Magic System in developement

[Alfa]

So, dear Shard, I am developing a magic system for something that I try to write. I wish to improve it, and invite anybody to criticize it as much as they want. Advice is also sought.

WARNING: A lot of text

First and foremost, the world for which I am creating the system is a world not unlike the Earth (with several notable exceptions) and is inhabited by humans. There are no other "races" (E.G. Dwarves, Elves, Parshendi) , nor are there confirmed gods (like Odium or Illuvatar).

The raw types of magic a person can use are genetically encoded, together with their strength. It would go too much into detail, but with this a lot of fun things might be possible. I plan to keep track of the magical DNA of the characters as I write, therefore knowing their abilities, as well as the abilities of potential children/parents. Because what I write is centered on a country where clan and family matter a lot, it is also relevant in medium-term, not just worldbuilding-long-term.

The raw types of magic include (spoilered):

Spoiler

-energy increase (light, heat)
-energy decrease (cold, darkness)
-telekinesis
-autokinesis (magically move your own body)
-enstrengthment (magical protection of your own body, you can for example strenghten your bones so they don't break)
-force manipulation (moving, bending and otherwise changing vectors of applied force, be it gravity, a magnetic field or otherwise) [note: this type is slightly problematic]
-force projection (creating some kind of forcefield, that behaves like matery - cool for creating objects when you don't have the right tool)
-matery manipulation (change molecules, loosen molecular cohesion, therefore making iron soft as butter without making it hot, etc.)
-hypnosis (working directly with some other's mind)

There might be others, the system is not finished here. Some may be mutually exclusice, some may be more common than others.

So far, so good. Now, all magic users face a certain problem: it's incredibly difficult to make magics work. You need to watch for every single aspect while "magicking", for example if you want a fireball thrown, you need to focus on creating the necessary heat (fast enough!), containing the heat in the right place, applying the necessary force to throw it, and watch for it to stay in its state till it reaches its destination. Its not impossible, just difficult and potentially life-threatening.

Luckily, some clever people developed a way around it. it doesn't have a fancy name yet, as of now I am just calling it what it basically is - Programms. Programms are...well, they make it easier to use certain magics, because they take care of some factors, In the fireball-example above, you'll just have to give the programm the command "fireball casted on that bad guy there" and Whoosh...! one bad guy less. Or something. The programm took care of all the factors, you just had to give a precise command where you want the fireball headed.

Of course, there is a magnitude of different programms. Some are more flexible (EG allowing you a lot of fireballs of different magnitude, heat level, shape and color, if you like it), some are very specified (you just have to think "Fireball", and there it comes, right of your left hand, in a straight line). It depends on the task at hand what kind of programm you want to use - do you want speed, precision, flexibility, reliability...?

A programm does not make you an expert. Just having a programm that allows you to throw fireballs does not make you into a battle-mage. No more than a rifle makes you a marksmen. Training is necessary.

How the programms are made I don't know yet. Neither I do know how one "installs" a programm he or she obtained in any way.

Obtaining, on the other hand, is relatively easy. Most programms are sold by programming  individuals or companies - some of which amassed incredible wealth with this business. Some programms are given from organisations to members or from governments to agents or other people working for it. Some are a kind of "freeware".

Costs:

Like everything, magic comes at a cost. It does not matter if you use programms, or do it yourself, everything you have to do is processed ion your brain. And while the brain is incredibly good at subconciously calculating stuff, it still has limits. This limits take many appearances - usually it starts with a headache, proceeds over involuntary movements of your limbs, ends with cramps. OK, it's the point at which any sane person would stop. Heavier cases include insults, epilepsy, brain death, shizophrenia, apathy and any number of other psychic conditions.

In some cases you don't even have to be magicking a lot. A careless error in a programm, a contradicting command, not enough failsafes - and you'll find yourself in a mental clinic faster than you had thought possible. Hopefully you'll recover soon enough to sue the company you obtained the programm from.

/longnovel; YOU are invited to criticize it.

[Oversleep]

Those programs you speak of are what the fantasy genre calls spells ;P

Anyway, check this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowersAsPrograms

 

[Alfa]

1 hour ago, Oversleep said:

Those programs you speak of are what the fantasy genre calls spells ;P

Well, they are and just as much they are not. Like in most cases a spell is a very, very specific aplication ("Saruman, your staff is broken!"; "Avada Kedavra!"), in the above mentioned it is not necessary the case. Such things are very specific, "uncreative" programms with simple input and output limited in scope. To make it clear - that are not necessarily bad programms, because they work fast and don't need much understanding.

On the other hand, it would be difficult to raise a castle (brick by brick) with one spell ("Apparturum Castellum!")- actually, I saw that a castle was raised from nothing (or something similar) several times in fantasy, and never, ever was it done by "spell" - most times the caster was mysteriously silent, in other cases the process was done step by step. A reason for that might that it seems to strange that there is a specific spell for the creation of one specific castle.

So to say, a sufficiently flexible programm does not give you one "spell", but millions. What you do depends more on your creativity than on the programm. There might be no specific application for a specific task (like killing people) in a programm (eg a programm to make water levitate) - but it still can be used for it (just put it around their heads). Most tasks can be accomplished not by one, but by dozens of different programms, differently used

Last, and also important, I think that you are generally right; I thought about the term "spells" before, but threw it away because it had a far too specific connotation.

Thanks for the link. Some things are relatively similat to what I thought, though I see a lot of differences.