Hello all. I just finished an initial draft of a magic system i want to incorporate in the high fantasy world I am building. This is the first time I've ever worked on anything like thing and I did not find it easy to say the least.

Anyway these are the my initial thoughts on some of how magic would work in my world. Unfortunately the magic system is not that original and its admittedly inspired by many different sources.

Still y'know its my baby so I fell instantly in love with it. I thought I'd share just to get some feedback/constructive criticisms, maybe suggestions on how to improve it, what to keep, what to scrap, what's interesting what's not, maybe opinions on whether or not the system is broken or if it is highly susceptible to creating plot holes in the story etc etc.

Well let me know what you think and thanks in advance for reading.

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Creation consists of sounds, wavelengths and frequencies. All matter; all things emit energy including consciousness. All sentient creatures, when they think or feel emit a wave of energy which on a micro scale changes the energy around them to resonate at that same vibratory level.

Who Has Magic? A minority of sentient beings: Magic is common enough that a magocracy is a form of government though mages are relative minorities of most populations.

Magic users are those born with the ability to use magic, though the ability is inherited it is not necessarily passed from parent to child. It is not uncommon for magical ability skip generations before emerging again within a bloodline.

Magic is defined as the art of causing transformation in reality through the force of will and energy.

Generally channelers of magic access it through multiple paths each

of them involving stimulating the nerves in the brain altering consciousness.

The first and generally most practiced way to channel magic is through intense meditation and self-hypnosis. The amount of time needed to alter consciousness varies; a greatly experienced mage may need a few minutes a novice mage hours.

The second path for a mage includes entering the required trance-like state through drumming, dancing, or any repetitive rhythmic motions.

The third path includes fasting, sensory deprivation, or other such purification rituals.

The fourth path involves sexual energy or the act of raising arousal and lust as an altered state mechanism. This is the least consistent path due to the ease in which a mage's focus/concentration can slip.

It is also considered vulgar and crude in civilized areas.

The fifth and most uncommon path is through the intentional and careful use of pain in order to put the body into an altered state. This path is little used due to the fact that generally pain is far more likely to shatters a mage's concentration rather than focus it.

All the aforementioned paths are unfortunately time-consuming. The easiest and quickest path to an altered state by a mage is through the sixth path the ingestion of sacred mushrooms. Most mages have been known to carry such mushrooms with them for the sake of convenience. (More on that later)

In this altered state a mage "tunes" into the reality around, they become an antennae of sorts, a beacon receptive to the frequencies or wavelengths of energy that all things emit. These wavelengths consist of information or "coding" that can, with the use of certain amount of spiritually force, be rewritten through a force of Will. For example a mage could temporarily rewrite the information of a stone and the reality of how it interacts with air molecules which results in the stone being able to levitate.

Normally a mage alone does not possess the ability to transform reality around them more than on a micro level. For this reasons a quartz crystal is used to amplify the energy vibrations that emit from their thoughts, emotions and will by resonating with it and making it stronger enabling the mage to cast said energy out into their immediate environment. A crystal is very much essential to performing serious controlled magic.

Mages cannot create materials from thin air to create a fireball a mage in his altered state of consciousness would need to access to a source of fire. Theoretically a mage could pluck fire from a torch, having rewritten its attributes and rendering it harmless to his person, shape it to the form of a ball, fuel its intensity by enhance it with his own spiritual energy/life-force and then either throwing it or firing it off at his enemy with precision using a blast of guided pressured air. Combining or merging the attributes of one or more things creates more options for a creative mage, with access to fire from a candle and a sword; an experienced mage can create a flaming sword, one that is harmless to its wielder but an instrument of fiery destruction to his target.

Significantly powerful mages have been known to take on the elements around them, such as merging with shadows to clock themselves from pursuing enemies.

The effects of a mage's spell, the rewriting of an object's reality is usually temporary, the more energy a mage expands into the spell the longer the spell lasts. Permanent spells have been achieved but at the cost of a mage's life.

When attuned a mage is receptive to the wavelength from objects or people within a certain range. The effective range is determined by a combination of a mage's skill, innate talent, and the potency of any available amplifying crystal. Powerful Mages can affect most things within their line of sight. Powerful Mages with rare powerful crystals in their possession have been known to affect objects miles away from them.

How long it takes to cast/achieve the magical effect, how long a spell lasts, or how an object precisely performs the task programmed to it by a specific spell depends on the talent, expertise/skill, and the amount of energy or life-force available to the mage.

For example to freeze a pot of hot water a truly novice mage may need a number of minutes to gather the necessary energy in addition to being in a close proximity to the pot perhaps even needing to touch it or the water itself. A much more adept mage could freeze the water in less time and from a range of 3-20ft away (Assuming the mage had the pot in his/her line of sight or having a sense of where the pot lay).

To move a boulder to a specific point a mage would need the stone to be in their magical range, and then levitate the stone (the bigger the stone the more energy required to rewrite) gain control of the air currents within his range and use them to guide the stone to wherever he chooses. Each specific action would require a varying amount of energy.

A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.

The Drawbacks of Magic:

Unlocking this highly active and continuous brain state heightens the mage's nervous system. In their altered state of mind the mage becomes super sensitive to everything around them. Consequently while their senses speed, and reaction time dramatically increases their pain tolerance dramatically lowers. A mage stubbing his toe may feel as if someone had taken a hammer to it. The heightened sensitivity is a double edged sword.

Extensive dosing of mushrooms can leave a mage with a struggling immune leaving them susceptible to serious illnesses. Psychological effects, can include minor depression, mood swings, and increased paranoia. Losing one's focus while under the influence of sacred mushrooms can cause a mage to be lost temporarily in a hallucinogenic haze.

An advanced spell may kill a mage if the mage’s body is not strong enough to adequately handle the amount of physical stress that certain spells can impose on the body. An injured (or ill) mage should be wary of expanding large amounts of energy less their body succumb to the injuries. Additionally it is generally recommended that a mage who is injured at least numb their pain before altering their state of mind, less their heightened senses amplify their pain which usually results in making concentrating and thusly spell casting very difficult.

A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.

For most beings advanced magic requires crystals. These can be stolen or destroyed or lost. Most magic users are fairly limited without crystals (or items bejeweled with crystals), they can make very small changes happen around them but they don't have anything close to precise control over magic. 99% of mages would be deeply troubled if found to be crystal-less in a battle scenario. .

Mages get fatigued after extensive use. Mages have been known to fall into a temporary comatose due to spiritual exhaustion if spell casting past their bodily limits.

Spell effects are temporary. Attempting to create a spell with a permanent effect such as in item enhancement will cost a tremendous amount of energy that will take a mage's life.

Magic affects the local weather, and large-scale magic might even cause temporary climate change which can have devastating effects on the economy.

Special Aspects of Magic:

Specialties: Mages who have a knack for one of the specializations of magic tend to be comparatively deficient in others.

Mantras are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or phrases that instill concentration in the mage. Many mages use mantras as a focal point. The mantra can be any kind of phrase or even nonsense, as long it is a source of comfort and comes naturally to the mage.

Only Djinn (tentative name for a race) can produce elemental energy from their own imagination (i.e. using water magic without any water source). They are not technically mages but are the most magical race, Djin who are born with an elemental affinity, such as water magic, can use no other.

Spells can be imbued into objects. These objects can then be used to influence reality. Imbuing items with magical effects is called "enchantment”

Enchanted Items: Permanent and Temporary -- Mages who are inclined to wrought iron or steel can create temporary enhanced magical armor, shields and swords for warriors who do not have the ability to use magic.

Those without magical affinities can still use these objects. Objects imbued with magic often have limited uses, eventually expiring/losing the magical effect or falling apart when the magical energy within it is spent.

Mages of the Holy Church (tentatively titled) in the past and present when facing certain death by natural or unnatural cause have been known to give their lives to “blessing” or permanently enhancing a magical weapon or armor so the item can be used by the Church’s paladins for the greater good.

Some Mages exhibit special inborn (or acquired) attributes which mark them as unique amongst their kind, for example Bard are mages with an innate hypnotic magical effect that they are to induce through songs which are either sung or played through a musical instrument.

The mind and body of all sentient beings has an energy field around it consisting of their life-force/spiritual energy. This is a natural and unconscious barrier to certain types of energy. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural barriers of an unwilling target. Thusly it is very difficult though not impossible for cleric/healers and bards (more on this later) to bypass this natural barrier and affect a target unless they are willing to be affected. This is the true also for those casting mind affecting spells (more on this later) therefore it would take the skills of a highly advanced mage to perform such feats .

It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural barriers of an unwilling target. Unless the target itself is unusually weak of will.

Non-mages can form spiritual pacts with Mages. With a pact formed a mage no longer has to bypass the energy field surrounding the non-mage. Under such circumstances bards or cleric/healers will expand little to no energy in affecting those with whom they formed the pact with, if willing the non-mage can have a gem(s) magically embedded into their body. The mage at any time can imbue the gem with a single spell. For example a gem loaded with a minor regenerative spell that will automatically heal the minor wounds of a non-mage consistently as long as it has the required energy. (Possible side effects not yet decided yet,)

Familiars are spirits who agree to become subordinate to a mage. The spirit and mage form a partnership that reflects such a relationship and they become intimately linked.

Group Effects: Mages are especially powerful when working together as a large group of willing participants can combine energies.

Blood magic or sacrifice magic is the use of other creatures or beings life energy in substitute of your own to harness and control magic. The vitality of living things is distributed throughout their bodies but is concentrated in the blood and to a far lesser extent semen.

Mages can be "blessed" by spirits after making a pact with them. They can then use a portion of the spirit's power as their own. This universally comes with a price. A price may include a mage becoming a servant of the spirit and in doing so is subject to being temporarily possessed by the spirit whenever the spirit wills it.

Extensive use of controlling the element will leave the mage with magical energies that surround them for a while after use. Examples extensive use of elemental forces such as controlling the wind will leave a mage with leaves and papers fluttering around them, fire magic leave a magic hot to the touch, random sparks of electricity can shock others after a mage doles out lightning.

Specializations of magic

1) Talismanic or enchantment magic:

One can take an object, charge and load/enhance it for magical purposes. Item enchantment magic takes time and effort and it is usually mage blacksmiths who dedicate themselves to putting this skill to consistent use. Mage blacksmiths are generally commissioned by the armies of a magocracy to create or recharge magical items to be used by non-mage infantry.

A mage may create amulets and talismans to imbue with specific spell effects to save time. An amulet is an item that works passively it may be imbued with a counter spell or specifically activates in reaction to a certain trigger whilst a talisman is more active item. A mage may create an amulet that senses negative energy; a mage may create a talisman that casts a low level shield of energy around them. Both items continuously drains a portion of a mage's life energy the amount varies based on the function of the item.

Talismans or amulets can be imbued to work for only a specific person or persons. In this way they can be dangerous objects, it is was not unheard of for dying mages of long ago to create magical weapons that can only be used by those whom share his or her blood line and curses everyone else.

2) Repudiation is a magic art that involves the manipulation of magic itself. It includes wielding spells that absorb, reflect magic, dispelling curses or removing the effects of magical items.

3) Exorcism: Essentially the art of controlling, or dealing with hostile spirits.

4) Hexing/cursing: Typically a curse or hex is a harmful magical spell that will develop slowly and gradually. A tremendous amount of energy is required for what is essentially the art of creating magical traps or for the lack of better word landmines. Magical diseases are included under the umbrella of hexing.

5) Restoration arts:

These spells allow mages to heal and boost their allies. Dedicated Church clerics, mages who are inclined to healing, and bards are those who use techniques that employ a great level of refined magic control to simultaneously activate and maintain certain biological functions in a person's body. Church clerics and healers use magic on themselves or patients willing to accept their magic. The healing arts temporarily cause a body to exponentially increase its healing capabilities and repairing itself by healing damaged tissues and bone structures, and conquering diseases and infection. Mages cannot recreate tissue; if a finger is missing a mage cannot grow another one. If the finger is found and it hasn't been too long it can be reattached.

Magical healing requires significant rest afterwards and it is not uncommon for those healed magically to pass out for hours or days at a time. Miraculous as it is, speeding up the body's healing process will exhaust the body. There is also speculation rapidly healing critical injuries, such as a damaged lung can shorten one's lifespan by weakening other organs.

The mage must be in close proximity to its target to effectively use restoration arts.

The magical songs of bards can induce minor healing in willing targets and also encourage the release of adrenaline and endorphins in the body.

6) The art of Illusionists and Charmers. This is a school of thought regarding spells that are mind-affecting:

Charming is divided into two subsections: Compulsion and Persuasion. Persuasion, affect the target(s) attitudes, making them act more favorable toward the caster's suggestion. Compulsion can temporarily force the target(s) to act in a certain way or affect the targets' emotions or affect the targets' minds in other ways.

The magical songs of bards can induce confusion on its targets and bloodlust in allies.

Illusion typically consists of manipulating the mind and senses of the enemy: Creating artificial sensations, altering a target's sensory properties, creating insubstantial images which affect the minds of the viewers, and causing hallucinations.

7) Invocation and Evocation: Invocation is the art of calling upon powerful entities, spirits, beings and intelligences from separate planes. Evocation is forcefully summoning such beings.

8) Necromancy

Spells that help or reanimate the dead. Zombies raised by necromancers have no will of their own or any memories of their former lives. They are simply animated corpses who are extensions of the Mage who raised them. This spell allows for the Mage to control the separate zombie bodies as though they were his own. The zombies are kept active by the Mage's spiritual energy.

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