Magic of the stars
"Magic? Now you're pulling my leg... Captain."Magic didn't always exist, that much every child knows. People created it, during the troubled times that followed the first wave of space colonization. For centuries, magic was in turn a mystery, a weapon of conquest, a taboo, a tool of discovery and more. Wars were fought over the secret, only to put it into everyone's hands by the end. You see, magic is like information: it spreads, and once it has taken hold on a world, getting rid of it again can prove all but impossible. But what is it that magic does? Briefly put, it changes the rules. That's it -- at its core, magic simply forces matter to behave in ways it's not supposed to. In this regard, it's similar to forcefields, or hyperdrives. Indeed, the line between technology and magic can be thin at the very edges of human knowledge. Luckily, magic can be mastered as well, and there are at least two big ways to do that.
"You're talking to a cat," pointed out the cat. "But all right. What we really do is harness dark energy to alter the behavior of fundamental particles on a Planck scale via self-replicating femtoscale actuators."
The young man opened and closed his mouth a few times. Fundamental particles sounded vaguely familiar... maybe.
"See what I mean? It's easier to just call it magic."
Wizardry
"The first thing any wizard learns is how to detect magic. The second thing any wizard learns is how to dispel magic. But in order to cast any spell at all, you will need to know the language of magic..."Charging an object with raw magic is easy: all you have to do is rub bits on it from another that's already charged. For example, by scribbling with an enchanted writing implement. But mere scribbles won't do much; without direction, magic will simply fizzle after a while. Conversely, magical symbols (often called runes, though they have nothing to do with the ancient runic alphabet) have no intrinsic power. You can write them down all day long with an ordinary pen and nothing will happen. That's how wizards can safely keep grimoires. In order to cast spells, you need the intersection of the two: a spell written down in one of the languages that can control magic, with an instrument already pervaded by magic. Anything will do, from a piece of chalk to the fanciest fountain pen; and of course you can use one to enchant the other. From the moment it's completed, the spell is active and using up mana, even though it might idle until a trigger condition is met. Any wizard will also have some sort of means for detecting magic, and a way of dispelling it if the need arises. What form they take depends on the wizard's style: a magnifying glass and monogrammed handkerchief? High-tech goggles and a spray? Magitech can take many shapes. But what can a written spell do? As with most things in life, the answer is "it depends". A few runes quickly scrawled on a wall can absorb most light from a room, for example, or make a wall intangible for a few moments. A more elaborate magical circle might turn the surface it's drawn on into a reverse Maxwell's Demon, that heats up objects moving across it in one direction, and cools them down if they go the other way. For even more sophisticated effects, one might need a computer with special software and a suitable peripheral, such as an enchanted printer. In fact, these three styles of casting are called the First, Second and Third Form, respectively. (Although ironically they were developed in the opposite order.) The more advanced forms are harder to learn and slower to cast, but they allow for more finesse and efficiency, using less mana for the same spell duration and area of effect.
Sorcery
Bright light flashed in his peripheral vision, and the air crackled.Magic can break technology, because it messes with the laws of physics. But with life, it plays havoc. Most living beings die in hours if exposed to raw magic -- which spreads through the body faster than it would in dead matter, even when undirected. That's why wizards have a rule never to try and enchant something that's alive. But accidents happen, and space age medicine has figured out ways to save people exposed to magic. It's a lengthy, painful treatment that only works on children a few years old at most, and even then survival is far from guaranteed. But those who do survive become Sorcerers -- able to cast spells just by thinking of it. Of course, a sorcerer can only cast simple spells, and with limited control at that. They pay for it by having frail bodies with obvious modifications, which can be a problem in cultures that look down on magic, transhumans or both. They also die if someone successfully dispels the magic in their body, or simply if they're completely cut off from ambient mana for too long. On the plus side, they can see magic without external help (or hear it, smell it... it's a personal thing). They can also cast faster than any wizard. As for their abilities, for one thing sorcerers can make themselves float in the air or pass through walls for example. With a focus, such as a small iron wand, they can also do things like throw lightning (not that you can hit anything that way, but it's great for intimidation). Why the focus? So they don't get 3rd-degree burns on their fingers, of course. Magically created lightning is still just high-voltage electricity. Sorcerers require mana for casting in the same way wizards do.
"What did I tell you about harassing people on our turf?" snapped a new, clear voice.
"He's no people," came the disdainful retort, "just a lousy human."
"Our turf, our rules, Aapt. Get out!"
Doran shook his head, thinking more clearly by the moment. The horned man was arguing with... someone. A dark shape with an outstretched hand holding a small wand still buzzing with electricity, and whose feet didn't touch the ground.
Powering magic: mana
They were into a courtyard paved with gravel, where people sat on benches at long wooden tables, sipping drinks that fizzled, glowed or bubbled, sometimes all at once. Blobs of light moved slowly overhead, providing illumination, and Doran didn't need a detector to know they were literally magical. The small but decorative mana well in the center of the yard confirmed his suspicion.Magic is a subtle force, and its source of power is equally subtle. Mana fills the universe, but interacts little with non-magical things. Enchant any object, though, and it will start quietly collecting it -- charging up, as it were. That's enough to power a simple spell for minutes at a time, every few hours. For magic of greater size and complexity, you need reserves. A mana well is a device to capture and condense mana from a wider area (proportional to its size) and dish it steadily to any active spells in the vicinity. Like magic detectors and dispelling devices, it can be made with technological means, and in fact that's a more efficient and reliable way. Mana wells can vary in size from pocketable to building-sized, they power and range of influence varying accordingly. In fact, a single large one will be more efficient than several small ones, and more stable, too. Mana wells can power big, complex spells for long stretches of time. But it's still possible to drain them, and once drained they will need a long time to start working again. This has caused the demise of many an overambitious wizard, so beware.
Permanent enchantments
So at the first opportunity we enchanted the family cart.Casting one-off spells is all good and well, but it can be tedious and time-consuming. Moreover, sometimes you just need magic to stay put rather than dissipating after doing its job. That's where enchantments come in. The simplest enchantment is one that doesn't do anything, but just sits there; this is useful for making e.g. a pen with which to cast more spells. Another typical use is to make a wand that generates a certain effect (say, a freezing ray) any time it's triggered in some manner. This allows anyone to use magical effects without knowing how to create them, and saves a wizard time. Making an enchantment is more complicated than casting the one-off version of the same spell, but doesn't use more mana. In fact an idle enchantment needs very little, and can sustain itself indefinitely from ambient mana. But an enchantment will fade out in time unless specially prepared, which takes extra skill proportional to its complexity. Doubly so if it goes unused for too long. Last but not least, it's not possible to place two enchantments on the same item. That much magic will make matter break down, spilling its charge over anything in the immediate vicinity, in the form of residue that may have random effects and/or fail to fizzle out by itself.
Oh, it was nothing fancy. A one-off spell to reinforce it, another to make the axles spin more freely regardless of any greasing, and a more permanent enchantment to make anything placed in it lighter until taken out again. Finally, we made it so that none of this would be easily noticeable. Even our mirror didn't show any sparkling except from very close up and the right angles. (My own eyes were another story, but I knew where to look.) It did dampen the flow of mana, and therefore the effect, but you can't have them all.
The skills involved
Obviously, a wizard needs to master the languages of magic in order to cast any spells. They also need to master rhythm, because from the moment you start writing down runes, the spell or enchantment is live, and unless you finish on time, it will go off half-cocked. Spell complexity is harder to measure, but as a general rule, if you can describe what it does in two words ("emit light", or "make transparent"), that's within the reach of a beginning wizard, and any additional word roughly corresponds to one more level of training. On the other hand, the difficulty of dispelling magic is proportional to the *size* of the spell, unless it's actively protected against dispelling. Protecting a spell like that requires extra casting time depending on the level of protection, but only another wizard of comparable skill will be able to dispel it. Sorcerers, of course, cast spells just by thinking of them. That means they can learn more spells than a wizard with the same amount of training, since they don't need to remember runes, or write them down. But on the flip side, they require a lot more training to cast spells of any complexity, since they have to keep it all in their heads. Note that by default a spell lasts for moments at best, and covers a small radius. Changing the area of effect and duration, or making it directional, are extra complications. Spells over a certain size may take multiple wizards to cast, or else some ingenious solution.Spell failure
The most obvious way to make a spell fail is to interrupt the caster. It's also possible for a wizard's hand to slip. They can pace it wrong, or get the runes wrong, especially if casting from memory. Either way, the botched spell will either do nothing (if you're lucky), or else have unexpected effects. Another way for spells to fail is to run out of mana, or not have enough in the first place. A one-off spell will simply fizzle out; an enchantment will falter and become idle at first. You can't have too many active spells in close proximity either. They will start feeding off each other, with random unwanted effects if not outright violent reactions. But the most spectacular kind of failure is when a spell runs out of control. Spells collect their own mana to a degree, and if a spell covers a wide enough area, it runs a risk of becoming self-sustaining. At that point it will consume anything in its path, only stopping at the vacuum of space in its blind drive to perform its original effect -- if it hasn't forgotten it along the way. That's why magic users have a strong taboo against casting so-called unbounded spells, without a set limit on either size or duration. Essentially, this is the nuclear option. It can only be stopped with extraordinary means, if at all.Downsides of magic
If magic is so powerful and flexible, why aren't people using it more? For one thing, magic is volatile. Too many active spells in one place have a good change to blow up in your face. If you're lucky, it won't be literal... Second, magic isn't as reliable as technology. Mana flow can fluctuate unpredictably. A long duration spell can fizzle out. Certain devices such as forcefields can interfere with spellcasting -- just like magic can interfere with technological devices. A simple wheelcart will keep working (not to mention *being there*) long after fancier levitation spells have expired. Third, not everyone has the required mindset for learning how to cast spells, and of those who do, not everyone will have the time and inclination. And because magic doesn't scale (you can't enchant items industrially or they'll reach a critical mass and go haywire), there is only so much of it to go around. Properly applied, magic is a game changer -- here and now. But for longterm, wide scale solutions you need to look elsewhere.
Type
Metaphysical, Arcane
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