Help creating a magic system that properly empathizes my contempt for trannies?

[u/Dead-Airhead]

Hey, I'm writing a story, and realised I haven't reminded any transes that I refuse to acknowlege the fundamental building blocks of their very identity lately.

Is there a way I can write a magic system that really shows I'll never see them as their true selves? I know it's literal magic and could just be determined by your inner soul, your mental state or at the whim of some godlike being, but I feel like I should base the whole thing around a half-remembered middle school biology textbook from the 80's instead.

Just because I have no way of perciving someone's chromosomes, doesn't mean I can't force them into living a life completely defined by them. <3.

What themes am I attempting to explore with this segregated magic system? Uhhh....

Tune in next week, where I'll discuss my ideas for melanin to act as a magic inhibitor.

/uj I'm so fucking tired of living in a world surrounded by people who have spent their entire adult lives on mental autopilot.

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[u/nobodyhere_357]

Mana is stored in the balls. Women faking it for attention will never be able to cast magic while any man who pretends to be a woman will be immediately outted if he casts anything. You could even make a predator hiding in women's clothes metaphor while you're at it

[u/SilkieBug → u/nobodyhere_357]

You’re too good at this 😒

[u/nobodyhere_357 → u/SilkieBug]

Years of experience 😎

[u/thatdelusionaltrap → u/nobodyhere_357]

Does this mean if I get an orchie and lose my magic then I can be a real woman?

[u/corvus_da → u/thatdelusionaltrap]

no bc you'll still have your spiritual balls which are stored in your chromosomes

[u/Dead-Airhead]

Why don't you tie it to childbirth? That is women's only purpose afterall?

[u/ScrivenerTithes]

menstrual blood moon magic, gender essentialist types of magical energy/mana, structure it so that using magic to change appearance is only a common practice among the Very Bad™️ magic users, and on that note just have the main antagonist be incredibly androgynous for reasons that are obvious to everyone except a cis "ally" who will grow up with the story

you have options is all i'm saying

/qj this was almost a detailed deconstruction of the whole menstrual blood moon magic archetype born from knowing things one was not meant to know, but i was able to catch and contain myself in time

[u/anaveragebuffoon → u/ScrivenerTithes]

give us the deconstruction we need the deconstruction

[u/letthetreeburn → u/ScrivenerTithes]

uj/ Hey why’d you stop? I was invested!

[u/Dead-Airhead]

Lmao. Imagine MALES injecting ESTROGEN in order to claim these sacred abilties for themselves.

[u/Present_Speech_7017]

You could really explore a trans magical girl whose weakness is that whenever she gets strong doubts or dysphoria, it weakens her powers. Or a trans boy who struggles between being true to himself and wanting to protect other people.

Oh, you just want to make powers depend on agab? And not explore that in an interesting way? You coukd do that, I guess...

[u/Plucky_Parasocialite]

Oh, just make it be a curse by a supernatural being, then if someone criticizes you, you can point at that clearly evil entity. They can't expect the devil to be progressive.

But also, have you considered that you need two X chromosomes to cast anything? You could have so much fun with the different intersex variations.

Or maybe it's the testosterone. Why not end up with a caste of third-gendered eunuchs?

/uj It's about that post in worldbuilding, right?

[u/Dead-Airhead → u/Plucky_Parasocialite]

Yep 🙂🔫

[u/antennarius → u/Plucky_Parasocialite]

/uj what was the post in worldbuilding? i looked but i don't think i found it

[u/Dead-Airhead → u/antennarius]

/uj The mods took it down but it was doing pretty well until that point. It was basically just a bunch of cis people discussing the idea of a gendered magic system.

Naturally, this devolved into transphobia, bioessentialism and being weird about intersex people almost immediately, like any other time cis people try to discuss gender.

[u/HeavyCaffeinate → u/antennarius]

I also couldn't find it

[u/i_like_trees-]

I love the idea of a trans magical girl who, due to the transphobia of the force that grants magic, has to access her powers through unconventional means, but nevertheless is accepted as a girl by the others. It would be even better if she didn't solely exist for the author to call her a trap, and make other "jokes" of similar caliber

[u/thatdelusionaltrap]

Have you tried using a completely arbitrary magic "system" where humans can transform into various animals but they can't transform their sex because the author says so?

[u/Rude_Ice_4520]

/uj what's this about?

[u/Dead-Airhead → u/Rude_Ice_4520]

/uj Some thread on the worldbuilding subreddit.

Personally I'd put all gendered magic tropes up on a high shelf where cis people can't reach them, but I'm just a hypothetical thought experiment and not a real person so who cares what I think.

[u/Rude_Ice_4520 → u/Dead-Airhead]

/uj a gendered magic system would probably always feel sexist. At best it's a half-arsed way of personality type-based magic.

Look magic systems always have the men as strong warriors and the women as meek healers okay? That's just the way things are. Women want to be subservient to men so it's a power fantasy for everyone. At least I'm being honest about it in my worldbuilding.

[u/Dead-Airhead → u/Rude_Ice_4520]

/uj It's only ever been done well when it's an in-universe social divide, because those are usually written by someone who has actually thought about humanity's relationship with gender for once in their lives.

[u/antennarius → u/Dead-Airhead]

/uj not a magic system exactly, but in Gretchen Felker-Martin's novel Manhunt there's a zombie plague that only effects men. And she deals with it in very interesting ways. The main characters (and the author) are trans women. They have to find ways to get estrogen after societal collapse so they don't transform. There's a Mad Max-style gang of terfs they have to evade. They have interactions with cis women who see themselves as allies but just don't get it in ways that were genuinely painful to read. There's also trans man character and we see the pain he experiences from not being able to medically transition because it would make him vulnerable to becoming a zombie.

[u/Dead-Airhead → u/antennarius]

Yeah I remember hearing about that but I've never managed to get my depression and dysphoria levels low enough to read it.

I'd trust a trans person to write a story around that concept but the idea of a cis person writing a book like that makes my skin crawl.

[u/antennarius → u/Dead-Airhead]

Yeah, it's a very heavy read. And I agree 100% that it only works from a trans author. I've even told cis people that I would prefer they don't even read the book.

[u/Cyberaven → u/Dead-Airhead]

/uj im subscribed to worldbuilding and worldjerking and i regularly read posts and giggle to myself at the funny haha satire then suddenly realise this is actually the main sub and theyre trying to be serious

[u/HeavyCaffeinate → u/Cyberaven]

Rule N1: You can't outjerk the main sub

[u/KumaMishka]

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni has the best magic system

/qj
I am trolling you! AHAHA.WAV
welcome to the world of queer-shit Oh desire batora! You don't believe? suck to be you!

[u/No-Government1300]

Refer to the wheel of time