#And to Heal anyone needs a lot more power than Dipper had before Bill showed up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tswwwit · 2 years

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I'm curious about the magic system in your familiar AU. Do you have rules set for it or do you make it up on the way?

I made it up along the way, but what rules exist are Solid™. If I set precedent for one thing, I try not to violate it later! (I have almost certainly messed this up once or twice)

Big Dumb Nerdery under the cut

So far, the rules are:

Every magic has a different 'flavor' to it, depending on where it comes from. Humans, specifically, have innate abilities that come in different classes and shades, like colors. Between those two things, each person has their own unique skills, things they can do, and compatibilities.

All of that multidimensional complexity has been culturally codified into 'talents'. One person's magic might be a dark navy and violet-flavored while another's is aqua and clementine flavored but when people talk about it, they'd both be referred to as 'blue'. (i.e. One works with ice and another with steam, but it all gets filed under 'Water Manipulation')

Some lucky people are multiclassed, and have multiple talents. But even if they don't, people can do things they aren't innately built for! Though there's power loss, like a bad connection, if you try to do something you don't match up with. The further away it is, the more energy loss.

Every person also has different levels of power. Kinda like different types of batteries, that have more energy to provide. The more power you have, the more 'oomph' you can use with whatever spell you want to cast. More power means more ability to do other things!

When it comes to abilities, some are more common than others. Manipulating elements - or using sheer magical force to shove things around (Like Stan) - are really common! As are a lot of other magics!

Ford's Enchanting is one of the rarer skills. But it means he can do something that he normally couldn't, with no power loss - if he has the time and knowledge to make an object to do it. Illusions are about as rare. Neither of these are close enough to the Common talents to be easy (or even capable) for most people.

A couple of the rarer talents are mind magic - considered dangerous - and Life/healing magic.

Dipper matches well with fire - but his talents are illusions and mind magic, with a side of some life. This boy got lucky with the multiclassing - but with the power of a watch battery. And it was mostly in things that nobody covers in the standard magic curriculum. I mean, who would? They're all very rare, two of them are sketchy - and even then it's a super weird combo.

#Thank you for reading my extremely dumb headcanons #Man this is all just explaining stuff I've mentioned in-fiction but typing it all out like this makes me feel like A Huge Nerd >:(#But I do have a sort of mental map of what I've said and what I haven't #Dipper's magical weakness means he probably tried out a lot of stuff #Not that it helped him #Your average standardized test isn't gonna catch those skills #Mind magic is 'just one side of legal'#Illusions are 'lying to people v.2.0'#And to Heal anyone needs a lot more power than Dipper had before Bill showed up #Regenerating cellular structure is like a whole THING #And Dipper's particular flavor of magic (minus the life) was SUPER compatible with Bill's #Magic isn't just what you can DO it's your personality and soul and talents and even some of your mood and life circumstances at the time #By a fluke of personality and circumstances and talents they were only a few shades away from each other #What are dreams but illusions of the mind anyway #These are not hard and fast rules #These are just me babbling about what I've already codified in canon #I reserve the right to change things at any time #If magic was a 3d object humans get a 2d view of things and whereas Bill can see and rotate the object #He's got a way better sense of who can and can't be compatible with things #Or even tesselate with someone else if the shape is right #It makes him pretty damned great at magic theory and teaching #If he wasn't a selfish dick it might even show more but he does love keeping his secrets

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