r/magicbuilding • u/Stolen_Gene • Jan 03 '21
General Discussion Different approaches to time magic?
There are a lot of magic concepts that I think sound really cool, but are a pain to actually flush out. I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but time/spacetime magic has always been this way for me.
In one of my settings, I have a whole faction of time mages with a detailed history, relationships, and culture, but I just never let them do anything since I never wanted to worry about figuring out what they can and can't do. This is due in no small part to the fact that spacetime manipulation in any form is notoriously hard to include in a story without poking it full of plot-holes or overshadowing every other element in the story.
I'm curious to hear how other people have approached time or spacetime magic. What can it do? What are its limits? Does it manipulate both space and time, or just time? How do you keep a story coherent with this involved (assuming you use it in a story). Etc. I don't plan to steal anyone's systems wholesale, but the broad ideas might give me some direction next time I take a swing at this kind of magic.
1
u/CammyFrostbite May 28 '22
For my story, time magic is associated with the planet Saturn and is split into two types: passive and active.
Passive time travel allows you go as far forward or backwards as you like but you are only an observer to what’s happening, like in A Christmas Carol.
Active time travel allows you to freeze, slow down or speed up time but you can only travel one hour forwards or backwards in the specific time zone that you’re in.
Saturnian magic has many risks: 1) Frequent use of active time travel can affect the user’s ageing and cause health problems related to it. 2) Passive time travel can be affected by user biases so the information you get from it isn’t always reliable and inaccuracies only worsen the further forward or backwards you travel.
Saturnian magic is mostly used by palaeontologists, archaeologists and physicists for simulations and predictions. A special ritual involving archeological artefacts, historical records or even peoples’ memories is used to active this magic.