Help defining the visual identity of a Sound based Magic System
I’m building a magic system based on sound. In my setting everything is vibration, and mages shape reality by producing sound. I’m happy with the rules but stuck on how it looks and sounds when someone actually uses it.
What it can do
Magic never creates or destroys anything. It can only push a property that’s already there, up or down. Think heating and cooling, hardening and softening, building or releasing pressure. No fireballs from nothing, no gravity or time tricks.
How it works
Every object has its own natural tone, the way a bell or a wine glass does. A mage first listens to the object. Then they hold that tone and play a second note at a specific interval above it. That interval decides the kind of effect. For example, a sharp of that note means warmth a flat means cold. Diferent notes relative to the natural tone create diferent affects.
As the object changes, its tone changes. Warm metal gets less stiff, so its pitch sinks. The mage has to follow it, gliding down and keeping the interval the same. If they lag, the two tones start to beat against each other and the effect goes patchy. So even the simplest working is a slow conversation with the material, not one note held for minutes.
How you play it matters as much as the interval. A slow swell heats a blade evenly. A sharp attack flashes the surface. Pulses with rests let heat spread into thick metal.
Groups and songs
If you play a sound alone the effects are minimal, however by playing in a group the effect multiplies.
And here i get stuck into two ideas, i want the magic to be hard in its effect, to change real physical properties to be measured and studied. And this works if i associate a note to an effect. However when we put songs into the mixture it breaks down and seems forced, music is a fluid and dynamic and its more then its individual notes.
What I’d love feedback on
Does “follow the object’s changing tone” make solo casting more interesting, or is it still just someone humming at a rock?
Have you seen a sound-based magic that sounds good on the page? How did the author do it?