In the immortal words of Steve Martin, “Let’s Get Small”

Nickname: “Everything-Bonsai” (historical), “modelers” (modern)

As the world progresses, human ambition has become small. Instead of creating greater and greater things, the most incredible accomplishments are tiny things. The discovery of new subatomic particles, observations of molecular changes, and the invention of tinier machines to perform the same tasks, are the major drives in science and technology.

This constant struggle for miniaturization carries power. It is coupled with traditional sympathetic magic to create the school of Femtomancy. Femtomancers seek to capture the essence of a thing and place it into smaller and smaller packages. Miniaturizing something, while still maintaining every detail of the original, is a source of magic for Femtomancers. These miniatures are more efficient the original, yet identical to the original and connected to the original.

Femtomancy has its roots in Japan, around 1870, during the the early Meiji period. As Japan was opened to the West, a circle of friends in Edo, all gardeners, sought to transform the esoteric theory of the evolving art of bonsai. They sought to move the art of bonsai away from the early principles of nobility, simplicity and unity with nature, which they felt were obsolete in the new world. Instead, they reasoned, the true beauty of bonsai was in its “smallness.” Bonsai had long before moved from a mark of elite nobility to a form of artwork for the public, and had moved quickly to the West after the fall of the Tokugawa Empire’s isolationism. This circle of friends began making miniature versions of many things, all in exquisite detail, from doll houses to tiny cities. As this happened, the seven of them began to grow more and more competitive with one another, seeking to make smaller and smaller things, find new creative topics for their art, and to outdo one another. Four of the seven passed away or lost interest, leaving only three, who became obsessed with their new artistic movement and their accelerating rivalry. This obsession transformed this practice to magic, and the school that would become Femtomancy was born.

The three of them took on students, though the style of art never grew very popular. The students were more interested in the style as a form of magic than as an artistic movement, and the focus became centered around sorcery. The school of magical continued, with students becoming masters and taking on new students, through the decades. In World War II, the school attempted to take an active hand in helping Japan win the war, but these efforts had little real military effect. The school became a formalized conspiracy, dedicated to their style of magic, which they called “Everything Bonsai.” As Japanese population boomed and crowding led to smaller and smaller objects, the idea of miniaturization became exceedingly popular, and the school had easier and easier time finding students. In 1955, the school of magic took on a very technological bent, and the society changed its name to “Minimancy.” The style became very ambitious, and over time changed its name to Micromancy, then, later, borrowing from smaller and smaller words in the metric system, Nanomancy. In the 1992, the style renamed itself (“Femtomancy”, or, in a more literal translation, “Femto-Magic”), and the name has not changed since. The names of individual formulas have also been explicitly named and detailed by the Femtomancy school, which now tests members before allowing initiation, and teaches both mystical theory and practical artistic and technological application.

Over time, the Femtomancy school has borrowed more and more magic from the West. Femtomancy scholars borrowed the idea of the “Voodoo Doll” from Afrocaribbean sorcery, applying their own theories of sympathetic magic and miniaturization to the concept. The concept of the Homunculus, from Europe, was similarly absorbed. At the same time, the Femtomancy school applied its theories and techniques to electronics, and today, most Femtomancers in the school work as designers of consumer products, which acts as a source of both charges and funds.

The current ambition of the Femtomancy school is the creation of the “Femto-Homunculus.” This creation is seen by the current leaders of the school as something of a Philosopher’s Stone. The mythical Femto-Homunculus is a loyal servant, created from a Femtomancer’s image, smaller than the size of an atom. The goal, say Femtomancers, is to discover how to create the Femto-Homunculus (sometimes also called the Femtobot), and use it to transform materials into other materials, break down and reform atomic and molecular bonds, and, ultimately, control and transform the world from the tiniest basic units. So far, there has been no success whatsoever with the creation of such a being, and the Femtomancy school is seeking new students from the field of physics to expand this possibility.

The Femtomancy school is aware of the existence of the larger Occult Underground, and often interacts with it. The discovery that replicas of Avatars and artifacts can be a source of significant charges gave school members a very good reason to seek out the rest of the Occult Underground peacefully. The school is an active part in the Occult Underground scene in its home city of Tokyo, mostly offering help to other cabals and Dukes in exchange for the opportunity to create significant miniatures. The school doesn’t have much of an agenda in these exchanges, besides a source of charges, and tries not to get directly involved in larger schisms.

The school of Femtomancy has perhaps three dozen students in Japan, half of them Adepts of varying degrees of skill, but Femtomancy has traveled beyond the organized school in two ways: defections and independent discoveries. There have been about a half-dozen cases of students of Femtomancy leaving the school, angry at their teachers and the competitive environment, and practicing elsewhere. This happened most often during the early 90s, when competitive disputes, the Femto-Homunculus plans, and the driven leaders of the school created tremendous internal strife. Two such students settled in the United States and began their own, imitative schools. Another two still teach indpendently in Japan. While the Femtomancy school definitely is not happy with these betrayers, they do not take offensive action against them unless provoked. Only two defectors have actually been killed by the school’s teachers, both with long-distance blasts.

Meanwhile, many others worldwide have discovered a similar style of magic. Most of these hobbyists find power in their particular type of miniaturization, whether this may be ships in a bottle, tactical game miniatures, model trains, or even bonsai. Usually, these rogue femtomancers only know a single way to gain charges, and typically aren’t aware of the creation and use of Puppets and other sympathetic magic discovered by the formal school in Tokyo. Such Femtomancers are typically unmarried, lonely, obsessed white-collar professionals who lead otherwise dry and dull lives, and who rarely come into contact with anything magical besides their own meticulous sorceries. The Tokyo Femtomancy school has encountered one or two of these people, and generally just leave them alone, with a bit of annoyance at the implied competition.

Generate a Minor Charge: Spend four hours constructing a miniature version of something. This could be a doll house, a bonsai tree, a ship in a bottle, a model trainset, or whatever. The replica need not be fully functional, but it must be very detailed.

Generate a Significant Charge: Construct a perfect miniature replica of a specific famous or magical original, which hasn’t had a miniature copy made before, then place it in the presence of the original. This could be a historically significant object or location, a famous person, a powerful Avatar, or a Significant or Major Artifact. Adepts don’t count unless they are also famous or a powerful Avatars. The copy must include all notable details, be significantly smaller than the original, and must either be created in the presence of the original, or be placed openly before the original, before the charge is generated. Time spent making the miniature also generates minor charges. If an object has had a miniature copy made before, even if it was not a perfect replica or used for Femtomancy, copying it is worth no charge. It’s safe to assume that most famous landmarks, for instance, have already been copied. The copy need not be functional, but must be detailed.

Generate a Major Charge: Create something that fulfills all the same functions as an original, but is distinctly smaller. This creation must replace the original in common use by virtue of its reduced size, and must be used by at least ten million people. For example, the inventor of the DVD might receive this, for replacing laser disc movies. The same would apply for the inventor of the transistor, for replacing the vacuum tube. This level of charge is most commonly associated with popular inventions, but it’s possible to do the same with artwork, public works, or any other physical creation.

Taboo: If a femtomancer ever replaces anything they possess with an item of equal or larger size, he loses all charges. Whenever a femtomancer gets rid of something and replaces it, they must replace it with something smaller, no matter how small the original was. This only applies to durable goods and real estate – a femtomancer doesn’t have to order smaller and smaller food or toilet paper, for instance. When a femtomancer needs to replace something that’s already the smallest version possible, they’ll typically spend all their charges first, and buy a new, larger version of everything they own, exploiting their opportunity. Other femtomancers oppose this kind of cynical purging on philosophical grounds.

Symbolic Tension: Femtomancy seeks to create miniature replicas of things. This effort assumes that a smaller thing is better, but, because it strives to imitate the full-sized version, matching it exactly. Miniaturization is simultaneously an improvement and a compromise.

Blast: The Femtomancy blast resembles a traditional “Voodoo Doll”. You need a Puppet of the target. Striking the puppet, sticking it with a pin, or otherwise abusing it causes damage like a punch to the target, causing searing pain and damage to the corresponding body part. The minor blast requires doing it at close range. The signifcant blast, which does the same damage, can be used at any range, but the victim will immediately know the location of the Puppet when it’s used. A well-protected Femtomancer can kill someone at long range quickly with enough significant charges.

Random Magic: Symbolic connection and idealized imitation. Femtomancy deals mostly with sympathetic magic – a small copy, in some sense, carries the power and identity of the original. The copy is magically connected to the original, just in a more efficient use of space and materials.

Charging Tips: Any adept can earn a minor charge after work every day, and, if they get the right job (for instance, as an artist or technician), can probably earn two more charges during the work day. Significant charges require luck, research, or schmoozing within the Occult Underground, and there’s some competition to get them. An ambitious Femtomancer can probably find a way to get a significant charge a month.

Starting Charges: 6 minor charges.

Femtomancy Minor Formulas

Vision Miniaturization Formula
1 minor charge
Your vision becomes very, very tiny. You can see individual fibers and particles as if using a professional-quality microscope. You can control how strong the magnification is, zooming in and out from normal vision to microscopic vision. For an additional significant charge, you can view individual molecules, as if using an electron microscope, though you might need appropriate scientific experience to interpret such tiny vision. This lasts about an hour.

Container Optimization Formula
1 minor charge
Used on a particular container while putting something inside it. The container holds objects more efficiently. This isn’t quite a spatial distortion – objects placed within the contain just seem to fold the right way, fitting together efficiently, and angles come out just right. The container can effectively hold three times as much as a container can usually hold, but every item inside must be able to fit inside the container individually. Once a single item is removed, further items placed inside will not be especially efficient, but items inside will keep efficiently packed indefinitely.

Puppet Creation Formula
3 minor charges
Creates a Puppet of a person. You must make a doll or puppet of some kind that clearly resembles a person, and it must be marked with one recognizable detail of the person – a facial feature, commonly worn article of clothing, or a distinctive possession. The Puppet must also contain some biological matter from the subject (hair is traditional, but you could use sweat, skin, blood or whatever). The Puppet is used for several other Femtomancy formulas. It will also guide anyone carrying the Puppet toward the subject – the bearer has a vague intuitive inkling of the general direction and distance of the subject, which may require a Mind check to interpret. The Puppet carries power as long as it resembles the target enough to be recognized – if the subject changes their appearance so that the distinctive detail no longer applies, the Puppet loses power within a month, while disfiguring the Puppet can remove its power immediately.

Tactical Afrocaribbean Sympathetic Destruction Formula
3 minor charges
This is the Femtomancy minor blast. It does damage equal to the sum of the dice roll, and requires a Puppet of the target as well as line of sight.

Efficiency Curse and Blessing Formula
4 minor charges
Based on the principle that smaller is better, this principle causes a smaller thing to have good fortune, and a larger thing to have ill fortune. This can affect objects or people. A target that is smaller than what would normally be expected will have its small size act to advantage, while a target that’s larger than expected will have its large size act to disadvantage. Average-sized targets are not affected by this formula. This happens a number of times equal to the tens die of the resulting roll, and will typically cause a 20% positive or negative shift to a roll. This might, for instance, help a thin person hide or avoid a blow, or make a large American sedan handle a corner awkwardly, or cause a tiny bonsai tree to impress a visitor with its diminutive beauty, or make a fat man break furniture. You don’t actually decide what effect this has – chance and coincidence takes the next opportunities possible.

Femtomancy Significant Formulas

Precise Motion Formula
1 significant charge
You become capable of discerning exact tiny windows of opportunity, with a great deal of spacial awareness, gracefully economic motion, exact timing and subtle guidance. This allows you to use your Femtomancy skill (and flip-flop results, as an Obsession skill) for a single roll involving precise physical motion. This would certainly include such things as hiding, driving, dodging, basically any kind of physical combat, or athletics – anything that requires you to move to the right place at the right moment. You can use this formula while performing the action.

Strategic Afrocaribbean Sympathetic Destruction Formula
2 significant charges
This is the Femtomancy significant blast. It does damage equal to the sum of the dice roll, at any range, and requires a Puppet of the target. The target immediately becomes aware of the location of the attack’s source, but learns nothing further.

Symbolic Scapegoat Formula
2 significant charges
Requires a Puppet of the subject. This formula is similar in effect to a Proxy Tilt. The next time any magical effect targets the subject, whether benign or harmful, it will affect the Scapegoat Puppet instead, no matter what the distance. The Puppet is then destroyed.

Homunculus Servant Formula
3 significant charges
Using this formula requires a Puppet of yourself. The Puppet comes to life, magically animated, moving around and doing your bidding. The exact abilities of the Homunculus depend on the materials from which it is made and its exact creation, but typically, they’re not very good in a fight, but are a good for sneaking and spying. You can give the Puppet instructions to carry out later, and, if you are holding it, can learn what it has experienced. The Puppet has normal human senses and is able to move, but is still made of the original materials, and has about the intelligence of an elementary schoolkid. The Homunculus will cease to be animated, becoming a normal Puppet, at Dawn unless you pay one minor charge to maintain it. You can have multiple Homunculi active at a time, but each requires a minor charge every day. A Homunculus can also act as a Scapegoat Puppet.

Human Miniaturization Formula
5 significant charges
Requires a Puppet of the target and line of sight. Mark the Puppet with a bright orange item – this could be a pin with a bright orange head shoved through a Voodoo doll, or an orange ribbon tied around its neck, or even a little scrap of orange cloth stuffed inside. You can’t add it in advance, though. The instant you do so, the subject, and anything carried, shrinks down to the size of an ant. The proportional strength of the target remains the same, and the metabolism, strength and other factors change proportional to the new size – square-cube ratios, surface areas, molecule size, and other scientific quandries to such a shrinking do not apply; from the subject’s perspective, it is as if the subject was the same size and everything else had grown larger. The world is very dangerous to someone so tiny and fragile, filled with threats and obstacles which would be trivial to someone larger. A single point of damage will certainly crush the subject completely, leaving a messy smear. This lasts until the orange mark on the Puppet is removed (or the Puppet is destroyed), at which point the subject returns immediately to normal size, destroying any container that is too small. You can use this formula on yourself – in this case, the Puppet will shrink down as well.

Femtomancy Major Effects
Shrink a building down until it will fit in your pocket. Create real, living, feeling people in a miniature town. Shrink a machine down to a tenth of its size without changing its functionality or output. Manipulate cells and viruses directly as if you had very tiny hands. Create a miniature copy of someone inside a jar. Change an object in any way by changing a miniature copy of it. Note, though, that even a major charge cannot create the mythical Femto-Homunculus.