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Scifi and Fantasy Forum: Writer's Discussion: Problems with Writing:
Are there loopholes in this magic system? (and has it been used already?)
Are there loopholes in this magic system? (and has it been used already?)
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I have spent a fair amount of time working out the details for the magic system in my world.
Magic is something you are borne with, almost like a sixth sense. It is not divinely granted (although priests ect. can be granted powers by a diety.)What it does is manipulates the surroundings of a person. It does not create, it does not take away, and it does not openly defy the laws of physics.
There are two types of elements.
The physical elements are earth, air, fire, and water. (Yes, I know, they are FAR from original)
The spiritual elements are light, darkness, life, and death
There is a race for each element. Each memeber of each race is born with a link to their own respective element. ie. trolls would all be born with an innate link to earth
Just having a gift with earth would not give one the ability to use magic. Having a link to just a physical element would not invoke the ability to use magic.
The physical elements represent the result of magic. The spiritual elements represent intent. A person must be linked strongly to both a spiritual element AND a physical one to manipulate their surroundings
One can have multiple gifts with the elements. ie, earth, air, and life. Or earth and fire, or life, death, and darkness.
The properties of the elements are as follows:
Earth: It is the ability to manipulate the shape of solid matter. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for craftsmanship. It is closely associated with the spiritual element darkness and does not work well with light.
Air: It is the ability to put ordinary elements into motion. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for building machines. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of life and does not work will with death.
Fire: It is the ability to manipulate different forms of energy. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for detecting lies. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of death and does not work well with life.
Water: It is the ability to alter the state of matter. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for predicting the weather. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of light and does not work well with darkness.
Light: It is the intention of healing or strengthening. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to dominate others. It is closely associated with the physical element water and does not work well with earth.
Darkness: It is the intention of harming or weakening. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to serve others. It is closely associated with the physical element earth and does not work well with water.
Life: It is the intention of creating new life or bringing life back. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to be aggressive. It is closely associated with the physical element of air and does not work well with fire
Death: It is the intention of killing something or spilling lifeblood. It is often accompanied by a passive nature. It is closely associated with the physical element fire and does not work well with air.
The strength with which one can use these elements is how closely they are linked to the spirit world. Someone who has a strong link to the spirit world but a weak link to the physical one, would have a strong control over their intentions but a very weak control over the elements to which are needed to produce the result. In that way, a wizard is only as strong as their weakest part.
There is an element which ties the spirit world to the physical one. That one is time. If someone has a strong link to all of the elements, they could bend the rules of time. The equalness of their balance between the physical world and spirit world determines the extent to which they can do this. Very few people have this.
Since time is a part of magic, different moments in time can change the effect of magic. For instance, sunrise and sunset brings the spirit world closest together so the amount of influence one has at that time would greatly increase. There are also other times that things like this happen but I will not mention all of them.
There are also creatures that are either completely cut off from the physical world or spiritual world. These unique creatures are immune to magic. Someone who is seperated from the physical world cannot be effected by the physical elements. Therefore, the intent does not mix with the result and the magic doesn't work. It is the same the other way around.
How a person is gifted depends on where their ties to the spirit world are. Different ties produce different results.
Any questions?
Posted By:  RongFo Sep 26, 2003 - 08:37 pm |       | Sounds like you've worked it out pretty well. I'll offer a few of my knee jerk reactions, but please note these are only points to ponder. I've pasted in quotes from your post with the bits I react to bolded:
Earth: It is the ability to manipulate the shape of solid matter. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for craftsmanship. It is closely associated with the spiritual element darkness and does not work well with light.
Air: It is the ability to put ordinary elements into motion. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for building machines. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of life and does not work will with death.
Wouldn't building machines and/or working with metal fit into the Earth domain? I would see Air giving more of an affinity for weather and maybe verbal skills. Also, somehow it feels to me that Water would be more akin to Life.
Fire: It is the ability to manipulate different forms of energy. It is often accompanied by a natural flair for detecting lies. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of death and does not work well with life.
I don't know about that for some reason. How would Fire help detect lies? I'd see it as more of a tendency toward aggression and strong emotions. Just a thought.
Water: It is the ability to alter the state of matter. t is often accompanied by a natural flair for predicting the weather. It is closely associated with the spiritual element of light and does not work well with darkness.
See Air above. To me, Water seems more about life. Also, I don't see it so much as relating to light. Fire seems more related to light, while darkness, mystery, life, fluidity, and the secrets of life seem naturally akin to Water.
Light: It is the intention of healing or strengthening. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to dominate others. It is closely associated with the physical element water and does not work well with earth.
See Water.
Darkness: It is the intention of harming or weakening. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to serve others. It is closely associated with the physical element earth and does not work well with water.
Harming/weakening and serving others? That seems to be a bit of a contradiction.
Life: It is the intention of creating new life or bringing life back. It is often accompanied by a tendancy to be aggressive. It is closely associated with the physical element of air and does not work well with fire.
See above.
Death: It is the intention of killing something or spilling lifeblood. It is often accompanied by a passive nature. It is closely associated with the physical element fire and does not work well with air.
I can see this if Death was more like you describe Darkness, but it seems that you intend Life/Death to be different from Light/Dark (which is more of a good/evil sort of dichotomy). While passive may be too strong a word here, perhaps Death is accompanied by an "inner peace of the noble hunter" sort of thing.
Anyway, those are just my reactions--ignore what doesn't work for you. But, as one of my readers often points out to me when he critiques my work: "You don't have to listen to my opinions to benefit from them, just take them into account."
Good luck. It sounds like a well-thought-out system, which could support a fascinating story.
Well, your first point is a good one. The earth ability is more centered along the lines of things like carving, woodwork, masonry, stuff like that.
The air ability is more along making machines like clocks, elevators, giant fans that keep a huge city afloat in a raging wind storm. ect.
Keep in mind that these although these are traditional elements, I am not keeping the traditional uses. With the element life, it is not necessarily used for bringing people to life. That is a VERY difficult art and very few have the power to create and restore someone's lifeblood. Life is mostly used for things like contructs. Air works so well with life because the ability to make machines works so well with the ability to bring these machines to consciousness.
As for fire, it is associated with detecting lies because someone who is gifted with reading and altering temperatures can detect the subtle temp. changes in someone who is not telling the truth
The reason it is not associated with aggresiveness is because the physical elements all lend themselves to talents. It is the spiritual elements that lend themselves to traits.
The element of water allows someone to alter state. That means, changing the state from solid, to liquid, to vapor, stuff like that. It is the ability to detect changes in this that makes it invaluable to predicting the weather. It works well with light because light is the intention of healing. The ability to alter state works best with healing.
Ahh, darkness, I could have done a much better job explaining that. The element of darkness can only be used when intending to cause harm or weakening others. That doesn't mean that they are inclined to do so. They are more inclined to servitude. Sometimes like a mercenary, sometimes like an advisor, things like that. Just because someone uses magic with the intention of harming doesn't mean they are a bad person, just like someone using a sword to harm someone does not mean he is a bad person. It is the reason that makes them good or bad.
As for death, I probably could have worded that one better as well. Noble would be the proper word I think.
Anyway, the feedback is much appreciated.
Thankyou muchly
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