THTK: Unique Magic Systems

[Patrick]

I'm fascinated by different ways authors explain how magic works in their worlds. In Dragonlance it was the gift of three of the (living) gods, in this THTK trilogy it's from captive gods/weapons, in Bitter Seeds it was demonic bartering.

My favorite so far were the Furies (spirit familiars) from Jim Butcher's far too short Codex Alera series.

Can anyone else name some really unique explanations of magic?

[Boots]

I thought the magic system from The Black Prism was cool. The magic users were called drafters and they could draft (use) different colours from the light spectrum. That's a pretty simple explanation though.

[[deleted user]]

There's the one where these little microscopic organisms connect the magic user to this energy field which allows them to do all kinds of stuff.

Think they're called midichlorians or something...

[Patrick]

Boots: I will have to check that out. It sounds like Magic the Gathering!

Ala: Yea...somehow when Star Wars became the video game Parasite Eve it lost a LOT.

[Nathan]

Brandon Sanderson is known for his magic systems—they are a kind of trademark in his work. He wrote a little bit about magic systems over here: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/artic...

[Boots]

Patrick wrote: "Boots: I will have to check that out. It sounds like Magic the Gathering!"

It's been my favorite fantasy read so far this year; mind you, I haven't read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms yet so that might change.

[Kris]

I have always liked how Zelanzy described it in his two book story Madwand Magic users see threads that they can twist to do different things with and it evolves from there as the magic user gets to be more sophisticated.

[Botulf2000]

The Death Gate Cycle had some version of Rune magic, if I remember correctly. I think one of the characters had tatoos all over his body, representing the different runes. To use magic, he touched the runes in different combinations.

Or something like that, it was a while since I read the books.

[Volkai]

As Nathan said, Sanderson has done a number of interesting magic systems. The Wheel of Time has an interesting take on magic as well, I think.

Say what you will about Star Wars, some of the force abilities they've added in newer books (flow-walking, force projections, brain electrical current manipulation) is interesting.

Finally, the most unique magic system I can think of comes not from a book, but from the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, where Blue Mages gain powers from momentarily reshaping their soul into the form of a monster's soul to unleash some ability that monster had. Of course to do this they have to permanantly destabilize their soul's form, with the side effect that no Blue Mage ever dies a natural death -- they have to constantly maintain their soul's form, and if they don't fall in battle first, they will eventually fail to hold the shape of their soul, and will mutate into a monstrous creature called a "Soulflayer," forever losing their humanity.

Additionally, Blue Mages' bodies gradually change to incorporate some elements of the creatures whose souls they have taken, so some measure of their humanity may be lost even before they lose control, especially if they absorb aspects of, say, the undead.

[Mary]

David Eddings idea of how magic should work has always fascinated me. The will & the word is still the most compelling magic system I've read.

[Eric]

Here's a book list I started on goodreads a long time ago: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/87...

Of course you have to ignore the popular but not especially magical books that get voted to the top of every list for obvious reasons...

[Derek]

Botulf2000 wrote: "The Death Gate Cycle had some version of Rune magic, if I remember correctly. I think one of the characters had tatoos all over his body, representing the different runes. To use magic, he touched ..."

The magic was split into 2 parts. 1 group used runes that were generalities, letting magic find it's own shape. For example, if they wanted a blue oak stool, that's how they conjured, letting magic pick the shape and color. Providing room for magic to act in unexpected and unwanted ways.

The 2nd group used magic with mathematical precision. For a blue stool, the would describe it exactly down to size, shape, pattern of wood grain, ect. Getting rid of the randomness, but meaning it takes much longer to cast. Part of reason for the tattoos is both as armor, and spells ready to hand.

The whole story comes from the 1st group screwing up big. And a member from each group needing to learn to work together to fix it.

[Rashaad]

I've always struggled with this in my own works. How to make magic effective, without them becoming god like.

So far the best use of magic I've seen is on the new camelot show.

Sure, they use magic, but the cost of it is tragic.

Forgotten Future

[Joshua]

My biggest exposure to any magic system was 3rd Ed D&D. Our DM was a lazy power gamer who never incorporated spell comonents or any other built in difficulty.
That gives me a very skewed view of magic. It's like wi-fi: an amazing thing that should be provided to me with no personal expense.
I'm working on personal change, I assure you.

[Mnchur]

i thought the metal eating system of magic in the mistborn series was really interesting.

[Nicketmaster]

I liked the aforementioned run magics of the Death GateCycle a lot. My favorite, though is the weaving of the Wheel of Time. It almost gave the idea of magic a very physical feel to it. Manipulating the threads of reality, as it were.