Magic Instability in a High Magic Environment

Magic is far more prominent in this setting than in the base game. The very god from which magic comes from is present in the world in some form or another. Zodo's presence and tweaking of the world has insured that magic is a large part of it. Some it might seem odd to have magic instability.

Well Zodo himself hasn't been encountered in the world for over a century now yet the powerful essence of him, magic, still remains. Also when you tap into a lot of power there is always the chance of something going wrong.

Below we will discuss the dangers of magic instability in this magically rich world.

Rogue Magic

"Magicbreaking… An art discovered due to need for it by the increased magic instability. While we have runicteck to safeguard us from rogue magic and to control the powerful runic powers of this world, I can imagine that some communities who had no rune cannons to base their research off had to re-invent the technique."

- Dringol Ûre, Magic Theorist and Magicteck Inventor

A large question has of yet been unanswered. What is the cause of Rogue Magic?

First, let's summarize what we know about Rogue Magic. Rogue Magic is magic that comes into existence without an actual caster casting it. It is often a side-effect of the casting of a another spell, mostly if the used spell is very strong. If we look back at Runic Energy existing in the world in balance, that is in an ideal situation. Zodo, the god of magic, ensured by his existence that the magic in the world was stable. How, we do not know, for it is at the moment impossible to reconstruct this.

Zodo was necessary to keep magic in check due his nature as god of magic and power; he WAS the stability of magic. However, with his disappearance this stability is starting to falter.

As I said before, Runic Energy was stable before, but its stability has began to crack and falter. Where regularly the cycles of magic would exist in a normal, controlled form, now tiny mutations happen in it every so often. In a cycle, one of the elements gains the upper hand somehow. By this, an obscenely large amount of Runic Energy of that single element would amass in a single place, equal to the amount a caster would normally gather for a spell, growing stronger and stronger slowly. And it can't go anywhere. The moment the Runic Energy collapses on itself is not set in stone.

Basically Rogue Magic appears most often as magic being cast without a source, as if the very environment is casting the spell. It is not uncommon to witness dead things temporarily reanimating or lightening pins to suddenly cast over an area. Perhaps the most dangerous form of rogue magic ever witnessed is the sudden death of a healthy person.

Rogue Magic also seems to happen when someone uses magic in a magically unstable environment or very high levels of magic in a very high runic environment. It is not always clear why this happens. Certain devices such as runic gauntlets seems to lessen the chance of this happening.
 

Runic Storms

Terrible things they are, these Runic storms. They are the very hammers of Xodod causing mass destruction to all in their path.”

- Kyp Navaro, Pilot

Runic Storms, sometimes called Magic Storms, are storms that mix with the high runic environment mixing together runic elements. What causes them is unknown, but it seems like there must me some form of magic instability in the area for a magic storm to form. There has yet to be seen any magic storms forming in stable magical oasis.

Once formed, runic storms behave very similar to any other storm. They form as massive clouds, usually of the contrasting colors of the elements in the storm, and the clouds are blown on the wind currents. Some runic storms are small and localized, some are large and expansive. Some are more like thunderstorms, others like hurricanes. Some last mere hours while others last for days or weeks. They are often always named however, and have rather predictable paths once their formation is detected.

The difference between runic storms and normal storms is that runic storms are basically volatile explosions of magic. Every runic storm has a terrible magical component, and every runic storm has the effects of at least two elements combined. You may have runic storms that have fire twisters and raining ice boulders at the same time, for example. While the deadliest form of runic storm seems to combine life and death, all runic storms are extremely dangerous. If a magic storm is coming your way, seek shelter immediately. It is perhaps easiest to consider runic storms as storms that contain a lot of rogue magic.

Not all forms of shelter help against runic storms of course, especially if the storm is capable of destroying the shelter. The most ideal shelter is going underground, but shelters of thick metal, stone, or crystal are good as well. A wooden structure will not protect you. If the structure has a runicteck shield, you are almost guaranteed survival.

High Magical Environments

Around the world you'll have areas where the runic energy concentration is greater than others. Now have areas of magical instability, some more unstable than others. The more unstable the magic is in an area, the more likely it is that rogue magic will take place.

Any flora and fauna in an area of high magical radiation will equally be radiated. Often times they will exhibit various mutations, but sometimes the mutations might not be readily noticeable. If any flora or fauna that is highly radiated is ingested, that magical radiation will pass to the consumer. Therefore travelers are warned not to eat anything that is in or has passed through areas of high magical radiation.

Rivers and streams that pass through areas of high magical radiation will pick up some of the radiation and carry it downstream. The farther it travels from the source of the magic radiation, the more diluted it will be. However, should the river or stream pass through another area of high magical radiation, it will be compounded to the radiation already present in the water. Travelers are urged to be very careful drinking water from streams or rivers since it is impossible to tell how magically radiated it might be. If the traveler must drink water from potentially contaminated sources, the use of a filtration device is highly advised.

Magical Oasis

A magical oasis is an area where there is little to no magical radiation. In other words, an area where magic is stable. These areas are rare, but they do exist. It is extremely uncommon for rogue magic to occur in these areas and with the lack of magical radiation, they make great areas for communities to grow.

It should be understood though that magic storms can and do pass through these areas. So runicteck shields are still needed as are good, strong structures. Furthermore, rivers that are potentially radiated as well as radiated animals do pass through these areas.

Dangers of Using Magic

As discussed earlier, it is possible to have unstable magic events. Below is listed these events and dangers:

• Unintended Results: There is a chance that the spell you cast will not do what you intend for it to do. The chances of this happening increase greatly with the power level of the spell and the high concentration of the magic in the area. For example, if you attempt to heal your friend with Essence Bolt, it is possible that it might instead shock your friend or that it might shock you!

• Rogue Magic: Using magic, especially powerful magic, in a magically unstable environment can cause rogue magic to occur.

• Increased Magical Instability: Using powerful magic can potentially increase the instability of an area, increasing the magical radiation that is present.

Using Magic

Despite all of the dangers that can come from using magic, you can still use magic. Everyone is born being able to do so. Magic is used as it always has been, only now you have to account for the dangers in using it.

Below is a table to show the chances of using stable magic, that is, using magic without anything going wrong. You would use the table and roll a set of percentile dice with each magic use. The percent you have to roll or roll under depends on the tier of the spell and how unstable the environment is.

Stable Magic Casting Table

That being said the spell power increases per level of concentration should you successfully cast.

• No to Low Magic Concentration: 0% increase
• Moderate Magic Concentration: 20% increase
• High Magic Concentration: 50% increase
• Extreme Magic Concentration: 80% increase

Stable Magic Use

Magic Instability has made many decide against being a runic mage. However, with the advent or runic technology and rune stone understanding, it has become clear that there is a way to use magic without suffering from magic instability. There are in fact two ways: runic technology assisted magic use and rune stone magic.

Runic Technology Assisted Magic Use

This is using runic technology to increase your magic stability. This involves using such things as runic gauntlets and the like. The better quality of your runic tech, the more stable your natural magic casting will be. This is the only way to really cast magic naturally and have it be stable.

Rune Stone Magic

Using Rune Stones to cost magic has a 99% stability score. There is always that 1% chance something could go wrong. It is believed that this is because rune stones are from the very world that Zodo created himself, therefore they provide more stability, though many modern runic theorists reject this idea. For them the reasoning has to be more scientific. Some think it has to do with the purity of the mineral and the natural state of magic within.

Whatever the reasoning, magic cast from a rune stone isn't using the caster's element at all. It is using the rune stone's element and therefore lacks any instabilities that may be dormant in the caster. After all the casters if this time aren't like the casters of other eras, they didn't have their runic souls awaken over time through mutation, no they were forced awakened by Zodo. So any instabilities in the caster could be part of the reason for natural magic instability, and this doesn't exist with rune stones.

Therefore if you cast magic from the rune stone instead of your self, you only have a 1% chance of magic instability.

This also gives the added bonus of being able to cast magic that you are weak against. You just won't be able to learn the spell.

Rune Stone use is the same as it is in the base game.