Building a magic system on threat of destruction

Deis returned to find the scum talking to floating pieces of status screen. Had Jack finally lost it? Just as Deis was about to appear and berate the man, the pieces of screen began to move by themselves. Deis watched in horror as the small creations floated over to the status pages and merged with them.

He appeared immediately. What have you done? What are those monstrosities?

Jack turned and smiled at Deis, "This is our answer to automation. They can monitor people through the screens and update everything by themselves."

How did you even do this? The screens shouldn't be able to act on their own

"I'm...not really sure," Jack admitted. "I was thinking about making a solution and one of these formed out of the screen pieces I was using."

One of the butterflies floated up and flew around Deis before going back to the screen it had been sitting on. Deis observed them more carefully. They were an offshoot of the magic he had created, given intent and basic understanding. It was an advanced application of the magic he had created, something far beyond the scum's ability to produce. Had it truly been an accident? Deis eyed Jack critically, could this scum be more capable than he was letting on? Then he scoffed, of course not. This person from another world was nothing more than a temporary inconvenience, soon to be removed.

...Well regardless, I have some time to discuss these 'stats'

"Oh perfect! Did you see any of the tests we did with the [Power] stat?" Jack asked excitedly.

I did not. Describe them to me

Deis would not admit to Jack that the scum could not be watched while on the surface of Drowl. The man was a blind spot to Deis, one which the god hoped to remove soon.

Jack explained how the group had categorized themselves and then detailed the accident where his arms had snapped off. Deis listened to that last part with glee. If the scum kept treating his body with such recklessness, then he would be much easier to dispose of. But for now, he focused on the issue at hand. You are attempting to build a scale and then place everyone on the said scale? Why go to all that trouble?

"All that trouble? Deis, I need to know what numbers people have in each category. Then we can work on how much each increase in the stat will do."

Why record their starting numbers at all? I assumed that those sections would only contain the increases I bestow upon the people.

Jack paused, seemingly lost in thought. Deis idly wondered if having numerical lists for every person in his world would be more beneficial. He supposed it could give legitimacy to people. He thought of little Mecho, who was so smart even if no one believed in her. He thought of Ravian, who was always getting sick because of her failing constitution. If these things could be easily seen and examined, then people might become more aware of problems. Perhaps it was a good idea.

Jack seemed to be about to speak before Deis cut him off. I have considered the issue. I will create a baseline of numbers to be applied.

Jack looked stunned and Deis grew annoyed. Did he truly consider the High Deity to be so lacking in decorum and power? Examining a random status screen, Deis eyed the stats section. [Power] was easy enough, many early experiments had given an adequate understanding of how to arrange things. He mentally beheld every resident of his perfect world and assigned them a value between one and forty based on their capability. The one-through-twenty system Jack had created was far too limiting. The wider he made the categories the less variance there would be between numbers. There would be variance of course, not everyone at ten [Power] would be perfectly equal in strength, but they would be similar. Each numerical increase in [Power] represented around thirty pounds. There were residents of Drowl who could lift over one thousand pounds, but most could not do so without magical support.

Deis noted that the [Skill] stat had been changed to [Technique]. It was a better name, but Deis treated it similarly in purpose. The stat was meant to measure how well someone could utilize their strength, or even just use their body without strength. It was truly a deep concept, but Deis was confident he could create a standard. He closely examined acrobats, artisans, chefs, caligraphers, and many others who possessed fine control over their bodies. He created another scale, this one far less rigid than [Power] had been. He placed every person he ruled over on the scale and found the sections he would define as numbers. He assigned these values to each resident of his world. An increase in [Technique] would mean a notable difference in form and ability. Lines would be drawn straighter, blades would cut better, and balance would be found more easily...but only by a fraction.

[Intelligence] seemed to be more about learning. A person's ability to absorb and retain information. Things like memorizing long passages of stories, learning to do something after being shown once, or recalling information learned long ago. There was some level of application to magic as well. Longer recitations of rituals, the proper forms and movements, and quickly bringing to mind the spell needed for each situation. For this stat, Deis peered into the minds of all of his followers. Those who retained information more easily would have the highest numbers, while those who allowed things to slip away would fall lower on the scale.

[Wisdom] was about comprehension. By examining concepts and objects in various ways, it becomes possible to gain more insight into it's nature. Things like meditation, analysis, experimentation, and learning were all parts of this stat. It was the process of out-of-the-box thinkers, people who did not accept the short and sweet answers. Common to researchers, writers, artists, monks, and children. [Wisdom] was the enemy of simple thinking, and Deis looked for a way to create a scale for it. This was the most abstract stat so far, and Deis found it difficult to measure in his people. However, he noticed that most inhabitants of Drowl had a polarizing relationship between [Intelligence] and [Wisdom]. There were exceptions, but it would have to do for now. Deis formed a similar scale that was close to the opposite of [Intelligence].

Both [Fortitude] and [Toughness] both had measurable elements. A person's predisposition to getting sick or suffering from harmful curses and other magic was something he paid close attention to even before the system. The scale was easy to make. [Toughness] was more intellectual, it was simply about math. How much poundage and pressure could a person's body take before it would break? Some people had stronger 'skin' and some people had stronger 'bones'. He thought of them as skin and bones, but there were exceptions to that of course, such as the bore-bot who had neither. Well, it was simple enough to make a mathematical scale and place people on it.

That left [Charisma]. Deis felt that this stat was...difficult. Where Jack had broken down different aspects of a person into something that could be measured by a stat number, this was far too open-ended. Deis made an executive decision and edited the stat himself. He separated it into [Influence] and [Empathy].

[Influence] was a person's ability to express themselves in different ways. Things like explanation, lying, begging, seducing, and even just being in a room. This was the outward expression of what a person did. People like actors, orators, monarchs, and generals would have high levels of [Influence}, needing to be respected and heard while also being loved or feared.

[Empathy] was a person's ability to notice and react to others. A person with high empathy can read other people's intentions and gain an understanding of them. They can also resist the influence of someone trying to manipulate them. Not magically, of course, it would be closer to turning down a job opportunity from a superior at work because you know they have bad intentions toward you. Spotting lies, having gut feelings about people that turn out to be true, knowing when someone is hurt even when they try to hide it, or even feeling someone direct harmful intent at you.

Once the two stats were separated, Deis felt more confident in their functions. He once again placed people on an imaginary scale based on their life experiences and assigned them numbers. Once he finished, he carefully examined every status screen to ensure that someone hadn't been misplaced. After fixing a few outliers or deciding that someone deserved a six instead of a seven, Deis felt satisfied.

About ten seconds had passed since Deis had made his declaration. I have finished

"What?" Jack stared at him slack-jawed. "What do you mean you finished? It's only been a couple of seconds."

The experiments you explained to me granted great insight into the problem. By hearing the opinions of those participating I was able to determine a fair metric for stats

Jack began pouring through the stat screens available to him, looking over numbers and mentally comparing the people he had met. Deis watched him, half amused and half annoyed. It was amusing to see the scum learn his place as completely inferior to Deis, but it was annoying that Jack felt the need to check all the god's work.

"This is awesome! We'll need to be careful about gifting out stats though, especially the mental ones. After what happened to my arms, I would hate for anything bad to happen to anyone because they don't know any better."

For now, there is no way to gain additional stats. It is a consideration for the future. I believe you should focus on these...butterflies for now. Make one for every status screen

Jack looked up in a panic at Deis but the god had vanished already, feeling pleased that Jack would have to do so much work.

Work got a lot easier for Jack once he figured out that he could attach his keyboard to a butterfly and then just keep pressing Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v. He just had to do that thousands of times. He sighed. This realm was soul-crushing, there was nothing to look at, no people to talk to, and nothing to do. He was stuck here for at least another day until his body was ready again, and with his keyboard in use, he couldn't even try to test out skills.

He idly thought about his situation. Deis had implemented stats across the whole world in seconds, even fixing the now defunct [Charisma] stat. If all of Jack's work could be completed that quickly, just by giving Deis insight into the experiments, he would need to be careful to not make himself obsolete. He looked at his own status screen, butterflies flocking to and from it in droves as most of the world's screens weren't here yet. He examined the race section. It was still Earth human, he hadn't been able to bring himself to change it yet.

Fully accepting that he had become a spirit...he wasn't sure what that might do to him. He was scared, but he might have to try it. He hadn't seen any spirit-related skills on status screens, nor had he seen status screens for spirits. It was possible that they could do interesting or powerful things that could help his situation. He mulled it over for the better part of an hour before deciding to try it. His being human wasn't providing him any real benefit aside from familiarity. He could put up with a bit of discomfort if it meant possibly getting more options to survive.

He disconnected his keyboard from the butterfly and plugged it into his screen. Before he could change his mind, he quickly typed 'spirit' into the race section. There was a sudden and powerful change as Jack felt like he was suddenly weightless. Vertigo overtook him and he felt panic rise up within his body. Except...he didn't have a body. The feeling vanished like smoke and Jack felt fine. He looked up and was shocked to find a person staring him in the face.