I think any workable magic system has to have: A cost A consequence Limits So for example, Tolkein's magic was limited--it couldn't come from humans. The "wizards" were maiar (minor religious figures, like angels). The elves and dwarfs (which Tolkein deliberately misspelled "dwarves") could use minor magic, but it was part of who and what they were, and interestingly the elves said they didn't really understand what humans meant by "magic". It also had costs, which is why Frodo couldn't walk around with his ring on all the time. It made him invisible to mortals but it also revealed him to his supernatural enemies. And it had consequences. The ring corrupted the wearer. I think it helps to think in terms of the source of this magical power. Does it come from semi-religious figures? Do you trade your soul to an afreet or something in return for sorcery? Do you have to capture and enslave a spirit of some kind? Or does it come from some unintelligent source, like a primal source of energy? If so, how is it captured and controlled and channelled? Or is the caster drawing on their own life force? Does using magic age them, or shorten their lifespan? Can a mage really see the future? Because if so, there's no free will...
Yes weasel thankyou so much, So there it is the perfect excersize guys get your magic writings together and look at the three rules Weasel has written give us you explantations in the thread I would love to see what you come up with
my inpression, in a fantasy world there are no rules but which you, as the writer create. just because tolkein had his rules in LOTR dosent mean you have to follow the same rules as he made up. for instance, in what im writing, everybody has magic, some are just beter than other's those who try harder and wanna succeed will. for instance look at the real world. when we are born unless there is a mental defect, who knows what we can become, some of us wanna excell and become brain trauma surgeons, and live the good life, and other's are happy working at mcdonalds. Its the same way though, the more you advance the harder it gets, so to weild the really powerful magic, there's only a few or actually have the desire to work that hard to obtain it. here's by answer to the 3 questions. 1. the cost is time and devotion, how much of yourself do you want to invest. 2. there are no consequences, its something that we all are born with, some just excell at it. 3. the limit is yourself, how far do you wanna take it there you have my answer jim
One consideration you might consider is an approach borrowed from hard science. In order to cause an effect, energy must be drawn from some source. Larry Niven, best known as a writer of science fiction founded on hard science, wrote a few short stories based on magic coming from a depletable natural resource called mana. Once the mana was depleted in a region, it was gone forever. The more powerful the magic, the greater the quantity of mana that was consumed. By the time of those stories, many areas had already become magical "dead zones", and of course in the present day, mana has all but disappeared from the planet. The Warlock of Niven's stories discovered this terrible truth, and invented a magical device of last resort - a metal disc set to spin faster and faster by magic, and held together against flying apart using more magic. the device would deplete the local mana within a matter of minutes, and would be a desperate means of defeating the most terrible of magical enemies. Treating magic as a depletable resource also makes an excellent metaphor for real world environmental issues.
This is a theory I've been working on for some time, and I'm not giving the complete version, but I thought I'd share. It's based off a much more mental process than some, and focuses almost solely on the individual, instead of surrounding circumstances: There are three aspects to life and existence, all interrelated. They are: the Physical, the Spiritual, and the Magical. The Physical is necessary for both existence and life. The Spiritual is necessary for life, but not existence. The Magical is, theoretically, necessary for existence, but not for life. It should be noted that this does not apply to plants, which lack souls. It does, however, apply to animals. The Physical is the Body of a being, and it houses both the Spiritual and the Magical. Being the container, the Physical is also the limiter, and the Spiritual and Magical can only act within the boundaries of the Physical. As the Physical develops in a being, the limitations of the Spiritual and Magical flex and change to fit their new environments. At the end of puberty, when the Physical has stopped growth, the Spiritual and Magical also stop. An especially strong Physical aspect will limit the extent to which the Spiritual and Magical develop. The job of the Physical is to control, and a powerful Physical will control too much. Animals have stronger Physicals than humans (this does not necessarily include animals with magical qualities), and thus have weaker Spirituals and Magicals. The Spiritual acts as the consciousness of a being, the Soul. Within the Physical, it conducts the thought and emotions of a being, as well as responsiveness to the outside world. The limitations of the Physical keep the Spiritual from expanding beyond a single being. Thus, the Spiritual aspect of one being cannot interact directly with another being, but must act through the Physical. Also, the limitations of the Physical keep the Spiritual from expanding into the past and future, ensure that it remains grounded in the present and focused on the present. If the Spiritual is removed, the Physical will continue to exist, but be incapable of communication, thought, and usually – though not exclusively – movement. The Magical remains the most elusive of the three to investigate, because it is responsible for existence. Experiments with an over abundance of the Magical can be observed, but a lack of the Magical or the removal of the Magical is nearly impossible to explore. The Magical ensures the working of the Physical, it is magic that interconnects tissues and the like within a Body and keeps them functioning. Magic also has the greatest fluctuation of intensity within a being; it can be hardly present or present in an extreme amount. Very little magic is required for existence, because magic is, in essence, a very powerful form of energy. Too much magic destroys the physical, consuming it until nothing remains but the Magical, which, lacking a vessel, dissolves into the atmosphere. Humans generally have enough of the Magical to function, though occasionally they develop a larger amount, and have a large reserve of energy at their fingertips which they can learn to manipulate. Death is generally thought to be what happens when the Magical ceases to exist, whether through a malfunction or execution of the Physical. Because the destruction of the Physical is permanent, no evidence exists to illustrate what happens to the Magical after death, but many theories, usually religious, have formed on the idea of “life” after death. Another theory exists that stipulates that with the death of the Physical, the Magical does what it would were it to have destroyed the Physical itself – disperse into the atmosphere. Edit: Also thought I'd add that when you have too much of the Spiritual, that's when you get Seers and teh like, who have telepathy, and can see into the future or the past. It is, natuarlly, a skill that must be refined. People can't just realize they have more of one of these aspects and then suddenly be amazing. They have to learn to train and bend their mind to their own will, and then exercise the power they have. Remember: most functions of the body are involuntary (like breathing, or thought), and not something we control of our own accord.
