How do you explain "magic"?

[Fairemont]

How do you handle your xianxia powersystem?

The latter.

If you read it, you'll learn many of the intricacies of it.

 

[Valmond]

@RepresentingEnvy

 

[Gallahart]

I like the old reliable Aether. It permeates everything. It’s magic’s fuel. Then put some willpower, equations and puff, you cast fireball.

Now the question is why doesn’t the fireball melts the caster‘s skin?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It's easy.

You see

Everything is Magic.

Heh - though I took a full chapter to do so, that was pretty much how Olean described Magic to Kelly in Strange Awakening. A bit more detail too, as there are three types ("Mundane magic" which is what allows biology, chemistry, etc. to function consistently, "Elemental Magic" which her kind uses, and "Outsider Magic" - magic pulled from other dimensions).

 

[Forcalor]

Heh - though I took a full chapter to do so, that was pretty much how Olean described Magic to Kelly in Strange Awakening. A bit more detail too, as there are three types ("Mundane magic" which is what allows biology, chemistry, etc. to function consistently, "Elemental Magic" which her kind uses, and "Outsider Magic" - magic pulled from other dimensions).

Sometimes you simply have to go with the sheer absurdity of it, I think, and with how wonderful and unknown the world around us is.

Take gravity, for instance... oh, I meant to tell the curved spacetime field that our little speck of a planet, a tiny zit on the universe's ass, emanates just like everything else that inhabits said universe. If it isn't magical then what is?

Magic is supposed to fill you with wonder and mystery, and we know so much and always too little. Everything is Magic.

 

[Clo]

In my main series, they're in a game. Magic isn't explained. It's a thing some classes can do.

When they leave the game, things that happened is... more or less explained scientifically. In other words, any "magic" happening outside of the game tries to have some nugget of believability. "Ah, okay, this works because of X."

Any actualy scientist (ex. The XKCD guy) would explain why it doesn't work the way I explain it. And that's fine.

In my second story, Nivi's powers are due to a youkai implanted inside of her. This particular youkai, the hyakume, is known to be an observer. So when she fights, it observes and learns.

And then she can feed it mana to mimic the things it saw and understood.

So... I explain "magic" here via spirits.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

@RepresentingEnvy

Magic goes boom.

 

[Bartun]

The magic system in my humble little story is like this. ?

 

[SirContro]

I usually explain it with spirits. You haven't created anything, the magic power was always in the air. You use a chant to draw the nearby magic power to yourself, and a spell to alter the nature of the magic. The spirit's power without spells would be a bunch of magic particles too loose to form anything, but with spells, you could change its magic type and effect.

That's typically as far as you need to explain; it's fantasy for a reason, and let's be honest, even sci-fi is pretty bad at making its crazy stuff feel scientific.

Though if you still struggle, just remember,

 

[FieryLou]

I usually explain it with spirits. You haven't created anything, the magic power was always in the air, you use a chant to draw the nearby magic power to yourself, and a spell to alter the nature of the magic. The spirit's power without spells would be a bunch of magic particles too loose to form anything, but with spells, you could change its magic type and effect.

That's typically as far as you need to explain, it's fantasy for a reason, and let;s be honest even sci-fi is pretty bad at making its crazy stuff feel scientific.

Though, if you still struggle, just remember.

View attachment 38572

Doing the same atm, but how do you handle "higher" magic like Time/Space/Fate/Creation

 

[SirContro]

Doing the same atm, but how do you handle "higher" magic like Time/Space/Fate/Creation

1. I don't. My characters aren't gods.
2. Spells need a lot of thought put into them to be constructed so things that are a lot more complex, like the manipulation of time and fate could not be done by a normal wizard. It's the same system to create spells of those types, but the complexity of the spell makes it something only the truly great could ever achieve.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Now the question is why doesn’t the fireball melts the caster‘s skin?

Experience and mastery of mathematics - the mage learns to cast the spell so that it detonates far enough away that he just feels a wave of heat and not much else (unless he miscalculates and roasts himself and the entire party... or, if the mage happens to have a Ring of Fire Resistance or Amulet of Backblast Protection on, they CAN "ground zero" it...)

Doing the same atm, but how do you handle "higher" magic like Time/Space/Fate/Creation

Magic that alters time is "outlawed" - a specific god was created (after about 2000 years of suffering under a divine curse, he was allowed to move on from mortal to deity) to prevent mortals tampering in the one aspect of magic and reality that the Creator denied even the Gods themselves.
Space is simply teleportation or traveling in the phlogiston.
Fate is luck manipulation and erratic even in the hands of those who truly know what they are doing.
True Creation is one of the most powerful (and dangerous) magics a person can cast and is likely to destroy the caster unless they are really careful or really good (or have a few drops of divine blood in them).

 

[Zagaroth]

My take:

1) Magic has a 'field', just like the various forces in the real world have. However, unlike real world forces, this field is A) not quantum (i.e. does not have a discrete minimum value) and B) the field's strength is not uniform throughout the universe. Thus it can have a field strength of 0 in a large region, leaving entire galaxies with effectively no magic. This makes measuring the field strength of magic difficult, as it is variable and fluctuates.

2) Magic strongly interacts with the complex energy patterns in living beings and sapient minds. This is what allows spells to be cast through simple knowledge, thought patterns, and channeling mana. It is also an annoying trait from a scientific basis - a stray thought or feelings can alter how a spell works. This makes it fairly difficult to get accurate test results at a level scientific rigor demands, at least when it comes to the fine details of all interactions that would magic properly predictable.

3) Rote spells are relatively safe because they are designed to have a buffer against small fluctuations, plus the practice involved in casting a rote spell creates mental habits, channeling ones thoughts into a the same pattern that you have used before. Creating a unique ritual for a specific situation can be very powerful, but it can be very dangerous too as you do not have any of the safeties involved in a rote spell. Plus they have to be worked out in detail; rote spells have (usually) been refined for efficiency and reliability.

4) Just because you can't cast spells does not mean you don't use magic. Push yourself, contest your will and spirit against the world and against other wills and spirits, and magic reacts. This does not mean it is entirely predictable, though general patterns are obvious.

If your focus is in physical might, magic will reinforce your body to make you stronger and sturdier.

If you are focused on becoming a master archer, magic will enhance your strength some (so you can draw a more powerful bow), and also help your aim, and it's possible to develop magical arrow tricks such as altering the path of an arrow or conjuring arrows of force.

A master swordsman might be able to slice through any barrier, while a knight focused on defending people might be able to knock a canon ball away with a swipe of his shield.

In all cases, even for studious wizards, developing any type of enhanced ability also reinforces the body, though the effects are much milder for a wizard than for a martial artist.

An experienced and powerful wizard would find the average fresh recruit of a soldier to be slow, clumsy, and weak. A solid hit from such a swordsman might leave a cut and a bruise, but it would be nothing dangerous. In the same situation, a martial artist of the same tier of power as the wizard would simply shrug off the blow completely without being cut.

That grizzled old veteran sergeant, on the other hand? Yeah, that guy is dangerous. He might not be as directly dangerous in solo combat as a roaming warrior of similar skill, but his power will also have evolved to be able to rally and organize other troops, making their teamwork more cohesive.


--------


As for 'higher' magic: Time-travel is directly banned and enforced by the creator deity. Local manipulations of the rate of time flow are fine, so long as that flow stays positive.

Spacial magic is fine, so long as you don't try to edge it over into indirect time travel.

Mild fate magic to tweak probability is fine, but attempting big things like making a prophecy can often backfire; this is partly because prophecy usually runs against Free Will, which is considered more important.

True Creation is generally not available without divine intervention, but there are some non-divine entities that are capable of it. It's something of a species specialty even. However, even their abilities are limited; creating life from nothing is out of their reach.

 

[Naash]

Magic (the phenomenon) and mana (the force/particle/wave) is just another thing in nature. There's no such thing as anti-magic, magic-less beings, and even less forbidden magic.
Think of it as radiation. Just like everything in our world is radioactive, everything in my world (Marka) has mana.

The difference is that mana flows from the ambient air to the objects and the living. It's not created by them. It enters and exits through you body through a special pathway, similar to the respiratory + blood vessel system.

• The first type of magic is good old elemental magic.

A magic caster (magus) trains their bodies to allow their pathway to shrink or widen to control their mana output. Species also determine what elemental magic you can master to their fullest (physiological reasons).

The principle is to direct the magic that is flowing in you to a specific part of your body. The amounts you concentrate determine what type of magic you cast.
Water and Earth are conjured when you've accumulated lots of mana before sending it. (Elves and Beastfolks have an easier time with it because of their bigger mana pathways.)

Wind magic and fire magic can be used by any species as it requires little training. This type of magic only requires you to have intent to cast something and to let mana flow through your pathway.
Magi who can dreastically shrink their pathway are the most proefficient in wind magic.

Using fire magic is frowned upon for various historical reasons. It is only allowed to be used during war time, because war has no rules and anger flows as much as mana.
Using this element can get you thrown in jail and even killed by the Inquisition of the religious country of Marka.

• The second type of magic is the general-purpose one.

This one requires pathways to direct the mana circulating through your mind. You think about what you want to do with it and it takes shape. It's magic everyone learns unconsiously in their lives.
This magic is tied to not only your body's ability to let mana flow through it, but also to your willpower.
Someone who focuses their mind enough can decide to teleport.
Someone who lauches all of their mana around them can create magic barriers.
Someone who wants to scout far away from them can summon a creature made out of mana.
Someone who sends their mana in someone's mind and overpowers it can effectively mind control the loser.

And while teleportation and healing magic exists, things like time, reality, life and death magic don't. (Because the deity governing Marka said so.)

Holy magic is a type of general magic, but boosted directly because of an individual's faith in Marka's god.
In this fashion, miracles are a type of healing general magic, but the effects are of vastly higher magnitude than regular healing magic.


Demons of my world do not follow the principle of mana-circulation. They instead stock up mana in their bodies and don't return it in the ambient air until they die.
The only way for them to expel it before this date is by casting magic, but their recovery speed is slow and being left with no mana is the lowest point a Demon can reach.
For this reason, Demons vastly prefer using physical attacks and only use their mana stocks as a last resort during battle.

 

[Macha]

Carefully.

 

[OokamiKasumi]

... Now, I'm asking, how do you usually explain the magic in your novel?

Have you seen this?

Link --> Making Magic 1 - A History of Magic?

 

[xedale]

My brain is scientific, not supernatural... Wish it would work this way for me...

For normal magic, you can fill the universe with "mana" that works as an extension of one's nervous system. Which allows the inhabitants to naturally learn to sense and control it.

For cultivation magic, "Qi" is the energy that flows between one's consciousness and whatever it perceives as its body. This energy can be used to monitor and influence any object, and, once the cultivator is good enough, can be forced to work with phenomena our consciousness doesn't normally interact with.

For higher-level cultivation magic. Every being has a certain essence, a special type of Qi that binds one consciousness to one's body. Until the body dies or this energy runs out, whatever object is defined as the body will be continuously experienced by one's consciousness, time after time. By cultivating or replacing this essence, which defines everyone's fundamental properties and abilities, high-level cultivators can change how much energy their consciousness tends to use or redefine how their consciousness perceives the world and what it perceives as its body. Which lets them claim and control whatever phenomena they want.

For magic without mana, we can look at Star Wars. There, every being also has an essence and is continuously generating energy, like in a cultivation world, but the thing that makes it controllable is "midi-chlorians". These guys enter the body of every living being and alter any energy this being emits in a way that makes it obey their owners, and it stays obedient even after becoming a part of the Cosmic Force and is used to form things like matter and space.

Making the world function like a shared dream is also an option. There, whatever object you imagine can interact with the world, but only if you imagine it correctly. And, once it gets sufficiently realistic, other dreamers believe that it's real and begin to maintain it without your help.

 

[Alfir]

This might be out of nowhere, but I genuinely think To Aru Majutsu no Index has the best magic and superpower system I’ve ever encountered in fiction.

Its definition of magic is pretty straightforward, but what really draws me in is how it manages to feel almost real, despite being completely fictional. I think a big part of that comes from how the series weaves in real-world cultures, religions, and philosophies. It doesn’t just invent spells out of thin air. Instead, it builds them on top of existing beliefs and symbol systems, which gives the magic a kind of eerie plausibility.

Back in high school, I used to have this chuuni phase where I believed I had Imagine Breaker to explain why so many things went wrong around me. My logic? My luck kept getting “cancelled” every time they came near me. For a while, I even stopped being scared of ghosts because I figured they’d just vanish before they reached me. ?

I also had a fascination with magical artifacts. Growing up in the Philippines, we have stuff like agimat and anting-anting... amulets said to offer protection, luck, or even supernatural powers. Most of our folk magic involves objects, rituals, or some kind of strange internal logic, which made the magic in To Aru feel more familiar and grounded to me. It wasn’t just flashy incantations. It felt like something you could almost study.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I honestly found To Aru’s magic system more believable and interesting than even Harry Potter’s. Where HP is whimsical and light on rules, To Aru dives into complex, often esoteric systems that feel like they could exist behind the veil of everyday life.

Just wanted to share that. Curious if anyone else had similar thoughts or experiences?

 

[hidayo]

Well as long it's unscientific BUT consistent, I'd call it magic.

 

[Cookiez_N_Potionz]

My answers can be kinda whimsical or dark, it depends

Example: Magic is the life force in everything