Letter Bee — Roleplayer Guild

Magic System (Practices and Procedures Version)

There are two disciplines of Magic, defined by human belief. However, in this universe, just because human (and AI) belief can make Magic work does not mean that Reality is relativistic; objective, observable reality still exists despite being changeable by Magic, which in turn has limits.

Traditionalist/Ceremonial - Traditionalists use words, rituals, and symbolic tools (aka items which are less practical than current tech; obsolete tools) in order to cast powerful spells which defy scientific understanding, like fireballs, instant healing, precognition, and blessings/curses. The advantage of this is that Traditionalists can use their magic right away, with just a word or gesture, they don't actually need the items they use, and they can do things without advanced technology or which are still impossible with current science. In short, what they lack in the reach and range of their effects, they more than makeup for by being their own tools in an emergency.

"Enlightened Invention" - Enlightened Inventors used to believe that their Magic isn't Magic at all but 'Hyperradvanced Technology', and some of them still believe it today. But the truth is that their inventions, though recognizably technology, still use Mana, the reality-altering substance which allows Magic to exist in the first place. However, Magitech has one big advantage over Traditionalist/Ceremonial powers: Anyone can use it even if they are not an Enlightened Inventor and it can be combined with actual technology to create mass-produced wonders. However, the drawback is that without tools, objects, or anything resembling technology, an 'Enlightened Inventor' is useless (unless they specialize in hyper-psychology, in which case they can make the perfect brainwashing technique or give themselves perfect memories).

The only successful ways of combining both methods involve the Mage being trained while still young before their brain fully develops. This allows the Mage to switch between the radically different mindsets needed to use both ways of Spellcasting...

Mages (both Traditionalists and Enlightened) divide Reality into eight areas, six of which can be affected by Magic, and two of which cannot except in very rare circumstances. The six 'Open Areas' are High, Underworld, Mind, World, Change, and Dimensional, while the two forbidden ones are Fate and Timespace.

High - There are many theories that try to explain High Magic. Some say that it is the power of The Divine, it is the power of positive emotions, channeled through the human soul. Nevertheless, High Magic is the power of controlling Magical Energy itself, allowing for the ability to see all Magic, to draw available magical energy from the sky and earth, create constructs of condensed Mana, fuel magitech and create enchanted items, ward people and places from magic, and finally, the ability to create bolts of silver-white light that cause damage that cannot be healed by magic to Mages and Magical creatures... But not ordinary targets, whose burns can be healed as normal.

Mind - This magic deals with controlling minds and altering the emotions of both humans and animals, as well as creating illusions, mental compulsions, and even erasing or editing memories. This can also alter one's own mind to temporarily increase learning time and allow for perfect memory, as well as create and program sapient AIs. A very powerful magical discipline, but its flaw is that it can be resisted with strong willpower, whether from humans or AI...

Underworld -  Death is all around us, and the old laws against disturbing the ghosts who chose not to pass on are gone, cast into the wind. Nevertheless, the souls of the departed have to be treated with respect, but it is not the same for their bodies. Underworld Magic is the magic of Necromancy; it is the magic you wield when you want to raise an army of the dead, control the shadows of the world, speak with ghosts, and strike people dead with one blow (this is a high-level spell). You can even use this to transcend death, allowing you continued existence in this world without the need for food, drink, and sleep...

World - World Magic is control over the physical elements of the world. Do you want to create Fire? World Magic. Do you want to alter Gravity to make yourself float? World Magic. Do you want to use lightning to electrocute a person? World Magic. Basically, if it has nothing to do with changing one thing to another, or controlling something that isn't wholly of this earth? World Magic is your key. Basically, Bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but without healing or spiritual arts and with control over gravity.

Change - This is the magic that deals with changing one thing to another. This magic can knit wounds and reverse aging, cause trees to grow fists, and turn vines into whips. This magic can change one substance to another, turning lead into gold, earth into acid, and fire into water. What it cannot do, however, is affect stuff protected by High magic, or reanimate/control beings that are already dead.

Dimensional - This is the Magic that allows access to Hyperspace, which Traditionalists call the Astral Plane, the Spirit World, or the Otherworld. Basically, Dimensional allows one to create portals, summon and make contracts with Nature Spirits (if the GM rules that they exist). However, the drawback of Dimensional-based spells (aside from the portals always having a revealing glow or other 'special effect') is that Nature Spirits have wills of their own and look very badly at people trying to order them around...

Note: A lot of individual spells are very broken by nature, and would fundamentally destroy the game’s balance if implemented. If you’re touching these spells, please make sure you have some limitations added to them. If you’re not sure, look no further than your GMs! They will be happy to answer your question/address the balancing of your powers.

The Forbidden Areas cannot be affected by Magic through normal means, but in theory, one can 'touch' them by spending a huge amount of resources to build artificial structures that channel a huge amount of Mana (the Tower of Babel, the entire City of Atlantis), and said Mana can be provided by blood sacrifices (of millions, even billions, of humans and animals). Even then, it is unknown how powerful the spells cast using such methods are; it is perfectly possible that one can sacrifice half the world population and only get a minor effect (such as resetting the timeline for half a minute).

Also, depending on GM discretion (I am allowing people to use this setting if they ask permission), the Forbidden Areas may not actually exist.

Fate - Alters luck and probability and allows for blessing one's efforts so that they succeed, or cursing them so that they always fail or carry a high cost.

Timespace - Time travel, time stop, and true bullet time (actually slowing down time instead of just one's perception of it and ability to physically respond to it). Making physical distances longer and shorter without using Hyperspace/The Astral Plane. Flawless Teleportation where you can instantly appear without any warning signs, such as the color and light made by portals (which using the Dimensional School of Magic always gives).

Spell Mastery 

Pretty self-explanatory. Each spell your character possesses has its own degree of mastery. The more you master a spell, the less effort (Mana, Time, other relevant resources) it takes to perform that spell. If you have enough spells from the same school mastered, you can choose to make it a <Magic Area> Mastery trait. How many spells, you ask? That depends if you are a Traditionalist or Enlightened Inventor; Traditionalists can master any Area they have 3+ Spells in, and furthermore instantly cast spells in that Area with only words and gestures. Enlightened Inventors, meanwhile, can master as many Areas of Magic as they have Spells (which they call 'Functions'), but each Spell/Function has to be tied to an advanced gadget/weapon and they lose their Mastery when losing said gadget.

And yes, an Enlightened Inventor can put all their available Spells/Functions into one gadget.

How long is it going to take to master a spell: This gives me headaches every time. It really depends. From the length of an arc to the number of times the character practices/uses these spells. I’d say on average 1 spell is mastered every arc as a benchmark, but don’t take this as a gospel. Use a LOT of nuances when interpreting this. We’ll try to adjust and accommodate your needs, just let us know.

Enchantment Rules

For Traditionalists, Enchantment requires High Magic and a spell that you or another party member knows, along with an item to be enchanted. Note however that the weaker and less durable the material is, the magic you can put into it is more limited; for example, oak can be enchanted to emit laser beams, birch cannot. This is the same for metals, and the strongest of spells can only be enchanted into 'Perfected Electrum (more below)'.

For Enlightened Inventors, Enchantment is merely the creation of new gadgets and the addition of new 'Functions' to an existing one, and they do not need High Magic to do this. However, they do need a workshop and materials and their works must at least look like advanced technology...

Perfected Electrum

Electrum is a mix of Gold and Silver that occurs naturally but can be made by artificial means. This material, if treated by High and Change Magic by four different Magi can be 'perfected', aka transformed into metal as hard as a diamond yet not as brittle, and whose lightness is that of cloth. But the most valuable property of Perfected Electrum is that it can contain very, very strong spells, except for Resurrection. The Millenium Academy currently has a monopoly over the creation of Perfected Electrum; having taken it away from various organizations of Enlightened Inventors who lost the 'Shadow War' that they ended.

Group Spells/Projects

Basically, multiple spell-casters with different areas can do things that would strain a single Mage. This also helps in compensating for a single Magi's weaknesses in the specialization. Note that Traditionalists can only do Group Spells with each other, the same for Enlightened Inventors, who call their spells 'Projects'.

New Section: Trading Humanity - From Vampires to Cyborgs (And Cyborg Vampires!)

In this universe, Vampires, Werecreatures, and other 'Monsters' come from Magi who have chosen to sacrifice part or all of Humanity to take on 'Drawbacks', a weakness innate to one's nature such as a weakness to sunlight or silver in exchange for 'Traits', physical benefits that often but not always include 'immortality'. This is done through High and Change Magic plus Underworld if one wants to be an undead (Vampire, Lich, Mummy). 

And by that, becoming a Vampire is as simple as doing a ritual that makes you thirst for blood and burn in sunlight in exchange for near-immortality and super strength, becoming a Werewolf (or even a Werebear) involves taking on animal instincts and being poisoned by silver or gold in exchange for being able to turn to a seven-foot tall beastman who can claw through concrete walls, and Enlightened Inventors can get in the fun too by creating Cyberware and Gene-mods that can drain your empathy or otherwise mess up your head in exchange for being a badass cyborg or genetically-modified super soldier.

Optional: As the role of Mythology/Religion in this setting is left up to the GM (I'm lending this universe out to anyone who asks me for permission), a GM can legitimately say that Angels/Demons/Gods are in fact Mages. However, for the purposes of my take in it, there is a God/Gods, Spirits, other dimensions, and an afterlife/afterlives.
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