Trying to figure out the cost of Magic

[Flash]

I apologize in advance, I haven't slept much in the past week, so this might get incoherent and rambley if it does, please feel free to tell me to sit down and shut it until I have slept.

My current, (and seems like forever) WiP is set in multiple words, layered and connected through portals. The World of Life has no magic, World of Magic (obviously) does. I have a cost for magic used on the land, (used for improving crop production, water to dry areas, etc.) it effects the coinciding location in the World of life. For example; where they use magic to produce more crops in WoM, in WoL that field will start struggling to produce, and over time stop producing all together. The Emperor of the WoM has lived for nearly 1,000 years, while the WoL leader (king? president? council head? I dont know yet) rarely lives past ten years once in office.

What I am lacking is a personal cost to each magic user. In the WoM, magic use is an everyday occurrence, every one uses it in some small way, there are Temples devoted to teaching it's use along the lines of what ever god they follow.

I realize that it isn't really essential to the story but I feel I need one to pull on for my own limitations. Brain is broken now, help please?



(oh, and Hi! I'm new here!!)

 

[Hainted]

Do the people in the magic world know what their magic does to the other world? Sounds like you have a cost, but don't like the implications of that cost.

 

[Feo Takahari]

The simple answer would be to extend the pattern you've got: each caster in the WoM makes their counterpart in the WoL weaker and sicker. However, that could be a little boring.

Another approach would be to personalize magic and create a counterpart cost for every type. You said the Emperor's magic prolongs his life, so his counterparts die quickly. Perhaps someone else's magic improves his physical strength, but makes his counterpart weak and frail. And a third person might have a magically perfect memory, giving his counterpart amnesia. (I've seen plenty of stories that do personalized talents, and a couple that do personalized curses, but I've never seen them paralleled, so it would be relatively fresh.)

 

[Flash]

Hainted- They do not know the cost of thier meddling yet. (it's one of those tricky little plot points) The use of magic in agriculture isn't a new thing, however in the last hundred years started being used on a large scale. The effects prior to large scale magical help, it would have been unnoticeable in it's cost. Maybe a feild fails there, or the crop just didn't produce as much as it normally would. The WoL is considered primitive, Lifers (non-magic people) are looked down upon, even though they don't even know about the WoM. Honestly I hadn't really thought about personal cost until very recently.

Feo Takahari- I like your take on the cost. I hadn't connected the people like I had the lands. It needs to be tweaked a bit though, because there are things that I couldn't account for with it a straight person to person cost. There are spell invested things, and while I can see that a spell to say clean your clothes might cuase Lifer counterpart to become filthy (hmm... transference....) A crystal ball spelled to replay music, would cost what? someone not being able to sing, or hear music?


Brainstorming, so much fun....

 

[Hagan]

If its a direct transference of music like the crystal ball for example be like stealing the tune from a composers mind be of any help, psychic theft of thoughts etc. Hinders them by making sure the works that would have benefited the culture would never have happened? The back and forth cost however is somewhat more subtle, every generation becomes more and more reliant on magic because their genius is stunted to the point of incompetence. Another few generations and the general intellect will have fallen bellow the level required to use the magical talent, and a renaissance is born in the other world.

Or is that going too far?

 

[Flash]

Hagan- I dont think that is going to far at all, in fact it becomes an interesting point, two of the MCs (brothers) actually have opposing views on the use of magic, One is involved in the politics of the Empire and believes in and uses magic for everything, right down to being a responsible , ahem, partner. The other one is involved in the religious affairs of the Empire, and whil teaching at a Temple for magic, encourages the use of your own wits and hands to do a job that can be done the same with a little effort. Political brother is obviously more influencial with the people in charge, and bringing about policy and law about use of magic to help provide for the Empire. Religion brother is not as outspoken, trying to give people a chance by teaching them their own hands are good enough to light a candle, farming should take work, etc.

I can see where a "dumbing down" generation to generation could effect things. Still not sure about the spelled objects, but I appreciate the idea of it flowing down the generations, like our dependence on cell phones.