In my world, charcoal acts as a medium that can be saturated by spiritual power. It starts in a "closed" state as dead wood, unreceptive to spiritual power, but through the use of heat one can "open" the wood. This process naturally turns wood to charcoal.

Charcoal then slowly draws in the spiritual power until fully saturated. However, charcoal doesn't close naturally, and so other matterials must be added to the mix to prevent the spiritual power from escaping. While traditionally minerals like salt were used to insulate the charcoal. In modern alchemy, charcoal is broken down into a fine powder and saltpeter and sulfur are added to make black powder.

The powder from here forward acts as a source of spiritual power and I'll be referring to it as spirit powder just for clarity.

To use a flintlock wand, the contraption is filled with the spirit powder a the point of use. The spirit powder must be returned to an open state to release the spiritual power. So the hammer is used to detonate the powder removing the insulation in an instant and forcing the spiritual power through the barrel of the flintlock.

As the powder returns to an open state, the magic is harnessed by shaping it it through the muzzle. These muzzles were made specialized to shape the spiritual power in such a way as to turn it into magic.

Specifically the cut of the barrel and exit of the muzzle will twist and jostle the spiritual power and mix it with the smoke. Causing the two to fuse before exiting the flintlock.

Some muzzles cause the flintlock to exude a cloud of shadow. Some create a beast of smoke. Some make a light that can harm evil spirits.

Background
Ancient China inspired world, gunpowder has just been invented. People fight with swords, spears, bows etc along with less conventional weapons like chopsticks or lanterns. Mostly wuxia style kungfu, with qigong to enhance athletics (limited running on walls, air jumps etc) but not shooting psychic blasts or bending elements. Still considering whether to add mythical elements.

Mandates
Mandates are special rules that a person can invoke in a radius around themselves. The radius is dependent on the individual, usually around 5-10m. These rules affect everything in the radius, including the user.

Mandates are ‘obtained’ when a person hones their skill (kungfu) until it attains a certain mastery level. Most people don’t really remember they obtain their mandate, more like one day they notice “oh yeah, I can do this now”. Mandates are second nature, the user knows exactly what their mandate does. A mandate is invoked by focusing on it, usually through a phrase or a ritual, and ends if the user loses focus on it, turns it off or under certain conditions.

Examples of mandates i have for some of my characters:
Swordsman: Everyone loses their sense of sight
Invoking: Draw sword and use a particular stance (known as the Night Bringing Stance). Ends if the user uses a different stance.

Blacksmith: Whenever a tool/weapon in the radius strikes something solid, the target’s temperature increases
Invoking: Chant “The hammer is hot and waiting”. Doesn’t end until the user chooses to.

Gardener: Anyone who steps on non-weed plants will feel the pain of being crushed.
Invoking: Scream “Get off my lawn” while someone is trespassing on a garden she is tending to. Ends if the user leaves the garden.

Tea Master: No one can move their limbs except with the intent to drink or serve tea.
Invoking: Begin a tea ceremony by saying “let’s begin”. Ends when the tea ceremony ends.

Monk: Anyone with turbulent emotions cannot stand up; they must kneel or sit or lie down
Invoking: Start chanting the sutras. Ends if he stops chanting.

Local drunk (yes somehow he got one): Everyone in the radius experiences vertigo and loss of balance
Invoking: Swallow a mouthful of alcohol while already drunk. Ends if sober.

Mandate Battles
Due to the rarity of mandates, and not all being the kind to seek battle, fights with both parties having mandates is uncommon. If it ever happens it’s usually between the heads of martial art schools or veteran soldiers.

Usually combat mandates are more straightforward and easy to figure out, so the aim is to defeat the opponent(s) while in the rules of their and your own mandate, if you are bothering to invoke it.

In a friendly duel the etiquette is for both sides to declare their mandate before invoking and starting the fight. It is considered unsporting to invoke a mandate on an opponent without one, unless the one without specifically requests for it.

In warfare there’s no etiquettes involved. Spies will be sent to try and figure out the enemy’s mandate users and the rules, with battle tactics planned considering those.

As some context, I’m working on a world with a steam and aether punk theme. In this world, when aether (interpreted as the air the Olympian gods breathed, hence making it inherently magical/divine) is processed through various contraptions, it will result in a certain color of steam symbolizing it’s purpose.
The issue I’m finding, is that I’ve only managed to think of the use of yellow (being strength or possible stamina), and the use for multiple colors used at once (which gives an inanimate construct autonomy). Other than those, I have no idea how I should use the other colors.
If that seems to boring, another issue I have is whether I should allow humans to use the steam on themselves and how I would even do that.
Any suggestions on either of the two? (Sorry if there isn’t much to go off of, I’ll try to add context if I see any questions)
(I’ve also posted this on r/worldbuilding so sorry if you’ve seen this twice)

Animating is the ability to take one’s own animating force and distribute it into a target of choice

When has projected enough of their own animation from their body they become virtually immovable and indestructible

One can also drain animation from others using it to enhance their movements strength and speed

Animation can be used to overcome physical limits through switching the animation of heavy objects and light ones it doesn’t actually change weight just speed of movement

The universe is built on two fundamental particles: Yin and Yang. Yang particles attract one another, clumping together to create all larger particles like atoms and photons, while Yin particles repel each other, spreading across the world in concentrations too small to have much impact. Yin particles however tend to become trapped in living tissue, where their constant repulsion builds tension over time. This tension gradually wears down the body, leading to deterioration and limiting lifespan.

Through training, it’s possible to release this accumulated Yin tension, channeling it into bursts of repulsive force. these bursts can propel movement, enhance strikes, or push nearby objects. This core skill lets practitioners turn their naturally building tension into a source of strength.

With more advanced practice, practitioners can directly control Yin particles, guiding their movement and repulsion instead of relying solely on built-up tension. This opens the door for more sophisticated techniques like...

​

So my Magic system is about manipulating a substance called Vita, which is both my settings equivalent of ones Lifeforce and Soul aswell as the Lifestream. All three Forms of Vitamancy use 4 Steps to make their Powers Happen with all three focusing on a different step. The Steps are as Follows:

1.Intent

The emotional, spontainous step, the spark that Sets the Others into Motion. This is Most importent to perform Magic, as that practice is about linking ones own Vita to the one permeating Everthing around the mage. If Performed incorrectly, this step May lead to terrible consequences. At best, you'll Be knocked unconscios, your brain overloading with the amount of information contained in the Lifestream. At worst, the Lifestream instead links itself to the Mage, ripping Out their still conscious Soul and integrating them Back into the Cycle of Rebirth.

2.Vision

Vision is the step of reason and Imagination. It's Most importent to Scribes, as their craft can do many Things that Magic can but requires intense Focus and Personal sacrifice, usualy in the Form of blood have a "Pigment" with which they can Draw glyphs. Their craft requires the practicioner to "tether" a concept, Action and effect to a specific glyph. For example, when a Scribe wants to shoot a fire ball, they have to find a suitable canvas, let's Take a gauntlet for this example, they then have to perfectly Imagine the gauntlet performing a certain Trigger Action, let's Say the fist must Be balled Up. They then connect this Action and the wanted Effect of Shooting a Fireball to a glyph, let's Go with a triangle. If completed correctly, the Last step, the Action, is to apply that triangle on the gauntlet. This must Be done using your own Vita, usualy by drawing the glyph with blood.

3.Action

Action is... Pretty much exactly what It Sounds Like. It's the physical Labor required to Bring about an Effect. This is Most importent to alchemy, as that crafts Power comes from a Combination of using Vita for technological puposes aswell as a Power called Attunement, a Mastery of ones own, internal Vita, enhanceing the Body in various ways, Like increased Speed, Strength, Leflexes, Lifespan, Regeneration and intricate Control of the Attuned's biology.

4.Effect

The End Goal. All Things aim to have an effect on the world around them, so It Marks the final Destination of all Forms of Vitamancy.

I need help deciding on how my color power system should work! So this power system was originally inspired by JJK power system, back during 2023 during when I was truly beginning to actually try to be an author. This was one of the first power systems that I worked on, while the basic concept is still there after 3+ years of creating a bunch of other power systems. I finally have something to finish up this 3 year long power system, as you will see that I took inspiration from a bunch of other anime. While I do that for all my other power systems, this one I feel is more heavy with it since it was when I was just beginning as a writer/author. 

Also I think I should add a trigger warning for this, I don’t think I’ll be talking about anything too triggering, however I will talk about trauma later on in the post. So maybe that will trigger some people I don’t know! 

Iro  (Main powers) 

Iro is the name of my power system, like I mentioned before it was inspired by JJK cursed power system at first! However now it is more inspired by Gojo & his limitless specifically red & blue & purple, as well as black clover with the character of Libie & his anti magic & a bit of haki from one piece. The concept of my power system is simple, Iro is a power system that uses a person's emotions as powers & allows them to weaponise their emotions. While everyone in theory should be able to use it, they need  to awaken it, which a  person needs to be in a physically fit state & also experience strong emotions, usually to the point of causing physical changes. To use the emotional scale as a well scale, your normal person needs to experience an emotion at a 9-10 which is considered overwhelming intensity for them to awaken to iro. If a person is considered an empath then they can awaken to iro at being a 7-8 which is considered high intensity. Once both of these conductions are met a person will be able to manipulate & use their emotions the same way ki, chakra, curse energy, haki, nen, if you see any other shoen power system you get the basic idea. Where my idea differs is that different emotional reactions result in different abilities which you can tell by the color. 

So the basic idea is that depending on the emotion your energy will be a certain color & your energy will have different effects. Here is a list of all the different color, emotions, effect

• Color Of PASSION - (Red) - anger, excitement, devotion, -  It burn the target
• Color Of SORROW - (Blue) - depression, sadness, lost or grief -  It increase the target gravity
• Color Of COWARDICE - (Yellow) - scared, shame, anxiety - It repeal the target like a magnet 
• Color Of DISGUST - (Green) - disgust, envy (maybe) - maybe rot or destroy things like acid or allow the user to distort things
• Color Of VIOLANCE - (Purple) - Violence, malice - it slice & dice the target like a knife or sword
• Color Of ECSTACY/EUPHORIA- (Orange) - joy, happiness - maybe heal or decrease a target of gravity 
• Color Of AFFECTION - (Pink) - love, lust 
• Color Of SOMETHING - (Brown )
• Color Of DEAD - (Black) - either homicidal desire or all emotions - as for result crush people like a black hole! 
• Color Of MU - (White) - apathy - it negates all the other color, basically it’s my version of anti magic

I am still working on the idea but I think you get the point, people can use multiple colors however they will need to awaken all of them. It’s not a situation that once you awaken a certain color you’ll get access to all of them. If you get so angry that you awaken Color Of PASSION, then you will need to get extremely sad or depressed to awaken Color Of SORROW. Until then you will only have access to the colors that you have awakened, however you can train to use the colors that you already awaken at will. At first once you awaken, you will need to feel those emotions to use them, however like curse energy once you train, eventually you can use the colors without needing to feel those emotions. Even after you learn to use them at will, those who genuinely feel those emotions when using the powers will gain a boost in powers. So for example if 2 people who are able to use and control Iro at the same level & were using the same color  to fight against each other. The person who is genuinely feeling those emotions while using this power system will be much stronger compared to the person who remains calm. However this comes at the cost of control, the more intense the emotions the more powerful the powers output the more likely the person will lose control over their energy. 

Again using the emotional scale as a guide, once emotions start getting to a 7, that is when control becomes difficult.  A person can coat weapons & other objects with a certain iro to give that object that colors properties. The same way asta from black clover can coat his sword with anti magic, also similar to haki different color will have different abilities. So yellow will increase a person speed, red will increase a person attack power basically the armament haki of my colors, pink might basically give them observation haki, orange might increase a person stamina, purple might increase a person iro. Also similar to haki everyone one will be a specialist in a specific color or emotions.  I am still deciding on this part of the power system, but that is the basic overall power system, now onto the sub category.

Omens & Hexes 

Omen

Starting off with omen, these are basically my spells for the power system, the basic idea is that those who can use iro  can cast omen which are basically magic spells. The idea comes from curses & hexes, using your emotions you can curse or bless people depending on if it is a negative or positive emotion.

Hexes 

Hexes are the superpowers of iro, they are the curse technique, hatsu or quirk of the power system. After awakening to iro & training with the ability, a person will eventually be able to use hexes, hexes are usually awakened through very intense emotion, usually trauma & are supposed to be a physical representation of a person & their trauma. Some idea for hexes that people can awaken too are, Trans-Metamorphosis &  Grudge Creations.

Trans-Metamorphosis 

Trans-Metamorphosis are essentially bio or living weapons, the idea is that a user of iro can enhance an object (usually a weapon) with their emotional energy. Once an object has absorbed enough iro, the energy in question morphs the object into a weapon made from the body of a human. It’s hard to explain but my inspiration was ikalgo (the octopus ant) from Hunter x Hunter. When he was possessing a corpse & had that shot gun, a better example would probably be bleach. During the 4th movie, the one where they go to hell, Ichigo gains a new forum where he get armor made from bone. Imagine if you bought a regular metal suit of armor & after pumping it with so much iro, The metal armor becomes bone. Or black clover and zinnon bone sword, I hope that give you a good idea of what im going for. Beside making the weapon or object more powerful, I don’t have a clear idea of how this make the object better to use in a fight however they are living weapon. 

Grudge Creations

The idea for this hex is once awakened, a person can gain the ability to create their own grudges & control them. Which are basically their own little ghost that can curse or bless people possessing them. Basically my version of nen beast from Hunter x Hunter or shikigami from JJK. They are the physical embodiment of omen so I’m thinking of just combining the two.
Iro user 

Empath 

Empaths are normal humans who are born with high emotional energy, while they are unable to use Iro from the start. They do have a higher proficiency toward the practice & are considered prodigies & geniuses being able to out pace normal people! 
Also the people who use iro will either be called shaman or enchanter, I don’t know where else I was gonna put that so here it is. 

(Yokai) Grudges & Spirit 

Grudges & Spirt are my version of hollows from bleach or curse spirit from JJK, basically when a person dies with intense emotions, positive or negative. their soul will come back as a grudge or spirit, to curse or protect the people whom they love or hate. If the emotion is strong enough then they can come back to life as a yokai. This was inspired by onryō from Japanese mythology, more specifically The Grudge. Some of these ghosts will hunt people, others will hunt buildings, some will hunt anyone or anything that comes into contact. 

Walking corpse 

The walking corpse is what happens when you combine Empats with a yokai,  essentially they are my version of the Curse Womb Death Painting from JJK! They are still born who were attacked with iro in their mother's womb & awaken to the iro themself. While medically speaking they are dead, honestly they are no different from other humans. At least that is the idea I have with these people, the main difference is that these walking corps will have some type of physical abnormality about them. Like a third eye or sharp teeth or 2 mouths etc etc, also because they are technically dead as long as they have some iro! They can effectively halt the aging process & effectively become immortal, one they are out of iro then they will age like normal humans. Again I am still working on this idea. 

Iro forums

Now the final thing for the main body post that I want to discuss is the different forums that this form can offer 

Dead Black

Dead black is the power to crush things because I made purple the color for violence plus black holes are known for crushing things apart. Dead black is created when a person is able to combine all the other colors of the different emotions all together at once!

Mu White 

Since apathy is not an emotion & white isn't technically a color I decided to combine these together. Mu white is more of a state that a person can enter after calming their mind & clearing it of all emotion. Like I mentioned before Mu white will basically act as anti magic for all intense purposes, that is the idea at least. 

Avatar Of Emotions 

Avatar Of Emotions is a state that a user of Iro can enter into when they have access to excess iro! Basically after their iro start going above 100%, the idea is that the body will slowly begin to transform & effectively become more demonic or angelic depending on the emotions! They become the physical representation of their emotions, in this state they will gain new abilities and powers!  Maybe elemental abilities are based on emotions but I’m not sure!
Those are all the main idea I have for this power system 

(IDEAS) 

• Iro can change & manipulate the environment after getting to a certain percentage if the user is not controlling their emotions like changing the weather or changing the magnetic fields.
• Humans, if their Iro is unstable & cannot be controlled, can transform into monsters, kinda like a fire force inferno or tougen akin oni situation. 
• A user of iro can be taken over & corrupted or their body will be destroyed by their iro if their emotions become unstable. This is different from the second idea, that idea mainly applies to humans who are on the verge of awakening to iro & have no control over that, they will become basically my version of an infernal or oni from the example I listed. While a person who iro have been awaken & is capable of controlling it, if their emotions become unstable then their iro will literally start destroying or harming their body kinda like poison or their iro will take over almost like being possessed.  
• Iro will drained a person mentally & need to be trained in to minimize the effect, basically im using the social battery idea and applying it here 

(Question)

How should the Iro power system work specifically 

If you made it this far then first let me thank you for reading all of that, but second let me ask my questions. The problem I have with this power system is that I am just not sure how I want to implement this exactly, I've come up with 3 ideas! 

• Idea 1: every emotion will awaken a certain color, basically all the colors have an emotion tied to them, brown, pink, orange, red, blue yellow, grey, black, purple, etc etc. Once a person awakens a color they get the energy & effect very simply, it’s basically what I have in the post already. 
• Idea 2: There are 6 colors that I separate into warm & cool or positive & negative, red, yellow & orange for warm/positive, blue, green, purple for cool/negative! The idea I have with this is that certain colors are considered positive & negative so depending on the emotions in question it can absorb each other & just fuel the attack, it’s a you cant fight hate with hate type idea.
• Idea 3: this is me just  straight up stealing from JJK, there are 3 primary colors or emotion, passion red, sorrow blue, cowardice yellow. Red being positive, blue being negative & yellow being neutral maybe. White will still be a thing so I am trying to figure it out, the idea behind this is that you’ll be able to combine 2/3 of the primary color to create a secondary color.  This way you won’t need to awaken those color energy, you can just mix the three base emotions. 

Which idea should I go with for this power system, also please leave any feedback itll be very appreciated!

Hello beautiful people. So this is another work of mine. This is a brief summary of it. I do have a doc file and even mapped out some interesting abilities for this.
However, I always feel like something is missing. As they say, two heads are better than one. Please any feedback or questions would be much appreciated, thanks.

The power system revolves around something called Life Origin (Lo), a form of energy responsible for the creation and sustenance of life. Lo exists in everything, including inanimate objects, but living beings contain far more of it.
Every living being possesses Lo, and it gradually diminishes as they age. When their Lo is completely depleted, they die.
A Lo User is someone who has learned to harness this energy to gain supernatural abilities. However, becoming one is dangerous, and most people who attempt it never reach the higher stages.

Core Abilities
Every Lo User develops a unique ability called a Core Ability. These abilities are not simply learned spells. Each individual must craft their own ability by giving their Lo a clear purpose and direction.
Before attempting this, apprentices undergo brutal physical training and learn to control their bodies and Lo. Crafting an ability requires a clear understanding of what they want to create. Lo is an energy of creation, and without proper direction, it can run out of control.
Core Abilities vary greatly. Some may appear simple, while others can be extremely powerful. However, an ability’s true potential is not determined by how destructive it is. What matters is the underlying principle behind it. Some abilities can eventually undergo Awakening, while others can never advance beyond their original nature, regardless of how much their user trains.
Lo Users can also reinforce their bodies with Lo, making themselves much stronger and more durable than ordinary humans. They can even protect themselves against attacks that would normally be fatal.
Another basic technique is Banishing. Lo has a powerful effect on supernatural beings such as demons, ghosts, and vampires, making it an effective weapon against them.

The Grades
There are six major grades of Lo Users.
1. Third Grade
This is where most Lo Users begin their journey. They learn to control their Lo and use their Core Abilities. However, the moment someone first uses their Lo, it begins to leak from their Origin Nucleus. This leakage cannot be stopped, and the lost Lo cannot be replenished at this stage.
Every use of their power brings them closer to death. Even when they are not fighting, their Lo continues to leak away. This makes advancement a race against time, and many Lo Users die before progressing very far.

2. Second Grade
At this stage, a Lo User gains better control over their energy and Core Ability. Their abilities become more effective, and their physical capabilities improve. However, they are still losing Lo and must continue advancing before their reserves run out.

3. First Grade
First Grade Lo Users are considerably more powerful than those below them. They can achieve feats far beyond ordinary humans, and their mastery of Lo allows them to use their Core Abilities on a much greater scale.
Despite their strength, they still face the same problem: their Lo continues to leak away. Reaching this grade does not guarantee survival.

4. Detached Grade
This is the first major turning point in a Lo User’s journey.
Upon reaching Detached Grade, the Lo User becomes self-sustaining. Their Lo no longer leaks away, and they can replenish and increase their reserves. Their lifespan also begins to increase as their Lo grows.
This is where they truly begin to separate themselves from ordinary humans. However, reaching this grade is extremely difficult, and most aspiring Lo Users die before getting here.

5. Special Grade
To reach Special Grade, a Lo User must awaken their Core Ability.
Awakening is not simply making an ability stronger. It means discovering and expressing a deeper principle within the ability itself. An ability that once performed a limited function may develop into something far more extraordinary.
However, not every Core Ability has the potential for Awakening. More than 90% of those who reach Detached Grade remain there because their abilities lack the necessary potential.

6. Star Grade
This is the highest known grade.
To reach Star Grade, a Lo User must take their awakened ability to its peak and establish an Echo with a suitable star, allowing them to absorb and contain its essence.
The process transforms them into something comparable to a living star. Their power becomes so immense that even a simple gesture can potentially destroy a planet.
However, this is not something that can be achieved through raw strength alone. Their awakened ability must be developed enough to contain and make use of stellar essence.

The Cost of Power
The most important aspect of this system is that power comes at the cost of life.
Every Lo User begins with a finite reserve of Lo, and using it for the first time starts an irreversible process of depletion. They must grow stronger and advance through the grades before their reserves run out.
Only at Detached Grade do they escape this limitation. Beyond that point, advancement becomes less about surviving the loss of Lo and more about discovering the true potential of their abilities.
Not everyone can reach the highest grades. Having a large reserve of Lo, surviving the early stages, and possessing a Core Ability with the potential for Awakening are all important factors.
Ultimately, two Lo Users of the same grade can be very different in terms of power, depending on their abilities, mastery, and understanding of their underlying principles.

Hello! I'll get right to the point and explain the way magic works in my setting. I just want to say I appreciate any kind of guides and words of advice on how to tackle this.

The magic of my world operates through the idea of expressing one's soul into the physical world. The idea is that souls operate as kind of self contained "universes" of ideas, emotions and memories of the individual. In a sense the metaphysical representation of you as a person and you interact with the world through your physical body. The first step to attaining magic is insight, the ability to see the unseen and understanding oneself. This opens the gateway to the world of your soul, at first it's only the barest of understanding which manifests as latent magic potential.

Magic is ofcourse very individualistic, your soul is unique to you (being your very identity and all). Depending on what kind of person and what you want will influence your magic. A very simple example would be a hot-headed brash type would have fire based magic. The downside to all this individualism is that the system is kind of unchecked, teaching the next generation is pretty difficult because energy, type of magic and most of all personality are always different. Even two similar sorcerers have glaring differences when you look hard enough. Admittedly this was fixed in my world by tricking magic users with a sort of placebo that magic does indeed work in types and that differences are "only" arbitrary.

So the weakness to any sorcerer is fooling them. Your soul is also your mind. Tricking someone also tricks their main weapon into shutting off. That's mainly how non-sorcerers beat sorcerers, in magic vs magic battles it's usually just overpowering the other person. Such is the power of ego. There is one more glaring weakness and that's forcing magic too much. I've kind of taken notes from Bloodborne and using too much magic with too little insight deteriorates your brain. In extreme cases your brain is shredded like Swiss cheese.

For the last part I want to talk about general abilities most sorcerers do have and some side effects of too much ego. It's no mystery that we humans have a sense of self-preservation and so do sorcerers, most sorcerers have a capacity to regenerate wounds but this mostly comes to relatively minor injuries, nothing like an average guy healing a whole missing arm or fatal injury. This last common ability I sort of took from Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen, and it's known as Spirit Territory. It's kind of self-explanatory, it's the act of bringing one's soul into the physical world. The entirety of one's being spreading over a huge area, effectively turning everything into a possible weapon. Though this requires tremendous insight to use, a total knowledge and ego so high that at that moment they exist as higher than any human being on Earth.

Lastly I'm going to keep it short because I've talked a lot. What if a magic user has TOO much ego? What happens when their selfishness grows too far? It's no doubt people that give in to primal urges, irregardless of others have ugly souls. And these sorcerers souls and body become one. It's kind of a power-up but is it really great when your greed turns you into a rocky skinned salamander that can only crawl on its belly in the mockery of a dragon? Eh not really. It takes a special kind of monster to thrive in such conditions.

And that's pretty much it. I've said pretty much everything I've thought of so far. But it's a lot and I'm sorry for this whole mess of words. I did leave out some details but they're more related to cosmology and general worldbuilding than magic in specific (the "gods" of the world granting magic to feast on emotions created by magic). It's probably unnecessary to say but thanks to anyone who actually read through all this.

Interactions are the ways in which the universe accommodates change. Such as the flipping of a pillow the folding of peace of cloth or the stretching of the rubber band these interactions can be dissociated from their causes and reason cited with other materials or energy’s one can steal the ability for a band to stretch and apply it to a material that other wise couldnt allowing for the creation of super materials that couldn’t otherwise exist

Okay, so I have parts of my magic system figured out.

So right now I have two sides of my magic system, the Artificers and the Alchemists. The way that it works is everyone is born with something called the Spark of the First Light inside them, and some choose to leave it dormant and others choose to nurture it.

Those that decide to become an Artificer uses their own bodies as the forge. So basically, what I have so far is that Artificers can create weapons and tools in real time without the need for traditional tools or forges. And when they do this, they awaken that materials particular magical properties to create enchanted weapons. I’d like to go more in depths in a later date about how that works and what is required for it to work, but for now that’s what I have.

Those that become Alchemists also use their bodies as the laboratory. They don’t need a mortar and pestle or beakers or anything like that. They have trained their bodies to do the work for them. But they have these sigils tattooed on their fingertips, the palm of their hand, their wrist and on the backs of their hands. Each symbol has a specific function which I won’t go into depths with right now. But that’s the jist of how an Alchemist works.

Now I’d like to add a third branch of magic that kind of follows in line with the other two but I haven’t figured out what. I’d like it to follow the rules of using the body as the workshop and needing specific components from the world to make it work, but i don’t know what.

Any ideas would be appreciated! :)

I'm super excited to host Dr. Justin Sledge of Esoterica fame this coming Sunday on my live Q&A series, Ask an Anthropologist About Worldbuilding. If you have questions about the occult, the history of mysticism and the esoteric, or you're dabbling with a unique magic system based on real occult history, put your question in the comments here or join us live this coming Sunday October 25th at 6pm MDT.

I’m looking for ideas for a wide magic system, by wide I mean a magic system that allows for lots of different types of Magic (elemental, creation, transformation, etc.) Before someone says it, I don’t want to follow Brandon’s rule of “deeper, not wider” because the story I’m working with has Magic all over (with Magic Schools, regulations, secret orders and rebelions). So what I’d like are ideas to make the magic feel unique without restricting myself to just a couple of things! So how would you make this system? Runes and Symbols? Verbal Enchanting? Deals with other Beings? How would you add uniqueness to the magic?

The basic idea is that the Soul is capable of interfering with the expention/ crantaction of space time/ you can feel when something interacts with the space time your manipulating.

this magic has some basic aplications. that are the result of the fact that you expanding/ contracting space time. Those are:

Expansion: the idea behind this one is simple you can use your soul to accelerate the Expansion of the universe. to obvious effects. ie make distances between two points bigger.

contraction: also prety symple you make the distances between two points smaller.

Sensing: this one is also prety straightforward how I already stated you can sense when something interacts with your space time, while manipulating it.

energy/ matter nulification/ creation: this one is maybe a bit more complicated. than the previuse ones the fact that the universe is expanding also means that energy is destroid. and I know conventional wisdom says that energy is never lost but that's only true if the laws of phisics stay the same over time, which obviosly dosen't apply here.

Gravity manipulation: by interfering with the normal prozess of deformation that happens through gravity you can enhance, weaken or reverse the effects of gravity.

Time manipulation: by expention/ crontaction of space time you obviosly can affect space time. although not to the level of backwards time travel.

out of these emerge some advanced aplications these requirer multiple of the preseding aplications of magic. these are :

1. Gravity manipulation + contraction= singularity generation: singularity generation is maninly used for other more advanced techniques.
2. Expansion + contraction= Warp speed: by contracting the space time in front of you. you archive a warp bubble that alowes you to traffle with great speed.
3. Sensing + singularity generation= Futere sight: this abillity alowes the user to transfer information through time and alowes you to recive information from the futere.
4. singularity generation + Expansion= pocket dimension generation: you create a pocket dimension
5. Pocket dimension geneation+ Gravity manipulation+ energy creation= wormhole generation: by generating masive amounts of energy in the pocket dimension you create a wormhole. This wormhole can be used to travel long distances
6. Futere sight+ sensing= omen : by connecting the futer sight to the point in time the soul is extinquished a user can asetain information of there own death.

Cost and lymitations of the system:

The data collected through the sixt sense connected to the space time manipulation can cause sensory overload.

I built a magic system called Wordmancy around one idea: a wordmancer speaks an idiom out loud and sacrifices an object tied to its meaning. The idiom becomes real — but only in the shape the idiom contains — and the object is destroyed. No mana, no fireball. Only meaning and cost.

Example — "in the nick of time":

Theo is sprinting for the last train of the night. He pulls out his grandfather's pocket watch, holds it up, and says "in the nick of time." The watch shatters in his hand — and he boards with a margin so thin it barely counts as one.

The watch matters. A pocket watch means time, urgency, last chances to everyone who's ever watched one tick. That shared meaning is the shape of the spell — meaning is the shape, not the fuel. And there's a hard rule: the meaning has to genuinely apply. If Theo had been strolling with twenty minutes to spare, nothing would have happened. No narrow margin, no spell.

A few of the load-bearing rules:

- Anchors: the sacrificed object aims the meaning. A frayed rope for "hanging by a thread," a pocket watch for anything about time. The more the object embodies the idiom, the cleaner the casting — and it's gone afterward. Its meaning is spent, transferred into the manifestation.
- Shared meaning only: an idiom you just invented does nothing. If nobody shares the meaning, there's no shape to pour into reality. This is the anti-munchkin rule, and my favorite one.
- The idiom is the limit: you can't get more out of a casting than the idiom contains. "Break a leg" won't mend a bone. The system is predictable on purpose — readers and players can learn it and start calling the plays before they happen.

The part I keep coming back to: idioms don't translate cleanly, so a French caster and an English caster would literally be working from different spellbooks.

I put the first chapter up free if anyone wants the deep end

Would love gut reactions — especially ways you'd try to break it.