What's sleep? Here's another school...

[Jared A. Sorensen]

(the name "shih-tan" and some of the ideas come from an episode of the cable
series "the hunger" that aired on showtime.)

Gourmancy

"eat, eat, eat...three square meals a day" -- alien sex fiend (i know, i
know...i'm pushing it here)

a small, secretive school of magick dedicated to fine cuisine, the gourmands
infuse their banquets with magickal energy.  only thirty living sorcerers
are known to practice this style of ritual food magick but this art has
existed for close to two-thousand years.  the majority of these chefs are
male and hail from china.  the rest represent a cross-section of world
cuisine (most non-asian gourmands are from france and italy).

gourmancy was first developed in the far east.  chinese mages, long versed
in the medicinal applications of edible foodstuffs, discovered that the very
act of cooking could generate chi.  this chi could be stored and used for a
variety of purposes, all channeled into the meals that they prepared.

gourmancy, like the older school of mechanomancy, stresses both the artistic
expression and personal sacrifice of magick.  gourmands are obsessive about
the culinary arts, training for decades to learn every nuance, every
technique.  in fact, many of the most powerful magickal tomes in existence
are gouramnd-penned cookbooks.  because of this fanaticism, gourmands can
only acquire charges by creating unique, delicious and skillfully prepared
and presented dishes.

gourmancy blast style: gourmancers have no blast spell.

generate a minor charge: prepare a gourmet meal (popping a chilli dog into
the mcrowave won't do it).  one minor charge can be gained per course of the
meal.  note that "course" means a complete dish, not individual servings
(creating a four course meal for 30 people will grant the gourmand 4 minor
charges).  because of their creative natures and because gainign charges in
this fashion is relatively easy, gourmands spend inordinate amounts of time
preparing even the simplest dishes (something to remember the next time you
ask your cabal's gourmancer for a quick breakfast).

generate a significant charge: prepare unique dish from an artifact
cookbook.  these dishes are extraordinarily difficult to prepare, requiring
exact measurement and preparation of ingredients.  as with the above
example, each course yields one significant charge.  although many magickal
cookbooks are known to exist, most are in the possession of a select few
mages (alex abel is rumored to have one in his private library, although it
is unclear whether or not he would be able to utilize it).

alternately, using magickal cooking implements to prepare a gourmet meal
will allow the gourmand to gain charges.  these  rare and sought-after items
do not yield cumulative charges (preparing sushi with two different artifact
blades will not double your charges).  these items, like the dipsomancer's
bottles, must belong to the gourmand.  magickal cooking implements are
usually very old (at least two-hundred years old) and have some kind of
historical significance (a porcelain banquet platter from the tokugawa
shoganate).

generate a major charge:  to gain a major charge, the gourmand must prepare
a dish from one of the lost tomes of the shiih-tan, named after a fabled
group of chinese gourmancers from the qin dynasty.  the dishes described
within the blood-inked pages of the shih-tan are so difficult to prepare
that there are legends of mages going insane from the effort of reading
them.  of course, this has never been proven as the nine volumes of the
shih-tan have never been found.  rumor has it that the shih-tan recipes use
human flesh as a main ingredient and that the books were actually created by
a beings from the netherworld.

taboo:  Gourmancers must devote all their energy in preparing food and must
fast while in pursuit of arcane knowledge.  as a result, gourmands lose all
of their charges if they eat any food (including their own).

random magick domain:  gourmancers channel their magick through food and can
only affect dishes that they have prepared themselves.  various spheres of
influence include spells that affect the mind and body.  because of their
taboo, gourmands can only affect others.

starting charges: after his apprenticeship ends, the gourmand will have to
face the world without any charges.

Gourmancy minor formula spells

preserve
cost: 1 minor charge
effect: food prepared with this spell will not spoil, melt, attract insects
or otherwise suffer from the effects of entropy from sunrise to sunset.

chicken soup for the soul
cost: 1 minor charge
effect: this spell yields the same result as the epideromancy spell,
"regeneration."

ferment
cost: 1 minor charge
effect: when this spell is cast on a beverage, that liquid turns alcoholic. 
this effect remains for as long as the target beverage does.  it can be used
on any vessel the size of a wine cask or smaller.  many speculate that this
spell was the source of the "water to wine" miracle from the new testament.

pestilence
cost: 2 minor charges
effect: casting this spell on food or drink causes it to become mildly
poisonous.  the victim will experience debilitating nausea, vomitting and
other similar distress for an hour plus a number of hours equal to their
body score subtracted from the gourmand's magick score.

like water for chocolate
cost: 2 minor charges
effect: the chef is able to project his emotional state into his cuisine. 
whatever emotion the gourmand is experiencing while preparing this dish
affects anyone who partakes of the meal.  the gourmand must literally pour
his heart out to the food...crying into soup to produce sadness, yelling at
the roast chicked to provoke anger or thinking lascivious thoughts to
encourage lust.  this effects everyone who eats the meal and lasts until the
next sunrise.

Gourmancy significant formula spells

transcribe
cost: 5 significant charges
effect: this spell allows the gourmancer to create his own book of occult
recipes.  although each recipe only takes one day to transcribe, the recipes
themselves can take years to perfect.  crafting a personal culinary grimoire
is considered the pinnacle of gourmantic artistry.  the books of dead
gourmands are highly prized items that are quite rare and expensive to
attain.

feast or famine?
cost: 3 significant charges
effect: the vengeful gourmand can exact a painful vengeance with this spell.
 when cast, the gourmand's target will begin to lose weight at an alarming
rate.  no matter how much they eat, the victim gradually get thinner and
thinner until they eventually die from malnutrition.  the only way to halt
this process is with a fear or famine? counterspell (cast by the original
caster or by another gourmancer) or through epideromantic spells.  magickal
examination of the victim will reveal that a kind of segmented tapeworm-like
creature has affixed itself to the victim.  physically removing the worm is
a difficult task, even with magickal assistance.

ambrosia
cost: 2 significant charge
effect: anyone consuming food or drink tainted with this spell will feel
confident, energetic and clear-minded until they go to sleep.  the subject
cannot fail any stress checks while under the influence of this spell and
cannot suffer the effects of drugs, poisons or alcohol for its duration
(this includes getting or keeping dipsomantic charges!).

divination
cost: 2 significant charges
effect:by posing a question and then examining the entrails of an animal
(chicken, fish, pig, etc.) used in preparing a dish, the gourmancer can
forsee the future.  the question must be answerable in the "magic 8-ball
style" (yes, no, maybe).

cornucopia
cost: 1 significant charge
effect: a more powerful version of preserve, this spell enables ingredients
or prepared dishes to last indefinitely, without salting, refrigeration or
dehydrating.

gourmancy major effects

major charges in gourmancy only exist in ancient legends.  still, if one
were to acquire a major charge, one could produce virtually any mental or
physiological change through the smell or taste of food.  the boundry
between life and death could even be surmounted with the right dish...