💾 Archived View for fedran.com › news › 2024 › 01 › 14 › on-crystal-spheres captured on 2024-02-05 at 10:49:39. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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One of the more popular frameworks for using magic is the Crystal Sphere Techniques[1]. That is to say, popular based on the Tarsan[2]-influenced societies where certain attitudes and cultures dictate how the magic is studied and used. This ties a lot into the idea that belief shapes the world, a magical version of linguistic relativity[3], also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. Those who embrace the crystal spheres have a tendency to use the crystal spheres when looking at the world. This is also the golden hammer[4] approach which I see throughout the world.
1: /crystal-sphere-techniques/
3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity
4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument
When I had the vague idea of the crystal spheres for Flight of the Scions[5], I was thinking of something inspired by Qabalah but as I explored the world through stories, I realized those influences were orthogonal to the mechanics of magic and leaned more toward a point-based system of various table table RPGs. In specific, Aysle from Torg.
Regardless, there is no one system that works for everything in Fedran. Everyone has their own ideas, everyone's belief makes their idea true, but eventually all systems crack. The crystal spheres cannot explain telepathy[6], taigs, KyĹŤti clan[7]s, at least not fully.
Below are various useful links within this site and to related sites (not all have been converted over to Gemini).