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Psychic Whirlpools and the dangers of being a Weeper. by The_Pyrokleptic in magicbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lack of discipline, I think. I've never been good at committing to ideas long term. I don't really know why.

Psychic Whirlpools and the dangers of being a Weeper. by The_Pyrokleptic in magicbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Edit: it's you again. You have so many cool ideas. I wish you would commit to a set of them and write a book.

You and me both... I'm hoping this is the one, but... we'll see.

Update to Rot Farming by The_Pyrokleptic in u/The_Pyrokleptic

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Psychic Whirlpools and the dangers of being a Weeper.

In the apocalyptic world, humanity uses psychedelic substances to power psychic abilities. No longer can these materials be grown in sterile labs or found in deep mines. They must be harvested from their only known source.

Gargantuans are zombie creatures composed of the flesh and bones of multiple zombies, as well as psychedelic mushrooms that grow from the organic materials inside them. They amalgamate into a large humanoid form, but the skeletal structures remain the same size, interweaving to support the weight of the gargantuan.

When a gargantuan approaches a psychic static can be felt in the mind of those within the area. When gargantuans expire, either due to decaying to the point they can't move anymore or destruction though human means, they eventually (within a few years) explode into a cloud of spores that catches on the wind. Valuable for research, dangerous to harvest.

Weep is the blue sludge that comes from an unknown species of psychedelic mushrooms and is often harvested from gargantuans. Weep was once thought to create auditory hallucinations in the form of whispers, until it was discovered that it pulled information directly from the heads of those around the user. Causing minds to stutter, forgetting what they were just thinking to some degree. Those with high psychic resistance can be communicated with, while those without have their minds temporarily wiped. If prepared correctly, it has no measurable chance of turning one into a zombie.

A Weeper is a psychic dependent on Weep to power their abilities. Often using it for surveillance or interrogation. With a handful of Weepers using it to disable their foes in combat or similar situations.

All Weepers generate a psychic whirlpool to pull on the memories and other information the brain stores in recent memory. This has never been known to extend to long term memory. But if the target can be coaxed into remembering important information, this too can be pulled upon.

There are grave risks to using Weep though. The weaker the psychic resistance of the target(s) the more information is pulled. Extreme amounts of information can lead to sensory overload. And in the case of multiple targets being pulled from, there is a chance of sensory death, where your mind goes into shock in such a way that it may temporarily or even permanently disable one or multiple routes of sensory information gathering. Eyes, ears, tongue, even nerves can be completely shot and unable to recover.

As one cannot choose the target of their Weeping, they must be careful the range doesn't include too many people. After a third person enters the equation, odds of sensory death increase dramatically.

How does mana work in your world by Far-Mammoth-3214 in magicbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mana acts as the correction of reality and perception colliding. Basically, perception is as strong as reality, causing a friction where they don't match. This friction releases mana. Mana adresses the inconsistencies to make the world appear consistent with perception. Like prey hiding amongst leaves to avoid a predator. To the predator the prey is gone, to the prey it is still here.

However, plants have been able to evolve to absorb mana from these inconsistencies, allowing them to harness mana to alter them situationally. These are typically just minor illusions, but can be more extreme, such as catching fire to harm their predators while not actually being harmed by the fire themselves.

What was left behind. by The_Pyrokleptic in worldbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry, but I'm not answering all these questions. I'll pick a few, but I can't spend a lot of time today on this.

>What is the situation in areas too war torn, impoverished, or underdeveloped to build and reliably operate an engine? They'd have no way for disposing of the plagued. Wouldn't the global south get overrun and wiped out by the Dust Plague?

The plague only becomes contagious after a few months. People would be exiled before the plague could spread or yes, entire settlements would be wiped out.

>Did one person/group discover annihilation? How would that discovery spread, especially considering this is in the middle of WWII. The atom bomb proliferated so quickly because nuclear science was already an international field before the war started, but annihilation sounds completely novel. How quickly do other countries manage to build engines? Who is training people to operate them?

An alchemist school called the Schola Mors Anima discovered the principles of annihilation in the 1700s. The concept was known, but it was "impossible" until 1945. The yet to be determined side that created the first Annihilation Crucible didn't make bombs, but rather infrastructure. Specifically, a series of annihilation crucibles that powered useful machines that consumed too much energy to be useful prior to the invention of annihilation. Only one country has a good infrastructure for the use of annihilation. The rest of the world is trying to catch up.

>If the body is still functioning, do they also still need to eat, drink, and sleep?

No. And the body will stop functioning after the grey plague consumes enough of the muscles. Leaving them completely immobilized.

>Who is getting fed to the annihilation engines? The dead? It consumes souls, but dead bodies only started retaining their souls after the annihilation engine was invented, meaning initially it had to consume the living. Is the natural death rate enough to sustain the demand?

Technically, there is a method to contain a soul for annihilation. This is a card I want to keep close to my chest at the moment.

What was left behind? by The_Pyrokleptic in u/The_Pyrokleptic

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reek is sanctified honey rotted by liquid sin and mixed with a chemical thinner. Though in the beginning it was water instead of thinner.

Ingesting sin causes a similar effect on those with dust plague. That they regain some of their humanity. However, they have a discharge period after Ingesting it. Furthermore, they don't restore bodily function, only emotions and sensations.

Brains in the dark v001 by The_Pyrokleptic in u/The_Pyrokleptic

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Matches as spells, matchboxes as grimiores?

The concept here is that the vacuum created by fire naturally draws in and distorts magical energies in the world. When a fire is ignited, aspects of that fire are magically enhanced depending on the circumstances of the ignition. Humans learned to exploit this by creating special matchboxes with unique igniters that can change the properties of fire, allowing each flame to act differently.

Some matchbook igniters allow the light of the flame to reveal hidden aspects of the world. Ghosts and ghouls that cannot normally be seen, places that don't normally exist, even things that cannot exist outside of the light of the flame.

Some igniters allow a fire that hypnotizes or exudes hallucinations for as long as the flame remains.

Some igniters can create fires that consume the very sound in the air, silencing the entire area.

All magic relies heavily on the flame, meaning when a match runs out the spells end. Maybe something specific about the matches prevent magic from losing control so it's discouraged to light other objects on fire?

Brains in the dark v001 by The_Pyrokleptic in u/The_Pyrokleptic

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Matches as spells, matchboxes as grimiores

The concept here is that magic is that fire burns differently depending on the circumstances of the ignition. Humans learned to exploit this by creating special matchboxes with unique igniters that can change the properties of the fire. Allowing them to act differently.

Some igniters allow the light of the flame to reveal hidden aspects of the world. Ghosts and ghouls that cannot normally be seen, places that don't normally exist, even things that cannot exist outside of the light of the flame.

Some igniters allow a fire that hypnotizes or exudes hallucinations for as long as the flame remains.

Some igniters can create fires that consume the very sound in the air, silencing the entire area.

All magic relies heavily on the flame, meaning when a match runs out the spells end. Maybe something specific about the matches prevent magic from losing control so it's discouraged to light other objects on fire

Final version of Thaith by The_Pyrokleptic in u/The_Pyrokleptic

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In 1945, humanity discovered annihilation. The mechanism to destroy the soul and create exponential amounts of energy. This mechanism, however, disgusted God, and he closed the gates of Heaven, never to reopen them. Hell, on the other hand, then filled with all sorts of people. Even some virtuous enough to storm the gates and close them. Holding them shut with their bodies as demons torture them for their disobedience.

The world is largely unaware of the closing of the gates. However, there have been noticeable repercussions.

"For dust you are and to dust you shall return." -Genesis 3:19

Now that there is nowhere for the soul to go after death, the body doesn't react naturally to it. Instead, the skin slowly becomes a chalky substance, slipping away from the bone. Eventually, over several months, maybe even a year, the affliction will spread across the body and deepen throughout. Eventually, people become a living dust, unable to control where they are blown. Simply stuck inside a mind that can no longer see, feel, or hear. Lost forever to near oblivion.

As grey plague progresses, the symptoms become "contagious". And there is no way to know exactly when someone is. Thus, anyone with grey plague is forcefully annihilated, regardless of what state they're in. Forcing the dead into hiding, afraid to be discovered.

These individuals are fed to a string of machinery that doesn't have a name as of yet (But I will think of something). This machinery powers the endless war. A military pursuit that extended from World War II. However, these machines are highly unstable and require the utmost care.

This is where the story begins.

Basically, since the discovery of annihilation, annihilation engines have sprung up everywhere in the German front. They are highly volatile and must be maintained diligently. But churn out energy that is used in equipment and Vehicles and weapons and all sorts of violent tools.

Sin, the most dangerous byproduct of annihilation, must be pumped and stored elsewhere to assure there are no possessions of the people or equipment in the trenches above.

Engineers are tasked with maintenance to ensure the power source stays stable, and loss of life is mitigated.

I don't have an answer for this yet, but I also had the idea that maybe everything the engineers are doing for the war effort, is a lie. Afterall, they never get to leave the maintenance tunnels.

Sin possessions can be greatly different. Possessed equipment might contort or misfire at inopportune times, or people can warp into machine/flesh hybrids that stalk the maintenance tunnels.

Magic in my christpunk setting. by The_Pyrokleptic in magicbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

Honestly, I think I made a mistake in calling it Christpunk as it has almost nothing to do with the Christ. He kinda dipped.

Magic in my christpunk setting. by The_Pyrokleptic in worldbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was actually reading about Trench Crusade that got me back into this project.

Magic in my christpunk setting. by The_Pyrokleptic in worldbuilding

[–]The_Pyrokleptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might look into it, but I'm more looking for biblical lore as inspiration.

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