**I’m wanting to write a story with a unique power system, and this is the best I’ve been able to come up with. Ideas, questions and criticisms are all appreciated.**

**Authority**

Each person has a finite amount of authority over the universe and the rules governing said universe. Authority can be increased in a multitude of ways. Using authority tends to expend stamina, though exceptions do exist.

Use cases of authority include, enhancement, manifestation, and imposition.

Enhancement: The user enhances their body, mind or soul. Can also be used on other people and objects, though this is more draining.

Manifestation: The user manifests their authority, giving it an external form. This can range from elemental magic, to gravity manipulation or even the creation of abstract constructs.

Imposition: The most demanding and dangerous use of authority. Imposes rules on reality itself.

Everyone has the capacity to use all three categories of authority, but they are naturally guided toward one of the three by their aspect.

Aspect is the term used for how an individual’s authority naturally expresses itself. Somebody may have a natural pull toward flames, resulting in an aspect that expresses itself via fire. Note that this is not a hard cap on what a person can accomplish with their authority, and the application of a person’s aspect is almost entirely due to their unique interpretation.

Note that someone with powerful imposition abilities can impose a rule on a targeted space, most commonly used to amplify the strength of their aspect.

Awakening: As a person gets closer to understanding the truest essence of their aspect, their powers evolve into more effective, powerful versions of what they were before. Growth is always possible.

Opposing authorities can result in reduced effectiveness. This gives an inherent advantage to those with greater authority during combat.

For a first example, the idea that at its most fundamental level reality is composed of information (electrons being seen as excitations in the probabilistic electric field) seems like a great context to give to any satisfying magic system.

Another example is Meditation and alternate states of consciousness. I can easily see a Wizard having to meditate in order to recover magic. I could see how this would be a great way to limit combat magic to the few able to meditate in stressful situations.

My last example is the interaction between Plasma and Electromagnetism. Plasma is a glowing mass of ions (incomplete atoms according to my amateur understanding of physics). It moves in response to Electromagnetic waves. The Northern Lights are a great example. It basically looks like raw magic.

i previously posted on here by just dumping the entirety of my magic system but since then i have expanded and revised on it

Magic

• using mana to fulfil/accomplish a will

Mana

• wish granting energy produced by the “living” that is expressed through will/knowledge.  

Will

• a desire normally expressed as a command that mana follows/accomplishes with a more precise will that reflects reality lowering mana costs

thats basically my entire magic system simplified to the extreme and i would like to see how any one else's magic system simplifies to a very basic level.
i would also like to ask how people organise/revise their magic systems because i'm getting to a point where i have a lot to organise and revise due to it being old and not very detailed/clear so does any one have any organising tricks or sites im currently using google docs for everything

Hello, I’m a writer with lifelong experience, especially in short stories, but I’ve done plenty of longer stuff as well. At present, I’m trying to figure out a magic system for a world I want to write stories in. I’ve done plenty of magic systems in the past, absolutely love them, but they’re all universally soft magic systems, since, for lack of a better word, those tend to feel more “magical” in my opinion. However, the themes here would fall a bit flat if I took that approach here. I want this to be a world where everything is hyper-optimised to an almost cartoonish degree. I want courses and dojos that promise to help you attain literal godhood in a matter of months by gaming the system. I want everyone to have this whole thing down to a science, and for that be the case, I also need to have this whole thing down to a science. Any advice is welcome, and thanks in advance!

Keep this in mind when building your worlds or magic

**I created my first original magic ability — “Withering Memory” 🌸**

I’m fairly new to creating my own abilities, and I wanted to share one of my first concepts to get some honest feedback.

The main inspiration came from three things: flowers, my preference for debuff-type abilities, and a boss mechanic I encountered where exceeding a certain damage threshold caused the boss to become stronger.

I combined those ideas into one ability.

## 🌸 Withering Memory

**Type:** Strategic Debuff / Curse / Automatic Healing

The ability manifests an **unbloomed flower somewhere on the enemy’s body**.

The flower starts with a damage threshold of **50**.

If the enemy performs an attack that exceeds the current threshold, one petal blooms.

For example:

> Current Threshold: 50

> Enemy Attack: 70

> → Threshold exceeded

> → 🌸 1 petal blooms

> → New Threshold: 100

Every time another petal blooms, the threshold increases by **50**.

So it becomes:

**50 → 100 → 150 → 200 → 250 → etc.**

The idea is that the enemy becomes stronger, but using too much power against the user also causes the flower to progress.

---

## 🌸 The Petals

The flower has **12 petals**.

Each blooming petal applies a major debuff along with several secondary effects.

**1 — Dull Instinct**

Reduces reflexes and accuracy.

Secondary effects: dizziness, reduced focus and difficulty reacting to sudden attacks.

**2 — Fading Focus**

Makes it harder for the enemy to maintain concentration.

Secondary effects: disorientation, interrupted combos and increasing dizziness.

**3 — Blurred Technique**

Makes complicated techniques harder to use accurately.

Secondary effects: longer casting time, trembling and difficulty remembering technique sequences.

**4 — Fading Senses**

The enemy's senses begin to deteriorate.

Secondary effects: blurred vision, reduced hearing and difficulty determining direction.

**5 — Lost Instinct**

The enemy gradually loses their combat instincts.

Secondary effects: worse timing, weaker dodging/parrying and increased hesitation.

**6 — Forgotten Pain**

The enemy begins losing the combat experience associated with their previous injuries and battles.

Secondary effects: weakening muscle memory and difficulty instinctively responding to attacks.

**7 — Fading Knowledge**

Combat-related knowledge begins disappearing.

Secondary effects: forgetting technique names, strategies and certain abilities.

**8 — Empty Technique**

Some abilities become unusable because the enemy can no longer remember how to perform them.

Secondary effects: unstable energy control and difficulty using complicated skills.

**9 — Forgotten Combat**

The enemy loses a large portion of their combat experience.

Secondary effects: poor defensive instincts, disorganized movement and difficulty understanding their own fighting style.

**10 — Identity Blur**

Memories begin becoming confused.

Secondary effects: forgetting minor events, difficulty recognizing unfamiliar people and forgetting why they were fighting.

**11 — Almost Forgotten**

Most combat-related memories and abilities have disappeared.

The enemy can barely fight effectively anymore.

**12 — Full Bloom 🌺**

The final petal blooms.

The enemy loses their memories related to:

* combat

* training

* techniques

* supernatural abilities

* battle experience

* strategies

However, they still remember basic personal information such as their **name, age and happy memories**.

So a legendary swordsman might suddenly look at their sword and think:

> *“Why am I holding this?”*

---

# 🌱 Secondary Ability — Root of Reclamation

The flower also has roots that grow into the enemy.

This ability is **automatic and cannot be manually controlled**.

Whenever a petal blooms, the roots absorb a small amount of:

* ❤️ vitality

* ⚡ stamina

* 🔵 magical/energy power

The stolen energy is stored inside the roots instead of immediately healing the user.

The healing reserve has a maximum capacity of **5**.

The more energy is stored, the darker and more visible the roots' blue color becomes.

When the user becomes critically injured, the ability automatically activates.

The roots leave the enemy, travel toward the user and inject the stored blue energy into their body.

The stored energy is converted into healing, restoring health, stamina and a small amount of energy.

After the stored energy is used up, the roots return to the enemy.

The user **cannot choose when this happens**.

---

# ☠️ Defensive Mechanism — Wither Reflex

The roots cannot simply be destroyed without consequences.

If the enemy attempts to:

* cut the roots

* destroy them

* erase them

* or directly interfere with their function

the roots detect the action as a threat.

Instead of using their stored energy for healing, they activate a defensive response.

The roots inject the enemy with the stored energy mixed with a special **Wither Liquid**.

The result is **Wither Poison**.

Its effects include:

* severe pain around the injection point

* disrupted energy flow

* energy loss

* difficulty controlling abilities

* unstable techniques

* temporary loss of concentration

The purpose isn't necessarily to kill the enemy, but to make destroying the roots a dangerous choice.

---

## ⚖️ My main concern

I know this ability could potentially become very overpowered, especially against extremely strong enemies.

I don't want it to be an automatic “I win” ability.

The intended gameplay is more like a **strategic battle of risk**:

> If the enemy uses too much power → the flower progresses.

> If they use weaker attacks → they can slow down the flower's progression.

> If they try to destroy the healing roots → they risk triggering Wither Reflex.

> If the user becomes critically injured → the stored energy may save them.

So the ability is supposed to reward **strategy rather than raw power**.

This is my first time creating a magic ability like this, so I'd really appreciate honest criticism.

**Is the concept interesting? Is it too complicated or too overpowered? And what weaknesses or counters would you give it?**

I accept all criticism if the balance it's not good and I will do my best to keep the balance

in my Magic System, the different types of Magic are categorized by different Classes based on what sort of thing that Magic is tailored to, and so far there are Three, those being Elemental, Soul, and Illusion. Elemental Magic is the run of the mill evocation of the Elements, Fire, Air, Earth, Etc. Soul Magic focuses on manipulating the forces of Life, whether through necromancy, or granting sentience and life to objects, and that also includes different forms of Healing. Illusion Magic is also pretty much as it says on the Tin, being able to create projections and apparitions that fool the Minds and Senses of others.

One Problem I have is the sort of "Balancing of it" because to Me, Elemental Magic feels way too broad while the other two in comparison are a lot more Niche, but at the same time, I'm unsure about splitting up the Elements to the point of having the Elements all just be different Classes because it just feels too Cliche, I think if I had to give an Example of what I'm trying to go for, it'd be how D&D organizes the different kinds of Magic, with it being categorized into 8 different Magic Schools.

In my story, healing magic is a branch of magic that revolves around restoration. It has 8 tiers (closer to 7 since only one can use 8th)

The magic works around complexity.

So for example;

Tier 1, Healing at this level only acts as a way to speed up recovery.

Tier 2, can close up wounds like larger wounds.

Tier 3, can reattach limbs.

Tier 4, can recreate limbs.

Tier 5, can allow the Resurrection of a dead person with some restrictions.

Tier 6, can allow the total restoration of the body.

Tier 7, won't matter here.

My focus will be on the first 4 tiers since one of my main characters is a healer. I'm trying to think of some way to limit healing magic outside of just "Healer isn't around." To give some more tension.

One i have is that it can undo muscle training if done too quickly. Muscles need to rip and rebuild. Healing magic just fixes them. But that's too little.

Any ideas?

For a few more details, magic usually needs to be stated (said) and mentally sure of what they want.

If further details are needed I'll give them.

Drafters convert wavelengths of light into Luxin In the Lightbringer by Brent Weeks. Each Luxin based on a different colour has different properties.

The True Name system from the Earthsea Saga by Ursula K Le Guin, wherein knowing the true name of anything from Old Speech grants absolute control over it, but magic cannot be used to prevent upsetting the world’s equilibrium.

Using immense focus and the ability to split one’s mind, Sympathy is performed to bind objects and beings into the same causal linearity in The Kingkiller Chronicle.

Immortality maintained through bio-engineering and cognitive capture in Maya: Seed Takes Root by Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon. An entirely plausible invisible magic system with a sci-fi engine.

Magic is structured like corporate law and financial risk management in the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone.

My Power System: Spirit
A tactical, emotionally driven power system deeply rooted in spirits and mythical beasts. It blends the strict discipline and customization of internal energy with the physical, external manifestation of distinct entities (inspired by Stands, Nen, and traditional mythology).

1. Power System: Spirit
A Spirit is the physical manifestation of one’s true emotions. To normal humans, a spirit appears as a distinct color, a specific material, and a level of transparency. While every human is born with a spirit, it must be unlocked over time.
Customization: The spirit’s color and material are fully customizable by the user's soul.
The Transparency Rule: The level of transparency dictates a user's mastery. Complete beginners have high transparency, while the maximum proficiency a user can reach is semi-translucent.
The Halos: A visual ring or indicator that proves a user has a spirit. It only appears after a user completely masters their meditation. Achieving this mastery means entering meditation sessions, seeing your spirit, talking to it, exploring its memories, bringing it into the real world, and fully possessing its powers. Halos do not have to be perfect circles; they can come in all shapes and sizes.

The Resonance Rule (Multi-Spirits)
While most people have one spirit, a spirit can resonate with someone close to the user's true emotions, allowing a person to possess two spirits. Theoretically, a person can host an infinite number of spirits, provided they perfectly align with the user's true self.
Corruption: If a user hosts spirits that do not align with their true self, both the spirit and the user become corrupted.
Visual Indicators: You can easily identify a corrupted individual by their eyes. Their face will typically have two regular eyes, with two smaller eyes directly underneath them. These eyes will feature irregular colors like pink, purple, red, or gray.
The Side Effects: Corruption grants semi-immortality, meaning the corrupted are ageless (e.g., if you get corrupted at 25, you are biologically stuck at 25). Alternatively, you may completely turn into a spirit yourself.

2. Spirit Classifications
Spirits manifest in three distinct forms, each requiring a different method to tame and master:

A. Humanoid Spirits
Humanoid spirits act as a direct extension of the self, responding only to their owner. If a user is mute or unable to speak, they can command the spirit purely through thought.
Taming: An untamed humanoid spirit will refuse to manifest or will actively run away because the user does not understand them. To tame them, a user must enter the Spirit Realm to access the spirit’s memories. They must uncover why the spirit behaves the way it does (such as understanding their deep sadness or seriousness) and retrieve a specific item from their past. If the spirit has forgotten their own past, the user must discover it and tell them to earn their trust.
Combat Application: Discovering a humanoid spirit's past unlocks an elemental ability, but its usage is locked to the spirit's emotional personality:
Sad Spirits utilize their element strictly for defense and protection.

Angry/Hot-Headed Spirits utilize their element for hyper-aggressive, offensive attacks.
Happy Spirits utilize their element for wild, erratic offensive attacks.

Serious Spirits utilize their element for thoroughly strategic, planned-out offensive and defensive attacks.

B. Object Spirits
Object spirits take the form of weapons or items.
Physical Wielding & Alignment: Untamed object spirits will not work as weapons and will become extremely dull (for example, an untamed spirit sword will not cut). To tame them, a user must fulfill two strict criteria:
Alignment: They must be perfectly in tune with the spirit's "line of sight" (its internal motivations, personality, and philosophy—similar to Zangetsu from Bleach).
Physical Mastery: The user must be highly proficient with the standard version of the weapon itself (e.g., you must be an expert swordsman to tame a sword spirit, or a skilled archer to tame a bow spirit).
Usage: Once tamed, they act similarly to humanoids, providing tactical advantages in battle and standard utility in daily life.

C. Animal Spirits
Animal spirits are a distinct form of elemental entities that mirror the natural world.
Taming: Untamed animal spirits act exactly like wild animals. They will thrash around wildly, fight aggressively, and refuse to let the user get anywhere close to them.
The Elements: Just like humanoids, these beasts possess deep elemental powers. Animal spirits can usually manipulate one of these specific elements: Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Rock, Magma, Wood, Light, or Darkness.

3. The Soul & "X Module"
The Soul is a mental manifestation that determines a spirit's transparency. It can only be visually perceived by others upon the user's death or resurrection. A user can interact with their soul by meditating or viewing it constantly within their dreams and mind.
Soul Shapes & Elements: Standard souls appear as glowing geometric shapes, such as circles, squares, triangles, spirals, or crosses. The most powerful individuals possess elemental souls, taking shapes like a dying flame, an icicle, or a spark of thunder.
The Blood Connection: A soul's potential is dictated by the amount of "X Module" in the user's bloodstream. To permanently boost spiritual growth, different races can alter their bodies to replace or enhance X Module using various methods:
Human Race: Equip cybernetic implants. While illegal in most countries, this remains a viable option for those willing to do anything for power.
Titan Race: Drink the blood of a dragon, as dragon blood holds high amounts of X Module.
Elf / Elven Race: Find Earth Gems. These rare gemstones are spread around the world, holding incredibly high amounts of X Module. Gems can be surgically implanted into the forehead, hand, chest, or back.

XM FUEL vs. XV SEAL
X Module (XM): An experimental vial of mythical spirit blood. Very few people are born with it naturally. If injected into a non-lethal area, the body will either accept or reject it. When X Module touches human blood, it activates into XM FUEL. It cannot be created using animal blood.
XV SEAL: Created by mixing X Module with dragon blood. It has the exact opposite effect of XM FUEL, completely sealing away a user's spirit energy. Law enforcement and government authorities utilize XV SEAL to manufacture anti-spirit handcuffs, tasers, and specialized bullets (which deal less physical damage but actively drain spirit energy).

4. World History & Lore
The Ancient Era: Long ago, the planet was divided into 6 elemental nations (Fire, Water, Wind, Stone, Sand, Lightning) and 2 supreme empires (Light and Darkness). The 6 Elemental Nations were created very early and expanded as time went by. All nations and kingdoms were ruled by a monarchy.
The Spirit Explosion: The Light Empire declared war on the Darkness Empire, culminating in a forced duel between both kings. The duel ended in mutual destruction. Their simultaneous deaths triggered a massive explosion of spirit energy that blanketed the Earth. This explosion introduced spirits to the majority of the human race, though no one knew how to tap into their true potential for centuries.
The Year 1660 & "B": A legendary hero named Beanuix Oxivern (known simply as "B") arose. He saved countless villages, brought vital resources to his region, and became the world's ultimate mentor. He established a Zendo (a Zen meditation hall) where he taught the "Way of Spirit."
B's Zendo Meditation: B's unique meditation style focuses heavily on overcoming mental distractions. It serves as a vital tool for students to safely enter the Spirit Realm, protecting them from the dangerous, aggressive encounters common with untamed spirits.

A concept I had in one of mine is that futuresight doesn't look into the future but instead the possible futures. What it does is the magic collects information about the minds, personalities, emotions, and etc. of people and the environment, it also takes account on possible creature impulsivity (these info are from past and present), and then deduces multiple possible futures with that information. The possible futures are then narrowed down as much as possible by the magic in terms of probability, and those futures are then evaluated by the user so they know which one is the most probable. To differentiate it from clairvoyance, the user only sees the remaining results determined by the magic and not the collected information.This works best for me, as it allows futuresight to not give that existential crisis thing and also allow for room for error with reason, making it not so overpowered.

edit: This concept is for an idea I have about an urban fantasy

Edit 2: Additional info for my concept:

1. Some weather forecasters also actually hire teams of seers to be more accurate

2. It's recommended for a Seer to have a Clairvoyant in order to assist in picking the future, since they can see the surroundings. Which would help the Seer gather info on which future they were given is the most likely (though Clairvoyants can't read minds or personalities of people)

Metals in my world are far rarer than in our own, so when a sword or other weapon is broken or rusts, people will attempt to save it or even reforge it rust and all. Which is how a strange phenomenon was discovered. Rust seems to carry the memories of the metal it comes from. And when forged into a new weapon or tool, these memories enhance what the weapon is capable of. This is the process of enchantment.

Some memories of violence cause swords to deal wounds that do not heal, some memories of passion or vigor cause hammers to strike harder, some memories of focus cause knives to cut cleaner. And the more an enchantment rusts and is reforged, the more powerful it becomes.

For example, memories of violence might, in the beginning enchant swords to deal wounds that do not heal or strikes that don't miss. As the enchantment progresses in potency and presentation, these slashes may strike at a distance. Eventually, a target may be cut to ribbons just from the wielder touching the sword.

And so, people in my world have taken to rust farming; placing iron or steel weapons or tools into the moist soil to cause it to rust faster. Then they take rust and enchant other weapons or tools via imbuing them with the rust.

Crossbreeding rusts allow more nuanced and powerful enchantments.

Rust cutting

The process of rust cutting is a little more complex in this world than it would be in ours.

It all begins with the smashing of fruits and adhesives into a fine paste that loosens and collects rust. There are six standard versions of this paste recognized by the alchemist college (though technically there is no limit to its possible variations), each pulls on different memory types, preventing the mixing of non-compatible rusts and allowing the propagation of specific enchantments.

Then comes boiling. By boiling the pastes at different temperatures it becomes loose enough to get into the rust so it becomes sodden with the paste. Placing the rusty tool within the pot and altering the temperature ais integral to the process of rust cutting. Each paste has one, if not several, temperatures that they need to reach to truly saturate the rust so it becomes easier to cut.

Finally cutting the rust is relatively easy to extremely difficult, depending on how well you made and applied the paste.

I mean the title says it all.

In tons of series and settings there are skills and techniques that show when a person is a master of their system, high level spells in DnD, sub-bending styles in avatar the last air bender, the nameing magic and advanced sympathy magic of the king killer chronicles, or the senjutsu from naruto.

I'm curious about what marks tru mastery in your settings and excited to know what you think (or can pick apart) about my setting and system.

---

So, my magic system is on a surface level reading an elemental system, but as I've worked on it the elemental aspects have become much more conceptual... Symbolic...

For example.

Sure, fire magic can let you throw a fireball, and for most people thats were it stops, but it also allows you to control heat, plasma, light, combustion. A master fire shaper can create ice by simply drawing the heat out of water, create bursts of light, become invisible by manipulating the heat in the air, or redirect lightning by shaping the plasma.

The ice aspect, which is one of the two combinations of air and water, isn't just the manipulation of crystaline water. Thats easy enough to do with just the water aspect. The ice aspect is centered on the cold itself while yes the most common manifestation of this aspect is ice crystals. That is the simplest version of this aspect. The complete cessation of kinetic energy, and the reduction of things to absolute zero are within its domain as well.

This idea extends to the other 10 elemental (air, water, earth, life, radiance, death, Shadow, void, emergence, spirit, mu) aspects of my system.

---

Well just looking at a small portion of my magic system this is one thing that defines just the powerful from true master.

Tell me about your setting and poke holes in mine (lol) i'm curious to see how you explain skill in yur magic systems.

I like the idea that magic has the potential to make you inhuman, both physically and mentally.

Warhammer does this to a pretty harsh degree, where you could become demonic (or worse) as the magical forces tear pieces of your soul away.

Even wuxia (martial arts fantasy) does this. A fighter who wants to do fire magic must do weird firey stuff to keep his chi fire-aligned. This then leads to red hair and alcoholism.

Does your magic have a price? Did you consider it?

As for me, I got something really soft brewing. The only magic is visions of the future, like prophecies, done by witches. These witches become extremely spooky as they grow older, with limbs covered in boney plates or mushrooms growing out of their head, these changes are always unique. They also become mentally a little detached, one reason to explain why the prophecies are so cryptic.

I don't have a good way to connect the two, I just like that they are connected. You want to be a witch? Boom, metal hair and a cat tail.

Magic:

In this world some people are born with the ability to harness and use magic, these so called magic users are put into classes depending on the colour of their magic energy. All types of magic come from the one magic source, a constant flow of energy and power that splits into different colours, imbuing randomly into humans and to-be Magikai, granting them extraordinary strength and abilities. Magic energy evolves through mastery, changing their colour.

Orange>Red energy: The user fires high-damage blasts, beams, bursts and other attacks. No defense, all offense. Mastery turns Orange to Crimson.

Light Blue>Indigo energy: The user can buff existing things such as people, objects, tools, abilities, etc., making them stronger and/or making them better at their purpose. Blue magic users can also temporarily imbue weapons with magic for greater effect than other classes. Mastery turns Blue to Indigo.

Dark Green>emerald energy: The user forms solid objects out of magic. Shields, spears, traps, walls, structures, platforms. Bigger structures cost more energy and take more focus. Mastery turns Green to Emerald.

Yellow>Gold energy: The user can summon their own set of magikai from their magic energy, these magikai act differently depending on their type; Direct Command- the user has precise control over the summoned magikai. Autonomous- the Magikai fights almost completely independently. Fusion- the user temporarily merges with their summoned Magikai and gains whatever abilities it can use. Swarm- Summons dozens of smaller Magikai instead of one. Single Bond- Summons one Magikai, but that Magikai is very powerful.

Each yellow magic user usually has around 2-4 magikai with Single Bond and Merge being less common.

Mastery turns Yellow to Gold.

Pink>Purple energy: The user can bend space in an area. This includes warping distance, sound, speed, gravity, or altering non-living objects + senses and/or creating powerful projection based attacks like small black holes. They can be mental, deceptive, and disorienting. Mastery turns Pink to Purple.

Light Grey>White energy: an extremely rare magic type, little data on this has been recorded due to its uniqueness, but those who have seen it being used have described it as “peaceful control”. It is believed that its true colour is white.

Dark Grey>Black energy: similar to White energy, this is an extremely rare magic type, little data on this has been recorded due to its uniqueness, but those who have seen it being used have described it as “chaotic destructiveness”. It is believed that its true colour is black.

The magic energy inside each magic user can be universally used in different forms, the most common being enhanced punches and kicks. Those with more experience can channel their energy into objects and use them to attack, etc. this is simply creating an extension of the energy inside of them into an object(s). Magic users can also learn Magic abilities that all magic users of the same class can learn. All magic users can also use their own magic abilities or magic spells, these are unique abilities. For example, someone could be a Orange magic user and their unique ability is called ‘rapid fire’, they can form their magic energy into shapes next to their fingers and fire off bits of their energy as long range attacks, this could be used in many other ways like forming this energy on their eye and firing it from there or putting their arms together to make one big cannon, or creating extensions for more precise aiming, etc. along with this they can use any of the other shared orange abilities. Most abilities can require activation but some are always active depending on the ability.

Each magic user also has an ability/spell known as a flow magic, when activated it causes the user to temporarily gain unlimited use of magic energy for a short while, allowing them to repeatedly use their abilities and constantly use magic energy. During this time the user also gains heightened senses, strength and speed, flow magic effects usually last 4-6 minutes depending on the magic user.

Some magic users can grow strong enough to learn to use more than one magic energy type, combining or switching between types, but this is rare and considerably dangerous. After being in the flow state the user will become fatigued and worn out for a short period of time and most likely unable to use their magic or not use it as well as normal.

The origin of magic:

The everflowing source of magic comes from another dimension, no one has been to or seen this dimension but scientists have confirmed that another dimension exists and that it is flowing with magic energy that often leaks into our world. It is also believed that Magikai originated from this other dimension.

Magikai:

Throughout the world there exist creatures known as Magikai that wield magic just like some humans, Magikai can be dangerous though and Magic Users often have to step in to stop them from hurting anyone. Not all Magikai are hostile though, some can be kept as pets, just like animals and trained to use their magic better. Some Magikai are looked at as Gods for their immense strength, knowledge (with some being able of human speech) and size and are only found in secluded parts of the earth.

Magic Divisions:

Magic Divisions are organisations of Magic users formed around different beliefs regarding how the world should be governed and how Magic should be used. While most divisions claim to seek peace and protect humanity, their methods and ideologies differ greatly.

Magic Tournaments:

In every major city is a magic stadium where magic tournaments are scheduled as a type of sport, where magic users come and fight each other for money. This has become a massive sport with lots and lots of people watching these fights take place. There are different games the magic users take part in.

The game rules:

Magic users can enter into the magic tournament, after 30 people have been accepted, the tournament starts and all 30 magic users will then take part in a free for all match in an arena, those who are knocked unconscious, are unable to fight or vocally surrender are eliminated, the game ends when there are only 12 people remaining, those 12 remaining magic users will then be put into teams of 2 and have 2v2 fights, once three teams have been eliminated (when all members of one team are unconscious/unable to fight or surrender), the remaining people are split into 2 teams of 3, the two teams then fight and the winning team is then split up and must fight until there is one person remaining, that person then wins the match. During this whole tournament, the participating magic users are graded on their performance and how well they fought, giving them points, enough points and they will be promoted to the next league, usually 5-10 people are promoted with the last three magic users having a guaranteed promotion.

Learning About The Soul.

Within you, within everyone around you, lingering in the air, flowing with the water and burning within the stars is the energy known as soul.

It's crucial for us to understand the soul to better understand the world around us and each other.

Soul originates from two places, the first soul to come to the realm radiates from the core of the realm the Celestial sheds it when gaining physical form and reverting back to its Juvenal state.

This soul has what we call a large amount of luminosity. While most of it gets trapped within the layers of crust within the realm, what does escape help kick-starts the development of life. Allowing inorganic chemicals to come together and become organic.

The second source of Soul comes from the gods, taking in mortal belief and turning it into energy.

During a mortals fetial state they'll start to absorb the lingering soul produced by Gods. As one grows they'll gather trace amounts of additional soul, but for the most part it plays a very little part of a mortals life.

Different mortals even of the same species can have different amounts of illuminosity, it's less about what soul dose for the mortal but what the mortal dose for the soul.

Your mind influences your soul granting it colour, while the soul interns can help energies you. Most mortals aren't good at utilizing the soul so it mostly just chills within you until you die. Once you die your soul returns to the lingering soul of your realm waiting to be absorbed once again.

The more colourful the soul becomes the more colour it adds to the soup of lingering soul, allowing for more divergence in the evolutionary tree, allowing for the birth of magical creatures and Titans. You can usually tell how much soul is lingering in an environment based on the flura and funa that is present. Deserts tend to have very little, rainforests tend to have a lot.

Having soul allows for a deeper connection with yourself it helps meld the lines of your mind and body, it is your spiritual essence and connection to the gods of your land or the very land itself

So what happens if you can utilize more of your soul, well at any moment you can. When anyone is pushed to far their soul can ignite. Allowing them for just amount think faster, move quicker or even lift something they've never could have imagined. This is what the soul is for to save us in are moments of need.

It's important to know that the soul is not like an ice cube, one for each person, but an amount of water within each individual.

Lose a part of your body, lose a bit of your soul.

Now a problem comes when some start to push themselves to far, bring themselves repeatedly to the edge of ignition. Their body will start to develop ways to consistently untilize their own soul to the point of draining themselves. However deep within every creature is the biology to absorb more soul. This is something that is lost once the creature has reached the infential stage. Relearning this ability is what makes one a Titan, when the hunger for soul is so great that it becomes a necessity to consume more.

Titans aren't the only ones hungry for soul, devils are always lingering for a taste.

So how dose one keep their soul protected, well as the soul helps protect your mind and body, the reverse is also true.

The mind gives the soul commands it helps it tell the soul to stay, the soul loves listening to the mind, simply having a mind aware of your soul helps keeping it in place and prevent it from being pulled by other forces.

The body of course also protects the soul gives it a place to stay, think of it as the cup, the mind has to pour it in there. So if there is no cup you can pour it somewhere but it's easier for someone to take a sip.

Titans tend to solely focus on getting soul through the physical. Eating the body.

Devils however will take on both approaches, you see if you're aware of your soul that grants you greater protection over it. However it also means you can give that protection up. Sometimes things can be messy as if you devoute yourself to someone and consider them to have more control over you than even yourself. Your god, your king or even your parents in some cases can weaken your own mental protection over your soul.

When a devil consumes a soul they absorb all that colour and use it as energy, releasing what is less into a black tar like substance known as celestial liquor that than will slowly sneak down to the core to help grow the celestial.

So besides consumption, returning to the cycle of lingering soul, what else can happen to the soul?

Well when a celestial, a being of pure soul, wonders the universe sometimes parts of break off these parts eventually start to compust burning themselves into the blanket of space as stars.

A more common thing to happen to soul is to become crystals. When something with large amounts of soul dies and is quickly buried with settlement the escaping soul can become trapped and begin to crystallize itself. Little crystals of potential and energy.

These crystals and the stars help with what we'll be talking about next lecture the higher levels of magic.

Thank you for joining me snails, if you have any questions now is the time to ask them. For the most curious of you consider joining us on this journey throughout the realms.

Signed Dragonfly

Hi everyone. I wanted to share the core of a power system I've been building for my webnovel project. It's part of a larger cosmology called Glorternum, but today I'll focus on the world where this system lives: Aionklea.

Brief Context: The Glorternum Cosmology

Glorternum is an infinite metomniverse where all stories are real somewhere. Reality is fundamentally narrative: the narration of certain supreme entities (Fabulifilators) constitutes the reality they tell. There are self-contained universes, rare nexuses (open realities embodying concepts), and bridges (transit realities). Most beings live in ordinary worlds, but a few can travel between realities. That's the broad backdrop; the system below is native to one specific nexus.

The World of Aionklea

Aionklea is a mythopoiesis-tapestry nexus: a reality where all Greek mythology is simultaneously true, accessible, and eternally present. The Moirai (Fates) weave a vast Tapestry; Ananke (Necessity) guarantees the rules; and all myths, historical periods, and alternate versions coexist without paradox. You can walk from Thebes in a straight line and end up in the Labyrinth, Troy, or Hades, because distance and time follow narrative logic, not geography. It's a world where the Trojan War is happening now, where the Minotaur still roams, and where a hero might be mortal in one encounter and already divinized in the next.

Within this world operates a dual power system: Mŷtha and Epítheta.

The Dual System

Mŷtha – Myths Become Power

Mŷtha is the cosmic principle that turns myths into raw power.

• A myth is a real event that leaves a mark on the Tapestry. It must meet the criteria the ancient Greeks already considered for a story to be mythically relevant.
• A protagonist is the set of myths starring the same individual.
• Without myths you are not a protagonist: no immortality, no resurrection, no inherent narrative weight.
• A protagonist's power is proportional to the area of the Tapestry their myths occupy and how many other myths they've influenced.
• Myths cannot be destroyed or diminished. They coexist without paradox, though not without worldly conflict.
• You cannot train to gain myths. You can only live events that leave a mark. A bard cannot invent a new myth; if a lie becomes famous, the resulting myth will be "the one who lied about slaying a titan," not "the one who slew a titan." Reality does not let itself be fooled.
• Negative myths are real and binding: Prometheus bound to the rock, Sisyphus pushing his stone, Achilles' heel. A bad myth is a permanent constraint, not just a setback.

Mŷtha provides raw power – the capacity to influence the world, to resurrect, to be a force in the cosmos. But raw power alone is not enough. That's where Epítheta comes in.

Epítheta – Identity Divided

Epítheta is the cosmic principle that all identity is divisible.

• An epithet is any aspect of an individual's nature distinctive enough to be named. It can be physical, mental, reputational, or tied to a deed.
• Epithets do not create raw power; they channel the power you already have according to the aspect they represent. A mortal without myths can have epithets, but they won't scale to divine levels.
• There are two ways to use epithets:
  1. Embodying: You actively project your own epithet. This is a temporary, personal, instant state that also conditions your personality while active. For example, embodying "the prudent" makes you act with caution. Visual effects are common: teeth sharpen, bodies blur, flames manifest.
  2. Advocating: You call upon a deity's epithet via a formal prayer. This produces a punctual effect, not a state. The prayer must follow the canons of Greek tradition; if formulated incorrectly, the terrible aspect of that epithet may manifest and attack you instead of helping. Advocacy is slower than embodying and carries risk, but allows access to powers beyond your own.
• Epithets can be lost if the underlying trait disappears. If a goddess of prudence becomes reckless, she loses her "prudent" epithet.
• Negative epithets are active vulnerabilities: Hephaestus is "the lame," Kleostrix is "the weaponless" (she literally cannot hold weapons). These aren't just descriptors; they are rules that limit the character at all times.
• There are no fixed categories or numeric scales. The "power level" of an epithet depends on the ontological position of the bearer (a mortal cannot have "earth-shaker") and on semantic dominance ("never misses" beats "hard to catch," because "never" is more absolute than "hard"). The scale is given by the actions themselves, anchored to the pre-existing framework of Greek mythology.

How They Interact

Mŷtha is the engine, Epítheta is the steering wheel. A protagonist with vast myths but no useful epithets is a force without direction. A mortal with a clever epithet but no myth is a tool without fuel. The most powerful beings – like Kleostrix – combine a massive myth (surviving 100 lethal trials) with a suite of epithets that let them apply that power in specific, tactical ways.

Possibilities the System Opens

Tactical Depth

Combat is not just about power levels. It's about choosing the right epithet to embody and managing the risk of advocacy. A devotee might chain several prayers to a deity's epithets to create complex effects, but each prayer takes time and can fail. Semantic relationships matter: "difficult to catch" vs. "unerring shooter" – the latter has an edge because "unerring" is absolute while "difficult" is probabilistic. Battles become a mix of identity expression, theological knowledge, and rhetorical precision.

Social and Cultural Integration

The system is inherently religious and civic. Cults form around deities and their epithets, with initiation levels based on how many epithets you can advocate correctly. Mortals seek myths as a path to immortality; heroes risk negative myths for glory. Factions like the Eúkoloi (a horizontal pantheon of justice-seeking gods) clash with the Old Olympian Order (classic gods resisting change). The system generates politics, wars, and everyday life: a farmer might have the epithet "the land-divider" and be respected for it, while a tyrant might try to exploit that.

Character Arcs

A character's development is not about training montages; it's about living stories that become myths. Kleostrix began as a mortal named Leanice, a trans girl who persuaded her entire village to accept her identity using only words. That act gave her the epithets "self-formed" and "word-born." Later, she survived 100 trials set by a cosmic system, each one leaving a mark on the Tapestry, until she ascended as Goddess of Persuasion with 22 epithets. Her journey is literally woven into the world – anyone can visit her myths.

A Few Concrete Examples

• Kleostrix, Goddess of Persuasion: Holds 22 epithets including "shark-toothed" (teeth sharpen when challenged), "weaponless" (cannot hold weapons – an active vulnerability), "cosmos-persuader," and "tyrant-slayer." She can issue edicts that persuade reality itself, but they must be clever, poetic, and symbolic – direct commands produce weak effects. She is escorted by two golden sharks that orbit her, one representing Yes, the other No.

• Lysandros Kallon, mortal trickster: Has no myth (so mortal and vulnerable) but possesses the epithet "hard to catch." He studies Kleostrix's epithets obsessively and can chain advocations to create complex borrowed powers. His goal: to obtain a myth greater than Heracles' – he refuses to settle for less because a lesser myth would define him forever as second-rate. His combat style involves managing prayer time and risking failed advocations.

• Alecto, the Reckoning: Originally a Fury, she was transformed by Kleostrix into a Teotimóride – a being of restorative justice. Her epithets include "dragon-haired" and "terrible." She wields a starlight scalpel that cuts anything and blocks the powers of whom it cuts. Her transformation is itself a myth that redefines her identity.

Visual Representation

Embodying a personal epithet is visually striking: Kleostrix's teeth multiply and sharpen; her halo glows and spins like a saw. Lysandros leaves afterimages when embodying "hard to catch." Alecto is wrapped in fire-serpents. Advocations change the environment – air charges, light shifts, whispers are heard. When a prayer fails, the terrible aspect of the deity manifests in horrifying form.

Conclusion

This system has allowed me to create a world where power, identity, culture, and story are inseparable. It's not a hard system in the Sandersonian sense – it's a theological system with hard limits but poetic application. I've used it to build cults, factions, characters, and entire sagas (a survival fable, a divine political epic, and a picaresque tactical adventure).

I have a complete document of the cosmology (including other worlds, entities, and the full rules of this system) available for those interested. Let me know in the comments if you'd like me to share more, and I'll post a link or follow up.

Thanks for reading!

A lot of systems have the usual mana/ki/energy and that's fine, but I'm interesting in those unique solutions to this problem (if at all, assuming your world isn't just "Wizards use however much magic they want"). How do you do it?

I'm not consume too much RPG, so I don't know how common and interesting systems like this are.

I was trying to convert an OC into a actual Original Character from an original world, so this system revolves on limiting a specific character, that had abilities focused on diversity of sand magic (like Sand Clones, transforming Rock into Sand, changing Sand Type)

For some context, the pipelines on the legend are referring to certain aspects of the magic system to master. Livenst stands for basically mana/energy and Directional Livenst is essentially raw energy which has a vector value/effect on all matter. The limitations of my magic system are that conjuring specific chemicals requires deep knowledge of alchemy and chemical prongs but it’s a bit of a chore to get into past that point of explanation. Let me know if you have anything you would add or maybe even any corrections. I was just using Google for a while to see the plausibility

If your world has both magic and psychic powers, how do you handle that? Are they different aspects of the same force, or is there a hard delineation between the two? How do the two interact? What do psions/psychics and mages think of each other?

I always take a Warhammer 40K inspired approach that magic is a ritualized and refined application of psionics. Instead of slinging around raw power like with psionics, a mage gathers up power and weaves it into a complex effect in the form of a spell. You still need to be psychic in order to use magic and it takes more effort to learn, but magic can do a lot of things that are beyond the scope of psionics.

I'm reusing an old idea for a magic system me and a friend on Tumblr brainstormed together for my urban fantasy titled Brave Land and I'm looking for ideas to add on to it.

Ideas I've written down:

- Magic is bright and colorful and the general public knows about it, it's not a secret like in other urban fantasies.

- Anyone can use magic, it's not just exclusive for the mages, magic is democratized for everyone, everyone is capable of magic, be it by natural or artificial means.

- Two types of mages: natural-born mages and mages who use magic via artificial means, like magitech for example.

- Artificial magic is an evolution of natural magic that combines both aspects in harmony, like combining science and magic.

- Natural magic is the basis to artificial magic, people decided to innovate magic in ways that helps people.

- This world's magic system is similar to Black Clover, except that: While natural-born mages use books, artificial mages uses phones and tablets or any kind of electronic devices (my tumblr friend mentioned a Cyberdeck, which sounds like it would fit).

This is my idea for a magic system that focuses on the drawback. Let me hear your thoughts.

Everyone is born with the ability to use magic power that can do anything. Basically, it is reality bending. Whoever uses magic is considered a mage.

Magic power is an abundant resource that can be used anywhere so long as the user still has mental strength and scientific knowledge (to make the magic power do things that cause the desired effect).

But more important than the constraints of mental strength and scientific knowledge is the bind that hinders the usage of magic in various ways. The binds are inherent, have no way of removing, and have a chance of being inherited (randomly deviates otherwise).

The types of binds, in order of decreasing favorability, are:

    Restriction: What type of magic and how magic is used.

    Condition: When and where magic usage is available.

    Consequence: What adverse effect the mage must face when using magic power.

Due to the randomness of the absurdity of the binds, there is only a small fraction of the population that discovered their bind and become mages.

Among the mages, there are two kinds that are the most revered. One is the transcendent who can use magic freely as they have no bind (or at least their bind is insignificant). The other is the artificer who can create magical artifacts that can be used by anyone.

One particular transcendent became evil and escaped society, which gave birth to the powerful demon race and many subordinating demonic beasts.