Anti-Wizard ideas

[evanator66]

In my fictional universe, Teynor, the mage class is very exclusive (1\1000 people) but even more exclusive are the anti-wizards (1\100000 wizards). The anti-wizards destroy any magic they are near, a process quickened by proximity and strong emotions. This means that they cannot be harmed by magic or magic weapons, but they cannot use magic items. I am trying to figure out more powers for them, and more limiting factors. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

 

[Terry Greer]

I like the idea of an anti-magician - somebody around which magic simply doesn't work.

Is it destroy, or just negate (which seems better to me)? -otherwise just walking the world would leave a trail of broken magic items.

By cannot use do you mean they can use em but they're not magic? E.g. a magic sword is just a sword.
This makes more sense than the 'oh it's magic therefore I can't even pick it up' approach.

However, if that's the case will a magic sword still kill them via its non-magic features? again - otherwise it doesn't seem right. (Although a pure magic attack would obviously fizzle and do nothing).
What if a magic action started a landslide - presumably the character would still be killed by it? What if it's magically summoned weather?
What about creatures that are magical? can they do any type of damage.
Could I use majic to pull a leaver that sent the guy to his doom?

I do like the idea - but the rules of exactly how it works and how to get around it (because people will figure out ways of doing it) seems like it needs some work.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My question is more what do these anti-wizard's do? I mean I could understand them being used as weapons against magical attack, but after that it seems to me that they are simply a drain. Why would someone want them around if all they're going to do is unenchant that expensive amulet they just bought etc? You'd be kicking them out of town as fast as possible.

However, for powers maybe they don't actually destroy the magic so much as absorb it. Like a vampire. And then maybe the magic they absorb they can use in some way. To add to their physical abilities - like becoming more energetic with the calories from breakfast in your system. Or boosting their own personal magic.

Also another possible power would be something like Bink from the Xanth novels. Immune to magical attacks because his power is to control magic through chance. Maybe this does something similar. Immune to magical attacks because whatever is magical is absorbed. Also can't be tracked or spied on by magic.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[ThinkerX]

Very much like the 'White Rose' concept in Glen Cooks 'Black Company.'

Apart from negating magic such a person should also be...

invisible to detection by magic...

able to kill/banish magical creatures by sheer proximity...

and maybe able to see through illusions...though such illusions would have to be outside the range of the null effect. Say, if he's at the back of a theater, watching a illusion show, he wouldn't see anything.

Might also be health effects.

 

[evanator66]

The Anti-Mage cannot be harmed DIRECTLY by magic, thus meaning that his body could not be directly destroyed by magic, but a giant stone block could be summoned to crush him. If an Anti-Mage holds a magic item it destroys it, in a non-violent way without strong emotions, and with a massive rending and explosions if the Anti-Mage is feeling strong emotions. It is for this reason that the Anti-Mage is shunned and hated throughout the civilized world. The anti-mage does not drain, he sends magic back to its cosmic plane. The anti-mage CAN be detected by magic items, but when in close proximity, the magic item generally is destroyed. A magical creature would be able to attack the Anti-Mage, but would have organ failure if it had an active magical element (enchanted body part).

 

[CupofJoe]

Why do I have the feeling that as they are out numbered 1/100 by magicians, the anti-magicians would keep very quiet and try not to get lynched. Such a threat [as anti-magicians] would pose to a comparatively larger group and more obviously powerful and useful group [the magicians] would be seen as a threat. As you say they are hated and shunned,they don't seem to have any big-brother support to shelter them.
I like the idea but my take would be to make then almost a kind of specialised thief/assassin/spy. hidden, secret and more myth that reality... only a few people, if any, know the true power of the anti-magicians...

 

[Roc]

CupofJoe makes a good point about their numbers being so low compared to magician's that they might be hated by the majority of people, seen as obtrusive or destructive. Though that also depends on how their powers work; do they have to enact them through will or is the anti-mage's ability simply enforced through one's proximity? In a tightly packed city an anti-mage would not fair well as I'm sure mages would cluster in the city and soon find their abilitie's stymied.

I don't know how your world is governed, but the king/ruler's decree on these anti-mages would carry a heavy weight on people's perception of them. For that, you might ask yourself if the ruler is a mage and thus finds it frustrating or even obstructive when an anti-mage is near. On the other hand, is the ruler just a regular human and employs the help of the anti-mage to fend off powerful mages who might try to usurp the power of the crown. These anti-mage's position in your world is going to be greatly affected by certain circumstances.

I really like the idea of having anti-mages and it's not something I really see a lot of. What it immediately reminded me of was X-Men the Last Stand where that one kid has the ability to take mutant's powers away by proximity, though they had to be awfully close, from what we saw of him. Many of the mutant's didn't like the idea of their powers (uniqueness) being taken away or threatened, so they (Magneto and his army of mutants) go to exterminate the kid and those who tried to utilize his abilities. Mages are not going to like these anti-mages at all, as that is in their name, but perhaps your world does not like the mages and favors one with the ability to render them useless.

 

[evanator66]

The whole, discrimination thing is exactly the idea I have in mind. All of the lawful kingdoms, imprison Anti-Mages on sight, and the only place where they are tolerated is in the small islands separate from the main continent. The only reason why the anti-mages are not executed is to use them as WMDs against other armies.

 

[Hainted]

I'm just wondering about numbers. Unless you have a huge population there aren't going to be enough Anti-Mages to matter, let alone be prejudiced against. With numbers of 1/1000 people in our modern world there would be around 7 million wizards. However at ratios of 1/100000 Wizards there would only be 70 anti-wizards in the entire world. This isn't a large enough minority to register for persecution, and imprisonment, and most people would consider them legend or myth to scare young Wizards.

So once again in order to have 1 Anti-Wizard you need 100000 Wizards which works out to a base population of 100000000 people. Now 1 Anti-Wizard for every 1000 wizards lowers your population ratio to only 1000000 people

 

[Addison]

Your idea kinda reminds me of "Ordinary Magic". In it the MC is an Ord, one with zero magical powers in a world full of them. Aside from having no powers they are also immune to magic. They are both feared and coveted. Feared because most see them as an infection in society, but they're coveted by treasure hunters because the Ord will be able to get through magical traps.

But there was a hiccup in this immunity. A teacher explained that an Ord is immune to magic. So if a mage threw mage-fire (magical fire) at them they wouldn't be hurt. But if the mage cast a spell that set a tree or such on fire then the Ord would be burned. If a flame was engulfed in Mage Fire the Ord wouldn't be hurt, regular fire would hurt them. They also had a sensitivity to magic so they could, with training and practice, be able to sense which spell(s) and traps were near.

But with zero magic in a world full of it they had to become the greatest athletes in that world. Every day they had to run dozens of laps, learn several languages at once and learn all sorts of self-defense techniques.

Hope this helps. Happy Writing!

 

[Roc]

I'm just wondering about numbers. Unless you have a huge population there aren't going to be enough Anti-Mages to matter, let alone be prejudiced against. With numbers of 1/1000 people in our modern world there would be around 7 million wizards. However at ratios of 1/100000 Wizards there would only be 70 anti-wizards in the entire world. This isn't a large enough minority to register for persecution, and imprisonment, and most people would consider them legend or myth to scare young Wizards.

So once again in order to have 1 Anti-Wizard you need 100000 Wizards which works out to a base population of 100000000 people. Now 1 Anti-Wizard for every 1000 wizards lowers your population ratio to only 1000000 people

You make a really good point and I always love when people do number crunching. Although if his story is in the infancy that it is now, it is simple to change how the numbers work.

 

[Hainted]

I'm kinda obsessed with numbers, and can't stop myself from figuring things like this out when I see them. (Also a lot of other people had offered up story suggestions already.)

 

[evanator66]

Thanks for telling me about the math. You actually gave me an idea for the treatment of the MC.

 

[deilaitha]

There's really no advice I have to offer beyond what the others have said here, but I thought I'd still tell you that I think it's a really cool notion.

 

[marcdangerousworlds]

Even though in a Sci-Fi setting, in the GW 40K world, the 'blanks' are effectively passive 'anti wizards' who are greatly hated and feared by 'magic users'

Blank (Psychic) - Warhammer 40K Wiki - Space Marines, Chaos, planets, and more

 

[intipablo]

Nice idea!
Hope you find some good ideas, I'd like to see more! Those Anti-Mages look like they can do some damage....

 

[stephenspower]

The anti-magicians, a very interesting idea if magicians are so common, reminds me of william macy's character in "the cooler," who killed luck. A casino would sit him at a table where someone had a hot hand, and the player's streak of luck would die.

I can see a lot of great uses for anti-magicians, such as thieves. Consider this: In a world where magic is rife, most security procedures would aim to counteract magical attacks or invasions. But if you could counteract those magical protections without magic, whatever low tech protections also in place (such as locked doors) might be easily overcome. It would be the magical equivalent of assymetrical warfare, that is, why a technological behemoth like the US can easily be defeated by low tech measures because they don't think in low tech terms (and can't because, one, low tech measures are difficult to stop, and, two, high tech measures have much greater budgets and thus more potential for managerial chest puffing).

 

[Qvadrater]

I'm just wondering about numbers. Unless you have a huge population there aren't going to be enough Anti-Mages to matter, let alone be prejudiced against. With numbers of 1/1000 people in our modern world there would be around 7 million wizards. However at ratios of 1/100000 Wizards there would only be 70 anti-wizards in the entire world. This isn't a large enough minority to register for persecution, and imprisonment, and most people would consider them legend or myth to scare young Wizards.

So once again in order to have 1 Anti-Wizard you need 100000 Wizards which works out to a base population of 100000000 people. Now 1 Anti-Wizard for every 1000 wizards lowers your population ratio to only 1000000 people

No, you forgot a few zeroes in the number of anti-wizards, so the problem wouldn't be that big on the current earth, but it could very well be in a typical fantasy world which commonly has fewer citizens by several orders of magnitude, making anti-wizards ultra rare.

actual number of anti-wizards: 7 billion / 100k = 70k

The "scaling" of the problem woudln't even be linear if you compared earth to a fantasy world since earth is highly globalized with fast means of transport and communication, allowing anti-wizards to contact each other and be more organized and safe (anonymously over the internet) than in a fantasy world without cars, planes, phones, etc. where they would have to send messages and arrange meetings in ways that could potentially reveal their location, abilities and identities to enemies.