Arch9CivilReactor
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This is an extension post to Draft Idea 8 and the gist of these posts is that I’m creating a card magic academy. I’ve already went into detail about the intended magic system, but never really talked about these ‘invisible rules’ I always bring up when someone mentions consistency.
I thought that I’d might as well explain them.
The purpose of a magic system (to me) is to act as a mirror to characters while allowing them to express themselves in ways punches and kicks cannot. Earth’s magic system is purposely vague for that reason. It is not completely understood.
Even the characters in the story do not know the full-depth of their magic system. They usually create a useful technique, then build upon it to gradually make it more powerful. This one simple technique ends up being portrayed as ‘everything’.
It’s like how people saw an island as an entire world in the past. They cannot see the mechanics that make that initial technique useful for them, but build upon it and evolve it. This is why the ‘Final Boss’ can alter the entire system that is being used by those within his academy.
He is not changing the fundamentals, but is playing with the resulting factors, Imagine it like how Hunter X Hunter creates abilities from combining several fundamental techniques learnt early on, but this system is simpler than that.
You don’t need an entire walkthrough regarding how Mana works. The resulting systems that are born from it show clear rules at play. Things that all these systems can and cannot do.
One of them being the difference between ‘normal people’ and ‘Sages’. The latter being born with Magic Talent, while the former is struggling to even gain that talent. It’s only the latter that are directly born with superpowers too.
An unfair aspect of the world where natural talent matters. Unless you naturally or artificially create a ‘source’ from where you can use your new abilities, they will not work. Every source of power also having limits for their ‘excessive usage’. Ranging from mental disorder to death.
Basically, you don’t get magic for free even if you’re born with talent.
Mastery over a little is better than no control.
There is also a ‘Human Limit’ on Magic Talent.
The human limit is D Rank, and those who are over that must suppress it somehow. This is because having too much Mana can overload the body. Those born with A Rank Magic Talent naturally harm themselves due to this limit.
There are still benefits to an above D Rank talent.
This mostly is because users can temporarily access their ‘reserves’ when grown enough to handle it, It’s simply a short term buff that can increase the potency of every technique used.
This limit is in place so everyone has the ‘same standards’ to work with. ‘Sages’ being not much different from regular people other than normal people being unable to naturally control Mana. It is foreign to them because they gain it later on.
I based this magic system rules off of a mix of Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen inspirations. The human limit keeps fights grounded, while the superpowers for Sages only (early on) is to show human ingenuity when common sense breaks.
Non-Sages simply have to ‘acquire’ superpower artificially, which is revealed later in the story.
I created this system because I wanted there to be thematic moments in the story that had nothing to do with ‘skill’, but also wanted to show how every strong person was skilled to be as strong as they are. A struggle against norms.
I also didn’t want ‘Talent’ to be so overwhelming that no hard work is necessary. There would be no case in the story where a lazy talent would win against a hardworking scholar of the system rules. Able to use loopholes in what they know.
That’s the idea anyway.
What do you guys think? Doesn’t this seem perfect for a novel with fights and progression?
I thought that I’d might as well explain them.
The purpose of a magic system (to me) is to act as a mirror to characters while allowing them to express themselves in ways punches and kicks cannot. Earth’s magic system is purposely vague for that reason. It is not completely understood.
Even the characters in the story do not know the full-depth of their magic system. They usually create a useful technique, then build upon it to gradually make it more powerful. This one simple technique ends up being portrayed as ‘everything’.
It’s like how people saw an island as an entire world in the past. They cannot see the mechanics that make that initial technique useful for them, but build upon it and evolve it. This is why the ‘Final Boss’ can alter the entire system that is being used by those within his academy.
He is not changing the fundamentals, but is playing with the resulting factors, Imagine it like how Hunter X Hunter creates abilities from combining several fundamental techniques learnt early on, but this system is simpler than that.
You don’t need an entire walkthrough regarding how Mana works. The resulting systems that are born from it show clear rules at play. Things that all these systems can and cannot do.
One of them being the difference between ‘normal people’ and ‘Sages’. The latter being born with Magic Talent, while the former is struggling to even gain that talent. It’s only the latter that are directly born with superpowers too.
An unfair aspect of the world where natural talent matters. Unless you naturally or artificially create a ‘source’ from where you can use your new abilities, they will not work. Every source of power also having limits for their ‘excessive usage’. Ranging from mental disorder to death.
Basically, you don’t get magic for free even if you’re born with talent.
Mastery over a little is better than no control.
There is also a ‘Human Limit’ on Magic Talent.
The human limit is D Rank, and those who are over that must suppress it somehow. This is because having too much Mana can overload the body. Those born with A Rank Magic Talent naturally harm themselves due to this limit.
There are still benefits to an above D Rank talent.
This mostly is because users can temporarily access their ‘reserves’ when grown enough to handle it, It’s simply a short term buff that can increase the potency of every technique used.
This limit is in place so everyone has the ‘same standards’ to work with. ‘Sages’ being not much different from regular people other than normal people being unable to naturally control Mana. It is foreign to them because they gain it later on.
I based this magic system rules off of a mix of Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen inspirations. The human limit keeps fights grounded, while the superpowers for Sages only (early on) is to show human ingenuity when common sense breaks.
Non-Sages simply have to ‘acquire’ superpower artificially, which is revealed later in the story.
I created this system because I wanted there to be thematic moments in the story that had nothing to do with ‘skill’, but also wanted to show how every strong person was skilled to be as strong as they are. A struggle against norms.
I also didn’t want ‘Talent’ to be so overwhelming that no hard work is necessary. There would be no case in the story where a lazy talent would win against a hardworking scholar of the system rules. Able to use loopholes in what they know.
That’s the idea anyway.
What do you guys think? Doesn’t this seem perfect for a novel with fights and progression?