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In my fantasy world, trees inhabit the magic that flows through all life. This magic contains the energy of both earth (roots) and air (branches), foregrounding the balance that is needed in both people and animals.

The magic flows from the trunk, up into the branches and into the atmosphere, where it passes through all life (and humans can utilise this energy to their advantage), and back into the roots for use again--it's like a cycle.

If someone were to cut down these trees, what would happen to the magic flowing through it? Does it disperse into the atmosphere, would magic still flow through it? The tree no longer has the balance of earth and air, since the branches are non-existent. So would the tree just die and become unusable? Or would it possess qualities which ensures it grows back its branches rapidly after?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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    $\begingroup$ Hi, Faeology. Unfortunately, there is no single authority on how magic works because it's different in every story. This is your story, so you get to set the rules. When inventing your rules, look for ways that working within/around the rules can interact with whatever storyline you make, because it makes for more interesting story telling. Unfortunately, the answer to your question would be purely opinion-based, so it makes a poor Stack Exchange question. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Rapplean
    Commented Jul 14, 2023 at 16:53
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    $\begingroup$ I'll give you my perspective in a comment. Your model sounds a lot like the water cycle, so let's start there. When you cut down a tree, you're stopping the flow, but some of the magic remains with in the tree. The lower part of the tree wouldn't be cut off. The branches can defend themselves with what little they have left, but the roots can act independently. You have to identify what actions the magic allows them to take. Once separated, long sections of wood would still be able to conduct magic. You need to decide on the nature of the magic for anything more. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Rapplean
    Commented Jul 14, 2023 at 17:24
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    $\begingroup$ In a real tree, water actually is sucked up from the leaves. It may be that magic works that way in your world so that, without the branches, the roots have no way of drawing magic from the earth. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Rapplean
    Commented Jul 14, 2023 at 17:26
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    $\begingroup$ Just to clarify, since Robert's first sentence in his last comment could be misinterpreted as meaning "the plants suck up water from the atmosphere into themselves using their leaves", plants need their leaves to be able to suck up water from the soil through their roots. The process is called transpiration, if you would like to google further. $\endgroup$
    – M S
    Commented Jul 14, 2023 at 19:56
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    $\begingroup$ I suppose it's worth commenting that you should probably first consider an actual tree where the "magic" is life. Much like an actual tree, the root system may bring forth new branches, depending on the species, and severed branches may grow new roots - but time is of the essence as it is cut off from water, nutrients and its energy supply, and external things like rooting hormones may be required to stimulate regrowth. $\endgroup$
    – Wyck
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 2:40

3 Answers 3

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This is YOUR Fantasy world and YOU can state rules as you please, of course.

If I were in your place I would see two "logical" ways to handle situation:

  • tree dies and the area becomes a place with "less magic" available; each tree would have an average area where its magic spreads and magic available is the sum of all magic emitted by trees "within reach"; if too many are cut out the area becomes "non magic".

  • roots keep being alive (for a while or permanently) but they cannot release their magic to air through branches and thus it spills on the ground and becomes water magic (burning branches you could get the fire magic, if useful in your narration).

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  • $\begingroup$ Ooo these are really useful ideas, thank you so much! I'm aware it's my fantasy world, but I've honestly been stuck on this single aspect for a while, and thought it would be good to hear other people's views on it. Thank you again, I really like both these ideas :) $\endgroup$
    – Faeology
    Commented Jul 14, 2023 at 16:57
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    $\begingroup$ ZioByte! Long time no see! Welcome back! $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 3:24
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I've got two similar-ish ideas as to what might happen:

1: Magical equivalent of Newton's 3rd law of motion - For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is - the moment you cut the tree down, there's a magical backlash/explosion from the instant release of the Magic that is contained within the Tree (Bonus points to use this as a mechanism to be a disincentive for cutting down a tree in the first place)

2: The same that happens when you open a hose connected to a limited water source - you get a strong outflow of Magic (bonus points for it being wild and chaotic) for a short period until it dries up to a trickle and then nothing.

This could be useful in a story setting if you require a sudden outpouring of Magic for a dire situation.

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Plants protect themselves

I think this could be a fun angle - there's species of trees (acacia, I think) that when creatures start to feed on them produce pheromones that cause trees around them to turn their leaves bitter, and their own leaves rapidly become so as well.

What if the magic, here, links the forest. A tree is harmed, and sort of magical signals go out to the linked trees, through the roots, causing them to change. Your initial forest could start off peaceful and idyllic, and end up with a bunch of trees chopped down, and the rest grown spiky and monsterous

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    $\begingroup$ You can have fun with magic: "What happened to all my lumberjacks? The trees are still standing. And what's with all these frogs wearing tiny lumberjack clothes?" $\endgroup$
    – user535733
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 19:24

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