Friday, June 11, 2021

Magic for Mass Energy and Space-Time: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 6 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more mystic content in my Magic Directory.



In Part 1 of this series, I began inventing a versatile in-world taxonomy for the magic system of the Known World. I wanted something flexible, adaptable, and ubiquitous -- a magic system that allowed for diversity and could incorporate any type of magic power, but was also cohesive and well-structured.

I also wanted my magic system to reflect my understanding of real-world magic, embodying principles that show up in many spiritual traditions. One way I did this was to establish magic as the mass energy of my world. Just like how E = mc^2 can calculate the amount of energy in a real-world object, the same equation can calculate the amount of magic energy contained within an object in my world.

To differentiate this magic energy from the actual magic abilities people can wield at will, I called it life energy, and this magical energy became the foundation of how magical effects can be manifested in the physical world. Another spiritual aspect in the magic system is the life force, which is considered an elite form of life energy, but concentrated enough to actually create a unique perspective in consciousness.


Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!


Instead of anchoring physical matter into existence, the life force anchors a facet of consciousness into existence. This allowed for things like soul magic, and the exploration of the afterlife. In fact, I have a book planned for much later in my Tales of the Known World saga, exploring the phases of the afterlife before a character is reincarnated!

The ether magics, which deal with space and time, are also rather spiritual in nature. In the real world, mass energy relates heavily to space-time concepts, and many of my magic analogues are still in formulation. Right now, the Known World's ether magics are confined to:
sensing the texture of the ether, since the use of magic creates impressions in space-time;
• piercing the ether at two disparate points, to create a portal/wormhole between them; and
• manipulating the density of the ether, which impacts travel times through that region of space.
Some form of Gravity magic may evolve from the density of space spells, but scholars haven't made much progress on it (ie, I haven't ironed out how it works quite yet). I haven't mentioned Gravity magic anywhere in the Magic Codex either. It's just something I'm allowing to percolate in the background, until it eventually comes to me.

Similarly, time magic is purely theoretical in the current edition of the Codex, because I'm actively working on time magic concepts right now. Later on, there will be some in-world breakthroughs in the field of time magic, and scholars will release a revised edition of the Codex to reflect their understanding.


That's it for this post! Up Next: Time magic and its standard issues...

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.






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