Magic, oaths, and mythical beasts

[PS Extraordinary Tales]

In my prospective novel, which is a wild-west themed fantasy tale set in an alternate world, I am taking a rather low magical approach, as you might expect from a wild west setting. As such, I don't plan on having any actual 'spells' cast - at least not by a mere human - until perhaps the very end of the book. I rather think the overindulgence of magic - flinging fireballs left and right, lightning bolt lightning bolt lightning bolt! - takes away the impact of what should be, dare I say, be a rather special occurrence. Magic, that is. I don't particularly like the idea of wizards willy nilly casting their spells which just recharge in the course of a day or so. I rather like what the Dresden Files does with magic, although that is basically a recharging mp/stamina meter to be completely honest.

The baseline experience of a person in this world is no different to that of a person living in our world, albeit in the early 19th century. You really have to go looking for something fantastical, and wizards are quite few and far in between - and not like to divulge their abilities to stranger, especially when they might try to burn him at the stake. A Fantasy Event, if you will - the dragon descending on the peaceful village, the rampaging orcs, the magical sword found in the stone - should be a rare thing. The average person knows little to nothing of magic, and what he thinks he does know is hearsay from the local gossips and taletellers.

For every wizard there are perhaps ten charlatans claiming to be one. For every encounter with a beast of legend, there are five drunks who thought they saw a dragon. Such is the way of things in the frontiers of Mescona. The wonders of the sciences of natural philosophy, mundane though they are, are not to be compared unfavorably, however. Alchemists, Apothecaries, and other natural philosophers make many wondrous creations from seemingly mundane ingredients - potions, bullets, dynamite, glowstones, and a thousand other things are crafted by their mysterious arts.

Another thing I'm doing is a sort of natural word magic, if you will, in that oaths have a certain power. Particularly in regards to things of a dogmatic nature, one might easily damn themselves with a few careless words, though such occurrences are rarely heard of in these days. Such things are not taken lightly by the superstitious peoples of the frontier, however. Take for example, the Oath of Law. Sworn by lawmen in deference to their duty to protect their given jurisdiction, some link this longstanding tradition to ancient native Mesconan warrior rites said to bestow strength and valor upon the recipient.

Such things are utterly dismissed by the learned men of the civilized east, of course. Everyone knows, after all, that there's no such thing as magic.

There is also a wild west level of technology. Trains, guns (revolvers chief among them, of course), things like that. Planning on perhaps doing a thing with special alchemical bullets later on.

Thoughts? Would gladly discuss my ideas with anyone.

PS

 

[Jabrosky]

The baseline experience of a person in this world is no different to that of a person living in our world, albeit in the early 19th century. You really have to go looking for something fantastical, and wizards are quite few and far in between - and not like to divulge their abilities to stranger, especially when they might try to burn him at the stake. A Fantasy Event, if you will - the dragon descending on the peaceful village, the rampaging orcs, the magical sword found in the stone - should be a rare thing. The average person knows little to nothing of magic, and what he thinks he does know is hearsay from the local gossips and taletellers.

I'd like to say this sounds like a welcome diversion from the stereotypical high fantasy approach to magic, except it actually reminds me of an opposite gripe I've had about much urban fantasy. I would think that, if magic were such a pervasive fact of day-to-day existence, everyone would take it for granted instead of doubting its existence to the extent where its adherents needed to hide (as if they couldn't actually refute said disbelief by casting a few simple spells where everyone could see them).

All the same, the Wild West influence on your high fantasy is still refreshingly unique.

I myself am a little ambivalent on how much I want magic and the supernatural to appear in my own fantasy writing. I've always considered myself more of a skeptical atheist, and for a long time I wanted to write a high fantasy without any supernatural elements to reflect my views. The geography and ecology of my ideal world would still differ from our own to varying degrees, so it was still a fictional setting, but I wanted to see if one could have an awe-inspiring fantasy without appealing to magic.

And besides, since magic and the supernatural are practically defined by defying our understanding of how the Universe works, the entire concept of a magic system sounded like an oxymoron. You're basically trying to assign natural laws to phenomena that were never supposed to cooperate with natural laws in the first place. I understand that we want to restrict our mages' power so that they don't resolve their conflicts too easily, but how would you put limits on the limitless?

On the other hand, loosening your world's "realism" can open up a greater variety of story and setting possibilities that couldn't appear in our world, and you can only add so much realism until you realize you've picked the wrong literary genre to write in.

 

[ThinkerX]

Sounds pretty good. The only suggestion I would make is to have the legitimate wizards be members of a secret society, or a 'society with secrets,' such as the Freemasons. That way, if some ordinary soul does decide to seek magical training, or go looking for magical assistance, the local masons hall would be the place to start. This also fits in with the 'oath' aspect of your magic: the oaths are used to help maintain the secret of magic.

I should add that my worlds are evolving towards something like this: steam and rudimentary electric technology, and magic users going from guilds to secretive groups. No tales in mind for that era, yet. Way too many others to write first.

 

[Hainted]

Jabrosky, I think your overlooking the charlatan aspect. Even in our world where magic isn't real people can pull off some amazing things that seem magical so on a low magic world like his a few simple tricks wouldn't cut it. Sounds good, reminds me of the Deadlands setting.

 

[PS Extraordinary Tales]

I really appreciate the feedback on these ideas. However, I'm really looking for feedback on my actual writings, which can be found on my portfolio or the wordpress page in my signature. Would anyone care to take a look? I'd be really grateful.