World Building
I don’t know what I have written. This world building exercise is more me talking aloud about what we have on the table, things that are not yet explored and how some things regarding this magical world can be established. We also have inputs from Neha and Lizzie regarding the magic in this fiction.
A. Soul Exchange:
I look at this issue of physical body and mental soul in the story, like our smartphones and its cloud backups. Smartphones get replaced but cloud backup remains how it was last saved. Similarly, any characteristic of the soul remains with it, especially the mental abilities (cloud backup analogy). And any characteristic of the body remains with the body (smartphone analogy).
(Kindly note, the context of discussion is only this fiction. Don’t connect it with any larger concepts of spirituality, as in that context people might have different beliefs)
There was mention of Karan hearing Gustave’s soul’s voice in his head in #2. Since Gustave can be seen as a dark character (he stalked Karan and led him to believe their encounter was a date), he can be shown to gaslight Karan and mess with his head and his sets of beliefs. (I am sucker for dark characters 🤣 Maya from BHs, Joe from You). This is one aspect, there are plenty more ways to play with this voice.
They can also access each other’s memory with some effort. Gustave recalled Karan’s phone’s passcode correctly in segment #3.
Visually, soul exchange would work something like this:
B. Control of Magical powers:
The magical powers of the characters can be broken down between the soul and the body. That is, there are some things that the soul can control and there are some things regarding magic that the body can control. When the body and soul get separated, the powers get separated and hence get weaker. In order to summon a magical power after a soul exchange, both people who have the magical soul and magical body have to work together to achieve the results. If only one person is trying to work the magic, then it won’t work. Or if it does work, its effect will be temporary.
Note: this would also mean, stealing a magical soul will be akin to stealing a part of their magic.
B. Elemental Magic:
There will be 5 elemental magic: 1. Light 2. Dark 3. Earth 4. Sky 5. Time
The master of time is lost. At present no one can absolutely control time (or it is not known in the story). Light and Dark are opposite, Earth and Sky are opposite. All four elements can control time to some extent in bits and pieces. Only if one became master of that element, they can almost flawlessly control time, but there will still be deficiencies.
The magical people have the ability to store their magical secrets inside their mind vault safe from others. They may or may not use this ability.
The magical people inherit magic from their family genetically (magic gene) and then they choose an element they want to focus on and develop their abilities by learning to focus their mind and using their hands (like in Doctor Strange movies). They will automatically be better at the magic they inherited from their family due to their magic gene. But, they can choose their own element. The more they perform an elemental magic, the deeper their connection becomes with that element.
Okay, before going further into elemental magic, let’s see what we already know from the segments about the magical people in the story. Then that would make world building consistent with the story so far.
Vamika was using dark magic to maintain the balance of the universe itself (segment #4). She was using the dark magic to maintain physical and mental youth. This means that dark magic can be used to control time.
Vamika is magically superior to Gustave, she expects Gustave to show her respect. In #5, Vamika said she wanted to kill Gustave to save Karan. But saving Karan will take precedence over killing Gustave, because of Vamika’s daughter, Vani. Vamika was trying break to break Gustave’s mind vault to find information about her daughter (#9) which is why she was hurting Karan’s body.
Gustave had a magical family on his mother’s side. Their elemental magic was light. Gustave has inherited that magic gene but his light magic is weak. His maternal grandfather had a diary of magical experiments (#6). Their house help is also magical. The house help was okay to let Gustave, who looked like Karan, to search through the house.
Gustave’s grandmother was the embodiment of sunshine (#8) and was as powerful as Vamika (#7 ending). Ageless and magical like her, only polar opposite. Vamika symbolised dark magic whereas, Gustave (and his family) symbolized sunshine.
There is a twist here. Vamika is a controller of dark magic (#4) and had good intentions of maintaining universal balance, while Gustave was possibly a controller of light magic (by family) but had selfish motivations regarding use of his magic (stalking Karan, forcing a date). So, I feel intent (good or bad) will play an important role in how a magic would work.
Okay, now we are done with how the magical world is so far. Proceeding further to the points shared by Neha and Lizzie.
(Points by Neha (Satrangi_Curls), combined the idea of magic gene into it. I think magic gene answers most of the questions Neha had asked)
We could let them have elemental magic, that is their power comes through a connection to the element that gives/guards it. They can be powers they were born with (due to magic gene) or something they gained control of through alchemy (after initial inborn magical ability. If they have magic gene, they are born with magic).
Points by Lizzie (LizzieBennet): {Liz, I omitted some things to keep it consistent with the whole thing}
We can create an imaginary town (like Hogsmeade) which is the headquarters for people of Magic.
Time exists as a separate dimension.
Everyone in this world has some potential for magic, but it's dormant unless they actively choose to hone it and wield it. This can be done by studying the craft and practicing it relentlessly. If they don't do that, then the potential keeps dying until it eventually fizzles out.
Those who have dominant magical ancestry in their bloodline may have that potential or spark slightly more than others. And it lasts longer too. Perhaps it confers them a property that others don't have? We can decide what this property would be (It can be ageing for example. The magical ones live longer. The powerful their magic, the longer they live.). They can choose to wield their magic for good or evil.
The Council: A collective of the most powerful magical beings - can be a combination of all magical elements. So dark or light magic does not necessarily delineate good and evil. How you wield your magic and what you use it for determines it. So dark magic can be used to do good and light magic used to do evil & vice-versa of course.
Note: We could have Dark and Light magic separated as evil and good, but the story so far has already seen that Vamika who wields Dark magic has a good side and Gustave, who may have Light magic (from his grandma) has a dark side. So it's a bit twisted, we'll have to iron this out.
{I changed/added this part, Liz. Hope that’s okay} The Council is presided over by four masters of four elements. They are wise, they can see certain events based on the elements they connect with. Whenever there is a problem, these four masters come together and use their magic together to save from the crisis. The master for time is missing. But these masters can control time if they work together. In #7 end, there is a sketch of Gustave’s grandmother with a broken watch. She is also dead, as of now. But she used to be powerful and ageless like Vamika. Gustave’s grandmother could be the missing master of time… Vamika could be master of Dark magic. Since there is no master of time, there is no one to guide or channelise time magic. Objects like watches that Gustave has to control and create time loop is very rare. Vani is stuck in a time limbo. After she gets out of it, she may develop a connection with time. The more they use their elemental magic, the deeper their connection with that element.
The magical people may or may not have descended from a bloodline of magical beings but have meticulously practiced and perfected their craft for years. They have to pass an exam (like a graduation - it can be like a Trial by fire for them being inducted into The Council, very intense and challenging). It's the Ultimate Test. When they go through it, they become Supreme magical beings. They may or may not be part of the Council, but they become bonafide magical people. That is only for a select bunch of Supreme beings, so Vamika is special even among the supreme beings (we really need to think of a name for them)
{Name suggestions:
Name for the person who can do magic: Sorana
Magical community name: Enchantia
Name for their council: The Sorcerer's Council
Non magical person: Mortimer
If you guys have any other name suggestion, please let us know}
Dark Magic can be used for killing people and Light magic for saving people, so Vamika needs someone to help her wield Light magic (or time magic, which isn’t an option with a missing master) in order to free Vani - this person could potentially be Gustave because he does have Light magic (through his bloodline). He just chose to use it for nefarious purposes. Perhaps Vamika makes a deal with him - she will reverse the soul switch if he helps her free Vani. Which might mean Vani & Karan are re-united so G's initial purpose is defeated. Either way he loses Karan - to death or to Vani. So it's an interesting ethical dilemma for him, and his choice can help strengthen or weaken his magical powers. Perhaps he collects more Karma points if he does good deeds?
Perhaps Vamika decided to keep Vani away from magic because she has seen first-hand how it consumes her.
They are all aware that magic exists in their universe, but just don't know how much they are influenced by it. In that sense, they are pretty much like Muggles.
The teas/ injections/ pills etc are additional tools to support magical/ non-magical beings.
For eg: Gustave's grandfather was non-magical but he is an alchemist who made magical potions.
C. Time Loop, Time Limbo:
Time could be the most coveted and most dangerous magical power. Sorana’s may have gone corrupt in their desire to control time, because controlling time would mean controlling everything else. There may have been something like a ‘wizarding war’ in the past where a great Sorana got corrupt in their pursuit of time, and the master of time fought tooth and nail and stopped them, and went missing. Gustave is trapped in a time loop, and his watch controls time for him and bring variations in his day with local control (meaning he can control time for short period, regarding things related to him) but not global control (meaning he cannot influence everyone else’s timelines like they show in the Flash)
Time Loop is a trap where events of the day will keep repeating identically. Gustave is stuck in one such time loop, could be related to his grandmother’s death. To break this loop a time-crack is needed. Either it is made through time magic, or by that rare watch that Gustave got from his magical maternal family.
That painting at Gustave’s grandfather’s house where Gustave’s grandmother broke the watch may be a gateway to the time limbo, where Vani is trapped.
Time Limbo could be a person, the missing master of time. Maybe they need to turn back into their human form.
Lizzie’s points on Time Limbo:
Time Limbo Is basically an infinite time loop caused by an anomaly - in this case Vani got stuck in it because of her soul connection to Karan. G's time loop was used for evil (splitting up K & V), therefore the effects of it multiplied because their souls were connected. It generated massive amounts of dark matter & caused itself to multiply several times. The dark matter went into K and the repeating time loop went into V (let's say this was a random event, it could have been the other way round too with K getting stuck in the time limbo and V being the one dying).
D. Karan’s illness:
The Time Limbo explains why Karan was being consumed by dark matter after Gutave bugged Karan’s phone by using his watch and his weak time magic.
To cure Karan, his body and his soul needs to be cleansed out of this dark matter. This would need both light magic and dark magic. Dark magic to kill dark matter in him and light magic to kill the after effects of dark magic. (Idk, this sounds so much like chemotherapy and soothing its after effects)
Gustave might be able to control control both light and dark magic, but he isn’t powerful at either. He is ‘light’ by family, at some point in past Gustave left behind his family magic and switched from light into darkness.
After the soul exchange, both Karan’s body and soul are influenced by Gustave’s time loop. Which means Gustave and Karan will feel what the other is going through regarding the illness. They’ll suffer together, esp Gustave’s soul as Karan’s body is infected. He will feel worst at the end of the day and the best right after a daybreak starts. Light and concoction makes it feel better.
And we have three underutilised characters in the story: the waiter at the restaurant in #1, the house help at Gustave’s gramps’s house and Ritvik, Gustave’s best friend.
Idk if everything made any sense 🙈. It’s too long. No need to use all of it. This is just a cohesion of the magic in this fictional world as I understood and imagined while world building.
Next segment is by Shibz.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Debate Mansion
