Immortal Lore: Alchemy

Alchemy

    Alchemy within Immortal is a very wide subject, like talking about the military and not just the air force. But it’s also not what you might think it is, but it also is.

Alchemy in the World

“Though the world alchemy evokes images of potions in many commoners' heads, potion creation is actually its own type of magic. Alchemy within Immortal is divided among spellcasting, rituals, and essentia. Spellcasting involves using vocalization and a catalyst to mold the physical world around them to create spells. An alternative and more primitive version of spellcasting is using tools to create alchemical circles to perform a ritual, which is then powered by the alchemist to create a spell effect. Essentia is taking physical material and using tools to break it down into its fundamental material, a slurry or liquid. Essentia is the method used to create potions, but not just potions, solid matter is another manufactured material used in the creation of advanced alchemy.

Unlike the other two power castes (psychic and theurgy), alchemy has the unique property of being the only caste that can directly influence the physical world, but lacks the ability to directly affect a mind or influence the soul of others. While an alchemist can create a spell that casts a sleepy fog, the alchemist can't reach into the mind of others. It is impossible for an alchemist to influence or interfere with souls and fate.


Some spellcasters may know many spells and be trained poorly with them, compared to someone who knows a few spells that excel in them.”

- An excerpt from one of my own documents.

Ritual Circles

    Alchemy is the process of transmuting the world by drawing on its material to make new things. It’s like pulling apart atoms to make new elements. Rituals take the same form you see in Full Metal Alchemist - you need the full material to create the effect you need. The ritual circle defines the area which you are transmuting, along with everything inside. Rituals are slow, requiring the alchemist to spend time using a marker to define the spell, then find the material. However you can perform as many rituals as you can in a single day at no cost to yourself. A normally skilled alchemist can average 6 rituals back to back in a single hour, while an experienced ritualist can quickly perform about 3 or 4 extra rituals within the same time before needing to take a break.

Spell Scrolls

    People who are good at this are called Ritualists, and can perform rituals with incredible speed. This is where spell scrolls come in. It’s the next and final technological evolution of ritual circles. Spell scrolls work very similarly to spellcasting where it doesn’t have a fully defined circle to draw from, you just need to be sure to define exactly what you want and what you don’t want it to pull from (like matter/energy from your body). Spell scrolls are extremely difficult to make and time consuming. A modern world would be better in mass producing these, but the further away from a modern age the more exponential it's rarity is.

Spellcasting

 

    Spellcasting completely bypasses this. A catalyst is tied to the energy around it, then a spellcaster attunes to the catalyst so they in turn are connected as well. However a spellcaster's connection to the energy is through the filter of the catalyst, which also doubles as a safety ward against the raw nature of magic. Without a catalyst it would be no different than shoving a fork into an outlet while you are holding onto it, trying to power a light bulb held in another hand.


    By creating the right tones to create a chain reaction that makes a spell. Words aren’t needed, but sound is. A tuning fork is perfectly serviceable, if limited. You then need to animate your body to direct the spell - like throwing a ball. Spell slots represent a connection to the soul’s power from which is used to power the vibration that creates the spell. Your catalyst is plugged into the energy, your soul, it needs to power the lightbulb, and your words are what colors the light.


    And yes… you can be connected to this energy without a catalyst. Naturally born people who do this are called sorcerers. I forgot what the name for an artificially created connection is (can’t seem to find those notes), but that sort of connection is far more dangerous to the person and no more dangerous to those around them.

Essentia

    Essentia is the act of manually taking material and breaking it down into liquid elements, which is then contained (usually within glass). This requires no catalyst, but does require a ritual circle. However you only ever need one ritual circle to break down any material. The only concern you have is to contain the essentia, due to the fact some of it is more or less stable without breaking it down even further (thus wasting energy). There are multiple “complexity layers” and the higher you go up the less stable it is in raw essentia form. The lowest form is something you’re quite familiar with: Earth, fire, water, air. There is a 5th element however: ether.


    Unlike most fantasies, the base elements aren’t literal. You don’t have a literal bottle of water or dirt. A base element defines how it acts. (I won’t get too deep into this because that’s a very long post by itself, but I’ll leave you with this: ether is mandatory for things to be glued together and is the legitimate true essence of magic.) As you go further up the chain it uses a combination of any element of a lower layer. Spellcasting does all this which is why it's so taxing on your spell slots.

 

Deeper Lore

Let’s go a bit deeper. Here’s another snippet.

Alchemy in Society

“Alchemists are in common demand from the lowest to highest parts of society. From maneuvering ships by directing water to healing the sick, the demand for their services is extremely common. Not all alchemists are trained equally - spells demand a high level of skill to optimize their power. A healer could never compete with an illusionist and vice versa as spells which are useful for those types of magicians demand very different skills. However a spellcaster may learn spells outside their specialization but shouldn't be expected to perform well with it.”

Spells within Immortal are not all equal. Unlike most games like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder where you only need a single spellcasting modifier, spellcasting in Immortal demands two things: Your Spellcasting ability and spellcasting skill.


    Just because you know the knock spell doesn’t mean you can open a lock with it. You need to invest in the proper skill to do so (Deft would be the correct skill in this case). If you want to be good at healing you need to have a high medicine skill. For the last example: If you want to be more effective at controlling plants or water you need to invest in your knowledge of nature (plants and geology both fall under this umbrella).


    Thankfully you only need one spellcasting modifier: Memory. It’s an extremely important aspect that also defines how many extra spells you know. Having a good memory means you can recall the exact tone your voice needs to be and remember the optimal movement to make with your body. It’s a very involved process and combat makes it even harder, especially if a warlord is burning a hole into your forehead standing 5 feet away. And no, there is no spell failure. (There would be, but I removed it to assist game-feel)

The birth of Immortal

 Major Heading goes Here

    After multiple successes with my classes getting positive reviews I think it’s time to dive too early into creating my own ttrpg with little experience in ttrpg’s in general! Yes I have played them in the past but I find myself bored when playing DnD and finding little to get engaged in. But the larger part of my reason is I want to undertake my magnum opus: Creating my own game.

    The journey is going to be very long and difficult, but you know what? I think I have the right mentality going into this. I’m ready for the challenge and pain. I’ve been homebrewing for 3 years non-stop with only a few weeks of burn out. I think I have what it takes.

Let’s get into some worldbuilding. I’ll keep my world building posts short and digestible.

Immortal

    Why the name Immortal? I have taken the name from Immortal Universe, which is a location within my setting, but also to set player expectations. The journey you take will lead each and every player to immortality (should the campaign last). There is no afterlife within my setting - instead there are two major players: the Mortal Universe and the Immortal Universe. Mortal universes are where you would expect a journey to begin. Players start here and become so powerful that the universe ejects them into the Immortal Universe when they reach beyond 10th level. But the journey doesn’t end there. There are more grand and dangerous things to tackle in the Immortal Universe should the rare ttrpg group find themselves able to play beyond 11th level.

    Players who find themselves 7th level will become demi-immortal, where their aging slows and no longer impacts their performance. This is typically where most people find themselves plateau. Of course the people at the table can and will most likely exceed this limit and go far beyond. These types of people are extraordinarily rare in the setting.

Deeper Lore Ahead

    This is where you are free to leave the lore. It provides no benefit as a player, only for those who are hungry to know more.

    Why a mortal universe? A very long time ago a number of entities shattered themselves to combat the abyss which was quickly becoming a problem. They created countless smaller universes (about the same size as our real one) that are relatively protected from the abyss’s influence. The universes were created so people could shed their preconceived expectations and become stronger, wiser, through the tribulations of life. Life as we know it in real life does not exist in the same way in the Immortal Universe. But there is a second piece to this: Those pieces I mentioned earlier.

    Truthfully, those entities that shattered themselves were among the few beings in existence. They weren’t gods, they were people without a solution to the abyss. By shattering themselves and reconstructing their pieces into universes and creating the first souls they offered a chance for the universe to save itself. Those who find themselves imbued with a shard during their life will find themselves having an even harder life than those around them. But this is a spiritual alchemy: Trial by fire purifies them of any vice they have and open themselves to true humanity.

It's this humanity that not only makes them immune to the corruption of the abyss, but can even restore humanity to a corrupted soul. These people are known as…

Avatars

    Was that a good segway? Anyway; creating avatars is the goal of these universes. About half the people who willingly become mortal seek to become an avatar, but less than 1% of people in the universe become avatars, and even fewer ascend to immortality. An avatar is not special. They do not get special treatment, no plot armor, no protagonist powers. Their life is truly harder because that shard attracts that difficulty, forcing it upon them. An avatar will either swim or sink, there is no inbetween. There is another catch: No person who is deserving to be an avatar will become one, only someone who needs it will receive it. Example: Batman is not a viable vessel to be an avatar, but the Joker is.

    What about the other half? Turns out living a life and experiencing what it's like to live with restrained power then becoming immortal through ascension makes a person significantly stronger than one simply experiencing existence in the Immortal Universe. Kind of like training with weights to improve calorie burn.

That’s all I have. Thank you to those who reached the end!

Things I hate about DnD 5e

 Okay so -

I want to preface this by saying I love DnD 5e in general. My hatred towards some of its aspects doesn't distract from the fun I have at all. With that out of the way I have two things to talk about...

Feats

 The idea of using feats to improve your character sounds great, but then when you make a feat that becomes mandatory it is no longer a "feat" but instead a core feature. An example of this would be War Caster and Great Weapon Master. Both of these offer such a gargantuan boost in power you practically must take them in order to function more effectively (And in GWM's case in order to actually keep up with spellcasters). But there's an even bigger issue I have with it: Feats that offer a tremendous boon while still offering ability score improvements. There is no trade off here. You get a boost to your stat and a full feature, which isn't okay. There are extremely few examples I have less issue with like skill expert. Skill Expert allows the player more flexibility with a skill, which is unrelated to combat (usually).

Spoon Feeding

I really don't like how 5e spoon feeds the player everything they need. There's no planning, you get significantly more than you need and then never capitalizes on it. An example is each class offering 2+ skills, then when you choose a subclass it gives another skill. I would much rather prefer if a subclass required you to have the skill first, and then improve upon the skill in its own way. In real life you don’t work at a wood shop then suddenly you have proficiency with woodworking tools day 1, you need to be able to use it in the first place.

Perhaps 5e’s intention is that gaining proficiency with the skill when you reach the subclass is a sign that your character was training to use it, but I very rarely see anyone talk about enforcing a player to role play learning how to use the skill. Imagine if a cleric was actually studying medicine as a part of being a Life cleric. Wouldn’t that add so much more flavor? I’m not demanding a player to study each and every day, but incorporating it more into role play would make their character feel more “down to earth”, like you could reach out and touch the character.

Anyway. Thanks for coming to one of my shorter blogs!

Worldbuilding: Astroverse (The Physical Universe)

 Astroverse

     Welcome to my first world building post! I didn't quite consider using my blogs to spout fun ideas for worlds until a friend of mine did so. So strap in! This is a long one.

 
 Admittedly, this is a remake of an older universe that begun with the idea of astrology as its center piece, but then became it's own thing entirely.

 

The Start

 For my first step, I base a world on an interesting idea or theme. In this case, I'm choosing astrology! I love the idea behind it; the stars and planets influencing life on earth, influencing fate itself.

 Next, let's take a look at things I'm going to include or exclude. I'm going to explicitly avoid any gods, demons, and angels this time around. It's tiring hearing the same stories with them involved, even if they don't directly intervene. I will have magic this time, though I'm not sure at what level it is at, but I do know it's tied to the stars.

Planets and Realms 

Tl;dr: Realms exist within a physical location represented as a planet. A realm isn't limited by space like a planet is. Realms have some level of sentience, which creates local laws of physics / magic.

    Rather than a planet just being a physical thing, it'll be a realm in itself, while the realm's physical location is where the planet is located. But in terms of travel, things can get weird, which I'll explain in what a Convergence is. Realms are semi-sentient, like a force with a will, but most (save one) has no explicit personality or goal. Thus, all celestial forces within this universe are entirely neutral; the nature of its people are tied completely to the people itself and nothing else.

    Planets will orbit the Prime realm, which sits at the center of it all. Each plant has a waning and waxing phase where it influences Prime, and much like our real life planet counterparts they have different orbit times and distances. Both the sun (Sol) and moon (Luna) orbit Prime as well.

 

 

The Zodiac, and Oblivion

Tl;dr: Stars create groups called constellations, which make up the schools of magic, which is split evenly into lunar magic and solar branches of magic. Everything outside the sphere of stars is nothingness - no weird creatures, no consuming darkness. Truly nothing.

    Much like planets, stars also have a will, and exert an influence on everything they surround. Unlike our real life counterparts, stars are simply small bodies of light that exist to keep Oblivion at bay.

Stars, the Zodiac

    Stars are scattered throughout the celestial sphere, which marks the end of the solar system.
However those concentrated at the belt horizontal to Prime form the constellations called the Zodiac signs. This is where magic is drawn from, each zodiac representing a school or nature of magic. There are 12 signs, 10 of them are each divided into a court between Sol and Luna, while two of them are transient, belonging to both. The zodiac is tied to the celestial year, and not the year based on your realm (as in, it isn't tied to a month like ours is). There are minor zodiacs that exist just outside of the belt; they hold lesser power and aren't tied to magic.

Oblivion

    Beyond the stars lies oblivion. A place of true nothingness. There is no eldritch force trying to consume the light, there are no dark gods. It is simply a force of nature that lacks material. The celestial sphere "prevents" it from entering the solar system. That is to say it staves off non-existence in a metaphorical manner. Despite its seeming nature, oblivion is also a neutral force.
    Despite its lack of matter, a type of power can be drawn from it, but it is not considered magic. The power drawn from here begets a force of erasure and nullification. Those who have a hatred for magic almost always draw from this force.

Celestial Influence 

Tl;dr: Constellations are called the zodiac, which influences people's behavior and their fate. 

    Ready for your horoscope? The zodiac has a true influence on the lives of people who live within the solar system. Horoscopes fall under Divination magic, by the way. This is a very real thing, but unlike most magic it isn't a science. Being born under a sign gives you a whisper of its magic. That is to say, being born under a sign of Divination magic doesn't mean you'll predict the future, but you'll often find small things edging you towards your goal. An example of this is finding a few extra dollars here and there to buy a new gaming console.

Convergence

Tl;dr: Convergence between realms allows people to simply walk to the other realm. Convergence places can be predicted via math.

    Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this universe is convergence. When this happens, two realms become connected directly via a magical "bridge", so to speak. It isn't total; only a few places will have a direct connection, which changes over time as the planet travels. You may find wild growth suddenly outright replacing that office building that used to sit there. Anything moving into this area immediately transports you onto the planet converging, where you'll find the missing office. Funnily enough, this disconnect doesn't disturb the order of things - internet and electricity still works in the office building stuck on another planet (temporarily), and a tree caught between two worlds still lives normally. Here's what it would look like.

    When you walk onto another plane, you don't collide with whatever is in the center when you leave.

    When magic is low(er), you will only see a ghost of an image from what a convergence would have been. You can still cross, but it's more challenging.

    If you're a really good astrologist, you can predict exactly where these spots will arise (and used to arise) using math. It's an actual science and can save you and your civilization a collective headache.

Realm Influence

 Tl;dr: Realms magically transmute people and things to become more like the realm itself. A realm of fairies influencing the world would cause existing creatures and those who are born during the influence to have those attributes.

    When the Prime is influenced by magic, planets directly interfere with Prime by exerting their will. For example, a planet of faeries would cause more of that type of creature to be born on Prime. Planets will also alter what already exists, so people, plants, and animals may spontaneously gain fairy powers and attributes, for example. During a convergence, such creatures can cross the proverbial road onto the Prime as well. This can cause problems, due to a sudden influx of feral creatures (such as beasts) trying to take over the unfamiliar territory, or cause havoc due to confusion.

Planets

I'm not sure how many planets I'll be including, but let's define just 3 to keep things quick.

Prime

Tl;dr: Prime sits in the center. Zodiac magic and technology works via this realm's sentience. Technology and magic become stronger and weaker with 20-30 thousand year cycles. The cycle doesn't effect creatures created by realm influence or their abilities.

    Despite the celestial name Prime (like Sol, or Luna), the inhabitants all call it something else depending on the culture (which is true for other celestial bodies). Prime is influenced by its neighbors through celestial cycles more than other planets influencing other planets. Magic wanes and waxes over periods of say... 20-30 thousand years, where other realms have magic always on or off. When magic is waning, convergence occurs less often, and not at all during nadir. To keep things familiar, Prime looks and feels much like Earth - the difference comes in when convergence shakes things up.

    The planet has ages, which is divided by waning and waxing magical influence. Each new age builds upon the corpse of the last, which acts as a "fertilizer" for the next, for lack of a better term. There has been more than one modern era, but technology and magic has a strict limit within this universe, preventing one from besting the other. A good example of this is technology becoming inoperable during the apex time of magic, and vice versa. This is the sentience of Prime at work, rather than a mundane or magic universal law.

    The ages do not effect creatures born or influenced by realms. Only magic drawn from the zodiac is effected.

The Wilds

Tl;dr: Wilds are untamed. Because of its sentience, it can't be tamed and will fight back against it. Filled with animals and plants that can grow to epic sizes.

    The closest planet to Prime, the Wilds consists primarily of primeval land. Untamed, untouchable. Here is where nature is strongest; there is always a bigger fish. It's a struggle to survive here, but those that do are exceptionally strong in a physical, mental, or magic manner. The Wilds doesn't consist of just jungle and plant life, there are oceans and deserts much like Earth. The driving difference is you can't claim land, its sentience drives itself to take back any land, sea, or sky that someone is attempting to make a civilized foothold. To live here, you must either be nomadic, or understand how to live with nature by constructing smaller cities of natural material that coexists with the land without taking anything away from it. Fauna and flora can grow to epic and gargantuan portions, such as the Giant's Forest, where trees extend literally into the clouds and its trunk gargantuan.
    The Wilds consist of so much untouched beauty. Its inhabitants are primarily animal in nature - either humanoid or feral beasts. Plant life also takes form as their own type of humanoid and feral beast as well.

Nightmare

 Tl;dr: Nightmare has more sentience than other realms. It sits a little inside Oblivion, which causes its nature. Creatures of nightmare feed on negative emotion, which reduces the amount of it in the realm it influences, but if food is scarce it creates more negative emotion instead. Those born of nightmare are extremely powerful outside of light.

    The last plant we'll touch on. Nightmare sits at the literal edge of Oblivion, existing half in the solar system, half in Oblivion. It has by far the longest celestial year of any planet by a hundred thousand years, and has the weakest influence. The plant itself is challenging to see with a telescope because its surface is so dark.

    Nightmare is strange. Unlike most planets, this one seemingly has a consciousness tied to it that only those influenced by Nightmare can hear and understand. Despite the name, Nightmare has a motherly nature keen on protecting its children. Entities influenced by Nightmare take on the properties of a culture and nature, rather than a set type of creature. By culture I mean it may take on the appearance of a terrible omen of destruction that would bring despair to people who see it. Or it may simply terrify beasts it exists around due to its nature. Those affected by nightmare may be freighting in one place, but not so much in others without cultural context. Those born and influenced of nightmare feed exclusively on negativity, especially terror. This consumption isn't harmful to anyone; its the fear they cause.

    The planet itself is entirely "underground". Despite have a "surface", it's impossible to be on the surface. It's completely alien - anything not aligned with nightmare can't traverse it. Even if they had a guide born from nightmare they would still become lost, and eventually become a part of the planet itself, or simply consumed by the inhabitants. Light is scarce because it's literally consumed by the darkness; a strong and powerful light will do nothing. You need to be gentle with light, as gentle as you can. Dark vision does nothing here, because there is no light, heat, or cold in the first place, which is why most inhabitants have no eyes, or feel their surroundings with extra sensory perception.

    Outside of the nightmare, creatures born and influenced by it are weakened by light, or their power becomes non-functional. Some are even outright killed by sun or moonlight. All creatures of nightmare share a weakness to light, it is impossible for them to divert or prevent this.