Chaos and Corruption: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 05:05, 11 July 2024

Chaos

Chaos is an integral force in Nodd, one which has long been thought to counterbalance excessive order by causing bizarre, horrific incidents. Chaotic catastrophes strike anything too orderly, whether as small as a single citizen or as grand as the City itself. Chaos follows no particular rules by it's very nature, a fact which hangs over the head of every citizen - The Council encourages all citizens to indulge and fuel the chaos in their lives.

In bygone times chaos was less well understood - only a rare mage who could alter these catastrophes, either by diverting them or directing them to affect something else. The Council in these times performed many experiments to attempt to glean the nature of chaos and whether it can be controlled - one of the most notable of which led to the Night of the Mothertoad and the rise of the first citygods.

Corruption

Corruption is typically a gradual process, where the afflicted individual becomes more in tune with the City's chaotic nature, becoming more monstrous in the process. The exact cause is not very well understood and proves difficult to study, but most citizens believe corruption is primarily caused by frequent gloam exposure. Mages often suffer corruption over their careers, though any citizen can experience it - especially as they age. Certain circumstances may induce acute corruption, where an individual undergoes a drastic change in a short amount of time. Acute corruption often ends quite poorly for the victim.

Attunement

Attunement is a form of corruption which primarily affects objects, where an object aligns with a particular aspect of magic. Attunement typically changes the appearance of a given item.

Mundane objects handled by typical citizens change slowly, if at all, and rarely in any appreciable manner. Mages are more likely to induce attunement in an item, even unintentionally. Items which channel gloam frequently are more likely to have their attunement changed. In some circumstances, even acts as simple as placing one's focus on an item intently enough is enough to change it's attunement. An artifact with an attunement that opposes the user's beliefs is more difficult to use, and resists any change in it's attunement from said user.

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 ===Chaos===
-After countless bizarre events, it had long been suspected that excess order in Nodd leads to chaos to counteract it - any time things seemed to be operating as intended, something bizarre and horrific would take place. This pattern seemed to appear at any scale, from an individual’s life to the city as a whole. The rare, gifted mage was known for appearing able to avert these swells of chaos (or divert them onto others). The Council performed a series of experiments to try to determine the truth of these questionable legends, and if and how it can be controlled.
+Chaos is an integral force in Nodd, one which has long been thought to counterbalance excessive order by causing bizarre, horrific incidents. Chaotic catastrophes strike anything too orderly, whether as small as a single citizen or as grand as the City itself. Chaos follows no particular rules by it's very nature, a fact which hangs over the head of every citizen - [[The Council]] encourages all citizens to indulge and fuel the chaos in their lives.
-Chaos is, itself, somewhat hard to define and thus inherently confounds precise knowledge of what should, or should not, be done. This not only creates a sense of general unease but also encourages increasingly unpredictable, dangerous, or generally deranged behavior in hopes of both pleasing the council and avoiding catastrophe.
+In bygone times chaos was less well understood - only a rare mage who could alter these catastrophes, either by diverting them or directing them to affect something else. The Council in these times performed many experiments to attempt to glean the nature of chaos and whether it can be controlled - one of the most notable of which led to the [[Night of the Mothertoad]] and the rise of the first [[Citygod|citygods]].
 ===Corruption===
-Alongside aging, citizens undergo a process known as corruption, which makes a citizen more in tune with the city's magic, and renders their appearance gradually more monstrous. Acute corruption is also achievable by various means, and is usually a terrible idea. Consistent use and manipulation of gloam is thought to relate to corruption, but the exact relationship and nature is not understood and difficult to study.
+Corruption is typically a gradual process, where the afflicted individual becomes more in tune with the City's chaotic nature, becoming more monstrous in the process. The exact cause is not very well understood and proves difficult to study, but most citizens believe corruption is primarily caused by frequent [[Gloam|gloam]] exposure. Mages often suffer corruption over their careers, though any citizen can experience it - especially as they age. Certain circumstances may induce acute corruption, where an individual undergoes a drastic change in a short amount of time. Acute corruption often ends quite poorly for the victim.
-====Attunement?====
+====Attunement====
+Attunement is a form of corruption which primarily affects objects, where an object aligns with a particular [[Aspects|aspect]] of magic. Attunement typically changes the appearance of a given item.
-The idea that artifacts can be subtly altered through prolonged exposure to mages with a particular affinity - i.e. a methodically crafted Omnillian wand meant to cauterize wounds and create sutures used by a Vivirian long enough begins to shift more to a Vivirian manner of healing - growth, overgrowth, regeneration, etc. This is considered a form of corruption and, over time, as attunement grows the artifact's appearance will change as well. Even simply spending a significant amount of time studying an artifact, attempting to divine its purpose, repair or troubleshoot it, or in any way placing one's extended intention and focus upon it can cause this to happen.
+Mundane objects handled by typical citizens change slowly, if at all, and rarely in any appreciable manner. Mages are more likely to induce attunement in an item, even unintentionally. Items which channel gloam frequently are more likely to have their attunement changed. In some circumstances, even acts as simple as placing one's focus on an item intently enough is enough to change it's attunement. An artifact with an attunement that opposes the user's beliefs is more difficult to use, and resists any change in it's attunement from said user.
-Note that even mundane items can be affected by this albeit much more slowly and subtly and those items which actively channel larger amounts of gloam are more readily affected by the user's beliefs.
-As such, mages attempting to utilize artifacts from opposing Houses, and thus beliefs, will find their use more difficult. In such cases the artifact will also be more resistant to the effects of attunement, at first.
-It is worth emphasizing that this effect is only pronounced in the case of powerful mages - citizens who are not experienced in magic use will tend to not have such an effect, at least not over shorter periods or in more obvious fashions.
 [[Category:Major Concept]]