Fantasy writer turned Filmmaker.
This topic would be great for the World Building
forum.
If I may, please do break up those longer sections into paragraphs—it makes reading much, much easier and more appealing, I do feel.
That said, I'll admit that I haven't read the whole thing, but let me attempt an answer at one question that I did spot:
One thought that occurs to me is that different elements might support or oppose each other, not only in their manifestations, but in their practice, too.
Thus (taking for a moment the classical "Earth-Air-Fire-Water" quartet of elements) a Fire-wielder might be unable to wield Water, able to wield Earth with limitations, and better able to wield Air, for example.
This would provide incentive to specialise in multiple elements, and a reason to avoid others.
(Perhaps wielding an element might involve channelling its energy, and the energies of multiple elements might mingle in various ways that either enhance or suppress.)
My Games & Writing
(I broke it up into less massive but still admittedly hefty paragraphs)
As far as particular elements being easier to wield like if you know the moves for Air it makes sense you might be better with fire than with Earth and that could be a thing. Maybe you're used to the weight and unique properties of what you usually work with and you don't put enough energy into your attacks if you work with something heavier.
As far as each element having a particular energy that's a no-go. I want the energies they're using to not be nebulous qi or chakra or the energy of water but like thermal energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, chemical energy, etc.
(Thank you! Even that much helps a lot, I find! ^_^)
Ah, I see—fair enough!
Hmm... Perhaps this "fifth fundamental force" might have to "resonate" with the energy that one is using, and once resonating in a particular way (as per inertia) it continues to resonate that way. It would thus be harder to "move" the resonance to match forces that have resonances far from the current state.
Otherwise, it might be a matter of study: mastering a fundamental force might require understanding of that force, and the better one understands it, the better they can control it. Thus the greater one's depth of study in a given force, the more that one can do with it.
This does then open up the potential for semi-specialisation (picking two or three forces rather than just one) having its own advantages. After all, there are likely things that one can do with some knowledge of two forces that one might not achieve with even deep knowledge of just one.
My Games & Writing
I have a concept of a world with two magic systems. The first we'll temporarily call energybending and the second we'll call illusionry (for shorthand but it encompasses more than that).
The idea behind energybending is literally that. You can telepathically convert one form of energy to another, with conservation of energy. It's mediated by a 5th fundamental force that is tied up with souls/consciousness/mind. It's limited by understanding of the of the natural world so in parts of the timeline where the world has been researched and understood and nuclear energy and mass-energy equivalence are known about things can get real nasty but in the olden days general truths about the flow of energy might be known but nothing so specific or world-endy.
Everyone can use this type of magic though most people can only do a handful of cantrips because the instinctual method is to use your own metabolic energy to fuel whatever it is you're doing. So maybe someone uses it to light the stove but that's about all they ever use it for. There are sumo wrestler types who pack on calories to fuel more magic. But those who are well trained might be able to draw on energy from external sources like heat in the environment or even the chemical energy present in wood (someone might consume a tree to ash and ice and take all the thermal energy and chemical energy as if the tree was burned and the water frozen) but they have to channel that energy through themselves or else store it around them in some way like in the kinetic energy or rocks orbiting them. If you channel too much energy your body temperature gets too high and you'll either have to quickly get rid of it or boil from the inside.
Some of the most broken skills I've thought of here include converting energy into gravitational potential energy to make micro black holes in someone's brain before they can respond or manipulating dna using kinetic and chemical energy to create human-animal hybrids or ripping the metabolic energy out of another person to fuel the spell you're working on (though if you're able to manipulate your own energy presumably you can fight this in a magic tug of war if you're not caught entirely offguard or by someone orders of magnitude stronger than yourself).
The spells themselves literally have to be converting that energy to another form so lasers or heat or sound waves or kinetic energy they can't be nebulous magic or pure energy. It's possible the highest levels require exponential levels of concentration and calculation so they can only be achieved with magitek. I would imagine many would specialize in one or two particular types of magic but I'm also trying to come up with a reasonable reason why someone might specialize without relying on "some people have natural talents for one type of energy transfer" and maybe with something more compelling than "I only use fire magic because if I only use fire magic I can get really damn good at fire magic specifically, limitation breeds creativity"
The other form of magic is "illusionry" which is combining a few ideas. If your mind can connect to this 5th fundamental force then that's a two way street. You can be influenced through it as well. And since all conscious beings are connected through it it serves as a sort of collective unconscious in a way and creates a sort of spirit world that serves as the mind in the mind-matter duality. I want to explore the ideas that makeup, warpaint, and fashion are glamours that change the way people perceive others, how language can change how people behave, how propaganda can alter the behavior of millions of people, how giving something a name gives it power over people be it a concept like the economy or like a cockroach that gets named and is now part of the team and then people feel sad when it dies, how actors and movies can make a fake world feel entirely real, how music can entrance people.
It's the power of ritual, belief, performance, and communication. Ultimately if you're reaching out through this 5th fundamental force that means you're going to have to impart energy to create an excitation in this field that travels so these skills will also cost energy and unless directed in a very specific direction might be able to be intercepted by a third party, corrupted by psychic noise, and would fall off with the square of the distance. Skills would include standard jedi mind tricks, battle meditation, illusory enemies, possibly psychic damage, influencing the dreams of another, enthralling people, etc It's not straight illusions it's more along the lines of psychic manipulation.
But since this skill opens you to the force/weave whatever we want to call it your emotions will affect the spirit world around you and either attract negative beings or just make things more dangerous unless you're pretty centered and well balanced. A creature might exist that's really like a cute bunny but it's naturally skilled at this and appears to most as a dragon and then hilarity ensues when people swear they killed a big nasty dragon and only come back with the fur of a hare. A combo attack with the two might be like one person plays a flute to enchant an army and another amplifies the sound waves with energy to the entire army can hear it.
Edited by ultramadscientist on Apr 19th 2023 at 10:40:28 AM