as someone with the ability to somewhat lucid dream, would i be at an advantage in learning/controlling intention magic?
• I would suspect that your knowledge of its existence would give you more of an advantage than lucid dreaming does. I'm gonna say this a lot but: Intention magic is all about intention. Lucid dreaming may give you a step up on having the imagination to accomplish things that others couldn't, but more than anything, knowing that it's actually possible to shape the magic of the universe around your design is what will pull it off
as someone whose lucid dreaming seems to mostly be held back by a lack of awareness, waking up too soon, and most importantly, hypophantasia, would that last thing be a detriment to using intention magic or would intention magic potentially improve my lucid dreaming capabilities?
• hypophantasia may be a hindrance if it makes you unable to solidify plans in your mind. Intention magic is all about intention. Intention is more than just imagination, it's you moving towards a goal with the knowledge that you can accomplish said goal. That being said, the more complex the goal and the plan to get to that goal, the weaker your magic might be if you can't put together in your mind the thought of you actually doing what you want to do.
if someone lucid dreams would it be possible for them to accidentally use intention magic in their sleep? if an intention magic user has a nightmare could they inadvertently create a nightmare realm with them at the center until they realize that they're dreaming and wake up? (excellent horror fic potential there imo)
• The word inadvertently is the keyword here. You'd have to mean for it to happen. That being said, it would be massively easier to trap yourself in a horrifying dream world than it would be to pull something from your dream into reality. If you, in your dreaming state, caused enough of a ripple in reality with your dreaming intention, you could potentially alter your dream reality to feel very real until your body awakens. But again, a terrifying dream reality is terrifying because you WANT to survive. You are in all likelihood working in that dream to ensure your survival, with the intention of those plans working and you actually surviving. Which means it would be basically impossible to REMAIN trapped in that world with your actual physical body here in reality. Your intention to survive would force you to remain very much wake-able and the moment you wake up, you would know that it was a dream and that you are now in reality. Also depending on your control of your magic you could potentially just do what I very much did in my actual real lucid dreams and wreck shit until the horror dream is dead and you're sipping tea in a nice garden.
If someone was having a Really Bad Time and was fully convinced everything was out to get them, would intention magic speed up the process of that becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? (excellent character angst/tragedy potential in there if so! amplify all your blorbo's worst fears into apocalyptic catastrophe!!!)
• Well, it kinda depends here. Does the person have evidence of "everyone being against them"?
Again, this isn't wish magic, it's not imagination magic, it's *intention* magic. Intention magic is all about intention. Someone who thinks everyone is out to get them WANTS everyone to NOT be out to get them. Or at least they want to find PROOF that everyone is out to get them.
So someone was having a very bad time and was fully convinced that everyone was out to get them, they'd probably start finding clues and evidence. They'd much more easily be able to build a case for themselves because the people working against them would fumble regularly and make enough foolish mistakes that they'd catch the perpetrators red-handed.
Or on the other hand, they would find that everyone who even seemed to be working against them would suddenly have a strong urge to move away or become their friends and defend them against anything harmful. They might get a whisper at a party saying like "I used to be working against you but I like you way too much and I'm on your side now. There's 3 more people at this party who want to see you fail. I'm gonna point them out and tell you what they're doing"
That's what the person would want. That's what they'd be imagining in all likelihood. Horror issues only horror because it takes away what you want
You want to survive. You're trying to survive. You are doing everything you can to survive. The universe is reading those intentions and they're going to make you survive.
would someone with aphantasia struggle more with intention magic, or would they potentially have an easier time because they're not stuck in their own head trying to visualize it, they're just wanting and then doing with no "how" inbetween?
• ah you see you've found an important distinction! Yes, intention magic isn't about imagination and it's not about desire. Let's say it all together now: Intention magic is all about intention.
Imagine this just in your normal life:
You get up. You go to your fridge because you're thirsty. You grab a bottle of something to drink. You pour it into your favorite glass, and you drink it.
Perfectly average. Perfectly boring. Nothing to see here
Now, please keep that scene in your mind.
You got it? You feel yourself walking? Feel the bottle in your hand? Feel yourself lifting the glass to your lips?
OK keep exactly that in your mind and do not change a single thing.
A good clear way to describe intention magic is this:
You get up. You go to your fridge because you're thirsty. You grab a bottle of something to drink. You pour it into your favorite glass, and you drink it. And then your friend watching you in the room faints
because You do not have arms or hands.
That's what intention magic is.
It's not acting on your imagination. It's not fulfilling a wish
It's acting as your hands
