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Old 03-23-2011, 01:15 PM   #1
b-dog
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Default [DF] Psionics and Magic and how to contrast them ideas.

In DF there are many strange powers which do similar things so there needs to be a way to keep them unique and separate. So my idea is that mana is a form of distilled spiritual essence that can be manipulated by those who have the the ability to control mana. Magery allows one use mana and is a connection to spiritual reality. Psionics is the result of mental energy created from the physical brain that can be used to do things in the material world, thus psionics is mundane but only very few people have the brain structure to produce the mental energy to harness psionics. These are some ideas so far, if you have any others please post. I will write a lot more on this subject soon. Thanks.
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Old 03-26-2011, 12:36 PM   #2
b-dog
 
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Default Re: [DF] Psionics and Magic and how to contrast them ideas.

We will look at the ways that magic and psionics work and how they are powered. Magic is powered by spiritual energy while psionics is powered by mundane energy that is present in the universe but largely unknown. Here is an example; a wizard casting an Ignite Fire spell and a psi using pyrokinesis.

When a wizards casts a spell, he is invoking the spiritual energy of fire into a place where he desires it. The spell essentially is a command that compels the lowliest of fire spirits to enter the mortal realm and to ignite the material the wizard requests. In a sense the spell is a summoning and the fire spirits and spirtual energy of fire do the bidding of the the wizard.

A psi however is using energy from the mortal world that he/she can capture due to his/her unique mental structure that can access and focus this energy causing the atoms and molecules to gain kinetic energy and thus heat up and possibly ignite when the ignition temperature is reached. The brain of the psi is sort of like a radio antenna that is able to harness the mundane energy of the universe and then can also cause that energy to do things that he/she desires.

There are many different types of magic. The wizards uses mana which is "free" spirtual energy that can be used in any way the caster desires. Other casters like the druid use the spiritual energy that is bound inside of nature to do their bidding, while a shaman can use the energy from sentient spirits to do their bidding. Even a martial artist use the spiritual life energy to perform their spectacular feats.

The spirit or magical realm is much different from the mundane realm. The mundane realm must obey the laws of physics while the spirit or magical realm does not. Good and evil do not exist in mundane reality but they do in the spiritual or magical reality. For instance, necromantic spells are often evil because the gods disapprove of them and the only spirtual energy that can be summoned to perform a spell such as Lich or Wraith tends to be of the evil nature. Spiritual or magical reality also tends to be the origin of fantastic beasts and creatures as well. Dragons, pegasi, chimerae, medusae and others monsters often have been created or born in the magical reality and then passed into the mundane reality as they would not have evolved from the mundane reality. Even such creatures as trolls, ogres, goblin-kin and other humanoids came from the magical reality as they do not follow any ecological niche but instead are the spirit made material essence of violence and aggression. Elves, dwarves, gnomes and other little folk did not arise in the mundane realm as well. Each is a spirit made material in the mundane realm. The extended life spans and innate craft qualities give them away. Lizard men and coleopterans could easily have arisen in the mundane reality however.
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Old 03-27-2011, 10:50 AM   #3
b-dog
 
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Default Re: [DF] Psionics and Magic and how to contrast them ideas.

Clerical magic is also different. A cleric worshipping a true god is granted powers and spell directly from the deity. But psionic powers are granted by an Elder God via a telepathic link. An Elder God is not a true god instead it is just an entity that exists in the mundane universe and only hopes to be released so that it can feed.
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