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AllenWL

The definition of magic, and why it should, or should not be in TerraFirmaCraft

24 posts in this topic

Now, what most people agree on, is that magic should not be a part of TerraFirmaCraft. In fact, there is even a suggestion thread that says TFC should not have magic. The developers also are not in favor of adding magic.

 

We're not really in favour of magic of any sort, but it's dangerous to give ultimatums like "NO MAGIC EVER".
 
if there is "magic" it wouldn't be related to combat, so no enchanting or spells or any of that. Maybe another dimension or two, since you can't explain that as anything but magic.
 
But this got me thinking, what is 'magic'? 
What should be considered fine, and what should be considered too 'magic' to have in TFC?
 
Well, obviously, no spellcasting and wands and fireballs, no glowing swords that set people on fire. But what can be added?
 
I think four(or is it five?) things need some talking about. And by that, I mean
1. Brewing
 
2. Golems
 
3. The Nether and the End
 
4. Beacons
 
 
1. Brewing
Is brewing something that can be added, or is it too 'magic'?
There has been alchemists, which-doctors, shamans, and weird medicine and salves and potions for a long time.
And lets face it, we don't use 100% of our muscles and brain, so a potion/herb tonic/drug of some sort that boosts your strength by allowing you to use the muscles you don't normally use? Not realistic, maybe, but it's believable.
We use ointments/medicine/salve/etc that speeds up healing, so a salve/potions that makes you heal/heal faster is not unbelievable.
Plus, brewing is getting herbs and other ingredients and mixing, drying, etc to get the full potential out of them, and removing(or adding) harmful properties. Not really magic if you think about it.
 
 
2. Golems
Having golems could be a great help. They could defend your base, be used to kill mobs in a trap, whatever.
Of course, golems could be inanimate objects come to life by the magical powers of the pumpkin, in which case it is magic.
Or, it could be an automation of some sort. This will mean all golems have to be made of metal, but they will be man-made, and believable.
However, there is the problem of TFC's timeline, as they could be viewed at too advanced.
 
 
3.Nether
The nether, while woefully empty, easy to beat, and lack much resources, It opens up the possibility of glowstone, redstone lamps, plus beacons, the wither, etc. Dimensions could be added, but most likely not. I think the nether should take up the very bottom of the world, separated by a very hard stone that requires steel to break(or something). Nether mobs and materials would open up a whole new window of possibilities.
 
4.The End
The End, enderdragon, dragon egg, and endstone.
All are really aesthetic more than useful. But who doesn't want to fight the enderdragon in their red-steel gear?
And everyone likes dragoneggs.
Plus, like the nether, the end could open up a new tech tree.
 
5. Beacons.
A magic beacon that gives buffs to people near it if it is on top of a giant metal pyramid. 
Not really believable in any way. But I think beacons should be added(maybe a iron base, glass, and a gem, light it on fire, feed it fuel, and the gem focuses the light of the fire through the glass lens or something like that). It looks nice, and could make for fast, long distance, communication, or a decoration. We really need another light source other than torches anyways
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1: Brewing is acceptable I think, but much more like alcohol (I feel really strong now!), teas, health stuffs IRL.

2: Golems are too high-tech things to be in TFC.

3, 4: No magic, no other dimensions, maybe when TFC became much-muxh more complicated and quantum.technology gives the possibility to jump in a new dimension. That won't be made tomorrow. All stuffs can be placed in Overworld.

5: For new lights you don't need beacons. For light sources you could make lanterns, kerosene/paraffin/oil lamps. For long distance travelling there is a good example in OpenBlocks an item called "path", which you could make by cobblestone.

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1. Brewing might be an interesting addition, but what would we use? We already do have brewing of alcohol by sealing barrels with certain grains and getting alcohol out of it. Teas might be possible but then where would we get tea leaves or herbs? The most we could do is perhaps a sort of alchemical system where minerals can be converted into salts and that used in a barrel to produce something with effects like meals do; randomized per seed and possibly able to produce the non-combat effects of potions/enchantments for temporary periods. 

 

2. Golems feel out of place within TFC. Sure, they might be nice to have. But even in vanilla I just never bother with them.

 

3. The Nether feels out of place, but if volcanic biomes are added to the game then glowstone might be something found there. Otherwise maybe it is one of those things alchemy/brewery could create? Hard to say. But the Nether as it is really does not fit - it's not only devoid of any meaningful resources beyond Glowstone and Nether Quartz but it also is incredibly hostile in a world where death is not quite so forgiving. If we really must have the particular blocks made available, perhaps as I said . . . the volcanic biomes can have caverns of the stuff.

 

4. The End being accessed through Strongholds and requiring the Nether as it stands currently? Can't see it being in without some of the Nether material being part of things. And I do not think it fits either, much less for the magic and more for the End Stone one could cart off and build with. Again, I don't see the End offering that much of interest for TFC.

 

5. The Beacon requires the Wither, which requires the Nether and also requires "building" the boss to activate it. It's a culmination of things on this list we really don't have a need for, and its effects are probably not all that necessary once the means is made to get it, or unbalancing if they are gained too early.

 

That all said, there is another mod I enjoyed pure magic-is-magic with much more, the Ars Magica mod. I haven't played it recently, but it did work magic wholesale into the world and gave it some life. I came to TFC for the build options and the feeling of actually managing to carve my way to making it instead of "welp, four doublechests of cobblestone, my farms are all dispensing more food than I can ever eat, what build do I want to do now in Survival?" which is my Vanilla plays mostly before I ever see Diamond or a Stronghold. 

 

This is where I came to indulge the feeling of earning the right to go ornate with my buildings. It helps the various different kinds of stone mean I could in theory make some really wonderful designs.

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In my opinion the only 'magic' which could realistically be implemented is something along the lines of hallucinogenic drugs like from a rare mushroom which only grows in a certain light or something which when taken would put u in a trance like state, although I really don't see how this would benefit you, unless you would just like the effects or it could have some use like enabling a pathfinder which showed you the direction of the nearest animals for how long it lasted, I don't know but this seems a bit odd and unrelated to just eating a 'special' mushroom.

 

The idea of other dimensions would just make the mod more complex as it already is and would take ridiculous amounts of work...

 

Magic is just completely unrelated to the mod...an don't see why so many people are insisting it should be added in one way or another although i do like the idea of  simple brewing such as making poisons or 'pain killers' from something like tree bark or certain plants, which would temporarily increase health for a certain period, or have restorative properties but things apart from that in terms of brewing i think would make farming mobs and other things too easy.

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I like the idea of some magic, perhaps more than the average TFC user, but mostly to stretch out the end-game. Getting to the difficult metals is fun, but it's not as rewarding for me as getting a high-tier "magical item." I also don't see a problem with some magic since we spend our nights fighting off zombies, giant spiders, skeletons, and other mystical-type creaters.I'm waiting for Equivalent Exchange 3 to hit full release in the hopes that it will mix well thematically (and technically) into TFC, but time will tell. I also considered Thaumcraft and Ars Magica, but they get pretty heavy handed early on.

 

Minecraft has always felt like it should have some magic in it, and for me that extends to TFC despite its more grounded approach. I think it's because Minecraft and Terrafirmacraft are based in the stone-age to medieval age development of tools. It seems appropriate to have some kind of basic alchemy/mysticism along with the blacksmithing and mining. I don't exactly recall all of the ideas mentioned when it looked like TFC would become TFC2, but I remember feeling very enthusiastic about the direction.

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I think the major reason for "no magic" is because it is fully on imagination. Many of TFC's features are based on real world. So adding new feature, it is relatively easy to see and research how it should interact with existing features and what limitations it should have. This also gives it bit of believability, because people can be familiar with the concepts.

 

Magic is different tho. You have nothing to back your design up. You have to think much harder to create something that doesn't break the game or immersion.

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Well, Magic to me is quite the tricky subject. This is because what is defined as magic in one culture and at one time is completely different to the fireballs and lightning bolts we think of today.Take Greek Fire as an example. This is nothing more than Ancient napalm, but at the time it was seen as magic, something that only someone with magic could achieve.Also take alchemy, although its ultimate goal was the philosophers stone, which would be considered "magic" even today, it was nothing more than early Chemistry and Physics.So, do I think we should be able to cast lighting from a wand, no. Should we be able to toss a bottle of Greek Fire at a spider, yes.

----------------

This will be discussed in later episodes of my TerraFirma+ series. For now, check out the ones in my signature

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1. brewing seems okay, obviously within limits.  I could see coffee being useful as well as molotov cocktails.

 

2. Automatons are either too advanced or too magical

 

3. & 4. Dimensional travel should be possible from the config file only, set to off by default.  But, it the dimensions shouldn't, as they do now, corrupt your game files.  They should be stable, so that if you're using a mod that requires nether travel with TFC, you can go there without fear of catastrophic failure.

 

5. Everything about beacons, from getting them to their function, is magical.  But again, for the sake of compatibility, if you've enabled the nether, enable beacons.

 

6. This wasn't mentioned, but get rid of all these clearly magical mobs; replace them with lions and tigers and bears. Stick them all in the nether where they belong.

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Just to clear a few things up

 

Nether:

I think the nether should not be a dimension, but, rather the 'core' of the earth or the bottom most layer I think below the lava at the bottom of the world, should be a really strong rock that is not bedrock that can be broken with say, steel tools, and past that layer would be the nether. I think netherrack,soulsand, blazerods, glowstone, and more would be a nice additon to the tech tree. Say, grind netherrack and make a hotter coal, or make greek fire, use soulsand and grow herbs, use glowstone to make lamps, etc.

 

Beacons.

Yes, getting them in vanilla minecraft means you need to go to hell, make a giant flying death machine, kill it, and slap a glowing star/crystal onto some obsidian and glass, and sticking on a metal pyramid gives you magical boosts.

I think there could be an alternative recipe for beacons. Like I put in the main post, a metal base, glass top, and a gem in the middle. And if you put fuel and light it, it gives light and sends a beam into the air. I rarely use beacons for the effects but I use them to mark places to tell me when something is done, etc, so I thought it'd be nice if we had a beacon that you could light up to send signals or to mark your base or something like that

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For Nether: there was a mod, I cant find it since months, what made multiple dimensions in one. When you've reached the bedrock, there was only obsidian. If you've broken it, you just fell to the Nether. that was awesome, but I can't find it!

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You could use MCEdit to turn all the bedrock into nether portal tiles... getting back might be a problem though...

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Well, Magic to me is quite the tricky subject. This is because what is defined as magic in one culture and at one time is completely different to the fireballs and lightning bolts we think of today.Take Greek Fire as an example. This is nothing more than Ancient napalm, but at the time it was seen as magic, something that only someone with magic could achieve.Also take alchemy, although its ultimate goal was the philosophers stone, which would be considered "magic" even today, it was nothing more than early Chemistry and Physics.So, do I think we should be able to cast lighting from a wand, no. Should we be able to toss a bottle of Greek Fire at a spider, yes.

----------------

This will be discussed in later episodes of my TerraFirma+ series. For now, check out the ones in my signature

 

Just to clear a few things up

 

Nether:

I think the nether should not be a dimension, but, rather the 'core' of the earth or the bottom most layer I think below the lava at the bottom of the world, should be a really strong rock that is not bedrock that can be broken with say, steel tools, and past that layer would be the nether. I think netherrack,soulsand, blazerods, glowstone, and more would be a nice additon to the tech tree. Say, grind netherrack and make a hotter coal, or make greek fire, use soulsand and grow herbs, use glowstone to make lamps, etc.

 

Beacons.

Yes, getting them in vanilla minecraft means you need to go to hell, make a giant flying death machine, kill it, and slap a glowing star/crystal onto some obsidian and glass, and sticking on a metal pyramid gives you magical boosts.

I think there could be an alternative recipe for beacons. Like I put in the main post, a metal base, glass top, and a gem in the middle. And if you put fuel and light it, it gives light and sends a beam into the air. I rarely use beacons for the effects but I use them to mark places to tell me when something is done, etc, so I thought it'd be nice if we had a beacon that you could light up to send signals or to mark your base or something like that

--

I think your way to include the Nether is believable. The problem here is that it would lag everything. And Moress, I see you are right. And greek fire isn't made from netherrack. It is made from highly-flammable pine resin and sulfur.

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--

I think your way to include the Nether is believable. The problem here is that it would lag everything. And Moress, I see you are right. And greek fire isn't made from netherrack. It is made from highly-flammable pine resin and sulfur.

 

I know greek fire isn't made of netherrack, nothing is made of netherrack except nether bricks.

But well, greek fire is really hard to put out unless you have lots of dirt/sand, and netherrack is a thing that burns for all of eternity and a day.

So we could use netherrack ability to say, make a fire that doesn't go out for a long time

 

On the lag  thing we could make it so nether mobs don't spawn unless you are near, or just make it so they don't spawn on their own, and load the nether with blaze, gast, and wither spawners.

 

Or we could do the cubic chunk thing. If I recall correctly, if you make a chunk a 16x16 cube, you could cut down on lag because it will only load the area around you, so the nether will not get loaded until you go down enough, and that would cut down on the lag

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I know greek fire isn't made of netherrack, nothing is made of netherrack except nether bricks.

But well, greek fire is really hard to put out unless you have lots of dirt/sand, and netherrack is a thing that burns for all of eternity and a day.

So we could use netherrack ability to say, make a fire that doesn't go out for a long time

 

On the lag  thing we could make it so nether mobs don't spawn unless you are near, or just make it so they don't spawn on their own, and load the nether with blaze, gast, and wither spawners.

 

Or we could do the cubic chunk thing. If I recall correctly, if you make a chunk a 16x16 cube, you could cut down on lag because it will only load the area around you, so the nether will not get loaded until you go down enough, and that would cut down on the lag

--

Or instead of adding a pink-colored, ghast filled nether, an Underworld consisting on igneous rock, probably basalt, that has lava ponds everywhere and absolutely no life. Sulfur spawn rates are crazily big here, along with other metals, like iron ores. Maybe native iron (considering there is almost no oxygen down in the world). Temperatures could go from 40 to 50 in less hot areas. Impenetrable areas could be around 70 degrees, almost enough to literally cook off a human, and make metal items heat automatically, like if they were in a forge. It should reach until -60. From 0 to -10, temps are around 30 to 40. From -10 to -30, from 40 to 50. From -30 to -60, from 50 to 70. But past the -50 layer begins a giant pool of lava, and what in -60 is the nucleus of the Earth. It should be  really hard to be there. The Underworld could also have a high chance of spawning lava pockets, which can be large, and lava waterfalls. To reach it, you must dig to the lava layer in the Overworld. Then, you must get past the lava (maybe with cobblestone or dirt, or a water red steel bucket). Once you reach the deep, there should be obsidian or other material hard to break, maybe only with a red steel pickaxe. If you get past that, you get in the new dimension. If you jump back up, you get back to the Overworld. It's possible to sleep down there but it won't leave spawnpoint. If you place water there, it will evaporate in seconds (TFC minutes). Not really believable, bt at least more than the Nether.

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1) Brewing should fit within TFC considering it is using (mostly) natural ingredients to create tonics of sorts (possibly a more tfc redo is in the future)

 

2) Golems are technically within the TFC time-frame, Leonardo da Vinci created several but by today's' understanding of golems were very rudimentary

 

3) Dimensions in general (except if used to extend the overworld an extra few hundred blocks, should not be included (however i personally love the Mystcraft mod)

 

4) Beacons should be removed, but also replaced with a more TFC like placeholder. Less magical and more physical. maybe have it be more like an incese burner (if you want buffs) that you have to fuel with wood and potions of the effect you want. The light effect i can't think of a way to replicate IRL but im sure someone can

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Have the beacon act like a light to either attract or detract animals/mobs. If you think of it like prehistoric times fire and light was used for safety and warmth.

 

As for golems the thought of Leonardo got me thinking of structure engineering and different mechanisms or designs for reaching places besides ladders, and nerd poling.

 

Brewing is self explanatory and should definitely be added.

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4) Beacons should be removed, but also replaced with a more TFC like placeholder. Less magical and more physical. maybe have it be more like an incese burner (if you want buffs) that you have to fuel with wood and potions of the effect you want. The light effect i can't think of a way to replicate IRL but im sure someone can

 

I'd like beacons, but not for the buffs, but light.

 

If we had a really powerful light source, it would make a nice alternative to torches, and be good for marking roads and buildings, especially if you like to travel a lot

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If a TFC style beacon replacer could produce tons of light, which could repel mobs and replace torches (for open areas anyway) it wouldn't need buffs. The protection would be enough.

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Have it use some of those gems we don't use right now, and some other "useless metals" and such. It protects a 3x3 area of chunks from things spawning in them, and provides glowstone level light. 

 

But once spawns of zombies/skeletons move underground, will it be necessary?

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@Kereminde I made a suggestions post about the beacon idea.

 

 

But when mobs are moved underground, the surface will be either completely safe due to lack of mobs, or still dangerous due to new ones they add

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No spells, no magic, but I think that the brewing thing would be nice. It could be made to look very much like magic to the foolish, like forms of primitive pyrotechnics, for example snap your fingers and get sparks from fine magnesium and charcoal powder. Hallucinogenic drugs, paralyzing poisons, maybe tonics that boost your concentration and thus ease smithing? Packets on flammable materials that combust upon impact? Crystals from dehydrating metal salts?

A lot of magic and alchemy stuff can be added to the game while still having scientifical proof. Of course Steve does not now much about chemistry but with trial and error and a **** ton of accidents he would eventually grasp the basics.

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*giggles* Trying to discover gunpowder - i imagine it as some have crazed chinese alchemist holding a candle over a strange gray powder and suddenly BOOOM no more lab-

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"Magic" is a term commonly used to refer to anything supernatural - literally translated, above or beyond the limits of the natural. This requires a second definition describing what is natural. For mankind, this definition is dynamic as we push the boundaries of scientific knowledge. We are claiming supernatural territory with understanding. Think of gravity, electromagnetic attraction, atomic structures, quantum dynamics, and the observance that time itself is not a "thing". Even within our understanding that these things are natural, our understanding of their nature is so woefully inadequate that there is more room than not for magical things to be done with them. We are still cavemen, poking and prodding, observing reactions often without understanding why; we are just learning to be less surprised over new discoveries while calling ourselves intelligent for it.

 

I have observed three primary manifestations of magic in fiction.

 

The first is the worst: Deus ex machina. A God from the machine. This is a child's magic. This is Disney magic. I need a mouse to turn into a horse so he can pull this pumpkin carriage, so... magic. It is understood that some beings are magical, and can alter the fabric of reality through sheer intent. Or with a wand, maybe. There are usually limitations, but only so much as to advance the plot. The evil witch cannot alter the world on a whim. Limitation implies an exhaustible resource which is never defined or addressed.

 

Second is better, but not good: Spells. Ancient knowledge wrapped in a learnable package. The old ones understood real magic, and for convenience or posterity bound magical effects into artifacts, animals, or incantations. The knowledge is lost, but the artifacts remain to be discovered and abused by modern fools. Most adolescent fantasy falls into this category. Terry Goodkind's "The Sword of Truth" series is an excellent demonstration of this category.

 

Third is an attempt to define magic as a natural system beyond (or within) our own, which interacts with our own nature in mundane to extraordinary ways. This requires some or a great deal of narration to keep it from appearing as the worst variety of magic.

 

Here is an example of our challenge: Fireball is a common "spell" of the second variety of magic. So what is a fireball? Are you heating the air around you, why doesn't the rest of the air combust, is there material that is burning, was the material conjured from somewhere else, if so then where, where was the energy taken from to heat the air, why does the fireball move and in the direction you want, why does the target combust when most materials in Nature have a higher combustion temperature than can be provided by a "fireball", does the target explode, if so why, what happens to the air that used to be where the fireball is now, how big of a fireball can you make and what limits the size, how fast can you make them... and so on, and so on. Most importantly, what are the biological features you possess that allow you to interact with and manipulate magic? If you are not prepared to understand these questions (if not address them in print) then I don't think you are prepared to author a fantasy setting with magic.

 

One of my favorite systems of magic is Patrick Rothfuss' "Name of the Wind". I'll not get into the weeds; this is just a plug for a great series.

 

So, what does this look like in Minecraft? The following is more heavily my opinion - the application of aforementioned principles - regarding this specific game. First, magic is a substance (supernatural matter) that exists concurrently with natural matter. Matter and magic interact with each other in ways that must be understood by the player. To be understood, the player must perceive through underdeveloped sense. This is a sense that the player is initially unaware of, and can be exercised to provide greater perception, and eventually manipulation of magic.

 

The presence of magic in natural matter is faint, but can be felt more strongly in certain locations, near certain substances. Let's say for argument that obsidian, being incredibly dense, attracts magic over time (magic and matter share gravitation attributes based on density? Maybe? Or are there other properties of attraction?). In places with great quantities of natural forming obsidian (that's been there for ages), the player is more likely to sense magic. Once sensed, the player strains to "hear" it better, in so further developing the sense. This is passive, and should take a long time to happen. The player can only expedite the sense by working near sources of "power" (magic). In my mind, this fits nicely with volcanoes often symbolizing places of power, also that they bring forth ancient matter from the depths, along with the magic attached to it.

 

Interjection: Why aren't volcanoes in Minecraft, anyway? Volcanic lava block, periodically flows (thus overflows) upward by 8 blocks, burninating the countryside. Do it.

 

Fast forward. You have developed your magic sense to where you can feel magic within one chunk. The first manifestation of magical ability is to scry through natural matter by closing your eyes and focusing. Picture the wolf-link on Zelda Twilight Princess. Initially all you see is density of magic - areas of potential interest. You're looking through dirt, stone, and water, to see ores (maybe? or mobs?). As you spend more time "listening" to the magic within certain blocks, you become attuned to them. The resolution of the magic you see while scrying becomes understandable. You can now filter your perception for block types, but you can only "home-in" at a much closer range. Perhaps a developed player can detect large scale sources of power from 50 chunks away, but won't know there's a diamond unless he's 8 blocks away. Long range scrying can manifest itself as a very low resolution extra-body experience. This requires no consumption of any kind of magical resource, and requires as much physical effort as hearing a noise.

 

Enough with sensing magic. How do we interact with it? One of the properties of magic is that while it gravitates to matter, it does so slowly. It only indirectly obeys natural gravity in that matter gravitates to itself, and magic gravitates to matter. As a player moves, he is creating wakes of magic that slowly settle back into place. We can assume that magic is highly compressible under certain conditions (or perhaps it is multi-dimensional, with multiple "blocks" occupying the same natural space, implying a limit based on the number of dimensions), and is somewhat cohesive, only slowly expanding once compressed. In this manner, the player can literally scoop a ball of magic through willful gestures. The magic will slowly bleed through the player's hands, but can be stored in containers (or solid material) based on that material's properties. I have mentioned that obsidian attracts matter, but perhaps Spruce wood is composed of a unique latticework of material that, while it doesn't attract magic, serves as a barrier to it. All materials can serve as containers of magic, but different materials will bleed it at different rates. Crafting a magic siphon from a block of obsidan surrounded by magic insulating walls and pistons might be a good idea.

 

Now we can see it, we can move it; but what can we do with it, in a practical sense? First let's talk about magical essence. Not only is magic drawn to matter, but over time the structure of the magic itself will settle into an alignment which resembles the matter. Magic which has occupied a block of iron has a decidedly different super-nature than that occupying a block of gold, or an ocelot. Just as matter shapes magic, so too can magic shape matter. Again, magic moves slowly, and is shaped into essence even more slowly. It may take a game month for one obsidian block to "fill" with magic, and even longer for the filled magic to become the essence of obsidian. It seems as though I am speaking of transmutation. So if you were able to force the essence of gold into a block of coal, the magic will overwhelmingly reassemble into the essence of coal. However, if you were to maintain the structure of the essence resisting the coal's influence, then over time the coal may restructure itself into gold. This should require tremendous energy and time to maintain for dissimilar blocks, and less for similar blocks. It stands to reason that real-world devices, and the magical essences they create, could facilitate this task.

 

Biological creatures and plants would come equipped with their own essences. Depending on the creature's affinity for magic, their essence will remain and decay for a period of time after their matter is destroyed. If the player or creature is strong enough, the essence may find a way to persist longer, or renew itself indefinitely, possibly even re-manifesting itself in a similar creature.

 

Now we know that the player has a magical counterpart, which loosely resembles him, of strength (stability) proportional to the player's affinity to magic. We know that magic aligns itself to the physical makeup of matter, but let us assume that once matter becomes sentient, the magic begins to align itself with the player's thought. The most useful and feasible feat is the projection of the player's self onto other objects. In other words, with enough discipline, the player can convince himself, thus the magic that makes up his essence, that the wood 8 blocks away is actually a part of him. If he is successful, he gains control not only over himself, but the magic that makes up the block of wood.

 

Now the player has a direct super-physical link to his target. A block's essence changes depending on every property imaginable, including temperature, which just refers to the level of excitement of atomic particles. Since the difficulty in changing matter is relative to how closely the desired result is to reality, changing temperature is reasonably one of the first tasks the player should accomplish in the practical use of magic. Convincing a 37-degree block of wood that it is a 47-degree block of wood is much easier than convincing it that it is a chicken. With enough focus, experience, and access to energy (depending on the task), the player should be able to ignite certain blocks, or facilitate their ignition through conventional means.

 

Some other effects I can imagine that work well with this system include: projecting a void in the air then releasing, calling a violent implosion; "hiding" a block, creature, or self in part or whole from natural gravity; gaining the power of suggestion over simple life forms, and functionally increasing the strength of attack by temporarily increasing weapon mass at the time of impact.

 

Ultimately I would not want to see magic be the end-game replacement of natural living. Finding diamonds should always be preferable to creating them, but magic could facilitate their discovery. However, with enough effort a diamond may be transmuted if, say, you only needed one more for your pick. Igniting enemies may become viable against certain or lesser enemies, but any creature of any worth would have enough affinity to resist such intrusions on their essence. Further, the level of devotion to increasing your mastery of magic should come at a very tangible cost, that playing without magic or with only minor effects is just as desirable as full on trans-body lichdom.

 

Does this kind of magic belong in Minecraft? Maybe not. But magic in fiction is a hot topic for me, and I felt like talking about it here and now. Thanks for reading.

 

-Daeghen

 

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for those of you looking for magic implimentation, try looking at this: http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/minecraft-mods/2177088-alchemy-craft-2

 

AlchemyCraft 2 adds simple yet effective magic items into the game, without maikng anything too op. though you would have to make the seed gen compatible with TFC as the mana seeds come from breaking grass. like vanilla seeds for wheat. the most op thing i can think of for it is it's end game stuff and the fact that it make getting diamonds easier. though you still need a stack of 64 sand to eventually get there.

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