Magic System is a musical group from Abidjan in the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Co… Read Full Bio ↴Magic System is a musical group from Abidjan in the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), founded in 1996, featuring Salif "Asalfo" Traoré, Narcisse "Goude" Sadoua, Etienne "Tino" Boué Bi, and Adama "Manadja" Fanny.

Magic System's recordings, in the Zouglou dance style, have featured in the charts throughout Africa (selling over 1.5 million CDs), the West Indies and in France, where the band became one of the most popular modern African artists.

Dare
Magic System Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'Dare' by these artists:

(Рингтон) Shakira La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
7.5 The only reason that I'm alive is because of you I…
alegra La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
AN-2 Did what I had to do, hm Get off my ass…
Andreas Pistolelis Lost my job and my grandpa died Merry christmas dear,…
Anne-Marie Being yourself (Being yourself) Is hard to do (Is hard to…
Ben Macklin feat Emma Brammer And now you're here so take a look To I steal…
Blue There's a wolf that preys on a world That strays so…
Buddhuza Hey, Mister Monkey, How did you get in where you are? Hey,…

Bush Stan Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered And there'…
D-Tek vs Cyrus The Virus Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm on the dance floor burning up Music, tu…
Danger Mouse and Gorillaz It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Daya Dare me to reach a little higher You can dare me…
Dubstep Grandmaster Like the red on the sweat On your and pray Ones of…
El Trono de Mexico Tu vida y mi vida se reencuentran de nuevo Tu tan…
Fire Mist you’re over it running free you stole the car you're in fron…
Foliage In this heart, I am sad to say this is…
Ford Willa Nasty...nasty What do they see Looking at you Could they…
Future Humans Tell me about your day, So I don't have to…
Gareth Davies-Jones ONLY DARE TO DREAM Whatever makes you happy It just depends…
GENTRI I see the path staring me down I take a deep…
Geoff Tate & Queensryche You say that I got something real Line up, let's take…
Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Gorillaz and Danger Mouse It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Gorillaz (feat. Shaun Ryder) It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Gorillaz (Ft.) Shaun Ryder It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Gorillaz - Topic It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Gorillaz Jamie Hewlett It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Gorillaz Shaun Ryder & Rosie Wilson It's coming up, it's coming up It's coming up, it's coming…
Gorillaz [feat. Shaun Ryder] It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Gorillaz(고릴라즈) It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Gorillaz/Jamie Hewlett/Damon Albarn It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Gorillaz/Musicfire.in It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Gorillaz[Demon Days]2005 It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
Higher I don't dare I'll see you later Everything you think is comf…
Iris Kroes How, how would you paint the world alive? To inspire And why…
Jaffa Moore Busy streets and city lights Hear the roaring traffic sound …
Jazztronik Feat. Mika Arisaka & Eliana "Starting with today" that's what you say You always make a…
JB Dunckel Gravity creates time Time runs slower wherever the gravity i…
Jens O. Te dare tiempo Pa que no me pienses Te dare tiempo Mientras …
Jerald M. Simon I am one man, I’m not an inmate I didn’t force…
Kaela Kimura (木村カエラ) 誰のだ誰のだもどかしいこの気持ち誰なの誰なのまたそんな目で見ないで誰のだ誰のだくさりきったこの…
King & Country Lead the way Put your faith in me Do you need to…
KITCHEN 1 - Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Koma Gulen Xerzan Lê darê darê dara kizwanê Wade şîn bûye wek Kurdîstanê Çûme…
Krister Linder Infinitely small My moth heart Yet ocean deep Timeless an…
LIVING ROOM - Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Lupe You shine like the lights of Las Vegas You feel radiant…
MARLOE. My mind, ain't right You heard that she's a riot…
Megan Liz Dare me, dare me, double dare me, Dare me, dare me,…
Metalium [Music: Lars Ratz, Lyrics: Lars Ratz] DARE - BEWARE STRO…
Mr. Blake I had a therapist He said, "come back down" "Put your feet…
Mr. Pauer Inside life no truth or dare Sha you wan come…
Namasenda Live different lives when you′re not with me And you don't…
November-7 Hey, why you seeking my phone? Well – I am…
Ofln - Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
OKAMOTO'S 誰だ誰だ誰誰だ僕を呼ぶのは誰だ誰だ誰だ誰誰だ僕を待つのは目的は無いまま一人で暇つぶしそこに誰か…
Phildel Dare you, I need your… Dare you, I need your… Your prese…
Queensrÿche You say that I got something real Line up, let's take…
Raiz Se negli occhi tuoi vedo solo amore, se in quello…
Raiza Baby have you heard the news? This is our time to…
Saul Williams I dare you to love me just the way I am. And I…
Scout Niblett it's coming up it's coming up it's coming up it's coming …
Shakira La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shakira ft. Carlinhos Brown La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shakira - stafaband.info La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shakira [IranMusic.Me] いつかは羽ばたいて飛べるって信じた僕にはその翼さえ存在しなかった震える唇と消える脳細胞素質がないってことは知って…
Shakira [wWw.MyFaza2Music.Com] La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shakira; Carlinhos Brown La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shakira[WwW.ParooS.CoM] La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
Shaun Ryder It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Spartan jet-plex I am everything And you are nothing And she is nowhere They …
Stan Bush Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered And there'…
Sticks and Stones Oh, Mars-1 Juxtapose Swine flu Sally's Neon nose grows Like …
The Band of Heathens I dare you to tell me something good Not because it's…
The DFA It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
The Higher I don't dare I'll see you later Everything you think is comf…
The Hunna And do you really want this? Don't think you've got what…
The Mary Onettes Those were the darkest hours of them all. And I can…
The Northern Territories Speechless Sleepless We're leaving soon Under a crystal m…
The Wedding Present And there's one more thing just Come inside, no I'm all…
To Octavia Don't ask don't tell get away from it Im busy looking…
Vince DiCola/Stan Bush Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered And there'…
WATT a.k.a. YOTTERUBUTTERU Charm best to push your Front face the risk of Taunt vindica…
Willa Ford Nasty...nasty What do they see Looking at you Could they…
www.diamondzz.de.ms Fatti parlano chiaro Di fatto sono calmo So che dipende dal …
You Entertain It′s coming up, it's coming up It′s coming up, it's coming…
½ÖÍ·ÍçÍ¯(Gorillaz) [Shaun Ryder] It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up I…
СУБТИТРА 2.0 Take back all the things that you did to me You…
⇑Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
★Gorillaz It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…
街头顽童(Gorillaz) [Shaun Ryder] It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up I…
郭妃丽 Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm on the dance floor burning up Music tur…
Gorillaz It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up It's coming up …
Shakira La la la la la I dare you! All of my life,…
► Gorillaz It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's coming…

We have lyrics for these tracks by Magic System:

1er Gaou C'est dans ma galère que la go Antou m'a quitté, oh…
1er gaou (Version originale) C'est dans ma galère que la go Antou m'a quitté oh…
1er. Gaou see'est dans ma galère que la go Antou m'a quitté oh…
Abidjan Danser le zouglou hooo, holéléholého holéléholého Le Zoblazo…
Abou Magomafo tifoyémam tikamoyélié (2) abou vas y molo molo oh s…
Africa On va te chanter Te chanter Peace and love in…
Akwaba Eh, oh, eh, oh Eh, oh, eh, oh Eh, oh, eh,…
All Around The World All around the world All around the world All around…
Ambiance Les passagers à destination de l'ambiance Nous vous invitons…
Ambiance %C3%A0 l' africaine Héhé Après la pluie le beau temps héhé Augmente le niveau A…
Ambiance a gogo Les passagers à destination de l'ambiance Nous vous invitons…
Ambiance à l' africaine Apres la pluie le beau temps hehe Augmente le niveau ambian…
Ambiance à l'africaine Héhé Après la pluie le beau temps héhé Augmente le niveau A…
Amoulanga Instrumental Amoulanga Eh! Eh! Eh! Ninaa Mamaaan Amoulanga E…
Asimbonanga Asimbonanga Asimbonang′ uMandela thina Laph'ekhona Laph′ehle…
Aventurier Béissaah!!! Koffié Alanga moulé maloulé saah!!! langa Yé yé …
Ã§a va aller PARLÉ : LA PAIX, L'UNION ET LA SOLIDARITE EN COTE…
Bouger bouger Bouger, bouger Il faut bouger Eh, eh, eh, eh Ça va bouger, b…
Bouger bouger - feat. Mokobé Bouger bouger... il faut bouger, hé hé..., ça va bouger, bou…
C chô & ça brûle O.K ! Ladies and gentlemen you are now about to…
C chô ca brûle O.K! Ladies and gentlemen You are now about to witness histo…
C chô ça brûle !!! O.K ! Ladies and gentlemen you are now about to…
C'est la télé On a été critiqué partout oyé (x4) C’est la télé (x6) C’est…
C'est pas gâté On est ensemble, c'est pas gâté C'est pour ça, on est…
Ça me dégban Hommage à tous ceux qui à la première heure ont…
Ca va aller Parlé: la paix, l′union et la solidarite en cote d'ivoire…
Cherie Skalp, s'il te plaît Camarade, ambiance sentimentale Avec DJ…
Children of Africa Children of Africa, Ensemble levez-vous Children of Africa, …
Danse des magiciens (En provenance d'Anoumabo Magic system, Skalp, c'est encore …
Demoiselle Africa Africaaaaaaa, Africaaaaa ma jolie. Sur ton berceau je suis p…
Destin An Wind na song douni An wind na song douni Douni ya…
Dodo Yeah Dodo leyo! (dodo parle à dodo) Wouho dodo leyo! (dodo…
Doubehi Doubehi oh, Doubehi oh eh Doubehi oh, Doubehi souviens-toi (…
Femme est forte C'est menteur qui dit son témoin a voyagé hooo La femme…
Gazekagnon Pitié gazéee Tous tes amis t′ont pleuré Akissi delta t'a ple…
Kanga Leo Kanga léo léooo Kanga léo léooo Kanga léo léooo Kanga…
Ki Dit Mi Eh eh Magic System est encore ici Avec Kore et Bellek Mais y…
L Eh eh avec le Magic System C'est l'homme qui a peur Sinon…
L'eau va manquer On a vu nos parents lutter Pour améliorer notre quotidien Le…
L'homme qui a peur Eh eh avec le Magic System C'est l'homme qui a peur Sinon…
Là c'est die On a été critiqué partout oyé (x4) C’est la télé (x6) C’est…
La danse des magiciens En provenance d'Anoumabo, Magic System (Skalp) C'est encore …
M'mo ZokèninKènin Maah Zo Doubélédjiiiiooo Tou Dépaaa aaaOooh Naa…
M'ninda M'Ninda m'ninda m'ninda! M'ninda m'ninda m'ninda I fo toum…
Ma mélodie C'est l'histoire d'une petite Gaule Qui a voulu fatiguer le …
Magic Feel the magic in the air Allez, allez, allez Levez les main…
Mamadou Put your hands up (Kos!) Put your, put your hands up…
Même pas fatigué On y va On t'a pas dit de pas t'amuser avec…
Mi wan gno Mi Wan Gno Wayi oulé Mi Wan Gno Wayi oulé A cause d′academie…
Mninda M'Ninda m'ninda m'ninda! M'ninda m'ninda m'ninda I fo toum…
Molo Molo 504 BOYZ Miscellaneous Tight Whips"(feat. Lil' Romeo, Magic,…
On va samize A'SALFO : La musique est pour nous un facteur de rapprocheme…
On va samizé Amine: sur le l'ambiance de dans de mis s'est fait de Le…
Pas si diffÃ©rents On fait tous des rêves d'Afrique sans jamais y aller bercés …
Petit pompier Gagoule Yah Yah Goule Gagoule 2X Kizimoh oh Gagoule Yah Ya…
Plus haut Et s'envoler plus haut Et s'envoler plus haut Oh oh oh oh…
Poisson d'avril The Heavster, measure the pleasure then treasure the note Th…
Premier Gaou C'est dans ma galère que la go Antou m'a quitté…
Rêves d'enfance Hé Dieu j′ai fais quoi même. Dynamo é ééé, Dynamo o…
Savoir Thomas lui dit Les mots qui le feront grandir Thomas décrit …
Secret d'Afrique Zouzoi a léguer ho (zouzoi a léguer) A léguer zouzoi léguer …
Solidarité zo kin nin kin nin man zo(4) tout dépend ah oh…
SoumalÃ©lÃ© Soumalélé alélé souman soumalélé alélé souman soumalélé alél…
Souvenirs d'Anoumabo Réf: yé Anoumabo (x) Sp: histoire de souvenir d'anoumabo ah!…
Sweet Fanta Diallo Yeah, Magic System Hommage à Alpha Blondy Sweet sweet Fanta …
T'endors pas (Nimassa alaba katibiyé) Malgré la durée de la nuit Le jou…
Tango tango C'est pas d'............ On va dans la foule C'est pas d'...…
Taper dos Eh mon ami, où tu crois que tu es caché…
toi et le soleil Nous n'aurons plus jamais un jour de pluie Tous les…
Travailler Dans la vie Y'a pas de sous métiers Quelque soit ce que…
Tu es fou Magic System On va déconner Si tu es fou Nous aussi on est…
Un gaou a Oran For the ladies in the place, Raï'n'be Fever To all the…
Un Gaou a Paris (Remix House) Alélé ayé ho-Ayé ayé ayé ayé ayé 2X Mon rêve c'était…
Voyager Ah hé Magic System, Smarty Qui n'a pas envie de voyager? Wo…
Wanté Lead : wanté tèmin hè do Choeurs : tèmin do èh…
Ya Foye Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh,…

Zouglou Dance Dit monsieur c'est quoi le zouglou dance? Héhé, le zouglou m…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

Genre not found

Artist not found

Album not found

Search results not found

Song not found

Most interesting comments from YouTube:

Harrison Dance

2y↑77

This is a great video, as always. My recommendation for a work with Promise-based magic is Pale (Or Pact, set in the same universe but is considered a weaker/worse story).

In the webserial, One enters the world of Magic by committing to an oath to stay true to your word; In doing so, the world will listen when you attempt to do magic. When doing so, you also state a lot about yourself to the universe. Who you are, your goals and dreams, what you find important etc. This process is called Awakening.

As for the actual magic system, the Author has described it as several different systems made from the same basic rules (Which is quite accurate once you start reading, imo). However, the cost to all this is what happens when you break a promise; To become Foresworn.

Not even Death will take you. To be Foresworn is to be unmade, to reward anything that would hasten that process. The very building blocks of the universe shall come at you to make your (now very short) life a living hell -Which is saying something, when the things from actual hell fear this fate.

A big plus is how active the community is! It even has a few discord servers, if you like to browse them (like I do).

Hamc

2y↑3

Pact is my personal all time favorite story, while I couldn't really sit through Pale
I feel that the main difference is the thematic they give
Pact feels like a horrible situation and a story about persistence, cunning, determination and drive
It's a horrible situation from start to end, where you constantly adapt to stay afloat and lose much in the process
Pact for me is "To do what it takes"

While i've not finished Pale, it feels like a much more lenient and fun? story
Where pact sees magic as a tool to survive against all odds, Pale sees it as a net with which to rely on, there is no grandiose stakes but allows for a much more laid back story telling perspective in a world where magic and words and ideals are tangible
Pact has a sense of Drive
Pale has a sense of Wonder

Prime

2y↑72

I've been waiting for this topic! Something about power in utter conviction is really fascinating, and my favorite example is the oath of Fëanor from Tolkien's legendarium. There are other examples of oaths taken in his stories, but this one is very potent:

The Lucifer figure of Tolkien's work, Melkor, lusts enviously over three gems of immense beauty crafted by the elf Fëanor named 'Silmarils' that reflect the holy light of two magnificent trees that lit the world from within them. Fëanor covets them equally and rejects Melkor's advances of friendship when he mentions the Silmarils. Furious, Melkor seeks out an eldritch spider-like demon named Ungoliant and bribes her to help destroy the light of the two trees. He pierces their trunks so she can drink their sap.
The darkening interrupts a festival. In the confusion, Melkor slays the elven king of the Noldor Finwë on their way to plunder Fëanor's vault. No one realizes all that has happened until Melkor and Ungoliant have fled. The Valar, deific angels that allowed the elves to live among them, ask Fëanor for his Silmarils once they're recovered as they're now the only source of light of the two trees left in the world.

Insulted that the Valar would request such a thing and incensed at the treachery of Melkor (who is also a Valar!), Fëanor calls the hosts of the Noldor to chase Melkor; Then he swears a terrible oath. He swears by the name of God, Eru Ilúvatar. He swears on the chief of the Valar and his wife as witness, on the land itself, that he would pursue the Silmarils and nothing would stand in his way. He swears to wage war against and kill any who stand in his way. He renames Melkor as 'Morgoth' the great enemy. His sons jump to his side and swear the same.

Fëanor's oath and his Silmarils become directly responsible for much of the strife not contrived by Morgoth after this point. He leads his host of Nolder to their coastline brethren Teleri, who upon refusing the Noldor their precious ships, fall victim to the first kinslaying of elves as Fëanor takes their boats by force. When his host lands in Beleriand (pre-modern Middle-Earth) they burn the boats. This forces the rest of the hosts of the Noldor to take the long northern passage Helcaraxë, 'the Grinding Ice'. While the rest of the Noldor are marching through *that*, Fëanor goes on a bloody warpath chasing Morgoth's Orcs all the way back to the dark lord's fortress. He outpaces everyone, eager to fight Morgoth himself; But a host of Balrog gets him alone. Fëanor is slain by Gothmog, captain of the Balrog. It's up to his sons to carry out the oath.

... The thing is, his sons all perish trying to fulfill the oath too. At the end of hundreds of years of war, blood, treachery, and woes, the two eldest sons manage to steal two of the gemstones. The holy light burns their hands, and they realize they're unworthy of even holding them due to their crimes; That in hindsight, breaking their oath and being swallowed by the Everlasting Darkness is the lesser evil. One throws himself into a chasm of fire, taking his Silmaril with him. The other casts his gem into the ocean and wanders the shoreline despondent.

Sorry, this is pretty long winded. But it's my favorite!

Marlutte Yestrelt

2y↑19

One of my recent favorite depictions of Oaths has come, actually, from a song by Diablo Swing Orchestra called "The Prima Donna Gauntlet". Through its lyrics and melody you get this essence of remorseful and sorrow, where one entity or character is signing in a mythic, poetic speech to another. The details are left vague enough so the viscerally passionate language of the lyrics stands out. The chorus being:
~ And I break down inside
Every time I leave you behind
I'll save your dreams
I'll make them real
For as long as I breathe
In my wake, they will feel what they've done
And I break down inside
Every time I leave you behind
I'll save your dreams
I'll make them real
For as long as I breathe
In my wake, they will feel what they've done~

It can be interpreted as the expression "Throwing down the Gauntlet" as a surrender, but this feels like a song about swearing an oath, against any forces, demonic, earthly or heavenly, in the name of love.

~ They'll tell you whatever, your will they won't bend
I am told there's a heaven, we're meant to ascend
But I'll shade the sun and I'll make them repent
Close the doors and pay the price for what's been done, what's been said
You've told me words, sometimes hard to believe
You keep closing your eyes, won't let nobody see
But I'll bury them all, and I'll bury them deep
For all the pain they have caused, and made you weep ~

There is deep rooted hated and vengeance being sung about. But the true tragedy of the sun is palpable even in its melody.
~ I'll be your beacon
A light you can see
I promise you're safe, I promise you'll heal ~

This won't end well for this Oath maker, as a writer friend of mine said... There has never been an Oath in Literature that didn't ended in tragedy.

Mountain Nomad VFX

2y↑2

Ah yes Eragon.

aka Star Wars took a dump on Middle Earth 😅

Also it's a mistake to pin galbatorix's power solely on him.

If you follwo the text properly it implies the shade Durza was responsible for his rise to power after losing his first dragon.

This for me was the thing that broke Inheritance cycle - Paolini killed the true villain in the first book, sort of like Rian Johnson killing Snoke in Last Jedi, it just breaks the rest of it.

Nahuel

2y↑8

Whenever magic systems are brought up I can't help but make reference to my favorite one, that comes from 2 web serials called "Pact" and the other "Pale"

Promises are a big deal there too. Because the value of a practitioner's word is a big deal, to the point which all lies are punished karmically. Breaking an oath however is the biggest punishment. It's losing your magic and forgoing all your protections afforded to you by the system, even those given to people without magic, and have the universe itself hate you.

Usually, unless your oathbreaking is extremely obvious, someone has to call you out for your oathbreaking. Call you forsworn. And if someone breaks their oath to you and you call them forsworn, you gain their power and their stuff (since all magical protections regarding ownership disappear from the forsworn). Depending on the oath, any person can do the forswearing, so it's not necesarilly the wronged party the one that gains that power.

This is a core part of the system, but in the large scale it's a small part. Because I see this magic system as a magic system that managed to capture all magic systems.

My favorite bit of it might be Implements. Basically, binding yourself to an object to make it a part of your magic and yourself. The effects whatever random object might have, you yourself reading this can start infering based on it's cultural, practical and historical characteristics.

What a wand is and signifies is very different than what a deck of cards, a cup, or a simple random rock signifies and therefore what effects it will have on your magic, not to mention if they are made of unconventional materials or have extra decorations and such.

Guildar Daze

2y↑1

All of this made me remember several magic system. One of them I ended up paying more attention to for I know a couple of "special ones"
One unrelated to promises but still my favorite to date is from "Reverend Insanity"

It is both incredibly intuitive and mysterious and complex.

It rellies on 2 key components
-gu
-aperture

Gu is the biggest component. It's an insect, plant or whatever form it takes. It is a medium of a sort. Each gu have a single power. You nurture and feed them to keep them alive as they are living things.

Then the aperture is like an organ that stores an energy.

If you awakened and tamed a gu you can flow your energy from yourself to the gu and manifest said power. Simple enough.

But Gu itself doesn't eat magic power. They eat specific ingredients and it's similar to alchemy.

The wielder might end with energy but no gu as it starved to death or just being poor, or you might have Gu but no energy or the skill to wield it.

They have several levels of potency and as it grows in rank it gets rarer and rarer. And more and more expensive to feed them. Making the community requirements of forces or rarity more involved in the process.

Up to rank 6. Where Gu becomes "immortal Gu". It becomes astronomical in requirements and exponentially more complex for each successive ranks after that. (The most important aspect of immortal Gu is they are unique.)

It's a piece of the world like a fragment at this point. It's a condensed aspect of its domain. There can be no 2 immortal Gu the same until the Gu dies or is destroyed. You can imitiate effect with the right combination. But yea no other way.

Also another thing that as importance at immortal level is domains are mutually exclusive. So you can't just coordinate wood or plant with metalurgy. Even if it seems closer in relationship. If it's a different domain it will be Mutually exclusive so although being more diverse your techniques will most likely all lower in quality.

But yea it got quite complex over time. The book is long and really rewards if you remember things or pay attention. But it's a slow discovery as you progressively learn the system of this magic world until it's intuitive.

But in the end Gu in its purest form can be described as essence. Or concepts. Making it very vague. But very clear what could or could not work.

Want to clear some distance? The Gu leap can work. (Most likely strength domain). Or else you could go with law and use "distance Gu". To shorten distance. Or space domaine with "teleport". Or time domain with "fast" or some form of rewind if you were there in the past.

In the end there are many ways to get an effect. But it forces different solutions to everything. And at this rank only a handful even have Gu of their ranks. So even if they want to often they only have 0 or 1 to achor their whole strategy around unless incredibly rich or stronger then average.

So it gets rather interesting.

In the end magic system is strong and only works to increase intrege and backstabbing in the novel.

I recommend. But it's a slow read. About 2000 chapters a few every day.

To bolster moral a bit I'd say every 50 chapter or so a plot line is resolved. And more or less every 200 chapters a background intrigue or plot line of unanswered questions(foreshadowing) the pieces fall in order and the situation comes to term or explode.

And despite having a seemingly strong trump card it's supprisingly very sparingly used. Most of its use was early in the novel. So stakes stay rather tense.

All comments from YouTube:

HuffleRuff

2y↑3.1K

You gave me an idea: Memory as a magic system. Those that can learn or have a gift to memorize a moment perfectly can recreate that moment at their whim. It takes a toll on ones psyche, though, when they want to do the fantastic - they have to alter their own memories which risks driving the mage to madness.

common viewer

2y↑230

Wrote a short story with a similar idea once. A character sacrificed her own memories to manifest them into reality, and had to relearn much knowledge. It ended with her losing her memories of a loved one to bring them back from the dead.

mraider94

2y↑61

Another series by Brandon called mistborn has something a little like what you describe. Certain group of people are born with the ability to store memory in copper.

Dankworth Balthazar

2y↑55

The Twice-Dead King series (a pair of Warhammer 40k novels) has a system kinda similar to that. The protagonist has the ability to enter a trance where he relives an old memory as if it were happening anew - no flaws in the memory, no shifts in emotional tone due to how his personality has changed over his extremely long life. He has no control over which memory it is, just goes into his trance and trusts the magi-tech to do its thing. Hours of memory will play out in seconds, and he will come back to the present having gained a piece of insight that is somehow crucial to solving his current problem. The cost that the memory will immediately start to fade like a dream, and within minutes he won't even know what it was he lost. The bigger a problem he needs solved, the more valuable the memory lost, usually. Some memories come as a total shock even to him, as after millennia of bitterness over being exiled, his perceptions are pretty skewed and perfect recall shatters some of his beliefs.

Soshampoo

2y↑10

This sounds a lot like pre-science chemistry
Old times were wild

Baka-Danuki

2y↑15

So like, A memory of a flood or an earthquake would manifest if they had previously experienced it. Or knowing the pain of torture or struggle of drowning, they can make enemies feel the same thing. I would like to imagine that if they are able to retain the memory of dying they could insta-kill anyone. That sorta thing?

66 More Replies...

First name Last name

2y↑1.3K

Alongside kept promises and broken ones, I would like to add the 'unbreakable promise' variant.
Not very common but sometimes, an oath is treated as unbreakable. Not because there's a terrible consequence if you break it, but because you literally cannot.
There'll be a probably magical and usually vauge power that compells you to carry out your promise at all costs, often to disastrous consequences.

Jeff Weskamp

2y↑81

That idea is known as a "geas" in Irish folklore. It was incorporated into Dungeons & Dragons.

Jonatan S

2y↑74

@Jeff Weskamp nah
Geas can be broken.

You just suffer absurd consequences if you do

Also they are not promises that you make. They are curses others put on you thay you have to uphold. Most often because you are simply too powerful.

Torun Smok

2y↑29

@Jonatan S they can be a promise made that behaves that way though. A warlock can make a pact that binds them in such a way that they literally are incapable of violating it

TmanTheTdog _

2y↑36

@Torun Smok “I swear if you give me cool magic powers I’ll never breathe!” - Warforged warlock (applicant)

Blockhead134

2y↑29

The simplest example of that I can think of is the Oathrod from Wheel of Time. Before a woman is made full Aes Sedai they have to make the Three Oaths on the Oathrod. From that day forward, if they attempt to lie, their throat violently seizes up and their head gets fuzzy. If they try to use magic to hurt a human, the ability flees from them, and though we have never seen it, if they tried to make weaponry Id imagine the same thing would happen.

22 More Replies...

Keegerwocky

2y↑445

One thing you didn't talk about that I think is worth discussion: When/if a broken promise is forgiven.

Tale Foundry

2y↑184

Oooh yeah that would have been great!

Akusaアクサ

2y↑37

this remind me the scene where aragorn told the ghost that the oath has been fullfilled and they part their ways after that

Zigmund Fox

2y↑15

The Stormlight Archive does get into that a bit in the later books, and it's definitely an interesting facet of the magic!

Eliyah McNeill

2y↑4

Could trust be restored? I find it can be, not often, not easily, but it is possible.

Poppi

2y↑3.4K

One of my favorite examples of a promise, though it's more like an oath in this case, is from the webcomic Girl Genius.

One of the characters is, functionally, immortal. He doesn't age and can't die. This is because of an oath he took upon coming of age. And oath that everyone in his culture makes to the gods. That they will achieve something and will always move towards that goal. And, provided they're always moving towards it, they can't die until they achieve it.

In this guy's case, he wanted to see the world. And that promise was taken literally. So long as there is somewhere in the world he hasn't seen, he won't die. And as long he's travelling, the gods will continue to give him immortality.

Era1113

2y↑195

Oh man. I'm a year or two behind (life, huh) and like. Thanks for the reminder I need to catch up

Kayla Rosemary

2y↑46

wait is that one oggie's grandson?? or am i remembering this wrong

Franco Rodriguez

2y↑24

How is it called?

Dylan Miller

2y↑59

Then why doesn't everyone just make similarly impossible goals so that way they to become immortal. Like make there goal to discover immortality that works without the gods aid, so that way he can keep it even after it is done.

49 More Replies...

Kenny Holmes

2y↑153

Tolkien actually made words hold power in his mythos, with Oaths and Promises holding the most power of any word, being backed up by the creator-deity himself, Eru Illuvitar.

LezzerNet

2y↑3

Amazing how far down this was...

HUSEYIN LAFCI

2y↑4

Tolkien's magic phenomenally vague at times and very applicable to real life.

"Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the word that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler's trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it."

Rushat Rao

2y↑1.8K

Brandon Sanderson's stormlight archives magic system is so fantastic. My favourite part is book 2 and 4, and without spoilers of anything, it shows the power of keeping and breaking promises made. Soooo good!

Ascalon223

2y↑64

Life before death...Strength before weakness..Journey before destination!

Toby

2y↑6

I'm on my second reading now, after reading the other Cosmere novels

vergil1us

2y↑28

Book 4 was just Die Hard in fantasy setting xD
And I love it!

Era1113

2y↑7

Well shit, I've been buried so deep in my life that 2 more books are out without my knowing

RJ Ehlert

2y↑27

I also find it fascinating that when a person tries to swear an oath they are not ready for, nothing happens.

16 More Replies...

Asuraph

2y↑761

Reminds me of Vows from Hunter X Hunter. The system bases it's entire structure on promises you effectively keep to yourself. Like one of the strongest characters in that series, in order to unleash his strongest technique; he must pray in gratitude for everything martial arts means to him, from the deepest part of his soul. But the context of why this is meaningful is lost in my explanation. Just throwing it out there, if you are looking for a magic system based on oath, look up Nen from Hunter X Hunter.

Mr.Froggu

2y↑59

Cursed Energy from Jujutsu Kaisen also has a similar thing.

muntu1221

2y↑80

Binding Vows are the exact opposite (in some cases) in Jujutsu Kaisen, but similarly in most. In the cases of a contract, if you bind a contract with someone using cursed energy, then the two of you have to perform it or some unknown consequence will occur. Sometimes, even if you literally don't know the contract, you still have to follow it. Sometimes these contracts are imposed on people, even at birth, so they can be powerful sorcerers.

This manifests in a really interesting way. If you want an advantage, you have to give yourself a disadvantage. One of the characters has a binding vow where all of his words are cursed, and if he phrases something like a command, he'll curse whoever is listening to perform the action. So he can't talk normally and uses rice ball ingredients to communicate. Plus, the energy of his words kick back against him and hurt his throat.

They all have such different ranges on the vow, but there are some universal ones. Like showing your hand, where if you tell an enemy your technique, you get more energy and the technique gets stronger. One character restricts his power for a certain amount of time in the day, and if he goes "overtime" then he'll get exponentially stronger. And one of my favorites is a woman who can force birds into a binding view with themselves that, if they commit suicide, they explode with cursed energy after removing their cursed energy limit.

My MOST favorite is one of the characters being able to force someone into a ritual to fight a spirit that neither of them can beat. If he beats it alone, he can control it. But if he has help, then the ritual is canceled if they win. However, that's not its utility. The point is that whoever is caught in the ritual HAS to participate or be killed by the spirit, and the spirit is so absurdly powerful that nobody has been able to beat it in 1,000 years. Even someone who had two of the strongest abilities at once couldn't beat it and was killed through this ritual, as well as the person who cast it.

muntu1221

2y↑52

And that's not even getting into Devil Contracts in Chainsaw Man, where you get more of a devil's power the more you sacrifice to them (from their perspective). And they can take anything from patches of skin to years off of people's lives.

WaveHello

2y↑66

To add more context on Hunter X Hunter: magic-users can develop abilities that get more powerful the more restrictive they are, (but there must be a punishment to the user if the rules are broken).

For example, one character has magical punches as long as he writes a haiku about it first. Another character gets an insanely powerful weapon, but it can only be used against 12 people he has a personal vendetta against (or it'll instantly kill him).

In this way, the magic system resembles a contract - but it's unclear whether it's a contract with yourself, or a contract with the magic itself.

Asuraph

5 More Replies...

Juniper Vado

2y↑45

Fantastic job providing a lens on aspects of Stormlight that are, in my awareness, ignored in most discussions. There's such depth to Stormlight's world, and its realization in the text is superb. But it's very easy to get lost in the minutiae and the theorizing. So it's lovely to be reminded of the broader concepts that make Stormlight as emotionally engaging as it is.

Bysthedragon

2y↑491

In Greek mythology there is the oath between Jason of Argonaut fame and his wife the Sorceress Medea. Jason won favor from Hera early on in his life by acting selflessly, but then lost it when he betrayed his oaths of marriage to Medea for his own selfish desires, and because Hera is the Goddess of Marriage and Family (as well as constantly the victim of cheating by her own unfaithful husband) of course she would be ticked off when her champion breaks his wedding vows.

Jason tried to call on the gods to get back at Medea but none of them are willing to give him the time of day because he broke his oath and eventually dies as his boat, the one thing he was famous for collapses on him.

StrandedGeek

2y↑36

Heard about Jason's betrayal thanks to YouTubers Overly Sarcastic Productions
You should check them out, they're funny.

Bysthedragon

2y↑10

@StrandedGeek Yes I watch them regularly

Jude Connor-Macintyre

2y↑13

There's more oaths in Greek mythology then Zeus Jr's.

bernadmanny

2y↑25

You left out the part where Medea kills their children, part in revenge part to prevent Jason selling them into slavery, and the gods all sided with her

Zan

2y↑6

You forgot how Medea was a psychopath pretty much and wanted to go to extreme lengths for all wedding vows. She killed her own brother and chopped his body into pieces and dropped then one by one in the sea so when escaping with Jason, the enemy would stop and collect the pieces of the dead body. Medea was also extremely jealous and did extreme things.

6 More Replies...

Erwin Bogumil

2y↑399

I have to correct something about the Oathbreaker Paladin. Paladins draw from their own ideals, of course a god can be supplementary to their magic, but normally, all classes gain their powers from their own belief and code rather than JUST an outside source.
That said, an Oathbreaker does not gain power from turning away from their Oath, rather they gain power from the belief that what they swore was bad, or wrong or even Immoral. And an Oathbreaker thus inverts their powers, showing that, whatever or whoever they followed are the opposite of them now.

zombiemanjosh

2y↑47

Thank you! This whole time I was thinking about how Paladins are portrayed as not gaining their power from a god, their power comes from their Oaths, their belief, and their conviction. The god they serve may favor them, but unlike Clerics and Warlocks who receive power from gods through worship and bargains/deals, they become favored by the god through their commitment to their Oaths and Tenets and through their actions of embodying those ideals.

Guilherme Correia

2y↑20

IMO, oathbreakers are not what happens when a paladin simply rebels, they are what happens when a paladin loses themselves, and there's an important difference there.

Paladins indeed get their powers from their oath, but their oath doesn't need to be good or moral, take conquest and vengeance as possible examples. An oath of the crown paladin will not become an oathbreaker if they find the king is evil and keep their oath as now the king's bloodlusty executor or if they swear vengeance on the king for the people he's slain. They will, however, lose their oath if they abandon the king and have no other regal authority to pledge allegiance to.

Paladins also draw upon charisma for their magic, unlike clerics, who draw upon wisdom. Wisdom is described to represent one's power of will, or in other words, one's ability to do something against their urges, their conciousness, the superego. Hence why many mind control spells ask for wisdom saving throws. Charisma is described as one's strength of personality, the strength of their innermost urges, ego, the true self. Therefore, a paladin shouldn't be able to get power from unwillingly fulfilling their oath, they get power from being their oath.

So when a paladin loses their devotion, and from now on it's mostly a headcanon on my part, their passion starts to fade, that flame which ignited their soul is dying, and should they not find a new oath, they become suscepitible to becoming an oathbreaker, and as their soul grows gray and cold, they align themselves with the lifeless, passionless side of magic, almost becoming one with the undead, and even becoming one if they die in that state (see Death Knight in the Monster Manual), being then forced to fulfill their original oath in order to retrieve their personality and leave undeath.

TheAchilles26

2y↑8

Except the Oathbreakers also explicitly happen when you simply make a mistake and unintentionally break the tenets of your Oath

Loturzel Restaurant

2y↑3

Wow.
Another Video about Power-Systems not mentioning the arguably Best ever: Nen from HxH.

No matter how many say it's the literally best ever, it's barely mentioned in videos like this here.

Erwin Bogumil

2y↑5

@Loturzel Restaurant That's in part because... it isn't.
Don't get me wrong, I love HxH and Nen is fun, but it is a bit generic at times, a bit undefined when it actually comes to application and has some rather arbitrary rules.
Simply put, the techniques detailed are more used for convenience at times than properly extended, actual individual powers are lacking explanation most of the time (This is in part because of the fact most of the story isn't told and likely will never be)
and well, it feels like at times we can replace Nen 1 to 1 with Ki from Dragonball and it would work just fine both as an explanation for powers and reason for our protagonists to have training arcs.
I think the beauty of it really lies in the fact that HxH makes things feel more concrete than they actually are. Every fight still carries a seriousness even when the stakes are not clear and the MCs can still lose any fight and have a chance of taking reprocussions.

10 More Replies...

Harrison Dance

2y↑77

Brainstorm Surge

2y↑14

I still like Pact for what it is. In Pale you're following people who are having more "fun" with the magic system and their circumstances are just mundane in many respects. In Pact you have a main character that is basically given a shit situation with shitty people all around them either trying to kill them or making things worse for them where they can in order so that they are killed.

There is no fun to be had in Pact as magic is used as a tool to just try to survive while the main character and many others suffer fates worse than being Foresworn in many respects.

To summarize, Pale is a magic and mystery adventure while Pact is a magic and mystery horror story. Pact is in fact one of my favorite horror stories and I highly recommend it.

Harrison Dance

2y↑7

@Brainstorm Surge Pact as a horror story is a great take! Love how that re-contextualises things.

AnonYMoose

2y↑2

@Brainstorm Surge That's exactly my impression of Pact too. Blake's thrown into a world of horrifying creatures and powers with few resources. The fact that he survives at all is impressive. Sounds pretty similar to some other horror properties in recent memory, yes?

Hamc

2y↑3

Raithul

2y↑7

I hate how everyone seems to take potshots at Pact whenever it gets mentioned, don't really understand it myself - even if it's considered Wildbow's weakest (which I would dispute), it's still a fantastic work, and the setting is really deep, engaging, and interesting, something which Pale now shares claim to, but that builds upon the setting defined by Pact.

Pact itself is relatively short ("the only Wildbow work shorter than the Bible"), intense, and very fast-paced. The cast is much narrower than the other stories, but the characters that we do interact with are memorable and imo some of his best (Evan, obviously, but others as well).

I think the fact that it's the shortest and most focused, compared to later, looser and more sprawling works like Twig, Ward, and even Pale, is a point in its favour, not against it. I love Pale, and it's currently probably my favourite (though, as it's ongoing, don't want to say for sure - endings are an important part of a story), don't get me wrong. But Pact is fantastic as well. And the impression everyone who hasn't read it seems to have of it is "the one people don't like as much", which feels desperately unfair to me.

Even Pale I see getting recommended with "don't worry, you don't need to read Pact to read this", as if that's some great hardship (though I do get that Ward's potential readership was arguably somewhat harmed by being a more direct sequel to Worm, and most people who know Wildbow do so through first reading Worm).

Deaddropping

2y↑34

I love seeing Sanderson talked about, such a creative and original author. I can't wait for the stormlight archive show or the mistborn movie.

LunaRevel

Wait are these actual things or wishful thinking?

Gustavo Lamego

@LunaRevel brandon has showed interest in writting a screenplay for mistborn. So far as I know, SA tv show is just wishful thinking

2y↑22

@Mackenzie Beeney Yup, but they’re not slated to die until Ragnarök, and by that point Nidhogg will be elsewhere, and doing other things.

rmsgrey

2y↑19

@Mackenzie Beeney They generally found loopholes rather than outright breaking their promises.

15 More Replies...

yaicob.com

2y↑6

The classic vampire trope of having to be invited in is another example of a promise kept giving the recipient some magical reward
Edit: here's a memory based magic system- you make an agreement and are told of some punishment or evil to befall you at some point. If you ever forget it, it happens to you.

Prime

2y↑72

Justas

2y↑9

The magic system is "Pact" and "Pale" is all about "Words are power", which makes Practitioners be very careful with their words so they wouldn't swear oaths that they then accidentally break and become Foresworn, which basically revokes all the protection they gain from anything.

kamikaze banzai

43w

Seeing a mention of pact out in the wild gives me glee

Benjamin Arnold

2y↑29

I actually made a god for a homebrew D&D setting whose purview was promises. I just simply called it The Oath Keeper.

It was more of an arbiter and enforcer of oaths sworn in its name, and I had a whole kingdom use the church to oversee oaths and contracts. If the oath was properly sworn and represented (a ring being the open symbol for a maintained oath that was given by a priest of the Oath keeper or in some instances made by the separate parties as a symbol) it was seen as a mark of honor and respect, but if the promises were broken the ring in question would snap and the offender would be marked an oath breaker.

Depending on the promise both parties could invoke the other as a sort of good faith gesture, and if the oath was still held true a person could basically use the spiritual support of others, like a spousal oath to help emotional distress by feeling them even if they weren't there, or even something as shallow as a business partner giving a sense of stability or reassurance that even in trying times there were people you could trust.

Anyways I know it's a messy post of blobbed thoughts but I felt I had to share since this was kind of on the mark.

ForestDew

If I recall correctly, in 3.5, there's was a type of inevitable that would target oathbreakers.

Benjamin Arnold

@ForestDew yes, actually. Hell if I remember the name of them, but they were the ones that would show up in robes with a sword. Looking like a magistrate of some kind. The inevitable were a cool set of creatures.

Edit: at least I think I'm remembering the right inevitable. Now I'm doubting myself and wondering if it was the centaur/pegasus looking robots. The only ones I remember quickly were the hulking ones who defended the cycle of death and the god defending hedrons

Marlutte Yestrelt

2y↑19

EldritchWizardKeawe

2y↑36

I absolutely love Stormlight Archive, a magic system based entirely around traumatized people rising up from the shards of their shattered mental states

Fura Faolox

I have something similar in my superhero comic universe thing. People gain superpowers from mental and/or physical trauma, which is the "awakening."

Renegade

@Fura Faolox That's basically what happens in another series by the same author, Mistborn, where people get their powers by "snapping" which is caused by trauma, assuming you have the potential in the first place. Attempts to find the people who do have potential can kill anyone who doesn't have it.

Andy The Dishwasher

2y↑8

The power of sincerity sounds like an excellent plot device and visualization mechanism for personal development.

Jacob Shore

2y↑34

Too bad you didn’t mention the Oathbreakers of Dunharrow in Middle-Earth, who broke their promise to fight for Isildur and Gondor. That’s an oath I remember pretty well too.

Ava-Moonshadow

2y↑38

So, along the lines of this thought process, there is a book series call "The Craft Sequence" by Max Gladstone. It kinda falls in line with this video, the magic system is tied to (basically) legal binding contracts. The magic system is very unique and amazing. I'd super recommend the series to anyone that likes Fantasy and world building.

Luis-Raul Diaz-Rios

2y↑1

How about a bit of Magic as Programs as well?

No teleport
Not enough RAM
you are still below 64-bits
And you can’t even quad-process yet!
You home brewed a quick travel in a panic, that’s all…

XD

Tsuki Kuang

2y↑8

I think you might have someone else talking about this in your comments, but Wildbow's newest Pactverse work, Pale, is circling around the powers unbalance and functions of deals. There's a thing called forswearing in Pactverse.
Basically, if you break one promise, like telling your kids you'll give them snacks if they behave but then you didn't, the universe will HATES you for that. You can be called Forsworn. You still can use magic, but everything and anything, magical and mundane, they will hate you. Of course, you can make an oath or promise to strengthen you claim, but people aren't purely made of their words, and if someone doesn't want to be enslaved by their past, what can they do?
But what's the difference between lying and breaking your promise, how much weight should we put on ourselves to judge people? Can lying be one of the fundamental things which life can be allowed to do?
More importantly, if there's a system of determining what's a promise or what's not, can it ever be "fair"?

daFreakinFox

2y↑7

Promises as magic can also be observed in Norse mythology: the reason Baldur is immune to all ham is because his mother made every single thing of the world swear that they would never harm him. And the reason mistletoe was his weakness was that it was too young a thing to be held to an oath, and was thus never made to swear.
Thus, here, magic protection is granted to the object of a promise. I find this story interesting, and also very cute.

Aesiro13

2y↑20

In one of my favorite book series ever, The Inheritance Cycle, oaths are taken pretty seriously. The overarching threat, a tyrannical and maddened king called Galbatorix, uses this to his advantage, combining them with true names to make a person physically unable to go back on their word. In this case, he makes them swear absolute fealty and obedience to him. I personally think that he is one of the most powerful magic users in fantastic fiction, period. If you could, perhaps you could make a video on him?

Mountain Nomad VFX

2y↑2

ivanbluecool

2y↑127

In an anime I watched called fate zero. They had a Geass system where If you write a contract it has to be honored and you can't go back on it as it's basically a deal by magus.

Coarse the smart way it was used by the main guy is writing he wouldn't kill the guy who signed it and had his helper do it instead. Basically thinking 4d chess which was extremely smart.

Diavolo Jaegar

2y↑2

Poor diarmud during that scene...

Mei-san

2y↑2

@Diavolo Jaegar being lancer is pain

Blocked

ok but Kaleid is better than Zero

Fire puppies

2y↑1

Geas, it's an actual Irish contract. Even Cu was under them I believe, like, he couldn't eat dog meanmt

4 More Replies...

Михаил Одинцов

2y↑22

This is really similar to the Celtic mythology concept of Geas where it plays a major part in a lot of stories.

Jallorn

2y↑1

The geas has similar concepts in Asia (I'm not sure where it's localized) attached to a kind of nature wizard who promises to abide by certain taboos in order to facilitate their magic

Trevor Jackson

2y↑4

I actually really like how the Eragon series of books treats promises and the language surrounding them. Things said in the "ancient language" (or something like that, it's been a while) cannot be lies, and in the same breath, the ancient language is what is required to cast magic, so the words that you speak in the language are powerful.
In that way, the wording of your magic can be very important, and probably the best example of this is when (spoilers) Eragon blesses a baby to "be shielded from suffering" but since he's a novice in a second language, he accidentally says "be a shield for suffering" which we as the reader don't know at first. He finds this girl later in the series, and discovers that he's essentially committed her to a life of misery, constantly taking on the suffering of those around her, and she hates him for it. It's pretty messed up.

MrLegendofLP

2y↑2

One of the best uses of The Ancient Language in the Inheritance Cycle imo. A really unique use of a language-based magic system. In general I like how fluid The Inheritance Cycle’s magic can be. It’s limited only by the casters knowledge and creativity, which are my favorite kinds of magic system.

Dylan Miller

2y↑11

My favorite variation of this magic system is actually the power of the deal. A mutual promise between two parties that is meant to benefit both parties, the power of trade made magic. Admittedly this is usually used with demons and fea creatures that are liable to twist it as much as they can, but that just shows that in any deal you need to exercise caution because there are people who will do the same or even break their end of the deal to get what they want, for the lowest short term cost.

Snaketooth 09

2y↑21

Cool video. I wish I was able to world-build as well as some of the writers you mention here. Also, the animation here is good. Quite stylised, simplistic and beautiful.

Bluedragonny

2y↑43

This video gave me a sort of idea. What if whenever someone breaks a promise the person they made the promise to gains magical powers to make sure the promise is fulfilled and someone begins to try to do what you said of getting as many promises as possible but then does some misdeeds behind all those people's backs to make those giving them promises have break it. This causes them to amass an assortment of while incredibly varied, possibly very powerful magics.

Tale Foundry

2y↑11

What a cool idea! You should write about it!

—Benji, showrunner

Jksupergamer

2y↑6

You should input some exploit failsafe in there like you can’t promise to yourself and promises must be of some degree in value to keep(like saying I’ll give you a house rather than I’ll not eat your sandwhich)

Abby Gale

2y↑4

@Jksupergamer Maybe the harder the oath, the stronger the powers

HazelTree

I feel like that would make cults the most powerful organisations in the world. Gain a following, have them swear to you they'll never die by your hand (That way it's a realistic, yet powerful promise) then kill them all and gain immense power

Jksupergamer

@HazelTree honestly thats kinda weird since that means your a tureat tk them so there is no reason to swear that

2 More Replies...

gnostic galass

2y↑8

i'd say a magic system where promises help both parties could work really well. for example perhaps a system where committing yourself to a promise allows you and who you made it to to become in sync, allowing you to become more and more connected magically, emotionally , mentally and even spiritually. taking the whole friendship is magic thing to its absolute end.

Hunter Craft

Delightful

Adrian

2y↑12

Pact and Pale great webserials written by Wildbow (John C. Mcrae) and the entire magic system is based on making an oath to be truthful and in doing so your word becomes magically meaningful. If you remain truthful and keep your promises the spirits reward you. I think the magic system in Pact and Pale is also much more harsh that the other magic systems. If you lie and are called out on it then you lose magical power ranging from hours and even up to years in some circumstances and in this universe that is very dangerous since you lose magical protections and most things (Magical beings, other magic users, the universe itself) in the universe are passively or actively dangerous.

What's most striking in this magic system is the steep penalty that comes with breaking an oath. If a magic user ever breaks a promise then they immediately lose all of their magical power forever, are stripped of any and all protections and the universe itself becomes hostile to them (the universe will actively make things worse for them by having events conspire to make their lives worse) and on top of that people, magic users and magical creatures are rewarded for hurting oath breakers. In this universe, breaking an oath is one of the worst things that can happen to you, basically being a death sentence.

If you are interested in reading this then you can find it by googling for Pact or Pale web serial. They are both set in the same universe but are independent of each other. Pact was written first but I highly recommend that you skip that one and read Pale instead.

komic kid

2y↑4

It is very reminders me of Wildbows Pale and the use of practice. The magic of story you’re a performer.

You stand on a stage in front of an unknown number of spirits who take an unknown shape. It’s your job to entertain them, and if you do, you’ll be rewarded with power.
They’ve been watching this stage for thousands and thousands of years, and there are traditions that prior actors have developed that are relatively consistent in pleasing the spirits. They go through these procedures because they work, but if you’re creative enough and daring enough, you can try something different.
In the modern day, those traditions are so ingrained that it’s rare to find someone daring enough to change the way it works, so the rules are relatively set in stone.
Make a show out of whatever you do, hit narrative beats like the rule of three, and you’ll amplify any goodwill with the audience because they’ll be more entertained and thus more willing to grant you power. Think Shark Tank with magic instead of money.
Now take this metaphor and turn the acting into magic. Magic circles work because the spirits like them, Others follow rules because they’ve made oaths to, those oaths and oaths in general work because the spirits like them, and everything about magic was crafted through trial and error over millennia.

clockknight

2y↑6

Stormlight Archives is omega goated as a fantasy series. Loved it and cant put it down, magic system is a huge help to drawing me into them

IRVS

2y↑52

Oaths forge the world, and will makes it real

Steven Underwood

2y↑16

Pact and Pale web series magic system is all about the magical bindings of promises, oaths and truth both in the spirit of keeping ones word and the act of never lying

Adren Rice

2y↑15

The second edition of Changeling: the Lost has oath magic that functions in a lot of ways. Bargains are specifically what you were describing: a changeling does a favor for a mortal, and in exchange, those who hunt them are less able to find them. They weave themselves into reality in that way. They can get something in return, but this protection is often more than enough, considering the horrors they ran away from.

Raistlin 34

The first Edition had a more open pledge system with open rewards and punishments, always balanced.

Tristan Sylvester

2y↑15

You should look at the magic systems in Will Wights books!! He has 3 series currently: travelers gate, elder empire, and cradle which is his most popular

Kirk reaper

2y↑3

This made me remember how in some cultivation novel/manga have heavenly oaths which are sworn promises usually of loyalty and if broken you lose your strength or get hit by lightning 🌩 or just straight up die on spot..

Stephen Decker

2y↑31

Here's a freebie. I can imagine a character that collects promises then forces them to be broken to fuel their magical effects.

Raistlin 34

2y↑8

Ursula from the Little Mermaid.

While it was not explicit, I suspect that was the reason why the sea witch made sure her clients ended as part of her garden.

OpiatesAndTits

This is sort of like a demon making a pact then doing everything in their power short of breaking the terms to cause you to break your end.

Stephen Decker

@Raistlin 34 While I do see the similarity. It didn't seem that Ursula's power came from the people subject to the added stipulations of her bargains, but she did get the power of king Triton when he freed Ariel? Was that Ursula's bargain or the act of taking Tritons crown and trident? Nuance.....

Stephen Decker

@OpiatesAndTits yeah and the wording of their promise would have to be very deceptive and careful so they could cause the promise to break at the right time to use the "energy" when it was released. They could "store" the promise, but not the magic.

Orange

2y↑163

I believe Stormfather would approve of this video.

Nyar Parablepsis

2y↑20

These words have been accepted.

Jeremy Humphrey

2y↑8

He found the words. The most important words a man can say.

Loturzel Restaurant

2y↑1

Wow.
Another Video about Power-Systems not mentioning the arguably Best ever: Nen from HxH.

No matter how many say it's the literally best ever, it's barely mentioned in videos like this here.

I’ve had this realization a couple times with Brandon Sanderson. It was quite irksome. That being said, I wouldn’t say he did it “better”, just in a way that was more thought out than the concepts I had been playing with.

I stay away from appraisal based comparisons, especially with creators who’ve had literally decades more of experience that I have haha

Matheus Matheus

2y↑2

There is a ligh novel series called the faraway paladin where people can get blessings from their gods via sworning an oath to them. The blessing received depends on the nature of the oath, some being stronger than others in order to match what was promised. I thi k its a good way to habdle that magic system, and I thought it was worthy sharing!

Miggy_

2y↑5

I think the concept of “contracts” in chainsaw man is a lot like this as well

Alexarius

2y↑1

I thought there would be words about Feanor's oath too. In a world born by the voice of the gods, words have a high level of power especially spoken from high beings. His oath not only shapes the fate of his kin but it foretell the happening of the greatets cataclysm of the world.

Role player Chadwick

2y↑5

I love the stormlight archive. I finished book 2 today

Steve B

2y↑3

One of the instances of promises received having an effect on the recipient that came to mind for me was curses of vengeance, such as those made just before being condemned to death by your peers; tales of witches being executed in particular are what I'm reminded of.

Silver Serebriansky

2y↑2

One of my favorite magic/power systems that work similarly is nen, and more specifically nen limitations. In HxH what a nen user does to give his abilities more potential or make them stronger is usually create limitations on what they can do with the ability, which they then can expend on with establishing the consequences if they break said limits. the best example in the manga and anime would be kurapika and his chain creation ability. In order to make his chains be more then just a regular chains he made them have unique abilities and made them unbreakable, and he did that by limiting himself with using them only for their main purpose, with the most interesting one being that the most deadly chain of all the once he have he will use only on 1 group of people. And if he will not apply to his limits it will cost his life.

Fenrir Lives

I think my favorite thing about the oaths in Stormlight is that Brandon rights them with this anticipatory weight. It's one thing to say "keep your oaths and follow the ideals to maintain this power" but the characters with these abilities live under this shadow of a mass breaking of these oaths. It makes them unsure, unconfident in themselves, because "can I keep this promise?" Becomes "Am I worthy to take the next step?". It feels like an uphill struggle against your own flaws, and failure doesn't just mean bad things for you, but a possibly endless death for your Spren. It really changes the dynamic of the oath keeping in a cool new way!

Nahuel

2y↑8

TheRealETP

I’m literally in the process of reading the Stormlight Archives right now. Such an amazing series

Elek Buday

2y↑1

I also like how in the Cosmere at large, the gods themselves are also weakened when they break their promises and agreements. It's unclear if it weakens them generally, or merely gives the other party in the agreement an advantage over them. Because of this, there's a weird political dance between them

CsrSnchz 0003

In Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited, one of the characters has de magical ability to create unbreakable promises, effectively influencing or negating others actions. Truly an amazing ability.

Chaos Voidling

Ooh another good example of this is how in the Percy Jackson book series, people swear upon the River Styx as their form of promise, which is basically saying "I damn my soul to drowning in eternal torment if I break this promise", and that really resonated with me as a child when the books first came out.

Last Storm

2y↑2

This is a great video. I love the idea of oaths as a magic system. Keep up this great work.

Blue Spartan

2y↑3

I could listen to this dude for hours

Valkyrie

“The Newlywed Diary of a Witch and a Dragon” has a condition linked to magic that deals with promises: if a witch or wizard ever breaks a promise they make, they’ll permanently lose access to their magic (the details of why are actually explained in the webtoon, and it’s pretty interesting).

James Ferris

I have loved the idea of putting emotions and vows as spells and curses. Cursing someone with the weight of your ambition literally causes them to feel like they are being crushed, blessing someone with the warmth of your heart causes them to be able to breathe flame and ignore frost. I don't know things like that have always been fascinating to me the way words promise and our own emotions could be inflicted upon another causing real physical effects.

C

I like the idea of promises being a form of almost self written fate. Like if there was a world where no matter who you were if you made a promise then it is like weaving a path in fate. You can fully intend to do something and fate will be on your side or you could make an off handed promise thinking you’ll get out of it only to have the magic of the world bend fate to force you to maintain the promise you made. Make a promise and it’s unbreakable

DJ Alexander

id love to see a story that describes all the morale progress weve made over time thru these sort of promise stories, where maybe people stay tied to allegiances and this determines their ability to affect the word for change aswell, basically what ideas rule over others ect

Riley SofLesbian

2y↑1

The owl house has actually introduced a promise recently in the show
[Spoilers at this point]
.
.
.
With Yesterday's Lie, Luz promises to her mom to come back home when she can build a portal to the human realm. However, Luz took it a different way and thought she was being taken away from everything she loved. But what I love is the very next episode "Follies at the Coven Day Parade" covers her trying to cope with that. And her partner Amity notices and helps her slowly with managing it instead of the whole usual thing most media does of have the main character hide this until it all comes out near the end. I think it will be a super important promise to the show, as Luz has finally made a life for herself, but she also promised her mom to find a way back home

Sean Mounts

2y↑8

I started reading the Stormlight Archive last month and now all of my favorite YouTubers are discussing it. lol

vergil1us

Who else if I may ask?

Roonco SP

@vergil1us Me too, please! I want to know too!

Static Kaeder

2y↑2

The Emperor's Soul is not big, and is one of the finest, concentrated pieces of literary excellence that I am aware of - I highly recommend it.

Alex Wyckoff

I love the idea of different kinds of promises having different levels of magical contracting ability. A promise to yourself may be easy to break, but making one gives you small amounts of power. A promise to someone else could be more difficult, inflicting magical consequences for being broken, but having greater magical capability than a promise to yourself. Make a promise to someone significant enough to you, for instance a wedding vow, and the promise has dire consequences for being broken, yet yields great power.

Very cool if you also add a temporal and detail element to it. More difficult promises to keep are stronger. Obviously this would inherently mean promises that are continuous rather than one and done are stronger. The longer you keep the promise, the stronger the magic you get.

Thanks for making a wonderful video! You've earned a subscriber tonight. I may write a short story with this premise :D

VictoryJamz

I thought about oaths a bit, and one of the cooler ideas I came up with, was that if two or more magic users make a promise to do a certain thing (be it helping find something lost, or whatever), they are PHYSICALLY FORCED to do it. in my story, there's three sisters whose parents make them use this sort of magic on each other to make sure they do their chores and their homework. i just LOVE magic being used for mundane reasons, too. it's cool to think about, actually. anyways, when i get home, gonna join the discord server lol

LLAMAZ

2y↑1

This video, while my first of this channel, is absolutely amazing, the art is great and the explanation is awesome, great work!

Henry Paleveda

I had some promise magic, generally enchantments are written and are very literal.
You have a weapon "the bond of the dead" which won't dull or gain so much as a scratch until the dragon it was made to kill is dead.
You have this sort of binding where both parties have to agree to be bound to the other, it allows them to know how the other is feeling at any point, they can see through each other's eyes, they even share wounds or exhaustion.

Rami Ungar the Writer

2y↑15

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has Vengeance Demons, where if someone's heart is broken, a demon may show up and grant you a wish so you can have vengeance. Does that count as magic gained from a promise broken?

literaterose

2y↑4

fyi… they prefer “Justice Demon” 😏

(it’s a paraphrased quote from the show, I’m not being a jerk, honest!)

OpiatesAndTits

2y↑2

Yeah that’s a perfect example

Alba Music Art

42w

I'm in love with your art! Your videos and tutorials are so helpful and insightful. I can't wait to see more of your incredible work!💕

Grizzled Nerd

The Ring of Kings from Michael Moorcock's Elric series comes to mind. Essentially it represents the promises (pacts) between Elric's ancestors and various supernatural entities.

demonheart13

2y↑1

I kinda feel like this explains cutie marks in MLP well. Ponies seem to always have access to minor versions of their cutie mark abilities but the real power doesn't manifest until they acknowledge it and kinda make a promise to themselves or others about how they want to be. And it's easy to see how ponies who are misusing their marks are not as strong as ponies who are living honestly to keep thier unspoken promise. Yes the magic of friendship makes up a lot of powerful spells but it's usually the ponies just doing their jobs and living their best lives that seem to be creating the majority of miracles throughout Equestria. Like granny Smith and her zap apples or pinkie who wants people to be happy SO bad she breaks reality and even visibly deflates when she's not living up to her ideals. Even the princesses show this as Princes Luna literally transforms into a demon when she loses sight of her goals to work with her sister and make Equestria a better place.

Steven Kinna

And of course Twilight promised herself she'd master magic, and emulate her hero Princess Celestia, so...

It does make some sense, but there are a few problems with the idea. When we see ponies get their cutie mark, it er... 'marks' some great realisation about themselves and their place in the world, which was actually already true before the mark appears. Like Rarity, who suddenly realised she could actively seek out gems with her magic, when she actually found some for the first time. But there was a whole sequence about her ability sort of taking over and leading her to the place where the gems were, entirely without her prior knowledge or intent to go there. The 'promise' in this case, came well after the fact of the powers that promise supposedly granted her. Unless there's some sort of recursive time-related shenanigans involved - not impossible in this franchise - where they get the cutie mark that matches the pony they ultimately become, because they will one day become the pony that matches that cutie mark, there's probably a better explanation.

Especially as relates to Pinkie Pie. Oh Lordie, Pinkie Pie is a different barrel of cumquats altogether. In the alternate timelines, where the mane six didn't get their cutie marks, Pinkie Pie looked up at the sky, for no apparent reason, right when the sonic rainboom was supposed to go off in the main timeline. She can do to Discord, of all people, what he frequently does to everyone else when he just appears in their space without crossing the intervening gap between them. Also like Discord, she pulls weird stuff out of thin air, breaks physics, and otherwise ignores the normal laws of reality. It's not really possible to say that's her cutie mark talent, since she was already doing it before she got her cutie mark - in the alternate timeline, as mentioned above, and also in the main timeline when she sees the sonic rainboom, gets inspired, and... throws a party for her family? With confetti and stuff? General party items? Where on earth did she get all that? Her parents are psuedo-Amish folks, and she specifically tells them that she's going to call this new thing she does a party, meaning they didn't teach her the word, so the chances that they just had party supplies lying around is miniscule. We know she didn't leave the farm and go get some, because she clearly went straight into the silo and got to work. So both her Pinkie Sense and her hammerspace abilities were working before she got the cutie mark, and quite probably her more... people-orientated... abilities as well, given the drastic change in her family's ability to express themselves once they saw her party. All the cutie mark did was confirm to her that her role in the world was to make people experience joy, which she does, with or without her other powers. Honestly, for most of the series I believed the chances were extraordinarily high that she was (or rather, was in the process of becoming) a draconequus like Discord. The series ended with her just being a regular pony after all, but the cumulative evidence the whole way through kept pointing in the direction of her being so much more.

Joseph Stone

This was really interesting and honestly endearing because of how earnest it was.

Clayvius Baker

Crazy you made this fairly recently, I finished book 2 of this series like a week ago lol. Such an amazing series with unique power systems.

Xaphaniariel

2y↑5

Everybody go read Pale by Wildbow, it's one of the best web serials out there and does this wonderfully

Guildar Daze

2y↑1

Dark !nk

I’m a bit shocked that the magic system that I created for one of my favorite creations was this close to being something that already existed.

Bilal Khares

One thing I like about promises and contracts is that it gives room for creative technicalities for characters to create and get out of traps

Glitch Michaels

I've been toying with the idea of promises as magic in the series I've been working on. The way it works is more of a protection spell as well as a death curse. As well as the person keeps the promise, or at least works to fulfil a said promise, they can not be fully harmed or killed, while if you were to break a promise, it could kill you. Again, I'm still working on it and it's still fairly early, but I've wanted to add a minor magic system even though the series is a mostly Sci-fi series.

Load More Comments...

More Comments

just now