'good' and 'evil' magic
Jun. 25th, 2015 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethtoday's dream had me waking up poking magic systems and reaching for the dictionary. which meant getting up and turning on the computer, because paper dictionaries woefully incomplete.
There were magical beings with powers that divided up into two factions, commonly known as good and evil. The point of view character had a very mixed bloodline and had like a report card of his abilities, because he had a little of everything from the common types. They used alphabets where being towards the end was more powerful. Probably they had omega powers for the bossest ones, but it might have been Z, you never know.
He had a little of vampirism, meaning he could draw power from the lives of others, and after his first death would need to draw power from blood to keep his second chance ticking over. Other power sets were more like succubi or had other methods of leeching on people, but they were fundamentally the same principle, drawing on the life force to keep themselves going. A young living vampire or one of that category only needed a little drop of feeding and then they could eat all the human food they wanted. Their digestive systems needed a boost, was all. Olders had learned how to feed and could look after the youngers. To them it was like mother's milk, perfectly natural, even if biting tended to be involved, it wasn't exploitative like the adult feeding methods used on humans. But people who hadn't grown up with it tended to believe that the youngers were being turned into vampires, that they got sick because of the feeding instead of because of not being able to eat without feeding. There were a lot of people who set out to 'rescue' vampire kids and wean them off their other powers, attempts which to the 'evil' vampires knowledge were going to be unsuccessful. But the rescuers would rest easy in the knowledge they at least saved a soul, so it kept happening.
It was possible to turn someone into a vampire. It took a particularly powerful living vampire or a particularly self controlled dead one. It had to be deliberate, on both sides, and it was risky. But it was just about possible.
The point of view guy was visiting a group of mixed bloods who were at least half human, so they hadn't been welcomed in their parents' societies. There were two ladies who wore blood red, even had red dyed hair, and swanned around being 'vampires'. One of them had a tiny bit of vampire blood, but it had never been woken up, so mostly all she had was a cranky digestive system and a tendency to be very thin and anaemic. The other was entirely human. But they'd both discovered a way nobody else would mess with them, so 'vampires' they were. He was vampire enough he noticed them as soon as smelled them, and was vocally unimpressed. But he offered to turn them.
Then he stalked off to find the very young queen he could feel was in there, and help her feed. Which was as simple as letting her play bite his wrist, and pushing a little life force through the gesture. After that she started eating all the banana she could get her hands on, finally hungry.
There were other powers living in the same hunting lodge, which nominally belonged to him but he hadn't visited for a very long time because it was in an unfashionably human area. There were Black Cat powers, I think those would be luck manipulators? And something about the Wasp on the Avengers caught his eye, was recognised as one of them living as a superhero. It's not just the size changing and the stings, those could be good or evil, though good would have to sting sparingly from lower power supply. There was something about everyone seeing her the way she wants to be seen, Glamour in the magical sense, and maybe a bit of Queen Bee from the other comics. The difference between teamwork and mind control being a bit of a skinny line. I never like that power set though, it's like blaming women for how people react to them. There were witches too, doing spells with withered fruits and spiked husks that used to have nuts in them. Probably other sorts as well. Their powers were weak compared to the mythic archetypes, but they were all of a socially unacceptable sort, since they leeched on intelligent beings for their power source. Life force for vampires, maybe something from the mind for Wasps? Enhancing their own luck by leeching others would explain the Black Cat set. And the dead plants would be a lot more socially disapproved of if doing magic with them meant the village food supply got leeched. But the witches were considered the least powerful and least harmful of the lot anyway.
Powerful bloodlines had been trying to conserve power through the ages and a lot of people deemed too human were left to fend for themselves, which ended up with weird crosses and difficult power sets turning up in later generations. There was no evidence the superheroes even knew of the magical races, let alone that one of them was from one.
So arriving at an old home and finding it full of people who didn't quite know what they were, let alone what they were doing, was shocking yet not entirely surprising.
Point of view guy was travelling with Xander Harris, who was from an Evil race, and had a thing for fat people. Having just watched The Pack that's somewhat worrying. Were they friends or food?
Being associated with animal spirits might not mean being a shapeshifter in this 'verse, but it's full of socially unacceptable behaviours. And great strength.
Actually a tendency to challenge other super strong people for dominance could read into the myths of Knights really easily. Maybe Xander was just born in the wrong age for a set of shining armour.
Eating a whole pig also got kind of frowned on since then too.
There was some kind of big politics going on. Arthur had awakened, Merlin had joined him, and together they'd set off questing to find their others, so the Knights both dark and light were on the move again to assist them. Arthur being around at all meant the stakes were higher than they'd been for centuries. And the thing where he'd been dead but got better? Well he wasn't exactly associated with the sun any more.
Since Good and Evil was all about the source of their power then the stories of how they used them could be judged quite a lot differently. Nobody thinks a battle king has to be a nice guy, but if he's good enough at it then he can end up remembered as good. Even if he needs the battles to eat.
But locally? There was just this absentee landlord sweeping back in with a little of every power, being super sure he knows best, trying to change everything.
When he woke up in his own coffin, he could reasonably conclude he'd pissed someone off.
It was a nice coffin, a mirror glass sort with hinges, the type you expect someone to climb out of in the near future and simply let people rest in sheltered from the elements.
Outside people were discussing him, including his supernatural report card. Unimpressive grades, including an F in Theon (which was what I ended up looking up. Greek for god? How is that an evil power, and how can one be bad at it?), but rumour had it that when Good was around his powers dived to the occasion. He was more powerful when the nominal opposition were around, which happened sometimes and was taken as a sign they were naturally enemies and instinctually needed the extra power to fight.
On the other hand it would make very powerful allies, which was more point of view guy's opinion of it. Arthur's court hadn't been divided to harshly as later societies. And what was so good about the Good guys powers? They didn't need to feed on humans, as far as anyone could notice. They were thought of as people whose power just welled up in them, so bountiful it turned into magic. They still needed to feed. People who had to lounge in the sun all day, or who ate prodigious amounts, or who did magic using the green and growing plants, maybe looked better, but were doing the same sort of thing as their apparently Evil compatriots. It took those plants a season or a year or a decade to get all green growing that way, and animals on the whole don't volunteer to be eaten. Some of the Good even had the exact same power source, treated a slightly different way.
On waking in a coffin feeling so very hungry, the vampire knew what he had to do. But he asked for animal blood. That happened sometimes, and the Evil ones knew that if they let him feed on it then sure, he'd live, without the need for human blood, but he'd lose a lot of intelligence. They didn't need a dumb but pretty vampire, they needed their friend with all his marbles. So they gave him enough animal blood he'd be fooled, but mixed with human, to save his mind. It's what friends do for newly dead friends. A little attack of conscience right then could go so badly for them.
But on the Good side? There were so many people who ate so much pig blood. And sure, they weren't the brightest of sparks, but who needed to be? And they could live in the sun and have children who could eat pigs and were more or less happy.
So there were vampires on the side of Good, they'd just been eating socially acceptable blood. Some of them were even of average intelligence. They could probably have been smarter if Evil kidnapped the little ones and made sure to feed them on humans, but Evil had never really seen the point in making more of the competition, and over time they'd just sort of forgotten that those sunshiney ones were even related.
Arthur was King because he had a little of every power. And sure, he could be smarter, but he was plenty smart enough, and he made sure to look after his people.
Merlin? Was a mage, of course, manipulating symbols and doing fancy things with crystals and living trees. But that thing with his age going up and down? There is a straight up Healing spell that can restore Youth one year at a time, but it's almost as expensive as Resurrection, and when Arthur needed the latter Merlin couldn't provide alone. On the other hand there's a Necromantic spell of Steal Youth that is substantially cheaper, but blasts decades onto the caster if it backfires. Someone using that wouldn't have a consistent appearance at all. And really, is it much worse than sending people to prison, or killing them with swords?
So yeah, arguably Evil slightly vampire Arthur and Merlin in a 'verse with vampires and plant magic and whatever that theon thing could possibly be. As an Evil power it feeds on some aspect of intelligent life, so maybe feeding on worship? Complex politics and the quest for women who wandered off to do their own thing centuries ago.
I think that's a different spin on a lot of elements I've read before. It could work.
I'd just be a lot more interested in it from the women's point of view.
There were magical beings with powers that divided up into two factions, commonly known as good and evil. The point of view character had a very mixed bloodline and had like a report card of his abilities, because he had a little of everything from the common types. They used alphabets where being towards the end was more powerful. Probably they had omega powers for the bossest ones, but it might have been Z, you never know.
He had a little of vampirism, meaning he could draw power from the lives of others, and after his first death would need to draw power from blood to keep his second chance ticking over. Other power sets were more like succubi or had other methods of leeching on people, but they were fundamentally the same principle, drawing on the life force to keep themselves going. A young living vampire or one of that category only needed a little drop of feeding and then they could eat all the human food they wanted. Their digestive systems needed a boost, was all. Olders had learned how to feed and could look after the youngers. To them it was like mother's milk, perfectly natural, even if biting tended to be involved, it wasn't exploitative like the adult feeding methods used on humans. But people who hadn't grown up with it tended to believe that the youngers were being turned into vampires, that they got sick because of the feeding instead of because of not being able to eat without feeding. There were a lot of people who set out to 'rescue' vampire kids and wean them off their other powers, attempts which to the 'evil' vampires knowledge were going to be unsuccessful. But the rescuers would rest easy in the knowledge they at least saved a soul, so it kept happening.
It was possible to turn someone into a vampire. It took a particularly powerful living vampire or a particularly self controlled dead one. It had to be deliberate, on both sides, and it was risky. But it was just about possible.
The point of view guy was visiting a group of mixed bloods who were at least half human, so they hadn't been welcomed in their parents' societies. There were two ladies who wore blood red, even had red dyed hair, and swanned around being 'vampires'. One of them had a tiny bit of vampire blood, but it had never been woken up, so mostly all she had was a cranky digestive system and a tendency to be very thin and anaemic. The other was entirely human. But they'd both discovered a way nobody else would mess with them, so 'vampires' they were. He was vampire enough he noticed them as soon as smelled them, and was vocally unimpressed. But he offered to turn them.
Then he stalked off to find the very young queen he could feel was in there, and help her feed. Which was as simple as letting her play bite his wrist, and pushing a little life force through the gesture. After that she started eating all the banana she could get her hands on, finally hungry.
There were other powers living in the same hunting lodge, which nominally belonged to him but he hadn't visited for a very long time because it was in an unfashionably human area. There were Black Cat powers, I think those would be luck manipulators? And something about the Wasp on the Avengers caught his eye, was recognised as one of them living as a superhero. It's not just the size changing and the stings, those could be good or evil, though good would have to sting sparingly from lower power supply. There was something about everyone seeing her the way she wants to be seen, Glamour in the magical sense, and maybe a bit of Queen Bee from the other comics. The difference between teamwork and mind control being a bit of a skinny line. I never like that power set though, it's like blaming women for how people react to them. There were witches too, doing spells with withered fruits and spiked husks that used to have nuts in them. Probably other sorts as well. Their powers were weak compared to the mythic archetypes, but they were all of a socially unacceptable sort, since they leeched on intelligent beings for their power source. Life force for vampires, maybe something from the mind for Wasps? Enhancing their own luck by leeching others would explain the Black Cat set. And the dead plants would be a lot more socially disapproved of if doing magic with them meant the village food supply got leeched. But the witches were considered the least powerful and least harmful of the lot anyway.
Powerful bloodlines had been trying to conserve power through the ages and a lot of people deemed too human were left to fend for themselves, which ended up with weird crosses and difficult power sets turning up in later generations. There was no evidence the superheroes even knew of the magical races, let alone that one of them was from one.
So arriving at an old home and finding it full of people who didn't quite know what they were, let alone what they were doing, was shocking yet not entirely surprising.
Point of view guy was travelling with Xander Harris, who was from an Evil race, and had a thing for fat people. Having just watched The Pack that's somewhat worrying. Were they friends or food?
Being associated with animal spirits might not mean being a shapeshifter in this 'verse, but it's full of socially unacceptable behaviours. And great strength.
Actually a tendency to challenge other super strong people for dominance could read into the myths of Knights really easily. Maybe Xander was just born in the wrong age for a set of shining armour.
Eating a whole pig also got kind of frowned on since then too.
There was some kind of big politics going on. Arthur had awakened, Merlin had joined him, and together they'd set off questing to find their others, so the Knights both dark and light were on the move again to assist them. Arthur being around at all meant the stakes were higher than they'd been for centuries. And the thing where he'd been dead but got better? Well he wasn't exactly associated with the sun any more.
Since Good and Evil was all about the source of their power then the stories of how they used them could be judged quite a lot differently. Nobody thinks a battle king has to be a nice guy, but if he's good enough at it then he can end up remembered as good. Even if he needs the battles to eat.
But locally? There was just this absentee landlord sweeping back in with a little of every power, being super sure he knows best, trying to change everything.
When he woke up in his own coffin, he could reasonably conclude he'd pissed someone off.
It was a nice coffin, a mirror glass sort with hinges, the type you expect someone to climb out of in the near future and simply let people rest in sheltered from the elements.
Outside people were discussing him, including his supernatural report card. Unimpressive grades, including an F in Theon (which was what I ended up looking up. Greek for god? How is that an evil power, and how can one be bad at it?), but rumour had it that when Good was around his powers dived to the occasion. He was more powerful when the nominal opposition were around, which happened sometimes and was taken as a sign they were naturally enemies and instinctually needed the extra power to fight.
On the other hand it would make very powerful allies, which was more point of view guy's opinion of it. Arthur's court hadn't been divided to harshly as later societies. And what was so good about the Good guys powers? They didn't need to feed on humans, as far as anyone could notice. They were thought of as people whose power just welled up in them, so bountiful it turned into magic. They still needed to feed. People who had to lounge in the sun all day, or who ate prodigious amounts, or who did magic using the green and growing plants, maybe looked better, but were doing the same sort of thing as their apparently Evil compatriots. It took those plants a season or a year or a decade to get all green growing that way, and animals on the whole don't volunteer to be eaten. Some of the Good even had the exact same power source, treated a slightly different way.
On waking in a coffin feeling so very hungry, the vampire knew what he had to do. But he asked for animal blood. That happened sometimes, and the Evil ones knew that if they let him feed on it then sure, he'd live, without the need for human blood, but he'd lose a lot of intelligence. They didn't need a dumb but pretty vampire, they needed their friend with all his marbles. So they gave him enough animal blood he'd be fooled, but mixed with human, to save his mind. It's what friends do for newly dead friends. A little attack of conscience right then could go so badly for them.
But on the Good side? There were so many people who ate so much pig blood. And sure, they weren't the brightest of sparks, but who needed to be? And they could live in the sun and have children who could eat pigs and were more or less happy.
So there were vampires on the side of Good, they'd just been eating socially acceptable blood. Some of them were even of average intelligence. They could probably have been smarter if Evil kidnapped the little ones and made sure to feed them on humans, but Evil had never really seen the point in making more of the competition, and over time they'd just sort of forgotten that those sunshiney ones were even related.
Arthur was King because he had a little of every power. And sure, he could be smarter, but he was plenty smart enough, and he made sure to look after his people.
Merlin? Was a mage, of course, manipulating symbols and doing fancy things with crystals and living trees. But that thing with his age going up and down? There is a straight up Healing spell that can restore Youth one year at a time, but it's almost as expensive as Resurrection, and when Arthur needed the latter Merlin couldn't provide alone. On the other hand there's a Necromantic spell of Steal Youth that is substantially cheaper, but blasts decades onto the caster if it backfires. Someone using that wouldn't have a consistent appearance at all. And really, is it much worse than sending people to prison, or killing them with swords?
So yeah, arguably Evil slightly vampire Arthur and Merlin in a 'verse with vampires and plant magic and whatever that theon thing could possibly be. As an Evil power it feeds on some aspect of intelligent life, so maybe feeding on worship? Complex politics and the quest for women who wandered off to do their own thing centuries ago.
I think that's a different spin on a lot of elements I've read before. It could work.
I'd just be a lot more interested in it from the women's point of view.