Aspect - Teirs

Okay, writing the last post and sleeping on it, I have this pretty solid system.

In descending strength.

Dominate aspects can be minor, Major or Noble. Dominate just means that the person can preform magic and use most enchanted items.

Noble aspect, highest end that non-magic users may become, high end magical equipment such as Dominate aspect's staffs of whatever.

Noble aspects normally mean that it's owner is almost supernatural, or IS supernatural in ability, noble aspects hosts tend to be above average in most accounts, and tend to have some clearly supernatural perks which are passive, like being able to move impossibly fast, or being able to shrug off magical attacks with relative ease.

Major Aspect, most common aspect among developed non-magic users. Good magical equipment that non-dominates can use.

Major aspects are the generally useful ones, while nobles are more powerful it's much easier to develop major aspects instead. A major aspect could give a solider generally better specialize proformance, and also let him or her use minor aspect enchanted items.

Minor Aspect, Most common among the populace, relatively mundane magical equipment.

The great majority of aspects are minor, they don't tend to help their owner in any real manner, except making it a bit harder for possession to effect them.

Basic Aspect, Undeveloped aspects on people, or short lived enchantments or spells created by dominates.

Generally Major and Noble aspects completely prevent ghostly or demon takeovers, there's something already inside which is strong enough to keep the door shut...And at least it's a positive relationship with it's host. Minor resists a bit, but commonly fails.

Major and up also prevents a good huge sum of mind controly things aswell...And so on.

Character examples, Kloe is a dominate major aspect, as a spell blade sort of skillset.. Andrian is a Noble aspect, how ever he is a old world adventurer FIRST, and got the aspect later which freaks people out. Jareko is a Noble Dominate, transplanted, the aspect doesn't agree all the time because of this.

Kloe also shares her major dominate aspect with ALEX her ferret familiar, both are major dominate aspects but together they have the power of a noble dominate when it comes to magic output.

Now that I have some minor defineing of types of aspects, next time I will give examples of character with aspects and how it actually effects them.

Web Comic : Magic System

Consistency, this is something to keep in mind while constructing a ideally loose but solid system.

Having it loose in the sense that I can do what ever the bloody hell I want with it, and solid in the sense that... I don't break the rules of physics...much...

The general idea is mostly INTERNAL consistency, if the fantastical elements of setting doesn't act predictable, for example if you have defined that magical person finding is possible, and have a plot trying to find someone... and ignore it, it feels jarring.

For the magic in this setting I want a system that can easily by applied to people, magical creatures, magical or enchanted objects, and elemental incarnations of it. And allow different applications of the same base idea be distinct from each other. Like explosions being used for bombs, rifles, and ... air bags. .... air counts.

I decided to call it aspects, which are functionally shadows of a soul. Aspects can be created separate from a soul, but behave differently, but tends to be easier than "Harvesting" aspects from the populace. In the middle ground artificial aspects can imitate a currently attached aspect, this also allows attunement as magical items imitate the person holding it.

So I will use the term Noble aspect to describe a powerful dominate aspect, like that attached to souls, or dominate untethered aspects. Simple basic aspects can easily be created by noble aspects, or existing basic aspects can become minor aspects which are attached to objects. If a soul has no aspect attached to it, a basic aspect can latch on. Should it improve to a noble aspect is very unlikely without external proding.

Aspects, emerged semi randomly, in the presence of aspects urges completely mundane souls to from a at least basic aspect. this requires continuous exposure, and greatly depends on the strength of the aspect. Aspect strength is variable, and a basic aspect cannot do much, maybe detect magical use around themselves like a new sense was added to the basic set.

Basic aspects are easy to seed intentionally if the person was wasn't already started by simple exposure. Artificial aspects, ones that are not connected to a soul or body but a object are just as easy to create, but difficult to make USEFUL.

To improve from a basic aspect requires a little bit of external influence to allow actual tapping of the aspect and improvement through use. Once someone can influence their aspect they can directly, if slowly change it. Through personality, and use. While the aspect normally doesn't effect it's owner negatively, it can be influenced to impact it's owner painfully by those with malicious intent. Otherwise the aspect normally draws from it's owner's stamina and general energy.

Artificial aspects or normal transplanted aspects in magical items draw from it's attuned owner and the space around the object. All aspects pool mana, how much is variable, it depends on the aspects development. How well it pools mana, how well it gathers it, effecency of the use.

Kloe, one of my characters, has a very fast but light aspect, very high intake and effecency but rubbish pooling. She isn't the type that needs to gather magical energy to fight, she uses low energy magic as a force multiplier. And it doesn't take much to unravel other magics.

Should she need to Pool magic, she can pool it in external aspects in objects, or in basic aspects tied to her, manifesting as strings of glowing orbs. Storing mana inside engineered aspects is much more effective than generating storing aspects on the fly. But you do what you can do.

Noble aspects, only become magically inclined in the presence of at least minor aspects. So aspects can be shaped through magical items, but the first burst into functional magic is awakening the dominate aspect requires a already dominate aspect to spur it into step, or some stressful event will trigger it's awakening to save it's owner, Sometimes this works, but the triggering event tends to be dangerous enough to kill them regardless. Or randomly the aspect will become dominate.

Family lines which had aspects tied to them tend to be relatively powerful, each successive generation being born with a already power dominate aspect, which builds off the parents. Mothers tend to imprint the most of their own aspect just be long term carrying of the child.

Aspects improve as they continue to exist, offspring gain aspects that are weaker but still much further along than fresh blood. If someone dies their aspect is loose, unless captured or directed somewhere, Otherwise it wanders and eventually finds SOMEWHERE to be, attaching it'self to something as a mature noble aspect, or becoming a elemental of sorts.

This probably has holes in it, but wuhahh... this snowballed in complexity as I wrote it.

Slatepaw Character : Jareko reference

Bwuhahaha! Reference for Jareko, with a few mistakes.

Also Torok, do not try and fight the berserker kobold of DEATH.

Slatepaw characters : Jareko

(I am not happy with this colorscheme yet, but its gonna be greenish.)

This is Jareko.

Following, family, given, chosen, and claimed...

Urnsurpt, Lek, Jareko, Feysin.

Urnsurpt because it sounds long winded.

Lek, short and sorta sounds like link.

Jareko because he wanted to have a longer name.

Feysin was... Elderin spell blade? I suppose so, but it's like calling oneself Moontin when you are a werewolf.

He doesn't use his claimed name often, it feel into pretty much complete disuse after he was sent to SeizePort.

He is pretty forward with his opinions. Likes experimentation. Will get even in some shape or form if you knowingly wrong him. He is properly paranoid about otherworldly things. He is very aware of all escape routes, never wanting to be in the nightmare that he was in.

He has survived a rather psychopathic adventurer attack, he was the one that managed to kill the adventurer in question. He is reasonably adept with magic, however preferring passive magics over magic. (For example, elemental brands versus fireballs.) More of a selfbuffer than offensive blasty pow pow.

Slatepaw characters : Shale

ACTIVITY GOOOOOooo...

Following the same... Family, given, chosen, and claimed.

Tenth, Met, Shale, and no active claimed.

The Tenth family. Which may or may not be the actual tenth formed family.

The given name Met because his parents thought it sounded fancy and from another language.

Shale another simply because he liked it.

He is fairly naive about how the world works. Once he makes a decision he sticks to it, adversely he rarely gets a chance to make such decisions for himself.

Tends towards fight or flight. Is the nervous type, tends to cling to familiar grounds.

Is a reasonable judge of character.

He was sent to SeizedPort due to lack of discipline, he was not fairing too well in his assigned role.

He had the talent to become a Spell thief, but the required skills to be military level alluded him. With no other skills the management dumped him over in SeizedPort on a equally troublesome agent, with the hope that maybe something productive will come of it.

Slatepaw characters : JinJin

And to keep the writing up... All of my slatepaws need to be defined.

On the left here is Jinjin. (Urg that shading hurts...)

Following the, family, given, chosen, and claim names...

Tenth, Pet, Kit, JinJin.

Tenth family, I'll have to pun this...

Pet, following the short names, that will also have to be punned.

Kit, because she liked it and it was short.

JinJin, a once famous hobbit delivery runner, replaced in fame by Lulzy.

Directly related to Shale, they came from the same litter.

She was the best off of the whole group of story focused slatepaws.

She likes to explore, is independent, and is fairly adventurous.

She is easily frustrated, she tries to avoid asking for help.

She was shipped of to SeizedPort (I dunno what to call it.) Due to association with her brother Shale. Who for reasons related to him was booted over there as well.

World building : Slatepaw naming system

Besides the fact that I should be writing more. letsee what I can do.

Slatepaws operate by family names.

How one slatepaw's actions reflect on their family is empathized. when it comes to recognizing names one's family envoke how one should treat them, respect or scorn.

For lack of better term, dishonored families are unlikely to stand for long. Younger family members tired of the scorn they receive disown themselves, losing all value, except for their personal relationships, often preferred from the complete ill they receive from others.

Now rarely do individual Slatepaws become notable. It is more often that the family in general receives credit for what they did.

Most often because of this, the individual kobolds take "claimed" names of famous persons from any culture. The names are taken when the person in question feels like they match the abilities and other qualities of this other person.

When a kobold does somehow gain enough fame that they are recognizable, it is polite to actually wait until that kobold at least dies before others use it as a claimed name.

Timithy Yarnt (RANDOM LAST NAME GO!!)

For example is recognizable for his name and is also very easy to pick out of a crowd.

The event that pushed him into being famous was a historical event for the kobolds.

His tower along with four others fought off the entirety of a swarm of abominations and fiends.

The four other members may not have received such fame as he, being more recognizable in fur pattern. But their names will become claim names for courage and all that good stuff.

Eventually I will have to write and illustrate this event, but that day is not this day.

So in the end the common Slatepaw kobold has a...: Family name, Given name, Chosen name, and a Claim name.

For example Shale's names respective to the last.

Tenth, Met, Shale, no claimed.

Family names tend to be at least two parts long. Given tends to be short and end sharply. The Chosen is of course what ever sounds cool to the kobold in question.

That is pretty much what randomness I have to say. It is unstructered, makes no sense, and isn't any fun to read. :)

At least I got this on paper now.

Crystal Construct

(Quick Picture done in 30 seconds.)
Another world building bit.

The standard method of storing magic in a ready to use medium, and programed for non-magic users and practiced.

The crystal's size directly corresponds with the possible energy stored and total programmable channels on the crystal.

Standard created sizes run from civilian size at around one's thumb, to work and military that range around three times that.

The type of stone used increases in quality as it goes from civilian to military. From simple rocks, crystals, and refined glass and metals. The constructs once prepared have a fine layer of runes, to hold on to the magic of the owner and allow it to be programed.

The effectency of cost of creation and use ratio evens out around high end work crystals. Military grade crystals are actually specifically commission for war mages that have trouble controlling more than 3 crystals and still need more output of power for their job.

Use for the crystal is mostly limited to mages, however a attuned crystal a non-mage can be programed to shield the user from outside harm, but the use is limited due to the untrained mana recovery rate of the owner.

Civilian crystals are used by inexperienced mages learning the ropes, so that they can actually experiment with their power. Though these crystals do not require much licensing, the greater power available for young practitioners really help them on their way. The crystal however does drain the innate recharge rate of the mage, practicing that bit of their ability that is normally impossible constantly strain on low budgets.

Work grade crystals are used for long work hours, excelling on normal drain like handling in house and on the field magic. They do not have any more output than the normal civilian crystals, but they can store many times more energy. It is best of the owner keeps them on his person at all times, so they can be charged off the job.

Military grade crystals are similar to work grade, however their output is much greater, allowing a mage to pour every scrap of energy into its destructive job to overwhelm their target.

-

The crystals are at most used in threes, but experienced mages can use more than a dozen with proper management. Past three crystals direct management is possible but very hard to use in stressful work to effective levels.

Depending on the users type of magic the energy and color of the crystal is different. Some sources of arcane power cannot be stored as effectively, but they can still be used as shield buffers like non-magic users.

Not much else to say, but I think any trained users can use another's crystal and the power taken can be from any donor. Willing or not... bwahhahahaha.

Familiar Ritual

Familiars are directly connected to their master's soul.

To actually join them together the process is extensive.

The ritual takes 5 minutes to actually do the binding part, but it requires building a basic circle and two weeks worth of energy stored to be used during the 5 minute cast.

The energy required to bind the two takes roughly a fortnight from only the person who is going to partake in the ritual, the time it takes to charge is at the common rate for inexperienced mages.

Once the energy is collected, the mage needs to prepare their familiar to be.
This process requires special ink, to be incribed unto the animal's fur. This ink is to act as a gateway for the mage's energy. This Ink will stay after the ritual no matter what happens to it's fur.

For the ritual it requires a simple animal to be tamed to the point that the owner can inscribe all of the runes. Followed by this the mage takes their familiar to be into the circle and flows the energy though what ever they stored the energy in, and through themselves to their familiar. The unfocused energy will during the sustained 5 minutes connect the two.

This connect is young, but will quickly flourish into a impossible to break bond that no matter the distance the two will feel each other.

The young bond directly effects both the Mage and Familiar, Bahavours start to cross over.
The first few hours the familiar and mage must be directly next to each other.

The second week the familiar starts to form solid personality, that will stay with it even if the bond is broken. The bond is strong enough to survive periods away from each other.

Once a month has pasted, the dou can easily focus though each others senses, and can spend extended periods apart without any problems.

At this point the familiar is completely bound to its owner, and the familiar then starts forming its own independent magic.

Familiar creations.

I have been throwing ideas around for characters who are Familiars, Or characters that are Familiars.

To prevent some of the annoying bits with familiars, like they only turn up when needed for something, like in Order of the stick before the current arc, I want all familiars to have personality, or at least the same level as a extra should they be an extra's familiar.

The bases I want to cover in my setting.

1. Familiars are intelligent, if still tied to the fact that they are animals.

Familiars start out as dim as a doornail, but after the ritual that binds them to their owner is finished, over the next few weeks the familiar will reach a similar level of intelligence as it's owner.
So if I was going by 3.5 type attributes, WIS, INT, and CHA, would rise to at most the master's reflected stat, perhaps WIS and CHA lowered to reflect the animal's nature.

2. Familiars are a battery and conduct for magic.

Besides the expected small bonus to it's owner, a Familiar allows a mage to run around wielding significantly more energy then they could without their Familiar, allowing greater feats of magic, as well being able to use magic through their familiar like normal.

Both the master and the familiar hold their own supply of magical energy inside them, a mature familiar can use their own supply of magic to do things. But togather, the master and familiar can dish out far more powerful spells, (mostly in the evocation sense.) because the output is doubled.

3. Familiars can only be small animals.

Unless say, you have some insane level of resources to drug a large bear and getting the whole ritual done while preventing it from starving while doing so.

Besides the familiars view their master as equals, (at least early on.) and should the larger animals play as if their master is a equal, it could lead to accidental mauling. As well Familiars tend to misbehave before they mature, and it is much easier to handle familiars that you can physically pickup with one hand.

4. Familiars become a super power version of that same animal.

Of course we got the dire versions, but not in that sense, more of the animal becoming magically better, endurance and the ability to claw you of course.

As the animal is infused with magic from it's master, it matures, and it becomes very hard to kill, and tend to be significantly supernaturally better at it's own species focus. For example a Ferret familiar can find a rat to eat, and catch it far easier than a normal ferret. As well the normal small sized animals after maturing become next to impervious to falling to their deaths, they just shake it off... their masters not so much.

5. Familiars mature
As a familiar exists, it ages on a different scale, it no longer ages as a animal, but as a immortal magical beast... of cat sized doom.

Immediately after the ritual to bond to the familiar is not any different from the mage that did the ritual, how ever its behavior is practically super glued to the mage. As the Familiar matures they can spend more and more time away from their master, and in the end become independent.

The Speed of maturing is time as well magical ability based, and they tend to mature faster under tense experiences. At the very least, the Familiar improves with the Mage.

Maturity effects a vast group of things, mostly meaning they can survive should their master go say die, and they become increasingly magical in their own right.

6. Familiars reflect on their owner, and the opposite.
The tendancys of both sides of the bonds reflect unto each other.

Like for Example, my character Kloe, and her familiar Alex.
Alex likes Shinies of course, and is a bit hyper active.
Kloe likes to learn odd bits of things, and hyper focuses on things.

Now after the bond matures.
Alex in addition from before also actually picks up random information.
And now Kloe has problems focusing on things. (And she has a passing interest in shinees.... meheheh...)

Positive and negative reflect on each other.

7. Familiars and their masters share their senses.
Both sides can always find each other, unless extreme measures are taken.
Before maturing the mage may be overwelmed by the familiars senses.
Later on after filtering that over load, it just takes a bit of focus to see through each others eyes.

Extreme emotions are felt on each side, until the the familiar matures, when the familiar get's its own personality, and full on emotions.

If they are together in the same place, they can direct each other too threats, and all that.

8. Blah blah and blah.

Yeah, internet is going to die again, next time I guess I will write up on what I see the familiar bonding ritual is, I want to make it decently interesting.

World development - Magic -

Letsee...

Let me start with what I don't want for magic.
-LIMITLESS POWER (It's OP! nerf it now!)
-Deus Ex Machina producer.

Those are the two things I really cannot have in my own setting, they would be hard to explain away to have a actual plot.

Magical limits -
I prefer to have some sort of limitations to magic, it may rely on some sort of mana, but it will constantly strain the user. Devastating spells cannot be easy to pull of.

So I have decided to have it sort of run off stamina, so exhaustion and other strain induced affections take hold if constantly used. Mana would have to be a type of stamina as well, allowing practiced mages to at least cast for a while.

On the note of Mana, I think it is a neat idea for squads to sort of draw mana from each other, allowing the one magic user to keep sending off spells longer to support the group.

But what happens when one runs out of mana, I think they would feel a tad drained, but in a unexplainable way, like feeling tired from running upstairs for a while but without any thing to directly connect the drain to.

Though on top of the Mana-Stamina and everything, I want emotion to fuel magic, I want fury to be personified by the raging spells that angry mages unleash, I want it to have emotional impact as well as cinematic awesomeness. So yeah... As it is developed.

Deus Ex Machina -

I think I have come up with a decent way to prevent story elements from whisking themselves away. Too prevent the skeleton key of plot keyholes.

What marks a very experienced wizard/mage/sorcerer/whatever is the ability to complex spells without a focus. Focuses would be objects with the spell's guts, it is what the mana/stamina is channeled through to get focus's effect.

For example a novice mage would be able to throw magic missile, but it is really just a straight dumb fire burst of energy. The bolt its self may not last that long if the mage is unpracticed.

In contrast to having the mage with a focus, that may just allow a mage to cast it like it was the 3.5e DnD spell. Fire away, don't worry about actually hitting the target, it doesn't miss.

Too the more extreme end of the magical knowledge and experiance base, a master mage would be able to throw off spells without the focus with much greater effect than the novice with the focus. But that is not too say that the master cannot benefit from using the focus.

While the above examples kept to reasonably simple spells (At least in my mind). The simple spells would just be force, maybe elemental in nature and execution. But it takes a great wealth of experience to do proper healing and mending on the field. Stopping someone's bleeding by healing them would be much harder than "Ta-dah!". It would be healing it close, healing ONLY the original flesh, you can't have germs and other nastiness suddenly growing to life threatening sizes or quantities.

Things that may have been simple in terms of caster level in dungeons and dragons will be complex but also very useful to their users. Perhaps a barkeeper shelled out the money for a channel and crystal that gathers energy that will reform glasses that are broken.

Generally I want to prevent magic from being a catchall for solving problems. I will define more of Magic A is Magic A, when I actually get to writing my stories... Then I can start reconing! whooohooo!

World development - pt1 of nil

Now, lets say... actually update.

The general setting I have in mind has these features.

- All fantasy races represented (But with hopefully my own twist)
- Races of my own creation represented (Like my kobolds, that I will dedicate a whole post to)
- Different racial types of each respective race, so there are not just Scandinavians(white people), we got them all.
- Technological level will be staggered realistically, but a general splatter.
-For example, heavier than air flight has been around long enough that there are attack planes.
-(With what ever medical level was around about then. So think reasonably modern.)
-Magic will be around, but will not be all encompassing utility source.
-For example, it will take a combination of magic and medical knowledge to properly deal with fatal problems.
-I like the spiffy idea that combat medics use magic to stabilize a combatant until extraction.

That is the general mess that comes to mind at this time.
I am always brainstorming on this setting, I want so many neat things, but I really don't want too over load it.
But one thing I really want to avoid is monoculture. There isn't just one elven group, or dwarves that all share the same values with each other. They must be people in their own right.

Later on, say tomorrow if I remind my self, I will post up the general magic system and other topics.