# Magic Idea Criticism



## cliche (Dec 30, 2011)

I have a couple of ideas of how I want to enforce magic into the world I am currently building and I would like someones opinion on them...

Magic of the soul (I'll just call it this for now):
This form of magic everyone has access to but most people do not know how to use it. The magic is the energy that keeps them alive and slowly decays as they get older, using this form of magic causes them to grow older rapidly (depending on how much energy you use). So for example if you cast a spell using this form of magic and it required a lot of energy and was extremely complicated then by the time that spell has resolved you could go from your teens to your late 40's. On the other hand if you cast a fairly simple spell you may only be aged by a couple of days and not feel any of the side effects.
Since people who use magic cannot just go around casting their life away they acquire familiars to serve them. Familiars can be created from anything living as long as it was born naturally (because anything that does not form naturally does not contain a soul and therefore cannot be a candidate to become a familiar). A familiar is a living thing whose conscience is turned into pure life force energy. 
The Soul Breather makes a link to the familiar as soon as it is created (otherwise complications could arise) and instead of using its own life force, it drains the energy from the familiar instead. 
Without a conscience the creature will do what ever it master asks of it (though it still needs to be looked after properly; fed, watered etc.). 
The amount of energy that the Familiar can give depends entirely on the size of the animal and how much energy it would of used throughout its life (though the larger the animal the harder it is to convert it into a familiar).
crystal magic: 
The general idea of this form of magic is to be able to convert crystals, gemstones and minerals to pure energy, it is difficult to do but is very rewarding. The only problem is that once you drained all the energy out of the gemstone it becomes corrupted and crumbles into dust making it worthless. The amount of energy that can be extracted from gemstone varies depending on what it is. 
The harder the gemstone the harder it is to extract the energy, a diamond contains a lot of energy (more than any other gemstone) but it is so rigid that it is next to impossible to extract the energy buried deep within.
Magic of the sun (known as Solathra):
This is magic that gets its energy from the sun. Due to the readily available energy it is important that a person who wishes to use this type of magic learns from an expert; this is because the problem with this type of magic is that unless you know how to, it can be difficult for that person to be able to stop absorbing energy once they have started. This could end up with the person absorbing more energy than their body can handle and release so much energy at once that their body disintergrates. This type of magic is used mainly for healing and lighting up darkened areas. This form of energy can be stored in the body (if the person knows how) but it rapidly decomposes and will only a day after it has been collected.
Magic of the moon (known as Lunapera):
This form of magic is difficult to grasp as the energy is chaotic and seems to resist when someone tries to control it. It can only be used during nights when the moon is visible in the sky (a person will not be able to use lunapera unless they can actually see the moon meaning that if it is cloudy then they will not be able to do anything with this form of magic). People who use this form of magic require much longer in order to prepare a spell as they will first need to gather this energy before they can cast the spell. Though being quite well known amongst the human population most of the people are self taught by acquiring a lunar tome (a book which contains everything you need to learn how to do simple spells with Lunapera).
Relational magic:
This is basically anything that binds one thing to the soul breather, it is one of the most binding forms of magic in existance, anything created through this form of magic can only be destroyed in two ways; the first is for the soul breather who created the bond to destroy the result of whatever they created or a soul dispersion (which is when the life of a human is forfeited in order to complete and utterly destroy something (in such a way that there is no trace left of what was destroyed through this way).
Finally there is the use of rituals: 
Rituals are mainly use to summon beasts from heaven or hell (probably will have to change the name of those two since if I do manage to write a book based on this then it will be implied that creatures of evil intent can come from both plains). The only way to carry out a ritual is to sacrifice a living being with its consience still intact (meaning that familiars cannot be used). The amount of lives you will need to offer depends on he size and power of the beast. When the ritual is carried out the tissue and life force of all the creatures used for the ritual weave together to form the creature that they wish to bring forth. These rituals are rarely carried out because of the fact that a creature summoned this way is extremely hard to control. 

I tried to keep it as short or as brief as possible.... but I always did find it difficult to simplify things. There are couple of other ideas I have but this post is long already.
Anyone have any ideas of how i could improve these ideas?


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## ScipioSmith (Dec 31, 2011)

On magic of the soul (which is a term I use too, though thankfully it's nothing liek yours): leaving aside the theological implications of all living things having souls, which you may or may not want to get into depending on the tone of your story, turning living things into magical weapons seems like kind of a dick move, certainly not something I'd want to read about a hero doing. It might work for the villains, especially if they were turning little kids into their familiars, but not the good guys.


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## sashamerideth (Dec 31, 2011)

My improvements would be to reduce the kinds of magic in the story, keep it to just a couple. The life depleting magic had a lot of bite to it, could make a good story, especially if someone can be linked to a familiar without their knowledge or without intending to.

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## cliche (Dec 31, 2011)

Yeah you do have a point, I do tend to overcomplicate things at times, I think I may keep the rest of the ideas I had for another time and use them in a different story and world.

@ScipioSmith yeah if i do use this form of magic it'll probably be used by the villains and not so much the hero (though if the hero did use it, it would be interesting to write about why he does not feel that it is morally wrong to use another living thing as a weapon).

Also I just want to make clear that some of the information in my original post will not be included in just one story. Hopefully (once I've finished planning everything out) the world will be where i will set several stories in and the protagonist will not encounter all of these forms of magic all at once (or even in the same story).


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## Shpob (Dec 31, 2011)

I think you could use all of these forms of magic in your story (or stories) as long as you find a way to introduce them slowly, one at a time so it doesn't overwhelm the reader with information. If your hero is on a journey of some sort, he could encounter different cultures along his path, each with their own form of magic (the magics could influence the cultures and the cultures could in turn influence the magics).

All of them were decently interesting but they do seem like they'd be in a very dark fantasy story. Maybe it's just because I read about the Magic of the Soul first, but they all seem like they could be pretty evil. That's fine of course, as long as the style of the story is consistent with it's themes.

Overall I like them and would like to see them in action.

= )


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## cliche (Dec 31, 2011)

Thank you Shpob and yeah I am planning to make this fanasy story very dark. 
Hopefully the story will be as interesting as the ideas of the magic going on in the background


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## sashamerideth (Dec 31, 2011)

cliche said:
			
		

> (though if the hero did use it, it would be interesting to write about why he does not feel that it is morally wrong to use another living thing as a weapon)



War horses, dogs, birds, and in some fantasy, dragons are used as weapons, and can die or be injured. How different is it really?

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## ScipioSmith (Dec 31, 2011)

Because the horses and birds and things might not die, and in lighter kinds of fantasy probably won't.

Not to mention that if they all had souls then it could be argued to be a kind of slavery just as bad.


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## cliche (Dec 31, 2011)

sashamerideth said:


> War horses, dogs, birds, and in some fantasy, dragons are used as weapons, and can die or be injured. How different is it really?
> 
> Sent from my Blade using Forum Runner


This is different because no matter what the end result they will always die and depending on how much the person uses their magic some familiars will die more quickly than others, more often than not it will be the owner who kills their familiar through draining them of all their life force and not a wound from an enemy. Since the familiar doesn't have a conscience it does not have any emotions, it does not feel pain, it does not feel regret.

Also I forgot to add some information about using familiars:
If you do not make the bind with the familiar as quickly as possible then the familiar will become savage and hunger for flesh and bone. When a familiar gets to this stage it is said that, that familiar is rotten and the soul breather will have no choice but to destroy the familiar as it is impossible to salvage a familiar once it has become rotten.


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## sashamerideth (Dec 31, 2011)

Well, you said it would be dark, and people must often do distasteful things in the interests of the greater good.

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## cliche (Dec 31, 2011)

True, but there will more than likely be prejudice surrounding familiars so that often people may be sentenced to death (or at the very least rejected from society). It will probably come down to the case where the executions are similar to those of the execution of witches (setting impossible tasks where if they die then they are not a soul breather and if they live then they are a soul breather.. thus being sentenced to death).


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## sashamerideth (Dec 31, 2011)

As I said before, lots of potential for this one.

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## Kevlar (Dec 31, 2011)

cliche said:
			
		

> True, but there will more than likely be prejudice surrounding familiars so that often people may be sentenced to death (or at the very least rejected from society). It will probably come down to the case where the executions are similar to those of the execution of witches (setting impossible tasks where if they die then they are not a soul breather and if they live then they are a soul breather.. thus being sentenced to death).



What would be more interesting is if they weren't. If they are common enough, or even if they aren't, the society they live in could have different values and norms than us. Perhaps the dominant religion states that all animals were made to be slaves to the human species. Perhaps the people just don't see anything wrong with it. Perhaps they frown upon it, but have not criminalized it.

I always find it interesting when something we would condemn is acceptable in a fantasy culture, and vice versa. It shows that the culture is actually something new, or at least not based off the typical ones. I do like all your different types of magic, but I do have one question:

Why is sun magic associated with healing? Healing is so often associated with light, but what can light it really do? It is up to you, of course, it being your world, but light being healing is so common in high fantasy it actually seems out of place in dark fantasy.


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## Leif GS Notae (Dec 31, 2011)

I've worked with something like the soul magic you are talking about in some of my pieces. I have a way out of the "bright star burning out" and that is sacrificing the essence of someone else. I have mechanics written down in one of my various journals (should probably get all that together soon), but it was all dependent on the age of the sacrifice, the health and the magical essence imbued within (unicorns would be 10000X better than a man with a few days left to live, so to speak).

The idea is to draw ambiguity, the flaw that everyone strives for in creating good characters and a good world. Sure, you can toss fireballs all day long, but unless you start getting dirty and using other things/creatures for your purpose, you aren't going to have a character who lives long or is more than one dimensional.

I think all those magic theories can work well and still give that dark hero flavor to it, if that is what you are looking for. You can certainly exploit the "All Men Have Fallen Short" theory. I hope to see more of what you have, I am very intrigued.


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## sashamerideth (Dec 31, 2011)

Ooh ooh, idea for you! Life energy magic conduits. Someone far away (out of sight, out of mind), binds cute fluffy animals and slaves, etc to a conduit. Someone can use all the magic essence in the attached victims, without ever knowing where the energy comes from. 

He thinks it is crystal magic, but the crystal actually draws life from all the things connected to it. Good guy can use it with a clear conscience, as far as he knows, the crystal holds the power, and disintegrated when all the energy in it is used up. But the reality that he may never learn, is that he is killing babies and fluffy bunnies. How's that for dark?

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## Terra Arkay (Dec 31, 2011)

My story's magic revolves around the soul and the heavenly bodies too, it's a brilliant idea and as far as I know, it's rarely used in stories.


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## cliche (Jan 1, 2012)

Kevlar said:


> What would be more interesting is if they weren't. If they are common enough, or even if they aren't, the society they live in could have different values and norms than us. Perhaps the dominant religion states that all animals were made to be slaves to the human species. Perhaps the people just don't see anything wrong with it. Perhaps they frown upon it, but have not criminalized it.
> 
> I always find it interesting when something we would condemn is acceptable in a fantasy culture, and vice versa. It shows that the culture is actually something new, or at least not based off the typical ones. I do like all your different types of magic, but I do have one question:
> 
> Why is sun magic associated with healing? Healing is so often associated with light, but what can light it really do? It is up to you, of course, it being your world, but light being healing is so common in high fantasy it actually seems out of place in dark fantasy.



Now that I look at it I do realize that sun=healing magic is a bit cliche, I will look into it a bit more and perhaps change the purpose of that form of magic and try and make as a source for something different. Perhaps the light from the sun is meant to keep everyone who it touches to have the ability to feel emotions such as compassion, with solathra it could be the form of magic which can affect people directly and drain them of such emotions. The result of this is that, that person could become cold hearted and bitter, leading to their physical appearances to change (and possibly their entire species). Maybe it could even affect what happens when they die and that in order for someone to be able to pass on to the afterlife (heaven/ hell) they need to have sun energy that has been stored over their lifetime within them.



> I've worked with something like the soul magic you are talking about in some of my pieces. I have a way out of the "bright star burning out" and that is sacrificing the essence of someone else. I have mechanics written down in one of my various journals (should probably get all that together soon), but it was all dependent on the age of the sacrifice, the health and the magical essence imbued within (unicorns would be 10000X better than a man with a few days left to live, so to speak).
> 
> The idea is to draw ambiguity, the flaw that everyone strives for in creating good characters and a good world. Sure, you can toss fireballs all day long, but unless you start getting dirty and using other things/creatures for your purpose, you aren't going to have a character who lives long or is more than one dimensional.
> 
> I think all those magic theories can work well and still give that dark hero flavor to it, if that is what you are looking for. You can certainly exploit the "All Men Have Fallen Short" theory. I hope to see more of what you have, I am very intrigued.


That is a very interesting idea, how it depends on the actual health of the being and how much energy they have within. Sacreficing the essence of someone else is similar to the use of familiars though I haven't really done much on which species are best. Using unicorns as a greater source of magic is brilliant. 
I agree that in order for a character to be considered real and have depth to their personality that they will have to have a darker set of emotions and that certain things will make them act in different and harsher ways especially since it is in our very nature to have certain things that annoy and make us more angry than others.
As you can see some of these magic ideas still need a lot of work done to them. I may post updates on this thread once I have added more concepts and regulations to do with these magic principles and also perhaps more uses than the ones I have posted in my original post (ones that aren't so obvious).



> Ooh ooh, idea for you! Life energy magic conduits. Someone far away (out of sight, out of mind), binds cute fluffy animals and slaves, etc to a conduit. Someone can use all the magic essence in the attached victims, without ever knowing where the energy comes from.
> 
> He thinks it is crystal magic, but the crystal actually draws life from all the things connected to it. Good guy can use it with a clear conscience, as far as he knows, the crystal holds the power, and disintegrated when all the energy in it is used up. But the reality that he may never learn, is that he is killing babies and fluffy bunnies. How's that for dark?
> 
> Sent from my Blade using Forum Runner


That is an interesting idea (that the crystal itself takes energy from other beings so that the hero is lead to believe that they are doing the right thing when in reality they are doing quite the opposite). Perhaps the crystal itself draws energy from their own relations and that to the hero it becomes sort of an addiction to use that crystal instead of other means of getting energy, that way they will be stuck with the problem of either continueing to use the crystal (and getting that extra high) or stop using it and saving their own family. Sure it seems obvious what you should morally do is stop using the crystal but it will be like someone taking an illegal substance, once they start it is difficult for them to stop.



> My story's magic revolves around the soul and the heavenly bodies too, it's a brilliant idea and as far as I know, it's rarely used in stories.



Yeah I agree, the idea is quite rare amongst stories. There are a lot of ways to expand on the idea and put your own unique twist on it. It will be interesting to see what your story turns out like and what twist you have put on your story's magic.


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## Terra Arkay (Jan 1, 2012)

> Yeah I agree, the idea is quite rare amongst stories. There are a lot of ways to expand on the idea and put your own unique twist on it. It will be interesting to see what your story turns out like and what twist you have put on your story's magic.



Yeah, that's exactly what we've got to do!


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## karriezai (Jan 2, 2012)

I just wanted to mention, in case you weren't aware--

My first thought upon reading your Magic of the Soul was that it sounds just like the magic from the movie _The Covenant_. Of course, no idea is a completely new idea, but I just thought you might want to look into it if you decide to go with that magic form. :]


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## cliche (Jan 2, 2012)

karriezai said:


> I just wanted to mention, in case you weren't aware--
> 
> My first thought upon reading your Magic of the Soul was that it sounds just like the magic from the movie _The Covenant_. Of course, no idea is a completely new idea, but I just thought you might want to look into it if you decide to go with that magic form. :]



Yeah I will look into it (partly because I have never heard of it). That way I can make sure that that the magic of the soul (or whatever I decide to call it) is different to that of _The Covenant_. Thank you for telling about that movie. At least I will be able to make sure that I dont break any copyrights if I do decide to attempt to use this in a novel.


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## sashamerideth (Jan 2, 2012)

I wouldn't worry about copyright in that case. If you go quoting long stretches of dialog you may be in trouble, but an idea isn't subject to copyright.

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## cliche (Jan 2, 2012)

sashamerideth said:


> I wouldn't worry about copyright in that case. If you go quoting long stretches of dialog you may be in trouble, but an idea isn't subject to copyright.
> 
> Sent from my Blade using Forum Runner


Ah ok then, though I am interested in what form of magic in that film previously mentioned was used, seeing it may give me alternate ideas and a different outlook to what a similar form of magic can do.


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## OrionDarkwood (Jan 5, 2012)

Some questions:

1. The Soul Breather - what would prevent one from using a human?
2. crystal magic, no so much a question but a comment the way I handle crystal magic in my world is the Crystals used are grown specifically for that purpose and can be recharged.

Overall I question why so many forms of magic, I think as a reader I would get confused over who uses what magic


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## cliche (Jan 5, 2012)

OrionDarkwood said:


> Some questions:
> 
> 1. The Soul Breather - what would prevent one from using a human?
> 2. crystal magic, no so much a question but a comment the way I handle crystal magic in my world is the Crystals used are grown specifically for that purpose and can be recharged.
> ...



There isnt anything to stop someone from using a human, though it is frowned upon by all parts of society.
The crystal magic (like pretty much all the others) is still a work in progress. I still have to change and add certain details to all these forms of magic.
Finally half of these wont be made known in any one story, you may hear about one or two, but only one will usually be the main focus of the story. The place in itself is going to be setting for several stories, not just centered around one character.

Despite this though I have to agree with you up to a point, I am considering removing a couple of the magic ideas altogether, can anyone give me their opinion on which one(s) I should remove?


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## sashamerideth (Jan 6, 2012)

cliche said:
			
		

> There isnt anything to stop someone from using a human, though it is frowned upon by all parts of society.



I'd like to see that change, even if it is just fringe groups. There will always be outliers in any group, and they are often the most dangerous.


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## cliche (Jan 7, 2012)

sashamerideth said:


> I'd like to see that change, even if it is just fringe groups. There will always be outliers in any group, and they are often the most dangerous.



That's true, there are always exceptions to the rules when it comes to society. Yeah, I think I may change that. As you have said, there is bound to some groups out there who see nothing wrong with using humans as familiars, and they can be some of the most deadly.


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## JamesTFHS (Jan 14, 2012)

I just want to say i love your idea and concept of the soul magic thing that is awesome. I sort of came up with the same concept, except for the familiar part that is genius in my opinion. You got alot here and i like it. some magic is just to overly simple and i like all the different levels and forms of magic and i agree that you should introduce them slowly.


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## W.k. Trail (Jan 15, 2012)

The soul magic thing is neat. It's like something I saw in an anime once, though the show was otherwise forgettable enough that I couldn't tell you what it's called. Dunno if that bothers you.  

The rest of it was... complicated. I got half a paragraph in before my eyes fell out of my head and I had to just stick bottle caps into my sockets for now. (I am a robot, it's okay.) It might work to have something that complicated in a story but unless you explain it unusually well and organically nobody is going to be able to make sense of it.


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## cliche (Jan 15, 2012)

JamesTFHS said:


> I just want to say i love your idea and concept of the soul magic thing that is awesome. I sort of came up with the same concept, except for the familiar part that is genius in my opinion. You got alot here and i like it. some magic is just to overly simple and i like all the different levels and forms of magic and i agree that you should introduce them slowly.


Thank you, I am contemplating whether to create completely separate worlds for each of the different types of magic that i have specified (so as not to overload the reader). Though in the end it how i develop the world and introducing the magic slowly will probablu be the best way to go about it.


> The soul magic thing is neat. It's like something I saw in an anime once, though the show was otherwise forgettable enough that I couldn't tell you what it's called. Dunno if that bothers you.
> 
> The rest of it was... complicated. I got half a paragraph in before my eyes fell out of my head and I had to just stick bottle caps into my sockets for now. (I am a robot, it's okay.) It might work to have something that complicated in a story but unless you explain it unusually well and organically nobody is going to be able to make sense of it.


It wouldnt surprise me if this was similar to an anime or even a movie, the best thing I can do at the moment is try and add my own unique twist to it and try to further myself as I can from the other persons idea.
Yeah, some of the magic ideas are a bit complicated but they are probably only going to exist in one or two towns, cities or countries (depending on how big of a region i decide to focus on) and most of the stoires will only revolve around one form of magic and not all of them simultaniously.


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## W.k. Trail (Jan 15, 2012)

Sounds like you've got a handle on it, then. Best of luck to you, what what?


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## Jess A (Jan 24, 2012)

W.k. Trail said:


> The rest of it was... complicated. I got half a paragraph in before my eyes fell out of my head and I had to just stick bottle caps into my sockets for now. (I am a robot, it's okay.) *It might work to have something that complicated in a story but unless you explain it unusually well and organically nobody is going to be able to make sense of it*.



Adding to what W.k Trail said:

I have noticed in a lot of books that the exact details of magic and religion are not explained, or they are in very small ways - through actions rather than anything else. We, the readers, learn about it as the magic-user learns - through his or her experiences. 

If you can introduce some aspects subtly and as part of the story, it can be done. However, you can afford to leave certain things out sometimes and allow the reader to piece things together. It wouldn't be easy, but it would read better and the reader would not get bogged down on every little detail.


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## cliche (Jan 25, 2012)

Little Storm Cloud said:


> Adding to what W.k Trail said:
> 
> I have noticed in a lot of books that the exact details of magic and religion are not explained, or they are in very small ways - through actions rather than anything else. We, the readers, learn about it as the magic-user learns - through his or her experiences.
> 
> If you can introduce some aspects subtly and as part of the story, it can be done. However, you can afford to leave certain things out sometimes and allow the reader to piece things together. It wouldn't be easy, but it would read better and the reader would not get bogged down on every little detail.


I agree and I have decided to split these forms of magic upa dn use them in different settings and perhaps entirely different worlds. I will have to make sure that I concentrate on the story and not the details that may bore the reader.


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## utiuts (Jan 27, 2012)

I'm interested with the magic of the souls. I assume that you learn magic since you're young, and during practice, it can't be helped for you to cast a bit of magic, thus turning you older. I'm wondering about what would happen to those youngsters who are stuck in old bodies? Would they abuse it due to their youthful spirits? If you know what I mean. All of your methods of magic seem to be pretty dark for me. As for the magic itself, I think they're all comprehensive enough for now. You wouldn't know what's missing until you actually write it. What I think interesting is the anthropological aspects of the people who use the different methods of magic.


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## cliche (Jan 27, 2012)

utiuts said:


> I'm interested with the magic of the souls. I assume that you learn magic since you're young, and during practice, it can't be helped for you to cast a bit of magic, thus turning you older. I'm wondering about what would happen to those youngsters who are stuck in old bodies? Would they abuse it due to their youthful spirits? If you know what I mean. All of your methods of magic seem to be pretty dark for me. As for the magic itself, I think they're all comprehensive enough for now. You wouldn't know what's missing until you actually write it. What I think interesting is the anthropological aspects of the people who use the different methods of magic.



That would be an interesting situation. Perhaps their coud be some form of lock that can be placed on the children to stop them from using their powers. Or if there is not anything to stop them and they find out about their abilities when they are too you ng then they will probably have to live within the body of an old person for the remainder of their lives (no matter how much shorter it may be).
Though how they get access to the magic (as in learning it and being able to manipulate it) is still something I am working on (along with deities) once I have finished both of those things I am probably going to start properly planning out the story.


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## Joanna (Mar 30, 2012)

I like the idea of your soul magic. With regards to humans being used I thought it doesn't have to be "evil". You could have for example a cloister of monks who are all familiars to their leader, and are happy to sacrifice themselves for a greater good.

In a similar vain I thought it would be interesting if you expanded that concept over a whole kingdom. Every subject is a familiar to their king (and maybe his heir). In fact, in battle taking a day from a thousand subjects would make almost no difference to the people, but the power adds up quickly. I'm almost tempted to add a country like this to my world


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## cliche (Mar 31, 2012)

Joanna said:


> I like the idea of your soul magic. With regards to humans being used I thought it doesn't have to be "evil". You could have for example a cloister of monks who are all familiars to their leader, and are happy to sacrifice themselves for a greater good.
> 
> In a similar vain I thought it would be interesting if you expanded that concept over a whole kingdom. Every subject is a familiar to their king (and maybe his heir). In fact, in battle taking a day from a thousand subjects would make almost no difference to the people, but the power adds up quickly. I'm almost tempted to add a country like this to my world



Thank you. I never really thought of it that way before but using it in that context would be great!


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## Mindfire (Mar 31, 2012)

About your soul magic. It sounds kind of similar to the blood magic that the Canim use in the Codex Alera books. In those books, there's a schism between the Canim priests who follow the "old way" of using their own blood, which is seen as more honorable, and those who follow the "new way" of using the blood of others, which is less respectable, but offers greater power. It would be interesting to see people developing different theories about how this magic should be used and the conflicts between factions.

And speaking of theories, what do you think of this idea: suppose some smart wizard in your book finds a new way of using soul magic that *doesn't kill people*? The concept is that of magical "circles" or "circular flow". The wizard draws energy from themselves or a familiar to perform a magical feat, but instead of transferring the magic directly into the spell, it sort of "passes through", performing an action, and then returns to the caster, although somewhat diminished. The idea is that for most spells, you dont need a permanent effect. A fireball or lightning bolt doesn't need to last forever, so its a waste to do a permanent energy transfer. The "boomerang" energy method is more efficient because you get most or all of the energy back after you cast the spell. The only downside is that the effects of the spell are only temporary because the energy is always moving, constantly in flux. I think this would be a great way for the more honorable soul mages to perform magic.


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## Rullenzar (Mar 31, 2012)

Don't know if someone mentioned this but the soul magic is from the covenant movie. The more they use their magic the quicker they age. They can also sacrifice themselves and give their power to someone of their choosing making that person more powerful. They don't have any familiar stuff though, thats unique however familiars were used in The Priest, a vampire movie where vamps use familiars to do their bidding in the day. Not the same but thought you should know.

All in all you have some neat ideas. I personally think implementing all the types of magic into one story would be great. You could make say Schools of magic where mages flock to learn these magics in different settings and schools for each type.
What you could do is make your main character oblivious to other types of magic aside from the one he studies. He knows there is more out there but his own was enough to keep him busy without thinking of other ones. As he progresses through story he meets or has conflict with other mages and the reader learns when your character does about the other types. 

Just an idea.


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## cliche (Apr 2, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> About your soul magic. It sounds kind of similar to the blood magic that the Canim use in the Codex Alera books. In those books, there's a schism between the Canim priests who follow the "old way" of using their own blood, which is seen as more honorable, and those who follow the "new way" of using the blood of others, which is less respectable, but offers greater power. It would be interesting to see people developing different theories about how this magic should be used and the conflicts between factions.
> 
> And speaking of theories, what do you think of this idea: suppose some smart wizard in your book finds a new way of using soul magic that *doesn't kill people*? The concept is that of magical "circles" or "circular flow". The wizard draws energy from themselves or a familiar to perform a magical feat, but instead of transferring the magic directly into the spell, it sort of "passes through", performing an action, and then returns to the caster, although somewhat diminished. The idea is that for most spells, you dont need a permanent effect. A fireball or lightning bolt doesn't need to last forever, so its a waste to do a permanent energy transfer. The "boomerang" energy method is more efficient because you get most or all of the energy back after you cast the spell. The only downside is that the effects of the spell are only temporary because the energy is always moving, constantly in flux. I think this would be a great way for the more honorable soul mages to perform magic.



That is a very interesting theory. It would depend entirely on whether someone discovered this theory and whether or not there was a social divide between people who believe that using this magic the old way allows them to build up character as they learn to use their magic sparingly. Then there could be those who believe as long as you use this magic for the right purpose the it is alright to use it in said method.
I like the way in which they use magic that it comes at a price. This is so no one can use magic to do irrveversable damage to land without controlling an army of familiars. Though people who do know how to use this magic will most likely have familiars which will a sort of parasitic bond with the soulmage as the familiar dies and feels the effects whilst the mage carries on living. I want to use this way as it demonstrates humanities selfishness and how society has been built on wanting more and less giving.



Rullenzar said:


> Don't know if someone mentioned this but the soul magic is from the covenant movie. The more they use their magic the quicker they age. They can also sacrifice themselves and give their power to someone of their choosing making that person more powerful. They don't have any familiar stuff though, thats unique however familiars were used in The Priest, a vampire movie where vamps use familiars to do their bidding in the day. Not the same but thought you should know.
> 
> All in all you have some neat ideas. I personally think implementing all the types of magic into one story would be great. You could make say Schools of magic where mages flock to learn these magics in different settings and schools for each type.
> What you could do is make your main character oblivious to other types of magic aside from the one he studies. He knows there is more out there but his own was enough to keep him busy without thinking of other ones. As he progresses through story he meets or has conflict with other mages and the reader learns when your character does about the other types.
> ...


I did not know about that film but I know that it is very difficult to come up with a completely original idea so I plan to put my own twist on it.
I like your idea about having separate schools for separate pieces of magic and people knowing but not quite knowing enough about other forms of magic other than their own. It will take a lot of work to do something like that and put it all into a single world as i would have to think about how different cultures affected the lands and what would happen when these cultures clashed which is why separating them into separate books would be more ideal for me. It would allow me to put it in different settings with different tasks and would not have to be relevent to one another thank you for the suggestion anyway.


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