Twelve Orders System of Magic

[Phietadix]

In my world there are twelve Orders of magic (or thirteen depending on who you ask). Each one corosponds to one of the twelve 'gods'(Really just mortals given godlike powers by the one acutual God for this world) so far I have come up with a couple of the orders.

The order of Creation. This allows the wizard to create something from nothing. It is very much like art and is limited only by what materials he can create (I haven't decided how that works yet) his imaignation and his skill. How it works is supposed to sort of like a mix between finger painting and scupting. The god of creation loves beauty and creativity and is gives magic power in exchange for some of the wizard's creations.

The Order of Science. The order of science will allow the wizard to see (and posibly change) things on a molecular level. They are also able to see the universe better then the hubble telescope posibly even from multipule angles. They are basicly like a very advanced science labertory inside a person. The god of Science is always wanting to learn new things, he gives magic in exchange for the dicoverys wizards make.

The Order of Nature. The order of nature allows wizards to make trees grow, make soil furtile, control the wheather and things like that. They can be very powerful in battle. the god of nature is always wanting the enviroment helped and repaired and will give others magic to aid this.

The order of the Elements. This order allows wizards to control fire, air, water, and earth. Mainly used for battle or near instant creation of fortresses. The god of the Elements is very warlike and will give magic in exchange for the wizard serving him as soilders.

It is posible to be a wizard in more than one order. I still need to figure what the other 8 orders should be. Also I have thought Telekinesis would be good. But can't decide what order it would go with. It isn't good enough for its own order. And I don't know what would go good with it. It is something many of the wizards of science are supposed to be able to do, but I don't think it should go in that order. I also need to decide whether or not to merge the orders of nature and the elements.

 

[Shockley]

You could, of course, break your rather broad schools down.

Lords of Magic had a fairly generic break down: life + death, fire + water, air + earth, chaos + order. Eight schools right there.

 

[Phietadix]

I want rather broad schools of magic. Each has to unquie. the magic of each school being a different element isn't really what I want.

Also what would a wizard of Chaos/Order do?

 

[Saigonnus]

In my way of thinking, if you are going to partition wizardry at all (like J.K. Rowling did with the houses at Hogwarts) than a wizard should be required to specialize in THAT order of magic. There could possibly be a bit of overlap with the skills available to the different orders of wizard. (Like an order of War using the element fire) The main reason I think of this is that each order would have its strengths and weaknesses when faced with the various circumstances that will arise in a book and it would offer the opportunity for more creative ways of facing them.

Say for example, the MCs are faced with trolls in Timrach's Fen and you have the wizard of the group trained as both the science AND elemental order; it would easy to use the cliche of fireballs vs. trolls. What if said wizard was only in the science order, what then? Use the sand beneath the water or close by to summon a magnifying glass? change the molecular arrangement of the sulfur in the water to make acid? What if he was in the nature order? Use the grass or tree limbs to bind them for a getaway?

I think also that using something like this, a wizard who opts to leave an order of study for a new one may remember for a short time the abilities of the former, but would eventually lose the gifts.

 

[Wanara009]

Also what would a wizard of Chaos/Order do?

Manipulation of probability and events based on logic, perhaps? Maybe an Order Wizard can toss a deck of cards in the air and it'll land in a neat numerically arranged pile (logical) while Chaos Wizard might cause a whale falling from the sky (illogical).

I want rather broad schools of magic. Each has to unique. the magic of each school being a different element isn't really what I want.

Hmm... this is quite hard since the four you already mentioned are pretty inclusive already. The only thing that I could think of is Time (seeing into the past or future, manipulating the space-time continuum in small ways), Medium (calling upon supernatural djinn and/or spirit to do your bidding), and Abiogenesis (creation of fake life out of inanimate object, think golem and the like)

 

[Phietadix]

Manipulation of probability and events based on logic, perhaps? Maybe an Order Wizard can toss a deck of cards in the air and it'll land in a neat numerically arranged pile (logical) while Chaos Wizard might cause a whale falling from the sky (illogical).



Hmm... this is quite hard since the four you already mentioned are pretty inclusive already. The only thing that I could think of is Time (seeing into the past or future, manipulating the space-time continuum in small ways), Medium (calling upon supernatural djinn and/or spirit to do your bidding), and Abiogenesis (creation of fake life out of inanimate object, think golem and the like)

To go along with the whale falling from the sky perhaps a potted plant that says "Oh no, not again"? (I'm sure someone will get this)

Also I did consider a order of time. Time travel wouldn't be allowed but slowing down/speed up time for only the caster might work. Another idea I had for time was seeing into the past/seeing posible futures.

A couple more idea I had are the obvious order of healing. And I what called the order of Animation basicly Abiogenesis.

Mediums wouldn't be good in my opinion.

Also the only one order idea from Saigonnus's post will probably be used. And telekiniesis added to order of science.

 

[wordwalker]

We've had another recent post on types of magic, with a lot of the same discussions about what types can be distinguished from what: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/world-building/6207-forms-magic.html

Here's one idea for how to handle multiple specializations:

A LARP (live-action game) I was in allowed wizards to specialize in either 1 or 2 (or, actually, all) of the schools of magic. The penalty was, you had to master a number of basic spells of all your schools before you could get into any of their next level of magic, so the more general mages rarely learned the advanced spells.

 

[Phietadix]

This is a little off topic but how to you add a signature that apears at the bottom of your posts?

 

[wordwalker]

See the Settings button at the top, then click Edit Signature on that page's My Settings left side.

 

[Phietadix]

See the Settings button at the top, then click Edit Signature on that page's My Settings left side.

Thanks

Also I am considering adding an order that allows you to increase your strengh, speed, etc. How well would that work in your opinion?

 

[Wanara009]

A couple more idea I had are the obvious order of healing.

I would think that Healing would already be included in Order of Science. If you can rearrange matter at molecular level, what's stopping you at doing it on a living thing? After all, I would imagine manipulating biomass at cellular level would be less difficult than rearranging molecules. It'll also put some kind of a nice twist on your magic, where the way it is used can differ according to the variables it is applied on.

I actually have this kind of magic in my project, known as Flesh/Biomass-Crafting (there's a version for inorganic matter called Matter/Inorganic-Crafting). They are basically surgeons that can treat biomass as if they are wet clay. Say you have a broken bone, they can simply reattach and sculpt it back to its original shape. They can also use it for harm if they are creative enough.

 

[krunchee]

I would think that Healing would already be included in Order of Science. If you can rearrange matter at molecular level, what's stopping you at doing it on a living thing? After all, I would imagine manipulating biomass at cellular level would be less difficult than rearranging molecules. It'll also put some kind of a nice twist on your magic, where the way it is used can differ according to the variables it is applied on.

I actually have this kind of magic in my project, known as Flesh/Biomass-Crafting (there's a version for inorganic matter called Matter/Inorganic-Crafting). They are basically surgeons that can treat biomass as if they are wet clay. Say you have a broken bone, they can simply reattach and sculpt it back to its original shape. They can also use it for harm if they are creative enough.

To that end wouldn't science cover all things? Manipulation of fire, water etc etc. As well as the earth and so force covered in nature?

 

[Wanara009]

To that end wouldn't science cover all things? Manipulation of fire, water etc etc. As well as the earth and so force covered in nature?

Well, I think so... except fire. Fire is not molecules but chemical reaction that let out light and heat energy. So I would imagine that you need a branch of magic that manipulate energy to do that. And even then, you won't make 'real' fire, just a mimicry made out of light and heat.

From what I've read from the original post, Order of Science simply rearrange molecules and its bond without the limits of mundane chemical reaction (like turning charcoal into diamond). Moving things means you're imposing kinetic energy on the molecule, so I would think that a branch that deal with the manipulation of forces and energy would also be appropriate. Sort of a distaff counterpart of the matter-manipulating Order of Science.

 

[shangrila]

I think the Order of Elements is unnecessary. Wind control could easily fall under Nature, as could earth to an extent (maybe vines growing to abnormal sizes and pushing up the soil? Or hell, why not just have them be able to move the tectonic plates?). Water, well, that can be manipulated through moving soil to change rivers, moving the moon to change tides, etc, so that could perhaps get it's own order (maybe an Order of Gravity or something). Fire could be linked to friction or temperature, or just the ability to energise atoms. Maybe an Order of Temperature, allowing the user to both speed up (create fire) and slow down (freeze) atoms. Might make a good Yin-Yang analogy too.

 

[wordwalker]

Again, a lot of ideas have been tossed around in the Forms of Magic thread.

The trick is defining different orders as affecting specific things, and maybe spicing it up with some that affect similar things but find it harder (probably not impossible) to do it in different ways. For instance:

Most of these affect the physical, so yes, arguably they could all be called "science" or "nature." But what if Science means controlling a thing to reshape it and/or change its composition (or it's only that, and called Transmutation) but it's so precise it doesn't usually work fast or on large objects, while Nature reshapes only materials that are in more or less their natural state but can do it faster and on a larger scale, plus it's easier to use it to strengthen nature than to warp it too far. Or Creation, the only one that brings raw matter out of nothingness.

Maybe Flesh-shaping/ Healing/ Strengthening is a separate order, if the others can't affect flesh (or can't do it as easily). Or it might be all part of the Science or Nature, but only the most empathic people are especially good at its healing spells and the bravest at Strengthening.

Maybe Force (telekinesis)/ War is its own order, maybe it's part of the others; fire, cold, and lightning might be in one or the other. But part of a warlike order or study within an order is probably spells that can be cast faster than others.

There could be other purpose-oriented orders, like a Protection order with similar but specialized spells to Force.

And, we haven't said as much about spells that easy to contrast with all of these: those in the mind, spirit, knowledge, or dimensional/teleport fields...

 

[Phietadix]

Again, a lot of ideas have been tossed around in the Forms of Magic thread.

The trick is defining different orders as affecting specific things, and maybe spicing it up with some that affect similar things but find it harder (probably not impossible) to do it in different ways. For instance:

Most of these affect the physical, so yes, arguably they could all be called "science" or "nature." But what if Science means controlling a thing to reshape it and/or change its composition (or it's only that, and called Transmutation) but it's so precise it doesn't usually work fast or on large objects, while Nature reshapes only materials that are in more or less their natural state but can do it faster and on a larger scale, plus it's easier to use it to strengthen nature than to warp it too far. Or Creation, the only one that brings raw matter out of nothingness.

Maybe Flesh-shaping/ Healing/ Strengthening is a separate order, if the others can't affect flesh (or can't do it as easily). Or it might be all part of the Science or Nature, but only the most empathic people are especially good at its healing spells and the bravest at Strengthening.

Maybe Force (telekinesis)/ War is its own order, maybe it's part of the others; fire, cold, and lightning might be in one or the other. But part of a warlike order or study within an order is probably spells that can be cast faster than others.

There could be other purpose-oriented orders, like a Protection order with similar but specialized spells to Force.

And, we haven't said as much about spells that easy to contrast with all of these: those in the mind, spirit, knowledge, or dimensional/teleport fields...

Sort of like I was thinking really. Sure a Wizard of Science could do most of these things. But it would take him forever to do it. For example, he could proabably turn a rock or something into iron and eventually craft it into a sword, but it would take him hours if not days. A wizard of Creation could make the same sword in a few seconds. Same with healing, A wizard of science might be able to heal a would eventually but not as effienctly as a wizard of healing.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Wizards of science? Sounds really weird to me. A clash. But perhaps you should look to Arcanum. A dozen or more different schools of magic, each with its own five spells. But for extra schools I might suggest:

'Dimension' ie space altering spells that allow you to teleport, move quickly, shrink or grow in size.
'Time' i.e. speed things up, slow them down, maybe age things and freeze them.
I'd seperate the elements out into air, earth , fire, water etc. After each 'school' could have a huge repertoire of spells.
Then maybe chuck in 'spirit', i.e. spells of mind control, mental illusion etc.
'Light' great for blinding people, lasers, invisibility and optical illusions.
'Lightning', why should fire have all the fun?
'Summoning, several different types of critters to be called forth, undead, things from other worlds, and animals.

And so on.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Phietadix]

Hi,

Wizards of science? Sounds really weird to me. A clash. But perhaps you should look to Arcanum. A dozen or more different schools of magic, each with its own five spells. But for extra schools I might suggest:

'Dimension' ie space altering spells that allow you to teleport, move quickly, shrink or grow in size.
'Time' i.e. speed things up, slow them down, maybe age things and freeze them.
I'd seperate the elements out into air, earth , fire, water etc. After each 'school' could have a huge repertoire of spells.
Then maybe chuck in 'spirit', i.e. spells of mind control, mental illusion etc.
'Light' great for blinding people, lasers, invisibility and optical illusions.
'Lightning', why should fire have all the fun?
'Summoning, several different types of critters to be called forth, undead, things from other worlds, and animals.

And so on.

Cheers, Greg.

Dimension sounds good. Your ideas for Time are interesting, but I'll proabably stick to mine, speeding up/slowing down time for the caster and seeing the past and to a slight degree the future. I like your idea for 'Light'. Lightning already falls under the nature order. Summoning, since it requires bringing things from other worlds, will proabably be left out, things moving between worlds is more a thing of rumors in my world than common occurence.

Thanks for your ideas

 

[wordwalker]

The basic checklist I use for magic systems is, how do power groups divide up (or refuse to touch some of):

• physical-- reshaping (or creating) matter, from solid to wind
• energy-- telekinesis, fire, cold, etc
• mind/spirit-- reading, controlling, illusions, necromancy
• dimensions-- teleport, space distortion, worldgates, and just maybe time

(And I try not to forget, all of these may imply detection and enhance/interfere aspects of themselves: seeing across distances might be Dimension, an Energy master might make a fire-enhancing wand or firespell-absorbing prison cell, and so on.)

This breakdown is a little dull for me to actually use in a book. But I keep it as a checklist for what a system might be leaving out, in however it reshuffles them.

 

[Addison]

The way you're describing your current orders sounds like the classes of magic at Redhurst and Wizard 101. In Redhurst they have eight schools of magic: transfiguration, abjuration(shields and what not), conjuration, enchantment, evocation, necromancy, divination, and illusion. Each school requires, and is drawn to, magickers of certain personalities.

The same goes for Wizard 101. They have eight schools as well: Death, Life, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Myth, Balance are the ones you first see. But apparently there's also a cosmic magic (from the stars and all that). Each school gives different magic and has a test to see what school you fit in. Each school has different personality draws.

Another way to look at Orders for your world is to look at your life. One time my friends and I got together to write one story, all of us writing one, and we based each magic to the cliques at school. Goths were necromancers, Jocks were battle mages, geeks were alchemists, nerds were transmuters...see where I'm going. And there's no such thing as losing a label in adult hood. You can still be smart, athletic, etc but in adult hood you discover more parts of life so the components of the 'cliques' expands.