Lunar's Magic System

[Omegazero108]

This I figured would be a better move as it's something else I was wondering about; how is Lunar's magic system ever explained from like a lore/worldbuilding perspective?

I understand there's the various 'Litanies' used by the Priests of Althena in Healing and Support... But the rest is where i'm confused

[Alunissage]

I am not very familiar with Magic School but that might be a good place to start with working out how magic is performed.

In the Vheen manga, it's explained that the Magic Race (Vile Tribe) can perform magic immediately, without needing spells, because they are somewhat made of magic -- I don't have time right now to check the exact phrasing. Humans (and presumably beastmen) need to chant spells and whatnot. There's also a scene where Ghaleon yells at everyone in Vane to pray to provide enough power to finish whatever spellcasting he and Lemia are doing. It's not clear to me how Ghaleon has the ability to harness the power of people's prayers -- could be because he's Magic Race, could be because he was a priest. Or I may be misremembering how it works. We have translations up on the main site.

It's always seemed to me that healing magic is a use of Althena's power by her priests, which I guess can also be incorporated into the statues. Of course, Ronfar invokes Althena's name in EB without knowing that she is unavailable. Human magic seems to be primarily elemental -- the thing in Neo-Vane that checks whether people have magic ability passes Hiro, Lemina, and Lucia but fails Ronfar and Jean. Maybe it'd be more accurate to say that the kind of magic that counts to Vane magicians is elemental.

In Silver Star Story, a point is made frequently that Alex "can't use magic", which seems to be more that he doesn't have knowledge/mastery of spells to use the magic power he has. Ramus truly has no magic (no MP!) but Alex just hasn't learned it yet, and chooses not to study magic in Vane. In TSS, he explicitly has his magic unlocked and thereafter gains fire attack magic, as well as a couple of healing spells eventually. I think there's a bit of inconsistency in SSS in that the writers decided to remove the idea of Alex having magic other than dragon spells and sword skills (and I suspect that was driven by the game design decision to limit each character to a maximum of 8 spells, in the style of EB) but maintain that Dyne knew much magic and that Alex would need to learn magic to become a Dragonmaster. It's unclear whether dragon magic counts as regular magic or not. Certainly Dyne in the prologue to SSH doesn't seem to have any magic that Alex doesn't eventually gain.

I'll think about it and see if I remember anything else that might be relevant.

[Omegazero108]

So roughly... from this bit alone, it sounds like there's at least two main 'schools' of magic for the world of Lunar; Elemental and Blessing.

The Elemental School being the human magic which can be taught to people, through Ien and Vane...

While the Blessing school is primarily the Priests having spells derived from Althena's power. (Similarly, this carries over to the Goddess Statues)

That said, i'll definitely look at Magic School Lunar for more on the matter, TY for that suggestion Alun!

[Kizyr]

Lunar seems to mix together several elements for magic's origins:

- Magic exists as a general entity/force throughout the world. Evidenced by: between TSS and EB, Althena's power was spread throughout the world and magic more ubiquitous by EB's time; around Zophar's corporeal return all the magic was sucked up from the world; and in Dragon Song it was the reverse with magic far more concentrated and just in a few people's/artifact's hands.

- Some people have an innate ability to perform magic, others don't. Evidenced by: Vile Tribe in TSS, SSS, the Vane Manga, Dragon Song, some other media, are all able to innately cast magic; in TSS/SSS, Ramus and Kyle can't do any magic at all, but many other party members can learn spells.

- Magic may need to be unlocked before someone can use it. Evidenced only by TSS, where Alex's magic has to be unlocked before he can start learning spells. Maybe also evidenced by EB where you need to level up some magic separately but that's fuzzier.

- Healing spells originate directly from Althena/Divine origins, other magic is kind of just from the magic "out there in the world". Evidenced by how priests seem to have a completely different class of spells and learn them in the course of their work/studies.

- You can learn magic as long as you have the ability for it, but people are predisposed to certain types of magic (fire, lightning, air, etc.). This is basically all of Magical School Lunar and explicitly stated there (and "flying" is another type of magic). Though also it's carried through in EB, SSS, and EBC, where characters who can do magic specialize in certain types, and it's rare to have two types (like Lemina or Mia) and indicative of higher magic potential.

- Skills are not the same as magic even though they use MP. So, Alex and Hiro's sword skills, and Kyle's skills, seem to be excluded whenever people talk about "magic" in the world. But Alex's fire magic or Hiro's wind magic clearly fit the description.

To me, the most fascinating parts are "magic is out in the world" and that using it is a combination of one's own innate potential and dedicated study. They do explore a bit the practical vs academic learning (think Hiro's wind magic versus Lemina's fire/ice magic, or Magical School Lunar versus the system used in all other games) also. I also love how the presence of magic in Lunar is directly related to the mythology behind Althena, and the ability of Lunar to sustain life -- e.g., how the far side of the moon is the Frontier where Althena's light doesn't reach, and in SSS it's even more obvious by the moon-like environment.