Worldbuilding reference · By Nick Blade · Published October 11, 2026
Who Pays for Magic? 25 Source-Backed Examples for Authors
A spell succeeds. That can be the moment the trouble starts.
The reserve is empty when another person needs help. The resource returns, but only after the protection comes down. Someone gets a useful servant while someone else loses the freedom to refuse.
Those are different stories. Giving all of them the label “costly magic” hides the part an author can use.
This reference follows the exchange in twenty-five examples. Start with the problem in your own scene, or browse until an arrangement makes you stop. Each entry gives you the source, the payment and a question worth taking back to the page.
What should an author track when magic has a cost?
Track what is spent or risked, who benefits, who pays, who can refuse, and what returns. Then ask what that exchange changes in a choice, a relationship or the next task. A cost can be small, manageable or recoverable and still give you something to write.
These are interpretations of named passages and author explanations, not rules for every book in a series. Source links may reveal plot turns and depict violence or coercion. The evidence was checked on October 11, 2026.
The table is unranked. “Cost” names our editorial reading; an offered payment or a threatened loss is not automatically an enacted event. Open an example for its exact scope and recovery details.
25 of 25 examples shown.
No matching examples in this selected reference. An unassigned label does not establish that a cost is absent from a setting.
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways. The example cards below contain the same evidence in reading order.
25 source-backed examples for authors · Unranked · Evidence checked October 11, 2026 · Interpretations concern the named sources, not every book in a series.
A duralumin-enhanced burst exhausts Vin's pewter and steel; another vial restores her supply.
The payment: Material: the metals disappear in this use. Replenishment replaces a spent supply; it does not recover those flakes.
Take it to your scene: What can your character afford to use now if the next refill is uncertain?
Who pays
user
Who benefits
user and intended beneficiaries
What returns
replace supply; original metals not recovered in passage
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary text, The Hero of Ages, Chapter Three; duralumin burst and replacement vial. Scope: Later-volume online chapter, not a full reading of The Final Empire. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use
Agency
voluntary use
Timing
immediate
Boundary: Locate ordinary depletion in the nominated first novel; review costs of other Allomantic uses separately.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
The Way of Kings: Stormlight-assisted Surgebinding
Brandon Sanderson
Stormlight leaks away and powers Lashings until it runs out. A Full Lashing drains it faster than a Basic Lashing.
The payment: Material: a finite reserve is depleted, ending the effect. Do not treat the gemstone container as consumed.
Take it to your scene: Which useful effect ends first when several uses depend on the same reserve?
Who pays
Szeth; ownership of the source gems is not established here
Who benefits
user
What returns
replenishment from another source shown
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary text, Prologue, To Kill; first Lashings and storage-room door. Scope: Szeth's Lashings in the online prologue; not all Surgebinding. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use
Agency
casting and mission agency differ
Timing
during use
Boundary: Separate Honorblade-mediated use from other practitioners; do not infer universal rates or costs.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
The Bone Shard Daughter: Bone-shard construct magic
Andrea Stewart
Stewart explains that constructs receive life from people who supplied the bone shards.
The payment: Physical: another person's life supports the construct. Imperial dependence is a further question, not an automatically accepted civilizational tag.
Take it to your scene: Who can authorize a benefit when the person paying is elsewhere?
Who pays
shard supplier
Who benefits
construct user; imperial order in publisher premise
What returns
unresolved
Read the evidence:author explanation, AndreaGS answer to Suyi Davies on magic design. Scope: Author explanation of constructs' life source; no full novel examination. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use or sustained operation; exact trigger unresolved
Agency
supplier consent unresolved
Timing
life drawn; exact rate unresolved
Boundary: Find the novel's operating rule, consent conditions and recovery limits; separately evidence institutional dependence.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
El describes malia taking power from living things; an everyday example kills ants. Larger extraction can encounter resistance.
The payment: Physical and moral proposals concern loss to a living being and harm-enabled benefit. Ordinary mana and malia must remain distinguishable.
Take it to your scene: When a convenient spell takes power from somewhere else, who gets to remain unaware?
Who pays
living being whose energy is taken in the malia example
Who benefits
spell user
What returns
recovery of the harmed being not established
Read the evidence:publisher-hosted primary text, Opening extract; explanation after the room-cleaning problem. Scope: Opening excerpt only; no later-volume enclave revelations. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use
Agency
no consent established in the stated example
Timing
immediate
Boundary: Record a bounded mana example separately; assess later institutional or identity consequences only with their own passages.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
Jemisin says orogenes can draw ambient energy from living things when no seismic event supplies it. She also describes coercive control of orogenes.
The payment: Physical: conditional harm to nearby life. Social: imposed control of practitioners. The institution's response is separate from energy mechanics.
Take it to your scene: Can you distinguish what the ability does from what society chooses to do to its user?
Who pays
nearby living beings; practitioners under institutional control
Who benefits
user or community; governing institution
What returns
unresolved
Read the evidence:author interview, Magic-system answer and following Fulcrum discussion. Scope: Jemisin's account of The Fifth Season; no sequel mechanics. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use for ambient draw; possession for imposed control
Agency
mixed; imposed institutional harm
Timing
conditional during use; ongoing control
Boundary: Add novel locators for both claims; do not infer that every use kills or that oppression is justified by danger.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
Tara conceals her true Craft training because the narrator says the villagers would drive her away if they knew.
The payment: Social proposal: exclusion risk imposed by the community. The chaplain's separate soulstuff donation is not proof of a universal Craft payment.
Take it to your scene: What can the character do for a community that would reject them if it understood how?
Who pays
practitioner exposed to exclusion risk
Who benefits
practitioner and clients
What returns
unresolved
Read the evidence:publisher-hosted primary text, Opening excerpt; Tara's concealed training and funeral ward. Scope: Opening Craft passage; nearby Applied Theology is a distinct practice. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
possession or training history
Agency
imposed risk
Timing
conditional on disclosure
Boundary: Read Craft-specific exchanges and bargains; keep Applied Theology separately identified if it becomes evidence.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
Seedless is captive, obeys commands under pain, and removes cotton seeds. The city's economy depends on his bound power.
The payment: Social: lost freedom. Moral: benefit through forced service. Civilizational: durable economic dependence on the captive andat.
Take it to your scene: What does consent mean when the beneficiary argues that the payer was only an idea?
Who pays
bound andat
Who benefits
merchant houses and city
What returns
release not established in examined passage
Read the evidence:publisher-hosted primary text, Excerpt; indenture conversation, enforced obedience, cotton demonstration; Book Details. Scope: Seedless's binding and cotton use in the opening excerpt and official description. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
binding and continued service
Agency
imposed; consent contested in dialogue
Timing
ongoing
Boundary: Review binding formation, poet obligations and wider consequences; do not infer every andat has identical costs.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
During the skeleton duel, Harrow sweats blood and has a nosebleed; the narration says she pushed herself hard.
The payment: Physical proposal: exertion is a causal candidate in this scene. Digging injuries and blood used for a signature are separate from any casting payment.
Take it to your scene: Which marks belong to preparation, which to a fight, and which to using the magic?
Who pays
practitioner
Who benefits
practitioner
What returns
not established
Read the evidence:authorized primary excerpt, Chapter Two; drillshaft skeleton duel. Scope: Harrow's exertion in Chapters One and Two; later necromantic rites excluded. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use; causal attribution requires confirmation
Agency
voluntary use
Timing
during exertion
Boundary: Confirm the cause and wider rule of bodily strain. Do not import later-book soul or immortality revelations.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: Binding and use of gods
N. K. Jemisin
Jemisin's description says Arameri rule depended for centuries on enslaving gods.
The payment: Social: gods lose freedom. Moral and civilizational proposals concern coerced divine service sustaining a ruling order.
Take it to your scene: Does the price look different when the enslaved payer has far more raw power than the ruler?
Who pays
enslaved gods
Who benefits
ruling Arameri family
What returns
not established by this historical statement
Read the evidence:author series description, Opening description, historical Arameri rule. Scope: Later-volume description of earlier god enslavement; not a first-novel-only claim. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
binding and continued subjection
Agency
imposed
Timing
ongoing
Boundary: Locate bindings and commands in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; separate this later description from first-book text.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
Serapio's mother drugs, cuts and restrains him, then stitches his eyelids as preparation she attributes to his divine role.
The payment: Physical proposal concerns enacted ritual injury, not blindness as diminished humanity. The passage does not independently prove that every act is metaphysically necessary.
Take it to your scene: Who calls a payment necessary, and how much can the person paying understand or refuse?
Who pays
child undergoing ritual
Who benefits
divine or communal beneficiary claimed; not independently settled
What returns
unresolved
Read the evidence:publisher-hosted primary text, Chapter One; Serapio's preparation. Scope: Ritual preparation narrated in Chapter One; later manifestation excluded. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
access or preparation
Agency
coerced constraints; understanding limited
Timing
before anticipated manifestation
Boundary: Cross-check later necessity and recovery; distinguish the mother's explanation from the novel's demonstrated rules.
Edition: Online source and scope as recorded; no exact print edition claimed.
The Psammead grants Robert's request to let another child wish from elsewhere, then collapses, faint with the effort, and speaks weakly.
The payment: Physical: granting this unusually difficult wish exhausts the provider. The child receiving the benefit does not carry that immediate strain.
Take it to your scene: Does the person asking know what the provider has to bear?
Who pays
Psammead
Who benefits
Robert and the other children
What returns
collapse shown; precise recovery time not established
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Chapter 6, A Castle and No Dinner; Robert asks for a remote wish. Scope: The difficult wish and immediate bodily aftermath, not every wish in the novel. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
granting the difficult wish
Agency
request made by child; provider performs it
Timing
immediate
Boundary: This establishes effort in one use, not an identical toll for every wish. Sunset expiry is a limit, not automatically another payment.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 778, English text.
The King of Elfland's Daughter: Elf King's three great one-use runes
Lord Dunsany
The Elf King has three great runes that can each be uttered once. One is already written for his daughter; he uses another to restore a knight, leaving one.
The payment: Material: a finite store of one-use magical capacity is depleted. The passage does not say that the parchment itself is destroyed.
Take it to your scene: Who will need the last reserve after this rescue?
Who pays
Elf King
Who benefits
restored knight and king
What returns
no replenishment shown in this passage
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Chapter VI, The Rune of the Elf King; healing the fallen knight. Scope: One great rune used in Chapter VI; ordinary royal enchantments excluded. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
utterance
Agency
king chooses the use
Timing
immediate depletion
Boundary: The category includes spent magical reserves. This is not a rule for all his enchantments or a claim that later threatened harm occurs.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 61077, Chapter VI.
The Mermaid (The Little Mermaid): Sea-witch transformation bargain
Hans Christian Andersen
The witch takes the mermaid's tongue as payment for a potion. Drinking it transforms her tail, and walking hurts as the witch warned.
The payment: Physical: an explicit bodily payment and painful after-effect. Changed embodiment or inability to speak does not itself mean loss of humanity.
Take it to your scene: What does the beneficiary want badly enough to agree to this exchange?
Who pays
mermaid
Who benefits
mermaid; witch receives the named payment
What returns
no restoration established within the selected sequence
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, The Mermaid; bargain, tongue removal, drinking and walking. Scope: The named English version in Stories from Hans Andersen; adaptations excluded. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
access bargain and potion use
Agency
assent after stated terms; desire and unequal bargaining position matter
Timing
payment before use; pain afterwards
Boundary: The source titles the tale The Mermaid and does not name its translator in the retrieved front matter. Preserve this version; do not import an adaptation or treat the witch's every prediction as demonstrated.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 17860; Stories from Hans Andersen; English translator not credited in retrieved front matter.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Golden Cap command of Winged Monkeys
L. Frank Baum
The monkeys obey Dorothy's command and carry her party. Their king explains that the cap binds them to serve each owner three times.
The payment: Social: the bound monkeys lose freedom to refuse. Moral: the useful transport depends on compelled service. Dorothy's convenience is not the whole exchange.
Take it to your scene: Who has been made to help before the beneficiary even learns the rule?
Who pays
bound Winged Monkeys
Who benefits
cap owner and transported party
What returns
three services per owner; later release not established by this selected sequence
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Chapter XIV, The Winged Monkeys; flight and account of the binding. Scope: Golden Cap service, not all magic in Oz. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
command under the binding
Agency
service compelled; owner decides the task
Timing
during service under continuing rule
Boundary: The king's account explains the origin; the flight demonstrates obedience. The three-use restriction is also a limit. The cap is not shown consumed.
The spinner takes a necklace and a ring for turning straw into gold. A later bargain demands the first child; discovering his name prevents that surrender.
The payment: Material: possessions transferred as payment. Relational: parent-child separation is demanded and risked, then avoided; the child is not actually taken.
Take it to your scene: What changes when the next payment is someone the beneficiary cannot rightfully give away?
Who pays
miller's daughter; child exposed to later demand
Who benefits
daughter and king; spinner receives payments
What returns
child retained through naming condition; jewellery return not shown
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Rumpelstiltskin; necklace, ring, child promise and naming condition. Scope: Olcott-edited English version in Grimm's Fairy Tales, pp. 171–175 as displayed. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
bargained spinning; later collection demand
Agency
agreement under the king's threat of death
Timing
possessions immediately; child demand delayed
Boundary: This is the named edited version, not a claim about every retelling. The king's threat supplies coercive context; the lost jewellery and conditional child claim are distinct.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 52521; Frances Jenkins Olcott edition based on Hunt wording and other adjustments.
The Magic Skin: Wish-granting skin linked to remaining life
Honoré de Balzac
The inscription links fulfilled wishes and the shrinking skin to fewer remaining days. After Raphael gains his fortune, the skin is smaller than its traced outline.
The payment: Temporal: the bargain spends remaining life. The visible contraction supports the mechanism; it does not measure the exact number of days lost.
Take it to your scene: How does a character choose when the gain arrives now and the time disappears from their future?
Who pays
Raphael
Who benefits
Raphael
What returns
no reversal established in these passages
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Part I, The Talisman, inscription; Part II, napkin measurement and inheritance. Scope: Contract wording plus visible contraction after the fortune; no full-novel assessment. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
fulfilled desire
Agency
acceptance of talisman; not every later desire is deliberated
Timing
shrinkage after fulfilment; reduced future lifespan
Boundary: The inheritance death preceded the wish; it must not be described as a fresh death caused by it. Later illness and the exact lifespan rule are beyond this entry.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 1307, Ellen Marriage translation.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Size-changing food and drink
Lewis Carroll
Alice finishes the shrinking drink and the cake. Later she eats pieces of opposite sides of a mushroom to adjust her size and returns to her usual height.
The payment: Material: the doses are consumed. Reversing the bodily effect does not retrieve the original drink or bites. Consumption need not be a terrible sacrifice.
Take it to your scene: Can the effect be reversed while the resource still has to be replaced?
Who pays
Alice
Who benefits
Alice
What returns
size restored through another dose; consumed portions not retrieved
Read the evidence:public-domain primary prose, Chapter I, drink and cake; Chapter V, mushroom adjustment. Scope: Consumption in Chapters I and V; no universal rule for Wonderland. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
eating or drinking
Agency
Alice chooses, initially without knowing the result
Timing
during consumption
Boundary: No global scarcity or inherent identity loss is claimed. The awakening frame and other kinds of Wonderland magic are outside this bounded comparison.
Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook 11, Chapters I and V.
The aura consumes mana over time. Rain runs out and purification stops; skull pain worsens. Regeneration lets him try again.
The payment: Material: depleted reserve. Physical: explicitly described mana-exhaustion discomfort. Acid injury and cold exposure are separate hazards.
Take it to your scene: Does recovery arrive quickly enough for the task that still needs doing?
Who pays
Rain
Who benefits
Rain
What returns
mana regenerates; complete pain recovery not established
Read the evidence:author-published primary prose, 008: Clarity; aura depletion, regeneration and repeated purification. Scope: Rain's aura in Chapter 008; no full serial or adaptation scope. Source spoiler warning: S1.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
aura use and reserve exhaustion
Agency
chosen use under dangerous conditions
Timing
during and after depletion
Boundary: A regeneration-enhancing aura can offset its own drain; do not generalize purification's net cost to every skill or treat all combat injuries as casting costs.
Edition: Royal Road author-published Chapter 008; author credit verified on fiction page.
Mother of Learning: Personal mana use and replenishment
Domagoj Kurmaić
The author explains that spent personal mana gradually refills. Ambient mana can accelerate recovery, while unsafe direct use can harm the channeler.
The payment: Material: personal reserve spent through use. Direct ambient-channel harm is a separate conditional operation, not an automatic price of personal mana use.
Take it to your scene: Which choice becomes unavailable while the reserve is refilling?
Who pays
mage or other personal-mana user
Who benefits
user and chosen recipients
What returns
gradual regeneration explicitly explained
Read the evidence:author worldbuilding explanation, Basics of Magic – Mana; Personal Mana and Ambient Mana sections. Scope: Author worldbuilding post, December 13, 2016; no claim to a novel scene. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use
Agency
use chosen; exact scene consent not examined
Timing
depletion during use; refill afterwards
Boundary: This is creator explanation, not an enacted passage. No particular rate is generalized; ambient-channel injury is discussed but not assigned to the personal-mana tag.
Edition: Author worldbuilding post; explanatory body only, reader comments excluded.
The Wandering Inn: Pisces's necromancy under mana depletion
pirateaba
Pisces has depleted mana after repeated reanimation. Ceria applies a mana potion and he revives, but his next construction remains slow and strained.
The payment: Material: reserve depleted and restorative liquid used. The warning about possible brain injury is a character's warning, not proof that such injury occurred.
Take it to your scene: If the first emergency spends the reserve, what remains for getting everyone home?
Who pays
Pisces; Ceria supplies the restorative
Who benefits
Pisces and his party
What returns
potion aids recovery; full restoration not established
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary prose, 3.08 H; Pisces after repeated reanimation, mana potion and staircase. Scope: Pisces's condition and recovery in one later-volume web chapter. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
repeated reanimation; restoration
Agency
use in group danger; companion applies restorative
Timing
depletion and partial recovery before the next task
Boundary: Do not diagnose every symptom as magical injury after a dangerous fight. No permanent brain damage, universal recovery rate or whole-setting necromancy rule is claimed.
Edition: Original author-hosted web chapter 3.08 H, not a print-volume locator.
Heather performs the mathematics and a man vanishes. She immediately vomits, develops a nosebleed and shakes, struggling to leave and call for help.
The payment: Physical: the narrated bodily aftermath constrains the next action. It does not establish permanent injury or a universal price for every technique.
Take it to your scene: What can the character still do after the successful act?
Who pays
Heather
Who benefits
Heather in the confrontation
What returns
not established in the selected aftermath
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary prose, conditions of absolute reality – 3.6; math-use paragraph through help call. Scope: One use and immediate aftermath in Arc 3.6. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
use
Agency
use under assault
Timing
immediate
Boundary: The assault precedes use. Keep that injury context separate, and do not treat psychiatric history or disability as corruption. The vanished man's fate is not settled here.
Edition: Author-hosted chapter credited HY; no fuller name assumed.
A Practical Guide to Evil: Catherine's deep use of Winter power
ErraticErrata
During an examination, Catherine says her blood begins freezing when she draws deeply on Winter power. The examiners discuss a limiter and possible mitigation.
The payment: Physical: reported backlash under deep use. A proposal to raise the safe threshold is not evidence that the repair works.
Take it to your scene: Does a safer threshold change the temptation to draw too deeply?
Who pays
Catherine
Who benefits
Catherine
What returns
mitigation proposed; success not demonstrated here
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary prose, Chapter 37: Procedures, October 23, 2017; opening examination. Scope: Catherine's reported backlash and examiners' discussion; later outcomes excluded. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
drawing deeply on Winter power
Agency
chosen draw; imposed limiter described by examiners
Timing
during deep draw, as reported
Boundary: Distinguish Catherine's report, the examiners' explanation and their proposed repair. No claim about every Name, season or magical practice follows from this exchange.
Edition: Author-hosted web chapter; narrative only, reader comments excluded.
The manual says Barbatorem offers medical expertise for enough blood to make the practitioner faint.
The payment: Physical: the offered payment is bodily depletion. This is a stated contract term, not evidence that the protagonists completed it.
Take it to your scene: What would make an offer unacceptable even when the benefit is exactly what the character needs?
Who pays
practitioner accepting that offer
Who benefits
accepting practitioner
What returns
not established by the offer
Read the evidence:author-hosted primary prose containing an in-world manual, Bonds 1.7; embedded manual paragraph beginning Barbatorem is mute. Scope: One offer described in an in-world manual; not an enacted bargain. Source spoiler warning: S2.
Timing, agency and research boundaries
Trigger
acceptance of the specified exchange
Agency
choice described in a manual; no observed consent event
Timing
payment attached to bargain; sequence not demonstrated
Boundary: Other offers have different terms and must not be merged. The manual's authority is a fictional viewpoint; reader comments and later outcomes are excluded.
Edition: Author-hosted Bonds 1.7; manual embedded in the narrative.
Choose the example that makes your own problem easier to see. Keep its payer and recovery conditions in view. If the resource returns, what happens while it is unavailable? If someone else pays, what do they know, and what can they refuse?
Then leave the borrowed world behind. You can learn from a finite reserve without importing its rune, substance or fictional culture.
Use the scene worksheet to keep the original passage beside your revision. What changes in the action, refusal, relationship or later consequence? If the answer belongs later, name the scene that will carry it. You don't have to make the current scene louder to make the cost matter.
Sources, scope and how to read the labels
This is an illustrative reference selected partly for evidence that can be examined online. It is not a representative sample or a ranking. The source pack records the included passages, their scope and the editorial interpretations.
Some entries show an exchange. Others contain a character's report, a creator's explanation or a fictional document. Those differences matter. The Pact manual offers a payment; the entry does not claim the protagonists make it. The Lightbringer appendix expresses a belief about healing, which remains a belief in this account.
The nominated work identifies the example, not an implied full-book reading. REF-001 uses The Hero of Ages; REF-011 uses a fictional series appendix; REF-020 uses The Kingdom of Gods. The Mother of Learning entry uses creator worldbuilding. Online chapters and translated or edited versions are identified beside their claims. Reader comments, adaptations and unauthorized novel uploads are excluded.
Physical, material, temporal, relational, moral, identity, social and civilizational are the Eight Costs of Magic taxonomy's categories. Each assigned label needs its own rationale. A blank or U field in the data means the category has not been established for this entry; it does not mean it is absent throughout the setting. There are no absence codes, severity scores or genre-wide percentages. An imposed social harm also does not prove an ability is intrinsically dangerous.
S1 warns of opening scenes or mechanical details; S2 warns of wider plot information or a source containing later details. The warning concerns the linked source, which can reveal more than this page.
Independent AI review checked source fidelity and interpretation, followed by revision and second review. This is not scholarly peer review or a claim that two human readers examined twenty-five novels.
Evidence checked: October 11, 2026. Editorial reference version: 0.3. The source pack includes original paraphrases, source locations, category definitions and methodology. It does not redistribute novel passages or covers. A correction should name the entry, the challenged claim and the primary passage supporting the change.
