There are polls.
I’m currently thinking about these questions about my story’s magic:
- How do I make the elemental magic system fresh again? (Chemical conversion is something I planned but not all elements alone have access to it and some combinations would be OP asf.)
- Should magic be trainable in terms of increasing raw power? Why or why isn’t this possible? Is it possible just because it can? Does Naruhati trust the mage more and thus give them more of their godly reserve of magic energy? Why would Naruhati not give instant mastery?
- Should people in-universe be able to see if elemental matter is being controlled (glow)? (I thought of this at first solely for wind magic to visible and not stupidly OP for having invisible attacks.)
- Should I have chemical conversion for all elements or life only?
- I need help with portal rules (this is not a question but I’m asking you how I could change it).
Details on the magic system
There are 6 normal elements and 1 special element exclusive to the vanguards, the protagonists. The 6 normal elements are water, earth, fire, wind, lightning, light. The special element is life.
To obtain an element, you have to be born with it, an approximately 1/30k chance during downtime (no vanguards alive) or 1/5k change during active vanguard eras (when the story takes place). If born, you either end up as a pure (1 element, stronger) or hybrid (2 elements, weaker). The magic is a gift from Naruhati.
There’s another way but I haven’t thought of it yet.
I would describe magic as being able to telekinetically manipulate certain types of matter. I describe moving matter as using 1 of 2 “brushes” or “pointers”. The first brush is the big one, which heavily relies on physical movement. It’s stronger but less precise. The second brush is the small one, which can be used even with only the mind. It’s weaker but more precise.
Chemical Conversion
This ability allows the mage to convert one chemical into another, such as a wind-water mage breaking water into hydrogen and oxygen. The mage needs to have control over all the molecules/atoms involved, so a water or wind mage alone can’t do this.
If you’re familiar with the Forum Curses Saga, it’s basically my (bio)chemical curse. Fuck my biochemical curse. Why did I choose an objectively inferior thing?
Whether chemical conversion is available for all elements or not could affect the story. It’s kind of like balancing multiple pros and cons. There’s quite a lot to list.
If chemical conversion for all elements:
- Allows the magic system to feel fresh and unique.
- Wind + water magic would be an overpowered combination as mages with that can easily fuck over any water mage due to being able to break down water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
- Not all elemental magics alone would have access to this and thus it’d feel unfair.
- Allows Shouzate (criminal vanguard) to be extremely overpowered and feared in the crime world in terms of drug production, due to having control over carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms which she could easily transform into drugs because of her life magic.
If chemical conversion for life magic only:
- Slightly more balanced(?) but doesn’t allow as much freshness in the magic system.
- Shouzate would be scary more for her mysteriousness, as not even the other vanguards know how she’s using her magic to create drugs. However, she wouldn’t be as overpowered as with chemical conversion for all elements because she still has to go through the possibly painstaking biochemical synthesis/process of making certain drugs. (The last generation of vanguards was 600 years ago and because the current story is set in the 21st century, there’s no way any past vanguard would’ve known the atomic theory and thus chemical conversion.)
Portal Rules
- The portals don’t linger around in the air and they behave like massless stickers or thin metal sheets, meaning they can be stolen.
- Portals linger around forever though until a vanguard closes it. If all vanguards die, the portals will be open forever or until the next generation closes it.
- Closing a portal will slice everything in its way in half, which can end up chopping someone’s limb off.
- Vanguards can reshape their portals, but the shape must be 2d, meaning no half-spheres for example. Linked portals must be the same shape.
- Portals are massless and indestructible, including their frame.
- They can only place portals near them, meaning they can’t go to a place they’ve never been that doesn’t have a portal there.
- There is a 48 minute cooldown between creating portals. There is a 24 minute cooldown for destroying portals. All those cooldowns count down separately per vanguard.
- It takes 10 seconds to create a portal and 5 to close. This is both for unlinking and total destruction. They close gradually.
- The vanguards can remotely destroy portals and they in a way, label it.
- They share portals and a maximum total surface area of all portals can be at most 48 square meters.
- Portals are 1:1. Portal1 will always be the only portal to lead to Portal2.
The main thing that concerns me is portal linking overwrite. What if a vanguard creates Portal3 and wants to link it to Portal1, but Portal1 is already linked with Portal2? What happens to Portal2?
Does Portal2 disappear and Portal1 becomes linked with Portal3? Will Portal3 fail to be created?
Story-wise, whether or not portals can overwrite links will change things.
If portal link overwrite is allowed:
- FAVs (Flesh Armored Vanguards) can easily meet up with each other, thus making the challenge of finding each other nonexistent.
- Shouzate (criminal FAV) can easily find and break into the main FAVs’ base due to also sharing their portals.
- The dictator of a vanguard’s enemy country (human threat) will have an extremely hard time hunting the vanguard down and probably wouldn’t be a super big threat. (The dictator is hunting 1 of the vanguards down because that vanguard is from an enemy country and the dictator thinks that enemy country will utilize the vanguard in war.)
If no portal link overwrite:
- All portals must be created in pairs.
- FAVs will have the challenge of having to find each other and meet up in real life. (Fun fact but in the legacy pre-rewrite version of FAV which is Elemental Flesh Armored Legends, the protagonists not being able to be together was a reason behind the rewrite. Lorewise, it would be a bad idea for them to stay together. EFAL felt like 6 individual stories marketed as 1.)
- Shouzate can’t as easily break into the FAV base, although she can know where portals are relative to her. This means she won’t know how the surroundings look like, only have wall ESP.
- The dictator (human threat) won’t have as hard of a time as portal linking allowed hunting the vanguard from an enemy country.
- All elements
- Life only
- Yes
- No