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The Power Keepers (an outline)


Steeldancer

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So for a long time I have been developing developing a large universe in my head. It's basic elemental magic, with 12 basic powers. The premise is based on characters who essentially have god level powers in their respective elements. I never plan on writing it, but I do like thinking in it. The magic is really cool, but I love the idea of basically humanizing these immensely powerful beings is really soothing for my psyche lol. I call them the Power Keepers. Dragons and their ilk are featured. If you want I'll share more about it. 

Ok you do then lol. Here we go.

Magic is a form of energy that can be essentially coded by a person with a strong enough aura. Aura, or life force, can have 12 different types, which form the various ways a mage can interact with magic. Children are born with either a pure aura, which tends to be powerful, or a somewhat mixed aura, of which the dominant power will be trained. The elements are Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Electromagnetic force, Life force, Kinetics, Gravity, Space-Time, Magic (Sorcery), Quantum, and Entropy. Powerful kids are picked up young to teach them how to wisely use their powers. 

Mages often learn specialization within their element, for example focusing on using ice within the Water element. Magic can be used in a myriad of ways, and each element has many paths of mastery and usage. Mages often create their own magical weapons, or pick up ancient weapons from more powerful mages. Spells can be imbued into objects with the proper preparation.

There are many mages in The galaxy. But at any one time, the 12 most powerful mages, one for each respective element, form the Power Keepers. They keep a watch on the galaxy, not interfering in small events but rather in events that threaten the galaxy and the universe at large. They take one or two main apprentices, who are the next most powerful mages. Given how things in the universe go, a powerkeeper will usually die when an upcoming mage is more powerful and skilled, as the universe no longer needs them. The group also trains less powerful students, who learn to use their powers and then are sent back to their homes to be heroes, or whatever they choose to be. 

But the universe is under attack from a enemy so powerful the universe cannot stop it without help. So, following the law of complete balance in the universe, the universe creates a Great Mage, the single most powerful and skilled mage in their element. There will only ever be 12 in the history of the universe, and when they die, they ascend to a higher dimension to join the battle against the Enemy, and await the rest of the great mages to finally stop the Enemy from chewing its way through the dimensions. 

The story begins on earth with a blossoming water mage (who is basically me. I developed this story when I was feeling fairly powerless in elementary school) who discovers the nefarious Shadow, who has been keeping mages from becoming mages for the past 2000 years. He eventually becomes the dragon warrior (which is exactly what it sounds like. Really cool), is trained by the Tarok-Bajir (the best swordsman species in the galaxy. They have blades coming out of their elbows), and in fighting the Shadow rediscovers the purpose of the great mages, of which he is the Great Water Mage. He refounds the powerkeepers.

I also have the story of the final battle with the enemy, the magical society known as the 12 cities set up after the Enemy, the dragon civil wars, and a powerkeeper apprentice who chooses to find his own path in Sorcery (currently working on this one right now, he is the Rogue Mage.) As well as the story of the Celestial dragons. I plan on next working out an Electro mage, to help thrash out their powers.

If I were to ever write it, I might start with the Water Mage story, or I might start with the Rogue Mage or the guardians of the 12 cities. Simply because those 2 stories are less over powered. in fact, the guardians of the cities are some of my favorite characters. They wield the ancient weapons of the Great Mages, and guard 12 beautiful cities on 12 planets, each built around a particular element (imagine elantris, a lot bigger, one elantris per element).

Now I am perfectly aware that this magic system breaks sanderson laws of magic, in that the limitations are more interesting than the Powers. But I'm playing with that theory and saying ok. What if there ARE no limitations? What kind of enemy would be worthy of such a hero? What would be their role? So the Water Mage is unusual in his time of how he uses his power for more offensive reasons, rather than the scholarly reasons mages use it for typically. 

There is also eventually a technological empire of non-mages where they have an artificial planet called Infinitasius, which is NOT a death star. They are the same timeline as the 12 cities.

links to various things: entropyan Unfair CompetitionThe 12 CitiesThe Rogue MageDragon Warrior

Edited by Flash
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30 minutes ago, The Flash said:

So for a long time I have been developing developing a large universe in my head. It's basic elemental magic, with 12 basic powers. The premise is based on characters who essentially have god level powers in their respective elements. I never plan on writing it, but I do like thinking in it. The magic is really cool, but I love the idea of basically humanizing these immensely powerful beings is really soothing for my psyche lol. I call them the Power Keepers. Dragons and their ilk are featured. If you want I'll share more about it. 

You can't just stop their, TELL US!!!!!!!

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16 hours ago, Idealistic Mistborn said:

Oh,I am intrigued. What Quantum, Entropy and Space-time Elements do?

Quantum deals with taking principals of quantum mechanics on the observable level. Basically they are able to do funky stuff with entanglement, the whole virtual particles thing, smashing atoms together for fusion and fission (they get the whole nuclear power thing to themselves). They can control nuclear radiation and protect themselves from it. They can also precision work with atoms and smaller, become small/big, like antman.

Entropy deals specifically with chaos and order. Mages can create "chaos fields" where the entropy increases exponentially and makes things crazy, and "order fields" where a state of near perfect order can be achieved. By manipulating them, they can effect luck, chance, and General randomness to a precise degree. they can also put "chaos spells" on a particular trait on an object, so that say a table will randomly appear throughout history, with a chaos spell on its place in time.

Space time is the manipulation of the space time continuum. Time travel has particular rules with magic, but it can be done. Basically certain spots can only be observed, while others can be (to one degree or another) interfered with. This is due to the sentience of the universe; it wont let them kill hitler or things like that. They can also transport anywhere, speed up time, slow time, wormholes, and create closed off "bubbles" that basically seal themselves off from the rest of the universe. They do have a slight control over gravity. They also are the primary alternate dimension-hoppers, which is fun, because the alternate realities include other causality universes (different pasts), and they also include creative universes. Essentially, a series creates its own universe, which becomes more stable as it is thought out and thought about. Basically the cosmere would be an alternate reality you could hop into, or Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings, although I have yet to figure out how the whole time thing works...

Water is the control of all water and liquids. This includes power over steam, water,  ice, and water plasma. The destructive potential of water can be accessed through amulets, that tie to things like rivers or tsunamis. The reflective properties of ice can be manipulated, and the absorbent properties of water can be manipulated. All moisture is subject to manipulation by a water mage. They can use displacement teleportation with bodies of water. 

Fire is the control of plasmas and heat. All forms of plasmas and fire are under the control of a fire mage, including the magical fire (fire created by magic rather than chemical bonds). Thermal energy is under the absolute control of a fire mage, to the manipulation of all temperatures. A fire mage can telepathically control any source of fire or plasma, including the plasma content of a star. They are also immune to the effects of heat. They can use displacement teleportation with plasma sources. 

Earth is the power over all metals, rocks, and solids. It is also the control over most inorganic chemistry. All terrain can be manipulated, as well as any tectonic effects, including volcanos and earthquakes. Metal and rock can be telepathically controlled. Earth can control all terran planets. Sand is also under their control. Earth can use displacement teleportation; however it is somewhat dangerous. 

Air is the control of all gases. This includes atmospheric pressure, telepathic control over target gases, wind, storms, and sound. Air mages tend to be musically talented, with the power to vibrate air at frequencies to cause specific objects to shatter. Air mages can easily use displacement teleportation to travel anywhere that has an atmosphere or enough gases. Air mages can fly on wind, and use the wind for any sort of destructive spell.

The Power over the electromagnetic force is exactly that. It includes power over light, electricty, and magnetism. With skill also comes power over electrically powered objects. Mages can manipulate light on any frequency, and also choose to view light on any frequency. These mages can also manipulate electricity and lightning. They can also manipulate magnets and magnetic fields. Any light is subject to control, or electromagnetic fields.

Kinetics is the power over all moving things. To a kinetic mage, all things are moving; the earth around the Sun, and the sun around the galaxy. As such, all objects have a certain amount of kinetic energy that can be manipulated and redirected into different objects. Total momentum of the universe must be conserved, but this gives plenty of room for manipulation of motion.

Life is the manipulation of most living things through the aura. All organic materials, from proteins to animals, are under the control of a life mage. The only thing a life mage cannot directly control is an intelligent being, however they can indirectly manipulate them to the effect of creating particular proteins in them or healing them. Viruses are also classified as living things, as they are made of organics. Life mages can create specialized viruses and bacteria to accomplish various tasks. They can also directly draw on auric energy to perform more conventional magic. 

Gravity mages control gravity. They can maipulate it to any degree, from flying to even creating weaponized black holes. Gravity mages can fly, and can also warp space time by shifting the forces of gravity. They can create gravity lensing, gravity currents, and they can warp time through their use of gravity. They do not directly control the effects gravity has, rather they have control over the gravity itself. This is the distinction between them and space time mages.

Sorcery is the manipulation of magic, as defined as energy that can be "coded". Rather than working with that magic through a medium as all other mages do, they work directly with the energy itself, commanding it to do any number of things. They can use some things that other mages can do by commanding the magic to manipulate a particular medium. But they cannot manipulate those mediums to any degree of skill comparitavely with a mage of those mediums. Sorcerers make true spells, and as such can create the most impressive objects of any order, being able to create complex commands for the magic, and trap that command with an object. Some mages also study within the realm of potions. They learn various magically derived ingredients and learn to combine them to varied and often dramatic effect. They can also command ley lines, the web of streams of raw magic that spreads throughout the universe. 

@King Cole

Edited by The Flash
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21 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

Upvote for having more self-control, and common sense, than the Disney Reboot of Star Wars did

Lol it does have a large weapons system, but it isn't offensive. It's purely defensive. And it doesn't move, it has a fixed orbit. And no @King Cole I thought about eventually introducing bi-element mages, but for now they are just a vague idea. I'm going with the explanation that all the training of one element makes them specialize in that. And they simply have not considered that mages could learn 2 elements. 

Edited by The Flash
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Sounds cool but I think the Hork-Bajir are an alien race from the animorphs series, might want to change that if you decide to write this into a book :-). Also characters who can manipulate time/space tend to become a bit OP if you don't do them really well so be careful with that. 

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4 hours ago, IRN BRU said:

Sounds cool but I think the Hork-Bajir are an alien race from the animorphs series, might want to change that if you decide to write this into a book :-). Also characters who can manipulate time/space tend to become a bit OP if you don't do them really well so be careful with that. 

Ha I KNEW I got that from something. Thanks :lol: I just couldn't remember where I had gotten that name, because there was no way I came up with it myself. I'll change the name if I ever publish it. Which I won't. Now I will note that all of these are super OP. But space time cannot change pivotal moments in this reality. Our universe is what I call a Prime Universe. It is trailed by alternant universes, short lived in the tiny differences, with larger ones for bigger changes, and the creative universes which I discuss above. Even the Powerkeeper of space time would not be able to change the past or the future. Time will protect itself in certain spots where things literally cannot be changed. If you actually tried to change things in a no-change zone, all you would do is pop over to the alternant history universe where that major event changed, giving that alternant universe more life than the one caused by you choosing not to take a shower until 3. It is possible to say rescue art and books from where they are about to be destroyed and they no longer matter to the timeline. You can VIEW everything. You just can't CHANGE anything, truly. The only person recorded to change anything was the Great Mage of Space time, actually the first great mage. I haven't hashed out her story yet, so... but she did do some really advanced stuff that no one else can do. I do not want to get tangled in time travel

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On 5/16/2017 at 4:22 PM, IRN BRU said:

Sounds cool but I think the Hork-Bajir are an alien race from the animorphs series, might want to change that if you decide to write this into a book :-). Also characters who can manipulate time/space tend to become a bit OP if you don't do them really well so be careful with that. 

Ok I was thinking last night and I've officially renamed the hork-bajir. They are now Tarok-Bajir, because I like the bajir part. 

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@Steeldancer this is really amazing!

I especially like the 12 elemental cities, that idea alone has great potential for extended visual metaphor that could be used to show rather than explain the divisions of the Elemental mages powers. Just imagining the Water Elemental city after reading your description of their powers made me visualize an expansive city, divided up into different burroughs, that are based on different aspects of the Water Mages' power. Like a district in the city where the buildings are gothic, fluted ice scultptures, with crystaline stained glass windows made of ice, lights could also be embedded in the ice, everything could be tall, grand and thin with lots of icicle like motifs of decoration. I also imagined a district, maybe the upscale center of commerce, the District of waterfalls, where water flows from multiple different sources into different fountains, into and out of buildings, etc, not necessarily obeying the laws of gravity. Also thought of a the outer favela like slum district, the mist warrens, where everything is shrouded in mists.

This has amazing potential, totally think you should write this!

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2 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

Oh wow, people are still looking at this!
I've worked a bit more on a Kinetic mage in the 12 cities, trying to define each of the elements better. Still need to figure out how the dragons get from planet to planet. Kind of important, that. 

Portals, they create portals. Dragons that create portals would be very cool.

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