The Unique Properties of Dark Magic

by Shadestyle

(Noir Report) Establishing a Metric of Measurement [Spell Rankings]

Entry #14, Day 101

For the sake of regulating magic in the Shadow Realm, such that our guiding principles of Safety, Secrecy, and Dramatic Monologuing are adhered to, I have decided to publish my standardized method of ranking spells, on a scale from F to SSS. These rankings will be used to help label enchanted items, Materia, and recorded spells, based on their creator's personal strength.

We will start with the lowest and weakest spells, labeled Rank-F Magic. Magic of this rank can be cast with a mere third of the caster's strength, or less. Spells of this class are the most basal, small fireballs, pulses of magic, and brief surges of strength all fall under the umbrella of F-Ranked magic.

Next, D-Rank Magic, which requires two thirds of a pony's magical capacity. Spells of this rank should be logically considered to be roughly twice as powerful and demanding as spells of the F-Rank, and treated with the same caution that one would treat a weapon, as spells of this rank represent magic which could exhaust a pony to cast more than once in a short enough timespan.

Finally, the highest rank of magic that is possible to cast with a single pony's power, a C-Rank spells. Spells of this rank are ones which would completely exhaust a given caster's magical energy, bringing them to their dregs in only a single use. Spells of this class are restricted in the Shadow Realm, due to the risk of driving a pony to unconsciousness, if they abused a spell of this rank while being below their maximum magical capacity.

After this, spells are no longer ranked by the creator's capacity, but by timespan. A spell of the B-Rank, for instance, represents a spell which would require that it's creator spend a continuous hour of casting in order to match it's output. Spells of this rank are expressly forbidden to be used without the standardized two-witness system, of one witness on-site, and one witness via telepresence. This is due to the danger of activating spells which, when created at this level of power, could vary from destroying buildings to triggering cave-ins, in the case of destructive or elemental magic.

As those who live in the Shadow Realm may attest to, B-Rank spells are not to be trifled with, as my own Dragon of the Darkness Flame technique is merely a B-Rank spell.

A-Rank, S-Rank, and SS-Rank spells continue this trend, at 2, 3, and 4 hours of continuous casting respectively. These spells are restricted exclusively to those who obtain a licence for high order magic, and must have witnesses who hold official rank in the Shadow Realm's Hierarchy.

The final, and highest rank of spell is forbidden to be cast without my personal presence and express approval. An SSS Rank spell is any spell which requires upwards of 4 hours to cast for it's creator. Spells of this rank could risk mass-infrastructural damage to an entire cell of the Shadow Realm. Any attempts to prepare or cast a spell of this magnitude in defiance of these rules, I would like to re-iterate, will be heavily punished.

In the future, these Spell Rankings may be used from time to time in the Grimoire Noir, in reference to specific feats of magic, such that readers may obtain a crude metric by which to measure the power and difficulty of a given spell. I understand that this means by which to measure a spell's power is subjective, rather than the objective means by which other authors choose to measure spell power, and that is intentional on my part.

The methods by which one learns magic are subjective. Indeed, the methods by which one casts magic are subjective. In it's purest form, the Grimoire Noir is designed to give ponies tools, tools of the mind through which they can establish their own perfected methods of spellcasting, rather than the emulation that other books attempt. By using a subjective metric to mark my spells, those who study this tome are given no false pretense of what they should expect from their own attempts. Only the information that I myself have obtained, in as objective a format as I can dare to manage when describing powers born from the heart.

In that same manner, I urge any prospective spellcasters to one day take account in their own words, and develop their own methods of sorting the talents they have in ways they understand. I cannot, nor can any other sages create a perfect series of boxes, that all things magical can be placed within and sorted neatly into. It is up to the individual pony to grow and establish the boundaries of their abilities. Both of what they are capable of, and what they can become capable of. To do otherwise would be a travesty against the latent potential that a pony has to establish for themselves a talent that makes them wholly unique.

There are those among us that can create finer cut gems than I could, with the greatest of ease. There are those who can create medicines able to cure ailments that I could not even diagnose. There are warriors whose hooves are stronger than iron, and whose kicks cut like diamond. Among those, brave and meek alike, there are an assortment of talents which I simply do not have. Talents which I could never hope to aspire beyond with my own work.

What I can offer is a simplistic tome that offers whomever reads it a comprehensive guide in the art of harnessing their negative emotions, in twisting them into powerful magics. I can offer fires from the pits of hell, I can offer cutting winds and heavy stones, created through petty spite and greedy covetousness. I can offer golems and darkness, and sorcery most foul, but it is up to you, the reader, to turn my words into deeds. A day may even come when my work in the Dark Arts is held in the same esteem as a child's paintings. Naive and crude, from a time so early that it is viewed with amused pity.

And if it should come in my lifetime, I will simply have to grow ever stronger and more knowledgeable in response.

Comments

[un106ble]

those last line are creating opposing feeling in me. because if you forget why he do all this (the shadow realm and opposing sombra from what i take.) he basically create means of destruction by the dozen day after day and don't seem to even thinks of when or even if he will stop making stronger more powerful spells. And i find myself both nervous and tense of thing going wrong yet curious and hostage of my own morbid curiosity. almost like watching someone walking a tightrope without safety net between two truck moving at 100 mile per hour, you just know it's going to go horribly wrong but just can't look away.

so really good story so far ^^

[Maramanasa]

9717157
Weiss seems to be a scientist under the category of is it possible rather then should they do it. They either create feats of great wonder or get themselves/others killed.

I hope he learns the limits soon rather then reach them at the worst possible moment.

[nighters]

that inspirational words and work on his part!
I wonder if he finds the starswirl work and method of spells lacking? I can see him tearing and dissect the work of many spells casters for better results of spells even tailor a few for the uses of others maybe make them more effective and more available to the less powerful

[Fancy Fox]

sometimes its easy to forget that Weiss is more mature than he lets on, this chapter gave us a glimpse of that!
Honestly though as much as i love another chapter of this story i'm still waiting on the... y'know... [spoilers ahead for people not caught up] the duel with Celestia, it became so intense i can't hold my excitement!

[Shadestyle]

9717584
He is mocking her, yes.

[112mag211]

9717180
You're right in saying that he is a scientist. But i wouldn't say that he is a near-suicidal one as you (assumingly) described, i'd say that he's a cautious scientist, that bites of a bit more than he can chew every now and then, due to his eagerness to test out his ideas, or someone messing with his plans.

[Fireeaters]

Mmnoice

[TitaniumTao]

Now that I think of this, Wess isn't just a magus of dark magic, he's also the first magus to quantify emotion magic period. Starswirl might have forged the seed of Harmony but Wess is teaching ponies how to break down their passion into magic and remix it in new ways. Heck the techniques he's making could be used for positive emotion as well.

[Shadestyle]

9718356

The Time manipulation that Weiss's Timeshift Crystals are capable of has two main limitations.

1. They cannot create new timelines (Ala the Pantsleg style of time travel)

2. Their Paradoxes are not latest-sustainable (You functionally cannot create a paradox, and time will strive to correct it.)

So if you used a Timeshift crystal to send a toaster to the past, and then your past self destroyed the past toaster before it could be sent, the second toaster will cease to exist, as it is now a Paradox Object (An object which, chronologially, does not exist)

But what is important to keep in mind is that canonically, there are multiple types of time travel, each with their own rules.

Twilight uses a version of time travel closest to the Time Machine, (It cannot create Paradoxes or new Timelines, and events will conspire to prevent them, even to the point of extremely improbable events occurring)

while Starlight Glimmer's time travel spell creates new timelines whenever a divergence would occur.

[EnderHooves]

9718542
Excellent summary. Though I've got a bit of a problem you can help with.
When I read the cmc's time shenanigans, something occured to me. I don't know if this was rectified and I forgot it, but I think they created an impossible time machine. Hopefully you still have a drawn timeline of that chapter somewhere.
It happens when the cmc come out of the clubhouse as a younger version arrives in time machine A. The older cmc (cmc0) take time machine A to go back to the past to help AJ, where the younger cmc (cmc1) take time machine B that cmc0 arrived in behind the barn.
They switched machines. Now that's fine for the cmc's perspective, because cmc1 turns into cmc0 and moves on in their own timeline.
But from the machine's perspective, it screws up everything. Because machine A moves on in the timeline because the cmc0 moved on with their timeline, and cmc1 (the younger) takes time machine B, a page break occurs, and then arrive back behind the barn, making them cmc0 to continue the cycle, creating machine B behind the barn, where they picked it up from, as machine B.
I don't remember any other time the cmc switched machines was stated or implied, so either that was missed/forgotten about or we have an extra impossible time machine sitting behind the barn for about half an hour for eternity.

I was distracted all day at work because of this, trying to remember any other time they switched machines.
(A hobby of mine is pondering time travel fuckery like this, and this one was a really fun puzzle)

[Shadestyle]

9723120

Actually, you're exactly right, but there's a citation in the Weiss Report "Bribes" that explains how that can be possible.

The Master Sword uses Timeshift Crystals in order to make it an eternally enduring weapon, because it's time manipulation extends to reversing the effects of wear and tear.

In that same respect, the Time Machine is actually capable of preventing paradoxes like this, by reverting even the tiniest amounts of damage that would occur from it looping the same hour infinitely.

There's no functional paradox to be corrected, as the "Impossible Time Machine" is unaffected by even an infinite amount of time travel, the timeline was neatly snipped and stitched together without any flaws to make the juju time machine break apart.

[Lukethanuke]

9723170
Doesn't this imply that the desolate landscape that sunset shimmer came out into is destined to happen? Since she used the same time machine, that only makes stable time loops?

[Shadestyle]

9755328

She's from a different timeline, which was created by a DIFFERENT source of time travel, which, instead of creating Time Loops, creates parallel universes.

The Time Machine can travel between these timelines, but it can't create them itself.