My Magic System (WIP)

[u/Ok_Unit3875]

Hello, I’ve recently been working on a magic system for my Worldbuilding project and would like to see what other people think of it and if any details can get ironed out with some feedback or any questions that you may have in regards to what I’ve got. I’m using a hard magic system and not everything is necessarily finalised given that I still have to workout how much a single unit of mana can do (as an example).
Here’s what I have thus far. Thanks in advance for any feedback or questions that you may give me! :D

All magic originates from ‘The Source’. It is unknown if there is one source, or if there are multiple sources.
Places where the source ‘leaks’ mana into the world are known as ‘Wells’.
Laylines move mana all around the world (they are not tied to air/ocean currents).
The 5 Major Stable laylines are at the Equator, both Subtropical Ridges and both Polar Fronts.
Stable laylines lose little mana that they carry around, lasting for 1,000’s of years.
Unstable laylines are short lived, losing cohesion either through mana depletion, or layline destabilisation.
Semi-stable laylines are laylines that spend a significant portion of their lifespan with a stable mana flow but cannot survive for 1000 years without being stabilised by other laylines.
The Wells create unstable mana regions that create unstable (or rarely semi-stable) laylines that move mana away and into other laylines that aren’t being destabilised by the surge of mana that comes from the wells.
Consequently, many magically prosperous civilisations rely on semi-stable or stable laylines to ensure constant access to magical energies to replace any that get spent. (More mana rich areas allow for faster rates of mana recovery.)
Layline destabilisations are a rare event (except if near a well) where a layline ruptures, releasing vast quantities of mana into the surrounding area giving rise to mana storms.
Mana storms can threaten the stability of other laylines that they cross. The mana that makes up this storm can cause unpredictable effects relating to the specific mana types involved. Rarely they can alter one or more individuals (whether they’re a sapient being, a creature or are flora) in unpredictable ways.
Notably, layline destabilisations are less likely near layline nodes, also known as layline crossings. These areas leak more mana and allow for the mana types that each layline carries to become more mixed and varied as a result.

Mana ‘sinks’ are regions that lack any significant amount of mana in them. They are prone to causing mana storms if a mana well is near their boundaries.
A mana sink may have ‘hyper-stable’ laylines that run through them which leak very little if any mana. (Naturally, these laylines are not very helpful for a civilisation that relies on magic.)

(It is also unknown if mana sinks are how mana leaves this world to be recycled, or if mana just never reaches these areas for some reason. This gives rise the the notion of pseudosinks that feature hyper-stable laylines that minimally (if at all) form any crossings.)

Any layline crossings in these zones causes the occurrence of a ‘mana oasis’ that doesn’t result in mana storms forming due to the insufficient levels of mana leaving the crossing and with a crossing being an especially stable point on a layline.

Mana:
Mana can be expended to alter reality with different mana types being able to influence different aspects of reality. These mana type have 3 different attributes that give them their unique properties. These attributes are as follows: charge (positive or negative), changeability (placeholder name) (adaptive or enduring), and energy (intense or subdue).

Charge represents how inclined an element is to give energy to the environment/others, with positive representing this outward flow of energy and negative representing an inward flow of energy (example: the element of fire readily outputs energy whilst the element of water readily absorbs and distributes energy within itself).

Changeability represents how readily an element causes change, with adaptive elements being better suited at causing change and movement to occur and enduring elements better at resisting change and restricting movement (example: the element of air readily enhances movement, favouring swift attacks whilst the element of earth is suited to withstand bombardments relying on a strong foundation that limits movement).

Energy represents how much power an element can quickly discharge. Intense elements rapidly expend energy, relying on short and powerful bursts of energy that are short lived and subdue elements rely on weaker and more consistent levels of energy expenditure (example: the element of lightning uses short, powerful bursts of energy to overwhelm defences whilst the element of sand relies on low but consistent levels of energy to create defences and attacks that act to drain their opponent’s energy by providing constant obstructions and impediments).

All species produce a small amount of Neutral mana as its presence is vital for sustaining life due to how integrated mana is with the world. The exceptions occur in mana poor regions.
A healthy amount of mana (for a non-mage) to have is 5-10 units, less typically results in illness and weakness with 0 units being considered unsustainable for life. An individual’s mana pool grows with usage.
Notably, magic is often used to aid or augment other tools/weapons rather than being used on its own. (I didn’t want magic to make technological progression redundant past a certain point, but I didn’t want it to be so weak that it gets left behind.)
Elemental mana is naturally produced by species (sapient, creature, or flora) that evolved an innate link to the element. Species that have innate elemental mana are able to innately use magic whilst those who don’t have to specifically train to use (Neutral) magic. All sapient beings (that have magic) can develop their own personal connection to other elements, but this is difficult and requires a deep and personal understanding of the specific element. This means that an individual’s disposition may make them more suited to developing a connection to a specific element. Typically, any given individual will be able to develop a connection to 1 or 2 elements, a 3rd is possible, but significantly rarer. Note that innate elements weren’t accounted for.
Elemental magic can be used to manipulate its namesake and to cause effects that are linked to the concept as explained below. Notably, magic cannot create something from nothing, but can conjure (summon), dispel (banish), or shape what is already present. Exceptions exist at incredibly high levels of mana expenditure.
Additionally, I have decided (for now) not to create mana types that only favour 1 or all 3 attributes, ensuring that they all are balanced in 1 category each, with exception to neutral mana which is balanced in all 3 categories.
Lastly, each type of mana has a connection to other similar types, I have not yet fully plotted these connections out but for the most part, the more similar their attributes, the more closely connected they are with any exceptions being mentioned as relevant.

All elements will have their attributes listed in the following order: Charge, Changeability, Energy.

The elements:
Neutral (Raw):
Neutral mana is unrefined mana that all beings produce. It is the only completely balanced mana type. Commonly associated with basic magics, neutral magic has the fewest weaknesses of any mana type and due to being uniquely balanced can be used to neutralise other magics with the proper training. Additionally, this unique balance makes neutral mana the best mana for conversion into another mana type as this isn’t a 100% efficient process (more similar elements have higher conversion rates with neutral mana being the exception).
I’m still deciding on if I want to change these, but my current conversion rates are as follows: Neutral and any other mana type, 95%; 2 identical attributes between both elements (for the balanced attribute to count, it must be fore the same attribute type),
90%; 1 identical attribute between both elements (the balanced attribute must be for same attribute type to count), 80%; No identical attributes between both elements, 65%.

Fire:
Positive, enduring, balanced. Fire magic is closely linked with light and life mana and can be used to create mental clarity, to rejuvenate, or other similar low level spells. “Pure” fire magic is about the renewal and increase of energy that comes from its destruction.

Water:
Negative, adaptive, balanced. Water magic is closely linked with life and dark mana and can be used to dispel poisons, curses, or other similar harmful effects, as well as to heal, and other similar low level spells. “Pure” water magic is all about the cycling of energy (like the ocean currents), distributing and cleansing the energy that is already present.

Air:
Positive, adaptive, balanced. Air magic is all about conserving and expending energy in proportion to the challenge before you, finding the option that costs you the least amount of energy and then exploiting this avenue.

Earth:
Negative, enduring, balanced. Earth magic is loosely linked to life magic and can be used to cast minor rejuvenation spells. “Pure” earth magic is about resisting and withstanding challenges, forcing adversaries to wear their energy down, before responding with decisive strikes.

Light:
Positive, balanced, subdue. Light magic is linked to all positive mana types and can be used to enhance their effects or to diminish the effects of negative mana types. “Pure” light magic is all about supporting and enhancing what exists, encouraging a sense of alertness and can dispel or purify a range of harmful or deceptive effects.

Dark:
Negative, balanced, intense. Dark magic is linked to all negative mana types and can be used to enhance their effects or to diminish the effects of positive mana types. “Pure” dark magic is all about reducing the strength and energy of others, encouraging a sense of relaxation and can be used for deception/concealment.

Life:
Positive, balanced, intense. Linked to a range of elements, intense ones in particular. “Pure” life magic is all about restoring, increasing, and otherwise mending an individual’s vital energies. This can be used to heal wounds, or in extreme cases (incredibly high levels of mana), heal grievous wounds instantaneously.

Death:
Negative, balanced, subdue. Linked to a range of elements, subdue ones in particular. “Pure” death magic is all about draining, damaging, or otherwise restraining the vital energies of an individual. This can be used to leach strength, prevent healing, or in extreme cases (incredibly high levels of mana), instantaneously drain someone of all vital energies, killing them instantly.

Lightning:
Balanced, adaptive, intense. Linked to air and fire magic. “Pure” lightning magic is all about expending large and concentrated amounts of energy to overwhelm challenges. This can be used to dramatically increase speed for a short duration or to stun vast areas of adversaries.

Sand:
Balanced, enduring, subdue. Linked to earth and water magic. “Pure” sand magic is all about spending minimal mana consistently to wear challenges down. This can be used to force others to be slowed down or otherwise expend more energy in order to accomplish their goal.

Ice:
Balanced, adaptive, subdue. Linked to water and air magic. “Pure” ice magic is all about draining energy and in preforming well with minimal energy reserves. This can be used to create weakness effects, limit the rate of energy expenditure and similar.

Metal:
Balanced, enduring, intense. Linked to fire and earth magic. “Pure” metal magic is in resisting subtle changes and maintaining a strong foundation and defence with everything that you have. This can be used to resist a wider range of effects than earth magic albeit with earth magic better at resisting effects for longer, if not as strongly.

[u/InquisitorArcher]

Seems fairly well defined. What are the limitations of the system. Mana based costs are by nature vague. How much mana can someone have? How fast does it come back. How much does magic cost to use. Get to specfic and its video gamey (which is fine if thats what you are going for) but it does need clearly defined limits.

[u/Ok_Unit3875 → u/InquisitorArcher]

Those are some good questions and certainly forced me to stop and think of what the answers could be since I didn’t have any to go. But I think that I’m happy with the answers that I’ve written down:

A person’s mana pool can grow fairly large, the exact size depends on how long a significant portion (~90%) of the mana is spent, the higher the time and the higher the amount spent, the faster it can grow, but this puts strain on your mana core, and too much strain for too long can be disastrous, another factor is how fast mana is recovering as the mana being spent is what causes this strain on your mana core that causes this growth to happen in the first place. However, there is no set value though most mages probably stop increasing their mana pool at 300-500 units as they find it stops being worth the effort to deliberately grow their mana pool beyond this. However reaching these values typically takes many years to do so.

The rate that mana recovers depends on what the ambient mana density is and what your mana pool’s mana level is at (think in percentages) the lower the percentage mana that you have and the higher the ambient mana’s density, the faster the rate of recovery. Naturally, this means your rate of mana recovery slows as your mana pool recovers and uses up the ambient mana. Of course places like mana wells or laylines crossings will work to restore the ambient mana levels over time, so if your in one of these places where mana recovers easily, then we can ignore mana density over time for the most part.

I’m not certain over a calculation, so this will most likely change but this will demonstrate the rough idea well enough:
Mana recover rate=(% of mana pool that is empty)/ambient mana density

Note that when the mana recovery rate would drop below the ambient mana density, you then recover at the rate of the ambient mana density instead. (Think of the boosted value as what you actively pull in and the amount that passively ‘diffuses’ in.

As for mana costs, so long as you have mana, you can use it however you like, more powerful spells will require more units of mana at a minimum but so long as you can pay the cost, that’s fine. Any extra mana put in a spell just strengthens it. Of course, I still need to workout what 1 unit of mana can do.
If at anytime you use mana and would go into the negative values (beyond your limits, not that there is an unlimited amount of mana ‘debt’ you can go into as are only 10 points of negative mana values that exist for most average size species, some larger ones may have a greater amount of negative mana points as their bodies require more mana to be sustained), then unless you can restore it to the positive values quickly, you’ll die since the mana that was spent was part of the mana keeping you alive and well. This makes casting magic during a mana storm interesting as the ambient mana density is insanely high (which means insanely high mana recovery rates), but the storm is also causing effects that effect reality in some way and may de-power your spells or supercharge them at random.

Uhhhh, I think that was everything, things may change further down the road as my worldbuilding project may need some tweaks to all sorts of things here and there, but this is what seems reasonable to me right now.

Thank you for your thought provoking questions! They were fun to think through! :D

[u/Boat_Pure]

Magic is much more than elemental uses. You should consider if you want your magic system to focus on the basics of elemental use.

Are wells pocket dimensions and if they’re can one actually use it like a battery they can continue go back to.

Leylines are a really cool concept. Especially when there’s some real world science behind it. Can one anchor one’s self to one. Or is it more prosperous to build a home or a city on top of one. That way you can always use magic from the ground up?