storkie magic competition entry: digital magic

[azemyc]

for a second you think there's something wrong with your browser as the oddest storkatten -
is that a storkie?
this is the storkatten magic competition, right?

the thing in the browser eagerly nods at you, its eyes bright and its mouth (?) grinning

hello there!

I'm halcyon!

what a weird name for such a weird creature
it somehow fits.

you're not quite sure what to even ask but the thing goes right into answering anyways


note; if i am able to keep Halcyon, i would like to touch up his design a lil! I made him in a bit of a rush, and there are a few more details and markings I'd like to add. No additional trait changes would be made.

sooty solid grey self chimera with a unnatural turquoise tabby

nr: expression, eye shape, weight edits, unnatural coat (lol) color and markings
lim: full eye color, fangs/teeth edit
legend: natural tail alt, biolum, wings x2, horns, genesplice (antenna), polydactylism (back paw), muzzle edits, shorter fur, height edits, ear type edits, chimera, scales
god/magic: digital magic expression at paragon level

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oh, sorry for startling ya! name's halcyon, as you already know, but I figure you're here for some information! thankfully, that's my specialty. always has been!

I was always like this. Yeah, seriously. I guess you could say I was made instead of born or something, since I came into this world the same that I currently am. It's a little unusual, I suppose, but it's what I know and it's what I can tell you. I haven't always been as gifted with my magic, though, or as stable. I'm pretty sure I started off as a simple kind of program, becoming more complex with time until I gained true sentience but I can't... prove that, officially. I've tried.

So, yeah, anyways! Back to the magic stuff, yeah? That's way more fun and easy to digest than... all that. Hah.

Right! So the magic. I started off pretty simple with like... programming little addition and subtraction calculators to help keep track of the supplies left, and cracked into really simple doorlocks throughout the cavern to access more stuff. I tried to write a thing to produce light or power the lights that had stayed off since I could remember but that turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought. And what a literal shock that was! Ouch. I felt that shock on my systems for days. Or I thought they were days. There wasn't any sunlight so... Hard to really tell, honestly.

Then I started being able to do more complex things. I got into one of the clear doors through a more complex rune than I had written before - it did take some problem solving - but there was plenty of supplies in there for me! Food, batteries, and a few books and notes. That gave me more energy to do more things. Try more programming and runes and spells.

This lead me to start exploring throughout more of the caverns, trying to get through more doors and security features and what not. I would leave little calculations running overnight while I rested, and I even had written up a few little companion bugs to keep me company while I tried to solve my way out of confinement. It was a peaceful existence but awfully lonely. Even with the little bug buddies.

One day I finally heard a sharp 'ding!' from down the hall. Down that way lay a massive door set into the stone face, engraved with more runes and magic that felt similar to my own. I had never been able to break through it. Not through casual attempts, anyways.

No, it had taken my own little gadget, a computer, I called it, to try to break through this final door. I don't know how many doors I had opened in the time it took for that thing to work but...

There I was. Staring up at this massive door, watching as the runes broke across its surface, breaking it all the way through.

I was expecting light to come through those cracks but all I could feel was a cool, steady breeze, and the soft staccato of crickets somewhere off in the distance.

And so I left through the Halcyon-sized hole in the once sealed door.

The grass that was immediately under my paws was soft and gentle compared to the cold, hard floor I had spent some number of time on. There were clouds above moving slowly across the distant moon, directing the crickets' songs below. It was beautiful. And it was shocking. Where had this all been? Had it always been on the other side of that large door? How had I never seen it?

I'm not sure. But it wasn't something I could compute. I tried.

So I wandered along. Met a few other creatures that seemed more fluffy than myself and offered them help with setting up their colonies and storage, helped aid travelers with the weather and navigation. It was, and has been, a simple existence filled with complex magic.

[azemyc]

Magic Domain:


Digital magic is the magic of machines and data.

It is a magic used to assess and carry out functions, to sort and manage large swaths of data in any form, and something that operates within definable boundaries. With digital magic, a magic user can manipulate the data around them or create new data - such as altering sounds, sights, or other magical remnants like spells and runes. They can unlock locks with the use of solver runes, run 'programs' through complex spell weaving to create forecasts, predictions, and other analyses, and at higher levels even use a combination of these to write out their own forms of AI and life. Users of digital magic at high levels can also create in depth, realistic-seeming 'bubbles' within manipulated light, basically forming an AR room of sorts that others can interact with.

Skilled users are often found doing data processing for cities or larger groups of creatures. They're handy for figuring out the answers to complex problems, or to give insight into upcoming ones. Digital magic is often used alongside other magic types as well, used to help bolster or back up claims or information that they may have.

Digital Magic Users can:
-create, shape, and manipulate magical data (spells, runes, etc.)
-use runes as a sort of 'programming language'
-create digital lifeforms through the use of said runes (AI, in a way)
-create personal, digital computers
-manipulate various interfaces and machines
-at high levels, create false temporary realities (AR)

Digital magic expresses itself in a rather unique way. As a user gains proficiency with their magic, metal begins to form on their limbs and tail. This metal is harmless, and bends as easily as a typical limb would. This metal slowly forms into more complex features and shape with time to create organic cybernetics that cannot be easily removed.

Magic Guide:

magic type: hybrid of lightning and metal, and lightning and rune.
magic expression: cybernetics
eyes: always soft gradients made up of three colors - a darker ring, a saturated middle tone, and a paler, bright center. Shape may vary with edits or heterochromia, but is typically circular. Pupil and iris smoothly blend together with no hard edges.

[azemyc]

| Novice |



User can do basic calculations and programming through the use of runes and spells, usually doing things such as day outlooks on the weather, or unlocking simple locking mechanisms. There is no magic expression at this level.



| Advanced |




At this level, a digital magic user can start programming simple machinery and such. The forecasts they give can now go out a few more days, and they're often much more accurate than at the novice level. Users may also start fiddling with more complex programming for other features, or even working on their own complex systems. Magic may begin to display on limited (less than 10%) of a user's body.


| Adept |



At the adept level, users of digital magic have often started to make simple AI and are often not turned away by more complex machinery that needs to be programmed or locks that need to be opened. They are capable of sorting and analyzing large quantities of data. Digital users at the adept level may also start working on synthesizing and mimicking the environment around them, developing their own little 'processing computers' through the use of runic and spell weaving. 20% of a users body may display digital magic.


| Master |




Master digital magic users have perfected their personal 'computer' and often use that to process things and craft new spells and runes instead of doing the work themselves. Instead of focusing on smaller tasks, master digital magic users may focus time on developing their own hard-light AIs, often crafting small critters out of their programming such as dragonflies and squirrels.


| Paragonhood |




Paragon level magic users are capable of creating AI of any shape and size, and often write up programs to handle most, if not all, of their daily tasks. They may even create 'simulation bubbles' to run tests and experiments within without harming the outside world. Their personal computers that they created have almost AI in their own right, and are complex, nearly organic runic and spell based systems.

[azemyc]

Gifts

Virus; Your magic user can replicate and duplicate their own programming code, and can also interfere with other digital user's magic and programming. The amount of replications/duplications a user can create and how long they can interfere with other's is dependent on their level.

Malware; This gift allows your magic user to completely take over other digital user's magic. The duration depends on the level of the user.

Firewall; Your user can use hard light to create a shield around themselves. The size, strength, and duration of said shield depends on your user's level.

Divine Gifts

Overclocked; Your digital magic user can use their magic at frightening speeds not usually obtainable by any other methods. Their programming also can affect other magic than just digital.

Accessories

Cyberthread; A string of spell-woven thread that can store power or act as a channel for programming if needed, and light up in many different colors.

Cooling Fan: It's just a portable little fan to keep your magic user cool when casting spells.

[azemyc]

digital magic has several key themes;

| progress | adaptability | energy | independence |

this opens up several prompt ideas that focus on a cat's journey with this magic type;

1: what was your first experience with digital magic?
2: what is your favorite program you've written so far?
3: have you helped or hindered anyone with your magic?
4: what do you aspire to in the future with your magic?
5: has anything helped you understand your magic further?

[azemyc]

possible/probable alt magic:

I may not have the time to do up a full ref for this possible branching off (nor do I have enough entries left) but I wanted to suggest an alternate (or maybe the main and then this is the alt?) magic to digital magic.

Analog magic.

Better yet, this could be conceptualized as a steampunk aesthetic,
and could be something that would be more lore friendly to some world lore others might have!

I'd be willing to work on this idea in the future too!

[kiwipen]

Congratulations! Your magic was chosen, and you'll be able to keep your entry.

Here is your finalized trait list:

nr: expression edit, eye shape, weight edits, unnatural coat color and markings, accessories
lim: full eye color, fangs/teeth edit,
legend: natural tail alteration, bioluminescence, wings x2, horns, genesplice (antenna), polydactylism (back paw), muzzle edits, shorter fur, height edits, ear type edits, chimera, scales

non-passable: digital magic expression at paragon level


Magic: Digital (Hybrid: Lightning and your choice of Rune or Metal )