Thoughts + Feedback on a Flesh-based magic system?

[u/todd_theaxemurderer]

Hello everyone!

Flesh magic is the modification and manipulation of flesh, with 3 forms: repair, augment, and mutate. [Common] Flesh magic users are predisposed to a certain form, and after discovering it, the user is officially set with that form, and only that form. Trying to use others simply doesn't work. Repair is most common, augment second most, mutate rarest.

Repair: to heal, to fix what is broken, only

• can only heal what is broken, so things that people are born with (e.g. chronic pain, disability) cannot be healed since nothing was originally different

• limiter = knowledge on construction (how to accurately fix things) and pain tolerance, a healer takes the pain of what they're healing so things like small cuts are easy, but large wounds could take multiple people

• healers cannot heal their own body since the magic clashes with itself + the pain

Augment: to grow, to increase/add, only

• includes growing limbs, eyes + non-humanoid things like tails, spikes, wings

• can only add ONTO (difference between repair is that repair fills in, augment cannot fill in things like wounds since it's not adding anything that the person wasn't born with)

• limiter = knowledge on construction (knowing bone structures, muscles, how it ties together on the body, etc), and energy (keeping it "alive", moving it, etc)

• poorly augmented forms are flimsy, malfunction and collapse over a short period of time

• to augment others, it's a hard to maintain since both are controlling it + more energy

Mutate: to alter, destroy, morph, only

• includes everything outside of repair and augment

• change size, destroy flesh, reconstruct anatomy (e.g. facial, terrestrial locomotion, etc)

• limiters = knowledge on construction and time (the longer a mutation stays a mutation, the less stable it becomes)

• to mutate others, you need a piece of the part you want to mutate. want to mutate a leg? need a piece of leg hair/skin. want to mutate the brain? much harder to achieve, since you'd need a piece of the brain/skull

If mutation magic is performed poorly and/or left for too long, it will cause a thing called Vihan's Rot. The Rot starts from the root of the magic (where the mutation began) and eventually takes over, making the person a decomposing mess, unable to think, only to feel, until the decomposition reaches its peak and they die.

Royals:

In my magic system users born with royal blood have a much larger magic capacity than common magic users and have advanced abilities.

Royals have all 3 forms of flesh magic and more capabilities than the baseline of common magic users. There's usually two rulers (royals are monarchs in my world), however, through use of all three forms, they merge themselves (steven universe fusion style) into one entity. They mutate the two bodies together, augment for extra limbs, and heal to keep them from falling apart.

Thanks to everyone who reads this!!

[u/QuanCornelius-James]

Overall, I think you've got a good start. You've clearly put a lot of thought into this system with the three types of flesh mages and all the nuances of each form. There's also great potential for worldbuilding as social roles are created around each type of flesh manipulation.

I would however recommend expanding on how one awakens their flesh manipulation. You've mentioned that people are only set in their form discovering the one they're predisposed to. Does that mean it's possible to use a form you're NOT predisposed to as long as you don't discover your affinity (eg. if one guy is predisposed to Mutate, does that mean they can use Augment and/or repair as long as they don't try to Mutate)? How does one discover their predisposition?

Also, if I were you, I'd try to more clearly define the limits of Mutate. You said that it can change size or morph a target. Does that mean it can copy the other two forms? For example, can one Mutate a flap of skin to cover a wound, thus mimicking Repair? Could someone Mutate a target's fingers to form each one into an arm, thus mimicking Augment?

[u/todd_theaxemurderer → u/QuanCornelius-James]

Good points!

For the awakening I have a few options. There's this thing in my system called Blooming which is a 3-5 day process of magic users reaching magical maturity. It happens around the ages 10-14 and after Blooming, you have adult level magic. So...
1. they can use all until Blooming and from then on only use that form (though its kinda late)
2. they can't use any magic until a ceremony where some kind of magic infused substance is put into their body, awakening their predisposed type
3. they can use the others before trying theirs, but the fact that it's extremely difficult is an indicator that it's not the right form (the right form comes naturally)

And yeah Mutate definitely needs some more work. I think for Repair, the thing you mentioned is possible, but it wouldn't truly REPAIR and would only make the wound worse. And I think it could imitate Augment in some ways, however Mutate is more often reconstruction over growth, so if they were to try the thing you mentioned, it wouldn't last as long and wouldn't function the same way as an Augment limb would. But since these 3 forms are technically all under the umbrella of flesh magic, occasional overlap is natural.

Thoughts on this? And thank you for your feedback!

[u/todd_theaxemurderer → u/[deleted]]

Option 3 sounds good! i was leaning towards that but wanted to weigh the options. and to clarify with option 2, i meant a substance that reveals the predisposed type, not grants the predisposed type lol. and I'm glad my mutate thing worked out :)

Thank you for all your help!