My GLASSBLOWING + Martial Arts MAGIC SYSTEM

I cannot wait for Prince Rupert's grenades

one idea that comes to mind is some wielders using the glass blade as a trickster weapon, blowing a bubble of thin glass shards which look harmless but can cut an artery, doing fakeouts by bending the blade mid strike, melting down other users weapons with the touch to throw off their heat. It definitely has potential to be kinda devious, maybe a fourth style emerged from people outside of the culture surrounding Glasswielding.

Glass based magic is always super fun, and this is such a unique take on the idea

Covering there body with glass would be cool, like armour. Could also mabey like change the shape of the glass i.e extend sword?

I immediately think, "why waste time forming a sword? Why not hit an opponent with a solid ball of hot glass around the fist like knuckledusters?"

I always love ideas about turning concepts on their heads. What would a glass wielding discipline look like if they focused on stillness and meditation rather than the fluidity and motion the other styles exemplify? Would their skill be entirely defensive? Or would they be able to achieve a transcendant clarity, knowing exactly where and when to strike an opponent in a single decisive moment, able to see through their opponents intentions?

The second this book comes out I will buy it

I’ve also been thinking up a glass blowing magic system, but the direction I’m taking it focuses on the magic as a world-defining technology. Glass blowers enchant glass using whispered wishes and control enchanted glass with resonating songs. Enchanted glass is the most dynamic material on the planet and dominates both architecture and the battlefield. It can be harder than steel or bounce like rubber, all depending on how it’s enchanted. It can create illusions of light and sound, change temperature, or change form, but enchantments are always stuck within the glass. Light in the cities is always cast in a thousand different colors, refracting through the endless hues of glass which make up every building, bridge, and street side food stand. The homes of the rich are lit by glowing glass orbs, their food cooked on magically-heating glass stoves, and their closets filled with robes of silky, flowing glass. Battlefields are covered with the technicolor shards of weapons and armor, which are fragile once they’ve shattered and their enchantment have evaporated. I want the magic system to also have a big focus on illusion, but the whole thing is very early! Anyways, what’s amazing about human creativity is that two people can both think, “WOW, that’s cool, I want to write about that,” and then take it in two very different directions. I’m very excited to read your book when it comes out! I’m a very new writing hobbyist and my glass blowing magic system isn’t one I plan to write for a while. So what I’m trying to say is that I’m glad I’ll get to read yours!!

creating shapes out of glass quickly to physically alter the context of the battle would be interesting. binding somebodys arms with glass would definitely cause some disorientation, and a makeshift shield would be effective as well since glass is lightweight

Would a Glass-Wielder ever reform their weapon mid fight? I imagine that Michelle Yeoh fight in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you showed but instead of weapons breaking, both constantly reform their weapon to gain an advantage. And the fight ends with the room starting to frost over from the combatants absorbing so much of the ambient heat to reform the siraglass

You are so creative it's astonishing

I think an intresting consequence of how you have defined this system, is that easiest way for someone with the Touch to use thier power in combat is just to fight hand to hand with blisteringly hot fists, which while effective against most people wouldn't be much better then a normal fist fight against another person with the Touch. This implies to me that Glass-Wielding might have been developed by Touch havers to fight other Touch havers. Which give an intresting way for the culture around the art to develop. One example is that somone who causes direct burns with thier Touch could be seen as unrefined and barbaric or inversly some might place a taboo on drawing a glass blade on anyone who's not a glass wielder.

Make your protagonist someone who uses a trumpet. The abilities could translate to the magic.

Never seen something like this before. Very unique

Maybe a glass wielder could quicken the degrading of an opponent's weapon. Maybe the glass cools at different rates as your making it so one part of it is weaker than another. Volcanos and hot-springs could become highly contested natural resources. Maybe there are different qualities of glass and different glass recipes. Smaller weapons seem easier to make compared to larger weapons, but an army with spears probably beats an army with daggers.

This magic system i really cool, well balanced and has room for growth. To touch on the styles in the video you mainly focused on the uses of the glass in blade format, which gives room for loads of varents from a long tachi to short stilleto, curved blades and ripply ones. I heard someone in the comments mention a trickster class, expanding on that idea the weielder could also carry smaller orbs of glass that could be molded into shurikens or making quick barriers, obviously they would relaivetly small in a fight but wit prep time comes more versatility like setting traps.

I love this so much. I'm incredibly angry thst I've procrastinated so long on making my own stories; worlds of mine that started out totally unique are now drowned iut by dozens like them. I'm very interested to see where this world goes, keep us posted.

Hey all, Thank you for the fantastic comments as always -- I'm in agreement about the AI images. Poor decision to fill the space -- I highly value real artistry but have limited images. Next time, I'll just keep it to the talking head. I went ahead and made another video, unlisted, with the AI removed, mostly for my own conscience ha. You can see it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v63r9uPEIWI

I'd be really interested to see a bit more variation in the glassblowing "forms". You introduced them really well in the video, but I think it would also be cool if the time and effort put into the glass weapon impacted it's strength or effectiveness. Maybe the glassblowers had to maintain a sort of "balance" between how frequently they re-made their weapons (therefore making it stronger) and the quality of the weapons (whether they can use them to actually do damage to their opponent). Additionally, this also makes size a factor. If you want to create something really big, you need a lot of time, and this could play into a "team build" where one strong glassblower takes time to forge a powerful weapon (maybe for teammates too) while the others are protecting him with small, frequently remolded weapons. This could both enhance your current styles of glassblowing (Which, by the way, I thought were REALLY cool), and also maybe spark some more creativity in that brilliant mind of yours c: Also, how would glassblowers get access to glass during a battle? If they were suddenly ambushed, would they have a weapon on hand, or a ball of glass that they had to quickly re-mold, or would they store molten glass somewhere in a hot container? Is it possible for these glassblowers to "steal" glass from their opponents to use in their own weapons? So many questions that this magic system has sparked, and I'm excited to buy the book as soon as it comes out.

An interesting Idea would be the amount of heat each glasswielder can put out; this could effect the martial arts-form they use (example: people who can put out more heat use the slither-form) and it could also be an indicator on how proficiet a glasswielder is (form differ in expression and difficulty)