Magic System Based on Harnessing the Memories of Inanimate Objects

[Keeper]

So, this is a pretty convoluted magic system.  So a practitioner can, by touching an object, experience events in that item's history where extreme emotions were felt, and then harness pieces of that event (emotions, actions, etc) and influence themselves or others with them. For example, they could touch a stone on a battlefield, relive a moment in that battle, and harness the anger, then redirect it to make someone else, or themselves, feel that emotion. Or they could use that same stone's memories to harness the martial skills of a soldier who imprinted their experiences into the surrounding area and fight with the skill of that soldier. The catch, however, is that the entire memory from which the emotion or martial skill, etc is taken from is permanently imprinted into the mind of the person harnessing that memory. This causes a lot of practitioners to, after a while, go insane, or develop odd habits or fears. 

 

What do you guys think?

[Haradion Drogon]

Hmm...
It sounds interesting - but if you wouldn't mind me saying, a little overpowered?

I mean, it would accelerate.

...

 

That makes no sense.

 

...

Let me explain. If I have a sword, then I use it to win a battle, and I am a great duelist/fighter etc, then I do great things with this swords. Then, my son takes my sword - uses the power to access my skills and powers, and uses it to do more great - in addition to his own skills - resulting in even greater things being done.

Then his son takes the sword etc etc etc.

 

By the Time my great great great great great great grandson has the blade, he will have enough skills and memories to be almost unstoppable. See what I mean?

 

I suppose these warriors would be insane - and I imagine would be beserkers, due to this - but they would still be impossibly hard to kill.

If you had such a sword, it would be "cursed" so to speak, as the shear volume of the memories would drive you insane.

 

Now if that it was you are going for - then it sounds good, but you might want to rethink the ramifications of the magic if you wanted it to be used a lot.

Still, the idea is intriguing, please don't think I am criticizing the idea - it sounds original and pretty awesome - I just struggle to see how you could weave it into a story without it completely over taking the plot.

 

However, it does present interesting plot threads. Have you considered putting in a "Murder Mystery" subplot that could be solved by using his possessions?

[Keeper]

The system isn't set in stone yet, and the whole insane warriors idea is an interesting one (Which I might develop). However,  I originally thought of it as the skill enhancing the skill of a non-warrior or amateur soldier to match that of the great warrior. What I mean by this is that it replaces the original skill. With emotions, it replaces the amount of that one emotion felt naturally, so if I'm calm, and you as a magic user harnessed the anger from a battle and put it in me, I would get that angry. If I was already angrier than the anger being put into me, it would actually calm me a bit. So if I was the best warrior ever, and I used the skills of a relatively skilled warrior from the memory of a battlefield, it would actually make me less skilled, as it would replace my amazing skill with the less amazingn skill of another warrior. 

[Observer]

Interesting... So, if I wanted to set up a trap, I'd get a room built out of materials that have been through a lot of unpleasant experiences and either unleash it on anyone who enters, or have them try to use it and get nailed instead.

 

Also,

 

What happens if you harness death?

Do you choose what to take in? Details on this?

What happens to the whole concept of training for something when you never have to do the work?

How do sports work this way?

Is every person here a supersoldier, simply able to grab experience from cobblestones, or is there some kind of a limit/filter?

How much can you absorb? Does this make immortality theoretically possible?

[Keeper]

1. No and Yes. unleashing them on anyone who enters would actually affect you as much, if not more, as the experience (at least the memory of the experience) would be permanently imprinted into you.

 

2. Harnessing death itself is something I haven't thought of a solution yet. One of my most likely ideas is it would simply kill the person harnessing it (kind of like when you die in a dream you die in real life) though harnessing everying but death itself (like the pain of their last moments, etc) would happen as normal.

 

3. First of all, you'd have to undergo extensive training both in history (to know enough about the objects you're using) and in both mental strength of will and focus. Then, when touching, say, a brick, you would first have to be able to make an educated guess on it's history (this is where knowing the history of the area you're in, as well as the kind of brick it is, who made it, where it's from, etc) so you can more quickly harness a certain memory, as without being able to quickly find a single memory to use, the sheer weight of the memories of the one brick would start to cause damage to your mind. In essence, you get in, snatch the one memory, and get out. Then you will relive the memory, and as you relive it, harness whatever emotion/idea/etc that occurs through the memory. Once you've relived it (a process that happens extremely quickly to observers) and harnessed whatever you wanted, you can keep it inside yourself, or direct it into another person. 

 

4. First, The effects are only temporary, and only last a short amount of time, so training would still happen because first off, being dependent on the objects is a worse situation than having the skill that you learned yourself so that if the effect runs out, you can still fight, and also so you don't always need to be carrying, say, a big rock. 

Second, the amount of training needed to use the system is enormous, so very few people would know how to use it. 

Third, when a memory is used, it is released after it is harnessed, and is no longer present in the object, so you'd have to keep finding new objects. Kinda like how valuable atium is in TFE (with combat enhancing objects)

Lastly, if you never train, and continuously use the magic to make yourself, for example, a great fighter, you would eventually go insane from the sheer weight of the memories you've absorbed.

 

5. Never thought about sports, but I'd guess it follows the same vein as my explanation as to why you'd still have to train.

 

6. It is theoretically possible, but it would take astronomical amounts of will, focus, objects to use, and it would be really hard to do. However, it is theoretically possible. 

[Observer]

Could you imprint your own personality into something, becoming theoretically immortal, or at least a temporary form of Darkseid?

[andyk he/him]

I think there's lots of interesting stuff you could do with this around identity. If someone keeps experiencing other people's memories, will they start to get confused about which are there own? If they absorb lots of memories from the same person, especially someone with a very strong personality, could that start to take over, either literally or because the recipient believes that person is taking over?

 

On a grimmer note, what might users pick up just while eating lunch, if they're not careful (like the memories in the Chew comic books)? Could you even poison someone with bad memories?

 

You could also make some really interesting plot twists where people pick up memories that don't necessarily give them skills but do lead them to learn things about others that they shouldn't - a woman learning about her husband's affair, politicians trying to touch each others' objects to gain memories for diplomatic leverage, battle plans imprinted on the table they were written on.

[Haradion Drogon]

I see a lot of potential here, with multiple personalities emerging... It would make for interesting characters. I a person could create a kind of "Pseudo-immortality", preserving their memories, for them to reemerge on some unsuspecting Archaeologist.

 

Speaking of which, Archaeology would become a very dangerous profession, some battle sites would become very dangerous...

[Keeper]

I think there's lots of interesting stuff you could do with this around identity. If someone keeps experiencing other people's memories, will they start to get confused about which are there own? If they absorb lots of memories from the same person, especially someone with a very strong personality, could that start to take over, either literally or because the recipient believes that person is taking over?

 

On a grimmer note, what might users pick up just while eating lunch, if they're not careful (like the memories in the Chew comic books)? Could you even poison someone with bad memories?

 

You could also make some really interesting plot twists where people pick up memories that don't necessarily give them skills but do lead them to learn things about others that they shouldn't - a woman learning about her husband's affair, politicians trying to touch each others' objects to gain memories for diplomatic leverage, battle plans imprinted on the table they were written on.

 

1. That actually is an idea I plan to explore, and is one of the main dangers of the magic system.

 

2. You actually have to will yourself to harness a memory, though I suppose if there was someone who did that instinctively without understanding their powers, it could happen. You could do that in two ways, though they would only last for a finite amount of time. a, you could harness the memory of the effects of a poison from a place where someone was poisoned, and they would feel as if they were poisoned. b, you could find the memories of symptoms of poisons, even if it was from a simple disease or other sickness, and it would work as well. 

 

3. Also a great idea, one which I might explore in relation to politics (politicians using memories of awe, respect, trust, etc, to make people support them, and also blackmailing other politicians with memories of their experiences. 

 

 

@Haradion Drogon:

 

Archaeology would be extremely advance, as you could get a lot more info from each dig site, but it would be a really dangerous  job. 

 

I feel like this magic system points to the civilization as a whole being extremely close to, and maybe even revering, their history and maybe ancestors.

[andyk he/him]

Re archaeology, there's a big live roleplay campaign that's just started in the UK, Empire by Profound Decisions, in which exploring past lives and old memories looks set to be important in the religious plot. Essentially, past life visions and archaeological expeditions could shape what's regarded as religious truth and what remains heresy. You could play with similar themes in your setting. If the first person to touch the fingerbone of a long dead saint or prophet gets some of that person's memories, they might be able to prove a point of religion, claiming a particular doctrine as proven truth. Of course, if they're the only one who gets to see those memories then they could lie afterwards, raising all sorts of religious politics and intrigue.

[Observer]

Religion would be a particularly nice issue to explore, as well as controversial issues. If everybody trusts the object's memories, plants would be incredibly effective. Assylums would be wonderful fortresses, and torture chambers would be even better.

 

Insane people. People who are resistant to pain. Oooooh yes...