Hallucination-Based Magic System

[skaa he/him]

I came up with a rather crazy magic system last year. Now, I'm not a writer by profession, but I do have some plot ideas for a few stories that incorporate this magic system. It will probably take a while before I find the time to write them, though. I reckon I might as well describe the magic system here so I can get feedback on what needs improving.

Anyway, here's my idea: Imagine a chemical substance that induces magical ability in a person. A person might, for example, drink a pill containing this substance and then suddenly be able to blast energy beams from his eyes, Cyclops-style, for as long as the substance is in his bloodstream.

But here's the catch: the only people affected by this magic are those that have ingested that substance as well. In other words, our Cyclops-wannabe can only hurt other magic users. In fact, only magic users could see his energy blasts. For the rest of humanity, he's just a crazy person who thinks he can shoot invisible death rays with his eyes.

The idea is basically a kind of magic that is almost indistinguishable from hallucinations. This obviously limits the kind of powers one can have. For example, telekinetic powers wouldn't work on real world objects (though they would work on magical artifacts... which would be invisible to normal people). And transforming into a Hulk-like giant will not help someone lift real world boulders, or even stop real world bullets.

So, why would someone want this kind of magic? Well, it depends on what you get, really. There are certain passive psychic powers that would be useful in the real world. These include mind-reading, clairvoyance, X-ray vision, super intelligence, etc. If you received a more aggressive kind of power (e.g. energy blasts), you could use that to fight those pesky psychics who would be vulnerable to your magic attacks.

Which leads us to the topic of magical injury. In this system, a magic attack can be painful even if it doesn't lead to a physical wound. If the attack is powerful enough (or if it hits a critical area), it would produce an effect similar to drug overdose. This will usually kill the victim, depending on how much of the magic drug is still in his bloodstream.

As you can see, I still don't have a name for this magic substance. I'd like to hear your suggestions. I came up with "lunaric acid", but I don't think that sounds cool enough. Thoughts?

Edit: Here's some more stuff from my notes regarding this magic system:

• The magic substance is plant based. I don't have a name for the plant, either. I imagine it as an actual real world plant that went extinct in our universe but was somehow saved from extinction in the parallel alternate universe where the stories would be set.
• The magical "hallucinations" are caused by the substance's interaction with the pineal gland, which is referred to as "the third eye" by mystics IRL.
• If a woman ingests the magic substance at a certain point during pregnancy, her offspring's body will be able to synthesize the magic substance on its own, meaning the child will always be in a magical state. This permanent magic can only be inherited from a female magic user.
• A person can only have one magic power... unless his original power allows him to steal other people's powers.
• The majority of human beings would have powers that are not obvious or are not easy to learn. This fact helps in hiding the existence of magic from the rest of the world.
• Some powers would allow the user to leave his body. He would still be tangible to other magic users, but he'd be like an invisible ghost to everyone else. Freed from the constraints of the physical world, his magical strength would increase, but his physical body would fall into a coma until he returns.

Edited June 2, 2013 by skaa

[Haradion Drogon]

Sounds awesome. I can't offer much advice, but here a few questions that might help you refine the world in which the magic takes place.

 

I love the system by the way.

Does the government know about this?

Is there a way to see the magic, without developing powers? Eyedrops of a diluted chemical?

 

What would happen if there was a massive leak of this chemical in a populated area?

Would a person with X-ray vision, only be able to through magical objects, and magically reinforced walls? Would they see through magic users, and not non-magic users?

How do enchanted objects get "Enchanted" in the first place?

Why does the magic not occur naturally? Are there animals that eat the plant that also display magical powers?

How is development of this chemical take place? I presume it is a secret, but someone must have developed the chemical.

 

A magically born child seems as though he is overpowered compared to the others. Unless this is a plot point - ie the villain is a superpowerful version - there needs to a be a reason limiting it. Perhapes the drug also causes deformities or genetic diseases in offspring?

Or perhapes they are addicted to the serum, and require regular does of it - forcing them to regulally use their powers...

 

Just some thoughts! I love the concept and you should write it!

Suggested Title: "Visions"

 

[skaa he/him]

Thanks, Haradion! Let me see if I can answer your questions.
 
 

Does the government know about this?

 
A few magic users would have political ambitions and would eventually become the government in some countries. I want to place the first story somewhere in the 19th century to allow for some pretty big changes to modern history (hint: there's gonna be more empires in that alternate universe). The existence of magic will become publicly known eventually, but I don't plan to make that happen until around the 21st century in-universe.
 
 

Is there a way to see the magic, without developing powers? Eyedrops of a diluted chemical?

 
Interesting idea! I haven't decided yet, but I don't see why this can't work.
 
 

What would happen if there was a massive leak of this chemical in a populated area?

 
That depends on the powers that would manifest. It could range from mild confusion (if everyone developed non-flashy, relatively harmless powers) to the possible death of millions. I haven't decided on the lethal dose of the chemical, but that would also be a factor.

 

 

Would a person with X-ray vision, only be able to through magical objects, and magically reinforced walls? Would they see through magic users, and not non-magic users?

How do enchanted objects get "Enchanted" in the first place?

 

The character with X-ray vision that I have in mind can see through any physical object. Brain scans would show that he's just hallucinating, except the hallucination accurately reflects what really is inside/behind the target object. I suppose it's also possible to gain the power to see through magical/enchanted artifacts, though I'd consider that to be a separate power.

 

Enchanted objects are made from some sort of "spirit-material" that are only visible and tangible to magic users. Some people would have the power to extract this material from some source (I haven't decided yet; moon rocks? meteorites? any normal matter?). Spell-casters (a rare and powerful breed of magic users) could then enchant the raw material to form artifacts.

 

 

Why does the magic not occur naturally? Are there animals that eat the plant that also display magical powers?

How is development of this chemical take place? I presume it is a secret, but someone must have developed the chemical.

 

The animal's pineal gland would need to have the right physiology to properly react to the chemical. It's an evolved trait, but yeah, there are a few non-human species that can actually benefit from the plant (Hint: wear armor before giving the plant to certain birds  ). Of course, you'll have to be a magic user to see the effects.

 

I'm still developing an in-universe history for the magic plant, but I imagine that it evolved naturally, and that it helped certain animals gain an evolutionary advantage over their competitors. At some point, the first human civilization decided that magic was far too dangerous to society, and so it hunted down all known magic users and destroyed their crops. A few seeds were saved and kept hidden by rebels, who eventually migrated to another land. Eventually, even those people decided to stop using the plant, teaching their children that it was sacred, and that eating it was taboo. And so it would take a few thousand years before the effects of the plant would be rediscovered by a certain European colonizer...

 

 

A magically born child seems as though he is overpowered compared to the others. Unless this is a plot point - ie the villain is a superpowerful version - there needs to a be a reason limiting it. Perhapes the drug also causes deformities or genetic diseases in offspring?

Or perhapes they are addicted to the serum, and require regular does of it - forcing them to regulally use their powers...

 

Well, there are two limiting factors I can think of. The first is the timing. There is only a small window of opportunity during the development of the fetus wherein the chemical could properly trigger the magical synthesis gene. Secondly, a fetus that gains a dangerous power would very likely kill himself by accident while still in the womb. The only ones who'd survive are those with relatively benign powers, or those who are very, very lucky.

 

You guessed it right: I'm going to use this feature to produce a particularly nasty supervillain.

Edited June 2, 2013 by skaa

[Haradion Drogon]

This sounds good - I would definatley read this if it was published. It has caught my imagination.

[Kadrok she/her]

One thing I'd highly recommend is having a bunch of 'junk powers', abilities which serve little or no useful purpose... if we're going with an evolutionary background to this thing in the sense that the system has arisen by chance... that is, I would think that there would be far more "useless quirks" than "useful quirks" emerging in a chaotic system like this. Though this of course depends on what determines what powers people get... is it genetic (ie, someone is genetically predisposed to developing telepathy under the influence of "Chemical X" or whatever you're calling it) or is it caused in some way by their state when they were first exposed? And is this state a mental state (say, they're cooking meat when they are accidentally exposed, so their mind is on the fire... thereafter when they use the chemical they can burn magically attuned things) or a physical state (say, they're on fire because their tenament is burning down when they are accidentally exposed... thereafter when they use the chemical they can burn magically attuned things). It either case, randomly assigned abilities, or abilities assigned by a context, I would think there would be a certain amount of junk abilities (or Gnats... that seems an appropriate analogy).

[andyk he/him]

Really interesting idea. And I like that you're talking about using this for stories in different time periods. I think it would be cool to see how this magic fitted in with different historical periods and parts of the world, and with different attitudes to madness and hallucination in those different settings. Maybe the plant didn't grow well in aboriginal Australia, but what little they could get was used for dream walking, rather than being stamped on by the authorities. Maybe some of the outbreaks of madness we now attribute to ergot poisoning, and which were historically attributed to all kinds of things, were actually this drug and powers going awry. All those legends of vampires, werewolves and fey in the forest? Clearly folks with magic powers.

 

Something else that occurred to me - how does this power affect people who suffer hallucinations for other reasons? Can they tap into the magic space and be affected by it? Or maybe they're passive observers, unaffected and unable to affect magic battles but able to bear witness?

 

Even if other hallucinations are totally separate, I think that there's a great theme to be explored around madness, magic and the way the two have been treated over time.

[skaa he/him]

One thing I'd highly recommend is having a bunch of 'junk powers', abilities which serve little or no useful purpose.

Yeah, there will be a high probability of getting a mostly useless power. Also, to make it more interesting, I'll make dangerous powers (powers that have a high chance of killing their users) about as probable as harmless/useless powers.

I still haven't decided on what determines the kind of power a person will have (aside from narrativium, of course). It's probably going to be a semi-genetic thing, where offspring of magic users will have similar but non-identical powers.

 

Maybe the plant didn't grow well in aboriginal Australia, but what little they could get was used for dream walking, rather than being stamped on by the authorities.

As a matter of fact, I did end up reading a bit about aboriginal beliefs while building the world history for my story. You see, the story will actually begin in Australia.

Even if other hallucinations are totally separate, I think that there's a great theme to be explored around madness, magic and the way the two have been treated over time.

The idea for this magic system came from a question that popped in my head while reading Wikipedia articles about the history of Science. What do we call beliefs that were originally based on superstition but were later proven by scientific experimentation? What if a person firmly held to a wild idea that he had no rational explanation for, but just so happened to be true? Should we not call him irrational and possibly insane, regardless of the accuracy of his belief? Or should we vindicate him as a bearer of truth? This led to the idea of "true delusions", "accurate hallucinations," and a magic system that was indistinguishable from madness. Of course, the non-magical kind of madness will still exist. A "normal" lunatic won't be able to see magic, though come to think of it, it might be fun to give magic powers to someone who was already mad.

Edited June 5, 2013 by skaa

[Kadrok she/her]

Yeah, there will be a high probability of getting a mostly useless power. Also, to make it more interesting, I'll make dangerous powers (powers that have a high chance of killing their users) about as probable as harmless/useless powers.

This pleases me

 

 

As a matter of fact, I did end up reading a bit about aboriginal beliefs while building the world history for my story. You see, the story will actually begin in Australia.

I'm Australian! I identify with your characters already!

[Observer]

What if you had a person who could only partially interact with the magical world? Like a scar wratih from Everlost, with only a few sensary organs and maybe a finger inside? And if it were possible to make somebody like that, then could you assassinate people with ease by just bringing in a few vitals? Meh, already easy enough to spike a drink and then laser them to death anyways, but still a cool idea.

 

What would it look like if I started telekinatically lifting around magical people? Would nonmagics be able to see that happening?

[skaa he/him]

What if you had a person who could only partially interact with the magical world? Like a scar wratih from Everlost, with only a few sensary organs and maybe a finger inside?

The magic drug (Gaaah! I still can't think of a cool name for it!) works by interacting with the person's pineal gland, which would then start giving "false" signals to the rest of the body. If an assassin wanted his target not to see the magic but still be affected by it, he'd have to prevent the target's visual cortex from receiving magic-related signals.

I suppose someone could have the power to make other magic users lose their visual connection to the magic world. That should work. I'll put that in my notes and see what I can do with it later. Thanks!

What would it look like if I started telekinatically lifting around magical people? Would nonmagics be able to see that happening?

You can't telekinetically lift physical bodies in the air, not even those of other magic users. That's the limitation of the magic system. Nonmagics will only ever see magic users do statistically impossible things (e.g. predict the future), not physically impossible things.

If nonmagics see a person die after you make a stabbing motion ten meters away (because you had a magic sword that could change its length), they could examine the body and conclude that the person died because the drug did something bad to him, not because of anything you did. They'd just call your stabbing motion a coincidence, and your experience a hallucination.

There could be a power to telekinetically lift spirit beings around, but nonmagics won't see them anyway.

Edited June 10, 2013 by skaa

[Haradion Drogon]

Chemical formula:

1,1,Dimethyl-3-occultzene-4-ol.

 

Occulzene

for short. Fusion of "Occult" and homologous "-zene", with a bit of organic chemistry chucked in for good measure  Garunteed to irritate any chemist, but it might do for a novel?

[Tarontos he/him]

Random questions: are there any purely magical beings, people who have not taken the drug do not interact with magic, people who have taken the drug interact with magic but still have a physical existence. Is there a type of creature that just walks around the magical world, maybe if some one overdosed on their first fix or something of the like.

 

can some one using magic laser eyes burn up the magic plant. 

 

can someone give the drug to animals, or does it take a certain brain capacity to use it.

 

is there random magic debris every where that can block magic users mobility.

[skaa he/him]

Random questions: are there any purely magical beings, people who have not taken the drug do not interact with magic, people who have taken the drug interact with magic but still have a physical existence. Is there a type of creature that just walks around the magical world, maybe if some one overdosed on their first fix or something of the like.

 

There are powers that allow humans to leave their physical bodies and become, as you say, purely magical beings (I call them spirit beings). Most of these people will authomatically return to their bodies once they run out of magic.

 

I do have one character that is able to subvert this limitation. He can create clones of himself, all of which would be spirit beings and could live on even when the main body runs out of magic.

 

can some one using magic laser eyes burn up the magic plant. 

 

No, that's not possible. The substance needs to undergo a chemical reaction before the magic happens, so to speak. This chemical reaction only naturally happens in the brain, so the plants themselves are immune from magical attacks.

 

 

can someone give the drug to animals, or does it take a certain brain capacity to use it.

 

Some animals can use it. I haven't thought of a limit yet, but it should work even for birds.

 

 

is there random magic debris every where that can block magic users mobility.

 

Well, I imagine there would be one or two ruins of ancient cities with a good amount of magical debris. Magical walls in this world only act completely solid for spirit beings, and are otherwise semi-permeable to normal magic users (and are, of course, completely permeable to non-magics), so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Edited June 18, 2013 by skaa

[Observer]

And, in line with the rest of the magic, it's only permeable enough to make walking through it a little tough, but not enough to climb on top of and "float".

 

Is it a new power every time, or does the plant always affect you the same way each time?

[skaa he/him]

Is it a new power every time, or does the plant always affect you the same way each time?

 

It's the same basic power every time. I might decide to include powers that evolve (kind of like secondary mutations in X-Men).

[Observer]

The power to have a different power every time. Hehe.

 

I call dibs on the power to burst out in unhearable, magical song. Not siren song, way too useful and likely to appear. Just the normal kind.