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Something kinda in the middle is a locational system. You get magic when you live in a certain place long enough. Maybe it's something in the water. Examples include Elantris, Mage Errant.
@@JustInTimeWorlds That's a bit different again. You can only be born once, but you can change your residence. I'll think I'll blog about all the options. :)
My main magic system is hereditary, but specifically *not* genetic. There is no gene for sorcery, and it does not behave like regular genetics. There have been attempts to breed armies of sorcerers, and others to bring together powerful bloodlines to make a super-sorcerer (bene gesserit style), but they inevitably all fail because magic just doesn't behave that way. It is poorly understood in universe (and I haven't decided exactly how it works yet) but it's like there's a limit to how many sorcerers of each bloodline can exist at the same time. If a sorcerer couple has one child there's a good chance that child will be a sorcerer, but if they have twenty children, then maybe only a handful of them will have any talent. Interestingly, it won't necessarily be the first few, like it is somehow fated. Of course, society in my world is a lot like what you describe in the video, I'm leaning hard into the hereditary magic too. The world is pretty much ruled by dynasties of sorcerer-kings for most of history.
I like that mages have the upper hand in your world - it never made sense to me that the inherently more powerful people are being oppressed by the guys that are way weaker than them. Especially when magic has been around since the beginning of time. I think a lot of people could take on Harry Potter with a smg. With a rock or a spear ... not so much.
Final finatasy has a fun spin on it where the Garleans see themselves as superior for not having any genetic magic affinity but instead being large and have good tech and also 3rd eyes
"Kingkiller Chronicles books currently out". Did you mean to say "the only Kingkiller books we are going to get, ever"? At this point, I don't think Rothfuss is ever going to finish the series.
@@JustInTimeWorlds How do I create a genetic magic system for my body to let me to learn and perform all different kinds of magic for me to cast spells?
I like magic genes in stories. Kids are more likely to share traits with their parents and I don't think magic being handled the same should be a problem. There is no guarantee however for a child to have the same talent level as their parent. A magic family could have a child with no magic, and a non magic family can occasionally have a magic child. The possible discrimination both sets of children face was shown well in the Harry Potter series which can give a writer a lot of opportunities for conflict. Not everyone is born with equal abilities in every aspect. Some will be taller, faster, or with a higher IQ, so magic being handled the same way makes sense. Likewise just because somebody can use magic does not mean they can use it well enough for them to rely on magic as their sole means of staying in power. Most people can run but they can't run well enough to build a career around it. Powerful magic might be similar in that regard. It might make more sense for a noble who can use magic to pursue their other talents.
I do have NO PROBLEM, WHAT SO EVER, with eugenics/racism in fiction. Notwithstanding, I do have a LOGICAL "problem" with genetic magic, as a reader, every time I find it. The neo-darwininian question cries out loud in my mind. "How non-mages can even exist in this world?". It is not a impossible problem, but it is a very pressing one, to me, as a reader. Perhaps that's a non-evolutive setting, created that way by the Not-so Elderly Gods, and they placed a limit in how many mages can exist. Perhaps the world didn't had magic in terms of Biological time scale. Magic only emerged a few hundred generations ago, and there are a lot more mages now than used to exist in the days of grand, grandfather. More powerful mages in larger numbers too. But will take thousands of years for mages to became the majority in society. And longer than that for every person to be a mage. Alternatively, maybe mages are not the only thing that exist because magic in this setting is NOT a biological advantage, pure and simple. Perhaps mages are less fertile, or only one children of each mage can inherit the power. If two mages have eight children mom can pass her power to one, papa to another, or they can both choose to give their power to the same children (in witch case they are cutting the number of mages in the world, in favour of having more powerful mages) however all the other children will have no magic. Perhaps mages, just for being mages, attract magic beasts who prey on magic. By eating the flesh of mages. That means mage have more chance to die before they can produce children. Making magic neutral, as far as biologic selection is concerned. Maybe is like D&D system, and mages are just squishy. Physically so weak as easy to brake that it balances the advantage of commanding fireballs and undeads. Whatever the explanation is, some explanation must exist. Because if not, and magic is genetic, then mages will live longer. Get a lot more children. Their children will get easier lives, eat better, live longer, get more children. Hypergamy will play its own juicy magic to amplify that already huge disparity. And soon enough not be a mage will be a (quite rare) genetic disease. Because yes, that's fact: people are NOT born equal. Biological reproduction is not a industrial line of production. Inequality between individuals of a same specie is a core element in it in ALL species. Humans not excluded.
So I normally square it in my head as: why aren’t we all super athletes? Or maths geniuses, etc. Presumably magic is not the only factor in surviving and propagating. And I say presumably because if magic is limitless, then you’ve got bigger problems than screwing up your evolutionary model 😅 Of course, some systems fake being genetic but aren’t (I actually did that. My system looks genetic but it isn’t.)
Well, we ARE. as a matter of fact, all math genius,@@JustInTimeWorlds. Compared to any other biological specie we know. More broadly speaking we are all Linguistic genius, and Math is just one more language (one of the artificial ones, to separate it from the "natural" languages such as English and Portuguese). Is only when we take humans as our universe of reference and focus in the distinctions between humans that some of us are great in Math and some of us are garbage (myself in that second group, unfortunately). And that's what variation of species would suggest. Same goes for athletic performance. Athletes are individuals who are in the extreme of high performance in activities that all individuals can learn, just not to the same high level. I would expect something like that for magic as well. A world where all mages are exactly as capable, where their powers work in the same way and they can do the same things, is in itself hard to sell. Perhaps it can make sense, if the origin of magic is something abstract and outwardly. Perhaps a contract with the Spirit of Creation. Everybody gets the same rules, by design. If magic is something biological it should variate in a spectrum. However, if it is immensely advantageous in competition for survival and reproduction, and such competition is happening for a scale about as large as the biological scale, and magic was always part of the equation in this setting...: if and when all that happens to be the case... ...I think its hard to buy a world where a lot of people have no magical talent/power. Or even one where only half the people are mages. Unless "mage" is just the world being used here for the magical athletes. Those 2% who master the magic powers better than the average 96% and a lot better than that 2% of incompetents who can barely create a talking zombie.
On the other hand, I can see why a world where everybody is a potential mage would be tricky to balance,@@JustInTimeWorlds. It tests the limits of fantasy genre and flirts with Comic Book Super-Heroes settings. What is not necessarily a bad thing, but don't work for all stories.
@@JustInTimeWorlds But like that's different. Every time when there is a genetic componebt to magic it's an all or nothing thing. We don't have that for anything in real life, everybody can do a bit of anything, some people are just better, but you aren't locked out of math compmetly just because you don't have the math gene.
If you want to support me in making more videos like this one, check out my indiegogo launch of my second book, The Ducal Heir. You can pick up both my books for €9 as a perk! igg.me/at/theducalheir/x/27732935#/
Something kinda in the middle is a locational system. You get magic when you live in a certain place long enough. Maybe it's something in the water. Examples include Elantris, Mage Errant.
I’ve also heard that called inborn magic, you were born under 7 stars, that kind of thing.
@@JustInTimeWorlds That's a bit different again. You can only be born once, but you can change your residence. I'll think I'll blog about all the options. :)
@@holothuroid9111 good idea 😁
My main magic system is hereditary, but specifically *not* genetic. There is no gene for sorcery, and it does not behave like regular genetics. There have been attempts to breed armies of sorcerers, and others to bring together powerful bloodlines to make a super-sorcerer (bene gesserit style), but they inevitably all fail because magic just doesn't behave that way. It is poorly understood in universe (and I haven't decided exactly how it works yet) but it's like there's a limit to how many sorcerers of each bloodline can exist at the same time. If a sorcerer couple has one child there's a good chance that child will be a sorcerer, but if they have twenty children, then maybe only a handful of them will have any talent. Interestingly, it won't necessarily be the first few, like it is somehow fated.
Of course, society in my world is a lot like what you describe in the video, I'm leaning hard into the hereditary magic too. The world is pretty much ruled by dynasties of sorcerer-kings for most of history.
Even if your society just thinks magic is hereditary, a magecoracy is a very natural fit
I think you have both a genetic magic system and non-genetic magic system based on crystals be a great point for conflict
It would certainly be a great source of conflict! Lots of debates and fights about which one is better.
I love this host!
Thank you for the kind words 😁
I like that mages have the upper hand in your world - it never made sense to me that the inherently more powerful people are being oppressed by the guys that are way weaker than them. Especially when magic has been around since the beginning of time. I think a lot of people could take on Harry Potter with a smg. With a rock or a spear ... not so much.
really good info!
I’m glad you found it useful.
Final finatasy has a fun spin on it where the Garleans see themselves as superior for not having any genetic magic affinity but instead being large and have good tech and also 3rd eyes
"Kingkiller Chronicles books currently out". Did you mean to say "the only Kingkiller books we are going to get, ever"?
At this point, I don't think Rothfuss is ever going to finish the series.
I have the same feeling.
@@JustInTimeWorlds How do I create a genetic magic system for my body to let me to learn and perform all different kinds of magic for me to cast spells?
I like magic genes in stories. Kids are more likely to share traits with their parents and I don't think magic being handled the same should be a problem. There is no guarantee however for a child to have the same talent level as their parent.
A magic family could have a child with no magic, and a non magic family can occasionally have a magic child. The possible discrimination both sets of children face was shown well in the Harry Potter series which can give a writer a lot of opportunities for conflict.
Not everyone is born with equal abilities in every aspect. Some will be taller, faster, or with a higher IQ, so magic being handled the same way makes sense. Likewise just because somebody can use magic does not mean they can use it well enough for them to rely on magic as their sole means of staying in power. Most people can run but they can't run well enough to build a career around it. Powerful magic might be similar in that regard. It might make more sense for a noble who can use magic to pursue their other talents.
How do I create a genetic magic system for my body to let me to learn and perform all different kinds of magic for me to cast spells?
That’s a longer conversation than a TH-cam comment 😅. I do world building consulting via my Ko-Fi page.
@@JustInTimeWorlds That's ok I will figure it out.
Just great
I do have NO PROBLEM, WHAT SO EVER, with eugenics/racism in fiction. Notwithstanding, I do have a LOGICAL "problem" with genetic magic, as a reader, every time I find it. The neo-darwininian question cries out loud in my mind. "How non-mages can even exist in this world?". It is not a impossible problem, but it is a very pressing one, to me, as a reader.
Perhaps that's a non-evolutive setting, created that way by the Not-so Elderly Gods, and they placed a limit in how many mages can exist. Perhaps the world didn't had magic in terms of Biological time scale. Magic only emerged a few hundred generations ago, and there are a lot more mages now than used to exist in the days of grand, grandfather. More powerful mages in larger numbers too. But will take thousands of years for mages to became the majority in society. And longer than that for every person to be a mage.
Alternatively, maybe mages are not the only thing that exist because magic in this setting is NOT a biological advantage, pure and simple. Perhaps mages are less fertile, or only one children of each mage can inherit the power. If two mages have eight children mom can pass her power to one, papa to another, or they can both choose to give their power to the same children (in witch case they are cutting the number of mages in the world, in favour of having more powerful mages) however all the other children will have no magic.
Perhaps mages, just for being mages, attract magic beasts who prey on magic. By eating the flesh of mages. That means mage have more chance to die before they can produce children. Making magic neutral, as far as biologic selection is concerned.
Maybe is like D&D system, and mages are just squishy. Physically so weak as easy to brake that it balances the advantage of commanding fireballs and undeads.
Whatever the explanation is, some explanation must exist. Because if not, and magic is genetic, then mages will live longer. Get a lot more children. Their children will get easier lives, eat better, live longer, get more children. Hypergamy will play its own juicy magic to amplify that already huge disparity. And soon enough not be a mage will be a (quite rare) genetic disease.
Because yes, that's fact: people are NOT born equal. Biological reproduction is not a industrial line of production. Inequality between individuals of a same specie is a core element in it in ALL species. Humans not excluded.
So I normally square it in my head as: why aren’t we all super athletes? Or maths geniuses, etc. Presumably magic is not the only factor in surviving and propagating. And I say presumably because if magic is limitless, then you’ve got bigger problems than screwing up your evolutionary model 😅
Of course, some systems fake being genetic but aren’t (I actually did that. My system looks genetic but it isn’t.)
Well, we ARE. as a matter of fact, all math genius,@@JustInTimeWorlds. Compared to any other biological specie we know. More broadly speaking we are all Linguistic genius, and Math is just one more language (one of the artificial ones, to separate it from the "natural" languages such as English and Portuguese). Is only when we take humans as our universe of reference and focus in the distinctions between humans that some of us are great in Math and some of us are garbage (myself in that second group, unfortunately).
And that's what variation of species would suggest. Same goes for athletic performance. Athletes are individuals who are in the extreme of high performance in activities that all individuals can learn, just not to the same high level.
I would expect something like that for magic as well. A world where all mages are exactly as capable, where their powers work in the same way and they can do the same things, is in itself hard to sell. Perhaps it can make sense, if the origin of magic is something abstract and outwardly. Perhaps a contract with the Spirit of Creation. Everybody gets the same rules, by design.
If magic is something biological it should variate in a spectrum. However, if it is immensely advantageous in competition for survival and reproduction, and such competition is happening for a scale about as large as the biological scale, and magic was always part of the equation in this setting...: if and when all that happens to be the case...
...I think its hard to buy a world where a lot of people have no magical talent/power. Or even one where only half the people are mages.
Unless "mage" is just the world being used here for the magical athletes. Those 2% who master the magic powers better than the average 96% and a lot better than that 2% of incompetents who can barely create a talking zombie.
On the other hand, I can see why a world where everybody is a potential mage would be tricky to balance,@@JustInTimeWorlds. It tests the limits of fantasy genre and flirts with Comic Book Super-Heroes settings. What is not necessarily a bad thing, but don't work for all stories.
@@JustInTimeWorlds But like that's different. Every time when there is a genetic componebt to magic it's an all or nothing thing. We don't have that for anything in real life, everybody can do a bit of anything, some people are just better, but you aren't locked out of math compmetly just because you don't have the math gene.
@@i.cs.z yeah agreed. Ideally it should be everyone can do a little magic, but only a few have enough magic to be a mage. Or something like that.
What if magic Trump racism let's say you're an elf society that looks down upon elves but the fact you had magic Trump that