I don’t know how you found my Compendium, Inkling, but if you are still reading this it means your eyes haven’t burst out of their sockets. This is of no consequence to me, but if you are going to snoop through my library with unruptured optical nerves, you may as well learn something. Feel free to copy this to the ‘world-wide web’, if you must. Given the absolute nonsense you mortals believe, I fear nothing of this knowledge being taken seriously.
Madhouse
Our order, so named after the abandoned insane asylum we operate out of. As for why my siblings and I chose San Antonio, well, that’s a longer story, and not pertinent to your Tasks. The Imagomancers, by drawing on Solomon’s tattoos, my knowledge, and the Gloomwatcher’s power, pledge their lives to the Madhouse. All of us play our part in keeping the cancerous Gloom from poisoning reality more than it already has.
Imagomancers
That’s you, dear Inkling. An Imagomancer acts as the will of the Gloomwatcher and practices the discipline of the Madhouse, seeking out violations of the Pact and responding with the appropriate level of violence. If you haven’t gotten that far in your studies, this entails the inking of magical tattoos that render an Imagomancer into a walking spell book. The tattoos can be used at will, unless they are burned for an empowered magical effect. Burning a tattoo expends it, and an Imagomancer cannot use it again until they visit my sibling Solomon to provide another. The more violent tattoos also inflicts Imagomatic backlash upon the Imagomancer. Many an Imagomancer has had to decide between an early retirement or an early grave.
The
Gloom
The
Glimmer
A malevolent, permeating force of evil in the world. Hell, Yin, Chaos, Isfet, the Abyss, whatever you want to call it, the Gloom invades our reality and warps it out of shape. Beings that draw their supernatural nature from the Gloom are known as Creeps, while magicians who seek to harness the Gloom’s dark power are known as Magi.
While the Gloom pervades reality, the Glimmer is much more remote. So far, the only beings known to be able to manipulate it are Solomon, myself, and the Gloomwatcher. Unlike the Magi’s more direct relationship with the Gloom, the Imagomancers are only able to interface with the Glimmer via Solomon’s tattoos. In my studies, however, I have encountered hints that there may be some gifted mortals with an innate connection to the Glimmer . . .
The Pact
An accord struck long ago. The intent behind the Pact, also known as the Pact of Porcelain for its fragility, was that the Creeps, the Magi, as well as agents of the Glimmer, would abide its terms as a tenuous ceasefire. The Pact forbids the harvesting of the young and the elderly, as both groups are close to the source of all power beyond being and non-being. The Pact also forbids Creeps from running amok, which has lead to the formation of Creep organizations such as the Menagerie, ran by more intelligent Creeps to keep their more instinct-driven ilk in line. As you can imagine, the blurry lines of age, as well as what constitutes running amok, make enforcing the Pact fraught with difficulty. I do not envy your future in enforcing this, Inkling.
Creeps
Creatures of the night. Vampires, werewolves, as well as other, lesser-known but no less dangerous monsters are nicknamed Creeps. They far exceed humans in diversity, with some Creeps primarily driven by insatiable hunger and others possessing an intellect and cunning exceeding that of the most brilliant human mind. The Creeps share in common their relationship to the Gloom, as well as the Craving, an insatiable urge of some sort, be it flesh, sex, power, or even darker desires.
Magi
Barring some exceptions, most Creeps are ‘born’, not made. The same is not true of the Magi. Nobody accidentally becomes a Magi, just as none accidentally become an Imagomancer. The Magi consciously direct their will towards the manipulation of the Gloom for some sort of gain. Even Magi that start out with good intentions quite quickly find themselves drawn into a web of deceit, desire, and lust for power. Discipline in Magi circles is much looser than that of the Madhouse, resulting in a wider variety of magical prowess as many Magi are autodidacts or part of an occult lineage.
Props and Sculptures
A Prop is an enchanted tool use to facilitate a Magi’s working of the Gloom. For example, Magi involved in the harvesting of psyches will use a specialized stiletto to draw the soul out of the nasal cavity.
A Sculpture, sometimes called a ‘sculp’, is similar to a Prop, albeit fixed in place for enhanced magical effect.
Godslayer
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