[Magic lore] The spellcraft of unsound minds

[youdude 104]

 

 

UNSOUND SPELLCASTING

./¨¨\_Tentacular _/¨¨\.

Introduction

A mind is a frail and fickle thing. It is easily bent, easily burdened and driven into it’s low-points.

And mages, with each connection, each meditation, plunge this frail thing into the unknown plane we are void of a name. Our foolish bravery is sure to be noticed.

 

“That emptiness was serene… Its endless swirling energies calming. It was an escape for me, a place where the burdens of the earthly realm had no foothold..”

 

Voidal magic uses mana as the heated iron and one's mind as the anvil and hammer, forging spells with precision and grace. But if the tools are bent and distorted, an end result will still come, yet it's shape and utility would be questionable at best. Those magic users who've been pushed into madness, touched by the denizens of the void, given their blessing and knowledge would be familiar to this fact. And it takes an afflicted mind to see beauty in this chaos.
 

“..Yet, mayhap I indulged in its incomprehensibility too often. As my aimless presence attracted the attention of an o̶the҉r͟w͞orĺd̡ly onlooker…”

Unsound magic is the result of folk already capable of magical arts attracting the attention of voidal horrors, having their mind rended and attuned to the more primal workings of magic. By chance, or by fate, while their consciousness wandered the endless depths of the void in their state of meditation, it was noticed and approached by a voidal denizen. The whispers and touch of one of these beings within their home realm cracks the mages mind, rendering them trapped in a state of insanity, plagued by visions of their presence, their mind filled with whispers in an incomprehensible language. Still pushing their distorted minds into attempts of spell-craftery, they would find a strange attunement that both distorted their previous magical connection, and allowed them to cast these curious magical anomalies . They would have to make due with this chaotic art, and make the best of it, as all hope of restoring their voidal connections is for naught.
 

“..Who could have imagined the knơw͞l̛edgę it held? It’s silent ẃh́i̷s͜p͝ers held a deep resonation that caused my very being to tr̢em̧b̕l̢e͢.. It reached out, t͞oưc̕ḩed ̨m̷y ̢mi͏nd.. Altered it..”

Unsound magic is  erratic and unstable at best, dangerous and unpredictable. To those experiencing this anomaly in magical casting for the first time, simply being knocked out would be a likely scenario, and only after a few years would they be able to avoid such a fate. On rare occasion, their chosen magic would come out as amplified, roaring with potential the caster accidentally tapped, sometimes it would come out as a dim and pitiful attempt, and sometimes curiously quirky things would happen. These wonders would vary in usefulness and potency, ranging from the downright bizarre, to the fascinating and terrifying, nearly eldritch in nature, seeming connected to the being which imparted this pseudo-attunement.

 

“..And I am now it’s looking glass… For as curious as we are to look into their world.. They m͘i̕rror that ambition tenfold...”

 

The mechanics

Tier three:

Once someone ‘takes up’ unsound magic, they must leave behind their previous magical arts, though the remnants of the knowledge remains. The user of Unsound magic user must have at the very least reached tier three in their previous arcane art, as that is the point where connecting to the void becomes natural enough for them to be able to do it whilst in an altered state of mind. At tier three, the role-play would be as follows:

 

The caster would roll a 10 sided dice in game with the “/roll 10” command.

1-5: They are knocked out, and awake with a violent head-ache after a short while.

6-7: They cast their spell at half the intended potency.

8: They cast the spell at full potency.

9: They cast the spell at double the potency.

10: They cast an anomaly instead.

 

If they were to roll a 10, an ‘anomaly’ roll would follow, determining the effect.

 

Tier four:

The advancement and refinement of this chaos would only come to those who strive for mastery with their addled state of mind, as they become more familiar with the entropic patterns and the chaotic beauty. They would be much less prone to falling unconscious, and much more prone to casting at full, or even doubled potency. Casting a anomaly is less of a fluke.

At tier four, the role-play would be as follows:

 

The caster would roll a 10 sided dice in game with the “/roll 10” command.

1-3: They are knocked out and awake with a violent head-ache after a short while.

4: They cast their spell at half the intended potency.

5-6: They cast their spell at full potency.

7: They cast their spell at double potency.

8-10: They cast an anomaly instead.

 

If they were to roll a 9 or 10, an ‘anomaly’ roll would follow, determining the effect.

 

Tier five:

Mastering the art would be as far from true ‘mastery’ as mastery can get. It would resemble more to simply being used to the chaos, having experienced enough of it to have some sort of idea as to what could happen, and having minor control. A master in unsound magic would be able to avoid the violent backlash of mana, unable to be knocked out by their own foolishness, only experiencing the regular fatigue of spellcasting.
At tier five, the role-play would be as follows:

 

The caster would roll a 10 sided dice in game with the “/roll 10” command. If they see fit, they can add or subtract 1 to their roll.

1-2: They cast their spell at half the intended potency.

3-4: they cast their spell at full potency.

5: They cast their spell at double the potency.

6-10: They cast an anomaly instead.

 

If they were to roll between 6 and 10, an ‘anomaly’ roll would follow, determining the effect.

The unpredictability of an unsound spell

As a mage's mind resonates with the chaotic fluctuations of barely contained and nearly free-flowing mana, curious things can happen. Effects unobtainable by normal, sane means would come into reality at the mages hand, at the cost of large amount of mana and great fatigue. A tier three would be nearly knocked out by the casting of a single anomaly. A tier four would be able to handle three or four, and a tier five could pump out about seven, eight.. Even ten if they’re willing to suffer the pain of voidal fatigue, and the mental backlash. (The fatigue examples provided here are a guideline, each player responsibly role-playing magic should be able to gauge the strain themselves.)

Unsound spells come out differently for each mage, and their usage and shape is mostly determined by the mind that they come from (the roleplayers imagination), while the anomaly rolls simply point the roleplayer into the right direction.
Once the roleplayer is pushed into an anomaly roll, they repeat the /roll command, this time rolling a 5 sided dice with the command “/roll 5”. Tier four mages are allowed to add or subtract 1 to their roll, and tier five mages can do so with 2.The roll results are as follows:

 

1:

(Something destructive and entirely unstable)

The unsound mage feels a ripple of arcane force, their body experiences a temporary surge in power, leaving them exhausted and drained. This casting in nearly fatal to tier three mages.. What comes out is nothing like what they wished to cast, but instead a dark swirling mass of violently unstable magical energy, one which seems to sap mana from it’s surroundings in an unique fashion. It would be able to pass through magical barriers, and seemingly ‘eat’ away matter like nothing else. Mayhap it’s all ripped into it’s basest and most primal of parts, and sent into the void as energy, similar to the art of voidal translocation. For cataloging  purposes, let us name this anomaly ‘Maw of void’. It’s swirling dark mass moves at a slow pace, yet it’s mass ever-increases, and its trajectory changes in an oddly sentient manner. The caster is rendered in a state where physical exertion is nearly impossible while sustaining it. At best, they could manage a few shaky and small steps. The mana consumption increases with distance, and the anomaly dissipates if concentration is broken, or the caster loses sight.

 

2:

(Something that empowers the mage, in a twisted and eldritch manner)

The unsound mage casts something very similar to their intended spell, yet it’s distorted and empowered in a very unique way. As a rule of thumb, solids become less stable, and immaterial magic becomes material. It all edges towards the similar state.
Evocationists: Their evocation comes out, yet it’s shifted and unstable, destructive and volatile, bent to the will of their voidal observer.
Elemental evocationists find their elements to be nearly sentient, forming twisted and eldritch shapes, moving towards their intended target on their own volition, their existence requiring much less mana to sustain, and a lot more mana to create. Along with the strange behaviour, they come with cosmetic effects of instability. Either dark-purple and rippling for non-solids, or cracked and unnaturally shaped for more solid elements. These evocated materials are hardier and more persistent for non-solids (water, fire, electricity, etc..), and have that characteristic purple-colored implosion on contact with solids. (Ice, earth, etc..) An exception is air evocation, which is rendered visible with dark-purple swirling mist.

Conjurationists find their intended creation to be instead an imitation of the voidal horror that had afflicted their mind with it’s influence. Their touch would syphon mana from the intended target, devastating for non-mages and mages alike. Along with increased aggression, the blighted beings would seem to ignore their creator's commands, though they would avoid attacking the being responsible for keeping them anchored to the world. The conjurationist can dispel their creation at any time as per usual.

Arcanists find their manipulation of arcane energies drastically altered, the already unstable art rendered absolutely erratic. The energies crackle with potential, barely obeying the arcanists whims, imploding violently on every contact. If the arcanist attempts to bend them into shields, the energy would, after a brief delay seem to materialize into a dark, cracked and glowing material, similar to that created by alteration. Though being more solid and reliable, it implodes violently if it’s integrity is shattered, threatening harm to the arcanist himself.

 

Illusionists: Their illusions reflect their own distorted thoughts, rendered harrowingly physical.

Sensory illusionists find their illusions to come out bent, twisted in unrecognizable shapes, writhing with tentacular appendages, screeching out cries in gibberish, inducing the sensation of pain on all those around, not following the blueprints of their creator and seeming to resemble a living entity even if their original design was inanimate. If the illusion only attempted to simulate one sense, the sound created would be accompanied by whispers of distracting gibberish, the sensation would be accompanied by an odd induced confusion and the sight would be lined with pale white eyes and small wriggling tendrils.

Mental mages find that their targets feel more than a single presence, the penetrated mind filled with deafening whispers and headache inducing ringing. And with their targets mind so occupied and burdened, information extraction should be a bit easier.

 

Users of Cognitism find their mental capabilities pushed beyond normal limits, yet their perception of the world becomes twisted for the duration of their hyper thought, beings seeming twisted and blighted with arcane malformations, the world spinning and darkening.

 

Alterationists: Their changes to already existing matter would riddle it with instability, cause it to become unpredictable and volatile.

 

Transfigurationists  find that the material they wished to change has been instead shifted into a very volatile and unstable imitation of what they wished to achieve. Cracks of instability would line the surface, and nearby beings would have their mana sapped in a slow but steady manner. If the material is disturbed too much, or if it has no more mana to sap, it would dissipate in a violent fashion; Imploding with a shock wave corresponding to it’s size.

 

Telekinetics find their object squeezed and twisted, contorted into meaningless symbols. Though while the shape and integrity is lost, they would find that the force with which they can manipulate the object is vastly increased.

 

Users of Voidal translocation find that they can retrieve volatile matter from their storage without ever storing it in the first place. This matter would be highly mana-dependent, syphoning it from wherever it can, and once it’s unstable form is disturbed by either physical means, or by a deprivation of mana the material can syphon. These ‘void pebbles’ are too unstable to exist for a longer period of time, and therefore cannot be used as building material, nor  forged with. Attempts would surely lead to small but violent implosions.

 

3:

(Something destructive with backlash)

The unsound mage’s mind would be filled with whispers and incomprehensible imagery, losing sight of friend or foe, entering a briefly manic state of nearly rabid aggression. From their limbs, the gathered mana would solidify into a black, nearly tar-like writhing mass of limbs and maws that would lash and coil with intent, syphoning mana from whatever living thing they grasp, gnawing at flesh with sharpened ends and tearing at anything living nearby save for its host. Curiously enough, that syphoned mana doesn’t flow into the mage, instead it is greedily kept to strengthen this odd, nearly living evoked mass. This mass, named ‘The Gnashing bulb’ for cataloguing purposes would sustain itself as long as it has something to feed off, engulfing the caster with their mass if sustained for long enough, causing a rampaging being with little to no regard for its targets alignment or affiliation with it’s host. The mass of the gnashing limbs would be thick and viscous; hard to cut through, but not impossible. Any physical disturbance to the maddened mage, may it be a nudge or a hit would cause it to dissipate and return to whence it came from. If the mass engulfed the entirety of the mages form, it would do it’s best to protect its host. Though, with a well placed stab or a strong enough slam, the host would most-definitely be awoken. Due to it’s mana-syphoning nature, magical barriers would scarcely work, usually only feeding the horror.

 

 

Physical capabilities:

The Gnashing bulb would be surprisingly weak, barely able to lift anything, relying more on the sharpness of the many gaping maws lining their bulbous surface, and the weakness the slowly syphoned mana would cause. It would also be effectively blind once it engulfs the features of the mage, making a silent escape rather easy, in contrast to it’s groaning and whispering loud mouths. The mass is also rather sluggish, only capable of occasionally swift flails of hardened writhing goop, using the weight as a bludgeon.

 

The mind behind the chaos:

The gnashing bulb in truth is an embodiment of the mages original afflictors will, the attunement-providing voidal horror slipping into the physical realm through the mages connection, taking control for the time of the gnashing limbs existence, asserting their will while over the mage's mind, rendering them in an odd forced voidal meditation.

 

4:

(Something situationally useful)

The unsound mage finds his magic to come out as flawed. It’s cast at nearly a quarter of it’s potency, more of a bad ‘poof’ than anything truly useful. Yet, along with this, the excess mana spent would solidify into black and tar-like goop; Highly acidic, capable of eating an inch into pure stone before dissipating as the mana bound to it is used up. If the mage decides to keep pushing this flawed release of magic, the acidic goop would continually ooze from the point where they are trying to cast. Since it isn’t propelled in any direction, it falls straight down, and is a bit hard to apply to solid walls. Not to mention straining on one’s form, since the ‘evocation’ of anomalies is awfully straining on one’s mana pool.

 

5:

(Something useless and mayhap funny.)

The magic comes out completely distorted and unusable, too unstable to exist for any longer than a few mere moments of crackling. The mana expenditure still takes a toll on the mage, and the added stress of anomaly-casting. Curiously, a waft of air follows the end of this failed casting, causing a sound similar to flatulence.

 

When and how to roll and roleplay:

A roleplayer rolls as they connect to the void. It is then that they determine how ‘attuned’ they are to their voidal observer, and either their pseudo-attunement would benefit or hinder them for the rest of their connection to the void. Generally, mages can disconnect, and reconnect (re-roll), but doing that takes precious emotes that can in dire situations can give your opponent plenty time to wander over and gently slide a knife into your throat.

 

Example one.

 

The mad mage, faced with two bandit thugs took deep breaths in order to calm his struggling mind, almost giddy to feel that connection once again.. With his eyes focused on the two men brandishing their swords, he began to feel the familiar whisper of his voidal observer.

 

/roll 10 => 8

 

Being a semi experienced unsound magician, this means our friend ‘the mad mage’ can roll to see what kind of anomaly he is blessed with!

 

/roll 5 => 5

 

Oh, it seems bad luck has struck our poor mad magician! Thankfully, his experience in the art can save him from a flatulent fate, and he can chose to use the effect under 4 instead!

 

A cringe crossed the mage’s features, his connection flawed and too rushed, the chaotic nature of his attunement failing him. Gritting his teeth, he roared out and pointed his hand forwards, evoking a ball of flame that grew and grew, whilst black acidic goop scolded his palms with it’s painful touch. He was exhausted, far too much for the small fire he had created, sending it forth towards the two bandits with a shaky flick of his fingers, causing one to groan in pain and stumble back; An attack that would under more fortuitous circumstances left him unable to walk! And due to this, the other bandit remained unintimidated, and stabbed our poor mad mage in his gut.

 

Example two.

 

The mad mage, faced with two bandit thugs took deep breaths in order to calm his struggling mind, almost giddy to feel that connection once again.. With his eyes focused on the two men brandishing their swords, he began to feel the familiar whisper of his voidal observer.

 

/roll 10 => 5

 

What rotten luck. Our mad mage, a master unsound magician has rolled just short of casting the anomaly he so wishes. True, a spell of doubled potency might sound enticing, but due to his mastery, he can slightly shift the scale into his favor! That 5 becomes a 6 and he can begin anomaly..ing.

 

/roll 3 => 3

 

Ah, the old ecstasy of allowing the voidal observer to take the reigns. While his rather unmethodical ways would mayhap be able to deal with the two rowdy bandits, our master unsound magician knows just how do adjust himself to create the anomaly of his desire; The maw of the void.

 

A  grin crossed the mage’s features, his connection perfected as much as he could, feeling the power of his voidal observer and the chaotic attunement he’s been bestowed surge through him. With that same grin cracking unsettlingly wide, his arms flung forwards as the energy became too much to bear, the desire to get rid of it causing an almost instinctual casting.. And there it was, that black, ever-growing and writhing mass of dark-purple nothingness, traveling towards the two petrified bandits with an almost toyingly slow advance. The two bandits began to run, each in their own direction, the unnatural feeling of whatever is chasing them driving the scared men into a sprint. The mass followed and split into two, gaining speed as it trailed, nearching it's targets. Our mad mage had sweat drip down his features, and his arm clutching his own chest with pain, while his two nearly autonomous blobs of destruction went separate ways. Forced to focus onto one, his gaze fell off the left one, leaving the bandit free to run off and escape due to the anomaly’s dissipation, with the right one catching up and ending the thug’s life with a shrill cry of horror and pain.

 

The effects on one’s psyche

Surely having an altered, and almost eldritch connection to the void cannot do good to one’s mental health, can it? Short answer; No. Long answer;

As the voidal mage’s void-connected consciousness is ‘touched and altered’ by the denizens of that unnamable place, they are knocked out. They enter a state of coma that lasts a worryingly long while, and whilst in it, experience vivid visions of knowledge incomprehensible for minds of our plane, nightmare inducing horrors, and are exposed to the mind-cracking endlessness of the void. For in this coma, they maintain a constant connection to the void, trading the exploration of the voidal realm, for the voidal denizens exploration of one’s memories. Though those beings are volatile at best, and one’s mind is not without consequence after being exposed to such unnatural conditions. The unsound mage awakens burdened by whispers of gibberish, visions of horrors and a feeling of deep and utter horror. While it fades over time, it never quite ceases, and only re-emerges quite vividly if they dare to once again connect to the void. Now here’s where it gets tricky; With each connection, those whispers, those sights seem less alien, and more.. Alluring. More pleasant, calming, desirable. Mayhap it’s the curiosity, or mayhap it’s the beauty of seeing things one should never be able to see. The unsound mage begins to crave being connected to the void, often meditating just to get that rush and sensation of the presence of it’s voidal observer. The unsound mage may find him or herself compelled to draw what he saw, only to realize what come out are seemingly meaningless symbols of current unimportance. The worst cases even seem to have etched these symbols into their own flesh. Along with this near addiction to using magic, the natural disregard that dependency brings causes the natural physical degradation of being in touch with the void to amplify, making them frail both in body and mind.

 

Red lines

-While implosions and matter-eating blobs of energy can certainly be useful for destroying walls, one should keep MC mechanics in mind, and obtain ooc consent if destroying something major. If said consent is unobtained, the magic would.. Er.. Fizzle.

-No instant disconnections and reconnections! You cannot simply keep re-rolling until you get what you want. I mean.. You can, but it takes precious time, and quite a few emotes.

-No instant casting.
-Line of sight must be kept.

-Basicaly all the other red lines of other vidal magics too.

 

NON ESSENTIAL TO DO LIST

-Pretty pictures

 

Credits:

Idea and all the work and writing: Me.

Ideas on how to handle arcanism: BrandNewKitten

Helpful tips on how to write lore, plus brilliant ideas: Swgrclan

[youdude 104]

(DD.MM.YYYY for all you american, uncultured swines!)

Changelog:

15.3.2016- Gave 'maw of void' a more glaring weakness, spruced up some text to avoid cringy-writing, changed title.

 

16.3.2016- Added and edited some pictures, removed the white border of eyesore-ness.

[justDEWit 133]

I was actually working on something like this! Except it's more of it's own magic, where anything can happen really. But I'll just give it a huge +1

[𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3066]

+10

[KBR 1484]

I like it, it seems like an interesting idea, but I can see some people power-gaming it if their role is high enough.   

[Runabarn 1026]

RNG based magic? Not a big fan of the concept to be honest.

[Demotheus 649]

So basically it renders an illusionist completely useless since sensory illusion has to make sense, be believeable, etc. And generally speaking, trying to do something monstrous doesn't work very well. 

[Mr. Etan 2839]

It's very interesting.

 

 

It also reminds me /a lot/ about Thaumcraft and how forbidden magic is used and learned and the warp effect to the mind.

[youdude 104]

8 hours ago, Stobohobo2 said:

I like it, it seems like an interesting idea, but I can see some people power-gaming it if their role is high enough.   

 

Well, that's a concern with every magic, isn't it? Plus, the magic is supposed to be a bit strong at it's full potential. The trade off, is that it can equally as likely be a complete dud. Though 'mastery' greatly reduces the chances of that. Adjustments can surely be made to balance though, suggestions are welcome!

 

7 hours ago, Demotheus said:

So basically it renders an illusionist completely useless since sensory illusion has to make sense, be believeable, etc. And generally speaking, trying to do something monstrous doesn't work very well. 

 

Not completely useless against the inexperienced and superstitious ! But, think about it for a moment: You're trying to convince your spectator to believe a sight, while supposedly mad and plagued with visions. Some arcane arts work better with that, some work worse. Plus, that's only for one of the various cases. You're able to cast it normally still, or at double the strain, or double the efficiency depending on your luck. Then again, if you've got suggestions on how to better illusion while sticking to the unstable-madness theme, they are appreciated!

[Gallic 1051]

I love this idea! I would definitely pick this up on my "some day" magic man character. Perhaps take it to a sort of pseudo-obsession with his observer, if the mage even knows for sure that they're present. Who knows.

 

But, I do have two questions...

 

Are the anomalies listed here the comprehensive end-all be-all of what this magic can do, or could it depend on the nature of the being the mage is connected to? This could give the potential for some really diverse, really interesting RP... But also open up a gateway for some really edgy or really power game-y stuff.

 

Would the mage have any sort of relationship with their spectator, (E.G. "Orgalorg enjoys mortal literature, therefore I must please him by reading aloud to him every night at bed time with a warm glass of milk.") or is it entirely one-sided, and any illusion of a relationship would need to be a figment of the mage's insanity? I'd like either one.

[youdude 104]

7 hours ago, TheCritsyBear said:

I love this idea! I would definitely pick this up on my "some day" magic man character. Perhaps take it to a sort of pseudo-obsession with his observer, if the mage even knows for sure that they're present. Who knows.

 

But, I do have two questions...

 

Are the anomalies listed here the comprehensive end-all be-all of what this magic can do, or could it depend on the nature of the being the mage is connected to? This could give the potential for some really diverse, really interesting RP... But also open up a gateway for some really edgy or really power game-y stuff.

 

Would the mage have any sort of relationship with their spectator, (E.G. "Orgalorg enjoys mortal literature, therefore I must please him by reading aloud to him every night at bed time with a warm glass of milk.") or is it entirely one-sided, and any illusion of a relationship would need to be a figment of the mage's insanity? I'd like either one.

 

To the first question; No! Although I'm unsure of how lenient I can be with lore like this, but for all I care, go buck wild if you stick with the theme and the general feel, and don't make it too OP. But mayhap for the sake of balance, its best to have it restrained to the options I've presented, since I've tried my best to give all the more powerful anomalies rather glaring weaknesses, and situational usefulness.
 

To the second question; It would be mostly one-sided, with the voidal spectator unable to truly relay it's wishes due to both a dimensional, and language gap. Mayhap some crafty mages might discern the intentions, but I'd leave that up for the roleplayers themselves!