speculativejester
Scribe
Hello all! It's been awhile since I've been active. The Navy decided to pull me away with training, but now I'm back for awhile. :^)
Anywho, I've been working on constructing a magic system. I really like the basis I have for it, but I'm having difficulty restricting how magic is used in the world. I don't like vague things when it comes to my world's fundamental physical laws, and I want to at least get a common rule set on what things can and cannot be done with magic. Here is the basis I have for magic in the world thus far:
Every human has a soul. The living body acts as a barrier between the soul and the afterlife. When a person dies, their soul moves on to the Eien, the Land of Eternity.
If a person loses all of their soul, their body also dies.
The Eien is the collective sum of humanity's spirit. When a person is born, a small portion of the Eien is extracted from the realm and placed in the human vessel.
As the person experiences a mortal life, their soul absorbs the information around them like a sponge as the mind interprets it.
As the person experiences emotion, their soul grows. Intense emotions can cause the soul to grow rapidly.
If a soul grows or shrinks too fast, it is possible that the soul will “fracture.” A fractured soul leaves the person able to use very little (if any) of their soul to channel their magic (the rest is still there, though it is cordoned off in a sense), and also leaves them with severe mental damage. Any event that causes them to remember the emotion they felt during the fracture could cause them to unintentionally release some amount of magic dependent on the size of the actual fracture.
When a person dies, their soul is sent back to the Eien larger than it was before (most cases), enhancing the power of the realm.
The soul may be used as a source of magic. Magic in this world is the projection of one's soul into the world around them. Projecting a soul usually requires a physical medium of some sort as a way to channel the power of their spirit so it is not a sudden release of energy. Most magi who attempt to use magic without a conduit end with disastrous results, such as using all of their soul at once or not being able to control the direction/formation of what soul they release. The vast majority of magi can only use one type of conduit (gemstone) in their channeling tool of choice. There are a very uncommon few that can use something other than a gemstone, and even fewer that barely require a conduit at all. Those few magi who can use any conduit they find are called Pure, because nothing about their soul is ever rejected. The Pure are usually the strongest of the magi, and at any given time only a handful of them exist across the world (even fewer realize their magical potential).
The strongest of the magi have found ways to tap directly into the Eien for limited amounts of time. These magi can perform extraordinary feats (making fireballs the size of houses, conjuring lightning storms, teleportation, flight). However, the massive toll on their body as being used as a filter prevents them from using any of these abilities for an extended period of time.
So, how do I decide what kind of magic a mage can cast, or how powerful they are without using some vague term like "years of endless training?"
Anywho, I've been working on constructing a magic system. I really like the basis I have for it, but I'm having difficulty restricting how magic is used in the world. I don't like vague things when it comes to my world's fundamental physical laws, and I want to at least get a common rule set on what things can and cannot be done with magic. Here is the basis I have for magic in the world thus far:
Every human has a soul. The living body acts as a barrier between the soul and the afterlife. When a person dies, their soul moves on to the Eien, the Land of Eternity.
If a person loses all of their soul, their body also dies.
The Eien is the collective sum of humanity's spirit. When a person is born, a small portion of the Eien is extracted from the realm and placed in the human vessel.
As the person experiences a mortal life, their soul absorbs the information around them like a sponge as the mind interprets it.
As the person experiences emotion, their soul grows. Intense emotions can cause the soul to grow rapidly.
If a soul grows or shrinks too fast, it is possible that the soul will “fracture.” A fractured soul leaves the person able to use very little (if any) of their soul to channel their magic (the rest is still there, though it is cordoned off in a sense), and also leaves them with severe mental damage. Any event that causes them to remember the emotion they felt during the fracture could cause them to unintentionally release some amount of magic dependent on the size of the actual fracture.
When a person dies, their soul is sent back to the Eien larger than it was before (most cases), enhancing the power of the realm.
The soul may be used as a source of magic. Magic in this world is the projection of one's soul into the world around them. Projecting a soul usually requires a physical medium of some sort as a way to channel the power of their spirit so it is not a sudden release of energy. Most magi who attempt to use magic without a conduit end with disastrous results, such as using all of their soul at once or not being able to control the direction/formation of what soul they release. The vast majority of magi can only use one type of conduit (gemstone) in their channeling tool of choice. There are a very uncommon few that can use something other than a gemstone, and even fewer that barely require a conduit at all. Those few magi who can use any conduit they find are called Pure, because nothing about their soul is ever rejected. The Pure are usually the strongest of the magi, and at any given time only a handful of them exist across the world (even fewer realize their magical potential).
The strongest of the magi have found ways to tap directly into the Eien for limited amounts of time. These magi can perform extraordinary feats (making fireballs the size of houses, conjuring lightning storms, teleportation, flight). However, the massive toll on their body as being used as a filter prevents them from using any of these abilities for an extended period of time.
So, how do I decide what kind of magic a mage can cast, or how powerful they are without using some vague term like "years of endless training?"