Speaking of necromancy, how about Victor Frankenstein and his flesh golem? He gathered body parts from dead people, stitched them all together and used electricity to bring it to life.
As I understand it, soft magic systems are not necessarily "deus ex machina". What can and can't be done with magic is defined vaguely but that doesn't mean it isn't defined at all. For example Gandalf, it is not clear exactly, what the scope and quality of his magic is, but it would definitely feel out of place if he did something too crazy like idk elevate Minas Tirith or something like that, at least after his fight with the Balrog, where we see the first time what sort of things he can do when everything is on knifes edge, even though we don't fully understand it. Even a soft magic system can't suddenly (without good reason) change abilities we have seen once in a way which does completely ignore the established intuition we have acquired, what can be done and what not. I think the point and unique appeal of soft magic systems is that we slowly get a feeling what that mysterious thing behind the fog is, without ever fully seeing it in concrete detail but still seeing something.
Agreed. I think that the big breakdown is how clearly the rules are defined. We know that Gandalf can do magic, but it also has somewhat tangible limits. If the magic system was just poorly disguised plot armor, then in the hobbit, gandalf would have teleported them to rivendell, turned the moon back 500 years, teleported them to the lonely mountain, and opened the door. Soft magic systems just allow us to draw our own conclusions of what is and isn't possible. Hard magic systems are dictated by the author. This does lead to painful plot armor where the hard magic system is completely ignored because 'reasons' (like in the pokemon shows when ash's pokemon use moves that don't exist in any of the games). Soft magic systems still have limitations, but the author has more ability to push the bounds of what we thought was possible without breaking our immersion in the story.
As a consumer, if I don't understand it, it might as well be deus ex machina; it's just a matter of how well done it is. It's not something many consider, but the magic system of a setting is only magic from our perspective as consumers, not the people of the world, as it's completely natural in the setting, even though it's something supernatural to us - this is independent of how well the people of the setting understand or have mastery of that natural force.
@@iratevagabond204 Maybe you could call the first appearance of magic in a story deus ex machina, because it's something gamechanging new with no established rules. But once it begins to happen repeatedly, there would be a more blurred (soft) or clearer (hard) pattern emerging. Magic being completely natural or not depends on the setting and the perspective of characters: And more often than not you have characters like the Hobbits who may have heard of magic but it's still magic to them because it's something mystical and rare to them, which they themselves do not possess.
just wanted to say was going through some anxiety and your soft voice and the relaxing music ambience and the wonder filled energy really helped, thank you
One of the best examples of worldbuilding is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. The magic there was the creation of dragons from the indigenous fire lizards via genetic engineering.
I want to know more about magic system centered about weapons and artifacts, like the inhabitants can't cast magic but can use it through magic items like elemental weapons. Can you suggest any material for references?
I like the idea of having to expand the "light" beyond the city, because it might lead to the citadel becoming a conquering force almost like the warlocks. I see potential for some internal conflict there.
Great vid! I watch a lot of worldbuilding videos and this one stands out to me from all the bases it covers. The unconventional example in Jurassic Park made me look at world building magic from a different angle and your example from your own lore was really cool.
Have you ever read "The name of the wind"? It's a book series with a super cool hard magic system, also with some soft magic in the world itself. It's my favourite book series, read through it three times already and this video really reminded me of it a lot! :D
I'm graduating from highschool tomorrow and I wanna pursue concept art, your series have been helping me on developing something to fill my portfolio. Tysm
I'm working on my own setting right now but it's a Cyberpunk setting and not a Fantasy setting so I really appreciate your video. It helped me flush out some of the thoughts I was trying to develop on how some of the skills defined the setting.
Interesting usage of Soft magic in hard magic settings something's use it as something way more alien and eldritch. Having a hard magic system is understandable, and In some cases explainable, adding something that completely breaks the mold and making it a secret demonic or different thing is for me at least, cool as hell. It's a nice, I interesting trope that I feels I should add.
Really nice videos! I watched all of your world building videos and they help me a lot to elaborate a more solid backstory for my portfolio project, thanks a lot!
Idea: Magic based around a mechanism that stores kinetic energy. You can set it to "charge" and it makes all of your actions require additional force; with the excess going into the mechanism for later use. You can set it to "discharge" and use that stored force as you wish. You can set it to neither and be unaffected. Such a thing could be obscenely expensive or mass produced depending on your needs. You'd get two different uses out of such a device, absorbing energy (to negate strikes or slow a fall) and releasing energy (for an extra-powerful jump or creating a damaging shockwave) You can also have multiple charge modes on this mechanism, leaving it to charge as you go about your day with only minor inconvenience to yourself, or you could set it to charge more quickly at the cost of needing much more force.
The way that I like to do magic systems is, by makeing it so the world doesn't rely on magic, but have it there so it can add new experiences, and if magic is removed then things will change, but it's not like the world will be bland, it will just have diffrent experience's
I would say that what makes a magic system in a setting is this: Does it describe what DID happen? - probably not a magic system necessarily. Does it describe what CAN happen? - It is a magic system.
For magic systems, oh boy am I getting a headache on mine. The best way I can describe it is... [deep breath] Imagine the code system from The Matrix, where select few able to read it somehow interpret it into a visual manifestation of what is going on in real time, only in this case it's writing that code to manifest and manipulate physical matter. "Programing" the code it into a cog wheel made of a luminescent material with the physical properties of iron but the visual properties of corundum with essentially a blueprint of a machine or elemental effect while it simultaneously absorbs raw materials required to create it. Then when the cog wheel is electrically stimulated it will then manifest and assemble the desired machinery or effect around it, when deactivated the manifestation will then disassemble and store it again where materials and programming can repair and improve upon it. This allows a skilled craftsman to design impossible machines that will be magically constructed, resulting in complex weapons and armor, Cannons that manifest and fire bolts of energy, stationary engines that can produce sufficient thrust to defy gravity, and other creations all powered by magic. Then there are the people in my world where (thanks to generations of exposure due to geographic isolation) have the material in their bloodstream instead of iron and are actually able to manipulate it to perform elemental magic without the aid of a mechanical apparatus but require they literally have every runic symbol in the code tattooed on their skin using ink infused with the material to act as an interface that requires a lifetime of training to master. like I said, a headache
1) save yourself some effort: just copy one of the programming languages that exists irl, but with glyphs instead of abbreviated words and punctuation. This could also place some soft limits on what your magic can do: depending on the structure of the language it handles certain tasks better. If you want certain kinds of magic to be essentially unheard of, you can pick a language that has a very hard time with those tasks. 2) Here's an interesting little factoid: there is nothing about a laser that did not exist in 1800. As soon as there were silvered mirrors, there could have been lasers: a gas lamp would be able to provide the light required. Now, lasers require precious gemstones: rubies, emeralds, sapphires, etc. this is what changes the color of the laser. They have to be unoccluded although they can be very small: but they have to be crystals and preferably very hard ones. It sounds to me like your discs here could require laser etching, and each glyph would use a different combination of colors. Associating your glyphs with colors might help you map them and figure out what they do. Because a discwright would need to have a full set of seven lasers (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) this would make setting up a workshop expensive. Because they would need to learn to code, not just learn the symbols but also how to put them together, they would need specialized education. So, who has the opportunity to go to school and who doesn't? Who gets arbitrarily excluded? Women? Men? People of a certain ethnic group? Religious group? Is schooling only available to people from certain families? Does a certain nation have a monopoly on this knowledge, and jealously guard it's secret? Or perhaps it's a church that controls the knowledge: thereby controlling the rulers of multiple nations? Or perhaps the Discwright families act as a mafia, sitting on the thrones of multiple nations and colluding in military-industrial alliances? Or do the Discwrights all hate each other and fight proxy wars every chance they get? It also seems like there is an inherent rivalry between the Discwrights and those with exposure to the magical metal. Again, only their nobility would really be able to use their inherent power to it's fullest extent: they would need to use precious or semiprecious stones in the ink. But, wealthy commoners could potentially have a more limited set of glyphs which would allow them to use certain programs. How does this society work and how is it different from the society that uses magitech? Is there any other limitation on their magic use? For example, their tissues have evolved so they can only use sugars which include this special substance therefore any mage who attempts a very powerful spell would collapse from hypoglycemia. Just from a mechanical standpoint you need some way of preventing these guys from spamming low level programs, and this feels a bit less arbitrary than many magical rules. Again, save yourself some effort and look at real life to figure out how the mages in your world might operate. Works like Dune and ASIOAF and The Witcher feel so realistic and grounded, despite how much weird stuff happens, because the politics are familiar. We immediately understand the characters' motivations because they are in situations people have faced historically. But do consider that European politics is overused in fantasy and sci-fi. Maybe take your inspiration from East Asia, or Southeast Asia or Africa or Pre-Colombian America.
Would Full Metal Alchemist be considered soft or hard magic? The law of equivalent exchange and not being able to bring someone back from the dead seem to be the only constant rules.
The energy from this world comes from the inside of the planet, which is kinda hollow since it was terraformed again over the ruins of the original Earth. This energy, raw and volatile gives more power to those with an affinity to their element. But also, the energy tends to "follow its stream" it needs to become one again, and when there are many concentrations of this raw power it creates amorphous beasts with no intelligence whatsoever which their own goal is to follow those welders of the energy. And so, the cities had to make systems to avoid massive energy creatures to bring chaos. Systems made by the technology races.
Idea: Perhaps the reason the lightbringers stopped working is because of the arrogance of the Citadel's order? Perhaps their beliefs towards the warlocks and many other things have gotten too far? Perhaps the warlocks are not so different compared to the Lightbringers' order? Perhaps the god that made the Rings of Fire is the same one that made the Lightbringers in the first place?
Star Wars was a bad example for space magic bud, they consistenly break their own rules and do not follow common magic rules in film-writing. For example: Episode 1 fast running jedi is established in opening scenes, by act 3 when Obi Wan needs to run to catch up with Maul and Qui Gon dueling, why did he not choose to fast run then? They broke their own rules, and seemingly because they couldn't figure out how to get them out of the situation with the heavy droids. That is a bad usage of magic. Good usages of magic are situations that are established, the audience should not say "what?!" at any point unless you genuinely set something up to surprise them. Space magic is not an excuse to go willy nilly with it and blow people off bridges than have them survive because they're jedi. Frozen cells are frozen cells
@@Himmyjewett I disagree, there's no reason to establish the magic then its just lazy writing. Jedi can't be invincible in one movie and vulnerable in the next. I stand by my statement, Star Wars is a bad example for Good use of magic.
This is my magic system, it’s called "stone craft" (Tolad language: L'ndith /ləndiθ/): -Stone craft can have many potential uses, both necessary (transportation, medicine) and trivial (cosmetics, entertainment), but it is seldom used (usually only by elites and scholars) because it can be dangerous. Stone craft manifests itself through precious crystals, called "wizard stones" (or 'khridhvel’nt' /χriðvɛlənt/ in the Tolad /tɔlad/ language). Users summon Stone craft by properly reciting Tolad incantations while making physical contact with wizard stones. If used properly, Stone craft can help its users solve problems and give the user powers such as teleportation, healing, disguise, etc. -Stone craft is mostly used by elites and scholars, as they have the resources to obtain wizard stones and learn incantations in Tolad. Although extremely rare, a handful of individuals (regardless of class) are predisposed by birth to contain quantities of wizard stones in their blood streams, which enables such individuals, called the "stone-blooded" (or 'l’ndrogh' /ləndrɔʁ), to use (or be used for) Tolad incantations without crystals. -Natural wizard stones is a limited resource which is strictly guarded by henchmen who work for the elites. However, some scholars can secretly synthesize artificial wizard stones by using fragments of natural crystals to convert other matter into it. Elites consider this conversion theft, and make attempts to persecute scholars and the stone-blooded for their usage. Stone craft can become addictive if used multiple times during a short period. For incantations, unrounded vowels require two wizard stones (for height and backness) while rounded vowels require a third for roundedness; length and stress also warrant more. Voiceless consonants require two (for place and manner of articulation) with voice and ejectivity also warranting more. Users can be defeated by simply running out of it or using it incorrectly. -After being used for an incantation, wizard stones quickly sublimate into an odorless, toxic gas which can cause temporary paralysis/vision impairment if inhaled (although this usually isn’t fatal and lasts on average temporarily for ten-15 minutes). Large scale sublimation can cause pollution and collateral damage to ecosystems. The stone-blooded are sought after and are particularly vulnerable to abduction/slavery for their natural abundance of wizard stones. Criminals are often punished with harmful incantations (in addition to the temporary paralysis/vision impairment). Wizard stones can be used to cure debilitating illnesses, but there is a price to pay; that illness must be transferred to another lifeform (usually to the aforementioned criminals). Anti-elitist possession of wizard stones is often severely punished by the elites, who fear class mobility from its usage by lower classes. -Wizard stones were created naturally by “paramount comets” (or 'k’al’nv’t' /kʼalənvət/), which impacted and their supernatural minerals became embedded within the ground. Eons later, the Tol tribes settled throughout the rugged landscape which was shaped by craters from paramount comets. As the Tol civilization developed, farmers, paid laborers, slaves, and other workers participated in architecture projects and engineering endeavors, including construction, agriculture and landscaping. One day, according to legend, four Tol slaves were ordered by their master to explore a cave in search of fresh drinking water. One of them brought a torch so they could see through the darkness and deep within the cave, they discovered beautiful rock formations covered in crystals. After one if the slaves yelled in amazement, the unstable ceiling caved in and they were buried in an avalanche of crystals. They were wounded and crystal particles became imbued in their blood streams as a result. Only one of the slaves was still conscious afterwards and made cries for help. To his amazement, the stones surrounding his body sublimated and then he passed out from blood loss and the toxic fumes. Hours later, the four slaves regained consciousness in the cave and miraculously escaped from the pile of crystals. Their language, the Tolad language, was the first language ever uttered within the crystal’s vicinity, which triggered a mutation that only allowed the crystals understand Tolad. There may be undiscovered crystals that haven’t been exposed to Tolad and thus available for another language. They were physiologically altered by the crystals, it fused with their dna and several of their descendants became the stone-blooded from the wizard stone's dominant gene. After emerging from the cave, the four men used their new abilities to free themselves from slavery and become a quadrumvirate which would unite the Tol tribes beneath a federation. Their cooperation and even distribution of land to rule within the federation enabled an era of peace and prosperity for the Tol federation, which balkanized after their deaths. During the power vacuum, Tol elites usurped control of separate territories and became fiercely protective of the wizard stones, often warring with each other over the crystals. Scholars were employed by the elites to study the wizard stones so that elites could utilize their power. -Even today, Stone craft is strictly guarded by the elites and their henchmen, although its existence is no secret. Most people among the lower classes could benefit from wizard stones but most wouldn’t dare try to obtain it from fear of severe punishments by the elites. Additionally, Tolad language resources are scarce beyond the elites’ mansions. Elites and scholars have established a wizard stones society to regulate what Tolad words and phrases can be used for incantations. These approved incantations are recorded in a text called “the canon” (or 't’avdru' /tʼavdru/), which is updated every year. Some rogue scholars illegally practice their own unapproved incantations. Although there is no particular set of clothing that distinguishes users, elites are (needless to say) the most well dressed of the classes and thus, fine linens and robes could possibly indicate usage. However, not all elites can be bothered to learn about wizard stones or how to use it. Additionally, scholars, who are the most familiar with wizard stones, are different from elites in that they generally prefer to stay away from attention. They often disguise themselves among the lower class, which also include some the stone-blooded. The lack of incentive to procure wizard stones or resources to learn the Tolad language has made many lower class citizens indifferent to Stone craft. tl;dr: rich guys use magic crystals to do stuff sometimes.
Jurassic park is clearly about a necromancer. He even has a gem in his staff and is resurrecting dead animals.
Speaking of necromancy, how about Victor Frankenstein and his flesh golem? He gathered body parts from dead people, stitched them all together and used electricity to bring it to life.
As I understand it, soft magic systems are not necessarily "deus ex machina". What can and can't be done with magic is defined vaguely but that doesn't mean it isn't defined at all. For example Gandalf, it is not clear exactly, what the scope and quality of his magic is, but it would definitely feel out of place if he did something too crazy like idk elevate Minas Tirith or something like that, at least after his fight with the Balrog, where we see the first time what sort of things he can do when everything is on knifes edge, even though we don't fully understand it. Even a soft magic system can't suddenly (without good reason) change abilities we have seen once in a way which does completely ignore the established intuition we have acquired, what can be done and what not.
I think the point and unique appeal of soft magic systems is that we slowly get a feeling what that mysterious thing behind the fog is, without ever fully seeing it in concrete detail but still seeing something.
Agreed. I think that the big breakdown is how clearly the rules are defined. We know that Gandalf can do magic, but it also has somewhat tangible limits. If the magic system was just poorly disguised plot armor, then in the hobbit, gandalf would have teleported them to rivendell, turned the moon back 500 years, teleported them to the lonely mountain, and opened the door. Soft magic systems just allow us to draw our own conclusions of what is and isn't possible. Hard magic systems are dictated by the author. This does lead to painful plot armor where the hard magic system is completely ignored because 'reasons' (like in the pokemon shows when ash's pokemon use moves that don't exist in any of the games). Soft magic systems still have limitations, but the author has more ability to push the bounds of what we thought was possible without breaking our immersion in the story.
As a consumer, if I don't understand it, it might as well be deus ex machina; it's just a matter of how well done it is. It's not something many consider, but the magic system of a setting is only magic from our perspective as consumers, not the people of the world, as it's completely natural in the setting, even though it's something supernatural to us - this is independent of how well the people of the setting understand or have mastery of that natural force.
@@iratevagabond204 Maybe you could call the first appearance of magic in a story deus ex machina, because it's something gamechanging new with no established rules. But once it begins to happen repeatedly, there would be a more blurred (soft) or clearer (hard) pattern emerging.
Magic being completely natural or not depends on the setting and the perspective of characters: And more often than not you have characters like the Hobbits who may have heard of magic but it's still magic to them because it's something mystical and rare to them, which they themselves do not possess.
just wanted to say was going through some anxiety and your soft voice and the relaxing music ambience and the wonder filled energy really helped, thank you
Got here by accident. Really liked the mustache ^^
One of the best examples of worldbuilding is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. The magic there was the creation of dragons from the indigenous fire lizards via genetic engineering.
I want to know more about magic system centered about weapons and artifacts, like the inhabitants can't cast magic but can use it through magic items like elemental weapons. Can you suggest any material for references?
@@kaelthunderhoof5619 Campfire Technolpgy and World Anvil would be good places to start.
I like the idea of having to expand the "light" beyond the city, because it might lead to the citadel becoming a conquering force almost like the warlocks. I see potential for some internal conflict there.
Great vid! I watch a lot of worldbuilding videos and this one stands out to me from all the bases it covers. The unconventional example in Jurassic Park made me look at world building magic from a different angle and your example from your own lore was really cool.
Have you ever read "The name of the wind"? It's a book series with a super cool hard magic system, also with some soft magic in the world itself. It's my favourite book series, read through it three times already and this video really reminded me of it a lot! :D
No I haven't actually, it's The Kingkiller Chronicle right? I have heard good things about it though :)
@@CriticalGiants oh right, my bad. Just one-to-one translated it from German, I can only tell you more good things about it :D
haha i was about to mention the same thing. perfect example, yep. can't wait for the doors of stone to come out (3rd and final book)
I'm graduating from highschool tomorrow and I wanna pursue concept art, your series have been helping me on developing something to fill my portfolio. Tysm
I'm working on my own setting right now but it's a Cyberpunk setting and not a Fantasy setting so I really appreciate your video. It helped me flush out some of the thoughts I was trying to develop on how some of the skills defined the setting.
Interesting usage of Soft magic in hard magic settings something's use it as something way more alien and eldritch. Having a hard magic system is understandable, and In some cases explainable, adding something that completely breaks the mold and making it a secret demonic or different thing is for me at least, cool as hell.
It's a nice, I interesting trope that I feels I should add.
just randomly found your channel and now a very big fan of you sir.
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.
Your videos give off such a relaxing and positive energy
Thanks dude! Perfect mustache!
Your videos are really useful, keep it up ;)
Great video series! Thank you. I hope you will continue the series
Really nice videos! I watched all of your world building videos and they help me a lot to elaborate a more solid backstory for my portfolio project, thanks a lot!
Idea: Magic based around a mechanism that stores kinetic energy.
You can set it to "charge" and it makes all of your actions require additional force; with the excess going into the mechanism for later use. You can set it to "discharge" and use that stored force as you wish. You can set it to neither and be unaffected. Such a thing could be obscenely expensive or mass produced depending on your needs.
You'd get two different uses out of such a device, absorbing energy (to negate strikes or slow a fall) and releasing energy (for an extra-powerful jump or creating a damaging shockwave)
You can also have multiple charge modes on this mechanism, leaving it to charge as you go about your day with only minor inconvenience to yourself, or you could set it to charge more quickly at the cost of needing much more force.
The way that I like to do magic systems is, by makeing it so the world doesn't rely on magic, but have it there so it can add new experiences, and if magic is removed then things will change, but it's not like the world will be bland, it will just have diffrent experience's
Brother are you working on your own independent IP? You clearly are interested in storytelling and can make the art for it too.
Thanks for recognizing sci-fi as having "magic systems" in a way.
I am a simple man : I see magic I press like 👍
I would say that what makes a magic system in a setting is this:
Does it describe what DID happen? - probably not a magic system necessarily.
Does it describe what CAN happen? - It is a magic system.
Heat syncope you could use the ring to heat somebody's body temperature to make them pass out instead of melting the sword
Does magecraft in the Nasuverse, even in the Fate series (one of my favorite anime series), count as magic?
Great video!
I’m just here for the mustache
For magic systems, oh boy am I getting a headache on mine. The best way I can describe it is... [deep breath] Imagine the code system from The Matrix, where select few able to read it somehow interpret it into a visual manifestation of what is going on in real time, only in this case it's writing that code to manifest and manipulate physical matter. "Programing" the code it into a cog wheel made of a luminescent material with the physical properties of iron but the visual properties of corundum with essentially a blueprint of a machine or elemental effect while it simultaneously absorbs raw materials required to create it. Then when the cog wheel is electrically stimulated it will then manifest and assemble the desired machinery or effect around it, when deactivated the manifestation will then disassemble and store it again where materials and programming can repair and improve upon it.
This allows a skilled craftsman to design impossible machines that will be magically constructed, resulting in complex weapons and armor, Cannons that manifest and fire bolts of energy, stationary engines that can produce sufficient thrust to defy gravity, and other creations all powered by magic.
Then there are the people in my world where (thanks to generations of exposure due to geographic isolation) have the material in their bloodstream instead of iron and are actually able to manipulate it to perform elemental magic without the aid of a mechanical apparatus but require they literally have every runic symbol in the code tattooed on their skin using ink infused with the material to act as an interface that requires a lifetime of training to master.
like I said, a headache
1) save yourself some effort: just copy one of the programming languages that exists irl, but with glyphs instead of abbreviated words and punctuation. This could also place some soft limits on what your magic can do: depending on the structure of the language it handles certain tasks better. If you want certain kinds of magic to be essentially unheard of, you can pick a language that has a very hard time with those tasks.
2) Here's an interesting little factoid: there is nothing about a laser that did not exist in 1800. As soon as there were silvered mirrors, there could have been lasers: a gas lamp would be able to provide the light required. Now, lasers require precious gemstones: rubies, emeralds, sapphires, etc. this is what changes the color of the laser. They have to be unoccluded although they can be very small: but they have to be crystals and preferably very hard ones. It sounds to me like your discs here could require laser etching, and each glyph would use a different combination of colors. Associating your glyphs with colors might help you map them and figure out what they do. Because a discwright would need to have a full set of seven lasers (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) this would make setting up a workshop expensive. Because they would need to learn to code, not just learn the symbols but also how to put them together, they would need specialized education. So, who has the opportunity to go to school and who doesn't? Who gets arbitrarily excluded? Women? Men? People of a certain ethnic group? Religious group? Is schooling only available to people from certain families? Does a certain nation have a monopoly on this knowledge, and jealously guard it's secret? Or perhaps it's a church that controls the knowledge: thereby controlling the rulers of multiple nations? Or perhaps the Discwright families act as a mafia, sitting on the thrones of multiple nations and colluding in military-industrial alliances? Or do the Discwrights all hate each other and fight proxy wars every chance they get? It also seems like there is an inherent rivalry between the Discwrights and those with exposure to the magical metal. Again, only their nobility would really be able to use their inherent power to it's fullest extent: they would need to use precious or semiprecious stones in the ink. But, wealthy commoners could potentially have a more limited set of glyphs which would allow them to use certain programs. How does this society work and how is it different from the society that uses magitech? Is there any other limitation on their magic use? For example, their tissues have evolved so they can only use sugars which include this special substance therefore any mage who attempts a very powerful spell would collapse from hypoglycemia. Just from a mechanical standpoint you need some way of preventing these guys from spamming low level programs, and this feels a bit less arbitrary than many magical rules. Again, save yourself some effort and look at real life to figure out how the mages in your world might operate. Works like Dune and ASIOAF and The Witcher feel so realistic and grounded, despite how much weird stuff happens, because the politics are familiar. We immediately understand the characters' motivations because they are in situations people have faced historically. But do consider that European politics is overused in fantasy and sci-fi. Maybe take your inspiration from East Asia, or Southeast Asia or Africa or Pre-Colombian America.
Here for the mustache
Would Full Metal Alchemist be considered soft or hard magic? The law of equivalent exchange and not being able to bring someone back from the dead seem to be the only constant rules.
It's hard
do you know the name of the song at background ?
When i'm watching this video and i'm looking into your eyes, All i see is Shroud lol
The energy from this world comes from the inside of the planet, which is kinda hollow since it was terraformed again over the ruins of the original Earth. This energy, raw and volatile gives more power to those with an affinity to their element. But also, the energy tends to "follow its stream" it needs to become one again, and when there are many concentrations of this raw power it creates amorphous beasts with no intelligence whatsoever which their own goal is to follow those welders of the energy. And so, the cities had to make systems to avoid massive energy creatures to bring chaos.
Systems made by the technology races.
I think the best thing to call it is a world system.
nice
Idea: Perhaps the reason the lightbringers stopped working is because of the arrogance of the Citadel's order? Perhaps their beliefs towards the warlocks and many other things have gotten too far? Perhaps the warlocks are not so different compared to the Lightbringers' order? Perhaps the god that made the Rings of Fire is the same one that made the Lightbringers in the first place?
Noice
Thx
You forgot to add a main character something felt missing from your example of a maagic system
i see a magical mustache XD
In the story I'm making the magic the power source of the world basically changed how it looks how the people look, and even political events.
What a mustache miamore
Very nice video! Just released my magic system on my channel and would love to hear your feedback ^^
Hi
.hello are you can gave vedio how to make car in blender to youtube
8:20 how is this monetized lol
Star Wars was a bad example for space magic bud, they consistenly break their own rules and do not follow common magic rules in film-writing.
For example: Episode 1 fast running jedi is established in opening scenes, by act 3 when Obi Wan needs to run to catch up with Maul and Qui Gon dueling, why did he not choose to fast run then? They broke their own rules, and seemingly because they couldn't figure out how to get them out of the situation with the heavy droids. That is a bad usage of magic.
Good usages of magic are situations that are established, the audience should not say "what?!" at any point unless you genuinely set something up to surprise them. Space magic is not an excuse to go willy nilly with it and blow people off bridges than have them survive because they're jedi. Frozen cells are frozen cells
a character not using something is not breaking the rules
@@Himmyjewett I disagree, there's no reason to establish the magic then its just lazy writing.
Jedi can't be invincible in one movie and vulnerable in the next. I stand by my statement, Star Wars is a bad example for Good use of magic.
@@JohnBelley86 bad writers yes bad magic no
@@Himmyjewett whatever you say fanboi.
@@JohnBelley86 going to childish insults how mature
This is my magic system, it’s called "stone craft" (Tolad language: L'ndith /ləndiθ/):
-Stone craft can have many potential uses, both necessary (transportation, medicine) and trivial (cosmetics, entertainment), but it is seldom used (usually only by elites and scholars) because it can be dangerous. Stone craft manifests itself through precious crystals, called "wizard stones" (or 'khridhvel’nt' /χriðvɛlənt/ in the Tolad /tɔlad/ language). Users summon Stone craft by properly reciting Tolad incantations while making physical contact with wizard stones. If used properly, Stone craft can help its users solve problems and give the user powers such as teleportation, healing, disguise, etc.
-Stone craft is mostly used by elites and scholars, as they have the resources to obtain wizard stones and learn incantations in Tolad. Although extremely rare, a handful of individuals (regardless of class) are predisposed by birth to contain quantities of wizard stones in their blood streams, which enables such individuals, called the "stone-blooded" (or 'l’ndrogh' /ləndrɔʁ), to use (or be used for) Tolad incantations without crystals.
-Natural wizard stones is a limited resource which is strictly guarded by henchmen who work for the elites. However, some scholars can secretly synthesize artificial wizard stones by using fragments of natural crystals to convert other matter into it. Elites consider this conversion theft, and make attempts to persecute scholars and the stone-blooded for their usage. Stone craft can become addictive if used multiple times during a short period. For incantations, unrounded vowels require two wizard stones (for height and backness) while rounded vowels require a third for roundedness; length and stress also warrant more. Voiceless consonants require two (for place and manner of articulation) with voice and ejectivity also warranting more. Users can be defeated by simply running out of it or using it incorrectly.
-After being used for an incantation, wizard stones quickly sublimate into an odorless, toxic gas which can cause temporary paralysis/vision impairment if inhaled (although this usually isn’t fatal and lasts on average temporarily for ten-15 minutes). Large scale sublimation can cause pollution and collateral damage to ecosystems. The stone-blooded are sought after and are particularly vulnerable to abduction/slavery for their natural abundance of wizard stones. Criminals are often punished with harmful incantations (in addition to the temporary paralysis/vision impairment). Wizard stones can be used to cure debilitating illnesses, but there is a price to pay; that illness must be transferred to another lifeform (usually to the aforementioned criminals). Anti-elitist possession of wizard stones is often severely punished by the elites, who fear class mobility from its usage by lower classes.
-Wizard stones were created naturally by “paramount comets” (or 'k’al’nv’t' /kʼalənvət/), which impacted and their supernatural minerals became embedded within the ground. Eons later, the Tol tribes settled throughout the rugged landscape which was shaped by craters from paramount comets. As the Tol civilization developed, farmers, paid laborers, slaves, and other workers participated in architecture projects and engineering endeavors, including construction, agriculture and landscaping. One day, according to legend, four Tol slaves were ordered by their master to explore a cave in search of fresh drinking water. One of them brought a torch so they could see through the darkness and deep within the cave, they discovered beautiful rock formations covered in crystals. After one if the slaves yelled in amazement, the unstable ceiling caved in and they were buried in an avalanche of crystals. They were wounded and crystal particles became imbued in their blood streams as a result. Only one of the slaves was still conscious afterwards and made cries for help. To his amazement, the stones surrounding his body sublimated and then he passed out from blood loss and the toxic fumes. Hours later, the four slaves regained consciousness in the cave and miraculously escaped from the pile of crystals. Their language, the Tolad language, was the first language ever uttered within the crystal’s vicinity, which triggered a mutation that only allowed the crystals understand Tolad. There may be undiscovered crystals that haven’t been exposed to Tolad and thus available for another language. They were physiologically altered by the crystals, it fused with their dna and several of their descendants became the stone-blooded from the wizard stone's dominant gene. After emerging from the cave, the four men used their new abilities to free themselves from slavery and become a quadrumvirate which would unite the Tol tribes beneath a federation. Their cooperation and even distribution of land to rule within the federation enabled an era of peace and prosperity for the Tol federation, which balkanized after their deaths. During the power vacuum, Tol elites usurped control of separate territories and became fiercely protective of the wizard stones, often warring with each other over the crystals. Scholars were employed by the elites to study the wizard stones so that elites could utilize their power.
-Even today, Stone craft is strictly guarded by the elites and their henchmen, although its existence is no secret. Most people among the lower classes could benefit from wizard stones but most wouldn’t dare try to obtain it from fear of severe punishments by the elites. Additionally, Tolad language resources are scarce beyond the elites’ mansions. Elites and scholars have established a wizard stones society to regulate what Tolad words and phrases can be used for incantations. These approved incantations are recorded in a text called “the canon” (or 't’avdru' /tʼavdru/), which is updated every year. Some rogue scholars illegally practice their own unapproved incantations. Although there is no particular set of clothing that distinguishes users, elites are (needless to say) the most well dressed of the classes and thus, fine linens and robes could possibly indicate usage. However, not all elites can be bothered to learn about wizard stones or how to use it. Additionally, scholars, who are the most familiar with wizard stones, are different from elites in that they generally prefer to stay away from attention. They often disguise themselves among the lower class, which also include some the stone-blooded. The lack of incentive to procure wizard stones or resources to learn the Tolad language has made many lower class citizens indifferent to Stone craft.
tl;dr: rich guys use magic crystals to do stuff sometimes.