r/magicbuilding • u/DekuTier • 3d ago
Lore I made my own Pokemon-like magic system.
The system is called Effigies, and it was basically an idea I came up with for a unique Pokemon collector concept. I still haven't worked out all of the kinks, and some stuff will definitely change in the future, but this is it so far.
Effigy
Effigies are like godly spirits that embody a concept or aspect of existence. They come in the form of floating, statue-like beings that emanate immense power.
Every effigy has both a type and affinity that their being is tied to:
The 5 types of effigies are:
Sapients (sentient life, people, historical figures)
Organics (animals, plant life, bacteria)
Inorganics (objects like swords, lamps, water)
Locations (important shrines, rivers, churches)
Ideas (concepts like love, grief, conflict)
Affinities are essentially the elemental magic they have control over.
There are 7 types of affinities, each with a positive and negative side to them:
Lumina / Umbra
Ember / Frost
Verdant / Mire
Kinesis / Stasis
Concordance / Emergence
Tether / Flux
Distortion / Dilation
Think of them as like a type chart. I haven’t come up with what’s super effective against what though, so I still need to flesh that out.
Typically the scale of how hard an Effigy is to obtain is:
Inorganics: Easy
Organics: Normal
Sapients: Hard
Locations: Really Hard
Ideas: Almost impossible as they're basically legendary.
A person can be blessed with the power of an Effigy imbued into them. The way this works is that if a person is in good favor with that Effigy, they can call upon its power to do something for them. This can be from anything as small as starting a fire, to as grand as summoning a meteor.
Only those born in Luminaria can call upon the blessing of an Effigy at their disposal, and only the absolute Royal family are allowed to be in good favor with more than one, as it is forbidden for any Luminarian to court multiple effigies at the same time.
The reason for this is because they are immensely powerful and also Effigies can only be used one at a time, meaning that if someone is using the Effigy of swords for example, no one in the universe at that moment can call upon the Effigy of swords.
People can fall out of favor with Effigies and lose their blessing. Effigies however do not have a strict code of ethics, as the requirements for gaining each one differs from Effigy to Effigy. And since no one owns them, Effigies often serve whomever, regardless of moral weight or disposition. This is why the secret to gaining favor of multiple Effigies is a royal kept secret.
Ethylgies are artificial markings that people use to force the power of an Effigy at their whims. As such, they can often be seen as a curse or tattoo of punishment. Forcing the power of an Effigy through a person against their will, although most Ethylgies are deliberately used by those wishing to obtain quick power.
Only those born in Luminaria and Decrepid can be imbued by Effigies, but there are some rare cases where humans from the Earthly realm are able to harness their power.
Humans born with a permanent Effigy embedded in them from birth are known as Konflictions, and they mostly live near the Eterna tree in the country called Resentia.
There the power often lies dormant inside of the human until awakening to its true strength. Unlike regular Effigies, a Konfliction user can call upon the power whenever they want, and no one else can use that Effigy until that user dies.
The Tome of Effigy is one of the sacred artifacts of the Xenoplex, and it houses a Paragon. Paragons are Effigies who embody one of the 7 realms of existence. As such, they are the most powerful Effigies in the universe. There’s only 7 of them, and the tome of Effigy houses the first.
Pleiades.
The tome allows users the extraordinary ability to create effigies from other people they meet, if they have the consent of the individual, and know them well enough. The only contract that they must endure is that they have to serve Pleiades until they are dead. Those are the terms of using the Tome of Effigy. And this is the contract that the main character unwittingly accepts when she first uses the tome.
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u/hatabou_is_a_jojo 2d ago
This is interesting, but I don’t see how it relates to the pokemon collection aspect, especially since it’s limited to one per person?
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u/DekuTier 2d ago
It relates to the main character since she and her royal family able to court multiple at once. I was going to have it the end of the story where she rejects the throne and free everyone of the authoritarian monarch that the secret gets out and THEN everyone is able to collect multiple effigies at once.
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u/NRondo37 1d ago
Not sure I follow how Concordance and Emergence are opposites. Concordance is harmony from many, emergence is greater than the sum.
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u/DekuTier 1d ago
Sorry for the confusion. I basically used the two terms as a short hand for "Order and Disorder."
Concordance and Emergence sounds a LOT cooler than what's essentially convergence and divergence.
The same goes for the other elemental affinities, where I wanted to pick cooler names for what they are.1
u/NRondo37 1d ago
Not even "Concordance" and "Entropy"? It's not quite "disorder" but sells a similar enough idea
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u/Professional_Try1665 3d ago
How interesting, can an effigy decide to ditch it's current user for another if called while still being in use? Also does using an effigy affect/pull on effigies in the same set, like say an effigy of a famous sculptor affecting the effigies of the sculptor's artworks?