#magic talk

[thelonelyshore-if]

As someone who is 100% on the rejection route, and was very happy to reject the rejection magic. I do love how you deal with the magic types. I've played a lot of IF's where rejecting magic just defaults you to the weirdo who insane for not wanting sparks out their fingers. But your treatment of it gets it not as a mere negative (a pure rejection, as it were) but as positive trying to hold onto something. Rejection magic is a thing (much to MC's dismay) rather than a non-activity.

Thank you!!

I think my treatment of rejection magic is borne of two things: one, I love 'emotion superpowers' where something happens to a main character in times of stress, even if they can't or won't control it. Magic bursting out and changing MC especially when they don't want it to feels v appropriate for the story, and a hell of a fun thing to write!

And then, on top of that, I come from primarily a TTRPG background. 'Failing forward' isn't exactly the right term for how I'm going about rejection magic, but I think it's a similar idea. Something happening will always be more interesting than nothing happening: so having the resistant path just be like 'I don't want magic and as such don't have to deal with it' isn't a route I was as interested in!

Which is a lot of rambling to say I really appreciate this ask haha, and I'm very excited about this specific route!! I think it'll be really great for MCs who do not want to be here--or, if nothing else, do not want to be permanently changed by the Fog...and have to deal with it, anyway.

[steamboatdreamy]

(VHS recording credit: That 90s Guy)

1982 advertisement for the Mattel Preschool Magic Talk Smurf Village, featuring Azrael and Gargamel warning parents not to buy the playset. Their voice roles are reprised by Don Messick and Paul Winchell respectfully. Only two 'random sayings' are shown off in the ad, one from Papa Smurf (Messick) and the other from Greedy (Hamilton Camp), who is referred to as Baker Smurf by the box and the character himself.

Baker's saying is cut-off for time, as it was originally "Try some of my smurfberry pie! Mmm, that's good!"

[wolfsrainrules]

Headcanons for magical protections in the HP universe?

Hmmm.............

They're criminally underutilized I think. Charms, Potions, Runes, Wards, Rituals....there's so many options. We don't see too many of any of them in cannon- it's spell-fire, and a vague 'her lover protected you Harry' which implies Ritual to me, but-

And then we get the Fidelius Charm, and a mention of Hogwarts wards. But they're not explored not truly.

And that's just- criminal. I'm so c u r i o u s.

How could you layer them? A charm first layer, backed by a trailing of runes behind it, that lead into wards powered with rituals...?

Twining the various options together could have been so interesting and it would have expanded on magic itself, and how it worked and interacted with each other.

Also just- imagine what you could do with a belt full of potions, premade and ready to go, a bag full of extras, charmed to be unbreakable in the bag, but normal glass outside it, so you can just. throw them. Runes chained together like Naruto's seal masters, carved into the bricks/wood/stone that make buildings so much more sturdy.

There's so much. I couldn't cover it all in one post, but I love seeing creative takes on it.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Based on the relm of magic in the DC extended universe, i would describe Lena's magic as Homo Magi- which is a human born with the affinity to manipulate magic. The closest DC character to have this form of magic would be Zatanna, who is a justice league member that has elemental control by saying the spells backwards.

Saying spells backwards seems unnecessarily burdensome. I'd be happier with just a basic explanation of which spells Lena is using to do what.

Like, I think the spell Lena used to break down people's defenses in the finale could have been a love spell. You know? Not sure what spell could have vanished the big monster though. Thoughts?

(I was recently thinking of other ways Lena could be empowered by her magic. Like, she's walking home one night and notices someone following her. So she melts the sidewalk underneath his feet and mires him in quicksand. That sort of thing. It's pretty cool if you think about it.)

[noangelsavedme]

Hi actual question.

If my ancestors are all Catholic but they came from Native mothers and French fathers... what fucking magic system do I turn to. I look too white for people to sell me sage and tobacco, and I'm too Native to have a good relationship with sky daddy again... and I'm not touching Wicca. Not with a twenty-foot pole.

[fernsandfangs]

Divination did not stem from one culture.

I am going to vent here a little bit because I just saw a post from someone I follow, in short saying they were upset that people who were not Romani practiced divination (namely tarot), palm reading, and cartomancy. And that these people, the non Romani, could stop divining at any point in time and that divination was, and in some places still, the only way Romani can earn a living.

Now, I do not want to put down Romani or this person so I'm not going to specifically link them. But, I will say that these forms of divination do not just come from a monoculture. I had to double-check myself here too, I didn't want to assume. But, I remember my grandmother, and old Italian woman, who would use tarot divination as well as pendulum divination for little things. And, I was always under the assumption that a lot of different forms of divination came from different cultures, different religions, and this Melting Pot of fortune-telling, witch, magic, whatever you call it, borrows from a lot of different sources.

So after a little Google searching brought me down through the history of tarot cards, I thought I would share.

I have come to find out that tarot stemmed from a series of card games. Most believe that the first tarot card game originated in Turkey, and traveled to other parts of Europe in the 14th century. In the 15th century, in Northern Italy it was a very popular form of fortune-telling card game among the rich by the name of "Tarocchi Appropriati". The Italians were the ones to commission the cards of triumph, which is where we get the suits of Cups, Pentacles, wands and swords from. The game then traveled to France where it gained even more popularity. Originally, the cards had very little divine meaning or use of divination until occult themes became more popular in the 18th century.

But tarot and card divination was definitely a game and later a tool of many all throughout Europe.

I do not think it's fair for anyone think so poorly of those who practice a skill when they are not of the same culture as them. I, personally am an Italian witch. I know I hold some things of Italian culture in my witch studies, but I would not be so bold as to snicker at those who do things I would consider "Italian". Before we are Romani, or Italian, are African, or Asian, or any other culture, race, or religion, we are humans. And as humans our story is one and Universal. I would hope that we would use these commonalities to bring us more together rather than draw us apart.

Again, I am no Romani, and I do not claim to know the extent of the suffering and the hardships their people have faced. But I would hope that one who comes from a culture that has long been persecuted would not seek to persecute others for sharing in like interests.

[nonbinary-weirdo]

"Warlock and Wizard are the same."

No. No. No.

Warlocks are Oath Breakers.

Wizards are not.