Magic question

[thatoneguy1]

Magic can be molded into different forms. Each form has a different demand, like say storm magic is more taxing than wisp magic and each has a different effect whether it be on the user,the enemy or a friend. I have two forms of magic called dark magic and black magic. These forms of magic though they demand little of the user they corrupt the soul and turn the user evil. They are very powerful and the combination of these two powers would have devastating results. I know how they are similar but i have no idea what the differences between the two should be, any ideas???

 

[Feo Takahari]

Magic can be molded into different forms. Each form has a different demand, like say storm magic is more taxing than wisp magic and each has a different effect whether it be on the user,the enemy or a friend. I have two forms of magic called dark magic and black magic. These forms of magic though they demand little of the user they corrupt the soul and turn the user evil. They are very powerful and the combination of these two powers would have devastating results. I know how they are similar but i have no idea what the differences between the two should be, any ideas???

Stupid question, maybe, but what purpose do these forms of magic serve in your story? (If you have two, it seems that there must have been some reason to separate them.)

 

[thatoneguy1]

hmm never thought about that thanks

 

[thatoneguy1]

well its like after the people of my world were introduced to magic they discovered that it can be used in different forms but thanks i never thought to ask myself why these two magics become volatile in each others presence.

 

[HabeasCorpus]

who introduced them to the magic? how did they come to learn from it? where does the magic itself originate?

 

[thatoneguy1]

I have considered these things but i do not know how to talk about them with out going on and on and on and on and making ten pages wroth of information.

 

[AnnaBlixt]

If you have no idea about what the difference should be, is any difference really required? Maybe black magic could be a "powered up" version of dark magic? Basically, the same thing, but a deeper bond with whatever dark being or force is being called upon. For instance, to make dark magic you might use a casual offering, like a strand of hair or nail clippings, but to use true black magic, you might need something more powerful like blood. This could also be a path into the corruption.

 

[thatoneguy1]

I want them to be different because these two forms repel each other like two north sides of a magnet and the forced combination of them by some foolish human wizard causes a major event that plays a big role in the history of my world and affects the story line. I just need to come up with a reason why they repel each other the way they do and why they are separated into dark and black magic. Though i have been think up my world and story line for some time now they are still in their baby stages.

 

[AnnaBlixt]

I think it might get confusing calling them dark and black, and trying to explain them as opposites. If they need to be opposites, why not go for actual opposites or contrasts, like fire/water, darkness/light?

Another thought is from the reasoning in Game of Thrones, that a shadow is a thing created by light/fire, and thus the opposite of darkness/night. The shadow has a different source (fire) than the darkness (night).

 

[Dio]

Dark and black both imply that the use of this magic should be viewed as a negative thing, correct? Assuming this, lets take a look at Wiccanry's "real" types of magic:

• White Magic - The spell cast on somebody helps them, with own permission.
• Grey Magic - The spell cast on somebody helps them, without their permission.
• Black Magic - The spell cast on somebody hurts them.

Your Black Magic could be just like the "real" thing, but your Dark Magic could be a really vile version of it. You could rename it to Blood Magic, which is a commonly used trope. Blood Magic requires blood to work, it could corrupt the user, it's demanding, and most of all powerful. Blood Magic could have a drug like effect where once used the caster feels sickened, crazed after not using it for long. It could be really interesting if Blood Magic required blood that isn't of the caster, or so much of it that the caster couldn't use his own without dying. So Blood Mages are essentially forced into becoming serial killers, really powerful ones that Dark Mages can hardly stand up against. Maybe a Silence of the Lambs thing could happen, where it takes a Blood Mage to kill a Blood Mage.

Just some ideas, good luck with the story.

 

[thatoneguy1]

G O M (Gothic oh my) That is an awesome idea thank you lots!!!

 

[Dio]

G O M (Gothic oh my) That is an awesome idea thank you lots!!!

Good luck with your work!

 

[SeverinR]

My magic is not primarily focused on light(White) and darkness(Black), but I do make the distinction.

Black magic comes from sources of death, pain, blood, suffering and power. Anything that draws power by force from a being is dark/black.

White is using available energy from nature, energy given freely, peacefully, given in love, are white.
Of course there is the cross over, overlapping areas, that both can use, the gray area.

Black magic has more intense power but white magic is longer lasting.
Also any mage can use both, because most attack magic is darker and uses some negitive energy from the suffering of the target, and healing magic is white and uses some positive energy from the target.

My division would be:
White=beneficial with agreeable energy use
Gray=beneficial or questionable with/without agreeable energy use or doesn't know.
Black=harmful magic, use of energy taken without consent or by force, or uses blood, pain, fear to draw energy.

 

[Addison]

There's dark magic, then there's black magic.
.....Maybe one corrupts the soul and, as extension, the body. Like Voldemort. Maybe black magic is like selling themselves, giving themselves, to the magic completely.
Dark magic could be more like wicca. Their rule is if you do evil then evil will return ten fold. Like Rumplestilskin says "All magic comes with a price". What are these Dark mages willing to risk and gamble for the sake of their spell? Their first born child? Falling down a mountain, getting dumped at the alter?

Make it interesting, that's all I can really say about magic.