Making Magic Mysterious and Eldritch

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by sonic232

You could use GURPS Powers: Divine Favor as a base, where magic is this indescribable and fickle force. It doesn't necessarily need to model a deity, just this mystical force that you are petitioning for help... You might not necessarily get what you want, but you might get what you need depending on the request. Just ignore the pre-approved prayers part.

Yes. Divine Powers can work for a specific God ("Thor is displeased"), but it can also apply to fickle forces or elements ("The spirits are displeased" or "The Universe knows you mean ill.") In fact, if you really dig deep into theology, or even mythology, you'll find that the personification of a god is a simplification. While many Christians might picture God as a bearded white dude sitting on a throne on a cloud in the sky, actual Christian theology* depicts God as an omnipresent entity that suffuses, or is, the universe.

The best way to make things eldritch is to play up the alienness of this entity. You can easily do this by just claiming that "the Magic does what it wants to do." If "magic" becomes inherently malign, that might make it more eldritch, andif it become inherently ineffable, then it becomes more mysterious (though, ideally, you want it to be somewhat logical, because the point of a mysterious thing is that it can be investigated and understood: the magic teases you with glimpses of structures that you do not yet understand)

*depending on your sect of Christianity, of course.