Where does magic come from in your setting, /tg/? The gods, ancient Lovecraftian horrors, dragon blood?
The distance between the soul and the body.
There are multiple layers to reality, the most obvious of which are the physical and spiritual realm. The soul is spiritual, but in most cases it is firmly anchored to the body, with very little contact with the spiritual realm itself.
A soul without a body is a ghost, and a body without a soul is a zombie. Mages, however, are those who, through natural ability or learning, have extended their soul up towards the spiritual plane, gaining greater access to the energy of that plane, and a new perspective on the physical plane. This higher form of awareness is required for magic, as the mage channels power through their will to make things happen that, to normal eyes, would be utterly impossible.
>>45808953
The most common magic in my setting requires the user to burn little bits of their soul as a power source.
>>45809003
I like it. Are natural or learned mages more common?
>>45809035
That sucks, but it makes sense. With great power, comes great cost. Do mages tend towards evil because of this?
Spirits. You need to convince them to work their domain for you.
>>45809036
Magic generally requires at least a little natural talent, although it's possible to force it with extreme hard work or through various rare rituals, pacts or artifacts.
Trained mages tend to fall into one of a few specific categories, their perspective skewed towards a particular known lens that gives them a predictable and understood set of spells.
Natural mages, however, sometimes develop unusual aptitudes, as their souls find their own way, and thus tend towards more unique and strange abilities. While they're more limited in scope, they are often powerful and surprising for those expecting more conventional magic.
There are also a few unique categories that are significantly rare. People whose body and soul have switched places, people for whom their body and soul are a single entity, spanning the two realms, and even some whose existence is held in quantum-superposition, existing within both realms and yet also in neither.
>>45808953
Magic just is. It's just the physical laws of reality working in a different way than in our world. Here, you put together vinegar and baking soda and you get a shitload of foam. There, you light say some words, wiggle your fingers and you get a fireball.
>>45808953
A goddess the party is campaigning against, and it's one of the the only reason she's still allowed to act on the plane at all, because despite the horrible things she's done (including three Armageddons) people are still pretty damn used to being able to magic things up.
Sacrifice and demons, make a big enough sacrifice and you get the power to break the logic or reality. Along with that magic is akin to toxic waste or radioactive material and humans that are exposed to it are highly likely to die. If they survive though, they gain a very limited control over a certain domain. However humans using this limited magic will suffer heavy migraines, frequent nose bleeds and terrible bouts of nausea if they use it too much. If they continue to use it in this manor they will eventually succumb to magic poisoning and die.
>>45808953
There is a natural energy that infuses planets and lifeforms that humans call PPE, Potential Psychic Energy. As discussed by the great Victor Lazlo in his book Beyond the Supernatural, PPE is a normal and important part of physics that is often overlooked by modern science.
Ley Lines are concentrated flows of PPE that occur naturally on our planet. Were the natural PPE fields of Earth to be flooded they would be visible to the naked eye.
The Ultimate energy of the universe is composed of three parts:
The Physical energy of the universe such as the chaloric energy we burn in our bodies, the kinetic energy of a hammer hitting a nail, the shock wave and radiation from an exploding start.
The "immaterial" energy of experience, knowledge, and presence as derived from learning and understanding the universe and simply being. The energy of one's adoration or worship is also considered such immaterial energy
And finally the Motive force of the Will, the Animus which is the part of the soul that makes each being unique. All things possess a soul but very few things are sentient and able to direct their will in such a way that beings like humans can. Conversely, instinct can also be considered a form of will as the Universe itself has it's own instinct being that the Ultimate being who's presence sparked creation is compaable to an animal at best and beings we know as "Gods" are more like exalted or Devas
>>45808953
All sorts of places, but ultimately the power comes from the all-encompassing spirit of magic itself, also known as Orenduil, god of magic.
Faith can be used to harness magic. Whether faith in a god, faith in yourself, or faith in your ability to use magic. Wizards have faith in their arcane theories, bards have faith in the power of music.
>>45808953
Mortal Magic?
Mortal Magic comes from channelling the power of the Cosmic Sea, the infinite realm of pure possibility that spans the distance between Universes. It responds to the call of the Mortal Soul as it cries out in fear and desperation at its own finite, doomed nature.
Immortal Magic?
When a mortal dies, their soul returns to the well of life, richer from the experience of existence and flush with the Cosmic power that each mortal unconsciously collects (similar, but less transient than Magical energy). This well feeds all of the Gods, and grants them their power. So whenever a God does anything, they are burning potential souls as fuel.
Wizards form their path to the Cosmic Sea from tried and tested rituals, formulae passed down from Master to Student.
Clerics seek the aid of the Gods, who while capable of aiding them to channel Magic, cannot touch the Cosmic Sea themselves.
Sorcerers have some fragment of Immortal Magic within them, they work this into their path to the Cosmic Sea.
Warlocks either bargain an Immortal Entity into aiding them (like a cleric), or channel Immortal Magic from their Patron.
Wizards channel the farts of Tzeentch called winds of magic.
Magic in my setting takes the form of a unique particle that reacts to conscious thought and willpower it's in everything, but gather strongest in manufactured items and around people of sufficient mental discipline. The particle is unique to the planet the game is set on, which allows for medieval stasis soldiers and mages to have a chance fighting against advanced aliens who have no magic, and are badly affected by it when they invade.
'Magic' or 'Psionics' is manipulation of varieties of energetic pseudo-matter which comes from one of a number of source wells, and core to it is a function of the human nervous system which can produce and manipulate a kind of energetic pseudo-matter of its own with unique functions.
Sacred geometry and zero point energy drawn from two opposing natural forces.
There are several sources, although most of spellweavers cannot distinguish between.
Most common source is drawing from original chaos, through slips and nooks of reality. Not the safest since you may accidentally tear something. All living are tethered to it, after all. Humanity lost their tether, and subsequently, the easiest and relatively the most powerful source of magic.
Divine power works similarly, although connected to the opposing force of creation, delegated by deities and whatnot.
It is possible to use soul to achieve similar results ( since they contain part of original chaos ), but erosion of soul is serious threat, so it is rather ill-adviseable.
Last one is environmental. Very difficult one to handle, doesn't quite have same result ( deprnds where drawn from ), but safe, overall.
Mind, the knowledge is very obscure, lot draw from chaos by instinct.
>>45812820
Appendum: I don't like idea of explaining exact mechanics of magic as it eats away mystique.
Less explained, the better, and insight into true workings is dangerous.
It just works.
>>45808953
Most magic comes from either the 'spark' inside a person - the Will, the soul, your self-identity, life-energy, whatever you choose to call it - or from the great rivers of mama flowing through the world as ley-lines and nodes. By learning how to tap into either (or both) of these sources, one becomes able to conduct that power, focus and tune it into a workable shape, and throw it out as a 'spell'. Once the 'spell' resolves and completes its use, the focus and working dissolves from it, returning the power to base energy that reintegrates back into the mana flow. (Energy drawn from inside one's self is restored with rest, food, meditation and other restorative activities that basically draw power from the flows into a person's natural stores.)
After a few thousand years of mages and the like studying the crap out of the process, it's been determined to be fundamentally impossible to create or destroy mana energy, so there's no real fear of a Dark Sun event. For now, at least...
The Magi learn the vocabulary of the language spoken by the first civilisation, cast down by the Gods when their quarrelling threatened to unmake the world. The First Speech is the closest thing mortals can comprehend to the unvarnished language of the Gods, and a combination of academic memorisation and meditative contemplation on the nature of the concept or substance that a word describes allows a Mage to form a mental and spiritual link with the object. Any magical effect involves a Mage altering the current nature of the world, which can be difficult, you have to literally move the weight of the world, or at least the part of the world that you're affecting. ''Spells'' constitute sentences in the First Language that describe precise effects, with no room for interpretation or vagueness, to limit the amount of excess ''collateral magic''. Trainee Mages use long and cumbersome incantations to describe small effects, and as they gain focus and understanding of the concept they're affecting, gain more and more ability to affect the world with simpler words of power.
>>45808953
Manipulation of a once thought benign particle through the use of magnetic fields and specific geometric patterns allows the user to affect energy and matter. Was thought of as simply science until the demons invaded and superstitions took hold.
>>45808953
The hearts of animals and monsters.
The closest thing to magic is the natural energy source proper to making timelines and alternate universes work in the setting. Said energy source is infinite, if you harvest it and make a energy core out of it, it will NEVER run out.
You're certainly not supposed to use it, but you can use it to power up your mechs, making it incredibly powerful. However, it comes with the risks of said energy taking over, with unpredictable results.
And if this happen with a human being, then you get their internal organs being mostly replaced by a "Core" of said energy. The body is technically dead, but the soul and consciousness of the person is still linked to the core, allowing them to basically become undeads.
At this point, you're immortal and regenerate damage at a surprising speed, but if your core take too much of a beating, then it will actually explode, and the resulting explosion caused by all that self-replicating energy will be large enough in scale to cause, at least, a significant impact on the planet.
Either way, anything able to harvest this energy can break the laws of physics and do things that aren't possible, the most basic one being travelling through alternate universes, which was a really important plot point in my game.
Your ability to use said energy is also directly linked to your willpower : If you're not determined enough, you can't do jackshit with this thing.
You essentially gain cosmic power at the cost of not being able to die and turning into a living battery. And you also have to learn to use it without it literally blowing up in your face.
The only time a character ended up "infected", it was due to a mech using a defective core going berserk and spreading the energy to her body while going berserk.
Said character ended up undead, and at times ending up in berserk rage, which also cause the energy to seeps through the character in outbursts, tearing the reality around them apart if not stopped in time.
tl;dr : Not-Spiral Energy
Magic is just a type of energy, the same as using a muscle, so technically it comes from the food that you eat and is created by your body.
Dealing with spirits mostly. Though it's more mundane magic such as more bountiful harvests or curses. But to get even the simplest forms requires pacts with spirits. Using magic has a price as well and the flashy stuff can do actual bodily harm such as burning away hair and skin.
>>45812866
>It just works.
As long as there's an internal consistency, that's fine.
It turns out that no one actually likes "Magic, I ain't gotta explain shit." when you use it to hand wave some bullshit.
Nor do they like Gundam's Minovsky Particle hand wavey problem where it's the reason for everything.
Psionics/Ki/Chakra-Special Energy generated by a series of organs and nerves within the human body. The most common, no draw backs, but the least potent. Not Magic within the context of the setting, and it emerged naturally in humans as a result of natural selection.
Alchemy-Essentially chemistry, some potions work by interacting with the bodies chakra points to spur on effects and encourage certain reactions without expending the bodies internal energy. Not Magic in the context of the world.
Arcane Magic An art given to the Demons by the Rogue God to aid in conquering the cosmos. The rituals involved in casting arcane spells help solidify the Rogue Gods control o an area. Often used by Apostles of Demons. Practitioners of Arcane magic are considered kill on sight targets by most of civilized society.
Divine Magic- Is a gift given by the Rogue God to the Angels in order to dominate the cosmos. Angels will grant gifts of Divine magic to their followers and work with mortals in an attempt to convert them to the Rogue God's cause. The extremely helpful nature of divine magic means that it spreads the Rogue God's dominion faster, but isn't at good at maintaining territory as Angels will often disagree on how to handle their "flock", leading to slip ups.
>>45809239
Pretty much how it works for wizards in my games. Clerics get their powers from their gods, of course, or from whatever natural force or philosophy they follow instead, like druids. Paladins channel their magic through the sheer magical awesomeness and badassitude of their LawfulGoodness. Sorcerers generally have blood of some inherently magical creature in their veins- dragon, genie, fiend, etc. For wizards, though, they study, research, and catalog what words, gestures, and materials create which effects. Magic is simply a part of their natural world, like electricity, and look at all we've managed to do with electricity.
I shamelessly ripped off of Xanth.There's a demon in the mediteranean sea whose presence is causing magic to manifest all over the globe. How long he'll stay is up to him, he's been challenged to a game by god to stay there underwater until somebody comes by and sets him free.
From campaigns I've run before, the general way it's existed before has been a mixture of these aspects;
1) Every living thing has it's own internal energy called ki/chi/whatever you're calling it these days. The planet is alive and therefore has its own ki. Magic is the manipulation of these outside energies. Your own ki can be used for internal effects, but if it leaves the body, it's called psionics. Magma - lava style situation.
2) Magic is part of a trifecta of magical energies swirling around people. The other two are psionics and ki. Each represents different aspects of people. Psionics - mind, ki - body, magic - soul. The more you drain a type of energy, the more exhausted in that aspect you become. Psionics will leave you mentally drained, feeling like you've just finished the final test of test week in college. Ki will leave you feeling like you just ran a marathon. Magic will leave you feeling nothing, which is completely different from not feeling anything. Feeling nothing means literally nothing. No happiness, no love, no needs or wants, nothing.
>>45809085
That fucking hand.
>>45814419
>Soldiers are professionals
>Warriors are amateurs
which is why the Imperial Fists kicked everybody's asses.
Get reckt herefag
>>45808953
Another plane of existence called the Conduit. All life is attuned to the Conduit, but only a select few can channel it.
>Magic=using your body and life force as an anchor for energy of the Conduit.
>Necromancy=using the bodies and life force of others as anchors
>Sorcery=Highly attuned t the conduit, does not need to focus in order to channel, though this makes them more suceptable to magic.
>Dirge=Weaker/barely any attunement, resistant to spells and magic.
In the setting I'm currently working on arcane magic can be given by the fae. Essentially every sapient being has their soul, this is naturally connected to the gods and is also a source of magical energy. The fae can sever your connection to the gods, by doing so your soul (and by extension your self) is no longer in the domain of the gods. With proper practice and a strong enough will this essentially allows the person in question to bend or break the rules of the world the gods created. Eventually the laws of physics become more like guidelines.
Divine magic essentially works the opposite way, by adhering strictly to the rules of your faith you remove any of the weaknesses or impurities in your self which may weaken your soul's connection to your god. This allows you to call on their power should you need it (and if they don't have a specific reason to withhold it)
