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Heart behind the lie # Magic System
Sooo, I think I never truly explained the magic system I use in HBL? Even if I mention some notions here and there in the story there are a lot of things that I don't breach.
Since there will be talks of magic in the coming chapters, I thought it was cool to share my system. It's a bit of a mess tbh 😅 and this is gonna be a long post but you got everything more or less takled here.
What is magic? 💫
Magic is the energy within oneself. It is not a life force, the body sustain itself. Magic is an energy we don’t use on a daily basis. It flows in the body similarly to blood and, very much like it, resplendish itself naturally once it's used. There are a lot of theories concerning the origins of this energy. The most common and approved states that magic is a waste of energy coming from the soul.
Every living beings has this energy, but the quantity and quality is unique to each individual.
By using this energy, it is possible to alterate the world and oneself. The use of magic is made through spells.
How to use magic? 💫
It is through spells that someone can use their magical energy.
To cast a spell you need three things : magical energy, a method of shaping and a method of casting. It is only be combining those three things that spells can exists.
Method of shaping :
Shaping magic is giving a shape to the raw magical energy existing within you through a type of visualization. There are two common methods of shaping :
🫀Through the heart : it is the use of feelings, the enhancement of a wish through emotions that will give shape to the magical energy.
Example : if you want to cast a destructive fire spell you will think of the feeling of fire. Of heat, burning, ashes, and you will fuel the spell with your own destructive emotions, like rage.
🧠Through the mind : it is the use of images, a clear mental representation of a wish that will give shape to the magical energy.
Example : if you want to cast a time spell you will have to clearly imagine what you want to do in a succession of mental images.
These two methods exist on a spectrum. Strictly speaking, you will always use a bit of your heart and a bit of your mind to cast a spell BUT, usually, depending on yourself and the type of magic you're casting you will lean heavily towards one side.
Some type of magic can have more affinity with one method of shaping. For example, Elemental Magic is more compatible with the heart due to its nature. It does not mean you cannot cast Elemental Magic with your mind but it will be harder.
Both methods has their own flaws and avantages. Shaping through the heart is usually faster and your spell will be stronger, fueled by your emotions, yet it will also be harder to control. Shaping through the mind will allow you a huge degree of precision and control, but it will be slower to cast and, in terms of destructive powers, generally weaker.
Method of casting :
Casting magic is the release of your magical energy after the shaping, once your magic is casted it is called a spell. Now, if you cast your magic without shaping it beforehand then you will only release raw unshaped magical energy, the most it can do is push around the objects around you.
There are two commons methods of casting and an unconventional third only used for the crafting of artifacts :
🗣️ Incantation : it is the the method of imbuing your magic in your voice and releasing it with words (formulas, poems, orders, songs ect...).
🤌Conjuration : it is the method of imbuing your magic in a part of your body and releasing it with a gesture or a motion (hand signs, flick of wrist, flick of tail, snap, blink, blow ect...)
Both those methods has their own flaws and advantages depending on the situation. Conjuration are more often used in battles whereas incantations is prefered when the caster is incapacited (nowadays, incantations tends to be less used and the art of incantations is losing charm).
The last method of casting is used to create artifacts :
🛠️ Incarnation : it is the method of imbuing your magic in an external object to fuel it. For example, to use his lantern Macaque only had to give it raw magical energy, the lantern has seals inside that will transform the energy in the wanted spell.
It is only by combining shaping and casting that a spell can be born.
By analogy, you can consider that casting a spell is like doing an action. Shaping can be then considered thoughts and casting motions. You can only act if you think of an action beforehand, except in particular situations that triggers one of your instincts. But if you only think without doing any motions, then you're doing nothing.
Strictly speaking, this knowledge is enough for someone to cast any spells. Everything below is research on the nature of magic and its phenomenons.
Magical laws 💫
Magic as a whole has natural laws, no matter the type and the caster, that can only be broken by external means. Those laws are natural phenomenon characteristic to magic.
🤝 Magical loyalty : the law that states that magic cannot be controlled by anyone else but its master/caster (for example, when Wukong make a clone, no one but him can control that clone).
❤️ Magical affinity : the law that states that you're naturally more inclined towards some types of magic because of your personality and the state of your magical energy. For example, spells that require a large amount of magical energy will be more easily mastered by people with a large quantity of magical energy (like Wukong). Your personal likes, dislikes and fears will also heavily influence what you can and cannot do. Because shaping magic require your heart and your mind, if you have strong negative emotions towards a type of magic you will not be able to use it (people afraid of fire are unable to cast fire spells because their fear block the shaping).
🖤 Magical corruption/ or harmonization : The more you use a specific type of magic, the more your magical energy will tune with this type. It will become easier to use this specific type, but harder to use any other types. This phenomenon explain why most of the mages in LMK often use one/two types of magic (Red Son mainly use fire and sometimes transportation, Macaque mainly use shadows and sometimes transformation ect...). People who loathe this phenomenon call it corruption, while people who likes it call it harmonization.
💑 Magical compatibility : the law that state that some types of magic are naturally more compatible with others, and vice versa (for example, it is very hard to dual cast a water spell and a fire spell, the two spells naturally negate each other).
All those laws can be broken by external means, but the more powerful a caster is, the harder it is to break the natural laws of his magic.
Organization of Magics 💫
The different sorts of magics are divided in three levels :
1) Type (sources) : origins
2) Sub-type : derivation of a type
3) Sub-use : derivation os a sub-type
For example, Elemental Magic is a type, Fire Magic is a sub-type of Elemental Magic, Light Magic is a sub-use of Fire Magic.
It is commonly agreed that dividing magic more than three times is unnecessary and overcomplicate the understanding of magic.
Magics are commonly seen in two different ways. Those ways are nothing but an attempt at classifying and arranging the vast variety of spells in a common system.
🌳 Magical Tree (scientific name : magical arborescence) : The old-school phylosophy that organize the different sort of magics like a tree in which each type is a branch, each sub-type a sub-branch, each sub-use a twig and each spell a leaf.
This old-fashioned phylosophy was adopted in ancient times. But the more studies on the subject were created, the more scholars noticed that magic was not as clearly divided as they thought. In fact, a lot of spells and sub-uses shared common traits with different types ( For example, the magical tree isolate Shadow Magic from Transportation Magic, despite the shadow portal spell sharing a lot of common traits with Transportation Magic). As such, scholars adopted a new way of seeing magic that allowed for fusions.
🕸️Magical Web (scientific name : magical aranescence) : The modern phylosophy that organize magics as a spiderweb in which types are different webs that can intertwine with each other to create new magics.
A more big outlook of the web formed by all spells and magics mentioned/used in HBL and LMK :
(to make the web more readable, I did not include spells in it, contrary to the tree).
The magical web is nowadays closer to the real nature of magic than the magical tree.
Zoom on LMK/HBL magics and spells 💫
🏞️ Elemental Magic :
Elemental Magic is defined as the control of nature itself.
Shadow Magic is also closely linked to Elemental Magic as a fusion between different types.
In LMK the most known characters using Elemental Magic are : Red Son (fire), Mei (fire) PIF (wind), Macaque (shadows), LBD (ice).
MK and Wukong also uses a specific wind spell called "cloud call" to summon their clouds.
🪵Wood : control of wood
🔥Fire : control of fire
Common Spells :
Fireball - (used by Red Son)
Sub - uses :
🌞 Light
🌬️Wind
Common Spells :
Cloud Call- projection of voice or gestures in the wind to reach the clouds (used by MK, Wukong)
🌎 Earth : control of earth
⚔️Metal : control of metal
🌊 Water : control of water
Sub-uses :
❄️ice
Common Spells :
Frost- ice recovering an environnement (used by LBD)
Spikes- launching of ice spikes (used by LBD)
👥 Transformation Magic :
Transformation Magic is defined as the magic changing one appearances/nature to create something new.
Known characters using it : MK, Wukong, Macaque, Scorpion Queen
There is four known sub-types :
✨Illusions : covering object/person with a layer of magic to gives the illusion of change.
Common spell :
Glamors -illusions on a person (used by both monkeys to hide their scars),
Mirage-illusions on an environnement (used by Scorpion Queen in LMK to cover her castle)
💫 Reformation : bending the shape of an object/person without completely changing its appearances.
Common Spells :
Shrink- shortening the size of an object/person (used by MK and Wukong)
⭐Metamorphosis : changing the appearances of an object/person without changing its nature.
Common Spells :
72 transformations (used by MK, Macaque and Wukong)
Hair clones (used by MK and Wukong)
🌟Transmutation : changing one appearances and nature completely, creating a brand new person/object
Common Spells :
Mecha/Recreation (used by MK and Wukong)
🌃 Shadow Magic :
Shadow Magic is defined as the control of shadows.
Known character using it : Macaque
Common Spells :
Shadow manipulation
Shadow portal
Shadow clone
One aspect of shadow magic that is characteristic to it is the shadow realm.
The shadow realm is another dimension where all existing shadows collide together. You can enter the shadow realm by diving in a shadow or through a shadow portal. Shadows are more or less heavy depending on where they are from. The lightest shadows are from the earthly realm while the heaviest are from outer space.
Of course, the heavier a shadow is, the harder it is to control.
The shadow realm is divided in four level of depth each made with shadows of different weight. The more you dive in the shadow realm, the more the shadows are heavy and the more you will be pressured by their weight.
Sometimes, lingering thoughts can swam in shadows, fragments of minds coming from the shadows' owners. Alone, those fragments cannot influence you. But considering that the shadow realm is a collection of all shadows, the fragments of minds also collide with each other, creating a sort of fragmented, chaotic hive-mind. This hive-mind can corrupt you with parasites thoughts that are not your own. The more you dive in the shadow realm, the more you are corrupted by the hive-mind.
No one came out of sound mind from the Abyssal Waters.
When you jump in a shadow, if you stay on the surface, you are in a safe space called "the poodle" that is not the shadow realm yet. That's why Macaque can stay on the surface of Wukong's shadow, but if he chose to dive in Wukong's shadow, he will enter the shadow realm Abyssal Waters.
👣 Transportation Magic :
Transportation Magic is defined as the control of space.
Known character using it : Tang, Red Son, Macaque
There is two known sub-types :
⭕Portal : creation of a passage to glue two different spaces together, reducing a thousands step to one.
Common spell :
Gate/transportation seal - (used by Red Son)
Shadow portal - (used by Macaque)
🚶Teleportation : the moving of bodies at high speed (used by Tang).
⌚Time Magic :
Time Magic is defined as the control of time.
There are two known sub-types :
🏞️ Zonal time : the control of time over an environnement
Common spells :
Zonal regression- turning back time over a specific zone
Zonal paralysis - the stopping of time over a specific zone
Zonal acceleration- the acceleration of time over a specific zone
👤 Corporal time : the control of time over a body/object
Common Spells :
Corporal regression-turning back time on a body/object
Corporal paralysis-the stopping of time over a body/object
Corporal acceleration-the acceleration of time over a body/object
Sub-use :
🩹 Healing Magic
Common Spells :
Rejuvenation
Resurrection
🧠 Spirit Magic
Spirit Magic is defined as the control of someone's spirit.
Known character using it : Mei (manifestation), LBD (possession)
There are tow sub-types :
Manifestation : a very specific sub-type that enable someone to make their inner-spirit appear (for example, Mei and her spirit dragon).
Mind : the control over one's mind.
Common Spells :
Telekinesis
Telepathis
❄️ LBD Magic
LBD has the most variety of spells in the entire cast of LMK. She use Ice, oblivion, possession and necromancy.
Oblivion : Spell that eradicate one existence from the world's memories.
Possession : Spell that break one's mind to better control it
Necromancy : Spell that break one's soul and creates a living-dead with it
Ice : the control of ice
So here is most of the magic system, I think I talked about mostly everything. Of course, some notions, like necromancy, will be further developed in the story in itself.
Hope it wasn't too tedious, I don't even know if it's understable 😅.
Thanks for reading until there!