DESIGN: The Rules of Magic (fwd)

[Nathan Yospe]

I got a request to post this to the list. It ran with only personal
responses on rec.games.mud.admin.

I have a very simple concept at the heart of the current version of
Physmud++. All the laws of the universe are consistant, and defined in
the core world library level. (Level 2, right on top of the main
utility and memory/network/os management.) I happen to use the laws of
the real universe for the world I am using as my model, and most of
these laws come from my physics texts. Thermodynamics and modern
mechanics (Legrange transforms, anyone?) and optics, oh my! Be that as
it may, a bit in another post just caught my eye, and I wondered if
any of you have designed consistant laws of magic, and if any of you
would mind sharing some of these?

Just a few models to start it off:

The elemental world - everything is determined by the relationships of
6 elements, which act as if they were three polarized vectors. A
vector, for example, might be earth - air. To demonstrate:

   fire dark
      |/
air -- --earth
     /|
light water

A magic might contain light, earth, and water, and become something
like lava magic. It is more complex than that, and I do have a math
worked out for the entire system somewhere... I will try to post it
later. There is a complex interworking between the magical, mental,
physical, and spiritual planes as well, and there are charts of the
relationships between them. Spirit force... life force, is animism.
Mental allows the powers of communication and control, and magic is
the source of energies. Pure physical talents, the skills of crafts
and strength of arms, are less important, but remain vital.

-Nathan

PS - I posted a second one like it a day later. Not sure if its propogated
yet.