Random Magic Systems

[AonEne]

49 minutes ago, DoomStick said:

What

Yeah, I sleep on the floor  can’t actually remember how long it’s been since I used the bed. 

[Retrac]

I second the what.

[AonEne]

30 minutes ago, Retrac said:

I second the what.

I don’t want to derail this thread any more, I could explain it somewhere else if you want?  

[The Awakened Salad]

5 hours ago, AonEne said:

Yeah, I sleep on the floor  can’t actually remember how long it’s been since I used the bed. 

I have a friend in real life who does exactly the same thing (although probably for different reasons). I would like to third the what, if that’s okay?

[Retrac]

On 4/7/2020 at 4:00 AM, The_Archivist said:

Tableware

 

Food has become more scarce and hard to find. So the Gods of the North said "I will grant your champion 1 wish to help you find food." So the village people selected a champion and he went up to the Gods of the North and said "My wish is for our tableware to track and kill our food."

"So be it." said the Gods of the North. Misunderstanding the request the gods made it so the clothes you wear at the table(Table wear) give the wearer extreme strength, agility, and tracking abilities. Food has become less scarce because of this. And the Gods of the North are no longer trusted.

Guitar Strings

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Retrac

[Honorless]

Truly skilled luthiers can craft guitars from heartstrings that can make thunder and lightning become as the drums accompanying your music.

Your music can shake the skies! You have the power to put the 'death' back in 'death metal'!

Body Parts

Edited July 13, 2020 by Honorless

[Frustration]

On 5/16/2020 at 8:52 AM, R J said:

Body Parts

This is your fault.

Canabalize people to augment yourself. I.e. eat their arm to make yours that much stronger.

Dogs

[Shard of Reading]

3 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Dogs

Sprit animals!

Deep fried foods.

[SirWolfe]

21 hours ago, Shard of Reading said:

Deep fried foods.

Spells are essentially recipes for foods, with the way the different ingredients interact influencing the overall result of the magic. For example, foods that are sharply spicy, such as those containing wasabi or horseradish, allow for quick outputs of heat energy, while those with a duller, longer lasting spiciness act as warming spells, and adding honey increases healing rate. When one eats food that has been prepared with the intent of being a spell by a practitioner, the consumer can utilize the spell. The number of readily available calories affects the strength of the spell, with higher calorie foods being able to do more powerful actions. This makes deep frying one of the most efficient and popular ways to prepare a spell, as it maximizes the calories without affecting the overall taste too much.

Being nice to others

[Honorless]

Social capital is a matter of continued existence. If enough people dislike you, you fade from existence. If enough people like you, you get power to impose your worldview on others, not directly but rather via your own super juiced up likes. Basically, the more liked you are, the more powerful your likes.

Percentage of time spent sleeping/working/reading/on the internet/etc

[One_Armed]

2 hours ago, R J said:

Percentage of time spent sleeping/working/reading/on the internet/etc

The more you spend time on a thing the better you get at it.

For example - if you do workout you get stronger. If you read books you get smarter. If you cook food you get better at cooking.

Fun fact: this magic system exist in a planet called Earth.

Shooting 

Edited June 8, 2020 by One_Armed

[Honorless]

5 minutes ago, One_Armed said:

The more you spend time on a thing the better you get at it.

For example - if you do workout you get stronger. If you read books you get smarter. If you cook food you get better at cooking.

Fun fact: this magic system exist in a planet called Earth.

Shooting 

Heh, congrats on getting the theme & thank you for continuing it! 

[One_Armed]

 

9 minutes ago, R J said:

Heh, congrats on getting the theme & thank you for continuing it! 

Haha, actually I didn't get I just thought that I was doing something new. Only now I realized that you aimed there.

[SirWolfe]

8 hours ago, One_Armed said:

Shooting 

Magic manifests when projectiles strike an object, such as enchanting a bullet so that when it hits, it lets out a deafening roar (for distraction purposes, I guess). The power will only happen if the user knew what the spell was meant to do and intended for the magic to happen, otherwise the projectile will act as one normally would. The intensity and strength of a spell is directly correlated with how close to the intended target the projectile was when it hit and the amount of kinetic energy at the moment of impact. 

Cutting down trees

[Channelknight Fadran]

2 hours ago, SirWolfe said:

Cutting down trees

By cutting down a tree, you receive one "Carbon Power." The more Carbon Power you have, the more magic you possess. Having a little Carbon Power can grant you the ability to change something's color, make a soft sound, or something similar. Having a lot lets you bend the fabric of reality, such as summoning lightning, creating black holes, and discovering the reason why math exists.

Dysprosium

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

4 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Dysprosium

700,000 years ago a divergent evolutionary path from Homo Erectus began along the clay rich soil of the Han River in Southern China.

A tribe of primitive humanoids began ceremonially bathing in the dysprosium silt laden water of the river, and ritually covering themselves in the dysprosium mineral rich clay from the banks of the river.

From the dark impenetrable drives of primitive superstition, this new race of humanoids was compelled to grind and eat the bones of their dead, thereby further concentrating what would become the dominant characteristic of their people, namely the incredibly high concentration of Dysprosium in their systems.

From the dark primordia of prehistory, this race emerged like Achilles from the river Styx, gifted with godlike powers not possessed by mortal man. In an inaccessible valley along the banks of the Han River, they flourished but never spread, developing their own code of laws and rules, vastly divergent from human norms, while honing and perfecting their powers.

Theirs was the power to make metal obey their will, to effect objects at great distance by projected fields of force, and to cause inorganic substances to luminesce at their touch. They also had the ability to anchor themselves to any object, in essence becoming part of the same inertial reference frame as the object they attached themselves to. When anchored to the ground large ballistic missiles could be pushed aside with the same effort one might shew away a fly or a gnat. Projectiles could invariably be turned back upon the aggressors.

Tall of frame, narrow of shoulder and with irises that swirled like liquid metal, theirs was a race unable to blend in with the common stock of man.

Being wholly ignorant of industrial processes and limited in their understanding of machines beyond the basic principles of mechanical advantage, theirs was a society on a direct collision course with Humanity.

Oh, and they could operate vending machines without spending any money. But sadly they really loved New Coke, it's lack of availability is quite possible the spark that set off the Epic War.

 

Poetry

[Channelknight Fadran]

2 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Poetry

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine what you just wrote was poetry.

[NameIess]

3 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Poetry

Written poem becomes power becomes poem written.

Computer screens.

[Channelknight Fadran]

45 minutes ago, Nameless said:

Computer screens.

Staring at a screen long enough grants you power, depending on what website you're on. If you're on Google Search, then you are granted the ability of successfully procrastinating. If you're on the 17th Shard, then you are granted the power of what you think is a good well of knowledge about the Cosmere, but really isn't because there's always another secret.

Drawing Fantasy Maps

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

12 hours ago, Nameless said:

Written poem becomes power becomes poem written.

A poem in Ketek form describing the poetic magic system, brilliant! One more level of recursion though and the universe might implode.

11 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Drawing Fantasy Maps

A single atom of the concentrated, super dense matter that existed during the inflationary period of the big bang 13.8 billion years ago remained more or less unexpanded. This primordial mote of the will of creation fused with an atom of Unbiquadium after passing through the heart of a supernova. 2000 years ago this molecule fell to earth, heated by the entry into the earth's atmosphere and then cooled by its plunge into the pacific ocean, its inate expansionary potential was activated and then immediately slowed. Finally settling at the bottom of the Marianas trench, the promethean molecule with the power to form an entire universe remained in relative stasis until a tectonic event created a new fissure, and the molecule began once again to be heated by a thermal vent. The raw matter of creation began drifting in plumes from the impenetrable depths of the sea, and eventually found its most concentrated form in an isolated population of squids, specifically in their ink.

On Kume Island, in Okinawa, these squid were harvested for their ink and a select few of the Shinto priests gained knowledge of the magical properties of this Sumi ink.

Imbued with the power of creation by the emanations from the primordial matter of the cosmos, this ink, when used by a practitioner of sufficiently specific creativity and with crystal clear intent, can be used to create fantastical worlds. To access these created worlds two keys are necessary, a textual description of the world and a scale map of the world, both created with the world creating ink. There are inherent risks in this process, if the textual description is incomplete seemingly tangible structures in the fantasy world will fall apart into puddles of ink if examined too closely. The map must be designed with clear pathways between items of interest, otherwise a traveler to the world can find themselves trapped in the infinity between points, lost forever.

Also portals that commute between the fantasy world and the real world must be both described and drawn in detail, and if they are incompatible with the spirit of the world they will not function.

The gates to these imagined realms in our world look like mere decorative Shinto gates, but to the initiated they are the gateways to the manifold worlds of the mind.

Also the preponderance of the town names have to have a K, an X, a Q or a Z somewhere in their name and the cardinal direction rosette that establishes the direction of north on the map has to look really cool too or else the map won't work.

Coincidentally, the movie Xanadu starring Olivia Newton John is really a documentary about a rollerskating world created by a worldbuilder in the 70's.

 

Body temperature

Edited June 9, 2020 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
Typos, always typos

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

A poem in Ketek form describing the poetic magic system, brilliant! One more level of recursion though and the universe might implode.

first written poem becomes power becomes poem written first?

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

3 minutes ago, Nameless said:

first written poem becomes power becomes poem written first?

Thus began the Big Suck. Poof!

Edited June 9, 2020 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Retrac]

35 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Body temperature

Higher body tempature results in being faster physically but slower mentaly. Lower body temoature results in being slower physically but faster mentaly. Pick your poisin...

Hot tubs

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

On 6/9/2020 at 8:41 AM, Retrac said:

Hot tubs

In the near future humans will have access to magical devices that can heat large quantities of chlorinated water to a temperature that at once both soothes and relaxes their tired mortal shell, thus allowing their spirits to lift to never before imagined heights. This relaxation magic will grant world weary souls the fortitude to continue parenting children, the ability to perceive the inherent beauty of oceans, lakes and rivers (if the magical hot tub is suitably positioned), and last but possibly most important of all (if the water jets are sufficiently engaged) this relaxation magic will allow the practitioner to magically pass gass publicly yet covertly.

(It always comes back to fart jokes)

Just to pick the low hanging fruit, and I do mean low, how about

Fart Magic

or if that offends anyone's Victorian sensibilities, how about

Civility Magic

Edited June 10, 2020 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[SirWolfe]

3 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Civility Magic

The Urule people undoubtedly have one of the most bizarre integrations magic into society that I've ever studied.

The native name of the system is "isriel", derived from the multifaceted root word "riel", which can convey the idea of acting with kindness/respect, but can also mean violence and war. "The direct translation of the word used for practitioners of the system (jaenrielackenconriel) is "one-who-destroys-others-with-overwhelming-politeness-and-feasts-on-tears-borne-of-violently-pleasant-hospitality". The Jaenrielackenconriel are almost exclusively warriors and duelists.

The name is quite revealing, as the magic manifests through actions of civility and respect, with greater levels of humility and hospitality directly correlating with greater displays of magical power and destructive impact, and those with a greater reputation of courtesy and chivalry can do greater things with simpler acts. And I do mean destructive. The most powerful practitioners are able to set entire cities alight simply by knocking on the city gates with a gift in hand. From my observations, it does not appear that the specific manner in which propriety is expressed has any impact on the result, as a warrior might call down lightning by saying hello to one opponent, while tearing apart a different opponent by saying the same greeting. I believe that the result is wholly dependent on what the practitioner wants to happen, and different acts of politeness simply allow them to amplify the effects.

Battles are fought one-on-one and last many days, with each warrior pairing up with a warrior from the opposing side. After a brief introduction, the two warriors will begin arguing politely in regards to lodgings, with each party offering to allow the other to remain in their tent for the duration of the battle. It is during this interaction that both parties build up their magic reserves, and the longer the two continue to offer lodgings, the greater amount of magic they will be able to expend in the coming days. 

The loser of the discussion gives in, and the two walk to the victor's tent, where they will live with one another for a period of time. During that time, the two will attempt to kill through subtle acts of magic through kindness. Subtle is key here, as tradition mandates that there be no outwardly aggressive acts during this time. This limits them to applying hexes to the food while cooking breakfast so that the recipient might choke on it, offering to help the other cut vegetables and cursing the knife to increase the likelihood that the other slips and falls on it (which is how the current Great Jaenrielackenconriel Ursi defeated the former Great Jaenrielackenconriel Jire). However, some of the more unsavory Jaenrielackenconriel do not keep this tradition, preferring instead to simply smite their opponent after letting them enter the tent first. These people are often executed by their own army, as this breach of conduct lowers the reputation of the army, and as such, lowers the strength of their magic. 

Agriculture.

Edited June 10, 2020 by SirWolfe