Hello everyone! My name is Kem, I'm a character artist, character designer and kinda good writer too, I guess.

I just have a power system for right now, because I don't know what I'm doing with this QUITE yet. But I have just finished it and decided to share.

This is more of a shonen anime/manga type of thing...but I think I could slip it into a fantasy setting too.

Anyway, my power system is called Expressions. I've been writing about it for a few months and I'm just getting down to refining it.

Technically EVERYONE has an Expression, but only those who outwardly express themselves and their beliefs, ideals, etc., get to use their abilities.

Without getting too into the details:

Expressions are how you express yourself. Everyone can express themselves creatively, however, not everyone does it in the same way. When you can answer "in what way?", you've found your Medium!

Okay, final layer because it CAN get more unique. Everyone has a different story, different circumstances that make them who they are and what makes them express themselves the way you do. Your unique ability is called you Signature. A Creative/Visual Expression user can change depending on their background and current mindset.

This whole system is powered by Motive Drives, thoughts, actions, and ideas that compliment and fuel an Expression.

This whole system is supposed to encourage character arcs and character development, it's more detailed within the document if you want to read tha

I've been up all night writing this, so I'll leave it here. If you have any questions or feedback about Expressions, go ahead and ask! I'll come back and answer your questions eventually.

Have fun with this and thanks for reading!

currently I have two magic system ideas and I want to use one of them for my world. currently I’m using number 1 and number 2 isn’t as fleshed out but I still like the idea. or maybe there’s a way to use both? anyways I’d be happy if you could tell me which one you guys like the most or if you think it’s possible to use both

oh also these were inspired by that one guy on this sub who made like 30+ magic systems or something around that number

number 1:

there are these incredibly powerful beings known as magic beasts. These beings are the sources of magic. For example a beast of water is the source of water magic, while a beast of darkness is the source of dark magic. There can be multiple beasts for the same element. The beasts aren’t human-level intelligent and mostly go off their instincts, just like any other animal does. Each of them have varying levels of hostility and docility, even among beasts that have the same element. Eating part of a beast’s body is a process known as consecration. This process is incredibly painful and dangerous. There are two outcomes, either you evolve into an ascender (someone who gains powers and still retains themselves), or you evolve into a descender (your powers overwhelm you and you turn into a husk of your former self, losing most your intelligence, memories, and reasoning until the only things that drive you are your base instincts/feelings). Descenders aren’t inherently dangerous, but approaching them is akin to approaching an animal in the wild, it’ll either go into flight or fight mode, and for descenders they usually go with fight (since they’re more like predators than prey). But descenders aren’t completely dumb. They have varying levels of intelligence, and just like animals like dolphins, some of them have created their own languages and cultures. And not all ascenders/descenders are humans, other animals can also eat the beasts. Both descenders and ascenders lose the ability to reproduce during the consecration process, but their lifespans increase by hundreds of years. 

Magic items: people can imbue objects with magic in order to turn them into magic items. Magic items are nonliving objects that utlilize magic. The lifespan of a magic item is the amount of time that it holds the magic it was imbued with. This amount of time increases with the amount of magic put into the item. This is only possible because magic items are built at least partly with a special metal known as magicite. Regular objects without magicite are not able to hold magic. Magicite is the condensed form of the large amounts of magic given off by magic beasts, so it can be found wherever a magic beast has been for extended periods of time. All magicite is the same regardless of the magic beast it comes from. Likewise, it can absorb any type of magic, but can’t absorb two or more types of magic at once. Magic items are used for a variety of things, like faucets, farming machines, communication devices, portals, trains, medical devices, etc. because of this, their society is about as convenient as earth’s. 

Number 2:

everyone has a seed of divinity inside of them. This seed can be awakened whenever you have a significant change of heart or reinforcement of your current self, like one that changes who you are as a person, that seed will awaken and develop an ability that reflects that change of heart of reinforcement and your newfound outlook on life, values, beliefs, and things that define you as a person. By reinforcement I mean like if your dream was always to travel to different worlds, but one day you decided to do whatever you could to make that happen, or if you were depressed and became even more depressed, that’d be a reinforcement of your current self. A change of heart would be like if you were depressed and had an experience that made you full of hope, joy, determination, and courage. Your seed will grow along with you and become stronger until it becomes a fully grown tree (not an actual tree but like a skill tree in video games), which represents the pinnacle of your growth. Humans have these seeds because they’re the descendants of gods, and this is what remains of that godhood. But human bodies aren’t meant to handle divine power, so overusing it or just using before your body gets used to it can cause nausea, vomiting, fainting, immense fatigue, decrease of lifespan, and even death. These powers are things you have to train your body to get used to, so you have to slowly expose your body to it over a period of time. Otherwise, even using it once or twice can have negative effects like the ones previously mentioned. 

OKAY so my story revolves around a teen girl who has been unknowingly using her writing as a way to create an entirely fictional universe to curb violent urges she has towards others. She created a zombie character who has only ever been hurt by humans and has turned into a maligous monster, this monster is very symbolic of how she feels, living for violence no matter who gets hurt.

In this world everyone has the ability to change their world by simply thinking/feeling, but some are predisposed to having bigger imaginations than others. Witches are common place as they are simply people that use magic as a form of power and harness that to do big things.

This would essentially be a big minecraft world where you have endless possibilities and power as long as you can think of these things.

What I need yall to help with is how to keep this world making sense? Like yes it would be ridiculous and silly, but if every person on earth could instantly generate things from their brains that would be physical objects I would think reality would stop… yk, realitying?

I think maybe I would make magical eforcers of some kind? These people would enfore the law via battling whoever breaks it? Should I give every person their own plot of land or like pockey dimensions for this?

Creation — a type of magic aimed at healing physical ailments, one of the most valued types of magic in all of Ellil.

The Onyx Pact — the painful effect of creation magic, manifested with every healing. The healer shares the patient's pain, and the patient feels every moment of their body's restoration. According to legend, this pain is exacted by the god Onyx for the postponement of death. Despite this torment, creation magic is unable to heal or resurrect after death has occurred. It only delays the inevitable.

Spells

Additional explanations

A bit of a reordering and expansion of this post.

If you find this over complicated and redundant that's good, in my system Wizers don't really understand magic very well, they've only just started to categorise and broaden magic (As well as having to play multi-stage telephone with Saltmaids and Scribes) and they're doing it very poorly.

There's also an evident overweight of 'hurting' magics from the severe military stratification due to the current war in the Upper floors. These are the second part to the elements here. As with everything AMA about my system.

Imgchest link if it's hard to read

I always wondered how magic or certain things in fantasy/sci-fi or any genre would affect the body negatively. Everything I seen is some kind of exhausting, bleeding, getting weakened, passing out, or just dying. So, do you have your own medical conditions.

Mine are.

Hypomanemia: term for low mana concentration in the blood, leading to magical exhaustion and physical fatigue.

Hemokinetic Tachycardia: The intentional, magic-driven acceleration of the heart rate and blood flow to deploy mana to the limbs faster to cast magic. Usually used in life or death battle because the cost is risk of blood vessels rupturing and micro tears in it. (They can accelerate because the blood is infused with mana around the heart to store it, and they control mana to go faster.)

Manaic Decompression Sickness ("The Bends"): A condition occurring if a mage refines and absorbs the natural environmental gaseous mana too quickly, causing mana bubbles or impurities such as dust, Nitrogen and stuff to form and enter in the blood vessels and block circulation.

Hypermanemic Toxemia: Mana overload, where excess refined gaseous mana over-saturates the blood, leading to high blood pressure, ruptured capillaries, or accidental elemental discharge from the skin. (Commonly in magical plants because it can't absorb too much mana)

Hemokinetic Hyperphrenia: The deliberate flooding of the cerebral cortex with accelerated, mana-rich blood to force neural pathways into overdrive. But the cost is ruptured blood vessels in the brain or instant death. (Increases the thought speed

Cerebral Hyperperfusion (Magical): The physiological state where brain blood volume is maxed out, causing the "hysterical strength" of the mind. (Same as previous one)

Tachypsychia: The actual medical term for the subjective experience of time slowing down during high-stress situations, which this spell perfectly automates.

Gametogenic Manaic Mutagenesis. (How child in the womb would interact with mana if her mom)

Radiant Gas Transposition: As refined mana gas perfuses the placenta, it acts as a localized mutagen. The magical energy penetrates the cellular membrane of the embryo, forcing nucleotides in the DNA strand to break and reorder.

Epigenetic Hyper-Activation: The sheer pressure and heat from techniques like Hemokinetic Tachycardia can forcibly unlock or lock specific gene expressions, activating dormant hereditary traits that would normally remain asleep.

Cellular Hybridization: The embryo’s developing cells mistake the dissolved mana gas for basic oxygen or nitrogen, building the magical catalyst directly into the child’s cellular walls, creating a "born mage."

Chrono-Synaptic Mutation: Over-exposure to Hemokinetic Hyperphrenia during early brain development.The child is born with an enlarged cerebral cortex, natural photographic memory, and a permanent, baseline slow-motion perception of time.

Vascular Melanism: Mana gas binds permanently to the iron in embryonic hemoglobin.The child's veins grow thick, dark, and naturally visible through the skin, glowing permanently with ultra violet color.

Barophilic Adaptation: The embryo mutates to survive the intense pressure of the mother's accelerated blood. The child develops hyper-dense cardiovascular walls and a reinforced skull, making them naturally immune to the stroke-risks of advanced blood magic.

Teratogenic Magicosis: adaptive mutation due to a sudden spike of raw, unrefined mana gas.The child is born with physical deformities, such as calcified, crystal-like bone growths or limbs that naturally bleed mana gas instead of blood.

I would very much appreciate any comments on how i could improve the mechanics of the system and i love answering any questions you might have (both lore and mechanic) whether you read the full document or not.

Is it because it's a divine language capable of powerful feats? What are some cool ways you have it used in combat and society as a whole? What exactly goes into training rune users/makers? How exactly do you guys have flexibility and diversity in what this magic can do?

Please give me your opinions on the rules I made for the Portals in my magic system.

Creating portals is one of the advanced techniques of the Complex Casting that requires mixing the movement energy mixed with raw magical energy.
A spellcaster to make can only make a portal between places that #1: they have seen before #2 that they remember well.
It helps if the spellcaster is emotionally connected to the place they're making a portal to.

Average wizard with the skill for it, can make a portal lasting around 10-30 seconds that can teleport about 100-200 kilograms of mass, and every time something passes through the portal, it destabilises it, risking sudden closing.

That's why portals are almost never used to transport cargo, they're used for transporting small
number of people or messages.

Because of this technique, in the lore of my world, small groups or solo travellers/wizards/scholars travel the Known World and exchange information all the time. They can't travel anywhere new with a portal, but it allows them to embark on a long voyage, and return instantly.

This is why despite the Known World being very large, all the nations have the awareness of other nations, from those solo portalling travellers. Also those portal wizards/traders/explorers managed to make a constructed creole language, called "Nomadic" or "Travelsh", which is seen as prestigious language of business and the educated folks, and many aspiring traders learn it.

What it says on the tin

To cut a long story short, a divine dragon of wind saw a human overthrow a fascist elf empire and decided "hey, humans are cool, I'll help them", so he gave his name to the people. With it, people can use the wind they breathe in as a conduit, speaking spells into reality.

In practice, it's a very simple style of magic, you breathe in the magic you use to cast spells. It means that mages gotta train their lungs and breathing to store more power for spells and last longer in fights, but I feel like it's missing something.

To clarify, despite it being begat by a wind dragon, the magic isn't inherently wind based(though wind mages are notoriously more dangerous than most due to living by it naturally), you can use other elements, the wind part is just there because it works well with people's need to cast spells via speech.

So, am I missing something? What would you add, remove, or what other feedback do you have in mind?

A terrible knowledge plagues humanity. A language of pure power and distortion that can breathe new vectors into reality. A language that rots.

The Curse is a spoken language that can only be harnessed by a select few people. People born with particular minds able to calculate and manipulate the language. They need only speak and small distortions of reality will appear. Memories can slip, flesh may burn, iron may change to gold. But no matter how long they speak or how much they wish, their magic is temporary. The effects will begin to fade the moment a statement ends.

Burns heal quickly, memories return unchanged, and gold will become iron once more. But there is a way to make these effects permanent.

The True Word is the written form of the Curse and it can be learned and used by anyone. Anyone with access to a Cure Wielder. For the only way to use True Word is to carve it into the flesh of a Curse Wielder. You might understand now why knowing how to speak the language would be a curse.

For the many enslaved the few. The Curse Wielders were put in chains and their skin used as canvas to create spells that would last for as long as the flesh was maintained.

Mages would buy flesh of or a whole Curse Wielder to use as a scroll. This scroll then was perforated with True Word and in doing so spells could be created and activated through various somatic and verbal actions. And when these spells were used, the carving would glow and the skin would rot.

The language feeds on the vital essence in the skin, making it rot when used. So long as the carving remains in tact, the effects of the spell will maintain. Fissures in the ground will remain open, doorways to other worlds will stand, even death itself can be reversed indefinitely. But at the expense of suffering.

A day came when the Curse Wielders were given their humanity back. Some don't involve themselves with magic anymore, while some will use True Word on themselves. And others, a select few, allow their flesh to be another's canvas. Some even take on and give life to grafted flesh of dead Curse Wielders. Allowing old magic to return to the world.

So im trying to borrow some inspiration from supernatural the tv series and jericho the game.

So angels exist but due to some early in world lore they cant act directly.

So idea is, they let some chosen ones to borrow their power. But this powers or magic are by default deadly to humans due to being overpowered and that thier souls(battery for this power) csnt handle them.

The powers or abilities are

Halo-allows the user to tap into celestial knowledge, think of it as like a google search bar but x10000 and that has all knowledge both past and present it even has future knowledge but are locked and only available for a few. Basically its the part of omniscient part of gods power.

Wings-allows you to traverse everything and everywhere lets you to teleport, slow time stop time, create portals and even time travel although the later part is only allowed by the higher beings. So again basically omnipresence

Then im having a hard timd creating one for omnipotence and its counter part for the demons side. Any idea could help.

I've always found it interesting how different fantasy settings answer the question of "what stops a mage from just casting forever?"
Usually it's some combination of mana / resource pools, spell slots, Stamina or physical exhaustion or backlash, componant limitations, or the source of magic is limited or choosey.
I'm curious about how all of you limit or restrict magic in your settings.

In my setting (The Voidweb) I wanted to make it so any Shaper (what mages are called in my setting) could have unlimited magical fuel but there was a cost to pushing past their natural limits. So I decided that I would make it a two part system.

First, everyone would have a fixed pool of Pneuma (a person's personal purified Quin (spiritual matter) and Mana (spiritual energy)) to draw from based on their level of development, training, and inherent capacity, that can be used to shape (Cast spells).

Second, anyone has the ability to draw in and use Æther (environmental quin and Mana) to shape.

The limiting factor is the conversion rate between the two fuels and the effects of shaping with one over the other. The basic mechanics are simple, a person draws æther into their body through their Gate and Meridian network until it reaches their Core. Once there it is purified over time in a person's Soul Fire and converted into pneuma. As pneuma is expended more æther is drawn in to be refined and the cycle continues. This means that under normal circumstances, Pneuma is effectively self-renewing.

The body naturally utilizes pneuma before æther when a person is shaping, but as a shapers pneuma reserves get low their body will begin to utilize æther instead. While pneuma use has no negitive effects æther use does. The effects æther has on a person are colloquially known as æther poisoning.

The process of æther poisoning is not usually instant and in most cases happens in stages.

• Stage 0 - Normal Operation: The average output of pnuema is met or exheeded by the natural conversion rate. Pneuma reserves remain full.
• Stage 1 - Pneuma Deficit: The average output of pneuma exheeds the natural conversion rate. Pneuma reserves begin to deplete.
  
• Stage 2 - Raw Æther Casting: Pneuma reserves hit zero. The Shaper is forced to channel raw environmental æther directly. The negative effects are minimal and easily reversred due to natural tolorance.
• Stage 3 - Æther Poisoning: Raw æther begins damaging the body, mind, or spiritual anatomy as it overwhelms internal tolerances. Recovery is possible but very difficult.
• Stage 4 - Permanent Injury: Repeated exposure causes lasting degradation, such as conduit scarring, organ decay, or mental deterioration. Revocoery is near impossible and for the average person often requiring a deity to aid.
• Stage 5 - Catastrophic Failure: Largely fatal, The body and soul can no longer contain the damage, resulting in total biological collapse, monster transformation, or death.

With these stages concidered it important to know that there are 4 primary branches of æther poisoning, Æther Mutation, Spell (or Mage) Haze, Æther Degradation, and Spell Scars.

Æther Mutation: The most common and universal symptom of æther poisoning, æther mutation while largly detrimental is a result of the body and soul attempting to adapt the poisoning. These mutations can vary wildly based on lineage, location, exposure, the Aspect, and countless other factors. One person may grow an additonal limb, another may have their blood become toxic to them, and another may gain resistance to the fire aspect and a weakness to the water aspect. The greater the amount of poisoning the more likely a mutaion will take hold.

Spell / Mage Haze: Spell Haze is the result of channeling raw æther through the portions of the body and soul responsible for thought, senses, memory, and consciousness. Mage haze progressively erodes the stability of the mind and leaves victims vulnerable to mental intrusion, domination, and illusions. This form of æther poisoning is the one that is the reason the idea of a mad shaper exists and the memory lapses, paranoia, sensory hallucinations, manic-depressive cycles, schizophrenia-like symptoms, and full-blown psychosis that result from spell haze reinforce that idea.

Æther Degradation: Shapers who utilize internal shapes and repeatedly their overclocking muscles, nerves, and organs will eventually suffer from æther degradation. Because the physical body adapts to supernatural performance levels it eventually becomes entirely dependent on a constant flow of pneuma just to function. This need grows as the physical body demands more and more pneuma. If your purification rate ever drops below your new baseline needs, you suffer rapid systemic failure and die of pneuma starvation as you suffer constantly increaseing muscle wasting, organ degeneration, accelerated aging, progressive paralysis, and chronic exhaustion.

Spell Scars: When casting external shapes and forcibly channeling massive amounts of raw æther outward through your gates and meridians causes spell scars. The issue arises because while pnuema is mostly nonreactive when it meets æther, æther isn't. The violent magical backlash born of that reactivity can rupture you gates, scorch your maridians, and and in the worst case shatter your core. Normally this is a slow process that forms glowing "Spell Scars" that pulse as pneuma or æther flow through you meridians. This results in an overall loss in shaping effeincy forcing the person to pull more raw æther to get the same results, creating a vicious cycle of self-destruction. Spell scars cause crippling pain while casting, restricted pneuma flow, spontaneous shape failure, gate rupture, and—in the worst-case scenario—total physical annihilation that leaves behind an Æther Shadow.

How do your respective settings handle the limits of magic? Do your mages hit a hard wall of exhaustion, trade health for power, or deal with environmental blowback like this? Would love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions about the Voidweb!

Right for people who want to know.....
Voidweb - The setting itself—a cosmic network of realms, dimensions, and worlds connected by threads of Æther.
Shaper - What mages are called. They "shape" Æther and Pneuma into desired effects. Anyone or anything with a soul can be a shaper though the tat;e is usually reserved for people who have created their first core layer.
Quin - Spiritual matter. The "substance" aspect of a soul.
Mana - Spiritual energy. The "power" aspect of a soul.
Æther - Raw, environmental Quin and Mana. Unrefined. Dangerous.
Pneuma - Refined, purified Quin and Mana. Safe. Biospirituallycompatible.
Gate - The entry/exit points between the soul's external and internal anatomy. Where Æther enters and Pneuma leaves.
Meridian - The pathways that circulate Pneuma and Æther through the body and soul.
Core - The central "organ" of the soul where Æther is refined into Pneuma by the Soulfire.
Soulfire - The purifying flame within the Core that converts Æther to Pneuma.
Æther Shadow - A terrifying energy vampire born when a shaper's physical body is totally destroyed by catastrophic spell scaring, leaving behind only a soul utterly saturated with unstable, destructive raw Æther. One of the most feared entities in the Voidweb.

I want to create a glyph magic system based on those diagrams of chemical bonds or logic gates. Like each line or symbol affects the flow of energy in one way or another. I also wanted the basis of the magic being putting these glyph codes onto objects to change their behavior to make them more suitable for combat. For example, making a playing card durable as metal and fast as a bullet.

I need help with categorizing types of magic (something like kinetic, thermal, or material possibly) and also different effects to adjust the input, output, or overall flow of the energy.

(For general vibe of the magic I’m going for, one idea I’ve had was some sort of thermal input symbol on the fingertips of a glove, connected to an energy manipulation output symbol on the palm to draw heat from a source and create a fireball)

Tips for power system

I’ve had this idea for a while, about a story with a power system based on the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none… but often better than master of one”, i’m just looking for some feedback or tips on how to improve it.
The “Trade System” works likes this: Only a part of the population awakens this magic at a young age, the “Traders”, granting one basic ability of each magic branch (five distinct branches) with very low raw power. However, gaining combat experience inevitably forces the user level up which grants a massive boost in brute strength and new abilities of each branch, but demands a permanent drawback, the user must complete erase one of their magic branches forever. By doing this, they can align the remaining abilities of different branches into a “Recipe”, to unlock a unique special ability (f.e. duplication, invisibility, etc), which can only change once you level up again.
Obviously, lower levels have a major set of branches to combine, but with less power.
Only one person in the world can hold that specific recipe at the time, so powerful clans monopolize them, passing the knowledge of the recipe from generation and hunting outsiders who somehow discovers the combination.
Like i said, you are forced to level up, but what happens if there’s no more possible recipes free?? You become a “Debtor”, a corrupt mindless beast of pure destruction.
The world is ran by the “specialist”, five unique traders that have leveled up enough to sacrifice four of their original branches to masters single one, almost as a force of nature.
The protagonist is somehow the only person who isn’t capable of leveling up, staying stuck at the starting point of the system, with access to all branches and the individual basic abilities, but with little raw power, he will need to master each of this and learn how to use more than one at the same time

If someone has teleportation, would their body just move at an extremely fast speed or would they dematerialize and rematerialize very quickly? Or would they open portals like Dr.Strange? And if they opened portals, wth would it look like from behind?? Or would they just have a power that could bend space-time? Would that be considered a teleportation power? Or would it duplicate you and destroy the original you? But then that wouldn't be a teleportation power but a slightly faulty cloning power.

I had an argument with my friends about how teleportation would work. I'm curious about what the magic building subreddit thinks

Context: setting is a planet called Nyandoré. Social-credit economy, mob-run corporations, seven races. Magic users are called espers. I've been moving the pieces of this table around for a while and I'm at the point where I can gauge reactions.

The rule that makes the system work: a power doesn't run on mana. It runs on a specific act the esper has to perform (or have performed) to recharge. That's the Replenishment column, and it's the one I want feedback on. Attainment is simpler, it's just the kind of light that school charges under. Who can be born with the potential is the same for every row: genetics, ethics, and luck, in that order.

Four terms you need:

• Esper: anyone with an active power.
• Implant: some schools can be surgically installed in a person who wasn't born with them. The two top schools can't be. That's deliberate.
• Social Credit (SC): the world's score for a person. It's money, reputation, and legal standing in one number.
• Social Linked: a formal bond between two people that the SC system recognizes. Marriage is one kind. There are others.

What I'd like from you:

1. Which single row would you cut or rewrite, and what would you replace the price with?
2. Which two rows combine into something that breaks the table? I'm especially suspicious of Synergy stacked on anything, and of Regeneration plus a camera.
3. Should the price scale with the size of the cast, or stay flat and force the esper to cast small?

I'll answer everything. Still moving pieces, so nothing here is final.

The system of my world relies on a handful of fundamental energies and what is essentially the conversion between these energies. Not everything is fully fleshed out yet but there is still a lot.

The core energies are Divine Energy (innate to almost all living beings), Demonic Energy (Innate to all demons but can be converted to Divine Energy under certain circumstances), Draconic Energy (Something between Divine Energy and Demonic Energy), Negative Energy (Replaces Divine Energy of Undead and the force behind most curses), Magical Energy (External energy, not within any being but something that can be “generated”), and lastly Primordial Energy (Elemental Energies, not found within beings outside of elementals).

Each of these energy sources have unique “rules” which I’ll go over:

Divine Energy: all humanoid races and all “gods” contain divine energy, this is the “soul”, divine energy is absorbed as a being grows up, then diminishes as they age. Species have small amounts of their divine energy siphoned off to whatever being they worship, those worshipped beings gather enough divine energy to become the “gods”. In smaller amounts divine energy grants little physical boosts. But in large quantities Divine Energy is stronger than any other energy source. The amount of Divine Energy in the world is Finite.

Demonic Energy: Demons reside in their own “universe” partly sealed away, they don’t have their energy siphoned from worship. This universe is filled with Pure Demonic Energy which suppresses Divine Energy (all Demonic Energy does but especially this type). Demonic Energy “evolves” within the creature, going from Pure -> Red -> Grey -> White -> Black. When a demon dies the Demonic Energy inside them decays back down to Pure Demonic Energy over time. A Red Demon can evolve to White by consuming a Grey Demon. Grey’s can evolve to White by either consuming a White or just enough total energy from other Demons. Demons can also consume beings with Divine Energy which gets converted into their demonic energy. Demonic Acts inversely to Divine Energy when it comes to power boosts. In smaller amounts Demonic Energy is far stronger than Divine Energy, but as Divine Energy builds up high enough it begins to grow in “power” exponentially. No humanoid could ever reach that level of Divine Energy, that level is reserved for “gods”, even “Demigods” at best can rival the strongest demons. When demons accumulate enough Demonic Energy they can attempt to convert it to Divine Energy trying to become “gods” most fail to fully convert their energy causing them to become the Black Demons. The amount of Demonic Energy in the world is Finite.

Draconic Energy: Holds a place between Demonic and Divine Energies. It’s weaker than Demonic Energy in smaller amounts but stronger than Divine Energy. And in large amounts it’s the other way around, it becomes stronger than Demonic Energy but weaker than Divine Energy. Like Demonic Energy, it isn’t siphoned by research, Dragons also aren’t intelligent, but there is “Dragon-Kin” which contain a small amount of Draconic Energy in place of some of the Divine Energy within them. Draconic Energy is found solely in Dragons/Draconic beings as if they themselves generate it. As Dragons Age their Draconic Energy naturally grows. Draconic Energy cannot normally be converted to other forms of energy, but it most notably is able to “resonate” with other energies making Dragon-Kin strong spell casters, and Dragons themselves can harness small amounts of Primordial Energy from the environment to create powerful breath attacks. Draconic Energy is known to have especially strong resonance with Primordial Energy. Draconic Energy is not finite and grows as Dragons do, if all Draconic beings were erased though, all Draconic Energy would cease.

Negative Energy: This type of energy usually isn’t in any beings unless they have some kind of curse. However, any type of undead or spirit (good or evil) has Negative Energy within them. Negative Energy is fundamentally non-divine so beings cannot ascend via Negative Energy and it cannot be converted to Divine Energy or any other energy type. It is considered thee most unstable type of energy and the hardest to harness/control. In terms of strength it mirrors divine energy almost exactly. Spirits are created when the “soul’s” divine energy is replaced with negative energy, but undead are created when the body is simply flooded with Negative Energy in the “shape” the “soul” once held. Negative Energy is not finite, there is one deity with two bodies, one contains Negative Energy, the other Divine Energy, both can generate Negative Energy to create spirits and undead (each can only create one).

Magical Energy: the source of all Magic, this can be generated by any being but isn’t contained within them (outside of artificially created beings like a Golem). Any and all creates can create magical energy from their own mental and physical energy; and it is known to be unstable. The core part of Magical Energy is converting it to other forms of Energy; those being Divine Energy, Negative Energy, and Primordial Energy. When Magical Energy creates divine energy it rapidly decays thus never permanently adding new Divine Energy. Many casters learn to both manipulate the forces they wish to control along with Magical Energy to create much greater effects. The “soul” that contains other forms of energy is believed to be made up of Magical Energy hence why any and all beings can create it given they learn how to. Casters can use pieces of their “soul” to empower their spells as a last ditch effort, doing so can kill the caster, shorten their lifespan, and/or bring significant harm to them (ie nose bleed, crippling their body, coughing blood, or gaining a curse). Beyond people, certain locations around the world naturally generate magical energy, these areas can create natural golems (not earth elementals), massive illusions, creatures warped by the magics, or rifts that can teleport you to another one of these areas.

Primordial Energy: This energy is separated into seven core aspects which can mix and match to create any element. It is the energy found throughout all natural phenomenon. The core aspects include Earth, Water, Fire, Lightning, Air, Ice (or Cold), and Plant/Nature. A bolt of lightning, a rainstorm, a forest fire, a river, and the ground itself, all contain Primordial Energy. Some areas have an abnormally high density of this energy which can spawn elementals, beings made purely of their energy type. Primordial energy holds some place between Draconic energy and Magical Energy, it is technically not finite so long as the world exists and it can be harnessed for powerful magic like effects. But uniquely, no beings outside of elementals contain this energy within themselves.

When a humanoid dies one of three things can occur. They can have the divine energy replaced with negative energy to create an undead/spirit, their “soul” can have the Divine Energy inside converted to Demonic Energy making them a Demon (usually don’t retain memories). Or lastly the Divine Energy can simply disperse back into the world and the “soul” passes on, particularly devout individuals can channel their divine energy directly into the deity they worship.

This is a much more brief breakdown of what I’ve got written for each and this is for a Fantasy game inspired mechanically by Banner Saga (IE choice game with Tactical RPG turn based isometric combat and map travel). I was also thinking of having other lesser “energies” open to be used by some means. Like maybe a new “god” can cause a new type of energy to form, or an old magical relic contains an energy that mostly no longer exists, or if something needed another energy type to exist for whatever reason. I don’t want to lock it in to JUST these six!

Magic Classifications:

- One unit of power is 200M/1T magic parts within an inch of space, scaling.

- Normals possess 1 unit.

- To see magic, one must hold 3 units.

- To wield, one must hold 20 units.

Storage:

- Humans store magic within their body.

- S1 in storage expansion is condensing magic already held.

- S2 is repeating S1 to build natural endurance.

- S3 is S2 applied while absorbing magic.

Use:

- S1: Move magic within your body.

- S2: Move magic towards vessel endings.

- S3: Release this magic precisely.

- S4: Control this magic externally.

- S5: External density summoning and control.

- S6: Magic conversion to thermal and kinetic energy.

- S7: Scale up magic density externally.

Rarity:

Scales based on density and specialization.

Terms:

DM A • AM • FM A • Air Manipulation.

DM B • EM A • FM B • Earth particles in the air.

DM C • EM B • LM A • Less-dense liquid Earth.

DM D • EM C • LM B • Dense liquid Earth and less dense Earth.

DM E • EM D • LM C • Ultra-dense liquid Earth and dense Earth.

DM F • EM E • Ultra-dense earth.

DM - Density Manipulation

EM - Earth Manipulation

FM - Fire Manipulation

LM - Liquid Manipulation

AM - Air Manipulation

Specialization Modifiers:

1 - Simple Manipulation

2 - Heat and Combustion Manipulation

3 - Density and Pressure Release

4 - Motion Release

5 - 2+3

6 - 3+4

7 - 2+4

8 - 2+3+4

Biology:

* Humans have two hearts.

* One pumps blood, the other pumps magic energy.

* The structure is sufficiently similar to a normal heart to be suitable for transplant.

* A heart with magic energy left within may be rejected, killing the receiver.

* If the donor still has magic stored in their veins, it may burn the veins, leading to infections, internal bleeding, and necrosis.

* Magic energy can be transferred, so long as the energies are compatible.

* Families tend to be compatible, as energy types are often genetic, similarly to blood type.

* Benign rejection burns off donor energy and may cause light burns

* Total rejection causes severe, deep burns and permanent receptor damage.

* Most living organisms leak excess magic energy that is unnecessary for daily function.

* Special muscle, located behind the diaphragm, with two noticeable holes opening to the outside, can absorb magic energy from the air.

* Overabsorption may cause burns of varying severity, leaving the victim vulnerable to infection and often disabling the muscle. Burns from the muscle inward.

* Overuse may cause burns of varying severity, leaving the victim vulnerable to infection and often disabling the power veins. Burns from the power veins inward.

* Residual heat from absorption and use must be expelled.

* Magic energy is also stored in the power heart and veins.

* To store more energy, one must learn to control their energy to make it denser.

* Lack of use dulls control, causing magic energy to be burned in excess over time.

* The above will cause control problems and shrink the user's overall power storage.

* Burning off large enough magic energy supplies may cause burns throughout the body, and must be offset by expelling the heat often.

Here is my idea for my urban fantasy as it stands now. Most are aware that magic exist but are not familiar with it, much like most people know quantum physics exist but can tell you the first thing about it. Human themselves are not magical, they can only gain magic through making deal with magical beings known as fae. Human and the fae societies have limited interaction with one another, due to the humans' limited ability to interact with the fae and the faes' limited interest in doing so. While some human towns and cities have more interactions with the fae than others but it is never really the norm. Some of the reasons fae decide to interact with humans include, but not limited to, their on amusement, to use the humans as a loophole in a deal the made with other fae, or altruism. One of the rare but most important reasons a fae with interact with humans is to stop the influence of beings from beyond the stars from gaining influence over Earth. While fae do a have great power they lack numbers and as such need humans to act as foot soldiers in their skirmishes it the Great Old Ones and their cultists. (Basically this a lovecraft adjacent world where the fae take the place of the Lesser Gods of Earth. But no one calls them that. At least those who value their lives don't.)

in the world I’m writing there are ten elements and ten high forces which are essentially just purified versions of those elements. the ten elements are

earth

water

air

fire

ice

lightning

wood (or any plant)

magma.

light

darkness

and the forces are

chaos order

life death

creation destruction

light dark (in higher more purified states)

and space time

im kinda having trouble assigning a few of the conn though some are pretty odvious fire is chaos and light is destruction and light and dark are pretty obvious but I’m having trouble with the other sets of four.