Elemental Magic

[Fyri]

Idk, I think it'd be interesting to see what everyone here does with elemental magic included in their stories.

I'm currently writing a fight scene and had to remind myself what I had decided for my earth elementalists. My first (awful, terrible, cringe cringe cringe) draft had an attack with a "steel blade," and I wasn't sure if I had decided my earth elementalists could manipulate steel.

Then, I remembered my "pure fire" elementalists are able to create a special type of lava that then cools into a special type of obsidian that only a fire elementalist could affect. Earth elementalists cannot manipulate obsidian created from a fire elementalist's lava, because the obsidian there has a signature attached to the lava affinity.

However, this implies that earth elementalists can manipulate natural obsidian, a glass. Then my mind wandered around what else this would/could/should mean for my earth elementalists. Then I thought about the joke that ice is technically, scientifically, a rock. Well, I'm not going to do that. (Maybe. *entertains idea* Could be fun.)

Humored by the train of thought, I wondered... What kind of fun do my fellow writers of elemental magic have in their magic systems? Do you lean more into science or, er, magic magic when crafting your system?

Bonus question: What inspired you to write with elemental magic?

 

[Finchbearer]

You are making me question my very much magic magic system as you have mentioned…

Thing is, I am not a. smart enough to create a hard magic system based on (real world) science, and b. do not want to research that much into the science aspects of my elementists magical powers.

But I do like obsidian. In my magic system, if a mortal possesses magic, then it is innate and can’t be changed, however if someone has an innate gift of magic, then there are ways to learn spells and incantations to practice other types of magic, which mainly fall into dark and light categories.

It’s pretty much an academic set up, so if someone is found to have innate magic then they are bound to serve their country by attending a scholarly institution to learn their craft, then they become basically a mage who serves in various magical professions.

If someone has elemental magic then it is most always an earth based power. Rocks and stone. There’s a mining culture in the northern part of the country and stones have conduit properties for magic - runestones. So earth elemental magic is important for the running of the country really.

Then there are the outlaws who practice wild magic, mostly those who went through the scholarly institutions and then decided to rebel and dissent.

Not all of it is yet written and so I’ll find snags as I go along. Many many snags

 

[Fyri]

Oh! I hope you didn't interpret that as me looking down on magic magic systems. I just couldn't figure out what to call them. Probably more hard vs soft magic. XD I love both.

So your world is magical alongside those who have an affinity for it? I like that idea! Kind of like, if you are born with magic, you can also access a secret property of the world in the form of runestones?

 

[Finchbearer]

I prefer soft magic systems in general in the sense that I feel something as ephemeral as magic should have some amount of mystery to it. And of course for me it’s much easier to write a story and not worry too much about whether the magic system is always in keeping with a well thought out logical system.

I have it that only mortals who are born gifted with magic can practice it, as a general rule anyway, and those who don’t possess magic can’t learn to wield it. Magic in general in my world is becoming rarer, and so those found to possess it are bound to serve the country by taking an oath. The oath means a ceremony must take place where a small runestone is imbued with their specific magic, of which they wear around their necks, with the runic symbol communicating what type of mage they are. ‘Wild magic’ is outlawed, and so those who are found to be disgraced or thought to be dangerous have their magic stripped away.

I also have it that runestones (made from various types of material) can also run or power things. They are a conduit for magic and so imagine powerful wards created with the help of runestones.

I have one main character who is an elementalist (earth type) and I have it that this type of magical gift is relatively rare. There isn’t specific magical gifts for water or fire, but fire is certainly the rarest. ‘Fireheart’ I’ve called it…

Again, I need to flesh it out more, but I think that will only happen as I write further on.

So do you have fire, water and earth elemental magic?

 

[pmmg]

In my own story, the magic system is not really based on elements, but somehow it did slip in that the wizards kind of have specializations. This one is good with fire and that one with rock. It was unintentional, but its there.

Personally, I have always questioned such systems becuase...there are not just a few elements, there are like a hundred of so or the periodic table, and there is such over lap between them. Water can douse fire, but fire can turn water to steam. Which one wins? Its not really about the element itself, but who is just better with it, I guess. Of the four main ones, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, it would seem each is vulnerable to, and able to overpower any of the others.

 

[Fyri]

I prefer soft magic systems in general in the sense that I feel something as ephemeral as magic should have some amount of mystery to it. And of course for me it’s much easier to write a story and not worry too much about whether the magic system is always in keeping with a well thought out logical system.

I have it that only mortals who are born gifted with magic can practice it, as a general rule anyway, and those who don’t possess magic can’t learn to wield it. Magic in general in my world is becoming rarer, and so those found to possess it are bound to serve the country by taking an oath. The oath means a ceremony must take place where a small runestone is imbued with their specific magic, of which they wear around their necks, with the runic symbol communicating what type of mage they are. ‘Wild magic’ is outlawed, and so those who are found to be disgraced or thought to be dangerous have their magic stripped away.

I also have it that runestones (made from various types of material) can also run or power things. They are a conduit for magic and so imagine powerful wards created with the help of runestones.

I have one main character who is an elementalist (earth type) and I have it that this type of magical gift is relatively rare. There isn’t specific magical gifts for water or fire, but fire is certainly the rarest. ‘Fireheart’ I’ve called it…

Again, I need to flesh it out more, but I think that will only happen as I write further on.

So do you have fire, water and earth elemental magic?

The mention of wild magic and having runestones worn around your neck to your magic type reminds me a lot of Owl House.

Man, I need to figure out better names for my people. Fireheart sounds pretty neat for this rare magic in your world. I wonder what the character who has this will be like, if they appear in your story.

Yeah, my world was originally inspired by Avatar TLA, so it has the four, ah, traditional elements? Water, Fire, Wind, and Earth. Idk, "traditional" varies in meaning and number depending on culture. Then my magic was also inspired by LARP games my sister and friends and I used to play as kids, so it also encompasses rarer "elements" like psychic, lightning, senses, emotions, time... It may seem messy, but it's my mess and I love it very much. 🫠

 

[Finchbearer]

Oh, I’ve only heard of Owl House from being on here actually! I’ve never really looked what it is.

I wasn’t gunning for an ‘original idea’ just didn’t want a story that’s going to look as though I copied something else dang I’ll have to check it out then.

I forgot all about wind, although is that an ‘element’ in the same way that the others are? I suppose air is more an opposing force to water and fire alone, in air you can create wind, but air also contains oxygen, which can fuel both… I don’t know what I’m talking about.

The other types of magic look like they will create all sorts of possibilities for your storyline. Psychic especially is an interesting one to use I think. And emotions - although we humans know how to manipulate eachother enough without the use of magic.

I have other types too that aren’t elemental - runebearer’s who are like conduits themselves who perform the oath ceremonies and imbue the runestones for others. Arcane seekers - who seek out the gifted and send them a summons to attend the institutions. Ciphers - who can interpret language, markings and symbols. And healers, who have the most common type of magic. Pretty important when the only way to treat something like an infection is to get a mage to heal you. They have limits though like any real world nurse or doctor.

 

[ThinkerX]

'magic' in my worlds is mostly enhanced PSI ability, which, with a few twists and turns, affects thoughts (hypnotism ramped up to 11, plus remote viewing and illusions of a sort,) body (healing, plus bursts of strength, speed, and a few other things like summoning animals,) or mind over matter (variants of telekinesis, plus related tricks like pyrokinesis.) To this can be added 'name magic' taken from the real-world sorcerers of old who used 'true names to try to summon demons and spirits (Lovecraftian abominations in my system. Tack in a few extras like teleportation (deemed damn risky), ritual magic, and 'runes' and that's most of it.

No need for elemental magic, which I see as way overdone, and the effects produced as being better described as manifestations of either summoning or telekinesis anyhow.

 

[Fyri]

In my own story, the magic system is not really based on elements, but somehow it did slip in that the wizards kind of have specializations. This one is good with fire and that one with rock. It was unintentional, but its there.

Personally, I have always questioned such systems becuase...there are not just a few elements, there are like a hundred of so or the periodic table, and there is such over lap between them. Water can douse fire, but fire can turn water to steam. Which one wins? Its not really about the element itself, but who is just better with it, I guess. Of the four main ones, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, it would seem each is vulnerable to, and able to overpower any of the others.

True! It depends on how we look at magic/elements. I don’t know a lot about alchemy, but I feel like the closer you get to the periodic table definition, the less you are dealing with "elemental magic" and the more you are dealing with "alchemic magic". Which. Is interesting to ponder. Since "element" means both.

Side note: omgosh. I typed this up last night and apparently never posted it. Good morning. XD

 

[Fyri]

Oh, I’ve only heard of Owl House from being on here actually! I’ve never really looked what it is.

I wasn’t gunning for an ‘original idea’ just didn’t want a story that’s going to look as though I copied something else dang I’ll have to check it out then.

Oh! I don't think it's too similar, like that. The parts that it reminds me of are that the people are divided into sections of magic and must only learn what they select. Wild magic exists but is outlawed. Of course, nothing is new under the sun, so we are all bound to discover magic systems that resemble our own eventually. Comp titles are wonderful things, though I don't think your story has enough in common with Owl House to use it as a comp title. Still, super fun ideas!

I forgot all about wind, although is that an ‘element’ in the same way that the others are? I suppose air is more an opposing force to water and fire alone, in air you can create wind, but air also contains oxygen, which can fuel both… I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Yeah, I have subelements to this. So like four of the six main territories in my world are dedicated to a "pure blood" notion of elements. If both your parents have the same of one of the "main" elements, you get a subelement of that type. Fire gets lava, water gets ice, earth gets plant magic, and wind gets air. The difference for wind and air is that with just the wind element you can only move the air around, but when you use the air subelement, you can manipulate the contents of the air—different gases. Iiiiii haven't played a whole lot with that part. I think I'm afraid of not being able to handle it. XDDD Of course, with plant and air magic, you have to learn each type of plant or gas that you want to work with—kind of like learning individual spells. I think that helps me balance the, uh, intricacies? XD

On the same note, in my world, fire elementalists can also be disabled if they are dowsed with enough water, so I'm not actually entirely worried about balancing the different magics. XD My friend constantly complained that the fire element was too weak because of this. But I've currently decided that I'm okay with that. When magic first came to these people, it didn't come with intentions of being balanced for fair combat—it didn't have war in mind. It came simply because it came. The people then simply learned how to live with the new reality.

But to the fueling point—these elements can indeed be fueled by natural means, but also, and more commonly, they are fueled and created by the inner magical energy itself. Enough energy can be converted into matter, and that's the magic.

The other types of magic look like they will create all sorts of possibilities for your storyline. Psychic especially is an interesting one to use I think. And emotions - although we humans know how to manipulate eachother enough without the use of magic.

Emotions is so fun to work with! It is rarer though, so it doesn't get featured very much, but when it does... DD

I have other types too that aren’t elemental - runebearer’s who are like conduits themselves who perform the oath ceremonies and imbue the runestones for others. Arcane seekers - who seek out the gifted and send them a summons to attend the institutions. Ciphers - who can interpret language, markings and symbols. And healers, who have the most common type of magic. Pretty important when the only way to treat something like an infection is to get a mage to heal you. They have limits though like any real world nurse or doctor.

Interesting! I'm interested in the runebearer's abilities... By conduit, what does that entail?

Are there also mundane polyglots who compare and may even attempt to be equal to the Ciphers?

With the healers, too. Are wounds usually magical in some sense as well or do the people not see mundane medicine as worth their time, since healers are so common and easier to obtain? I wonder what it would be like if a mundane person wanted to be able to heal others and tried to study under a magic healer... Would they be told to give up and find something they will be more able to succeed at? Oh! You also mentioned dark and light categories? Are there evil healers?

 

[Finchbearer]

In my own story, the magic system is not really based on elements, but somehow it did slip in that the wizards kind of have specializations. This one is good with fire and that one with rock. It was unintentional, but its there.

Personally, I have always questioned such systems becuase...there are not just a few elements, there are like a hundred of so or the periodic table, and there is such over lap between them. Water can douse fire, but fire can turn water to steam. Which one wins? Its not really about the element itself, but who is just better with it, I guess. Of the four main ones, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, it would seem each is vulnerable to, and able to overpower any of the others.

Yep, I would say you’re getting into alchemist territory here.

 

[Fyri]

'magic' in my worlds is mostly enhanced PSI ability, which, with a few twists and turns, affects thoughts (hypnotism ramped up to 11, plus remote viewing and illusions of a sort,) body (healing, plus bursts of strength, speed, and a few other things like summoning animals,) or mind over matter (variants of telekinesis, plus related tricks like pyrokinesis.) To this can be added 'name magic' taken from the real-world sorcerers of old who used 'true names to try to summon demons and spirits (Lovecraftian abominations in my system. Tack in a few extras like teleportation (deemed damn risky), ritual magic, and 'runes' and that's most of it.

No need for elemental magic, which I see as way overdone, and the effects produced as being better described as manifestations of either summoning or telekinesis anyhow.

Interesting! XD Yeah, I run into that a little when thinking about my psychic capabilities. Only one person is supposed to be born with this element at a time, and therefore must learn how to use it on their own or by possible hints handed down by their predecessors. However, it is true, a lot of telekinesis can just...do what the other elementalists are specialized in, depending on your mastery of it. And then with the fact that they can also teleport and read minds, XD it is a chore to ensure they aren't too OP in the universe. Same with time elementalists. Why I do this to myself, I'll never know.

But I love how you kind of hone in on that idea with PSI abilities! Also, name magic is pretty interesting to work with. I'm only familiar with Tales of Earthsea in that respect thus far.

 

[Finchbearer]

You’ve certainly made me think more on my magic system that’s for sure which is no bad thing. Upon looking at Owl House, I don’t think my world or story is really anything like it.

Your system for genetic magic is interesting. It makes me think that down the generational line you’ll have really complex magic from years of ‘interbreeding’ as delightful as that sounds. You would probably have a culture of arranged courtships to produce specific types of magic and that could get interesting and/or messy.

The fire elementists sound like Djinni’s where they’re made of fire and wind seeing as they’re desert creatures, and so dousing them in water destroys them.

With emotions, I think I’m also working with them but in the sense of emotions controlling the magic rather than emotion being a specific type of magic.

 

[ThinkerX]

Interesting! XD Yeah, I run into that a little when thinking about my psychic capabilities. Only one person is supposed to be born with this element at a time, and therefore must learn how to use it on their own or by possible hints handed down by their predecessors. However, it is true, a lot of telekinesis can just...do what the other elementalists are specialized in, depending on your mastery of it. And then with the fact that they can also teleport and read minds, XD it is a chore to ensure they aren't too OP in the universe. Same with time elementalists. Why I do this to myself, I'll never know.

But I love how you kind of hone in on that idea with PSI abilities! Also, name magic is pretty interesting to work with. I'm only familiar with Tales of Earthsea in that respect thus far.

Typically, my wizards have 'knacks' - two or three they'll be fairly good at, and two or three others they are so-so or subpar with.
Master wizards and archimages - who have a better understanding how the disciplines fit together, will have more knacks.

Kyle, the primary wizard in 'Empire,' is good at 'Finding' (Mind, remote viewing variant), 'Fire' (Pyrokinesis, igniting things at a distance,) and 'Fixing' (Telekinesis, a sort of superglue/lubrication variation). He can teleport, but it's well, risky. For minor magics...he has a 'washer woman's spell' (Telekinesis,) and a Shatter spell (Telekinesis, inverse of 'Fixing.') Later, he learns a bit of metabolic or 'life' magic, including rudimentary healing and plant growth, plus a bit of rune magic.

That said, most of the 'spells' are on the wimpy side - classic fireball or conjuring a castle into existence? Not happening. Healing is mostly helping the body heal itself. Normal healing ramped up a few notches. People who benefit from the equivalent of a strength/speed spell are looking at a hard crash and a need for a large meal not long thereafter.

Again, though, to me most 'elemental magic looks to be telekinetic. An earth elementalist who can yank a boulder out of the ground should be able to shunt water around in the same way. Likewise, an air elementalist who can move rain clouds around should be able to levitate pebbles.

 

[SirenSon117]

My "Elements" are more like damage types than proper Elements and they are not the primary focus of my System. Most are paired based on Daoist Principles and common sense, Fire with Water, Air with Earth, Time with Space(that's a Pokémon reference there). I also have Elements that aren't paired like Lightning and Dragon(Dragon Element literally being a representation of Draconic Power, which is a special type of Magical Energy unique to Dragons many of whom are quite familiar with other Elements!) I would say that what OP is dealing with here is kind of a combination of Naruto(where Elemental Affinity is genetic and hybridizes if two Elemental Bloodlines are present and now that I say it like that I'm getting flashes of the Anime Ubermensch himself Ichigo Kurosaki in my head) and ATLA(where Elemental Affinity is determined by location of birth, tends to be rare, and works via extremely innate understanding of the Elements and how they work) I have much more knowledge of Naruto than ATLA so I'm getting more Naruto vibes than ATLA vibes. Here's where Naruto went wrong with it's Elemental System: Too many Elements, not enough Jutsu in those Elements. Haku from the first arc is the only Ice Release user who matters and he has one big technique, the ice mirrors. The ice mirror thing Haku does is cool, but if did other stuff after Naruto and Sasuke broke the Jutsu he'd be even cooler and probably would have won the fight. Sasuke himself is another example, of the two people who can Amaterasu, Sasuke needs a whole friggin additional eyeball to control the flame and make Blaze Release happen. And he rarely ever uses Blaze Release in creative ways! To summarize, If you have an Elemental system you need to decide not only what it can do, but from there build cool and interesting movesets for your characters. JJBA is so great because the characters in that series are able to do so much with just one ability. Part Four of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a beautiful lesson in how to make great power and use those powers effectively. Even if you're not a Weeb like I am, these are things to consider.

 

[Finchbearer]

I'm interested in the runebearer's abilities... By conduit, what does that entail?

Are there also mundane polyglots who compare and may even attempt to be equal to the Ciphers?

With the healers, too. Are wounds usually magical in some sense as well or do the people not see mundane medicine as worth their time, since healers are so common and easier to obtain? I wonder what it would be like if a mundane person wanted to be able to heal others and tried to study under a magic healer... Would they be told to give up and find something they will be more able to succeed at? Oh! You also mentioned dark and light categories? Are there evil healers?

By conduit, a runebearer’s gift is really to have the ability of allowing magic to flow through them, and through this act they can do a few things - but the main role of their job is to have those who naturally possess magic to take an oath via a (gruesome blood letting) ceremony whereby they bind an individual’s magic to a runestone, and in this act they also bind the person to their role serving their country. It’s like a contract. Runebearer’s therefore do a lot of travelling.

There are people who do not possess magic who can learn different languages as any ordinary person could do, but that requires practice and skill whereas a cipher can just automatically decipher any symbols, markings or spoken language. It is a rare magic as I have it.

And again, there are certainly ordinary non-magical healers who have a fairly medieval knowledge of healthcare practices - otherwise why have magical healing at all.

Dark and light magic - I’m inspired by lots of things, but mainly I have imagined a polytheism rather like the pre-Christian belief systems where the ideas of ‘good’ or ‘God’ and ‘evil’ or ‘devil’ are far more tertiary.

Dark and light magic are only (legally) meant to be practiced by scholars who have studied their craft for years and years. There are risks to practicing both, and should only be practiced by people that know what they’re doing.

On dark magic - I really wanted to create a world where people are comfortable leaning into the darker aspects in their world, and therefore also within themselves, without the connotations of it being something inherently ‘evil’, seeing as that is a very modern way of looking at it. Dark magic can be used for all sorts of things. I have it that light magic is in fact far more risky and more difficult to wield. Light magic includes things like ‘teleportation’ where light is used to travel.

 

[Fyri]

You’ve certainly made me think more on my magic system that’s for sure which is no bad thing. Upon looking at Owl House, I don’t think my world or story is really anything like it.

Your system for genetic magic is interesting. It makes me think that down the generational line you’ll have really complex magic from years of ‘interbreeding’ as delightful as that sounds. You would probably have a culture of arranged courtships to produce specific types of magic and that could get interesting and/or messy.

The fire elementists sound like Djinni’s where they’re made of fire and wind seeing as they’re desert creatures, and so dousing them in water destroys them.

With emotions, I think I’m also working with them but in the sense of emotions controlling the magic rather than emotion being a specific type of magic.

^_^ It is always fun to analyze our magic systems from new perspectives and see how our brains answer things for it!

Yeah, I imagined it was not incredibly similar to Owl House, but reminiscent to me!

Mhm! Centuries ago, many people saw it as sacred to court for purity—in the early days, they thought that was the only way to gain access to the subelements. There do exist "mixed" elementalists—those descendants of an "impure" love. They are not allowed in the main Domains (only pure fire elementalists are allowed in the Fire Domain, etc). Mixed and less common elementalists live in either the Light Territory or the "Unmarked Territories" (called the Freelands by those that live there).

Mixed elementalists have a random mixture of their parents' elements. If a pure fire and water elemtentalist fell in love, their offspring could have fire/water, fire/lava, fire/ice, water/lava, or water/ice as their affinities. Most pure elementalists view mixed elementalists as lesser, but that's just the current hegemony within the "Elder System" which contains the four main Domains. I haven't decided what would happen if say a lightning elementalist had a kid with a fire elementalist, since lightning elementalists don't have subelements.

Mmm, imagine needing to fight to save the life of a loved one, and someone influencing your emotions (or, if we look at the science, hormones/chemicals) to make you feel more apathetic or even generally relaxed, content, perhaps even happy with the moment unfolding in front of you. And this can creep into extremes too, where now you're fighting two battles, inside and out.

 

[Fyri]

Typically, my wizards have 'knacks' - two or three they'll be fairly good at, and two or three others they are so-so or subpar with.
Master wizards and archimages - who have a better understanding how the disciplines fit together, will have more knacks.

Kyle, the primary wizard in 'Empire,' is good at 'Finding' (Mind, remote viewing variant), 'Fire' (Pyrokinesis, igniting things at a distance,) and 'Fixing' (Telekinesis, a sort of superglue/lubrication variation). He can teleport, but it's well, risky. For minor magics...he has a 'washer woman's spell' (Telekinesis,) and a Shatter spell (Telekinesis, inverse of 'Fixing.') Later, he learns a bit of metabolic or 'life' magic, including rudimentary healing and plant growth, plus a bit of rune magic.

That said, most of the 'spells' are on the wimpy side - classic fireball or conjuring a castle into existence? Not happening. Healing is mostly helping the body heal itself. Normal healing ramped up a few notches. People who benefit from the equivalent of a strength/speed spell are looking at a hard crash and a need for a large meal not long thereafter.

Again, though, to me most 'elemental magic looks to be telekinetic. An earth elementalist who can yank a boulder out of the ground should be able to shunt water around in the same way. Likewise, an air elementalist who can move rain clouds around should be able to levitate pebbles.

Knacks are a cool name for this!

I imagine then, your wizards can only manipulate that which is already there? You mentioned the classic fireball being out. Pyrokinesis would imply moving fire which already exists, right? Although you also mentioned igniting things at a distance. Hm...

I'm also curious now, since you imply that your wizards don't just...generally have ability to work anything within their knacks (Kyle, a beautiful name, has a knack for Fixing, but you also mention specific spells), do your wizards need to say or do anything to work their specific -kinesis magic? Like an incantation or special movement?

 

[Fyri]

My "Elements" are more like damage types than proper Elements and they are not the primary focus of my System. Most are paired based on Daoist Principles and common sense, Fire with Water, Air with Earth, Time with Space(that's a Pokémon reference there). I also have Elements that aren't paired like Lightning and Dragon(Dragon Element literally being a representation of Draconic Power, which is a special type of Magical Energy unique to Dragons many of whom are quite familiar with other Elements!) I would say that what OP is dealing with here is kind of a combination of Naruto(where Elemental Affinity is genetic and hybridizes if two Elemental Bloodlines are present and now that I say it like that I'm getting flashes of the Anime Ubermensch himself Ichigo Kurosaki in my head) and ATLA(where Elemental Affinity is determined by location of birth, tends to be rare, and works via extremely innate understanding of the Elements and how they work) I have much more knowledge of Naruto than ATLA so I'm getting more Naruto vibes than ATLA vibes. Here's where Naruto went wrong with it's Elemental System: Too many Elements, not enough Jutsu in those Elements. Haku from the first arc is the only Ice Release user who matters and he has one big technique, the ice mirrors. The ice mirror thing Haku does is cool, but if did other stuff after Naruto and Sasuke broke the Jutsu he'd be even cooler and probably would have won the fight. Sasuke himself is another example, of the two people who can Amaterasu, Sasuke needs a whole friggin additional eyeball to control the flame and make Blaze Release happen. And he rarely ever uses Blaze Release in creative ways! To summarize, If you have an Elemental system you need to decide not only what it can do, but from there build cool and interesting movesets for your characters. JJBA is so great because the characters in that series are able to do so much with just one ability. Part Four of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a beautiful lesson in how to make great power and use those powers effectively. Even if you're not a Weeb like I am, these are things to consider.

1) ...wait. Was Dialga(he was space, right?) supereffective against Palkia(time? or vice versa. XD)? It's been so long since I played Diamond and Pearl.

2) Please explain more! You have me interested in them being more like damage types than proper elements. How does this contrast work?

3) Interesting that you picked up Naruto vibes! I haven't studied so much the element use in Naruto as much as I studied the physical combat (and I think one scene with Zabuza to get more ideas for using the water element. XD). I am much more interested in the ATLA part, since they use their elements not just for fighting, but also every day things (warming tea~). I lean more into the elements being just part of life. The people don't consider it magic, since it is as common and normal as breathing for them. Therefore, they've also had plenty of time for learning interesting ways to use it in combat.

4) Maybe someday I will watch Jojo. Maybe someday. XD

 

[Fyri]

By conduit, a runebearer’s gift is really to have the ability of allowing magic to flow through them, and through this act they can do a few things - but the main role of their job is to have those who naturally possess magic to take an oath via a (gruesome blood letting) ceremony whereby they bind an individual’s magic to a runestone, and in this act they also bind the person to their role serving their country. It’s like a contract. Runebearer’s therefore do a lot of travelling.

Oh. This is problematic for those bound. Are all the runebearer's proud of their (mean) job? XD

There are people who do not possess magic who can learn different languages as any ordinary person could do, but that requires practice and skill whereas a cipher can just automatically decipher any symbols, markings or spoken language. It is a rare magic as I have it.

That's fun! As a mundane person trying to learn different languages, I am side eyeing these Ciphers and muttering "Cheaters..." as I open my next Duolingo lesson. XD

And again, there are certainly ordinary non-magical healers who have a fairly medieval knowledge of healthcare practices - otherwise why have magical healing at all.

And now I mutter, "Probably gotta be financially stable to get the magic healers, too. Poor people get to drink pee and play with leeches." *sniffs* XD jk jk

Dark and light magic - I’m inspired by lots of things, but mainly I have imagined a polytheism rather like the pre-Christian belief systems where the ideas of ‘good’ or ‘God’ and ‘evil’ or ‘devil’ are far more tertiary.

Dark and light magic are only (legally) meant to be practiced by scholars who have studied their craft for years and years. There are risks to practicing both, and should only be practiced by people that know what they’re doing.

On dark magic - I really wanted to create a world where people are comfortable leaning into the darker aspects in their world, and therefore also within themselves, without the connotations of it being something inherently ‘evil’, seeing as that is a very modern way of looking at it. Dark magic can be used for all sorts of things. I have it that light magic is in fact far more risky and more difficult to wield. Light magic includes things like ‘teleportation’ where light is used to travel.

Ooooh. Light being used to travel for teleportation is a neat idea!!

Also, it'd be interesting also to see the inverse of our cultural expectations. Dark is actually good and safe, light is cruel and blinding. However, that is for a different story. I like that yours is more unbiased, lending to the idea that it is what you do with your magic, not the magic itself, that determines your morality and ethics.