[UA] Gourmancy and craft-based magick...

[sp!ke]

At 10:51 AM 2/12/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Good stuff, very nicely balanced taboo and charge structure... but I find
>myself wondering if the spells aren't a little on the weak side.  If I was
>prepping this for publication, I'd include starvation rules, too.  Neat.
>
>-G.
>	
>1899 Phrenologist: Your son has the sloping forehead of a sexual deviant:
>better put him in an asylum.
>1999 Gene Therapist: Your fetus has the "date rape" gene.  Better abort.


thanx.  i had to re-read it this morning because i couldn't remember
anything that i had written last night (ieee...note to self: do not design
game material past midnight).  beside's the occult reference to that
episode of "the hunger," this school was also inspired by my sushi chef,
aki (if you're ever in berkeley, ca...).  if anyone practices gourmancy in
the real world, it's aki...

the minor spells *are* fairly weak...of course, being able to generate many
charges at one time helps a little.  the significant formula spells are
designed to be much more powerful (feast or famine? pretty much enables the
gourmand to kill anyone within the span of a month...), though this school
is by no means a rock 'em, sock 'em robot school like the ones in the main
ua book.

what i was attempting to do was to create a school that has been around a
long time, not due its power, but due to the loyalty and single-mindedness
displayed by its practitioners.  craft-spells like this one (and
mechanomancy) aren't just schools of magick.  they're professions, arts,
ways of life and ways of seeing the world.  i doubt any gourmands "chose"
this school.  more like they learned the craft and it became part of their
inner core.  magick is built around obsession...are dipsomancers or
epideromancers in it for the art or for the thrill?  plus the idea of a
blasphemous tome of occult recipes just sounds too cool.   

i'd love to see more examples of "craft magick" on this list...that is,
magickal schools built upon these things:

1) loyalty to the craft and all that it represents.  performing a craft
with a sense of art, purpose, tradition and love is something that's
missing from the modern world.  this "old world" approach is difficult and
time-consuming.  fufillment of the craft is the true reward, not any kind
of magickal power...
2) sacrifice for the craft.  mechanomancers must give up part of themselves
(memories) and gourmands must abstain from enjoying the fruits of their
labor.  this instills a sense of respect in the traditions surrounding the
craft.
3)  the craft must have mundane/practical applications.  blacksmithing,
cooking, sewing, book-binding -- the craft is usually handed down from
master to student over many generations.  this is hard work and long
apprenticeships are not uncommon.  modern equipment may be used in some
facets but the basis of the craft is in personal, dedicated handiwork.

some ideas kicking around in my brainpan that i might write-up:

teatromancy:  originating in ancient greece, the actors submerge their true
identities into various roles.  charges are built up by maintaining these
assumed identities and lost by having the facade ripped away (an actor
currently portraying elvis presley is pulled over and loses his charges
when forced to show the cop his license).

technomancy:  the forerunner to mechanomancy, this guild of arabian
artificers was dedicated to the creation of magickal devices.  magickal
charges are gained through personal sacrifice (fasting for a day for a
minor charge, shaving a year's growth of beard for a significant charge,
sacrificing one's youth for a major charge).  charges cannot be lost as the
charges are immediately used up (the sacrifices are offered during the
creation ritual).

i also have a really disturbing idea for a school of magick called biomancy
(for lack of a better word) based upon the collection of...um, human
remnants and fluids.  i don't know if that'll ever get written though.  ugh.

- sp!Key




Jared A. Sorensen
http://www.memento-mori.com/spike/ua.html

"I don't think there's anything man wasn't meant to know. There are just
some stupid things that people shouldn't do. "
- David Cronenberg