Recently read a fic that had a scene that basically encompasses my frustrations with modern fandom treatment of Ink in fanfiction.

It was a reader insert one, that I’m not gonna specify what it was about because 1) I don’t wanna send harassment to the author and 2) I didn’t read the whole thing bc well I couldn’t it just made me too upset.

But the scene in question, or rather couple of scenes, was that the reader, who was living with Error, had just recently witnessed him murder several innocent civilians in an AU, the fic going out of its way to mention the screams of parents and children as they were killed.

And soon after, when the Star Sanses arrive to stop him, at one point the reader’s internal dialogue BLAMES INK’S “Creating too much” (cuz the fic operated on FGOD fanon bc of course it did. Not even tagged as FGOD mind you) for Error “”having”” to destroy AUs and kill innocents. Basically shifting ALL THE BLAME for Error’s actions into Ink because… neglecting the balance or something. Because obviously Error doesn’t want this right? He must be forced into it!!1! /s 🙄

We’re making Error out to be the victim at Ink’s expense again folks! 🙃

It was especially frustrating because NOT EVEN A FEW PARAGRAPHS AGO we had gotten a whole description of just how upset the reader was when Error was destroying and the sheer suffering of the inhabitants. But then they turn around and just, defend him??? Because what, Ink was being a little bit cocky????

Tbh I’m tired of the “UwU sympathetic protag Error, meanie unsympathetic antagonist Ink” trope already. It’s no longer subversive to popular fandom convention, it’s virtually the norm now.

How does magic work in any of your worlds? Or is it the same magic system throughout? Magic is a really interesting thing for me and I've been curious about how it works in your stories

marry me anon. real talk I adore my magic system and nO ones ever wanted to hear it so I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR A TON OF RAMBLING MY DUDE I HAVE LIKE A DOZEN THINGS OF NOTES OPEN

okay so I basically have one magic system for my main world - Cyria - with a lot of branches. I have a few rough ideas for magic in my other worlds, but they’re nowhere near as developed as Cyria’s so I’ma just ramble abt that one

First off, Cyria as a physical planet is filled with magic, every fiber of the crust/nature/etc is embedded with magic. This is why people can do magic in Cyria, but not in (fictional) Earth, Cyria supplies them with ‘ammo’ so to speak. almost everyone has the ability to do magic (save for two speices), but there is actually a process to ‘unlock’ one’s ability.

There’s two dominant types of magic, Creation magic and Destruction magic. Creation magic is defined as any magic adding something, while Destruction magic is any magic taking away. So, healing something (creating healthy tissue) would be creation, cleaning (taking dust away) would be destruction, and so on. All magic falls under these two categories.

There was a ton of wars waged in the early days of magic that had a lot to do with different types of it, so a system was put in place by a group called the Tribe of Balance. in order to ‘unlock’ one’s magical ability, one would have to experience a great trauma/time of depression, and also experience a time of great happiness. Alternatively, you could meet your soulmate. Logic was that if you experienced a trauma yourself you’d be less likely to cause one on another person with your newfound skills, and the happiness to balance out said trauma is a reminder of how all magic has to be in balance with both creation and destruction. The soulmate logic is that hey, if you found someone that you’re destined to spend your life with, you’re less likely to do anything drastic that would affect your soulmate.There are a few other cases where one might be born with an instantaneous magical ability, but those are generally only found in certain races (like the Fae), isolated people, or exceptional cases.(Another important note about how one’s life affects one magic ability, those who have went through heavier traumas or darker lives tend to be better at destructive magic, while those who have lived happier lives are better at creation, and those who have had stronger instances of hate/hurt/love/happiness are better at magic overall. Alternatively, bad eras of depression or losing one’s soulmate can cause one to lose magic ability as a whole.)(And a note about the soulmate thing, you can have more than one! Magical abilities grow with connecting with a soulmate, so people with multiple soulmates are actually more gifted if they’re connected with them. Soulmates can be platonic or romantic as well.)

In order to do magic, you need a channel. Channels are an object like a wand, which basically are a way to channel the magic out of your being. Almost all wands are wooden, except for Druids, Druids use stone wands (since Druids are literally made of wood, wooden channels don’t work for them). Exceptions to the channel rule are extremely magically gifted users, or people belonging to a species that as a whole are magically gifted; those can do magic with just their hands. A majority of magic users do need channels though. In a pinch, grabbing a random branch or anything else wooden would work, but wands tend to be made with special magical objects that help spells and the like go off more consistently.

So there’s a few types of magic, Curses, Spells, and Physical Magics. -Spells are the most common, and they are used by speaking the name of the spell or the intent of the magic. Spells are not permanent, and their length and effectiveness depends upon the skill and intention of the user. Spells can cover anything from healing to cleaning to crafting to whatever.-Curses are a more permanent form of magic, but rarely used due to their severity. They’re are preformed by moving your fingers in a certainpattern over a wand. Accidentally moving their fingers in the samepattern as a Curse doesn’t work, the caster has to be aware of whatthey are doing. Curses usually deal with darker forms of magic, suchas soul absorption and brainwashing. They are permanent, or lastuntil the caster of the curse is dead. They are extremely frowned upon, and it there’s only a few tomes left in the world that teach said curses. (Side note, I’m actually reworking curses a bit, because I want to experiment more with permanent magic in my verse. Specifically how it could be used in medical and mechanical contexts. So this is subject to change.)-Physical Magic are things like potions, charms, hexes, that kinda stuff. They’re generally made from special magical minerals and various common objects, and can only be made/used by people with magical powers unlocked. Potions only last as long as they’re in someone’s system, while charms/hexes/etc last as long as the physical object is in tact. They’re used for appearance changing spells, placing effects on others, love potions/amnesia potions etc.

There’s the appearance of magic, but that’s mostly superficial. Magic takes a visible form when shot out of a wand. Usually it’s in the user’s favorite color. For some it’ll look like lightning, others it’ll look like growing vines, other like sand or dust. It’s different for everyone.

There’s a ton of different species in Cyria, and all different species have different levels of ‘magical talent’, originating from certain civilizations being built on magic ‘hotspots’ in the world. Fae are the most magically talented. Then wizards, then fairies, then the rest of the varying species. Being part of a more magically talented species pretty much just means you’re more likely to pick things up and have them work out better. Elves and Dennai are the only species that can’t do magic at all. -Elves’ lack of magic originates from a curse placed upon the entire species by the fairies, when the fairies overthrew and enslaved the Elven nation. (It’s been 500 years since said curse was cast, and the general thought is that it must have been a very horrible form of magic to last so long, possibly a type of magic no one has ever heard of before.)-The Dennai believe that magic is a sin, and relocated their kind into one of the ‘deadspots’ of magic (meaning they have very little magic flowing in the area, more or less giving no ability to any of the ones who live there). They then slaughtered anyone who housed magical ability, thus producing a race that can’t do magic at all. In extension, only very strong forms of magic can be used on the Dennai, so typical spells and the like don’t work on them.Tangentially related, there are also species that feed on magic! Dragons and dwellers to name a few, although they are more. This causes a unique relationship with magic, simple in the case of dwellers, more complex for dragons.

(Side note: Deadspots are areas in Cyria that have no magic in them. Due to that, they’re entirely inhabitable, as magic is what produces the gravity/heat/etc recqired to live (as Cyria doesn’t have a core like Earth). So where the Dennai live isn’t a true Deadspot, it’s just a place where magic went vacant and hasn’t been filled up again. Eventually the area will flood back with magic again to even things out, as all Deadspots (natural or unnatural) do reform into normal places.)

Now, there’s a few other things that aren’t strictly part of the magic system but are notable, so I’m gonna ramble about them anyway. Namely, blood mages, Arkhan magic, and the Keeper. 

Blood magic isn’t actually anything to do with blood, despite what the name suggests. Being a blood mage simply means that you cannot do magic yourself, but you can manipulate the magic within other people. They can block all magic within a certain proximity to them at will, even curses. If they don’t have practice in controlling their powers, generally everyone within a certain range of the blood mage loses their magic. But if the blood mage does know how to work their mojo, they can make it specific to the point of only removing one person’s ability, or only dampening their ability. However, blood mages are extremely susceptible to magic used on them. Like, an electrocution spell that’d only burn a normal person would kill a blood mage. Also, blood magic is dominant over regular magic, meaning that if a blood mage had a child with a normal magic user, the child would have blood magic automatically.The only known blood mages are the Elven royal line. When the fairies wiped out magic from the elves, they had no knowledge of blood magic and therefore didn’t have a way to eradicate blood magic. As there is only one elf noble alive, Delilah Weston, she’s currently the only blood mage in the world.(Also, the term ‘Blood mage’ comes from an old belief that magic was housed in one’s blood, and that Blood mages were people who could manipulate other being’s blood. Due to there being so little known about it, and blood magic becoming something of a fairy tale, the name was never changed. Delilah is well aware that the name ‘blood mage’ is inaccurate, but she’s dramatic so she keeps it.)

Arkhan magic is less well known, and incredibly hard to master. It’s more or less the process of killing people and harvesting their souls/life energy, in order to use it to increase the amount of magic they’re capable of. There have been genocides related to this, where one attempted to slaughter thousands, millions, in order to further their ability. Generally the absorption of souls gives one negative effects that wind up killing them, though, but people attempting to practice Arkhan magic are still a very real threat.(It’s actually part of another form of magic I’m currently working out the details on, but it’s still very much a work in progress lmao. The working title is Void Magic, and it’ll delve into some darker aspects of magic, specifically pertaining to the afterlife and souls and stuff like that.)

Then there’s the Keeper. The thing about magic and Cyria as a whole is that it has to be in balance. Too much destruction and the world crumbles, too much creation and it overflows. The Tribe of Balance were formed around this idea that magic being in balance makes for a happier world, and that creation and destruction had to have equal turns in order for the world to prosper. A ton of things went on with the ToB that’s too much to go into here, but whenever they left Cyria and ascended to another plane, they left behind a Keeper of Balance, Polaris Asuran. She has an intimate knowledge of all things magical, and a unique way of seeing people’s auras and feeling the magic in varying places. She’s charged with making sure the world is in balance (ie, Arkhan genocides don’t happen, working to find a way to reinstate Elves’ magical abilities, things like that.)

ANYWAYS, that’s the short version of it. I honestly could have talked a ton more about the Tribe of Balance and the gods and elf/fairy conflict but that’s not fully on topic, but yeah! That’s my magic system! I’m actually trying to work it all into something more consistent and even but for the most part that’s it and everything relevant!