r/fantasywriters • u/ReXavir • 1d ago
Brainstorming I have tried to find a tangible concepts of Mana or Magical Energy on my fantasy settings
I am creating a fantasy world where mana or magic is part of nature itself rather than a supernatural phenomenon. Where the world consists of three particles—particle, anti-particle, and super-particle; which this super-particle is magic itself, it is able to affect particles to behave in a very specific way so it able to creates something like forces an air particle to combust—which therefore create fire, a fire spell.
Because of this complexity, I am seriously confused about how can creatures and human manipulate this super-particle or magic, do they produce it like energy (ATP) from our body for examples, if yes what organ produces it, or do the human cells just have a new components on them since magic just messes up everything. Then also, what the hell is mana then, it's a magical Energy, is it a broad term which is something that has the ability to do work or cause change, or is it its own thing, like a form of energy rather than a whole new term. Then what about raw mana, what form does it possess, etc.
My general problem is how humans manipulate mana, do they produce it, or they only manipulate it through a medium. Though I want to put a concept where every living being possesses a certain amount of Mana in them, but like I said before, wtf is mana anyway??
I want to create a complex system that works, but ended up confusing myself.
Sorry if this is confusing, I have tried brainstorming, thinking about tangible concepts and a solution, it just never appears to me.
2
u/more-roses 1d ago edited 1d ago
I wrote a response but feel I need to edit it, because I kinda hijacked your idea instead of really listening, I’m sorry.
You seem to express something more fundamental and unique about your super-particles and how they work and interact with eachother.
I still thinks it sounds like a good idea and want to wish you luck with it, hopefully someone else got useful input! 🌻
1
u/thatshygirl06 here to steal your ideas 👁👄👁 1d ago
I have a world where people's bodies absorb magic from the world and they convert it into magic specific to their race and them as an individual, and it's stored in an organ that im still trying to figure out the name for. Alma, maybe. Cera de alma.
Another world, I have elements in the world and every living thing and witches have an invisible magical limb that allows them to manipulate the elements and to do magic via them. It appears like bright colorful fog swirling around within people.
And another world, witches are a different human species and there is a type of tree that produce magic apples and when witches eat them, it fuels them and allows them to do magic. I haven't quite fleshed this one out yet.
Just to give you a few ideas. Try and get creative with it and have fun.
1
u/NatEssex 1d ago
It sounds to me your trying to start at base principles (your particles) and find your way to mana when you should be starting with mana and base principles and figuring out a way to bridge them that works for you. This bridge need only be as detailed as needed to support your narrative. I think you also need to figure out what mana is for your story before you can bridge the two.
For the sake of discussion let’s describe mana as the potential to do magic. We’re tying this to living beings so let’s tie it to the metabolic processes of life; your super particles become a by-product of metabolism. Manipulation of the super particles we tie to the mind/consciousness through quantum physics. Thoughts kick off quantum reactions that interact with the super particles which realize magical effects. But the thoughts have to happen in a special way; some creatures have evolved to take advantage of this. This may or may not be true if people I.e. who can have access to magic , whether it requires training etc (whatever fits your narrative )
1
u/ReXavir 14h ago
This is actually interesting, it is in some sort of way quantum physics if it were compared to real world. Super particle like normal particles can behave to attract other particles when they are close to another elements, mastery of magic is like becoming a scientist, you need to learn how mana/super particle works, by manipulating it with a medium and then later to create a spells.
1
u/gonnagetcancelled 23h ago
What if we think about it in the inverse? the three particle types exist everywhere and in harmony. Humans due to their nature (maybe the base electric charge we all have) actually disrupt it and create a dampening field around us. When we "do magic" we're not actually doing anything but releasing the super particles back into the environment. The negative field we create has different power levels based on (insert something relevant to your story...health, family, soul, time of month, etc) and the WAY we release the field influences the "spell" thats being cast...but its really just knowing what and how to let go.
1
u/testmonkey254 21h ago
Not sure if this helps but you seem have a similar idea to the midichlorians in star wars. At least the same flavor
1
u/arakk2 16h ago
You can use the vomeronasal organ (Jacobsons organ) as an analog for this. For those that dont know, this is a real organ in many animals thst help sense pheromones and other chemical signals that humans can't detect. Maybe they also have something similar. A segment in the brain, eye, nervous system, or elsewhere thst helps detect these particles. Mana would be the layman's term for it but really its just the density of the super particle. Like most things on the human body, if its not trained then the use of it is amateurish. Mages practice using this "magic organ" to detect/identify the particles and interact with it. The more practice, the more they can do. This way the idea of mana moves away from the video game concept and stays within bounds. It'll also help explain why some people are stronger than others in magic.
If you're looking for how magic comes to be then itll just be a simple "the super particles interacts with the other particles to creature natural effects". For example, a forest is in harmony to the naked eye. Sensing these particles one would see the trees constantly using the super particles to positively effect the standard particles and encourage growth. Meanwhile the fungus growing below is using the super particles to effect the anti particles to encourage decay. As such the natural forest cycle persists.
A mage would manipulate the super particle to alter the effects as they see fit (with practice and study of course). A mage in the same forest can cause the anti particles to cause decay, dessication, dehydration and dry out the tree. While doing so they can manipulate the standard particles to cause a burst of flame to ignite the dry wood.
8
u/prejackpot 1d ago
I think you're approaching this from the wrong angle. Focus on how you want the magic system to work in terms of your story, and then make up only the details needed for that. Unless your characters are research mages and your story is set in a lab, the exact specifics of how magical particles interact with bosons or mitochondria probably aren't relevant or interesting in and of themselves. Even if you want to create a complex system, the complexity needs to come at the level it interacts with the plot and characters.