The magic system in my Nakahiro fic If No Man is an Island…
The magic system in If No Man is an Island is all of my own creation. I literally went out of my way to create a unique magic system for a fanfic what is wrong with me so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed crafting it.
This post may contain spoilers, so enter and read more if you aren’t worried about those kinds of things. Otherwise, please enjoy this delightful art by @faerghusfucker who I commissioned to make these beautiful symbols!
General info:
Everyone in the world of INMiaI has the ability to summon magic. This is due to the physical plane, also called the natural plane, is “coated” by the intangible magic plane. Think of it as similar to the ethereal plane from D&D, in a sense. The people of this world have the ability to create small rips into the “fabric” between the physical plane and magic plane in order to siphon magic power and cast spells.
Most people can only summon a nominal amount of magic from birth, and they must study and practice to grow their abilities to pull more from the magic plane. People who use magic in a moderate capacity in their daily lives, usually if they utilize it for work purposes, are called Sorcerers. People who devote themselves to the intense study of magic are called Savants. And the very few who are considered the peak of their elemental specialty and have received the recognition of the king are called Sages.
Rarely, a person is born with the ability to absolutely rip through the “fabric” between the planes and bring forth a well of magic power. These people are called Fonts. Being a Font is often considered a fraught existence due to the dangers that come from using too much magic power too often, though this danger isn’t limited to Fonts only.
Any Sorcerer who exceeds the limit of magic use can accidentally infuse their body with too much magic, and in doing so, they can be sucked into the magic plane. If this were to happen, the Sorcerer dissolves in magic themselves as nothing physical can exist in the magic plane. The only way to fight back against this from happening is to increase a person’s bonds on the physical plane. This is why arranged marriages are so common for Fonts. While as children, they have their families and friends to rely on, but eventually parents die, and siblings and friends move on with their lives, so it’s considered safest if Fonts create their own families as soon as they’ve reached maturity.
The Elements:
Magic in this world is broken down into six different elements; light, darkness, earth, fire, water and wind. Every person is born with a primary element and it is generally determined by genetics. Therefore, if someone has one or both parents with fire as their primary element, it’s almost guaranteed they will have fire as their primary element.
Secondary elements can be accessed after a person has been honing their magic for a time, usually discovered during their mandatory schooling as children or teens. However, not everyone is guaranteed to gain a secondary element. On very, very, very rare occasions, a person may also awaken a tertiary element, but this is particularly rare. There have been legends that people in the past have managed to unlock more or even all the elements, but these are stories of legend for a reason. Quite literally no one in living memory has been able to unlock more than three elements over the course of their lifetime.
When someone is born they also have the mark of their primary element show up somewhere on their body. This mark looks like a tattoo and it cannot be fully removed from the person's body. Even if they were to lose a limb with the mark upon it, the mark would instead remake itself somewhere else upon their person. And when someone dies, their magic mark will completely disappear.
Upon awakening a secondary or tertiary element, a new mark denoting that element will also appear on the body. Usually this isn’t a problem, however…
People tend to have preconceived notions about others depending on the elements they wield. Some of the elements are considered more positive, while others are seen as more negative. This can lead to some interesting if unfair biases that have become ingrained within the world of INMiaI.
The various elements are broken down as such:
Light - People with light as a primary element are generally seen as charismatic. This is seen as a good thing but people often forget that charismatic people can still do bad things or lead others astray.
Uses - glamours, mood alteration, energy manipulation
Color - hot pink
Fire - People with fire as the primary element are generally seen as passionate. This is seen as a good thing but people often forget passionate people are also more likely to have equally bad reactions when something doesn’t go their way.
Uses - create/dampen fire, energy boost, temperature manipulation
Color - gold
Earth - People with earth as the primary element are generally seen as steadfast. This is seen as a good thing but while steadfast people can be depended upon, people often forget they can also be stubborn to a fault.
Uses - earth manipulation, plant manipulation, healing
Color - red/maroon
Wind - People with wind as the primary element are generally seen as open-minded. This… is mostly seen as okay, but there’s the belief that they tend to be more flaky and wishy-washy.
Uses - create winds, temperature manipulation, send message
Color - minty blue
Water - People with water as the primary element are generally seen as go-with-the-flow. This… is mostly seen as okay, but they are also seen as pushovers and weak-willed.
Uses - create water, water/liquid manipulation, poison purification
Color - sea green
Darkness - People with darkness as the primary element are rare and less documented, so people see them as wild cards. This is seen as a bad thing, and due to their unpredictability most people do not place any trust in darkness wielders.
Uses - create darkness/shade, disguise self, spatial manipulation
Color - purple
All types of elemental magic can be used to fight as well and have their own unique magic attacks.
“Summoning” magic:
The last bit of info about magic for this world is that sorcerers have the ability to summon certain specific things. Assuming someone studies enough, almost anyone can summon a weapon to their hands. Usually people choose swords or spears, though any weapon is technically possible. It’s somewhat up to the summoner’s preference and imagination.
And, for a lucky few sorcerers, they may actually gain the ability to summon a familiar. However, "summon" is a bit of a strong word for it. Familiars only appear to someone who has a steady enough grasp on their magic, and the summoner doesn’t actually choose what or when they summon their familiar. One could perhaps more accurately say that a familiar appears before them. In the case of Okuto, his little octopus familiar Icchan appeared to him when he was 8 years old, the first time he accidentally bled too much magic from the magic plane.
Familiars are usually quite small in size, usually only growing as large as 20cm in length/height. Larger familiars can be summoned, but there’s no guarantee such a thing will happen and it does not seem to correlate to a user’s magic power. Much about familiars, like who they choose to appear to and why they choose the forms they take, remain a mystery to the populace at large.
And that’s the long and short of it! Magic in INMiaI has been a total blast to craft. There’s still parts of it that could use tweaking and certain aspects I’ve left vague, but I hope this gives the curious a little more understanding of how things work.
