The Theory behind Magic (1/?)

I've been working on the theory of how magic works for my longfics, Piece by Piece and Crystal Story, and so I've decided to put this in a blog post. There'll probably be a follow-up to this, so keep an eye out for that if you find this interesting. It's written in-character for Star Tower, though he probably won't appear in Piece by Piece.

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Note to self: draft version, rework once replies from Aris and Tobuck arrive.

The origins of magic are a highly debated topic, as is its nature. All sentient species in the world have some form of magic, from the great spellcraft of the unicorns to the humble magic of the seals.

It is, as Royal Magician of Canterlot and Professor of Magical Theory at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, my duty to know about magic in order to advise Their Majesties on the subjects of and related to it.

Let us start off with some basics, shall we?

Magic, let us establish that first, does not come from anything in particular. It exists, instead, as a field in this world, an invisible force contained inside everything on the planet. As such, it can be found anywhere, though the abundance of it might vary. A quick example would be the Everfree Forest here in Equestria, which is positively saturated with magic; chaotic magic, to be precise.

Yes, let us move on to this next piece of basic knowledge. It is common to put magic, all magic, on a spectrum from Chaos to Order. Chaos, currently, is embodied in the shape of Discord, who aptly styles himself the Lord of Chaos. If any similar embodiment of Order exists in this world, it is unknown to me.

This Spectrum of Magic, as it is fittingly called, was invented by the Equestrian Archmage Azure Brook in 867 ALB, thus it is also commonly referred to as the Brook Spectrum. As said before, it categorizes magic on a scale from Chaos to Order, and each individual race has its own place on this spectrum.

Currently, no conclusive list exists of where all the known sentient races of Faust fall on the Brook Spectrum; I have sent requests for information to various schools of magic in Zebrica, but so far none have yet replied. (Remove this once the information does arrive)

The Equestrian Council of Magic does maintain a list of various races’ placement on the scale, and it is shown below.

Now, allow me to elaborate.

Undead, we have had relatively little contact with. Necromancy or other such forms of vile magics are forbidden in Equestria, and as such quite rare. However, what we do know is that necromancy, vampirism and such are very orderly; if one even twitches during certain spells everything may go terribly wrong, and this reflects in the intense stratification of what few groups of undead do pop up.

Ponies, of course, we know quite a lot about. Earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi and thestrals all place slightly differently on the scale, but those differences are minute and not relevant right now. What is important is that pony societies around the globe, regardless of history, tend to have long-lasting periods of stability and peace, even in places such as the Riverlands. The Cutie Marks have not yet been fully explained, but their presence usually shapes the place a pony takes in society, and this in itself means little chaos occurs.

Diamond Dogs, some might be surprised by. But consider this: with the exception of Bronzehill, all of the diamond dog lands have had slavery. Slavery, while I absolutely condemn it, cannot be denied to be a very orderly and clear system, firmly marking who is slave and who is not. Diamond dog magic, then, is also orderly, and it reflects in their architecture and organization.

Griffons have a history of disorganisation and chaos to their lands. Griffon magic thrives in chaos: there is little order to be found in enchantments, for they are fickle and dependent on a great many factors that earth pony runes, the closest equivalent there is for ponies, do not. No two enchanters employ the same methods, and thus no two enchantments are the same; indeed, even when they are made by the same crafter they might end up being different from each other.

Deer’s magic is rooted in two things: the spirits of the world and divination. The spirits of the world are fickle as the deer are, ever-restless and looking for more to explore and discover. This leads into divination, for what is better than discovering something that does not exist yet? But the future is ever-changing, and any seer today may see something far different tomorrow for the same day in the future.

Finally, changelings are, for now, the most Chaos-aligned race known. Shape-shifting, of course, is easily explained as belonging to Chaos: how better to cause it than to appear as another? By its nature, shape-shifting creates chaos, thus it falls heavily in the Chaos part of the spectrum. Aside from this, the magical abilities of changelings are largely unknown to Equestria, so I cannot comment too much on them.

Now, you may find yourself wondering why each race can do different things with magic. The answer lies in biology. Each of the races listed above have a different way of using their magic: hooves for earth ponies, wings for pegasi and thestrals, claws for griffons, paws for dogs, horns for unicorns and changelings (this is a theory that may explain why they can replicate unicorn magic to an extent) and antlers for deer.

That’s it for now, I should think. I’ll continue on this later. For now, signed by Star Tower Spellweaver, Royal Magician of Canterlot, Archmage of Equestria, Professor of Magical Theory at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.