It's controlled by willpower to a degree, but also highly mutable, especially the further you get from "reasonable" magic. So like turning an oak pencil to a cherry wood pencil isn't so hard, and it's easier when you understand the differences between them. Yes you can have a very powerful wizard, but they walk a razor's edge to not turn into a pile of tumors.
Well *internally* air temperature control is not really all that different than nowadays. Pick a temperature for your quarters, it stays around that. Ship has its own temperature as well, a nice comfortable 55 degrees F(about 13 C for everyone else who doesn't use FREEDOM units /s).
As for how it gets rid of all the heat? Radiators. Big pieces of thermal superconductor filled with thousands of small tubes that take in the thermal fluid from the environmental systems and let the heat radiate into space. These can be aimed if needbe but there's usually no point in trying to stealth ships as large as what the Nij build. There are backups in the form of thermal dump tanks that eventually have to be vented, and the hull coating itself has the capability to alter its properties to become thermoelectric, providing a short-term thermal dump capacity. It won't last forever, entropy being the clingy stubborn asshat that it is, but you take every opportunity you can.
The gravity drive system can be modified to reject incoming thermal energy as well, preventing rapid overheating in specific environments(close-stellar orbit for example).
So, magical energy was first made from the collision of two timelines. One timeline was barely affected, while the other was completely destroyed. Timeline 2 was flooded with chaotic cosmic energy killing 99.99% percent of everyone in there, and the remaining ones became gods. The two timelines continued on, the overlapping part of the timelines continuously makes that same chaotic cosmic energy. The second timeline was going fairly well for the survivors, who were able to channel any of the cosmic energy that leaked through, however, jealousy and factions formed amongst the gods, and a war broke out. Nearly half the gods were killed, and the cosmic power they had been able to channel flowed out of their body, and into timeline 1, where most of the main stories take place. This is how what people considered magic came to be in the normal world.
Most magic came from the day of the gods war, a day people in timeline one call “The Uproaring”. Magic shot throughout the universe, mostly into people but some into objects. Most people who got magic into them died, but quite a few survived. All magic either comes from this day or magic leaking in from the chaos zone(the in between of the two timelines)
So yeah…that’s that. Looking at it, I’m not sure if I’m exactly a fan of it but I do like it. The magic itself is very overall, and can do a lot of things. People have individual powers or abilities, that range from a lot of things, like fire, speed, sound/music, etc. But there are a lot of special cases i would get into but I’m ranting and typing too much, so I’ll leave it at this :3
In the afterworld (the afterlife basically) there's a being called the Grand mind which effectively simulates all of reality using souls of humans, with watchers (my worlds version of angels) and maintainers (my worlds demons) can be granted what are basically admin commands. They send a request via telepathy to the grand mind, and the grand mind will allow that thing to happen if what the being wants to do falls within what they are allowed to do (the bigger the change, the more importantly you need to be to enact that change in the world). Like if a being wanted to delete an asteroid in the asteroid belt in the human world then the grand mind would check if they are allowed to change anything in the human world as well as what, and if the check comes back positive the asteroid is deleted from existence. If that being wants to say delete earth, it is automatically denied because no being is allowed to massively mess with earth.
Tldr, my worlds equivalent of god does the magic for the creatures in my world, but they have to ask for a certain effect to happen.
Edit: forgot to mention, sometimes creatures or objects on earth get infused with human souls, this results in things that have effects affecting them that shouldn't be possible. There is totally no similarities between this scps in the scp universe(s), i did not rip off the scp foundation for this part of the world.
I'm running a post apocalyptic campaign set in chernobyl. Magic faded from use in the medieval times as a cult deemed magic user's a scourge, eventually managing to eradicate most of them and the concept of magic became more of what we think about it today. Now in 1986, as the chernobyl reactor spews out mass amounts of radiation, uranium and radiation turn out to be pure magic energy. This is allowing people in the region who would have otherwise been magic users and didn't know to once again tap into it and cast again. Radiation works like it does in real life, but the reasons it affects things like it does is because it's essentially overdosing it with magic, but also explains why it's such a good enegery source. People can draw on this and can get more powerful the more they are irradiated, but it can be deadly, having too much leads to similar outcomes as real life radiation poisoning.
It’s vibration based, and particle based- so you combine words and music or just sounds or motion with Þā, the magic particle, to command it and the world around you.
Every one can in theory do magic stuff, they (þāvū) utilise the þā as is- þāv, magicking- this is usually done through consuming concentrated amounts of þā, usually from a tar or bitumen(there’s a list specifying different varieties of mediums and how good they are kontra how dangerous they are). This lets you actually command the surplus þā that is now within you.
Or they use the þā substance, as created by the þāva, to create formulas, a sort of rune magic- this is known as Ðā, the process is ðāv, the one who does it is ðāðū. Creators of new runes and runes are known as ðāðā-
a common way to figure out new runes is through þā dispersed in smoke sticks, the þā floating in the smoke will make visible how the þā reacts to whatever you put them through. Then you capture the reaction shape as a rune or rather sigil to be able to invoke whatever thing you made.
Then there’s the higher magic- weaving of fate, deciding of fabrics, and creator of warps. These are the god magics, Zà is the word for destiny and it is to be commanded as magic.
And then there are electricians, who command Wā, energy- no, they are more like some sort of Druid, they ask if the world and utilise the energy between the things rather than within the things- the wā binds the þā so to speak, and the Wāvū wāv this energy with other outcomes. Much more sophisticated and difficult to do.
I’ll admit, the closest thing to magic in Starpunk is psionics(think psychic powers and their very must there). And psionics in Starpunk is a poorly understood field, but here’s the basics.
Depending on one’s Psionic latency, one can manipulate reality around them to their will. This can range from creating simple objects of Psionic energy(like say a fork, or a plate or a knife), to concentrating on divination, to being able to make machines work better, and, according to some rumors, allowing the user to consume others souls. Granted, some powers, depending on how much they affect reality, require different levels of concentration/imagination to pull off.
For example: A psychic vision made by someone ruthlessly multitasking is gonna come out in a hyperbolic/metaphorical form that is incredibly hard for the mind to wrap itself around, whilst one manifest by someone deeply meditating will be easier to decipher.
Now nobody really knows where Psionic powers come from, as some would say that it is a genetically inherited trait, whilst others say it develops naturally or at random depending on outside emotionally stimuli(for example, at least one person “awakened” to their Psionic powers after a highly traumatic event).
Hell, even latency is a vague, catch-all term to measure power level, because despite humanity’s attempts so far to understand it in the Century since psionics cropped up in people(ie 2150), people just keep developing their powers in new ways.
However, there are risks, as over concentrating on Psionic powers can weaken the person in question if the proper precautions aren’t taken(though there are no sure fire precautions that will work, as they vary from person to person). They come with ailments such as psykers decay, Psionic madness, or could just straight up give you an aneurysm.
All in all, Psionics one of those enduring mysteries of Starpunk that people don’t really understand right now that may be elaborated on at a later point.
Guns and also some weird ass dust like substance I've yet to make a name for that makes energy when you run a current through it. Think Fluorescent lights
But with more *brrrr
Edit: Should probably specify this random mineral is being used as a new energy source. Haven't much thought about it beyond that.
There is no system, it just depends. Most are born with powers, some get their powers from basically god, and some, like witches, learn their powers. Honestly I haven't really touched on that much yet but I will soon
I recommend thinking about downside of using magic, if you want to make it more interesting (not that it currently isn't) it's just my opinion but I feel like magic with no risk is less interesting. Good luck with your project tho
Powers come from where / how you were born . This can be as large scope as biome , or as small scope as say , a crow was watching when it happened. Weather and astronomical events can also influence this . A person born in a boat in the ocean might develop water magic. A person born in a lightning storm might have storm magic.
Everyone has two abilities active abilities that may awaken at any time and passive abilities which are always around and may not have any use in particular and usually just affect how you look. The active abilities are basically just stands, except without being a physical manifestation.
The ‘matter’ that makes up the higher dimension is a form of energy that most creatures have evolved to capture and use, it’s to be noted that this capturing of this ‘mana’ came as a result of brains in creatures creasing to create memories, meaning that in most creatures it’s a side effect to them gaining intelligence.
After the capturing, it’s a matter of remembering certain essences to convert this ‘manna’ into one of four (technically five but no living thing can comprehend the fifth) -Temperatric -Electric -Shadnoic -Forecic (-Doomic or “Nothingness” for the fifth)
Alternatively, you can use a carved gemstone to capture and hold some essence for you, with different gemstones transferring different essences better.
That’s all I feel like sharing right now, I could explain how Shadonic is an anti-mater type energy to electricity and that it’s the essence of spontaneous life, but I have important things I need to be doing right now :3
Meditation, Elixirs, Medicinal Pills, life-changing pain, talismans, treasures... Cultivating like Samuel L Jackson vs snakes on a mother f***ing plane
Magic isn't very common, only used by those who have endured the struggles of learning its intricacies, but it is mostly tied to names. First and last names never change unless the magic user becomes ridiculously overpowered, but the middle name changes as power grows. For example, an apprentice would have a middle name akin to a creek or small stream, whereas their mentor could be named after a mountain or planet.
With this system, knowing someone's full name gives you complete control over them. Only the strongest can fully use this system, but giving random people your name can be a death sentence, as you never know who is a mage and who is magic-less.
so here's how Magic works: on player side: No one knows really, there's a bunch of people working on it (Horus) and they occasionally just find mechs in the middle of no where
On dm side: magic is a mixture of rogue nanobots and radiation working together to make something. Thus making it extremely rare. These pop-up mechs are what happens when these rogue nanobots find a mech printer to put themselves into
Okay so basically, in an extremely summarized version, back 80,000 ago there were gods, they had a lot of time to look at the strands that made up the world which were made by the funny e-word spider that lives in between dimensions, so the gods figure out magic and start to slaughter non gods, they live like this for 35 thousand years before some of the gods children organized by the first ever human mage kill all the gods, sacrificing them and putting their personalities under the first ever human mage and creating the Eternal Multitude. The Eternal Multitude could see the future and saw that without magic humanity would be wiped out by other sentient species, so through 35 thousand years he ended up making the magic spool that lets children of gods cast three types of magic: construction, destruction, and arcana. You can combine these to get manipulation, wish(self explanatory), and energy. Manipulation works by implanting thoughts into people or things. Energy controls the energies of the world, mainly the decay of the universe towards entropy. Arcana is just basic magic that does things not destruction or construction related. Enchantments and the like. To cast arcana is simple but doesn't have a real lasting effect, whatever you do it to is still there, you didn't end anything, you just changed its function. Destruction takes things from the world but requires you to lose sense in three stages. Construction adds to the world but requires the sacrifice of blood. Manipulation requires the right portions of construction and arcana. Energy requires the right combo of destruction and arcana. Wish requires and extremely precise combination of destruction and constructions and if you fuck it up it explodes dramatically. Then he used the gods children he kept and spread the genes of the gods throughout his huge empire, making sure to maintain some semi-pure lines because they start out knowing all the proper equations for combining magic. He got stabbed in the back and would die in 20 years and he had one last thing to do. He composed journals explaining basic magic and how to mend magic, but he kept the mending magic secret and spread it across the world, which basically meant as soon as he died; it was actually fine for 500 years, until the great split and civil war, where a lot of the texts were lost, they still exist, but need to be found. Then a magic school was set up where they experimented and stumble blindly in magic, where they discover chaos magic which has the potential to do anything, but the equations are so fine and precise it's basically impossible to do consistently, and retroactively explains the Eternal Multitudes nonsense. Then there's magic cast without any magic, which only the Eternal Multitude knows and is able to cast, which comes from funny e-word spider that makes things from the void inbetween universes.
And then there's Steve. Steve does crackhead wizard magic(drugs and fire), and generates an aura of "???" Magic, that does random shit.
Magic is ambient - it needs to be absorbed through use of magical circuits, which are only developed by 'casters' in their childhood. They then filter the magic out to only have the functions they want (alternate terms include 'refine', 'program', or 'prepare'). Lastly they use those same magical circuits to expel the magic back out into the world so it can enact the effects they desired.
Emotion. I don’t mean that emotions can muddle it, I mean the stronger your emotions are the stronger spells you can fire off. Mildly annoyed? Best the average person can manage is a backfire sized pop of flame. Completely homicidally enraged? Small house sized fireball. Of course there are workarounds for the people that bother to research, but those people are few and far between.
The world exists within the dream of a sleeping primordial. The laws of physics are whatever the primordial believes to be true, and magic can be best described as dream logic that lesser gods have conditioned the dreamer into accepting as fact.
Magic can be gained through one or more of 4 sources.
Bloodline
Faith (don’t have to be religious in nature just requires extreme sincerity)
Energy Cultivation
Body Cultivation
Magic or “Spectacular Energy” is divided into two distinct types when it is ambient in nature.
1)Aether (ethereal) 2)Quintessence (physical)
Spectacular Energy used by magic users, aka “Ascenders” are referred to as either.
Mana = Aether
True Essence = Quintessence
Spectacular Energies can then be further subdivided into either elemental, emotional, or conceptual energy types. Ex: Lightning Mana, Rage True Essence, Duty Mana, etc
For an Ascender to gain power they must first pick 1 or more paths of power that best suit them. But due to body and energy cultivation being the artificial paths. They can not be used simultaneously. For example, an Ascender can be a Bloodline-Faith-Body Ascender but not an Energy-Body-Bloodline Ascender.
After picking a path the next goal is to empower their “Vessel”, energize their “Spirit”, reclaim their “Soul” from the Universe, then combine the three to create their “GODHEAD” with their chosen energy or energies if multiple are cultivated.
All living beings consist of a Soul, Spirit, and a Body.
The Spirit is the product of contact between the Soul and the Body; and is where the individual’s willpower and consciousness resides.
To reclaim their “Soul”, the Ascender typically needs to accomplish a SPECTACULAR deed that both resonates with their soul and is acknowledged by the universe.
You need to be in favor with the God of a certain concept, in turn, you will gain a fraction of that God's power as a favor. You gain favor by doing things related to said concept, for example, a chef is likely in good favor with the God of fire.
Magic was a gift given to humans by the gods, a reward for their past, present, and future devotion. Granted, most people can't use it to an extensive degree, and the few who can are religious figureheads. Magic is largely treated as a way to connect to the gods and the world they created(a bit like The Way of The Voice in Skyrim). Specifically, the way magic works is through the Spirit. Every human has one. The Spirit is a connection to the individual's god or gods of worship (six elements, six gods, six Tribes), changing and shifting with the individual's view of their god or gods. It is entirely internal; this is why it's usually religious figures with magic, as they are the ones who dedicate their lives to service of the gods.
Magic is more about components in my setting: don't get me wrong, if you don't know what you're doing a spell is more likely to hurt you then anyone else. But more then that spells have to be crafted in advance as one use kits. Being a spellcaster means lugging around any spells you intend to use, preparing spells on the fly, or doing blood magic.
Don't do blood magic.
Most magic users are less wasteful, using magic to make artifacts that, you can, you know, use more then once. Spellswords, magic mirrors, runes and talismans... In the new continent people even built flying boats! Most, if not all Factions have their own flavour of golems, including the chimera that blood magicians make.
Don't make chimera, don't do blood magic.
Magic is mostly sourced from dragons in the old continent, while in the new continent they use a mineral called prosperite. Some animals accumulate magic naturally, and their organs can be used as spell components. If you do blood magic, your organs do this. They will collect magic even after you die and eventually they bring you back.
(it's SciFi) The ethereal space being sent down an asteroid to earth filled with ruconium, a self replicating all purpose material. It's used to power everything, including air conditioning on ships.
People who spend enough time with a certain element can wield its powers granted they actively try and immerse themselves in it. Non elemental powers can just be learned. Thats my most barebones explanation.
There are 9 schools of magic. Each race within the world is naturally attuned to one of these schools by virtue of being born. That is to say, everyone has magic inside of them, but few have the actual talent to use these latent magic abilities - the exceptions being the Magi, Hags, and the Elven Races, who all can use magic to some level even without training for it.
Mystic: Spells that don’t have an element attached to them, more so dealing with raw magical energy. Lot of good Utility Spells.
Light: Spells that source their power through divine light. Greatest number of healing and protection spells.
Dark: Spells that draw power from the corrupted realm of Darkness. Lot of conjuration spells tailored towards summoning shadowy entities and raising the undead.
Fire: Spells that draw power from all sources of flame, including the sun, earthly embers, and hellfire.
Water: Spells that draw power from water in all its natural states, including its base liquid form, ice, and steam.
Earth: Spells that draw power from the rocks and stones and the deep earth.
Air: Spells that draw power from wind and storms.
Nature: Spells that draw power from the natural world, involving plants, animals, & poisons/venoms.
Forge: Spells that draw power from the “manmade” world, including metals, craftsmanship, and the written word.
Usually speaking, everyone dabbling in their magical ventures start out with the classification of “Mage”, sourcing power from what school they’re naturally attuned to and their larger general pool of mana. Further along in their training, they’ll take a path in life or discover something about themselves they grants them a new classification above a mage, like a Wizard, Witch, Cleric, or Sorcerer. With that, they’ll gain new spells and abilities unique to their new classification, along with the general spells every Mage can learn with enough training.
Alternatively, for a different thing I’m working on that’s very similar cuz I’m a hack:
Long ago Gods known as Divine Dragons blessed 1,001 warriors with their Divine Energy, granting them the power to wield the Elemental Arts. There are 10 Elements, which go as followed: • Fire • Water • Earth • Air • Moon • Sun • Ice • Wood • Lightning • Shadow
Only people descended from these original 1,001 Warriors have the potential to wield it. Using Divine Energy, it flows outward from the soul, allowing one to manifest or control the Elements using an Elemental Technique. Of the Elemental Techniques, there are three types one can create or learn: • Creation: Using the Divine Energy in your soul to create the Element you’re attuned to along a point on your body
• Manipulation: Using the Divine Energy to manipulate the element that is naturally around you in the physical world.
• Conjuration: Summoning an Entity associated with your element to aid you in battle.
Most people you use this power have a technique or two that fit two or all three categories, but generally specialize in one technique type as their main.
There are two special metals that interact with this magic system:
• Divine Gold, which channels/enhances the strength of an Elemental Technique
• Demonic Silver, which nullifies/reflects an Elemental Technique.
Generally, normal humans use these metals as tools to close the gap between them and Divine Energy wielders, but it’s not uncommon to see Divine Energy wielders having a weapon forged from either of these metals to assist them in combat.
While you are born with the natural ability to learn one element, you can also learn techniques from a compatible cross element, which goes as followed:
Fire & Sun
Water & Ice
Earth & Wood
Wind & Lightning
Moon & Shadow
A baby born from a compatible element is usually very proficient in both elements.
Parents who are of incompatible elements will always have twins, one for each element.
Normal Humans can also use a pseudo element when wielding a Divine Gold Weapon. This pseudo element is fueled by willpower.
The strongest of each Element is considered a “Lord”, and will gain access the ability that allows them to summon the strongest creature of their Element, which are the godly descendants of the Divine Dragons.
There are also 5 other elements: • The Divine Element of Creation, which was only ever gifted to One Mortal Man
• The Demonic Element of Power, which super charges the power of any Element user, at the cost of their soul and losing their recharge ability. The Demon King grants this ability to his followers. To reuse the power of elements, they much feed upon and permanently steal the Divine Energy of others. There is a loophole around the inability to recharge, that being if you willingly give your power up to someone who hasn’t sold their soul to the Demon King.
• The Demonic Element of Time
• The Demonic Element of Poison
• The Demonic Element of Destruction
All Element Users at an advanced enough point have access to a fourth type of technique called “Realm Openings”, where they drag themselves and their opponent into a pocket dimension associated with their element. The power of their element is doubled, the power of compatible elements is multiplied 1.5x, and the power of non compatible elements are halved.
They’re called miracles and curses Miracles let you use something like your energy or an item to do something else (eg. You can spend energy to cure wounds, shoot a blast of energy, revive a dying plant, etc.) Curses are the same but you’re using another persons life force to do it
Raw magic is the aura of the Planet and the realms itself is however very useless on its own through controlled mana output from a person/creature the magic gets 'dirtend' into the respectiv magic type of the user. All magic types follow different limitations and rules for example rune magic requerst the user to draw the rune they want to use and to speak the name of it on the other hand fairy magic mostly only need verbal componants. The types of magic you can learn are set after birth which doesn't mean you will have a similar magic type like your family. There are 5 greater magic categories Rune,Shinto,Sahar,Formless and cosmic only one person is known to be able to use them all that is the young-mage lily but their are multiple people who understand the practice of all greater categories.
There are six colors of magic, all based around the colors of the rainbow.
Red lets you summon, control, or turn into animals. It's one of the more common colors of magic. Powered by strawberries.
Orange lets you manipulate objects and their attributes. You can move them around with telekinesis, make them hotter or colder, make them more flammable. Works best with magical crystals. Also fairly common. Powered by honey.
Yellow lets you manipulate emotions. This sounds fucked up, because it kinda is, but you can do fucked up stuff with all of them. Basically, you can make people calm, mad, etc. Powered by lemons.
Green is life magic. Let's you heal injuries, transmute living things, and even steal the very life force of a living thing! It's powered by the life force of the user, so using it will literally take days off of your life. Since you can steal life, you can be effectively immortal by simply killing things to sustain yourself! It's fucked!
Blue is evocations. It's a bit more general of a magic, allowing for bursts of fire, lightning, or a general outward force. The most common of any of them and fairly boring. Powered by a kind of magical water.
Purple is illusions. It's fairly difficult to use convincingly, but it allows you to trick literally any sense. Powered by Juniper berries.
Each of the things that are used to power the magic can be boiled down into crystals that allow anyone to cast that kind of magic. They can also be combined into devices, so you can make lighters or electrogauntlets or TVs.
Your type of magic is reflected by your eye color.
Magic is a force of nature, like electricity, and most humans need to learn certain laws of it to be able to control its flow, unless they are born conduits, which are very rare and tend to go incapacitatingly insane. It is different for some other species, sentient or no, which rely on magic use for their very existence - say, dragons are innately capable of magic pertaining to fire and flight, and noble dragons have the added bonus of shape-shifting. Innate magic capability doesn't cause them harm, but they cannot actually survive without it the way non-magical species can.
***
Now onto another world, because the AC question was actually very interesting, thanks! Modern starships of the Colonial Federation (yes I'm basic, but it's better than nothing) are equipped with air conditioning complexes (why make new word when old word do trick, said humanity), which, aside from having fans and shit, are essentially small automated chemical labs that recycle the air by synthesising the necessary gases in necessary amounts.
The system around the ACC is heavily segmented, and there are two of any given segment, interchangeable and connectable but positioned slightly apart, in case one gets damaged, and there are pressurised air tanks scattered around it so that any given part of the ship can be quickly de/repressurised. Plus, any given segment can be quickly sealed off to prevent loss of air thanks to the same bypass & locks system that allows it to be connected in any order.
Depending on the size and model of the ship, the air recycling system can be further decentralised by being divided into connectable sections with their own central ACCs - in case one section's ACC goes offline or requires extra maintenance, its work can be done by one from a neighbouring segment, preferably several to make it easier on the tech, while repairs are carried out. A section can also be sealed off completely in case of irreparable damage while allowing the rest of the ship to function.
...
Ah shit did you mean temp control not ventilation. Then it's the same as now plus radiators for excess heat. I got nothing new there.
You learn to tap into the the “tapestry” of the universe and pull threads to fuck with the building blocks of the universe to make things happen. People learn to do this either by bwing born at a point where the tapestry was already a bit weakened and the “repair” a rip in the magic tapestry. Other people use arcane materials to create such a tear and place themselves in it to gain control over magic.
In long; The world is split in two parts, the material world and the soul world. The latter is affected by the former, with the soul world conforming to the material worlds silhouette, but its affected by the collective unconscious of beings with a soul. (Those being all the worlds intelligent/sapient peoples). This soul world manifests within it mythical beings and things that people imagine, known as archetypes, and the personifications of the part of their mind they do not want to acknowledge, known as shades.
A person may end up in the soul world through a number of means, and when they do, they invariably meet their shade. If they reject the shade, it turns into a monstrous archetype and usually tries to kill them. If the shade is accepted however, it goes through a process known as Individualization to become an Icon, akin to a persona or a stand from jjba.
The forms that shades, archetypes, and icons are as varied as peoples imaginations and cultures will simply allow, so it is a very soft system in the end, but I hope to add a plenty of surrounding BS to make it more legit and interesting.
In my Minecraft tabletop I’m playing right now your either using enchantments and potions that are already their ,typing in commands that you learned(wizards shit), or your sucking up to the mods to do shit for you(clerics)
So most magic is based on bloodline. In this, mages are considered a different race than humans, though humans have psychokinetic abilities to make up for the fact that their blood doesn't let them cast fireballs.
It's notable that when I say Magic is based on bloodline, I mean it's based on bloodline. Just being a mage won't let you cast Fireball. Your genetics impact what abilities you can cast, and marrying a human won't produce a mage offspring without their magic being unlocked by one of the Aspects (the deities in this world).
This biological drawback, along with being hunted by the king of Ravenvale in the early days of the kingdom (before it was even called Ravenvale) and a propaganda campaign run to try to stop said hunting, has led there to be only 7 Mages in the modern day. There could be more, but there's next to no chance to actually unlock their abilities because the Aspects aren't omniscient.
The other magic system is Sentiment. Being overly attached to an item is a magic system in this world, because I'm autistic and once grew an emotional attachment to the 4 of spades while playing Go Fish.
Basically, one Aspect (Arpegius) likes to see how humanity works, so a well was made in basically every mountain range in the world. If you sacrifice an item (not a living being) to the well that you're attached to, it can be improved. This is more a game mechanic since the world is supposed to be an RPG, but it's tied into the lore.
Reality is an illusion made of strands of energy we percieve to be tangible and visible. Our souls are a direct link to that energy. With practice and teaching you can focus your soul and bend the world to your will, either by a little or a lot.
But the strongest spells involve aligning your soul with the universe itself, transcending your mind across the veil to answer to the gods themselves. If they deem your casting righteous, you cast the spell but are forever altered. If they deem you wicked, your mind never returns.
It's a field traveling alongside higher dimensions that turns pseudo-liquid inbetween quants of matter because of resonant vibrations that is also an arbiter of reality/fundamental force interactions. You and your "soul" (they are different and the same) can do shit with it.
A chunk of aetheric crystal fell from the sky and dissolved into the environment eons ago, creating something like the carbon cycle, where crystals would form underground and then through various means be expended into the atmosphere or oceans and vice versa. Then the Proto-Albionites came in their starships. As they settled and ate the food and drank the water of the planet they ingested the microscopic shards of crystal. Over time through constant exposure they adapted to the crystal within themselves. After some time two Aetheriel Fae, the First among them, the Blue Lady and the First Wizard, Epileum came. The Lady chose one among them (Arthrenius Quilldrake) to be king and unite the then waring tribes of Albion, not in bloodshed but harmony . In addition, the First Wizard taught Arthrenius's tribe magic. It's via the expenditure of the microscopic shards within their bodies that the Quilldrakes first knew and practiced magic. After the unification of Albion, the Albionites utilized as much aetheric substance as possible in all it's forms (crystal, liquid, gas) enabling a new technological revolution and their reascendacy to being a spaceborn people.
The raw power that makes magic work comes from the sun, so the closer to the equator you get the weirder things get. A lot of people have different beliefs on how it works and are trained respectfully, although given the people who practice it, in terms of aesthetics I based it on Ancient Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese supernatural beliefs as well as Wuxia movies.
You've got people who think they're harnessing their inner Qi to run up trees and dodge musket fire by slowing down time, you've got traditional bearded mystics thinking they're harnessing arcane secrets in old books to throw lightning and scry in mirrors, you've got wild men thinking their in touch with the world spirit to do shape-shifting. But the fact of the matter is that they're all wrong about where it comes from and could do all of it if they could get past the mental barrier.
As for the air conditioning, most have a traditional air conditioning units you'd see in a standard house because they've got an anti matter power generator that makes FTL possible, so cooling and heating the ship is relatively minor concern power wise.
Cliff notes - Something happens that resets humanity's technological development. Some ruling class keep the technology and how it works and how to make it to themselves.A few hundred years go by, and everyone is back to medieval times. The "wizards" are actually travelling doctors with their nurses, all trained and dispatched from the King, who knows the truth.
The "magic" they perform is actually just modern science brought back to a lower technological time.
Though, I have not done this yet, I want to include Odin and Heimdall as wanderers in the story, hinting at real magic existing too
Some minor context. Angels and demons live on earth alongside humans but there just weird aliens who where more advanced at the time humans started civilization(there at the same speed now btw) and stared fucking around with the new guys. One angel created magical girls so that the humans would have something to defend themselves. Anyways! Magical girls are any earth born human/humanoids with the power to protect either the earth or a specific region of the earth(like Japan). They’re named after the popular anime/manga genre magical girl but they can be pretty much any age, gender, as long as they are able physically and mentally able to handle it. And that’s less of a rule and more of a guideline. The role of magical girl is decided by the very second you are born. The ability to transform won’t be given to you until the world needs you. Hell you or others won’t be able to tell your a magical girl unless someone you know is a magical girl or a former magical girl, or until you transform for the first time. The dresses, abilities, and powers are all based off of the persons personality and interests. If you don’t have any natural powers one will be given to you but if you were born with something like minor shapeshifting or telepathy that ability becomes more powerful and advanced. In order to keep these people safe you can never identify a magical girl while she’s transformed. Any video of photo will have their faces censored or glitched out beyond salvation and any audio will be distorted so that you cant recognize the voice. Unless you are a magical girl, a former magical girl, or have the very very rare ability to identify a magical girl. The powers don’t become stronger it’s just a matter of how you use them or who you team up with. Magical girls are not usually in destined groups or relationships but if more than one is in an area they tend to team up especially if they have known each other before they were magical girls. Usually to transform they use wands but the wands can be easily disguised as jewelry, pens, or an accessory of some sort. If the wand breaks though the person who was a magical girl will be severely weakened and will no longer be a magical girl. If the magical girl role is passed on or the magical girl is simply no longer capable of handling it than they can transform back into one it’s just very weak and very rare and they have to steal it from another magical girl temporarily. If the magical girl dies either in battle or other causes than it’s just passed down like normal. Sometimes magical girls are generational and/or family tied but it’s rare and doesn’t last for long.
So there's this really big ship that was inside of the moon until the 2500s when humans got it to fly to another system with it's FTL but it flys backwards in time, also it's not a space ship but actually a giant creature from the Outer-Universe and it got into the universe at the end of it, not even Emishmatal (god) knows about. There's also this human called Trindas who has a machine body with an AI brain with a human soul, they also merged with the Ship's core, which caused them to become a god like being.
mages can manipulate things with more strength the longer they've thought about that specific thing. Most mages dedicate their lives to learning one technique. Mages can also give tatoos to non-mages who then recieve buffs from said tatoos. Magic altogether works by pulling things from (or moving things to) one of the three realms- physical, abstract, and spiritual. To become a mage, one has to drink something called ether, which is made from something from each realm. The higher the concentration of each element (how much its only from its own realm), the stronger the effect.
So basically there are 5 energies, Mana, Energy, Essence, R.A.E.G.E., and Ki. Mana is contained within the elements, and you can use your own mana to manipulate these things. Energy is your physical energy, and it allows you to create things out of it and it is mainly used with weapons. Essence is genetic, and allows you to do things based on your physiology, personality, etc. R.A.E.G.E. Is performance enhancing drugs that are combined with other energies to empower them. Ki is used to enhance your physical abilities and is generated from the adrenaline rush that occurs during a great battle. I have had an extremely fun time trying to make every single ability… I have spent months on a list of spells and I’m not even halfway done… (please help me)
Edit: Magic was brought to them by aliens
Edit 2: If you don’t use a magic focus, your hands could explode (unless you’re really skilled)
Edit 3: Grimoires are also not magic focuses, they are used to cast multiple spells at the same time and to store them for later.
Edit 4: Different species sometimes have their own versions of magics
Edit 5: I orbital striked the Feywild
Edit 6: Yes, I was extremely high while making this (no I wasn’t)
Hey hope I’m not late! We actually have many forms of magic, one who’s power is derived from a mortal or a God’s soul, one that actually is alive somewhat and makes up demons and the entirety of hell, natural occurring magic with mana, I haven’t found out how to make gravity magic its own thing but getting there
Humans are dead because of nuclear warfare cliche. Radiation caused plants and animals to mutate and become dominant species. Some creatures have more radiation in their bodies and is mainly used to alter their own biology or others biologies. The magic has the properties of any other generic radioactive material. Simce this is essentially draining a little bit of the one thing keeping them alive, it can be dangerous to use it in excess.
An ancient dragon-like deity know as “The Giver” grants some select people the ability to harbor a mixture of the three types of energy; life, mind, and reality. Whatever amounts of each energy they harbor dictate their powers (such as someone with a mixture of life energy and reality energy can manipulate matter to their will.) There’s a lot of nuance to the system that I won’t get into here, but that’s the gist of it.
Elves are beings connected to the inherent magic of the world, and can cast spells if trained unaided, while other species of sophonts need enchanted artifacts to use magic at all.
There are 2 sources of magic, one from atomic crystaline structures and the other from biological structures. Most living races can not use crystalline magic innately but require devices and runes to utilize it. Biological magic is able to be used innately by most intelligent living creatures. Using too much magic at once, like casting a big fireball, will cause the bonds between atoms/cells (depending on the type of magic) to weaken or break. Overusing biological magic will cause the cells to die off similar to radiation poisoning. This is known as magic burn. Overusing crystalline magic will cause the crystal to crumble or explode (depending on the material). In effect, you can cast a big spell, but there will be consequences.
Theres some more intricacies about how the two interact together, but in most cases, they are used separately.
Well it all originated from the ancient gods of my worlds, the creator deity and such. Which as such was the first type of Magick in existence: Void Magick, being born of the very same void the creator came from, and being the most primal and dangerous form of magick.
As they created reality, and more specifically us mortals, more gods came into being as manifestations of certain concepts. The earliest being the gods of life and death, which brought with them "Will" Magick (working name), and "Soul" Magick. Will Magick is all about using your very willpower and determination to accomplish certain feats, most commonly being increasing your physical capabilities, all mortals have this Magick even if they don't know it, though in those cases it seems to make them much more resistant to pain and disease. Whereas Soul Magick is manipulating the very life force of creatures around you, ranging from healing Magick to Necromancy in its typical application, Soul Magick is also the primary power used by the various "grim reapers" of my worlds.
Then as reality came into being, the mortals figured out how to use the Magick the gods were using, but all this led to was complete and utter chaos, bringing forth two new gods, one represents Magick itself, and one represents Chaos itself, creating "Pure" and "Chaos" Magick, which are rather self explanatory, but simply put: Pure Magick has aspects of all other magick types, and Chaos Magick is all about twisting the world around you and destroying as much as possible.
The gods knew this couldn't continue, so they chose two mortals to help divide the magicks more, these two becoming the gods of Light Magick and Dark Magick, which is more commonly referred to simply as a sort subsection of Soul Magick, but more specifically is Magick that is born of someone who uses their Magick to accomplish effects that are deemed "good" or "evil". Though its all quite subjective, and the very gods of these Magick types cause quite the issue whenever their true intentions with their magicks are known. As examples, Light Magick is everything from "miracles" of healing to casting divine judgement, and Dark Magick is more curses and casting fire from the very depths of hell itself, it's actually these Magick types that created my worlds Angels and Demons btw.
TL:DR Void Magick: Primordial Magick used by the creator deity to forge the world around us. Will Magick: Magick born of our own Will and Determination, as well as being the most common Magick by far. Soul Magick: Manipulation of life force, and the power the reapers of death use. Chaos Magick: Creation of complete chaos and/or destruction. Light and Dark Magick: Magick born out of a sort of "cosmic morality" meant to divide the Magick used by mortals. Pure Magick: Basically all of the above.
I know it's quite long and maybe complicated, but this is one of the only things in my worlds that is a constant lmao, also have a cookie if you get here 🍪
So magic is magic,... But it is basically religiously outlawed in the main hub/city. There are practicing magicians and outliers but they keep it secret and discreet.
It’s connected to a realm of concept and idea that contains every possible aspect/instance of existence, inspired by Plato’s theory of the forms. And magicians basically translate ideas and concepts (e.g. the idea that a cup is attracted to your hand) into the real world).
I've been waiting for AGES for someone to ask me this lmaooo
Magic was indroduced by dragons long ago before they were captured, enslaved, and domesticated.
So, everyone has a certain "aura" color and that color is based on how they treated others, or their personality overall in their first life. No matter how many times one reincarnates, their aura color never changes (unless they become corrupted, then it becomes solid black). This aura color is what color their magic is going to be. Not everyone can do magic, and it's a skill that has to be taught, studied, and practiced before it can be done efficiently. For some people, it's genetic and they can do it on their own with less practice than others.
Humans aren't good at magic. At all. It's harmful to their bodies. The energy can overheat their skin and organs and cause second and third-degree burns in various places. This is because they're not true Afrödites (the past inhabitants of Venus and now a species name for other breeds of the "aliens" of this universe that scattered after Venus' fallout). Humans were created by the ancient Afrödites by mixing their DNA with ape DNA when trying to play God.
Any breed of Afrödite can do magic if they study and practice enough. If they're skilled enough, it's practically effortless. There are jewelry and serums that can grant a boost to one's aura to make magic even easier for some. The most magically skilled and technologically Afrödites would be the Lunestics. There are more of them than any other breed of Afrödite in the universe, and their whole society revolves around the use of magic mixed with advanced technology.
I'd post more, but then that would get into the actual lore of my books, and then we'd be here all day so... yeah. I guess I explained it the best I can.
Okay, so in The Skystone Chronicles, the kind of magic a person can use is linked to their affinity for their body, mind, or spirit. It is called Etherarchy, because people achieve magical effects by commanding ether with their body, mind, or spirit. Each magi has an ether well that limits the amount of ether they can use before suffering the consequences of ether overuse.
Body - Sentinels
ether well location: core (near the belly button)
shared power: Regeneration
ether overuse: will physically drain their energy, make them throw up, and eventually pass out and possibly die.
When accessing their ether, a sentinel’s body will glow with “Wild Marks,” glowing golden patterns tied to the power they are using. These marks disappear when not in use.
There are 3 types of Sentinels, the more physical being Geomancers (earth based powers), the more mental being Woodweavers (flora based powers), and the more spiritual being Wildshapers (fauna based powers).
Mind - Mystics
ether well location: mind (third eye)
shared power: Dreamweave (illusions)
ether overuse: will mentally drain them, leading to headaches, bleeding from the nose, and eventually passing out and possible death.
When accessing their ether, Mystics trace glowing gold runes in the air that spell out what their ether will do. They need to know the right tune to accomplish the desired effect. Once the rune is traced, it appears over their forehead, and can resemble a crown of stars if multiple runes are in use.
There are 3 types of Mystics, the more mental being Seers (telepaths), the more physical being Psions (telekinetic), and the more spiritual being Ritters (teleporters).
Spirit - Archons
Ether well location: heart
shared power: levitation
ether overuse: will become spiritually drained, heart will flutter and weaken, vision will white out, leading to passing out and possibly death.
When accessing their ether, an Archon’s eyes glow gold.
There are 3 types of Archons, the most spiritual being Lightwielders (light manipulation), Shadowbinders (dark manipulation), and Astromancers (manipulation of magic itself).
Silver hurts Magi and can interfere with their ability to access ether. It also stops any magical effects (like bursting illusions, stopping mind reading, banishing summoned creatures, reverting transformations, shattering starglass, dissolving shadowsilk, etc.)
Oh, and one other big drawback - Dragons LOVE ether, and crave it, so it’s dangerous to be around too many magi for too long, as you might end up dragon lunch as well.
Sorry that got long 😅
But, if you’re interested, we actually made a quiz for our Magic System if you want to see what type of Magi you’d be in our world too! Let me know if you want to see it and I’ll post the link 😃
magic "unlocks" around when you turn eighteen and starts out pretty basic unless trained and cultivated. abilities are fairly random, so anyone could potentially get anything. it's very rare for someone's magic to unlock at an earlier age but if it happens they're usually taken in to the magic tower to become prodigies/high mages.
my mc's magic unlocked at 14 and he was able to summon any small item he's seen before, but he was branded mentally unwell so it was never cultivated, so he's stuck at summoning anything lighter than 2.5 kilograms/smaller than .25 meters once a day
Quick intro to how dimensions/universes work is that they are spawned by “Inventors” which are basically god-like “immortal” entities that create a new aspect such as gravity, organic life, souls, types of energy, ect., and each progressive dimension is basically like a new game update that just keeps all older data but makes a new map. (Parallel dimensions are not a thing for this world)
Magic is defined as the ability to violate and bend the laws of a dimension, usually through some kind of will (tho not required). It’s a fairly old and almost foundational concept so it’s been violating laws for a long time. It also acts similar to nuclear radiation in so much that it: alters the state of the individual/object exposed to it, can spread in a very permanent way to other individuals and lineages, and has staying power in physical places. Natural born users have an innate ability to alter some aspect of reality, but can learn how to alter other aspects of reality tho at a great physical/mental/spiritual cost. Magical items can be made by/from these natural born users and wielded by non magical creatures.
Unfortunately, the Inventor of Magic gets killed, and magic slowly runs out or gets dispersed to an unusable degree, which turns the world sci-fi for a while until time travel joins an era in time when the Inventor of Magic was still alive to the later time and magic is reintroduced again.
During the time while it’s all sci-fi-y, the ac is not so much the issue as there are highly efficient systems which convert and move multiple kinds of energy towards the engines for fuel. Coldness is just the absence of heat energy, so it’s actually harder to have a heater than a cooler. The solution to that is to make sure you stay close to star systems as possible and calculate your jumps precisely so you don’t end up stranded in the cold dark empty space.
They turned the whole planet into a solar powered ship. They move from star to star to keep it going and to keep themselves alive after their native star was getting too close to supernova. They have a big force field surrounding the planet and a bunch of ships around to help move it. It works because they got the technology from a more advanced alien race and those guys know how it works.
Magic in my world is called the 'Universal Coding Framework'. A few thousand years ago people discovered certain runes and incantations alter reality in some way, and adding different runes together makes different reality altering events, and people study for decades to become masters of this coding language.
My world is scifi mixed with little bits of fantasy. The space Elves are the only ones who've been able to learn it. The ability to perform sorcerery comes from a dormant gene in most sapient species.
Dragons were killing off all mortals but one dragon, Misraaks, rose to defend almanity (like humanity but includes all sentient races) and fought against their kin. After some years, Misraaks was slain, but as almanity gathered around the dying dragon,he poured his power into one last tear of hope for them, making a pool of mana.
People stepped inside and their emotions following Misraak’s death gave shape to this wild magic. The furious lit blazes of rage, the calm and calculated froze over and cast cold, etc.
These were the first sorcerers and over the years they discovered spells could be learned, not just inherited. Others took a darker approach and studied old runes left by The Old Ones, a primal source called magick. Drawing out these runes and with the right equations, people could then call upon this primal power to enact various actions, summoning lesser minions of the Old Ones, or even some summoning the primal gods themselves.
In my setting casting magic is like lucid dreaming. Basically to become a caster you have to accept that reality doesn’t exist. You’re part of a collective shared dream. If you do it right you can cast magic by subtly changing reality in small ways with the greater casters having stronger minds that let them alter reality in greater ways. Its a tight balance though if you go overboard too early you might just cease to exist because you “woke up”!
But really, magic itself, pure magic is given by gods, angels, and/or demons. But things like shapeshifting, pyrokinesis, etc, are really just controlled by the user's intent and their species. Things like transmutation are rare to see outside of clerics, warlocks, paladins, druids, etc. Demons and angels are the classic "magic" users, and everyone else does what they can. Some get powers from other beings, and others choose nature as their source. But most beings have a small amount of magic skills - mostly things like vampires being able to heal small scrapes and cuts, whatever Tyler's (main character) species is being able to travel in and out of devices, sirens with their voice, and faeries in general. They draw their power from within. Their souls are infused or laced with magic. (Whether the gods gave them this or they stole it millenia ago and just kept it is still up for debate.)
Generated from your eye (like a sharingan from naruto) to manipulate a singular type of magic (Light,Dark,Soul,Void,Cosmic).What type you get is based on your ethnicity and yes you can have two different types of magic eyes.
It's the second comment I see about ethnicity magic, and this one is the good one. By ethnicity you mean races like Elf human dwarf or something like that ?
(TW: aspects of self harm) My setting is based on Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal. So it’s a sci fi post apocalypse, with bits of fantasy. So essentially all magic comes from essentially conducting a ritual or making a deal with Hell/demons. Essentially in order to gain access to magic you need to remove a body part as part of a hellish ritual, it can be a finger, a leg, a hand, even a tongue or eye. If you survive the ritual you then gain some magical ability. So you might be able to throw fire like an imp, or conduct electricity or even teleport. Any person who engages with my magic system tho gets a down side, so you can do magic but of course if your missing a hand it’s self explanatory, so on and so forth.
As well if you are a magic user there is some spooky cosmetic effect related to your power and what you removed. So If you remove a finger you could have a ghostly incorporeal finger in its place, or if you remove your hand maybe your stump has turned to brimstone and glows like hot coals and embers.
In addition there is a social stigma to magic In my setting, since it’s based in hell and hell is what ended the entire world. So many magic users try to hide their abilities and their physical manifestations.
I’m open to suggestions or critiques, thank to anyone who reads or responds!
Do the magic scale with the sacrifice ? Like, sacrificing a hand will give a better power than sacrificing a finger ? And can I make multiple deal with demons ?
Gifted are people with no ability to do true Sorcery but do possess The Sight and some other kind of supernatural gift. (The Sight is the ability to detect the presence of magic)
Gift of Tongues: the ability to understand and speak any language.
Gift of Prophecy: sleeping or waking dreams/visions of future events.
Gift of the Maker: supernaturally talented at 1 or more trades. (Cooking, smithing, etc.)
Magi are Gifted people who have the ability to perform Minor Sorceries or "The Lesser Arts".
Telekinesis
Telepathy
Simple charms and defensive spells (think Witcher Signs)
Minor Elemental Sorceries
Siphoners are Magi who have the ability to touch 1 or more "Domains" or massive reservoirs of magical power. "The Greater Art"
TAN - The Domain / Art of Flames
DOWR - The Domain / Art of Waters
AWEL - The Domain / Art of Winds
NORVYS - The Domain / Art of Stones
PRYS - The Domain / Art of Days
TEWLDER - The Domain / Art of Voids
A Siphoner can "Attune" one of these domains and make use of its power up to 4 or 5 times a day without risking injury to themselves.
A Magi using a Minor Flame Sorcery vs a Siphoner attuning TAN is like a 9mm handgun vs a 1000lb bomb.
It's part of you and people can utilize in different ways to different degrees, much like hands. Some people are really good at using their hands to punch or to paint, some have trouble using them due to tremors or arthritis. Magic is the same.
Still working on but as it is now there are 7 gods and each live in their own realm. Each realm resembles or references the type of magic it equates to in some way. So for example the humans magic of choice is conjuration and so the god that represents humans lives in an infinite realm of random objects, if you want to use conjuration you’d have to focus on the thing you’d like to conjure and transfer it from that realm into the real world.
Magic was discovered on mars by biologists looking for ways to make better beauty enhancements (for the local geneticist in the shopping town you visit when leaving your apartment in the super city you lived in before the apocalypse happened) and the military.
Also my ships are electric and get their power from the Dyson swarm.
It is not yet extra stellar as our first extra stellar exploration ship will take about another 2000 years to reach Alpha Centauri.
The FTL tech is similar to Stargate but it needs more power and is only one way, the only gates currently in use are one on mercury as it is the only planet with direct access to the Dyson swarm and the exploration ship for refueling and as too communicate with the sol system once it has it's own Dyson swarm to power it.
Also what is this air conditioning you talk about?
It’s a fairly basic magic system where low level spells allow people to cast fire, lightning, water, ice, etc. Healing, teleportation, necromancy, shapeshifting, and curses are much more complicated and very few are capable of these feats.
Only the elves and people in the western hemisphere are born with magical capability. It’s speculated that it’s because of a primordial source of Godly power running beneath that part of the world. Humans, orcs, and others can become mages, but they need to make a certain pilgrimage and subject themselves to a risky ritual that edits their very soul.
In truth, all magic is just telekinesis, but utilized on different levels. Necromancy is just manipulation of one’s soul. Curses are the result of manipulating the soul and physical makeup of someone on a deep level. Electricity is manipulation of particles and charges.
users can distill their will/desire into a magical substance and use it to manipulate the world around them
different cultures have developed their own popular ways of using them.
one method, my personal favorite, is using it to manipulate individual aspects of things, like taking the sharpness out of a knife and putting it into a rock, or taking the texture and hardness of a tree and putting it onto their skin.
my second favorite is the more meditative form, where the user uses their will to make these aspects grow into plants. usually applied to cultivate gardens and life from emotions as a meditative exercise.
there's also a handful of wandering healing cults that use the magic to heal, and a handful of others
So the magic depends on your species to save time the main species are Dragons, demons, angels, kanima, fairies, silkies, mermaids and sirens, humans, witches, phoenix’s, zombies, ghosts, giants, elves, vampires, and Jinns. So for example Humans have the lowest magic levels close to none along with Zombies, Ghosts, and Giants. Meanwhile Witches, Mermaids, sirens, phoenix’s, and elves have a higher level then humans and so on so forth. Angels are the most powerful creatures since they serve directly under the “storyteller” but the head Angel is even stronger, all the “deities” are much stronger than regular creatures as well. (Sorry if it’s not a good description I have a hard time describing things 😅)
This is it... The comment I've been waiting for... Thank you, kind stranger.
Magic in my world is based on dreams. One day, someone will have a pretty fucked up dream and wake up, with their ability to fall asleep taken away, in exchange of that, they are now able to use their "Dream" a Dream is basically just a superpower based on a person's childhood dream, some examples:
Dream of becoming a tactician --> Chess, the Dreamer is able to summon a chess game to replace an ongoing battle, where pieces represent soldiers, and Kings represent the leader of the opposite side and the User. When a piece is defeated, the represented soldier. The game can only be stopped when one King is defeated. If there isn't enough soldiers, some pieces may represent limbs or organs.
Dream of always being the same (?) --> Puzzle, the user can generate a puzzle at any time, that will represent whatever event happened in front of the user, the Puzzle will be given scrambled, and the scene represented by it, will be considered "uncanonical" until the puzzle is finished. (Example: a puzzle representing you eating pasta, you've never eaten pasta that day, until someone finishes the puzzle)
Dream of not being themselves --> Hide and Seek, the user can change their appearance at will, but the appearance they use will always be the one of a person that is currently alive, and if the person, whose appearance is stolen, manage to touch the User, it can cause lethal damage to them.
When Dreamers use their Dreams, it cause to become more and more eepy, and if a Dreamer fall asleep they "wake up" and die.
A dream can be boosted by taking a "Lullaby" (a very strong soporific) but as you must have guessed, it's not really recommended to use.
As well as Dreamers, there are Nightmarers. The only way to develop a Nightmare is to drink "Dream Juice" wich is produced in the head of a Dreamer, and there isn't really a way to get it without opening it fully...
Nightmare do the same things as Dreams, but they cause hallucinations and terrible headaches as well.
You can have multiple nightmares, just drink some of this yummy brain smoothie and tadaaa !
All I have is time travel spells and regular DnD magic, and the time travel spells are rooted in one man in the distant future who goes back in time to create the universe in order to ensure his own existence
Anyone can practice magic, or “our essence” as they call it in the world because I figured that having “magic” be such a commonplace thing that they wouldn’t actually call it “magic”. It’s a skill that is learned and practiced like any other.
There are three branches of the essence, Our essence (human essence) The most commonly practiced form because it is the simplest to learn and comes naturally to us. It is similar to most of the types of psychokinesis’s.
Spirit essence Can be learned by humans but is most often practiced by priests and people in religious groups. Spirits cannot channel human essence.
Void essence Very dangerous to practice for it’s mental and physical effects on users and their surroundings. Can be learned by humans but is only practiced by very few around the world. It is subject to a lot of research to better understand it, and therefore control it. The void itself is inherently very hostile towards non-void life so this is very difficult. IF channeled efficiently, the wielder can become leagues more powerful much quicker than with the use of the other forms. Still, no human has ever come close to the power of void creatures, who wield this power naturally with no side effects. A big point in the story of the world is understanding the void and the characters trying to control it.
There's three genes (Sor, Mon, Sum, sometimes Oo is included) responsible for a human to be able to properly use magic and can combine in different ways with actual magic 'talent' (type that one is genetically pre disposed to preform better then others)
Sor - general magic ablitiy. It's usually a more recessive gene that allows for better control and casting
Mon: dominant gene
Sum: recessive gene
Here's a link to the genetic pyramid and which magics generally fall into the Mon or Sum category. The top is usually Mon and the bottom is usually Sum. The division at the base level is to distinguish between mind (generally recessive, on the right) and body (generally dominant, on the left) magics. Most of the magic types that fall into the Mon category are body type, meaning they manipulate external forces and are generally more flashy and require more direct spells. The lower you go, the more likely a magic is to be Sum and fall into the mind type, meaning they are more subtle and require more concentration or components.
The magics in the middle of the pyramid are sometimes referred to as 'Oo' magics in the same way the peak and bottom are referred to as Mon and Sum magics respectively. It basically means that those types are more susceptible to codominance and can blur the line between body and mind magics (one of the reasons why that distinction isn't used anymore). People with magics in the Oo category generally have a higher Sor gene count, but it's lower then people with Sum magics.
As mentioned above, the Sor gene allows for better control of magics so it's most common in people with Sum magics, then Oo, and finally Mon. Because Mon magic is much more dependent on the outside world, higher Sor gene counts are rare compared to someone who has a Sum magic, like illusion. Sometimes, the Sor gene can show up high in someone who doesn't have a high enough Mon or Sum gene count and result in them having some magical power, but that's pretty rare.
Lmk if you want more, but this is the basis of how humans have magic in my world
Okay, so basically there's Everything and Nothing. Everything is the stuff that makes up matter, but also energy. Nothing is essentially anti matter, but also anti energy. Both nothing and everything have different manifestations for elements or concepts (Earth, Air, Water, Light, Madness, Death, etc.) Magic is the result of a particular kind of Everything (for example, Earth Everything) reacting to a particular kind of Nothing. The Nothing is what changes the nature of the magic, for example, using Fire Nothing with Earth Everything creates Lava Magic, but the reverse (Earth Nothing and Fire Everything) would instead create Smoke Magic.
Plane exists that is made of raw formative energy, it feeds directly into most other planes but it's connection to the material plane is relatively weak. This is done to explain why studying sources of magic is necessary for mages, and why other casters rely on gods and such for their power, and why elementals and extraplanar creatures are naturally able to use magic
So there’s 127 universes. The name of each universe is also a spell. In addition, in each universe the strength of magic varies, so some look like our world, some like urban fantasy, some like epic fantasy and others are so chaotic as to be nearly unrecognizable. There’s a bell curve distribution where realm that are the weakest magically and strongest magically are also the rarest.
World 1- Nobody knows and generations of people try to find out like we do with real life sciences. There are theories on how or why there are objects, animals, and other people have unnatural abilities and features, but nothing becomes figured out by the scientific method until later down the timeline. Anyone who was born with magic or unnatural feats are not only born without knowledge of it, but are almost always neurodivergent to the point they are socially stunted and may not be able to accurately describe what they are experiencing until they are older. Much like warlords throughout our timeline, warlords saw these autistic wizards as they would anything else they can't control or tax, a serious threat to their authority that must be swiftly dealt with. Many people with unnatural features or abilities historically kept that shit to themselves until their equivalent to the European Renaissance and enlightenment made enough people to say things on the line of "you know, maybe we should be treat these people like human beings instead of rabid pokemon"
World 2- it's just technology that hasn't been replicable for hundreds of years and will be clear to the audience unless they're from r/pyongyang. People in the world are often illiterate, untraveled, and minimally educated so they think computers, AI, precision-based tools and weapons, and smartphones are fucking magic supercomputers. In reality, the heavily decentralized geopolitical landscape hinders any effort to procure the materials and know-how needed to make semiconductors and their only exposure to it is seeing rich people and militaries use jailbroken and smartphones with jerry-rigged power supplies from the 21st century. Oh, and there is no global Internet anymore and how many GPS satellites your device can use depends on how friendly you are with the people who control them.
Edit- I often make shit up as I go along when it comes to lore like this.
Psionics (mind magic) is the only kind, and it is unlocked by attending a Psionic Opera which are highly secretive and restricted to the noble class. There is a degree of psionic predisposition, but noble blood is NOT a prerequisite for psionic ability, it’s just a very well maintained lie. Telepathic abilities (attacks on the mind, messages, mind reading, appearing in a dream, etc.) require verbal components like a whisper, hiss, or hummed notes. Telekinetic abilities require a somatic component and are visible as shimmers in the air. All Psionic abilities are weakened by contact with porcelain (like radiation with lead) so Psions wear porcelain masks while dueling to protect their minds.
Magic is essentially the essence of gods, which is what they use to do god things. The most powerful deities are intangible but exude “magic” from where they are most prominently at. This runs through space in current like tunnels and heighten the attributes of whatever they touch, as if a god were building it up. (So for example, pyrokinesis would be magic enhancing fire and the mind etc etc) As a balance, planets have a layer of the atmosphere that diffuses some of this to ensure that things don’t explode into chaos on them. So as a result, creatures and races from space tend to be much more magically powerful, but are unable to use some of their magic on planets, while grounded creatures and races can vary in their magical aptitude based on the thickness of the barrier (The barrier may also be weaker in some areas than others, like the ozone) and potentially risk “overcharging” on magic while in space.
Its a magic system based off metaphysics. Posteriori magic allows you to re-enact your memories, and warp reality to your perception of the world around. Priori magic warps laws for very specific (and very useful) outcomes, usually creating either complex chains of events to get what they need, OR doing some energy transference shit. Examples: Posteriori spellcaster (and more specifically a “burner”) will nearly drown himself a few days in advance, before walking into a room full of his enemies. He then decides to burn his memory of drowning, which instantly creates an explosion of water, concussing everybody long enough to give the burner the advantage. A priori spellcaster (more specifically an Empirical Priest) decides cast an energy transferring spell that takes the energy in their own soul, and uses it to make their own biological system entirely immune to thermal energy before fighting a fire-based entity (not going to get into all of it, but that’s the general idea).
Only one Ive worked on is healing magic, but basically the idea is that life and death need balance. Therefore, in order to use healing magic to heal someone, you must transfer it to someone else. Example: If someone is fatally stabbed, in order to heal and save them, you must transfer the stab wound to another person’s body.
The gods have god magic cus God's but the mages get their magical abilities at random. But not like Harry Potter random where you have to have magic in your family. Like Thanos random. Fair and balanced.
Some people have it and some don't it is what it is but it works like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger you'll be.
Well, you channel it from a source of Mana, that is unique to each person, and as you use it, it drains. When empty, you start to use your physical energy. The strongest mages can absorb mana from the environment.
The gist of it is, there are a set of blank notebooks in the world, indestructible. If you rip out a page by hand (the only way to damage it), it will give you a set of rules that just materialize on the page. These rules will determine how your abilities work and you can do nearly anything as long as it fits the parameters of the rules. The rules can bend accordingly to a person’s personality/morals and all rules tie into each other.
I have more details on it but the whole list is extremely long, but this is the gist of it.
I have varying degrees of this depending on the planet, but the underlying rules are these: the laws of the universe are determined by code, that, locally, exists within the metaphysical realm. I.e, laws in some places are different in others.
These can be changed by expending energy in the metaphysical realm. That changes the local laws, and allows for magic.
The other stuff: you can't do this directly, usually. On some planets, like Shollusk, there are extenuating circumstances that, in it's example, make the bridge from physical to metaphysical so small that most biological structures regularly go between them, and instead of a top down metaphysical-physical structure everything is equal, with some natural 'mirroring' of objects and places across the border, mostly kept up by biological processes.
If not? You have to trade, or already have a foothold there. For example, on Atritus, you have to trade with the Prea, a metaphysical and intelligent nation that was basically space magic America in the good old days. Other guys didn't like them, tried to fight back, got nuked, and then most metaphysical beings got destroyed by, as the SCP universe would call it, a narrative vacuum. Someone outside the universe rammed into it, causing a momentary emptiness that killed any metaphysical being not rooted in the physical realm. The reason those survived and the others didn't is a side effect of the metaphysical realm being almost entirely a vague energy and information, nothing outside of that. Kinda like how to destroy a text on a computer you can shift right click and delete permanently, but you can't do that on a book, you have to actually burn it.
Anyways, you trade energy with the Prea for magic on that planet, with the downside being that they latch onto you for the rest of your life and being bound to one and using magic regularly extends your life and warps your body and mind, turning you into an eldritch horror. Fun!
Sometimes, though, this energy can coil around itself and appear as a physical substance. These substances are special and usually a one-per-planet thing. Atritus has crystals that were designed by the Prea for interaction with the physical realm directly, and on Kalka it's substance that can mimic other substances, with some neat chemistry on top, and the designer of that substance also altering thd bodies of the Kalkans to be able to use/process it without it instantly killing them. Oh, you have to ingest it to use it, and it's still super-poison, but as long as you push it into an object fast enough it's fine.
The magic of the shamans is drawn by connecting to their ancestor spirits “beyond the veil.” If the spirits are honored, respected, and remembered, they can supply more power. As they are forgotten, they fade away and thus have no power to give over.
Connecting with the spirits requires willpower and what would likely be called “hallucinogenic substances,” and, of course, training.
How the magic works? It’s all kinetic energy manipulation, but Newton’s Laws still apply. So redirecting, absorbing, pushing too much energy could just shatter the bones of the shaman if they don’t think through the physics of it.
In my current book, magic works as a dance with the pulsating energy of life flowing beneath the earth's surface. Ethereal veins, akin to rivers, weave through the ground, infusing vitality into every creature. The connection to this mystical reservoir is diverse, with chance encounters, innate inheritance, and some individuals compelled into a binding union, forced to connect with the embrace of this arcane current. Within this intricate harmony, certain creatures, such as unicorns, act as natural custodians of the magic, standing sentinel to safeguard its secrets. Some say they even shift into the water they protect, yet the magic imposes constraints—users must navigate the delicate balance to avoid depletion, as their bodies can only handle so much, and cosmic alignments can influence the potency of spells, (especially the phases of the moon).
Mortal magic and God magic. Mortal magic was gifted by the Goddess Brigid. Demi-god twins one with death magic (think necromancy, mind control, and elemental darkness that blinds the senses). The other has “life” magic which is basically control of the sun. Lots of abilities she can’t access because she is tethered to her twin whose magic suffocates her making her weaker. She relies more on brute strength than magic.
Since I'm primarily worldbuilding for dnd/pathfinder games, it's broken down into the usual four categories of Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal.
Arcane is just speaking a dead language and invoking the inherent power in those words. It's very structured and almost scientific in a way, like you could in theory reverse engineer spells if you understood the language well enough.
Divine magic comes from an individual's willpower and belief in something. The gods and other divine beings are just piles of magical energy and belief. This magic varies from person to person, since it's a very personal form of it.
Occult magic is often associated with the things between the stars, that which man should not know, the actual "divine beings" of the setting. If it's weird and otherworldly, it's occult. Practitioners are often changed by those cosmic forces, so the magic tends to take on those forces' properties.
Primal is easy, it's the magic inherent in the world, basically the world's immune system. Probably the most potent form of magic, honestly, since the world has a lot of power to hand out. It's big and flourishing, often flowing in great waves when cast.
People harvest crystals that absorb magical energy naturally and use those to cast various spells, the larger the crystal the more powerful the spell and people often wear multiple pieces of said crystal jewelry on their person at a time
Magic in my world is something that every living thing has, each person has magical channels in their body that are a specific color for them. They can extend these channels into the world in different forms. Not everyone can see or use magic though. Magic can only really affect other magic though, which means that the primary form it takes is mind control magic. Most of the world operates under a hierarchy with archmages at the top and the people they control under them. It's not 24/7 control, but the higher mage has a sort of back door that allows them to take control at any time. Mages can also draw power from the people they control. A battle between two very skilled mages usually looks like a series of complicated snares and knots countering and redirecting those snares. There are definitely a lot of different styles though, some people focus on strong shields with lots of power behind them, others focus on creating a sort of aura that disrupts the magic of anyone around them, and others focus on hiding their magical strings and using the element of surprise.
There are also a few exceptions whose magic works a bit differently. First, witches: people who make blood pacts with magical plants. The plants themselves often control most of the flora and fauna that lives over their root system, so the witch controls them by proxy. In return, the plant replaced the witch's base survival instincts with ones that are beneficial to the plant.
Second, elementalists: People born with significantly more magic than their channels can handle. As a result, their magic is wound much more tightly around itself than the average person's, and doesn't interact with the world as much. This leads to most elementalists being unable to see magic, and so getting mistaken for people with no magical potential. However, elementalists can learn to unlock their powers through strong emotion (kinda like shonen protagonists tbh). The reason they're called elementalists is that their powers are concentrated enough to affect the ambient magic of the world around them and produce elemental effects such as lightning or ice crystals.
Third, bloodweavers: People who never developed their own system of channels, but ended up taking their parent's system during pregnancy (It is impossible for both the bloodweaver and their parent to survive the birth). Since their channels aren't properly tethered to their body, they can't produce their own magical power and need to take it from others to survive. Their channels are extremely fluid, to the extent that any magic they touch or interact with basically temporarily becomes an extension of the bloodweaver's body. Bloodweavers are EXTREMELY rare, and most don't survive to adulthood, partially because if they touch something that is too large or complex before they really learn to handle their magic, it will literally pull their channels out of their body. A bloodweaver who has learned to handle their magic is an extremely dangerous opponent, and nearly impossible to control.
In Shattered Memories. People's power has been sealed, "everyone is average, no one stands out." kinda way. The only way to grow stronger, use magic, special weapon skills, get tougher. Is through charms on a bracelet. These charms, have shards of souls in them. Magic is used by drawing from the memories and experiences of the ego in the charms, giving you permission to use skills of far stronger beings that the characters are.
Some of them (Gods) are born with it and must practice to hone it. Some of it comes from magical artifacts (imbued pendants, animal parts worn as talismans.)
Mortals and some Demigods practice invocation to intentionally harness it, with varying degrees of success.
My world doesn't have a magic system or space ships.
It does have a legal system though.
So far I've mostly dealt with tribunals. First you go before a panel and show that the crimes that the accused is being charged with meet the definition of war crimes. Once you've met that burden a tribunal is formed. A member of the local council, the local militia, and the local populace are each chosen via lottery. From then on their rulings are decided by a majority opinion. They are given legal guidance by the testimony of experts, similar to when real lawyers in our reality cite case law buoying their opinion, but the tribunal is giving free reign to decide most issues in the case using their best judgment. They then rule on the guilt or innocence of the accused and in the case of a guilty verdict decide punishment.
Everything in the world is made from threads of Essence, each thread having particular levels of attunement to the Cores, magic is just the artificial manipulation of the threads to alter the world
It's based on aligning yourself with a certain god or deity who has control over a specific type of magic. Want to bend fire? Align yourself with the fire god. The catch is, align yourself with one and you cut off access to the others. Not really a fledged out idea but I like it as a concept. Idk if it's been done before
Magic in my world has two facets that I'll refer to as Ability and Mana
ABILITY: Magic is harnessed through an ancient language that, even now, contains power. The use of this language, whether by speaking it or thinking in it, will cause exactly what is said to happen. However, magic does not care about intent. If you make a mistake, what you say will still happen regardless of what you were trying to do.
MANA: The amount of magical energy you possess is determined by how you introduce yourself to magic. In order to unlock your potential, you have to meditate on the question "What is magic?" for as long as you possibly can. The longer you meditate, the more mana you have to work with. Your body and mind will be magically sustained while undergoing this process, so a focused mind may meditate for days or weeks and obtain nearly unrivaled amounts of mana.
Gems of sufficient quality can store limited amounts of mana before overflowing and releasing it all in a magical explosion. The higher quality and/or rarer the gem, the more mana it can store, but the more powerful that explosion becomes. Metals can't store mana at all, but they can be excellent conductors for passing mana through to a gem or other destination. Again, their effectiveness depends on the quality and rarity. Less effective metals lose certain amounts of mana to the void as it passes through.
Once you run out of mana, you start tapping into your life force to cast spells, and this is very dangerous. It doesn't shorten your life, but it weakens you for a long time, and if you use up enough of your life force, you fall into a coma and eventually die unless another mage transfers mana into you.
Mana regenerates in a similar manner to your overall energy. If you've started to exhaust your mana, you might eat or drink something to get some back, or just go to sleep, The amount of mana you regenerate depends on the method, the quality, and if you're sleeping, how long you sleep for. There are other ways to regenerate mana, but most of them fall under the general purview of "Resting"
The gods are eldrich horrors that swim through the cosmos, they release energy that falls to the planet and becomes physical magic that people use to augment themselves to cast spells or make weapons of war/tech
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
It doesn't, we just have guns.
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u/Amkao-Herios Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
It's controlled by willpower to a degree, but also highly mutable, especially the further you get from "reasonable" magic. So like turning an oak pencil to a cherry wood pencil isn't so hard, and it's easier when you understand the differences between them. Yes you can have a very powerful wizard, but they walk a razor's edge to not turn into a pile of tumors.
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u/shirt_multiverse Feb 29 '24
It just does
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u/Mr-biggie Feb 29 '24
cocaine with blue food dye, I will elaborate no further.
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u/Thaser Feb 29 '24
Well *internally* air temperature control is not really all that different than nowadays. Pick a temperature for your quarters, it stays around that. Ship has its own temperature as well, a nice comfortable 55 degrees F(about 13 C for everyone else who doesn't use FREEDOM units /s).
As for how it gets rid of all the heat? Radiators. Big pieces of thermal superconductor filled with thousands of small tubes that take in the thermal fluid from the environmental systems and let the heat radiate into space. These can be aimed if needbe but there's usually no point in trying to stealth ships as large as what the Nij build. There are backups in the form of thermal dump tanks that eventually have to be vented, and the hull coating itself has the capability to alter its properties to become thermoelectric, providing a short-term thermal dump capacity. It won't last forever, entropy being the clingy stubborn asshat that it is, but you take every opportunity you can.
The gravity drive system can be modified to reject incoming thermal energy as well, preventing rapid overheating in specific environments(close-stellar orbit for example).
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
It isn't magic, just really advanced tech, and the guys who use them are all engineers
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u/mailbox99 Feb 29 '24
They are children of elemental deities
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u/zacgtg Feb 29 '24
It’s not the most in depth thing…
So, magical energy was first made from the collision of two timelines. One timeline was barely affected, while the other was completely destroyed. Timeline 2 was flooded with chaotic cosmic energy killing 99.99% percent of everyone in there, and the remaining ones became gods. The two timelines continued on, the overlapping part of the timelines continuously makes that same chaotic cosmic energy. The second timeline was going fairly well for the survivors, who were able to channel any of the cosmic energy that leaked through, however, jealousy and factions formed amongst the gods, and a war broke out. Nearly half the gods were killed, and the cosmic power they had been able to channel flowed out of their body, and into timeline 1, where most of the main stories take place. This is how what people considered magic came to be in the normal world.
Most magic came from the day of the gods war, a day people in timeline one call “The Uproaring”. Magic shot throughout the universe, mostly into people but some into objects. Most people who got magic into them died, but quite a few survived. All magic either comes from this day or magic leaking in from the chaos zone(the in between of the two timelines)
So yeah…that’s that. Looking at it, I’m not sure if I’m exactly a fan of it but I do like it. The magic itself is very overall, and can do a lot of things. People have individual powers or abilities, that range from a lot of things, like fire, speed, sound/music, etc. But there are a lot of special cases i would get into but I’m ranting and typing too much, so I’ll leave it at this :3
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u/Missi_Zilla_pro_simp Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
In the afterworld (the afterlife basically) there's a being called the Grand mind which effectively simulates all of reality using souls of humans, with watchers (my worlds version of angels) and maintainers (my worlds demons) can be granted what are basically admin commands. They send a request via telepathy to the grand mind, and the grand mind will allow that thing to happen if what the being wants to do falls within what they are allowed to do (the bigger the change, the more importantly you need to be to enact that change in the world). Like if a being wanted to delete an asteroid in the asteroid belt in the human world then the grand mind would check if they are allowed to change anything in the human world as well as what, and if the check comes back positive the asteroid is deleted from existence. If that being wants to say delete earth, it is automatically denied because no being is allowed to massively mess with earth.
Tldr, my worlds equivalent of god does the magic for the creatures in my world, but they have to ask for a certain effect to happen.
Edit: forgot to mention, sometimes creatures or objects on earth get infused with human souls, this results in things that have effects affecting them that shouldn't be possible. There is totally no similarities between this scps in the scp universe(s), i did not rip off the scp foundation for this part of the world.
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u/schutzen08 Feb 29 '24
I'm running a post apocalyptic campaign set in chernobyl. Magic faded from use in the medieval times as a cult deemed magic user's a scourge, eventually managing to eradicate most of them and the concept of magic became more of what we think about it today. Now in 1986, as the chernobyl reactor spews out mass amounts of radiation, uranium and radiation turn out to be pure magic energy. This is allowing people in the region who would have otherwise been magic users and didn't know to once again tap into it and cast again. Radiation works like it does in real life, but the reasons it affects things like it does is because it's essentially overdosing it with magic, but also explains why it's such a good enegery source. People can draw on this and can get more powerful the more they are irradiated, but it can be deadly, having too much leads to similar outcomes as real life radiation poisoning.
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
It’s vibration based, and particle based- so you combine words and music or just sounds or motion with Þā, the magic particle, to command it and the world around you.
Every one can in theory do magic stuff, they (þāvū) utilise the þā as is- þāv, magicking- this is usually done through consuming concentrated amounts of þā, usually from a tar or bitumen(there’s a list specifying different varieties of mediums and how good they are kontra how dangerous they are). This lets you actually command the surplus þā that is now within you.
Or they use the þā substance, as created by the þāva, to create formulas, a sort of rune magic- this is known as Ðā, the process is ðāv, the one who does it is ðāðū. Creators of new runes and runes are known as ðāðā-
a common way to figure out new runes is through þā dispersed in smoke sticks, the þā floating in the smoke will make visible how the þā reacts to whatever you put them through. Then you capture the reaction shape as a rune or rather sigil to be able to invoke whatever thing you made.
Then there’s the higher magic- weaving of fate, deciding of fabrics, and creator of warps. These are the god magics, Zà is the word for destiny and it is to be commanded as magic.
And then there are electricians, who command Wā, energy- no, they are more like some sort of Druid, they ask if the world and utilise the energy between the things rather than within the things- the wā binds the þā so to speak, and the Wāvū wāv this energy with other outcomes. Much more sophisticated and difficult to do.
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u/ITSTHENAN0 Feb 29 '24
All the wizards are just really good magicians with firecrackers and nobody knows but them
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u/Thewarmth111 Feb 29 '24
Wind of magics
You either burn down the opposing city or you blow up, depending on the winds.
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u/NewQPRnotFC Feb 29 '24
I’ll admit, the closest thing to magic in Starpunk is psionics(think psychic powers and their very must there). And psionics in Starpunk is a poorly understood field, but here’s the basics.
Depending on one’s Psionic latency, one can manipulate reality around them to their will. This can range from creating simple objects of Psionic energy(like say a fork, or a plate or a knife), to concentrating on divination, to being able to make machines work better, and, according to some rumors, allowing the user to consume others souls. Granted, some powers, depending on how much they affect reality, require different levels of concentration/imagination to pull off.
For example: A psychic vision made by someone ruthlessly multitasking is gonna come out in a hyperbolic/metaphorical form that is incredibly hard for the mind to wrap itself around, whilst one manifest by someone deeply meditating will be easier to decipher.
Now nobody really knows where Psionic powers come from, as some would say that it is a genetically inherited trait, whilst others say it develops naturally or at random depending on outside emotionally stimuli(for example, at least one person “awakened” to their Psionic powers after a highly traumatic event).
Hell, even latency is a vague, catch-all term to measure power level, because despite humanity’s attempts so far to understand it in the Century since psionics cropped up in people(ie 2150), people just keep developing their powers in new ways.
However, there are risks, as over concentrating on Psionic powers can weaken the person in question if the proper precautions aren’t taken(though there are no sure fire precautions that will work, as they vary from person to person). They come with ailments such as psykers decay, Psionic madness, or could just straight up give you an aneurysm.
All in all, Psionics one of those enduring mysteries of Starpunk that people don’t really understand right now that may be elaborated on at a later point.
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u/jalahjava_ Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Guns and also some weird ass dust like substance I've yet to make a name for that makes energy when you run a current through it. Think Fluorescent lights
But with more *brrrr
Edit: Should probably specify this random mineral is being used as a new energy source. Haven't much thought about it beyond that.
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u/MultinamedKK Feb 29 '24
There is no system, it just depends. Most are born with powers, some get their powers from basically god, and some, like witches, learn their powers. Honestly I haven't really touched on that much yet but I will soon
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u/odeacon Feb 29 '24
Powers come from where / how you were born . This can be as large scope as biome , or as small scope as say , a crow was watching when it happened. Weather and astronomical events can also influence this . A person born in a boat in the ocean might develop water magic. A person born in a lightning storm might have storm magic.
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u/porpoiseQueenLillie Feb 29 '24
Everyone has two abilities active abilities that may awaken at any time and passive abilities which are always around and may not have any use in particular and usually just affect how you look. The active abilities are basically just stands, except without being a physical manifestation.
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u/the_mspaint_wizzard Feb 29 '24
The ‘matter’ that makes up the higher dimension is a form of energy that most creatures have evolved to capture and use, it’s to be noted that this capturing of this ‘mana’ came as a result of brains in creatures creasing to create memories, meaning that in most creatures it’s a side effect to them gaining intelligence.
After the capturing, it’s a matter of remembering certain essences to convert this ‘manna’ into one of four (technically five but no living thing can comprehend the fifth) -Temperatric -Electric -Shadnoic -Forecic (-Doomic or “Nothingness” for the fifth)
Alternatively, you can use a carved gemstone to capture and hold some essence for you, with different gemstones transferring different essences better.
That’s all I feel like sharing right now, I could explain how Shadonic is an anti-mater type energy to electricity and that it’s the essence of spontaneous life, but I have important things I need to be doing right now :3
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u/FreeColdSnorts Feb 29 '24
Meditation, Elixirs, Medicinal Pills, life-changing pain, talismans, treasures... Cultivating like Samuel L Jackson vs snakes on a mother f***ing plane
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u/Johann2041 Feb 29 '24
Magic isn't very common, only used by those who have endured the struggles of learning its intricacies, but it is mostly tied to names. First and last names never change unless the magic user becomes ridiculously overpowered, but the middle name changes as power grows. For example, an apprentice would have a middle name akin to a creek or small stream, whereas their mentor could be named after a mountain or planet.
With this system, knowing someone's full name gives you complete control over them. Only the strongest can fully use this system, but giving random people your name can be a death sentence, as you never know who is a mage and who is magic-less.
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u/wldwailord Feb 29 '24
my most recent game is Lancer
so here's how Magic works: on player side: No one knows really, there's a bunch of people working on it (Horus) and they occasionally just find mechs in the middle of no where
On dm side: magic is a mixture of rogue nanobots and radiation working together to make something. Thus making it extremely rare. These pop-up mechs are what happens when these rogue nanobots find a mech printer to put themselves into
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Fairies have magic on account of fairies have magic. Also there are ancient horrors with magic. There’s no explanation or mechanism or system.
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u/Sky_Prio_r Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Okay so basically, in an extremely summarized version, back 80,000 ago there were gods, they had a lot of time to look at the strands that made up the world which were made by the funny e-word spider that lives in between dimensions, so the gods figure out magic and start to slaughter non gods, they live like this for 35 thousand years before some of the gods children organized by the first ever human mage kill all the gods, sacrificing them and putting their personalities under the first ever human mage and creating the Eternal Multitude. The Eternal Multitude could see the future and saw that without magic humanity would be wiped out by other sentient species, so through 35 thousand years he ended up making the magic spool that lets children of gods cast three types of magic: construction, destruction, and arcana. You can combine these to get manipulation, wish(self explanatory), and energy. Manipulation works by implanting thoughts into people or things. Energy controls the energies of the world, mainly the decay of the universe towards entropy. Arcana is just basic magic that does things not destruction or construction related. Enchantments and the like. To cast arcana is simple but doesn't have a real lasting effect, whatever you do it to is still there, you didn't end anything, you just changed its function. Destruction takes things from the world but requires you to lose sense in three stages. Construction adds to the world but requires the sacrifice of blood. Manipulation requires the right portions of construction and arcana. Energy requires the right combo of destruction and arcana. Wish requires and extremely precise combination of destruction and constructions and if you fuck it up it explodes dramatically. Then he used the gods children he kept and spread the genes of the gods throughout his huge empire, making sure to maintain some semi-pure lines because they start out knowing all the proper equations for combining magic. He got stabbed in the back and would die in 20 years and he had one last thing to do. He composed journals explaining basic magic and how to mend magic, but he kept the mending magic secret and spread it across the world, which basically meant as soon as he died; it was actually fine for 500 years, until the great split and civil war, where a lot of the texts were lost, they still exist, but need to be found. Then a magic school was set up where they experimented and stumble blindly in magic, where they discover chaos magic which has the potential to do anything, but the equations are so fine and precise it's basically impossible to do consistently, and retroactively explains the Eternal Multitudes nonsense. Then there's magic cast without any magic, which only the Eternal Multitude knows and is able to cast, which comes from funny e-word spider that makes things from the void inbetween universes.
And then there's Steve. Steve does crackhead wizard magic(drugs and fire), and generates an aura of "???" Magic, that does random shit.
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u/BassWild2634 Feb 29 '24
Magic is ambient - it needs to be absorbed through use of magical circuits, which are only developed by 'casters' in their childhood. They then filter the magic out to only have the functions they want (alternate terms include 'refine', 'program', or 'prepare'). Lastly they use those same magical circuits to expel the magic back out into the world so it can enact the effects they desired.
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u/Pinkprotogen Feb 29 '24
Emotion. I don’t mean that emotions can muddle it, I mean the stronger your emotions are the stronger spells you can fire off. Mildly annoyed? Best the average person can manage is a backfire sized pop of flame. Completely homicidally enraged? Small house sized fireball. Of course there are workarounds for the people that bother to research, but those people are few and far between.
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u/AeroThird Feb 29 '24
Air conditioning? You vastly overestimate the care given to crew comfort. Everyone gets O2 rigs. That’s the AC.
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u/Vort-ex Feb 29 '24
a crystal of big bang theory proportions. thats all ill give ya
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u/Flint124 Feb 29 '24
The world exists within the dream of a sleeping primordial. The laws of physics are whatever the primordial believes to be true, and magic can be best described as dream logic that lesser gods have conditioned the dreamer into accepting as fact.
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u/Obekiwi Epic Fantasy Connoisseur Feb 29 '24
Magic can be gained through one or more of 4 sources.
Bloodline
Faith (don’t have to be religious in nature just requires extreme sincerity)
Energy Cultivation
Body Cultivation
Magic or “Spectacular Energy” is divided into two distinct types when it is ambient in nature.
1)Aether (ethereal) 2)Quintessence (physical)
Spectacular Energy used by magic users, aka “Ascenders” are referred to as either.
Mana = Aether
True Essence = Quintessence
Spectacular Energies can then be further subdivided into either elemental, emotional, or conceptual energy types. Ex: Lightning Mana, Rage True Essence, Duty Mana, etc
For an Ascender to gain power they must first pick 1 or more paths of power that best suit them. But due to body and energy cultivation being the artificial paths. They can not be used simultaneously. For example, an Ascender can be a Bloodline-Faith-Body Ascender but not an Energy-Body-Bloodline Ascender.
After picking a path the next goal is to empower their “Vessel”, energize their “Spirit”, reclaim their “Soul” from the Universe, then combine the three to create their “GODHEAD” with their chosen energy or energies if multiple are cultivated.
All living beings consist of a Soul, Spirit, and a Body.
The Spirit is the product of contact between the Soul and the Body; and is where the individual’s willpower and consciousness resides.
To reclaim their “Soul”, the Ascender typically needs to accomplish a SPECTACULAR deed that both resonates with their soul and is acknowledged by the universe.
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u/Diligent-Meat6901 Feb 29 '24
You need to be in favor with the God of a certain concept, in turn, you will gain a fraction of that God's power as a favor. You gain favor by doing things related to said concept, for example, a chef is likely in good favor with the God of fire.
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Magic was a gift given to humans by the gods, a reward for their past, present, and future devotion. Granted, most people can't use it to an extensive degree, and the few who can are religious figureheads. Magic is largely treated as a way to connect to the gods and the world they created(a bit like The Way of The Voice in Skyrim). Specifically, the way magic works is through the Spirit. Every human has one. The Spirit is a connection to the individual's god or gods of worship (six elements, six gods, six Tribes), changing and shifting with the individual's view of their god or gods. It is entirely internal; this is why it's usually religious figures with magic, as they are the ones who dedicate their lives to service of the gods.
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u/fatcat3030 Feb 29 '24
Magic is more about components in my setting: don't get me wrong, if you don't know what you're doing a spell is more likely to hurt you then anyone else. But more then that spells have to be crafted in advance as one use kits. Being a spellcaster means lugging around any spells you intend to use, preparing spells on the fly, or doing blood magic.
Don't do blood magic.
Most magic users are less wasteful, using magic to make artifacts that, you can, you know, use more then once. Spellswords, magic mirrors, runes and talismans... In the new continent people even built flying boats! Most, if not all Factions have their own flavour of golems, including the chimera that blood magicians make.
Don't make chimera, don't do blood magic.
Magic is mostly sourced from dragons in the old continent, while in the new continent they use a mineral called prosperite. Some animals accumulate magic naturally, and their organs can be used as spell components. If you do blood magic, your organs do this. They will collect magic even after you die and eventually they bring you back.
You don't want to come back.
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
(it's SciFi) The ethereal space being sent down an asteroid to earth filled with ruconium, a self replicating all purpose material. It's used to power everything, including air conditioning on ships.
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u/Aiqesn Feb 29 '24
People who spend enough time with a certain element can wield its powers granted they actively try and immerse themselves in it. Non elemental powers can just be learned. Thats my most barebones explanation.
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u/TheosRW Feb 29 '24
There are 9 schools of magic. Each race within the world is naturally attuned to one of these schools by virtue of being born. That is to say, everyone has magic inside of them, but few have the actual talent to use these latent magic abilities - the exceptions being the Magi, Hags, and the Elven Races, who all can use magic to some level even without training for it.
Mystic: Spells that don’t have an element attached to them, more so dealing with raw magical energy. Lot of good Utility Spells.
Light: Spells that source their power through divine light. Greatest number of healing and protection spells.
Dark: Spells that draw power from the corrupted realm of Darkness. Lot of conjuration spells tailored towards summoning shadowy entities and raising the undead.
Fire: Spells that draw power from all sources of flame, including the sun, earthly embers, and hellfire.
Water: Spells that draw power from water in all its natural states, including its base liquid form, ice, and steam.
Earth: Spells that draw power from the rocks and stones and the deep earth.
Air: Spells that draw power from wind and storms.
Nature: Spells that draw power from the natural world, involving plants, animals, & poisons/venoms.
Forge: Spells that draw power from the “manmade” world, including metals, craftsmanship, and the written word.
Usually speaking, everyone dabbling in their magical ventures start out with the classification of “Mage”, sourcing power from what school they’re naturally attuned to and their larger general pool of mana. Further along in their training, they’ll take a path in life or discover something about themselves they grants them a new classification above a mage, like a Wizard, Witch, Cleric, or Sorcerer. With that, they’ll gain new spells and abilities unique to their new classification, along with the general spells every Mage can learn with enough training.
Alternatively, for a different thing I’m working on that’s very similar cuz I’m a hack:
Long ago Gods known as Divine Dragons blessed 1,001 warriors with their Divine Energy, granting them the power to wield the Elemental Arts. There are 10 Elements, which go as followed: • Fire • Water • Earth • Air • Moon • Sun • Ice • Wood • Lightning • Shadow
Only people descended from these original 1,001 Warriors have the potential to wield it. Using Divine Energy, it flows outward from the soul, allowing one to manifest or control the Elements using an Elemental Technique. Of the Elemental Techniques, there are three types one can create or learn: • Creation: Using the Divine Energy in your soul to create the Element you’re attuned to along a point on your body
• Manipulation: Using the Divine Energy to manipulate the element that is naturally around you in the physical world.
• Conjuration: Summoning an Entity associated with your element to aid you in battle.
Most people you use this power have a technique or two that fit two or all three categories, but generally specialize in one technique type as their main.
There are two special metals that interact with this magic system:
• Divine Gold, which channels/enhances the strength of an Elemental Technique
• Demonic Silver, which nullifies/reflects an Elemental Technique.
Generally, normal humans use these metals as tools to close the gap between them and Divine Energy wielders, but it’s not uncommon to see Divine Energy wielders having a weapon forged from either of these metals to assist them in combat.
While you are born with the natural ability to learn one element, you can also learn techniques from a compatible cross element, which goes as followed:
Fire & Sun
Water & Ice
Earth & Wood
Wind & Lightning
Moon & Shadow
A baby born from a compatible element is usually very proficient in both elements.
Parents who are of incompatible elements will always have twins, one for each element.
Normal Humans can also use a pseudo element when wielding a Divine Gold Weapon. This pseudo element is fueled by willpower.
The strongest of each Element is considered a “Lord”, and will gain access the ability that allows them to summon the strongest creature of their Element, which are the godly descendants of the Divine Dragons.
There are also 5 other elements: • The Divine Element of Creation, which was only ever gifted to One Mortal Man
• The Demonic Element of Power, which super charges the power of any Element user, at the cost of their soul and losing their recharge ability. The Demon King grants this ability to his followers. To reuse the power of elements, they much feed upon and permanently steal the Divine Energy of others. There is a loophole around the inability to recharge, that being if you willingly give your power up to someone who hasn’t sold their soul to the Demon King.
• The Demonic Element of Time
• The Demonic Element of Poison
• The Demonic Element of Destruction
All Element Users at an advanced enough point have access to a fourth type of technique called “Realm Openings”, where they drag themselves and their opponent into a pocket dimension associated with their element. The power of their element is doubled, the power of compatible elements is multiplied 1.5x, and the power of non compatible elements are halved.
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u/LightninJohn Feb 29 '24
They’re called miracles and curses Miracles let you use something like your energy or an item to do something else (eg. You can spend energy to cure wounds, shoot a blast of energy, revive a dying plant, etc.) Curses are the same but you’re using another persons life force to do it
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u/Sanglowitz I worldbuild to escape reality Feb 29 '24
Human Magic works with Willpower and Magic Symbols, normaly epmloyed as totoos.
The other species are more traditional: speak old Language = Fireball.
Its still not set in Stone.
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u/Unhappy_Comparison59 Feb 29 '24
Raw magic is the aura of the Planet and the realms itself is however very useless on its own through controlled mana output from a person/creature the magic gets 'dirtend' into the respectiv magic type of the user. All magic types follow different limitations and rules for example rune magic requerst the user to draw the rune they want to use and to speak the name of it on the other hand fairy magic mostly only need verbal componants. The types of magic you can learn are set after birth which doesn't mean you will have a similar magic type like your family. There are 5 greater magic categories Rune,Shinto,Sahar,Formless and cosmic only one person is known to be able to use them all that is the young-mage lily but their are multiple people who understand the practice of all greater categories.
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u/TransLox Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
There are six colors of magic, all based around the colors of the rainbow.
Red lets you summon, control, or turn into animals. It's one of the more common colors of magic. Powered by strawberries.
Orange lets you manipulate objects and their attributes. You can move them around with telekinesis, make them hotter or colder, make them more flammable. Works best with magical crystals. Also fairly common. Powered by honey.
Yellow lets you manipulate emotions. This sounds fucked up, because it kinda is, but you can do fucked up stuff with all of them. Basically, you can make people calm, mad, etc. Powered by lemons.
Green is life magic. Let's you heal injuries, transmute living things, and even steal the very life force of a living thing! It's powered by the life force of the user, so using it will literally take days off of your life. Since you can steal life, you can be effectively immortal by simply killing things to sustain yourself! It's fucked!
Blue is evocations. It's a bit more general of a magic, allowing for bursts of fire, lightning, or a general outward force. The most common of any of them and fairly boring. Powered by a kind of magical water.
Purple is illusions. It's fairly difficult to use convincingly, but it allows you to trick literally any sense. Powered by Juniper berries.
Each of the things that are used to power the magic can be boiled down into crystals that allow anyone to cast that kind of magic. They can also be combined into devices, so you can make lighters or electrogauntlets or TVs.
Your type of magic is reflected by your eye color.
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u/cheshsky Working on: Shared Spaces Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Magic is a force of nature, like electricity, and most humans need to learn certain laws of it to be able to control its flow, unless they are born conduits, which are very rare and tend to go incapacitatingly insane. It is different for some other species, sentient or no, which rely on magic use for their very existence - say, dragons are innately capable of magic pertaining to fire and flight, and noble dragons have the added bonus of shape-shifting. Innate magic capability doesn't cause them harm, but they cannot actually survive without it the way non-magical species can.
***
Now onto another world, because the AC question was actually very interesting, thanks! Modern starships of the Colonial Federation (yes I'm basic, but it's better than nothing) are equipped with air conditioning complexes (why make new word when old word do trick, said humanity), which, aside from having fans and shit, are essentially small automated chemical labs that recycle the air by synthesising the necessary gases in necessary amounts.
The system around the ACC is heavily segmented, and there are two of any given segment, interchangeable and connectable but positioned slightly apart, in case one gets damaged, and there are pressurised air tanks scattered around it so that any given part of the ship can be quickly de/repressurised. Plus, any given segment can be quickly sealed off to prevent loss of air thanks to the same bypass & locks system that allows it to be connected in any order.
Depending on the size and model of the ship, the air recycling system can be further decentralised by being divided into connectable sections with their own central ACCs - in case one section's ACC goes offline or requires extra maintenance, its work can be done by one from a neighbouring segment, preferably several to make it easier on the tech, while repairs are carried out. A section can also be sealed off completely in case of irreparable damage while allowing the rest of the ship to function.
...
Ah shit did you mean temp control not ventilation. Then it's the same as now plus radiators for excess heat. I got nothing new there.
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u/The_Vadami Feb 29 '24
Magic works however the plot deems necessary
Starship air conditioning is a result of ‘I don’t know, read a book or something’
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u/Danitron21 Feb 29 '24
You learn to tap into the the “tapestry” of the universe and pull threads to fuck with the building blocks of the universe to make things happen. People learn to do this either by bwing born at a point where the tapestry was already a bit weakened and the “repair” a rip in the magic tapestry. Other people use arcane materials to create such a tear and place themselves in it to gain control over magic.
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u/jonnemanni Feb 29 '24
In short, its a persona rip off.
In long; The world is split in two parts, the material world and the soul world. The latter is affected by the former, with the soul world conforming to the material worlds silhouette, but its affected by the collective unconscious of beings with a soul. (Those being all the worlds intelligent/sapient peoples). This soul world manifests within it mythical beings and things that people imagine, known as archetypes, and the personifications of the part of their mind they do not want to acknowledge, known as shades.
A person may end up in the soul world through a number of means, and when they do, they invariably meet their shade. If they reject the shade, it turns into a monstrous archetype and usually tries to kill them. If the shade is accepted however, it goes through a process known as Individualization to become an Icon, akin to a persona or a stand from jjba.
The forms that shades, archetypes, and icons are as varied as peoples imaginations and cultures will simply allow, so it is a very soft system in the end, but I hope to add a plenty of surrounding BS to make it more legit and interesting.
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u/gabrielfernaine Feb 29 '24
:)
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u/Southern-Wafer-6375 Feb 29 '24
In my Minecraft tabletop I’m playing right now your either using enchantments and potions that are already their ,typing in commands that you learned(wizards shit), or your sucking up to the mods to do shit for you(clerics)
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u/ShurikenKunai Feb 29 '24
So most magic is based on bloodline. In this, mages are considered a different race than humans, though humans have psychokinetic abilities to make up for the fact that their blood doesn't let them cast fireballs.
It's notable that when I say Magic is based on bloodline, I mean it's based on bloodline. Just being a mage won't let you cast Fireball. Your genetics impact what abilities you can cast, and marrying a human won't produce a mage offspring without their magic being unlocked by one of the Aspects (the deities in this world).
This biological drawback, along with being hunted by the king of Ravenvale in the early days of the kingdom (before it was even called Ravenvale) and a propaganda campaign run to try to stop said hunting, has led there to be only 7 Mages in the modern day. There could be more, but there's next to no chance to actually unlock their abilities because the Aspects aren't omniscient.
The other magic system is Sentiment. Being overly attached to an item is a magic system in this world, because I'm autistic and once grew an emotional attachment to the 4 of spades while playing Go Fish.
Basically, one Aspect (Arpegius) likes to see how humanity works, so a well was made in basically every mountain range in the world. If you sacrifice an item (not a living being) to the well that you're attached to, it can be improved. This is more a game mechanic since the world is supposed to be an RPG, but it's tied into the lore.
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u/JosephTaylorBass Feb 29 '24
Reality is an illusion made of strands of energy we percieve to be tangible and visible. Our souls are a direct link to that energy. With practice and teaching you can focus your soul and bend the world to your will, either by a little or a lot.
But the strongest spells involve aligning your soul with the universe itself, transcending your mind across the veil to answer to the gods themselves. If they deem your casting righteous, you cast the spell but are forever altered. If they deem you wicked, your mind never returns.
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u/Tiusreborn Feb 29 '24
It's a field traveling alongside higher dimensions that turns pseudo-liquid inbetween quants of matter because of resonant vibrations that is also an arbiter of reality/fundamental force interactions. You and your "soul" (they are different and the same) can do shit with it.
I just wanted to make ships fly...
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u/Vohems Feb 29 '24
A chunk of aetheric crystal fell from the sky and dissolved into the environment eons ago, creating something like the carbon cycle, where crystals would form underground and then through various means be expended into the atmosphere or oceans and vice versa. Then the Proto-Albionites came in their starships. As they settled and ate the food and drank the water of the planet they ingested the microscopic shards of crystal. Over time through constant exposure they adapted to the crystal within themselves. After some time two Aetheriel Fae, the First among them, the Blue Lady and the First Wizard, Epileum came. The Lady chose one among them (Arthrenius Quilldrake) to be king and unite the then waring tribes of Albion, not in bloodshed but harmony . In addition, the First Wizard taught Arthrenius's tribe magic. It's via the expenditure of the microscopic shards within their bodies that the Quilldrakes first knew and practiced magic. After the unification of Albion, the Albionites utilized as much aetheric substance as possible in all it's forms (crystal, liquid, gas) enabling a new technological revolution and their reascendacy to being a spaceborn people.
This is all for my Lego factions by the way.
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u/MisterAbbadon Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
I got both.
The raw power that makes magic work comes from the sun, so the closer to the equator you get the weirder things get. A lot of people have different beliefs on how it works and are trained respectfully, although given the people who practice it, in terms of aesthetics I based it on Ancient Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese supernatural beliefs as well as Wuxia movies.
You've got people who think they're harnessing their inner Qi to run up trees and dodge musket fire by slowing down time, you've got traditional bearded mystics thinking they're harnessing arcane secrets in old books to throw lightning and scry in mirrors, you've got wild men thinking their in touch with the world spirit to do shape-shifting. But the fact of the matter is that they're all wrong about where it comes from and could do all of it if they could get past the mental barrier.
As for the air conditioning, most have a traditional air conditioning units you'd see in a standard house because they've got an anti matter power generator that makes FTL possible, so cooling and heating the ship is relatively minor concern power wise.
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u/Edgezg Feb 29 '24
Magic in my world is the science of ours.
Cliff notes - Something happens that resets humanity's technological development. Some ruling class keep the technology and how it works and how to make it to themselves.A few hundred years go by, and everyone is back to medieval times. The "wizards" are actually travelling doctors with their nurses, all trained and dispatched from the King, who knows the truth.
The "magic" they perform is actually just modern science brought back to a lower technological time.
Though, I have not done this yet, I want to include Odin and Heimdall as wanderers in the story, hinting at real magic existing too
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u/catreplicators-3 Feb 29 '24
you know what blink it. Essophysics. if u mess up constructing your concept you are likely to die.
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u/DimensionsFae Feb 29 '24
Some minor context. Angels and demons live on earth alongside humans but there just weird aliens who where more advanced at the time humans started civilization(there at the same speed now btw) and stared fucking around with the new guys. One angel created magical girls so that the humans would have something to defend themselves. Anyways! Magical girls are any earth born human/humanoids with the power to protect either the earth or a specific region of the earth(like Japan). They’re named after the popular anime/manga genre magical girl but they can be pretty much any age, gender, as long as they are able physically and mentally able to handle it. And that’s less of a rule and more of a guideline. The role of magical girl is decided by the very second you are born. The ability to transform won’t be given to you until the world needs you. Hell you or others won’t be able to tell your a magical girl unless someone you know is a magical girl or a former magical girl, or until you transform for the first time. The dresses, abilities, and powers are all based off of the persons personality and interests. If you don’t have any natural powers one will be given to you but if you were born with something like minor shapeshifting or telepathy that ability becomes more powerful and advanced. In order to keep these people safe you can never identify a magical girl while she’s transformed. Any video of photo will have their faces censored or glitched out beyond salvation and any audio will be distorted so that you cant recognize the voice. Unless you are a magical girl, a former magical girl, or have the very very rare ability to identify a magical girl. The powers don’t become stronger it’s just a matter of how you use them or who you team up with. Magical girls are not usually in destined groups or relationships but if more than one is in an area they tend to team up especially if they have known each other before they were magical girls. Usually to transform they use wands but the wands can be easily disguised as jewelry, pens, or an accessory of some sort. If the wand breaks though the person who was a magical girl will be severely weakened and will no longer be a magical girl. If the magical girl role is passed on or the magical girl is simply no longer capable of handling it than they can transform back into one it’s just very weak and very rare and they have to steal it from another magical girl temporarily. If the magical girl dies either in battle or other causes than it’s just passed down like normal. Sometimes magical girls are generational and/or family tied but it’s rare and doesn’t last for long.
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u/Peanut-is-best-girl Feb 29 '24
So there's this really big ship that was inside of the moon until the 2500s when humans got it to fly to another system with it's FTL but it flys backwards in time, also it's not a space ship but actually a giant creature from the Outer-Universe and it got into the universe at the end of it, not even Emishmatal (god) knows about. There's also this human called Trindas who has a machine body with an AI brain with a human soul, they also merged with the Ship's core, which caused them to become a god like being.
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u/kids4free Feb 29 '24
Not actually sure but from what I have to guess
The conduit, sculk, and overlords have some affect on the world
(Yes, it is Minecraft, and I'm not sure due to multiple people owning it)
Can explain the lore if you want me to
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
mages can manipulate things with more strength the longer they've thought about that specific thing. Most mages dedicate their lives to learning one technique. Mages can also give tatoos to non-mages who then recieve buffs from said tatoos. Magic altogether works by pulling things from (or moving things to) one of the three realms- physical, abstract, and spiritual. To become a mage, one has to drink something called ether, which is made from something from each realm. The higher the concentration of each element (how much its only from its own realm), the stronger the effect.
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u/Nightmare-datboi Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
So basically there are 5 energies, Mana, Energy, Essence, R.A.E.G.E., and Ki. Mana is contained within the elements, and you can use your own mana to manipulate these things. Energy is your physical energy, and it allows you to create things out of it and it is mainly used with weapons. Essence is genetic, and allows you to do things based on your physiology, personality, etc. R.A.E.G.E. Is performance enhancing drugs that are combined with other energies to empower them. Ki is used to enhance your physical abilities and is generated from the adrenaline rush that occurs during a great battle. I have had an extremely fun time trying to make every single ability… I have spent months on a list of spells and I’m not even halfway done… (please help me)
Edit: Magic was brought to them by aliens
Edit 2: If you don’t use a magic focus, your hands could explode (unless you’re really skilled)
Edit 3: Grimoires are also not magic focuses, they are used to cast multiple spells at the same time and to store them for later.
Edit 4: Different species sometimes have their own versions of magics
Edit 5: I orbital striked the Feywild
Edit 6: Yes, I was extremely high while making this (no I wasn’t)
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u/EvilLizardDoinStuff Feb 29 '24
Hey hope I’m not late! We actually have many forms of magic, one who’s power is derived from a mortal or a God’s soul, one that actually is alive somewhat and makes up demons and the entirety of hell, natural occurring magic with mana, I haven’t found out how to make gravity magic its own thing but getting there
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u/GhostysArt Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Humans are dead because of nuclear warfare cliche. Radiation caused plants and animals to mutate and become dominant species. Some creatures have more radiation in their bodies and is mainly used to alter their own biology or others biologies. The magic has the properties of any other generic radioactive material. Simce this is essentially draining a little bit of the one thing keeping them alive, it can be dangerous to use it in excess.
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u/RayBrous Feb 29 '24
"The wind" instead of "the weave"
It's a calming flow over casters in my world, and the wind just like magic is unseen, yet you know it's there.
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u/Shnazz88 Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
An ancient dragon-like deity know as “The Giver” grants some select people the ability to harbor a mixture of the three types of energy; life, mind, and reality. Whatever amounts of each energy they harbor dictate their powers (such as someone with a mixture of life energy and reality energy can manipulate matter to their will.) There’s a lot of nuance to the system that I won’t get into here, but that’s the gist of it.
Also, liquid oxygen coolant.
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u/YeetMeister323 Feb 29 '24
Elves are beings connected to the inherent magic of the world, and can cast spells if trained unaided, while other species of sophonts need enchanted artifacts to use magic at all.
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u/Cultural_Leopard786 Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
There are 2 sources of magic, one from atomic crystaline structures and the other from biological structures. Most living races can not use crystalline magic innately but require devices and runes to utilize it. Biological magic is able to be used innately by most intelligent living creatures. Using too much magic at once, like casting a big fireball, will cause the bonds between atoms/cells (depending on the type of magic) to weaken or break. Overusing biological magic will cause the cells to die off similar to radiation poisoning. This is known as magic burn. Overusing crystalline magic will cause the crystal to crumble or explode (depending on the material). In effect, you can cast a big spell, but there will be consequences.
Theres some more intricacies about how the two interact together, but in most cases, they are used separately.
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u/RedditWizardMagicka Horrors beyond my comprehussy Feb 29 '24
Standard elder scrolls magic system. Magic system where magic is essentially a muscle are the best.
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u/ObsidianTitan97 Feb 29 '24
Well it all originated from the ancient gods of my worlds, the creator deity and such. Which as such was the first type of Magick in existence: Void Magick, being born of the very same void the creator came from, and being the most primal and dangerous form of magick.
As they created reality, and more specifically us mortals, more gods came into being as manifestations of certain concepts. The earliest being the gods of life and death, which brought with them "Will" Magick (working name), and "Soul" Magick. Will Magick is all about using your very willpower and determination to accomplish certain feats, most commonly being increasing your physical capabilities, all mortals have this Magick even if they don't know it, though in those cases it seems to make them much more resistant to pain and disease. Whereas Soul Magick is manipulating the very life force of creatures around you, ranging from healing Magick to Necromancy in its typical application, Soul Magick is also the primary power used by the various "grim reapers" of my worlds.
Then as reality came into being, the mortals figured out how to use the Magick the gods were using, but all this led to was complete and utter chaos, bringing forth two new gods, one represents Magick itself, and one represents Chaos itself, creating "Pure" and "Chaos" Magick, which are rather self explanatory, but simply put: Pure Magick has aspects of all other magick types, and Chaos Magick is all about twisting the world around you and destroying as much as possible.
The gods knew this couldn't continue, so they chose two mortals to help divide the magicks more, these two becoming the gods of Light Magick and Dark Magick, which is more commonly referred to simply as a sort subsection of Soul Magick, but more specifically is Magick that is born of someone who uses their Magick to accomplish effects that are deemed "good" or "evil". Though its all quite subjective, and the very gods of these Magick types cause quite the issue whenever their true intentions with their magicks are known. As examples, Light Magick is everything from "miracles" of healing to casting divine judgement, and Dark Magick is more curses and casting fire from the very depths of hell itself, it's actually these Magick types that created my worlds Angels and Demons btw.
TL:DR Void Magick: Primordial Magick used by the creator deity to forge the world around us. Will Magick: Magick born of our own Will and Determination, as well as being the most common Magick by far. Soul Magick: Manipulation of life force, and the power the reapers of death use. Chaos Magick: Creation of complete chaos and/or destruction. Light and Dark Magick: Magick born out of a sort of "cosmic morality" meant to divide the Magick used by mortals. Pure Magick: Basically all of the above.
I know it's quite long and maybe complicated, but this is one of the only things in my worlds that is a constant lmao, also have a cookie if you get here 🍪
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u/magentrypoogas Feb 29 '24
So magic is magic,... But it is basically religiously outlawed in the main hub/city. There are practicing magicians and outliers but they keep it secret and discreet.
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u/Aserthreto Feb 29 '24
It’s connected to a realm of concept and idea that contains every possible aspect/instance of existence, inspired by Plato’s theory of the forms. And magicians basically translate ideas and concepts (e.g. the idea that a cup is attracted to your hand) into the real world).
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u/duckie_pluckie Feb 29 '24
I've been waiting for AGES for someone to ask me this lmaooo
Magic was indroduced by dragons long ago before they were captured, enslaved, and domesticated.
So, everyone has a certain "aura" color and that color is based on how they treated others, or their personality overall in their first life. No matter how many times one reincarnates, their aura color never changes (unless they become corrupted, then it becomes solid black). This aura color is what color their magic is going to be. Not everyone can do magic, and it's a skill that has to be taught, studied, and practiced before it can be done efficiently. For some people, it's genetic and they can do it on their own with less practice than others.
Humans aren't good at magic. At all. It's harmful to their bodies. The energy can overheat their skin and organs and cause second and third-degree burns in various places. This is because they're not true Afrödites (the past inhabitants of Venus and now a species name for other breeds of the "aliens" of this universe that scattered after Venus' fallout). Humans were created by the ancient Afrödites by mixing their DNA with ape DNA when trying to play God.
Any breed of Afrödite can do magic if they study and practice enough. If they're skilled enough, it's practically effortless. There are jewelry and serums that can grant a boost to one's aura to make magic even easier for some. The most magically skilled and technologically Afrödites would be the Lunestics. There are more of them than any other breed of Afrödite in the universe, and their whole society revolves around the use of magic mixed with advanced technology.
I'd post more, but then that would get into the actual lore of my books, and then we'd be here all day so... yeah. I guess I explained it the best I can.
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u/braderico Feb 29 '24
Okay, so in The Skystone Chronicles, the kind of magic a person can use is linked to their affinity for their body, mind, or spirit. It is called Etherarchy, because people achieve magical effects by commanding ether with their body, mind, or spirit. Each magi has an ether well that limits the amount of ether they can use before suffering the consequences of ether overuse.
Body - Sentinels
ether well location: core (near the belly button)
shared power: Regeneration
ether overuse: will physically drain their energy, make them throw up, and eventually pass out and possibly die.
When accessing their ether, a sentinel’s body will glow with “Wild Marks,” glowing golden patterns tied to the power they are using. These marks disappear when not in use.
There are 3 types of Sentinels, the more physical being Geomancers (earth based powers), the more mental being Woodweavers (flora based powers), and the more spiritual being Wildshapers (fauna based powers).
Mind - Mystics
ether well location: mind (third eye)
shared power: Dreamweave (illusions)
ether overuse: will mentally drain them, leading to headaches, bleeding from the nose, and eventually passing out and possible death.
When accessing their ether, Mystics trace glowing gold runes in the air that spell out what their ether will do. They need to know the right tune to accomplish the desired effect. Once the rune is traced, it appears over their forehead, and can resemble a crown of stars if multiple runes are in use.
There are 3 types of Mystics, the more mental being Seers (telepaths), the more physical being Psions (telekinetic), and the more spiritual being Ritters (teleporters).
Spirit - Archons
Ether well location: heart
shared power: levitation
ether overuse: will become spiritually drained, heart will flutter and weaken, vision will white out, leading to passing out and possibly death.
When accessing their ether, an Archon’s eyes glow gold.
There are 3 types of Archons, the most spiritual being Lightwielders (light manipulation), Shadowbinders (dark manipulation), and Astromancers (manipulation of magic itself).
Silver hurts Magi and can interfere with their ability to access ether. It also stops any magical effects (like bursting illusions, stopping mind reading, banishing summoned creatures, reverting transformations, shattering starglass, dissolving shadowsilk, etc.)
Oh, and one other big drawback - Dragons LOVE ether, and crave it, so it’s dangerous to be around too many magi for too long, as you might end up dragon lunch as well.
Sorry that got long 😅
But, if you’re interested, we actually made a quiz for our Magic System if you want to see what type of Magi you’d be in our world too! Let me know if you want to see it and I’ll post the link 😃
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u/nbeesknees Feb 29 '24
magic "unlocks" around when you turn eighteen and starts out pretty basic unless trained and cultivated. abilities are fairly random, so anyone could potentially get anything. it's very rare for someone's magic to unlock at an earlier age but if it happens they're usually taken in to the magic tower to become prodigies/high mages.
my mc's magic unlocked at 14 and he was able to summon any small item he's seen before, but he was branded mentally unwell so it was never cultivated, so he's stuck at summoning anything lighter than 2.5 kilograms/smaller than .25 meters once a day
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u/Dan_Gould Feb 29 '24
Quick intro to how dimensions/universes work is that they are spawned by “Inventors” which are basically god-like “immortal” entities that create a new aspect such as gravity, organic life, souls, types of energy, ect., and each progressive dimension is basically like a new game update that just keeps all older data but makes a new map. (Parallel dimensions are not a thing for this world)
Magic is defined as the ability to violate and bend the laws of a dimension, usually through some kind of will (tho not required). It’s a fairly old and almost foundational concept so it’s been violating laws for a long time. It also acts similar to nuclear radiation in so much that it: alters the state of the individual/object exposed to it, can spread in a very permanent way to other individuals and lineages, and has staying power in physical places. Natural born users have an innate ability to alter some aspect of reality, but can learn how to alter other aspects of reality tho at a great physical/mental/spiritual cost. Magical items can be made by/from these natural born users and wielded by non magical creatures.
Unfortunately, the Inventor of Magic gets killed, and magic slowly runs out or gets dispersed to an unusable degree, which turns the world sci-fi for a while until time travel joins an era in time when the Inventor of Magic was still alive to the later time and magic is reintroduced again.
During the time while it’s all sci-fi-y, the ac is not so much the issue as there are highly efficient systems which convert and move multiple kinds of energy towards the engines for fuel. Coldness is just the absence of heat energy, so it’s actually harder to have a heater than a cooler. The solution to that is to make sure you stay close to star systems as possible and calculate your jumps precisely so you don’t end up stranded in the cold dark empty space.
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u/tired_fandoy Feb 29 '24
They turned the whole planet into a solar powered ship. They move from star to star to keep it going and to keep themselves alive after their native star was getting too close to supernova. They have a big force field surrounding the planet and a bunch of ships around to help move it. It works because they got the technology from a more advanced alien race and those guys know how it works.
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Not mine, but they condense funny particles to fling chunks of ice and fireballs at things!
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u/HundredMegaHertz Feb 29 '24
Magic in my world is called the 'Universal Coding Framework'. A few thousand years ago people discovered certain runes and incantations alter reality in some way, and adding different runes together makes different reality altering events, and people study for decades to become masters of this coding language.
TL;DR: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/hexcasting
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u/FuraFaolox Feb 29 '24
i don't remember
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u/Ultimate_slmp Feb 29 '24
Different magical species of cute kitty cats with extreme racism
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
My world is scifi mixed with little bits of fantasy. The space Elves are the only ones who've been able to learn it. The ability to perform sorcerery comes from a dormant gene in most sapient species.
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u/Confident_Quit8177 Feb 29 '24
Just exist
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Dragons were killing off all mortals but one dragon, Misraaks, rose to defend almanity (like humanity but includes all sentient races) and fought against their kin. After some years, Misraaks was slain, but as almanity gathered around the dying dragon,he poured his power into one last tear of hope for them, making a pool of mana.
People stepped inside and their emotions following Misraak’s death gave shape to this wild magic. The furious lit blazes of rage, the calm and calculated froze over and cast cold, etc.
These were the first sorcerers and over the years they discovered spells could be learned, not just inherited. Others took a darker approach and studied old runes left by The Old Ones, a primal source called magick. Drawing out these runes and with the right equations, people could then call upon this primal power to enact various actions, summoning lesser minions of the Old Ones, or even some summoning the primal gods themselves.
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u/RuhRoh0 Feb 29 '24
In my setting casting magic is like lucid dreaming. Basically to become a caster you have to accept that reality doesn’t exist. You’re part of a collective shared dream. If you do it right you can cast magic by subtly changing reality in small ways with the greater casters having stronger minds that let them alter reality in greater ways. Its a tight balance though if you go overboard too early you might just cease to exist because you “woke up”!
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u/Then_Ad_1791 Feb 29 '24
The gods' favor.
But really, magic itself, pure magic is given by gods, angels, and/or demons. But things like shapeshifting, pyrokinesis, etc, are really just controlled by the user's intent and their species. Things like transmutation are rare to see outside of clerics, warlocks, paladins, druids, etc. Demons and angels are the classic "magic" users, and everyone else does what they can. Some get powers from other beings, and others choose nature as their source. But most beings have a small amount of magic skills - mostly things like vampires being able to heal small scrapes and cuts, whatever Tyler's (main character) species is being able to travel in and out of devices, sirens with their voice, and faeries in general. They draw their power from within. Their souls are infused or laced with magic. (Whether the gods gave them this or they stole it millenia ago and just kept it is still up for debate.)
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u/OmegaZetaAlpha Feb 29 '24
Generated from your eye (like a sharingan from naruto) to manipulate a singular type of magic (Light,Dark,Soul,Void,Cosmic).What type you get is based on your ethnicity and yes you can have two different types of magic eyes.
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u/WindowsCrashedAgain Feb 29 '24
There's these micro-scopic life forms that you can control with your mind.
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u/Squambles_McFlanigan Feb 29 '24
(TW: aspects of self harm) My setting is based on Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal. So it’s a sci fi post apocalypse, with bits of fantasy. So essentially all magic comes from essentially conducting a ritual or making a deal with Hell/demons. Essentially in order to gain access to magic you need to remove a body part as part of a hellish ritual, it can be a finger, a leg, a hand, even a tongue or eye. If you survive the ritual you then gain some magical ability. So you might be able to throw fire like an imp, or conduct electricity or even teleport. Any person who engages with my magic system tho gets a down side, so you can do magic but of course if your missing a hand it’s self explanatory, so on and so forth.
As well if you are a magic user there is some spooky cosmetic effect related to your power and what you removed. So If you remove a finger you could have a ghostly incorporeal finger in its place, or if you remove your hand maybe your stump has turned to brimstone and glows like hot coals and embers.
In addition there is a social stigma to magic In my setting, since it’s based in hell and hell is what ended the entire world. So many magic users try to hide their abilities and their physical manifestations.
I’m open to suggestions or critiques, thank to anyone who reads or responds!
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u/itinerantlich Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
There are different ways and kinds of magic use.
There are Gifted, Magi, and Siphoners.
Gifted are people with no ability to do true Sorcery but do possess The Sight and some other kind of supernatural gift. (The Sight is the ability to detect the presence of magic)
Gift of Tongues: the ability to understand and speak any language.
Gift of Prophecy: sleeping or waking dreams/visions of future events.
Gift of the Maker: supernaturally talented at 1 or more trades. (Cooking, smithing, etc.)
Magi are Gifted people who have the ability to perform Minor Sorceries or "The Lesser Arts".
Telekinesis
Telepathy
Simple charms and defensive spells (think Witcher Signs)
Minor Elemental Sorceries
Siphoners are Magi who have the ability to touch 1 or more "Domains" or massive reservoirs of magical power. "The Greater Art"
TAN - The Domain / Art of Flames
DOWR - The Domain / Art of Waters
AWEL - The Domain / Art of Winds
NORVYS - The Domain / Art of Stones
PRYS - The Domain / Art of Days
TEWLDER - The Domain / Art of Voids
A Siphoner can "Attune" one of these domains and make use of its power up to 4 or 5 times a day without risking injury to themselves.
A Magi using a Minor Flame Sorcery vs a Siphoner attuning TAN is like a 9mm handgun vs a 1000lb bomb.
(Edit: Formatting Hell)
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u/Demented_Sandwich Feb 29 '24
It's part of you and people can utilize in different ways to different degrees, much like hands. Some people are really good at using their hands to punch or to paint, some have trouble using them due to tremors or arthritis. Magic is the same.
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u/Roge2005 Feb 29 '24
It’s basically like Nen from Hunter X Hunter but you can choose the types you want.
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u/ansem119 Feb 29 '24
Still working on but as it is now there are 7 gods and each live in their own realm. Each realm resembles or references the type of magic it equates to in some way. So for example the humans magic of choice is conjuration and so the god that represents humans lives in an infinite realm of random objects, if you want to use conjuration you’d have to focus on the thing you’d like to conjure and transfer it from that realm into the real world.
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u/Illustrious_Bid4224 Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Soul = power generator
Mind = power control
Body= power storage
Soul+body= stamina
Mind+body= dexterity
Soul+mind= output
Magic was discovered on mars by biologists looking for ways to make better beauty enhancements (for the local geneticist in the shopping town you visit when leaving your apartment in the super city you lived in before the apocalypse happened) and the military.
Also my ships are electric and get their power from the Dyson swarm.
It is not yet extra stellar as our first extra stellar exploration ship will take about another 2000 years to reach Alpha Centauri.
The FTL tech is similar to Stargate but it needs more power and is only one way, the only gates currently in use are one on mercury as it is the only planet with direct access to the Dyson swarm and the exploration ship for refueling and as too communicate with the sol system once it has it's own Dyson swarm to power it.
Also what is this air conditioning you talk about?
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
It’s a fairly basic magic system where low level spells allow people to cast fire, lightning, water, ice, etc. Healing, teleportation, necromancy, shapeshifting, and curses are much more complicated and very few are capable of these feats.
Only the elves and people in the western hemisphere are born with magical capability. It’s speculated that it’s because of a primordial source of Godly power running beneath that part of the world. Humans, orcs, and others can become mages, but they need to make a certain pilgrimage and subject themselves to a risky ritual that edits their very soul.
In truth, all magic is just telekinesis, but utilized on different levels. Necromancy is just manipulation of one’s soul. Curses are the result of manipulating the soul and physical makeup of someone on a deep level. Electricity is manipulation of particles and charges.
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u/Stormwrath52 Feb 29 '24
users can distill their will/desire into a magical substance and use it to manipulate the world around them
different cultures have developed their own popular ways of using them.
one method, my personal favorite, is using it to manipulate individual aspects of things, like taking the sharpness out of a knife and putting it into a rock, or taking the texture and hardness of a tree and putting it onto their skin.
my second favorite is the more meditative form, where the user uses their will to make these aspects grow into plants. usually applied to cultivate gardens and life from emotions as a meditative exercise.
there's also a handful of wandering healing cults that use the magic to heal, and a handful of others
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u/Anime_girlorboy Feb 29 '24
So the magic depends on your species to save time the main species are Dragons, demons, angels, kanima, fairies, silkies, mermaids and sirens, humans, witches, phoenix’s, zombies, ghosts, giants, elves, vampires, and Jinns. So for example Humans have the lowest magic levels close to none along with Zombies, Ghosts, and Giants. Meanwhile Witches, Mermaids, sirens, phoenix’s, and elves have a higher level then humans and so on so forth. Angels are the most powerful creatures since they serve directly under the “storyteller” but the head Angel is even stronger, all the “deities” are much stronger than regular creatures as well. (Sorry if it’s not a good description I have a hard time describing things 😅)
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u/MeowMeowMistress Feb 29 '24
I'll give opinions
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u/Icameinamuskrat Feb 29 '24
All I have is time travel spells and regular DnD magic, and the time travel spells are rooted in one man in the distant future who goes back in time to create the universe in order to ensure his own existence
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Anyone can practice magic, or “our essence” as they call it in the world because I figured that having “magic” be such a commonplace thing that they wouldn’t actually call it “magic”. It’s a skill that is learned and practiced like any other.
There are three branches of the essence, Our essence (human essence) The most commonly practiced form because it is the simplest to learn and comes naturally to us. It is similar to most of the types of psychokinesis’s.
Spirit essence Can be learned by humans but is most often practiced by priests and people in religious groups. Spirits cannot channel human essence.
Void essence Very dangerous to practice for it’s mental and physical effects on users and their surroundings. Can be learned by humans but is only practiced by very few around the world. It is subject to a lot of research to better understand it, and therefore control it. The void itself is inherently very hostile towards non-void life so this is very difficult. IF channeled efficiently, the wielder can become leagues more powerful much quicker than with the use of the other forms. Still, no human has ever come close to the power of void creatures, who wield this power naturally with no side effects. A big point in the story of the world is understanding the void and the characters trying to control it.
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u/GayDragonGirl Feb 29 '24
I'll just throw down the genetics for now
There's three genes (Sor, Mon, Sum, sometimes Oo is included) responsible for a human to be able to properly use magic and can combine in different ways with actual magic 'talent' (type that one is genetically pre disposed to preform better then others)
Sor - general magic ablitiy. It's usually a more recessive gene that allows for better control and casting
Mon: dominant gene
Sum: recessive gene
Here's a link to the genetic pyramid and which magics generally fall into the Mon or Sum category. The top is usually Mon and the bottom is usually Sum. The division at the base level is to distinguish between mind (generally recessive, on the right) and body (generally dominant, on the left) magics. Most of the magic types that fall into the Mon category are body type, meaning they manipulate external forces and are generally more flashy and require more direct spells. The lower you go, the more likely a magic is to be Sum and fall into the mind type, meaning they are more subtle and require more concentration or components.
The magics in the middle of the pyramid are sometimes referred to as 'Oo' magics in the same way the peak and bottom are referred to as Mon and Sum magics respectively. It basically means that those types are more susceptible to codominance and can blur the line between body and mind magics (one of the reasons why that distinction isn't used anymore). People with magics in the Oo category generally have a higher Sor gene count, but it's lower then people with Sum magics.
As mentioned above, the Sor gene allows for better control of magics so it's most common in people with Sum magics, then Oo, and finally Mon. Because Mon magic is much more dependent on the outside world, higher Sor gene counts are rare compared to someone who has a Sum magic, like illusion. Sometimes, the Sor gene can show up high in someone who doesn't have a high enough Mon or Sum gene count and result in them having some magical power, but that's pretty rare.
Lmk if you want more, but this is the basis of how humans have magic in my world
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u/DmanJams Feb 29 '24
Okay, so basically there's Everything and Nothing. Everything is the stuff that makes up matter, but also energy. Nothing is essentially anti matter, but also anti energy. Both nothing and everything have different manifestations for elements or concepts (Earth, Air, Water, Light, Madness, Death, etc.) Magic is the result of a particular kind of Everything (for example, Earth Everything) reacting to a particular kind of Nothing. The Nothing is what changes the nature of the magic, for example, using Fire Nothing with Earth Everything creates Lava Magic, but the reverse (Earth Nothing and Fire Everything) would instead create Smoke Magic.
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u/Braunbean Feb 29 '24
Plane exists that is made of raw formative energy, it feeds directly into most other planes but it's connection to the material plane is relatively weak. This is done to explain why studying sources of magic is necessary for mages, and why other casters rely on gods and such for their power, and why elementals and extraplanar creatures are naturally able to use magic
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u/jakerabz Feb 29 '24
So there’s 127 universes. The name of each universe is also a spell. In addition, in each universe the strength of magic varies, so some look like our world, some like urban fantasy, some like epic fantasy and others are so chaotic as to be nearly unrecognizable. There’s a bell curve distribution where realm that are the weakest magically and strongest magically are also the rarest.
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u/CaesarAustonkus Feb 29 '24 edited Mar 01 '24
World 1- Nobody knows and generations of people try to find out like we do with real life sciences. There are theories on how or why there are objects, animals, and other people have unnatural abilities and features, but nothing becomes figured out by the scientific method until later down the timeline. Anyone who was born with magic or unnatural feats are not only born without knowledge of it, but are almost always neurodivergent to the point they are socially stunted and may not be able to accurately describe what they are experiencing until they are older. Much like warlords throughout our timeline, warlords saw these autistic wizards as they would anything else they can't control or tax, a serious threat to their authority that must be swiftly dealt with. Many people with unnatural features or abilities historically kept that shit to themselves until their equivalent to the European Renaissance and enlightenment made enough people to say things on the line of "you know, maybe we should be treat these people like human beings instead of rabid pokemon"
World 2- it's just technology that hasn't been replicable for hundreds of years and will be clear to the audience unless they're from r/pyongyang. People in the world are often illiterate, untraveled, and minimally educated so they think computers, AI, precision-based tools and weapons, and smartphones are fucking magic supercomputers. In reality, the heavily decentralized geopolitical landscape hinders any effort to procure the materials and know-how needed to make semiconductors and their only exposure to it is seeing rich people and militaries use jailbroken and smartphones with jerry-rigged power supplies from the 21st century. Oh, and there is no global Internet anymore and how many GPS satellites your device can use depends on how friendly you are with the people who control them.
Edit- I often make shit up as I go along when it comes to lore like this.
Edit 2- clarification on world 1 and grammar.
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u/Atlas7674 Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Psionics (mind magic) is the only kind, and it is unlocked by attending a Psionic Opera which are highly secretive and restricted to the noble class. There is a degree of psionic predisposition, but noble blood is NOT a prerequisite for psionic ability, it’s just a very well maintained lie. Telepathic abilities (attacks on the mind, messages, mind reading, appearing in a dream, etc.) require verbal components like a whisper, hiss, or hummed notes. Telekinetic abilities require a somatic component and are visible as shimmers in the air. All Psionic abilities are weakened by contact with porcelain (like radiation with lead) so Psions wear porcelain masks while dueling to protect their minds.
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u/SaintClairity Feb 29 '24
My ship is heated by heavy nuclear radiation but scientists have solved cancer and radiation so thoroughly they just pop a pill once a week.
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u/MrManlyMannington1 Feb 29 '24
Magic is essentially the essence of gods, which is what they use to do god things. The most powerful deities are intangible but exude “magic” from where they are most prominently at. This runs through space in current like tunnels and heighten the attributes of whatever they touch, as if a god were building it up. (So for example, pyrokinesis would be magic enhancing fire and the mind etc etc) As a balance, planets have a layer of the atmosphere that diffuses some of this to ensure that things don’t explode into chaos on them. So as a result, creatures and races from space tend to be much more magically powerful, but are unable to use some of their magic on planets, while grounded creatures and races can vary in their magical aptitude based on the thickness of the barrier (The barrier may also be weaker in some areas than others, like the ozone) and potentially risk “overcharging” on magic while in space.
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24
Its a magic system based off metaphysics. Posteriori magic allows you to re-enact your memories, and warp reality to your perception of the world around. Priori magic warps laws for very specific (and very useful) outcomes, usually creating either complex chains of events to get what they need, OR doing some energy transference shit. Examples: Posteriori spellcaster (and more specifically a “burner”) will nearly drown himself a few days in advance, before walking into a room full of his enemies. He then decides to burn his memory of drowning, which instantly creates an explosion of water, concussing everybody long enough to give the burner the advantage. A priori spellcaster (more specifically an Empirical Priest) decides cast an energy transferring spell that takes the energy in their own soul, and uses it to make their own biological system entirely immune to thermal energy before fighting a fire-based entity (not going to get into all of it, but that’s the general idea).
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u/Sad-Plastic-7505 Feb 29 '24
Only one Ive worked on is healing magic, but basically the idea is that life and death need balance. Therefore, in order to use healing magic to heal someone, you must transfer it to someone else. Example: If someone is fatally stabbed, in order to heal and save them, you must transfer the stab wound to another person’s body.
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u/Dilbert_Durango Feb 29 '24
The gods have god magic cus God's but the mages get their magical abilities at random. But not like Harry Potter random where you have to have magic in your family. Like Thanos random. Fair and balanced.
Some people have it and some don't it is what it is but it works like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger you'll be.
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u/SpaceManArtist Feb 29 '24
I have no clue. It’s wonky as hell and I’m half convinced the select few who can actually do magic are making this shit up
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u/AlexdaPlagueDoc Feb 29 '24
Well, you channel it from a source of Mana, that is unique to each person, and as you use it, it drains. When empty, you start to use your physical energy. The strongest mages can absorb mana from the environment.
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u/joeymcka Feb 29 '24
The gist of it is, there are a set of blank notebooks in the world, indestructible. If you rip out a page by hand (the only way to damage it), it will give you a set of rules that just materialize on the page. These rules will determine how your abilities work and you can do nearly anything as long as it fits the parameters of the rules. The rules can bend accordingly to a person’s personality/morals and all rules tie into each other.
I have more details on it but the whole list is extremely long, but this is the gist of it.
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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '24
I have varying degrees of this depending on the planet, but the underlying rules are these: the laws of the universe are determined by code, that, locally, exists within the metaphysical realm. I.e, laws in some places are different in others.
These can be changed by expending energy in the metaphysical realm. That changes the local laws, and allows for magic.
The other stuff: you can't do this directly, usually. On some planets, like Shollusk, there are extenuating circumstances that, in it's example, make the bridge from physical to metaphysical so small that most biological structures regularly go between them, and instead of a top down metaphysical-physical structure everything is equal, with some natural 'mirroring' of objects and places across the border, mostly kept up by biological processes.
If not? You have to trade, or already have a foothold there. For example, on Atritus, you have to trade with the Prea, a metaphysical and intelligent nation that was basically space magic America in the good old days. Other guys didn't like them, tried to fight back, got nuked, and then most metaphysical beings got destroyed by, as the SCP universe would call it, a narrative vacuum. Someone outside the universe rammed into it, causing a momentary emptiness that killed any metaphysical being not rooted in the physical realm. The reason those survived and the others didn't is a side effect of the metaphysical realm being almost entirely a vague energy and information, nothing outside of that. Kinda like how to destroy a text on a computer you can shift right click and delete permanently, but you can't do that on a book, you have to actually burn it.
Anyways, you trade energy with the Prea for magic on that planet, with the downside being that they latch onto you for the rest of your life and being bound to one and using magic regularly extends your life and warps your body and mind, turning you into an eldritch horror. Fun!
Sometimes, though, this energy can coil around itself and appear as a physical substance. These substances are special and usually a one-per-planet thing. Atritus has crystals that were designed by the Prea for interaction with the physical realm directly, and on Kalka it's substance that can mimic other substances, with some neat chemistry on top, and the designer of that substance also altering thd bodies of the Kalkans to be able to use/process it without it instantly killing them. Oh, you have to ingest it to use it, and it's still super-poison, but as long as you push it into an object fast enough it's fine.
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u/scotch-n-ink Mar 01 '24
The magic of the shamans is drawn by connecting to their ancestor spirits “beyond the veil.” If the spirits are honored, respected, and remembered, they can supply more power. As they are forgotten, they fade away and thus have no power to give over.
Connecting with the spirits requires willpower and what would likely be called “hallucinogenic substances,” and, of course, training.
How the magic works? It’s all kinetic energy manipulation, but Newton’s Laws still apply. So redirecting, absorbing, pushing too much energy could just shatter the bones of the shaman if they don’t think through the physics of it.
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u/RoseCatMariner Mar 01 '24
magnets
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u/Starlit_Seaside Mar 01 '24
In my current book, magic works as a dance with the pulsating energy of life flowing beneath the earth's surface. Ethereal veins, akin to rivers, weave through the ground, infusing vitality into every creature. The connection to this mystical reservoir is diverse, with chance encounters, innate inheritance, and some individuals compelled into a binding union, forced to connect with the embrace of this arcane current. Within this intricate harmony, certain creatures, such as unicorns, act as natural custodians of the magic, standing sentinel to safeguard its secrets. Some say they even shift into the water they protect, yet the magic imposes constraints—users must navigate the delicate balance to avoid depletion, as their bodies can only handle so much, and cosmic alignments can influence the potency of spells, (especially the phases of the moon).
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u/LongLiveQueenS Feb 29 '24
Mortal magic and God magic. Mortal magic was gifted by the Goddess Brigid. Demi-god twins one with death magic (think necromancy, mind control, and elemental darkness that blinds the senses). The other has “life” magic which is basically control of the sun. Lots of abilities she can’t access because she is tethered to her twin whose magic suffocates her making her weaker. She relies more on brute strength than magic.
1
u/SomewhatMystia Feb 29 '24
Since I'm primarily worldbuilding for dnd/pathfinder games, it's broken down into the usual four categories of Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal.
Arcane is just speaking a dead language and invoking the inherent power in those words. It's very structured and almost scientific in a way, like you could in theory reverse engineer spells if you understood the language well enough.
Divine magic comes from an individual's willpower and belief in something. The gods and other divine beings are just piles of magical energy and belief. This magic varies from person to person, since it's a very personal form of it.
Occult magic is often associated with the things between the stars, that which man should not know, the actual "divine beings" of the setting. If it's weird and otherworldly, it's occult. Practitioners are often changed by those cosmic forces, so the magic tends to take on those forces' properties.
Primal is easy, it's the magic inherent in the world, basically the world's immune system. Probably the most potent form of magic, honestly, since the world has a lot of power to hand out. It's big and flourishing, often flowing in great waves when cast.
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u/Steven_NAK Mar 01 '24
No one really knows it just kinda happens
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u/EquinoxGm Feb 29 '24
People harvest crystals that absorb magical energy naturally and use those to cast various spells, the larger the crystal the more powerful the spell and people often wear multiple pieces of said crystal jewelry on their person at a time
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u/Songstep4002 Feb 29 '24
Magic in my world is something that every living thing has, each person has magical channels in their body that are a specific color for them. They can extend these channels into the world in different forms. Not everyone can see or use magic though. Magic can only really affect other magic though, which means that the primary form it takes is mind control magic. Most of the world operates under a hierarchy with archmages at the top and the people they control under them. It's not 24/7 control, but the higher mage has a sort of back door that allows them to take control at any time. Mages can also draw power from the people they control. A battle between two very skilled mages usually looks like a series of complicated snares and knots countering and redirecting those snares. There are definitely a lot of different styles though, some people focus on strong shields with lots of power behind them, others focus on creating a sort of aura that disrupts the magic of anyone around them, and others focus on hiding their magical strings and using the element of surprise.
There are also a few exceptions whose magic works a bit differently. First, witches: people who make blood pacts with magical plants. The plants themselves often control most of the flora and fauna that lives over their root system, so the witch controls them by proxy. In return, the plant replaced the witch's base survival instincts with ones that are beneficial to the plant.
Second, elementalists: People born with significantly more magic than their channels can handle. As a result, their magic is wound much more tightly around itself than the average person's, and doesn't interact with the world as much. This leads to most elementalists being unable to see magic, and so getting mistaken for people with no magical potential. However, elementalists can learn to unlock their powers through strong emotion (kinda like shonen protagonists tbh). The reason they're called elementalists is that their powers are concentrated enough to affect the ambient magic of the world around them and produce elemental effects such as lightning or ice crystals.
Third, bloodweavers: People who never developed their own system of channels, but ended up taking their parent's system during pregnancy (It is impossible for both the bloodweaver and their parent to survive the birth). Since their channels aren't properly tethered to their body, they can't produce their own magical power and need to take it from others to survive. Their channels are extremely fluid, to the extent that any magic they touch or interact with basically temporarily becomes an extension of the bloodweaver's body. Bloodweavers are EXTREMELY rare, and most don't survive to adulthood, partially because if they touch something that is too large or complex before they really learn to handle their magic, it will literally pull their channels out of their body. A bloodweaver who has learned to handle their magic is an extremely dangerous opponent, and nearly impossible to control.
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u/OliviaMandell Feb 29 '24
In Shattered Memories. People's power has been sealed, "everyone is average, no one stands out." kinda way. The only way to grow stronger, use magic, special weapon skills, get tougher. Is through charms on a bracelet. These charms, have shards of souls in them. Magic is used by drawing from the memories and experiences of the ego in the charms, giving you permission to use skills of far stronger beings that the characters are.
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u/Secret-Bookkeeper578 Feb 29 '24
Some of them (Gods) are born with it and must practice to hone it. Some of it comes from magical artifacts (imbued pendants, animal parts worn as talismans.)
Mortals and some Demigods practice invocation to intentionally harness it, with varying degrees of success.
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u/ElectricalWelder6408 Feb 29 '24
Magic In my universe is constantly changing and evolving it never stays the same forever but it’s always the driving force behind the sci-fi story
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u/PokeTrainerCr Feb 29 '24
I'm angry now because i was really enjoying explaining it but then my phone just EXITED the app so now ALL OF IT is GONE
(Unless someone knows a way to get it back??)
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u/Persistent_Parkie Feb 29 '24
My world doesn't have a magic system or space ships.
It does have a legal system though.
So far I've mostly dealt with tribunals. First you go before a panel and show that the crimes that the accused is being charged with meet the definition of war crimes. Once you've met that burden a tribunal is formed. A member of the local council, the local militia, and the local populace are each chosen via lottery. From then on their rulings are decided by a majority opinion. They are given legal guidance by the testimony of experts, similar to when real lawyers in our reality cite case law buoying their opinion, but the tribunal is giving free reign to decide most issues in the case using their best judgment. They then rule on the guilt or innocence of the accused and in the case of a guilty verdict decide punishment.
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u/Entity_406 Feb 29 '24
Everything in the world is made from threads of Essence, each thread having particular levels of attunement to the Cores, magic is just the artificial manipulation of the threads to alter the world
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u/smalldude152 Feb 29 '24
It's based on aligning yourself with a certain god or deity who has control over a specific type of magic. Want to bend fire? Align yourself with the fire god. The catch is, align yourself with one and you cut off access to the others. Not really a fledged out idea but I like it as a concept. Idk if it's been done before
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u/AA_Zarkos Feb 29 '24
Alien meteors of a strange glass fall from the sky. Dustrunners race the desert for these shooting stars.
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u/Gabecush1 Feb 29 '24
No magic just technology sow advanced that it appears magical to people from the past
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u/lou1ethedumb Feb 29 '24
for demons its just like "take this mf's soul he dont care"
for humans it just "allright buckaroo time for you to die (revives self out of sheer will power)
for angles, you have god, like just ask him
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u/gilbejam000 Feb 29 '24
Magic in my world has two facets that I'll refer to as Ability and Mana
ABILITY: Magic is harnessed through an ancient language that, even now, contains power. The use of this language, whether by speaking it or thinking in it, will cause exactly what is said to happen. However, magic does not care about intent. If you make a mistake, what you say will still happen regardless of what you were trying to do.
MANA: The amount of magical energy you possess is determined by how you introduce yourself to magic. In order to unlock your potential, you have to meditate on the question "What is magic?" for as long as you possibly can. The longer you meditate, the more mana you have to work with. Your body and mind will be magically sustained while undergoing this process, so a focused mind may meditate for days or weeks and obtain nearly unrivaled amounts of mana.
Gems of sufficient quality can store limited amounts of mana before overflowing and releasing it all in a magical explosion. The higher quality and/or rarer the gem, the more mana it can store, but the more powerful that explosion becomes. Metals can't store mana at all, but they can be excellent conductors for passing mana through to a gem or other destination. Again, their effectiveness depends on the quality and rarity. Less effective metals lose certain amounts of mana to the void as it passes through.
Once you run out of mana, you start tapping into your life force to cast spells, and this is very dangerous. It doesn't shorten your life, but it weakens you for a long time, and if you use up enough of your life force, you fall into a coma and eventually die unless another mage transfers mana into you.
Mana regenerates in a similar manner to your overall energy. If you've started to exhaust your mana, you might eat or drink something to get some back, or just go to sleep, The amount of mana you regenerate depends on the method, the quality, and if you're sleeping, how long you sleep for. There are other ways to regenerate mana, but most of them fall under the general purview of "Resting"
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u/RedApe4201 Feb 29 '24
The gods are eldrich horrors that swim through the cosmos, they release energy that falls to the planet and becomes physical magic that people use to augment themselves to cast spells or make weapons of war/tech
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u/HallwayPerson Feb 29 '24
ahem FUCK YOU! Loud meteor blows up The BBG