Post by Elyon on Apr 3, 2014 21:13:15 GMT -8
For the most part, magic is something that really no one should be messing with. Most of the time it won't do what you want it to do. In fact, when performing magic, the only thing to expect is for everything to go horribly wrong...for you...and anyone near you. The Witches have learned this and so they use it as little as possible. Wizards on the other hand, pat the air to settle down all those concerned about following events and say what many people have dubbed Famous-Last-Words like "Everyone calm down! ... I got this."
There are basically three kinds of magic in Discworld. Intrinsic, Residual, and Induced.
INTRINSIC MAGIC
This is the magic that derives from the very nature of the Discworld universe, and has a certain similarity to some of the matters discussed in quantum physics. It is the intrinsic magic of Discworld which, for example, is responsible for the slowing down of light but at the same time makes it possible to see light coming. Intrinsic magic is the equivalent of God, thinking.
An example would be: "I think. therefore I have apple pie." This is the kind of magic that makes Discworld possible.
RESIDUAL MAGIC
A powerful force, which needs some background explanation.
Most magic as used by wizards and witches is a simple channeling of the intrinsic magic of the world. It can be stored – in accumulators such as staffs, carpets, spells and broomsticks – and can be thought of as a slowly renewing resource, like geothermal energy. It is subject to certain laws similar to those of the conservation of energy. A wizard can, for example, cause fires and apparitions and colored lights quite easily, because these require very little energy. In the same way, a person may quite easily be turned into a frog by causing their brain to reprogram their own morphogenetic field. The effect is temporary but embarrassing.
The act of performing magic is, essentially, telling the universe what you want it to be like, in terms it can't ignore. This is very draining to magic users, due to Discworld science's Law of Conservation of Reality (which states it takes the same effort to do something with magic as it would to do it mundanely). This is why most Discworld wizards store magic in a staff (with a knob on the end) which is a sort of capacitor for magical energy.
Example: A wizard can rise vertically in the air only by locating a large solid object of similar weight in a high place that can be dislodged without much force, so that the descent of the object largely propels the rise of the wizard.
No common magic is powerful enough to cause, for example, a pork pie to come into complete, permanent existence. This would require quite a large amount of new energy to be created within the universe – as much energy, in fact, as would be necessary to create a one-hundredth of a pig, one-ten-thousandth of a baker, one hundred-thousandth of a cleaver, several pounds of flour, salt and pepper to taste, and a couple of hours of baking.
All this can, however, be easily achieved by a sorcerer, who can channel raw creative force and may be thought of as the human equivalent of a white hole. A sorcerer in fact pretty much conforms to the classic picture of a wizard – he can create and destroy by a mere thought. To be as clear as possible, a sorcerer does not have an infinite source of magic to create or destroy. A sorcerer IS the source of magic and creates it at will.
Fortunately sorcerers are now very rare on Discworld.
INDUCED MAGIC
An often neglected but very powerful form, and available for use even by non-practitioners. It is the magic potential created in an object, or even a living creature, by usage and belief.
Take, in its simplest form, royalty. It needs but a royal marriage to turn a perfectly ordinary girl that no one would look at twice into a Radiant Right Royal Princess and fashion icon. Similarly, the Archchancellor’s Hat actually became quite magical in itself simply from having been worn on the heads of generations of Archchancellors and thus being only inches away from brains buzzing with magic.
The armour of the warrior Queen YNCI of Lancre had clearly absorbed enough potency to stiffen the resolve of Magrat Garlick when she wore it (the fact that the armour was a complete fake is quite beside the point – it is association and belief that are important). Another example is mirror magic. Witches believe that if they stand between two mirrors their personal power is multiplied by their reflections. This is clearly a primitive folk superstition, which by sheer luck happens to be true.
The gods of Discworld live and breath as a direct effect of induced magic. The more that people believe in them, the more powerful they become.
There are basically three kinds of magic in Discworld. Intrinsic, Residual, and Induced.
INTRINSIC MAGIC
This is the magic that derives from the very nature of the Discworld universe, and has a certain similarity to some of the matters discussed in quantum physics. It is the intrinsic magic of Discworld which, for example, is responsible for the slowing down of light but at the same time makes it possible to see light coming. Intrinsic magic is the equivalent of God, thinking.
An example would be: "I think. therefore I have apple pie." This is the kind of magic that makes Discworld possible.
RESIDUAL MAGIC
A powerful force, which needs some background explanation.
Most magic as used by wizards and witches is a simple channeling of the intrinsic magic of the world. It can be stored – in accumulators such as staffs, carpets, spells and broomsticks – and can be thought of as a slowly renewing resource, like geothermal energy. It is subject to certain laws similar to those of the conservation of energy. A wizard can, for example, cause fires and apparitions and colored lights quite easily, because these require very little energy. In the same way, a person may quite easily be turned into a frog by causing their brain to reprogram their own morphogenetic field. The effect is temporary but embarrassing.
The act of performing magic is, essentially, telling the universe what you want it to be like, in terms it can't ignore. This is very draining to magic users, due to Discworld science's Law of Conservation of Reality (which states it takes the same effort to do something with magic as it would to do it mundanely). This is why most Discworld wizards store magic in a staff (with a knob on the end) which is a sort of capacitor for magical energy.
Example: A wizard can rise vertically in the air only by locating a large solid object of similar weight in a high place that can be dislodged without much force, so that the descent of the object largely propels the rise of the wizard.
No common magic is powerful enough to cause, for example, a pork pie to come into complete, permanent existence. This would require quite a large amount of new energy to be created within the universe – as much energy, in fact, as would be necessary to create a one-hundredth of a pig, one-ten-thousandth of a baker, one hundred-thousandth of a cleaver, several pounds of flour, salt and pepper to taste, and a couple of hours of baking.
All this can, however, be easily achieved by a sorcerer, who can channel raw creative force and may be thought of as the human equivalent of a white hole. A sorcerer in fact pretty much conforms to the classic picture of a wizard – he can create and destroy by a mere thought. To be as clear as possible, a sorcerer does not have an infinite source of magic to create or destroy. A sorcerer IS the source of magic and creates it at will.
Fortunately sorcerers are now very rare on Discworld.
INDUCED MAGIC
An often neglected but very powerful form, and available for use even by non-practitioners. It is the magic potential created in an object, or even a living creature, by usage and belief.
Take, in its simplest form, royalty. It needs but a royal marriage to turn a perfectly ordinary girl that no one would look at twice into a Radiant Right Royal Princess and fashion icon. Similarly, the Archchancellor’s Hat actually became quite magical in itself simply from having been worn on the heads of generations of Archchancellors and thus being only inches away from brains buzzing with magic.
The armour of the warrior Queen YNCI of Lancre had clearly absorbed enough potency to stiffen the resolve of Magrat Garlick when she wore it (the fact that the armour was a complete fake is quite beside the point – it is association and belief that are important). Another example is mirror magic. Witches believe that if they stand between two mirrors their personal power is multiplied by their reflections. This is clearly a primitive folk superstition, which by sheer luck happens to be true.
The gods of Discworld live and breath as a direct effect of induced magic. The more that people believe in them, the more powerful they become.
