Magick is hard in this world. Something has stopped it from working the way it once did. No one living is sure what happened. We, the readers, know the reason in the backstory. I won't mention it her (spoilers!).
How does magic work? How did it work?
It user to be that someone with the talent would exercise their will, possibly uttering a few incantations and maybe using a few memory enhancers like spiderwebs, or pitch, and magic happened.
Now you not only have to be talented, you need to work very hard to get it to work.. Dig deep, reach a certain mental state, lay out all of the mental triggers you can find, and use all of the tricks learned over the centuries of failing magic to even get a small result.
Most people, even those with the talent, thing it's not worth it. That steam and gears make up for the loss. However, there are still things steam cannot do: Contact the spirit world, view the future, cure an obscure disease, or even trap a spirit in an item to make it enchanted.
Things already created by magic, however, stay magic. They haven't faded. This is point that confuses most of the people in the world. Sainted items, still can cure the faithful. Magic swords can still shatter real ones. Mystery!
This is the last of the background posts. The next one will detail my progress through the snowflake (hint: further along than I have ever been!).
How does magic work? How did it work?
It user to be that someone with the talent would exercise their will, possibly uttering a few incantations and maybe using a few memory enhancers like spiderwebs, or pitch, and magic happened.
Now you not only have to be talented, you need to work very hard to get it to work.. Dig deep, reach a certain mental state, lay out all of the mental triggers you can find, and use all of the tricks learned over the centuries of failing magic to even get a small result.
Most people, even those with the talent, thing it's not worth it. That steam and gears make up for the loss. However, there are still things steam cannot do: Contact the spirit world, view the future, cure an obscure disease, or even trap a spirit in an item to make it enchanted.
Things already created by magic, however, stay magic. They haven't faded. This is point that confuses most of the people in the world. Sainted items, still can cure the faithful. Magic swords can still shatter real ones. Mystery!
This is the last of the background posts. The next one will detail my progress through the snowflake (hint: further along than I have ever been!).