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Hard Magic System

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José Solís
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42 views2 pages

Hard Magic System

Uploaded by

José Solís
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hard Magic System

Raw and chaotic, magic is invokable only by those who risk their lives to learn a
modicum of control over it. Magic, in its purest form, is nigh uncontrollable
without the ability to manipulate the raw energies of the world within yourself.

Thus, modern spell-casters realize that they don’t do magic, but rather spells.
Spells are independent thought-forms that occupy a space in a spell caster’s
mind. To begin creating a spell, a magic-user first has to visualize a discrete
effect with concrete parameters, thus shaping the energies that suffuse the
multiverse into specific and limited expressions.

In this world, spells are akin to pseudo-living software. Once a magic-user


creates a spell, they can hold it in their minds by physically housing them within
their being, however, spells themselves are nigh sentient, and they must feed on
a magic users mental and spiritual energy to subsist, thus a magic user risks
being devoured by their own spells if they house too many, or feed too much of
their energy to them before recovering properly.

How Magic Came to the World

Arcane magic – also known as the eldritch – isn’t a natural phenomena, but
rather came into being when the world’s people were exposed to [McGuffin] rich
minerals, which were lethally toxic to most. This forced most people to forsake
said [McGuffin], but others adapted to it slowly over time and, many generations
later, they became sensitive to the many energies that suffused the world.
In a sense, magic is a hereditary condition, although having magic-users as
parents isn’t a guarantee. Some individuals develop a talent for it later in their
life, though it’s invariably by being exposed to some extreme magical phenomena
that would, usually, end their life.

Its limitations
Magic in its raw form, is the term used to generalize the many energies and
frequencies that make up the universe. Magic-Users serve a sort of lodestone,
and tapping into these energies directly can be catastrophic.
Thus magic has to be broken down into limited expressions, known as
spells. While mighty powerful and varied, each individual spell needs to have
precise settings, otherwise they risk running wild and, in some strange cases,
attain some degree of sentience.

Its use
Since spells can be considered a sort of “living thought form”, they must be
stored properly within the magic user’s mind to be used, here, they lay dormant
until the magic-user makes a conscious effort to awaken them by feeding them
the necessary amount of “brain-power” to coax them into functioning.
To lessen the toll on their brains, many magic-users develop techniques
that aids them with information retention and retrieval, often associating the
information with something that is easier to remember by using specific tools to
encode information in a way that allows for efficient storage and retrieval. It aids
original information in becoming associated with something more accessible or
meaningful—which in turn provides better retention of the information.

Its dangers
Creating a spell is no easy feat. A magic-user must be in a state of perfect
concentration to coax the flow of magical energies into the proper shape by
sheer will, then they must grant them a certain degree of independence and
concrete purpose so they can be contained within the confines of their mind,
constantly feeding them.
By overexerting themselves, a magic user might feed a spell too much, or
too little energy, causing it to fizzle, fail, misshap or worse, gain sentience,
usually resulting in the magic user being eaten from the inside as their spell
becomes a being of raw magical energy.

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