Contemplating Magic

[Mason]

Contemplating my current idea/project. In this world only children can use magic, they lose the gift upon reaching puberty. In the story a mentor teaches a young wizard how to use his powers for good while the BBEG chase them both down. What are the implications of a world where only children can use magic? Madness? I can imagine a child-wizard throwing a tantrum and raining down thunder and fireballs, turning the transgressors into toads, that sort of thing... any thoughts?

 

[Feo Takahari]

I'd predict normalization of child soldiers, raised from a very young age to fight and die for their commanders. Depending on how magic is inherited, many families may keep their children's magical abilities secret so the army can't claim them.

 

[wordwalker]

I'd predict normalization of child soldiers, raised from a very young age to fight and die for their commanders. Depending on how magic is inherited, many families may keep their children's magical abilities secret so the army can't claim them.

Ewww!

Sounds great. Of course, it works mainly with nations that have a religious or cultural code strong enough to let parents send their babies into battle. And those nations would soon have every "softer" nation on the defensive. (And of course, the only way to stop them is to be willing to kill children.)

Yeah, ewww. If you want dark, there it is.

 

[skip.knox]

How little? Infants? In the womb? It's an interesting concept, but might be difficult to realize.

 

[Mindfire]

Perhaps a culture and social order that highly privileges children, maybe for religious reasons. Think Kids Next Door where (from the kids POV) child society is good and normative while teens and adults are considered misguided at best and diabolical at worst, with a few notable exceptions. Puberty might be seen as The First Death or The Death-Before-Death or something otherwise ominous.

 

[Ireth]

I'd advise against having children acquire magic in the womb; I can see it having a lot of nasty consequences for the mother. Likewise, infants with magic could cause a lot of havoc, since they don't have the intelligence needed to control their emotions and reactions to things, and similarly their power. (Also, if magic requires vocal spells in order to work, an infant or very young child just learning to speak wouldn't be able to pronounce things correctly, which could seriously mess things up.)

 

[Feo Takahari]

Perhaps a culture and social order that highly privileges children, maybe for religious reasons. Think Kids Next Door where (from the kids POV) child society is good and normative while teens and adults are considered misguided at best and diabolical at worst, with a few notable exceptions. Puberty might be seen as The First Death or The Death-Before-Death or something otherwise ominous.

Depending on how extreme it gets, I'm not sure how long that culture would survive. Children can't be expected to serve as leaders, diplomats, or inventors, and they're somewhat iffy as artists, so it would likely stagnate, and might be overtaken by other cultures with a less Logan's Run approach to things.

 

[Mindfire]

Depending on how extreme it gets, I'm not sure how long that culture would survive. Children can't be expected to serve as leaders, diplomats, or inventors, and they're somewhat iffy as artists, so it would likely stagnate, and might be overtaken by other cultures with a less Logan's Run approach to things.

You clearly haven't watched Codename: Kids Next Door.

 

[skip.knox]

Mason never responded on this thread, always a little irritating, but the question got me thinking.

In any world where there's magic, how young will people be before their talents are manifest? Puberty is an easy one to choose, but other choices are possible. Too young, and it's terrifying. I'd hate to see a temper tantrum from a two-year-old magician.

But age can go in the other direction, too. And it can vary by race, of course. So maybe elves live a hundred years before they acquire any gifts. Or maybe there's this human who is 75 and suddenly finds she can summon demons.

And what does it mean to "have magic"? I can see scenarios where the ability is there but must be trained to be used at all. Or there's an ability but it is all over the place, utterly unpredictable until practice harnesses it. Is learning magic like learning to play the piano, with formal lessons? Like learning a craft? Or is it like learning to ride a bike, or learning to run long distance or dive deep? And maybe some of the stages of learning can be age-dependent as well. And maybe it can be different for boys than for girls.

Anyway, just wanted to toss the ideas out there. Here. Wherever.

 

[Mindfire]

Magic in my world is a bit like martial arts. The potential is there theoretically from birth (depending on what culture you're born into), and you might accidentally tap into it once or twice, but you're not going to get very far in using it without training and practice.

 

[Mason]

Sorry for not responding promptly...

@mindfire

I have never heard of that Kids Next Door, I'm not sure I follow what your saying exactly...

@Ireth

I wouldn't be able to take the story seriously. Acquiring magic in the womb might be a minor note in the text (perhaps a horrible urban legend about a reaaaaally bad pregnancy) but beyond that I think it will manifest around the time full upright walking is possible. (don't hold me to that)

@skip.knox.

The idea is in its infancy at the moment. I have not even begun to work out exactly how powerful the magic in this world actually is. There will not be a wizard in every town and tavern...but we are talking children here, not infants or toddlers. Let's be honest kids are impressionable, every major power in this world will be searching far and wide to find the "magic boy or girl". I suppose that is where most of the major conflict could potentially arise...but my story will be about one kids realization that magic (and power in general) can be corrupted and twisted. At least...that is what I think it will be about. Thanks all for taking a look.

 

[Mindfire]

Sorry for not responding promptly...

@mindfire

I have never heard of that Kids Next Door, I'm not sure I follow what your saying exactly...

Codename: Kids Next Door is an American animated television series created by Tom Warburton and produced by Curious Pictures in Santa Monica, California. The main characters of the series are five 10-year-old children who operate from their high-tech tree house. Their mission is to fight crimes against children committed by adults, senior citizens, teenagers, and other evil children. They make up what is known as Sector V of a worldwide organization called the Kids Next Door.

Google is your friend.

 

[wyrmfoe]

What if children are the only ones who can use magic? They are literally infused with it and as they get older it fades away, leaving them fairly normal except for a small spark that lets adults detect magic, but not enough to manipulate. What if the kids themselves can't manipulate this magic without some sort of help, possibly from an external device the child must sit in? The child's magic powers the machine and the machine does the magic, whether it is manipulating weather or broadcasting information or destroying cities. Children aren't soldiers, they are weapons.

A darker idea. What if the mother can tap into that power and suck it out of their unborn children through some dark ritual that infuses the mother with the power to do magic at the expense of the child's life? The child's soul is converted into magic power that the mother can now use briefly.

 

[Steerpike]

A darker idea. What if the mother can tap into that power and suck it out of their unborn children through some dark ritual that infuses the mother with the power to do magic at the expense of the child's life? The child's soul is converted into magic power that the mother can now use briefly.

Army platoons of pregnant women ready to unleash their magic on the enemy?

 

[wyrmfoe]

Army platoons of pregnant women ready to unleash their magic on the enemy?

Possibly. Which makes the outcome of the process even more gruesome because these women might give birth to their stillborn on the battlefield. If you want to go down this particular rabbit hole then there are plenty of very dark, very terrible places you can go with it. For instance, the stillborn could be easily possessed by dark spirits and turned into flesh eating monsters.

 

[Mindfire]

Okay, that's messed up. It seems to me that a book about child wizards (and I assume child protagonists) would be better off going for a more lighthearted, less gruesome tone.

 

[Mason]

Okay, that's messed up. It seems to me that a book about child wizards (and I assume child protagonists) would be better off going for a more lighthearted, less gruesome tone.

Oh totally way too dark. That seriously went bad pretty quick. Its a book about magic wielding children grappling with morality and terrible powers. You guys riffing on the darker side of the idea so hard I didn't want to say anything.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Oh, it's pretty easy to go dark on this topic. Two words: Ender's Game

And children in war is absolutely nothing new, even for America. Up until the rise of Social Security numbers and difficult to fake ID's, the U.S. has fielded child soldiers (granted, they lied about their ages, but honestly who would really mistake a 14-year-old for an 18-year-old?) in the combat theatre right up until WWII. Maybe Korea, but I'm not sure about that one. Child soldiers are currently rampant in war zones from Africa to South East Asia. Children make excellent soldiers - they don't question adult authority, and they are still developing a conscience so they are capable of committing atrocities without blinking. Why do you think our own military prefers soldiers just out of school?

You say you're thinking about your protagonist coming to grips with the corruptive possibilities of power? Yeah, that goes dark pretty fast. If you want to keep it light, you may have to put some effort into it.

 

[wyrmfoe]

Oh, it's pretty easy to go dark on this topic. Two words: Ender's Game

And children in war is absolutely nothing new, even for America. Up until the rise of Social Security numbers and difficult to fake ID's, the U.S. has fielded child soldiers (granted, they lied about their ages, but honestly who would really mistake a 14-year-old for an 18-year-old?) in the combat theatre right up until WWII. Maybe Korea, but I'm not sure about that one. Child soldiers are currently rampant in war zones from Africa to South East Asia. Children make excellent soldiers - they don't question adult authority, and they are still developing a conscience so they are capable of committing atrocities without blinking. Why do you think our own military prefers soldiers just out of school?

You say you're thinking about your protagonist coming to grips with the corruptive possibilities of power? Yeah, that goes dark pretty fast. If you want to keep it light, you may have to put some effort into it.

Yea, Ender's Game came to mind when I first started reading through these posts. We are talking about weaponizing children if you think about it and anyway you slice it, that's treading on very dark territory. We don't even have to put them on the battlefield honestly. Let's use our own history for a moment. There's been a long history of exploiting child labor in all sorts of industries. Children can use magic, you say? Oh, I can think of all kinds of way the upper class will love to exploit that.

 

[Mindfire]

I don't agree that something has to get involved just because children get into the fighting. I mean, look at Chronicles of Narnia. It's about as lighthearted as they come (until you get to The Last Battle anyway) and about 90% of the onscreen battles have children in them.