#melphi

[lo-and-behold-ocelittle]

Let’s outline a magical university

For reasons almost humorous enough to turn them into an anecdote, I drafted the hierarchy (faculties, departments) of a magic university. This is from a fictional nation whose capital city, Melphi, houses a whole bunch of “academies” almost as if someone was trying to build a science cluster there. I grouped together “schools of magic” I thought harmonized due to their primary purpose/fields of study/historical roots. I had to do some redefining here and there.

All fields of study are classified by the prevailing type of application (mathematics vs. engineering–everyone needs number reasoning but while some are dtf once they see abstract problems others need a practical application to get off). This is why the Ministry of Defense co-chairs some faculties and departments in other academies instead of creating a ‘military-only’-department-copy in their own “Academy of Military Science”.

National Academy of Thaumatology(lit.: miracle-working)

The National Academy of Technology is the leading institution of thaumaturgic research and education. Graduates of this academy may refer to themselves as Mages and are granted a license/diploma; ordinary thaumaturges are generally referred to as wizards and witches.

Any mage who heads the NAT is automatically granted the title of an Arch-Mage. The Arch-Mage isn’t necessarily the strongest mage but, ideally, the most competent; the position is elected and only temporarily held.

The NAT harbours six separate faculties and a total of 45 departments. The faculties are headed by Deans, who are appointed by the Arch-Mage. A Dean, in turn, may designate any one of a department’s professors as the head of said department.

Faculty of Divination and Scrying

Members seek to extract information from every comprehensible (and incomprehensible source–this is the fun bit) source. This faculty has six departments.

Department of Precise Prophecies

Analysis of incoming prophecies; may suggest methods to improve the accuracy of prophetic recitals; study of the effects of prophecies on oracles; replication and study of prophecy induced stupor

Department of Percolative Clairvoyance

Remote viewing by means of astral projection; minimisation of projected astral bodies; breaching of thaumic barriers or other wards designed to hinder the clairvoyants

Department of Cryptomancy

Development and breaching of thaumic encryptions; think schematics and counter-spells

Department of Runic Studies

Almost cryptomancy if you don’t know the language; extraction of information from ancient runes; study of antique symbology and foreign circuitry & schematics

Department of Sensory Appropriation

Utilisation of other beings’ senses; research towards improving stability and enabling two-way communication between species

Department of Knowledge Impartment and Remote Transmissions

Development of communication techniques with and without astral projections; research into holograms; cooperation with cryptomancers; research into wordless communication (mental projections)

Faculty of Alchemy and Artificery

Members seek to alter matter and augment objects, turning them into artifacts. This faculty focuses on historical as well as modern applications of alchemy, such as transmutation of mind and matter on one hand and the animation of matter on the other. This faculty has nine departments. They can be roughly divided into those that deal with naturally animate matter and those who don’t

Department of Transmutation

Study of chemical (and later nuclear) alteration of matter; applications include refining and enrichment of a substance

Department of Alteration

Study of inanimate morphing; study of micro-alterations; research into perfect replications

Department of Animation

Imbuing inanimate matter with a resemblance of life; research into prolonging the effects of animation; study of artificial sentience

Department of Infusion

Infusion of inanimate matter and potions with spells, typically one-time use; research into materials that retain spells with little to no deterioration over a prolonged period of time/extreme environmental conditions

Department of Artifact Augmentation 

Creation of artifacts from normal objects; augmentation of mechanical systems with thaumic elements; creation of objects with entirely thaumic systems; research into artifact circuitry and schematics

Department of Polymorphing 

Transmutation of animate matter by means of direct (cast) or indirect (potions) thaumaturgy

Department of Vivisthetics 

Development of animate limb replacements from animate and inanimate matter such as wood or metal

Department of Tissue Replication 

Study of tissue matrices and surmounting the resistance of animate matter against exterior thaumaturgy

Department of Soul-Patching 

Study of the soul anatomy; study of soul transferals and creation; investigation of industrial applications for minor souls; (and probably a lot more)

Faculty of Invocation, Abjuration, and Obviation

Members seek to summon, convene, and bargain with (more or less) sentient entities. Mages also specialise in banishing unwelcome guests or those who have overstayed their welcome. Conveniently, the thaumic barriers used to contain the assault of an irritated celestial can also be used in the industry, where transparent materials with toughness beyond glass and a price below diamond are required. The Ministry of Defense is, unsurprisingly, also rather fond of research into these barriers. Summoned beasts are also studied and may be harvested for alchemic ingredients, deployment in the industry or by the military. This faculty has eight departments.

Department of Celestial, Infernal, and Concomittant Deitical Interrogation

Summoning of celestials, infernals, auxiliary deities and sprites with the goal of extracting information; dangerous and tedious interrogations may result in death by exhaustion, boredom, or smiting

Department of Contemporary Circuitry

Study of summoning circles; summoning circle optimisation; testing the limits of summoning circles; naturally, this department is also part of the Faculty of Divination and Scrying

Department of Lost Rites

Similar to the Department of Runic Studies, this department studies past summoning rituals and catalogues them; finding backdoors to summoning-resistant creatures

Department of Necromancy

Summoning of beings, most commonly ghosts but also DEATH, from DEATH’s realm, souls that have passed on can no longer be summoned; cooperate with the Faculty of Divination and Scrying to extract information from the deceased; work with the Department of Animation to supply (ambivalently willing) souls as a raw material to work spells

Department of Vexatious Relegation

Research of banishing techniques to get rid of pesky metaphysical beings from the poltergeist to the infernal arch-demon; cooperate with the Department for Thaumic Barriers and the Department for Contemporary Circuitry to create wards against unwanted guests (this makes them a great target for prospective clairvoyants practicing for their exams)

Department of Varmint Studies and Husbandry

Study and taming of summoned beasts (not necessarily but commonly) from other planes of existence; harvest of alchemic ingredients; study of industrial and military applications

Department of Thaumic Barriers

The creation of (invisible) thaumic barriers that prevent the passage of physical and/or metaphysical objects; barrier type research such as solid, liquid, and gaseous barriers e.g. walls and dust barriers

Department of Binding and Immobilisation

Emergency procedures when summoning circles are damaged; police and military applications; storage of summoned entities in pocket dimensions

Faculty of Innovational Thaumaturgy

Contains members from all other faculties, who wouldn’t stop pestering their HoD with ‘what-if’-questions. Everyone else is only here to supervise those mages and make sure nothing goes (too) wrong. And when their nurslings aren’t ending the world, they study thaumic contamination, land reclamation, and recycling. Prisoners get sentence reductions, if they willingly participate in these experiments. This faculty has ten departments.

Department of Asset Recovery and Recycling

Study of decontamination methods for thaumically irradiated areas and objects such as testing grounds, battlefields, destroyed cities or spell-gone-wrongs

Department of Leigh-Line-Surveying

Study and development of thaumic models to understand how thaumaturgy works; detection and mapping of currents; study of inexplicable thaumic flux

Department of Hazard Handling 

Responsible for setting up safety precautions during experiments and containing them, if they go awry; investigation of technical failures during experiments; creation of guidelines when handling certain spells; study and research into safety-ensuring spells

Department of Peculiar Entropy Phenomena

Study and attempted replication of matter that inexplicably weathers, repairs itself or remains ‘locked in time’

Department of Experimental Divination and Scrying

Testing the limits of individual departments; possession of another sentient entity; sending and receiving fake prophecies; field testing of knowledge impartment and transmission

Department of Experimental Alchemy and Artificery

Field testing of potions and artifacts; early nuclear transmutation

Department of Experimental Invocation, Abjuration, and Obviation 

Field testing of new circuits and summoning rituals, banishments, and thaumic barrier prototypes

Department of Experimental Evocation

Field testing of new evocation spells

Department of Experimental Convalescence

Field testing of new biothaumaturgy spells (possibly on prisoners, who may or may not be on death row) and convalescence spells

Department of Experimental Illusion

Field testing of new illusion spells; oneiromancers practicing dream-walking in environments with a high thaumic density

Faculty of Evocation

Evokers study the extraction and subsequent harnessing of energy from their surroundings. This faculty has seven departments and a dean with a military background.

Department of Stifling and Sonancy

Study of wave propagation in various media; industry applications like geological mapping and locating mineral deposits; shockwaves for the military, sonar for the navy and oceanographers research; study of interference phenomena and counter-spells

Department of Dynamic Forfeiture

Study of methods to extract kinetic energy from or imbue systems with kinetic energy; industry applications like mechanical/thaumic systems (from artificery); military applications like impedance of movement of projectiles or vehicles (or the opposite)

Department of Torrid Reciprocation

Extraction of thermal energy (particle vibrations) from the surroundings; allows for interesting thermodynamic machines like heat pumps, lots of industry applications in heating and cooling; military applications only in the farthest sense that you can extract energy from your surroundings and thereby freeze people or cause machine components to deform

Department of Cardinal Schisms and Amalgamation

Energy from fusion and fission of atoms; extraction of chemical energy from molecules; industry needs include powering steam machines and smelting; military application can be the uncontrolled fusion or fission of a substance like hydrogen or uranium (to name two familiar ones)

Department of Ray Apprehension

Capture of electromagnetic radiation; applications similar to most of the above except commonly only viable during daytime

Department of Elementary Allurement

Extraction of energy from the movement of charged particles and vice versa; the electricity folks

Department of Locomotion

Exertion of forces on objects to make them move; excludes teleportation (summoning)

Faculty of Illusion

Illusionists seek to replicate real environments and associated dynamic objects to the extent that the illusion becomes indistinguishable from the real world. The ability to replicate distant objects in real time makes them an attractive to communication service providers. This faculty has five departments.

Department of Oneiromancy

Study of dreams from a prophetic or self-reflective point of view; study of mental health through dreams; study of dream implanting; study of (literal) dream-walking

Department of Optics

Study of reflective thaumic barriers used to redirect light; study of civilian applications such communication services; study of enhancements for mechanical optics; competition to clairvoyants

Department of Static Imitation

Study of interfaces and displays for artifacts; study of static civilian applications such as billboards or advertisement screens; artistic applications like in stage shows, a world with nothing moving in it

Department of Dynamic Imitation

Study into the perfect illusory replication of real-world dynamic objects such as fireworks or holograms, also includes military stealth

Department of Phantasmagoria (’cause I couldn’t call it the mind-fuck dpt.)

Heavily military and medical, mages seek to penetrate a victim’s psyche and create a false world inside their head, effectively incapacitating them, also used in palliative treatment of the sick and mental health institutions

I’ll post a visual at a later date, showing cross-over departments and the influence I think the Ministry of Defense has on the research conducted. Supplementary feedback to this post is appreciated.

[lo-and-behold-ocelittle]

NAPS: The Return of the Rigger

After attempt number one flamed out spectacularly--figuratively, though, coincidentally, the animation did constantly blow up--I am back with number two! And this time it’s not 2 am, yay. Anyhow, let’s pitch this to some worldbuilders:

*AHEM*

Top hats, bowlers, and goggles of the steampunk genre direct your attention to this wonderful invention of mine! This new propulsion system will make your airships whizz across the sky as fast as that cork you plugged into your kettle because the whistling was driving you insane. On the note of insane driving, raise your eyes to the sky and watch as my prototype extends its radial flaps... now! There they are!

Behold the sight of this marvelous mechanism! Watch as its now off-centre drag will spin it up in the slightest breeze! This ingenious piece of engineering, designed by Miranelli & Associates, will revolutionize our public transport system. Say goodbye to... What do you mean its not spinning?... How was I supposed to... I was reading the fucking script! Owen, you aeromancer nincompoop, where’s my wind?!

*Intermission*

Okay, while Owen gets his wind together and the announcer cools off a bit, I’ll quickly go over the new propulsion system. Unfortunately, I don’t have the grounds to host an airshow so animations will have to do. 

This pitch is set in a windy coastal city by the name of Melphi. A large river delta and steep cliffs turn travelling from one part of town to the next into a strenuous endeavor.A network of airships running along cables has been proposed to alleviate this issue and tie the city’s industry and population closer together. 

It’s hard to propel airships using old steam engines because their power comes at the price of weight, especially water and fuel that will be consuming during flight, creating all sorts of follow-up issues like a change in lift. Melphi, being the windy city that it is, allows for a new approach to airship propulsion by using the ever-present movement of air. 

Below is an animation demonstrating how wind (coming from the right) enacts a force on the extended flaps and induced a torque around the airships axis of rotation. Through a system of gears and shafts this rotation is transferred to the airship’s wheels, which run atop a cable passing through its centre.

Here’s another animation showing the entire process from the side:

To slip into the shoes of an airshow attendee, picture a blimp with its central segment slowly spinning up as Owen, the aeromancer, gets his shit together.

*End of intermission*

*AHEM*

Aviators and wing-sore fair folk, please take your eyes off this bumbling idiot and return them to the blimp. Our dashing captain and airship entrepreneur extraordinaire, Mr Miranelli himself, is piloting his new craft into a specially designed obstacle course! This mile-and-a-half-circuit was built to include every hurdle a conductor would encounter on their shift--not including passengers.

It seems Mr Miranelli has brought his craft up to speed. Oh, what’s this! The wind unexpectedly grew stronger than anticipated and he is getting closer to the station! How will he stop? Will he not crash and go up in flames?! 

Hold your gasps, dear audience, while the hull is spinning like a dog chasing its tail, our perilous captain switched his patented gearbox to neutral and is coasting into the station using his remaining momentum. We now simulate a short stop for passengers to board the vehicle--observe how the airship is maintaining it’s hulls rotation. Any moment now, the captain will use the stored angular momentum to propel the ship out of the station’s dead-air... and we’re off again!

Thank you, for your attention. While Mr Miranelli completes his lap, I will now be taking questions!

[lo-and-behold-ocelittle]

Night on the Ridge

Part 1 of coaxing myself into writing again.

A protracted war is almost at its end. This is the final offensive and failure is not an option. Everything is allowed and nothing is sacred.

Content warning: a bit of gore, no splatter though; attempted light horror

622 words.

Graham—no, the thing that used to be Graham—slammed the flip-spade into the mud and heaved itself out of the trench. The V-Man braced against the crater’s slope and fumbled a new cartridge into the breech of his thaumlock. The stooped figure staggered towards the barbed wire, a mangled arm dangling loosely by its side, attached only by a few strands of Graham’s shredded uniform. Fifty paces into no man’s land the last thing you need is the enemy crawling from your own trench. The V-Man steadied his rifle on the crater rim and waited for the next flare to arc over tree-lined ridge. The thought of firing on his former CO burned in his eyes. But with BB and Jurie still alive, this was not a choice. He wouldn’t let it get to them. He had to take another shot.

Evoked missile volleys clawed at the dusky sky, leaving red streaks in their wake, and dimly illuminating the crater. BB hid his face against his knees. When the ambush came, their special weapons specialist had completely drained himself, blowing a crater into the lee of a nearby earth mound. A snap decision with no prep time. Now all he could do was count the seconds until their artillery would return fire. When they didn’t, he dropped his head back between his knees. He was completely useless now and no one could do anything about it. Had the gods been merciful, the spell would have killed him.

The V-Man flicked his eyes back to their trench. The stunted shape of Graham made an ungainly dash for the barbed wire. Acid shot up his throat and the V-Man swallowed hard, when the thing vaulted over the wire on Graham’s leg stumps. He couldn’t tell where the blood-soaked bandages ended and where the mud-encrusted pants began. The V-Man shuddered. It had removed the stints and was gaining on them. Fast. The V-Man saw blood seep from its nose and sockets. It returned his gaze with eyes too bulbous to blink. With a brain that bloated, he expected its skull to fly apart any moment now. There was almost no need to put Graham out of her misery a second time. Just die already.

Jurie dropped her black-out goggles and flipped a switch on her communication array. A spring-loaded spindle revved up, drawing in the wire antenna she had flung onto the mound above them. It proclaimed its success with an audible click. BB looked up. It had been hours since their auxiliary had made a sound besides her shallow breathing; he wasn’t sure she as much as blinked, when she rigged herself to the array, relaying back and forth communications between nearby units and field command. She solemnly took off her earpiece and turned it over in her hands. There was no one left to listen to but the void—and an insufferable operator back in Melphi. She took a swig from her flask to wet her throat before she answered the question stamped across BB’s glum face.

“They’re in denial.”

“Denial won’t stop this thing from getting closer,” the V-Man murmured from his vantage point. The shadows lengthened as the flare dimmed and dropped. A part of him wanted to run away in the cover of the dark. That part also hoped to die quickly. “Who will cover our retreat?”

“There is no retreat; the orders were very clear.” Jurie slid her fingers under her helmet and massaged her temples. “We are to keep pushing up the bloody ridge.”

“Did they go fucking nuts?!” The V-Man did not like the whine in BB’s voice, but shared his indignation.

“I tuned out when they started chanting it.”

[lo-and-behold-ocelittle]

Key:  line - direct influence dashed line - influence on HoD/personnel Follow-up post to:

https://lo-and-behold-ocelittle.tumblr.com/post/187668583835/lets-outline-a-magical-university

[lo-and-behold-ocelittle]

After writing a couple of incoherent scenes inter-spiced with some infuriating editing, I henceforth refuse to write willy-nilly all over the place without a proper setting. Instead, I’ll do the next logical thing, go back a couple billion years and start building a universe from scratch. No more nasty surprises.

Above is one of the steps along the way: a bird’s eye view of the terrain I’ll build a city on. Black and the next lightest shade are low-tide and high-tide respectively. There’s a minor fault line right down the middle with some eroded volcanoes craning the remnants of their conduits towards the sky. I suppose there might be a chain of volcanic islands a bit further off the coast as well. I omitted minor geographical changes caused by erosion.

Click the pics for more information.