How would you react?

Ambriel said:
I’d like to imagine I know how I would react if I suddenly, at 34, got magical abilities. Since there’s no way to actually do a psychological study of an adult human’s reaction to such an event I’m here asking all of you. If you one day realized that you had magic like from The Belgariad, Eragon, Harry Potter, Constantine, or any number of others what would you do? How would you use it? Would you assume you had a purpose and were given it to be a hero?
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In my case , even with the best of intentions , the results would be disastrous for everyone .
 
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Lostinspace said:
Although not exactly following the idea of being completely mundane until discovering you can do magic at 34, Paranoid Mage Chapter 1 - Revelation - Paranoid Mage is fairly close with Callum having seen strange things for as long as he can remember but not realising that he had powers until the start of the story.
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Do you think that’s too similar to my idea? This is a guy who ‘knows’ objectively that magic is only in stories, and the myths and legends are just that. By ‘knows’ I mean has sort of given up on the idea of magic being a real possibility. Then he finds this book and is suddenly able to see different things and finds that depression, though not regularly, can be caused by demons. Potentially other supernatural things could crop up after he gets the book. I haven’t decided yet how world related I want this to go. Since it takes place in America where most cultures of the world are present things could potentially wake up.
 
Ambriel said:
Do you think that’s too similar to my idea? This is a guy who ‘knows’ objectively that magic is only in stories, and the myths and legends are just that. By ‘knows’ I mean has sort of given up on the idea of magic being a real possibility. Then he finds this book and is suddenly able to see different things and finds that depression, though not regularly, can be caused by demons. Potentially other supernatural things could crop up after he gets the book. I haven’t decided yet how world related I want this to go. Since it takes place in America where most cultures of the world are present things could potentially wake up.
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It is not too similar unless some "Guild of Arcane Regulation" tries to immediately seize control of new mages and make them carry out service, which sets off the Paranoid Mage story line. Another difference is that because Callum has always known that he was different, he doesn't have issues with believing magic is real. His problem is that he knows nothing about magical society and yet does not trust them enough to do what he is told.
 
Lostinspace said:
It is not too similar unless some "Guild of Arcane Regulation" tries to immediately seize control of new mages and make them carry out service, which sets off the Paranoid Mage story line. Another difference is that because Callum has always known that he was different, he doesn't have issues with believing magic is real. His problem is that he knows nothing about magical society and yet does not trust them enough to do what he is told.
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Ah okay, I hadn’t dug into reading it yet. Yeah, William Greyson Graham “Grey”, doesn't really think magic exists, and for all intents and purposes it doesn’t. He thinks it’s just something nerds like him dream about every time they read a book or watch a show with magic in it.
 
Ambriel said:
Ah okay, I hadn’t dug into reading it yet. Yeah, William Greyson Graham “Grey”, doesn't really think magic exists, and for all intents and purposes it doesn’t. He thinks it’s just something nerds like him dream about every time they read a book or watch a show with magic in it.
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There have been times in my life where ive wondered if something such as magic could have ever actually existed. What if at one point in our history , it could have existed in some form ? :unsure: Yes, I know how silly this kind of speculation sounds. :(
 
Just a pointer that I've removed a couple of posts where they went directly into politics/social politics, which we don't discuss on chrons, along with a couple of general replies to said posts.
 
Back on track - ancient belief systems that we condemn as superstition and magic were early ways of trying to rationalize the world and existence, nothing ridiculous about them at all.
 
Interesting question.

Depends on the powers. If I had prophetic abilities I'd, ahem, test it on the lottery. Get financially secure. Then, if I could, anonymously provide tip-offs when natural disasters are about to strike.
 
Hmm., interesting thoughts. Why think small? Create your own world/planet/galaxy/ etc. Make yourself the god of the place, set things in motion, & see what happens. Since you are a god, you transcend both time & space, so, you would not have long to wait. You would create the laws of physics for your creation, so there would be nothing there that you dislike. Gravity? do you really want that? You would not even need to learn coding!

Then, there is a sci-fi / fantasy story I saw as a film. The gods decide that this frumpy guy ought to have omnipotence & make it so. The Man Who Could Work Miracles Roland Young in the role of George Worthington Fotheringay is the guy. Hmm., now he has powers, does he wonder why or how? So he amuses the gods for a while & then they decide to remove those powers, without bothering to tell him first. Then there is that TTZ story, with the Pen-Guin (Burgess. Merideth) as the guy in that situation, but space aliens bestow the powers in this case.
Who could ever be sure of such powers, unless one of 'em was omniscience? Still there is that uncertainty
 
paranoid marvin said:
But then you're dealing with dodgy characters who will know other dodgy characters. And who will wonder where you're getting your dodgy gear from, and if they can get some for themselves.

Also as soon as you start spending above your previous mean, it will be noticed by the authorities. Unless you keep you're spending to low amounts, which kind of defeats the point of using your powers to gain wealth.
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You become beholden to the Criminal Underworld and just like that you're a Supervillain
 
Ah, that’s an idea - I’ll become a Supervillain.

Make it widely known that in one years time, a particular major world city would be transformed into a huge lake, with all the accompanying flora and fauna, all buildings and roads vanish, landscaping adjusted to make the lake possible, and so on.
Then everyone living there has got a year to move elsewhere (I’d also provide funds for the move to each who couldn’t otherwise do it)

Then, a year later, when the world sees it happen, I’d repeat the process for the largest cities in every nation (thus ensuring that none get accused of inflicting this on their enemies)

A year later, everyone gets the hint and moves out of all the remaining cities without me having to do owt, and society reverts to smalltown lifestyles.

If there’s a problem with my idea, then MWAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
 
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