Interesting Magic Systems

[Lock]

Magic systems impact stories to the core, effecting the fundamental laws of the world, bringing abstract concepts together with the real. Yet the range of forms that a magic system can take is enormous; there being so many cool things that authors can and have done (though there are even more stories that have been spoiled by the use of magic as a crutch or an easy solution to a problem). Since I am currently drafting rules to the magic systems in my WIP I am interested in hearing some examples of interesting systems that you've read or created yourselves. Perhaps you've drafted one that you're particularly proud of or maybe there's a book you've read that does something with magic that you've never encountered elsewhere?

 

[Darkblade]

My mortal magic system in my Demon War urban fantasy universe (Fae and Angels/Demons have their own separate magics that operate slightly differently) works on the basic idea that magic is symbolism plus energy.

To form a spell a would be wizard invokes a symbol of what they want to make happen whether incantations (verbal symbols), runes (artistic symbols), sympathetic poppets (physical symbols) or other more esoteric choices. With the symbol they must then draw from a power source, most often this is a tiny piece of the wizard's soul (it'll grow back in time) but it can be other things such as the life force of living sacrifices both human and animal or an electrical generator or battery. Basically it allows for a large variety of cultural traditions with some degree of consistency.

 

[mbartelsm]

Nothing particularly exotic here.
Every living creature and spirit has a soul, there are three parts to a soul, whether a creature has all or just one will determine what kind of creature it is. These parts are Thought (Understanding), Emotions (Will) and Vitality (Energy). The only way to perform magic is by using one's soul as a medium to control the seven elements of nature (Water, Lightning (still not sure about this one though , wind, fire, metal, earth and wood) and the titanic elements (light and shadow). Each element requires a different perception to be controlled, pretty much like a language, if you want to control an element, you will have to learn it first. Each act of magic must use energy to be performed, this energy can be obtained from one's own soul or someone else's.

I know it sounds very generic, but it's quite hard to explain it in it's entirety.

 

[ThinkerX]

My wizards are wimps. Some of the ... entities ... they deal with are not.

I used to spend a lot of time making up lists of spells derived from AD&D and Warhammer and coming up with specialty wizard types to cast them. That was back when I did more worldbuilding than writing.

When I began writing again, I looked at my old stuff, did some thinking, and simplified...a lot.

Magic, or at least mortal magic in my world is basically psi power. The aliens who brought humans there tens of thousands of years ago used technology which requires psi ability to operate, so they took some humans, did...things...to them, and now their descendants (and others) are 'wizards'. (The aliens themselves are mostly gone).

Thats the story. The story behind the story...well, I looked at my giant, unorganized pile of paranormal type books, including several investigating psi ability, and decided 'close enough. This covers most of what I want to do, so I will assume it is real.' But...

I have a Lovecraft thing. I've also done a lot of reading about magic through the ages. Ye olde line mages, like the ones warned about in the bible, and (still) found throughout the middle east and beyond, had this notion: if you knew the 'true name' of a spirit or demon, you could force that spirit or demon to do your bidding. I thought about that. I thought about Lovecraft, who explored similiar concepts. I thought about what it must have taken to displace the aliens who brought humans to my world in the first place. And so demons/lovecraftian things entered into the picture. Wizards conjure them seeking power. But...these things have been around for a long time, have their own goals, and know all the tricks. What almost invariably happens is the wizard becomes the servant of the monstrosity.

Theres more, but thats the basics.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Sometimes, a simple combination can create odd interactions. For my Abominations setting (home of "Cold Steel" and "There Are Worse Secrets, Right?"), I went with a body-mind-soul dynamic, functioning in a rock-paper-scissors arrangement. (For instance, modifying someone's body affects their mind to some degree, but has much less of an effect on their soul.) Every race in the setting can use one kind of magic inherently, and magic is most easily used on oneself--for instance, there's a society where everyone's a shapeshifter.

To put this in stark terms, everyone in this setting has the ability to consciously modify something that could be considered integral to their identity.

Characters from different races struggle to even explain what identity means to them--if you're a soulcrafter, and your mind is the one thing about you that never changes, how do you explain that to a thoughtcrafter who can control his own hopes and fears as easily as he changes his clothes? For that matter, how can a thoughtcrafter tell you "Just because I don't have an identity you can recognize doesn't mean I'm not constant, or I can't be trusted"? This is a setting in which misunderstanding is almost inherent in cross-racial interaction.

(Naturally, the plot I'm working towards involves members of all the races being forced to work together . . .)

 

[Lock]

I know it sounds very generic, but it's quite hard to explain it in it's entirety.

I know what you mean, describing things like this can sometime be like trying to describe a dream.

Darkblade, I like the way you limit your system by having it draw from the wizards soul: way cool. But what does the wizard lose when he draws upon it? I'm imagining that he fades away like a ghost and if he goes too far he disappears forever or maybe if he does something with runes he has to be really bad at all his creative endeavors for a spell.

 

[Darkblade]

Darkblade, I like the way you limit your system by having it draw from the wizards soul: way cool. But what does the wizard lose when he draws upon it? I'm imagining that he fades away like a ghost and if he goes too far he disappears forever or maybe if he does something with runes he has to be really bad at all his creative endeavors for a spell.

It would take a really powerful spell or a whole lot of little spells to actually reach the danger zone of running out of soul. Even if you did at worst you wouldn't be able to use magic for a month or so. The same reflex that prevents you from biting off your own fingers even if you try would stop you from using the last of your own soul to make a fireball (unless you are on PCP or other drugs).

Souls as I write them are unique electromagnetic fields that contain one's identity (new age pseudo-science is a great place to go for magic systems), do good things and the charge becomes more positive, do more bad things and the charge becomes more negative. As long as you are alive and doing things your field will continue to grow or re-grow in the case of wizards that used some of it.

In the unlikely event that while on drugs you use all of it up on some big spell or someone forcibly uses your soul to power their own spell you will enter a vegetative state, and since there is no soul left to re-grow it will not come back. When you eventually die you will be denied any after life since your soul was basically destroyed. Hence it is very taboo even among dark wizards to use other people's souls to power spells, particularly since they also have bio-electricity that can be harvested for the same effect.

 

[Queshire]

Hmmm... I'm working on a new project now. One where the main principle is mucking around with classic fantasy cliches. I haven't given much thought about magic quite yet.

In my world, anyone can learn to use magic, literally anyone. It was first created to give vanilla humans a fighting chance against all the deadly, deadly monsters and people with naturally born powers that infest the world. While tough, it isn't any harder to learn than any other trade. In time though, society came to view it as a strange and rare thing that only old men can learn. That's just a cultural perception. In fact, one of the main cast is going to be a maid who picked up some magical knowledge during her work for a Wizard.

 

[wordwalker]

Here's an idea that's been in the back of my mind, from reading Lord of the Rings:

One way to build a "strategic" feel for magic, where wizards threw an occasional fireball but were more likely to go days on the road between fights, might be if it took many days or weeks to rebuild magic power. It gives you a Gandalf who's able to incinerate a few goblins or shatter a bridge, but is much more likely to hoard his power in case it's even more needed later. Not very cinematic (for the magic itself; it keeps the swordsmen busy) but it's its own challenge, emphasizing careful choices and keeping people from depending on magic.

 

[Addison]

The type of magic in your world could very well depend on the world itself. If it has technology then it could be Magi-tech.....or would it be Techno-magic? You get the idea. But I know that you have to make rules and guidelines for the magic. Everything has a limit, magic is no exception.

Look at, or think about, your magic, see the people in your story using it. After they cast a spell are they tired? have they changed in anyway? Or did they do something before the spell like give blood or pay a spirit? Does magic only work at night, day? What tools are used in the magic casting?

But there are three things you really need to ask yourself to figure out how magic is, overall, in your world.
How rare is the gift? Does everyone have some sort of ability like in the world of Xanth? Can magic abilities only come from magic blood? In a room of say...ten people, how many have the magic ability?

How difficult is it to learn and master magic? Is it simple, or difficult? How long does it take and how do they learn?

Lastly, as I stated above, is cost. What does it cost to do magic? As Rumpelstilskin said "All magic comes at a price". What is the price in your world? Hair, life, youth, blood, energy, money?

The magic in my world is expansive and unique. The Cost varies between what each person's individual ability(s) is. The Difficulty is about medium, less or more depending on level. Scarcity is about two or three in a room of ten. But I look at my magic, in my world, as an extension of the Caster. Just as no two people are alike, neither are their magics.

 

[shangrila]

I went with a body-mind-soul dynamic,

I've actually gone with something similar, though without the rock-paper-scissors arrangement.

"Body" translates to blood magic. Through it a mage can control a body, from enhancing strength to complete control (though the mind isn't affected) to reanimating corpses into a private army (though this takes a lot of fuel to do). Blood can also be made into physical objects, typically tentacle-like appendages that sprout from the body for offence. That is an advanced technique, however, and is incredibly draining physically (even using another's blood as fuel, a part of the mage's own is drained as well).

"Mind" is a more typical telepathic-esque school, though this extends to illusions and such. Like blood mages, these mages can control others, though this is through brain washing rather than just taking over the physical body (which makes it longer lasting, as blood mages will lose control if their fuel runs out). They can communicate telepathically over long distance, and most major cities will have a small number serving as messengers.

"Soul" allows the mage to see auras, to dampen the effect of other magics and, in extreme cases, to create shields that can protect from limited physical harm. They can spiritwalk, which is basically what it says on the tin, although each time their soul leaves their body a little of it is lost, so overuse leads to problems.

I also have a fourth school, of sorts, that are known as whisperers. They basically make deals with spirits and demons; the effects are totally dependant on what is summoned so are random, but the more powerful the steeper the price. The price itself is fairly random as well. It can be something tangible, like a particular jewel (some demons have a soft spot for shiny things), a certain amount of blood or a handful of sticks. It can also be something else, like taking an emotion for a certain amount of time, things like that. These Whisperers are rare, far more rare than all the others combined, and it means they're more or less unknown by the general masses. Hell, even most mages believe they're little more than fairytales.

 

[Varamyrr]

In my world, magic is an illness that you get by getting infested with a virus, think rabies. As such, certain animals are hunted and killed so nobody can get infested.

Once you are infested, you know you'll die soon.(months to years), but it is coming. It is possible to lengthen your lifespan through potions/alchemy but it remains inevitable. However, the longer you are infected the stronger you become. But the longer you live, the bigger the effects are(restless/aggressive behavior, pain when drinking...).

The one thing for which I need a solution is with off springs of the infected. I was thinking of giving them the permanent ability but then in a weakened form.

Take note that I don't count shamanism and the likes as magic...
What do you think about it? I know it's rather basic but I like 'low magic'. But it's plain and simple to understand...

 

[Lock]

Wow Shangrila, that is a wonderfully creative system—I'd like to see how it works in the context of your story when it's done.

And Varamyrr: I like the idea of magic being an illness as it puts a time limit on the heroes escapades and enhances them with superhuman powers. It also makes for a nice default quest (cure myself) that could also involve having to choose between being healed and normal or cursed but powerful. On your offspring questions, it really depends on what you want to happen in your story, how genetics in your world works, and what kind of sickness this magic is (e.g. bacterial, genetic, viral).

It'd be cool to see an infection style magic where it weakens the characters to no real benefit; like they're dying, their community has extracised them, and they've gained the uncontrollable magical ability to make everyone they encounter despise and not trust them, even though they were a well-respected lawman or something before.

 

[Darkblade]

Using magic as a slow but ultimately fatal disease that the treatments only prolong the inevitable, will draw a lot of meta-textual comparisons to AIDS. That is pretty risky territory so either tread cautiously or embrace it wholeheartedly. Make the virus sexually transmitted once humans are infected, have misinformation on how it is spread, have it spread heavily among societal outcasts either due to the STD aspect or due to them being more at risk or being attacked by the carrying creatures.

As for the off-spring, I'd suggest just giving them the virus. Dying children make for a lot of drama, especially when they potentially have lots of magical power.

 

[Zero Angel]

I created the universe out of magick. Universal magick is pure and can accomplish pretty much anything (matter creation, probability warping, teleportation, energy manifestation, anything), and the distillations of universal magick are right up there in ability (called aether and nether magick).

After the universe distilled into the biverse and then exploded into the multiverse, things got a little more interesting. Each race of creatures developed its own magicks based on their biologies and histories. Dark elves harness starlight and use it like rocket fuel; high elves suck up the energies of their homelands to perform "force magicks" (telekinesis mostly); wild elves take on aspects of wilderness spirits and fight with their energies; humes have both an internal/external elemental abilities and basically a "superhume" ability where they can accelerate "natural" bodily functions (healing, growing, thickness of skin, strength, etc); gnomes have a spirit ability where they can speak directly to the spirits of animals, trees and powerful dead creatures, and an empathic magick where they can control emotions; ranines have their life's actions measured according to honour and dishonour and can cloak themselves in their reputations; dwarves have antimagick and can commune with the gods of the earth; minotaurs believe in the Maze and can cause their beliefs to influence reality; centaurs use physical psionics (like yoga/monk type ki/chi etc); and more.

There are also magicks accessible to all races, such as naming, witchcraft, alchemy, belief, and more.

...I try to be comprehensive.

 

[Lock]

...I try to be comprehensive.

You can say that again. It's canny and true that you created the universe of your world, and the way you disseminate magick from the Beginning through biological and historical bases is awesome, as you approach the issue from the ground up. I wouldn't be surprised if you've mapped out how each strain of magick has evolved over time and how certain uses of it were popular in this or that decade.

But I bet it gets quite complicated when these magicks interact or compound.

 

[Varamyrr]

Using magic as a slow but ultimately fatal disease that the treatments only prolong the inevitable, will draw a lot of meta-textual comparisons to AIDS. That is pretty risky territory so either tread cautiously or embrace it wholeheartedly.

What do you mean by risky territory?

 

[Darkblade]

I meant that even if the comparisons to AIDS are not what you meant you are still in a position to potentially offend a lot of people.

 

[Varamyrr]

I meant that even if the comparisons to AIDS are not what you meant you are still in a position to potentially offend a lot of people.

Ah ok, in that way. Now I must admit that I haven't thought about it(AIDS). But then again... isn't it a good that people are emotionally engaged in something? With the most respect to people who suffer from a fatal disease, ofcourse.

Technically, I was thinking in a different direction. Males wouldn't be able to reproduce(they'd become sterile). Same for a woman. Once infested she wouldn't be able to reproduce. It's another thing if she'd be heavily pregnant.
But if I would dismiss the above, I could have a blast with people trying to 'breed' magic...

 

[Zero Angel]

You can say that again. It's canny and true that you created the universe of your world, and the way you disseminate magick from the Beginning through biological and historical bases is awesome, as you approach the issue from the ground up. I wouldn't be surprised if you've mapped out how each strain of magick has evolved over time and how certain uses of it were popular in this or that decade.

But I bet it gets quite complicated when these magicks interact or compound.

Thanks! I'd "thank" your post, but I've thanked too many recently -_-

I avoid going as detailed as by decade (the timeline is 30 billion years, so I limit myself to thousands for anything in the last 45000 years and then only aeon changing events past that), but it's definitely true that I've mapped out the history. It's always fun when a new species/race pops up and their biologies inherit or mutate or create new magicks.

It gets complicated, but by using logic and seems-right-ness to interactions, it keeps me from having to be actually creative I'm just along for the ride.