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An Analysis of Magic
by Dariel QuiogueI propose dividing all magic into three types, according to where the power to work magic comes from. The three types are Invocative, Manipulative, and Evocative. The three types, and the specific systems that fall under them, are not necessarily mutually exclusive; there are fantasy milieus where two or more types work equally well for different people.
o Invocative magic presupposes that the power comes from outside the spell caster, through the agency of various supernatural beings. Spellcasters must find a way to supplicate, cajole, or outrightly coerce these beings into performing tasks or granting them powers.
o Manipulative magic presupposes that there is an impersonal energy, The Force if you will, that can be perceived and controlled by spellcasters in order to achieve desired effects.
o Evocative magic presupposes that the power comes from within the spellcaster. There is no need for supernatural agents or an all-encompassing energy field because the spellcaster is independent of these things.
INVOCATIVE MAGIC:
1. Devotive:
Power comes from higher-order beings (i.e. gods) who grant miracles or powers to devout followers. The main idea is that so long as the devotee strictly follows "the way" the god will provide the devotee with powers that will promote its own cause. Usually this means following a stringent discipline, such as embodied in a Christian cleric's vows. Only the most perfect in their observances of "the way" will ever be favored with grants of power.
In Vedic Indian tales, it involved a prolonged period of asceticism and meditation, so that when a certain level of insight has been reached the devotee temporarily becomes one with the god and gains access to some of that god's powers.
Ex: AD&D clerical magic, the Mahabharata, Great Plains Amerinds (think Sun Dance)
2. Diabolistic:
The ability to perform feats of magic comes from making a personal bargain with some supernatural entity. In return for something very valuable - usually one's soul or humanity – the entity will grant arcane knowledge that allows the working of magic. In other cases, supernatural beings are bound with promises that last generations, in token of some great aid or service rendered to them - like the elementals who made a pact with the kings of Melnibone.
Ex: Faust, Elric (Moorcock)
3. Coercive:
The supernatural beings who have the ability to work magic are generally unwilling to do so for mere mortals, and must be forced to it. Thus in order to create a magical effect, the sorcerer must first summon such a being, engage it in a contest of wills, and win. Only then can he give a command to the creature and expect it to be obeyed. The beings usually have a vulnerability or great fear of something that allows them to be controlled; for example, the Seal of Solomon to the djinn of the Arabian Nights tales.
Ex: Arabian Nights, Master of the Five Magics (Lyndon Hardy), Sorcerer's Son (Phyllis Eisenstein)
4. Blood Magic:
Supernatural beings have a hunger for life energy, usually embodied in blood. The only way to secure such a being's favor is to sacrifice a living creature. The blood of higher-order or more valuable creatures are more desirable to these beings, so a cow is a better sacrifice than a chicken, and a human being the best of all. Magic is thus almost a commercial transaction; the greater the quantity and "nobility" of the blood offered, the better the chances of a favorable reaction.
There is a definite "dark" undertone to such a belief system that may not go down very well with the parents of younger role-playing gamers. However, it is very universal in distribution in the real world's primitive cultures, so we very well can't leave it out.
Some subsets of this belief are:
- Only one's own blood is acceptable.
- Only human blood is acceptable.
- The blood is offered to a specific demon/deity.
- The blood is offered to one's own ancestral spirits.
- The blood is offered to all spirits in general.Ex: Chinese black magic ("Maho" in L5R), Mayan & Aztec religion, native animism
5. Shamanistic:
Rather than actually grant powers to a mortal, the supernatural beings invoked enter into the bodies of their suppliants and so do their work. The shaman who allows his body to be used this way will have no memories of what he did while "possessed," and will often display features and abilities he normally wouldn't have. Thus the Amerindian medicine man who could shapeshift into a totem animal's form, or the voodoo diviner who goes into trance, utters a prediction, then wakes up asking what he just said. As with Devotive magic, the shaman must follow a strict regimen in order to retain the favor of the spirits he deals with.
Shamans usually call on:
- Totem animals.
- Ancestral spirits.
- Nature deities.Ex: African/West Indian voodoo, animistic religions of the Amerinds, Inuit, Mongols, etc.
MANIPULATIVE MAGIC:
1. Unified Field:
Magical energy is integral to the universe, permeating everything. Those with the talent for it can tap into this energy (let's call it The Force) and manipulate it to create magical effects.
Ex: Star Wars
2. Extradimensional Energy:
Magical energy comes from another dimension, through "rifts" in the very fabric of reality. The energy is highly chaotic in nature and could work spontaneous changes in the environment and life around high concentrations or sources of it.
Ex: Riftwar series (R.E. Feist)
3. Primal Energy:
Magical energy is the Primal Energy or Primal Chaos that existed before matter and energy as we know it were formed. Both matter and energy can revert to this Primal Chaos, while what free amounts of it remain in the universe can be turned into matter or energy or used to alter existing matter or energy. The idea is that reality is only a thin veneer; strip it away, and what you're left with is Primal Chaos.
Again, strong concentrations of the energy are capable of wreaking spontaneous and largely undesirable changes on both the environment and its denizens.
Ex: Well World series (Jack Chalker), Twilight Age(by yours truly)
4. Auspice Magic:
Magical power is generated by supernatural beings; however, they do not actively dictate or interfere in its use. The power simply exists as a field or emanation that anyone capable can tap.
The magic courses through "ley lines" - aka "the spine of the dragon" - on the ground, and through the stars and constellations in the heavens. What a spellcaster can do thus depends on the time and place; strong sources of magic on land will become holy sites (Stonehenge?), while astrology will have real meaning for practitioners of celestial magic. Auspice magic is often combined with an Invocative style of magic.
Ex: Excalibur (the movie, d. John Boorman), AD&D Birthright Campaign, stories of C.A. Smith and H.P. Lovecraft
5. Collective Unconscious:
The dreams and fantasies of mankind are REAL - they exist "elsewhere," but with the application of magical arts the collective unconscious can be manipulated to yield specific and tangible effects. An interesting corollary to this is the need for belief; the number of believers must reach a "critical mass" before magic can be made to happen, while enough skeptics can foil any spellcaster.
Ex: Changeling magic system (White Wolf), faerie magic in European folktales, Flight of Dragons (the animation)
6. Parallel Universe:
Magic effects are created by "pulling" them out of a parallel universe or dimension where that effect already exists. Sometimes the effect is taken from some other locale on the same world, which brings to mind the question of balance. If a circle of wizards drew rain from above the tropics to make a desert bloom, wouldn't the tropics now suffer drought?
Ex: The Far Kingdoms (Allan Cole/Chris Bunch), AD&D (I think; I believe I remember reading something like this in the DMG waaaay back then ...)
7. Reality Police/Reality Programming:
Something - an inanimate force or metaphysical entity - stabilizes reality according to certain rules. However, this force or being can be fooled or persuaded - or even programmed - to make alterations in reality according to the manipulator's desires. Once a new "code" for something is in place, all reality conspires to enforce it.
For example, a wizard turns a man into a frog. As the "Reality Police" gets to work, the former human acquires an appetite for flies, loses the urge to mate except in season, and eventually loses his intelligence and personality - because as far as Reality is concerned, HE IS A FROG.
Ex: Well World series (Jack Chalker), Four Lords of the Diamond (Jack Chalker), In the Net of Dreams (Rick Cook)
EVOCATIVE MAGIC:
1. Supernatural Origin:
Ordinary humans cannot ever work magic; only those born with divine/ demonic/ faerie blood can do so. However, they can instill part of their power in enchanted items, which are usable by the mortal races.
Ex: Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) - only Gandalf and Saruman ever actually cast spells in all three books!
2. Mystic Discipline:
Practice of esoteric disciplines, such as yoga, Tantric Buddhism or martial arts can "awaken" the latent powers of the mind. The discipline usually involves much meditation, physical austerities, breath control, etc. - which promote transcendental understanding and perfect control of both mind and body.
The magic thus produced tends to be more subtle than other types - traditionally, such mages do not toss fireballs and lightning bolts, but instead work with illusions, mesmerism, and enhancements of one's own body and its functions. The new wave of Japanese anime, however, has made popular the concept of the "ki attack" - a burst of raw psychic energy that takes a form unique to the style or practitioner, and does MONDO DAMAGE :)
Ex: The Shadow (comics & movie), some Robert E. Howard stories (this was actually a popular theme of 1930's pulp fiction), Ranma 1/2 and other anime
3. Psychic Gift:
Only those born with a psychic gift for it can ever work magic. Magic use is thus mostly instinctive, and there is a tendency to have only a limited repertoire of powers. (In fact, this is crossing the murky boundary between psionics and magic.) In a campaign where this is the principle behind all paranormal powers, the theme of conflict between the psychically gifted and the "normals" will be of great importance.
A similar approach is that of psychic augmentation. An item, medical procedure, drug, etc. can boost a person's psychic powers beyond latency and into full operance. In the Darkover series, for example, the Comyn use special "matrix stones" to amplify and focus their powers; many, if not most, Comyn cannot manifest any powers without their stones. (Neither could I, if I lost MY stones ... :)
Ex: Pliocene Exile (Julian May), Galactic Milieu (Julian May), Darkover series (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
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