Magic System

Private Chat

Alanah Today 16:12 : Hey, can you point me to the documentation for the magic system?

Ahmed Today 16:13 : What's in it for me?

Alanah Today 16:13 : You'll get a blowjob.

Alanah Today 16:13 : Idiot, send me the link.

Ahemd Today 16:14 : Sure, here it is link.

Ahmed Today 16:16 : So about that blowjob..

Alanah Today 16:16 : I'll tell Mark to suck you off

Ahmed Today 16:17 : oof

Magic System Document

Introduction:

Magic use and getting it into a game with an easy explanation is a cursed process by itself. For this reason the Game Design team has prepared this document. On one side, we need to explain magic in more of a "Magic is just a thing" way and help ingrain it in the different features of the game, on the other, we need to make it simple and understandable.

Magic as a mechanic by itself has vast implications on every aspect of the game world, gameplay, game story and the fun factor of the game. The question of how much freedom to give the player and their character in the game while still giving them clear boundaries. Simply put, we cannot make the player character a divine being in the game world, since unless in a sandbox there won't be any challenge or fun for the player.

For these reasons we have compiled this document, to explain how the magic system interacts with the other game systems and how it works by its own.

THERE ARE SPOILERS TO THE GAME STORY, BE WARNED!

Process of magic and Arcane Energy flow:

As seen in the chart, the magic user is just the conduit, they channel the arcane energies, which is a form of potential energy, into the targeted spell/object/living being. They draw the Arcane Energies from the universal pool of the universe, and transfer it to the Spell/Manipulation, the magic user acts like a faucet connected to a pool. Every interaction between matter creates Arcane Energy. Whenever an energy state is being changed, for example changing from Chemical Energy into Kinetic, some of it is always lost to heat energy (Which technically is also a form of kinetic energy), and in the world of the game some of it is "lost" to Arcane Energy. Arcane Energy is just the fuel to change to other states and forms of energy.

Each magic user is equated to a pipe, different users have different diameters of their magic "pipe". Different spells require different amounts of Arcane Energy to be implemented. So the quicker the magic user can transport the arcane energy needed to initialize the Spell/Manipulation the more "powerful" the magic user is. The throughput of a magic user depends on their on "Conductivity", or how "wide" is the diameter of their inner "pipe", as well it depends on the "Blockage" in their inner "pipe".

Arcane Energy will always flow in the most efficient conduit, be it a magic user with high "Conductivity" or an actual conduit in the form of a magic staff / magic item. This means there are ways to deny other magic users their powers by channeling Arcane Energy away from magic users.

Arcane Energy can be thought of as a highly viscous and sometimes chunky fluid, allowing for "Bursts" of energy when such a concentrated "chunk" gets delivered to the Spell/Manipulation. The more a magic user transfers Arcane Energy into different spells, the more "Blockage" they accumulate, essentially reducing their ability to use magic.

To deal with the "blockage", a magic user must meditate to clean themselves or use Mana potions to remove the "blockage".

So to summarise, the magic user is essentially a garden hose and its holder and he directs the flow of Arcane Energy.

Mana:

Mana, in the allegory of the pipe, is a drain cleaner, an acid you pour in the pipe that removes any blockage.

ATTENTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE SECOND PARAGRAPH!

Mana potions are rare, the supply is highly regulated by the Association of Magi, among its members are the court wizards, the Academy of Magi and other Magic users in prominent positions of power. The Association of Magi essentially has a monopoly on the supply of mana potions. There is a black market of course, whose members are considered top priority criminals, but it's hard to get the good stuff, and there are a lot of knock-offs that may result in **** or the inability to ever use magic upon consumption.

The knowledge of how to create Mana potions is a highly safeguarded secret.

Applications of magic:

Arcane Spellcasters:

Arcane Spellcasters are the most common group of magic users, they channel Arcane Energy into formulaic spells. These spells are a combination of different ingredients together with the magic user writing on the fabric of the universe what they intend on doing. The ingredients are consumed by the spell, transforming into Arcane Energy that changes into the desired effect.

For example, Firebolt spell requires; A lump of carbon (unrefined), the glyphs for "Fire" and "Push", minimum of 700 Joules of Arcane Energy.

A magic user will take the lump of unrefined carbon (Charcoal as an example), draw "Fire" and "Push" in the air and point the energy in the desired direction. Instead of the lump of coal a firebolt will appear and travel in the direction the magic user cast the spell at. The size of the firebolt will depend on the amount of the ingredient, so larger lumps produce bigger firebolts. The velocity will depend on the amount of energy channeled into the spell, past a certain minimum to initialize the spell, more Arcane Energy faster the bolt is. The actual damage or **** of impact will depend on the momentum of the firebolt. Big Firebolt moving slow can have the same momentum as a smaller Firebolt moving faster. The Firebolt needs a minimum of 700 Joules input to initialize the spell any higher goes into increased velocity

A list of different spells and the requirements can be found in this document.

Spells are usually stored in tomes, and were experimented, acquired and crafted for generations. Some of the more powerful spells are kept by the more influential magic users or stored as more guarded knowledge in libraries in order to not endanger the public with truly powerful, potentially destructive, magic.

There are ways to mitigate ingredient cost by casting the "Transmute" spell (Any material, "Transmute" glyph, 50 KJ). Only powerful magic users can cast this for the Arcane Energy cost.

Note: The player will have access to a spell crafting system using these principals of (Ingredients, Glyphs, min J input).

Living Essence Manipulators:

More "raw" type of magic, it does not require spells or ingredients, but only touch with another living being. Manipulators use Arcane Energy to influence different aspects of the living essence they touch. The only parameters that influence the power of their magic is; How long is the magic user is in direct contact with the target, to transfer Arcane Energy. And the target's innate resistance to Arcane Energy influence, this is determined by variables like the target's intelligence/sentience/willingness, how good of an Arcane Energy conduit they are.

So an extremely intelligent/sentient, unwilling and completely magic "deaf" person has almost no interaction with a manipulation, so anything done on that person will essentially be ineffective, as shown in the chart below.

But, with enough Arcane Energy transferred into them, by the Manipulator, even highly resistant targets can fall to Life Essence Manipulation. Other Manipulators have an increased resistance to manipulation.

Manipulations may include magically healing someone, giving them an increased perception and heightened reflexes, as well as draining life from them, controlling their mind, making them see illusions, transforming them to another creature, morphing body parts etc.

As long as the Manipulator continues channeling Arcane Energy into the target, the manipulation or influence continues, not requiring direct touch after the first connection and can be done remotely. As soon as the channeling drops, the manipulation ceases and reverts to the previous unaltered form / status. This however depends on how much Arcane Energy is being pumped into the manipulation, because after a certain threshold the manipulation becomes permanent and the base state, it can only be done by the most powerful of the magic users, but only if they're manipulators and not arcane casters.

Whether or not the target is aware of it being manipulated, when mental manipulation is concerned, depends on the target's wits.

**** Manipulators:

The ability to directly manipulate other forms of energy. Changing potential energy fields, changing vectors of forces and an absolute ability to control fundamentals from gravity, direction and magnitude of a **** and how different objects interact with each other,

ATTENTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE SECOND PARAGRAPH!

The ability to fold spacetime itself, entwine it, change an object's position either in space or in time, an absolute godlike ability. Differing from Divine Magic only by being restricted to only be able to manipulate existing forms of energy, thus unable to create new energy.

As long as the **** Manipulator continues channeling Arcane Energy into the manipulation, the manipulation or influence continues. As soon as the channeling drops, the manipulation ceases and reverts to the previous unaltered form / status. So a change in gravity will return to normal gravity if the manipulator no longer channels energy to do that.

There are almost no known magic users who can use **** manipulation, only divine creatures of myth, like angels could've used it.

Divine Magic:

Console commands, essentially creative mode with debugging control for a sandbox like game just with a nice name to increase immersion. Implemented in the game engine for now but we won't release this gamemode for a while. More information will be added

Arcane Energy usage consequences:

Channeling vast amounts of Arcane Energy in one place can leave a 'mark' on the fabric of the universe, attuned individuals can feel and even see places where powerful magic has been used. Sometimes the magic usage can leave scars on the environment, poisoning it and leaving effects similar to what the magic that was used. So a harmful magic can have a decaying effect on the environment, powerful healing magic will make the place a lush rejuvenating place etc.

Author's notes

So I hope you liked this more wiki-like page, I know there isn't much story here and more of an info dump, but I tried to give it at least a reason to exist. Hope you like it. I'm using this to explain a lot of things in 3.2 Anara the Mage's origin branch.

I don't know if it shows, but I really like to design systems, and am actually thinking of this system (a bit more balanced though) for a game I'm designing. As for the system, I hope papa Sanderson will be proud, though I'm not anywhere near in writing, I hope the system actually works, so do comment on it.

Also, yes I've done you dirty and the links don't link to actual documents but to other stories, shameless self promotion, they aren't finished yet, I kinda found more interest in doing this story for now, but I might return to them if there's interest. I've started a more SFW version of Stranded somewhere else.

Again, if you have anything you feel you might improve upon, feel free to yell it at me, I do appreciate the like every now and again.