In the world of fantasy, at least the ones that involve magical powers, even superpowers are great too, characters have that type of power that is unique to them and them alone.
I pondered this in terms of my own characters and as I worldbuild Alagossia. Every single person on Alagossia has the ability to use magical powers granted to them by the air and their race, but even they need their own individuality.
That is what I wanted to talk about for science-fiction and fantasy writers, including me on this site. Especially the writers that work on stories with their own magic system.
So, magic should feel unique, even if people have the same type of magical powers. I am wondering that about Jorildyn and Aeris and the other characters in my stories. I have to know more about Alagossia, yet that is a topic for another time.
How unique are the characters in your story, magically? Tell me, as much as you can.
My magic-system is elemental based, so for the most part the powers (and spells) are not unique per-person. The only truly unique thing is how good you are at casting magic. Each personsā element is, though, dependent upon them and is oftentimes passed down via family genetics.
But I do have one character who has a rare elemental magic called āAetherā (based on greek lore). In that legend, aether was thought to be the air the gods breathed. It is essentially the material that fills the region beyond the terrestrial sphere. The concept of it was used in theories to describe natural phenomenon such as gravity, and light. In my world, āaetherā is essentially raw atmospheric magic. My character can control aether and use it to manipulate light (and much later on) control gravity. :D. Itās a very rare form of magic.
I have another character who has two elements. Fire and air. Air was transferred to them (as magic oftentimes can be) by their mother-figure. Itās a very taboo transference, but it worked out. This makes her both pretty powerful, but also combustive, learning both elements is very difficult for her.
That is a bit true for Alagossiaās magic system, the gripe is that I never dived deeper into that while world-building.
I mean, the characters or rather people gain special magic powers because of their race, mystic veins, and where they live in the world, along with what the familial background is.
Though depending on the race, one parentās gene is stronger than the other which can produce stronger magical powers and abilities.
Aeris is of mixed blood and her motherās genes are stronger than her father. Jorildyn is pure blood, but her fatherās genes are the strongest between her parents.
Okay this one is a bit complicated since Iām still working it out Overall, thereās a finite amount of powers that people can have but some are a hell of a lot more common than others. There are less than ten that are considered āuniqueā mainly because I havenāt fully developed all of them.
My āuniqueā characters magically are Amneris, Colt, Xix and Hathor. MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS FOR EXPLAINATION
All four of them have the power of whatās called a Yenrebennu (Creation Phoenix). There are only four and those Phoenixes attach to a specific soul. So it doesnāt matter how much you reincarnate, you will always have the power of that Phoenix. Amneris has the Light Phoenix, Xix has the Dark Phoenix, Colt has the Immortal Phoenix and Hathor has the Time Phoenix.
Then thereās the Balance Keeper powers. There are three Balance Keepers but the power changes between generations so I wouldnāt necessarily say itās āuniqueā even if thereās only one being that can grant those powers.
Amneris has copy magic and is the only case on record of ever having it. Hathor has Time Magic which is one of the forbidden magics and is the first person in a few generations to have it. Xix and Amneris can access the Ancient Elements - another forbidden magic - but Xix is way better at it.
Species wise, Carmin, Jay and Ema are ārareā.
Carmin is the last of the Vision Dragons as far as sheās aware. They were hunted to extinction because they can see into the future and the others didnāt like what they saw so feared the power.
Ema and Jay are both Fae whose particular type only have access to one or two elementās power. They have access to all of them. Jayās is hereditary, his whole family has access to all the elements. No one knows where Emaās came from.
Again, youād have to read The Endurlon to understand Gelridās Powers and His personal choice to use them when required and to stay his uses when need beā¦
In the Elgana books, there is a character with a rare form of magick. Sorcerer magick is usually colorless and comes out like white mist or white light. They use color spells to put color onto their powers to stand out from others and establish their individual color theme.
Cypur begins as a normal Sorcerer with colorless magick (for certain academic reasons, heās unable to use the color spells). Later, it turns out his magick is golden. Itās his magickās natural color. Gold magick is not unique to Cypur, but itās quite rare, and it has only been recorded a few times so far.
So, yes, gold magick is seemingly unique to Cypur, but it has happened a few times before.
The same story with lion girl Sovanna who has solar magick. Itās not unique to her as it has existed in other lionkind royals in the past. Her grandfather was her predecessor in solar magick wielding. However, in the events of the story, solar magick does make her stand out as an individual because sheās the only one alive with it.
Similar story to supporting character Taro Redfoot. He has ice magick (unique to his species, Aerisi) and Taro, as an individual, has the magical ability called the āRiderā which heās born with and which binds him to an ancient ice beast. However, since he was the child of a human mother and Aerisi father, his āRiderā is slightly defected and potentially dangerous. So, this defected āRiderā ability is unique to Taro, but the ability itself is not unique. He and his brother Kazo both have it, and so do their parents.
Magick is the magical power kind. Magic is the ones with tricks and acts. At least, I like to follow this definition
But if someone says āmagicā in the context of their writing and world, Iāll use āmagicā when talking about their world and āmagickā when talking about mine
Somewhat. Rachaelās powers are unique to herāand her mother, and her werewolf ancestry is normal. But the precog is a mix of her personality and the 2 powers mixing together to become unique.
I came up with one last nightāthe ability to communicate with spirit animals
In this world there are spirit animals living around and although everyone has a spirit animal, thereās a girl that can communicate with them and sheās the only one.
Overall, thereās a finite amount of powers that people can have but some are a hell of a lot more common than others. There are less than ten that are considered āuniqueā mainly because I havenāt fully developed all of them.
