Quimi

Today's challenge is all about the "speculative element", as the challenge generically puts it. ~Magic~ :D

I already know that I'm writing fantasy, and I have a few magical elements that are definitely in the story: the crystals, and whistling. Yes, whistling. Basically, magic — or holy powers or whatever— break down into light and sound. The crystals are the most obvious way for humans to harness the mystical powers of light, but not the only way. And while only certain people can pull off the whistling magic, there's a lot of superstition and religious dislike of it— temples generally go for singing and chants and orisons.

What if time!

~What if people tried to use something else to refract light mystically? Other items can be used: glass, ice, even water, fire instead of sunlight, but the results are often.... unpredictable. Natural selection has taken care of many who liked to experiment, and currently most people tend to stick with what works; which is why most of the crystals are used solely for light and heat.

~What if people tried to combine sound and light magic? ....Yeah, that's so going into the book. ^.^ It is less random than, say, water/light magic, but also incredibly complex. If you don't know exactly what you're doing... well, you better hope a god is watching over you.

~What if the Ancient Culture had a much firmer grip on these magics? OMG YES ANCIENT TOMES FTW. *cough* Yes, yes, they did. Very high level of mystical technology OMG CRYSTALPUNK. XD *coughahem* Anyway. But it follows then that the Division/Cataclysm that destroyed the culture was more than a mere earthquake: it would have had to disrupt the magic itself, or kill most of the mages/mystics.... or else it was caused by the mystics, which has led to a deep distrust of it, that's only beginning to ease up? *ooooooooooooohs*

~What can the magic actually do? ..........What are you doing here without an if? Bah, you don't count! Shoo! >.>;;;; ...........Okay, okay. Um. Well, the crystals are basically concerned with absorbing and emitting stuff... whistling can "call" things, even things that aren't normally called... I suppose it could banish stuff, too. It may have started as a way to banish (and/or control?) demons, actually. Light can also protect from demons; its effects are often very insubstantial, which many people think means symbolic or fake. Not the same thing at all.

~What are these demons, anyway? Hey, didn't you hear what I said to the other question? Come back when you've found yourself an if! >.>;;