On Magical Theory

Magic on Maluna is an ambient presence that anyone with proper theory and practice can manage. Tiny magics, charms smaller than a prestidigitation in scope, can be completed by people with the right knowhow and practice. Things like a little saying and motion to keep a knot tight, to produce a breath's worth of a breeze, that sort of thing are possible for all creatures with a soul.

Because of the ambient suffusion of magic or perhaps because of some inborn blockage inherent in mortal souls, permanent enchantment is very, very difficult to manage. On the flip side potions, scrollwork and other consumable magic is relatively easy to produce.

The best way to produce a lingering enchantment is to use a creature's remains, already suffused with the stuff, but even then it's not easy to do. Whatever changed when the Pale King didn't die changed the scope of Malunan history, magic included.

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Thaumaturgy, as a practice, encompasses various fundamental principles and intricacies that define its workings and applications. Practitioners are invariably (and confusingly) referred to by many terms, specific to each individual, though some examples are: thaumaturgist, arcanist, magician, wizard, sorceress, witch, evoker and more!

Thaumaturgy centers around the manipulation and control of the fundamental energy that permeates all existence within the world. This energy is referred to by arcanists as thauma and is considered to be a renewable resource that shapes and binds the fabric of reality together. Skilled practitioners possess the ability to harness and shape thauma for various magical purposes.

Thaumaturgy comprises distinct schools or disciplines, each emphasizing different aspects of manipulating thauma, though it should be noted that these are academic categorizations and hedge magi, witches and other thaumaturges outside of the academia may use all manner of definitive wordings. These schools serve as specialized avenues of magical study, guiding arcanists in honing their skills and understanding specific branches of magic.

Some examples of Thaumaturgical Disciplines are as follows:

• Conjuration: Focused on summoning and manipulating objects, creatures or energies from other planes. An advanced facet of the discipline is called Covenantry.
  
  
• Necromancy: Centered on the manipulation of life force, death and spirits. An advanced facet of the discipline is called Umbramancy.
  
  
• Divination: Pertaining to gaining knowledge through supernatural means. An advanced facet of the discipline is called Chronomancy.
  
  
• Evocation: Concentrating on manipulating elemental energies for spells and attacks. An advanced facet of the discipline is called Harmonics.
  
  
• Abjuration: Specializing in defensive magic and protective barriers. An advanced facet of the discipline is called Oneiromancy.

Thaumaturges often specialize in specific "schools" of magic, dedicating their efforts to mastering the intricacies of one or two disciplines. While they possess a basic understanding of other schools, their expertise and proficiency lie primarily in their chosen areas.

Thaumaturgy is regarded as a blend of artistry and science. It demands creative thinking, intuition and innovation to push the boundaries of magical possibilities. It also requires rigorous study, adherence to magical principles and an understanding of the underlying laws governing reality.

Advanced magical spells often involve weaving multiple aspects of thauma together from different schools of magic. Adept practitioners can combine various disciplines to create intricate and multi-layered spells, although these require heightened skill, concentration and precision to execute successfully.

Thaumaturges often utilize specialized tools or magical focuses to aid in their spellcasting endeavors. These aids can range from wands, runes, crystals, enchanted objects and various other implements. These tools act as conduits or enhancers, aiding in the channeling or manipulation of thauma, enhancing precision, focusing and/or amplifying magical effects.

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Theurgy is a catch all term for any faith-based magical practice, whether the miraculous abilities of the devoted or the heretical fiendishness of the now-defunct druidic circles; if one's magic comes from a supernatural entity of some kind it is considered theurgy.

Theurgy involves channeling power directly from deific figures (the Nine in this case) or other sufficiently powerful entities (some daemons fall into this category, frighteningly enough, and others may as well). Practitioners act as conduits, drawing upon the presence and energy of these higher beings to shape thauma so as to perform miracles and spells.

Each deity represents different domains, such as justice, wisdom, nature and the like. Theurgists may specialize in aligning themselves with a particular deity, gaining access to spells and abilities associated with that domain.

Theurgy is granted through communion, prayers or rituals performed to establish a connection with divinity in whatever form the theurgist worships. This connection allows practitioners to beseech deific figures for their favour and intervention. Theurgy is deeply tied to the practitioner's faith, devotion and purity of heart. The strength of their connection to the divine is influenced by their unwavering belief and adherence to the teachings and principles of their chosen spiritualism.

Theurgists receive divine gifts or guidance through visions, signs or prophecies, aiding them in performing miracles or carrying out tasks aligned with the will of the subject of their worship. Theurgists can perform miraculous acts such as healing, blessing, protection or even summoning daemonic entities, all by invoking the power granted by devotion.

Theurgists might perform rituals, offer sacrifices, or partake in ceremonies to honour the object of their devotion, seeking favour and reinforcing their connection to the divine source.

Unlike Thaumaturgy, which relies on understanding thauma and manipulating it, Theurgy involves beseeching and channeling the power bestowed by external entities. While Thaumaturgy leans on the laws of reality, Theurgy hinges on divine intervention and the interpretation of the practitioner's faith.

A great many of the varied spells (some pedants insist on referring to theurgical spells as miracles) available to theurgists directly parallel the various thaumaturgical disciplines in their use and effects. For levity as well as categorization, many such spells have been defined by thaumaturgists as belonging to one of these schools (although in the case of some more complicated spells, they may belong to several, but such is the way of the divine).

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Finally within all acts of magic, thaumic or otherwise, lie the universal truths of Colour Theory. Colours effect life for every inhabitant of Maluna from the Pale King himself to the basest bug that finds itself underfoot. Even the blind can interact with colour and some theorize that perhaps it is only the blind who can truly know the full depths of a colour.

Whatever the case may be, none can argue that with the ambient suffusion of thauma on Maluna, colour itself has become as much a result of magic as it is an ingredient.

A prime example of how colour can effect the world at large even without magical interference is blue’s effect on daemonkind. Shades of blue are known to repel daemonkin and indeed the Oaths that daemons take upon being Invoked reference and amplify this naturally unsettling effect.

Conversely, areas rife with daemonic influence trend toward having a prevalence of orange. Whether this is an atmospheric shift in visible light or simply the daemon’s preference for orange things, none can say for certain.

Correlation is not Causation

It should be noted that that these interactions do not represent a deep understanding of daemonkind or that blueness in and of itself is somehow more pure.

The subtle interactions of colour are many and varied and only one facet of existence as a whole.

Scent - Colours are each theorized to have a smell, although the basic scent of a colour is in itself impossible to detect with the naked nose. It is only when the essence of a colour is quickened through use in magic that the scent of each colour makes itself known to the world at large.

The smells reported are approximate; this is because each colour smells like itself. It is very common in Badarr and in Ma’mooh’al and the Tatterjagd Spires especially for incenses and oils to be made with richly pigmented ingredients. Some of the more expensive of these items will be mixed with a magically-infused yet neutral agent in order to add the colour’s scent to the perfumed result.

Synesthetic Reference

Imagine trying to describe the smell of a lemon. You'd say citrusy and sharp, but that isn't it exactly; there’s an ineffable nuance that cannot be distilled further.

Colour
Red	A passionate hue, bold and lusty, smelling of citrus fruit, dry wood.
Orange	An inspiring hue, hopeful and rebellious with scents of tobacco smoke and saffron.
Yellow	A gratifying hue with a melancholy tinge that smells of tree syrups, mint and dust.
Green	A cheerful hue, bright yet impassive and smelling of tea leaves and resin.
Blue	A cool, bracing hue that smells strongly of minerals, ozone and oiled metal.
Purple	A rich, intoxicating hue with an air of mystery to its scent of cloves and green plants.
Shades	Impurities in a hue that darken it, causing scents of rot, smoke and burned things.
Tints	Impurities in a hue that lighten it, causing scents of seawater, rainfall and flowers.

On Gajawomp 'Cuisine'

Gajawomps aren't skilled gourmands or culinary experts like the heth or dhrakari, nor are they as skilled as the muhntar when it comes to fermentation. They are opportunistic omnivores and while cowardly about conflict, they're not cowards when it comes to eating.

Furthermore, as implicit pyromaniacs with access to (arguably) crude alchemical skill, one could describe gajawomp cuisine as a series of seemingly terrible ideas that results in a few genuinely good choices.

If something explodes, catches fire, ferments unexpectedly or tastes incredible somehow that's just proof the meal had spirit or that the cook followed their heart.

Gajawomps don't really deal in recipes as much as an oral tradition of dishes that arise from their environments and surroundings, from one cooker to the next. Enough salt until it feels right, cook until nobody is nervous anymore, if it explodes cook it further away from the fire next time. That sort of nonsense.

In longterm settlements such as Stabville beneath Sunreach Hollow, gajawomps of the Swampwood Clan have even more outlandish dishes than what is presented below. They have a relative abundance of large spiders, bats, slimes and more to add to their usual culinary antics.

Ironically this produces a few dishes that curious and adventurous people quietly seek out. A miner might swear by ashcakes because they keep for weeks, bakers might pay handsomely for firehoney. An aristocrat with adventurous tastes might import lucky cheese despite the fact that half the shipment arrives inedible.

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Boomroots
A starchy tuber with flammable gas pockets that whistle as it cooks. Gajawomps roast it beside the fire to vent the gas first, though impatient cooks occasionally launch one across camp or are launched themselves.

Powder Jerky
Unidentifiable flesh cured in salt, charcoal, bitter herbs and powdered sulphur, giving it a smoky, acrid flavour most people hate. Gajawomps barely notice and value it for keeping indefinitely in their bomb satchels.

Firehoney
Wild honey blended with hot peppers, resin and tree sap into a thick glaze. Every batch tastes different because no one ever measures anything, it's all by feel.

Charcoal Mush
A black porridge of burnt acorns, roasted mushrooms, roots, grain and whatever else gajawomps can lay hands on ground into a thick paste. Hideous to behold but surprisingly filling and nutritious.

Snapberries
Small red berries that build pressure as they ripen, popping underfoot or bursting pleasantly in the mouth. Gajawomp children delight in pelting one another with them.

Ashcakes
Dense flatbreads of coarse flour, rendered fat and ground insects, baked directly beneath campfire ashes. Gajawomps regularly forget where they buried them, leading to accidental "harvests" weeks later.

Scarecrow Stew
A greasy stew made from whatever has been acquired most recently, whether vegetables, livestock or less conventional ingredients. It is continually topped up and kept simmering for days, coincidentally warding off food poisoning.

Popping Fungus
A pale cave mushroom whose caps puff into light, airy morsels when heated. Young gajawomps compete to see whose launch highest from the pan.

Lucky Cheese
A semi-fermented 'cheese' inoculated with unpredictable moulds. Where do gajawomps get milk? What are they milking? What're you, an inquisitor? Most wheels spoil but the rare successful batch is considered a delicacy.

Sausage
Offal, blood, pungent vegetables and other scraps packed into intestines and smoked until nearly black. The heavy smoke preserves the meat and disguises whatever state it was in beforehand.

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#collectedworksoffriaralbert #observationsofchaos

On Gajawomps

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“They’re like the gods took a dog, gave it thumbs and then cursed it with the worst luck imaginable. Then they gave it bombs. Why did they give it bombs?!”

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Type	Bipedal Mammal
Relatives	Yukaku?
	Barakleth?
	Goblins?
Distribution	Anywhere
Rarity	Regrettably Common
Height	2'2" - 2'8"
	66-81cM
Lifespan	Short (often shorter)
Diet	Omnivorous
Oath	Landbound

Sometimes the creatures commonly referred to as “goblins” by most of the Pale King's subjects are, in fact, not goblins at all. They are the Gajawomps, a word that means “really too bad” in their own yapping, guttural tongue.

True goblins despise them with a passion that borders on the pathological, viewing them as a mockery of their kind. The gajawomps, for their part, remain blissfully oblivious to this hatred, seeing true goblins as grumpy but oddly endearing cousins.

Gajawomps are small, hunched humanoids with wiry frames and bestial faces, their fur a patchwork of earth tones; browns, grays and a sickly green that seems to blend with filth. Their large, pointed ears twitch constantly, though they are nearly deaf and their sickly yellow eyes gleam with a mix of mischief and malice.

They are a pest species, thriving in almost any environment from dank forests to arid deserts thanks to their remarkable adaptability. Despite their versatility, they are universally reviled. Their aura of misfortune, combined with their cowardice, incompetence and love for explosives, ensures they are never more than a localized menace.

Gajawomps are cursed, or blessed depending on who you ask, with an innate aura of bad luck. Dice tumble the wrong way, weapons break at the worst moment and even the simplest tasks become fraught with peril. The Gajawomps themselves seem immune to the consequences of their own karmic imbalance, though their chaotic nature often leads them into self-inflicted disasters.

They are profoundly cowardly, preferring to attack from a distance or ambush their foes with traps and explosives. Their size and nimbleness allow them to dart through tight spaces and escape danger, but their lack of coordination and penchant for friendly fire often undermine their efforts.

They are masters of hit-and-run tactics, lobbing bombs with reckless abandon and fleeing at the first sign of retaliation. Their explosives produce all manner of inconvenient effects.

While these devices are dangerous, their haphazard use ensures that gajawomps are as likely to harm themselves or their allies as they are their enemies.

Gajawomps live in small, scattered gangs, often lurking near the encampments of other creatures, particularly barakleths and yukaku, whom they seem to idolize for reasons no one can fathom. They set sadistic traps designed to maim and humiliate rather than kill, such as fire ant-filled sacks dropped from trees or pits filled with filth. These traps are as much a source of entertainment for the gajawomps as they are a means of defense.

To encounter a Gajawomp is to experience a day gone horribly wrong. To encounter a gang of them is to invite disaster. For all their faults there is a strange, almost endearing quality to their bumbling malevolence. They are the unlucky ones, after all; perhaps that is punishment enough.

Despite their many flaws, gajawomps are survivors.

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The image of a Gajawomp was drawn by Cally Leung; you can find more of her work here.

Wait, what's this all about?

 Maluna is a place that refuses to sit still for long enough to be ignored.

At its simplest, it is a setting built on its people, their struggles and travails and a reality that reacts to how it is understood. A glittering veneer of fantastical elements overlaid atop a somewhat more realistic whole.

A place where every moment is meant to feel as if it has a pulse. Settlements rise around unstable opportunity, power shifts and even authority is something that has to be maintained, as it cannot be assumed. The wondrous and fantastical have happened and continue to happen right alongside the more mundane slices of life that help to drive and define such a place.

Every story has a hero and that hero's meant to stop something bad and Maluna is no exception, but the articles will also focus on the smaller things. The nitty gritty and the overlooked. However the prose goes, as they say. Do they say that?

If you are looking for a setting that feels alive, reactive and slightly unpredictable in a way that still follows its own internal logic, Maluna offers that experience. It is not a backdrop for stories so much as a system that generates them.

Though if there's interest, maybe there'll be some stories as well.

Presently the articles will be written from the perspective and in the tone of Friar Albert, a historian and naturalist who has journeyed the length and breadth of Maluna in his time. At times his articles are incendiary, at others quite dry, but they are always relevant.

Occasionally there will be an article drawn from one of Friar Albert's contemporaries, though they may not always be willing to be known as a colleague. One such for instance would be Preceptor Becky Chambers, recognized at the Midlands' foremost monster expert and quite valued for her insights, indeed.

I've spent a long time so far working on my little world, making it into a bigger one, and hopefully anyone reading this far can enjoy what I've worked on.

-Roto

(P.S.: Most articles will also have some art involved. The vast majority of things I've got for this project came from Pinterest and are very difficult to source. If I've used something of yours and you'd prefer it not to be here please reach out and I'll remove it. I'll do my best to source appropriately where I can, of course!)