So, a cool person who happens to go by the name Flare on here started making his own worldbuilding thread on his own object based magic system (go check it out btw I’ll link it here after I finish pasting my stuff), and it got me inspired to start working on a magic system for one of my ideas I’ve had for a long while.
I plan to update this every once in a while whenever I have stuff I want to add, alongside art later on for these. This idea is for a magic system based around objects called “relics”, which get their power from in-lore deities that have had their own religions form around them. The existence of this causes the world to change drastically as humanity develops with access to magic tied to their beliefs, the ramifications of such I’m a bit too tired to explain right now (but will eventually come into play when I make this an actual story… eventually).
For now, this will go over the basic system of relics, how they are created, and how they start out neutrally.
Currently unfinished, but are to be added soon, are:
The specialization process of magics
Religions & cultures along with the basic spells they learn and the ways they specialize.
Now, without further ado, here’s my copy paste from the google doc I was writing all this on.
Relic Based Magic System
Basics
In a world where worship is power, to bring out one’s own magic further, they must have a means to transfer their deity’s power into themself. Because of this, it’s a requirement to have an object of said religion to even begin to shape one’s magic.
The type of “object” can take multiple forms, such as a pendant, insignia, medal or more, so long as it can be on the body and is related to the religion. These objects are known by many names, such as Objects of worship, Amulets, or Charms, but for now, they will be called “Relics” in this.
Relics allow for the human body to channel the power of a deity that they worship, allowing them basic magic control as well as more specialized forms for combat, which develop further as Relic wielders become more faithful and more powerful.
Creation and Distribution of a Relic
Making a relic is a tricky process for most humans, as it requires a very precise and delicate form of imbuing and forging. The title of this job depends on the material and culture, but this job is usually known as a “Priestsmith” for harder materials and “Enchanters” for softer materials. Becoming a Priestsmith or Enchanter takes a long time due to the imbuement process taking dedicated training, and most cultures value these jobs at the highest caliber due to this.
Material Procurement
When it comes to what materials should be used, most cultures value either longevity or ease of repair. While, realistically, any material can be used to create a relic, the ease of repair and the longevity of the relic is very dependent on what is used.
For example, softer materials (like silk, wool, leather, etc.) tend to not have a lot of longevity due to fragility, but they are much easier to repair. If a culture values having easily repairable relics, they will have more enchanters to make soft-material relics, and will have to make new relics with every generation.
In contrast, harder materials (like metals, stone, porcelain, etc.) have a lot more longevity, but they don’t have the ease of repair that soft materials do. If a culture tends to conserve their amulets as much as possible, they will likely end up having more Priestsmiths than enchanters to make hard-material relics.
Imbuement Process
After a material is acquired, the next step is to go through the process of imbuing the material. In this process, the Priestsmith or Enchanter will take the material and surround it in a neutral variant of their deity’s magic (See Relic Magic Capabilities for more info on Neutral Magic). Once it is fully covered, they will attempt to imbue said magic into the material, making it seep into every atom of it.
This is the most delicate part of the process, as even the smallest mistake can cause the material to violently shatter into pieces and drain the user of magical energy for a prolonged period of time, and in some cases can cause sickness or internal injury. If the imbuement is done properly, the Priestsmith or Enchanter will then break the object’s magical connection to themself, leaving it open ended for another person to begin wielding.
Decorating Relics
After this step is finished, they will have the imbued material decorated, either by themself or outsourced to other artists, in the image of the tied religion. While this step is not a requirement in the process, cultures tend to do this as a sign of respect towards their deity. Later on, as relic users develop their magic further, they may also take their relics to whoever created it to redesign it as a way to show their growth.
Distribution
Once the relic is finished, the Priestsmith or Enchanter will send it to their Relic Distribution Service, which will then have the relics to be given to those who wish to begin training or sold to those who need new relics. When distributed, the citizen the relic is given to will go through a faithfulness process to bind their magical connection to it, a process which differs drastically from culture to culture.
Relic Magic Capabilities
Energy
All relic spells and applications use magical energy from the user, which can only be drawn out by having a tie to a relic. This energy is used in order to summon magic from circles, and it regenerates rather quickly thanks to the relics; however, if a relic starts to wear from combat, the rate of regeneration begins to slow down, making it more risky to use spells over long periods of time. If a relic breaks fully, the user will no longer be able to regenerate their energy until repaired.
If one wants to repair their relic, they will either have to seek out a Mender to help repair their relics, which can be quite costly, or repair it themselves with whatever energy they have left, which leaves them vulnerable and can become taxing on the body if done repeatedly with no breaks.
Neutral Magic
All relic users start off using a “neutral” variant of their deity’s main magic, being a basic element which the deity is known for controlling. This neutral variant can only really showcase basic magic abilities their culture can teach them to use, usually being basic ranged and close-quarters combat abilities.
Despite this, neutral magic is still important to have around. It’s required in the process of creating relics across all cultures, as more specialized magics do not have the ability to create an open ended connection between an object they’ve imbued their magic into. Along with this, neutral magic starts the development of Magic Sensing, a function which allows relic users to be capable of sensing the location of other life forms based on their magic. If a relic user doesn’t train this sense when they are still using neutral magic, it can be difficult to regain this ability later on in more specialized forms.
People in the first two phases of specializing their magic (See Specialization Phases for more info) are capable of temporarily reverting their magic into neutral magic if needed, which also gives some leniency to Priestsmiths and Enchanters for the magics they can use, rather than being tied solely to neutral magic.
Magic Specialization
Specializing one’s magic is not a process that can happen quickly, as it takes a massive effort to do over time, putting intense strain on the body as it continues to improve. Thus, the specialization of magic is done in a process split into four phases that go over the general development of relic users as well as the specific training they would undergo.
Phase 1: “Formation”
The first phase in the specialization process is known as “formation”, and it happens very early in the process. This step is characterized by a general split in how one learns to apply their magic. Every religion has at least two formations that are taught, being a combative formation and a supportive formation, but can have more based on the demands of their culture.
Relic users that undergo combative formation tend to train more in learning their attack spells, usually being given weapon or martial arts training at the same time to expand their combat options. Eventually, their spells will tend to have a distinct rigidity and sharpness to them, which signifies the end of the Formation phase. People who train in this formation tend to end up as guards, militiamen, and as low ranking soldiers later on in life.
Relic users that undergo the supportive formation tend to train more in protection spells, usually also being taught in the medicines and in alchemy to expand their knowledge. This formation eventually becomes characterized by flexibility and softness, which signifies the end of their formation. People who train in this formation usually end up as doctors, alchemists or combat medics later on in life.
Although these formations may mainly train in a specific type of spell, it doesn’t mean that they can only learn spells of that type in training. A combatant can learn supportive spells, and vice versa, although the spells will tend to be weaker because of this. Some jobs may also require that relic users learn spells of the other type, such as militiamen and combat medics, so that they can switch their role on the battlefield if necessary.
Phase 2: “Aspection”
Once a relic user finishes undergoing formation, they will then likely begin the “aspection” phase, or the phase where other elements start being brought out in one’s magic. This phase begins rather shortly after the formation phase, right whenever a relic user decides to dedicate themself to a certain aspect of their religion.
This aspect comes in different forms based on the theology of the religion. Monotheist religions typically have that aspect be an important figure in the development of their religion or a certain natural power their deity presides over. On the other hand, polytheist religions usually have that aspect be a specific lesser deity in their religion or the certain natural power said lesser deity controls.
Once a relic user chooses an aspect of their religion they wish to follow, they will then begin an initiation trial before beginning their training, which will typically consist of them having to deal with power they are to train with. Most relic users coming out of formation struggle the most with this part in particular, as it can be difficult to understand how to control a new power at first.
Once a relic user successfully passes the initiation trial, their neutral magic will take on the primary color of their power, and they will begin their aspect training. This training will help attune the user to their new magic abilities, teach them more complex spells, and improve their physical capabilities immensely. Towards the end of this training, their new magic will fully be brought out in all of their spells.
While it’s not guaranteed, it’s expected that relic users may undergo personality changes during this phase of specialization. Usually, these changes will be temporary and come back from time to time; however, in more extreme cases of this, relic users may begin permanently acting like entirely new people. Unfortunately, detecting these cases is rather difficult during the aspection phase, as it can be hard to spot until the temporary cases pass by.
From the end of this phase forward, the relic user will no longer be able to revert their magic back into neutral magic, effectively locking them from being a Priestsmith or Enchanter unless they are to disarm their relic (see Disarming Relics for more information).
Phase 3: “Dedication”
When a relic user has finished their training under the aspect they chose, they might choose to further improve their capabilities through their dedication and fate, hoping to become worthy or notable in the eyes of the deity they worship. While their training would become more personal at this point, there are some outlines as to what they may want to do for this training. Most religions may have relic users travel to certain locations related to their deity, usually religious temples or controlled wilderness areas believed to belong to them.
From this point, relic users will show their worship, to which they may receive some form of message from their deity delivering them a quest to embark on. This message might come in the form of natural signs, premonitions, visions, or even what may be seen as coincidences at the time. If their deity ends up giving no message, something which has been believed to be happening more often, then it will be up to the relic users to create their own quest to train on. This quest may take years to fully complete, potentially longer if there was no clear message given to the relic user, but eventually, their efforts will be recognized.
At the end of this training, there tends to be a test/vision of sorts that the user goes through. It’s not widely understood what happens in this step, but most relic users report having a one-on-one with their deity. Whether this “one-on-one” refers to a conversation or spar is debatable, most people tend to believe in the former, as even most warrior related cultures believe the latter to be absurd.
Regardless, what happens ends up feeling like a dream to the user, one which (usually) leaves them with their training fully finalized. Once this is successfully reached, the user will find themselves with further mastery over their own magic, allowing them the opportunity to create their own spells and adjust previously learned spells. It is at this point that they also find themself recognized as powerful individuals in their religion, usually becoming high ranking generals in their militaries or the heads of various institutions.
If this last step is to fail in whatever scenario happens, then the user will find themself back at square one of this phase, their quest failed and training vanished. Fortunately, this rarely occurs in this phase, although it isn’t understood why this might happen in the first place due to the unknown nature of this step.
Phase 4: “Immortalization”
If a person chooses to further improve their magical capabilities, then they would be beginning the immortalization phase of specialization. Unlike the other phases, this phase doesn’t have any clear track in which changes take place. This phase more so describes how a relic user may immortalize themself as a figure in their religion.
In this phase, a dedicated relic user learns to master their magic to the point of being able to change it in any which way; however, getting to this point is very difficult, and some magical changes may take a long time to take hold depending on how different it is to their magic’s element. For example, trying to change from a fire-based magic to a water-based magic may take decades or centuries, if not impossible in a human lifetime.
If a relic user is successful in changing their magic like this, then they may be able to help teach others their new magic as an aspect, which eventually may become passed down for generations, with the relic user being immortalized as an important part of their religion. This, however, is a lot more difficult to do in polytheistic religions as a regular relic user due to their powers deriving from specific deities or demigods.
Phase 5: “Ascension” (Purely Theoretical)
While the exact ending of this phase isn’t known, it is believed that another phase after this is possible. In theory, this phase would be where the relic user could potentially become a god, separating themself from their humanity entirely and creating a new religion.
This phase, however, has not been proven to exist, nor will it likely be proven for a long time. For one, this would require people to begin devoting themselves fully to you rather than their own religion, giving up some of their magic to improve your own powers. Because of this, many religions view this action as treachery, one which would immediately be punished.
At best, they may be exiled alongside their followers for their actions. At worst, they might be hunted due to them trying to make others undermine their own religion. Some may even be wiped from any public records if what they were doing was truly terrible in the eyes of their religion.
Thus, this phase remains unproven as of now, although a few instances of people trying to find it do exist in the present day. The most notable of these would be Lustraline the Celestial due to her pacifistic beliefs and her agreeability allowing her to hold communications with high officials in other cultures, even those of her old religion. Regardless, only time will tell whether this phase does truly exist.
Disarming Relics
If one chooses to leave their religion, for any reasons deemed necessary by the person, they will end up having to disarm their current relic to do so. The process itself is not that difficult to do, as it only takes completely destroying one’s relic with their own magic. The true issue, however, arises afterwards from the loss of the magical capabilities. In the early developments of relic magic, the magical energy becomes tied to the user’s inherent bodily functions, and the forcible removal of it from one’s body can have vastly different effects based on how far they have specialized.
At the least consequential phase of this, the Formation phase (and any point beforehand), the user will only end up having lost their magical training and undergoing Drain Sickness (a phrase used to describe the loss of energy from their magical energy being removed) for a short amount of time, typically only going up to a week at most.
If the user disarms their relic during the Aspection phase, then they will find themself having lost their physical training alongside any magical training, as well as undergoing Drain Sickness for upwards of three months. Alongside this, they will find themself undergoing a complete personality reversal if they were to undergo any changes during this phase.
If the user disarms during the Dedication phase of specialization, then not only will they find themselves undergoing other aforementioned issues (loss of all training, extended periods of Drain Sickness, personality reversal, etc.), but they will also find themselves having undergone Retrograde Amnesia, with any memories of their journey becoming unavailable. While in some cases these memories eventually end up returning, more often than not the user will never regain them, either due to them not wanting to or their brains physically preventing them from doing so. In the worst cases of this recorded, some users end up having completely lost any and all memories they once had, being left completely as a blank slate.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much known about the effects of disarming during the Immortalization phase (and subsequently the Ascension phase), as most users in these phases of specialization have become fully loyal to their religion. Out of all of the modern day religions, there has only ever been one recorded incident of this happening. In this incident, known colloquially as the Misfortune of Saint Tabitha, the disarming relic user had caused a violent explosion of magic energy to burst from her amulet as it shattered, causing the cathedral the incident took place in to begin collapsing. After the residents inside the collapsing cathedral escaped, including the unconscious Saint Tabitha, it was found that she was stuck in a deep coma, the loss of her magical energy having been too much for her body to handle.
While Saint Tabitha was transported to the highest medical circuit in her religion for further studying, followers of her teaching reported their aspection completely reverting back to the formation phase. Strangely, no loss in magical training was ever reported by them, and later medical checkups showed no cases of Drain Sickness or physical damage to the followers. The only common occurrence between all of them, outside of their lost aspect, was supposed nightmares and hallucinations of their previous saint, which was chalked up to being trauma due to the event by the doctors.
Further information about the incident and the state of Tabitha has been withheld from the general public, and likely will continue to be for the foreseeable future until, in the words of the medical circuit, “Saint Tabitha can live again.”
Cultures & Religions
WIP - This likely won’t be done for a long while since I have a good few of these planned.