Hogwarts: Has a token evil house and the secret chamber of ethnic cleansing Wenias Magical Academy: We will erase your memories of magic and expell you if you fail. If you are too good, you will be sent away on a special course to be closely watched by the founder of magic who can nullify your powers at any moment.
Slytherin isn't an evil house though. It's the house for students who are ambitious, resourceful, determined, and cunning. Being sorted into Slytherin doesn't make someone evil. It is even implied that Harry was going to be sorted into Slytherin until he asked not to be.
@@i.drawcomics Well, you're wrong. If you'd just look at the lore you'd know why. Each house sorts students based on personality traits and the traits chosen for Slytherin are. as I already said, ambition, determination, and cleverness. The word "sly", ie being cunning, is even in the house name. The only reason people see it was the "evil house" is because in the books/movies none of the main heroes were from slytherin. All the slytherin students depicted were antagonists. Slytherin also attracts a lot of "pure blood" families who sided with Voldemort. However, that doesn't make the whole house the "evil house". And nowhere in the story is the house referred to as such.
@@Andrewtr6hi! I recommend quinn curios video on slytherin house!! slytherin serves as the evil house, even though not all slytherins are meant to be evil.
My favorite magic School is Unseen University because it's explicitly made so that the students and professors are there so that they do as little magic as possible due to how chaotic and annoying magic is.
Hmmm I'm kind of getting the impression that you have just a liiiiiil tiny bit of pent up frustration towards Harry Potter. Now tell us how you REALLY feel about those books
Personally, MY idea for an interesting magic school is one that has a sort of modern esthetic but has some fantastical elements within it. In other words; on the surface, the school LOOKS like any real world high school. But in terms of the student body; there are humans, elves, dwarves, merfolk, half-dragons, orcs and so on. At the same time, these creatures often affiliate themselves with certain schoolyard cliques (ex. jocks, nerds, popular kids, theater kids, Goths etc.) Some examples I can give that best represent what I'm talking about can be found on Winx Club, Disney's Owl House, Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy and/or Fantasy High, a D&D campaign found on Dimension 20 here on RUclips or on Dropout
One story I'm writing has a slight modern esthetic. It's set in an "otherworld" and some of the students come from 'our world' to this school. Originally, it was a modern fantasy world more like Harry Potter (but more modern) and I cared this over when I switched the setting to another realm. Cellphones, computers, and electricity are all things but it's a very low-tech setting. But has more tech than the typical fantasy world. For races, I have humans, elves, fairies, and nymphs as the main races. There are "dragon-people" but they are solitary, and ogres/orcs are too aggressive. I do use some of the stereotypical cliques as part of the worldbuilding (jocks and such).
I see this as a really cliche and mainstream magic school trope. Sure it could be amazing if done correctly but most stories with this kind of magic school is literally just teenage drama with magic as spice
Harry Potter receives a lot of criticism for what it did poorly or just didn't do, however, what it did accomplish is not acknowledged often. I'm writing my own story with a magic school and I'm still trying to capture what Harry Potter did right. First off, the series did popularize the idea of a school of magic. It may not have been the first story to show it but it's still the most popular. I decided to write a magic school to explain the magic system in my fantasy world because of Harry Potter. What I think Harry Potter did best was capture the fantastical feeling of magic; the whimsy it included is what I've been trying to develop in my own story. My magic school was once placed in a modern fantasy world, but I changed it to be an "otherworld" type story so I would have more control over the world and worldbuilding. The population of this world is nowhere near the population of earth. The population will be nowhere near the pop. of the US. I'll probably calculate the exact population once I have a map with all the major cities. The population may be low, but the number of magic users is pretty high. Around 70-80% of the population but around 30% will be low magic meaning their skills are capped at a low level. People with no magic will make up the least of the pop. There are more races than just humans however, and since majority of the world is magical, there's no reason for it to be kept secret. This world is also very dangerous... for a mundane human. A criticism I had of Harry Potter was the unnecessary danger around the school. I over corrected for this in my story at first, making my school too safe where it prevented conflict, but I realized what might seem dangerous to us wouldn't be for magic users. Though I nerfed healing magic a little, healing potions still exist. Breaking an arm or even some minor bleeding isn't as big of a deal as it would be for us. They just drink a health potion, and their wound is healed within minutes. There's no need for stitches or a cast. If the only risk is injury, then it's not considered dangerous. This world is full of dangers in the form of monsters. Monster attacks are common but rarely a problem for major cities. The most danger is posed when traveling alone. This is one reason magic is taught. One goal I have with this story is to create a balanced magic system but still have fun spells. Instead of having a ton of "combat" spells, I want magic to be used to solve problems in creative ways. There will be a small number of combat magic but most of it is only taught to the guardsmen expect for a few defensive spells. In my story, there is a government system that monitors magic. There are spells that has been restricted or completely banned and illegally casting them will result in punishment. However, the magic schools aren't the only way to learn magic. Some of the banned/restricted magic isn't even "dark" or "evil" it's just considered taboo. I have been working on a list of classes taught at the school, as well as what year they are available, and I've kept in mind real classes like math, English, biology, history, geography, even gym. All these classes can easily be adapted into the study of magic. If I tried to explain how I did it for each, this would end up very long. Thinking of occupations that require magic hasn't gone as smoothly. I have a few but I feel like there should be more. While the schools teach magic so that the casters that attend can reach their potential, a lot of the training for specific jobs will be handled by apprenticeships. Currently, the school has five years (maybe 6) but I don't think having a college equivalent would work out... though, now I'm thinking maybe it could. A four yr school that only the best of the best can get into, and they are trained for the most advanced jobs; I'll have to consider that more. Gotta be honest. I find the Harry Potter bashing a little extreme. HP isn't the only franchise that has magic which was kept secret. Both Marvel and DC have even worse magic systems that were kept secret until some magic using superhero emerged. The whole point of it being kept secret is so the story can still be set in a parallel version of the real world. The argument against Harry Potter's magic being secret would completely break any modern fantasy story. Magic needs to be hidden in order to tell a modern fantasy story where the setting is a real place. One of my stories is set in New Orleans and follows a police detective who fights vampires. For it to still look like our reality, magic and vampires have to be kept secret. Honestly, if readers can suspend their disbelief for magic spells, vampires, dragons, and what else, the idea that magic and multiple secret societies have been kept secret for decades shouldn't be a problem. And even if it feels implausible, that's just how it has to be for these stories to work. If magic or vampires existed and it was common knowledge, it would have completely changed the course of history. Vampires have a good reason to stay hidden. They are seen as monsters. They are also basically ambush predators. Their prey not knowing of their existence is a big advantage. Humans wouldn't like the idea of being prey. We like our spot as apex predators. If vampires existed, we would very likely have tried to wipe them out very early on. In fact, I try to explain why vampires stay hidden with this. At some point in human history, vampires were well known to be real until humans hunted them to extinction (or they thought) and they became myths. This could have happened a number of times with little success. Kinda like the crusades. Realistically, I think if vampires were real (with the typical powers, but without the whole burning in sunlight. That's not part of the mythology, Hollywood made it up, and thus my vampires don't burn in the sun) without the "turn to ash in sunlight" weakness humans would be at a great disadvantage. Too great to win against them. But that would break my story, so I ignore it. No matter what explanation I give for why vampires haven't enslaved humans, someone could just disagree. My vampires have been around since the dawn of human civilization which is plenty of time to take over. Why haven't they? Well, there are human vampire hunters, but the odds aren't in our favor. The best I have is literally a deus ex machina: "the gods liked humans more and didn't let the vampires to win", more specifically, the vampires either refused to worship the gods or their immortality was seen as an insult to the gods. The gods play a big role in the worldbuilding of both my stories so it wouldn't be out of place.
What must be kept in mind is that magic is a living breathing thing just like the world itself and doesn't like to be subjected to arbitrary and strict rules that can't possibly be imposed. Magic is ultimately a different way to view and interact with the world around you focusing foremost on domains of the mind and spirit. That means that courses on morality, ethics, spiritualism, philosophy, and even theology would be requirements with plenty hammering home why certain practices such as necromancy, mind control, summoning demons or malicious forces that are way beyond your understanding are bad things by nature and should never really be done. Wizards as a people would be very spiritual and thoughtful because that is required in the subjects they deal with.
One of my favorite Magic Universities is Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea example. Her magic system is interesting and the college on the isle of Roke could provide a great example in a RPG setting. There were individual student teacher situations, but those that showed the most potential would be sent to the island and there they would specialize to their individual strengths after a general course of learning.
My idea for a magic system: no one has "magic powers" of their own and theorically anyone can learn magic, but only a few have the extra-sensory perception and a body able to accept all kinds of foreign energies without harm to oneself. Elves are slightly different, and the Drow have multiple magic schools for various purposes: prediction of future danger, creating and maintaining an undead workforce, healing the sick and practicing various religious duties, with monasteries in fact doubling as magic schools. Magic schools in Drow society would be either: join a religious order, or be born into royalty and have a private tutor teach you magic so that you can use that magic for politics. However, in my verse, there would be no magic school of it's own. The closest thing it has to magical schools is certain mages entertaining the power of their dynasty and protect themselves from persecution by assembling a large amount of apprentices, that they would psychologically manipulate to be loyal to them, and then send them back to their respective families as a way of complexe networking and insuring the magic dynasties don't try to all mutually kill each other. It's pacification through alliances and mind games, and the study of magic in itself is just the surface excuse the respective families would use, and would be mainly focused on self-defense. It's also serves to serve to flex the money and power of the teaching mage. In short, it's purpose is pacification between mage families. For Ice Elves, Dwarves and most humans, magic is simply passed down from father to son, from mother to daughter, from master to apprentice, often on the side of any mundane jobs they might be having. For those who are born magic, learning how to cast protection spells is a must, simply because...since magic is essencially passing energies through the body, and some are born with a better ability to bare it without dying than others, evil spirits tend to take these untrained mages as "free real estate" and take control of their body, forcing them to do things that are plain harmful to themselves. Since no one wants someone who have been r-aped by demons and the legions of the undead, and then that person was possessed by an evil antity and forced to murder a bunch of people, only to wake up the next morning and not remembering a things...Nobody wants that, and thus teaching some protection magic is often times a must for people who are born with an enhanced proclivity towards magic.
I think the prominence of magic schools should reflect the setting, in a setting where magic is rare it makes sense that people who can shoot fire out their ass would be sent to those places immediately, and while it still makes sense for them to exist in settings where magic is common, they would likely be less like military camps and more like art or medical school
I like how this video goes some way to validating the Circles of Dragon Age. I think a lot of people’s knee-jerk reaction is that the mages are an oppressed minority who are virtually enslaved by their societies. And honestly, that’s pretty much true. The Circles press gang mages in order to extort the potential of their abilities. But mages are incredibly dangerous. Without training they are liable to strike out with incredible power or be possessed. That’s quite the toss up .🤷♂️
I do appreciate that there is a side to both arguments. Mages can be literal walking time bombs just waiting to explode. Not only are they just inherently stronger than most individuals out there in Thadus, but if pushed against the wall, if made to suffer, they could rely on forbidden and dangerous magics like blood magic (which is ironically actually kinda fun in DAO with the Stone Vigil DLC.) And if that wasn't bad enough, they could just become possessed by demons on top of the powers they have. But on the flip side, mages often fall and or go rogue because of the Chantry's stigmatizing them as practically monsters already. Training men and women to directly suppress, hunt, and outright kill mages they even remotely think are too dangerous to keep alive while locking them away in the Towers often for most of their lives if not given permission to leave. All while ripping them away from their families at a young age, partly to get them under their watch quickly, but also to ensure they don't become too emotionally attached to their families. Reminds me of another fantasy religious organization now... You have two strongly opposing sides. Mages are incredibly dangerous, given their connection with the Fade and how they can be quickly tempered and controlled by planar beings of immense power. But then you have the Templars and the Chantry that put so much pressure and control on the mages that they are often suffocated by their presences and militarized dogma.
I'm working on an Fire Emblem Three Houses fan fic and I'm also thinking of limitation for the magic. Here're some ideas: 1. Teleportation magic only works if the person being teleported is in one spot and it takes time to start. And the caster msut be able to see the location they're teleporting someone to reasonably well. Also, only one person can be teleported at one time and this magic is especially draining on the caster's body. I'll explain more later. 2. Transmutation magic doesn't exist. IE being able to turn someone or something into another object, creature, person, etc. If transmutation existed, then why wouldn't the heroes just turn the enemy into stone statues and smash them? Or turn them into snails and step on them? 3. Overusing magic puts strain on the body. Kind of like exercising, using too much magic too quickly drains bodily energy. While not fatal, it can leave one more vulnerable in combat.
Number three is basically what I have for the main cost of my magic system. Magic requires the use of energy and as the energy is used up it leaves the caster tired. Full drain takes about a day to fully recharge. The toll of magic isn't just physical but can be mental, emotional, and spiritual as well. Because of this, I put a focus on different training including physical and academic. Personally, I want transmutation to be possible. It will just be complicated to perform. In alchemy, the transmutation of a simple element (lead) into gold could only be done with the philosopher's stone which will be more than a simple McGuffin. I want the creation of a philosopher's stone to be difficult like it is in Fullmetal Alchemist (probably not to the same degree). Being able to turn into an animal is something I want to be possible. Inspired by early werewolf myths, the method for this involves the actual pelt of an animal (which has to be obtained by the caster who wishes to use it). Thus, it would be like Wild Shape in DnD. Being able to hex someone else into an animal is complicated. It's such a classic spell that I want it, but balancing it is complicated. I like the idea of teleportation taking a while. Currently, what I've settled on is that it can only be done at specific locations, and it is short range (haven't decided that exact range). Out of everything, I want teleportation to be as balanced as possible because how practical it would be.
I just thought of a way to balance transmutation. It's an extremely risky spell as it can leave the caster deformed. While it might be tempting to shapeshift into a dragon, that requires a lot of energy and powerful magic. It also has greater risk of going wrong. Most of these failed attempts result in death (usually a slow death) while others are cursed to permanently live in their deformed state-- usual ostracized from society because of their appearance. In my story, I plan to have a small pop. of naturally gifted shapeshifters who have less risk of permanent deformation. It will be limited though
This reminds me of the colleges of Magic in Warhammer fantasy, if you go in depth each college has various uses and jobs they perform for the empire and the things which they may do with their magic are controlled, The Empire asked a high elf archmage to create it, he determined that to limit the risk of anything going wrong (magic in warhammer is incredibly dangerous to use, before you know it you are channeling Dhar instead of just one wind of magic and corrupting your own mind or summonig Daemons). Every magic user not trained by the colleges is killed, the goal for the student is simple, you get put in one of the eight colleges and master one of the winds, succeed the trials and become a licensed wizard of the empire , each college has its own traditions, lore and assigned tasks to fulfuil for the empire, the colleges select from the available "students". Magic in this world is fractured into eight winds of magic, each is attracted to certain emorions, personalities and concepts of reality, you can mix these winds, but doing so most often results in Dhar, dark magic, unstable and uncotrolled, it is the most powerful magic as it is magic in its "purest" form, but it damages your mind, (many well meaning healer has ended as a genocidal mass murder because of this) you can mix them as high magic, but that is something which according to the elves was to risky to teach humans, thus Teclis, the archmage that taught the first eight heads of the colleges (mages who most likely before his tuition channeled more winds), that henceforth only one wind should be used, it became a law to avoid potential risks. Gold wizards or alchemists create potions and magic items, Grey wizards spy for the empire, and assasinate (this school is incredibly selective in who they pick this is where the mind manipulation magic is taught), jade wizards make the plants grow, lead rivers and lead troops through forests, Blue wizards scry, read futures and call down storms, Amber wizards harness beast magic and calm monsters, send beasts on their enemies and more, bright wizards harness Aqshy the wind of fire and are always battlemages, that is their sole purpose and they often die young. Each of the eight Colleges has its own training regimen and goals, and you have no choice, if you do not want to go to the colleges and get found out you are killed, you are a possible risk to the empire. other nations have different traditions of magic, but all of them have restrictions, those that deviate from these restrictions are punished, magic is incredibly risky to let fall into the hands of an enemy, for example the Amethyst order harnesses death magic and has teachings about the lore of deat, the Amethyst wind is the wind of Death, of time, of the past, you can imagine what happens when such wizards become necromancers, whiuch is why this order strictly monitors it's members (necromancy means using Dhar)
Wasn't sure about it from your accent alone, but having watched your videos I'm quite certain you're Hungarian. Glad to see another Hungarian worldbuilder.
I'd have to rewatch the movies multiple times and read the books to get the proper references for such a video... and I honestly don't have enough motivation to do that, not in the foreseeable future at the very least. I'd recommend ProcrastiTara's coverage of the franchise though. I agree with the majority of her criticisms and she does a great job of meticulously going through a lot of the issues.
@@ACrowingCockatriceMaybe I am missing the point, but it seems to me that hogwarts isn't just fun times without any sense or cause. It is described in the books, that untrained/young wizards can have outburst of uncontrolled/poorly controlled magic, whish can be dangerous (Harry blowing up aunt Marge, Dumbledores little sister...). Then in the magical society which is kinda described as a parallel society, so hogwarts just fills in the general education (well excluding the basics like Mathematics and Reading/Writing, you could conclude that the muggleborn kids are all going to primary school für at least five years and that the otger kids are homeschooled, but I admit it always bothered me a little bit)... and in this society there are a wide variety of jobs requiring different levels of magical abilities and interests. Just as the wizards finishing hogwarts will have. It is just not as much explored in the story due to the main characters leaving school early. As for excluding potentially dangerous student/wizards, well Hagrid was kicked out and stripped of his wand for that reason. Then there is Azkaban as a prison and a mostly working law and law enforcement system. Tom Riddle/Voldemort was arguibly to clever to get caught before finishing his education and disappeared shortly after. You could also say he was underestimated, but Dumbledore states within the books, that he had his eyes on him from the beginning but never found a reason the get him in real trouble. As to why hogwarts and wizards are hidden, I really can't remember if there was any time a reason given. I suppose considering the relationship between the minister of magic and the muggle prime minister it was propably something along the lines of keeping peace and preventing civil unrest between both societys. And prominently not everyone (deatheaters^^) agreed with that. But the how is at least pretty much mentioned again and again and again. Honestly hard to miss. From the spells hiding hogwarts, how to enter diagon alley, how the ministy has a whole departement about deleting memory of magic and the laws around keeping it a secret or Harry getting into serious trouble about it... it is constently mentioned. I suppose it is not without loopholes and not even close to being somewhat perfect. But when you take it as what it is, a great fantastical childrens to teenager book series that also invites whoever else wants to delve into a low fantasy world, it doens't have to have all the answers...
Big thing to note-what is the history of the world? The nation? The school? This is where these things can diverge from how they "should" be. I took a lot of these standards we have and saw how they were rooted in a need for certain progress interconnected with social values. This is where (albeit with a good bit of work) you can make the very structure of the school play into the plot and worldbuilding while even making the audience question why we as a people try to learn and to what purpose education serves. My current WIP takes place in the context of a continental nation that has never known of any other foreign land or people. They had periods of warring tribes and eras of sieging kingdoms-the mentality and family traditions of classes from those eras carried on into the military where they found themselves romanticizing their ancestors more and more. This hubris blinds them from how their military, and the schools and academies training their military, was outdated and illogical in structure of functioning; with progress in education having shifted to using magical powers in Artisan/marketable ways, rather than say how to have the best mix of certain magic users in a platoon/squad. Of course, there are other echoes of class structures from past eras that have helped lead to problems (and what will later become problems) in its present. I feel like this points to what should be the source of every structure in your world-history. Not just one event, but multiple, seemingly-unrelated events that help set the structure that-in your work's modern times-seems to be still alive with influence, even if that influence has roots dating back hundreds and thousands of years ago. Maybe theres a lively study of theology in your world, but it turns out its due to mass censorship done by a dead civilization, leaving academics with an incomplete image that theyre not even aware of being incomplete.
As the only book I have actually read: I find this Hogwarts slander slanderous and… uh… slanderous! I will now use descriptive buzzwords I don’t know the true definition of to insult you because this is the limit of my argumentative skills. Racist! Fascist! Sexist! Homophobe! Uh… *checks Twitter* Ableist!
The best idea I've thought of for anything like the magic secret world is, magic wasn't know because it WASN'T a thing. Suddenly magic is happening and society is scrambling to figure out what to do. Think about the cause that would happen if an army of demons or dragons or orcs where to suddenly invade and we find that they also have abilities we can match. Much more interesting
I just like to make magic descendant of a thing to answer most of this problems. First, magic is a fundamental force of nature that is more complex than anything humans ever saw, so magic casting is more complex than neurons, DNA, evolution etc. Second, there is some artifact, alien civilization or specific thing that makes magic understandable, like we have programming languages so we don't need to manipulate circuits or rows of binary to make anything work on a computer. Third, the school of magic have this and mantain the secret so they don't get exterminated, operating in the shadows.
Very helpful video! But I had to pay extremely close attention to understand what you were saying. I think I could cope with your super thick accent, it’s just that when it sounds like you are talking in to a soup can it makes your words almost unintelligible. A better microphone or maybe hanging bed sheets on your wall would make me much more likely to listen to another video.
Hogwarts: Has a token evil house and the secret chamber of ethnic cleansing
Wenias Magical Academy: We will erase your memories of magic and expell you if you fail. If you are too good, you will be sent away on a special course to be closely watched by the founder of magic who can nullify your powers at any moment.
Slytherin isn't an evil house though. It's the house for students who are ambitious, resourceful, determined, and cunning. Being sorted into Slytherin doesn't make someone evil. It is even implied that Harry was going to be sorted into Slytherin until he asked not to be.
@@Andrewtr6I disagree. Slytherin is pretty much a token evil house. Harry was almost sorted into Slytherin because of Harry’s connection to Voldemort
@@i.drawcomics Well, you're wrong. If you'd just look at the lore you'd know why. Each house sorts students based on personality traits and the traits chosen for Slytherin are. as I already said, ambition, determination, and cleverness. The word "sly", ie being cunning, is even in the house name.
The only reason people see it was the "evil house" is because in the books/movies none of the main heroes were from slytherin. All the slytherin students depicted were antagonists. Slytherin also attracts a lot of "pure blood" families who sided with Voldemort. However, that doesn't make the whole house the "evil house". And nowhere in the story is the house referred to as such.
@@Andrewtr6hi! I recommend quinn curios video on slytherin house!! slytherin serves as the evil house, even though not all slytherins are meant to be evil.
@@Andrewtr6Even if it isn't an evil house, the houses as a whole are a laser version of astrology, which is worse than just "evil house" IMO.
My favorite magic School is Unseen University because it's explicitly made so that the students and professors are there so that they do as little magic as possible due to how chaotic and annoying magic is.
Hmmm I'm kind of getting the impression that you have just a liiiiiil tiny bit of pent up frustration towards Harry Potter. Now tell us how you REALLY feel about those books
Personally, MY idea for an interesting magic school is one that has a sort of modern esthetic but has some fantastical elements within it.
In other words; on the surface, the school LOOKS like any real world high school. But in terms of the student body; there are humans, elves, dwarves, merfolk, half-dragons, orcs and so on. At the same time, these creatures often affiliate themselves with certain schoolyard cliques (ex. jocks, nerds, popular kids, theater kids, Goths etc.)
Some examples I can give that best represent what I'm talking about can be found on Winx Club, Disney's Owl House, Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy and/or Fantasy High, a D&D campaign found on Dimension 20 here on RUclips or on Dropout
One story I'm writing has a slight modern esthetic. It's set in an "otherworld" and some of the students come from 'our world' to this school. Originally, it was a modern fantasy world more like Harry Potter (but more modern) and I cared this over when I switched the setting to another realm. Cellphones, computers, and electricity are all things but it's a very low-tech setting. But has more tech than the typical fantasy world.
For races, I have humans, elves, fairies, and nymphs as the main races. There are "dragon-people" but they are solitary, and ogres/orcs are too aggressive. I do use some of the stereotypical cliques as part of the worldbuilding (jocks and such).
I see this as a really cliche and mainstream magic school trope. Sure it could be amazing if done correctly but most stories with this kind of magic school is literally just teenage drama with magic as spice
Taken comically, this reminds me of the If Hogwarts was in the Ghetto Key & Peele sketch from years back lmao
Harry Potter receives a lot of criticism for what it did poorly or just didn't do, however, what it did accomplish is not acknowledged often. I'm writing my own story with a magic school and I'm still trying to capture what Harry Potter did right. First off, the series did popularize the idea of a school of magic. It may not have been the first story to show it but it's still the most popular. I decided to write a magic school to explain the magic system in my fantasy world because of Harry Potter. What I think Harry Potter did best was capture the fantastical feeling of magic; the whimsy it included is what I've been trying to develop in my own story.
My magic school was once placed in a modern fantasy world, but I changed it to be an "otherworld" type story so I would have more control over the world and worldbuilding. The population of this world is nowhere near the population of earth. The population will be nowhere near the pop. of the US. I'll probably calculate the exact population once I have a map with all the major cities. The population may be low, but the number of magic users is pretty high. Around 70-80% of the population but around 30% will be low magic meaning their skills are capped at a low level. People with no magic will make up the least of the pop. There are more races than just humans however, and since majority of the world is magical, there's no reason for it to be kept secret.
This world is also very dangerous... for a mundane human. A criticism I had of Harry Potter was the unnecessary danger around the school. I over corrected for this in my story at first, making my school too safe where it prevented conflict, but I realized what might seem dangerous to us wouldn't be for magic users. Though I nerfed healing magic a little, healing potions still exist. Breaking an arm or even some minor bleeding isn't as big of a deal as it would be for us. They just drink a health potion, and their wound is healed within minutes. There's no need for stitches or a cast. If the only risk is injury, then it's not considered dangerous. This world is full of dangers in the form of monsters. Monster attacks are common but rarely a problem for major cities. The most danger is posed when traveling alone. This is one reason magic is taught.
One goal I have with this story is to create a balanced magic system but still have fun spells. Instead of having a ton of "combat" spells, I want magic to be used to solve problems in creative ways. There will be a small number of combat magic but most of it is only taught to the guardsmen expect for a few defensive spells.
In my story, there is a government system that monitors magic. There are spells that has been restricted or completely banned and illegally casting them will result in punishment. However, the magic schools aren't the only way to learn magic. Some of the banned/restricted magic isn't even "dark" or "evil" it's just considered taboo.
I have been working on a list of classes taught at the school, as well as what year they are available, and I've kept in mind real classes like math, English, biology, history, geography, even gym. All these classes can easily be adapted into the study of magic. If I tried to explain how I did it for each, this would end up very long. Thinking of occupations that require magic hasn't gone as smoothly. I have a few but I feel like there should be more. While the schools teach magic so that the casters that attend can reach their potential, a lot of the training for specific jobs will be handled by apprenticeships. Currently, the school has five years (maybe 6) but I don't think having a college equivalent would work out... though, now I'm thinking maybe it could. A four yr school that only the best of the best can get into, and they are trained for the most advanced jobs; I'll have to consider that more.
Gotta be honest. I find the Harry Potter bashing a little extreme. HP isn't the only franchise that has magic which was kept secret. Both Marvel and DC have even worse magic systems that were kept secret until some magic using superhero emerged. The whole point of it being kept secret is so the story can still be set in a parallel version of the real world. The argument against Harry Potter's magic being secret would completely break any modern fantasy story. Magic needs to be hidden in order to tell a modern fantasy story where the setting is a real place. One of my stories is set in New Orleans and follows a police detective who fights vampires. For it to still look like our reality, magic and vampires have to be kept secret.
Honestly, if readers can suspend their disbelief for magic spells, vampires, dragons, and what else, the idea that magic and multiple secret societies have been kept secret for decades shouldn't be a problem. And even if it feels implausible, that's just how it has to be for these stories to work. If magic or vampires existed and it was common knowledge, it would have completely changed the course of history. Vampires have a good reason to stay hidden. They are seen as monsters. They are also basically ambush predators. Their prey not knowing of their existence is a big advantage. Humans wouldn't like the idea of being prey. We like our spot as apex predators. If vampires existed, we would very likely have tried to wipe them out very early on.
In fact, I try to explain why vampires stay hidden with this. At some point in human history, vampires were well known to be real until humans hunted them to extinction (or they thought) and they became myths. This could have happened a number of times with little success. Kinda like the crusades.
Realistically, I think if vampires were real (with the typical powers, but without the whole burning in sunlight. That's not part of the mythology, Hollywood made it up, and thus my vampires don't burn in the sun) without the "turn to ash in sunlight" weakness humans would be at a great disadvantage. Too great to win against them. But that would break my story, so I ignore it. No matter what explanation I give for why vampires haven't enslaved humans, someone could just disagree.
My vampires have been around since the dawn of human civilization which is plenty of time to take over. Why haven't they? Well, there are human vampire hunters, but the odds aren't in our favor. The best I have is literally a deus ex machina: "the gods liked humans more and didn't let the vampires to win", more specifically, the vampires either refused to worship the gods or their immortality was seen as an insult to the gods. The gods play a big role in the worldbuilding of both my stories so it wouldn't be out of place.
Those are good ideas.
What must be kept in mind is that magic is a living breathing thing just like the world itself and doesn't like to be subjected to arbitrary and strict rules that can't possibly be imposed. Magic is ultimately a different way to view and interact with the world around you focusing foremost on domains of the mind and spirit. That means that courses on morality, ethics, spiritualism, philosophy, and even theology would be requirements with plenty hammering home why certain practices such as necromancy, mind control, summoning demons or malicious forces that are way beyond your understanding are bad things by nature and should never really be done. Wizards as a people would be very spiritual and thoughtful because that is required in the subjects they deal with.
One of my favorite Magic Universities is Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea example. Her magic system is interesting and the college on the isle of Roke could provide a great example in a RPG setting. There were individual student teacher situations, but those that showed the most potential would be sent to the island and there they would specialize to their individual strengths after a general course of learning.
What is the best magic school? Everyone: Hogwarts (Harry Potter)
Me: Hexside School of Magic and Demonics (The Owl House)
I can't say I'm familiar with that one.
Ah, a man of culture I see
I think Worst Witch (well, the Netflix series one) is quite interesting... But lol
Lmfao the telekinesis icon.
Yes, you can kill bosses by YEETing paintings at them.
My idea for a magic system: no one has "magic powers" of their own and theorically anyone can learn magic, but only a few have the extra-sensory perception and a body able to accept all kinds of foreign energies without harm to oneself.
Elves are slightly different, and the Drow have multiple magic schools for various purposes: prediction of future danger, creating and maintaining an undead workforce, healing the sick and practicing various religious duties, with monasteries in fact doubling as magic schools. Magic schools in Drow society would be either: join a religious order, or be born into royalty and have a private tutor teach you magic so that you can use that magic for politics.
However, in my verse, there would be no magic school of it's own. The closest thing it has to magical schools is certain mages entertaining the power of their dynasty and protect themselves from persecution by assembling a large amount of apprentices, that they would psychologically manipulate to be loyal to them, and then send them back to their respective families as a way of complexe networking and insuring the magic dynasties don't try to all mutually kill each other. It's pacification through alliances and mind games, and the study of magic in itself is just the surface excuse the respective families would use, and would be mainly focused on self-defense. It's also serves to serve to flex the money and power of the teaching mage. In short, it's purpose is pacification between mage families.
For Ice Elves, Dwarves and most humans, magic is simply passed down from father to son, from mother to daughter, from master to apprentice, often on the side of any mundane jobs they might be having.
For those who are born magic, learning how to cast protection spells is a must, simply because...since magic is essencially passing energies through the body, and some are born with a better ability to bare it without dying than others, evil spirits tend to take these untrained mages as "free real estate" and take control of their body, forcing them to do things that are plain harmful to themselves. Since no one wants someone who have been r-aped by demons and the legions of the undead, and then that person was possessed by an evil antity and forced to murder a bunch of people, only to wake up the next morning and not remembering a things...Nobody wants that, and thus teaching some protection magic is often times a must for people who are born with an enhanced proclivity towards magic.
Those sound like good ideas.
I think the prominence of magic schools should reflect the setting, in a setting where magic is rare it makes sense that people who can shoot fire out their ass would be sent to those places immediately, and while it still makes sense for them to exist in settings where magic is common, they would likely be less like military camps and more like art or medical school
I like how this video goes some way to validating the Circles of Dragon Age. I think a lot of people’s knee-jerk reaction is that the mages are an oppressed minority who are virtually enslaved by their societies. And honestly, that’s pretty much true. The Circles press gang mages in order to extort the potential of their abilities. But mages are incredibly dangerous. Without training they are liable to strike out with incredible power or be possessed. That’s quite the toss up .🤷♂️
I do appreciate that there is a side to both arguments. Mages can be literal walking time bombs just waiting to explode. Not only are they just inherently stronger than most individuals out there in Thadus, but if pushed against the wall, if made to suffer, they could rely on forbidden and dangerous magics like blood magic (which is ironically actually kinda fun in DAO with the Stone Vigil DLC.) And if that wasn't bad enough, they could just become possessed by demons on top of the powers they have.
But on the flip side, mages often fall and or go rogue because of the Chantry's stigmatizing them as practically monsters already. Training men and women to directly suppress, hunt, and outright kill mages they even remotely think are too dangerous to keep alive while locking them away in the Towers often for most of their lives if not given permission to leave. All while ripping them away from their families at a young age, partly to get them under their watch quickly, but also to ensure they don't become too emotionally attached to their families. Reminds me of another fantasy religious organization now...
You have two strongly opposing sides. Mages are incredibly dangerous, given their connection with the Fade and how they can be quickly tempered and controlled by planar beings of immense power. But then you have the Templars and the Chantry that put so much pressure and control on the mages that they are often suffocated by their presences and militarized dogma.
I'm working on an Fire Emblem Three Houses fan fic and I'm also thinking of limitation for the magic. Here're some ideas:
1. Teleportation magic only works if the person being teleported is in one spot and it takes time to start. And the caster msut be able to see the location they're teleporting someone to reasonably well. Also, only one person can be teleported at one time and this magic is especially draining on the caster's body. I'll explain more later.
2. Transmutation magic doesn't exist. IE being able to turn someone or something into another object, creature, person, etc. If transmutation existed, then why wouldn't the heroes just turn the enemy into stone statues and smash them? Or turn them into snails and step on them?
3. Overusing magic puts strain on the body. Kind of like exercising, using too much magic too quickly drains bodily energy. While not fatal, it can leave one more vulnerable in combat.
Those seem like perfectly sensible limitations.
Number three is basically what I have for the main cost of my magic system. Magic requires the use of energy and as the energy is used up it leaves the caster tired. Full drain takes about a day to fully recharge. The toll of magic isn't just physical but can be mental, emotional, and spiritual as well. Because of this, I put a focus on different training including physical and academic.
Personally, I want transmutation to be possible. It will just be complicated to perform. In alchemy, the transmutation of a simple element (lead) into gold could only be done with the philosopher's stone which will be more than a simple McGuffin. I want the creation of a philosopher's stone to be difficult like it is in Fullmetal Alchemist (probably not to the same degree). Being able to turn into an animal is something I want to be possible. Inspired by early werewolf myths, the method for this involves the actual pelt of an animal (which has to be obtained by the caster who wishes to use it). Thus, it would be like Wild Shape in DnD. Being able to hex someone else into an animal is complicated. It's such a classic spell that I want it, but balancing it is complicated.
I like the idea of teleportation taking a while. Currently, what I've settled on is that it can only be done at specific locations, and it is short range (haven't decided that exact range). Out of everything, I want teleportation to be as balanced as possible because how practical it would be.
I just thought of a way to balance transmutation. It's an extremely risky spell as it can leave the caster deformed. While it might be tempting to shapeshift into a dragon, that requires a lot of energy and powerful magic. It also has greater risk of going wrong. Most of these failed attempts result in death (usually a slow death) while others are cursed to permanently live in their deformed state-- usual ostracized from society because of their appearance. In my story, I plan to have a small pop. of naturally gifted shapeshifters who have less risk of permanent deformation. It will be limited though
This reminds me of the colleges of Magic in Warhammer fantasy, if you go in depth each college has various uses and jobs they perform for the empire and the things which they may do with their magic are controlled, The Empire asked a high elf archmage to create it, he determined that to limit the risk of anything going wrong (magic in warhammer is incredibly dangerous to use, before you know it you are channeling Dhar instead of just one wind of magic and corrupting your own mind or summonig Daemons). Every magic user not trained by the colleges is killed,
the goal for the student is simple, you get put in one of the eight colleges and master one of the winds, succeed the trials and become a licensed wizard of the empire , each college has its own traditions, lore and assigned tasks to fulfuil for the empire, the colleges select from the available "students".
Magic in this world is fractured into eight winds of magic, each is attracted to certain emorions, personalities and concepts of reality, you can mix these winds, but doing so most often results in Dhar, dark magic, unstable and uncotrolled, it is the most powerful magic as it is magic in its "purest" form, but it damages your mind, (many well meaning healer has ended as a genocidal mass murder because of this)
you can mix them as high magic, but that is something which according to the elves was to risky to teach humans, thus Teclis, the archmage that taught the first eight heads of the colleges (mages who most likely before his tuition channeled more winds), that henceforth only one wind should be used, it became a law to avoid potential risks.
Gold wizards or alchemists create potions and magic items, Grey wizards spy for the empire, and assasinate (this school is incredibly selective in who they pick this is where the mind manipulation magic is taught),
jade wizards make the plants grow, lead rivers and lead troops through forests, Blue wizards scry, read futures and call down storms, Amber wizards harness beast magic and calm monsters, send beasts on their enemies and more, bright wizards harness Aqshy the wind of fire and are always battlemages, that is their sole purpose and they often die young. Each of the eight Colleges has its own training regimen and goals, and you have no choice, if you do not want to go to the colleges and get found out you are killed, you are a possible risk to the empire.
other nations have different traditions of magic, but all of them have restrictions, those that deviate from these restrictions are punished, magic is incredibly risky to let fall into the hands of an enemy, for example the Amethyst order harnesses death magic and has teachings about the lore of deat, the Amethyst wind is the wind of Death, of time, of the past, you can imagine what happens when such wizards become necromancers, whiuch is why this order strictly monitors it's members (necromancy means using Dhar)
Wasn't sure about it from your accent alone, but having watched your videos I'm quite certain you're Hungarian. Glad to see another Hungarian worldbuilder.
Now I kind of want a whole video of you ranting about Harry Potter lol
I'd have to rewatch the movies multiple times and read the books to get the proper references for such a video... and I honestly don't have enough motivation to do that, not in the foreseeable future at the very least. I'd recommend ProcrastiTara's coverage of the franchise though. I agree with the majority of her criticisms and she does a great job of meticulously going through a lot of the issues.
@@ACrowingCockatrice that’s completely understandable!
I’ll have to go watch it :D
@@ACrowingCockatriceMaybe I am missing the point, but it seems to me that hogwarts isn't just fun times without any sense or cause. It is described in the books, that untrained/young wizards can have outburst of uncontrolled/poorly controlled magic, whish can be dangerous (Harry blowing up aunt Marge, Dumbledores little sister...). Then in the magical society which is kinda described as a parallel society, so hogwarts just fills in the general education (well excluding the basics like Mathematics and Reading/Writing, you could conclude that the muggleborn kids are all going to primary school für at least five years and that the otger kids are homeschooled, but I admit it always bothered me a little bit)... and in this society there are a wide variety of jobs requiring different levels of magical abilities and interests. Just as the wizards finishing hogwarts will have. It is just not as much explored in the story due to the main characters leaving school early. As for excluding potentially dangerous student/wizards, well Hagrid was kicked out and stripped of his wand for that reason. Then there is Azkaban as a prison and a mostly working law and law enforcement system. Tom Riddle/Voldemort was arguibly to clever to get caught before finishing his education and disappeared shortly after. You could also say he was underestimated, but Dumbledore states within the books, that he had his eyes on him from the beginning but never found a reason the get him in real trouble.
As to why hogwarts and wizards are hidden, I really can't remember if there was any time a reason given. I suppose considering the relationship between the minister of magic and the muggle prime minister it was propably something along the lines of keeping peace and preventing civil unrest between both societys. And prominently not everyone (deatheaters^^) agreed with that. But the how is at least pretty much mentioned again and again and again. Honestly hard to miss. From the spells hiding hogwarts, how to enter diagon alley, how the ministy has a whole departement about deleting memory of magic and the laws around keeping it a secret or Harry getting into serious trouble about it... it is constently mentioned. I suppose it is not without loopholes and not even close to being somewhat perfect. But when you take it as what it is, a great fantastical childrens to teenager book series that also invites whoever else wants to delve into a low fantasy world, it doens't have to have all the answers...
What you think about the Strixhaven university of mtg
Big thing to note-what is the history of the world? The nation? The school?
This is where these things can diverge from how they "should" be. I took a lot of these standards we have and saw how they were rooted in a need for certain progress interconnected with social values. This is where (albeit with a good bit of work) you can make the very structure of the school play into the plot and worldbuilding while even making the audience question why we as a people try to learn and to what purpose education serves.
My current WIP takes place in the context of a continental nation that has never known of any other foreign land or people. They had periods of warring tribes and eras of sieging kingdoms-the mentality and family traditions of classes from those eras carried on into the military where they found themselves romanticizing their ancestors more and more. This hubris blinds them from how their military, and the schools and academies training their military, was outdated and illogical in structure of functioning; with progress in education having shifted to using magical powers in Artisan/marketable ways, rather than say how to have the best mix of certain magic users in a platoon/squad. Of course, there are other echoes of class structures from past eras that have helped lead to problems (and what will later become problems) in its present. I feel like this points to what should be the source of every structure in your world-history. Not just one event, but multiple, seemingly-unrelated events that help set the structure that-in your work's modern times-seems to be still alive with influence, even if that influence has roots dating back hundreds and thousands of years ago. Maybe theres a lively study of theology in your world, but it turns out its due to mass censorship done by a dead civilization, leaving academics with an incomplete image that theyre not even aware of being incomplete.
Request: monsters dissected: charybidis - sea monster that creates whirlpools video.
As the only book I have actually read: I find this Hogwarts slander slanderous and… uh… slanderous!
I will now use descriptive buzzwords I don’t know the true definition of to insult you because this is the limit of my argumentative skills.
Racist! Fascist! Sexist! Homophobe! Uh… *checks Twitter* Ableist!
I mean, Hogwarts is pretty ableist. Have you ever tried going through those stairs with a wheelchair?
@@pmester228😂
The best idea I've thought of for anything like the magic secret world is, magic wasn't know because it WASN'T a thing. Suddenly magic is happening and society is scrambling to figure out what to do. Think about the cause that would happen if an army of demons or dragons or orcs where to suddenly invade and we find that they also have abilities we can match. Much more interesting
I'm trying my best to listen but your voice is so calm im sleeping under it frrr 😂😂😂
I just like to make magic descendant of a thing to answer most of this problems.
First, magic is a fundamental force of nature that is more complex than anything humans ever saw, so magic casting is more complex than neurons, DNA, evolution etc.
Second, there is some artifact, alien civilization or specific thing that makes magic understandable, like we have programming languages so we don't need to manipulate circuits or rows of binary to make anything work on a computer.
Third, the school of magic have this and mantain the secret so they don't get exterminated, operating in the shadows.
Truly underrated!
Love your accent!
Splendid
my idea: magic is stored in the balls
Very helpful video! But I had to pay extremely close attention to understand what you were saying. I think I could cope with your super thick accent, it’s just that when it sounds like you are talking in to a soup can it makes your words almost unintelligible. A better microphone or maybe hanging bed sheets on your wall would make me much more likely to listen to another video.
Have you thought about translating these videos into English for a wider audience?