Good question, Sui...but, having found this thread now, thanks to you...I cannot resist but share a magic language system story...
In a lesser world, not the main one I'm working on, there are a few sources of "raw" magic which have nothing to do with language, and can be accessed through various means. Long ago, a civilization of magi devised a language in which words referred to different forms of raw magic and ways of accessing/channeling/manifesting them. This was so they could record the ways they used the magics to obtain useful results. At this time, the words themselves had no power; it was just like writing down music--you could "play back" the magic later, if you understood the language and could use all the necessary raw magic.
Because certain combinations of magic were so frequently used in larger spells, shorthand names were developed for these; in fact, many common spells had their own names and were usually referred to by them.
Later, the magi made a big discovery: they could create magical automata that could do magic for them. The automata had no being of their own; they operated on a simple input-output basis. Give a simple magic command, and the automaton would produce a more complex magical response, as essentially "programmed" into it. It turned out, however, that they could be made to recognize physical input, like the press of a button--or even the speaking of a word. It also turned out that they could produce arbitrarily complex responses--even casting a complete spell. Automata were programmed with useful word-spell combination responses and used in houses like appliances...now everyone could benefit from magic!
It occurred to one crazy genius that an automaton, in one of its responses, could include magically constructing and programming another automaton identical to itself. Or several. So, with complex rules on where and where not to construct new automata (it must be a certain depth underground, a certain distance away from the current one, and not if it would fall within the range of another existing automaton, etc.) the self-replicating, spell-casting-appliance automaton was unleashed on the world. If one were to be found and moved, it would self-destruct--and also send a signal which would ensure that another nearby automaton would create a replacement. The result was a nearly undetectable, nearly uneradicable network of automata that would perform spells for whomever knew the appropriate words.
This idea was, of course, used again later for politics and wars and secret societies and the like. Some networks were able to detect and destroy automata of other networks (leading to the probable eradication of the original network). Some networks can have stronger constraints on who could use them--perhaps race checks would be performed before granting the requested spell, perhaps the caster would have to be in physical contact with a special automaton (say, worn as a ring) for the network to respond.
Secretive, defensive networks tended to root out the more benign, available ones. And of course nobody ever released an automaton carrying the complete, original magic language. To do this would be to open up all magic for anyone's use--even the ability to create new self-replicating networks. Raw magic is still available for anyone to use (assuming they can), but now there is great advantage to knowing which networks lie beneath your feet and how to use them (assuming you can).
This is the first time I've hammered this idea out in so much detail! And I just realized that it sounds like an allegory for open-source and proprietary software.
)
That was amazing, Cephron!!!!
