Does casting magic make any sound? Does magic make any sound? What does magic sound like? Do different kinds of magic sound different?
What does magic look like? Does it produce any light? If so, how bright can it get?
Are there different kinds of magic? What makes them different?
What is the cost of using magic? Is it physical? Currency? A curse? Energy/focus? Life expectancy?
What are the rules to magic? Are there hard rules to magic? Are you striving for a soft or hard magic system? (like the differences between soft and hard worldbuilding)
What does using magic feel like?
How do people learn to use magic? Does everyone have access to magic?
Can magic be dangerous? What are the expectations around magic?
What is it called within the worldbuilding? Does it go by multiple names?
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I'd love some feedback on a magic system I'm trying to refine! Specifically, Necromancy. Obviously, Necromantic content warnings apply.
It's quite long (1,400~ words), and pasting from Google Docs? Tumblr's bulleted list format seems to only use numbers, which can make it a little confusing to read.
Not looking for anything in particular, just curious for overall feedback and if there's any huge glaring errors that def need to be noticed now and not when I need them in the story.
Minor spoiler warnings for The Crownwardens.
Magic is illegal. The Lycea (Like the Stellan Lyceum) are allowed to study certain types of magic exclusively for bettering Leseron, but they’re the ONLY sanctioned sorcerers. Illegal magic gets you jail time. Depending on the severity, it could be a life sentence.
The only “magic” that is entirely legal is whatever power you are blessed with should you become Crownwarden (this world's version of a "superhero," each power is unique to the Crownwarden that wields it and, as of the start of the story, there are only four).
Necromany, however, is expressly forbidden. Illegal Necromancy gets you executed. If someone kills a suspected Necromancer without proof, there will be a trial. If there is sufficient immediate proof of Necromancy that can be presented to a court without the presence of the Necromancer, anyone is legally protected against the act of immediately killing that Necromancer and then bringing proof to a court. Not only will they be deemed innocent, they will also be handsomely rewarded.
This has been set in place because so little is known after the afterlife, and it is a great risk to tamper with such things. Additionally, in the Age of Myth (before King Wendell became the first Crownwarden) feral undead roamed the land. King Wendell single-handedly wiped them out using his Crownwarden powers, bringing undead into extinction and ushering in the Age of Wendell’s Watch. He then forbade the practice of Necromancy to keep such a thing from ever happening again.
The King had some Lycea scholars study Necromancy in secret so that the knowledge would be there should they ever have to defend the kingdom from rogue Necromancers, but all official records deny that this ever happened.
The following are the things learned and theorized by the Lycea Scholars about Necromancy when pondering the largest five questions of death and the afterlife.
What exactly survives when someone dies?
The Essence survives. It is a combination of three fundamental pieces: The Soul, The Memory, and The Anchor.
The Soul is the continuation of what a person is. It acts of its own free will in accordance to what it wishes. New experiences can alter who it fundamentally is.
The Memory is the continuation of what the person was. It acts only in accordance to the most important memories constructed during life, and new memories it makes cannot alter its personality. It can learn new rules, but it cannot become a different person. It cannot experience triumph so complete that its personality changes, or grief so thorough that it loses part of who it was.
The Anchor is why the person is and was. The Anchor is either a thing or place or person or action that drove the person toward life. If they died fulfilled or having ultimately given up on everything, there is no Anchor and the Soul (but not the memory) may resist being brought back.
Therefore, Necromancy is placing one or more parts of an Essence into a corpse. None of them can be placed in a living being. However, a whole Essence can be placed inside of a living being. This is called Possession.
At least one fundamental piece of an Essence is required for Necromancy. Without any of these, the vessel is just an empty body and cannot be animated. In any known way.
Incomplete Necromancies create the following:
The Soul
A Phantom. This is a being that is the essence of the person being resurrected, but they have no memories of who they are and no reason to return.
The Memory
An Echo. This is a being of pure memory with no essence of the person being resurrected and no reason for them to return.
The Anchor
A Revenant. This is a being with no memories, no personality, and no essence. It is only a goal that must be completed being channeled through a corpse.
The Soul + The Memory
A Vestige. This is a being with the essence of who the person was and the memory of how they became who they are, but no reason for them to return.
The Soul + The Anchor
A Hollow. This is a being with the essence of a person and their reason for being, but without memory or recollection of who they are.
The Memory + The Anchor
A Shade. This is a being with the memories and reason for being of the person resurrected, but without the essence of who they are and thus no ability to meaningfully change. It can learn new rules, but it cannot become a different person. It cannot experience triumph so complete that its personality changes, or grief so thorough that it loses part of who it was.
The Soul + The Memory + The Anchor
There is no word for this as it has never been done and is assumed to be impossible. This is a true resurrection.
Ghostcasting is the act of manipulating one or more parts of an Essence, but without the presence of a corpse.
Despite its oxymoronic ideation (since Necromancy is “Manipulating a Corpse with one or more parts of an Essence”) Ghostcasting is often considered by scholars to be “performing Necromancy without a corpse.”
It is only theorized to exist due to the known quantities of Necromancy, but there has been no meaningful proof that it exists.
What happens immediately after death?
Death is the act of the body ceasing and its Essence being separated from the corpse.
Severance is the act of the Essence moving to a temporary kind of afterlife called The Veil.
The Veil is where the Essence resides until it decomposes, like a corpse, into the three fundamental pieces, The Soul, The Memory, and The Anchor. Then these three pieces decompose, often at random and wildly different rates. When all three fundamental parts have fully decomposed, an Essence and its parts are beyond the touch of Necromancy.
It is theorized that “beyond the touch of Necromancy” is another location, often just called The Beyond.
This is considered the one true afterlife by those that treat the theory as fact.
Does a person retain any autonomy after death?
An Essence has full autonomy in the Veil. As long as it has freshly died and has not yet decomposed into its 3 fundamental pieces.
When an Essence decomposes, The Memory and The Anchor have no autonomy. The Soul can still resist if the Anchor has fully decayed, but it cannot outright deny.
What does Necromany cost?
Necromancy costs parts of the caster’s Essence.
Manipulating a complete Essence is theorized to require all three of its fundamental parts from the caster, which is why true resurrection hasn’t been done. It’s assumed that, when completed, the caster dies (as the caster’s full Essence is gone). The theory has never been tested through sanctioned research because no scholar has volunteered to die for it. Additionally, no credible record of a successful attempt exists.
The Necromancer sacrifices a part of his Soul, Memory, and/or Anchor to manipulate the corresponding fundamental piece of an Essence.
Manipulating the Soul can erode who the person is. If they do it too much, they lose their Soul and turn into a Shade.
Manipulating the Memory can erode the caster’s memory. When it is fully erased, they become a Hollow.
Manipulating the Anchor can erode the reason someone has for existing. When it is fully eroded, they become a Vestige.
This is quite rare, as erosion of the Anchor often ends in suicide before the Anchor has fully eroded.
This is the true dangerous cost of Necromancy: what happens to an eroded Essence?
Do those pieces move to The Veil?
If a fundamental piece of an Essence, or the Essence as a whole, was sacrificed, where does it go?
Does a Necromancer swap theirs for the one they are manipulating, or is their being erased?
Does a Necromancer go to The Beyond if they die from Necromancy? Or do they just cease to exist and get no participation in any form of Afterlife? Is there even a difference?
How does becoming Crownwarden affect an Essence?
It is not known what happens to a Crownwarden when they are killed, because it has never been done.
The current theory is that becoming Crownwarden permanently fortifies a person’s Essence so that it cannot erode.
Upon Death, it is theorized that the Essence skips Severance and The Veil entirely, and goes immediately into The Beyond.
It is also theorized that their Crownwarden power is returned to its source, wherever that may be.
But how the fuck am I suppose to design truly conceptual outer gods, the only one I have fully fleshed out is chaos, and the next one I'm working on is parasite
I don't care what Brandon Sanderson says. I think that magic always IS just an unexplainable source that can be harnessed in thousands of ways and is usually inconsistent; because I think Magic functions on belief.
NOW you may be thinking. "Captain. What the fuck are you talking about? you can't decide how stuff works in other people's writing!" And to that I say, hear me out, because this is more fun.
Because Magic functions on belief. and everywhere there are people there is at least an attempt at a scientist. Some guys who look at magic and go "welp, there's gotta be a way to explain that!" and then they experiment, and their experiments get more consistent, because that is what experiments do, you put in the same inputs in the same scenario and you get the same result. That's what scientifically minded people believe- oh shit. Well, you're believing, so it's working. in this way. and since you don't trust it to work another way, it's not going to for you. and then that information spreads. and since more and more people come to this understanding, they can no longer function as they are supposed to. That's why Chosen Ones rarely know what the hell they're doing- they cant. because if you KNOW what's going on, and believe in all these rules that people made up, then that's the only thing that's gonna work!!
The best example of this I know of is The Grishaverse. specifically, the last series, King of Scars. Where they're always talking about "The small science" and how they can only manipulate certain things in certain ways. Until you meet the ancient powerful Grisha/Saints who are gods- because they don't know shit about "The small science" and "Only being able to manipulate certain areas of reality"- Nah man, I can turn into a swarm of bees AND bloodbend AND call the storm. why the hell wouldn't i be able to- "Small science?" "elements" Fuck that, break it down far enough and Are We Not All Things? and what happens when Zoya learns that? She denies it, but when she finally accepts it she becomes just as powerful and able to do the same shit- because the only thing that was working as a barrier was the limiters that people made up!
That logic works in every hard magic system. I will die on this hill.
Oh, You read a Brandon Sanderson book and it's way too complicated for people have made up to make something incomprehensible to make sense?? GUESS WHAT FUCKER, BRANDON MADE THAT UP ALL ON HIS OWN. Like if a bunch of powerful people are working to figure shit out and find loopholes in each others findings, OF COURSE it's going to get complicated. Games of make believe usually are- but in worlds with magic that can cause tangible effect? Then Make Believe turns Make Real. and adults are really shitty at being imaginative and accepting "Oh well the lavamonster cant get me because- because uh, i have purple on!" at surface level. no, it's not the color of that shirt, it's the fabric and the way that it's woven and the fact that your mother died on a tuesday, of course!
people are so good at causing misinformation about real science, imagine how easy it would be when the part of reality you're misinforming people about is based entirely on what you believe will work!!!
It is one in the morning, i'm going to go pass out now! fuck you all and have a wonderful time of day!
So despite my own personal statements regarding my dislike for complex, multiverse like narratives. I am infact like most people, a hypocrite.
So let me talk about my multiverse narrative.
This is a project I started sometime in high school, and it keeps changing every year that I work on it. I think it may be the project where I have done the most overhauls on.
There is no garentee I will not overhaul it entirely again in the future. But that will be then, this is now.
So even though it is a constantly changing project, I will share the oldest remaining a (and most consistent part of this project) Witches.
Witches are rare, shapeshifting beings. Able to transform into many things. Though they all have a unique familiar.
This familiar is what they are named for… ie the wolf witch, the chameleon witch or the cat witch, gryphon witch So on and so forth.
Witches for this setting are not born they are made. Quite purposely mind you. As it would be difficult if not impossible to make a witch without all parties consenting to it.
A consensual deal with the devil per-say.
The reason for this is because of how magic naturally works.
There are three kinds of majics. Major majics, middle magics and minor magics.
Under normal circumstances stances major magics like the kind that witches perform are deadly to most beings so minor magics are instead used
See even with minor magic it is done by cooperating with several people at a time. Usually the safest minimum is three individuals. Two to cast one to keep watch. The safest large amount of individuals is somewhere around twelve as any more and it tends to be a too many cooks in the kitchen ordeal.
Magic can be performed alone, but it is difficult and likely to backfire. Especially with the more magic you are dealing with. Or in other words the closer to major majics one gets.
Crafting with magic is slightly less risky but not as potent when done alone, and there’s several ways to do this sort of crafting… but before I get off track.
Witches are the exception to casting magic on thier own, they can just throw it around whillynilly all they want. This is because of one simple fact:
A witch is never alone.
That is because witches make themselves. when they fuse their bodies and consciousness together with others. This horrific process results in a single individual and an offshoot (the familiar)
This individual, with multiple consciousness, two to cast one to watch. Can perform magic as they wish.
Witches like this draw magic from the worlds around them and from themselves, and that is where this whole multiverse thing comes in.
Magic is everywhere and in everything there is life.
And the majority of witches come from and live in the place where dead universes combined. To be melted together and reused until the end of magic. This place. The place where dreams are made and go to die. As it has always been, and never will be. Is connected to everything. The cosmic ocean if you will. The roots of the world tree. The brackish world. The home of the many gates.
So it’s from here that a witch can fulfill their greatest purpose.
See when a witch create themselves they also creat a magic system (middle majics). A way to easily harness that energy so normally inaccessible to most.
Normally a magic system will be used by the witch themselves.
For example the Chameleon Witch upholds a magic system that relies on color, change the color of a thing and change the way that thing fundamentally interacts with life.
The chameleon witch uses their system when they perform magic.
But others can also buy into a witche’s system. Usually the inhabitants of the brackish worlds may buy into a witches system in order to perform magic in an easier way.
But that’s the less interesting option.
The more interesting system occurs when a real world, floating out in the spiderwebs of the cosmos decided to try magic.
If there is enough magic around (at least a 1.7 on my scale) and individuals start to pull on magic. There is a high chance that instead of pulling on nothing they find a witch’s path that’s already been thread. As it is easier to walk the path already taken than bushwhack a new one.
Some systems are more popular to buy into than others. Like the dragon witches elemental system. Or the black witches deal making system.
A magic planet can buy into multiple systems at a time, usually having them fuse into something unique. But they can stay separate too or expand in ways unknown to the witch themselves until they learn of this new idea.
The old sort of magic the kind that sings universes into being, still exists and could in theory be used by anyone in a world with enough magic to notice the fabric of order and chaos that the witches use to create themselves. But why do that when your system lets you throw fire balls? Or even find the mysteries of the universe in the equally impressive minor magics? (I mean the name is deceptive, this magic can be used to revive the dead, grant wishes and control entire worlds of used in the right place by the right “people”, it’s the magic of gods and “soft magic systems”)
The thing about witches (and magic system as an extension) is that they are mortal. Majic is an immortal force of existence. To exist is to be just a bit of majic.
But witches are mortal and so they can die. And with them the system they upheld dies too. In some cases a similar system belonging to another witch may fill the void, but otherwise the system dies.
The likelihood of a witch dying is slim though. They are mortal, but they are also ageless, as by the rules of the chaos at the ends of existence. Where things like time and scale and gravity don’t behave as they should. From where you can watch the countless ends and existences die and begin again in universes uncountable. As gods and giants and cosmic dragons forge worlds and multiverses of their own volition. And elder things play games and battle over the scraps and threads of thier own universes that they wish to forge into new existences. Doing anything they can to prevent existences from falling into the place that witches live.
Speaking of dragons and elder things: witches follow dragons, because cosmic dragons are especially good at destruction and creation. (Chaos incarnate, along with their siblings who are Order incarnate) So if a witch wishes to place her magic system in a particular place she will give it to a dragon who will go to a world and from there spread life and magic that they carry to that world.
Elder things know, they tend to have lived through the birth and rebirth of several universes. So they are especially good at learning and unknowning. They are usually the ones responsible for changing the ways a system interacts with the world around it.
A Witches counterpart is a Muse, witches write the rules of magic, Muses write the paths of things.
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Everyone is able to manipulate magical energy, but most are limited to a few basic spells, not due to lack of ability, but due to lack of knowledge. Magic is a bit like cooking - anyone can learn to do it, and some may be naturally better or worse at it, but not everyone puts in the time and effort, or has access to the right resources, to do it "well," or make it a career.
Average casting range is about 150ft^2, average spell duration is about an hour.
Magic's Law: Do not take what isn't freely and knowingly given. This law mainly applies to people, since animals/plants/etc can't necessarily give informed consent. So long as a non-person target treated with respect, however, the caster shouldn't have any issues.
The worse or more frequent the infraction, the harsher magic's punishment - especially if the offender attempts to use magic to break this law.
Rules of Magic (Things mages can technically do, but it's strongly advised against due to trying-will-probably-kill-them reasons.)
Don't create life. Only life can create life, and trying to do so 'unnaturally' may cost the mage their own.
Don't attempt to communicate with or bring back the dead. They've earned their rest, and it's more than likely what the mage makes contact with will not be the intended target.
Don't manipulate time. That way lies headaches and heartaches.
Don't attempt to countermand free will or natural emotions. This is generally impossible to do without breaking Magic's Law.
