My magical system is this - magic comes from nature, specifically elementals. They can imbue a natural object with magic, which is like a form of energy. This energy can be tapped into by a spellcaster (which throught my novel will be solely a group of evil wizards), who uses it to get whatever needs to get done done (and I'm a little hazy on the details regarding how that works)
There are shamans/shamanesses who work with spirits in order to get things done (my idea was they summon the sprit, and then use symbolism to ask the spirit to do something)
There are also magicians, who are just really good at figuring out how to work magical objects (e.g. how to use a magical sword as a magical weapon rather than just a sword. Again, I'm not sure how they do this, just that they do)
This seems workable, but a little ... bare bones - y. Any ideas on how I could make it better?
Thanks,
Ghilliekitten
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11,100 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 23 30
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions-magic-and-ma...
Questions to help flesh out a magic system. I think the most important ones are: What can't your magic do, and what is the cost of magic.
15,664 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 06 41
Thank you so much :) this is absoloutley amazing :)
43,049 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 09 38
Questions to help flesh out a magic system. I think the most important ones are: What can't your magic do, and what is the cost of magic.
I find the list of questions interesting. Interesting not necessarily because it id good. I think it would have been a whole lot better if it had the important note that:
a) Not all questions need an answer
b) It's alright to violate the answer of a question
A system of magic does not need to be all too defined. First off, keeping the mystery in magic is generally a good thing. Secondly, no reader is ever going to ask you a question. Perhaps a character might need to explain some part of it all, but even so he will be explaining his viewpoints, and facts as far as he knows them. Simply put, a magic system needs not to be all that defined.
Let me give some examples from my current novel to illustrate:
Q: What things can magic not do?
A: I have no clue. I know of the wizards I know approximately how far their powers stretch, and I know that there are no really big effects (that are really strenuous) on the whole country. However, that does not mean there are no wizards far away who can much more amazing things nor that there are no country-wide spells anywhere.
Q: Are there magical means of transportation?
----------A: So far I have seen two mages (a wizard and his previous tutor, who is a magicant) use a technique of boosting their horses. Does this mean this technique is common? No. Does this mean there are no other techniques? No. Teleportation is so far unseen in the world, meaning it probably isn't exactly aplenty, however this does not mean it's not possible.
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