Create a Magic System: Social Implications

Castle (Photo credit: Dave Stokes)

Know the effects that magic use has on society. Unless the ability to use magic is something that everyone has to the same degree, it is yet another personal difference that will set magic users apart. You need to decide both how others respond to this difference and how magic users themselves respond to this difference.

Consider how society views the ability to use magic. Is it a stigma or an honor? And think about why this view is held. Religion might preach against some or all magic abilities. Maybe the religious institutions use the very magic that they preach against but call it something else. Another reason there might be a stigma is past misuse of magic ability. In my world, magic users ruled during one era and nearly destroyed the world. Many, many years later they are no longer persecuted but still cannot hold land or any positions of power other than advisory roles. Reverse these scenarios and you have some reasons for society to honor the ability to use magic.

Decisions made by magic users at one point in history might have major social implications. This is easier for magic users in positions of power. During their era of rule, my magic users mutated natural creatures to use in their wars. This had lasting effects on the already existing societies. Most of the new races died out, but a few flourished – creating new cultures who fight with and hide from, trade with, and are enslaved by the original civilizations. But even magic users who are marginalized can have affect the course of history. I have one such magic user who sought revenge against the gods who used and dismissed him. He stole an artifact and managed to banish the gods from the physical plane. That definitely had an effect on society – besides paving the way for the rule of magic users!

Gender roles might change when magic ability is involved. Maybe magic ability is different along gender lines. This would affect social roles and expectations. Are women who are serious magic practitioners less likely to take time off from study to have children? This would probably go against standard gender expectations. Will men loose the ability to use magic if they have children? Then they probably wouldn't. These scenarios also mean that magic ability is probably not hereditary. Are magic users desirable or undesirable spouses? Do magic users typically marry one another or stay celibate? If you want to make a point about gender, this is a treasure trove of options.

The way magic users are educated can affect society. Large schools require towns to support them. Monasteries would probably provide community service to their communities and countries. The larger the place of learning, the more likely there is to be government influence. Apprenticeship and mentorship systems provide socially recognized roles for the students and teachers. Do parents pay for their children to receive instruction, are the children conscripted, or are they given up freely? This says something about how children and magic use are perceived. Maybe the education process instills a sense of duty to country, community, the balance of things, or other magic users. Any of these would definitely have an impact on the rest of society.

The point is, your magic user – even your group of magic users – does not exist in a vacuum. The greater their numbers and the greater their power, the more effect they will have. But don't ignore the historic potential of the lone rebel! Magic ability is an integral part of your civilization(s) – whether honored or scorned – so consider how the ability has affected that civilization throughout history. At the very least, consider how it affects the present lives of people!

Create a Magic System: Magic User Character Traits

White-haired and -bearded wizard with robes and hat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday we looked at building backstory for a group's ability to use magic. Today we look at how the ability to use magic shapes the typical individual. We look at creating life-styles, personality traits, and common feelings that are rooted in the ability to use magic.

Magic use might foster particular life-styles. The reclusive nature hermit. The solitary academic sorcerer. The head of a magic school. The village hedge-witch. The politically powerful court wizard. The lowly apprentice. The battle-mage. The magic user who tries to hide the ability. All have their stereotypes and all live very different lives. Create an archetype for your typical magic user and you have something to adapt to your particular character.

Magic use might also foster certain personality traits and feelings. Narcissism if magic users have a lot of social power. Shame or rebellion if the ability is considered anathema. Solitary, maybe. Studious or curious depending on the sort of learning that is needed. Maybe hierarchical or respectful of authority, depending on their training and whether their power depends on the existing power structure. They might feel like outsiders in their birth community if the ability is rare.

Finally, consider adding a personal cost for the “gift” of magic ability. Magic use can seem an awesome ability so balance it out a bit. I leave this part to you!

Create a Magic System: Magic User Backstory

Magician. Pierpont Morgan, Visconti Sforza (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Know your typical magic user before you start getting creative. Know who can do it and why, as well as how it affects the character on a personal level. This will give you part of the typical personality, background, and life of a magic user. While these traits might vary between types of magic users, some might be the same. But within a type, what they are should affect who they are. Today is about the who.

Know how common magic users are. This may vary by area – either because some areas produce more magic users or because magic users gravitate to certain areas. These areas might be places of high magic resources, places that welcome magic users, or places that teach magic users. Also consider whether there are non-human magic users with their own set of rules. Some options are gods, intelligent races, magical creatures, and summoned beings.

Know the role of heredity in passing on the ability to use magic. Maybe ability is passed on only through genes. Or maybe some magic users can be born from families without a history of magic. I'llo go ahead and say that if magic ability relies only on a single gene, you will end up with a lot of magic users unless there is some sort of check on the expression of the trait.

Possibly – but not necessarily – tied to heredity is the option to give magic users a shared set of physical traits. For instance, the ubiquitous red-headed witch. But it may be a combination of features. Shape-shifters sometimes are given physical traits that reflect their altered state. For shape-shifters, speech patterns are also sometimes used. But the appearance trick does not have to be restricted to shape-shifters, especially if there is a genetic component to the ability.

Knowing where magic users are likely to be found gives you a choice of likely settings for your WIPs and suggests that the typical magic user makes a journey or aspires to making a journey to a place of learning or acceptance. Maybe there is a place that all aspire to reach but where only a chosen few are welcome. This gives the typical magic user a sense of awe or embitterment towards the elite.

Together, these elements can help shape the backstory of your magic using characters. Tomorrow we will continue to look at the magic user but on a more personal level.

Create a Magic System: Types of Magic and Magic Users

Witch face (Photo credit: miss pink 26)

Types of magic structures and types of magic users are closely intertwined since the first defines how magic is harnessed into spells and the other is partly defined by how they cast spells. Consider creating multiple types of magic users and magic systems. Doing this gives you more freedom to play with ideas and issues. Since the creation of magic structures was covered in the last blog, this blog will outline several types of magic users.

Magic users often have ranks that reflect power and experience/ education. The apprenticeship system is commonly used when referring to magic users that need to learn magic. An apprentice is a student magic user. Some writers have a journeyman rank, these often are advanced students who need to travel or complete a special project to reach full status. A mage/ wizard/ sorcerer is someone who has mastered the basics and is full-fledged in power. An adept has more power and learning. There can be other ranks but these are the basic ones. I think the distinction between mage, wizard, and sorcerer is a personal one.

Magic users can also be classified according to the source of their power. Priests and paladins are given abilities by gods. Hedge-wiches and hedge-wizards typically take their power from nature (earth or air, usually) or do spells with ingredients. The term can also be applied to a magic user of little power. Summoners are only as powerful as the creatures they control. Alchemists typically create artifacts or transform substances. Shape-shifters change form. The ubiquitous mage/ wizard/ sorcerer is the typical spell caster and has no set form although fireballs are a common spell. Channels are people who do not use magic directly but concentrate and focus magic that goes through them. Seers and scriers see the future or across distances. There are fortunetellers and prophets. Bards, dancers, and painters might cast spells only through their chosen medium. These magic users are the ones I have found most often in literature but you can create and name whatever serves your purposes.

There are other ways to type-cast your magic systems and magic users, of course. Maybe good, evil, and neutral magic works differently. Or different races might have different abilities. Or you could divide along gender lines. Or it could be defined by what god they worship. Or the school they were trained in. Surely you can think of other dividing lines. Specialization of magic users and spell systems means specialization of ideas. On the other hand, having universal rules to magic suggests that there are also universal truths to the world. You might decide you want a mix of both.

Create a Magic System: Spell Casting

Fire spirit (Photo credit: christopherselac)

Today's blog focuses on creating a system for spell casting. Writers usually start with this element of their magic system. They usually – but not always – have a good grasp of how their magic users cast spells. But in creating my own world, I this was one of the last things I decided because I saw the other elements as more important to my social structure, my world history, and my theme. But spell casting is not mere frills, it is the act of changing potential into actuality. It is what most readers focus on as the magic. And it is often what most sticks in their minds. Make it good.

I will refer to the means of converting magic to a product as a spell. Consider what requirements must be met for a spell to be cast. Maybe all it takes is a strong need and the ability to use magic. In most books, magic-using humans are uncommon or even rare, even if there are other races where this is not the case. Magic users are either born with the ability or gain it through other means. If you go with the birth route, decide whether magic ability is active at birth, if an infant's potential can be tested. If you decide that magic ability can be imparted, some options are: a deity, another human magic user, a magical creature, an artifact.

Magic ability can be instinctive, learned, but usually is a combination of the two. Giving your magic user the ability to use magic instinctively makes it easier to accidentally cast spells (maybe discovering his or her ability in the process). You might want this trait for a volitile character because strong feelings can take physical form. In the other extreme is magic that is aquired purely through learning. This can be through spell books or schools. Schools provide popular settings for coming-of-age tales as well as sources of information, help, or starting points for a quest.

Spells usually require resources in the form of energy, tools, and/ or sacrifices. This helps limit the ability of the magic user and makes things more realistic and opens the door to conflict, crises, and weaknesses. Usually both magic energy and personal energy are consumed. Tools may be consumed or reused. Sacrifices are usually reserved for more potent spells with living sacrifices being more valuable and human sacrifices being the most powerful – and usually condemned. But these are only guidelines – not rules. And you are also free to create both multiple systems of magic and multiple types of magic users in your world. This is the topic of the next blog.

Create a Magic System: Source

Blue Purple Red: Amethyst Crystals (Photo credit: cobalt123)

Know where your magic comes from. Does magic have its source in life energy, the elements, deities, or other dimensions? Maybe something else. The source of magic can say a lot about what is important about your world because the foundation of magic is one of the foundations of your world – and maybe the only one that will ever be articulated. Also, whatever the source of your magic, it is something that has a direct impact on your civilizations. In many cases, the ability to use magic dates from the beginnings of the human (or nonhuman) race and the source of magic dates from the beginning of the world or universe. If you do not yet have a creation myth, thinking about these issues may help you create one.

Know the limits of your magic source. Is there a finite amount or does it replenish itself? If it is replenishing, at what rate does it renew itself? Does it need any help to renew? While a limitless pool of power can be a heady possibility, consider placing limits to foster possibilities for conflicts, dilemmas, and world-wide crises. Nothing spawns conflict like competition for limited resources. And very few crises top the possible disappearance of magic from a world that depends on its existence or use.

Know the manifestations of magic. Is it mobile or static? Magic that stays in one place could pose a challenge for magic users. Does it form ley lines? Ley lines are lines of power that criss-cross the landscape, sometimes intersecting to form pools of power called nodes. Does it manifest physically? Can it be gathered or contained? Crystallized magic, nodes, or some other form of concentrated magic would be a resource for magic users and anything that needed magic to survive. Is it spread evenly across the land or are there areas of higher concentration? Maybe it gathers around people or places or certain types of events (wars, strong heart wishes, pivotal moments in history, magic users).

Create a Magic System: Introduction

Mage hat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love fantasy books and poems. One of my favorite elements of the genre is the presence of magic. Typically magic is a manifestation of will or desire that makes possible the impossible. Authors can use magic in so many ways. Magic can simply be a backdrop – a piece of the fantasy world – but it can also be so much more. Many editors and agents (I'm told) look for magic to be integral to the story. How you interpret this demand is up to you.

The ability to use magic may be integral to your main character – the main character in my current WIP is judged by society by her lack of magic. Or your main character may be innately magical – such as a shape-shifter. Magic may be integral to your character or world's back story – mage wars shaped the current land and society of my world and behind the scenes the main antagonist is trying to free an evil god from his ocean prison (an effort that triggered the actions of my current WIP's villain). And magic could be integral to your plot – my magic-less girl must rescue her father's dragon from a powerful enemy mage.

Writers can use magic to deal with a theme or issue close to their hearts. Magic can be used to explore power, social issues, environmental issues, good and evil, corruption, justice and injustice, personal differences, elitism, identity, or even the price of gifts. To incorporate magic in your theme, consider the source of your magic, the structure of your magic, the types of magic and types of magic users, the people and creatures who can and cannot use magic, and the social implications of the ability to use magic.

For the next several days we will look at the last four elements because they are crucial components to the creation of a complete magic system. Source, structure, types of magic and magic users, the magic user, and social implications – every creator of a magic system needs to thoroughly know these four components even if most of the information never appears in the book. The writer needs to know this information to ensure their world is consistent, logical, and comprehensive. Consistency becomes more important when multiple books are planned for the world. Logic is an important ingredient in reader belief. And comprehensiveness is an aid for both, as well as a way to a more complete world.

Magic Use

Magic-using races can only use the magic aligned with their god(s). The gods are either Ordered, Chaotic, or Wild. Humans are unique in that they generate both Ordered and Destructive magic but can only use Ordered magic unless they have been Tainted. Then they can use Destructive magic. I'm not sure yet if a Tainted mage can use both types but a Tainted Dragonkin can definitely manipulate both so... maybe.
Spells consume magic and personal energy. A spell is necessary to access the magic of the world in order to affect that world in some way – the same way chips in a circuit board are needed to harness electricity for complex tasks.