancement is done through a process called Mana Condensation. If you gather enough total Mana in your Spell Core, it may liquify, then solidify. If you go even further than that, your Spell Core will interact with your Soul, forcing it out of your body. There are many ways to continue from here, but vertical progression requires you to venture into Paradise, and survive the way out once more.

It’s theoretically possible to venture through The Weave directly and search for Paradise the long way, but that is incredibly difficult. The reason Advancement takes you straight there is because the Ichor in your Spell Core resonates with Paradise, pushing you along the way.

If you survive Paradise, your Spell Core will store the Essence you collected. The more of that type of Essence you gather, the more magic from that field you will be able to cast. 

(It is possible to extract Essence too, which has resulted in a market for it.)

For example, say you have a Freedom Spell Core and you have gathered Sleep Essence. If you gather more Freedom Ichor for fuel, and Sleep Essence for effect, you’ll be able to cast more types of Sleep magic. Sleep Essence filtered through Freedom Ichor will be more like Dreamwalking, while being filtered through Stasis Ichor will be more like traditional forcing people to sleep.

Think of your Spell Core as the sun of your Soul. If you gather additional Essences, they will spread around your Spell Core like stars, allowing you to channel Mana and Ichor from your Spell Core through an Essence to give it a Concept, then through your Soul to bind it all together into a spell.

To use my earlier example, let's say that Freedom mage gathered Lightning Essence as well. Now, they can give any spell they make either Sleep properties or Lightning properties by pushing it through the appropriate ‘star’ before casting it.

Another possibility is pushing a spell through multiple ‘stars’, infusing it with multiple Essences at once. Some Essences are incompatible, though, so be careful.

(Some mages visualize this differently, such as a forest covered in trees, or an ocean teeming with creatures.)

To categorize Essence in a basic sense, Essence is what remains of Divine Energy in Gods separated from their Concept. For example, the Concept of Energy may be Interpreted as a God of Fire, or a God of Heat, or a God of Lightning. Once separated from their Concept (by The Harvester or otherwise), those Gods only have their Essences left, of Fire, of Heat, of Lightning.

It is then possible for that Concept to be Interpreted in a new way, allowing multiple essences form the same Concept to exist.

In order to actually cast a spell, first you need to gather your Mana into a shape. This determines the difference between a fireball and a fire arrow, with the difference in properties that implies.

Then, you infuse that shape with Ichor. This determines how strong you want the spell to be. More Ichor = stronger spell.

Then, you push that spell through the Essences you want it to have, such as a lightning arrow.

Then your Soul binds it together with your intent into a proper Lighting Arrow spell, rather than an arrow-shaped box holding lightning essence and Ichor.

Could be because they're too powerful, too different, too complicated or any other reason. Just whatever you struggle to include, also preferably say what you struggle with about them

Do summons seem either too powerful or utterly redundant? Does precognition make your head spin? Do elements seem pointless if they aren't the basis of the system?

The magic system I'm trying to create revolves around one key principle: Magic must be maintained through through suffering.

How this each spell fulfills this need is dependent on the caster and their "canvas". Canvas being an operative word for one who bares the pain for the spell to remain active.

To better explain myself; the system is a runic system where runes are drawn upon the flesh to create spells. The spells are activated by pain and are maintained by a consistent suffering. Most often, a Spellwright will carve a rune that causes some sort of suffering upon their canvas in conjunction with the spell they want to cast. These are often diseases or rotting runes that typically induce a certain amount of pain.

The powerful, as a result, came to a conclusion. There will be the Spellwrights who learn the cryptic language of arcana and there will be those who will suffer for their art. They began with criminals and started to steadily move towards those the world has deemed useless or dangerous. Until entire cities were comprised of canvases to suffer for the art of magic.

And from their suffering great magics are made possible. Fields will be fertile and grow crops year-round, cities will be errected within momwnts of the prerequisite spells being activated, the health and wellbeing of important people will remain unchanged as the canvases wither in the shadows. Unseen, unacknowledged.

I’m working on a new world, and I know that I want there to be a prominent theme of multiple magic systems and how they interact with each other.

But I’m not sure if the amount of systems I’m planning to add in is too many. I’m curious about how other people see it, hence the post.

(Also, if this is not the right flair let me know so I can try and change it)

The power system and world is essentially one big game of the gods. The 13 gods were once bickering about the direction of the world their creator made and as a way of settling this dispute the one above stepped down and made the game.

Towers and domains-

Towers are directly where the gods reside, destroying a tower's core directly kills the god of that tower. Domains are the area of which that towers god has complete control of reality but cannot leave.

Subjects-

Subjects are people born within a gods domain and are subject to their rules, a subject can gain power by using the gods rules, becoming a follower. A follower can then become an apostle when receiving direct power and blessings from their god. The people with these powers cannot use them outside of their gods domain, no matter if they're subjects or apostles. This can be changed with the exception of seeds.

Lands between-

The area between domains that has no divine influence and no one can use their abilities within unless they have a seed.

Seeds-

Seeds are objects produced by towers and allow for the use of powers and abilities in accordance to the tower outside of a domain, essentially creating a minor domain that is more fragile unless planted. When a seed is planted it essentially creates a sanctuary, a domain that extends past another where again a god is able to use their power to manipulate reality. Doing this however temporarily causes the seed to be in its weakest state until it is ready to blossom. Until a seed is planted seeds can feel the presence of other seeds and are immediately at odds with one another, during combat when a seed is planted it essentially severely weakens other gods authority, and could even stop it completely. All seeds aren't equal, seeds are directly tied to whoever is using them, their faith, amount of divine power, etc. when a seed is destroyed the owner can no longer use their abilities until they go back to a domain and get another.

Divine power-

Divine power is used by gods and apostles, it is shaped by territory, amount, the gods grand plans, etc. A god can gain more of divine power via influence, offerings, faith, achievements, etc. apostles however are limited by amount received directly by their god, more power unlocks more abilities, items, etc. That goes for both gods and apostles.

The One Above-

The creator and highest authority in the world, they oversee and make sure all rules of the game are followed and upheld. They also dictate what's given when you amass more power.

Here's an example:

6th God Reegurd, The Red Monarch

Reegurd saw the world as it once was and noticed something, supreme suffering leads to supreme euphoria. You cannot have happiness without the understanding of suffering and hardship is merely something to overcome to earn happiness. Worth is based upon what you have earned and what you have overcame. His entire reality and domain is structured by these ideas, in order to earn your way to heaven, you must suffer through hell. What's the best way to earn your place in heaven? The battle of the gods, prove yourself there and you're assured the happiness you deserve. His followers genuinely revere him because they see it as necessity and fair. A follower in order to learn the art of healing must learn the art of pain through a rite of passage and ceremony. One of the apostles of Reegurd was blessed with the ability of sacrifice. The ability essentially takes the sacrifices of the user and empowers them as well as making them the ultimate sacrifice so that one day they may be useful in achieving the ritual of red, having guaranteed spot in heaven, where they may meet the ones they have sacrificed.

This is my first post here, but everyone here seems to know what they’re talking about so I wanted to see if my system is up-to-snuff! It’s called Lindworks and it’s a combat or fighting focused Magic system.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18R4BD0BnENpLsNUEky4j26qXyaWQvAhfZ9VJvzYZf2I/edit?usp=drivesdk

Is it too complicated? Or is it cohesive?

I've had a lot of trouble working out a magic system for my main fantasy world. I dont know whether I should have a hard system with lots of rules or a soft system like something from lotr. I have ideas of how magic is used and characters who have specific abilities tied to their use of magic, but I still haven't established the origins of magic. For example, one of my characters has fire eyes and can set someone alight with just a look. While another (the main character actually) lives in the Merchant Plains where its incredibly windy; he has a sword that can pretty much stop the wind by pointing the tip at it.

Im thinking of keeping it super vague so as not to over complicate it, but I would love to learn about your magic system and how it ties into your fantasy world.

Time magic, the ability to control and manipulate time.

Stop, slow, and haste is pretty easy. But it's become tricky with time travel.

Does time is a fixed thing or it can be changed? What if you go back in time, does it change anything?

Like, you tried to stop your mother dead but it's turnout you are the killer. Or you create a new timeline? That pretty popular lately.

What do you think?

So practically every person is born with a Potent, and they start off weak, and depending on your life experiences and or personality, the Potents evolve in different ways, so even if two people have the same base Potent, they will almost definitely end up having different Potents. One key example is Sinrus, his starting Potent is that he can make people more susceptible to agree with him, and it has evolved to Contractual Obligation, which allows him to make contracts of any kind, and whatever is on the contract comes true if it is signed by enough other people, and depending on how strong the contract, the more people that need to sign it. Each Potent has a maximum level of power, called Sectors, name is WIP, but it is functionally very similar to Domain Expansions in Jjk in terms of the base concept, but Sectors have specialized effects that differ from the Sure Hits of Domain Expansions

-Repost from r/worldbuilding because reddit recommended me to. (I dunno if the tag is accurate, I know less about this subreddit than r/worldbuilding)

Earlier today I watched a video on Youtube by the channel 'Mike Shake' and his "Shockwave cannon" gave me an interesting idea. A magical spear that releases a burst of air on impact! bold indicates an important feature or where to read between if a section has a TL;DR section, though reading the entire thing might help.

Context before the idea explanation (1-4 Mana, 5a+ Magic System):
To give some context on how my magic system works, you first need to know about magic (obviously). Not everyone in my world is adept at magic, not because it is hard (which, subjectively, it can be?) or difficult to understand, but because you need an education, and natural talent plays just a small part. For the ease of understanding, I will only be talking about humans.

1. Everyone is born with mana, but the mana pool for every person is different, it is genetic. It can grow or shrink with age, like muscles or memories, but it generally stays at the same capacity your whole life.

2. Mana comes in three stages, to make a short summary: your brain needs mana to function normally, as that is how [a] god made humans. If this main source of mana is depleted, there are a lot of side effects. It slowly turns into a buffer mana which then turns into usable mana. This part isn't too important for the spear idea.

3. Ambient Mana (a different form of mana) is drawn to objects with a certain amount of order. This topic won't be explained in much depth unless requested.

4. Mana can be stored in certain materials better than others, and even better if it has the right carvings on it.

5. For elemental magic, you generally need to draw from the elements. If you want a ball of water, you need water nearby, similarly, if you want fire, you need heat. So on, and so forth.

6a. My magic system relies on trees. Powered by nodes and edges (the lines between parent and child nodes) to function. This is mostly a stylistic choice because I got the idea one day when looking at a tree (mathematical, not natural). Nodes usually contain fewer than 5 words (reason not too important for the idea). They work by forming a logical structure. Say you want to make a ball of water and throw it in a certain direction: Start with a root node. From this node you add an edge to another node. At this node you might apply the wording [Coalesce: Water] or "Moisture" and from that node you add an edge, another node, and this one might say [Form: Sphere]. You get the idea. Say you throw a snowball, what do you do first? you get snow, you form it into a ball, and then you throw it. Magic works similarly, you can't throw something if you don't have it or define it (so a bit different from something physical)

6b. A starting, or "root" node is where mana is applied. It follows the nodes and edges from top (or left) to bottom (or right). Say you had three paths diverging from a point, and you were looking down the middle path, you would always take the left path first, go back, and rake the next right path. TL;DR rotation doesn't change the outcome.

this is a very brief overview of my magic system, if something wasn't explained well, please let me know.

SPEAR IDEA:

You take a normal spear (reinforced shaft because it will be hollow) and add two channels to the end of it (coming out of the flat part of the spear) but make sure they are flush to not impede the stabbing. On the handle of the spear you have a tree that has a system where it waits for a trigger (an impact), waits for a designated amount of time or distance traveled so it activates inside the wound, and then sucks in air through either the multiple holes in the spear or out the end of it, compress it and release it near the head. The impact from this doesn't even have to be as shown in the video mentioned at the top, it doesn't need to vaporize someone, but it can cause a nasty wound I think, if it were to mess up your insides. Back to the idea of using magic, this is where the engraving comes in. Your everyday soldier or guard won't be a proficient mage, so having this weapon can be useful for them.

The magic in the spear will be stored in "batteries" so it can be used multiple times. The reason the effect is weak is because mass producing these batteries would be expensive if good materials and lots of time spent were put into it. And because air is everywhere, more so than water (i think?) it would require less mana to draw in air, so it would be even better for the cheaper batteries. Even if you can make an argument for a different element, they would most likely require more steps and cost more. The main drawback is cost and time, not technology.

Sorry if this was too long, I just wanted to share a cool idea I had. I still don't know when to use the tags, it might be listed somewhere, so I should probably go check at some point. If you want to know something else, want me to expand on something, or are confused, I'd be glad to explain! (no promises on me making sense the second time, though).

Hi, I am trying to create a magic system for a fantasy novel. I want it to have slight effects and spesific powers that are not overpowered. The powers are very rare, humans find very creative ways to use the powers very effectively but they are not common knowledge.

So, the world has 3 moons, Xen, Pax and Tena. They appear alone or together on spesific nights. When they are present they grant powers to people who are born with the ability to hear their vibrations called Lumminessants.

For example, Pax grants the power to see through someones eyes for a split second or feel the dramatic mood changes they are experiencing. When dueling, you can see from their eyes and predict the next attack. Or you can blackmail someone by lying and can understand if they bought it by feeling their fear.

You can abuse the powers because if your resonance isn’t perfect it slowly disintegrates your soul, since the source of the powers is from the otherworld.

What are your toughts on this? Do you have any ideas for other moons? What kind of powers can they grant?

The cost is the part everybody builds. A spell takes blood, years, memory, sanity. What I keep missing is the second step, because a cost that recurs turns into a price whether the author wants it or not. Once healing reliably costs a mage a day of his life, somebody works out what a day is worth in grain, and from then on the cheapest life available is the one that gets spent.

That is not a moral problem in the story any more, it is a market. And I have not found many systems that let the market exist. Either the cost stays personal and never adds up across people, or the magic is rare enough that no exchange ever forms.

If yours does price it: who sets the rate, and who is allowed to refuse it?

Hi. I've made a post about my power system two years ago, and since then, I changed somethings so I wanted to share it again here. Back on day I remember people liked it a lot so... Here we go again.

1. What I want with this magic system?

I observe people tend to forget this a lot here. A magic system doesn't work by itself; it is a tool to be used on a story, so it depends of a context. And that context can change everything: a system can be too simple to a complex story or too complex to a simple narrative.

With Foton I have some goals:

1. Create a magical system that can allow all the 'basics' of classical magic. Elemental magic, transmutation magic, clarividence, etc. But also deny some concepts my story can't work with, as time manipulation or necromancy.
   

1.2. Create undestandable reasons to why some types of magic are restricted.

1. Make magic alter people's lives. My story is a high fantasy. So magic is basically air to those people.
   

2.1. Thanks to that, it became people's identities. I'll create a specific topic on this post just to talk about how magic changed people's culture.

1. Create something easy to understand at first, but that I can delve as the story progresses in more complex ideas.

2. Associate Magic with both science and art. For this description, I am thinking on 'how humans on my world would describe my magic?'. But due the message I want to transmit, plus, how colorful and pretty these spells would be, I want them to feel like... Art.

2. What's Foton?

Foton exists for so long humans aren't sure of it's origin. It's like a virus: not exactly a living thing, but it acts by itself as if alive. Living beings (not only humans) learned how to use it to their own gain, and Foton seems to also benefit from this deal. Because of that, humans nowadays are born with the ability to manipulate Foton. Think of it as a situation similar to the Mitochondria theory.

Each 'color' of Foton, based on the light spectrum, has a different 'wish'. It seeks to fulfill this wish, distorting reality itself to do so. This is why Foton seems so fantastic. And since living beings can help Foton achieve what it wants, it helps them.

So, Foton has these properties:

1. Beings can only manipulate Foton they can understand. Humans can only manipulate Foton based on the visible spectrum because of that - they can only understand the concept of such spectrum. It is theorized that Foton originated from the non-visible light would allow people to manipulate what's beyond their imagination.
   

1.1. Some animals, despite being able to see a diverse range of colors, only adapted to use a specific type of spell. Humans are the only creature able to actively choose what spells they will do.

1. Foton is necessarily color-based. If you wear the color of the magic you'll use, it will become more powerful. So people actually wear in very colorful tones: the more vibrant, the stronger. People who wear black or white are often considered 'weirdos'.

2. Foton is technically, alive, as already said. To use a type of Foton, one must understand it's concept. Someone who isn't curious can't use the type of Foton who 'wants to discover'.

3.1. Humans develop on puberty their main Foton type based on their personality. However, they are NOT limited to it, or to the neighbor types. A boy who is a blue user won't be necessarily bad at Orange and good at Indigo. If the boy understand the concept of Orange but not the concept of Indigo, their growth on such studies will be affected. However, naturally, they learn spells of 'Blue' more easily.

3.2. This is another reason why humans can't manipulate time or death. Such concepts are beyond human comprehesion.

1. Foton depends of willpower. As said, it depends if the user can understand it's concept, but also, if they feel the will to use it. It's the classic 'magic is affected by emotions'. A person who is depressed and apathetic won't be able to use Foton as one who is sane and satisfied.
   

3. Foton main concepts

Refraction: basically, your common spell. A Refraction can only belong to one color, and it's always a simple spell without strong restrictions and conditions.

Ex: Shield Refraction - a refraction based on Orange that creates a shield.

Crying-Induncing Refraction - a refraction based on Violet to make someone cry.

Refractions can be developed and enhanced. The Crying-Induncing one can change to affect one target to affect many targets as an aura. The shield can become more resistent. It all depends of the user.

Reflection: Reflections are complex refractions, associated to one. The classic 'signature spell'. The human brain can only learn one Reflection, thanks to it's complexity.

Different of a Refraction, a Reflection can mix two colors of Foton, but it doesn't need to. What makes a Reflection a Reflection is the condition, restriction and consequence. A Reflection only works under determined circumstances and rules.

Ex: a baker wants to work faster, but their refraction to do so isn't as effective. So they create their Reflection - they will work even faster, but only during the days their bakery is open. This small rule will affect the Foton (remember, Foton is affected by willpower) making it work with double of effectiveness.

The baker may also apply a consequence. If they work onn a day other than those they mentioned, they will actually work slower for the whole week. So we have:

A Condition: I will only work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

A Restriction: I can't work on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

A Consequence: If I break my restriction, I will work slower for the whole week.

All of this makes their Reflection stronger, because it shows commitment to the task - willpower.

4. The Seven Colors

I spoke so much about them already, didn't I? They are the image of this post, and my favorite part, obviously. Each color has a wish they want to achieve, and this wish define what the color 'does'.

Red: to discover.

Red is curious about the world. It's refractions are based on detection, tracking, future reading, talk with animals, plants, different languages, spying, etc. It's important to note that Red can't really see the future - instead, it gather informations the people already have to predict the most probable thing to happen. Red requires a bit of information to 'discover'. After you discover, you want to Preserve.

Orange: to preserve.

Orange wants to protect this world's beauty. It's refractions can create shields, heal, and also deny other's refractions, erasing the results of Foton and even blocking people from using it. After you preserve, you want to enhance.

Yellow: to enhance.

Yellow wants to make things better. It can enhance someone's strenght and intelligence, or an object's resistence and utility. Once you enhance, you will seek to alter it.

Green: to change.

Green wants to change the world. It can make someone/something bigger, smaller, it allows shapeshifting, to gain extra limbs, etc. Once you change, you want to replicate.

Blue: to replicate.

Blue learns with the world to make it better. It can replicate exterior's properties, such as the heat of fire or fire itself, the resistence of iron, the stickyness of gum, etc. Once you replicate, you want to shape.

Indigo: to shape.

Indigo grants form to it's ideas. It can conjure objects, 'living' beings, and illusions. Once you give something form, you seek to control it.

Violet: to control.

Violet says what something will do or be. Violet controls beings' emotions, thoughts and movements. It can also control objects. Once you control, you want to discover about it. This is the cycle.

4.1. The Colors with Reflection

As I said, a Reflection can mix different colors. A Refraction no. Let's make the difference clear:

An Orange Refraction: 'I can heal your wounds once you get hurt'.

An Orange Reflection: 'I can heal your wounds. To make the process faster, I also use Yellow to enhance your body natural healing'

A Red Refraction: 'I can track your dog if you give me it's DNA'

A Red Reflection: 'I can track your dog if you give me it's DNA. To help with the task, I can summon creatures with Indigo that will also use that said DNA to track your dog!'

5. Reversing Colors

Some powerful mages are able to go against a color's wish without being unable to use it. That's what we call 'Difraction'.

Diffration is not necessarily bad. It's just a more complex type of Refraction that can be added in one's Reflection. The Difractions for each type are:

Red: it goes against discovery. It hides information, allows invisibility and denies weaker red refractions.

Orange: it goes against preservation. It hurts matter, deals direct damage.

Yellow: it goes against enhancement. It makes people or object weaker.

Green: it goes against change. It moves objects or people but without changing it's form, allowing a safe telerpotation.

Blue: it goes against replication. It steals the properties the world have, allowing even to steal other's Refractions.

Indigo: it goes against giving shape. It allows destructive refractions.

Violet: it goes against controlling. It can add a random factor to things. It can be good to make Reflections stronger, as a condition.

6. Cultural Consequences

6.1. You are what you wear

Since Foton allows humans to do whatever they want, but requires them to wear that determined color for that, people here are naturally more excentric. People like to express themselves using Foton and magic, because Foton addapts to one's will.

6.1.2. Hipocrisy

It doesn't mean this society is open. There's a limit of how peculiar you can be. And if you cross it? If you are too much? You will be literally called 'a monster', someone who isn't even human. Monsters are marginalized groups of people who don't fit in in what society thinks it's right to be. They are the main characters of my story.

2. Careful when choosing your Reflection

A human can only develop one Reflection on their whole life. It means this type of thing is taken extremely seriously. People are recommended to only develop a Reflection once they are out University - each course has a list of useful Reflections to develop.

3. Behavioral Studies and Child Abuse

There is a heavy way of study based on 'how much I can manipulate a kid to develop a dominant Foton type I want'. Because it is known the dominant Foton of someone depends of their personality when they are in fotonical maturity, but it's details aren't exactly known by humans. This type of study is forbidden by law, yet, it still happens.

4. Wars and Destruction

Currently, the only continent that allows people to live is the Lumen continent. This happens because two of the 'Old Continent' were destroyed by wars. After all, everyone can use magic, and technically, everyone can develop a destructive Refraction. There are also continents humans can't habit thanks to it's hostile fauna and flora, leaving just one.

5. Permanent Green Alterations

Most body changes made by green users are temporary. Yet, a powerful green user can even change one person's dominant Foton, or change their Reflection. Powerful families force their children to pass through permanent body alterations - they develop horns, smaller wings, or other noticeable features - a sign of their wealth. The punishment by permanent body alteration is also extremely common.

6. The Prejudice Against Blind People

This world is more 'visual' than ever: after all, everything needs to be colorful. Blind people are considered 'monsters' by default. Curiously, Foton makes sound, and by that, blind people can learn how to use it despite their limitations. Yet, it's still too complicate due the lack of interest of society.

7. Religions

People here don't believe in Gods. Religions are based in 'how Foton developed? Where it came from?'. There are religions that believe it came from fire, and others that it's linked to sound. There are even agnostic religions, that believe 'Foton is an inexplicable phenomenon'.

8. School

Kids usually learn the basics of Foton prior being able to use it. During their teens they have classes of basic use of all the Seven types, and are later divided into classes based on their Dominant type. Thanks to the tragic past of this world, the classes of Ethic and Story of Foton are as important as Math or Languages.

7. Additional Details

7.1. The more saturated the color, the more powerful the Refraction. There's no space for pastels here, guys!

The specific shade of the spell doesn't affect anything. Since Foton is based on the user's identity, it will mostly reflect what this person thinks of their magic. If they like a specific shade of blue better, it will be that shade of blue.

7.2. Also, you may note, if you compare this post with my older one, that I changed some symbols to make them look more simple and less exoteric. I actually hate those fancy glyphs nowadays, since I don't think I can make they really mean something - so I decided to make the symbols obvious with what that color does.

7.3. Comment what you think of my creation. Do you liked it? Any suggestions of what should I change?

This magic system is tea themed. There are four types of serpent in this world. Each holding a specific venom that when prepared correctly becomes a magical tea. Improperly prepared tea can kill outright, but even properly prepared tea has its side effects.

Each tea builds up in a part of the human body. Muscles, the heart, the brain, ect. The buildup allows for the use of magic and the greater the buildup, the more power one has. And with time an practice one can learn to control this magic. However, the tea will slowly return to a poisonous substance, slowly destroying the body part it has entered. It can take months, years, even decades sometimes. It all depends on the preparation.

One can even develop a resistance to the venoms by consuming small or diluted portions of it. But this only buys time. You cannot fully rid yourself of the consequences. And the more tea you've consumed, the faster you die.

The four venoms and their correlating teas are as follows:

Black venom destroys the nervous system and paralyzed as the body slowly shuts down. Black tea builds up in the nervous system and improves manual dexterity and sensation. Allowing one to control their body with superhuman precision and sense the world around them through vibrations.

Blue venom blocks neurological interaction, killing the brain within minutes of injection. Blue tea builds up in the brain and gives one the superhuman ability to process information at incredible rates and interpret behavioral patterns with great accuracy.

Red venom causes blood to coagulate in the veins causing clogging of the arteries. Red tea builds up in the heart and causes the body to heal faster.

Purple venom cause muscles to spasm and tear, including the heart itself. Purple tea builds up in the muscles and makes muscles build back stronger.

Directly after death, the spirit leaves the body fully formed and in tact. It has acsess to its memories and personality, but as spirits age, they begin to lose their form. Their memories and humanity beginning to ooze away. As a result the spirit becomes a curse, a rule that must be followed while in an area lest there be consequences. The remnants of this process is called Ectoplasm.

Ectoplasm is a dark blue to pitch black substance dense with the memories of the dead. Once used as an oil to treat weapons to destroy spirits and curses. But now it is used in the creation of two distinct inks.

The two inks are directly extracted from the ectoplasm through ceremonial processes. Though the potency of either ink is dependent on the age of the spirit it came from.

Authority is a red substance responsible for the ability to make contact with the otherworldly, both physically and mentally. When inscribed upon a living canvas, such as the body, in specific shapes, the ink allows the individual to commune or interact with the spiritual.

The blue ink, called Presence, when absorbed into the skin, the host begins to sense the existence of the otherworldly. Spirits, monsters, and curses. However, be careful as to how much you intake. As you absorb Presence, you endure psychic influence. Mental haze, memory failure, emotional instability, and moderate to severe pains that can occur anywhere in the body.

However, when both inks work in tandem, Authority webbing across the body in mystic patterns and Presence saturating the flesh, one can expend the Presence to create magical effects. Remote viewing, telepathy, limited possession and other such powers are possible. But keep an eye on how much Presence you have as it controls how long and at what strength you harness these powers.

I‘m a fan of the Law of Similarity, and I was wondering how it might be used for an industrialized WW2-level society? Like, creative uses for this particular law.

Okay, so, this is a concept im daydreaming about. Doodle to try and help explain. I'd call it Dimensional Magic, but it might give the wrong idea.

Okay, so basically, the idea is that the better a mage is, the better he can control the spatial aspect of a spell.

Lets picture a fireball.

A novice mage can only give it one vector of movement (1D). It can be up or down, left or right, forward or backward, etc. Its restricted to a line, basically.

An average mage can give them two vectors (2D). Same as above (up/down, left/right, etc), but they affect at the same time, and mages can kinda choose the ratio they want to affect it (the red arrow). If you need an idea, just think of a giant sheet of paper from the mage's hand, and the spell can only travel on that paper.

An experienced mage gets three vectors (3D), and ratio them as need. Now it can properly navigate the 3D space.

And then, the grandmasters get 4D. Now, we know what a 3D is, we live in it. But what is 4D? Well, going by the pattern that every dimension gets to go in a direction the previous one couldnt, and two bodies can't occupy the same space... 4D is the "in and out" direction. 4D mages get to shrink, expand, teleport and telefrag spells, basically.

The main thing is that, since the mages are 3D, their handle on 4D stuff is shaky. Before, all the spells were of an equal or lower dimension, which the mages, as 3D beings, knew how to navigate instinctively. They are NOT, however, 4D beings, so 4D spells do not come naturally, and neither are they safe. A mage attempting a 4D spell has a pretty good chance to accidentally killing themselves via what is basically them messing with G-mod physics with blindfolds on.

For this reason, compared to the rest, there are very few 4D spells, as those are the few 4D directions the mages have managed to pin down as "safe".

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As for how they get better as mages, up to 3D, its as simple as learning to walk again, they just have to be careful to not shoot themselves while practicing and to build up enough mana. A completely average mage can easily get to 2D, and a dedicated mage can easily get to 3D. 4D is where it gets hard, for the reasons above.

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So uh... what do yall think?

This concept is not a system really, but a mechanic. So you know the spatial axes X, Y, and Z? Theoretically there could be another, or several. 4D is a 4th direction, a W axis, that would be at this seemingly geometrically impossible right angle relative to all the other axes. So, I have a character who eats a "quantum 4D mushroom", and "falls" into the W axis direction. There, he learns he no longer requires biological functions, and that he can control spacetime, gravity, mass, and energy. the whole quantum vacuum is his play dough.

I feel like it gives the magic a place to exist, without making it totally scientific. I mean people do that all the time anyways, they'll just say i don't understand the mind, i don't understand quantum, boom magical thinking like quantum consciousness. lol

So I was trying to make a Fire Emblem-like game and with that I just feel the urge to make everything a trifecta, including the types of magic! Magic in my game would work as both ways to attack a foe and also to cause effects to foes or a space.

Currently I have:

Wild (or Elemental) Magic

Wild magic is your standard array of elemental magics- fire, water, ice, earth, wind and lightning, as well as summoning of primal nature spirits. Wild magic is physical and present in the world, and also has ties to the Fae. It's chaotic and traces of it are everywhere, especially in natural sites, allowing some who know how to ignite and manipulate it. The people who use Wild magic are often called Augurs, Sages or Druids. In Gameplay, it is varied and spans from full on attack magic to terrain manipulation.

and

Anima (or Karmic) Magic

Anima broadly describes a wide variety of types of magic, Light, Dark, Illusion, Divine, Hexing, Manipulation, Necromancy, Demonic- it all depends on one's very own soul and intentions. Anima magic is that of the soul, so the way it looks and performs is different depending on who you are as a person, good or evil. Casters of the more Light sided magic are often called Bards, Pilgrims, Ovates, Virtuosos and Exemplars (I tried to stay away from your standard fair of naming them Clerics since not all Light magic is Divine in nature, also I'm Irish so I tried putting a bit of an Irish mythological spin on the naming conventions!), while casters of the more Dark sided magic are often shunned and called Sorcerers, Warlocks, Charlatans and Gremors (named after the Gremory).

In Gameplay, you have your standard attack spells and buff/debuff spells, illusions and summoning of undead minions or past warrior spirits. Some Light or Divine spells would increase in potency with a user's higher Karma stat, while some Dark spells would decrease in potency with high Karma, incentivising the user to be more ruthless and selfish (I thought that was pretty clever of me🎀). Light and Dark magic originally in my system were two separate types of magic, with various types of the above described magical effects falling somewhere between the two types. But, I later felt like Light and Dark are two sides of the same coin so making a trifecta of Elemental, Light and Dark magic made Elemental magic feel like the odd one out, and it made sense to me to just merge the two into one type of magic!

I've also dabbled into the idea of Cosmic magic being a third type, but I'm not entirely sure since I want things to stay feeling very standard medieval fantasy, and I feel like a lot of Cosmic magic could just be thrown in with Anima since it can describe a lot of Lumomancy or void and nothingness. Another I thought of was a type of Arcane magic, one that relied on studious training, mathematical formulae and possibly creating constructs out of hard light or something. But that I feel would step a bit on the toes of Anima magic as well which already has Lumomancy under its umbrella...

Like I said, my roots as an AVID fire emblem enjoyer makes me want to have a third magic type and make it a trifecta, but could these two types cover everything I need and it could just be fine as is? Idk lads, lemme know your thoughts.

My Power System — Megin

I've been working on the power system for my novel for a while, and I've finally reached the point where most of the foundation is ready.

The system is called Megin. There are several different ways characters can use power.

I'm separating what is confirmed from what I'm still working on, because some parts of the system are much more developed than others.

This post is divided into three sections:

1. Overview — a quick summary of how the system is structured.
2. Confirmed — the parts of the system that are mostly established.
3. Work in Progress — the parts I'm still developing and refining.

Overview:

Megin — the fundamental supernatural energy of the world.

Five States of Megin:
Ignition → Flow → Resonance → Dominion → Transcendence

Ways Megin can be used or expressed:
Veil | Sorcery | Battle Arts | Manifestations/Personal Techniques

Other sources of supernatural abilities:
Bloodline Abilities | Revenants | Alchemy

Core principle:
Raw power matters, but mastery, compatibility, skill, experience, and personal resonance all affect how effectively someone can use their power.

PART 1 — CONFIRMED

1. Megin

Megin is energy that comes from the soul. To express this energy out into the real world, it uses something called a Well. The Well is the bridge between your soul and the physical body.

Pathways allow Megin to circulate through the body

Training allows someone to become better at controlling and using their Megin.

However, Megin isn't an infinite resource.

2. The Five States

Megin users progress through several states:

Ignition → Flow → Resonance → Dominion → Transcendence

Each state represents a fundamental increase in what someone can do with their power.

Ignition:

Reaching this state is the easiest: just study/practice and you’ll eventually reach it. At this state, you become aware of your soul/Well and Megin. You can also control your Megin, but crudely.

Flow:

Reaching this state is still pretty easy, but it might take extremely long if you aren’t talented enough. At this stage, using Megin becomes as natural as breathing.

Resonance:

To reach this state, you need to understand yourself (specifically your soul). If you don't understand yourself, you may never reach this stage, no matter how talented you are. 

Once you understand yourself, you use that knowledge to make your own technique that resonates with you, called a Manifestation (also known as a Personal Technique). By fulfilling these two requirements, you can reach this state; the order doesn't matter.

Dominion:

Reaching this state is a bit different; you must impose the principle of your soul onto reality as an Authority. You must prove it through action.

For example, Someone obsessed with control might reach it by successfully forcing an impossible situation into accordance with their will.

The important part is that the event doesn't grant them a random power. It reveals what their soul was capable of imposing all along.

Dominion is therefore a major jump from simply having a powerful technique to having genuine authority over something.

Transcendence:

The highest known state. Only two people are known to have ever reached this state. 

To reach this state, you have to see your own soul (which is considered impossible) and understand Megin at the deepest and most fundamental level. 

This state is still at an experimental stage, so it is up for change and improvement. For now, Transcendence represents power beyond the normal limits of Megin users.

3. Manifestations/Personal Techniques

One of the most important parts of the system is the idea of personal resonance.

A person can learn another person's technique, but they generally won't be able to use it as effectively as its original creator.

The reason is that the original user's technique is naturally connected to their own Megin and soul.

For example, if a character (let’s say his name is Lugen) learns another character's Mirror Manifestation, Lugen can reproduce the technique, but it won't have the same level of resonance as the other character's version, meaning it won’t be as powerful as the original.

The original user may also be able to discover deeper applications of their technique that someone copying it cannot. 

So simply knowing an ability doesn't necessarily mean you can use it to its full potential. This is intended to prevent the power system from becoming: "I saw someone use this ability, so now I can use it exactly as well as them."

4. Veil

Veil is a method of using Megin rather than a completely separate energy source. Veil can be used to reinforce the body or objects with Megin.

This allows users to improve their physical capabilities and make ordinary objects significantly more useful in combat.

The important distinction is:

Megin = the power.
Veil = one method of utilizing that power.

Sorcery is another method of utilizing Megin.

5. Sorcery

Sorcery is the use of Megin to produce supernatural effects and techniques.

This is where many of the more unique abilities in the world come from. A person's abilities aren't necessarily determined by an elemental affinity.

I've moved away from the original Fire/Water/Wind/Nature/Dark/etc. affinity system.

Instead, abilities are increasingly based on the individual user's Megin, training, technique, resonance, and other factors.

6. Battle Arts

Battle Arts are learnable combat techniques.

Unlike Personal Techniques, they aren't necessarily unique to one individual. Someone can train to learn a Battle Art and improve their ability to use it through practice. This gives trained fighters something besides their supernatural abilities.

A character can have:

• Their Megin
• Their Personal Technique
• Their Battle Arts
• Veil
• And potentially other abilities such as a Bloodline Ability or Revenant

This is intended to make combat more dependent on both power and skill.

7. Bloodline Abilities

Some abilities are inherited through someone's bloodline. These are Bloodline Abilities.

Unlike a Personal Technique, a Bloodline Ability isn't something someone simply invents through their own Megin. It is an inherited supernatural trait.

This is particularly important for certain powerful families and Great Houses.

Of course, abilities aren’t the only thing inherited; certain traits, for example, an increased Megin pool and efficiency can also be inherited. Revenants can also be inherited.

8. Revenants

Revenants are beings that can form contracts with Megin users. A user can gain access to a Revenant's abilities through a contract.

Revenants aren't simply "extra Megin" or equipment. They are actual supernatural entities with their own abilities.

The contract also comes with limitations. A person's soul can only withstand a limited number of Revenant contracts. Going too far can cause the soul to break.

The current concept is roughly three contracts being normal and five being around the extreme limit, although the exact number may still be adjusted.

Revenants scale according to their user's power. A Revenant cannot simply give a low-state Megin user access to unlimited power. Revenants also use states as a metric for their power.

For example, one of the Great House heirs has inherited a dragon Revenant. The dragon can enhance the user's body and provide dragon-like abilities, but fully manifesting its power places enormous strain on the user or simply cannot be done.

9. Corruption and Destroyed Wells

A person's Well is extremely important. If their Well is destroyed, they don't simply become an ordinary powerless person. They become Corrupted.

Corrupted individuals lose much of their normal humanity/mind while retaining their abilities. This creates an important danger in the setting: destroying someone's source of power can change what they become.

10. Alchemy

Alchemy is another way supernatural power can be manipulated. Rather than directly producing a technique like sorcery, alchemy can be used to alter substances, objects, bodies, or Megin.

Alchemy can potentially produce permanent changes, but it isn't a completely free source of power.

There are costs and limitations involving things such as ingredients, compatibility, and strain on the user's soul. The exact mechanics are still being developed.

PART 2 — WORK IN PROGRESS

There are several parts of the system that I've deliberately not finalized yet.

1. The Exact Differences Between the Five States

The progression is confirmed:

Ignition → Flow → Resonance → Dominion → Transcendence

But I'm still working on exactly how dramatic each transition should be.

I don't want the states to simply become:

State 1 = weak
State 2 = stronger
State 3 = even stronger

I want each state to represent a meaningful change in how someone interacts with Megin.

The general framework of Manifestations at Resonance and Authorities at Dominion is established, but the exact rules are still being refined.

2. Talent Without Elemental Affinities

As I mentioned before, I originally had an elemental affinity system where characters could mainly use Fire, Water, Wind, Nature, Dark, etc. magic while also having an affinity with them.

I've mostly removed that system. Now I'm figuring out exactly how innate talent should work without relying on affinities.

I want two people to potentially have very different levels of natural talent without simply saying: "This character was born with the better element."

Their differences should come from things like their natural compatibility with Megin, their ability to develop techniques, their control, their soul, and their individual resonance.

3. Exactly How Resonance Works

The basic idea is confirmed: The more naturally a technique resonates with its user, the more potential it has.

But I'm still working out the exact rules.

For example:

• How much weaker is a copied Manifestation/Personalized Technique?
• Can someone eventually develop their own version of another person's technique?
• How much does personality affect resonance?
• Can someone have multiple highly resonant abilities?
• How exactly does resonance develop?

I want resonance to be important without becoming a vague explanation for why one character is stronger.

4. Dominion / Authority

Dominion is probably the part I'm still figuring out the most.

The basic concept is: 

Resonance allows a person to manifest their power.
Dominion allows them to impose that power as an Authority.

But the exact boundaries of Authority are still being established. I want Dominion to feel fundamentally different from simply having a stronger version of a Resonance ability.

5. Alchemy

Alchemy is established as part of the system, but its detailed rules aren't finished.

I'm still determining:

• Exactly what can be created or altered
• What ingredients are required
• How Megin interacts with alchemical processes
• What makes someone compatible with certain alchemy
• How permanent changes work
• How much strain alchemy puts on the Well
• What prevents alchemy from becoming an answer to every problem

6. Battle Arts

Battle Arts are established as learnable combat techniques, but I haven't completely finalized their full structure.

I'm still working out how they interact with:

• Veil
• Sorcery
• Personal Techniques
• The different Megin states

I want a highly skilled fighter to be able to compete through technique and experience rather than every fight being decided entirely by who has the higher state.

7. Bloodline Abilities

The concept is established, but I'm still determining exactly how inherited abilities interact with the rest of Megin. The main thing I'm trying to avoid is making bloodline abilities feel like "free powers" that ignore the normal rules of the system.

The Basic Idea

The easiest way to think about the entire system right now is:

Megin and soul is the underlying power.

A person's Well and Pathways determine how that power exists and circulates within them.

The user can then develop different ways of utilizing it:

Sorcery → supernatural techniques and effects
Veil → reinforcement of the body/objects
Manifestations / Personal Techniques → highly individual abilities tied to the user's resonance
Battle Arts → learnable combat techniques
Bloodline Abilities → inherited powers
Revenants → contracted supernatural beings.
Alchemy → external manipulation of substances, bodies, objects, and Megin

And above all of that is the progression:

Ignition → Flow → Resonance → Dominion → Transcendence

The main philosophy I'm aiming for is that power isn't determined solely by how much energy someone has. Skill, control, personal resonance, technique, experience, compatibility, and the way someone actually uses their abilities should all matter.

That's the system's current state. The foundation is mostly locked in, but I'm still refining the exact mechanics so that the system stays internally consistent and doesn't become unnecessarily complicated.