Magic
From Slinkiwiki
Magic is a huge part of anyone's culture, of many stories, of many fantasies. Just about everyone is familiar with the concept of Magic and the mystical abilities it has. As such, this entry skips the basics and simply tells how magic works on any given universe.
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Beyond Lunch universe
In the Beyond Lunch world, there are magical Elements. Humans tend to have one or two elements, while more powerful magical beings can have a greater number. Generally, the more elements you control, the weaker they are. I guess even made up nature has a system of checks and balances.
Note: "Minor" means that the spell can only affect one person, and the user doesn't learn the mutiple-target variation. In some cases it also means not learning the stronger versions of the spell s.
Holy
The power to heal the body and mind. To shoot Holy Rays at stuff. Holy magic generally contains healing and cleansing spells, though it also entails infusing your weapon with holy might, and smiting the enemy. Punks that they are.
Strong vs Dark, Shadow
Weak vs Dark, Shadow
- As Primary: Healing, Smiting, Weapon Empowerment, Shielding (Magical, vs Holy), Cleansing, Int boosting
- As Secondary: Healing, Smiting, Cleansing
- As Tertiary: Minor healing and cleansing
Notes: Despite them both having Holy as their only element, Sprinty and Slink have different spells from the same tree. Slink can't use Magical Shielding, for instance, and Sprinty can't use Holy Ray. This is mostly a Balancing issue.
Fire
Fire magic entails creating flames. It also contains the power to speed up individuals. Or to slow down everything else. Either or. It can also cause poison within the enemy's bloodstream by killing cells. With magic. Fire magic is fairly straightforward, and is generally used offensively.
Strong vs Earth, Ice
Weak vs Ice, Water
- Primary: Burning, Poisoning, Hasting, Shielding (vs Fire), Speed boosting
- Secondary: Burning, Poisoning
- Tertiary: Poisoning
Chris has this as a Primary, and learns it at an average rate. His magic is extremely powerful, so when enemies are weak to fire, they tend to die very fast.
Ice
Ice magic is very cold! It has the power to freeze enemies solid, or to throw ice chunks at them. While not an issue in the RPG Beyond Lunch (Because it's a game, damn it), real Ice magic requires a level of humidity or water, and the most powerful Ice magic users are those who have Water as a secondary. Ice can also slow down targets by freezing their cells slightly. Ice can enhance Defense by adding a plate of Ice to armor.
Strong vs Fire
Weak vs Fire
- Primary: Freezing, Slowing, Shielding (Physical, vs Ice/Water), Defense boosting
- Secondary: Freezing, Slowing
- Tertiary: Slowing
Bryan has this as his Primary, but learns it slowly due to having both a Secondary and a Tertiary.
Shock
Some say electricity is man-made. They forget about things like Lightning. Shock magic users can, well, electrify things. They can also boost the signals of the nervous system, enhancing Strength. Shock magic can also paralyze an individual, freezing them in place until they can recover. Careful use of Shock Magic can also power machines that normally require man-made power to run. Some say Shock magic can even push a person to the point of Insanity...
Strong vs: Earth, Water
Weak vs: Earth, Water
- Primary: Shocking, Paralyzing, Strength boosting, Machine powering, Insanity?, Shielding (vs Shock)
- Secondary: Shocking, Strength boosting, minor Paralyzing
- Tertiary: Strength boosting
Despite his low Int, Geoff learns Shock magic faster than the others, because he doesn't have a secondary. Supposedly Slink and Sprinty do too, but their magic has nothing to compare to.
Mystic
Mystic magic is generally compared to Psychic and Psychokenetic abilities. It doesn't have any weaknesses or strengths with the other elements, but generally works better on sentient beings and ghosts. Mystic magic has boosts similar to the other elements, and can even be used to transfer magical energy to someone who has run out. For Beyond Lunch, Bandit's strong vs ice due to his coat, not because of his element.
Strong vs: Organic beings (especially sentient ones), ghosts
Weak vs: Lifeless beings
- Primary: Psychic, Psychokenetic, Hasting, Slowing, Energy transfer, Earth-element rock throwing
- Secondary: Psychic, Psychokenetic, Hasting, Slowing
- Tertiary: Hasting, Minor Slowing
Bryan has this as a secondary. It allows him to use his Drawing summons and throw pencils with his mind. To balance the game, though, he can't use its Hasting, and to avoid redundancy he uses Ice's slowing magic. Bandit has this as a Primary and can use all its abilities.
Dark
Dark magic is capable of removing the life from the caster's foes. It is also capable of removing buffs created by other elements, and sucking out the foe's strength and vitality. And speed. And yes, insto-deathing. It takes a lot of concentration, so it doesn't always succeed. Shocking, I know.
Strong vs: Holy
Weak vs: Holy, Light
- Primary: Organ Twisting, Stat reducing, Buff nullifying, Insto-deathing, Shielding (Vs Dark)
- Secondary: Organ Twisting, Buff nullifying
- Tertiary: Minor Buff nullifying
In Beyond Lunch, Bryan has Dark as a Tertiary, but doesn't get to use much of its magic. Mostly, it just makes him strong vs Dark and weak vs Holy. Ace gets to use all of Dark's special abilities, and Insto-death works fairly often on normal foes.
Water
Water magic is fairly straightforward. Users can create water and use it to splash the enemy, fill containers, or to help crops grow. Water magic can be used even in the desert, because it's magic. It can also clean poisons and heal some wounds.
Strong vs: Fire, Shock
Weak vs: Shock, Wind
- Primary: Splashing, Cleansing, Healing, Survival, Shielding (vs Ice/Water)
- Secondary: Splashing, minor clensing, Survival
- Tertiary: minor clensing, Survival
Water doesn't heal in Beyond Lunch, due to limitations of me not wanting to make more animations. No BLT member gains access to this element.
Earth
Earth magic is good for causing minor earthquakes, creating rocks to drop on people, and creating caves. It is also good for improving Defense, cheating past the puzzle requiring you to press a switch to make a set of stairs appear, and really wrecking someone's house.
Strong vs: Shock
Weak vs: Shock, Fire
- Primary: Rock throwing, Defense Boosting, Shielding (vs Earth, Physical), Earthquake making
- Secondary: Rock throwing, Defense Enhancing, Shielding
- Tertiary: Defense Enhancing
No BLT member has access to this spell, although one of Bandit's Mystic spells and one of Bryan's Draw summons are Earth element.
Light
Light is the element of Photons. Light magic entails creating beams of light, or even lasers that can be used as weaponry. Light magic is good for navigating in dark areas, and can even be used to create Fire and Heat, making it somewhat of a multi-purpose element. Intense light can temporary blind unsuspecting foes. Light can also heal some wounds over time.
Strong vs: Dark, Shadow
Weak vs: Shadow
- Primary: Brightening, Lasering, Fire-starting, Healing over time, Momentary Blinding, Shielding (vs Shadow)
- Secondary: Brightening, Lasering, Fire-starting, Temporary Blinding
- Tertiary: Think Flashlight.
Shadow
Shadow magic works by removing light, and is the Yang to Light's Yin. Unlike Dark magic, it can't suck energy from foes, though it can remove the light of their life, causing them to lack energy. It can blind foes longer than Light magic, and while it can't do direct damage, it can cause harm over time.
Strong vs: Light, Holy
Weak vs: Light, Holy
- Primary: Damage over Time, Blinding, Magic-draining, Stat Draining, Shielding (vs Light)
- Secondary: Damage over Time, Blinding, Magic-draining
- Tertiary: Blinding, Magic-draining
Wind
Wind magic controls air itself. It can cause debris to be blown into enemies, and/or it can blow them into nearby walls. Wind magic is also capable of minor healing and Regeneration. Wind magic can also improve a person's speed, similar to Fire and Mystic. Wind magic can also silence foes, preventing them from casting spells.
Strong vs: Water Weak vs: Earth
- Primary: Blowing, Healing, Regeneration, Speed boosting, Silencing, Shielding (vs wind)
- Secondary: Blowing, Healing, Regeneration,
- Tertiary: Minor healing, Minor Regeneration
Chris was given Wind as a secondary late in BL's development to counter the fact that he's useless when enemies are strong to Fire. For Game balancing reasons, he gains Silencing, Speed boosting, and Shielding even though he really shouldn't have those abilities. However, he learns damaging spells very slowly.
Notes
Light and Shadow aren't in Beyond Lunch, due to their late creation. However, some aspects of them are seen scattered in other elements. For instance, Bryan can blind enemies despite it being a Shadow element spell. For BL's purposes, it's considered Dark. However, these two elements are part of the BL universe and would be in the game had I more time to balance it all out.
Beyond Lunch doesn't strictly follow these rules all the time, as it's a game and games generally need to be balanced. It also uses an older version of this Element Tree, before Light and Shadow existed.
Arlo and Claus don't have elements. Arlo can breath Fire, Ice, Shock and Holy, though. Claus can't use magic at all, but is a powerful fighter nonetheless.
DT universe
Due to the nature of the characters of the various stories of the DT universe, it's hard to pinpoint any one law of magic.
Slink's version had two types of mystical arts. Magic and Mana. Magic worked by controlling the elements, and Mana worked (supposedly) by controlling the nature of life. Slink learned to Polymorph in the DT world by utilizing Mana to affect his life force. This was not without side effects, however. Since the life force changes, the only thing keeping him human is his memories of being human.
To everyone else, Mana and Magic were interchangable.
Myriad Lands
In the myriad lands of the Myriad Lands, magic is... weird. Due to the fact that there are zones of magical concentration proceeding from lower to higher from west to east, in complete defiance to every known rule and definition of the term equilibrium, even the very system of laws that magic follows differs depending on where you are in the world. In general, it's split into three sections.
The Barren Lands
This sector includes the magically unfortunate country of Te'Nahsee. In this place, magic is scarce, and the wester you go, the more scarce it gets. It's theorized that, at the west pole, magic simply does not exist at all. This has yet to be proven, because the pole is cold as balls and there's no good reason to go there anyway. Despite its name, the barren lands are quite fertile for plant and animal growth, but with so little magic there, other peoples may start to question why they'd bother.
The sorts of magic that are found here are elements of the most simple, raw form. In general, the only magics of any power that can be used unassisted here are the elements of Existence and Mu, Creation and Undoing, Life and Anti-Life, Positive and Negative. Attempting to get to even the seemingly-basic elements of fire, water, and wind fizzle. At BEST.
It is not only that there's no magic to cast with here that is the problem. Magic's complexity is determined by its density, which allows it to interact and form more patterns. Unassisted casting of elemental magic can't be done in places with low enough magical density because it is simply not possible to get enough magic together for elements to exist. It's like trying to build a wooden box when you only have a stick and two nails.
As a result of the sheer lack of magical energy, anyone magically adept here may not even know it until they venture outside of the land and try it elsewhere. Anyone potent enough to actually have the power to use magic here is, by default, incredibly efficient, and thus, incredibly powerful.
The Middling Lands
This sector is, quite obviously, along the north/south equator. Magic here is what it seems like it would be if there were equilibrium: Powerful enough to start to bend the laws of reality, but not quite thick enough to override them completely on its own. Fahrenbaum finds its home here, and its people have spent a great deal of their existence building devices that utilize magic to flip Physics the bird and do spectacular things. They have succeeded quite well.
Being the middle ground for magical density, and thus, Magical Weirdness, the raw elements have given way to the common elements: Fire, Wind, and Water are considered by some to be the quintessential trio of magical power here, forming the simplest and most potent spells. However, the three are also capable of mixing to create sub-schools of ice, tempests, and steam, among others. Life and Anti-Life also start to twist and mesh, forming light, dark, nature, and necromancy.
In general, magic here is just complex enough to be understandable, without being so twisted that reality starts bending in just weird ways.
The Mad Lands
The affectionate term for places too far east of the middling lands, magic here starts becoming incredibly dense. Anyone in these areas who can use magic probably do, if only by accident every once in a while. In addition to simply being prevalent, the sheer thickness of magic here starts making it so that people's forms start shifting in slightly, but not completely predictable fashions. In fact, far enough east, if someone is born, they are born into an animalistic form that they stay in right up to the point that they approach the barren lands, and revert to when they leave.
Rife with magical energy, interacting with itself and forming endlessly complex forms, magic here is impossible to understand fully, as it is changing even itself with its own power. Here, whole magical schools can be discovered by a bit of odd fortune: a misdrawn magical sigil, a misspoken magical word, and rather than fizzling, someone may discover that, rather than call down a bolt of lightning, they've called down a bolt of linen. They then go on to refine their craft and create the school of Laundromancy. This is an example that is entirely possible. And has happened.
Rather than attempt to categorize every single school of magic here, most settle for simply placing magic into categories: Offensive, Defensive, Creation, Illusion, Healing, Mending (in the sense of healing inanimate objects), Necromancy, Elemancy (creating living beings from the more raw elements), and on, and on, and on. Sometimes a new school of magic is so outlandish that a whole category has to be created for it.
What is stable, however, is that there is one kind of magic that is only possible east of where the mad lands start: Demon magic. Here, magic is twisted enough that the barriers between realities can be bent, and magics not possible in this dimension can leak through, as can the residents that are not possible. The morbid curiosity of many wizards have led to this place being a land where demon summoning, and demonic possession, are approaching commonplace.
It is, however, NOT a tolerated practice, and for a few very good reasons: The obvious reason is that there seem to be a great many demons that are perfectly willing to cause havoc in these lands for its own purpose, and so summoning them is, in just about every case, a Bad Thing. Aside from the more obvious reason, however, is the fact that a person who does not summon a demon but practices in demonic magic starts to go out of touch with this reality. Mentally and physically. Those that practice demon magic have the misfortune of eventually twisting their own soul and body to that of a demon's, and every documented case has seen this lead to madness, homicide, and frequently, suicide.
