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Post by meribson on Sept 16, 2021 3:18:53 GMT
Started working on a setting for a novel, at the moment I have the sentient races picked, the tech level, and the basis of the magic system figured out.
There's a total of 5 races, including humans. The other 4 are the Grifas (aarakocra if they were only modeled after vultures), the Wulvar (wolf-men that are renowned for their sailing prowess), the Yenot (Slavic raccoon folk), and the Sucuruara (leonin if they were modeled after cougars). Tech is roughly late 1800s, so post American Civil War, pre WWI. The magic system though is what gave the setting its name.
It's based off the debunked Four Humours theory of medicine, where illness was caused by an imbalance of the four "humours" (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile). Each fluid had several other associations, including personality traits, the classic elements, planets, seasons, even members of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
In Humoral (setting name's a work in progress), a mage's aptitude with the 4 fields of magic is determined by their Humoral Affinity. One humour, their Affinity, is what they're strongest at. They're okay at the two adjacent humours, but they can't perform the magic that is of the opposed humour to their Affinity. At the moment, the magic is basically bending with extra flavor, but when I get a chance it'll have more to it than element manipulation.
The magic system also ties into how undead work in the setting. There no such thing as mindless undead, each and every one is intelligent, and very powerful. In order for someone to become undead, they had to have been a mage in life, one that didn't practice moderation and dove head first into their Humoral Affinity. The end result is an undead mage that can only use one form of magic, but in that form they possess both more raw power and a level of mastery that no living mage could hope to match.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Sept 16, 2021 13:17:34 GMT
This sounds really interesting! I like the throw back to the four humors. Any chance there will be behavioral tendencies associated with the four fields?
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Post by meribson on Sept 20, 2021 22:03:14 GMT
A bit, yes, but not to the extent that the average person (in and out of universe) assumes. It's like most stereotypes, yes there's typically a bit of truth to them (though how liking fried chicken became a stereotype I don't know, who doesn't like fried chicken?) but it's almost always blown out of proportion. Having read more into the source inspiration, I have come to some very shocking and surprising conclusions.
Unlike what everyone's going to assume, Phlegm (the humour associated with water) isn't going to be well known for healing magic. That particular skill belongs to Black Bile (the humour associated with earth), because according to the old lore, Black Bile was responsible for giving strength to bones, the rigid structures of the body and, most relevant in this case, clotting blood so that the body could heal cuts and injuries.
But, most importantly for here because I know 99.999+% of the forum goers here play D&D and you're going to wonder, a large number of the typical D&D spell list aren't a thing here. Illusion magic doesn't exist, mind control spells are far more limited, and the magic as a whole is less powerful than it is in D&D. More than that, in order to perform a spell, you need to utilize some of the humour of the type of magic you're casting. In a scene I'm writing, a Melancholic Mage (Black Bile) has to harvest black bile from a bear he just shot in order to cast a spell to heal the broken leg of a civilian.
The amount of a humour required for a spell depends both on what you're trying to do, but also the humour in question, because "in balance" doesn't mean 50cc of blood, 50cc of phlegm, etc. it means in harmony. Of the four humours, blood is the most plentiful while black bile is the least. Sanguine spells are seen as the most wasteful, because it takes more blood to fuel a spell than it does for any of the other humours, while Melancholic spells are seen as the most efficient, getting the most bang for their buck, as it were.
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Post by randosaurus on Sept 21, 2021 3:37:46 GMT
An interesting addition to your setting might be a Paracelsus figure or movement. The Galenist theory of humours eventually found an opponent in Paracelsus an alchemist and physician. He postulated there were actually three humors: salt (representing stability) sulphur (representing combustibility) mercury (representing liquidity) He did develop a quite modern approach to toxicology (the dose makes the poison) so perhaps in-game alchemy and chemical medicines are being developed by his followers given the apparent difficulty in practitioning with black bile.
His other works had to do with the proto-archetype of 'elementals', describing the undine, gnome, salamandaer, and sylvester creatures that would inspire D&D elementals, because un-copywritable open source. He thought aside from the 3 chemical humors, the human body was made of those 4 Empedoclean elements (water, earth, fire, air). But humours correspond to elements like you point out so you end up back where you started. But that might be usable in some way for elemental magic components.
Are expensive components a manner by which you are limiting magic use in players, or is the entire setting low- or costly-magic?
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Post by dmslythytoves on Sept 21, 2021 14:41:36 GMT
Fascinating!!! I love the balanced approach and the actual cost of magic. I've been playing around in my head with an unknown cost of the magic that my players have been using so nonchalantly; I think they'll all eventually meet the sources of their magic (though the Warlock has already done so, to an extent). Some magic is given, e.g. warlocks or clerics, while the rest, the arcane/druidic, etc., tap into wells of raw magic potential that spot the world. It's somewhat similar to the concept of the Weave as a framework, but can be harnessed or even blocked, which has enormous implications.
But cost...and efficiencies...that is a brilliant idea!
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Post by randosaurus on Sept 22, 2021 3:33:01 GMT
The whole system seems really elegant. You could even really abstract the system, and create a rate of trade for humourous components: 1 black coin / cc black bile : 10 yellow coin / cc yellow bile : 100 blue coin / cc phlegm : 1000 red coin / cc blood I think an abstraction is worth using, but a character that has to carry a bandolier full of phlegm vials is already pretty gnarly. Certain spells would require the particular coin, like black bile healing, but for general fuel (colorless mana) a normal exchange would simplify life to a gamemaker.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Sept 22, 2021 15:47:41 GMT
Oh gosh, THEN you could introduce corrupt cities or even nations where inflation is causing trouble!
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Post by meribson on Sept 22, 2021 21:35:25 GMT
The whole system seems really elegant. You could even really abstract the system, and create a rate of trade for humourous components: 1 black coin / cc black bile : 10 yellow coin / cc yellow bile : 100 blue coin / cc phlegm : 1000 red coin / cc blood I think an abstraction is worth using, but a character that has to carry a bandolier full of phlegm vials is already pretty gnarly. Certain spells would require the particular coin, like black bile healing, but for general fuel (colorless mana) a normal exchange would simplify life to a gamemaker. Jots down notesThanks, you just gave me ideas for the setting's economy!
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Post by randosaurus on Sept 23, 2021 4:14:58 GMT
Thanks, you just gave me ideas for the setting's economy! Just think of me, when you have dealers traveling to market with milkcans filled to the brim with blood. Liters of blood are an awkward denomination!
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Post by dmslythytoves on Sept 23, 2021 13:17:39 GMT
Hang on, change of direction: will there be vampirism in this setting? Because that opens up a whole new can of worms, particularly if there is magic to be had via blood.
Ooh, and what a take on a Blood-Hunter!
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Post by meribson on Sept 23, 2021 18:37:28 GMT
Vampires are the most common of the 4 kinds of undead in this setting, the other three being Drowned, Ghouls, and Burned. The magic of the setting doesn't lend itself to the creation of mindless undead armies a la The Scourge. Instead, each of the 4 kinds of undead are more akin to liches from typical D&D, they're the result of mages focusing too heavily and too deeply into their primary humour. They gain immense power and mastery in their given form of magic, but at the cost of being unable to use any of the other forms, as well as the ability to produce their primary humour. The reason that vampires drain blood is because if they don't, they'll use up all of their own and permanently die.
So vampires in this setting are all bubbly, cheerful airbenders that will drain you dry to fuel their powers and their continued existence.
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Post by dmslythytoves on Sept 24, 2021 1:58:01 GMT
The reason that vampires drain blood is because if they don't, they'll use up all of their own and permanently die. And that is exactly what I was hoping to hear!!! Brilliant!!!
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Post by meribson on Sept 27, 2021 15:34:19 GMT
So, I've been talking about this setting with some buddies on Discord, and one of them convinced me to turn what was going to be a single short story from an anthology into "set up for a YA novel". I know what I'm going to be working on come this year's NaNoWriMo
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