The Cost Of Magic?

[Myr]

What should be the cost of magic?

 

It is handled in many different ways across fantasy fiction.

examples:

1) D&D approach. Magic has no real cost. The more experience you have, the more power you have. The only cost of magic is the possibility that someone (or something) stronger then you gets pissed off and squashes you.

2) Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books... good mages tended to be bonded to their Chosen. Heralds and what not. not fully accurate because there were good mages that weren't bonded. The evil mages paid the cost of magic by draining other people's lives, which, tends to attract attention.

3) Jim Grimsley's Kirith Kirin - Jessex was the good mage and had no real cost to himself except the loss of innocence and knowing too much to feel normal. The evil side drained the very light out of the air for power and caused mutation and death.

4) Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory's "Obsidian Trilogy" - Magic has a real cost. Three types were describes in book 1. High Magic... the wizards tap the unused energies of normal humans for their power. Kind of underhandedly. Wild Magic... casting anything had a price that the caster had to pay. Could be clearing a pond for something small up to the caster's own life. Costs could be shared, say trying to save a city. Wild Magic can only be used for good. Demon magic... powered be the fear and pain of others. One seen in the book showed a male demon violently kissing and otherwise groping a young teen boy. His terror and pain fed the demon power.

 

Those are some systems. The reason why I bring this up is because I'm working on my own fantasy world and I'm trying to lay down the laws of magic ahead of time, to provide the world with stable rules. Magic can do this and this... but it can't do that. Orson Scott Card of Ender fame, wrote a good book on how to write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and he suggests within that magic should have some price and that an author should establish the rules of magic at the very least for himself and not violate those rules. It helps to make the unbelievable real.

 

What are your thoughts?

[Sparhawk]

I will have to give this some thought. I have read books where there was a cost and also books where there was not. I enjoyed both ways. I disagree with Orson, I belive that the beliveability comes from the writers presentation and style.

[boy on a string]

This is a good question, and I am unsure of how to answer it.

 

fatigue could be one cost ... up to and including ones life ... but how to put that into writing is another matter.

 

I kinda like Kyle's way of doing things for the evil wizard, Gambra.

 

I do think having a restore point, morning or evening, to help limit the mage's power, and the conflict ... do I cast now, or will that leave me without spells later ... and I have never seen in a book where a mage did cast and then wasn't able to later or the reverse, didn't cast and the problems that caused.

 

While coming up with some type of rules is good, I also wonder how intangable that is when it comes to writing? something to think about.

 

In the LOTR, when Gandolf and Saraman (sp wrong, I know, but spelling was not a requirement for me to join ) they were able to show some fatigue as the pounded each other.

 

Raymond E Fiest, (if you never read him, Magician:apprentence and Magician Master are really great reads) handles magic by having different paths ... greater and lesser. And 'lesser' magicians can give the 'greater' magicians a run for there money. Also there were differences in the spells that the two could cast because it they had different abilities. And a few rare individuals could cast both.

 

Some type of point system where different spells cost so much is also a good idea.

 

And this probably has not helped you at all.

 

I don't really know how to come up with anything specific (though I will be thinking about this). Maybe if I see some other responces that aren't as vague as mine, then I might be able to build off of those.

 

Boy on a String

[Forloyn]

This might be intertaining

 

Magic threw the eyes of Vladimier Rath.

 

Brakedown

 

Magic is what the spell used to acomplesh a feet is called

 

Spells are what controls the energy behind the magic

 

energy is persont is all, even the lack of energy contains it's own kind of negitive energy.

 

Casting

 

There are many ways of casting magic the tipe of spell determans how the energy is drawn. In some worlds a devies or focus is needed to help control the energy along with a incantation any combination of wand, regenit, incantation, chant or matra are the 'spell'.

 

Some wizerd draw upon there reserves this is a force of will engery within the wizerd that is not presont it all men, some call this talent, gift, blessing, or some other 'term' handed down to discibe the ability to cast without aid.

 

Some wizerds draw upon the elements around them some call this elemental magic and refer to the power or energy as mana. This is in someways the safest way to cast but the weekest as you have less control over the energy. druids and natral magical creaters tent to use this method.

 

Some will atemnt to channel the force of life or as some would call it 'soul' this is seprat from the force of will as in not all have the force of will but ALL are born with the force of life. This method when used normaly ends in death this energy is not repleneshed after use and a wizerd will literly caniblise him or her self using this method. depending on how much they drain they may end up with less force of life then the tipical standered zero. in this case there life force is rendered negitive and undead tend to be the result.

 

behind casting

 

more happens behind the spell then most wizerds are willing to talk about. some would say magic in itself is a living being I having been a magic user for most of my life will not claim this true or faults. depending on your casting method and or energy sorce there are billions upon billions of difrant energys and casting methods.

 

I have been called a Master Sorcerer, but I am still yet a aprantase in the workings of magic.

 

We never know it all.

 

-Emperor Lord Vladimier Rath Pendragon

Emperor of the Pendragon Empirer

Lord of the Rath Lands

Grand Master of the Brotherhood

(VeVe Van'Claw)

[Ghost]

I do like the Kandric method; Harry Potter method just doesn't make for good suspense stories

[gottalme508]

There's this really cool series by James Clemens.

Wit'ch Fire is the first one...

 

Point is, magic there is different for each person, the protagonist gets it by exposing her hand to light and absorbing it. When she does that, her hand becomes blood red. As she uses the magic inside (by cutting her hand and draining her blood) her hand becomes paler. She can only renew it when her hand becomes pale, she needs to find a source of natural light to absorb from.

Differnt light gave the magic different properties: Sun= Fire, Moon=Ice, "Ghost light"= invisibility or when she smeared her eyes with her own "ghost light" blood, she'd see sources of magic.

 

I dunno, I thought it was an uber kool idea, so I threw it out there.