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Thread: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    Hiya again. Another thread, another load of drivel!

    I will start the discussion on magic by posting a few documents on it, then there is PLENTY to tell about how magic will affect the game, for sure, indeedy!

    OLLLD DOCUMENT ON MAGIC

    THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF MAGIUC....I'm draining the older documnets that were written 9-10 yearsago, and finding some gems, albeit they have maybe evolved since then. Treeat this as about 60% gospel


    WEIRDING

    Weirding is the process of warping energy from the Ley lines through the body to achieve a ‘magical’ effect. The Weirder gathers the energy and formulates the way of dispersal in his mind, then unleashes it as he wishes. Unfortunately, the more energy he taps, the higher the chance is that he will be overcome by it himself.

    The actuality of Ley use is that the mage siphons off Ley from his surroundings for one or any number of turns, stores the power, builds it up, then unleashes it into a matrix of thought that directs the power. He has to be able to see his target, as magic is a direct form of Ley manipulation. However, Ley is insubstantial and can cover distance like light, so he doesn’t have to be able to touch any target.

    Tactically, a mage, or unit of mages, can be used like artillery or other support, but often can fight well themselves. An ability to manipulate Ley power doesn’t need vast training, although high Vividity levels show that a mage has pursued the art further than a mage who is ‘average’ but can fight well. The Moonchilde Ildiri can fight well, and have limited use of magic, but an Ildiri Masque is likely to have studied more, although they do reasonably well in combat.

    Usually, individual mages do not have a great deal of power. They often gather in numbers to warp the Ley through their bodies, as this lesser concentration, strengthened by the group, lends itself to safer, more powerful displays of magic.

    As with all Ley usage, the amount of power depends upon the actual area the Weirder is in. The categories are listed in the centre of the book – the pull-out chart section.

    With the Ley, there are several areas of study, and not all races lend themselves towards more than a couple of schools. They tend to abhor certain usage, due to it’s nature and implementation. Some magic is of questionable merit, and the Samhain is ‘barred’ from any field of modern study. The mass of Smahaini were destroyed many moons ago, yet some Druids do still exist.

    The Federation have a total ban on Magic, and most who show aptitude are found in the Penal Battalions after being incarcerated at a young age.

    Of course, there are more forms than you will find here, but generally, they will reveal themselves if it’s deemed necessary in following rules publications.

    VIVIDITY

    Vividity is the measure of power a Weirder can contain. Should he come near or breach this level, he must take a test to see if the Ley destroys him, possibly affecting those around him. Losing sides in battles have been known to have individual fanatics commit suicide just to cause that extra bit of damage, or to cover a general retreat. Sadly, the mage(s) involved perish, but there are those that say ‘one life for many’.

    Thus, a mage with High Vividity is able to contain the transition of more Ley. This does not necessarily reflect knowledge, but does limit power. Weirders who study longer do develop higher levels of Vividity, but it often does not preclude them training in other skills – they still have limited dissemination of knowledge.

    Often the Weirder will stick with one form of Magic, but you do find masters of several schools.




    NATURE OF MAGIC AND COLOURS
    MAGIC is built around colours, the twelve that course through the spectrum of the thirteenth colour - pure Ley....a grey pulsing thing, alive and destructive at one turn, creative at another - all things are absorbed into one, which is wild and virtually uncontrollable. It can BE commanded as such, but by avatars that are there from the birthing by the Mother Dragon before she becomes a Sun. Those ancient and massive creatures are mostly silent, but not very often does an entire mountain range move, and when it does, it's blindness causes massive destruction through no cognizant thought pattern - so vast are they that they can annihilate entire cities before they realize what they've done. Luckily, they sleep most of the time.

    The Others can also use raw ley. These are the Avatars that exist in the Farstream, GODS to those who see themselves as mortal.

    THE COLOURS OF LEY ARE EIGHTFOLD AND CONTAIN ALL WITHIN THEIR SINGULAR BOUNDS. READ AWAY....

    Each Colour has a directive, a way, a living pulse. These have an antitheses, a colour that meets and involves mutual annihilation...or simply a soundless collapse of both forces.

    WHITE (Negator BLACK)

    White is the drive of life, of healing, or peace and tranquility. It can bring the dead back from the embrace of death, and it a feeling; a feeling of utter peace.

    BLACK (Negator WHITE)

    Black is death, entropy, the negator of any thing,living or not. It is used to take the dead and in some ways it can give life or at least peace to the dead.

    COPPER (Negator PURPLE)

    The bones of the Dragon, infused within the veins of metal, negator of magic, channeler of it path, the power to strengthen reality; in some ways it is the strongest of all against Abyss

    BROWN (Negator GREEN)

    Stasis, solidity, the skin and scales of the dragon, protector of it, slow, lumbering yet awesome in it's potential. It does not allow for growth, just the maintenance of what lies already.

    YELLOW (Negator SILVER)

    Yellow is Light, the substance of life, alongside the more base colours; all thing need light to thrive, but it has it's boundaries. It is one of the main attacking ley colours, as it generates much, thrives on the erosion of that which is dark.

    ORANGE (Negator BLUE)

    Orange is heat, fire, the energy of rebirth, of rampant destruction, of two sides contained by one, vital for the devastation of the old, and the path to rebirth of the devastated.

    RED (Negator is MERCURY)

    Red is the province of emotion, it both forms, treading a fine line between negative emotion and positive emotion. In it's strength it lies a weakness, for it is a major gateway to the Abyss.

    PURPLE (Negator COPPER)

    Purple is the colour of magic; it is the colour that channels and warps reality. Never a colour elves use, it has a vital undoing; the power to negate reality, it has ties to the abyss. It is the main colour used by Warpers and Abyssal powers.

    GREEN (Negator BROWN)

    Green is evolution, of adaptive change and the harnessing of nature and it's forceful nature in manipulation. It is growth and change.

    BLUE (Negator Orange)

    It is the power of waters, of Liquidity, of alteration and of peace. It has massive power over the Abyss, which it holds in status.

    SILVER (Negator YELLOW)

    Silver is the Colour of the Air, of deep magic, of the realm of the Ildiri - vital to all life, yet it resists and dampens the colour Yellow; light cannot pass through cloud, and it cannot give life through the ash of Orange - it's lesser antithesis.

    MERCURY (negator RED)

    Mercury is the application of movement, yet a movement that is indefinite, colour of those who hold no emotion; of many Avatars and it works in tandem with blue and Silver. Often known as Quicksilver, it governs movement AND resistance in any emotive way.


    I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE.

    NOTE: will read through and expand this quite a bit later


    WAYS TO MANIPULATE LEY

    There are four types of Magic use; four ways to use magic.



    Magic taps into the Ley; basically, the dragon has nerve centres, where ley crystals are the nerves, and the Dragon's Serotonin causes impulses from the brain (the brain is under the north polar ice cap - when they melt, he awakes and flies away). These impulses carry Ley across the whole planet, and can be tapped into by those who are aware of how to do so.



    The Dwarves actually mine the Ley crystals, so cause nerve damage to areas of the Dragon's body, which is why the Elves went to war with them.



    CHANNELING - This is the use of Ley the elves posses knowledge of. Ley is gathered into the bopdy, flows through it, is expelled in a 'spell', which causes whatever effect they wish, then is slowly borken down, gently released back into the Ley Stream. Thus, no damage is done to the Dragon, and the elves have a very powerful magic use, and a conscientious one. Elves have at least 3 colours available to them.



    WEIRDING - The use of magic by humans in the main. Weirding allows the body to store up ley (known as vividity), then expel it as they wish or are able to, BUT the magic is not returned to the Dragon. It swirls within the body, unleashed and then unravels, with only aa small percentage returned; most is lost in the body and in the effect of the spell. More violent than Chenneling, it often has purely damaging colour use, as this is what the humans wish and study for. SHould too much Ley be absorbed, there is wracking - a flood of power beyond the mage's control, which can, at best, obliterate the mage, and, at worst, it can smash uncontrollably from the mage, to savavgely tear at those in 'range'



    WARPING - Warping is the use of Weirding in a more crude an rapacious way, blended with AByssal power, which consumes and destroys the ley it is interwoven with. None of the ley is returned. The Warper is not left unscathed; much damage is done to them, physically and certainly spiritually. Blood Magic is interwoven with AByssal magic, and certainly falls under the remit of Warping, albeit a rather singualr, unique use of it.



    Lastly, there is the WEAVING. Weaving magic is simple; it is the alteration of ley, reloaction of lay into areas that are in need of the power sent into them to bolster and repair damage done by others. The Ley is so closely interwoven with the passge of nearby nLey that no shortfall occurs. New crystals can be made, the power of avatars augmented and many forms of healing and cleansing of anything or anyone on the Dragon's body. It is rarely violent; the only damaging use lies in the weaving of this magic into magic used by weirders and warpers...their spells can be unravelled, so that the beneficial Ley is returned to the Dragon, and the flow of Weirding anmd Warping magic is sent back into the caster, normally (in Weirding) causing a torpor in the mage, or even destroying him should the spell be a powerful of violent one. With Warpers, the magic returns onto them and they are normally consumed by it, utterly destroyed by it. Only the Rhysthari are masters of Weaving, but there are others that use it, albeit not knowingly doing so. The Lily Temple Guards of CHo Tetsu, for example, use Ley this way, as do some amongst the elves. The City of Solace was created this way and is strongly woven with wards and defensive spells.



    it kind of doesn't fit in here, but does, as it's mentioned above...

    THE CITY OF SOLACE


    APOLOGIES for typos


    The City of Solace is a unique place in the vastness of the Dragon, and the reality beyond.



    SOlace was made at the dawn of life on the Dragon. Many say the Rhysthari made it, or the Celestial Elves; others say it is simply something that escaped from the Moon, the Dragon's SOul and the land of the dead.



    WHichever is true, if any theories are, the City draws people to it, leaving their lives of pain and despair behind. It appears in different places, moving even when it has dwellers within it's walls. It may be that those who suffer harshly are taken here to escape the states of mind and body that draw the CThonaes' attention and a possible breach, and it may be that the pain of many draw it to them as a more healthy and benelovent dimension. AGin, those are drawn there that seem to have a need the most, and they live there far beyond their lifespan would normally be.



    There are simple facts..the city grows food within it's walls, enough to fdeed the entire populace, water is drawn from a waterfall that has never been climbed, there is no crime, no violence and people dwell there in a stasis of peace and tranquility. It has been besieged before now - several times by the Ghaurchlai, but has never fallen - it's walls are unbreachable, and those within are often gifted warriors, who withdraw from a life of violence.



    Solace currently resides within the lands of the Bandit Kings. Itweaves a mist around itself that only those that have a need see through, unless magic is used to unveil it. In the Ghaurchlai wars, it have a pivotal role, as the dwellers protected the Void Knight Aden, supporting and protecting him, despite the horrors and deaths that they were consumed by.



    WHy it has reappearsed within the lands of the Bandit Kings is unclear, but it seems that most within the Kingdom can see it - it just depends on who, and how many people decide to fade into it's walls and streets. The inhabitants will defend those that are suffering in the city's chosen realm,a nd it may be that there is some unknown role to play in the near future.



  2. #2
    Borissomeone's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    Some very interesting concepts here. It will be very very interesting to see how this will play out in the actual game. Nice work Squeaks you have put a lot of thought into this and as my little boy says 'More...more...more'... he says this a lot.

    Under the Patronage of TheFirstONeill.

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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    I LOVE this magic system, pure genius in how it works. The more I learn about blood magic and the Abyssal powers, the more it creeps me out (that's a good thing ). I love hearing about the Rysthari having the ability to use ley in a way few else can, they are going to be fun to play as. I'm curious though, will Solace be a Bandit Kings' city, or something else? I really love that city, a place of harmony that travels through the world. Fantastic work.
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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    Quote Originally Posted by Borissomeone View Post
    Some very interesting concepts here. It will be very very interesting to see how this will play out in the actual game. Nice work Squeaks you have put a lot of thought into this and as my little boy says 'More...more...more'... he says this a lot.
    Sure. It'll be quite hard to do it fully. We have a system to do magic which has never been seen or thought of before, so it should be good, if we can pull it off.

    One thing we're hoping to do is make it so you can travel to a certain type of place and make pacts with the avatars that live there. You do what they want and they join your forces. I won't go further into detail with that, but it's entirely possible.

    Quote Originally Posted by Clansman117 View Post
    I LOVE this magic system, pure genius in how it works. The more I learn about blood magic and the Abyssal powers, the more it creeps me out (that's a good thing ). I love hearing about the Rysthari having the ability to use ley in a way few else can, they are going to be fun to play as. I'm curious though, will Solace be a Bandit Kings' city, or something else? I really love that city, a place of harmony that travels through the world. Fantastic work.
    Yes, Blood and AByssal magic are very naughty . Yep, it's good they are powers of foreboding for you, as, again, that means it's done it's job. I'll expand this section when I can, but it will be done at some point...nearer the end we will reveal the full impact of magic on the game, and in the Ghaurchlai Wars Mini-campaign, there'll be a full magic system in place.

    Rhysthari are pretty cool.

    SOlace is a bandit King's settlement, yes. It'll allow them to have some quite odd and powerful units, which they will need. It's also pivotal in the Ghaurchlai Wars campaign, as are the Voidies and the City of Moonthrax, plus there are a couple of minor factions in that campaign that aren't in the full campaign, so you'll have a bit of variety within that too.

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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    looking forward to seeing this in action

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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    Quote Originally Posted by A_Dane View Post
    looking forward to seeing this in action
    Good Sorry I haven't kept up the last couple of days. Remedying it now.

    Well, I guess I should sort of explain the facets of magic we're using in Dragonborn.

    There many more ways magic works than we can represent ingame I think, so we're limiting it to what we can squeeze out of the engine, which we are doing BIGTIME.

    Essentially there are several types of magic that affect the mod.

    MAGIC IN BATTLE:

    Two types;

    Magical weapons. Having both Ley Artillery and ley weapons, you will see projectile from both archers and artillery that harness and then focus raw magic in an attack. They will outgun normal missile weapons for sure, but not stupidly - there will be balance.

    Magical Abilities. Well, some of these can be represented by using the abilities units may have in the edu, so we will see some units with special abilities that represent magical ones. We have many units which cause fear, some magically - expect this to be a mjor factor in the game, but also expect units that counter this too....all sorts of stuff will be attempted, and if there's ANY way we can make stuff work, we will. Ideas so far are pretty off-the-wall inh terms of HOW they're being implmented - basically we're fooling the engine into doing stuff it wasn't made to do.

    STRATEGIC MAGIC

    This one I wasn't sure I should talk about, but I will.

    Basically, we have a way of using magic strategically, as well as tactically. You will be able to use magic on the strat map to achieve certain ends. I just can't say much more, but you will be able to cast spells on the strat map.

    AVATARS

    In each place, avatars exist and care for their little kingdom, be it a stream a river or lake (for example). We will have a system in place where you can see avatars on the map and can move generals to parley with them and try to ally them, thus gaining control of that avatar(and it's little minions) for the duration of the the game (unless it dies). They will want something in return of course.

    There. That's some of it. Will leak more as and when I find out they're doable for sure. Hope this sounds good

  7. #7

    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    Now I've fainted again... Quick! Must call on the power of Dragonborn!
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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    mmm...reminds me of He-Man

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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default Re: THE ROLE AND NATURE OF MAGIC IN DRAGONBORN

    SHould have our pics of the first Ley-magic artillery v soon

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