The Spook's: Magic as an Universal Energy System

[Franstel]

This thread cover the series The Spook's a dark fantasy series by Joseph Delaney.
I haven't published the first few profiles of the verse yet but soon I'll do the introduction thread (or at least before a decade).

Magic as a Limited Energy System​

Criteria for a LES:​

In order to qualify for a Limited Energy System and do scaling according to it, a character or the system they are using must have explanations or showings that indicate that the powers which should scale to each other draw from the same source of power (or can convert between the different kinds of power) and use up a similar amount of power to each other. Alternatively, it would also suffice to show that the user can invest similar amounts of power into any given technique, should they want to.

For the sake of scaling it would also suffice if powers are shown to use a larger amount of the common power than the technique which produced the feat in question did, although in that case one wouldn't talk about a Limited Energy System as the inverse doesn't hold. (i.e. feats of those techniques that need more power wouldn't scale to the techniques that need notably less)

Magic in The Spook's is the main power system of the series, it appear in many form (Mainly Blood magic, Bone magic, Animism magic, Familiar magic, Curses, and many more) but in the end it all comes down to magic. It's also directly stated to be an energy that can be stored. They need to use that energy to launch spells and the harder the task like defeating a strong foe, the more magic it will cost them.

Magic as a Non-Physical Energy System​

Criteria for a NPES:​

In order to qualify for a Non-physical Energy System and do scaling according to it, a character or the system they are using needs to fulfill all criteria for a Limited Energy System, but for all techniques. Additionally, they have to demonstrate or have reliable statements that all their supernatural or otherwise non-physical powers scale to each other in Attack Potency. Hence an increase in power / energy should correspond to a proportional increase in the potency of their powers and abilities.

That means in particular that either the user makes use of only one system of power (e.g. magic powered by mana) or that the user uses several different ones (e.g. magic and chi) but they draw from the same underlying power source or can convert their power between the different kinds of power sources.

We see in the series that an increase of magical energy, allow the use of stronger spells and greater effects.
*It is stated that Alice's storm was a formidable feat of raw power unreplicable by even the whole Malkin coven as they would struggle, even with weeks of preparation, to match the raw magical power she displayed at that moment. (Book 9: Page 246)
*Tom whielding the Starblade should have been invulnerable to magic yet Alice and Lukrasta were able to magically affect him by combining their magic to greatlly increase their strengths to the point that their combined output was stronger than the Starblade even though they are individually powerless before it. (Book 15: Page 14)
*Large amount of magic are also directly stated to large amount of damage. (Book 12: Chapter 29)
*In prevision of her duel against the goddess Circe, Alice began to gather more and more magic, becoming stronger than ever before. (Brother Wulf: Wulf's Bane - Chapter 3)

And inversely a decrease of magical energy weaken the effects of magic.
*After being weakened by aging, half of Alice's remnant of magic couldn't kill an abhuman that she would have easily killed with the amount of magic she had in her youth. (Brother Wulf: The Last Spook - Chapter 3)

Magic as a Universal Energy System​

Criteria for a UES:​

In order to qualify for a Universal Energy System and do scaling according to it, a character or the system they are using needs to fulfill all criteria for a Non-physical Energy System. Additionally, they have to demonstrate that they can channel their power through their own bodies in a way that quantifiably enhances them or otherwise allows scaling of their supernatural powers through their physicals. Hence there should be evidence that an increase in power / energy should correspond to a proportional increase in the potency of their physical statistics. In the rare case that it is relevant for scaling the reverse should also be demonstrated: That a feat of non-empowered physical strength applies to the amount of supernatural power. Visual evidence of amplification is not considered necessary.

If the power source or universal energy system should be removed from a user by some means that should result in a notable loss in physical strength or alternatively even in physical harm or death. That doesn't necessarily mean that they should be reduced to the level of regular humans, though. Note that removal of energy sources can also have detrimental effects if they are not universal and as such negative effects of removal do not necessarily imply universalness.

It should be noted that systems don't need to be continously active. Some systems might only enhance statistics while the character physically channels energy though their body, while other systems do so passively as long as energy is available.

The use of magic can enhance the physical conditions of the caster.
*In Book 12, Alice after using magic on herself was able to one-shot several water witches that were stated a few lines above to be so much stronger than her that they could easily rip her apart. (Book 12: Page 161)
*After Alice lended a bit of her magic to Grimalkin, she was stated to be stronger than ever before and not just magically but also physically as she state that she had never been faster before. (Book 9: Page 250)
*Magic gave Mother Malkin the strenght to bend the bars of her prison to escape. (Book 1: Page 165)
*After receiving a bit of Alice's magic, Agnes who was only strong enough to crawl on the ground was able to match Alice in speed. (Book 10: page 22)
*After having his magic strengthened by Nessa's blood, Slither was able to come back from the edge of death. (Book 11: Page 68)
*After absorbing the magic from Belzeebub's bones, Grimalkin was able to break in an instant the barrier of the Goddess Hecate with her physical strength even though she was powerless against it before. (Book 16: Page 99)
*After absorbing Hecate's magic, Grimalkin became a lot stronger to the point she was stated to have become so much more than herself. (Book 16: Page 100)
*Lizzie after consuming a few flies carrying Belzeebub's power became strong enough to effortlessly push boulders she previously could not move. (Book 12: Pages 71 to 74)

Using too much magic can cause exhaustion or even kill you.
*Alice was exhausted to near death after using a lot of magic to summon a storm. (Book 9: Pages 246/247)
*Alice was once again exhausted to near death after using her magic in a large scale attack to stop an entire army. (Book 15: Page 246)
*During their fight, Grimalkin began drinking Hecate's blood and absorbing her magic and as she was absorbing her magic, Hecate was getting physically weaker to the point that she wasn't moving anymore when Grimalkin was done. (Book 16: Page 100) While one may be tempted to say that it was because of the blood loss, Old Gods like Hecate are immortal and can shrug off damage up to the point that being crushed into a puddle is more of an annoyance that they can regenerate from in a few seconds so a mere blood loss wouldn't have put her in such a state.
*Completely taking someone's magic result in their death. (Book 12: Pages 246/247)

Agree:DarkDragonMedeus, ActuallySpaceMan42
Disagree:
Neutral:

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Looks good to me.

 

[Franstel]

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[ActuallySpaceMan42]

Seems good.

 

[Franstel]

Ok then with two votes grace can begin

 

[Franstel]

Grace as ended I'l go ask for this to be closed.