Magic’s Structures and the Chaotic Gems
Defining Magic in a Multiversal sense can seem daunting, but after weeks of examining the works of such authors as Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce, as well as games like Dungeons and Dragons and Final Fantasy, and a serious mental work-out, I think I can do it. As different as magic seems from story to story and Universe to Universe, it’s really all based off the same system of will and Power.
Magic by definition is the use of some sort of energy by a person or group to noticeably alter something near to or related to them. So obviously, all magic requires not only knowledge of the spells and incantations, but the mental strength to make nature conform to your will. Science alters nature using math and objects beyond the human mind and body; Magic does the same things, and more, through pure mental power. The most accomplished mages can do anything they want with merely a determined thought and a glance.
Of course, willpower alone is rarely all that’s required to work magic; otherwise anyone could be a magician. Magic usually requires the user to either be able to tap into energies outside their bodies, such as the Elemental powers, or to posses an object, such as a wand or a pendant, which can tap into the energies for them. How exactly the energy is tapped differs from place to place, but it has to come from somewhere besides the caster him (or her) self. To be able to tap into outside energies yourself, you usually have to be born with the ability, which is why magic can tend to run in families. When it comes to being granted energy tapping abilities, the easiest and possibly most common way to do it results in the newly created mage specializing a particular Elemental Magic, since all you’d have to do is create an imbalance in the Elemental Energies filling you where a perfect or near perfect balance once existed.
Magic’s actual effects can be expressed as a scale based on the Elemental Powers. At one end of the scale, the Elements play such a small role in spells that they cannot be detected, such as in transfigurations, illusions, and some transportations such as levitation. At the other end, the Elements dominate the spell, and obviously include the Black Magic spells seen in the Final Fantasy video games: Fire, Ice, and Thunder, as well as spells like Quake, Tempest, and Flood. Spells can range all across the scale even within a single Universe.
Traditionally, only four Elements are recognized: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, but there are three others: Dark, Light, and Thunder. The first four make up the Primal Energies: powers that are present everywhere and show up more frequently alone in magic than the other three do. These Elements form a wheel of sorts, each one supports two of the others and opposes the last. Fire and Water oppose, as do Earth and Air. Dark and Light are usually used as terms to divide beneficial or good magic from harmful or black magic. However, both Dark and Light are Elements in their own right because they create such divisions. They, as well as Thunder, are called the Balancing Forces. They oppose each other in everything: life versus death, good versus evil, prosperity and peace versus famine and oblivion. Thunder is a neutral force that brings the other six elements together so that they can react with each other. This is best illustrated by a fierce thunderstorm: due to the clouds, darkness fills the air and water pours from the sky to the ground. When the lightning strikes, it moves through Air to strike Earth, creates Light that briefly overcomes the Darkness, and may create a brush Fire that is immediately attacked by the falling Water.
In my universes, seven gemstones exist which may the most powerful conductors of all seven pure Elements ever known. These Chaotic Gems are well named, for the magic they channel tends towards more chaotic purposes unless the wielder has a firm will to direct them the other way. And if all seven gems are used at once by one with a very chaotic mindset, and thus incapable of truly controlling the energies, the resulting chaos may very well form a Tartarus Hole. This can be stopped if even one of the gems is taken by another who has more willpower and directs the gem to cease its Chaotic output.