Hello all,
So an idea that is central to the plot/world of my WIP is Chaos as a force of creation and destruction, vs Order, a force of laws and stasis. It’s a theme that’s central in magic and the nature of certain species (attunement to Chaos means greater magical spectrum, less social organization (humans are slightly attuned to Order, which makes magic come easily to them only in the shape of metaphors, and they are highly organised creatures)). There are two races on the spectrum attuned to Chaos which are naturally gifted with the ability to speak words and make things happen. The problem is that they each represent one side of Chaos; creation (Cred’an) and destruction (Orthic).
So here’s my question: What might a culture based on destruction look like? How would it work?
I’ll clarify what their abilities are here. They can temporarily destroy things like Laws (gravity), Natures (luminescence, energy potential, movement), or more abstract ideas (distance, some can break time barriers briefly). Whether you are Orthic (can destroy) or Cred’an (can create) you can generally do the same things. So while an Orthic might destroy the idea of distance for a nanosecond to teleport, a Cred’an would create a portal. An Orthic could make people fly by temporarily destroying gravity or mass, and yet they could also increase their mass or their pull to the earth by destroying certain parts of a Law/Nature/Idea. It’s like rewriting code, and there are multiple ways to do it. They can also destroy energy itself, for the most part, so a battle between a Cred’an and an Orthic would be a continuous stalemate as one created attacks and the other destroyed it, or vice versa.
The Cred’an were great builders and used much of their time and resources on colonizing and shaping infrastructure (which was eventually all torn down by the Orthic eons before mankind evolved). Creation is part of their instinct and psychology. I'm very curious as to what you guys and gals think might be central to a destruction-based society.
Note: Destroying things takes energy to do (like all magic), and that energy must be returned, so breaking most things will be reversed (i.e. a contra gravity field). The exception is like shattering stone or something.
So an idea that is central to the plot/world of my WIP is Chaos as a force of creation and destruction, vs Order, a force of laws and stasis. It’s a theme that’s central in magic and the nature of certain species (attunement to Chaos means greater magical spectrum, less social organization (humans are slightly attuned to Order, which makes magic come easily to them only in the shape of metaphors, and they are highly organised creatures)). There are two races on the spectrum attuned to Chaos which are naturally gifted with the ability to speak words and make things happen. The problem is that they each represent one side of Chaos; creation (Cred’an) and destruction (Orthic).
So here’s my question: What might a culture based on destruction look like? How would it work?
I’ll clarify what their abilities are here. They can temporarily destroy things like Laws (gravity), Natures (luminescence, energy potential, movement), or more abstract ideas (distance, some can break time barriers briefly). Whether you are Orthic (can destroy) or Cred’an (can create) you can generally do the same things. So while an Orthic might destroy the idea of distance for a nanosecond to teleport, a Cred’an would create a portal. An Orthic could make people fly by temporarily destroying gravity or mass, and yet they could also increase their mass or their pull to the earth by destroying certain parts of a Law/Nature/Idea. It’s like rewriting code, and there are multiple ways to do it. They can also destroy energy itself, for the most part, so a battle between a Cred’an and an Orthic would be a continuous stalemate as one created attacks and the other destroyed it, or vice versa.
The Cred’an were great builders and used much of their time and resources on colonizing and shaping infrastructure (which was eventually all torn down by the Orthic eons before mankind evolved). Creation is part of their instinct and psychology. I'm very curious as to what you guys and gals think might be central to a destruction-based society.
Note: Destroying things takes energy to do (like all magic), and that energy must be returned, so breaking most things will be reversed (i.e. a contra gravity field). The exception is like shattering stone or something.
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