Primordialverse

About

A fantasy magic system framework, created to be freely used in your worldbuilding projects, AUs, or other creative projects!

Inspired by:

• Arcaneverse (the magic concepts in general)
• Classical Elements (the idea of dividing things into elements in general)
  • Mahābhūta (the four primary elements part, especially how they relate to internal elements and external elements)
• the concept of Cosmic Ocean

Terms

basic terms for Primordialverse, that you can switch out the roles/terms to anything you want, as long as they maintain the abilities similar to how i defined them here

• gods = in primordialverse context: guys who can use external fuels for magic, with the powers to manipulate elements in their own domain as if it’s a part of their body
• humans = think of regular ol' humans. in this case, they're the people who can only use their magic using internal fuels. exchangable with other intelligent species
• mages = all magic users
• fuels = the fuels/materials to allows one to use magic. it's divided into internal/external fuels
  • internal fuels = the user's body parts that can be converted into magical feats
  • external fuels = imagine all the things in nature out there, outside of one's body. that's external fuel.

Basics

• magic pretty much allows mages to accomplish magical feats, using their own body as its fuel.
  • the magic is invoked from their body with a purpose and intent, then magic drains the fuel (depending on the magic base you're using) and converts it into magical feats™
  • i highlighted “their own body” bc to a god (as defined in terms), whatever they can control is considered their body. whatever they embody is their body. so that’s why gods can use external fuels
• what exactly is magic? magic initially started off as a supernatural energy from the ocean. then humans get those powers to use for themselves
  • whatever comes out of the ocean will contain magic for humans to use, like fish and jazz. though humans are usually smart enough to figure out ways to draw out magic energy for their own usage
  • the magic energy can slowly expire if you go too long without ingesting it in some form? though it's much faster and easier to ingest and add to your magic level rather than wait for it to expire
  • it requires some intelligence to grasp and use the magic properly. otherwise you're just some guy constantly bathing in some unknown radiation you don't even know what to do with it
  • "how the fuck did they figure out how to use it"
    • humans who live by the ocean start noticing strange feats/phenomenons, and they're able to trace it back to the fishes. then they eventually trace it back to the ocean in general
    • and from that point, humans begin to pursue magic by going into the ocean (and getting fucked over) (and developing ocean exploration technology/skills afterwards) (repeat this loop as much as you want depending on how advanced you want your society to be)
  • honestly you can come up with all kinds of stories of how magic ended up being in the ocean. like world literally originated from the ocean or some god dropped the origin of magic into the ocean
• all magical feats created from internal fuels will eventually fade in a fairly short time. however, magical feats created from external fuels takes much longer time to corrode/decompose/disappear

Usage

• the process of using magic
  • the magic is invoked from one’s body, with a purpose and intent
  • the magic drains the fuel (depending on the magic base you’re using, and depending on where do you choose to draw the fuel from)
  • the magic converts the fuel into something else. a new spell. a magical feat that leaves an effect on the world.
  • after one point, all things produced by magic will eventually fade away. spells produced by internal fuels fade away pretty quickly, while spells produced by external fuels much longer
• for regular humans, they’re only able to use magic via internal fuels aka. their own bodies
  • but for those who can control/manipulate elements in the worlds, such as gods or any other fantasy beings who can pull that off as their innate ability, they can use external fuel for their magic
  • the logic behind this is something like “anything you can control like it’s your body, you can use it as a fuel for your own magic”
  • the magic limits for the gods are pretty much the same as whatever limits you impose on them (e.g. the god of water only controls waters)
• what forms the magic can take / how magic can be used
  • external usage: magic blasts, explosion, or anything that straight up expels your elements from your body
  • internal usage: imbuement/aura babey. if you inject the magic into something to transform their properties, then congrats you're using internal magic
    • honestly internal magic usage can look very ordinary bc it can take the form of "ARGHHHHHHHHH IM GOING TO CARRY THIS SHIT MY BONES ARE MADE FROM STEEL RAHHHHHHHHHH" then your bones actually harden.
  • fucked up combination of both: honestly im saving this category for transformation-related stuff
• the feeling while/after using magic is comparable to exercise. it may give you a rush and all but it’ll def leave you tired and drained to some extent. if you overwork yourself, soreness will follow.
  • if you overuse magic hard enough, your brain will try to stop you from casting any more magic, physically preventing you from using magic entirely. ignoring this point may leave lasting damages to your body, especially if your magic uses internal fuel
• oh, and another thing—magic can hurt the user. internal usage of magic can leave you feel pretty uncomfortable or straight up painful.

Basics of magic Usage

• magic bases. where the fuel for the magic takes place from. (most humans can use magic using internal fuels, however, if you have blessings, you can also use external fuels)
  • earth: if the magic you can mainly cast is a solid thing that holds itself together, then yeah you got some earth element situation going on. all solid related magic variant has this element as its base
    • external fuels: all the solid stuff out there
    • internal fuels: skin, bones, flesh, etc.
  • water: if the magic you mainly cast is liquid and/or pretty fluid, you got some water element situation going on. all liquid related magic variant has this element as its base
    • external fuels: all the liquid stuff out there
    • internal fuels: blood, sweat, other fluids in human body
  • fire: if the magic you mainly cast is heat or energy or something like that, you got some fire element situation going on. all plasma related magic variant has this element as its base
    • external fuels: all the plasma stuff out there
    • internal fuels: body heat, energy, etc
  • wind: if the magic you mainly cast is gas and goes woosh, you got some air situation going on. all gas related magic variant has this element as its base
    • external fuels: insert all the gas stuff out there
    • internal fuels: the air you breathed in, oxygen in your blood, stuff that moves inside you and stuff
• the magic base affects the type of magic output you produce, but it doesn’t have to be the exact same thing (e.g. using your blood to produce water spells)
• the magic base you end up using depends on how you learned to use magic/whatever you can adjust to the easiest. you can technically switch but it'll be as hard as... learning a new sport. like you're already good at tennis and you decide to learn swimming too. that's two whole ass different skills, but the strength/knowledge u got from tennis may help your ass out
  • you can technically use any magic bases yeah, it’s not locked
• "how do you progress/make more magic variants from the base"
  • people build their own takes for their magic elements using those four as the base, and go wild from there.
  • ideas
    • some societies are filled with ppl using magics with water element base, because they had cracked mages with water base and build their magic knowledge from those mages. and they have their own variants of water magics like seawater, freshwater, and so on
    • some societies do personality/physical test, sort their to-be mages into groups, and train their magics accordingly to which magic base they'll end up being the best at

wait how exactly do you draw the magic from your body???

• anything that helps you focus on the intention and visualizing its existence, really. it’s like setting your own code to use magic
  • some may choose to chant magic spells, bc they’ve associated the words with the magic they’re trying to use
• to help with the process of drawing out magic, using materials that come from the ocean (imbued with magic) can amplify the amount/quantity of the magic that comes out
  • however, this comes with the cost of magic consuming more fuel at once, which especially sucks when it comes to those who use internal fuel for their magic

learning and getting good with magic

• magic safety lessons would be needed too. do you want to burn yourself alive while draining the entirety of your energy at the same time, then you're left burning alive unless someone actually finds you in this state? no.
• for external magics
  • to shape your attacks into smtg else for optimal usage is a precise art, definitely requires skills
  • controlling the distance to fire your magic from will also need more skills too. like using placed explosions will use more skills than self explosions.

Skills needed to get good (and what separates decent mage from a great mage)

• visualization (will help with figuring out what kinda magic you want to create)
• precision and concentration (helps the magic to come out as you intended)
• creativity (in case you’re interested in creating new kinds of usage for magic, or discovering new magic variants)
• optimizing the amount of fuel you use for your magic (e.g. being able to deal heavier blows while using less fuel)
• muscle memory and getting familiar with your magic spell
• practicing magic safety (magic is able to hurt the one using them, after all)
• first-aid (from magic casting mishaps or from magic fucking with your body too much)
• knowledge
  • anatomy/biology knowledge (since magic will drain ur body)
  • ecology (if you can draw magic from external fuels and you care about the environment)

Advanced Magic Usage

Think of this part as “suggested add-ons”, where you can choose whatever usage intrigues you and add to your AU/worldbuilding.

Magic Variants

• using earth, water, fire, air as the base, they can create new magic variants yippie
• this bullet will serve as a template, in case you wanna create your own magic variants with this system
  • which magic base does it use? (earth, water, fire, wind)
  • where does the magic draw its fuel from? internal or external? (see the fuel section in magic base list. if you decide to use multiple magic bases, make sure the fuel you've chosen is connected to them)
  • fuel to magic output ratio? (like 1 drop of blood is equal to a tiny ass magic blast)
  • how does the magic look like/what variant or element is it? what effects would it have? (e.g. looks like crystals, it's sharp so it can cut you)

Blessings

• yep, this is where "external magic fuel" finally comes in
• there's also another kind of magic usage where the magic energy is turned into an easy-to-use tool by the gods, called blessings. (arcaneverse fans please dont hit me for blatantly ripping off the concept of curses and naming it an antonym of curses)
  • requirements to create blessings
    • having the ability to project/transfer your body or spirit to something else
    • getting good at magic enough that you can transfer your magic energy level + knowledge to others
      • and yes this means you can't really transfer your magic level + knowledge by normal human means, no matter how good you are at it. if you die, the magic you have going on dies with you.
    • having the power to manipulate/control elements in the world the way a god does (not required, but it will let you draw magic from external fuels)
• a variant of blessings: the gods created tools to let their followers (or allies) accomplish magical feats, called blessed weapons
  • the weapons are imbued with the god's magic (they can also choose how much magic capacity to give out in forms of tools), allowing humans to easily draw out the gods' powers even with limited magic.
  • however, these weapons are kinda sentient and may act out. so if non-followers touch the tools, they fuck the non-followers up and fuck them up. they're also used as devices to get funny prophecies or messages from the gods.
  • do blessed weapons still use human body as its fuel? it really depends on how the god creates that weapon, but they gotta use the fuel from somewhere to be usable, whether it's external or internal fuel
  • so at times, the blessed weapons can mess with the ecosystem. like a blessed weapon with earth element base can deplete the soil in some area with its usage
  • example scenario: a local human finds a blessed weapon lying on the ground, they grab it, gets terrible sensations of being unable to leave the weapon behind. then they start to hear someone's voices commanding them to do things. if they don't do said thing then the weapon fucks that person up.
  • oh and funny thing! whenever the gods (or whoever can create blessed weapons) die, their spirit lives on in their blessed weapons so they can continue haunting the earth, even without a body

Imbuement

• to sum up: you can inject the spell you produced to alter something. (e.g. using magic with earth base to strengthen something)
• however, the effect will eventually wear out, and the imbuement process has to be redone once in a while
• so yeah a lot of magic fuel optimizing skill is used

Miscellaneous

Meta

Notes to self

• reformat the page (this started off as a bunch of bullet points on google docs)
• add at least a set of magic variants
• examples of magic personality test