Lightning would be wild magic
this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2025
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Makes sense. Could be harnessed to do something probably but incredibly dangerous to do so.
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I'd expand it to electromagnetic fields or something instead of just electricity.
It's chemicals that make signals jump between neurons in your head. Electricity acts entirely withing single neurons.
Also, that's a control spell, not a summoning one.
Listen here witch!!
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When we figure out how to manipulate elctro-weak at scale, it will be magic.
Electro-mag is pretty crazy already, I agree. The ICP can't even figure out how they work.
Explain, please
When the environment is energetic enough, the electromagnetic force and the weak force unify into the electroweak force. The weak interaction controls radioactive decay.
We can control electromagnetic force "at scale", IMO. It's not freely, but we have networks of electromagnetic systems that span continents.
If we could control the weak force at the same scale... I'm not sure what wonders we might unlock. At the very least, I imagine we could "clean" instead of just "contain" radioactive waste, at least low-level stuff.
If we had control over the weak force:
- We can likely turn elements into other elements at will
- We can manufacture safe decay sources for a new class of nuclear energy
- We can probably create safe "decay batteries" tuned to their specific use cases. Batteries that last for tens of thousands the lifespan of current chemical ones.
- Potentially engineer with neutrinos. Imagine communication via neutrinos, you could transmit straight through the earth.
I mean, with control over matter like that, at the scale of electricity, Star Trek matter replicators would be a thing.
For me, the weirdest thing is that when a charged particle moves through a magnetic field, it experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of motion; this results in the particle tracing out a curved path through the field. Like ... what the actual fuck? Why in hell would the universe be this way?
That's... huh...
Hey!!! Physicists!!! Can we get your input???
(Unless you're a physicist, in which case... fuck)
Yea I only have a bachelor's in physics, can't explain the black magic fuckery that is electromagnetism. Go find someone with a PhD, I bailed to be an engineer
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While I fully agree, I thought the distinction was unbreakable rules.
The laws of physics can’t be broken, even, under any circumstances, everywhere, at any time.
Whereas magic is more like there is an exception to every rule kind of deal. It’s far more like software, as in it’s mostly fully logically consistent except for random spots where devs took some shortcuts to make life easier.
I think the “exception to every rule” part is really dependent on which type of magic the writer is using. Many writers do establish hard rules for their magic. In those cases, it’s less “magic is the exception” and more “magic is engrained into the laws of physics.”
Hard magic systems are my favourites, usually. The limitations are more interesting than the possibilities.
Have you read Ra?
I don't think magic is objective; I think it is in the eye of the beholder.
If the audience don't understand it, or can be distracted from seeing the truth of it, it's magic or a miracle or whatever to them. And the magician - if they know what they're doing - can wield power over the rubes.
So before you understand - say, magnetism - better, lodestones can be seen as magical or heaven-sent.
There'll be physical phenomena today like 'spooky action at a distance' or something where even quite learned observers might not 100% know the laws of physics. Some exploit of that can appear as magical until the laws are figured out and well communicated.
If it turns out that the underlying laws are stochastic rather than deterministic, then there's always going to be some grey areas i think.
The mages of Electrical Engineering reseach the tools and formulars to control the magic. The mages of Hardware Engineering develop under great effort the sigils and rituals of how the rocks must be processed. The Warlocks of the CPU use the near infinit possibilities of algorithms and the power of the evolved rocks to create worlds nobody could ever have imagined (in exchange for the ability to go outside).
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Hm, the stuff in wires is electrical current, but the stuff in nerves is static electricity based on an electrochemical gradient. Yeah i guess that all falls under the heading of electricity. No quibbles, carry on.
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But the summoning circle doesn't do anything on its own, you have to build it and then go and find the electricity to plug into it yourself
Pretty sure that’s how it works in a lot of fiction. You draw the circle then activate it by putting in mana.
Many summoning circles require a sacrifice, and this one is no different. This one requires a sacrifice of AC to summon DC.
The law of equivalent exchange...
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