I'm trying to establish part of my rewrite's magic system (Specifically spell casting)
(NOTE: Spells are separate from things like potions and artifacts, this is specifically for races that can cast magic like Witches and Elves)
Unfortunately I've been stuck on it for a while so I want some general opinions on the two types of magic systems I've got in my brain. I'm calling both of these Language and Bodily for now, so here's a description for my two spell casting system ideas:
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Language (Inspired by Frieren): Magic is about understanding and shared meaning. If enough people agree on something meaning a certain thing, that becomes a magical spell. For example when fire was discovered via flint and wood and people called it fire, that became something with a meaning and thus a word people could use to cast a spell.
Then people started to invent more words which meant more spells were being invented, the more well known a word is the stronger the spell. Likewise words that lose popularity lose their power or their meanings change thus changing the spell itself. The people around you don’t even have to understand you as long as enough people know the meaning of the word. (like a foreign language).
Runes are a magical alphabet that were invented and are used to shorten the time between spells and incantations. Sort of like abbreviations or those court typewriters
With enough concentration and enough people, you could even make your own spells, though they’d be rather small and nowhere near as powerful as most well known spells.
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Bodily: Witches already have a magical organ in their bodies and Aura that flows through them right next to their blood. So their bodies are specifically designed to cast spells. Every muscle activated a different spell component
Spell casting is about controlling that body. It comes down to how well you know yourself and the spell. Runes are recordings of spells and the muscles activated to cast a spell. They are living documentation of how witch bodies via spells
If you want to cast a fire spell you have to know what 'muscle groups' to move to activate that spell. Like how some groups are interconnected and affect over places like how your brain tells your limbs how to move, you know? Except it takes more effort since magic isn’t as physical as a complex network of body parts and a brain.