Ghosts, Spirits, and Demons!

POSTED BY: Cybersnark
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 22:25
VIEWED: 998
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CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:48 PM

Been working on this as background for my fantasy universe, and thought I'd post it in honour of Hallowe'en. I find myself needing to define how magic and spirits work, so I cobbled together stuff from a hundred different fandoms. Enjoy, and unpleasant dreams.

The universe is made up of (at least) three different planes: the physical (where we live), the etheric (which coexists with the physical and is really just an extension of it), and the astral (which we can only reach through deep meditation --some shamans call this the Dreamtime). Contact between the physical and astral planes is very difficult, from both directions. A fourth plane, the virtual (or digital, to quote Digimon) is emergent, marked by information and energy, but not manifesting physical matter (as happens in the physical plane, controlled by the Matter/Energy Equation). Not yet, anyway.

(In short: Matter = Energy bound by Information [M=E/I]. Change the energy or the information, and the matter changes. This is how shapeshifting and transmutation work --people can "hack" the equation and rewrite the "information" variable.)

While humans (and animals, and plants) are native to the physical world, we resonate in the other two planes as well. The etheric plane holds our animating spirit or consciousness as well as the manifestation of our aura (what we call "physical" is actually just another kind of aura --one with a solid and opaque surface, like the AT fields in Evangelion). The astral plane is another extension of this aura, effectively the soul.

Visualise it like a snowman: the physical body as the largest element, on the bottom, with the spirit/consciousness above it and the soul above that.

A general rule of thumb when dealing with magic is that there's always more than one way to accomplish anything; this is why I talk about types of werewolves, types of zombies, etc. Knowing exactly how to deal with these beings depends on the exact type of creature, and should best be left to professional sorcerors, wizards, shamans, or Hunters (who are trained/experienced in noticing the tiny details that'll identify things like this). When in doubt, run!

We'll start from the physical plane and move upward:

I've already explained humans, and you should know that other animals and plants are the same way --yes, they have souls, despite what your catechism teachers might've told you. By extension, anything that can affect a human's soul or spirit can also affect theirs (if a vampire bites a cat and gives it some of his own blood, you get a vampire kitty).

Trolls/Ogres are a type of Halfling, made of mixed human and dragon blood. Of course, human and dragon genes don't match up exactly, so the offspring are often deformed (and may become more twisted [both physically and psychologically] from being shunned by both human and dragon society as they often were in ancient times). Trolls have great magical potential because of their mixed heritage, but few trolls ever receive the training they need to become mages.

Dragons are one of the three Great Races on Earth, and form one half of the magical symbiosis (humans are the other). (*) They are physical by nature, but their civilization is older by far than humanity. They have mastered spiritual control, and are able to shapeshift and make use of numerous powers and abilities. This is why no one sees them these days; they don't look like dragons.

(* Magic, like all energy, cannot be destroyed or created, it can only change form. There are two types (call them A and B). When humans use magic, we take A-type magic and turn it into B-type magic, which we can't use. Dragons can only use B-type magic and produce A-type magic. When humans started killing off dragons, they went underground [sometimes literally --anybody seen The Descent?] and stopped using magic. Eventually, most of the magic in the world ended up trapped in B-state. This is why most human mages these days can't manage anything beyond a few frail charms and rituals. It's n

NVGHOSTRIDER

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 10:25 PM

Lots of info. Got me thinkin' about a good fantasy 'verse fic thats been rollin' awhile. Thanks.

Happy Birthday PsychoBilly!