Could someone confirm for me how magic works in the DC universe? I'm trying to figure out how significant it is that Renka was able to work this spell. Here's how I'm interpreting things--please correct me if I'm wrong:
Individuals have different affinities, but magic is available to basically anyone. If they'd wanted to, Wally or Artemis could have tried the ritual and had a chance of it working. Whether Greta deigned to respond would depend on a combination of the caster's spiritual nature and the way they presented themselves, but the option would have been there. Renka's polite approach and her extra Ruinous essence give her an edge, but it's not terribly surprising that she's able to do these things. Yay, nay?
So, to follow up on my previous question about DC magic, nobody has contradicted me yet so I'll assume it's close enough?
What I'm wondering now is whether the inherent ability to spellcast is something that Renka could store in a nicrosil mind. She already discussed with Wally the possibility of strategic storing/tapping her feruchemal strength so that difficult feats of feruchemy become easier. Is magical ability in the DC system something she could manipulate that way? If so, that's really useful. Since she isn't usually casting spells, she could spend most of her time storing to build up a charge so that when she needs to she can tap it all at once to enable more powerful spellwork than what she is normally capable of accomplishing.
Whoops, I meant to address your Q the first time, but I think I futzed around and accidentally deleted that part of the quote. Sorry.
So. Regarding magic, Young Justice displays it in the plot, but hasn't defined a lot of the details as of yet.
Word of Greg has said, "I think of magic as the substance and sorcery as the manipulation of that substance. But I'm not sure if we've been terribly consistent about it." That's just semantics, and I'm not sure if I've followed it at all in
Life Ore Death given Ferris's use of the word investiture, but I'll probably have someone bring it up in-universe when the talks get more in-depth.
Beyond that, we can extrapolate a few things about canon from what we see in the show.
- Magic takes training and practice to learn, since Atlantis has a multi-year Academy/Conservatory devoted to the subject, and Zatanna is also still learning.
- Genetic heritage, as well as personal affinity both are beneficial for learning magic. We do not have indications as to when or whether they are necessary for sorcery; Zatanna appears to have inherited her style of magic, and we haven't seen anyone else use it, but she's applied it to other types of spells.
- There are multiple types, sources, and styles of magic, which we've seen can overlap and co-operate. Zatanna applied her personal magic to the ancient Isis ritual, Tula used Babylonian magic to seal Tiamat, Klarion mockingly spoke backwards while casting at her on Roanoke, and chances are the cabal aren't all specifically Chaos mages but they still could co-operate with Klarion to cast the spell that divided the world.
- Magic can be controlled through spoken words, but the specifics can vary: Wotan (supposedly Norse) and Kent Nelson usually use Latin, the Zatara family has backwards talk, and the ritual on Roanoke had them all speaking in German. Powerful users like Klarion and Fate have been shown not using words, but Kent Nelson did, and Klarion did on Roanoke. I think Lori did with the translation spell, but most Atlanteans haven't spoken.
- According to Zatanna, magic users still have to provide the energy to power spell use from somewhere. Usually the user provides the energy, though where they got it from, the possible effects of running out, and how they replace it are left ambiguous. Multiple casters can pool their energy (vis. Roanoke).
- Significant symbols, patterns, and runes have been used in many forms of magic. Kaldur has visible tattoos that glow, while other Atlantis-style users just have similar patterns start glowing on their skin without tattoos (or maybe the tattoos are invisible). Klarion had a geometric pattern circle on Roanoke, a small one briefly formed at his feet while fighting at the Tower of Fate, and almost all of Fate's order spells, as well many of Kent Nelson's, had Ankhs show up. Again, Zatanna mostly hasn't used these, but she did in the temple to Isis when she crashed the Scarabs.
- Unclear if hand gestures are necessary, or just habitual.
- Lastly, objects can possess/bestow inherent magical properties (Sword of Beowulf, glamour charm), can be used to assist the use of magic (water-bearers, Kent Nelson's cane), and/or both. The jewel in Klarion's Roanoke ritual also probably fit in somehow, but the details are indeterminate.
So, there's a lot to work with there, but still some limits. Much of your interpretation looks to be accurate, and given the presence in DC (if not in canon YJ specifically) of anthropomorphic personifications (the Endless) and (
Zeus exists off-screen in Young Justice) divine beings...
Hmm, how do I phrase this?
Okay, I haven't actually seen the MCU Dr. Strange movie, but supposedly the Ancient One has a quote where she compares spell formula controlling reality to computer programs manipulating and altering digital data. I like this.
Beings like the Endless, etc., wouldn't just be more powerful, they'd also have administrator access over certain parts of reality with sub-routines running that humans couldn't handle, and mortal casters would be like people in the Matrix manipulating the digital world.
I'm not sure if magical energy would be better compared to electricity or processing power - both are imperfect metaphors in my opinion - but I hope the comparisons gets the gist across. It's less obvious than in universes like Discworld, but in the Cosmere one use of the word investiture is to describe the basic building block substance the universe; I'm of the opinion it's not too different on Earth-16.
Individual affinities are a matter of them being more closely connected to certain approaches or sources due to their past experiences, mind-set, or personality. So there aren't elemental affinities like in Naruto (unless you practice a style that sets you into an elemental affinity as part of your instruction) and an affinity can change over time as the person changes, but yeah.
'Magic' is theoretically available to everyone, because it's everywhere, in everything, in a bunch of different ways. Baseline humans in particular (though theoretically any extant being, especially sentient & sapient ones, with souls,) have enough excess that they can try to siphon off or scoop up a little and use it in a spell.
If they have an affinity toward whatever it is, that makes the exchange more efficient, so they have enough of the energy at the end to fuel the effect they. If not, it fizzles. Much like muscles develop with exercise, magic gets easier and more efficient with practice.
Runic patterns and spoken words, etc., make it easier by either providing some extra energy or making the transfer of
energy >> magic >> effect more efficient. Significant times and places do the same, maybe by bringing the source metaphysically closer to strengthen the connection (like the astral world & afterlife being closer to the material world around Halloween, so it takes less to link them).
Ergo, yes, Artemis and Wally could have tried the ritual Renka did. Because Artemis had met Secret, interacted with her, and recognized her, they had enough of a connection that it would've worked even without the All Saints' Day timing.
The thinning of the barrier around All Saints' Day meant anyone who wasn't a total amateur and a complete stranger would probably have pulled it off, but only because Greta has been recently active, hasn't crossed over to an afterlife plane yet, etc. Either of them trying it any other time might or might not work, depending on other variables, and if Greta crossed over to an afterlife it would get many times harder.
Renka doing it with her affinities, and her stated respectful presentation, and Artemis & Zatanna nearby to "establish her credentials" would have been overkill if she were an Earth-16 human, but being from Scadrial her meta-physique isn't shaped the exact same way. She still made the minimum threshold, though, but her trying that without any of those elements would have at least 50-50 odds of flopping.
The biggest help was that the ritual was designed to reach Greta, who was inherently magical, and have her do the 'heavy lifting' involved for most of it, since she's better able to. Otherwise... well, there reasons the average person doesn't attend a genuine seance more often. A lot of them fail, and so it's not easily scientifically provable until you get someone who knows what they're doing.
...
No, Ferris is not able to store casting ability in her nicrosil-mind, because it's designed for Cosmere-style abilities and this type of magic didn't exist the same way over there.
That said, there
are tricks she can do and she will be using them when she learns & grows enough. The end result, though, is that outside of feruchemy, Ferris is never going to be a high-powered, flashy evocation style magic user. Which isn't to say she won't have a
lot of options.
She won't exactly be like John Constantine, but their approaches will have more than a few similarities, in terms of bargains, getting other forces to 'foot the bill,' relying on guile & preparation, etc. I've already got an arc or two planned around this.
