[Design] Magic: An Initial Sketch

[Lev Lafayette]

--- Carl Brown <catodon at whale-mail.com> wrote:

> 'a single cosmological scheme' works well if your
> building a world 'cos you can use the implications
> of it to add detail, for this reason it is my own
> fav. appraoch to magic. Such an appraoch also has
> the benefit of limiting magic in consistent ways. In
> your case the detail is out there and you are trying
> to make it fit. You could make it fit if you are
> willing to depart from the source material to do so.

As David pointed out (and quite correctly) the
challenge is enormous, especially given that this game
is supposed to be historical-simulationist. 
Effectively what is required is a monomyth for the
myriad of the world's cultures and belief systems.
Attempting such a thing isn't wrong per se, it's just
that it's never been done particularly successfully.
Indeed, a good twenty years of research in the
anthropology and sociology would be required before
even a vague attempt is made at such a project.

David's suggestion of simply adopting the religious
belief systems as they are and let the building blocks
develop from that has appeal.

> A second minor quibble is does this 'beleif
> redefines the universe' cosmology apply beyond
> Earth, to non-humans etc. If the loss of magic is
> unuversal this would imply the relationship is
> inverse to what has been presented. THe obvious
> solution is to simply invoke 'beyond the scope of
> this project'

One must also ask why the tree spirits simply refused
to accept the existence of humans ;-) Again there is
strength in resolving the matter in a political
fashion (i.e., monotheism suppressed magical
practises, destroyed magical creatures, burnt the
texts etc) which does have a nice touch of being
historically accurate.

> Lastly, how much celt myth have you read? where
> would the sidhe fit? they merge the ideas god and
> elf as viewed by the modern reader. humans defeated
> them (in some versions with the 'Lands' help) but
> due to pre-existing bargains with the sidhe the
> animals and plants wouldn't give up the goods to the
> human conquerers until a pact was made including
> sacrifices/taxes to the sidhe.

I've read a fair bit of Celtic myth, particularly
Breton mythology and also various apocrypha concerning
the Celtic Church ("The Land of the Ever Young" etc).
I'm not sure what you mean by "where would the sidhe
fit?". They are a magical species obviously (but so
are humans in this context), but what else do you
mean?

All the best,

Lev

Lev Lafayette
lev_lafayette at yahoo.com.au
http://au.geocities.com/lev_lafayette


		
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