thespacekid
children, children
The Setting
The year 2028. Things in the world are more or less peaceful. Small conflicts happen here and there, but not much more. The most significant change to have happened is the rise of megacities. With population and globalisation rising, it was a matter of time before large multicultural cities across the world such as Hong Kong, New York, Mumbai, London, etc turned into city states in their own right. Technology is advancing rapidly, and leaps are being made in various fields such as medical technology, automation, etc. With the rise in surveillance technology, privacy started getting compromised. After overhauls in various systems all over the world, the common direction everyone took was choosing privacy over security, and this led to the decline of social media on a major scale. Yet the common man still lived on unaware of changes around.
An alternate Earth, one where magic pervades society to unimaginable lengths, from secretive exchanges in back alleys to the rise and fall of nations. In a world where magic can be learned, it is heavily cloaked in a web of lies and secrets, designed to keep as many people out of it's realm as possible. However, every once in a while, someone will come across it's secrets, and only those willing to let go of who they were, and their lives before that point and give themselves up completely to the craft are accepted into it's fold. The source of this magic is spirits, commonly called "demons" by magicians, though this term is considered highly offensive by spirits. Magicians can call upon spirits and bind their powers and draw upon them. Everyone is out for their own agenda, and morality falls somewhere black and grey.
Magic
Magic is called upon by summoning spirits from a dimension known commonly as the Other Place. There, spirits roam freely as consciousnesses mixing with each other in a mass of colours.
A magician must draw two circles in order to summon spirits. One circle is where the magician stands and becomes a medium, and the second is the portal where the spirit is summoned. Writing along the circumference of the circle in the language of magic (An ancient language long forgotten and corrupted over time. Contracts can also be spoken out loud, however the reason this is not a practice is because with changes in language and accents, it is almost impossible to know the true pronunciation of the language of magic) the magician can call upon a spirit to perform duties for them. In the circle the magician stands, they write various instructions such as forcing the spirit to communicate in their primary language, ensuring their protection against the spirits influence during the summon, and so on. In the circle acting as a portal, magicians write the true name of the spirit, forcing it to our dimension.
Spirits must be bound to our dimension in some way, or they can escape. Lower spirits, known as Imps and Foliots can be bound to objects, but conventional spirits such as Djinn, Afrits and Mared must be bound to a stronger anchor such as the magician's own body. The magician must also write the task they want the spirit to do. For example, if the magician calls upon a spirit and commands them to increase their bodily size at will, the spirit can only increase their bodily size, and the limit is decided by the power of the spirits themselves. A weaker spirit may enable the magician to grow only a few inches but a more powerful demon may allow the magician to double in size.
Magicians have tried writing multiple tasks in the past, but then the spirit may choose whichever task they want to perform, ending in a failure for the magician. Keep in mind, though, that spirits will always try and break free. In the case of objects, if an object is too heavily damaged, the spirit can break free. In the case of a spirit bound to the magician, as long as the magician is emotionally and mentally stable, the spirit will be under control. The moment this is disturbed, the spirits may be able to overcome the mind of the magician, and break free, causing additional harm on the way out. A spirit too powerful for the magician to control may instantly drive them crazy, or worse, attempt to take over their body and destroy it.
Types of Magic and Spirits
Magic can broadly be divided into two categories - Material Magic and Abstract Magic.
Material Magic can be defined as magic which involves manipulation of the physical world. Abstract Magic can be defined as magic which involves manipulation of perception.
In the lower class demons, ones that can be object-bound, Imps have control over material magic, whereas Foliots have control over abstract magic.
In conventional body-bind demons, Djinn control material magic, Afrits and Marid control abstract magic.
Artifacts
Even more secretive than the knowledge of magic is the knowledge of Magical Artifacts. Objects of incredible power, they are impossible to differentiate from normal objects unless people know exactly what the Artifacts are. Many ancient, many new, nobody really knows how Artifacts are created, and even if they do know, nobody tells. However, what magicians do know about Artifacts is that they contain incredibly powerful demons trapped inside them. To all known knowledge, it should be impossible to keep such demons captive in objects and not directly in the summoner's body, but Artifacts somehow defy the law and remain objects of incredible power. That is, of course, if the summoner can control the demon held within.
The year 2028. Things in the world are more or less peaceful. Small conflicts happen here and there, but not much more. The most significant change to have happened is the rise of megacities. With population and globalisation rising, it was a matter of time before large multicultural cities across the world such as Hong Kong, New York, Mumbai, London, etc turned into city states in their own right. Technology is advancing rapidly, and leaps are being made in various fields such as medical technology, automation, etc. With the rise in surveillance technology, privacy started getting compromised. After overhauls in various systems all over the world, the common direction everyone took was choosing privacy over security, and this led to the decline of social media on a major scale. Yet the common man still lived on unaware of changes around.
An alternate Earth, one where magic pervades society to unimaginable lengths, from secretive exchanges in back alleys to the rise and fall of nations. In a world where magic can be learned, it is heavily cloaked in a web of lies and secrets, designed to keep as many people out of it's realm as possible. However, every once in a while, someone will come across it's secrets, and only those willing to let go of who they were, and their lives before that point and give themselves up completely to the craft are accepted into it's fold. The source of this magic is spirits, commonly called "demons" by magicians, though this term is considered highly offensive by spirits. Magicians can call upon spirits and bind their powers and draw upon them. Everyone is out for their own agenda, and morality falls somewhere black and grey.
Magic
Magic is called upon by summoning spirits from a dimension known commonly as the Other Place. There, spirits roam freely as consciousnesses mixing with each other in a mass of colours.
A magician must draw two circles in order to summon spirits. One circle is where the magician stands and becomes a medium, and the second is the portal where the spirit is summoned. Writing along the circumference of the circle in the language of magic (An ancient language long forgotten and corrupted over time. Contracts can also be spoken out loud, however the reason this is not a practice is because with changes in language and accents, it is almost impossible to know the true pronunciation of the language of magic) the magician can call upon a spirit to perform duties for them. In the circle the magician stands, they write various instructions such as forcing the spirit to communicate in their primary language, ensuring their protection against the spirits influence during the summon, and so on. In the circle acting as a portal, magicians write the true name of the spirit, forcing it to our dimension.
Spirits must be bound to our dimension in some way, or they can escape. Lower spirits, known as Imps and Foliots can be bound to objects, but conventional spirits such as Djinn, Afrits and Mared must be bound to a stronger anchor such as the magician's own body. The magician must also write the task they want the spirit to do. For example, if the magician calls upon a spirit and commands them to increase their bodily size at will, the spirit can only increase their bodily size, and the limit is decided by the power of the spirits themselves. A weaker spirit may enable the magician to grow only a few inches but a more powerful demon may allow the magician to double in size.
Magicians have tried writing multiple tasks in the past, but then the spirit may choose whichever task they want to perform, ending in a failure for the magician. Keep in mind, though, that spirits will always try and break free. In the case of objects, if an object is too heavily damaged, the spirit can break free. In the case of a spirit bound to the magician, as long as the magician is emotionally and mentally stable, the spirit will be under control. The moment this is disturbed, the spirits may be able to overcome the mind of the magician, and break free, causing additional harm on the way out. A spirit too powerful for the magician to control may instantly drive them crazy, or worse, attempt to take over their body and destroy it.
Types of Magic and Spirits
Magic can broadly be divided into two categories - Material Magic and Abstract Magic.
Material Magic can be defined as magic which involves manipulation of the physical world. Abstract Magic can be defined as magic which involves manipulation of perception.
In the lower class demons, ones that can be object-bound, Imps have control over material magic, whereas Foliots have control over abstract magic.
In conventional body-bind demons, Djinn control material magic, Afrits and Marid control abstract magic.
Artifacts
Even more secretive than the knowledge of magic is the knowledge of Magical Artifacts. Objects of incredible power, they are impossible to differentiate from normal objects unless people know exactly what the Artifacts are. Many ancient, many new, nobody really knows how Artifacts are created, and even if they do know, nobody tells. However, what magicians do know about Artifacts is that they contain incredibly powerful demons trapped inside them. To all known knowledge, it should be impossible to keep such demons captive in objects and not directly in the summoner's body, but Artifacts somehow defy the law and remain objects of incredible power. That is, of course, if the summoner can control the demon held within.
Last edited by a moderator: