Paths to Power: Conclusion
We want to say plainly that the paths to power are not meant to be shackles or chains; rather, they are simply an attempt by staff to put in a somewhat concrete form the ways and means by which the genre can be recognized and emulated. Exceptions don't matter much; there are exceptions to every rule, and if a theme is fitting to us, a few exceptions won't necessarily block it. Even the seemingly omnipresent demand for mystical items isn't completely sacrosanct; Nurse Angel Ririka's combat buddies Kanou and Seiya both eschew items entirely!
But those are the only two examples we could think of in the whole core genre. That's the sort of thing these paths are for; not to be gamed or lawyered, but to be representative of the ways in which power is expressed. It is not to present a series of challenges to be defeated by pointing to contradictions. Battle Fantasia is a setting with contributing themes going back at least half a century, so every rule and guiding point is going to have at least a couple contradictions, somewhere. The point is to say, these are the guidelines by which we as a staff and as people understand this genre; exceptions are rare defiance of trend, interesting and sometimes powerful when executed rightly, but not precedent to be mined.
Some might see these rules as superficial. You could argue that artifacts are usually, in the grand scheme of things, just gimmicky toys to sell, and our Contracts rules really are just an abstraction of genre conceits, and you wouldn't necessarily be wrong. In some ways they are superficial, an attempt to grapple on to the rules by which Battle Fantasia's boundaries are drawn. But it is that very fact - the fact that it is in Artifact, Contract, Legacy, and the deeply personal nature of glory that Magical Girl expresses itself, that makes these rules so important.
It's no coincidence that when Madoka Magica deconstructed magical girl as a genre, the key point around which the whole plot swung was a malicious contract, and the hidden tension of Homura's power lay in the conditions imposed on her by her artifact. These guidelines should thus be considered important for people trying to make OCs, or just strangers who don't fully understand the genre. It is my hope that the Paths to Power posts, including a couple more narrow-focused ones that may emerge in the future, will be helpful to anyone who needs to understand just what we're about.
The Paths to Power were hung on concrete concepts, but it is in these concepts, and how they are contextualized by posts (and, maybe more pointedly, by theme staff), that Battle Fantasia's magical girl elements really come to life. We've made it possible, due to their existence in some fairly key themes, to play mages and wizards on Battle Fantasia. The Paths to Power rules were calibrated specifically so that mages end up feeling like what they are in the genre - compliments and comrades, noticeably slightly different, yet on the key points, ultimately the same. Without this, we find ourselves on a slippery slope, and before long, if we aren't careful, we're stuck allowing A Certain Magical Index - a show more about supernatural fighting, with little interest in the tropes and themes employed by Battle Fantasia. The distinction between that sort of fighting story and the passionate hearts of Battle Fantasia can be drawn; the Paths to Power are our attempt to do that.
For more information, please see: Paths to Power, Theme
