Magic systems under contruction.

[M_thraun]

Working on a fantasy world building project and wanted to come up with sanderson-esque magic. So far I have two systems, though I wanted three I decided no to overreach my self until i had at least one off the ground. I want the magic in this world to have observable, repeatable effects but also be not fully understood and constantly researched like a science. It plays a role in everything from combat, to agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, transportation, etc. It also is not limited to humans as certain species of flora and fauna have evolved to use it.

Transference: Takes one of nine attributes from a non-living object and transfers it.

Attributes: weight, durability, flexibility, rigidity, texture, opaqueness, conduction, vibration, reflection.

Materials: stone, metal, glass, cloth, wood, leather. Soft materials are more difficult to transfer between objects. Leather is hardest to work(maybe) with while wood is easiest (because plants naturally use it?)

Humans are not inherently able to use transference, it shows up naturally within certain types of flora. In order to use this magic, you must drink a concoction from a plant with the specific attribute ability. Tolerance is specific to individuals and those who do not have it will vomit back the concoction. Most people only tolerate one or two specific types. While anyone could potentially use Transference, it nonetheless requires a skill to be good at. Depending upon the size and type of material, a certain amount of the mixture will be consumed. (not sure if it requires inscribing runes on object or just focused will power)

The object that has been transferred from can only be used once, nor can it be transferred upon. Objects can receive multiple transfers but risk losing all transfers everytime it is done. If destroyed, the object that has gained the attribute will lose it. (I might put a time limit the how long transfers last, not sure if effect is reversible or oneshot)

With this system I took the idea enchanting objects and gave it more restrictions to what could be done. It's also the magic system that does not require inherent gift and is shared by plants.

 

Channeling: inherent gift, also used by some flora. Within a certain area one can diminish or enhance a certain trait (Not sure what to call them). One does this by "compressing" the trait into themselves or "expanding" it out with an affect upon the user. (not sure if the cost should come from calories or causing an inverse effect upon Channeler. Im leaning heavily towards latter)

Traits:

-Distance: can compress 500 feet into ten and vice versa. When compressing one's speed decreases, almost to the point of rigor if the distance is great enough, when expanding one becomes faster but the mind does not keep up, so if too much is expanded you can lose balance/coordination as your body is hyper-reacting before the mind can process what to do. (I reason for this that because one is drawing the distance into themselves that they are compounding the amount of distance they must move to go through the same amount of space and when expelling it they are compunding the amount they actually move within the same space. Doesn't make too much sense but that's my rationale. I also did not want to necessarily gain superspeed like the flash when they expand. On can use the increased speed to an advantage but it takes practice since your movement isn't synced to your reaction time).

-Weight: makeing things heavier/lighter in an area. Inversely affects Channeler, extra weight is useful when holding something down or blocking a door but the channeler can suffer a stroke or heart attack if their weight increases too much, like wise one can expand weight to let themselves float but risk blowing away or knocked around. (Cannot fly but can be useful for jumps if precise enough to keep localized around one's self.)

-Temperature: heat or cold in an area with inverse effects upon user. One cannot ignite themselves/others or freeze them solid since the amount of effort needed would could hypothermia or heatstroke before it got to that. (Pretty simple heat and cold. I figure these would be cheaper in deserts/cold places than fireplaces or trying to fan oneself, at least in large gatherings or taverns.)

-Light: Affects the amount of ambient light in an area. Difficulty is based on level of light/time of day. One's own vision is affected inversely. (For example when facing a group of opponents one can memorize where they are standing, expand the light to blinding levels, which makes you inversely blind as well but a skilled user will work around the limitation. One could also raise the light area for travelers at night substitute their decreased vision with glasses)

-Sound: Inversely affects user's hearing. (Like light, this can be used for espionage/combat purposes, or to increase the volume of a band at a large banquet)

-Smell: Works similarly to light/sound. (The last one I added and not the most exciting, though can prove useful if one has enough precision to create an area around themselves when walking through a smelly area or could be used at dinners to enhance aroma of food.)

The amount of focus and cost is affected by height, distance, obstacles within the area(higher cost to push around them) and amount of a trait in the area (only really applies to the sense based ones.) The easiest way is to expand outward from the channeler, always beginning teen feet from the caster, with the ground acting as a natural barrier, though skilled people can shape the area of effect or bring it closer than ten feet.

Channelers can usually only affect one to three traits, four is considered savant like. One cannot expand and compress a trait even if they can Channel other traits. Trait Channeling cannot be stacked. If another Channeler affects the same area as you, even inversely, then the affect is dispelled.

(My biggest problem is how light works. Do the effects stay localized to the area or would extra light brighten up the surrounding space. Also how would it look to an outsider? Like a cone of brightness/darkness? I was thinking an area being affected would have transparent shimmer or just not be noticeable.)

(With this magic system I wanted to go for something as original and different from D&D style magic as I could)

 

Thats all I have so far for these systems. I'm still playing around with ideas. I did have a though for a third magic system, one exclusive to humans, that played around with memory, electricity, combustion, and the flow of liquid among other things but I don't really have enough to slap together.

In a later post I want to post about some of the plants and animals that use magic in this world and how they operate differently from humans.

[Mr. Staccato]

Transference is a great idea - it lays down the image of a culture/society of mercantile magic. A few things to consider though. Flexibility and rigidity are on opposing ends of the same spectrum because they both refer to the quality and feel of the material. I suggest malleability, or the quality that refers to just how easy or hard it is to mold or change an object's shape. Durability comes close to both but I concede that something can be hard but brittle and something can be soft but nigh impossible to break.

Opaqueness too and reflectivity, since they both refer to how light interacts with an object. I suggest something to encompass everything related to light like IDK maybe clarity? This will include opacity, reflectivity, transparency, transluscensy, absorption, and iridescence.

Oh and what exactly is conduction and vibration? I can't give you advice on this until I know more.

If you're decided on 9 attributes, then I suggest the following as replacement: Reactivity (the chemical nature of an object - although even as I write this I realize it might get too sciensey haha). Form also (get something to appear as something else, size issues not withstanding - the object that gains this attribute though only looks like the attribute imparted to it but in reality its still the same object) and utility (a little tricky, basically you borrow the function of an object and give it to something else - like you take the function of a hammer and put it to a pen; the hammer is basically useless when it comes to striking down the nails but the pen, impossibly enough, becomes good at it).

If those are too much then you can do with state (solid, liquid, gas...), er, radioactivity, maybe, and um, that's all I guess.

Have reservations with channeling though. Anyway, great work, keep it up!

Edited February 28, 2017 by Mr. Staccato

[M_thraun]

Your right about malleability, rigidity/flexibility are on a spectrum so it makes sense to count them as one attribute.

the concept of Clarity is really cool, have all traits relating to light, and opens quite a few uses in items.

Vibration basically refers to how much noise an object creates, such that a soft quilt could make the same amount of noise as a hollow steel pipe if the trait was applied to it, and vice versa. Conduction has to do with temperature being transferred through the object, say being able to hold metal pan over a fire without burning yourself.

Not sure what a good example of reactivity would be relating to this, but utility and form sound really awesome. I would have them be them require the most skill to pull off, becoming harder to transfer the less similar two objects are. In theory you could make a small hut look like a mansion or wield a pillow like a greatsword but the actual talent to do that is impossible for most people.

I had decided that I want soft materials to be harder to transfer that harder ones and have liquids/gases be impossible for humans. Plants on the other hand...

Channeling is just my attempt to get really weird with a magic system, mostly by throwing stuff against a wall to see what sticks.

Thanks for the feedback and comments!