Ideas for Forum Plot, and storyline.

Evil Minion wrote:

Oh, I know, Star Wars with its multitude of nonstandard blades and all... but that series is almost more fantasy than sci-fi in places. Well, I've seen everything in there except electro-swords - where's that one from?

Besides, I meant the whole medieval fantasy package. Feuding states with absolute monarchs, plain old metal swords with the occasional bunch of spells thrown on (to the point where every other sword is a magic artifact), every problem is solved by single combat.

(On another note, this 'pure energy' thing is silly. Energy isn't something you can just pick up and cram into a sword! Plasma-throwers are much more sensible.)

You seem to be thinking, based on what you say there, with real life as a comparison. And this bit " but that series is almost more fantasy than sci-fi in places". Is that not the point here? Fantasy mimicy Sci Fi through Gramarie- Magic geared towards "technological" advancement.

Still wondering where electric swords show up in Star Wars (out of curiosity).

Anyway: Yes, I know, magitech is the point... but what I don't get is why everyone would keep on acting, well, pure medieval with all that awesome stuff. All I'm saying is, give the world a few centuries with enough fancy magitech and it's not just going to be the 1200s with guns. I mean, if even your average peasant has a chance of learning how to shoot lasers from his/her hands, that has to give the balance of power a good old kick in the pants, right?

Besides, Middle Ages Europe with lasers is boring. Everyone does that, except the ones who stick to Middle Ages Europe with fireballs. Anyone up for Asian, Greco-Roman, or all-out alien? I mean, now I'm interested in how a giant starfish would build a superlaser without hands.

(As for energy: I think I'm going to trust my dictionary for this one, magic or no magic. Give me a good enough design for a plasma saber, though, and I'll give you a hundred silver/gold/fiddly little bits of valuable rock when we finally get off the ground.)

Hello. My name is Hawkeman92. I'm a very simple man. I like tea.

Evil Minion wrote:

Still wondering where electric swords show up in Star Wars (out of curiosity).

I don't believe they were ever in the movies, but lie in the multitude of books from that universe.

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Anyway: Yes, I know, magitech is the point... but what I don't get is why everyone would keep on acting, well, pure medieval with all that awesome stuff. All I'm saying is, give the world a few centuries with enough fancy magitech and it's not just going to be the 1200s with guns. I mean, if even your average peasant has a chance of learning how to shoot lasers from his/her hands, that has to give the balance of power a good old kick in the pants, right?

Besides, Middle Ages Europe with lasers is boring. Everyone does that, except the ones who stick to Middle Ages Europe with fireballs. Anyone up for Asian, Greco-Roman, or all-out alien? I mean, now I'm interested in how a giant starfish would build a superlaser without hands.

(As for energy: I think I'm going to trust my dictionary for this one, magic or no magic. Give me a good enough design for a plasma saber, though, and I'll give you a hundred silver/gold/fiddly little bits of valuable rock when we finally get off the ground.)

Who ever said anything about medieval at all let alone purely medieval. They have fancy melee weapons, that's it. There may be kings, princes, and nobles, but they'd be far from medieval.

I'll have to look up THAT part of the EU. I only remember the increasingly large number of rare lightsaber-proof metals and souped-up vibroblades.

...all right, I think that's just bad past experiences talking in my case. My bad. (Not Star Wars in particular; they had the good sense to have a Republic for most of it, at least.) Anyway, this stuff happens way too much in general - we might not need to have nobles in the usual sense, even.

So far, all I know for sure is that a more exotic setting than Modern Earth or the normal sword-and-sorcery fare would be fun. After some reading up on D&D settings, I suppose you could say... less like Forgotten Realms, more like Eberron.

Any ideas for different historical backgrounds to build a setting out of? Asia has a lot of interesting material, and I've read a few good things based on post-classical Greek and Roman settings. Well, that is, assuming we have humans at all. Who here thinks we need them? I'm up for a whole cast of aliens if everyone else is.

(@Hawke: Tea is great stuff.)

Democracy is a trait of our own development, such developments may have been drastically different among other worlds and realities. I see no reason for an advanced civilization to retain the aspect of royalty, even nobility.

The divide may be even more outstanding, with the lesser classes unable to acquire an item that a noble would have freely- such as a weapon that would end that peasant with a single blow or shot. Noble houses may even have small private armies unto themselves, fully equipped. House Scarlet for example, may have some hundred twenty men at it's command with another group of 10 more elite individuals. House [Royal] may have a several thousands, with dozens of elite individuals, then there would be a military organization that serves as the actual army of the queendom/kingdom.
Enough that the threat of the Military which is under orders of the House Royal but to a lesser extent than their private forces, would keep the Nobles and Civilians in check meanwhile the threat of the Noble's private forces would combined be able to hold the Royals and the Royals to the Nobles in check.


It's much like the Chrome logo.



The Royals (Top), the Nobles (Right), and the Military (Left) with the Civilians (Middle).


There may well be democracy in nations else where, but the primary reason I imagine democracy is so notable in our own world is because the United States use to be so gung-ho about it and spread it to other countries.

Now it seems like it's wanting to be rid of the "democracy" part...




I think Asia, namely Japan would be alright. Rather than the land being broken up into little pieces, a galaxy more supportive towards life developed more than a few habitable planets within relatively close proximity. So those areas the warlords ruled are instead far larger and across multiple planets. One planet only having one to eight countries.

"Magic" may be connected towards a great crystalline "star" at the center of this galaxy, with matching cores at the center of the planets. Certain individuals may be born with Shards of the crystal within their hearts which determine the nature of the magic they can tap into.
Planets closest to the star may have more magic potential, and may have a royal class based around having more capable crystals in their hearts for something of a Mageocratic Aristocracy. Meanwhile planets further away would still have magic, just not quite as potent as those of the Inner Worlds. They'd be more likely to have Republics or even Theocracy, and have a more even playing field between the common man and those in political positions, and may even have something akin to "nobility" but they are not nearly so far above the common man.
They may also have advantages in numbers or a more zealous pursuit of advancement in technology and magical application to work around their less powerful magics. Their magics may, for example, concentrate on enhancing things rather than going for direct approaches. Making their "mages" more war-like or concentrate on healing which even in weaker doses can still be very effective. Perhaps War-Saints that focus on both enhancements and restorations making them formidable opponents but not quite as good at either..

In those Outer Worlds things would be less geared around those with crystal cores/hearts and beneficial equipment may be readily available to anyone. They'd be closer to Sci Fi than the Inner Worlds, though they'd both be pretty close but the Inner Worlds would definitely seem more magical.

I actually wanted to go for something school like, but you guys can't just stay out of democracies, can you?

Like, there are actual schools which teach magic, there's one great, ruled by a Senate(Roman, FTW). Graduates from the schools make up these things and/or terrorists, but the various schools itself have duels and shiznit to keep them interesting.

Just saying, why not try something different?

Who said anything about democracy? I certainly didn't. *shudder* Free elections aren't the best (or the most fun) either. Thankfully, there are more forms of government besides democratic and traditional feudal monarchic.

One of the big sticking points about feudalism: Hereditary rule? Seriously? I mean, come on. If you're lucky you get someone competent, and if not, you get sodding Joffrey Baratheon or some lazy incompetent who sits around being assassin-bait. A few thousand years of this shit and I certainly hope someone would get the message. As for non-hereditary monarchy, there's that off-hand chance one of those lazy incompetents has just enough muscle mass to beat everyone to the top, and then you're just as screwed. On the other hand, I suppose there's always being Evil Chancellor to fill my government-not-being-shit needs.

Still, the biggest thing about warlords is the war right there in the name. I know I would have better things to do with cool magitek waiting to be made. Like mad science, and more mad science.


Anyway, on to the rest. Multiple planets sounds good, as long as they don't just have one biome each. Then we'd end up with one planet total with more surface area. Magic power crystals are fine, but a magic star would probably waste half its power on the mandatory awesome quantities of sunfire (or result in life adapted to glacial worlds, I guess). Regular star (or a binary - those are fun) might work with planets that have liquid crystal in place of magma and iron, and we can always determine the planets' magic levels regardless of their orbit. Or, I suppose crystal core surrounded by regular plasma might work too.

Hearts... are very, very bad places to put fragile, pointy things full of magic. Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-CRAAACK-boom. Possible-gods help the first mage to discover palpitations firsthand. A little too much running and bam, they go up in holy sunfire. Also, I know that forcing mages to be sedentary and permanently out of shape would rustle many, many RPers' jimmies.

Magocracy is a fun idea, but I think I'd prefer magic to not depend very heavily on genetics. Say... everyone has the crystals as standard biology (and hopefully somewhere safer, not next to vulnerable bits - might have to go with not-quite-human anatomy, which I'm all in favor of) and raw power variations are actually relatively minor in comparison. The catch being: Magic ability has to be worked for and learned no matter who you are, like any other skill. This can go both ways: Level the playing field in some places, and jack up the stratification in others.

The amount of power in a planet's core would probably affect the strength of everyone who tries to cast there - less ambient magic in the surroundings, less juice for spells; move to a magic-rich planet and you can draw on more power, but control is another matter entirely for someone who grew up on a comparatively low-leveled world.

True, I suppose magic-poor planets would work on ways to compensate - higher levels of 'conventional' (from our perspective, anyway) tech in exchange for a hit to magitech, perhaps importing raw crystal from other worlds in the earlier eras (and more emphasis on supplementary crystals that can be easily carried around) - or even artificially growing more in later time periods.

Regarding schools: I don't see why not, but more likely, magic would just have one dedicated college in a given university - or a very large subset of physics, since what's magic to us is just the way things work for them. Unless the local religion says otherwise, but social variation is always nice in settings like this.

Cultural note: If it's a whole star system, having a few vaguely Earthlike societies and a few alien ones seems entirely reasonable. It makes sense that there could be more spacefaring species than just humans-or-humanlike-things spread out across nine or ten planets.

So, quick say, feudal stuff, Senate, school, or what?

I vote senate.

Senate: 1

I thought we kind of established that we have multiple planets.

Therefore, my vote is for all of them on separate planets so no one bitches about not having the environment they like. Although school isn't exactly for POLITICS.

Magic school is something that would probably exist almost everywhere, if there are people willing to write the NPCs for one or run it with their characters.

Senate: 1
Everything: 1 O.O

Everything.

Last night I dreamed up a spell system.

Lets see if I can remember it right...

It's based around four types of cards divided by four types Personal and Impersonal, Inner and Outer.



Personal:
Personal effects related to natural traits, talents, and abilities. They also relate to specialization and prohibited Source cards and perhaps special abilities when using certain Sources.
Arcana: Inner. Mage, Cleric, Royal, Lover, Cavalry, Scholar, Devil, Angel, Sun, Moon, Castle, Hovel
Zodiac: Outer. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Crustia, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.



Impersonal:
Impersonal effects related to spells and incantations.
Source: Inner. Pyro, Cryo, Electro, Aero, Hydro, Photo, Chloro, Erebo, Ferro, Vito, Gyro, Geo.
Herald: Outer. Edge, Force, Pierce, Distance, Duration, Speed, Ferocity, Tenacity, Charge, Multi, Animate, Component.

Then there is a fifth group of cards, more like a template added to one of the other cards, is a card that is nonstandard.

Heresy: Other cards. For example, a Heretic [Arcana] or a Heretic [Source].

Explanation of the Sources:
Sources are cards that provide meaning and reason to a spell. They're the heart and soul of the effect while a Herald card(s) make up it's body and form. Source cards come with one free Herald and one free Special Effect... or two and none or what not.

Pyro: Fire based damage, comes with a free Ferocity Herald and can inflict a burn which... well, burns. It may lower the victim's mental ability by adding stress through sustained pain. Burns last until healed or 12 hours for Minor burns, 24 hours for Mild burns, 48 hours for Serious burns, or three weeks for Critical burns. This is only for the lasting effects, visible signs of a burn may linger for far longer or perhaps never fully heal.
A critical burn requires treatment as soon as possible, or it may cause death.

Cryo: Cold based attacks, comes with a free Tenacity Herald and can inflict a slowing effect which reduces speed, including speed of thought eventually. If this would reduce speed to Zero, the next slow effect would induce Sleep and then death.
A slowed character's speed and reaction is reduced by 20%, 50% on a second slow, 90% on a third slow, then they are immobile. A following slow renders them unconscious while yet another slow after that may induce death.

Electro: Electric based attacks, comes with two free speed heralds but suffer a negative one in Distance for direct attacks. Electro's special is in it's ability to disrupt biological function to induce stuns. A stunned character is dazed, reducing it's accuracy and ability to concentrate to perform charged spells. A following stun effectively doubles the strain. A third stun renders them immobile while a fourth stun renders then unconscious. A stun after that can induce death.

Aero: Air and Wind based attacks, comes with one free speed herald. Aero effects can create flight or force movement to throw or prevent movement. Aero effects could, for example, prevent movement in the direction the Aero is coming from, or increase movement in the direction away from it. Or, it could blow a target away with gale winds.

Hydro: Water based attacks, comes with free Force and Ferocity heralds, but also have an additional Component herald requiring sources of water. Water can drench targets, which can increase effectiveness of Electro effects as though there was an extra Tenacity card attached to the Electro effect, while removing a tenacity card from fire effects.

Photo: Photo based attacks, comes with five free speed heralds but has three less Ferocity cards and one less Tenacity card. Photo attacks are hard to deal damage with, requiring far more energy to deal damage with but ave very fast and hard to dodge. Photo effects can induce blindness. At first stage it's a dazzling effect, reducing perceptive ability through sight. Second stage would be temporary blindness for a short time, third stage is temporary blindness for a prolonged but short period of time while the fourth stage is lasting blindness. Fifth stage is permanent blindness, without outside healing.
Photo may be able to rally positive emotion. Love, Compassion, Charity, Calm, Peace, and so on.

Chloro: Plant based attacks, comes with a free Duration herald. Chloro can induce slowed states just as Cryo can, but does not effect mental states. Chloro can slow due to vines and plantlife entanglement, which ignores nonphysical resistances as it is a very physical effect.

Erebo: Darkness and Shadow based attacks. Comes with a free Tenacity herald. Erebo can induce blindness through obscuring, thus has no effect on resistances as it is an indirect effect. However, magical darkness can resist penetration from light effects or abilities to see in darkness through it's tenacity. Erebo may be able to induce negative emotion, fear, lust, greed, wrath, and so on.

Ferro: Metal based attacks. Comes with both a free Tenacity and a Ferocity herald, they also may receive a free Edge, Force, or Pierce effect. Ferro based attacks don't have a duration for sustained damage or the like, but effects they create last. They are typically in the form of objects, such as blades, shields, and so on. Ferro attacks are always at a reduced Distance of -2.

Vito: Life based attacks. Has two special effects: Rally or Wane. Rally can heal instead of deal damage, powerful Vito effects being capable of bringing the dead back to life or reverse aging (not as powerful Vito effects simply removing the appearance of aging, or stopping the appearance of aging, or more powerful but not as powerful as reversing would be completely stopping age). Wane can deal direct damage from the forces of death itself, Vito effects can animate dead bodies while powerful Vito effects of Wane can induce a deathless necrotic state aka; lichdom. Wane can also deal it's damage directly towards a persons life span, aging them.

Gyro: Gravity or crushing force effects. Gyro effects always have a Distance herald which is mandatory for effects altering the properties of the world, such as gravity of an area. This is always centered on the caster. The Sphere of influence is static, and does not move with you. Gyro effects can manipulate weight and mass of creatures or objects. Gyro effects are resisted as normal, but even when resistances is overcome a subject may be able to take hold of objects to avoid "falling". Gravity change is within a sphere of influence dictated by Distance from the origin of the effect, thus one could not "Fall" upwards forever, for example. Temporal effects may be accessed through the Gyro Source. They are also within a sphere of influence, albeit a smaller sphere of influence of half normal range for an effect. (Slowing time in a sphere of influence effects all in the sphere including yourself, making the outside appear sped up while you are slowed within, or speeding up you and everyone in the sphere of influence seem normally while everyone outside the sphere of influence appears to slow down.) For temporal effects, the rift in time at the edge of the sphere of influence causes enough distortion that any attack made through it are ineffective as the attack tries to connect through to a time frame that does not exist outside of that sphere.

Geo: Ground, Sand, Earth, or Stone based attacks. Comes with both a free Tenacity and a Ferocity herald, they also may receive a free Edge, Force, or Pierce effect, but require's a Component herald adding the need to have ground or stone nearby. Geo effects tend to last, and not vanish after a set time.


Explanations of the Heralds:
Heralds are cards that change the way a spell takes effect. Heralds are pretty much required. A spell without a Herald is effectively a touch attack to deliver the Source's special effect with minimal base chance of success.

Edge: Slashing.
Force: Bludgeoning.
Pierce: Well, Piercing.
Distance: Increasing range. A spell without a Distance is either Personal or Touch, but effects not targeting yourself always have a range of at least touch. Distance can also increase the size of immobile effects. Distance may not require the effect to travel that distance. By spending two extra distance cards for the effects of one distance card, you can have the spell originate from that point. (Two distance cards, one costing two the other one, could appear a set distance away from you then continue the rest of the way to reach the total distance of the other distance card, allowing you to fire around corners, or make it seem like someone else is firing the attack. It can also create effects directly above or on the target. Such always have enough warning to react, such as a charge in the air, a sharp rise in temperature, or so on.)
Duration: Increasing the duration of a spell to provide lingering effects. Would/should reduce damage.
Speed: Increases the speed of the effect. A spell without a Speed card would have no speed, and remain in place or move at a crawling pace.
Ferocity: Increases the damage of the effect. A spell without a Ferocity card deals no damage, but may deliver special effects.
Tenacity: Increases the effectiveness of an attack, penetration or otherwise an ability to break or slip by defenses. It also improves accuracy and may so far as add a form of homing effect.
Charge: Increases the time taken to deliver an attack. Vulnerable to interrupting and requires focused concentration. Serves as both a Ferocity and a Tenacity card at the same time, or as two Ferocity or Tenacity cards, but increases time taken to complete the spell and release the attack by one post.
Multi: Halves the damage of an attack, but creates a duplicate of the base attack which can increase chance to hit, hit multiple targets, or penetrate one-attack only defenses such as a limited shield.
Animate: Animates the effect, turning it into a summon.
Component: Spells without this always have a spoken component and a visual component, hand signs and various words of power and so on to evoke the effect. A spell with a Component herald can remove one of these components. It costs two Component cards to remove the last component on a spell, thus costing three Component cards to make a spell that is evoked without word or sign. Component may also add new components for various effects, such as requiring specific ingredients, location, or so on which may have particular effects that can enhance the effect.


Example, With the source Hydro and the herald Pierce with Distance, Speed, Tenacity, Ferocity, and Charge... I could make a concentrated beam of water that penetrates armor to deal damage.




I have very little on the Personal cards, as of yet anyway.

Basically all the cards are used to craft spells and abilities, while the personal cards would define traits of your character itself.
The idea is they wouldn't so much be physical objects, but representations of power given a materialistic form tied to your soul... Perhaps something like... the Psyche naming a mental and spiritual realm you can almost physically travel to through meditation serves as a sort of representation of all this, where you can organize and view your cards in an IC manner. Then set them in groups to form your abilities straight from your collection. You may be able to modify existing spells if you find a combination not working for you.


The amount of cards you can use on a spell would likely be dependent on a ranking system. Certain level spells being able to house a number of Herald or even multiple Source cards. To create perhaps a Fire based spell that produces a fear effect by combining Erebo and Pyro sources.

(Before anything else, I'll just get this out of the way: Vito cards should be usable to make people offers they can't refuse.* *rimshot*)

Interesting. The idea of being able to shuffle spells at will is nice - I'll have to think about this, and of course, wait for feedback from everyone else.

Some comments and questions, though Here's a wall of feedback:
-I would have expected Geo effects to be long-lasting instead of the reverse, but comparatively slow; earth and stone are normally associated with permanence.

-Photo doing less damage? You just nerfed the crap out of laser spells. Philosophically, I can't agree with that... for obvious reasons. Light isn't just meant to be support magic. On that count, though, I suppose this includes more than just blindness - illusions and the like.

-I'm guessing buffs are mostly Vito-based, magnetism is usually Ferro/Electro, and things like force walls are Gyro... although, there is one thing I'm wondering about here: Should time, space, and gravity really all be in that one source? For that matter, are spatial distortions part of Gyro?

-Having some immortal soul thing (and having a whole section dedicated to 'life essence') usually comes with all the baggage that implies some meddling unnatural deity figure. I was counting on having no gods around to screw with things. That, and the issue of whether other lifeforms can have souls. They probably should, in any case.

-What about abilities that aren't covered by the sources? Expansion cards, or automatic heresy? What exactly determines canon and heresy, anyway? That also hinges on having some god or pantheon around to stir up trouble and enforce some predestination crap.

-Are we even bothering with conservation laws and the like here? Some of this stuff draws on physics and the rest doesn't.

-Does it have to rely on conventional symbolism? Mostly applied to light and dark. This pretty much enforces light being good and dark being evil, and that gets boring. Maybe a new source for mental effects with different applications, like the life element? Granted, that puts a bit of a nerf on darkness, but that could be merged with light.

-If the personal cards are tied to character traits, and they also put restrictions on magic... that prevents people from playing against type somewhat, which ruins the nice modular feel of the spell system. Related to the last point; I don't think the magic itself should be too linked to personality or moral affinity.

-On review, I don't see any sources with no special effects. Just an observation.

-How do we determine the total number of usable cards in the caster's mindspace at a given time? If I'm reading this correctly, the cards are mental constructs, so is there actually a limit to the size and content of the current 'deck'? Would people, say, need training to use a certain Source/Herald then have an infinite supply?

-Might the ranked spells be based on different configurations, which may or may not have special effects tied to the positioning of the cards in addition to the number usable? If so, can they be custom-made or improved? Also, something related - the possibility of pre-made spells, found or taught as filled diagrams of certain configurations, with powerful spell patterns possibly being highly valuable (at least, the first time) and certain basic sequences commonly traded or passed around.

...and the nitpicks:
-The sources are inconsistently Latin and Greek. Might want to look into that. Means we'll probably end up with a mostly Greco-Roman inspired setting, unless someone bothers looking up Asian symbolism or something. Oh, and zodiac motifs would be pretty screwy in a whole different solar system with multiple inhabited planets.

-Oh, good, it doesn't have a Pure Energy thing in it anywhere.


*This is actually tempting me to roll up a Mafioso necromancer for fun.

(Oh, and thoughts on my last post before that vote? That's more worldbuilding, but it ties in with the magic.)

EDIT: This system seems as though it might be very fun as far as personal spellcasting is concerned... but there is one big set of questions: How does it apply to enchantments - or, in a larger sense, technology? How useful are these outside combat? Magic should be good for builders as well, of course. That said, for technology, do the cards have to be literally represented by cards, or can people visualize them as something else - and enchant other objects, by extension? Also, do you think the products of technology can all be made using the given Sources, or might there have to be additional ones or expanded source definitions for things like mechanisms and data?

Maybe some minor enchantments could - for example - function like spell scrolls in some games, negating component requirements and providing quick casting triggers but being consumed on use (and requiring preparation). Passive enchantments could provide buffs and the like. More effective enchantment might produce foci that enhance certain spells - or, adding on to the above, ones that can be used to produce spell effects without the need to be trained in magic; in other words, true magitech.

Before I continue, do realize that I wrote all of that on the spot from fragmented memories of a dream. It's hardly a concrete ready to use system and may in fact be barely a rough draft.

Evil Minion wrote:

(Before anything else, I'll just get this out of the way: Vito cards should be usable to make people offers they can't refuse.* *rimshot*)

Interesting. The idea of being able to shuffle spells at will is nice - I'll have to think about this, and of course, wait for feedback from everyone else.

Not so at-will. It would take a certain amount of concentration, if you're very fast it could take up one full post in a combat scenario if you know just what you want. It'd take skill, but your body would be vulnerable during that time.

But yes, you could shuffle your available cards to form new spells, replacing old ones or using unfilled spell slots (Represented perhaps differently to every mind, but the general idea would be they're a collection of sockets a card can be planted in to represent the spell being created), whenever you want.
For most people though, it's entirely ineffective to do on the fly.
Though on-the-fly shuffling could be a special ability unique to certain individuals.

We could also restrict shuffling to dreams, taking anywhere from fifteen minutes to eight-12 hours or however long you sleep so long as you can enter a deeper level of the sleep cycle.

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Some comments and questions, though Here's a wall of feedback:
-I would have expected Geo effects to be long-lasting instead of the reverse, but comparatively slow; earth and stone are normally associated with permanence.

Is that not what I said -.-;?

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-Photo doing less damage? You just nerfed the crap out of laser spells. Philosophically, I can't agree with that... for obvious reasons. Light isn't just meant to be support magic. On that count, though, I suppose this includes more than just blindness - illusions and the like.

Photo is incredibly useful, but it's simply hard to damage with. It's light afterall, in reality light hardly damages anyone (Though radiation associated with it may cause sunburns and deadly disease...). However it can be a useful carrier for special effects or use in other means.

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-I'm guessing buffs are mostly Vito-based, magnetism is usually Ferro/Electro, and things like force walls are Gyro... although, there is one thing I'm wondering about here: Should time, space, and gravity really all be in that one source? For that matter, are spatial distortions part of Gyro?

Buffs can be fluffed in a variety of ways. A pyro source could provide fire resistance or so on, while a photo or electro source may be used for speed enhancements. Photo is very useful as it also represents positive ties and connections.

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-Having some immortal soul thing (and having a whole section dedicated to 'life essence') usually comes with all the baggage that implies some meddling unnatural deity figure. I was counting on having no gods around to screw with things. That, and the issue of whether other lifeforms can have souls. They probably should, in any case.

? Gods can exist anywhere. Here, deific figures may simply be beings who have vast stores of cards and spells at many levels. The Psyche of a god would be interesting.
Gods may even have special "Heresy" cards dealing with Psyche. Psycho cards, dealing with the mind and the very realm associated with the cards in general, mind manipulation, thought reading, soul binding, ect.
Such Psycho cards wouldn't be available to others, however. But things such as thought reading can be accomplished through crude mimicry of other sources.
The gods may even use Psycho sources to bind souls to their own Psyche in a form of afterlife. Their Psyches being vastly different from the psyches of "mortals" due to reformation using Psycho cards. Effectively turning their Psyches into new planes of existence.

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-What about abilities that aren't covered by the sources? Expansion cards, or automatic heresy? What exactly determines canon and heresy, anyway? That also hinges on having some god or pantheon around to stir up trouble and enforce some predestination crap.

Abilities that aren't covered usually are, in fact, covered in some way by other sources. But if they are not, Heresy cards can be formed under approval.
The Psycho source as I mentioned above would be an example of a Heresy card. Though a very guarded Heresy card.

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-Are we even bothering with conservation laws and the like here? Some of this stuff draws on physics and the rest doesn't.

Perhaps just enough to make it feel shiny, while not abandoning it entirely.

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-Does it have to rely on conventional symbolism? Mostly applied to light and dark. This pretty much enforces light being good and dark being evil, and that gets boring. Maybe a new source for mental effects with different applications, like the life element? Granted, that puts a bit of a nerf on darkness, but that could be merged with light.

No. No conventional symbolism may be necessary. The Arcana and Zodiac cards may very well indeed rely on symbolism. But Photo and Erebo are simply sources, with no direct relation to any morality. Same with Vito's Wane effects.

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-If the personal cards are tied to character traits, and they also put restrictions on magic... that prevents people from playing against type somewhat, which ruins the nice modular feel of the spell system. Related to the last point; I don't think the magic itself should be too linked to personality or moral affinity.

They could go against type, it'd just cost more to utilize cards of a restricted type. Meanwhile cost less and/or have special effects for utilizing specialty sources.
It may or may not be linked to the Personal cards.

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-On review, I don't see any sources with no special effects. Just an observation.

Ferro and Geo have no special effect. It's simply by nature of the source that they are lasting effects.

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-How do we determine the total number of usable cards in the caster's mindspace at a given time? If I'm reading this correctly, the cards are mental constructs, so is there actually a limit to the size and content of the current 'deck'? Would people, say, need training to use a certain Source/Herald then have an infinite supply?

There is no limit on the total number of cards, but the amount they would have would indeed be finite. New cards could be earned through missions or training, or perhaps traded between players or sold in IC shops using a currency linked to OOC.
However, the number of cards they can use would be limited to available slots. Perhaps for an example, an F-rank spell may have only three slots. One of course would be required to have a source for there to be any effect. But you may have three or five such F-rank spells starting out, for a total of perhaps fifteen available slots.

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-Might the ranked spells be based on different configurations, which may or may not have special effects tied to the positioning of the cards in addition to the number usable? If so, can they be custom-made or improved? Also, something related - the possibility of pre-made spells, found or taught as filled diagrams of certain configurations, with powerful spell patterns possibly being highly valuable (at least, the first time) and certain basic sequences commonly traded or passed around.

Pre-made spells? The closest would be a set of cards coming together with a specific pattern in mind.
Various sequences can be widely known. Much like blueprints for various devices in reality are known. Or a recipe for a really tasty hamburger. Things get around.

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...and the nitpicks:
-The sources are inconsistently Latin and Greek. Might want to look into that. Means we'll probably end up with a mostly Greco-Roman inspired setting, unless someone bothers looking up Asian symbolism or something. Oh, and zodiac motifs would be pretty screwy in a whole different solar system with multiple inhabited planets.

I didn't care, I wrote everything on the spot. No judging meeeee~!

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-Oh, good, it doesn't have a Pure Energy thing in it anywhere.

Still on about that? Pure Energy was referring to nothing but energy. It's simply energy, not stick or some shitzle under or with it.

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*This is actually tempting me to roll up a Mafioso necromancer for fun.

(Oh, and thoughts on my last post before that vote? That's more worldbuilding, but it ties in with the magic.)

EDIT: This system seems as though it might be very fun as far as personal spellcasting is concerned... but there is one big set of questions: How does it apply to enchantments - or, in a larger sense, technology? How useful are these outside combat? Magic should be good for builders as well, of course. That said, for technology, do the cards have to be literally represented by cards, or can people visualize them as something else - and enchant other objects, by extension? Also, do you think the products of technology can all be made using the given Sources, or might there have to be additional ones or expanded source definitions for things like mechanisms and data?

I've been waiting to reply to this one~
Enchantments are done by accessing the more symbolic psyche of the object, it's not a real psyche as is shared among sentient beings but is a representation of it's influence on reality.
By binding cards to the object through this manner, you produce enchantments and even connections. With two Photo sources you could link two objects with a positive connection, in combination with Erebo sources for negative connections you can form a sort of arcane circuit.
Using Pyro sources you could generate heat, Cold sources you could have the object sap heat, Elecro sources could generate electricity quite easily while perhaps Erebo sources could store energy (representing a void to be filled, or otherwise empty space).

There may be a variety of things you might create. Using Vito and Electro or Gyro in a system you might create a barrier of electricity or force barring an entry way, while Vito may be able to detect certain individuals or individuals in general through which to open or close this barrier. Perhaps Geo, Ferro, or Chloro for more physical barriers such as a metal, stone, or wood door.
Yay magic automatic doors!
In a similar vein, you may simply have an open entry way while Vito detects individuals or pests to zap them with an attack.

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Maybe some minor enchantments could - for example - function like spell scrolls in some games, negating component requirements and providing quick casting triggers but being consumed on use (and requiring preparation). Passive enchantments could provide buffs and the like. More effective enchantment might produce foci that enhance certain spells - or, adding on to the above, ones that can be used to produce spell effects without the need to be trained in magic; in other words, true magitech.

*Shrug* sure.




And to address the school idea, schools are boring...
Centering a whole forum hosted game setting around a school is awfully drab and indeed quite overdone.
Schools would simply be a part of the world, not the center of the world~

Tied into the solar system concept, an Inner world school may be very renown for it's magical education, and would be a prominent location for reference within that world's subforum where players should they so wish may visit and may host training topics and whatever there to learn new stuff.

My vote is for everything. By the way, sorry Evil Scarlet but I did not read the last 3 posts. I have a low attention span and I hate laptops. My computers gunna be back and hopefully fixed tomorrow so maybe I'll read them then.

P.S. How about a free talk by tomorrow? I've got a spamming itch that I just can't scratch.

Scarlet Other wrote:

Before I continue, do realize that I wrote all of that on the spot from fragmented memories of a dream. It's hardly a concrete ready to use system and may in fact be barely a rough draft.

Right. That's mostly why the wall was so long: I like the base idea, so I'm helping to hammer out something that might work.

Regarding shuffling in dreams versus on the fly: We should make combat spell-swapping a mid or high-level skill that can be learned. Makes sense to me, anyway.

As for the Geo line: Oh, bugger. I misread. Never mind.

I still think light should be able to make some impressive laser spells without too much extra effort. On another note, I suppose Plasma would be an Electro/Aero dual-source and thus a higher-level spell type.

Buffs... actually, I meant things like increased strength and the like specifically being Vito. Any word on how magnetism works, and whether we'd really be throwing spacetime in with Gyro? I think time should be paired with spatial distortion as its own source, or it would make Gyro too powerful.

For the symbolism part, I was mostly referring to light being associated with 'positive' emotions and dark with 'negative' emotions. Those are very conventional, and both of them are things I think would fit better under the Psycho header... which brings this back to heresy cards and sources, and my thoughts on merging Photo and Erebo. (Psycho was actually exactly what I was thinking of.)

Again, who/what exactly defines the Heresy designation and why? I'll admit, I always did think of gods as merely superpowered mages... but I was looking into making this a world without anything that can really be called one.

As for personal archetypes giving bonuses/penalties to spellcasting... on one hand, in some cases it could make sense, but on the other hand, I wouldn't want to have to pay extra penalties to roll a nice, cheerful Erebo/Wane mage or something.

Tentatively, the card slot part sounds good. Although... does doubling up on the same Source do anything, and if so, why would a mage need to learn the same Source twice to use two of its cards? Unless I'm misreading or doubled Source is pointless, we'd have to fluff that one or assume Source cards alone are more like limitless card pools than finite attachments like the Heralds. Oh, and anything about configurations?

Hm. When I thought of pre-made spell patterns, it was mostly in blueprint form... but reading it again now, there is the possibility of finding whole (but extremely rare, no doubt) packs of cards with a special configuration. That kind of thing would probably be the equivalent of finding a powerful magic artifact.

For the nitpicks... well, that's why they're nitpicks. Although the lack of references to free-floating energy was meant as a plus point.

Enchantment section on magitech is wonderful stuff - all of it, especially the doors - but if the cards you have are finite, wouldn't they be consumed this way? This may or may not be a bad thing. Depends on how much people like micromanaging their sources.

Oh, and again, do they have to be visualized as cards or can they be different things? I would think it might vary a lot depending on the species and/or the tradition the mage comes from. (The focus on nontraditional symbols, associations, and species is probably my iconoclastic side showing or something.)

(Also, if we eventually end up dedicating an entire source to void for whatever reason - I'm still standing by Photo/Erebo merging - Nihilo is probably appropriate.)



Schools: Agreed. A whole forum focused only on a Magic Academy would frankly be a waste of this. Actually, you might not see it, but I'm pretty stoked for this system if we can get it off the ground. On that note, magic strength being higher near the center makes more sense using this than with the last crystal-core idea, assuming the local sun/s are where all the magic of the cards is coming from.

Evil Minion wrote:

Right. That's mostly why the wall was so long: I like the base idea, so I'm helping to hammer out something that might work.

Regarding shuffling in dreams versus on the fly: We should make combat spell-swapping a mid or high-level skill that can be learned. Makes sense to me, anyway.

Makes total sense for people to develop quicker shuffling.

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As for the Geo line: Oh, bugger. I misread. Never mind.

I still think light should be able to make some impressive laser spells without too much extra effort. On another note, I suppose Plasma would be an Electro/Aero dual-source and thus a higher-level spell type.

I care more about light actually being fast than dealing damage. "Lasers" deal very little damage in reality and they may never deal enough damage. Anything they do irl such as in antimissiles is to deliver heat from a distance in sustained force to cause the missile to detonate harmlessly away.
Lasers can generate a lot of heat... but this is also in very concentrated forms... And it also requires a heck of a lot to produce that.

Thus Light spells would be fast and take a lot of work to deal damage. Any damage you get through a light spell would be fair, since it's hard to dodge or defend against a light spell.

They may also be used to carry other effects, and combining a Light source with a Fire source could be effective.

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Buffs... actually, I meant things like increased strength and the like specifically being Vito. Any word on how magnetism works, and whether we'd really be throwing spacetime in with Gyro? I think time should be paired with spatial distortion as its own source, or it would make Gyro too powerful.

Indeed. Vito would involve most things regarding biology.
Ah. Gyro was originally going to be magnetism. But I replaced it with what it is now, since it accomplishes the same effect with more variety and options.

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For the symbolism part, I was mostly referring to light being associated with 'positive' emotions and dark with 'negative' emotions. Those are very conventional, and both of them are things I think would fit better under the Psycho header... which brings this back to heresy cards and sources, and my thoughts on merging Photo and Erebo. (Psycho was actually exactly what I was thinking of.)

They most definitely are associated with positive and negative emotions and connections.

Perhaps Psycho can be a standard card after all, I don't see how Photo and Erebo can or should be merged though. Gyro has a lot, but a merged Photo and Erebo would have even more...

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Again, who/what exactly defines the Heresy designation and why? I'll admit, I always did think of gods as merely superpowered mages... but I was looking into making this a world without anything that can really be called one.

I don't see whats not to see, Heresy cards are simply nonstandard. New cards, Unique cards, cards that aren't supported. It's like saying Cold Fusion is science to modern science. Or like how people use to say "Beam me up Scotty" whenever someone tried to mention black holes to science a few decades ago.

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As for personal archetypes giving bonuses/penalties to spellcasting... on one hand, in some cases it could make sense, but on the other hand, I wouldn't want to have to pay extra penalties to roll a nice, cheerful Erebo/Wane mage or something.

*shrug* There would be little value in them if they did not have such an impact.
Granted I have no idea what to do with them as it is. I only know that they cover physical and mental abilities that are more innate...
Perhaps they could be scrapped entirely, but I like how it would give more depth.

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Tentatively, the card slot part sounds good. Although... does doubling up on the same Source do anything, and if so, why would a mage need to learn the same Source twice to use two of its cards? Unless I'm misreading or doubled Source is pointless, we'd have to fluff that one or assume Source cards alone are more like limitless card pools than finite attachments like the Heralds. Oh, and anything about configurations?

Doubled source would be pointless in many situations. However you might have doubled sources in circuits to accomplish different things, while Erebo or Gyro and such cards may easily double up to get both a life and death effect from two Vito cards or both a time and gravity effect for Gyro, or so on...

Sources are not infinite, you'd require multiple source cards to power multiple spells.

I'm not sure what you mean by configurations.

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Hm. When I thought of pre-made spell patterns, it was mostly in blueprint form... but reading it again now, there is the possibility of finding whole (but extremely rare, no doubt) packs of cards with a special configuration. That kind of thing would probably be the equivalent of finding a powerful magic artifact.

Mhm.

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For the nitpicks... well, that's why they're nitpicks. Although the lack of references to free-floating energy was meant as a plus point.

Enchantment section on magitech is wonderful stuff - all of it, especially the doors - but if the cards you have are finite, wouldn't they be consumed this way? This may or may not be a bad thing. Depends on how much people like micromanaging their sources.

They wouldn't be "consumed".. but they would be lost as removing them would quite obviously break that enchantment. There is no power for it anymore.

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Oh, and again, do they have to be visualized as cards or can they be different things? I would think it might vary a lot depending on the species and/or the tradition the mage comes from. (The focus on nontraditional symbols, associations, and species is probably my iconoclastic side showing or something.)

The cards appear on the Psyche as cards because that is their form on the Psyche. The Psyche is collective, not individual. Think of it as an alternate dimension through which many pocket dimensions are located.

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(Also, if we eventually end up dedicating an entire source to void for whatever reason - I'm still standing by Photo/Erebo merging - Nihilo is probably appropriate.)

Nihilo would have a lot of things going on... But sure thing.

Psycho is not a Heresy afterall, but not as powerful as I made it out to be.

Photo/Erebo are now Nihilo.

However, it doesn't work as well when making circuits. Since there is littler reason for Nihilo to represent positive or negative connections anymore... Meanwhile it seems silly having Psycho function for that..

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Schools: Agreed. A whole forum focused only on a Magic Academy would frankly be a waste of this. Actually, you might not see it, but I'm pretty stoked for this system if we can get it off the ground. On that note, magic strength being higher near the center makes more sense using this than with the last crystal-core idea, assuming the local sun/s are where all the magic of the cards is coming from.

The idea is the Crystal Star is a massive Psicrystal. A psicrystal is a crystal containing psychic energy not quite as we know it to be in typical fantasy or speculation. The crystal is so large it over flows with this energy to permeate the surrounding areas. It's inner glow is powerful enough to be very bright, while life is primarily sustained through this psychic energy. It is essentially a very slow thinking and barely sentient god.

Life that has flourished in the shadow of it's power have learned to tap this energy, which is why it is capable of magic effects since it is the same energy that is the effectively the same energy the reality itself is made of. These "cards" are representations of effects in easier to manage form. The overlaying Psyche dimension covers the material, a card used in the Psyche has it's effect on the real world as described.

By activating them, inhabitants of this system are able to perform these extraordinary deeds.

Or something like that...

Regarding lasers: I see your point. Well, at least there are some rather interesting combinations, such as light and an Electro source...

I think Gyro might be more accurately named as the Source dedicated to spacetime (or space, if the name is that unwieldy, which it might be). In keeping with its full scope.

See, the whole point of what I'm suggesting with Photo/Erebo/Psycho is that I find it problematic to associate positive and negative emotions with light and darkness respectively - that's Earth cultural baggage, and it's what I mean by traditional symbolism (since it effectively reinforces light=good, dark=bad). Emotional manipulation seems like a predominantly Psycho thing to me - so I suggested separating that from Photo and Erebo, adding it to Psycho, and merging what remains of Photo/Erebo to make up for power loss.

I get that heresy cards are nonstandard - but that doesn't explain how the 'standard' is determined, or why people would still be thinking of things so religiously in what I presume is still the far future of an interplanetary society that, in the end, isn't that similar to ours.

Personal cards... we'll have to think about that in more detail later. It would help if I had an actual list of effects for them.

All right, so source cards are finite like any other; how is that rationalized in the fluff? That makes things less of - for example - 'learning how to use fire magic' and more 'learning one specific unit of Fire-ness at a time'. To be honest, I imagined the Sources themselves as templates that can be learned, but ordinarily have little power on their own - and Heralds as discrete units that add a certain amount of power directed in certain ways. The former, once learned, would be applicable to as many spell constructs as desired. The latter would be the consumable ones. Sort of... Sources being not so much cards as archetypes that shape the rest of the spell.

As for the configurations - I noticed the similarities to tarot, so I was thinking about the possibility that different layouts for a spell, as in different positions for the cards that also put a limit on the number of cards that can be used in them, could have different effects. Arranging cards in a circle versus a cross shape, for example.

Ah, damn. I somehow missed the part about the Psyche being a fully collective plane of existence. (Not a dimension, though. Dimensions are space-time things and probably under Gyro or any potential rename of it.) Well, then, I would assume at least different forms of the Psyche depending on the planet - unless they all developed from the same culture, which limits things quite a bit, but does simplify things quite a lot. A world inhabited by golems might see them as colored rock/crystal chips or something.

...oooh, damn, my bad. I didn't mean that Nihilo would replace Photo and Erebo - only that Photo/Erebo would be merged into pure physical light and its inverse, similar to Vito containing death as well as life; the mental effects of Photo/Erebo would go to Psycho; and possibly a whole different Source would be made for Void and general negativity, which incidentally is the fifth element in the Japanese set of classical elements. I'm just not sure whether that warrants a separate Source.

Circuits might just have to rely on the old-fashioned way: Pointing Electro in one direction or the other. Or, if Nihilo's worth making by itself, mixing some of that in.

So the sun is not actually a sun? I... can imagine that being problematic. Also, it prevents us from throwing anyone into it and expecting them to be properly vaporized. At the most, I'm willing to say the crystal core generates a hell of a lot of plasma. Otherwise, all that fusion would just have the side effect of radiating a lot of magic (which - in a sense - still fits, as you described it as the force that produces reality, and fusion is probably the closest thing to a fundamental process of creation.)

Either way, it could still technically be a primordial god of magic. I usually fluff spirits and the like as magic simulating neural electricity, which basically amounts to a crapload of plasma made to move in specific patterns.

The last paragraph keeps making my inner dictionary twitch. It's the voice in my head constantly reminding me that no, energy isn't something that has physical form by itself; and dimensions are Length/Width/Height/Time, the Psyche must be a plane of existence or a pocket universe... but for once, the terminology is only slightly less important than the fact that I'm having fun contributing to building this particular system.

Evil Minion wrote:

I get that heresy cards are nonstandard - but that doesn't explain how the 'standard' is determined, or why people would still be thinking of things so religiously in what I presume is still the far future of an interplanetary society that, in the end, isn't that similar to ours.

The standard would obviously be the ones listed while Heresy cards are not listed...

Heresy cards are new cards, or cards deemed illegal. Cards that through their use potentially harm the Psyche due to perhaps actually consuming energy rather than using energy. This may simply be in nature that it is new, and not a byproduct of the Crystal Star's creation, but the influence of the other beings withing.

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Personal cards... we'll have to think about that in more detail later. It would help if I had an actual list of effects for them.

The point is that I don't have any effects for them. So yes, that would be helpful indeed. Who knows , maybe in my dreams tonight that part will clarify itself as well.

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All right, so source cards are finite like any other; how is that rationalized in the fluff? That makes things less of - for example - 'learning how to use fire magic' and more 'learning one specific unit of Fire-ness at a time'. To be honest, I imagined the Sources themselves as templates that can be learned, but ordinarily have little power on their own - and Heralds as discrete units that add a certain amount of power directed in certain ways. The former, once learned, would be applicable to as many spell constructs as desired. The latter would be the consumable ones. Sort of... Sources being not so much cards as archetypes that shape the rest of the spell.

Just in case: Cards aren't consumed. They're used and reused. Casting a spell wont burn all those cards up, the spell is still there with all the cards perfectly fine.

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As for the configurations - I noticed the similarities to tarot, so I was thinking about the possibility that different layouts for a spell, as in different positions for the cards that also put a limit on the number of cards that can be used in them, could have different effects. Arranging cards in a circle versus a cross shape, for example.

I figured as much.
However, that seems like it would be exceptionally difficult to pull off. See if you can pull up a rough draft?

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Ah, damn. I somehow missed the part about the Psyche being a fully collective plane of existence. (Not a dimension, though. Dimensions are space-time things and probably under Gyro or any potential rename of it.) Well, then, I would assume at least different forms of the Psyche depending on the planet - unless they all developed from the same culture, which limits things quite a bit, but does simplify things quite a lot. A world inhabited by golems might see them as colored rock/crystal chips or something.

Perhaps Plane would be a better word than dimension. Similar, but I've always viewed planes as layers upon layers rather than completely separate things.
Culture means nothing, the Psyche would remain the same throughout the Star's sphere of influence.
As I stated, the cards would always be cards... for the additional OOC reason of staying away from overcomplicating shiz.

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...oooh, damn, my bad. I didn't mean that Nihilo would replace Photo and Erebo - only that Photo/Erebo would be merged into pure physical light and its inverse, similar to Vito containing death as well as life; the mental effects of Photo/Erebo would go to Psycho; and possibly a whole different Source would be made for Void and general negativity, which incidentally is the fifth element in the Japanese set of classical elements. I'm just not sure whether that warrants a separate Source.

Void is an aspect of darkness itself here and not a separate source, to represent negative connections or emptiness. A void source itself would fall far too closely to a Heresy sort of card, with the idea of destroying psyche or what not. So while a Void source may exist, it would be prohibited.
Nihilo would have to mimic the use of negative connections and energy storing in it's stead.

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Circuits might just have to rely on the old-fashioned way: Pointing Electro in one direction or the other. Or, if Nihilo's worth making by itself, mixing some of that in.

So the sun is not actually a sun? I... can imagine that being problematic. Also, it prevents us from throwing anyone into it and expecting them to be properly vaporized. At the most, I'm willing to say the crystal core generates a hell of a lot of plasma. Otherwise, all that fusion would just have the side effect of radiating a lot of magic (which - in a sense - still fits, as you described it as the force that produces reality, and fusion is probably the closest thing to a fundamental process of creation.)

That last part, is it not essentially what I said?

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Either way, it could still technically be a primordial god of magic. I usually fluff spirits and the like as magic simulating neural electricity, which basically amounts to a crapload of plasma made to move in specific patterns.

Indeed. It IS a very powerful entity. It's just rather slow and perceives things over a wide frame of time. Or who knows, it could be a more literal deity people may contact. But that'd be kinda problematic. The overtime perception would be niftier, it'd sense over a matter of decades or centuries in order to judge the quality of life in order to throw in the occasional safe-humanity shtick or occasionally throw a "chosen hero" into the pot (Wouldn't play well in a multiplayer forum site but just say'n).

Right, then... actually, the Heresy label just seems to imply a society that's not particularly accepting of scientific change (and it is scientific, in the context of this world). More suited to the High Middle Ages than the far-off future. I don't think any of the magic should be permanently consumed by any source; in this case, I'm sticking with a form of conservation of energy. Anyway - unless we move the timeline back, to a magic-fueled Scientific Revolution, perhaps we should consider an environment that - instead of dividing magic into canon and heretic cards - actually encourages the creation (or discovery, depends on how you look at it) of new magic, although with necessary restrictions - in this case, basic magical safety laws, as with any new scientific development that hasn't been fully tested.

I do indeed know that cards normally aren't consumed - but that was in response to them being finite. If I'm reading this right... an example:
Example Character starts out with one of each Herald, three-card spell slots, and some brand new training in Pyro. The Pyro card is added to one spell, with Distance and Edge, to create presumably a basic ranged fire slash. Does that leave the character with no more possible spells due to the lack of an unused Source (and zero free Duration/Edge Heralds), or can the same card be used in multiple spell configurations? In the template setup I mentioned, that Pyro card would be usable in as many spells as the mage has slots, but the Heralds would have to be obtained multiple times - so this character would have no more Edge/Distance for their next Pyro spells, and so on. Otherwise, they would have to learn one Pyro card for every fire spell, which feels strange out of game mechanics.
(Also, are the Herald bonuses for Sources innately part of the Source card? I'm guessing yes. Just to be sure, though.)

Configurations might need about as much work as personal cards. I'll think about that one.

The Psyche being universal simplifies things, but requires a handwave to justify why it takes a particular form. Cards not being cards and the Psyche manifesting differently would simply have been a visual thing - everything would function the same way, but be perceived differently depending on what happens to be meaningful to a culture.

Hm. I see the point - a true Nihilo, or effectively antimatter/antimagic Source, would probably be the one thing I might accept as a 'heretical' card in a late-history timeline... at least, unless someone were to produce a way of converting other nonmagic particles back into psyche, and a reliable containment for Nihilo effects. As for darkness... my issue with associating darkness and negativity still stands. It's a very human way of thinking - that need to fear the dark. To different beings, it might be the light that's harsh and fearsome. Homo sapiens aren't always the focus.
Alternate possibilities:
Photo (light, minus positive emotion aspects), contains Erebo (darkness and maybe that pseudo-void to make up for the loss of negative emotion) as a subSource/inversion effect.
Psycho adopts the emotional manipulation aspects of the original Photo/Erebo.
Gyro possibly split into itself (plus MAYBE magnetism or an alternative place to put the emptiness/false-void association) and a new source:
Spatio/Keno/Cosmo (too many names, I know), which controls spatial dimensions and time, and Kenon also happens to mean void.

I read your paragraphs on the sun as stating that it isn't actually a star in the normal sense, but an enormous, glowing, highly magical crystal sphere. What I mentioned involved the sun being an actual star, either with a magical crystal core or simply creating magic as a by-product of its nuclear fusion.

No chosen heroes. I did say destinies and the like don't sit well with me. Also, it won't necessarily be the safety of *humanity*... and there is one more thing. This thing thinks like an Ent, only stretched out into geological time scales - who's to say that it's benevolent or actively malevolent? It might just not care. One 'moment' and all the little creatures borrowing fragments of its vast power disappear like dust on the solar wind. Another 'blink' of a cosmic eye and what do you know? There's a whole new set of microbes.

As for those who think I don't work much, let's not forget that this site is my brainchild, and I have my examinations going on. Almost everything else apart from this has been done by me.

I probably would have contributed a lot more, if it weren't for the fact that my examinations are going on and I'll be killed if I do not get at least 9 A grades, but here's an idea.

Instead of having a country leader, we could have a senate that controls a planet, with 5 senators per planet. Each senator has a continent of his own. There can be inter-planet wars, and maybe 5 planets, and two unexplored planets. There need not be elections or any such thing, but we can add some more features, like the challenge bit, that prevents just a few people being in absolute power, and everybody gets a chance to try for senator. So, this has no original idea, and I may just be repeating what may have been said before, since I didn't have the time to go through every word, but I just wanna contribute and not feel like the 20th wheel or something.

Wait. Hold on.

Why would there be so many senators at this point? I think by now they wouldn't need to subdivide the planets.

...if there's a whole cooperative government, why are they still having internal wars? Is this a proper government or just kind of like the UN?

Also, explain the "challenge bit".

How about we start RPing with an idea with a few characters that we could quickly make and if we like the idea we could either make new ones or expand on the ones we made and start with that. If we don't like the idea we could try another one and either change a bit about the characters we made for the last or just make new ones. Rinse and repeat until we find one we like. Just an idea.