Micamo wrote:The boson explanation raises a few questions.
- How, exactly, does this new "Manon" interact with other particles? If the answer to this question is merely "however I say so" then we're back to the midi-chlorians problem.
- How does the soul "control" manons?
- The most natural explanation is that the soul interacts with manons using the same field interaction rules used when manons interact with anything else, but this raises another question: What exactly is the soul made of?
- For that matter, what's Mana made of? Why does it form a soul when it finds a self-conscious being? How does it even recognize consciousness from non-consciousness?
Personally, I think these questions are harder to ignore when you give your system the pretense of a quantum-mechanical explanation. When I hear a writer start talking about particles and field interactions I expect them to have at least a nominal level of respect for the hard work and theoretical rigor that goes into actual quantum science. When they don't, I instantly lose respect for the story.
I have decided what ways the mana can be manipulated, i.e. what types of magic are possible, but I can't think of any way a boson could behave appropriately, but then, I can't think of anything that would behave this way. Magic is supernatural after all, so at some point I’m going to have to introduce some amendments to natural law.
As for control, the intent was semi-inspired by the measurement problem, where it seems that particles are 'aware' of some method of measurement occurring, but to a much greater degree, such that they could be manipulated by thought alone, which would be a property unique to manons. Again though, even if I don't use bosons, I'd have to answer this question.
My intent was that whatever causes a being to achieve self-awareness would react strangely with the mana, so the mana would acquire a 'shape' that could persist as a sort of capsule for the being's mind. i.e. souls are mana. This shape could persist after death, but is more likely to dissolve back into shapeless mana.
The idea is that magic is supposed to be the name for some fundamental property of nature, like electricity; electrons move-> electricity. My problem is what ‘moves’ to create magic. Whatever I decide, I’ve given to it the name ‘mana’. The name could be anything, but the problem still exists that I have no idea what it should be.
I will note that, due to the setting, quantum mechanics isn't going to arise, but I would like something to fall back on as a system, otherwise it really will be a case of 'because I said so' regardless of how consistent I am.
Further, I am aware of the level of work required to study quantum mechanics, but if it isn’t quantum mechanics that I have to ‘streamline’ then it’ll be something else; I’m not omniscient.
This whole post just highlights the problem; what is magic?
I want to include it because it does shape a large part of the culture and conflict in the story, but it's looking like I'm just going to have to say, "Magic is magic. Stop asking questions."