Magic in Theory and Practice
Magic Theory and Practice
In the Blank Magic books I’ve tried to create a magical world where there is at least a consistent rationale for the way that the magic works.
In essence a witch or wizard influences the flow of magical 'energy' within objects. They do this by seeing the ‘particles’ emitted by the object in nearby fractal dimensions. These particles are not the particles of classical physics but are somehow a manifestation of the essence of the nature of such particles. The universe is filled with these particles in a similar way to the Force in Star Wars
In essence a witch or wizard influences the flow of magical 'energy' within objects. They do this by seeing the ‘particles’ emitted by the object in nearby fractal dimensions. These particles are not the particles of classical physics but are somehow a manifestation of the essence of the nature of such particles. The universe is filled with these particles in a similar way to the Force in Star Wars
“It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” Obi-wan Kenobi: Star wars: A New Hope.
Manipulation of these particles is magic. The images on this page
show the manifestations of the particles. The reader is invited to download an android app called simply ‘particles’
to get an idea of how the particles could be manipulated.
In my greater theorising about my magical world I’ve drawn on some speculative science, most notably that my concept of my fictional universe mirrors the current theory of the holographic universe.
There is a difficulty in reconciling Quantum Theory with Relativistic theory which (they claim) can be resolved by reducing the number of physical dimensions* to two during the first milliseconds of the universe's formation so a three dimensional image becomes a two dimensional one i.e. a hologram.
Put simply, if reality is a mere holographic projection of what is happening on the surface of a lower-dimensional hyper-surface that surrounds and defines the universe, then the maths works at every scale. Being holographic it means that every piece of information that constitutes a piece of reality is contained in every part of the hyper-surface thus the information that creates the moons of a planet at the other side of the galaxy could figuratively be right next door to the information that creates your thoughts.
In other words, a loose interpretation of the theory updated to present time could indeed mirror the universal presence of a 'Force' as in the Star Wars saga. Allowing a bit of licence for the purposes of storytelling, the ability to alter the information content of the hologram gives rise to magic.
* Speculation: I suspect that this involves an adaptation of a well known concept in mathematics; the affine transform. There is a problem in mathematics when mapping a two, three or higher dimensional shape to other shapes. The problem is solved by a neat trick; instead of working in two or three dimensions change the equations involved to three or four dimensions respectively. Then the maths becomes solveable without awkward 'it only works sometimes' clauses. The technique is called an affine transform.
There is a difficulty in reconciling Quantum Theory with Relativistic theory which (they claim) can be resolved by reducing the number of physical dimensions* to two during the first milliseconds of the universe's formation so a three dimensional image becomes a two dimensional one i.e. a hologram.
Put simply, if reality is a mere holographic projection of what is happening on the surface of a lower-dimensional hyper-surface that surrounds and defines the universe, then the maths works at every scale. Being holographic it means that every piece of information that constitutes a piece of reality is contained in every part of the hyper-surface thus the information that creates the moons of a planet at the other side of the galaxy could figuratively be right next door to the information that creates your thoughts.
In other words, a loose interpretation of the theory updated to present time could indeed mirror the universal presence of a 'Force' as in the Star Wars saga. Allowing a bit of licence for the purposes of storytelling, the ability to alter the information content of the hologram gives rise to magic.
* Speculation: I suspect that this involves an adaptation of a well known concept in mathematics; the affine transform. There is a problem in mathematics when mapping a two, three or higher dimensional shape to other shapes. The problem is solved by a neat trick; instead of working in two or three dimensions change the equations involved to three or four dimensions respectively. Then the maths becomes solveable without awkward 'it only works sometimes' clauses. The technique is called an affine transform.
Magical interaction must have limits as I’ve said, and the easiest limit to implement is that of distance. There is a semi-explanation for this effect available in the universe of particles theory. Whilst, in theory, affecting a particle several light years away should be no more difficult than affecting one in your hand, the limitations of the witch or wizard’s mind which creates the control must be considered. People can’t think multi-dimensionally, we have evolved for countless millennia in a three-dimensional physical universe and understand that there are some things we can touch and others we can only touch indirectly (i.e. throw a rock at) but to influence things far away or things which are as massive and diffuse as the sea isn’t allowed for in our genetic makeup. In short other things always get in the way. The witch or wizard only perceives the particles emanating from the fractal dimensions in their vicinity. The particles emanating from rocks on the moon may be there but there are a million million million others in the way.
In my attempt to give some rational concept for the way that my protagonist becomes able to influence their power I assumed that the fall of with distance of the power is somewhat similar to a sin(nX)/X^n function.(rotated in 2d this gives the characteristic witch's hat shape) This allows for both positive and negative influences. However the fall off of a simple function is inadequate to explain how the effect is controlled, hence I multiply this function by another giving a sin(nX)/X^n raised to the power of sin(mX)/x^m and compensate for distance by using a simple 1-X law. A small change in the coefficient m which is influenced by the character can alter the innate power from having a negating effect to a reinforcing effect. Extrapolate this to three dimensions and there you have it. In fact, why stop at this add spatial modulation and you cxan make the enhancement or negation effect appear anywhere; even away from the origin.
However my magical world does not rely wholly on the physical interactions;
in the words of Yoda
“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock”.
This opens the door for the presence of spirits both benign and malign in my magical world. I make no claim for this being a new concept. Ghosts, spirits and other incorporeal manifestations are another stalwart of nearly all fictional magical worlds.
I believe that spirits are important and most extant religions would back me up on this. There are even some neat theories of mind that explain consciousness as a quantum phenomenon.
For those interested in exploring the concept see the books by Sir Roger Penrose; The Emperors New Mind, The Road to Reality and Shadows of the Mind but be prepared for some heavy mathematics and a steep learning curve!!
In fiction there are some well-respected no-go zones... Resurrection appears to be one of these except for the physical revival of the body; zombies abound but, in literature, they are (almost) never given the memories or personalities of their former selves. Reincarnation is, however, another matter.
Computer games, on the other hand, respect no such boundaries. I may be cynical but I believe that resurrection is economically vital in games. Imagine the money back demands if every roleplay game ended the first time the player was ‘killed’ and there was no way that the player could be resurrected without starting from the beginning again.
in the words of Yoda
“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock”.
This opens the door for the presence of spirits both benign and malign in my magical world. I make no claim for this being a new concept. Ghosts, spirits and other incorporeal manifestations are another stalwart of nearly all fictional magical worlds.
I believe that spirits are important and most extant religions would back me up on this. There are even some neat theories of mind that explain consciousness as a quantum phenomenon.
For those interested in exploring the concept see the books by Sir Roger Penrose; The Emperors New Mind, The Road to Reality and Shadows of the Mind but be prepared for some heavy mathematics and a steep learning curve!!
In fiction there are some well-respected no-go zones... Resurrection appears to be one of these except for the physical revival of the body; zombies abound but, in literature, they are (almost) never given the memories or personalities of their former selves. Reincarnation is, however, another matter.
Computer games, on the other hand, respect no such boundaries. I may be cynical but I believe that resurrection is economically vital in games. Imagine the money back demands if every roleplay game ended the first time the player was ‘killed’ and there was no way that the player could be resurrected without starting from the beginning again.