I love your little game wtih that title AND your "details" comment, hehehe. Now if only we got to learn what that job was OR what sort of mage William was. Nice hobby though >_>
And because my brain took a vacation while I wrote the above comments...
This story was awesome (yes, I just semi-violated my own rules about saying things like "awesome" or "cool") Made me want to work on my fantasy stuff, but time being a bitch with a baseball bat is making this difficult. I wish I could just sit down and pound on the keys. But there is only so much time in any given day.
So I guess I'll need to live vicariously through you XD
In this story's setting, the normal laws of physics are a low-energy state. Magic is "just" a matter of knowing the correct language and creating an appropriate expression of what you want to happen. Of course, that requires esoteric knowledge deliberately restricted to select individuals and the skill for actually performing it. The other trick is, like I said, the fact that reality is going to reassert itself-- that is, whatever "story" you write over top of reality (such as "my 160-pound body is lighter than air") will eventually be ground down and putter out, and the world proceeds normally from there.
As a consequence of this premise, there are two major styles of magic in this world: "Shaped" magic and "Systematic" magic. Shaped magic involves the caster beginning from a simple premise and repairing their spell as it erodes over time. This is typically used for simple and relatively temporary magic, such as Morgan's hand-lantern. She creates the spell "I have a ball of flame just above my hand", and every so often refreshes it or repaints it when it starts slipping. Other instant tricks, like turning invisible for a minute or so or knocking a table over are usually Shaped, because what you're really after is the end result on normal reality. Once the table's flipped, it stays flipped, so the flipping is fine as a one-shot deal.
The alternative, Systematic magic, is setting up a spell to be self-supporting. The fundamentals are identical, but Systematic magic typically involves a much larger setup time and effort spent ensuring that every line is drawn just so. Shapers can afford to throw a quick, messy symbol that says "fire"-- if they need it to burn a little longer, they just redraw it or touch it up slightly. Systematic casting is usually much neater, far more elaborate, and does quite a bit more than Shaped magic does. It is also extremely difficult to get right, simply because there are so many externalities to take into account that render a spell incoherent and allow reality to reassert itself.
William is way off on the Systematic side. He builds spells that go on quite nearly forever and exhibit some intelligence of their own. That is, he can write spells that write other spells, within limits. I still don't know the exact nature of the "job", but I imagine that he gets called on to put together magical solutions to large-scale problems every now and again. I don't imagine he has many bodily needs, given that he lives in a fertile valley and has systems in place to see to his every whim, but you probably don't get to be a wizard in this setting without extensive training from a guild of established wizards-- I imagine they have a system of honor bindings and duties that force them to make the world a better place every now and again.
*Finishes taking some notes* This was a most interesting explanation and sparked several thoughts of my own on magic. Your systematic vs shaped magic is a lot like how I view the differences between spell casting and ritual casting. Thank you for the long answer.
Naturally, there were things I thought of that I didn't say in that giant infodump. Two things, to be precise:
William may be a skilled Systematic, but he's garbage at Shaping. Nowhere is it written that the two are opposites, mind you-- a wizard could be both a strong Shaper and a strong Systematic, or middling at both, or favor one or the other, or just be a washout. William happens to be a heavily detail-oriented individual, so when Shaped magic starts losing coherence, he just takes too long to react and loses control of it* right away.
Hence Morgan's consternation at the fact that William, who wouldn't let a single mote of ink fall outside of its preordained boundaries on the parchment, spends any fraction of his spare time in such a... biological fantasy world.
* I lied, there are three things. Magic is not something that explodes in this setting, not even Systematic magic. You couldn't make gray goo with magic, here-- it would chew through available resources, yes, but the underlying magic would eventually putter out. Therefore, "losing control" of a spell here always implies allowing reality to resume normal operation.
Magic can change the operation of reality. The facts that have changed will remain after the magic stops. So, if you used magic to create a mountain, the mountain would still be there when the spell ends. (No part of reality says that a giant pile of rock can't possibly exist.) If you use magic to make a mountain levitate, and the magic runs out... the mountain is going to fall. (Reality says gravity pulls things to earth, especially heavy things with no other force operating on them.)
So in your world magic can create things that did not previously exist. Hmmmm. That is one of those some like/some hate it possibilities to magic. I grew up with few things being real when created purely from magic. They can be dispelled or simply run out of time. Of course some things are permanent, but they are only small things and simple non-complex items.
Clever story, I liked it a lot. Best bit: the similes when something appeared from nowhere. My favourite is "As if the world had suddenly remembered an important detail, a castle appeared." Wonderfully flat. Great stuff.
Posted by sansuki 14 years ago Report
...I want to visit that castle! :D
Posted by Bitter 14 years ago Report
It's only a fanfic away. :P
Posted by Imrhys 14 years ago Report
I love your little game wtih that title AND your "details" comment, hehehe. Now if only we got to learn what that job was OR what sort of mage William was. Nice hobby though >_>
Posted by Imrhys 14 years ago Report
And because my brain took a vacation while I wrote the above comments...
This story was awesome (yes, I just semi-violated my own rules about saying things like "awesome" or "cool") Made me want to work on my fantasy stuff, but time being a bitch with a baseball bat is making this difficult. I wish I could just sit down and pound on the keys. But there is only so much time in any given day.
So I guess I'll need to live vicariously through you XD
Posted by Bitter 14 years ago Report
In this story's setting, the normal laws of physics are a low-energy state. Magic is "just" a matter of knowing the correct language and creating an appropriate expression of what you want to happen. Of course, that requires esoteric knowledge deliberately restricted to select individuals and the skill for actually performing it. The other trick is, like I said, the fact that reality is going to reassert itself-- that is, whatever "story" you write over top of reality (such as "my 160-pound body is lighter than air") will eventually be ground down and putter out, and the world proceeds normally from there.
As a consequence of this premise, there are two major styles of magic in this world: "Shaped" magic and "Systematic" magic. Shaped magic involves the caster beginning from a simple premise and repairing their spell as it erodes over time. This is typically used for simple and relatively temporary magic, such as Morgan's hand-lantern. She creates the spell "I have a ball of flame just above my hand", and every so often refreshes it or repaints it when it starts slipping. Other instant tricks, like turning invisible for a minute or so or knocking a table over are usually Shaped, because what you're really after is the end result on normal reality. Once the table's flipped, it stays flipped, so the flipping is fine as a one-shot deal.
The alternative, Systematic magic, is setting up a spell to be self-supporting. The fundamentals are identical, but Systematic magic typically involves a much larger setup time and effort spent ensuring that every line is drawn just so. Shapers can afford to throw a quick, messy symbol that says "fire"-- if they need it to burn a little longer, they just redraw it or touch it up slightly. Systematic casting is usually much neater, far more elaborate, and does quite a bit more than Shaped magic does. It is also extremely difficult to get right, simply because there are so many externalities to take into account that render a spell incoherent and allow reality to reassert itself.
William is way off on the Systematic side. He builds spells that go on quite nearly forever and exhibit some intelligence of their own. That is, he can write spells that write other spells, within limits. I still don't know the exact nature of the "job", but I imagine that he gets called on to put together magical solutions to large-scale problems every now and again. I don't imagine he has many bodily needs, given that he lives in a fertile valley and has systems in place to see to his every whim, but you probably don't get to be a wizard in this setting without extensive training from a guild of established wizards-- I imagine they have a system of honor bindings and duties that force them to make the world a better place every now and again.
That answer your questions? XD
Posted by Imrhys 14 years ago Report
*Finishes taking some notes* This was a most interesting explanation and sparked several thoughts of my own on magic. Your systematic vs shaped magic is a lot like how I view the differences between spell casting and ritual casting. Thank you for the long answer.
Now I want to write fantasy even MORE @_@
Posted by Bitter 14 years ago Report
Naturally, there were things I thought of that I didn't say in that giant infodump. Two things, to be precise:
William may be a skilled Systematic, but he's garbage at Shaping. Nowhere is it written that the two are opposites, mind you-- a wizard could be both a strong Shaper and a strong Systematic, or middling at both, or favor one or the other, or just be a washout. William happens to be a heavily detail-oriented individual, so when Shaped magic starts losing coherence, he just takes too long to react and loses control of it* right away.
Hence Morgan's consternation at the fact that William, who wouldn't let a single mote of ink fall outside of its preordained boundaries on the parchment, spends any fraction of his spare time in such a... biological fantasy world.
* I lied, there are three things. Magic is not something that explodes in this setting, not even Systematic magic. You couldn't make gray goo with magic, here-- it would chew through available resources, yes, but the underlying magic would eventually putter out. Therefore, "losing control" of a spell here always implies allowing reality to resume normal operation.
Posted by Imrhys 14 years ago Report
Another words magic can alter/bend reality but cannot permanently change it? Reality would always reassert itself eventually?
Posted by Bitter 14 years ago Report
Magic can change the operation of reality. The facts that have changed will remain after the magic stops. So, if you used magic to create a mountain, the mountain would still be there when the spell ends. (No part of reality says that a giant pile of rock can't possibly exist.) If you use magic to make a mountain levitate, and the magic runs out... the mountain is going to fall. (Reality says gravity pulls things to earth, especially heavy things with no other force operating on them.)
Posted by Imrhys 14 years ago Report
So in your world magic can create things that did not previously exist. Hmmmm. That is one of those some like/some hate it possibilities to magic. I grew up with few things being real when created purely from magic. They can be dispelled or simply run out of time. Of course some things are permanent, but they are only small things and simple non-complex items.
Posted by Sehnsucht 13 years ago Report
Thanks for the additional detail, this was an extremely interesting infodump.
Posted by Llyander 14 years ago Report
Interesting story, I like it!
Posted by PyroOutlander 14 years ago Report
nice
Posted by Sehnsucht 13 years ago Report
Clever story, I liked it a lot. Best bit: the similes when something appeared from nowhere. My favourite is "As if the world had suddenly remembered an important detail, a castle appeared." Wonderfully flat. Great stuff.