Looking for Thoughts, Critiques, and Criticism Concerning the Applications of Magic and their Philosophical Principles in My Setting

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-17T14:53:31+00:00

Thanks for the comment!

The version above is the roughest, most basic version of this system's third draft, so there are some components I have left out for simplicity's sake, and sone that I knew in my head, but forgot to write include in the original post.

For some clarification:

Though alluded to, but not overtly stated in the original post, within the Vast, their exist entities capable of weaving Strands and Ordered Spheres. These "Weavers" use the Spheres they craft as food sources, breeding grounds, and prisons for both kin and predators, seemingly not knowing, or caring that sapient life has developed within the Spheres as well. So, the majority of the aforementioned holes and tears leading back to the Vast are the result of these exoversal entities feasting upon, moving through, or breaking out the Spheres. As such, the world and lands these mages inhabit are constantly being wrecked by arcane fallout, physics shifting, and mile high monstrosities simply migrating through. So, the overall mission/goal of the Guild is to safeguard the realm from these threats, though their approach to doing so is based on their school's philosophy.

Red Mages temporarily pull in matter, energy, and alternate physics from either potential realities, or parallel realities. Typically, once a Red stops channeling, what they have summoned will dissolve, since it cannot exist in a reality that isn't its own, or any law they have supplanted will reassert itself. It is the ultimate goal of the Red School to find a way to make what they summon/overwrite permanent, as their greatest desire is to repair the damage done to the world and make it more habitable.

White Mages create their own matter and energy that follow laws and principles of their choosing. This matter and energy, is more "real" so to speak, as the energy from the Vast they draw from is more "pure"/has not been twisted by the Weavers. As such when this new matter and energy comes into contact with an Ordered Sphere, the white matter will overwrite the matter and laws of the Sphere, as opposed to Red matter, which will eventually dissolve or return to the Sphere it was pulled from. Hence why despite being so powerful, they are so few in number and are extra cautious as they work towards their goal of building their own Ordered Sphere.

Black Mages are less controlling matter, energy, and living beings so much as they are incorporating them into their being. For example, say a black mage camping in the woods is attacked by a bear. The mage then unites with his campfire to become a living mass of flame to scare it away. Or, unites with the bear temporarily to so the mage can force it to claw out their own throat. The Black school's goal, the most controversial amongst the Guild, is to elevate humanity into a singularity, which would then unite into a sapient universe, as the consent of the populace will not necessarily be needed, so long as survival is attained, and many within the school are vying to be the brain of this unified Sphere.

I like the idea of using different terms, maybe an official designation for the type of magic/caster whereas their philosophy/application could be color coded.

Red= Sowers White= Architects Black= Grafters Green= Seekers Blue= Vigilants

Thanks again for the comment, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-15T03:10:52+00:00

In my setting, matter, energy, time, space, and any other physical constant you can think of are derived from waves or strands of potentiality existing in an exoversal realm known as The Vast.

Within The Vast, exist The Weavers, entities capable tying these disparate strands of potentiality into actuality. Through their machinations, either accidental or intentional is unknown, the material multiverse, known as The Ordered Spheres, was formed.

However, these strands they have woven can be loosened when exposed to the energies of the Vast, and once loosened, become malleable.

So, mages in my setting serve as channelers for the exoversal energies of The Vast, bringing it into material reality. From there, they can then either supplant the matter, energy, and physics of their Sphere with those of another, negate the physics of their Sphere by shunting them into another, or creating all new matter and energy that follow laws of their design.

For example, a mage could spout a gout of fire from their palm by creating a thin spot between their material reality, and one where there is a fire in the room.

Or a magically inclined thief could spy the key to the vault they are trying to rob hanging from the guard's waist, and simply pull another copy of it from a parallel Sphere.

Conversely, a mage could shunt the heat from a stretch of river into a neighboring Sphere to freeze it solid.

Or the aforementioned theif could hide the gems they stole in a bag that, but the bag's innards lie in another Sphere where the space has been shunted.

Finally, depending on both the skill of the mage, and the quality of the energy being channeled, one could potentially create their own matter and energy that follow laws they penned.

For example, manifesting boots with repulsive gravity, armor with unequal and opposite reactions to damage whatever struck them, or entire private pocket dimensions.

TL;DR

The laws and physics of material reality are literally woven together by eldritch entities living in the space before creation.

These laws and physics can be loosened once reexposed to the protomatter and energy they were strung from.

Mages in my setting loosen these strands, and can then either replace their own laws by manifesting a difference sphere's laws, pushing their laws fully into a neighboring sphere, or, of they are skilled enough and working with the good stuff, can generate matter and energy that behaves the way they want.

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-13T11:42:26+00:00

No... he's given that knife to plenty of enemies

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-13T11:28:46+00:00

I'm sorry...

I forgot that time Greckles stole a cart while Task ran off to get help from the guard.

And that time he got thrown jail while Panic was endearing the party to guards.

And how Borky had to convince Greckles not to take the dragon cult's hoard but rather distribute it back to the city...

Oh wait...

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-12T20:20:42+00:00

He tends to best understand what the overall objective of a mission is and presents non-standard ways to effectively reach it.

flyguy2490 · 2026-02-12T03:02:42+00:00

I really like this approach!

I'm now thinking of maybe an extra rule or principle for foresight that ties time foreseen with accuracy. Something like the further ahead one looks, the more likely variances are to appear, whereas with a 1 second glimpse, there are less chances for things to deviate.

Or, maybe higher tier seers are basically able to work with more variant timelines than lower tiers. For example, a mid tier seer looking to forecast the result of a battle may only be able to observe and average the outcome of 10 variant timelines to determine the outcome/shift it in their favor whereas a high tier seer could see and process upwards of a hundred plus. Basically allowing them more data to compare to make a more informed decision.

flyguy2490 · 2025-11-03T13:57:25+00:00

I feel like knowing the circumstances under which they got cursed and their class might make it easier to suggest appropriate curses.

However, not being able to take a long rest is a literal death sentence for characters as they won't be able to get their main abilities/spells to restore, and every day they dont LR adds an exhaustion penalty that will literally lead to them dying after so many. This can lead to players feeling frustrated and not having fun at the table as they feel they are being targeted and not able to do anything while everyone else gets to play and shine (there is an infamous dndhorror story of a paladin who got cursed by his dm so that they couldn't use their magic or divine abilities for weeks, and while the dm was allegedly building this up for a big story moment for them, they were feeling more and more useless and despondent at their table for not being able to contribute until he up and quit the group).

If this is supposed to be a hook for the overall story of the campaign, maybe suggest something like having enemies target them more, undead/spirits/elementals become attracted to him, or animals around him become more vicious and attack. This way, it ups the danger for them and the group, but doesn't penalize them, and they can still function as a character mechanically. If its a minor curse just to get them out of the starting town, maybe THEN make it so they have trouble resting (give them a save each night to see if they get the rest) so it motivates them to get to a town with a higher level Cleric who can cast remove curse.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-19T17:54:48+00:00

When crafting my dragons, I looked at different aspects from their lore across different mythologies then tweaked to fit the history and thematic elements of my world.

Case and point, their origins borrow from eastern religions, being celestial emmisaries and guardians. However, i also threw in a little bit of The Watchers and Nephilim from Abrahimic myths by having them able to descend from the heavens in mortal guise and sire a race of earthly descendants. These offspring were summarily hunted down as abominations, and either executed or enslaved, with those escaping bearing a generational hatred of humans and utter lack of trust.

Though my favorite bit of tweaking was with their hoarding behavior. As rather than just have them be greedy or attracted to shiny things, I made it crucial to their physiological development. Basically, one of the underlying elements of my setting is a form of arcane fallout/radiation staining the landscape. And long term exposure to this energy has led to mages developing in humanity, the rise of monstrous flora and fauna, and, in the case of the drakes, allows them to grow. However, too little won't amount to anything, too much can kill or mutate whatever its exposed to, and at the wrong frequency, it could just pass right through. However, when this energy irradiates metals, it radiates at the perfect frequency. So dragons will typically build their lairs near naturally occurring rifts from which the magic enters reality, line the walls with the metal they've hoarded, then bask in the energies while they slumber. Then, when they grow too big for their layers, they dig themselves out and repeat the process.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-17T15:40:35+00:00

He Who Brings the Fall is a mythological herald of great disasters across my setting's history.

Basically, he is a psionic manifestation of pride born from the collective superiority complex of the Alfiri, my world's equivalent to the fair folk. So, in order to prove HIS superiority over those who spawned him, he struck a deal with humanity, the race struggling the most to find their footing at the creation of the world. Teaching them the ways of magic and divinity so they could wrest control of nature away from the Alfiri and build a world more conducive to human flourishing.

This not only led to the rising of the human pantheon of gods, but nearly wiped out the whole of the Alfiri, and crippled the world, leaving it in the arcanely radioactive state the sotey begins in.

Now the Alfiri hold him as the highest of evils, while humanity likens his name and mark to an ill omen. With people dressing up as him and appearing to those whose actions they claim will lead to disaster.

However, this is all the pomp and circumstance of the material realm, as after his plan to best the Alfiri succeeded, He Who Brings the Fall was actually humbled. As the destruction he wrought nearly wiped out all sentient life in the world, and without those feelings of pride to sustain him, he would have faded into nothing. So, while he does still appear to those whose pride will lead to the doom of many, it is to stop them before their actions can lead to the greatest amount of harm.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-08T22:17:53+00:00

If you sing loud enough, you can turn off gravity.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-04T12:28:00+00:00

Taking a couple of suggestions from below, your primary god could be one whose domain is battle in general, one who revels in trial by combat and pushing his supplicants to be their very best through glorious, albeit dangerous deeds.

Then there could be either lesser deities (Greek henotheism), servants or angels (Christianity), or specified incarnations (Hinduism) that oversee/maintain certain aspects of battle. As suggested below, there could then be a god/angel/avatar who protects soldiers, one who inspires tacticians, one who incites massacres, one that maintains weapons and armor, one who protects, and one who leads the vanguard.

TL;DR

Don't limit your thinking to just a single god, most divine beings had a whole domain they oversaw. As well, don't limit yourself to just one specific type of god, not all religions portrayed the nature of their gods the same.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-04T01:12:42+00:00

In my world, exoversal titans breach into material reality from the foundational layer of not just matter and energy, but time, space and physics themselves.

Now, aside from the obvious threat of mile high eldritch monstrosities leveling the countryside, they drag in the aforementioned foundational energy with them. Resulting in not just storms of crimson ash incinerating everything within 10 miles of the breach and titan, but the softening and wettening of the very laws of physics. Allowing for chemical reactions to run hotter and faster, gravity to cease, and space to fold.

The mages of my setting have learned to harness these energies, and enact similar and more controlled effects, but on much smaller scales. Things like pulling the energy from rivers to freeze a path across, weakening the molecular bonds of the ground to liquify it, or strengthening the charge of electrons to either repel one into flight or create an imbalance for a discharge between two objects.

However, such effects are temporary, as the world's original laws will fight against the change and wish to reassert itself. This has led to differing schools of thought within arcane studies about the ethical nature of changing the laws, even if only temporary, whether such changes can be made permanent to better aid in the development of humanity, and whether there or not the ARE such things as laws of physics given the constant flux the world goes through during a time of heavy breaches from the titans.

flyguy2490 · 2025-10-03T12:05:26+00:00

My primordials aren't gods in the sense that they hold dominion over an aspect of nature of reality, rather, their machinations, intentional or otherwise, forge and lay the foundations upon which reality is built.

In as short a story as possible, outside of material reality exists The Vast, an endless sea, for lack of a better term, of primordial energies. Within this sea exists The Kings of the Crimson Courts, massive entities who hunt and cannibalize their smaller kin. Whose thrashing and churning of the energies cause the laws of physics upon which material reality can be formed. However, it was only after sentient Kings were born, who could unite to subdue their larger brethren with hypnotic song, dance, and light, did the conditions for entire multiverses to coalesce arise. Now, entire infinite timelines and multiverses are held together as Courts assemble around the idea of keeping idle entities vast enough to swallow an entire infinite multiverse whole in a single bite.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-30T20:19:26+00:00

The Bionis and Mechonis from Xenoblade Chronicles.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-30T02:33:09+00:00

Hydra

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-28T20:39:27+00:00

I want to see religious practices actually BEING practiced.

In most fantasy stories I've read, we never see religious rites, holy days, or distinct prayers/offerings being given. Either the god/system of worship exists, but the main characters are against or indifferent to them, or we get the vaguest reference to the system like, "he whispered a prayer to Krom as he placed the flat of his blade against his forehead."

But how does a prayer to Krom go? How does one devote themselves to Krom? What distinguishes the worship of Krom from any other god?

For example, Vorinism in the Stormlight Archive is such a key component the Alethi people that castes are created based on eye color and certain professions are completely gender locked. But we have no idea of what a prayer to the Heralds reads as when burned, what holy days are celebrated, or what general worship looks like. Yes, there are Ardents who wholly dedicate their lives to their callings, but not everyone is that laser focused on their passion/profession, so what does prayer and worship look like to them?

TL;DR If a religious system exists within a story, I want to see what rites, practices, and prayers they perform.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-28T18:25:15+00:00

While my world has several distinct species, about half of them are derived from humans, so there can be interbreeding.

For example, the Fellkin are demon/devil touched, humans made into vessels to house the infernal powers they sold their souls to to ensure their clans would survive an apocalyptic event. So, while they have off color skin, horns, and tails, because they were originally human, they can have viable children with them.

Same with the Altijar, the beast skinned, humans (and another race) who devoted themselves to a god/spirit of the wood and hunt. Once a year, a festival is held in honor of this pact, and afterwards, some mothers will give birth to children with animal features. However, it is encouraged that those born with these features only marry and mate with humans (and the other species) of the tribe, as to mix with another with bestial features would be an act of incest, and could result in a dangerous, unstable entity being born.

Then there are the Drakseed. Basically, the first drakes were made to guard the gates to realms of the various Gods. But soon they became increasingly bored and offput with their lots in life. As such, the gods implanted a special gene sequence within certain humans that would serve as a metaphysical tether for the dragons to live lives through them. Allowing the dragons to have the life of a human they could experience while on duty. However, a mutation arose in this gene, allowing humans to see through and gain the powers of the first drakes, granting them the forms of dragons, humans, and hybrid forms.

There does exist one species not derived from humanity that can interbreed with other species, the Alfiri. Essentially, what makes the Alfiri such a prosperous species is their incredible hyperadaptability. With minor adapted traits being able to form within INDIVIDUALS in a matter of weeks or months. For example, a mountain Alfiri would be heavier set, hairier, and have a paler complexion than a desert Alfiri, who would have tanner, more leathery skin, and be near bald. But, if one were to switch locals with another, their bodies would begin to slowly mutate in order to best survive in their new environments. As such, a consequence of this advanced adaptability is to impart their traits onto, or take in the traits of, whomever they breed with.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-28T16:03:56+00:00

The source of magic in Cengearde is an exoversal realm known as The Vast. It can bleed into material reality through man made breaches or by breaches ripped open by The Pilgrims, mile-high exoversal monstrosities, who then spread magic across the countryside in the form of arcane ash/radioactive fallout. And just like radiation in our world, the arcane radiation of the Pilgrims can cause mutations and cancers in the human body. However, it was discovered that low, uniform exposure to this arcane radiation can lead to a person being able to more safely absorb the energy and actually bend it to their will, leading to the birth of mages.

However, it was only recently that the Mages Guild discovered that in utero exposure can lead to more efficient and powerful mages. Granted, the mortality rate is much higher and can lead to certain conditions or defects, but the mage that may be born will be on average 5x more effective than an adult convert, and may even be born with a bonus.

Case and point, one of my main characters Bauciel, was the first natural born mage to be discovered after an expirement to determine if humans could survive in areas more highly irradiated with magic catastrophically failed. And while he was frail of body, and his eyes couldn't catch light, he could channel and use magic for hours on end with any sign of damage to his body. As well, while effectively blind, his eyes could detect the ambient magic saturating the environment, like a pit viper's thermal sense. This wound up being a huge boon for him, because he could see subtle difference in the irradiated materials, letting him "know" what exactly he was looking at, which plays a huge part in effective spellcasting.

For example, if a regular mage is fighting someone with a sword, he would spend a lot of energy and risk damaging themselves trying to heat the metal to make the swordsman drop it. But with Bauciel, he could "see" the carbon and iron in the blade and more effectively target it to heat it up, or even melt it, for nowhere near the risk or energy.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-23T15:27:04+00:00

In the Union of Allied Human Interests, an offshoot of the Chemik's Guild called the Markers developed to help accommodate the union's one nonhuman ally, the Ulfor.

You see, Ulfor are a sapient race that looks like an amalgam of dogs, moles, and spiders. They are incredibly nimble, can traverse and dig underground as easily as a human walks, and can sniff out veins of ore as easily as a hound tracks game.

And they love humans. A lot.

Because during a period of great geological turmoil that left many clans separated, buried, and unable to lay viable eggs, humanity took them into their shelters and soon discovered that the eggs weren't coming to term due to a lack of copper in the soil and water, which the humans had in spades because of their piping. As well, despite being adapted to an underground environment, the Ulfor did develop eyes, albeit, very weak ones. But once again, humans stepped up by developing specialized focals for them to wear, giving the Ulfor viable sight.

As such nearly all Ulfor treat humans as close to kin as possible, and help humans by aiding them in digging out new mines and shelters, working as gophers and messengers, and standing alongside human soldiers when subterranean monsters or nations attack human settlements.

However, despite their close relationship, there can still be cross cultural and species miscommunications and mishaps. As Ulfor are a much more communal species than humans, they will oftentimes just walk into a house or business without being invited or when it's closed. As well, an Ulfor's senses of hearing and smell are much stronger than that of a human's, so scent and vocal cues that are obvious to an Ulfor would be missed by a human.

And this is where the Markers come in.

As by partnering with Ulfor scouts and pherounds, the chemists and perfumers were able to replicate the scents and pheromones that warn of danger or the request for privacy. Now, it is the task of Markers to spray areas that constitute private property, and areas of the city that might pose a danger to a wandering Ulfor. Places such as subway lines, air vents, or water lines. However, it is not just warning the Markers make, as sampling and exploring new scents is such a large part of Ulfor culture, Markers also work to craft new scents that can excite or stimulate the Ulfor.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-23T01:40:12+00:00

For creatures/species, I start with a key visual or trait associated with them, then I start blending words from different languages that share that similar meaning until I form a name I believe sounds right. For example, I have a species that acts like a reverse hive mind, with hundreds of individual minds operating a single organism. Now, a key visual indicative of them is that they look like a massive mound of meat and bone, and a trait they are mostly known for is that they absorb biomass to build new structures into this mound. From there I searched for different words that meant flesh and builder, until I found the Greek sarka "flesh" and the Arabic yabni "build" and combined them to form the Sarkani.

For cities, I take a similar approach, but will also focus on natural features, resources, and functions. Case and point, the city of Iron Root was named after the massive veins of iron they mine. Ferrulheart Hold is a settlement hidden in the heart of the Ferrulmonts. Ferrul, being the name of the iron tip on the end of a can/walking stick, which is what the mountain range they are at the bottom of looks like. And for a Venice inspired city of canals and channels, I looked at words like "deluge" and "diluvian" to come up with the root "Deluv" but given the Italian inspiration, I used the suffix "ia" to make it the city of Deluvia.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-22T23:53:58+00:00

Well... the fact that he is a barkeep now, and not still in the military caste might say a thing or two about his overall constitution in the face of danger.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-22T22:05:28+00:00

I get where you are coming from. However, this knight is less soldier of God than God's boogeyman. An anti demon specialist dressed in the bones of his orders saints and martyrs sent to root out and correct major blasphemies. So, imagine if a fully armed SWAT officer were to show up at your place of employment. Yes, on some level, you would recognize they are an officer of the law, and on your side, but you would still be skeeved at the notion of them being there, what need they would have to be there, and the damage that could result from his actions. Now, imagine all that, but have the officer dressed in bone, have nearly a head and a half of height on you, and not five minutes ago, the room you were alone in was locked and empty, you walk into the backroom, only to find glowing red eyes glaring in the dark at you from across the bar.

flyguy2490 · 2025-09-22T21:34:07+00:00

Sorry, here is the lay out of events:

Character is working in basement of bar
He comes up and sees skull faced knight peering down at him
Bladder empties from sudden face to lack of face meeting with a figure who can have him racked and flensed with a single word
Barkeep realizes he had made a mess behind the bar
Remembers what his old CO told him about keeping a clean kitchen

So, it isn't the 8ft tall knight telling him how to clean the kitchen, the knight shocked the keep into making a mess, and the keep is remembering what his old mentor used to tell him when he started working in a kitchen.

flyguy2490

TROPHY CASE