I'm trying to think of another word for magic that isn't something boring or overused like Mana or Chakra. I'm also trying to find a reason for two nations to go to war. I have things in the world called Relics but I don't want to go the 'they're bad for the environment' route like so many JRPG do. Maybe as an aside, but I don't want that to be the only reason the Relics could be considered bad. (mainly by the government) For starters the 'foreign' nation approached the main one peacefully (more or less, they got off on the wrong foot at first but came to an agreement quickly) Also something incredibly minor, I'm trying to decide if I want to make a particular character a fox lady or a cat lady. The actual role she has in the world, it'd make a lot of sense for her to be a kitsune, but her personality is awful cat like too. My steam buddy said just do both, but like, how'd that work? A cat species and a fox species exist in this world, but I'm uncertain I want mixed breeds to be a thing. set aside humans and X species since humans are compatible with just about any race in this case.
Hey, try making up your own system of magic. That's what star wars did with the force. You could break new ground on it, Nations go to war for all sorts of reasons - conquest, love, pride, retaliation, consolidation, blood lust, expansion, retaking lost territories, etc. Fox vs. cat character - it doesn't matter which you choose, but make it uniquely you. For example, in the anime Naruto, the kid gets an entity called a nine-tailed fox literally locked inside of him at birth. You can choose either of the ones you mentioned, but add a dimension by tailoring it to a specific thing. I always marveled at how clever the writers of that show were.
A name for your magic... Go to your Thesaurus, pick a bunch of applicable words, then plug them into Translate. Pick and choose; mix, match and mash-up. ENGLISH magic -witchcraft - conjury - sorcery - voodoo UKRANIAN mahiya - chaklunstvo - zaklynannya - chaklunstvo - vudu AFRKAANS towerkuns heksery beswering toorkuns voodoo BENGALI Jādu - jādubidyā - jādu - yādubidyā - bhuḍu I've bolded pieces that appealed to me. Here's a few ideas: Mahkuns Chaksury Yādnannya I also use this to create names. Have fun and good luck!
If you don't want the relics to be considered bad, then they should perhaps be powerful, coveted relics tied to the magic system that you decide on for your world, which gives a familiar but perfectly understandable reason for two nations to go to war.
The relics themselves are not good or bad initially, but derive their aura of good or evil by their usage. A good person would have to "fight" an evilly impregnated relic to force good actions, and vice versa. Perhaps at some point the relics develop their own awareness and assist or resist the wielder depending upon the good/evil orientation of both.
I always thought it would be neat if neither side wasn't entirely sure why there was a war. The reader would encounter various anecdotes that probably contributed in their own way. The whole explicit reason thing is usually applied afterwards by historians. Even then it can be muddy. i.e. "Gnognoggian boots soiled the Valley. We'll push them out, and then take them to task beyond their own border." "They say Prince Jerry refused Princess Mulva's hand, and with an insult at that. King Dan is moved by wrath, not right." "The Valley has always been King Dan's birthright! And we will have justice for the execution—no, murder of St. Jeff." "That heretic sought to undermine the ancient teachings of Zugugugu. To think that a woman should be denied basic rights, even the choice of her own mate. They call him a saint! Nonsense. He was no saint." "The Korbian levies have had us bleeding. Another two or three decades of that and there wouldn't even be a Gnognoggian empire. The northern tribes are eager slice flesh from our land, and Korbian mercenaries would have no trouble claiming the morsels then. We had no choice." "No choice? Has King Dan, due to some some syphilitic amnesia, forgotten the entirety of the Jaundice empire? They are ripe for trade, albeit with some concessions."
I was actually thinking the Relics could be sentient, at least the more powerful ones. It'd be fun to do an okami like thing (twelve or so spirits themed after particular concepts, like spring, justice etc) and the Relics voices are what guide the MC on his quest. That comes with a cavate though, how sentient do I want them to be? I'm fairly certain a few of them will be able to summon 'gods' (Like Sinbad's Ring which can summon Poseidon who can cause thunderstorms and really fuck shit up in the ocean) so maybe only those particular ones will be fully aware of what they are. I know a few of them will be housing legendary beings, like say a shape shifting staff housing the spirit of the 'monkey king'. I wouldn't literally have to call him sun wu kong, or by name because generally most people know a SWK character when they see one. That's actually a clever idea, having both sides eventually forget why they went to war to begin with. It could have been something excusable, or it could be something as silly as a foreign ambassador breaking wind at a banquet. Tempted to go for the latter, because the tone of what I'm going for is similarly silly at times. The series that inspired this story, Rune Factory, knows when to take itself seriously when shit hits the fan, but it also maintains a childlike nature to it. I was considering the magic being 'alive' in some way, though more of a 'it actually has a soul/will of it's own' way rather than a 'It binds us, surrounds us, connected to all things' kind of way. I want my magic system in this one to be more of an actual presence.
The way you say you're considering the magic being 'alive' makes me think of how viruses, bacteria, or parasites are alive. Viruses fall in the gray area between living and non-living where they act like they are living, but instead of having their own tools to create energy and reproduce, they use their hosts. Bacteria are considered living because they're autonomous and able to reproduce. And parasites act like a virus, but are considered alive because they have the tools to reproduce. Each has their own rules for "living," and so prompts the question "what defines life?" Perhaps one of your next steps to develop this magic may be deciding these rules for living. Imagine if there was magic that worked like a virus. It would find its hosts and use their bodies for energy to preserve its existence. In that way, I guess it might act like a demon possessing a body.
imagine if magic was literally a virus, like it was just a disease that someone happened to give the name "magic." It wouldn't even be magic, it would just be like an autoimmune virus called that. I'd totally get that virus, that would be fucking sick.
