A Continuation on Spell-Writing

 Continuation of Spell writing

A Basic Rundown

Decided to further expand on the writing system I made earlier for the Laws of Magic. It mostly so I can draw spells with a little bit of consistent meaning to them. Really though I doubt the actually story itself with explore then too extensively. Although individual sigils might grow to be of some import later. 

WIP, of a the current list of sigils that appear throughout the story. Their are spaces to incase I need to add more. 

The most basic component of a spell is the sigil. Sigils are reoccurring symbols which can be found throughout nature. Sigils can be combined to produces words or phrases and when surrounded by a circle produces a glyph a spell component. 

Sigils are grouped into three categories: Elemental, Control, Modal, and Declarative Markers

Elemental sigils which are currently known are the foundry elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Aether which make up 'things' or materials. 

Control sigils, are sigils will tell the magic, what it should do. So as an example: The union glyph states to join or merge two things physically.

Modals: Are sigil which state a glyphs intent and further define how a spell is to resolve a certain effect. (Example: The possible sigil is used frequently to denote a glyph as a placeholder to represent an unknown sigil) 

Declarative Markers: These are sigils which act as descriptors and are used to further define a spells meaning. Think of them as adjectives or adverbs 

A sigil representing a Runestone, literal translation

"Target this glyph which possibly means runestone

Further Rules about spell construction

• Spells are written step by step
• A complete spell phrase is held within a circle. 
• Some glyphs can have a secondary boundary typically a triangle or a square which signify the order a spells components should be read. Circles have the highest priority and are always read first and at the same time. 
• When a smaller glpyh is nested in another glyph it tells the spell to treat a non-declarative marker as a declarative marker. 

A drawing i made for a fire spell, commonly used as a Firestarter for stoves, torches, and for campsites. 

If you have keen eye you can spot the individual sigils which make up the two major glyphs. 

Translation

Top Glyph: Target (Refer to this glyph) which possibly means runestone

Bottom Glyph: Conjure from the targeted glyph 

There's multiple different ways to write this spell depending on how its casted. In this case, this spell is meant to be casted using a runestone (a magic rock that holds power, more on this at a later time) hence the need for the target symbol. 

Magic Systems: For The Laws of Magic

The Laws of Magic (TLM), was an old incomplete comic i wrote in 2014. Its been sitting on my mind for a while and after ten years I've decided to return to the story and potentially complete it. As such I've been reworking the setting from the ground up. TLM deals quite a bit with the nature of magic, it's a high magic setting where magic is akin to technology anyone can use it and anyone can learn it, but it does take practice and knowledge to be truly be proficient in it.

Magic spells are written and I wanted spells to have a distinct and unique look to them, and I also wanted them to be easily read/understandable to the reader with a keen eye. After a little bit of research I came across Veve which are a collection of religious symbols used to represent deities in Voodoo, so I decided to take a bit of inspiration from that as i didn't want to draw from alchemy ( I wanted something unique).

Veve of Ogoun, from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veve

My current list of sigils and their meanings

As of right now I don't have a complete list of all the magic symbols that will appear throughout the story yet. But i did leave spaces in the grid to add to it when the time comes.

A concept of a glyph comprised of multiple simpler magic symbols. this one represents a type of magic stone, a Runestone

The main design principle behind how spells look is that casting magic is a bit like speaking a language and coding a program. The symbols have meanings and can be combined together to produce words or phrases which have innate power to them.

Yet Another Year: Fleshing out a Story I wrote years ago

 Yet another year, and as of recently I've been interested in rebuilding and redeveloping an old story I wrote years ago back when i was in college. I've always wanted to write a comic, but with my current busy life as a fulltime adult, comics are unfortunately a time sink i don't really have the time to invest in anymore. I still enjoy the creative process but above all else, I want to get my stories out there, to at least say hey i made something. Now I'm not entirely sure what medium the current version of this story is going to take, but i think it'll be something along the lines of a light novel, a written story with lost of illustrations. 

The Laws of Magic, a comic I wrote, sometime in 2014 i think. I've long since lost the original files but its still posted on comic fury:  https://comicfury.com/read/LOM/comics/504703

I think over the years I've improved on the writing process. At the start of this comic, i didn't really have a good idea of where i wanted to take the story. So i sort of wrote the story at the same time I drew it and frankly i hit a block and couldn't figure out how to progress the narrative in a meaningful way, but it did teach me a lot about drawing at least.