Essays Index

Borderworld Magic series: Part 1 - Magic types | Part 2 - Souls | Part 3 - Using magic

Magic types:
Origin:
Magic as a force predates the existence of the universe itself, and is known to have existed in the previous universe as well, albeit operating by different physical laws. When that universe died, all of its own magic was gathered together and compressed, becoming a magical construct known as the Fundament of Magic. When the Big Bang occurred and the new universe was created, the force of explosion broke it into three smaller entities, the Fundaments of Magic. They are known as the Fundament of Order, the Fundament of Chaos, and the Fundament of Harmony.

Much like certain other forms of energy, magic exists as part of a spectrum, operating at different wavelengths and frequencies. The Fundaments of Magic each encompass a different range of wavelengths on the magical spectrum, with each range having different properties. Magic can be grouped into order magic, chaos magic, and harmonic magic because of the different behaviours of these ranges.

Throughout the early life of the universe, the Fundaments of Magic spread their magical energy across the cosmos. Magical energy, as a property of its existence, seeks to affect the world around it in a profound way. How exactly it intends to do this can vary depending on its type, but this is the reason that magic can be channelled into spells. Because of this, the magic which spread throughout the early universe assisted in the formation of stars and planets, and sped up the evolution of organic life.

When left in a vacuum, magic also attempts to affect the world by altering itself. Large clusters of magic, left to their own devices, will burn small amounts of energy in order to form complex systems within themselves, designed with no particular purpose in mind. Consciousness is an emergent property of these magical systems, just as it is for organic systems like brains, and so this primordial magic also gave rise to the early gods. In particular, the Fundaments of Magic themselves gave birth to the three Eternals (see Borderworld Pantheon Part 2 - Greater Deities - Eternals).

Emotions:
Psionic energy is a separate type of energy from magic, but exists on a similar spectrum. Any system which is sufficiently complex enough to form a consciousness will also create psionic energy as a byproduct. It is generated by conscious thought, most especially by emotions, but non-emotional thought can also produce it.

Much like magic, the wavelength of psionic energy changes some of its properties. Psionic energy generated by different emotions will have different wavelengths, and will have a slight "flavour" that makes it easily identifiable. Non-emotional psionic energy also has a flavour of its own, but it is bland compared to emotional energy, and does not occupy as wide a range on the spectrum.

The psionic energy spectrum aligns well with the magical one, and so particular flavours of psionic energy will reliably convert into specific types of magic. Non-emotional psionic energy will always become order magic, while emotional energy can become any of the three types, depending on the specific emotions in play. Emotions can thus be grouped as orderly, chaotic, or harmonious, just like magic can be.

Psionic energy attracts magic, and when it comes into contact with a large enough quantity of it, it tends to be automatically converted into more magic. Most living things thus replenish their magic by using the psionic energy produced by the emotions of others around them.

Harmonic magic:
The Fundament of Harmony encompasses a wide range of the magical spectrum, and so is fed by a wide range of emotions as well. All harmonious emotions are generally considered to be positive, as they are focused around happiness and affection for others. Honesty, generosity, laughter, kindness, and loyalty are the most important virtues of harmony, and friendship is prized above all else, as they are the best way to facilitate producing harmonious emotions.

Because harmonious emotions are pleasant to experience, most living beings strive to achieve an emotional state that is optimal for generating harmonic magic, which makes it relatively common in almost all species. This is helped even more by the fact that more magic in general is created from prolonged social interactions of any kind, and friendship is a form of this. This means that unlike those who primarily use order or chaos magic, which can only be gained under specific circumstances, users of harmonic magic generally have a large amount of it. The advantage of harmonic magic is in its ubiquity.

Harmonic magic is also much more versatile than the other types. While chaos and order demand certain mindsets or personality types from their wielders, harmony asks for nothing, and can be freely used for almost any kind of spell imaginable with no unintended consequences, if the spell is performed correctly. The trade-off is that harmonic magic has no specialities, and does not resonate better with any particular kind of spell. However, the power of harmonic magic can be amplified by working in harmony with others. If multiple casters attempt to power the same spell together with harmonic magic, the end result will inevitably be greater than the sum of its parts.

Pure harmonic magic manifests the appearance of either an entire rainbow of colours, or white light, both of which represent all colours in harmony with each other. Impure harmony, which is much more commonly seen, will instead be a single consistent colour, determined by which exact wavelength is most dominant in that particular mass of magic.

Chaos magic:
While all magic seeks to cause change and create complexity, chaos magic emphasises this trait more than any other type. All magic will naturally create complex systems and spontaneously form consciousnesses, but chaos magic does it fastest. Chaos magic is also a more active mutagen than either of the other two types, to the point that almost every active chaos mage can expect at least a few minor mutations in their lifetime.

Chaos magic is thus fed by emotions which are strongly associated with change and complexity. Passion, determination, and excitement are good for facilitating change, while surprise indicates reaction to change, and so these are chaotic emotions. Confusion and feelings of turmoil are also considered chaotic, since they are felt in reaction to complex ideas and situations. But if friendship is the highest ideal of harmony, then chaos most values creativity. While destruction and entropy cause change and are thus chaotic, complexity decreases as a result, whereas creation and artistic endeavours cause change as well while increasing complexity instead.

Aligning with these two core concepts, chaos magic resonates strongly with a great many high-level spells. Transformations, illusions, enchantments, and conjurations, as well as any more destructive spells, are inherently chaotic, as they cause significant change and are likely to provoke chaotic emotions from others. This resonance makes these spells much more energy-efficient to use with chaos magic than with other types. To the layman, chaos magic may seem inherently more powerful or easy to use than harmonic magic as a result, but this is not the case.

In fact, chaos magic has many drawbacks. Most immediately obvious to a prospective user is that the more one tries to control chaos, the less efficient it is, as it habitually rebels against the predictable. Trying to cast a specific spell with chaos magic is difficult, as all the mental constructs and components involved in specifying the spell's effect will cause the chaos magic to lose power.

Instead, chaos is intended to be directed rather than controlled. The wielder should use willpower to push their magic out in the general direction of the effect they want, and then redirect the effect they are given to get it closer to what they had intended. This method is unpredictable, and spells cast this way are often very impermanent as a result, but there is no other real way to do it with chaos magic. Casting this way requires a creative mindset, as chaos wielders need to be able to think creatively in how to achieve the desired effect from a potentially very different result.

This leads into the other major drawback of chaos magic, which is that it is extremely corrupting. Chaos magic itself desires change, and so as well as being an active mutagen, it also affects the minds of its users. Casting with chaos magic causes a backlash that drives the user further into an optimally chaotic mindset, moulding them into an unrestrained and unpredictable being. In this way, chaos can be said to be maddening, as mastery of chaos magic eats away at a sane mind to turn the prospective chaos mage into a being of pure whim, or in other words, a gibbering lunatic.

Pure chaos magic appears primarily as purple, but is constantly shifting, with distortions, patterns, splotches of changing hue, and streaks of other colours appearing within it. However, it is rare to see chaos in pure form. Spells cast with chaos magic, just by dint of being a spell, are too ordered to be pure chaos any longer, and will not take this appearance. Instead, they will appear as a single colour, much like impure harmony would. This colour may be consistent for that wielder, or it may change. Either is possible.

Order magic:
While chaos emphasises change, order magic is about maintaining the status quo, whether that be in a complex system or a simple one (although simple is preferred). Keeping the system under control and predictable is the goal, as control, unity, and predictability are order's most sacred values. If harmony prizes friendship the most, and chaos most values creativity, then order is about logic.

Order magic is thus most strongly fed by non-emotional psionic energy, resulting from rational, totally calm or emotionless thought. However, there are some orderly emotions, including fear, shame, guilt, doubt, and sadness. These emotions all feed order magic because they work to prevent individuals from taking action when they otherwise would, as opposed to the more active emotions, which drive beings towards change instead.

In the service of control and maintaining stasis, order magic resonates best with spells that are used to control other things, or which cause minimal change. Mind control, telekinesis, and weather manipulation resonate with order magic because of their focus on controlling things. Observation, recording, and duplication spells are orderly because they cause minimal change by creating similarity as opposed to difference. And counterspells or spells which are used to heal or protect also resonate with order because they are used to prevent a change, whether that be a creative change like an illusion, or a destructive change like being burned by a fireball.

Much like with chaos magic, resonance makes these particular spells more efficient to cast with order magic than with any other type. However, whereas chaos magic only appears to be more powerful than harmonic magic due to its resonance with a wide variety of powerful spells, order magic actually is more powerful than the other two types, even with spells it doesn't resonate with. This makes an order magic user capable of much more impressive feats of magic than others.

However, order magic has a drawback of its own. Unlike harmonic magic, a spell cast with order magic will completely fall apart unless every single component is perfect, as order magic does not respond to a system which is not functioning correctly. Thus, like chaos, order requires a certain mindset of its wielders to be used effectively. An intelligent, logical mind is crucial to order magic, as order magic users must be capable of looking at spells in terms of mathematics and equations to get them right, whereas harmonic magic users typically use more spatial thinking in spells.

Using order magic without being in this mindset can be physically painful, and like chaos magic, continued use of order magic will have a backlash effect that tries to drive the user into a more orderly mindset. Order corruption lessens empathy over time, instils a desire for dominance, and sharpens thinking, seeking to turn the prospective order mage into a purely rational being without any emotion, or in other words, a sociopath.

While other magic types may produce visible light when expending energy, order magic instead consumes light, and so appears completely black, at least in pure form. In its more common impure form, order magic can also be a single consistent colour like the other magic types, typically green if mixed with harmonic magic, and purple if mixed with chaos. However, it can also appear as multiple clearly separate colours, as order magic doesn't mix well with the other two types.

Notably, it's very rare that order magic is ever actually called by its proper name in Equestria, due to ponykind's general lack of familiarity with Order himself. Instead, it is more commonly referred to as either alicorn magic or dark magic. The former name draws from the alicorn race's affinity for order magic, due to their origins as creations of Order, while the latter comes from order magic's association with dark colours and "dark" emotions. This is a point of much confusion for many in Equestria, as "dark magic" has also become a common term over time for all kinds of illegal spells and artefacts, including those using harmonic or chaos magic instead, despite orderly magic itself not being illegal at all.

Acknowledgements:
-The existence of Order as a third addition to the Chaos and Harmony rivalry, order/dark magic being more powerful, and almost everything I wrote about chaos magic, was inspired by (or directly stolen from) the Last Draconequus universe of Alara J. Rogers.