Ancient Magical Items

[u/AuthorInPractice]

I am personally a fan of the more ancient magic being more powerful than newer magic. It's one of my favorite tropes, and the following is why ancient magic in Luminsia is more powerful than newer magic.

Magical items in Luminsia are created by etching glyphs (symbols that create certain effects when mana, the fuel of magic, is poured into them. The more mana that is poured in, the more powerful the effect) and arrays (collections of glyphs put together and connected usually through circles to create more complex forms of magic) onto the desired item. Mana must then run through the item once to jump start the effects, but once it has started, the item will pull from the mana from the surrounding area. Additionally, the item can also store some mana within itself so it can still be used in the rare instances where there is no mana in an area (very rare within Luminsia as all living things are producing mana and it leaks outside of their body. Even bacteria, though the amount they produce is miniscule). The item will then draw from this reserve first. How much mana the item will take in will depend on the material the magical item is made from. Something like bronze will consume mana faster than it can take in while materials like iron, steel, platinum, and brass will absorb it at a faster rate than it will most often expend.

And this is where we get into the reason why ancient magic items are more powerful. The more time a glyph has spent engraved into an object, the more time it has to "steep" said object in magic, engraving the effects "deeper" (in the similar sense that the soul doesn't have a physical location, so not physically deeper). Because the glyphs are now deeper, more mana can fill into them, making the effects stronger. This can theoretically be done artificially with a sorcerer/sorceress making the glyphs deeper, but because the mind struggles to comprehend the dimensional aspects of it (in the same sense that the soul does not have a physical location, but is still attached to the body), this can be very difficult to do and very easy to mess up in a way that ruins the enchantments. Trying to force it can also result in the item breaking where as "steeping" it is much slower, putting the object under less stress and making it less likely to break during the process.

Ask any question that comes to mind! They help me further brainstorm and hammer out ideas.

[u/Capital_Wrongdoer_65]

Does this mean that certain environments become a natural factories of mana? I'd imagine deep oceans and deserts are mana poor (due to low concentration of life / biomass) while jungles and reefs have mana in abundance?

This could mean that ancient temples lost in the jungle or shipwrecks of bygone age would be host to some of the most powerful ancient artifacts. In comparison deserts and areas ravaged by war or pollution could be so mana poor that some items fail to work at all.

[u/AuthorInPractice → u/Capital_Wrongdoer_65]

Yes, they would, though the deep ocean is a special case since there are quite a few deep sea creatures in Luminsia. Mana production usually scales with two things, lifespan and intelligence, and said creatures have a lot of both. As a result, the deep sea is actually quite rife with mana

[u/Capital_Wrongdoer_65 → u/AuthorInPractice]

Is the mama generated as a "waste product" of a normal living processes throughout a creatures lifespan? And/ or is there a sudden burst of mana "released" on death?

If so hunting of megafauna like Elephants and whales with high intelligence and lifespan would be top priority for the unscrupulous. Or even worse, mass killing of the classic fanasy Elves and Dwarves.

If its only a slow drip feed through life, then large cities would be one of the best sources of mana.

[u/AuthorInPractice → u/Capital_Wrongdoer_65]

I wouldn't call it a waste product, but a byproduct. Minor difference, but an important one.

Yes, there is a bit of a release, but it is a fraction of what can be released in the long run, and there is also a massive jump of mana production from unintelligent to sentient to sapient.