forum Tell me about your magic system (the more chaotic, the better)!

Started May 04, 2023 by @Kiwi_Writes_Books

tune

Well hello there!

Okay, so I'm curious how you guys approached this. I struggled with this for a LONG time, and this is what I ended up with. Warning - it's very messy, inconsistent and chaotic, so please bear in mind that it probably won't make sense. Anyway, here's my system (sorry it's so long):

Okay, let's start with the basics. There are four different categories of magic:

• Fire

• Ice

• Light

• Darkness

These all originate from a different country, and most people from the country have the same type of magic, but there is of course some overlap, due to people moving to different countries. Your magic will always be inherited from your biological mother (or the one who gave birth to you).

Think of this magic as a sort of second spirit that lives inside of you. You have to tame it to wield it but even the most experienced sometimes mess up when provoked by strong emotion. It can be unpredictable and get messy sometimes.

There are also variations on each magic. This is when a person is not capable of wielding their magic as a sort of Play-Doh to create weapons + stuff (as most people can), but they can use their magic in other ways instead.

For example, some people with Light magic can't wield it, but they can use it to heal other people by touching them and releasing their magic into a wound.
Here are the other examples of this:

• Darkness: Seers (can get glimpses of the future and/or past, but its very hard to control)

• Fire: Shapeshifters (usually can only shapeshift into one other form, a rare few can shapeshift into more than one other form. must have a clear image to shift. shifting can be provoked by extreme emotion but can be trained to do at will)

• Ice: Telekeni (can use their ability as sort of extra invisible hands to move objects which they aren't touching physically. hard to use the ability - have to train to be able to pick up heavier things and to have more agility and control over telekinises)

Magic can be given to someone else. However, both people must be willing to be able to do this. And yes, this means that people can have more than one type of magic, and some people can have none. (This comes into play a lot in my book :) )There are also special metals which have magical properties:

• Silver can be used to control someone else's magic (effectively controlling them). However, the controller must give up a piece of their magic in order for this to work.

• Iron will turn the colour corresponding to the magic (or magic last used) of the person it is touching. E.g. black for darkness, white for light, blue for ice and red for fire. If a person has no magic then it will not turn a different colour and will remain iron-coloured.

• Copper can put a stopper to magic, however to do this is must be touching the person's bare skin and/or be ingested. These are sometimes made into pills and sold in secret to people who want to hide their magic. If you are touching and/or have ingested copper then any iron touching you will not turn any colour.

As well as this, you control your magic through your hands (you have to sculpt your magic like Play-Doh otherwise when summoned it kind of hands around in a cloud-like thing, which is pretty useless), so if someone's hands are unable to work (say they are tied up or smthn) then you basically can't use magic anyway.

There is a consequence to using too much magic, and that is called Draining. Basically, if you use too much, the magic kind of dissolves you. Warning signs are kind of like a tingling pain at first and a glow of magic. The glow gets bigger and the pain gets worse the longer you ignore the signs and stop. Eventually, your magic erupts (kind of like a big tsunami/volcano thingy) and floods the surroundings (the more magic you have, the bigger the eruption). Any living thing in the vicinity of the eruption dies, and so do you. They are very dangerous, so lots of times, if someone has Drained to a point where their death is inevitable, they will often be killed to protect bystanders.

There is a way to stop Draining. Someone with the opposite magic (Darkness - Light or Fire - Ice) can use their magic to help stop it. However any magic which goes towards stopping a Draining is lost forever.

That was much more than I expected it to be… Anyway, I'm really interested to hear what kind of magic systems other people have. Also would really appreciate if anyone spots any inconsistencies in this or have questions (I don't think I explained it very well).

So yeah :D (have a nice day btw)

okay here we go!! my magic system's still being figured out, so i've not got everything 100% sorted yet haha

so first things first, we have this world known as Istoria, which is basically your typical medieval fantasy-style planet. Istoria has its own natural magic, but the problem is that it has too much of it, and that began to have negative effects on the planet and its inhabitants. random pockets of magic would pop up and cause havoc in random places, people would develop really weird and sinister magical powers, and dark creatures would just spawn out of nowhere.

to stop all the weird stuff happening, this powerful wizard who'd managed to learn how to use the world's magic to her advantage, decided to get hold of 8 young girls and turn them into gods. in a complex magical ritual, she managed to transfer the entire of Istoria's magic to the bodies of 7 of the girls. however, before she could complete the spell to create the 8th and final deity, she became overwhelmed with what she had done - taking 7 girls' lives away from them. instead of turning the 8th girl into a god, she spared her and performed the spell on herself instead, becoming the 8th deity: the goddess of pure magic, Enorwen.

each of the deities had now become the patron of a specific type of magic: life, summoning, shapeshifting, vision, nature, creation, destruction and pure magical energy. they store that magic within them, but not even the enhanced form of a god can hold that much magic alone. so the deities must regularly donate portions of their magic to mortals in Istoria, generally in the kingdom of Feralthia. this is known as the Blessing and allows the mortal to wield a small fraction of that deity's magic. once a person is blessed, they are known as a Vessel of the deity that blessed them, and can train to be a wizard if they want. some examples of powers you might develop from being blessed by each deity are:

• Thalea (the goddess of life magic) could give you healing powers or the ability to read or manipulate minds
• Moraethen (the goddess of shapeshifting) blesses with the ability to transform into different animals or amorphous entities
• Aeverys (goddess of summoning) gives you the ability to move things without touching them
• Adelthaea (goddess of nature magic) could grant you the power to manipulate an element, make plants grow, or control the weather
• Ethka (goddess of vision) gives those she blesses the ability to see the past, present or future
• Annerith (goddess of creation) could give you the power to create anything out of pure magic
• Netherith (the goddess of destruction) gives you the opposite - the ability to destroy, which releases magic back into Istoria
• Enorwen (the goddess of magic itself) only blesses mortals very rarely, but gives those she does bless the ability to wield pure magical energy

it's more common to be blessed by some deities than others - Annerith, Netherith and Enorwen are the most powerful deities, so can hold more magic and don't have to give it out as often. this means vessels of these deities are a lot less common, and vessels of annerith and enorwen are highly respected by feralthian society, while vessels of netherith are (unfairly) often ostracised.

also, every vessel has a slightly different power! they only wield a tiny amount of their patron's magic, so can often only control one small aspect of that magic, such as a vessel of Adelthaea being able to control only the wind. they don't get like. all the powers.

i might add on to this later but feel free to ask any questions as i'm not sure how well i explained that and i love talking to people about my worlds! let me know what you think!