The Magic of the Scribes

Veyra: A Hard Magic system

So excited to walk you through the magic system I am exploring in my story “The King’s Scribes”, known as Veyra.

In a single sentence, the magic can be described as follows:

• The ability to absorb and release physical effects at will

This is a hard magic system, which does not mean it’s hard to understand, but rather is has clearly defined rules. If you’ve not heard the term or want a refresher on what that means, I’ll sum it up below, but Brandon Sanderson’s Three Rules of Magic represent the core concepts which distinguish between hard and soft systems.

A hard magic system can directly affect the plot. It can solve problems, save characters, and defeat the big bad at the end. Think Eragon, Avatar, and Kvothe. This is unlike soft magic, which is used to great effect in something like Lord of the Rings. Gandalf is obviously powerful, but we do not know exactly what he can do, and it would have been lame if he teleported to Mount Doom in the middle of the second book and threw the Ring in.

My system will be pivotal to the plot, and a good understanding will both make everything my characters do believable, and likely let you guess at the unexpected ways they will solve problems as the story progresses.

Without further ado, let’s jump in! I’ll cover the Rules, provide some Clarification, and then some Examples.

(note: magic users will be referred to as Scribes)

Rules

1. All physical effects can be absorbed.

2. Effects can be released later, at will.

3. Releasing an effect requires Reservoir.

4. Releasing an effect without Reservoir burns lifeforce.

5. An absorbed effect will involuntarily release upon the absorber if held for longer than their age in hours.

That’s it! Thanks for reading.

Nah, just kidding. There’s a lot to explore in those four rules, but they form the entire basis for the system, and so far, I have had a ton of fun with it. Let’s go through some additional clarifications.

Clarifications

Rule 1 - All physical effect can be absorbed

Yes, that includes light, we’ll get into that. Firstly:

• Any and all consequences the effect would have had on the absorber are negated.

If someone throws a punch, and a Scribe absorb it, they are not knocked backwards, pushed, bruised, or anything of the sort. All force is negated and stored.

• Any effect the exerter would suddenly undergo as a result of having their exertion reduced or nullified still occurs.

In the same way, whoever threw the punch would not stumble forwards with momentum, since all of it would have just been absorbed. However…

• The absorber can choose any moment to stop absorbing

If they did not absorb all of the punch, then theoretically halfway through they could take a light knock on the chin and the opponent might, if the punch was poorly thrown, stumble a bit.

Now, for some fun aspects:

• Without practice, absorption can only affect a space 3 inches or less from the absorber.

• ALL physical effects can be absorbed. Light, motion, heat, sound, radiation (though this is medieval-esque fantasy so)

• Emotions, thoughts, magic, etc cannot be absorbed. By magic, I mean the mechanics of other systems included in the world. Magic isn’t physical! (shhh)

• For the technical among you, absorption produces normal force, just the minimal amount necessary to counteract the gravitational weight of the object.

  • A 3-foot board is falling, its right edge strikes a Scribe in the head. They choose to absorb 100% of all the energy they can gain from it. Initially, they absorb a surge of energy. The left side of the board continues to fall, the right has stopped and would temporarily look like it was glued to your head.

  • As the board continues to fall, the absorption decreases to near zero. They are absorbing any additional rotational energy imparted by the left side falling, but the static force of the weight is minimal.

• Absorbing cannot generate negative force. An object can be made to feel weightless in a Scribe’s hand, but it cannot float up unless they apply upward force, try to lift it, etc.

Questions:

• Could they hold a heavy weight in the air, then “absorb it” to weightlessness and infinitely gain force?

  • Yes. With Reservoir, you’ll see why this is not ideal.

• Is there energy absorption loss?

  • No

• Can I absorb physical things?

  • No. The energy of an arrow or fire can be absorbed, but the arrow and slight particles in the air remain.

• If a 500 foot board falls on a Scribe, and they start to absorb, are they absorbing the entire energy of the board?

  • Yes, absorbing can begin if they are in contact with any part of the object. The object must be a continuous piece.

  • They can choose to absorb only a fraction of it; The board would hold and they would have to absorb the energy required to shear it off at whatever point they were no longer absorbing.

• Could they jump into lava and absorb the heat?

  • Yes, but this would instantly cool the magma to rock.

Rule 2 - Effects can be released later, at will.

Any physical effect, like a punch, falling, light, sound, and others, can be stored instead of affecting the Scribe. Later, at will, the Scribe can release the effect as it happend to them.

If someone throws a punch, and they absorb it, they could choose to punch them back and also deliver this punch’s force.

• The timeframe of the release can be altered, up or down

  • A skilled Scribe could absorb a punch, then tap the oponnent’s jaw and crack the bone by shortening the release window from the original half a second of the punch, to a quarter, or eigth of a second.

• The release target can be anything the Scribe wishes it to be. Imagine they have absorbed the energy of that plank of wood someone dropped on their head.

  • Original effect. Ow, head hurty.

  • New spot on your body. Ow, are they’re dumb.

  • New location they are touching / within 3 inches of them. The apple flies from their hand without them having thrown it.

    • The Scribe touches someone, and now they are hit with the force of the falling board. Importantly, they are not hit in this case with the exact effect of a board hitting them, but the energy absorbed.

• The area a Scribe releases the energy on can be changed.

  • So long as the scribe is withint their absorption distance from a target, an area up to twice the Scribe’s body length can be affected. This can increase with practice.

  • The blow from a board could be reduced to the size of a penny.

  • This is limited to the smallest point a Scribe can see clearly, or touch.

    • Roughly then, the average Scribe would not be capable of concentrating force into a point smaller than the size of a 12-pt font letter at arms length.

    • Using the tip of a fingernail is likely more functional, especially in combat situations

Questions

• What is the difference between a sharp sword, and a board, swung and absorbed at the same speed / weight?

  • The magic absorbs the potential energy, it is not concerned with the shape or size.

Rule 3 - Releasing an effect requires Reservoir.

Anyone capable of Veyra has a reservoir, which is a pool of magical energy equal to your life force that you use to release absorbed energy.

This pool begins fairly small; absorbing 200 pounds falling on you from a small height, then releasing later would largely deplete your Reservoir.

I mentioned before that a Scribe could release an effect and modify the timeframe. They can, but it has a cost (y’all might find some broken uses, but pico-second time-framed punches to obliterate matter and cause fusion will not be one of them)

• Going in either direction multiplies the Reservoir cost by the whole number. Halving the release duration would double the cost, for example, as would doubling the release duration.

Importantly, absorbing has no cost. An entire mountain could fall on a Scribe, and they could absorb the whole thing. Other aspects:

• Reservoir restores at a constant rate. If fully depleted, it would take 24 hours to restore.

• Reservoir can be transferred between Scribes within their absorption range.

• Reservoir will not restore past a Scribe’s life force pool, but transferred reservoir may exceed the pool. It would then decrease by the same rate it typically would restore, until achieving normal levels.

• Changing the area of an effect has no additional cost.

  • In the same way, since the magic absorbs potential energy, there is no “area” of absorption, and in some cases the area a Scribe might absorb would be far far larger than the area they could release.

Rule 4 - Releasing an effect without Reservoir burns lifeforce.

Once they burn through their reservoir, if they still have remaining absorbed effects, releasing them will take their life force. If their life force is depleted, they die.

It’s worse than that though. Roughly speaking:

100% - 80%

• Woozy, been hit in a fight

• Tired

• Weary

80% - 60%

• Terrible flu state

• Exhausted

• Numbness in limbs, fingers, toes

• Vision spots

60% - 40%

• Physically difficult to remain on one’s feet

• Possible hallucinations

• Feel deathly ill

40% - 20%

• Without practice, unconscious

• Without practice, cannot stand

• Poor ability to distinguish reality from hallucinations

• With practice, probably still want to die

20% - 0%

Most recorded Scribes die within this range, not exactly at zero. The conditions above worsen before death.

Reservoir and life force restore independently, and a depleted life force will affect a Scribe’s ability to do things like fight off disease, process drugs, and so on.

Rule 5 - An absorbed effect will involuntarily release upon the absorber if held for longer than their age in hours.

This rule is the best one, and if you’ve read Sanderson’s magic rules you’ll know why — it’s a constraint, and a major one.

Absorbing a punch, then failing to release it within the number of hours equal to the Scribe’s age will cause the effect to release immediately as absorbed. That would mean they suddenly reel from a punch to the face.

The specific details:

• If the effect is something like fire, it will also affect the environment should the absorber be overwhelmed by it.

  • Fire => go up in flames

  • Heavy object => crash through floors, if it was heavy enough

  • External, extreme force => Scribe will go flying/splattering away

• Releasing in this manner still burns reservoir.

Examples

The Falling Rock

Setup: A Scribe is walking along a cliffside when a large rock breaks loose above them. It plummets toward their head.
Action: The Scribe reflexively absorbs the energy from the rock as it hits them. They are completely unharmed.
A few minutes later, a bandit ambushes them. He presses his hand to the bandit’s chest, and the bandit flies back.
Notes:

• Absorption has no cost.

• Stored energy can be redirected.

• Moderate to significant reservoir burn

The Storage Limit

Setup: A young Scribe (age 17) absorbs the impact of a massive boulder to save a village.
17 hours later: He’s made peace with his family.
Problem: They didn’t release the absorbed avalanche force in time.
Result: The Scribe flattens and flies back as the energy is released into him
Notes:

• He could have chosen to release it all; this also would have killed him, and the remaining energy would have still affected his body.

Rapid-fire examples:

• Store the sun’s heat all day, light a fire at night (or multiple)

• Remain temperate in a snowstorm, then turn a man’s hand to ice in an instant

  • The x multiplier here is substantial, but absorbing cold is not that costly. Overall, this would be the limit of a new Scribe’s ability, more than likely.

• Absorb the energy from a drop, then spring over a great gap.

• Lift extremely heavy objects by absorbing their gravity while you lift them.

  • Skilled Scribes would be highly effective at hurling large objects around.

I’ve got even more crazy ideas…but you’ll have to read the stories to see those :)