New Magic System // Need Suggestions

[hi.im.caleb]

I have to be vague on this, as it's for a major project, but I wanted to seek the creative power of my fellow community of magic system geeks. Perhaps your perspectives can breathe fresh life.

The Weave System // The basis is simple. The world revolves around five types of weaves. You can almost think of these weaves as programming languages. Each language offers different effects that the other languages cannot perform. Together, they create the echo-system with live in. In this world, these languages take the form of creative weaves. Each weave architype is composed of it's own color and revolves around a focused element or idea.

The challenge is that Weaves are not instantaneous. They take time to create, therefore effects the occur in the moment are mostly useless.

Also note: this is a modern day setting.

I had each color figured out before hitting a road block. I'm looking for suggestions. Here are the current colors:

Gold // Power & Energy
These weaves are used in mostly industrial situations, providing heat, energy sources, powering engines, etc.

Purple // Metaphysical
These weaves deal with the mind and information. It's used mostly by scholars, teachers, investigators, etc.

Red // Physical
Deals with living things; not plant life, but things with blood. Humans & Animals. Used mostly in medical fields.

The two I'm struggling with are Black & White. I'm trying to mostly avoid Light & Dark, or Good & Evil effects. I want each weave type to have neutral alignments. I have toiled with Spiritual & Shadow, but they lack practicality or real uses. Spiritual uses seem to close to Metaphysical uses. Shadow uses seem to separate from the rest as if it doesn't belong; it lacks cohesion.

I want the effects of each color to at least lightly represent what the color itself represents. That gives us:

White representing Safety, Purity, Light.
Black representing Mystery & Elegance.

I've thought through other colors but they were all too tightly related to other colors.

And before anyone suggests expansion on the system, it goes immensely deeper than all of this, but I wanted to keep the big secrets to myself. This is for a bigger project than you might assume. 

Thoughts?

[Entreos]

How are the weaves used? Is it like a language to be written down? How is it activated?

[DeTess]

First of all, this is an interesting system. There's a ton of questions I'd like to ask (how is it powered, what are the requirements to use it, etc.), but I except a RAFO. That begin said, I have some criticisms for your choice for black and white.

As it is, I still don't really see how your current implementations can give a practical effect (apart from providing light, but shouldn't that also be a function of gold, as it seems to do a lot with electromagnetism). That having been said, I can't really come up with really great alternatives (though I'll try anyway). I assume you absolutely need these two for the story you try to tell?

Here are some other suggestions for black and white:

White: Law, used to detect specific infractions in areas(like an alarm), to detect lies (though that might infringe on purple) and to force people to abide restrictions (would be cast on a per person base with some effect along the lines of 'you shall not...'). This one would be heavily regulated and mostly used by cops and the courts of law.

Black: Change. can be used to change or circumvent any other weave (create loopholes in their code, if you will). White could be used to make changes like these harder.

(these two are a set together, as one keeps the other in check)

 

White: Sky, controlling air-streams and weather.

Black: Death. not  necromancy, but more involving communicating with the deceased.

 

Anyway, that's what I've been able to come up with. I wish you good luck with your project.

 

[Unodus]

Before I start poking through this, just want to say if you haven't read Sandersons Laws of Magic, you might find it incredibly helpful for this subject.

 http://coppermind.net/wiki/Sanderson's_Laws_of_Magic

 

For Black and White, how about this:
"In this world, the Law of conservation stands. Matter cannot be created or destroyed- well, except through White and Black weaves"
If you don't want Black to be inherently evil, you could do: 
Black: Gives Semblance, turn liquid into solid, make materials more durable (Black armor weaves, etc), Create Matter (presumably something like black sand or dust)
White: Assimilates mass, turns liquid into glowing gasses, makes materials translucent and more likely to shatter like glass, Destroy Matter (this should be parallel to a Black weaves power, like "give off light that slowly dissolves things")

does that help?

[Jedal]

Black and White... Hm...

Well, Unodus has some good thoughts and I would like to throw in my own.

Black-Manipulation(NOT necessarily evil): Ability to take matter and reshape it within one's broad ideas. The specifics of each creation might escape the wielder, however, making it one of the most difficult weaves to learn. (If I wanted to build an ornate desk, I might just get a plain table). This could allow for some sort of "divine intervention" or subconscious telling conscious through weaves. The things it creates are always black. It is the most highly valued among abilities. This would be the most rare, as well, and as such there would be no specific vocation aligned with it.

White-Augmentation: White weaves reinforce objects, making them impossible to manipulate with black weaves, also making them more durable in the physical sense. Not only are things more durable, but they complete the intended action more usefully. This could be used for artisans and carpenters, and would be highly valued in construction.

[Darkness Ascendant]

You could always do some Full metal Alchemist shizzle

[hi.im.caleb]

This is all amazing. Seriously, these suggestions give more direction than you might realize. There is a major RAFO element to a lot of this system, but there are basics I can lightly divulge.

First: Weaves take time to create and most often produce static effects. Since this is true, using a weave in a moment of desperation may be impossible. Weaves can be used in preparation, and sometimes can offer effects that have a trigger, such as traps or a weapon that may produce a set effect, but to create a weave on the run is near impossible.

Second: Weaves are composition and the level of skill to Weave is based in knowledge and understanding. The better you know your weaves, the more you can do. But, you may have two individuals who Weave of the same class – let's say Red/Blood – but one may be more adept in Weaves that deal with healing procedures, another with body enhancements, and another that deals more with animals. Creating new weaves is possible but challenging. There are Scholars that research patterns and attempt to use deeper understanding of Weaves to discover new ways to compose them, though similarly to our modern age of tech, the results tend to be more subtle advancements rather than major breakthroughs.

Third: Weaves cannot create, only become a part of something that already is to either transform, add to or enhance/diminish it. If the object the Weave is based in is destroyed, the Weave is shattered.

Forth: Effects only last as long as the Weave allows. An effect can be reversed by someone skilled enough to unravel the weave. A Weave wrongly unraveled may have negative effects, varying from as extreme as an explosion to as small as a tiny shock or loud pop. These effects can even be woven into the Weave itself as a safety measure. You can shatter a Weave rather than unravel, but can be dangerous if the Weave has negative effects woven into it. These effects also trigger if the Weave is shatter due to the destruction of the object.

So this is a basis of Weave understanding, though the depth spans much greater. There are other powers and laws to the world that exist, including creative Weave implementations that allows for less passive effects.

[hi.im.caleb]

I should also add that the Threads which the Weaves are composed of have practical effects even if not woven. All five Threads have a glow and may be used to produce light even if not woven. However, it should be known that one Thread class can not be woven to effect a Weave of another class. They can, however, be combined to give their base joint effects.

[DeTess]

Ah, that's some interesting stuff. Another idea for black and white that popped in my head after reading it was place (black) and time (white). Black could be used for transporting goods, while white could be used to preserve stuff (or age things rapidly), though neither black nor white would work on living things.

As an addition, you could use a white weave in combination with another color to delay it's effect, or a black weave in combination with another colored weave to displace it's effect. If I understand it correctly, you cannot directly link weaves, but if you put both a white and another weave on an object you could use the white weave to put the other weave in 'stasis' for a while until you need the effect to start.

This might be stretching the color-effect-link a bit too much though.

[Zathoth]

Any reason why you need those colors? You could have a green one, used by farmers to make plants stronger and grow faster, maybe... thinking about it that could fit white...

Mystery and elegance sounds like something artists would use, I dont know how it would work though...

[Yezrien]

What if the different colors referred to different branches of science? All science is fundamentally the same thing, but every discipline has its own vocabulary and rule systems. Each color can bend/break the rules of a different science.

Green is biology, used for medicine and body modification.

Red is chemistry, used for transmutation, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemical engineering, etc.

Gold is classical mechanics (Newtonian physics), used in engineering, manufacturing, transportation, etc.

Purple is psychology, used for therapy, mind control, drug-like artificial emotions, maybe punitive behavior modification...

White is quantum physics/string theory, used to manipulate time, space, energy, probability, etc.

Black, the theoretical forbidden weave, is metaphysics and philosophy, used to manipulate morality, and the nature of truth. Perhaps it's a "god language," that can manipulate anything and everything at once, but with a dangerous tendency to accidentally destroy the universe.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Belzedar