Valiant Horizon, Magic, Nature, and the Elements

February 7, 2025

In Valiant Horizon, crystals and the magic from them are a big part. Drilling further into that, though, magic itself is further expressed through the 4 -Magus classes. Each of those represents one of the 4 elements. Why is it like that and where did I go with this?

Crystals and Magic #

Crystals in Valiant Horizon hold the souls of ancient heroes. This is one of the handful of setting elements explicitly expressed that the game is written around: it serves as the foundation for player characters. Crucially, a crystal is the source of all magic in the game, as lesser magic is intended to come from the souls of less prominent but still powerful heroes.

So the 12 classes are different kinds of heroes. Many of these are pretty standard martial fare: Berserker, Knight, etc. There are 4 classes specifically designated as -Magus. In my first drafts, these 4 held some very familiar-looking elemental names:

• Airmagus
• Earthmagus
• Firemagus
• Watermagus

3/4 of those have different names in the current version. So where did they end up and why?

Magic and Nature #

One thing I wanted to emphasize, for fantasy and gameplay purposes, was a distinction between magic and martial. General vibe aside, there’s two kinds of damage in the game, Weapon and Magical. The distinction is going to be noticed a round into combat. But whenever you make that distinction, you have to ask “why” and “what are you saying with this”.

I feel like a lot of standard “adventure” fantasy (yeah ok I mostly mean D&D but you know the type in general) posits martial as the default/natural outcome, with magic as a secondary/unnatural thing. Given the prominence of crystals in the setting, that seemed backwards. So one of my goals here is that I want to emphasize their connection to the world and nature. This is why I started with elements: those have some concept of being…well, elemental! And especially fundamental

So as a starting point most got renames. Earthmagus stayed as-is because it works well for these purposes: it’s the magus who cares best about soil. But Airmagus, Firemagus, and Watermagus became Windmagus, Blazemagus, and Frostmagus. Each of these has a little more specificity that brings it to some kind of natural phenomenon.¹

Part of each class’s entry is the Tale you tell when you choose them. In Valiant Horizon, each player defines their character’s patron hero’s defining moment, and then unravels more about them over time. As such, each class has a few sample Tales - both so people can riff on them and to help convey what I’m describing. Each -magus class has at least one that portrays that character as someone in context of nature:

• The reluctant miner who grew to respect the wonder of the caves.
• A flame-wounded forest staunched and healed by its reluctant warden.
• The farmer who used their knowledge of soil to save the village’s crop.
• The friendly loner who joined a flock of birds and became their leader.

Nature and Community #

Beyond that, I wanted to emphasize that this isn’t a situation where nature and society are at odds. Crystals are supposed to be passed-down heroes: this is inherently a social thing that assumes a culture of passing down wisdom from one generation to the next. So not only are these magi intended to be natural, nature is more in tune with community than not. If anything, not using normal² magic is less natural and social!

So to emphasize this, I threaded a few of those same Tales in with regards to community as well, protecting it from direct or indirect threat or trying to help someone in particular:

• The encroaching darkness, and the bold magus who held it back.
• The stern sage who kept their village’s hearth lit, no matter the cost.
• The kindhearted recluse who diverted a mountain rockslide to save a town.
• The farmer who used their knowledge of soil to save the village’s crop.
• The traveler who sailed to the farthest north shore to heal their beloved.
• The far-ranging nomad who eventually found a place to call home.

The “martial” classes (Berserker, Knight, Champion, et al) typically have more martial-oriented tales. But these elemental magi are intentionally closer to both the populace and to nature.

Community and Anti-Crystals #

These magi need to also be put in context of things that explicitly oppose both nature and community.

Fragmented souls are the idea of souls not engaged in this act of ancestral trade and community, but intentionally or unintentionally split apart and merged together into something more dangerous. Only one Class touches these, the Dark Knight: as you can guess by the title, they’re meant to be a little “off” or slightly compromised. Crucially, two of the three kinds of listed threats involve them:

• Fragmented horrors are either natural things twisted by fragmented souls or things brought to life in confusing, angry form - basically undead in the standard fantasy formulation. This puts them both in opposition to nature and in opposition to community.
• The Empire³ explicitly manufactures synthetic crystals using fragmented souls, threatening both nature and community by continuing to perpetuate them and engaging in expansionism by using those mishandled resources.

Therefore, the elemental theme tying in with nature and community is reinforced by everything those magi aren’t.

Conclusion #

Even something as simple as elements can have deeper resonance if you’re trying. Think about what you introduce into a game, setting, etc and what it says - and what it leaves quiet.

Written for Prismatic Wasteland’s Blog Bandwagon, Feb 2025.

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