-★- Worldbuilding Modern Magic -★-

Hiya! I've been worldbuilding a new magic system for urban magic stories. Because writing modern day magic is cool, with monsters and witches and vampires and such. So I wanted a good magic system for that that wasn't just "magic exists but is secret". Mostly cause I like things to make sense, and keeping magic secret from the modern surveillance state is really hard. Like why doesn't everyone already know about magic if it exists? (I don't believe in magic or superstition stuff, materialism is cool) If magic existed the secret would be out really fast no matter how good the secret magic government tried.

Since writing modern day society with magic would be extremely difficult, I wanted to keep the magical secret stuff intact, besides it's a really fun genre. So obviously if people can't keep a secret something else is. God(s), spirits, "the veil", or magic itself. Most folks go with a veil, which can be done well, but I wasn't a fan because like, it insinuates that folks wouldn't believe magic is causing an issue, or worse magic makes folks believe mundane reasons, and that doesn't line up with reality at all, cause most people seem to be superstitious in some way and the supernatural is a huge global market for some reason despite 0 evidence (*cough cough* capitalism).

So not wanting something to edit people's minds, but the secret itself to be kept, I came up with a solution! Magic is just really shy like me. Magic doesn't censor people's minds, but it does interfere with communication to keep itself secret, and it also doesn't work right, or even at all if it's under too much observation.

And like this isn't a new idea, but cause I was really vibing with this new magic idea magic having an anxiety disorder and hiding itself for some reason, I wanted to run with it. Thus I came up with the Law of Shyness:

Magic resists information spread. The more you try to inform, teach, or convey knowledge of magic and magical things, the more it will distort the information and alter its properties. Purely magical creatures either hide their nature or avoid large groups of people. The most potent of magics will be those that are known only to one, or are inherently incomprehensible. Magic is less shy around those who know of it, and beings of magic.

And as you can see it fits really well with a lot of supernatural, horror, and thriller tropes, cause like monsters dwell in places without many observers, in small towns and abandoned buildings. Same with magic, you'll likely find it in a place not many people can look like the attic of some old building in a book no one has read for fifty years, cause magic doesn't have to worry about that info going viral it lets it be read by the protagonist who happened upon it.

But that describes where magic isn't rather than where it is. and running with magic having shy anxious autistic transfem vibes, the second law came naturally from the first. In fact it's debatable if it's its own thing or just a part of the first law. Like folks in universe could argue that, and that's what makes it fun because the laws are social constructs rather than like physics.

So what is this second law? Well if magic is shy, then you get her to open up by forming a close intimate bond with her. Except it's not just with magic itself (though that's important) it's all intimacy! Magic loves the intimate, the personal, the deep connections people form with people, places, things, ideas. It revels in the intimacy, indulges. Thus The Law of Intimacy:

Magic is attracted to intimacy. Art and ritual are the foundations of becoming a practitioner, the more personal, the depth of feelings, the intimacy in act and creation are what drive magic. Intimacy extends to relations creatures have with other creatures, with object, ideas, places. The greater the intimacy the more magic that can be invested in and drawn from a place.

Gasp! Again it seems to resonate very deeply with genre tropes. The protagonist of a story tends to have an intimate connection with the magic or monsters or forms one. It's been in their family for generations. It's in an old tome their grandparent gifted them. The monster is hunting you because now that you've stumbled upon it, you know of it and have thus formed a personal connection so it's stalking you.

And while it has those fun connections to genre tropes it is also open to a bunch of other genre's too! Like intimacy is obviously foundational to romance! Love creates magic! but not just regular love, but also kinky love. D/s relationships tend to get deeply intimate and ritualistic and suddenly magic is involved? If intimacy draws in magic then familiars are useful because they are creatures that form intimate bonds with people. A familiar is a beloved pet! But a submissive can also be a cute puppy girl and if familiar's are just leaning into intimacy then technically your cute cat girl can also be a familiar and that's hot.

The reason mages, and witches take on one or two apprentices is because larger groups weaken magic, and more intimate groups form magic. Covens are useful for drawing intimacy which for some draws more power than working alone, but for others they find that the privacy boosts them more than the intimacy (maybe because they have trouble with intimacy? Character trait?)

The laws are a bit vague, but they lean into each other and paint this picture of what magic acts like and why, and it creates so much depth to explore the ways in which each affect magic. Magic by its rules must always be these deeply private personal affairs. It can never be mass produced. It can never be impersonal. It can never be turned into something that can serve capitalism. Magic becomes all about the small personal stories. and it's lack of shyness around folks steeped in magic leaves room for community to form, but that community is naturally inclined to be more private and close knit than the way folsk form them nowadays

Also here's an excerpt for explaining becoming a practitioner:

So you want to learn how to practice magic? Real magic?
... fine I'll explain

The first step is to know of real magic. So many things pedaled as magic exist but I can assure you magic is not going to be found on youtube, or an etsy shop, magic's shyness and desire for intimacy will prevent it from appearing on any easily accessible monitored medium.

Second step is to develop intimacy with magic. This is often hardest for those who believe in false magic, but is difficult in general without a direct connection to something magic. The reason those who believe in the magic pedaled on social media will find real magic difficult is for the same reason a parent who has constructed a false version of their child in their head will struggle with them coming out as queer. They will mourn and grieve the illusion in their mind and find it difficult to reconcile reality with their illusion, and often times they simply refuse to let go of it. They won't be able to form an intimate familial relationship with their child, if you cling to your imaginings of false magic you will not be able to develop an intimate relationship with it. Your personal intimacy with magic is how you wield magic, and without it you will never be a practitioner.

Third step is to create associations. Associations are how you shape magic, through gestures, sounds, or other actions and stimuli you create associations and these shape your spells and enchantments. If you can perceive it, magic can perceive it and you can use it to form an association. Associations are formed through intensity and/or repetition. Intensity allows for rapid magic shaping, while repetition allows for consistent and replaceable magic shaping.

Intensity is a strong moment that is deeply personal and thus nearly impossible to mimic. A child who meets their first dog and is attacked by it can form a strong association of danger with dogs. Magic works the same way a strong moment can create a lasting association in magic. Association will be deeply personal when created through intensity.

Repetition creates association through consistency. Language is constructed through repeatedly associating noises with things, so too can so construct magical effects and share them. However magics shyness and desire for intimacy mean that depending on how they are shared they might lose potency or cease working all together so it's best to protect your magic by making it hard for others to replicate without being taught.

Combining intensity and repetition allows you to create rapid potent magics. Remember that these associations are also tied to your intimacy with magic itself, and thus you need to create that intimacy before constructing your magics.

The reason you need to have developed intimacy is both that without it you cannot intentionally wield magic, but also magic simply might not observe your shaping, and thus not act on it even if you know real magic and know an association created through it. Sometimes it will observe you even without a personal connection and act on the association you created, sometimes even if you don't know about real magic, but it is deeply unreliable.

There you go you know everything you need to become a practitioner, whether or not you become one is very much between you and magic.