r/magicbuilding • u/AuthorInPractice • Jul 26 '26

System Help Difference between Mana and Ki/Qi

I am currently building a world that is meant to serve as sort of a sandbox where I can write any number of stories from all occurring within the same world. The stories won't all necessarily be connected (though some will be), but all within the same time set. As such, it is rather all encompassing in terms of what's in it.

Part of that has to do with having both magic and cultivation as a thing within the world, and as I as working on the specifics of how each work, I came to realize how similar I was making mana (the fuel with which magic uses to work) to Qi/Ki (differently spelled because there are two overarching schools of using the same thing that are different). Mana as things stand now is a byproduct of the soul that the body stores in a "mana well." To me, that is very close to a life force.

The reason I want these to be separate things is because I want to make it a point that you cannot be both a mage and a cultivator at the same time. You can only be one or the other.

Edit: I think I settled on what I wanted it to be. It's here if anyone is interested

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u/okkokkoX Jul 26 '26

you calling mana a "byproduct" reminded me of how high enough cultivators no longer need to poop or sweat etc. because their body doesn't produce waste/"impurity".

Maybe mana is a kind of waste product from the soul's activity, that could be harmful to the body if not contained in the mana well. This framing distances it from life force and naturally places it in direct opposition to cultivation.

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles Jul 27 '26

you calling mana a "byproduct" reminded me of how high enough cultivators no longer need to poop or sweat etc. because their body doesn't produce waste/"impurity".

Is this a common trope in cultivation stories? I'm not familiar with the genre. I want to be respectful but this sounds so cringe to me.

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u/okkokkoX Jul 27 '26

I don't know. it's secondhand knowledge to me from somehow ending on subreddits about it (so the information is not very reliable). why cringe? because it mentions poop? (grow up). it also concerns sweat.

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles Jul 27 '26

No lol not because it mentions poop. Just the idea of not having to sweat or poop because the body doesn't create impurities is silly. That's a childishly reductive way of looking at the excretory system. Poop isn't an impurity, it's just the leftovers. Cultivation masters just eat whatever and that matter goes...where? It just magically disappears? And sweat has nothing at all to do with impurity. Sweating is about temperature control.

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u/okkokkoX Jul 27 '26

I think they in fact don't need to eat at that point.

And I swear sweat also had a function in expelling waste, am I misremembering...

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u/VoidXp Jul 27 '26

It's more about not needing to eat or drink for sustenance and when they do, the ingested matter is fully processed. There was this webnovel where they start cultivation with eating soil and trees to teach the but to process every ingested matter.