Sunday, July 11, 2010

World Building #8: OH THE HUMANITY!

Humans are the base race of most settings and mine is no different. Of course, in most settings humans are a young, brash race. In mine, they are ancient, the base race. One might say that all races in my setting are human, since the elemental races are descended from them.

The largest issue with humans in my setting is how they would interact with the elemental magic. If they couldn't use elemental magic at all, then they would be significantly weaker than the rest of the races. If they could use any elemental magic, they would be significantly more powerful than the rest of the races. I could have them be an elemental jack of all trades able to use all the elements, but at weaker levels, but mechanically that's difficult to balance.

And so, I chose a different option. I chose to have them channel a different source of magic entirely. Since I'm using the Chinese elements for the magic system, I again looked to Eastern mysticism for inspiration and found qi, also known as chi. Qi is the vague flow of life energy through every living being. Because humans are in complete elemental balance, and because of how incredibly ancient their race is, they are able to utilize this innate life force.

The way I see it, the ultimate difference between a wielder of qi and a wielder of magic is that magic acts more on the outside world and is flashy. Qi acts more on the self and perhaps those you can personally touch and is subtle. An Earth wizard, for instance, might summon a suit of armor made of the hardest stone for protection. A Qi practitioner, on the other hand, would be hit by an attack and simply endure. At its base, Qi improves the self. Very powerful Qi users are able to do things that are rather Wuxia.

As a few have noticed, I lack a tradional European Medieval kingdom in my setting. Humans will fill that role in the setting, providing a base for players who want to play the normal fantasy archetypes. In fact, let's say that humans believe that Qi as a whole is an intelligent being that is both the world and controls it. This gives them a Crystal Dragon Jesus religion. Fantasy paladins are thus simply Qi magicians in armor, their faith granting them the concentration and discipline to use Qi. Likewise, powerful Qi practitioners are Saints, named for their closeness to the great Qi Spirit and their abilities are nothing short of miracles.

And yes, I realize its been a long long time since my last worldbuilding post. Perhaps I'd be more motivated to post if people actually commented. *hint hint*

5 comments:

  1. Oh, neat. So it's actually going to be called Qi inworld then?

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  2. So now that you're done with races, what are you going to post about next??

    THE ULTIMATE QUESTION

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  3. Yes. It's going to be called Qi in-world. Probably. As with everything else, nothing is final.

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. *de-lurks*

    I'm commenting, so keep posting! ;)

    *re-lurks*

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