Longer Post - Blog Posts

magic system on Kirotar (2 of 2)

now that I've explained magical energy (see this post) I'm going to explain what you can actually do with magic, how they classify different types of magic, and how it's used by the people living on Kirotar...

(the person in the drawing is one of my characters, whose name is Robbie.)

with Kirotaran magic, the possibilities are unfortunately not endless, but this is not to say that there isn't an extremely wide range of things you can do with it. the humans on Kirotar have a generally accepted magic classification system which details the different types of magical acts that can be performed, but it's important to note that there are no actual different types of magical energy itself; these distinctions are purely artificial, social constructs, if you will.

there are three overall categories of magic, with three subcategories each. here is what I typically call The Tree of Magical Classification:

1. MECHANICAL MAGIC

1a. motion magic, such as: moving matter without contact, manipulating matter's speed, moving matter through solids 1b. force magic, such as: manipulating gravity's intensity, manipulating friction or tension, generating "force fields" 1c. acoustic magic, such as: manipulating a sound's pitch, volume, or direction, generating a specific sound

2. ELECTROMAGNETIC MAGIC

2a. electricity magic, such as: manipulating electrical fields, currents, and charges, generating electricity 2b. light magic, such as: manipulating the intensity or color of light, passing light through matter or reflecting light off of matter 2c. thermal magic, such as: transferring heat between matter, absorbing heat, radiating heat, manipulating the state of matter

3. CHEMICAL MAGIC

3a. bonds magic, such as: manipulating molecular bonds between matter, breaking one object apart, joining two objects together 3b. mass magic, such as: manipulating density, volume, or both, affecting size and/or weight of matter 3c. transmutation magic, such as: changing an element/molecule into another element/molecule, manipulating its properties

the examples listed here are not the only things that can be done with magic, they're just meant to create an idea of what the category entails. everything has a very vague "scientific" explanation based on my limited education on the sciences, and it's meant to mostly obey laws of the universe, like "matter can't be created or destroyed."

now, the second component of magic, aside from magical energy: skill. in order to preform any kind of magic, a person needs to have skill. it's the same as any other talent or activity, and can very easily be compared to something like drawing. sure, most everyone can put a pencil to paper and draw a shape, but in order to create something unique, detailed, and interesting, people have to study and practice for years to develop that skill. magic is the same way.

because magic is so varied and needs a lot of practice to perform, people are rarely good at all of it. often, a person will be an expert in a single subcategory of magic, while barely knowing any magic in any of the other categories. other times, a person can be decent at magic from multiple subcategories within the same category, although learning two subcategories that belong to different categories is more uncommon. magics within categories are similar, though not the same. it's sort of like a guitarist learning to play the ukulele (same category) versus learning to play the flute (different categories). a person could choose to learn some magic from nearly every category, but they wouldn't be very good at any of it.

another note is that the amount of skill it takes to do something and the amount of magical energy it takes are proportional. the more complicated something is, the more skill it takes, the more energy it uses. for example, using motion magic to make a puddle of water float in the air is relatively easy, but attempting to lift up all the water in the ocean at the same time is practically impossible because of the sheer amount of skill and energy it would require.

last thing for this post: magic is for everyone. on Kirotar, magic is something anyone can do if they choose to, and while not everyone does, the majority of people do. it's something people use in their everyday lives as a helpful tool, to make things easier, as a convenience. never, ever is it used as a weapon (more on that later). it's something people learn from their grandparents, something people go to school to study, something people experiment with. the study of magic is considered a branch of science on Kirotar, the same as biology or chemistry. it is more or less an integral part of the world and the daily life of the people who live there, even if they don't use magic often.

anyway, this isn't everything I have to say, but this post is longer than my last one, so I think I'll cut it off here. next post will maybe just be some fun facts.