Interesting Magic Systems

[chrispenycate]

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...

Life is a sexually transmitted disease that is invariably fatal. Animal life, that is; who cares if a potato is immortal, cloning itself down the generations or a starfish can reproduce vegetatively and asexually indefinitely?

How much power does magic give, when contracted? There might be men who would deliberately infect themselves to obtain vengeance, or Kings who maintain a reservoir of infected animals in order to generate magic berserkers on demand, if the powers gained are sufficient. Sort of like fantasy suicide bombers. And the enemy would know that slaying these will give a high probability of contaminating others and spreading the disease, into both sides' troops. How many of your soldiers would, if aware that they were condemned anyway, continue to obey orders and attack mainly the enemy?

But very few mediaeval diseases were caused by organisms, even invisible demons; most were from curses, Karma and disapproval by superior beings, some gods, some go betweens. Insufficient sanitation had nothing to do with it, unless the Gods had decreed latrine digging. This is more like a demon infestation.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I have dabbled with several magic systems. My personal favorite right now has 5 basic divisions: metallurgy, seal, spiritualism, elemental, and casting.

Metallurgy: This takes the ambient magical energies and infuses them into metals. Giving the metals certain properties, such as making them stronger, more destructive, etc.

Seal: Seal magic requires drawing certain patterns and infusing those patterns with power. Types of seals are defensive, or barriers, trap seals, and talismanic seals which hold charges and can do certain things, like send a blast of fire, wind, light, change the wearers form etc.

Spiritualism: This type of magic has can draw out certain spiritual essences which are required to do certain things (don't want to go into too much detail). This magic also allows the user to either speak with or acquire the powers of the dead that they have either blood or marital relation with. The more indirect the connection the harder it is to commune with the spirit. The last power this has is the ability to summon demons, payment is generally in the form of either blood or essences.

Elemental: This is as it sounds it is a controlling of the elements. There is manipulation, where one can only move and shape an existing element. The other is creation where from nowhere a person can create an element--like fire from nothing, earth from nothing, lightning from combining fire and air, magma with fire and earth, etc. One can also utilize this magic and spiritualism to create golems. (elemental for body spirtualism for movement)

Casting: This simply manipulates probability. So if a caster wanted to fly they would cast a spell that would allow them to fly. This allows people to read minds, and in general do some awesome magicking. However, these spells are more easily anticipated since those sensitive to magic can see or feel reality bending and warping before the spell is released.

Anyone with the magical affinity can learn any branch of magic. Some people are just more inclined to one branch or another.

 

[mbartelsm]

Ok, I've been working and refining the system for a while.

The universe is divided in three (known) planes, each ruling itself and those below it. These are: The Titanic Plane, The Soul Plane and The Elemental Plane.

The Titanic Plane is ruled by the forces of Light (light, time and order) and Dark (darkness, space and chaos). This plane is where the Titan sisters, masters of Light and Dark, were born.

The Soul Plane is ruled by Vim, the energy that makes up all life in the world in the shape of souls which, in their simplest form, are accumulations of Vim.

The Elemental Plane is the home of the seven elemental forces: Air, Crystal, Fire, Metal, Earth, Wood and Water. these elements are directly controlled by the entities known as Gods and it is through these elements that souls manifest and interact, creating what is known as living beings.

Souls can be classified by their characteristics: Will, Thought and Vitality.

Will is the part of a soul that deals with emotions, feelings and desires.

Thought is the part of a soul that deals with problem solving and rational thinking.

Vitality is the part of the soul that interacts and binds the soul to the Elemental Plane.

Only a soul with all three characteristics can perform magic, that is, using the soul to affect the Elemental plane without the use of the body that resides in it. Because without Will, the souls is unable to make the decision to carry out the action; Without Thought, the soul does not know how to perform the action; and without vitality the soul does not have the means to affect the elemental plane.

But the knowledge of how to perform magic isn't innate and has to be learnt, much like a language, the majority of people are only proficient at controlling one element, a few can control two, and a very small percentage of the population has a good control over three or more elements.

Titanic magic, the one that deals with Light and Dark, is incredibly difficult to master and perform, because unlike the Elemental plane, the Titanic plane is above the soul plane, which means that the only way to control the Titanic forces is by indirectly moving them, the same way that a moving boulder can move a soul by moving the person it is bound to. This requires an immense knowledge and spiritual control.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

My magic system involves the stars and the gods of those stars. Deities in my story are literally called the Celestial Ones. A God's power might wax when it is in a specific alignment and it might wane when it is eclipsed. Also, magic can only be cast from a patron deity. Meaning you can not cast a fire ball just Willy- nilly, you have to offer your prayers to your specific God and use invocations for him to channel it through your body to expel. The major twist of my novel is that the main character finds a way to command magic without divine intervention.

 

[Gryphos]

My magic system is based around the idea of vessels.

In the world, magic (or 'The Occult') flows into the world through a slightly ajar portal between dimensions. The Occult lies dormant in the air. People wishing to harness the power of the Occult must first morph it into a more concentrated form through ritual. In the ritual they contain the Occult energy inside an object, known as a vessel. A vessel can be anything that opens. Most often people choose lockets or pocket watches, but sometimes people will choose things like tobacco tins. So long as their vessel is in relatively close proximity to an occultist, regardless of whether it's open or not, they can draw from its store of Occult and use it as a source of energy to work their magics. Eventually this will run out, at which point they do the ritual again to trap more Occult energy in their vessel.

 

[Bearman1]

My magic system is fairly basic I think. It is very much a diety focused system.

Gods create their own landmass, vegetation and inhabitants. This all uses up their energy and they are linked with what they create. So if a continent is for whatever reason damaged, the god will feel that pain and grow weaker.

Each god creates humans/animals however they like. One god, Azrael, creates standard human beings (just like all of us) but he also invests larger amounts of his energy on a select few people. There are only 5 he has done this with. They are his Knights, and they are his tools to shape the events on his land. They really cannot do much magical. No fire breathing, calling lightning or flying. They are just like other people, but they can move faster, hit harder, endure more and so forth.

The other diety influencing my WIP is Vivacia - she made her people differently to Azrael. She invested a lot more of her energy to each individual, making them all much stronger than a standard person. There were only a few hundred people she could make and they are called Chosen. Chosen rely upon being connected with Vivacia so as to have full access to their abilities. This means they have to be in direct contact with the earth, or trees or rivers. Basically anything that was created by Vivacia and therefore is an extension of her own energy.

My entire WIP takes place on Vivacia's continent. But she has been forced away from her land in a war with Azrael (where the vast majority of her Chosen have died). A new power is crippling the land, corrupting it and therefore damaging the goddess. She has sent her last Chosen in an attempt to stop this power. However because it damaging the goddess, the Chosen finds his own powers are much weaker than they once were.

Hope this all makes some kind of sense!

First time I have tried explaining my magic system in writing.

 

[Bruce McKnight]

In my world, magic is mysterious and unpredictable. People are sometimes born with a gift which allows them to perform magic, but it is very rare. A person may be born with the ability to summon fire, another may have the ability to read minds, but it is rare for someone to have a gift and it is difficult to learn how to use it.

If someone thinks they have a gift, they usually seek out someone else to try to help understand how they used their gift and see if it can help there. There is no such thing as a magic school or wizards guild in my world, because it can't be taught and it's very rare to find someone with the same gift.

Typically, physical components are necessary for spells. Alchemy, though different from magic, is often complemented by it. Performing magic is physically taxing on the wielder and their bodies must recover with rest and nutrition. As a user practices his art, the effects may lessen, much like working physical muscles.

This gives me a lot of flexibility in how I can use magic in my world, but the rarity of magic is the biggest balance. I don't have a lot of hard "rules" because the people of the world barely understand magic.

Call me a "magic minimalist."

 

[evanator66]

My magic system involves taking energies from one of the two planes the aether and the chaos. Energy from the aether is for creating and destroying, and energy from the chaos is for changing.