Balloon Magic. A minor school of surprises.

Nickname: Party Clowns

Who can look at a balloon and not see magic? It floats! It flies! It reminds us of childhood and bright colors and scientific exploration and impossible things! And then it pops or wilts away or floats into the sky, never to be seen. The balloon is a symbol of wonder and loss, and sometimes, someone is more caught up in that wonder and loss than they should be.

Enter the Globomancer, magicians of the balloon world. These adepts harness that wonder and impossibility, and bring it into themselves.

Globomancy is a magic school with equal shares of wonder and betrayal. Just as every balloon will eventually pop or disappear, every Globomancy formula has the potential for shocking betrayal. A Globomancer will tell you that their magic is a little more unpredictable than more reliable adepts, and this is true — but that unreliability gives a lot of cover for a Party Clown to turn on their friends and then just shrug afterward.

Incidentally, most Globomancers really are literally party clowns. It’s the best way to make a living and gain charges. Those who are literal party clowns aren’t insulted by the nickname one bit. Others, who work as chemists or meteorologists or surveyors or decorators, may be more insulted by the term, but it’s used all the same.

Generate a minor charge: Spent time working with balloons. Three hours working with balloons alone counts, or half an hour if you have any kind of audience. Any kind of work will do, as long as you have some sort of purpose with your work — this can include scientific study, professional entertainment, travel, or art, but there has to be some purpose other than just sitting and generating charges.

(For the purposes of this school, a balloon is any kind of flexible expandable container inflated to stretching with a gas. Helium or air work, hot air balloons are fine too, but a water baloon or empty balloon doesn’t work.)

As a minor school, globomancy does not generate significant or major charges.

Taboo: A globomancer must always be visibly happy. This can be a murderous glee or a serene bliss, but you lose all charges when you aren’t smiling. Any display of rage or sorrow causes a loss of charges, but so does a neutral expression. As a result of this, Globomancers also lose all charges every time they sleep.

Also, if you break taboo, all your formulas currently in effect immediately cease working. This can lead to hilariously disastrous results.

Blast: The globomancy blast targets a single person. It causes deafness and bleeding from the ears.

Symbolic Tension: Balloons are delightful but transgressive. Balloons are associated with surprise, but a surprise can be wonderful or terrifying or both. The exciting things about them are the way they break the rules: they’re objects that float! But they are also sources of surprise, and inevitably let you down. It’s not a strong tension, which is why globomancy can’t generate charges.

Random Domain: Delight, surprise, and betrayal. And balloons, of course.

Charging Tips: Most globomancers are in a career that involves balloons: party clown, hot air balloon tour guide, and scientist (especially weather scientist) are the most popular options. In such a career, a globomancer can gain 3-16 minor charges in a day. On days off, you can usually only gain one or two charges. A Mind-based skill like Party Clown, Rubbercrafting, or Meteorology is quite common among globomancers.

Starting charges: Zero. Globomancers get charges pretty easy, but they don’t stick around.

Minor Formulas

Pop!
1 minor charge
This is the globomancy minor blast. A balloon in your line of sight pops very loudly, and the person closest to the balloon takes damage equal to the sum of the dice. They’re also deafened until that damage heals. Note that this blast won’t work if there isn’t an inflated balloon already near the target.

A Gift For You
1 minor charge
Spend the charge immediately after you’ve crafted something from a balloon — a balloon animal is traditional but anything works as long as you did the last piece of crafting. If you offer someone the balloon to a target, they’ll set down anything they were carrying and accept it, which takes a turn, then spend a turn admiring it. They’ll feel grateful for it (even if that would be awkward at the time), and you get a +20% shift to your next Charm or Lie skill against the target within the next minute.

If the target is aware of this formula and guarding against it, they can ignore its effects completely with a significant Mind check. Just being suspicious or hostile toward you won’t do the job — they must have seen or heard about this formula’s use before.

Follow Me
3 minor charges
A powerful but risky divination spell. You need a red handheld lighter-than-air balloon. To use this formula, mentally name what you’re looking for and let go of the balloon. Then the GM (not you) makes your skill roll secretly. If the roll succeeds, the balloon leads anyone who follows it toward what you’ve sent it to find. If the roll fails (or if the thing you’re seeking doesn’t exist), the balloon leads anyone who follows it into a potentially deadly trap or situation. You won’t know how you rolled. You can, if you like, just send the balloon to lead someone into a deadly trap or situation, at which point it always succeeds.

We All Float Down Here
2 or 5 minor charges
Affects a single object no larger than a largish person (for 2 charges), or a willing human subject (for 5 charges). The target floats upward slowly, as if it were made of helium. You can use this to transport objects more easily, or (if you tether them so they don’t float away) to make a person (including yourself) into a floating aerial platform. You can also use it to break a fall (given enough time), or as a very tricky way to murder someone – if you can get them to willingly consent to the ritual when you use it on them. Lasts until you release the spell or break taboo.

Observation Balloon
3 minor charges
Touch a balloon then let it go – it’s okay if someone else takes it from there. You can sense through the balloon as if you were there, using all five senses. You can also cast globomancy spells through the balloon, and telepathically communicate with anyone who touches the balloon. While this spell is in effect, you are only distantly aware of your own body and surroundings, and can only make very slow, clumsy movements. Usually, globomancers adopt a serene pose of blissful meditation while this formula is in effect. You can’t gain charges while this formula is in effect. Lasts until you release the spell or break taboo.

What You’ve Heard

Poppy the Clown is a literal party clown who is trying to use his globomancy to make himself a reputation within the crystal meth market in Arkansas. He works children’s birthday parties to charge up and to launder his earnings to the IRS through a legitimate cash business. He’s still independent, but occasionally does actual magic work for big crime syndicates. His gang often carries a balloon — sometimes as an Observation Balloon for Poppy to observe and influence, but just as often as a declaration that they’re under his protection. He’s on the verge of attracting Sleeper attention for being too public with his powers, but right now, he’s on the rise as long as he avoids the attention of the Occult Underground.