D
Dusk
Guest
So, hi all! Hardly a few days here and the creative juices are already percolating again, I love it! :D
ANYWAYS, I was wandering my room a little bit ago and I kinda mashed some concepts together in my head. I thought of a world where magic wasn't really "fire off a bunch of big spells like it's an EDM light show" or "I CAN CAST ALL I WANT as long as I chug potions like it's Spring Break at the College of Winterhold", but more like a contractual transaction.
Skilled mages could spend months covering their walls in seals, arrays, circles and runes, and that would act as the logistics or the "fine print" of the contract. Then, once finished, it all gets compressed and condensed into a single sigil. And that's just the "paperwork". The world's supply of magic energy would be controlled by entities called Bankers, or something similar, who manage the supply like a Mint. When you activate the Contract Sigil, you "purchase" or withdraw enough magical energy to cast the spell, using your being as the currency.
When I say being, I mean all of the things that make up you as a person. Memories, emotions, attachments, all of that. Depending on the spell, it could cost something as small as that annoyance you felt when you were out of butter that morning or the memory of what you got from the coffee shop two weeks ago. Or it could cost your entire sense of happiness, or the love you feel for another. The Bankers decide the best and fairest collateral. Of course, less scrupulous individuals could force others to pay the price in their place...
However, when one expends their whole being, all they are, they just become...empty. To outsiders, it'll look like an inescapable coma. Magically inclined individuals will be able to feel the hollowness. These poor souls could be referred to as Husks, and have a role in the plot I'm formulating in my head...
Anywho, before I pour all of my thought processes everywhere, does anyone find this remotely interesting? Any pointers? This probably isn't very original, but I'm rather partial to the idea xD
ANYWAYS, I was wandering my room a little bit ago and I kinda mashed some concepts together in my head. I thought of a world where magic wasn't really "fire off a bunch of big spells like it's an EDM light show" or "I CAN CAST ALL I WANT as long as I chug potions like it's Spring Break at the College of Winterhold", but more like a contractual transaction.
Skilled mages could spend months covering their walls in seals, arrays, circles and runes, and that would act as the logistics or the "fine print" of the contract. Then, once finished, it all gets compressed and condensed into a single sigil. And that's just the "paperwork". The world's supply of magic energy would be controlled by entities called Bankers, or something similar, who manage the supply like a Mint. When you activate the Contract Sigil, you "purchase" or withdraw enough magical energy to cast the spell, using your being as the currency.
When I say being, I mean all of the things that make up you as a person. Memories, emotions, attachments, all of that. Depending on the spell, it could cost something as small as that annoyance you felt when you were out of butter that morning or the memory of what you got from the coffee shop two weeks ago. Or it could cost your entire sense of happiness, or the love you feel for another. The Bankers decide the best and fairest collateral. Of course, less scrupulous individuals could force others to pay the price in their place...
However, when one expends their whole being, all they are, they just become...empty. To outsiders, it'll look like an inescapable coma. Magically inclined individuals will be able to feel the hollowness. These poor souls could be referred to as Husks, and have a role in the plot I'm formulating in my head...
Anywho, before I pour all of my thought processes everywhere, does anyone find this remotely interesting? Any pointers? This probably isn't very original, but I'm rather partial to the idea xD
