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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 2171355" data-attributes="member: 812">Hey, it's Ourph the Mingol! Hi Ourph, nice to have you on the show.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Barsoom has at least three distinct magic systems, all of which have their own "taints" and differing reasons therefore.Sorcery is the manipulation of the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Realm is the complete negation of all possibility -- utter immobility, perfect stasis -- and there's a little flicker of it in all human beings (which is what gives them an immortal soul). With proper training (or good (ish) luck), people can learn to open their connection to Shadow a little bit, letting its energy seep through them. As it negates all possibilities, it of course negates those physical laws that restrict matter and energy, and a sorcerer who is sufficiently skilled can (by manipulating complex mathematical formulae in their head -- it's the neurological energies that channel the Shadow energy) select the exact possibility they want, and keep that one from destruction while all other possibilities are annihilated.Problem is that opening that connection to Shadow means going against every instinct your brain possesses, and the better you get at doing that, the less control you have over yourself. Inevitably, characters who get good at doing that go mad.Whee!Spirit Magic involves working with the roiling chaos of the Dream Worlds and the personalities that inhabit them. From a certain point of view, it looks as though Pulaji (the people who can do this) are negotiating with spirits. In fact, as the Dream Worlds are truly infinite and thus contain every possibility that could ever be conceived, it's almost more accurate to say that these people are CREATING the personalities they're dealing with, conjuring them whole cloth out of the untrammeled potentiality of the Dream Worlds. This requires utter conviction and the willingness to bend another sentience wholly to one's own desires, and those who get good at it suffer a loss in their ability to empathize with normal mortals. Their skills at diplomacy and so on drop sharply as they get better at "negotiating" with spirits, and eventually they are unable to relate to people around them.Finally, Psionics involve users channeling the power of the Dream Worlds directly through their bodies and minds (as opposed to reaching into the chaos to find servants). Psions find their bodies slowly transformed by these strange energies, with baroque tattoos crawling across their skin, in patterns according to the type of psion they are.So there's some flava for ya.</blockquote>

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