Magical Programming
Part Two – Magical Circuits
If you want to have your raw magical energy be conducted directly by the magician, but still be able to give that magician creative freedom in the application of it, you will likely find yourself using some sort of magical circuit to do that. This is also true if you have a magical device that taps into raw magical energy and creates an effect based on its construction, or has been imbued with an Ethereal essence that accomplishes much the same. This section would not apply to the magician calling down lightning via a non-programmable means, more being able to create device or Ethereal circuit which transforms magical energy into lightning for them.
How would your magician program magic via circuitry?
If we consider the Wheel of Time books, the system Robert Jordan created is a kind of circuitry building magic. The Aes Sedai call them weaves, but what they are doing is building a magical circuit in the moment, placing five elemental forces into a specific pattern or weave, that then produces an effect in the physical world. When joined by Sanderson, lore was added that there are 100 basic weaves an Aes Sedai of the White Tower must learn to be raised to the shall, indicating that there are some basic circuits that every Aes Sedai is required to know in order to effectively build their own circuits.
We also see that it is possible to make your own weave, even if some of them are rediscoveries from prior ages, there is a sense of programmability in Jordan’s magic system. The magician in this case, is building a circuit board every time they need a magical effect, creating a weave in the moment. There are also cases where these weaves have been laid onto objects, specifically the ter’angreal that can perform incredible feats, or very mundane ones. This, along with some other traps that were set, suggest that the circuits can be given longevity as well, though that process is little explored. Still, it serves as an excellent introduction to this topic, the changing of raw power into usable effects via physical or Ethereal circuits.
What does it look like to program a magical circuit?
If magic is able to be harnessed by a circuit, ethereal or mechanical, then it is capable of being programmed in much the same way as devices and machines have been in the past. A flashlight turns on and emits light when the battery is tapped by the conduction of a completed circuit.
This kind of programming would require a number of sub-disciplines:
Channeling and storage of raw power/source
Devices that mediate and control the flow of raw power/source
Pathways that the raw power/source can follow
Logic gates to give more complexity to circuits
Potentially a raw machine language that becomes the raw power/source mediator within the circuitry
The skill involved would vary greatly from amateur to master, and that is only if the raw power/source is attainable by anyone with the correct channeling device/medium. Any amateur can obtain a battery in order to build a circuit. But could any person obtain a magic battery? Is it possible to create a magic battery that lasts and behaves in a similar fashion to an electronic one?
The biggest cost threshold would be obtaining the raw power/source in the first place. How is this potentially cosmic energy being tapped, channelled, and then distilled down to smaller magical effects? Is it a facet of nature that can simply be achieved with the right materials? Or is it intrinsic to magicians, only accessible by whatever numinous qualities inherent in the magician?
Once the power is tapped and distilled, the diversity of application is only limited by the quality of the power that has been obtained. Any effects would have to be possible with that particular power if there is more than one, and if there is only one, there may still be limitations as to what that power can be changed into for magical effect. Electricity is only capable of on/off logic types, and therefore has limitations on its applications, even with further advancements in circuitry design. It may never be possible to develop a true artificial intelligence since binary logic is not a corollary for what we understand to be cognition and human rationality. So limitations on the source are limitations on the kinds of mechanisms and devices that can be created, and the effects those mechanisms and devices may be able to produce.
If for instance, the power being tapped was dark energy, and the mediator in question could transform that dark energy into a usable form, then any effects it produced would have to be within the realm of physics which those forces could produce. It would not be possible to create matter, but it may be possible to use that dark energy to transform dark matter into light matter and take a certain molecular structure. It may also be possible to re-arrange the molecular structure of an element into a different element of the same mass etc., with enough energy to overcome the strong and weak forces, and then the ability to shape those dissociated particles into different combinations. It is not impossible to change lead to gold, but it is likely extremely costly in terms of energy needed, and extremely dangerous as dissolving the strong force may result in fission and matter-energy conversion. Certain things become less and less likely as the specifics of the power and the nature of its properties become apparent.
Ethereal circuitry overcomes the limitations that may exist due to mundane physics, ie you can’t just place a fusion reaction in a wooden box. But it would still conform to the basic principles of its source/power. Should that source be generic and infinitely mutable, then there may still be restrictions because of how the Ethereal circuit is formed. For instance, if it cannot have a logic gate, then the types of transformations and effects become more limited, or the complexity becomes much higher in order to achieve differing effects. Additionally, unlike the mundane materials which have known and definable realities, i.e. we know when wood is rotted or metal fatigued, an Ethereal circuit may not have any sign that it is malfunctioning, and may in turn simply dissolve entirely, or worse, release the stored energy in a less than safe fashion.
The more the power/source is distilled so that it can be worked with, the smaller and smaller the effect may be, or the greater and greater the amount of distilled power it may take to achieve the desire effect. Conversely, the less distilled, the more likely the power/source is to be dangerous and resistant to the controls being placed around it. For instance, in a computer, the amount of electric charge allowed to flow through the various chips is infinitesimal compared to the charge flowing through the power cord. The complexity of these chips is immense, and they are capable of wondrous effects, yet if exposed to too much charge, they are destroyed and unusable.
Finally, the ability to create a machine language in order to coordinate the flow and interaction of multiple circuits would determine the amount of complexity possible in a design, and may move a circuit from something basic like the flashlight to something complex like a magical security system that can be armed and disarmed, and may have multiple magical effects within its structure that are triggered by various inputs throughout a structure. Imagine a magical logic board that contains machine learning magical chips which can be influenced by the performance of other magical chips to then improve the overall function of the magic circuit. And because it is magic, then it would be possible for a magical circuit to redesign itself according to a machine language program, and improve along the lines given to it. If that machine language is capable of more than simple logic gates and loops, the complexity could grow at logarithmic rates.
Just because the fundamentals of this kind of circuit based conversion of raw power into physical effects is ‘simple’ does not mean it can’t be incredibly satisfying. Jordan has is about the dead middle between hard and soft magic systems, yet he created an infinitely enjoyable idea where readers can wonder about what combination of elements in a weave might be able to achieve. Or how does a ter’angreal transport someone to another dimension AND prevent the same person from going twice?
Circuit based programming frees you from doing too much world-building around how your magic works, and is very accessible to your audience because the idea of a circuit that performs a function happens daily in our lives. And it still allows freedom for your magician to create infinite effects as long as your power source is capable of those effects, and you aren’t breaking your own physics rules. Jordan set a hard rule that you can’t heal death, but we see that that is a mores and not a rule when Rand nearly does resurrect the dead girl at his feet.
If you’re using a magical circuit system, make sure that you carefully add limitations to the designs which yield your restrictions on the magician, or you work with a power that has the restrictions inherent. In Jordan’s case, the One Power seems to come from the Creator, so it would be easy to cast resurrection as a power only the Dark One can wield. But as weaves can be spun with the Dark One’s power, you encounter a problem if you have a rule that weaves can’t raise the dead.
Walk the line carefully, and by thinking through your circuit based design, you’ll be able to see your pitfalls before you find yourself dangling from the edge of an unforeseen plot hole.