Looking for a Specific Story Type

[quinron]

I'm trying to get some inspiration to expand on an idea I've had. What are some stories (in any medium) that you know of where a character gains magic/super powers after learning of or being exposed to some secretive being or power? Ideally without the madness that Lovecraft usually depicts coming from these encounters.

[Traab]

In the first Monster Hunters International book there is an artifact the main character gets that gives him some crazy power. However he is warned not to use it due to its corruptible potential so I dunno if that counts. It very explicitly DOES come from lovecraftian old ones but its such a small part of the actual story (at least when it comes to him using it) the rest is mostly about him working for a real world monster hunter company that kills various ghoulies and ghosties and long leggity beasties and things which go boomp in the night.

[Vinyadan]

I'm trying to get some inspiration to expand on an idea I've had. What are some stories (in any medium) that you know of where a character gains magic/super powers after learning of or being exposed to some secretive being or power? Ideally without the madness that Lovecraft usually depicts coming from these encounters.

Power Rangers?

[Kitten Champion]

Are you looking for something more specific, because it's a pretty ubiquitous concept for Superhero origin stories. Fantastic Four got hit by Cosmic Rays, Spider-Man via radiation, Green Lantern by both encountering an alien and getting his supertech ring, Hulk via Gamma Bomb, the Flash through chemical and a lightning strike.

Or for less superhero focus, there's Akira's Tetsuo who eventually achieves god-like psychic powers from an encounter in the first act with an ESPer. Or the movie Chronicle which borrows heavily from Akira and has an ambiguous alien thing give the various leads telekinesis. Granted in either case there's a pretty negative consequence to their ascension to power, but that's more to do with human nature than Lovecraftian lunacy.

There's also, for something more circumspect, the John Travolta movie Phenomenon where an everyman character sees a flash of light and suddenly has a genius intellect and telekinetic abilities -- however, they seem to attribute this to a tumour he's eventually diagnosed with, though I'm not sure whether that's supposed to be taken as the literal explanation.

[Anteros]

I'm trying to get some inspiration to expand on an idea I've had. What are some stories (in any medium) that you know of where a character gains magic/super powers after learning of or being exposed to some secretive being or power? Ideally without the madness that Lovecraft usually depicts coming from these encounters.

You basically just described almost the entirety of Shonen anime...so I'd advise looking at that genre.

[GloatingSwine]

Both the PC Peter Grant by Ben Aaronovich and the Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell fit this mould.

Start with Rivers of London for the first or Fallen London for the second.

[2D8HP]

Sure, after the events in the novel

A Darker Shade of Magic

by

Victoria E. Schwab

in the sequels

A Gathering of Shadows

and

A Conjuring of Light

one character "levels up" and becomes a Magic-User (making the sequels, while still good, less cool IMNSHO).

For other examples Green Lantern, and probably hundreds of other comic book superheroes.

[Cheesegear]

What are some stories (in any medium) that you know of where a character gains magic/super powers after learning of or being exposed to some secretive being or power?

The ur-example for books, is Animorphs.
Pick any number of comic book characters, and their associated movies for Film/TV.

Rincewind the Wizzard was exposed to a semi-sentient spell - between the Spell, and The Lady, Rincewind is invulnerably lucky.

[endoperez]

I'm trying to think of genres, and let you and the other posters do most of the recommendations.

Superhero genre:
Most people are normal and powerless. Some people are supers, or become supers after something strange happens. Supers fight other supers, usually as heroes and villains whose actions directly help or harm normals.
You can probably find a superhero story with the themes you like. Consider looking into the Worm web novel.

Epic fantasy:
There are weak people and powerful people. One of the weak grows into one of the strong, often because he has to save the world. The existence of the powerful people is usually taken for granted, and the process is often downplayed - e.g. do some "adventuring" and you, too, can now wrestle with a dragon!
Probably not a great fit for you, since powers exist, and getting them isn't usually that mysterious or rare. When stuff is explained, it's usually: "gods" or "destiny". That's rather generic, few stories really stand out.

Some authors really go into the details of how a magic is used, so even if there's no explanation for the why, the rituals themselves are a useful tool. I rather like "The Master of Five Magics", where a man learns five systems with different rules, powers and shortcomings. The sources in that book are not mysterious, but the systems would be a great fit with a more mysterious source.

Low fantasy
Low fantasy has mostly normal humans in a usually gritty world. There is some magic, but it's rare and usually mysterious, unknown or weird. Sometimes it's a demon-possessed axe (Druss), sometimes it's a family heirloom, etc.
Low fantasy stories collectively have many fitting ideas, but any single story only has one or two. Consider starting a different thread once you've narrowed the question down some more.

Occult fiction
The YouTube series vExtra SciFi has been talking about where SciFi (& fantasy) genres came from, & they talked about occultism. Supernatural elements in non-genre novels, especially older ones. Spirits, ghosts, mental powers, crystals, pseudoscience, inherited genetic memories, prophetic dreams, all that jazz.
Lots of old horror stories rely on the same stuff.

Urban fantasy
Most urban fantasy is written for teens and isn't trying to introduce anything radically new. They have ended up doing all sorts of variations on combining modern tech and city life with various supernatural concepts. Moon Over Soho and other wizard cop books by the author are one good take. There are also countless monster romance books with everything from were-?s to vampires to dragons.

Horror
Most horror stories rely on fear of unknown, so they don't often explain things very clearly. If they do, using the explanation but skipping all the build up might not work at all.

Chinese xianxia
There is a Chinese genre of (mostly web) novels where power comes from meditating based on inherited, supposedly Taoist teachings. Understanding the mysteries of the world gives power. There's lots of sources for inspiration if that sounds good.

There are countless variations, but basics tend to stay the same. Understanding itself is power, but all paths lead to the same place. Some learn the sword, some the spear; some study rain, some wind; some cultivate lightning, others train their body. They get different powers, but walk on the same path, fight for the same resources, & benefit from the teaching of those in higher levels all the same.
Most xianxia / cultivation novels are very simple wish fulfillment stories, where power levels are ridiculous and numbers ever bigger until they're eventually meaningless. (30 000 km tall mountains etc).
'World of Cultivation' explains several alternate systems in a single story, so that might be useful. Element-based spells based on the Chinese five element system, swordmanship meditation, written spell seals, Buddhist body and soul purification and tempering, body cultivation based on monstrous bloodlines, etc, all influenced by universal energy (qi) in some way.
'Child of Light' (at wuxiaworld) is relatively easy to understand for a fan of Western fantasy, and introduces all sorts of elemental specialisations, with the cultivation or meditation still as the underlying base.


Shounen anime/manga and cartoons
To have cool fights, characters need cool powers. To that end, various creators have come up.with various things.
These aren't usually very well thought out, but there are a lot to choose from! Kung fu as magic (Avatar cartoon did it best), secret kung fu / ninja skills in general, weird fruit, inherited family secret art, nanomachines, grim reapers etc, demons, angels, etc.

VR / game systems as powers
In Korean webtoons (comics) and web novels, game systems are used as magic systems. As in, stat screens, magical inventories with no weight or space limits, level ups etc, all somehow in the real world, or a realistic VR world that somehow became the real world.
Also seen in other Asian stories, but it's most common in Korean stories.
Unless you want that specific gimmick, look elsewhere.

Folklore
Folklore is full of great things to get inspired by. They don't usually explain where the power comes from, but it's easy enough to use the good old "this is the old thing that the folklore was originally based on!" explanation. For example, Finnish wizards sing about the mythical origins of things, and that knowledge grants them power to craft a boat (Väinämöinen in Kalevala), stop bleeding (Väinämöinen had an axe-related accident when crafting said boat, he had to figure out where the axe-head's iron came from), have animals do your bidding (Lemminkäinen was brought back to life after his mother had a bee go to the heavens and bring back miracle elixir), etc. There's also things like getting drunk and cursing like a sailor to scare evil spirits away (myrrysmies), feasting with the great beasts' spirits after they've been hunted down (peijaiset), and snake-related spells and traditions shared with Estonia.
If you find a tradition that fits your theme / what you're going for, you can do a lot with that. If you don't know the culture, it might be better to go with a shamanistic migrant family who have lost/messed up with some of the original stuff since leaving the ol' homeland, because you're going to mess some things up any way and that's a good excuse for it.

[GloatingSwine]

Discussions of genre have a distinct tendency to get lost in the weeds, causing fractal explosions of sub genres and sub sub genres that collapse and recombine in an endless dance of confusion. (Especially since some things people class as genres aren't even mutually exclusive).

[Cheesegear]

(Especially since some things people class as genres aren't even mutually exclusive).

The Nightside/Secret Histories dual series falls into...

Epic fantasy, low fantasy, occult fiction, urban fantasy and horror, all tied up with folklore

...Often in the same book.

[endoperez]

True. After I had typed it all out and realized it doesn't answer OP's question as well as I thought in my head, I decided to just post it any way.
Hopefully it doesn't end up being too much of a sidetrack.

[quinron]

Chinese xianxia
There is a Chinese genre of (mostly web) novels where power comes from meditating based on inherited, supposedly Taoist teachings. Understanding the mysteries of the world gives power. There's lots of sources for inspiration if that sounds good.

This is actually perfect for what I'm looking for. Thanks a million!

And thanks to everyone else as well - I appreciate you all doing your best to help given my terribly broad parameters.

[endoperez]

This is actually perfect for what I'm looking for. Thanks a million!

And thanks to everyone else as well - I appreciate you all doing your best to help given my terribly broad parameters.

Oh wow, good thing I didn't scrap the post then!

There are manga or even anime versions of many xianxia stories. Xianxia also tend to be even more exaggeratedly long than Western fantasy series. Try looking for manga adaptations first, they tend to be faster to read. Douluo Dao, Tales of Demons and Gods, I Shall Seal the Heavens should all have some sort of manga.

Most xianxia stories are like of a Conan or Tarzan stories with magic. Not too philosophical, possibly just generic and repetitive wish fulfillment. That can be fun, but it takes a lot of time without presenting too many new ideas.

Spoiler: wall of text

Show

Details vary, but there are usually some common ideas.
People have different initial growth rates or specializations, often called spiritual roots, or physiques, or aptitudes. Like, someone's good with fire, someone's strong, etc.

There are various cultivation (meditation) techniques, with different pros and cons. They can be good or bad, specialised or general, etc. They might be based on a mantra to be repeated, or on visualisation, actually moving through a kata-like form, and so on. Often, the cultivation methods come with some attacks, but attackscan also be learned separately. Cultivation methods are sometimes limited to a specific stage and have to be replaced once the person grows strong enough, but sometimes it thoroughly determines one's path and destiny and you just follow along.

Cultivation takes energy of the world (qi), and does something with it. Some areas are rich in qi and make it easy to cultivate; usually these are untouched and lush mountains. Others are spiritually empty, and cultivation requires resources, like stones of solidified spirit stuff.

There are specific stages, which seem to be based on how real Taoists thought they could reach immortality. First stage purifies the body and makes the body stronger, then at some point some supernatural powers become available. It's often associated with the body's meridians, which are Chinese traditional medicine's take on nerves or something similar.

At some point, a core or golden core is formed. It's usually seen as a mark of a rather powerful person. It's a ball of energy at a point below the navel called dantian. All sorts of supernatural things are possible.

Nascent Soul is one step further. The core turns into a spiritual child, which starts to grow into a spiritual avatar of the person. Again, I understand this is based on old Taoist beliefs.

Often, there are a few more stages between the ones mentioned above. Stages after nascent soul vary a lot between stories. Immortals, gods, devas, paragons, etc.
Some stories do something different, of course, but that's the most common thing.

If compared to a game system, each stage is like a D&D class or prestige class, chosen by following a specific cultivation method. Each stage has 9 or 10 levels or so, after which you get a new prestige class and a significant powerup. And perhaps a lightning bolt to the face, because heavens don't like mortals becoming immortals - it depends on the story.
To advance, you need both understanding (experience points) and qi (energy). Meditation gathers energy and gives understanding. Fights can also help with understanding (exp points), and various items like potions, elixirs and magic stones can give more energy, but some meditation is still required. This is a very banal explanation, and lacks all the fluff and details that make it interesting.

The translations available in English are varied and all over the internet. There are sites or blogs where a single translator or translator group posts, and there are bigger sites that show translations by multiple independent translators.

I first got into the stories through the site called Wuxiaworld. Wuxia in the name actually is a different genre, more of a low fantasy or martial arts type of story, but most of the stories there are high fantasy.
They host Child of Light, which I mentioned before. They also have I Shall Seal The Heavens, a series I particularly liked. It's very long though - there's no need to read all of it to understand the basics of the system.

I remember the story Desolate Era having a nice feeling to its system. It's also on wuxiaworld.
In it, understanding of easier concepts opens the way for more difficult paths (daos). The protagonist studies the sword, starts to incorporate aspects of rain into it, which turns into understanding of the concept of rainwater, and later, raindrop. Raindrop them would be a part of water, of the five elements. The understanding of the sword could also move towards the great and rare Destruction. The series is super long and the system was only explained slowly, though, so it might not be the best to get the understanding of the basics.

In general, I'd suggest giving a try to several different stories. They tend to have catchy starts, and the premise of the system is usually explained early on. Many stories have either a strong and wise mentor figure explaining things, or even have the protagonist be an all-knowing figure starting from 0 again (Emperor's Domination, Tales of Demons & Gods, Sovereign of the Three somethings).

There's a Chinese web novel company called Qidian international that hosts many novels on their site webnovel.com . There are some ongoing legal arguments with them and other groups regarding rights to the Chinese novels, their English translations, and who can or can not host what at whichever site.

One notable story there is Throne of the Magical Arcana. It is a take on a Western mefieval fantasy world in the process of magic-science revolution. It's a mix of D&D and the cultivation system more typical to Chinese novels. It has peer-reviewed magical studies published in arcana journals, and draws parallels between scientific theories and magic. Like, schools of astrology and necromancy, next to a newly discovered schools of electromagnetism. The story itself isn't great, but some of the ideas are very good.

Throne of Magical Arcana has a person make a connection with a specific star. This also happens in another story, Ze Tian Ji or Way of Changes. It's something like finding your own astrological sign that influences your fate. Ze Tian Ji is more thoughtful story than most others, and isn't as much of a pure wish fulfillment. The protagonist there ends up teaching various people very specific cultivation methods that specifically fit them, but I don't remember the specifics. It's only available on a different site, called Gravity Tales.

[Anteros]

I liked the Tales of Demons and Gods setting enough that I even tried the light novel for a bit. Eventually the wish fulfillment aspect and Mary Sue nature of the main character drove me away, but it was quite interesting for a while.

[Yora]

You basically just described almost the entirety of Shonen anime...so I'd advise looking at that genre.

I wish I were awesome, without putting any work into it.

[Fyraltari]

This may help.

[S@tanicoaldo]

Maybe tv tropes can help.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...entSuperpowers

[JeenLeen]

Another avenue that you might like is the web serial Pact, by Wildbow.
https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/

In it, magic and spirits and all are real but the modern world is ignorant of it. Kinda normal set-up.

While simply being exposed to or knowing about magic doesn't automatically let you learn magic, it does make you more vulnerable to magic and thus more likely to do what is needed (and be able to learn how) to learn magic. There's good reasons goblins and bogeymen usually don't kill ignorant humans, but if a person knows about magic but isn't a practitioner themselves... that's easy food.