How did fantasy medieval people gain superpower?

[NotaNuffian]

So thanks to JRPG and chinese fuckshits, when I tried to write a western medieval fantasy BS where the MC somehow gain superpower to bla bla bla, i find myself either tilted to murder = EXP (LitRPG), martial schools (wuxia/ 低武 low level martial arts), find an artifact (MC route),

When I think about how peasants gain power, all I could think of are either English translated from chinese BS, Lit fucking RPG, or straight up none, where only the people of power have the right to more power. The peasants can go eat shit.

I get the term 穷文富武, bascially just means that those who are resourceful gets to fuck while those who are not gets fucked.

 

[SailusGebel]

 

[Ai-chan]

How?

God.

Gods.

Leprechauns.

Dwarves.

Frogs.

Wolves.

Fairies.

 

[WingsOfPhantasy]

Magic flows all through our world, young one.
And with great power comes great responsibility
So when the time is right, you shall be taught how to harness it.
Such is the coming of age ritual for our small town, and many similar to it.
-insert evil wizard darklord destroying MC's village to stop the prophecy but ends up starting it anyways-

 

[Corty]

Sell your soul to the devil and become a warlock.
Drink magical potion to get zippity-zappy powers.
Fake it 'till you make it.
Be medieval batman aka, rich.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Ok, so it is going to school again.

Also, might be like xianxia BS where aptitude is important.

How?

God.

Gods.

Leprechauns.

Dwarves.

Frogs.

Wolves.

Fairies.

So via magical contracts?

Knowing how feudalistic medieval is, I can already half bet that the nobles are outlawing it while doing it themselves.

Magic flows all through our world, young one.
And with great power comes great responsibility
So when the time is right, you shall be taught how to harness it.
Such is the coming of age ritual for our small town, and many similar to it.
-insert evil wizard darklord destroying MC's village to stop the prophecy but ends up starting it anyways-

Same as @SailusGebel but with the added rite of ritual for coming age.

Sell your soul to the devil and become a warlock.
Drink magical potion to get zippity-zappy powers.
Fake it 'till you make it.
Be medieval batman aka, rich.

Warlock is a definite must, especially for those peasants who want power.

All these are amazing, I completely neglected the coming of age ritual because the thing does not suit my plot.

So far, joining a school/ sect is the only way for peasants to gain power.

 

[Raymann]

How peasant get powers?

By shouting out loud.

(*political jokes not included)

 

[J_Chemist]

Agreed. If you lack the resources, it's "Get fucked" for the maggots.

However, then you have random MCs like Asta from Black Clover. Dude has zero magic in a magic world and physically works out until he's a problem. Then he gets lucky with the cursed tome. Ignoring the cursed tome, Asta sets himself up for success as an individual who could potentially do something through sheer power and will alone, even if he's got nothing but the clothes on his back. Change the story a bit more to remove the magic barrier, throw in the capability to fight and survive with swords/shields/hands, and you have a character that grinds from nothing to something.

It follows the LitRPG foundation of EXP Grinding, but there isn't much else for the typical lower mutts. If you take away the ability to grow/develop and put it into more Real World terms, then you have an impossible task ahead of you.

Somewhat. See when you take out all of the magic, exp, and RPG bullshit you get something like Castlevania. Monsters and beasts and all other kinds of shenanigans plastered about the world just waiting for a Belmont to come take a swing at them. As a typical pheasant in this world, you have a low but possible chance to become well known and powerful. Belmonts don't have super powers, they have knowledge and tools. They use their knowledge and tools to overcome the challenges that monsters bring to the fight. Which means, if the Belmonts (who are normal humans) can do it, technically anyone can do it. So long as they can read and are lucky enough to survive a few gambles, they'll gradually develop the knowledge needed to become a well known Monster Hunter. Not on the scale of a Belmont but something good enough to make a living.

The issue then becomes other jobs and career options- there aren't any. Monster Hunting would be the only "easy" way to fame that a person could take should they start from nothing. Other career choices would require generational investments. It won't be the MC who reaps the rewards, but their great grandchildren at that point.

 

[TotallyHuman]

Back during what you children call the medieval times, usually peasants gained supernatural powers by selling their souls to the devil. Usually it involved a witch as an intermediary.
In rarer cases, it was due to being given a holy mission. Usually holy missions were given to those mandated to rule, so a commoner very rarely did get such a mission. Still happened, especially during holy wars.
Worship of pagan gods was a known way to get such powers but in those times it was better to sell one's soul.
Ah, also becoming a vampire, werewolf etc.

But really, irl getting supernatural power for an ordinary person is definitely not worth it. It's not just getting fucked, it is getting gangedbanged in a rough neighbourhood with a high rate of HIV for 20 bucks level fucked.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I forgot to add.

Joining the fucking army, miraculously live for a decade or two, get to learn knight's breathing technique which is either just a strength booster, hamon or completely the fucking Kimetsu no Yaiba treatment.

 

[whitewoman]

We're all super in our own way, but even if you're not super alone, you are together.

 

[J_Chemist]

I forgot to add.

Joining the fucking army, miraculously live for a decade or two, get to learn knight's breathing technique which is either just a strength booster, hamon or completely the fucking Kimetsu no Yaiba treatment.

You forget, most knights were nobles because only nobles could afford armor. Peasants barely had any equipment and were given the bare minimum or, if they were lucky, hand-me-downs.

 

[NotaNuffian]

You forget, most knights were nobles because only nobles could afford armor. Peasants barely had any equipment and were given the bare minimum or, if they were lucky, hand-me-downs.

I was quoting a CN work that I dropped within 30 chapters because of how word heavy it was.

Also, like you said, peasants are cannon fodders and MC was one of them. But he was really lucky that he joined an army that bothered to fit him with good equipment and fed him.

Even luckier was when his entire platoon got wiped but he escaped by being lightly wounded but hidden in the pile of corpses that the enemies did not bother to lit up.

And his luck peaked when his centurion liked him enough to teach him glimpse of the knight's breathing method aka qi cultivation.

 

[BlackKnightX]

bascially just means that those who are resourceful gets to fuck while those who are not gets fucked.

Which side are you?

 

[J_Chemist]

I was quoting a CN work that I dropped within 30 chapters because of how word heavy it was.

Also, like you said, peasants are cannon fodders and MC was one of them. But he was really lucky that he joined an army that bothered to fit him with good equipment and fed him.

Even luckier was when his entire platoon got wiped but he escaped by being lightly wounded but hidden in the pile of corpses that the enemies did not bother to lit up.

And his luck peaked when his centurion liked him enough to teach him glimpse of the knight's breathing method aka qi cultivation.

Sounds like a lot of "luck" bullshit that wouldn't actually happen. Mf would be a corpse in a pile after all that mess. He's got more luck than a Guardsman in 40k.

 

[PeacefulMyst]

sex

 

[NotaNuffian]

Which side are you?

Goatsying.

Sounds like a lot of "luck" bullshit that wouldn't actually happen. Mf would be a corpse in a pile after all that mess. He's got more luck than a Guardsman in 40k.

Yup.

sex

That is one. But how, seduce a partner stronger than oneself?

 

[CamRoze]

Okay, here are some rather different ideas for you, seeing as I haven't read them yet.

1) Magic is effective for certain races only, because of their relation to the natural life of the world, for example, a fae or even a forestling.
2)Magic exists in everyone, some more talented than others, though the strength of the will or emotion dictates their innate magical ability.
3) Accidental Magic is an example of another way. take for example the spider-man scenario, or even the hulk. I know, very big examples, but it is true enough.
4) Talisman's are often used to increase ones ability to channel magic. for some places it is a matter of having ancient talismans or items that old enchanters would have made.
5) Their magic is not knowing they have magic. They are utterly oblivious to the existence for magic due to some sort of religious or monarch oppression.
6) Certain languages are magical and so magic could only be used within those languages.

These are just ideas of how to throw a bit of extra flavor to the rules of a magic system. I hope this helps.

Okay, here are some rather different ideas for you, seeing as I haven't read them yet.

1) Magic is effective for certain races only, because of their relation to the natural life of the world, for example, a fae or even a forestling.
2)Magic exists in everyone, some more talented than others, though the strength of the will or emotion dictates their innate magical ability.
3) Accidental Magic is an example of another way. take for example the spider-man scenario, or even the hulk. I know, very big examples, but it is true enough.
4) Talisman's are often used to increase ones ability to channel magic. for some places it is a matter of having ancient talismans or items that old enchanters would have made.
5) Their magic is not knowing they have magic. They are utterly oblivious to the existence for magic due to some sort of religious or monarch oppression.
6) Certain languages are magical and so magic could only be used within those languages.

These are just ideas of how to throw a bit of extra flavor to the rules of a magic system. I hope this helps.

In Addition, another atypical ruleset i see for magic systems is using the occult as a source for material.

 

[Lloyd]

The story I'm working on is based loosely on Christian theology, were humans are sometimes born with blessings from God which allow them to perform miracles. Blessings can also be granted later in life by holy artifacts or by the pope.
Conversely, magic is the work of demons and is invoked through rituals, contracts, and other nefarious means.

 

[PeacefulMyst]

That is one. But how, seduce a partner stronger than oneself?

oh you can get real creative with it. Certain race of people that grant magical powers from sex. And then I suppose lets say those powers can be passed on by sex (eventually becoming diluted and bad, making that generation have to fuck them again). IF the powers don't pass on, I guess the race can be like put into each town and people from nearby go there to fuck them for their powers. Although I guess that's kind of evil. they will escape. So we, as the author, then make it so they cant use their abilities. And they are immortal. With their one purpose in life being sex.

or the parent pass it to the offsprings by... well... sex.

And of course, your idea can be applied too. Lets say there existed a race that passed down magic to weaker humans by sex, but they couldn't actually reproduce and eventually got extinct when their lifespan got over. However, during that, the human bodies got used to a higher being pushing in their magic and evolved to gain magical abilities that way, maybe the race knew of it and banned it since it was sacrilegious. But after they went extinct, the humans started bestowing magical abilities amongst themselves by sex.

Alternatively, Maybe the race fucked only the starting humans and they passed down their magic to weaker humans by sex ever since. You can also separate the abilities into tiers. Maybe each tier gives you further insight into magic and allows you to wield it more efficiently. And of course, to advance through this tier, you have to fuck stronger, higher tier humans.

You can balance this out by making it so that they cannot fuck over and over again, this should produce a threat of extinction that needs to be resolved in the story. Easily giving you an antagonist in the very beginning. The law of nature itself.

You can also go simple, adam and eve but weird route, where god fucked two people and they got magical powers, then those two fucked each other and the powers passed on. But that's boring!

A better, simple sex route will be that whenever someone gets of certain age (or when their born....) an eldritch-esque god fucks them and they gain magical powers.

This however, can quickly get really weird. But who cares about that? the only limitation is your imagination!