Concept Pitch: A Story With Magic through Bonds
This actually comes from someone asking me on my community Discord what I’d do with a concept where magic was derived from emotions. I saw the pitch while I was out grabbing lunch and fifteen minutes later got home and typed this. That’s literally all the time it took for me to come up with the concept and the like because brain go brrrrrrr.
Yes, the choice to post this is because of what I said in the last post. Also yes, this is a Lumischa idea (I’d write this original though because besides the archtypes it has literally nothing to do with TOH) even though I strictly made myself not use the names because of... *gestures to the rest of what his blog has been as of late*
Also, I literally have a channel dedicated to asking me what I’d do with various concepts on my Discord because brain is fast and I like making concepts almost as much as working on them. Really wish I’d gotten more of that latter one done so far this year.
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So actually, I think this was the reason I wanted to go back to Fairy Tail because this being loosely the concept of a magic system, or an element of it, is not new at all. The power of friendship is one of the oldest tropes out there. Fairy Tail doesn't even really do anything new with it outside of screaming Nakama a lot.
BUT. Making it the explicit magic system is interesting to me. I would admittedly likely mix it with a magic system driven by emotion. That usually, dependent on the type of person you are, you have two main types of magic. Someone who is happy and caring might be light and healing. Shy and anxious might be darkness and lightning (one to hide, one channeling the frantic energy). If you're calm and analytical, you might be ice and spatial magic. However, the strongest spells and many spells that dip into secondary elements can only be done by being close to others. Have a good relationship with a fire and water set of parents while you yourself make barriers because you're protective? Suddenly you can summon walls of fire and water, or even steam by combining all three. A spatial mage who is besties with a light mage might be able to suck the light out of a room making it quite literally impossible to see because there's nothing for your eyes to grab onto.
Love in this would be incredibly powerful but unpredictable. It isn't connected to a single type of magic but instead an amplifier, and so able to do the greatest good or greatest evil. A healing mage in anguish for a lost love is one of the only ways you get necromancers as their entire magic is cursed and warped by love to raise the dead. A fire mage trying to get rid of a threat to their loved ones may cast Flare instead of Firaga and let out a flame so powerful that it blows up a quarter of the town, even if the magic also is incapable of harming the one they love. A light mage and spatial mage may be able to cast Wish but only if their goals are in alignment.
So what would the story be? Well, it's me so...
You have two mages, likely the spatial/ice and light/healing mages that I've been using mostly for examples. They live a small, quiet life as one gets ever better at their magic, hoping to enter the lucrative business of being a teleporter mage (because even if it's connected to emotions, high level magic is high level magic) and the other helps them deal with the stresses of school and training while giving out healing magic and potions for money. Actually, I would likely have it be that mixed with a spatial or water mage is the only way to make potions as only they can trap the magic, making what types of potions any mage can make incredibly limited.
They're given a quest to get something, or they find out about something that they themselves want. Possibly an artifact even (Incredibly rare because to inscribe magic requires magic itself to be a core of who you are which mostly comes from sociopaths who emulate emotions as them being lost in the emotional tide leaves them just having a nugget of magic in them that has no direct correlation to anything else.) that could help the spatial mage reach her goal of being able to cast teleportation magic on a regular basis. One problem is that neither are adventurers and where they must go is a rain forest so wet and muggy and full of life. This makes the more combat capable of the two at a severe disadvantage as spatially affecting living things is just a problem so the more likely you are to have an extra fly in your spell, the more likely it is to tax you more than it should have or just fizzle. The ice magic is... Obvious for why it would fail. They could have ways around that but the easiest way is to get an adventurer. They can't afford a the extra tank, rogue and melee DPS though so they have to go cheap. Luckily for them, spatial magic can just obliterate locks and there's an offer at the adventurer's guild from a peculiar person: A fire mage claiming to be strong.
Most mages, those who really decide to focus on their magic, aren't the strongest because of how much energy the spells can take from them. That isn't the strangest part though. She is listed as ONLY a fire mage. That is, to put it lightly, bizarre. She has emotions so where is her secondary? Or is she only anger?
Upon meeting the mage... Well, she doesn't seem like an eternally pissed vortex of hate so the question is still there which she'd shut down and say it just let her focus on her one magic. She's mostly practically trained so don't expect anything fancy but she can burn hot enough that in a forested environment, the ice magic they already have will come in handy for if the flames get a bit out of control. Otherwise, she'll be perfect for helping them cut through. She even demonstrates incredible control with her flames, burning a hole through one of theirs shirts but somehow not even touching the skin beneath with the heat.
Then the adventure part which I wouldn't have down immediately, it's the most nebulous, but this is of course where the relationship, and the issues with it, start forming. Combined magic becomes more unpredictable as both in the couple start falling in love with the fire mage and wonder what that means. The fire mage keeps having to save them which isn't normal for one who should be all anger, though she claims to just be doing her job. The magic being added to the other two's magic back though isn't fire though. They're not sure what it is because their internal conflicts over getting close to the mage are causing so many issues in them.
And then the fire mage gets her surprise. Going to save one of them, she raises her arms to take the hit of an attack that will kill her... And a barrier appears. Her second magic: Protective magic. She doesn't want to talk about it, doesn't even try to keep casting it (except privately where she can't) and eventually admits she doesn't know why it showed up or how it works. She has never used it.
This makes the fire mage more vulnerable and emotionally compromised and in that opening up comes opportunities for all of them. Opportunities to talk, to work together, to share and to confide. For the couple to finally talk about their conflicted feelings and how they definitely love each other still, deeply and truly, but that there's a reason why they're being pulled towards the fire mage. Towards the one they are questionably wanting. The fire mage challenges them after all. Adds a spice to their life neither could before with her feisty attitude. However, she's also been more dependable and brave than either of them. A rock that is only now showing the need for support. Support she's taking for some reason despite obviously not wanting to or normally being against it.
The real question adventure wise is what sort of threat to make the finale that requires a combination of all three of their magics in order to overcome. Not just in a combined fashion but also individually. Something only their relationship and bond can triumph over.
But yeah, that's the concept I think I'd go with for that. I'll also pin the suggestion so I can easily refind this for inspiration down the road when I'm feeling better and trying to find something new to type! I also just hope you all like the concept!
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And yeah, like I said, this was come up with in like 15 minutes plus whatever time it took for me to type it up. When I say you can throw ideas at me and get a lot back... You can get a LOT back very quickly. And I hope you liked this and I hope to maybe do something with it someday honestly.
