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Ultimate Furry Crossover: An Adult Choose Your Own Adventure

Background Information 7: Magic and Science - Sources of Power, Sources of Corruption

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis

Power is what everybody wants, especially in high-stakes plots like the one playing out in the Ultimate Furry Crossover. Power to do good...power to do evil...power enough just to get what each character wants most. So here's the major points of power in the universe of the UFC.

The two major sources of power present in the Selected Universe (SU) are magic and science. The two sources are not mutually exclusive in their acquisition, and their effects are often so closely-linked that it can be incredibly difficult to tell them apart. This is because both sources of power aim toward the same goal: manipulating the underlying foundations of reality, by tapping into the universal power of creation itself. They differ, however, in how they approach this ultimate goal. Magic seeks to tap into the wells of raw creative energy directly, or through mostly-direct mediums, such as by channeling power through the intervention of a deity or other cosmic-level being. Science seeks to use various intermediaries to gain access to this wellspring, intermediaries which can range from strange devices, to the raw flesh of the pulsing mind itself, to the reality-warping machinations of Science!, which skirts the border between magic most closely of all.

Since magic is somewhat more removed from the world of the reader (to the best of this author's knowledge), it will be discussed first, followed by science. Magic is divided into four different varieties in the SU, in order of rough power levels: high magick; Gygaxian magery; ritual magic; and hedge magic. Each of these individual types will receive some attention in brief.

High magick causes this author to shudder every time he applies the extraneous "k" at the end. The point of high magick is to directly manipulate the underlying principles of reality through the power of will and faith and vast amounts of study. For those who know about the old White Wolf Studios game "Mage: The Awakening," or have seen the movie "Doctor Strange" (which itself stole liberally from the aforementioned game...which itself stole from Doctor Strange comics...and so the cycle continues...), this is the form of magic used in those settings. Though high magick is the most powerful of the varieties of magic in common use, there are several extremely good reasons why this magic is the rarest in the SU, not least of which is that extraneous "k." The first and most obvious is that it's almost impossible to figure out how to make use of high magick in the first place. Teachers are ridiculously rare, and the likelihood of discovering how to make use of the fundamental building blocks of reality without one are, at best, miniscule. Assuming one finds a teacher, however, other problems quickly arise. Foremost of these problems is the danger of distorting reality itself in unnatural ways. Reality tends to react poorly when twisted too far, and unless a high magick user is extremely careful in the application of high magick, reality can quite easily lash around like a wild animal, and rend its manipulator. High mages also tend to attract all the wrong sorts of attention, and end up on the run from all manner of horrid beasties and entities of every sort, either for manipulation, domination, or annihilation. So why use high magick? As stated, it's the most powerful of all the forms of magic. With high magick, it is possible to influence the eight principle aspects of reality itself: location and destination; entropy and change; force; matter; life; mind; spirit; and time. Mixing and matching these various elements of reality allows for a wide variety of effects, and a typical user of high magick is noted for being ridiculously unpredictable, and highly creative in the ways these powers are used. Items created using high magick can be as varied and unpredictable as any other effects created with high magick, and often suffer the same weaknesses with warping reality.

Enough of extraneous k's! Now on to something far more familiar: Gygaxian magic, also called Vancian magic, or blasting casting. Named after the principle founders of these varieties of magic (Gary Gygax and Jack Vance), Gygaxian magery relies on the connection of the magic user to the rest of reality through intense study, rituals, and most importantly, force of will, intellect, or personality. By relying on a critical aspect of one's own personality, be it one's willpower, one's intellectual prowess, or one's raw strength of being, a mage is able to manipulate the underlying building blocks of reality in the form of raw magical energy. The major weakness of this form of magic is that it requires the mage to channel and sometimes even store that energy within the caster's own body, which can cause a significant toll if not handled with extreme care. This weakness also effectively limits the amount of power that one can toss out before needing to rest and recuperate. Additionally, because the magic has to be channeled into the physical, limited form of a mage, it has to be honed into a limited variety of specific effects, chosen by the mage when the magic is channeled. Many beings have this sort of magic as innate powers, gained through freaks of birth or other magical mutations, while many others are able to learn how to manipulate it through study, or by contact with cosmic powers, who siphon their own energies into the supplicant for use in the mortal realm. Gygaxian magic is one of the most common sorts of magic because of its accessibility, and most creatures that have natural spell-like abilities, such as sirens or medusas, make use of this form of magic. Quick and dirty magic items can be made through Gygaxian magic, but they tend to burn themselves out rather rapidly, depending on the nature of the item in question: wands and scrolls will last for only a certain number of uses, while a magic sword might endure for a century or two before it, too, is rendered into useless slag.

Ritual magic is, by its nature, not typically possible as an innate ability. It must be learned through careful and painstaking study and practice. This is also ritual magic's great weakness: it takes time, patience, and precision to make its powers work. However, if these elements are available, then truly fantastic feats of power are possible, exceeding all but the most fantastic whimsies of high magick. Fortunately, it is possible to "hang" ritual magic through mental patterns, drawings, minor charms, and talismans carried on one's person or placed at appropriate locations, so as long as a ritual caster has enough time and resources to prepare spells, and enough foresight to get the right rituals ready for various situations, almost anything might be possible, making ritual magic the strategist's magic of choice. An overwhelming majority of magical items are created using ritual magic, because while it takes vastly more time in order to create its effects, what this sort of magic finally produces tends to last a very, very long time, sometimes even to the ends of creation itself, barring incident.

Hedge magic is intuitive by nature. Witches and warlocks dabbling in strange holistic techniques that actually works; martial artists who make use of centers of power to extend their lives, heal injuries, or cause the mythic "death touch;" seers and sages who "just know" things that shouldn't be possible; strange creatures, like medusas, sirens, ghosts, and others who just use magical effects by instinct alone. These are all examples of hedge mages. Hedge magic is perhaps as common as Gygaxian magic, or maybe even more common, depending on one's viewpoint. Interactions of the forces of creation itself within the mortal realm produces hedge magic, and the hedge mages who can use it, sometimes because of a magical heritage (also the reason why magical creatures have their powers), and sometimes because "the stars were right," or some other similarly esoteric reason. Typically, hedge magic comes in two varieties: spectacular but limited, and subtle but extensive. Spectacular but limited effects are things like a cockatrice's petrifying gaze or a phoenix's ability to self-immolate and rise from its own ashes. Some mortals also have similar powers, which appear in folklore, and tend to be "one-shot wonders," able to do some incredible feat of magic, like breathing fire or possessing incredible strength, but never able to gain anything else. Subtle but extensive powers include the martial artist mentioned before, who seems not to use any rituals more complex than simple meditation and breathing techniques, but who can seemingly ignore the passage of time, kill or heal with a touch, and perform physical feats that are always just a little bit beyond what should be humanly possible. Items produced by hedge magic tend to seem quite normal, sometimes even shabby. But when one knows the right way to access their power, they can produce some startling effects, and though most of those effects may seem coincidental, there's magic in them all the same.

Now on to science. As noted before magic and science often produce highly similar results. Also as noted before, the major difference is that science uses intermediaries, separating its users from the power of creation, and thus creating a more stable and safe boundary, rather than dabbling directly in powers that can consume mortals in the blink of an eye. Science's powers are typically found, outside of the traditional sciences used in the real world, in the form of meta-biology, psionics, and Science! itself. All can be roughly equal in power, but vary widely by the individual using them.

Meta-biological abilities are much like magic's hedge magic: for whatever reason, some people have powers that others don't have. The reasons for these powers varies immensely by individual. The Marvel Universe's mutants are an obvious example, as beings who gain a one-shot wonder sort of ability because of a quirk of genetics. So is DC Comic's Superman, an alien being who has incredible powers because of the unique environment from which his people originally come. Beings can be born with these abilities, or they can acquire them later, but the end results often overlap with one might expect from hedge magic in a vast number of ways. Since the abilities are bound up in biology, however, they tend to remain fairly stable, and while they can be improved within the limits imposed by their being (i.e. a natural pyrokinetic might also learn to use heat projection to fly, but would never be able to manipulate water), they tend to have their bounds set.

Psionics can be considered a subset of meta-biological abilities, except that they come from the more nebulous realm of the mind. Because of how difficult it is to understand the mind's abilities, a quandary that continues to defy the best psychological researchers, psionic abilities can often appear to be magic to a casual observer. Martial artists often use a combination of psionics and hedge magic to get their results, which can further confuse the issue. The primary difference between psionics and magic is that while magic reaches directly into the pool of universal creative energy, psionics actually only reaches into the raw will of the user. Thus, a psi's powers are limited by strength of will, fitness of body, and force of personality, since these are the only things upon which a psi can draw in order to produce various effects. Since a mortal being's potential in each of these areas can be immense, however, it isn't until the very highest levels of power that anyone is likely to notice the limitations imposed upon psionics users, as compared to magic users. Additionally, psis tend to have powers that are far more basic but flexible in nature, allowing them to be used in vastly more creative ways than the spell of a typical Gygaxian or ritual mage, allowing an especially mentally-dextrous and strong-willed psi to compete directly with mid-level high mages.

Science! is the last source of power that comes from scientific sources. Many compare Science! to ritual magic, and the comparison is a fair one: both ritual magic and Science! require a great deal of preparation and advance planning, but when they are put into motion, they can produce some of the most powerful and potentially spectacular effects. Both sorts of power use also tend to rely a great deal on physical trappings, and produce some of the best items of power. Both steampunk and cyberpunk derive from the products of Science!, including enhanced equipment, robotics, bionic body parts, and the shared hallucination originally referred to in the works of William Gibson as the matrix. In the biological sciences, Science! can create beings ranging from Frankenstein's man to the hideous xenomorph hybrids of Alien: Resurrection.

Hopefully this clears up some confusion before it happens, and causes a great deal more of it. After all, those points where clarity is lacking gives ample opportunity for plot launches. Now for some examples as they have appeared, and will yet appear, in the Ultimate Furry Crossover.

High magic isn't used much, so there aren't many examples of it in play in the Ultimate Furry Crossover. Beings like Discord and the Cheshire Cat are some of the best examples, as is Mirage, beings that bend the nature of reality itself to their whims, but typically have to do so within "safe" locations, places that they control, or risk being catapulted out of reality (the Cheshire Cat), or otherwise drawing too much attention (Discord and Mirage) that ends with imprisonment or defeat. The Sorceress also is a high mage, but she deliberately limits her use of magic, knowing how dire its consequences can be.

Examples of Gygaxian magic are easy to find. In fact, most magic users, when explicitly called such, are Gygaxian in nature. Twilight Sparkle, for example, is a classic Gygaxian wizard. So are Evil-Lyn and Skeletor, and Toriel and Bowser also fall into this category. They all can flind out a significant number of spells, but usually require lots of study or access to arcane power and information, and often have cooldown times or other similar limitations on how much power they can use at any given moment. Finally, if somebody comes from a world or setting where something like "mana," "spell slots," or "magic points" are used, that character is probably using Gygaxian magic.

Ritual magic is typically available to most other magic users, when they want to prepare for something extra special, or want to accomplish something especially massive. By my reckoning, an example of a "pure" ritual mage would be Maleficent, who makes use of her staff and a _lot_of forethought and planning in order to fling out a wide variety of abilities whenever she needs them. She always makes sure to keep a few transportation spells "hung" and handy for a quick getaway or sneak attack, makes use of her previously-enchanted staff for outright attack spells and illusions, and reserves a transformation spell (her dragon form) for when things are about to get really hairy.

A truly great hedge mage would be Okami Amaterasu. She's bristling with strange items through which she can channel her powers, and she can perform a wide variety of amazing feats, but all her effects, even the more flashy ones, tend to be subtle, and only really visible to those who are magically sensitive. To normal people, her actions seem to be coincidental in nature, and easily overlooked in the flow of events. Some of the flashier powers of Jon Talbain would also qualify as hedge magic, as he flings out his instinctive energy in the form of wolflike shapes that attack his foes. Pretty much everything performed by the ponies and other creatures of My Little Pony also falls under hedge magic - in fact, the abilities granted by cutie marks is classic one-shot wonder hedge magery.

Some examples have already been given for meta-biological abilities. Almost all of the superheroes that have appeared and will yet appear fall into this category. Tails' ability to fly is also meta-biological.

For the purposes of the Ultimate Furry Crossover, Krystal is a psionic, who also happens to use an amplification object - her blue crystal staff - in order to further empower herself. Her staff is such a powerful psi amplifier that it even allows borderline psychics, like Fox McCloud (how else do you think he pulls off those incredible moves in his arwing?), to gain powers like her own, but only for so long as they have possession of the staff. Nova Terra is a classic psi, as are the asari crew, and most of the characters from fighting games, whenever they exhibit a power that allows them to shoot energy bolts, rings, or whatever, is exerting psionic energy, focused through martial arts training.

As for Science!, Wile E. Coyote is the obvious master of the genre. The GlaDOS/KOMPLEX/SHODAN combine is also a product of what Science! can do, as well as a major user of its many powers. Any cyborgs encountered, like Trap Jaw, also make use of Science! to gain their powers, as do robots like Jenny Wakeman. Gadgeteers like Tails and Boss, the charr engineer on the ship, also make extensive use of Science! in the service of their friends.

Naturally, there is a great deal of mixing and matching between these sources of powers. How better to produce a wide variety of unique character concepts? A prime example of a melding of sources of power are the digimon and pokemon: meta-biological creatures made by Science!

Now, the last part of this article: sources of corruption. Presently, there are five major sources of corruption at work, at least that we've seen so far. These sources are: pink kryptonite; lycanthropy; dark seduction; mind control; and the red collars.

Pink kryptonite has been discussed thoroughly already in the course of the Ultimate Furry Crossover. To sum up, it is a physical substance that channels the raw elemental power of lust, with a strong emphasis on enhancing the growth of life. Males exposed to it become more physically powerful, but less mentally able. Females have a similar loss of mental ability, but become physically less powerful, and also more likely to become pregnant. Both sexes, meanwhile, become steadily more aroused and interested in sex. In other words, the substance channels the power of a character into those aspects most likely to result in mating, producing new offspring, and general debauchery. It's related to the chaotic red kryptonite, but vastly more focused in its impact.

Lycanthropy is a common ailment, partially magical and partially meta-biological in nature. Humans and similar beings lacking an animal aspect tend to turn into ravening beasts, though some can, with extreme effort, maintain control of themselves, as Jon Talbain and Sabrewulf demonstrate, to varying degrees of success. Beings who already have an animal nature have that nature enhanced, giving them vastly improved physical abilities, without having their mental abilities necessarily affected (though there are exceptions, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, though this might result from his being afflicted with wolf-based lycanthropy, while he is a hedgehog). Typically, animal-aspected beings become much more aggressive, and also more eager to indulge their carnal appetites, becoming very dominant, "alpha" personalities. While neither of these effects, on humans or animal-people, necessarily lead to corruption in themselves, lycanthropy's effects do make its subjects far more susceptible to dark seduction and mind control.

Dark seduction is an open temptation with an underlying supernatural aspect. The goal of dark seduction is to start by offering the potential victim something he or she wants very much, preferably something that would normally be forbidden for any reason. Presented with the cruel dichotomy of desiring something that the person regards as wrong according to personal ethos, and suddenly given a way to obtain exactly that secretly desired target, a victim of dark seduction is then forced to make a decision. If there is any slippage, any lessening of personal ethics or force of will, even for a moment, then the magic slips in, and the person begins to change, becoming steadily more susceptible to even more changes, until, eventually, they turn completely to evil. This dark path can be undone by a thorough cleansing of the subject. In the case of forbidden sexuality (the most common sort seen in the UFC so far), this cleansing can be done either by total cold turkey, or by a hefty dose of "healing sex," which has the result of shocking the person's psyche into accepting this new aspect of their sexuality, without requiring them to turn completely to evil in order to indulge in their new desires.

Mind control is just that: a direct takeover of a person's mind by an outside agency. This can be in the form of mental domination, where the victim is aware of what is happening, but unable to do anything about it (as in the case of poor Taun We when Mewtwo was psychically as well as physically raping her), or unconscious, where the subject isn't aware of what he or she is doing (as in the case of the Lion Guard characters, who were as of this original writing under the control of Shenzi, thanks to Dracula's power to cloud the minds of his victims).

Finally, the red collars. These strange objects fall somewhere between dark seduction and mind control, and each one seems to be tailored specifically to its individual wearer. The only thing that remains constant among the wearers of these slave collars is that they all are completely aware of what they are doing, and they all have a "handler," someone (or several someones) who can give them commands, an expect to be obeyed. Someone is making the red collars. Someone evil, and powerful, for they stink of infernal energy and the lower realms.