MAGIC!!!!!!!! Okay people, help me with my fantasy story. Is this a good ‘concept’ of magic?
The world it’s set in is almost exactly like the America in the early 1930s, but with a few major differences. One of these is that ‘magic’ exists. Okay, so it’s nothing like the magic you’re used to in fantasy. In order to gain any sort of supernatural power, a person (It could be a person of any age, but there’s a higher chance of survival the younger you are) goes to a priest who performs certain complicated rituals, and subsequently throws the power-seeker into a fire. You see, to gain magic in this world you have to make a sacrifice to gain the power. For example, the fire would entirely burn off a person’s legs but leave the rest of their body unharmed, and after a while the person would discover and begin to train their new self-levitation ability. Make sense? How this magic system works:
<> Person willingly sacrifices part of their body to gain powers.
<> It isn’t always a body part- sometimes a person could lose their sight or hearing or their ability to see beauty.
<> The sacrifices are random, depending on the movement of the flames. They don’t get to choose what they give up.
<> And neither to they get to choose the gained power. Sometimes it will be something almost useless, sometimes it will be something incredibly destructive or amazingly useful.
<> There is a slight chance that the “fire bath” necessary to gain magic powers will kill, and the chances of this happening increase with age.
<> When powers are used they either drain a persons energy or a tiny bit of a person’s life span depending on the destructiveness/potency/usefullness/powe… of the spell.
I wanted to try to come up with a way of magic working that has never been used before, and I need enough disadvantage caused by magic so that not many people in my world would want it. How does this sound?
Yes, it’s an odd story. The main character is the villian.
Ha, I LOVE Fullmetal Alchemist. Maybe I was subconciously inspired. I didn’t think of that.
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Tagged with: 1930s • alchemist • fantasy • fantasy story • flames • legs • life span • lt • Magic 105 • magic powers • Magic System • Magic World • odd story • People Fantasy • potency • powe • power seeker • Rituals • sacrifice • self levitation • supernatural power • survival • tiny bit • Train • villian
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Agh, aren’t creating magical systems a pain? Yours seems pretty well though out. As long as you’re consistent, it could be pretty believable.
Personally, I think that what is sacrificed/powers gained shouldn’t be so random nor fit so nicely with what they’ve lost. For example, losing legs but gaining levitation–is it really a sacrifice (in practical terms no, but in appearances yes)? Plus you miss out on a chance for conflict and hardship. As for making it a little less random, perhaps people can’t choose what they lose or gain, but the fire picks up on some aspect of that persons desires/personality/whatever and that determines what happens. It would seem random and would still be unpredictable, but (like a lot of things in life) have workings going on behind everything that we (reader, your characters, etc) just don’t understand.
Well done though. A very interesting magical system.
sounds interesting! I really like it, but have you heard of Fullmetal Alchemist? They had to sacrifice parts of their bodies for magic, so just be careful not to make it too similar– however this one sounds different because theirs was a mistake and it just so happened that the magic took their arm, not part of a ritual.
I am kind of confuesd about priests though– like a religious priest? Because priest is a word specific to christianity so you might want to come up with a diff word, unless you want it to be christian priests.
It sounds great and i want to actually read the story ok?
You have described how to get magic uniquely enough, but so far it still sounds like it has to do with spells, and balls of energy shooting out of the person’s palm.
Instead of changing the who and how of magic, change it’s very fundamentals.
lol – i was just thinking full metal alchemist as i read this….
actually though, ed losing his limbs and al losing his body was a mistake… as you said :p
btw: egyptians had priests…. that word is not specific.
The greatest thing about your concept about magic is how unique it is. Normally people will make getting a super natural power easy or sound pleasent, but the pain it osunds like, but it is a fact people would do something like that! I think it sounds excitting! I’m not one for magic or fantasy but I’d love to read something like that.
Best of Luck!
Love it!
Seems really good. It would be interesting to read an excerpt from your story.