Why is fire so common?

To elaborate on my question, I have been pissed Abt why so many magic systems treat the combustion triangle like a suggestion when making their system have fire.

Flames need three things, (need to mention that all of these are needed in certain proportions to combust)

1. Fuel

2. Heat

3. Oxidizer

All these are needed to make your average flames, which makes me wonder, how magic flames can exist without a fuel source? Assuming that of course heat is supplied through the magic system, even if, the lack of a single element in the combustion triangle gives unique results unrelated to fire,

1+2 without 3; won't produce flames and may instead cause the material to melt, vaporize, or thermally decompose depending on the material and temperature.

1+3 without or insufficient amounts of 2; won't produce flames and nothing would actually happen. (except material specific reactions and still may not produce flames, e.g: rust happens between iron and oxygen)

2+3 without 1; won't produce flames and will instead cause hot gas.

If it is a special type of fire that thrives on energy why is it usually identified as the average fire and not a special type of fire?

And even so, energy isn't a substance that you can simply ignite in the same way you ignite fuel. You can have energy causing matter to become extremely hot, excite atoms, ionize gases, etc., but energy itself isn't a fuel,

Which begs the question how can fire be created in magic systems, in a way that actually makes sense instead of some cool shi happening?

To be more specific. Usually, many stories have a magical energy resource that can be used a certain amount of times at once before it’s “spent”. My system, at least for ‘normal’ human mages (irrelevant in this context), uses the same thing.

But what I’m worried about is the following: there aren’t clear limitations on the reserves.
How much ‘Mana’ a fireball would cost? and how proportional to its size the cost would be? I don’t know how many “magic energy units” an individual has exactly, and this worries me, because not having numbers can make mana something completely arbitrary that I can use as vaguely as I want and break the rules without anyone knowing the better

Which, might work for some stories, but it’s not really something I like that much.

How do I avoid making characters run out of mana without making it feel like I’m pulling cards out of my ass, how do I measure the distance between a fledgling mage and a master wizard?
How do I make sure that a character casting 10 fireballs is the right amount, instead of 20, or 100?
Or what about other spells, what is the cost they should have?

Do I make an internal grading system of magic? Like, “heat+ size + power = magic cost” but I don’t show it to others and make it just my own writer notes?
But wouldn’t this just make the story a litRPG that’s pretending to not be a lit RPG?

Title is a bit vague because I didn't want to make it a mess.

Traditionally, in fiction, you often see Fae have this magic or power that allows them to bend the rules of reality. If a Fae stole all your coins and you say "I want my coins back," they might hand you two coins because that is technically what you asked for. If you wanted to make a deal with a Fae, they might ask for something like "I want your ability to see constellations in the stars" or "I want the high note in your singing."

It's almost like Fae magic works on the basis of literal meaning rather than intended meaning, or based on the interpretation of the words said. In a lot of fantasy fiction, it works both ways too- the Fae can be trickery, but the person making the deal can be trickery in return. A Fae may say "I want your bag of valuables" and so you dump out the bag and hand it over, which based on the literal words, all the Fae asked for was the bag and thus it fulfills the contract. Or, you often see the Fae ask for something, goes to claim it, and then the person goes "Oh, but you never said when, so I have plenty of time! You'll get it later!"

How would you describe this power, or what terms would fit it? Would it be paracausal? Semantics-based magic? I feel like there is a very specific word for this sort of power, maybe something I've seen in in my time reading SCP documents, but I can't think of it. I'm specifically looking for a term that someone might use in a world where this magic exists. The trope is likely called something like "storybook magic" or something but in a fantasy setting, that wouldn't really make any sense.

Thank you!

Every time I click on a post talking about their magic system and I instantly see the word mana, my eyes just glazes over.

It would be cool if someone has mana based on actual mana from Polynesian cultures, but that's never the case. It's just people going "I cant use magic, that's too basic. I know! I'll call it mana instead!"

So I have a character that has an ability to generate and manipulate sulphur. At least, that’s what I WANT them to do. However, I….. really don’t know how to do that. I’m mainly planning for it to be sulphur as a dust as a base, but my problem is I don’t know how the substance being sulphur is important. So, if anyone here knows more about sulphur, could you please tell me the sort of things that sulphur could impact with this ability?

I’m working on the underlying metaphysics for a fantasy magic system and I’m at the stage where

I’d rather have people attack the rules than help me add more abilities.

The basic premise is that magic changes the state of reality rather than simply producing predefined spells.

Potential: A magical change requires sufficient capacity to make the change happen.

Pattern: Magic needs sufficient information defining the intended result. More complex results require more complete information.

Access: A magical effect requires a valid means of interacting with the thing being changed.

Anchoring: Changes that must persist require something capable of maintaining the altered state. Temporary effects are easier to sustain than permanent ones.

Conservation: Reorganizing existing reality is easier than creating equivalent complexity from nothing.

Burden: Every magical alteration creates a cost based broadly on how much is changed, the scale involved, how quickly it must happen, its complexity, how long it must persist, and how strongly the target resists alteration.

Skilled magic users can become better at managing that cost through preparation, efficiency, narrower effects, time, materials, stored resources, etc., but they cannot simply eliminate the underlying cost.

I’m not looking for spell ideas. I’m specifically trying to find structural problems.

If these were the fundamental rules of magic, what would you exploit? What contradictions or loopholes do you see? What unintended consequences follow from them? Is there anything here that sounds like a constraint but actually gives the author unlimited wiggle room?

In my world, the air is called aether. Aether is magic, Aether is life.

Magic is called misting and it comes from aether. Every single living being has veins that allow them the ability to use misting as they breathe in the aether. Misting comes out of the fingertips as a mist that takes on different colors based on the race and species.

Although everyone can use misting, they aren't created equal.

Depending on your mist levels, you can use various spells. Everyone can use spells, but there are only some races that can use more spells than the other. Along with the ability to handle aether dwellings, which are locations thick or thin with aether.

Races with irregular mist levels can reside in high and middle aether dwellings. That means they can live in locations where the aether is akin to climbing the tallest mountain or where the aether is neutral.

Aether dwellings come in low, middle, high, or toxic.

Mist levels come in regular, irregular, unbalance, and abnormal.

That is my magic system. If you have questions, you are free to ask and I shall do my very best to answer you.

Whenever i go into a new show or book, i spoil myself a bit by reading about a particular detail of that show/book: who/what has the most magical/mystical presence in that lore?

So here's my question to all of you special people; in your system(s), what is the:

• living creature (human or non-human, but not deity), or
• non-living object, or
• place or location, or
• natural phenomenon

that has the strongest magic?

what im trying to say is how magic was discovered is used by people and is being developed for purposes leading to new uses is maybe more interesting than the actual magic system and do the people studying magic have simplified understandings on how magic actually works like the case of classical physics. a tentative example would be avatar the last air bender that when kora is the avatar the bending styles are different and use different motions

(The document is written by an in universe uwezo dynamics researcher.)

Uwezo Dynamics - The U-particle

Particles generated by minds of sentient beings, they are quanta of Uwezo energy.
Sentient minds cause excitations in the uwezo field, creating these particles.
Unpowered people can't use them (without assistance) because they create too few particles.

Classification

These u-particles particles are channelled via the union of mind and body.
There are two axes that define the use:

1. Stability vs Opportunity : This determines if one is majority solid or fluid energy.
2. Focus: The self vs the world i.e. internal vs external. The answers emerge from one's desire at moment of awakening.

Thus, users are split into 4 quadrants.

1. Body - Stability focused on self - Physical strength and mastery over one's body.
2. Summon - Stability manifested in the world - Creating a single relic/familiar.
3. Infusion - Opportunity focused externally/world - Using energy to alter and manipulate matter.
4. Mindscript - Opportunity focused on self - Mental spell-like code.

Solid vs Fluid Energy

The energies act like stamina; limited and recover over time.
Innate users have a 80/20 split for their main energy type.

Solid energy:

• is static, unmoving. Effect works simply by existing.
• acts on a binary. The effects are the same at full and near empty. At empty, the ability fades until recovery.
• These quadrants are simple to use, but inflexible.

Fluid energy is:

• flowing, needs to flow to create an effect.
• On a progressive consumption. Like a budget i.e. starting with 100 then spend 20, now only 80 can be spent.
• These quads need more practice and knowledge to use, but are much more flexible.

Assisted Use - Amre Machines

Unpowered people can use some abilities via Amre (AMplification & REverberation) machines which use the u-particles they produce.
These are locked to the 4 quads, but lesser since these are not innate users:

• Body stays similar.
• Summon is not possible at this level, so they can only enhance an object.
• Infusion is limited to one element.
• Mindscripts are limited to 5 maximum. The unpowered are also hard limited to one quad. The bonding process takes up to a week, and the machine must be kept on their person.

Why can't all use Uwezo then?

1. Ability to channel the particles seems to be random.
2. Amre machines are extremely complex, requiring nanometric precision manufacturing.
3. The knowledge is gatekept by the various world militaries.

Innate Use

Ignition

Innate use is gained after a person undergoes a rare process called ignition.
Ignition occurs during a climax of negative emotion, it is unclear if ignition can occur due to positive emotion.
During the ignition process, the body is enveloped in a red light and the body is remade, henceforth referred to as somatic rebuild.
This process is described as an absurd level of pain; one survivor account says : "Its like getting ran over in slow motion, while needles are shoved in your eyes, and your children are murdered and your dog gets skinned, all at once."
The survival rate for ignition is currently at 73%, and it lasts 30 seconds.
The factors influencing ignition susceptibility are still unknown.

Rank system

Innate users are sorted into discrete ranks, the highest living being rank 3.
Higher ranks have access to greater energy pools, and supplemental skills.
However, ranking up requires a re-ignition which takes longer with each rank.
The difference between ranks is large, and grows with each rank. Theorized to follow a pronic sequence.

Primary Abilities

Innate users can use all 4 quads, to varying degrees.
The main quad is called their primary and will have primary exclusive abilities.
The aptitude will be split as follows:

1. Primary- main quadrant, both axes match. Their natural talent shines.
2. Secondary - energy type match.
3. Tertiary - focus type match.
4. Blindspot - Both axes mismatch. Most difficult to use.

Body

The simplest quadrant to use.
The primaries can have either:

• Passive enhancement: they are always at full strength and do not need to activate.
• Transformation: A limited time physical change that bestows extra abilities, e.g. turning into a dragon could allow flight.

Non-primary users must activate the body technique for a specific body part.

Transformation types emerge from one's psyche, often emerging from the Jungian Shadow. In a notable case, a user ignited but their tulpa (independent mental being) was the only one who could use uwezo, taking over the body via transformation.

Summon

Primaries can:

1. Evolve their summons over time to gain useful effects, and switch between the different forms as needed.
2. Quick summon, where the summon appears instantly and wherever needed in a 10m radius.
3. Summon familiars; autonomous beings that can act on commands.

Non-primaries must perform a process to call their relic summon, which can not evolve. Summons can either be enchanted relics or familiars. A relic is an object with supernatural properties e.g. lightning blade or a monument that locks down an area with a barrier. These effects depend on the users psyche.

Infusion

Primaries can:

• Infuse and manipulate material remotely within a 50m radius.
• Manipulate atomic & subatomic particles such as electrons, though at immense energy cost.
• Manipulate multiple elements/materials at once.

Note that these require extensive study of material sciences and practice. Solids are easiest, followed by liquids then gases then reactions such as fire and plasma/lightning. To start, infusers will often choose pure metals of medium density e.g. copper, iron, as they are the sweet spot due to the free electrons and regular atomic structure.

Non-primaries can only learn one material at the molecular level and must have physical contact.

Mindscript

Primaries can:

1. Run multiple mental threads in parallel for complex scripts. Theorized to follow the formula: Thread count = 2^Rank.
2. Method call; where a script is called by another script to combine effects. Limited only by complexity threshold.
3. Build their Header Library; where numerous scripts can be stored in memory for reuse. Storage increases with rank.

Due to this, mindscript is said to be the most difficult but most versatile quadrant. Scripts must be designed, tested and refined, as they do not occur naturally.

The primaries usually choose to specialise in a certain domain e.g. sound & vibration, though generalists do exist, trading deep mastery for broad versatility.

Non-primaries can hold up to 5 single scripts at a time.

Amre machines for Innate users

In our testing, innate users are unable to use standard Amre machines due to the massive energy difference compared to an unpowered person. The machines would just melt or explode.
Research into different build materials has been ongoing, with platinum group metals (especially Osmium) showing the most promise.

Common skill : Madaraka

Madaraka (meaning sovereignty) is a common ability shared by all innate users.
Noted effects include:

• negates non-uwezo attacks on the body up to a certain power wattage, massively boosting durability.
• Increases general strength, endurance and reaction time.
• Repairs pre-ignition damage to the body e.g. lost limbs, genetic disorders.
• Heals the body at an advanced rate if damaged.
• Reduces need for food and sleep if not using their abilities.
• Maintains users' preferred hair style based on their mental self image.
• Changes their eye colour to a bioluminescent gold.

The cause of these is theorized to be the somatic rebuild during ignition. This effect occurs passively, and is strengthened with higher rank.

Overdraw sickness.

One's uwezo reserves are not infinite. If overextending occurs, users will encounter overdraw sickness, charaterized by:

• Internal and External bleeding.
• Nerve damage.
• Short term memory loss.
• Fractures.
• Organ rupture.
• Visual and auditory sensory degradation.

At a certain point, the mind shuts itself down due to self preservation, resulting in loss of consciousness. Notably, these effects do not seem to be healed by Madaraka, meaning standard medical treatment and recovery time is needed.

There have been 7 confirmed fatalities due to overdraw sickness.

Recovery

Use of Uwezo is taxing on both mind and body.
Military enrolled innates are required to follow dietary and exercise plans, as well as quadrant specific recovery programs designed by exercise physiology, nutritionists and Uwezo dynamics researchers.
Body practitioners experience skeletal and muscular stress, requiring protein and calcuim supplements.
Infusers struggle with thermal regulation, needing hydration, electrolytes and ice baths.
Summoners must maintain their central and autonomic nervous system e.g. via meditation.
Mindscript must have REM sleep and/or sensory deprivation to clear the mind.

I refuse to watch the anime, and I read a bit about the magic system on the fandom wiki. It doesn't seem super unique nor does it have any real strong points

Edit: I will say, one thing that already puts it on a level above the rest, but this is honestly more worldbuilding than magic system, is that the different methods of using magic are invented and have their own pros/cons.

My magic system (so far) catagorizes magic types with each type having an opposite (heat and cold, affliction and abjuration etc) i think i finally found an opposite for Restoration i just dont know what to name it

Basically, Restoration/Viatality effects living things or things that were once alive to heal them or reanimate them etc. Its opposite effects objects and things that were never alive, change their weight, size, and other properties.

I just need a fitting name for this 'property magic' if one exists of course. Its temporary name is Effectation

Like, almost every sorcerer in jujutsu kaisen can see and control cursed energy, Ki users in dragon ball can boost their physical strength, use it to fly or for project blast. What specific use of Magic can all magic users do/learn in your world?