Four-Arts: Alchemy can produce all sorts of effects! The general theme is some kind of metaphorical transformation, but that goes in all different directions. Some examples are as follows - - the commitment/understanding of the slow life; a life of growing old and doing good honest work, will result in a kind of aura of peace. This is an alchemical oath people can take without realizing it, so it mostly manifests as a kind of peace aura - a statistical tendency for things around them to take peaceful, quiet, safe, and honest routes, rather than aggressive, dangerous and dishonest ones. People who know they have it can, with practice, focus the power to act as a calm emotions type thing or even cancel momentum on, say, bullets or a car-crash, but it takes a lot out of them. - The Yggdrasil Project is a cult (in as much as all alchemy-using groups are cults) born out of the 60s space-flight-type movement. They want to go to space. They've done a good job of designing oaths which help shortcut the difficulties of space-travel; momentum generation/gravity cancelation, the accelerated growth of plants, and maintaining environmental conditions are amongst them (Only thier founding saint has managed to achieve FTL in any capacity, but he's sure it's theoretically possible to teach). They're commitments are kinda onerous; a mix of remembrance and pilgrimages to understand where humanity has come from, and where it is going; I haven't figured out the exact details, but hiking through a place full of green things, and visiting the moon are definitely both needed for mid-level oaths. - The Hero-Cult of Gilgamesh (which is devoted to emulation more than worshop, of various classical-type heros) has a basic oath whereby nigh-tautological commitment to your own conviction allows a sort of borderline anime toughness; the ability to endure and survive things spending willpower instead of physical integrity/stamina (Even things for which this is nigh pointless).
Rune-Carved: I don't really have a map; the setting is approximately Europe-shaped? The Monstra Nix live in not-russia, the Archons in not-france/italy/spain, the humans in the middle of those two, the naga have a venice-type nation (and secret fortresses on a bunch of islands and less-inhabited deltas or mountains or wherever) but mostly just wander around.
None of the races are politically or culturally unified, but those common threads do stay pretty strong; humans have the most variation, but it's still variation within the theme of preparation heavy artifcing and rituals. In particular, I suspect, though, that the slaving-produced enclaves of Stoneborn have pretty distinct magical traditions from their native forebears. Naga also probably pick up a lot of the magic from where they live, if they can? The core use of their native magics, is defensive, and used primarily for their semi-secret fortresses, so them picking up some other tricks from humans or archons would be unsurprising.
Since Fibbonaci_Reminder also asked about elves, I'll put a write-up about them on my too-do list, rather than putting it here in the comments?
no subject
- the commitment/understanding of the slow life; a life of growing old and doing good honest work, will result in a kind of aura of peace. This is an alchemical oath people can take without realizing it, so it mostly manifests as a kind of peace aura - a statistical tendency for things around them to take peaceful, quiet, safe, and honest routes, rather than aggressive, dangerous and dishonest ones. People who know they have it can, with practice, focus the power to act as a calm emotions type thing or even cancel momentum on, say, bullets or a car-crash, but it takes a lot out of them.
- The Yggdrasil Project is a cult (in as much as all alchemy-using groups are cults) born out of the 60s space-flight-type movement. They want to go to space. They've done a good job of designing oaths which help shortcut the difficulties of space-travel; momentum generation/gravity cancelation, the accelerated growth of plants, and maintaining environmental conditions are amongst them (Only thier founding saint has managed to achieve FTL in any capacity, but he's sure it's theoretically possible to teach). They're commitments are kinda onerous; a mix of remembrance and pilgrimages to understand where humanity has come from, and where it is going; I haven't figured out the exact details, but hiking through a place full of green things, and visiting the moon are definitely both needed for mid-level oaths.
- The Hero-Cult of Gilgamesh (which is devoted to emulation more than worshop, of various classical-type heros) has a basic oath whereby nigh-tautological commitment to your own conviction allows a sort of borderline anime toughness; the ability to endure and survive things spending willpower instead of physical integrity/stamina (Even things for which this is nigh pointless).
Rune-Carved: I don't really have a map; the setting is approximately Europe-shaped? The Monstra Nix live in not-russia, the Archons in not-france/italy/spain, the humans in the middle of those two, the naga have a venice-type nation (and secret fortresses on a bunch of islands and less-inhabited deltas or mountains or wherever) but mostly just wander around.
None of the races are politically or culturally unified, but those common threads do stay pretty strong; humans have the most variation, but it's still variation within the theme of preparation heavy artifcing and rituals. In particular, I suspect, though, that the slaving-produced enclaves of Stoneborn have pretty distinct magical traditions from their native forebears. Naga also probably pick up a lot of the magic from where they live, if they can? The core use of their native magics, is defensive, and used primarily for their semi-secret fortresses, so them picking up some other tricks from humans or archons would be unsurprising.
Since Fibbonaci_Reminder also asked about elves, I'll put a write-up about them on my too-do list, rather than putting it here in the comments?