View source for Talk:Magic Basics

== Questions for Discussion ==

# What is the actual source of magic, how does that influence the way a magic user interfaces with it and what do the people of our world base their beliefs on it (e.g. if some think spirits are the source, is there a reason for this? I've emphasised a lot that medstone is just a medium, not the source, but how would people tell the difference in the story)? Even if we don't fully answer the first question with certainty and clarity, we probably need to provide plausibility to the different theories when we want there to be many, and we need to provide reasons for the certainty when there's only a single dominating theory.
# How do Magical Effects actually work? In typical scenarios, magic happens when someone calls upon it, but this isn't always the case in fantasy. If Human+Medstone+Thought is needed to first activate the magic, can there be lingering or permanent magic that lasts after one of those criteria no longer applies. If yes, which forms of these do we allow and under what circumstances? There are enchantments, curses, triggered effects, magical effects that persist on their own (e.g. a floating fireball that keeps burning even though there's no fuel -which is different from a flame started by magic, but which then behaves naturally and only continues burning and spreads in the presence of fuel). If some magic can linger, then can it do so indefinitely or does it weaken? Does it stay after the caster dies or if the medstone tool is destroyed? How far can a magical effect reach from the medstone or from the caster? To what extent, can the use of medstone be automated and human involvement minimised?
# Related to the first question: Where does the magic flow from? Does it need to flow from the caster? Does it flow from the Medstone? Can it flow from anywhere (thus allowing easy creation of effects sourced from a point other than yourself)? Is there even a concept of flow of magic?
# Also related to the first question: Does the caster reach out to something specific (even if that specific thing is more of a vague feeling) to call upon for use of magic? If medstones are mediums, are they in fact used more like communication tools than anything else and there's something else on the other end that the caster may feel the presence of? It's probably a subtle effect that not everyone can pick up on if we make that happen, but not necessarily.
[[User:Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter|Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter]] ([[User talk:Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter|talk]]) 17:36, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:5. In writing the doc, I realised that two ideas I've had were clashing somewhat. One idea is that medstone is a medium, not the source of magic. The other idea is that medstone was created from two components, one of which can perform producing/generative magic and the other can perform altering/form-changing magic (the combination of which allowed the performing of any kind of magic). However, the second idea seems to imply that magic is caused by the substances themselves, rather than sourced from something else. It is a different philosophy than the first. To solve this conundrum, there are a few ways to go about it, but I'm not sure which would be best:
:*Abandon one of the ideas (most likely the generative-vs-altering magic one).
:*Have the components also be mediums, but only specifically mediating their respective type of magic (seems somewhat contrived, since the process by which such restriction is created in Medstone Tools is artificial, not natural like this would be).
:*When the two types of substances combined during the cataclysmic event, they combined their magic and were able to create something completely different that's not itself magical, but has the ability to commune with the source(s) of magic, whatever they are (seems somewhat arbitrary).
:*There are Essences(/Substances) and Spirits. The two materials in the volcanoes are the Essences of the Spirit of Generation and Change respectively. The Spirits can do magic, but their Essence is also magical (weakly though). When their Essences are joined, the Spirits also come together momentarily and create a new Spirit of Fullness that can do just about anything. The combined Essence (medstone) itself is not the Essence of Fullness or its magic in that respect is weak; but through its connection to the creation of the Spirit of Fullness, the Essence is the one thing that can be used to commune with it and allow it to act upon the physical world in the form of magic. The Spirit of Fullness (or the other Spirits itself) doesn't necessarily have to be a single Spirit in actuality or even sentient, but this is one way to express the concept. This option is somewhat of a "have my cake and eat it too" idea I developed to try and reconcile the two points of contention. I actually developed an entire creation myth/philosophy to try to justify it and make it reasonable, but I have not yet written it down and if a complicated and confusing explanation is not appealing to you guys, I might not need to.
:[[User:Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter|Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter]] ([[User talk:Wiz Ardon the Peculiar Enchanter|talk]]) 17:40, 1 May 2025 (UTC)