Magic Systems: What's yours like? [and AMA, I guess]

The Chatters
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Correct me if I’m wrong… it sounds like the magic in Vecotopia is almost selfish? You can only use it on yourself? Do many have it or does only the king have it?

So, does it mean magic isn’t so common where she lives? She won’t see it on the daily? But it does make sense. I have a character that, when he leaves his village for the first time, is reminded that his world has magick in it. In his village, there is no magick.

For Nasrin, is a battle the first time she sees magic as being a real, actual thing?

Anywhere? Even the ocean? Even space? Any time, any place? (I had to rhyme, I had to)

Why do royals have more than one ability? Is this because they have extra privileges? They are taught more variety? Or were they, in the past, somehow gifted an extra power?

I have a line of royals that have an extra power because they were worshipping a higher entity and the entity was like "I like you guys! Have a bit of my magick. Enjoy! :grin: "

How to read it? And also, explain more. Give me a little anecdotal story of meeting one for the first time if you want :wink:

Are there mermen? How do they reproduce if not? I have another, non-Elgana story with sirens and they lay eggs like frogs :stuck_out_tongue:

What happens to them and their magic if the queen becomes weak or cursed somehow? Also, can the queen control who has how much power?

Do the individuals think for themselves or are they essentially like puppets?

lol, that would be chaos XD

How do they teleport multiple people? Do they have to be touching the person? My Sorcerer race can teleport, but they have to be touching the person. It’s kind of like, a “how many people can you hug” competition :stuck_out_tongue:

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For them it is similar to freezing time, time traveling, controlling time and space, creating an alternate timeline or the basics like decreasing or even increasing the aging process, renewal of objects and people, and finally regeneration.

Sounds confusing a bit, huh?
:sweat_smile:

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Nah, it sounded pretty straightforward to me.

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Awesome!

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Nothing :smiley: they just don’t know how to use it, and maybe they’ll get looked down on by other people in the city.

Haha I actually imagine the opposite happening - someone using sound control to silence people’s voices. I’m sure destroying eardrums also happened too :joy:

Yup! It has some intense symptoms, and most people born with it die in their 20s. It’s kind of like a cancer but not quite. It doesn’t do negative things to magic, though.

Aw yay! Glad you think so! :star2:

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Ooh this is fascinating! It’s like a reverse of what we think happened to our solar system :open_mouth:

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I remember in the first scene the MC was trying to make an engraving into the Vyre stone.

Where does one get Vyre stones? Are they hanging around or does a mage have to go to a specific place to get them? Are they available in abundance? Would they ever run out?

What would happen if there are no Vyre stones left? The mages won’t be able to cast any magic?

Okay, I have a weird question: what if an animal swallows a carved Vyre stone, could the person use the magic through the animal?

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And…the sizes of the rings were all around the same at first, but being attracted to each other with magick, the rings stretched or shrunk to fit inside each other.

But it’s not a tight fit. There’s lots of space (and literally) between rings and it’s breathable space. The only place there’s real space is if you get far enough away from Elgana and come out of the pull of the planet…well, good luck, you’ve blasted yourself into space.

I can’t talk any more about this part of Elgana because that’s sci-fi and I don’t do sci-fi XD

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It depends on which city someone lives in. In the above city, Vyre stones are typically found at the bottom of lakes and rivers. They aren’t available in abundance, as they take time to arrive there, and so they had to be regulated and are quite expensive for mages to buy on their own. So typically, they’re bought by industries and given to mages for their work as a part of their pay. Those same industries often donate small Vyre stones to schools for students to learn how to carve them. The largest Vyre stones are automatically claimed by the Guardians (the above city has Guardians, too, but their role is to continue the ritual to lock the illness down in the below city) and these are reserved for festivals and special events that showcase various mages throughout the city. If there are no Vyre stones left, tbh, their society would probably crumble because they rely heavily on them. Mages wouldn’t be able to cast magic without them.

In the below city, Vyre stones are much more abundant, as the monsters who create them live amongst their city. However, because of their ties with the monsters and below Guardians who are ill (and contagious, I should add), most people refuse to use them because they don’t want to get sick, and so mages are very uncommon here. Typically only Guardians know magic in the below, and they’ll never run out of the stones as long as their monsters exist. The only reason why the above city ever gets Vyre stones is because the monsters like being in water, and both cities are connected through their lakes and rivers :smiley: and so their scales chip off, bury into the sand, and then get sucked through to the other side (which happens relatively quickly, just a few minutes).

Haha I never thought about that! They won’t be able to use the magic through the animal - they’d probably have to wait for the stone to come out the other end :'D

Oh interesting :open_mouth: Do you know what the space in between is like? It is black and void or is there land to walk on? Wondering this because I think I remember you saying your characters have travelled between the different rings.

Haha that’s fair! xD

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That is such a cool world to imagine :grin:

Is there some evil form of the magic? What’s it like? How did it become evil? If there is no evil form, what would have to happen to make magic go corrupt?

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Okay so citizens in ancient times used ships made of stone and magic but most of the time they stayed in their own rings. Enough resources were available. They didn’t need to travel too much.

Modern Elgana has portals between each ring except the fifth ring. Fifth ring (counting from the center) is the jail Ring. No portal connects there. The first portal created was between Sixth and Fourth so that the shapeshifters living in the Sixth ring could travel to the rest of the world.

After that, portals that followed are between First and Second, Second and Third, Third and Fourth. All portals are connected, so you can go into the portal at the third ring, pass doorways into the second ring and directly arrive at the First ring.

That’s the travel.

What the space is made of is, well, since it’s breathable, it’s probably the same air that’s on Elgana. It’s a void, but you can see between the rings clearly out into real space and you can see stars in the distance.

But no citizen really knows that it’s breathable. Even if they do travel by ship, it’s believed the air in the ship is regulated. The only time citizens find out the truth is when they mistakenly get shoved partially out into space if the portal reaches capacity with how many people can travel. It’s a rare occurrence though.

Those who get shoved out are absolutely fine, but they do get the shock of their lives :stuck_out_tongue:

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Magic has several words–probably the most prominent is Loslozerief /ˌlos.lɔ.zɛ.ˈɾiː.ef/ meaning “from life.” (The word has since shifted, giving the words Lozlorij /loz.lɔ.ˈriːː/ and Lohloriv /ˈlo.l̊ɔ.ˌriːv/ in the modern languages). There are six types, but my favorites are Cognition and Earth.

Everyone has magic–it’s tied to their souls.

Depending on where you go, it’s legal or illegal–Zeneste and most of the world is famed for magic. Odapir has a strict no-magic policy that’s seen as “ludicrous” around the world. It’s mostly just to consolidate power.

Magic is very limited–most never reach their full learned potential of magic. So do’s involve not hurting people and dont’s involve not overusing your magic (you’ll pass out) or hurting other people.

Magic has always been there–Meiste itself provides magic for its inhabitants–but technically you can live without magic (if you get it ripped out) but it’s excruciatingly painful.

There are six people who have ultimate control over their types of magic: the Heroes. Heroes are seen as dieties although they’re conditionally immortal and born of human flesh.

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How were those races related to magic before they died out?

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You have a language? :open_mouth:
Actually, I vaguely remember you posting about fictional languages some time ago.

Actually…I feel like I haven’t seen you around in a while :wink: Hi :grin:

If it means “from life” is there a version related to death?

Can you tell me more about this magic? What are the main things people can do with this type of magic?

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omg hey! Long time no see, yeah!

:sweat: I have too many. Zispoel is the most consistent, and Classical Zispoel has three main language families: Ipøøl languages, Zenéþ langauges, and (the other one who I forget lol).

More accurately, the concept for magic as a whole is “Lozlorij.”

Cognition is one such type. In Zispoel, it’s called Emeiste (meaning “not real”) (Ipøøl: Emijte, Zãþ: Ẽmeeð): that’s because it has to do with magic of the irrealis (or that which is only loosely real). Some can disappear entirely, some can teleport, some can amplify others’ magic. Cognition is the loosest kind of magic, gonna be real.

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I know right! That is really cool of that person!

I remember that person stating they had languages before. So cool!

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All bipedal animal races (all native Elganians) had elemental magick either they were born with or they were gifted by a higher, magical creature or by the Guardian of the world (like a god). All but two native races remain alive in Modern Elgana.

Kaunlutha: fire and Solar

One of the races that died out was a bipedal lion race called Kaunlutha and they were born with fire magick. The royal Kaunlutha were gifted a special magick on top of their fire magick called Solar Magick. Only one royal could have it at a time, and they could control the sun, turning night into day in a matter of minutes or burn acres of land all at once. But using it made them extremely weak and lethargic, and afterwards, they couldn’t use any magick for almost a day.

So, they only used it as the last resort.

Aerisi: ice and wind

Another that died out are the anthropomorphic birds called Aerisi who were birds with humanoid arms and body proportions. They’re not harpies. They were gifted with ice magick to protect the ice beast they served. When the ice beast died, their magick went with it. Some Aerisi did learn wind elemental magick but once settled down and stopped flying, it made no sense to keep teaching it, so it eventually died out with them.

Scales: earth, wind, water

The third that died out were the reptile races collectively called the Scales by other races. They could use elemental magick of earth, wind, or water depending on the sub-species. Krokeys, for example, used earth elemental magick and could make fissures in the ground or make rock formations strike out from the ground.

All of these races’ magick have one thing in common: if not used, it would eventually die out and not even get passed on to the next generation. So, the magick isn’t genetic. Almost like a skill.

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oh my gosh, I realized, you said meiste provides magick for inhabitants… So, does that have something to do with emeiste? What is Meiste? Let’s start there. Does it mean “real” or “reality”? Or it means more like “the existing world” “the world of life”?

I’m getting the sense the “E” is a negative…prefix?

Hmm, so among these six, what is the most common form of magic and most uncommon form of magic?

Disappear entirely, so, can they walk through walls? Or is it just invisibility?

Now, tell me about Earth magic.

Is it different from the earth elemental magic that I said exists on Elgana? I said the Krokeys could make rock formations or fissures in the ground.

Is Earth magic in your world something else entirely?

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ooh :bangbang:

An inherited school–that’s pretty neat!

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Meiste has several contexts. It’s actually an inflection of Meir which means “the world,” so Meiste refers to “that where everything is.” So it has a couple definitions:

  1. The world itself. (Modern Ipol: Prei’ mitsi)
  2. That which is real; that which is tangible (Modern Ipol: Mijr).
  3. Earth magic (the magic of the realis); (Modern Ipol: Preif lozlorij mitsij)

Correct! e- is a negative prefix derived from Proto-Zispoel *i- . (In mordern Ipol, verbs require an auxilliary verb with the e- prefix.)

They’re balanced–nearly completely, in fact. It’s required that there be nearly exactly equal amounts of all kinds of magic throughout Meiste.

Similar, albeit not the same. Earth magic (translated Meiste in Classical Zispoel), is the magic of the realis. Some can morph objects. The Hero of Earth (termed Meistezon) stores an entire pickup truck in her wallet. Why? Because she can resize the pickup truck at will. Teleportation is a skill overlap between Earth and Cognition since regarding Earth, it regards the literal, physical place at which someone is standing, and for Cognition, it has to do with quantum tunneling.

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