Hi /x/ For the last few month I've been writing a book.

>>19060152

Energetic manipulation of the self and the rest of reality. The caster sends out energy to create a chain reaction resulting in the re-alignment of the energies of existence to match their desired state. Rather like arranging dominoes in a pattern, then flicking one so they fall in to place.

>>19060152
It's not theatrical, but magic is like the gravity of Fate. It's when everything lines up just right in the same moment of time to cause something improbable to happen. You start seeing odd coincidences, synchronicities, having serendipitous little turns of events. It can be influenced. You can manipulate it a bit by wanting to hard enough, by praying or casting spells. And I would say your efforts are as effective as those of a cat at a mousehole. Or you can try to read it, like feeling for currents in water, and try to step into the right place at the right time or out of the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don't see that making good reading. Most people just get sort of a "Spidey sense" or bizarre luck. If it works right, you usually wouldn't notice what you successfully avoid.

Realistically, though, your characters are more important than how they do what they do. A fictional system of magic just needs to be consistent, meaning you as the author needs to know the specifics of the rules of it.

magic is, sort of by definition, some sort of system for getting things done which can't be explained. if somebody figures out how to explain what is happening, it stops being magic and we start calling it science.

"mysticism" is usually something like using magic to do philosophy. trying to enlighten yourself, understand the universe, find meaning in life, improve your mind / soul.

"sorcery" is usually something like using magic to DO stuff. casting spells to make things happen. performing rituals in order to willfully change the world.

of course there's a million little bits and pieces of more specific branches of magic and everyone will argue about what they should be called and how they work. i'm sure plenty of people will already disagree with the terms i've tried to define above.

read up on something like chaos magic theory and get some ideas from people who've attempted to unify everything and figure out the science behind the magic / religion.

in my experience it definitely tends to be pretty subtle stuff and usually requires long periods of preparation and accumulating stuff and lengthy rituals. unfortunately none of that stuff looks good in a video game so we hear a lot about people throwing fireballs around instead. personally i find that kind of stuff to be pretty silly, but i definitely have a hard time separating magic from religion in my head so this stuff is all kind of personal for me and should be approached with a bit of dignity.

>>19061566

holy shit my post is hard to read. i need to start using synonyms for the word "stuff"

'Magic' is just the umbrella term for feats of science that we haven't found the means to properly replicate. If your novel is grounded in 100% reality, there is no conceivable way to alter the universal formula of matter available to us at this time. My suggestion would be to create an event that could possibly happen in this reality, and through that event introduce an unnatural alteration of Earth's atmosphere, birthing new elements or ways to create and shape familiar elements in the new environment.
Remember, magic is a fancy word for the yet unknown.

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I will write my definition of magic in this post and any person in this thread has my permission to copy this definition to their belief system if they choose.

Magic is when a person uses cymatic vibration to affect a desired change in physical reality. I know that technically this is actually a kind of science, however modern science seems to me to shy away from the principles of vibratory mechanics. Many physics students I have met show skepticism at the possibility that cymatic vibration has the efficacy to affect a change in physical reality. Their minds seem to me to only process directional vectors, not vibrational energy modes.

The closest scientific experiment I have seen others do, while using principles of vibration to affect changes in physical reality is acoustic levitation. I believe this is because acoustic levitation uses only a single frequency, and does so in a way that applies a directional vector. These are the mental constraints I believe that I noticed in modern scientists.

A mage then does have the mental constraint of directionality. A mage knows how to apply vibrational energy modes that will affect a desired change in physical reality, without needing to know each and every particle path along the way. The mage instead merely matches the harmonic vibrational energy mode of the desired change with their current vibrational energy mode of their body (possibly through a tool) and finds the difference.

This definition meshes nicely with the concept of chaos magick, since technically words are a sort of vibrational energy mode, and for beings in physical reality, the effects of their actions have a physical component to them. So in the context of chaos magick, my definition of cymatic magic--or psymagic lole!--takes on the role of a sort of telecommunications signal, where people are the network nodes.

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>>19060152
Doubt binds the human condition. What defines humanity is our uncertainty about everything. Our understanding of the universe is filtered through our perception and the universe itself is a mirror of our own perceptions. We use science and logic to minimize human error to reach a greater truth about the universe but absolute truth will always remain elusive for us. And what can't be explained through empirical experiment is not accepted and therefore doesn't exist for the majority of humanity. The reality most people accept is one created by people themselves. Our reality is mutually reinforced by our beliefs, behavior and customs which are drilled into us from birth. To be crazy is to go against what is accepted as normal. What is called magic is the power of intention to shape the universe around us; whether through ritual, totems or pure faith. But humanity shapes the universe around them through the power of intention in many ways that are not considered magical. By using our creative force through art and invention for example. But this doesn't mean those acitivities are no less magical. It means familiarity breeds contempt. And since human creativity is so common it is accepted as mundane. What is called magic is a person exercising his intention-creativity on the universe in a way that is not commonly accepted as possible in our reality.

>>19060170
>>19060284
>>19061566
>>19061750
>>19061670

Thx a lot for the answer guys, really helping me a lot.
If someone wants to go further, i'll give the basic plot of my story for the book.
Basically it takes place in near future. nothing much about technology, but a "great awakening" and unexplained rise of magic occur. The book clearly focus more on characters, existential crisis and trying to deal with all these changes.
The thing is I don't want magic to be a cheap way to explain that crazy shits are happening. I want this world to feel mysterious, a call for adventure and discoveries. But you know, not the fun and exciting kind of world, more of a brutal and unforgiving one (sort of like nature, never cruel, but rough and scary).
I want magic to be perveived as a real enemy of humanity (people would be devided, embrace it or reject it). here I'm not talking about ur dur throwing spells which explode, look at me got a magician wand. More of a psycological magic, helping sharpening the mind and body strengh. I think it could sort of be compared to the force in star wars, but less gay.
I want a big part of the story to be about main character learning the way of "magic", not as a natural talent but a long, psycological progression.

>>19062405

Just off the top of my head and may have been used before:

>nanobots programmed to respond to a particular person's brainwaves and take commands to shape/destroy/change matter

>an expansion of the human mind that takes a massive trauma or rigorous discipline to where a person can see the world on an atomic level and direct energies to manipulate it

>super powerful ayyy lmaos decide to see if humanity is ready to ascend to the next level of being by giving humans the power to make thoughts literally manifest and observing if humanity tears itself apart

>other dimensions where our laws of physics don't apply and magicians can draw energy from these places or make the two dimensions coexist in the same place and negating our reality

>super edgelord demonic/lovecraftian magic where all power is given by malignant deities to evil people. using these powers twists the people into monsters after time. End goal is that the more people that use these powers the more powerful these deities become and can travel into our world

Go ahead and call me an unoriginal fag but that's what came to mind.

>>19060152
magic is spontaneous generation. you basically have to get rid of your biases - long as you dont worship satan as god youre basically fine and on the path, so write your book bravely, be humble, balanced, and pure

>>19060152
Existence

>>19063364
Some pretty good ideas here. The ending of the book is also something I block on. Here you propose ayyy lmaos or some sort of superior power as the key to all that's happening. I guess there must be at some point in the story some god like thingy so the story makes sense. Still have to found out why this powerful figure do all this stuff.

>>19063374
Thx for the advice, will do

>>19060152
you´re not the only one writing the book, strange