Is magic a part of your world? What are the associated costs? What benefits might a practitioner receive? How does the general public perceive those who do practice magic? Is magic an academic pursuit or perhaps something more spiritual? Is there a singular system in place or are there different schools independent of one another?
Keen to hear everyone's take on the arcane!
in book one we learn that only fairies have magic. all fairies. it doesn’t discriminate between species of fairy, but celestial fairies have a little bit more special powers than other fairies, because they rule the entire realm. magic can only be given away by the user, not stolen by another fairy, and of course there are limitations to what people with magic can do with that power. some people, if they know a fairy’s true name, can compel that fairy, and fairies with magic cannot lie (i say fairies with magic because in book two all fairy kind loses their magic except the protagonist, meaning she is the last fairy with magic and the last celestial fairy). in book two only one fairy has magic left and we find out SPOILER ALERT the gods took it away because they like to cause havoc AND they gave it to some humans. (the lore has broken down over the centuries: humans think they used to have magic and fairies took it from them, but fairies think they always had magic and humans wanted to take it from them, which is why the realm of faery was created to stop a war from happening and keep everyone safe. the gods decided it was time (again?) for humans to have magic and gave it to a couple people, one of whom is the main antagonist of books two and three because she now thinks she can control faery.) basically magic gets thrown around and used and no one really knows who is supposed to have it anymore (fairies went a few centuries between books one and two without magic, so they don’t remember what it was like to have it in the first place). uh, basically it exists and everyone knows it does but humans aren’t so kind to fairies so most don’t use it in the human realm and it’s not used spiritually because all fairies can have it, but the main “religion” is the stars, and not all fairies worship the same deities.
In my world, there are spirits. Spirits are… they're not things you want to get involved with. They have their own agenda, and they don't care who gets hurt. Even helpful spirits are dangerous, because they don't understand the concept of death. They're more likely to kill the person they're trying to help sometimes.
And then there are daemons. Unholy mixtures of flesh and spirit, driven mad by a forced possession. They are twisted beasts that only have the slightest semblance of humanity, and use magic in their quest to wipe out every other race. Magic is the mark of a daemon, and it is hated, and feared, and shunned. There are others who can use magic without becoming daemons, but they are mostly extinct.
The magic comes from souls. In drawing upon souls, you can tap into the energy stored there, the same as spirits do. Daemons pull on their spirit-soul, as their human-soul is pulled apart by the strain. Fae-users tap into their own soul, or can receive help from ancestor spirits. The downsides result in soul-sickness, or, in extreme cases, your soul is erased, leaving your body an empty shell. Generally, the body becomes fatigued before any of these come to pass.
Ley-users use "artificial souls". They travel to Ley lines, and tap magic from the earth. They then tear apart their soul, giving part of it to an object, using the Ley lines as a grounder. It is traumatizing, and some people do not survive. The result, however, is an "artificial soul". Something with sentience and powerful abilities, which can be used by the creator. The price for using Ley magic is not as steep as the others, but it is still severe. The Ley users have a telepathic link with the object, and some Ley users have gone mad because of it. Overuse of Ley magic places strain on the artificial soul, but the user feels fatigue. If a Ley user doesn't trust their object, and if the object doesn't trust the user, the strain can lead to an early death.
The casting of magic (what, you thought I was done?) is unique to this world. Rather than incantations, or gestures, magic is cast through song. The last mages went extinct nearly a hundred years ago, but there are mentions of people who drove away evil with the purity of their song in the holy books (and this is why prayers are sung, and why singing is so important to these people).
Sorry for the long post, but my magic system is something I've put a lot of thought into!
My world has elemental mages~ Heat, Water, & Air. Magic is imbued in the world as well, allowing for passage between 5 different worlds by convincing the branches of the world tree to make a path between the worlds for you. This world tree is primarily made up of the soul of a powerful mage who died and ripped the world into 5 pieces when her soul grew into the world tree. In humans, magic is hereditary, although it sometimes skips several generations. Each time a mage dies, their soul is added to the world tree, forming a twig, a stick, or even a branch, depending on their power. To cross between the worlds, a mage (only mages can communicate with the world tree) has to make contact with one of the souls and convince them to will their branch to connect the mage to their destination. As for the mages themselves~ they have their own society in the core of the world tree (physical embodiment at the core), where young mages are taken to learn to control their dangerous powers and use them for good, usually settling down there as well. There are laws governing the use of magic, mostly against using it for harm or necromancy. Also, all consciously living creatures (humans & animals, but not plants besides the world tree) have a life force that is either stronger or weaker depending on their willpower. This life force prevents mages from working magic inside of these creatures, and in the case of the strongest willed, magic coming within about a 3 or 4 foot radius. Magic is cast simply through will, although gestures can help through a placebo effect, and many mages use them. For many years, magic replaced technology in this world, but technology is starting to catch up, and mages are no longer considered necessary, or even wanted in many places, due to the dangers of an untrained mage. Over powered spells are very difficult to cast, as magic drains not the physical energy of the mage, but their mental resolve, their willpower. Eventually, if their will is not strong enough, they give up on the spell, and in more extreme cases: life, simply slipping away. Most of the time, hard spells simply leave the mage drained, emotionally unable to do anything, magic or not. Sorry for the ramble, I just love my magic system so much and have spent a lot of time thinking about it! I look forward to seeing other people’s interpretations of magic!
My world's magic is based upon the different levels of reality, called Spheres. There's the physical Sphere, which is the world as we see it, and an infinite number of others. Each Sphere is governed by a different kind of energy, like emotion, thought, time, light, dark, etc. Every kind of magic has a slightly different set of rules, and they can mix in interesting ways. Someone who practices spiritual magic draws upon energy from the spiritual Sphere, combining it with energy from their own body.
Needless to say, each type of magic has a different set of side effects. Dark magic steals energy, so someone who uses it will feel drained. Light, on the other hand, gives energy, so a user of Light will at first feel charged up and energized, but if they use it too much, they could burn up.
Magic is viewed as the norm, and it’s so ‘normal’ that it isn’t even referred to as magic. If you told a person from my world that we don’t have magic here, they’d be amazed, or confused, or even both. There’s generally different types of magic as well.
For form changing, there’s willing changing and unwilling.
In the case of Mother, who chooses to take on a human female, despite her (its) original form being something out of a horror story. This would be willing.
For Father, he was turned into a beast of corruption after shutting himself away from Mother and consuming the Pale Child (who was a holder of corruption), so that would be unwilling.
There’s also telekinesis, elemental, or just subtle things like luck.
There’s no official magic school and typically it’s self learned through experiments, or you ask someone to teach you (or they offer.)
Not really academic, magic is just there for those people.
Kind of an odd take, but in my world, magic is shunned. It’s not a gift. It’s not a word from the heavens.
It is the devil’s curse, and the mad man’s toy.
However, not in every case is it used for evil. It’s literally just not usual, so people discriminate against it. Magic users are considered cheap and weak, relying on an other-worldly power to help them.
Inherent magic is hereditary, and can not be taught. However, there are things like potions that are not considered “magic.” Just like there are different unusual creatures that use unexplained actions, who are not looked down upon. It is only someone who can create from nothing, or modify themselves, who is shunned.