random magic

[marycatelli]

Some magic is random.

Honestly, intrinsically random. For theme and plot significant reasons no less.

This does not make it easy to write about it convincingly, without the reader thinking it's giving the characters an easy out, or on the other hand, hosing them down unreasonably. It's not like you can roll dice to convince people that you are really generating it randomly (the "wand of wonder" -- as in, not "this is wonderful" but "I wonder what it's going to do this time"), especially when you probably don't want to generate it randomly, since it needs to serve the story.

sigh.

Going to have character conscious of this and talking about it. Might help. They are aware of the nature of it.

Comments

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

It might help to remember that lightning was proven to be electricity - that the electric power of the world occurs randomly as well.

If your magic is systematic, i e  liturgical rather than evangelical (so to speak) those “random acts of magic” could be seen as the primal Chaos from which order was derived.  You could even use systemic magic as a counteragent, much as a lightning rod will protect your barn from lightning storms.  Know the rules, and you can win the game.

If you take the Tim Powers On Stranger Tides approach, where cold iron totally suppresses magic per se, just flips the board altogether, your defense against “wild magic” might be steel swords and armor.  Your own shaman / wizard would be totally useless while you're in that environment, but you'd be utterly proof against “storm damage.”

[marycatelli]

Oh, the magic's tied up with known things. One an object, and one a non-human being.

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

It could still be countered as such - think of it as an attack of malaria. Hello, quinine!

Unless it's a fatalistic, “I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages” sort of thing - suddenly sprouting antlers is met with resigned sighs.

If the characters remark upon it then it must be an out of the ordinary thing, characteristic of the wilderness, not the settled lands.

[Cowardly Lion:  noticing the snow that fallen on the poppy field  Unusual weather we're having, ain't it? (Wizard of Oz, 1939) - That line was ad-libbed, by the bye.]


Whether the settled lands were “cleared” or are a naturally sheltered oasis (why they're settled) would be a matter of worldbuilding.  If it's an oasis, is it shrinking?  Crisis!

[marycatelli]

ah, but you leave out the downside: you can't use the magic if you protect yourself utterly

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what I meant by, “Your own shaman / wizard would be totally useless while you're in that environment…” Like a coracle lifted out of the water, at the far edge of the Perilous you may safely remove and store that iron for re-use upon your (presumed) return.

Apologies for being obscure.

[marycatelli]

Soemtimes, alas, the edges of when you need protection and when you can risk it are not that clear.

[izuko.livejournal.com]

The problem with it being random is it's more difficult to create a situation where the plot is moved by the characters rather than moving around them.

[marycatelli]

Oh, yes. though coping with circumstances is part of moving the plot.