Read this first. Write stuff later.

So you want to write a school?

These are my thoughts on how archetypes and magick schools should be. Since this in its entirety is a collection of opinions, it will come across as a besserwisserish piece of garbage. That’s ok, because that is exactly what it is. Oh, and on my spare time, I speak Swedish, so whatever expectations you might have on me apologizing for the sorry state of language, grammar, spelling and idiomatic constructions ahead, stuff ‘em!

Magick is, by nature, postmodern. I have no idea how many times the books say that. Schools that worked 50-100-500-1000 years ago have no guarantee of working today.
Because we change. With us, the world, and the collective consciousness changes, and consequently the tricks that it will fall for.

Video killed the radio star.

Take Phobomancy, the magic school of fear.

It’s dead. It had its last days of glory during the second world war, yet now it is dead. Why? What has changed? How has how we see fear changed? What killed phobomancy?

Horror films. Roller coasters. Bungee jumping. Fear for amusement. We like being scared. You can’t do magic outta that.

Back 400-500 years. There was certainly a school of Alchemy. There might be a couple of surviving rituals that still works, but the magic of the mixture got smacked hard by the periodic system and was finally and utterly killed by E113 and yellow dye number five appearing on cans of soup.

My point is this. At some time you may well find yourself going ballistic over Hieroglyphs, Alchemy, Voodoo, Tantric magic or plain old drugs-and-drums shamanism. That’s ok. Then you will want to write it up into an UA school.

You can’t.

Because I say so, and because it isn’t post modern.

Write a ritual about it instead. Try to make the ritual old-school.

Ok. On to the other end:

You find some cool, subculture, thingamajig and think: “I am so gonna write a magick school about this!”

You can’t.

Because I say so, and because it isn’t known enough.

Let me give you an example: Bloggomancy. I read through it and didn’t know what a “blogg” was. I do now, so stop trying to tell me, right now. A magick school should have an irony that everybody can relate to. Infomancy works, because everybody lives in this excessive datastream it taps into. Bloggomancy doesn’t work. I would actually say: any Internet-based magick gets the thumbs down, not enough people have access to it, and even less have it playing a significant part in their lives. What, everybody you know have access and use it daily? You need to get out more.

What, you’re whining? You really want to make something of this idea of yours and I’m just really spoiling your vibe? Ok, there is one thing you can do. Write a duke. Give us a cool, kick-ass adept duke that uses this thing of yours. Don’t write it up into a fully-fledged school with a complete list of formula spells, just give us the basic irony, taboo, a couple of spells, small and significant charging and what he thinks might be needed for a major charge. And what he will do with it if he gets it.

Not weird enough.

Always try to make your school difficult to get into and hard to live with. Really stretch that taboo and those charging conditions. Let me give you an example:

Cantomancy.

Go ahead, read it right now, it’s right there at the UA website.

The way it is written, it is not a magic school, it’s an avatar path called the wandering troubadour or the unknown bard or something like that. What the author tries to do is tap into an irony about how music makes one famous. It aint so. 99 % of all music played is played by utterly unfamous nobodies in the local marching band, choir or whatever. Or in the shower. It is also WAY to easy to charge up (playing in a park or near a tourist trap nets you a significant charge an hour, in addition to the money) and the taboo is at the same time to weak (it won’t happen in a hurry) and to strong (as soon as it’s broken you have to move to a different city). Still, you can hold a job as a cantomancer, make a living from it, be socially accepted doing it. I don’t like that.

So it should have been an avatar.

Or, it should have been something like this:

Cantomancy remixed

Everybody loves music. Everybody is interested in music. Everybody likes good music. Everybody likes to listen to good music. Everybody hates bad music. Somebody’s good music is, of course somebody else’s bad music.
This is wrong.
You know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the noises 99% of the world listens to is utter crap, and of the remaining 1%, barely one tenth is worth listening to.

This school thrives on the irony that while everybody likes good music, everybody disagree about what is good music.

The cantomancer likes one, very specific, very narrow and very unpopular subsector of music. Psycho-grindcore, Ultra-hard speedrap, Improvisational postbop, Electro acoustic music, Noiseout… It has to be narrow, most peoples (at least 99%) initial reaction to it has to be something along the line of whatthefuckisthisturnitoff. It is common, but by no means necessary, that the Cantomancer is a musician in his own right.

Generate a minor charge

Play a piece of your music to someone. Make ‘em stay for the duration of the piece. (or for an easier charging method, listen to your music for one hour straight)

Generate a significant charge

Convince someone that your music is good. Or play a piece of your music to an audience of at least 30 people. (for easier charging, play a piece of your music to someone, make them stay for the duration of the piece)

Generate a major charge

Get a commercial breakthrough for your music. Of course, after a commercial breakthrough you will be able to get no more charges from that particular genre.

Taboo

Listen to any other music than your own, even in the background, for more than the length of a song. Most Cantomancers wear headphones all the time. Some sleep with them on.

Generally, the spells in the list are ok, I would take away “Sex type thing”, but that’s my personal preference. (I like my adepts jerking of, not getting laid) The random magick domain works just fine, and the cost of the spells should be tweaked according to what kind of charging you use.

And that’s it for Cantomancy remixed. What, you’re whining that it’s not complete? Get a life.

Avatars

So, you want to write a cool avatar path.

Well go ahead. Just for heaven’s sake DON’T make it post modern. In most cases it shouldn’t even be modern. It should probably not even be a postmodern replacement of an older archetype. I just can’t let you get away with it, and you don’t want me to take my belt off again, now do you?

Because it’s to big a deal. When the naked goddess ascended it was a huge, tremendous, supersize deal that shook the entire occult underground. Last ascension before the naked goddess was the flying woman back in the… thirties, right? When the Hunter was replaced it was a big deal, everybody knew. The ascension war for the messenger involves and is know to all the movers and shakers in the game. It’s a big deal, let it be a big deal. Wars for godwalkerhood is another thing entirely, and happens all the time.

This shouldn’t keep you from writing, just…

Get a good subject. Something old, well known by everybody. And keep the first channel subtle enough to be kept secret from the avatar him/herself.

The Blacksmith

This is inspired by several old foundry-workers I’ve met. It seems that anybody who starts working in a foundry either leaves in six months or stays for twenty years. I started thinking about a foundry-worker archetype, but realized it would work even better as a subset of an older archetype also connected to hot metal.

Muscles, Beard, Apron, scars from burning, hammer, anvil, a furnace, heat, fire. The avatar has to work with hot metal on a day-to day basis to start on this path, while the higher channels are available only by hammer and anvil.

Channel 1
Burn wounds heal well. They leave scars (that further ties the avatar to the path), but the basic function of the burned limb remains intact. Heat does not bother the avatar. Heat still burns, but turning meat on a barbecue with his bare hands shouldn’t be a problem. (Taken from reality. I heard about one guy who, while operating a crane at a magnesium remelting plant, got splashed with molten magnesium. It went up under his jacket, poured down his legs and filled his shoes. He was away for several months, but still works there today, 20 years after the incident)

Channel 2
Metal items the avatar creates work really well. With a successful avatar check, an item will work to it’s maximum potential. In terms of melee weapons, that would make an extra 3+ damage, firearms would get a +5% to hit, engines will either run faster or, if properly served, last a lifetime. This requires a successful skill check in a relevant skill – you can’t make a very good firearm without knowing how to make firearms in the first place. (taken from reality, there was a famous finnish knifesmith in the eighties called Roselli. He used scrap metal to forge singularly ugly knives that still retain an edge, 10-15 years later. He’s still around, actually: http://www.roselli.fi/)

Channel 3
The avatar cannot be hurt by heat or fire, period. Go ahead, take a swim in that lava pool, the fumes will suffocate you, but you won’t burn.

Channel 4
The avatar can forge magic items. He needs charges, from somewhere. These items follow the same rules as items created by mechanomancy, only it takes a week to make a minor magic item, a month to make a significant item and a year to make a major item. He can also never make more items than the ones digit of his Avatar:Blacksmith skill, and if this skill drops, one or more items lose their power down to the allowed amount. If the skill drops to below 90, all the items lose their power. Of, course, all items left behind at the ascension of the present embodiment of the archetype were left behind in perfect condition.

Ok, I’ve said my piece. Feel free to be as pissed of as you like, I know I’m right.