Fundamental Forces of Nature

In nature, there are four fundamental forces of nature, namely those of gravity, the electromagnetic, the weak nuclear and the strong nuclear forces. These are essentially rules of conversion wherein one form of energy is converted to another.

In the case of gravity, for example, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy at a fixed, consistent rate which we can calculate based upon the distance of two objects, their mass, and their acceleration. In this particular situation, mass and acceleration are interchangeable for one another, as found in Einstein's equations.

To put it in a more simplified manner, if I pick up a ball and drop it, I have infused potential energy into the ball by lifting it off the ground, and when I let go, gravity can be used to calculate the rate at which that potential energy is converted into kinetic; in this example, the answer would be 9.80m/s^2.

As such, the idea of "anti-gravity" is a bit of an odd one, in that if we were to add an anti-gravity process to our fictional world, it's not levitating, or even necessarily using energy. In fact, the idea of an island which floats above the ground is perfectly reasonable without even needing to consume larges amounts of energy to do so: all one needs to do is to find a process which interrupts or cancels out the conversion of potential to kinetic energy that gravity applies. In this manner, a little knowledge of physics allows for a more reasonable and logical explanation for how an event occurs, which also strengthens the reader's willing suspension of disbelief.

Those who are astute may notice I've only mentioned four forces of nature, yet the title of this essay is six fundamental forces. Those with an even more keen eye may then notice the full title also includes the phrase "in fiction", which turns out to be an important descriptor.

While gravity and the electromagnetic are forces which we will make use of on a regular basis, in fiction, unless one is working with very hard science-fiction, the weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces rarely get much attention, mostly due to only working on scales too small for the average individual to notice nor care about.

In the case of fiction we replace these two forces in many cases with two others which are vastly more common: magic and psionics.

At first, the reader of this may feel a bit confused as to why I would list these two as fundamental forces, but hear me out: there are enormous advantages for a world designer to think of these two factors as fundamental forces of nature, and they help to structure a world so that it makes logical, consistent sense, even in the face of illogical thought processes.

Magic, for example, is normally thought of by most people as simply "magic". It has no rules, no explanation, it just sort of does what it does without any sort of coherence nor consistency. In the realm of fiction, however, this simply isn't the case, nor has it ever been the case in mythology, either.

To begin with, we shall look back at historical examples of magic. In the past, magic always has followed set rules, and has always followed the conservation of energy, even when we didn't understand that such a concept even existed. To create a spell, for example, a shaman or other practitioner of the art of magic would require long, elaborate rituals which were essentially used to gather and harness energy, which would then be converted into a desired effect.

Other examples of magic may stem from praying to a deity of some sort, a daemonic entity, a spirit, or some other supernatural force, yet again, this involves that being converting a portion of the energy they already possess into a different kind of energy.

If we look at even cases such as in the Bible itself, even miracles such as the parting of the red sea is done through physics, as it's been calculated that all that would be needed to part the sea would be a 65km/hour consistent wind at about a 30 degree downward angle, which is quite within the realm of plausibility. While a deity may require drawing the energy from elsewhere to apply it to that particular location at that particular time, if one suitably knew enough of the physics involved, as one would assume such a deity would, then it would not be even outside of the realm of our physical laws by any means to create such an event.

Returning to the world of fiction, these same principles tend to apply by any competent writer. Rules govern how magic works, where certain actions must be taken to perform a spell or generate an effect. In tabletop games especially, such as ShadowRun, Dungeons and Dragons, or Warhammer, we see magic being very specifically laid out with carefully managed rules. While these were developed primarily for the purpose of ensuring balance within the mechanics of the game, the clever connection between mechanics and lore ensures that we find a structured, logical world.

At no point does magic, in these examples, just "magically" occur; truly, it follows a surprisingly rigid form of order. If it didn't, then there wouldn't be much of a story, now would there?

Imagine a world wherein magic has no structural form, not boundaries and no rules. In this hypothetical situation, the instant the protagonist begins their journey, they simply decide to blow up the antagonist on the spot with no prior training nor knowledge.

Suddenly, the story isn't very interesting.

As such, there are some consistent features of magic across all stories, and these can be compiled together to form a basic outline of how magic works.

First and foremost, magic must have a source of energy. The most common form of this source is "mana" or "mannah", or a variety of other spellings depending on how badly the writer wants to avoid a lawsuit. The point is that mana exists as sort of a battery would to the electromagnetic force. Sometimes mana is derived from the spirits of the dead, wherein the spiritual energy of a creature doesn't dissipate, but rather can be harnessed and converted into other, more useful forms of energy as seen in several of the Final Fantasy worlds which have been built, such as the commonly cited Final Fantasy 7, or the movie The Spirits Within.

Another example of mana would be ley lines, as seen within the MYTH series, wherein mana is a consistent background source of energy, but much like the electromagnetic force in reality, there are certain paths of least resistance where mana prefers to travel.

Yet another example still is the concept of mana being akin to background radiation, as found in ShadowRun. In this example, the energy exists primarily within another dimension which overlaps our own natural world, and causes mana levels to rise and fall as it comes closer or farther away to ours.

In even another example, the Warhammer 40,000 universe has magic which exists as being tied to "The Warp", similar to ShadowRun as being a dimension, though differing in that the warp siphons off spiritual energy from those who die, and psionic energy from belief. The stronger the belief in something, the more real it becomes. This gets a bit messy to explain without discussing psionics, so we'll pass on this for now.

The point is, the conservation of energy applies, and though the energy may be converted from one form to another by magical means. Mana, or whatever it's called by a given source of fiction, be it anima, estus or zeon, is nearly universally used as  the carrier particle, though rarely described in those terms.

Furthermore, magic is universally described as an external force, rather than an internal one. Whether mana is channeled through the caster's body as a conduit to manipulate and control the variable output, or an intricately drawn circle with candles is used, magic is always cited as an external energy source which is altered through means of a spell, and then used to convert the raw magical energy into a different kind of energy.

In this manner, the inherent energy of mana may be converted into thermal energy by way of the stereotypical fireball spell, or it may be used to grant wishes, to allow for flight, or any of a number of other effects. Regardless, however, we can conclude that magic follows the following rules:

1: Magic is derived from an external energy source. 2: Mana (or some other name) acts as a battery which holds the energy. 3: Mana also acts as the carrier particle, much like a photon or electron can carry the electromagnetic. 4: Magic maintains the law of conservation of energy. 5: Magic tends to create large-scale effects due to there being large amounts of magic available externally to the caster's own person. 6: Magic must be focused in some way, either through an artifact (a staff or gem for example) to create a set effect, through a complex ritual, or through the caster's own body. Without this catalyst, magic is simply raw, untamed energy, with no real form, and may be highly destructive without a focus to organize it into something useful, akin to lightning instead of a computer chip. 7: A caster either needs to know how to organize mana into a useful manner, or be resilient physically and spiritually to channel the energy through their body, thereby preventing the untrained from using magic effectively.

Following these rules ensures that magic is a consistent fundamental force of nature and that the world designer knows how magic will be applied in their world. While there are many variations, the fact of the matter is that magic almost universally retains a similar form of structure, though the precise mechanics in use may not be clearly stated. A novel or game may not directly cite that mana is being used, yet the method by which a spell is created is pretty much universally applied.

Now that we understand what magic is in terms of a structured, organized mechanic for use in fictional literature, we can compare and contrast it to the also commonly used form of psionics.

In this sixth fundamental force of nature, psionics do not work in the same way as magic, though superficially, it may seem that way at the surface. Instead of drawing external mana into the body, channeling it, then expelling it in a useful manner, psionic energy is generated from within the user directly.

With psionics, the sapient mind itself is the source of this energy, converting or distilling other forms, such as food, into an organized form of energy. Due to such, the amount of energy able to be used in psionics is on a vastly smaller scale than that of magic.

Psionics tend to be formed as a matrix of sorts, an organized pattern of mental energy where the energy used isn't so much powerful as it is simply put to efficient, directed use. Ki, or Chi, functions in such a near-identical manner as to essentially be the same thing for the purposes of our discussion on the matter. The primary difference is simply that Ki can be organized through not just neural tissue, but also muscle tissue. Otherwise, it largely exists upon the same principles.

With the use of psionics, a psionicist may instead use the small amount of energy from their mind to manipulate other external factors. The greatest distinction of all between the two, however, is that mana can contain vast sums of energy, able to create matter or alter it substantially. With the case of psionics, as all the energy used is only that which would normally be available to an individual, the same effects must be created by vastly more efficient means.

Were a mage to create a spire of rock from the ground to attack a foe, this would not be particularly difficult. Rock is well understood in composition to the caster, and coalescing mana into the shape of a rock would be easy.

For a psionicist to generate a similar effect, the key would be rather to take rock which is already present, and push it upward from the ground.

In this manner, the psionicist doesn't create new matter, nor generate energy; they're limited to simply relaxing the strict rules around them or manipulating matter which already exists.

The total sum energy available is many orders of magnitude smaller for psionics than magic. Fortunately, it doesn't take much energy to create cascading effects or ripple effects which can be useful for fictional writers. Where the mage has to generate an enormous fireball with large, broad strokes of the brush of power, the psionicist can simply cut off the carotid artery for a similar end result.

In the series Full Metal Alchemist, the alchemist stones used seem to be more or less akin to crystallized mana, but the actual alchemists use psionics exclusively, despite the appearance of magic.

For an example, Roy Mustang at one point breaks apart water into hydrogen and oxygen, both flammable, and then must generate a spark from his specially crafted glove which has the equivalent of flint and steel built into the fingertips. The actions taken are minimalistic; instead of creating heat from nowhere, or converting large sums of mana into fire, he requires only a limited amount of effort to negate the strong nuclear force in a small area, allowing the atomic structure of water to naturally break apart into useful materials for combustion. The source of the fire is, of course, external entirely and the only bit left is that he can adjust the path of least resistance for the fire created to travel.

For a final example of the contrast of psionics and magic, we return to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In the case of the psionicist, each psionic mind has a relatively minor effect upon the world. Even the greatest, most powerful psionics are admittedly very weak in almost all regards, even including the God-Emperor of Mankind, who is described as being nothing short of a demigod of psionic power.

In this case, however, there is a secondary parallel universe which is comprised entirely of psionic energy, and which psionics are amplified within, much akin to a pebble dropped in water creating much larger waves which travel significantly further. The Astronomicon, in this case, is merely the psionic imprint of the Emperor within the warp, amplified greatly due to the warp itself.

With orks, though each member is individually a latent psionic, the fact of the matter is that it takes thousands of orks all thinking the same thing for it to have any real effect. This leads to odd situations, however, where a million orks all vehemently believing that "da red onez go fastah!" actually becomes reality: a red paintjob on a tank literally increases the efficiency of its engine simply because so many psionicists are focusing upon that concept.

Magic also exists within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, though it functions in a substantially different manner. Rather than individual psionicists causing a ripple effect within the warp, the magic of 40k is generated by using large sums of energy from the warp and treating it much akin to mana.

Rituals, sacrifices, and other effects which control the flow of energy are utilized in precisely the same manner as magic has been described previously in this writing. While the energies are technically psionic and spiritual in nature, due to the fact that the warp allows for these energies to be contained in what's essentially an enormous, giant magical battery, it's possible for an individual to simply harness the stored energy and use it as though it were magic.

The last aspect to cover is that of a deity, which coincidentally is how the deities in the Warhammer universe are treated.

In the case of a deity, energy still must be conserved, except that a deity tends to draw power from their followers. This has been cited for decades at the bare minimum, and we see repeatedly that a deity with many followers is able to siphon off a small portion of energy from the individual follower. The act of belief consistently allows for this transfer to become more efficient: rather than having to forcefully extract the energy, thereby leading to almost as large of an energy expense to extract the energy as gained, or possibly even less, a powerful belief in the follower allows for a vastly more effective extraction of energy.

The devoted gains energy as per normal, such as by ingesting carbohydrates, yet the deity siphons this energy off into their own personal reserves, acting as a battery once more, much like mana does in the traditional sense of magic. Upon a prayer being requested of the deity, the deity can then utilize that stored up energy to create the miracle in question.

As such, a deity can be fairly reasonably claimed to be magical in nature, due to the fact that the power used is gained externally, channeled through the deity to organize it, then expelled in the form of a spell.

To be honest, however, it would be remiss to claim that magic and psionics are truly two different effects: rather, they are two sides to the same coin but under different circumstances. The rules are largely the same and the mechanics in operation largely work similarly, with the key difference being that magic can occur only when there is a large, external source of energy which can be tapped into, and psionics can be used even when there are only limited, small amounts of energy available.

As such, whether these are truly two distinctly different forces or a single, unified force with multiple facets, is a bit difficult to verify, especially given the fictional nature of such. The key to this issue, however, is that understanding the mechanical workings of how psionics and magic are used, allows for the world designer to ensure an internally-consistent set of rules to apply so that these plot elements can be used without creating plotholes, or otherwise leading to significant confusion, nor growing out of proportion.

In each and every instance described, the rules followed ensure that these concepts can be used to tell a story as a plot element rather than wildfire with no control. The untrained writer may use "it's magic" to simply describe away anything they want to have happen in a story without understanding of why or how it occurred, but the trained and skilled world designer will understand the fundamental nature of everything within their story.

As with all writing, everything must occur for a reason, every line of dialogue must have a purpose, every description an intent. If the writer specifies there's a gun upon the mantle in the first scene, then it must be fired in the third, as per Chekhov's Gun, otherwise it is a wasted piece of information.

Due to the nature of fiction, a writer simply is limited in information and detail; anything which occurs wastes word count, film time, or game time. Spending large amounts of time describing information which doesn't affect the story at all is a waste. However, it must be noted that generating an atmosphere or feeling is a valid use of such. This is a topic for another time, so for now, the thing to keep in mind is simply that everything which is added to a story, regardless of the medium in question, absolutely must have intent and control behind it.

With the organization of magic and psionics to be treated as fundamental forces of nature, these can therefore be carefully controlled and understood by the world designer, ensuring that they play a consistent role, as well as allowing for greater growth, such as application into the role of evolution by way of creatures which gain magical effects over time, geological formations which contain crystallized mana, or other such occurrences.

The greater an individual understands the nature and mechanics behind how a tool works, the greater that individual can apply that tool in a useful manner. Understanding magic beyond "it's magic" is paramount to any burgeoning writer's career, especially if they seek to create their own intellectual property, or to employ their use of magic into game design, be it a video game or a board game.