Been building up my magic system for awhile now, made a lot of progress in the past year, and now I'm working on getting the last bit of basics out of the way so hopefully I can start writing and work on smoothing out the rest as I go.

As the title says, my magic system is the same thing you've already seen everywhere, but with my own special twist.

For the most basic bits, people unlock their magic as they get older due to the maturing of the soul, and the biggest two parts happen 4 years apart.

The first is that at 10 kids will unlock a state of matter they get some control of, the classic 3. It's deeper than that but that's not important.

The important part is what comes at 14, the school of magic.

A bit of set up for this, my setting has two suns, two stars in the sky. The Hollow Sun and the Sable Star. This is important because the Hollow takes energy, or mana, from the planet. The Sable gives it. And that is important because it is what divides the schools of magic.

Every kid gets one or the other at 6, which then decides which side of the split they get at 14.

So every school is based around some central theme or idea or concept, and then the give and take of that.

So for example, the School of Truth. One side, the giving of Truth, is my version of divination magic. And the other side, the taking of Truth, or simply being False, is my version of illusion magic. So you have your classic fantasy magic, just presented in a different way with different ramifications.

Theres also the School of Oaths, which empowers people based on promises made. The opposite isn't 100% decided, part of the feedback I'd like, but it's supposed to be related to curses. This school is where priests, warlocks and druids come from, all based on promises made to different beings.

Beyond that is the School of Motion, one side deals in movement based magic, the opposite is my version of abjuration magic, or protection.

Then there's Order, which the taking of it is supposed to allow for conjuration magic, but the giving could be many things that I'm not entirely sure of, another part of the problem.

Then there's the School of Nature, or Being, it's supposed to allow for alteration and/or transmutation by taking from it, as the nature in question is just what something is, like taking from something being a tree will make it less of a tree and more of say a metal. The giving of it would be related to enchantment and allowing you to make something more of itself, empowering it or charming it, etc.

And as disjointed as those can seem, there's also supposed to be a school based in healing, another in destruction, and 8 in total for 8 concepts split into two to be 16 total paths.

Hopefully this post hasn't been too long, but what I'm looking for here and why I've posted this is for, hopefully, someone to help me out and give me ideas on how I can smooth all of this out and unify it to make it make sense.

At it's core it's just supposed to allow for all the magic you'd seen in any fantasy story, with some more flavor added on top.

I'd be happy to answer any questions had, explain anything confusing, I hope I haven't done a bad job. I've been working on this particular part for the better part of the year with no luck so far, so I'd love any piece of feedback or comment I could get, any little thing helps.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

In my world, everything from bones, elemental phenomena to the actual world, can and will grow a consciousness with enough time, energy and experiences.

In the case of spirits! With enough time, clumps of mana will form an unstable consciousness that as quickly as it formed it dissipates. In rare accumulation of coincidences, these clumps’ consciousnesses will dissipate half an instant slower; giving it enough time to merge with other clumps of mana forming/losing theirs consciousness and taking over them to elongate their finite time.

These clumps of mana fighting to keep their conciseness alive, have momentarily earned the right to be called Sprites. These Sprites slowly consume other clumps only slowing their decaying mind, searching for other Sprites to cannibalize. As they accumulate fuel to elongate their existence, they also collect memories and experiences from the different mana they’ve devoured.

This cycle of big fish eating same size or smaller fish continuous until they reach the “Ego Singularity”. While these beings have a consciousness, they lack any cognitive function even the basic ones only leaving their desire for survival. After consuming diverse mana, experiences and merging them together, they become even more unstable. Here’s when it’s do-or-die!

Whatever experiences are dominant start fighting and shedding the weaker ones. This process causes the lumps of mana and experiences to truly become one. They desperately look for a habitat where they can live and find similar nutrients or a host that would attract similar ones too. When the shedding is done, is when they can truly be called Spirits.

While these Spirits still lack cognitive functions, they no longer are under the danger of dissipating. Now, they can focus on forming and evolving their consciousness molding it through their environment, host and/or experiences.

Achieving the “Ego Singularity” is just the beginning! From here, if they were mana from a volcano they could become a fire elemental. if they are mana from an old battlefield, they could take over bones and become skeletons or zombies. If they were mana that attached to a weapon, they could become a name weapon and even grow a fully cognitive consciousness.

The greatest example is the mana flowing through the whole world that experienced every change, every breath of life & every death. During the beginning of creation, it has been forming its consciousness and now has finally formed a basic cognitive mind. Its inhabitants know it as the Administrator or the System.

This is basically just a summary on my magic system:
The Ether, generated from a plane of existence beyond ours, gives users the ability to control 4 elements: Aero (Fire + Air), Aqua (Water), Terra (Earth), and Chrome (Metal). Over time however all but chrome were dimming in uses as society began to advance and turn away from the forces of nature. From the ashes of the traditional elemental schools came new forms of elemental manipulation: Plasma From Aero, Acid from Aqua, and Electromagnetism form Terra.

any advice would help

The more i think about magic and what it could be, the more i find myself convinced it's one of two things: nonsense or advanced science.

Magic means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Arthur C. Clarke said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And that view point certainly does make sense. Many things that once would have been considered impossible or supernatural are now commonplace.

In many settings, magic is meant to be totally separate from science. A. Senna Diaz wrote (in a dialogue about something that is arguably magic) "If something's true, it's true for everyone- But what if it wasn't?" The point being made here is that while science normally deals with objective facts and universal truths, magic (or Dark Science in her fictional setting) is only true in specific circumstances or for specific people. Whole areas of physics only apply to Dark Scientists, or apply to everyone except them. Science is consistent and logical, magic isn't.

Tom Siddell wrote in an unrelated dialogue (about something that's very definitely magic) "...But what would you call something that can't be explained by scientific methods? Take the blinker stone [a crystal that makes performing magic easier]. Under extensive analysis it appears as nothing more than a simple monocrystal, but it is clearly much more." The blinker stone mentioned here is, to all appearances, a simple red translucent crystal. And yet despite this, the magical effects of the stone have been clearly demonstrated in this story before. Another character does at this point say that the stone's abilities must be explainable from a position of rational science, even if that position is a bit beyond current technology. Maybe it could, or maybe what makes the stone special is something more than just the stone itself. Its powers could come from how its made, or from the act of the stone being given as a gift, or maybe just the belief that the stone works.

Many stories' magic systems have this theme of an item's history being important to it, and there being some meaningful difference between an object and an identical duplicate of that object. Consider a spell requires a flower that was picked on a full moon, or a potion that calls for a particular number of stirs in a particular direction, or some event only being able to take place if some stars or planets appear to be aligned in the right positions from the perspective of some point. If you need 500 gold pieces worth of diamond dust to bring someone back from the dead, the spell will know if you use real diamonds or if you use some lab grown synthetic diamond, even if no scientific tests can determine any difference between a diamond you grew and a diamond you mined. Somehow that rock's history of having formed underground and then dug up is significant to the spell.

The issue i see with this view is that it suggests these magically significant properties are just things science can't measure yet. A dead battery and a charged one look the same to the naked eye but behave differently under the right conditions, and the difference can be easily seen with the right tools and knowledge. Likewise, a flower picked on a full moon must have some invisible property that one picked any other time lacks, and we simply don't have the same ability to measure this property as we do with the charge of the battery. This isn't magic existing beyond science, this is magic existing beyond known science.

Going back to the idea that something true might not be true for everyone, some systems of magic do depend on where you are in the world or what time it is. In Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books, spells learned in one part of the world might have no effect elsewhere. In L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, some kinds of magic can only work in the land of Oz and the surrounding countries, but an enchanted saucepan or book or slipper would lose all its powers if it were brought back to plain old Kansas. In the comic UNSOUNDED, the Khert is another plane of existance that allows magic to be performed and exists only around the continent the story is set on, becoming "thin" and less powerful far up in the sky or beyond the shores, and becoming thick and more volitile deep underground.

So what do you all think? Is all magic just one of these two? Is it only ever advanced science? And what is structured magic if not science beyond modern science?

I'm rather tired as i write this so sorry if it doesn't make sense or is actually all dumb and i didn't notice.

I have a character that uses fire magic, but I want to give her something extra.

Example: I have a character who uses crystal magic, he's also able to summon flaming crystals

I want my character to be more than just fire.

[If it helps, she's partially based on Azula]

essence:

essence was a substance/ material that suddenly appeared in earth. governments mined it from its source but the more interaction allowed the 2 separate universes to merge more and more together. Essence is used by the worlds governments for infinite energy.

There are 2 ways to gain essence

1. Exposure: If you are exposed to a natural leakage of essence that isn’t the raw source, your body will slowly start to absorb it. This can take up to years or some days depending on the amount of natural leaking essence and how your body responds. If you aren’t born with essence, this is how most kids natural achieve it. Most being around 6-7 when finally having a hint of essence.
2. Blood: If your family has a history of interacting with essence/ using essence, you will already be born with a slight amount of it. On the flip side, if you consume the blood of someone with essence, you will gain a random % of their ‘pool’. this is dangerous because every being has a pool of essence that basically acts as life force. The amount you could take is up to 15%.

We all have meridians. They are your veins that are considered inactive, when essence flows through them, they are consider dormant. Meridians allow your essence to flow through your body and interact with it. Although just because your meridians come into contact with essence, doesn’t mean you gain benefits. each meridian has to be opened up manually by channeling essence into them. then you gain the benefits. Once all active, you can finally flow your essence throughout your whole body. but the essence is still very unstable and dangerous to use in this form, essence deviation or vein bursting may be a reaction.

Once channeled you will first unlock your first core. The core of creation. The core’s are pancake sized balls inside of your body, there are 6 of them residing and all need to be turned on manually. The core of creation will allow you to store essence and is key, without it your body would not be able to hold the mass amounts of energy within.

Essence has two different forms, the first form comes from “the root” it is the most purest form of essence. The root is basically a material which is made up of pure essence. It is 2x more dense than a regular variation of essence so therefore makes it harder to filter into your core(solar plexus meridian). Humans meridian’s are inactive but once in contact they become dormant.

Humans cannot even filter this type of essence and therefore any time there body comes into contact with it, the body goes haywire and tries to expel it from the inside. this either leads to essence deviation and or death by vein bursting.

There are only 3 types of people able to absorb this kind:

1. Dragons
2. Gods
3. Primordials
4. Elf’s

there are 7 types of “users” that essences creates:

1. chefs
2. engineers
3. vessels
4. summoners
5. walkers
6. witches
7. artists

You can then further classify these into subclasses.

Regeln: Chefs Engineers

Brühen: vessels summoners

höhere Macht: walkers

Unregelmäßig: Witches Artists

and then there’s prodigy’s, people with 2 or more types. Prodigies are extremely rare with about each continent(3) having 5 of them. Prodigies also have the shortest life spans, usually only living to about 21 years old. This is because the essence in their body is very unstable and hard to control because of the two conflicting types. The older they grow the more stronger but unstable it gets. It’s a constant internal war in their own body.

each has its own truths scaling up to 6, The tiers are as followed:

Stream enterer Returner Non returner Actualization Realization
Conqueror

Scaling the truths is extreme process, They require you to enter your soul. Except stage one which automatically happens when you sleep. Once you enter your soul there are 6 jobs you must finish.

Only 15 people to ever reach job 3,

10 to reach job 4

4 to reach job 6.

The people from job 6 aren’t ever seen though.

And information about anything higher than stage 2 is still unknown.

Your average joe will make it maybe through one but once they reach two that’s where most stagnant..

Job 1: You enter the very stream of essence, a separate reality where it is only made up of essence. there you must find your eyes. Time and the real world flow the same, so if you take a while to find it, you will probably starve unless you have a support system.

Job 2: You are sent to the another world and have a task to complete, this is random for everyone. Some may be sent to your world and some may be sent to others. In this stage it has a 75% mortality rate and if you die, you are permanently trapped in that world.

there are 3 principles that affect MOSTLY all essence users except walkers and witches.

these 3 are: ékfrasi: meaning the ability to express/the output of your essence and its corresponding ability. The higher you tier the more stronger your output.

εξουσία(ekovia):meaning the authority/control over your essence. The higher the tier the more ways you’re able to manipulate essence.

αποβάλλω(attoban):meaning the ability to use essence as a personal expression the higher the tier the stronger your expression is but the more specific it gets.

your essence ability is almost always predetermined by your subconscious.

Breaking down the subclasses.

Reglen: These users are your more specificity’s users. It’s fixed and consistent. Their use of essence is locked to incantations/already determined actions in order to use essence. think of saying “fireball” or reading out a book to use magic. They also have the opportunity to use non-regulation items though, these are weapons/items have certain set effects that go beyond reality itself. think of excalibur or holy water, these are the only people who can use them at their fullest power.

However there is a slight difference within engineers and chefs. If chefs have to follow everything to a T then engineers have to follow the rules set, but they can be a little bit more creative with the set rules and just slightly bend them as long as they understand the fundamental principles. this allows more individuality but not as much as artists.

Brühen: These are basically self explaining in a way. They use borrowed power. Vessels use it by making promises with the “promisor” and summoners use it by making contracts with beings to get them into their world. Only difference is that if the summoned being is an extension of their summoner the vessel is the place for the promisor to lay, whether they take over the body or lend some of its power is up to their promise.

höhere Macht: These people called walkers walk the earth and even travel to other universes to spread the word of their god. kind of like vessels but they serve under a god. They receive Aid from a god to worship/do favors for them, although the god may have certain restrictions/weakness on them for a number of reasons.

The main one is the faith of the people; the higher the faith the higher the power. These people can be at the top of the food chain, but also not everyone who worships a god will get their power. only the select few, who are truly dedicated and are favored by the god will get the power.

Unregelmäßig: these are the irregulars, these people are the 1 in a billions. These are the pinnacle of strength, as a kid they could rival a countries worth of essence users that are at stage 2 in an inactive state. This is because the natural laws of reality don’t apply to them. Witches and artist are different though in society and power wise which is why explain them separate.

Witches:

There are only 5 documented witches. Witches are feared by everyone for the fact that they are in control of concepts themselves and have the ability to become a concept. They could easily kill half the population in half a day if not continuously kept in check, in which they are always hunted.

Out of the 5 witches only 3 are documented with concepts. Although their strength does partly rely on what the people believe, so in a world without any power a witch of power would be weaker.

-Decay -Power -Conversion

Now Artist are more revered and liked. These are people with the most control of essence itself and can form it into a unique ability. if everyone essence is predetermined then these people can chose what they want. You want to be super human sure, invisible sure.

Although it’s a more sub conscious choice it isn’t decided for them. Think of superhero’s, they can have any ability they want, although the more they have the harder it is to master one/have control over it.

there are 5 documented users of this, these people abilities are half based of feeling though so it’s not recommend to have most then one painting, although the max is 3 for the human body.

Context

In my world there exist multiple magic systems divided in two groups. The Light Arts and the Dark Arts, depending on which god made it.

This magic system was created by the goddess of justice, to give people a way to fight monsters.

Concept

The ideal of this system is to create heroes that fight against the evils of the world, mostly monsters created by the god of evil's power.

Think about the knight that goes in his quest to slay a dragon that's terrorizing a town. He doesn't get access to the powers because he prays to the goddess of justice, but because he has shown a brave heart.

This video about a build of Intelligence in Elden Ring would be the closest thing to what I have in mind when it comes to aesthetics.

https://youtu.be/wuyAqS2wV1k?si=idJFO2LFadofMto5

To better show the morals behind this system, I think this three virtues of Bushido would better show what it should be:

• Righteousness: Believe in justice, not from other people, but from yourself. For a true warrior there is no shades of grey when it comes to justice, there's only right and wrong.
• Heroic Courage: Hiding like a turtle in a shell is not living at all. A true warrior must have heroic courage. It is absolutely risky. It is living life completely, fully and wonderfully. Heroic courage is not blind. It is intelligent and strong.
• Honor: Warriors have only one judge of honor and character, and this is themselves. Decisions they make and how these decisions are carried out are a reflection of who they truly are. You cannot hide from yourself.

Now, while all of this sounds super good and heroic, I want to give it a dark side.

This is a system that forces a black and white filter on a world with multiple colors. The goddess may want to create heroes, but she ends up creating heartless machines ready to kill their own parents in order to protect what they consider good.

Mechanics

Every magic I make for this world has three elements:

• Energy source
• Trigger
• Effect

For example the magic that comes from the God of evil: Corruption. It uses a natural and venomous gas called Miasma. The trigger are negative emotions, and the effect are that the user is transformed in a monster. When the user feels a negative emotions, they absorb Miasma (either willingly or not), and they're transformed in monsters known as Plagues (different negative emotions make people transform in different types of monsters with different powers).

You already know the effect I want, the gigantic swords made of magic and bows. Maybe some sort of magic armor (contrary to being transformed into a monster, you get an armor).

But what could be the trigger? And the energy source?

The energy source is usually the power of the god in some physical form. I already have color, emotions, miasma, sunlight and moonlight.

I have been developing this system for a while but i am not organized so im gonna info dump.

Aex: The magical energy source in this world, generated by individuals with innate magic and also present in the ambient environment as ambient Aex, via ley lines or after a mage casts spell. Aex can manifest in various forms, often appearing as colorful energy, unique to each mage. Ambient aex is white and gray. There are also ley lines around the world slowly releasing ambient magic.

Magic users: There are two types of magic users. Mages and Magicians. Mages are individuals born with an internal Aex source and a unique Concept. Each mage has 11 unique “Rings” (i will explain rings later). Magicians are (witches as female, wizards as male) magic users without their own Aex source, they can only use ambient Aex to cast incantation based magic. Every mage is capable of using ambient magic therefore being a magician, but being a mage is more special and genetic based.

Common abilities of mages. Every mage has a base set of abilities and their own signature Aex type they generate. Basic abilities are Aex Bolts, Aex Sensing, Aexkinesis, Aex Pulsing, Aex empoverment and Aex shielding. (Can go into details if asked). This abilities also vary and change with the aex type.

Rings: Ringes are signature spells for each mage, depending on Aex type, some aex types are more common, like fire earth water and water. But even with with same aex types they may have different rings. Each mage develops 11 rings, 1 for each finger and 1 ultimate ring via fusion of all 10. These are essentially spells that are cast on autopilot, they show up as colorfull circles around their fingers thats why they are called rings. They vary from simple spells to powerfull spells. Each have their own costs, a mage understands each of them naturally. 11th ring is the ultimate ring, comes with a great effect and a greater cost, most of the time loss of magic or sacrifice.

Five facts of magic. Resurrection isnt possible, mortals cant reach souls. No complete mindcontrol, you can temporarily control them but cant change personality. Biggerpower=Biggercost. No power stealing, you can spell bind people or absorb their magic but cant steal their natural gift. Rings are unique to person, two mages with same concept wont have the same rings.

Aex growth: A mage will grow via increasing aex production and unlocking new rings. Magicians will develop by learning new spells and being able to control more aex.

Learning new spells: Magicians must learn spells by understanding their mechanics and learning the incantation, visualizing and shaping the aex. For mages it all comes way more naturally. A ring is always WAY more powerfull and convinient than a spell cast by a magician.

Aex crystals: Magicians can condense ambient aex into crystals to store them for later use, Mages dont need it as they have the source.

Covens: Magic users generally form covens, often led by a mage who teaches the magicians. Sometimes magicians form their own covens, independent of mages, and are often jealous of the innate abilities of mages.

Some other mechanics: Both magicians and mages can imbue aex into items to enchant stuff, both can brew potions, Both will try to invent new spells, covens will try to create spells and keep it hidden for themselves.

Cooperative magic: Both mages and magicians can combine their powers to amplify each other, often through rituals which are complex spells performed by multiple magic users. Two mages can combine their concepts to create new Rings to cast, but only when they are together. Emotions and common goals play an important role in cooperative magic.

Weakness and limits of the magic users: Aex fatique occurs when a mage exhausts their Aex source or a magician uses more ambient Aex than they can handle. Aex burn happens when a magician uses too much ambient Aex at once, causing immense pain, which can be fatal or result in losing the ability to cast magic. Antimagic is a big weakness of magic users. Spellbinding is a ritual that locks a magic user from accessing Aex.

Magic is genetic: Mage children usually inherit one parent’s Concept, Sometimes a unique blend of both parents’ concepts (a new concept) or in rare cases, both Concepts as dual magic. A dual-Concept mage has 7 Rings per Concept and one ultimate combined Ring.

You know how waves all exist on a spectrum? So you have microwaves and radiowaves at the bottom, and then you have nuclear radiation and gamma rays at the top? You notice how they all have different properties depending on where they land on their spectrum? You see how the higher up on the spectrum you go, the crazier the effects seem to get? Well, I hope you do.

Imagine that logic, but applied to reality so that things could exist on different 'frequencies' of it. Depending on what 'frequency' a certain substance, creature, energy, or element has, the more real or less real it is. The 'more real' something is, the more command it has over 'less real' things, like how you have command over your dreams because you're real, but your dreams aren't (at least, not to you).

And imagine that freewill, identity, and choice are literally fueled by a tangible, scientifically measurable substance (not souls!). Imagine that this substance exists at such a high 'realness' that it influences most of existence on a conceptual and fundamental level. Imagine it's so distant and so out of reach that you can only see its influence as you observe spacetime and how people's choices lead to certain futures.

Imagine that people, with the right training, can 'pull down' freewill biologically and make it a little less real, so that instead of influencing reality on a completely conceptual basis, it actually begins to tangibly affect things on a human, or even larger-than-human scale, allowing for matter manipulation, kinemancy, and the physical manifestation of abstract ideas. Doesn't that sound cool?

Well, ok, so what I just described is my magic system. The thing is, it's like... a lot and I took the time to write an 18,000-word essay to explain all of it on a mechanical level.

I was wondering whether anyone on this subreddit would be interested in reading my bender-fueled 18,000-word magicbuilding wank and asking questions about it or exploring its intricacies. Maybe you'll bring something up that I didn't think of, or maybe you'll poke some holes that make me reconsider how it fundamentally functions. Who knows? Maybe it'll even inspire you!

If you're interested, uh... comment or something. You can PM I guess, but like, I'm not sure whether asking for those is allowed here?

Godspeed!

The premise is there are trees so tall with canopies so thick that they blot out the sun. But there is light here under the dark canopy. The trees are constantly leaking a sap like substance that gives off light in different colors. And magic seems to stem from this light as anything inside the light becomes vulnerable to magic.

Different colors do different things.

Red magic is inherently violent and causes pain and fear in those who stare into the red light. The powers one may weild while using red magic can only harm and destroy. Tear. Shatter. Rend. Any form of physical damage.

Blue magic is inherently passifying and causes indifference and drowsiness in those who look into the blue light. The powers one might weild while using blue magic can only negate. Sleep. Weaken. Passify.

Green magic is inherently dizzying and causes confusion and madness in those who peer into the Green light. The powers one might wield while using green magic can only distort. Hallucinations. Dellusions. Influence.

People will use the sap to create lanterns, and anything in the lanterns light becomes vulnerable to the magic in the sap.

I'm still working on the other colors, but I just wanted to share this idea.

So I'm building a magic system based on rituals and summoning concepts.

I'm still on brainstorming part and haven't added what kind of ritual should be done, but I'm in the middle of what my magic system can do for now.

So my idea is that, my magic system is based on parts of speech(?), not like saying the language. But summoning their concept and then having them interact with the world.

For example, the concept of running (or run), can be summoned and can affect things that involves running like candidacy, marathon, machines, etc. but the limit is that it's time limited or limited in number of tries, can only be used on one thing or two (either marathon or candidacy) and have a steep price(?). I'm still brainstorming.

So far I like it, I like that it's a bit soft.

However, I don't know how it'll affect the world? The people around it, the muggles, the economy, trade, etc, I don't really want it to be secret either, so any help with this will be appreciated.

It all begins with idols.

Idols are small animal-shaped statuettes. A well made idol is made for the express purpose of the hollowing ritual, a ritual all witches must go through to start to learn magic.

By performing this ritual you create a weak point. You bond with the idol and give up your breath. In doing this you give the totem life and a will of its own. It will be able to move about and act in accordance with its own desires though will be mentally linked to the witch.

If the idol you bond with is killed you will become a ghoul, a grotesque, twisted being that will hide during the day and at night seek out the living to steal their breath from their bodies, thus creating creating breathless. The way your idol is killed determines which type of ghoul you'll become.

Breathless are zombies with collapsed lungs that try to feed on the breath of others in order to feel some relief from suffocating. This works temporarily, but they eventually return to being breathless and have continued the cycle by creating another breathless.

Furthermore, if your idol is captured you will have to obey the one who captured it until it leaves their grasp. Meaning it is important to protect your idol at all costs.

However, upon your first breath after being hollowed your body will fill with Aethr, which will replace the oxygen in your bloodstream and you'll begin to see the other world. This is the magic and all magical entities that exist around you. This includes fey, dragons, and most importantly, ghouls.

You will also gain the ability to use magic. More specifically, aethrbreathing. As well you will mutate slightly as your body takes in aethr for the first time.

The concept behind this magic is you are able to take on the traits of other things in an almost Kirby-like fashion, where you breathe in the traits of these entities or objects. You simply take on a desired trait by inhaling its aethr. You may only hold one trait at a time and must expel the trait if you no longer want to use it using void breathing.

Using special breathing techniques, witches choose which traits to absorb (i.e. heaviness, density, heat, etc.) or they may expel properties of themselves to gain certain abilities (i.e. lightness, intangibility, cold, etc.) As stated before, the witch may only use one technique at a time then must use void breathing to restore their natural state before taking on another trait.

There is also enchanting, which is absorbing certain traits from other objects or entities and breathing them into another object or entity. Then placing small sigils on the object called anchor runes to allow the object to retain its adjustments.

The price for using Aethr breathing is that the magic user may suffer aether poisoning.

Aethr poisoning is a painful process that can greatly harm a magic user who takes in too much aethr while using breathing techniques. Black veins will start to form on the body, stemming from the lungs. It slowly paralyzes the body and causes intense pain wherever the black veins develop. The paralysis lasts only a few minutes, but the pain will persist for hours afterwards depending upon how much damage the magic user did to their body.

So this is how my system works. Essentially, at the beginning there was a great explosion, sending fire and lightning everywhere. This caused all of reality to form. This also made massive balls of lightning that are the stars of this world. Essentially, the people in this world have gathered the dust from these stars that has come to them over centuries, and through various reactions have used them to power automatons that can do various things. The current automatons that I have are machines that can make them go much faster, but their limitation is that they have to stay within a certain radius for it to work. They have another automaton that gives lots of shielding against weaponry, but other people have the same automatons, and all of them are mounted with the large projectile crossbow weapons. This is circling back to another thing. This world has large crossbows made out of the same stardust that has been combined to make tubes, and other dust is combined to make things that go inside it. This shoots out a powerful crossbow blast that can range anywhere from a little ping to a massive country-destroying device. They've also harnessed bottled sunlight and stardust to use weapons of mass destruction. In addition, they have figured out ways to use that stardust I was talking about before to make lightning, and they use that to cast spells of light and heating, as well as maintaining lots of structures. Finally, they can use a Stardust that they have found to make other Stardust that can do different things. They can dissolve this Stardust or combined to make solid liquid liquids and gases. Putting it all together: People can use those Stardust crossbows to fire weaponry, this can range from things that can be easily hidden on a person to massive ship mounted weaponry. They can also use those automatons to move around quickly and do chases. They can use the combining Stardust to make explosions and fog as well as a healing which is very slow on this world. They can also use those Stardust power building to hide inside and do other stuff.

What am I trying to say here: Make magic feel magical my God, maybe it is just a medium interfering, but 99% of what I see on here it's just a list of things that people can do, very little of it truly feels magical. Hard magic can also feel magical.

Ok so I didn’t know which subreddit this would be appropriate and thought this would be the best one. I have now loved organic chemistry for sometime now and am taking the class currently. When it comes to studying, I thought and am currently still thinking if I could somehow relate organic chemistry to spells, potions, matter manipulation, etc so as to make it in a way easier for me to understand and also give myself some fun when thinking/ studying. Am currently making a little notebook for myself to help me study for the class but also thought it would be fun to write it, in a way that mimics spell books if that makes sense. And so, wanted your guys thoughts and feedback on how to possibly structure it. Thank you.

A magic power system where you gain your powers from emboding a certain concept, role, or character, i think is better explained with examples so here we go, imagine for instance that you where to dress like Satan(or deptictions of him), act like people imagine Satan would act, you would start gaining "Satany" powers as to better embody this character, the greater the commitment to your role the more powers you gain, the more powerful the concept the more power you get as well. The concept does not have to be a diffined character in the mind of people but can also be more of an achetype, for example you could start embodying the concept of a "hero" or "superhero" and gain powers that way, you could goes as far as trying to represent a grander ideal such a "peace", "freedom", "evil" though it would be more tricky.

The idea is that by commiting to a "role", power flows from humanity's collective uncounciouss into you so you can play your part in society's shared narrative.

I posted here very recently about the system I was developing, until a response led me to research something very important indeed. I was making a power system involving rock paper scissors with the addition of 2 other elements.

But someone commented that it reminded her of rock-paper-scissors lizard-Spok, I did some research and this game has intellectual property. This property, from what I researched, says that it can be remixed and built upon freely as long as it is not commercialized and its authorship is recognized.

My system would use the rock-paper-scissors I was making as a base, but it ended up identical to lizard-spok. Of course I develop the system with many elements beyond that, but wouldn't that be a remix or building on top?

So hear me out. What if people could convert heat energy into kinetic energy. Specifically, any object that was above a certain heat threshold could be moved, warped, or weighted by people, and as they did this, the temperature would decrease.

It could be interesting. People might have different temperature thresholds (Jonny can move objects above 40°F while Suzy can move objects above 20°F.) Meaning you have a fuel source (the level of heat) and a barrier (your heat threshold).

Something like oil might become a super powerful tool. Maybe it can control fire too, but probably not as fire would then become overpowered. I don't know. Just a thought.

I'm trying to create a rock-paper-scissors system. And I would like to add two other elements and I would like suggestions for both the name of the elements and the idea itself.

It works like this:

Scissor cut 'First'

'First' destroys paper

'First' melts rock

'Second' recovers from 'First'

'Second' heals from the scissor

Paper holds 'Second'

Rock suffocates 'Second'

The rest is standard play. I would like to find a name that fits with the 'First' and 'Second' elements and if they make sense within the game

magic system: essence:

essence was a substance/ material that suddenly appeared in earth. governments mined it from its source but the more interaction allowed the 2 separate universes to merge more and more together.

in order to first gain essence, you must either be exposed to it naturally, have it in your bloodline, or forcefully have it enter your body from coming into contact with a being with mass amounts of essence leaking out of them.

Essence has two different forms, the first form comes from “the root” it is the most purest form of essence. The root is basically a material which is made up of pure essence. It is 3x times more dense than a regular variation of essence so therefore makes it harder to filter into your core(solar plexus meridian). Humans meridian’s are inactive but once in contact they become dormant.

Humans cannot even filter this type of essence and therefore any time there body comes into contact with it, the body goes haywire and tries to expel it from the inside. this either leads to magic deviation and or death by vein bursting.

There are only 3 types of people able to absorb this kind: 1. Dragons 2. Gods 3. Primordials

Elf’s are able to absorb some of this but you would have to be extremely, extremely! Talented and blessed. for every 100k elf’s one of them is able to absorb pure essence. why? well because elf’s are born in more essence dense areas so their body is able to control it more, which means their core also is much larger than a normal person.

Although this could innately means elf’s are much more capable at magic than others that simple is not true. as elf’s since born in more mana dense areas they have very low birth rates because most babies cannot handle a rapid amount of manga entering their body. But makes surviving elf’s all the more stronger.

also elf’s do not have blood but instead unknowingly absorb the essence around them until finally essence replaces their blood. So as long as there is some form of essence in the air elf’s can theoretically live forever.

This is only because they are innately more sensitive to this essence around them.

there are 7 types of “users” that essences creates: 1. chefs 2. engineers 3. vessels 4. summoners 5. walkers 6. witches 7. artists

You can then further classify these into subclasses.

Regeln: Chefs Engineers

Brühen: vessels summoners

höhere Macht: walkers

Unregelmäßig: Witches Artists

and then there’s prodigy’s, people with 2 or more types.

each has its own tiers scaling up to 6, The tiers are as followed:

Stream enterer Returner Non returner Actualization Realization
Conqueror

Scaling the tiers is extreme process, They require you to enter your soul. Except stage one which automatically happens when you sleep. Once you enter your soul there are 6 jobs you must finish.

Only 15 people to ever reach job 3,

10 to reach job 4

4 to reach job 6.

The people from job 6 aren’t ever seen though.

And information about anything higher than stage 2 is still unknown.

Your average joe will make it maybe through one but once they reach two that’s where most stagnant..

Job 1: You enter the very stream of essence, a separate reality where it is only made up of essence. there you must find your eyes. Time and the real world flow the same, so if you take a while to find it, you will probably starve unless you have a support system.

Job 2: You are sent to the another world and have a task to complete, this is random for everyone. Some may be sent to your world and some may be sent to others. In this stage it has a 75% mortality rate and if you die, you are permanently trapped in that world.

there are 3 principles that affect MOSTLY all essence users except walkers and witches.

these 3 are: ékfrasi: meaning the ability to express/the output of your essence and its corresponding ability. The higher you tier the more stronger your output.

εξουσία(ekovia):meaning the authority/control over your essence. The higher the tier the more ways you’re able to manipulate essence.

αποβάλλω(attoban):meaning the ability to use essence as a personal expression the higher the tier the stronger your expression is but the more specific it gets.

your essence ability is almost always predetermined besides the rare exceptions. Some users types will be affected by emotions but not all.

Breaking down the subclasses.

Reglen: These users are your more specificity’s users. It’s fixed and consistent. Their use of essence is locked to incantations/already determined actions in order to use essence. think of saying “fireball” or reading out a book to use magic. They also have the opportunity to use non-regulation items though, these are weapons/items have certain set effects that go beyond reality itself. think of excalibur or holy water, these are the only people who can use them at their fullest power.

However there is a slight difference within engineers and chefs. If chefs have to follow everything to a T then engineers have to follow the rules set, but they can be a little bit more creative with the set rules and just slightly bend them as long as they understand the fundamental principles. this allows more individuality but not as much as artists.

Brühen: These are basically self explaining in a way. They use borrowed power. Vessels use it by making promises with the “promisor” and summoners use it by making contracts with beings to get them into their world. Only difference is that if the summoned being is an extension of their summoner the vessel is the place for the promisor to lay, whether they take over the body or lend some of its power is up to their promise.

höhere Macht: These people called walkers walk the earth and even travel to other universes to spread the word of their god. kind of like vessels but they serve under a god. They receive Aid from a god to worship/do favors for them, although the god may have certain restrictions/weakness on them for a number of reasons.

The main one is the faith of the people; the higher the faith the higher the power. These people can be at the top of the food chain, but also not everyone who worships a god will get their power. only the select few, who are truly dedicated and are favored by the god will get the power.

Unregelmäßig: these are the irregulars, these people are the 1 in a billions. These are the pinnacle of strength, as a kid they could rival a countries worth of essence users that are at stage 2 in an inactive state. This is because the natural laws of reality don’t apply to them. Witches and artist are different though in society and power wise which is why explain them separate.

Witches:

There are only 5 documented witches. Witches are feared by everyone for the fact that they are in control of concepts themselves and have the ability to become a concept. They could easily kill half the population in half a day if not continuously kept in check, in which they are always hunted.

Out of the 5 witches only 3 are documented with concepts. Although their strength does partly rely on what the people believe, so in a world without any power a witch of power would be weaker.

-Decay -Power -Conversion

Now Artist are more revered and liked. These are people with the most control of essence itself and can form it into a unique ability. if everyone essence is predetermined then these people can chose what they want. You want to be super human sure, invisible sure.

Although it’s a more sub conscious choice it isn’t decided for them. Think of superhero’s, they can have any ability they want, although the more they have the harder it is to master one/have control over it.

there are 5 documented users of this, these people abilities are half based of feeling though so it’s not recommend to have most then one painting, although the max is 3 for the human body.

In your world, I mean.

Power system brainstorming, wanted some feedback

The story is set roughly in the 1900's

This is Chronion a world where everyone is aware of their remaining 'natural lifespan' which can be extended by self care, but lessened by harmful substances, life threatening injuries, or diseases.

Everyone has the power to 'spend' their lifespan to use magic with the strength of the magic being determined by how much time they 'spend'. Running out of lifespan will cause a complete body shutdown, unpreventable, and irreversible death occur

Each person also has a magical element/focus that they are born with they can use at a cheaper cost e.g . Granting flight for a day may usually cost 2 days of life while an air element spender may only need to spend 5 hours of their life. While some elements are common such as fire, water, sound etc rarer elements exist such as healing, weather, and bestial. Legendary elements such as gravity, time, or death only appear once in a generation at most.

The main factors for how much lifespan would be used on a specific action is dependent on things like complexity, duration, range, power level, and skill.

Some people cling to their lifespan fiercely, refusing to spend it unless their life is at risk, others are more casual with using their lifespan with some jobs requiring people to spend days worth of lifespan of their lifespan each week in exchange for better pay and benefits.

Clear fights between people using Lifespan is rare since it's possible to burn through too much of your own lifespan fighting since both parties will use lifespan to keep themselves alive, so assassinations are more common than open fights.

As a result of people in the past experimenting with their magic in the past the world has various magical wonders and horrors, strewn about across the world. Enchanted items are also able to be created as well and while some were broken or lost their energy others endure for centuries.

There are various laws in multiple countries about the use of abilities and all monitor citizens with particularly rare or dangerous magical elements such as disease, tectonic, and brain. Countries also employ individuals known as Martyrs, people willing to spend their entire lifespan at once to defend their country if need be.

So I’m just “story doodling” a fantasy right now and could use some help fleshing out a central conceit of the story.

The hero, let's just call him "Caleb" for now, can take any stick or branch off of a tree and transform it into a sword.

He has a mentor character that reveals the knowledge of this ability to Caleb and demonstrates it by transforming his cane/walking stick into a sword.

But how exactly could or should this work?

-Does Caleb's mentor teach it to him like a technique or is the ability magically "endowed" to him by some external magical source like a magic tree, spirit, or some profound self-realization?

-Can Caleb do this with any branch or should it only be from a specific kind of tree?

-What is the trigger? Does he just will it to happen or does he need to say a command or such?

-How long does the transformation last? Does the transformed sword just become one and otherwise behaves like a normal sword? Do they break easier and require him to obtain another? Do they just turn back after a certain amount of time or the transformation needs something to be actively maintain it otherwise it turns back into a stick?

I have two characters, one embodying science fiction concepts while the other associates with supernatural/mystical/religious motifs. Sci-fi character builds nanobots, summons forcefields, uses antigravity, etc. Mystic character uses voodoo dolls, performs rituals, prays for buffs, etc.

Both are functionally "magic" from my perspective and they have lots of overlap. For example with resurrecting the dead, the sci-fi character can do a mind upload while the supernatural character can do necromancy. How can I meaningfully distinguish the two? What should they not be able to do so that each can feel distinct?

I've just started writing a close-to-home urban fantasy YA with magical ability as a stand-in for self-belief and empowerment. The writing is going better than expected (draft quality and word county) and some of the details are emerging as I go.

I have a relatively firm sense of the magical underpinnings here but think it still needs some work. The premise is that Power emerges in the mind; it is created by anyone who can make someone believe in something. So people who create Power would include creative writers, groundbreaking scientists, and artists, as well as politicians, liars, and other criminals. The key is that change from belief to disbelief - in something.

The people who lack this potential are the unimaginative, the dismissive, those who lack confidence and float through life lost.

Power clings to the people who create it and the places where they do. However very few people surmise that this Power can be used to do anything out of the ordinary; they are often brought into it by family or friends or similar networks that can demonstrate how it works. Users of Power can take others' Power easily if freely given, or with some difficulty take it from others. Some people use Power without even truly knowing they do so; imagine 'mean girls' who manipulate others or inspiring coaches. But those who can use Power somehow activate it in a way that makes it exponentially more valuable to other users of Power.

Some uses of Power emerge almost spontaneously among those with Power, where things are easiest, e.g., Naming something that is easily brought to mind. However, the more difficult and esoteric aspects are taught, in secret, in networks of Power that are like families, criminal networks, banks, or travel team sports. Kids who practice 'layups' in their driveway have a tough time against kids who've been practicing technique and elite play since they could hold a ball. Smaller groups of older users might be attacked and see their Power taken by others.

Use of Power is limited by a person's imagination, and creative people are powerful, but usage 'in kind' is easier than others: an emotional novel creates a Power easier to use to change moods or minds than to spark scientific discoveries. A metalworker's shop is a better place to call forth a sword than a library.

Using Power (or having it taken) takes a physical toll on a person. It can be exhilarating, but using or losing it feels like running laps while nauseous (and similar things) and leaves you physically hungry, thirsty, sleepy, spent, or even injured.

People use Power in some fundamentally repetitive ways: Naming is difficult but important. Something Named can be Called by someone who knows the Name correctly said, even someone with little Power. People's names are important because they make it easier to Command them.

Warding is important too, because Power - invisible to a nonuser - becomes more and more visible to those who practice using it. It can be detected at distance by users, like a light or a distinctive smell. Users who do not generate the Power they need to do what they want are constantly trying to take from others, and they can take it more permanently with a Binding.

A Binding feeds Power from one user to another and it can be arranged hierarchically and almost contractually. The worst is that some people can be made to Forget that they generate Power while Bound and while generating Power unknowingly give it to others. What only some people know is that joint/combined use of Power is vastly more powerful than that of individual users - that communities or structures of power can make Covenants that truly control large numbers of people in ways they do not understand.

I expect a lot more to emerge during the writing but for purposes of opinions and advice: on tone, I'd like this to be funny at times while also getting into some YA style issues like bullying, family dynamics, school expectations and performance, race, class, immigrants, gentrification and intercommunal conflict in modern America.

You know, fun stuff.

So basically I was thinking about how to show the usage of nature magic and was hoping that some of y’all have an idea or two to share ( I can also describe how I was hoping the character to use it if you want)