"An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic."I find that most of my magic in my books usually fall into the category of Hard Magic. This means that my magic systems mostly follow well defined rules that the audience understands--with the exception of possibly some of the magic within the world of Tarterrior that, although it can be defined as Soft Magic within Tarterrior itself, can actually be classified as Hard Magic in the overall scheme of things.
In Festral, however, the magic can fall under both categories. More than any of my other book series--again, with the exception of Tarterrior--Festral follows Brandon Sanderson's Second Law of Magics, which can be summed up pretty easily:
"Limitations > Powers"It's just more interesting when magic can't do everything. It's that simple. When the limitations of using magic far outweigh the advantages of casting it, it becomes more interesting, more human. Audiences can relate better to someone who has to make a sacrifice to do something great compared to someone who can snap their fingers and get out of trouble at any given moment. In this respect, Festral is unique among my books. This is due, in large, to the fact that although magic--or "magick" as it is referred in Festral--all generates the same basic energies, it is split into two forms of use.
Magick emits visible color in Festral when applied. The color signifies the properties of the magick that is used upon casting. Known as the Magick Prism, the chart of magickal use is separated into ten segments on an inverted and elongated pentagonal plane.
Even though each of the colors reflect their compliments across the Prism, the same cannot be said for their respective qualities. This brings up another point about Festral's Magick that is, again, unique within my books. Magick is completely unable to produce something from nothing, but rather takes what already exists and changes its function by making its nature act differently. Listed below are the magick colors and the nature that they are able to channel.
Yellow Magick - Illusion
Purple Magick - Transformation
Green Magick - Manipulation (Mental)
Red Magick - Temperature
Brown Magick - Senses
Pink Magick - Emotion
White Magick - Healing
Grey Magick - Movement
Orange Magick - Enhancement
Blue Magick - Force
While each of the colors' magickal properties remain the same in both of the separate forms of magick, the source is what diversifies the two branches. The original, and easily most commonly used, magick in Festral goes by the name of Life Magick. Its power and control over the natural force it guides is extremely limited, but powerful. The source of the Magick comes from below the caster, traveling up through the arms and out the hands--making it takes much longer to cast than the second branch known as Prism Magick.
Prism Magick is faster, cleaner, purer, and more precise than Life Magick at the expense of raw strength. The caster pulls energy from outside the back, and directly into the arms and hands. The source of both branches are completely different and allow different uses when applied.
Life Magick, as the name suggests, uses life as its source--pulling from any form of life beneath the caster. This is what allows the magick cast in this regard to be so much stronger than that of Prism Magick. However if the caster is not standing directly--or indirectly--over something living, then the magick cannot be produced correctly and will, instead, drain life from its caster. Little, however, is known about where the source of Prism Magick actually lies. It is speculated that it comes from the energy of all things, the threads of time, or even from the Goddess Vlendessa, herself. And while its source is completely unknown, it is relevant that the limits of Prism Magick are significantly smaller than that of Life Magcik. Many applications are constantly being discovered--with some rumors within the world of Festral about creation itself.
Life Magick's weakness lies within its source. If one is trapped somewhere completely void of life or, heck, if the caster is actually upside down then the ramifications are self-inflicted. Its limits however, are a different matter. I will, again, mention Brandon Sanderson by bringing a point necessary to understand when creating a system of magic.
"Weaknesses are different from limitations. Weaknesses are things that enemies can exploit—rather than being things the power cannot do, they are things the power is vulnerable to."The limitations of Life Magick are found in what the magick can actually DO. Yes, it can make someone faster through physical enhancement, and yes that speed will be unparalleled, but it will by no means be focused. If one was to, say, stick out their leg while said person ran by, the result would be devastating. However if that same person were to have been given speed through Prism Magick, the speed would be limited in full, but also focused. This would allow the person to instinctively understand how to use the aid given to them, allowing for a corrective course.
Prism Magick finds its weakness in the focus that is required to cast it. Because it is able to be channeled in such a precise way, great mental clarity is necessary to make it happen. It is easy to distract one who is casting Prism Magcik with a disruptive interjection. Its limits, of course, are found in its strength.
Lastly, we get to the different costs of using both magicks. To quote Sanderson one last time,
"Using the magic, or being associated with it, has a cost. These costs can be more abstract (you go crazy by using the magic) or more concrete (if you run out of spice, you can no longer travel faster than light in space)."The cost of using Life Magick is severe but almost unknown with the world itself. Because it is centered around life itself, casters live shortened lives the more they use magick. While this would normally be apparent in any other world, these costs are hidden due to a few simple facts. First, only humans of what is known as the Nomman race are able to cast any form of magick. Second, only Nommaneese females can cast magick. This leads the people of Festral to believe that the lifespan of the Nommaneese women are simply shorter than most others. As an additional costs to using magick, women who use magick under severe strain or stress can become infertile.
Supporting the theory that Prism Magick uses the threads of time as its source, its cost--while still not completely clear--seems to warp the vision of the caster immediately after using it. Casters have been known to see flashes of the past meld with their current vision directly after using the magick for elongated or focused usage. As a result some casters have slipped out of sanity. While it has become clear in Festral that insanity is NOT directly related to using Prism Magick, it cannot be denied that the episodes of merged time visions do, often, have a hand in wiping away sanity.
Even though Prism Magick, by the time the book starts, is newly discovered, it has become a huge part of the world. The only person able to use it to its fullest capabilities--and the founder of the magick, itself--is one of the four characters followed within the book. And while both magicks have their strenngths and weaknesses, it is clear that Festral needs both to survive.
Thanks for reading this post, and check back for more.
Author's Note - While Purple Magick does fall under the category of Transformation, it does not actually produce anything. Rather it takes the form of something exisiting, and changes its physical shape and appearance.
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