#ufidea

"I was going to do a cardio thing, but then tacos."

The magic is too broad. Trying to do too much at once. Discarding it. Same concept with a more pokemon bent could be fun, though.

So I've lost the magic, but got some story, and a theme.

Main Character: Big gay nerd who gets a chance at the adventures we all dream of and discovers that adventures are actually really hard and hella scary. Surprises herself and everyone around her by fighting to stay.

Relationship Character: Manic Pixie Dream Girl who turns out to actually be Vriska. Main Character's introduction to the fantasy elements when she uses Main Character to dodge her enemies. Final status is MC <3< RC.

Antagonist: ???

Theme: "It's never that simple."

In which our intrepid hero, (and the rest of the world?), gets trapped in a time loop.

So, we've got spells.

Spells are living things. They feed on magic. Where there's magic, there's spells. Spells congregate around power. Places of power, objects of power, people of power.

Those last ones are wizards. Wizards are able to see (Maybe? Probably they can do some kind of at-will Third Eye/True Sight thing, but it's not really worth the risk of glimpsing a big one and having  to spend the rest of the day folding your brain back into four dimensions) and interact with spells. They take their power and shove it into a spell. The spell translates the power into an effect.

Spells have evolved to cater to wizards, since a wizard's power will generally only ever increase, allowing them to feed and maintain more and larger spells. Wizards are whales, and spells are all those fish that hang out with whales (I don't know shit about fish).

Casting attracts spells. They smell food (power), and they come looking. The upper limit of a wizard's casting increases as they cast and attract more and more spells. This carries its own risks in that the wizard will inevitably draw predatory spells that will feed on the swarming smaller spells and, eventually, the wizard.

Wizards happen when a person accumulates enough magical energy to start seeing and interacting with spells. Once that limit is crossed, you're a wizard. (Fall below that limit, and you're no longer a wizard? Could be interesting.) The most common way this happens is all at once. The wizard-to-be encounters something or someone powerful, and they get a chunk of that power shoved into them. This usually has physical or mental side-effects. The gradual way, which takes really long, requires strict mental and physical discipline etc etc etc kung fu monks.

Our protagonist got her jump-start from the moon. Her power waxes and wanes with the moon, and she's probably nocturnal. She also has a tail, if I can think of a good enough explanation for one.

The moon and the spell that lives in the moon, as well as various items, places, objects, and celestial bodies and their associated spells, are not usually distinguished in wizard conversation. A wizard talking about the moon can be talking about the rock, the spell, or both.

Wizards do not like using True Sight. Even casually, it can cause hella migraines. Outdoors, without exceptional visual focus, the wizard risks an errant glance to the horizon, and perceives all the spells in between. This is not pleasant.

Spells do not show up second-hand. Pictures, videos, even mirrors do not reflect spells. Wizards tend to avoid mirrors, as True Sight lets them perceive a person's entire being, themselves included.

Fire spells gather around fire. Wind spells are in the air, etc. Spells are attracted to certain words, actions, or images, as these tend to mean there's power to be had. This impulse is present in larger spells, and their attention can be caught with the right rituals. This is the "abracadabra" bit. It's not casting, it's a big bright "Hello friend come here let me cast you."

Big spells, the kind that live in stars, oceans, planets, concepts, etc, aren't so much spells as deities/forces of nature. God is a spell, so big it doesn't need wizards to survive. As spells tend to be extremely territorial, wizards tend to avoid organized religion. Walking into any sort of holy place means the wizard has to leave most of their spells outside. This applies to holy symbols, prayer, etc. Don't pray over a dying wizard. You might just scare off the healing spells that are keeping them alive.

Wizards tend to be very durable, their bodies hosting healing spells that feed off their power in return for keeping the wizard alive and healthy.

Wizards don't travel well. Civilization is a dense forest, and everything else is wide open plains, and there are things that hunt in those plains.

Tentatively tagging this whole thing #ufidea until I find a name for it.

Working summary is "Dresden Files if Harry wasn't such a fucking loser (and owned a sick motorcycle)." With some bits mixed in.

Things to do:

1. Write up a summary of the magic, since that's pretty much the only concrete thing I've got so far and it needs nailing down. References: Sanderson's Laws, TVTropes 'The Laws of Magic', etc.

2. Work on the main character. Wrestle with impulse to give her a tail. Needs aesthetics, personality, etc. Maybe there's a structure for this somewhere. I might do one of those 101 Questions things? Also need to find a name for her. Owns a kickass motorcycle. Neophile. Technophile.

3. Other characters I guess. Wizard kismesis is a definite thing. Also a rockstar somewhere? For some reason I can't think of anything better than "They fight crime" so a police connection is a thing that I need to have I guess. Where does she get old things?

4. Define + construct the setting. Meditation garden. Highways. Some kind of tower would be ideal. An existing or slightly altered existing city seems the likeliest option, but also the scariest.

5. Read more, read wider. Alchemical scrolls, poetry, philosophy, religious texts, hot girls, etc. Re-read The Prophet.

6. Pick a theme, I guess???

7. And a myth arc.

8. Think of some external conflicts.