Magic System

Magic in Ofadin comes from mystical pools of syrup like liquid that seeped into the world's nooks and crannies, almost in all cases found in the enormous cavern systems deep underneath even dwarven cities, hailing from magical disasters or leaks from the afterlife.

This syrup, henceforth known as Mucena, has a very strong mint like flavour, though it is not pleasant to consume. The ritual for one to consume Mucena involves three attendees, other than the aspiring sorcerer, armed with flexible rods that bear a resemblance to honey dippers - their job being to push all of the Mucena into the sorcerer's throat. If even a drop spills it could have disastrous effects (not only for what it touches -with Mucena being highly corrosive- but it will cause a disconnect from the syrup in the body and the one that spilled - tearing the individuals body as if a magnet tearing through them from inside, violently pushing toward the drop). As you can imagine this process is extremely painful.

If the sorcerer can withstand the pain and power through their body and mind violently rejecting the substance they enter a binding process with the Mucena.

Their ideals, passions and deepest desires, which it uses to conduct a form of metamorphosis. It integrates with their spine and nervous system, replacing nerves with a series of microscopic vein-like tubes that transport the Mucena from brain to all parts touched by the bygone nervous system. It is the aforementioned personality traits of the sorcerer that define the magic type the Mucena will give them.

Mucena cannot change the magic type during the sorcerer's life, but it can fade with substantial mental damage. Sorcerer kills are often done by significant damage to the head and neck in order to sever the caster's mental function before their bodily one; doing the opposite would result in Mucena commencing an event known as "mourning", where it lashes out and manifests into abominations of ages old, powered by the raw emotion and sorrow of never being able to fulfil their bounded sorcerer's passions and goals.

Becoming a sorcerer in Ofadin is a long and arduous process, often taking anywhere from five years to a decade of research, training both the physical and mental form, partaking in specific diets of mystical and off-putting nature, and securing mercenary companies. The sheer amount of time it takes for this is the reason a lot of sorcerers are descendants of earlier sorcerers; it is much easier to dedicate a child to study and training than a withered, old soul.

One might be asking: why mercenaries?

The underground of Ofadin, where Mucena is found, is a very dangerous place. It is where ancient dungeons rot away as time passes by - the creatures inside procreating and growing bigger and more hateful. It is where all manner of burrowing and blind creatures stalk the damp and tight tunnels, with tentacle-like antennae prodding and grazing the smallest bits of mass to swallow whole. In the more magical places dwell dragons, sorcerous beings themselves, with their own legions and dungeons. These vicious and spiteful beings guard immense treasures and knowledge, their hearts forever ablaze with hatred for all things that bathe in the sunshine and frolic among the fields on the surface world.

It is because of these and many more dangers that up-and-coming sorcerers hire companies of soldiers, excavators and historians to take up a major expedition to search for Mucena, and no two expeditions are the same. Some collapse into unseen ravines hidden below paper thin stone, others are clawed and bitten apart by evil things, while even more simply never find what they searched for despite all these hardships. Mucena is a rare enough thing, and sorcerers whose expeditions fail are often left broke, hopeless and weak.

Once Mucena is found however, three assistants (usually veterans of these Mucena expeditions, taught in the ways of magic though not sorcerers themselves) usually step forward with honey dipper like rods.

The aspiring sorcerer undresses and gets on their knees, arching backward with their arms behind their back. This is where the process begins and must be entirely uninterrupted. The honey dipper like rods, henceforth referred to as "mucipilla", are gently lowered into the pool of Mucena and scooped upwards, held above the pool until it stops dripping. The mucipilla are then brought to the aspiring sorcerer's mouth and pushed up to their throat, where they are spun until all Mucena is off the mucipilla, depositing all the Mucena directly into the recipient's digestive track.

The journey back is usually all well and good, simply retracing the steps of the company, though there have been cases of companies losing their way due to some unknown horrors devouring entire tunnel systems or jumbling paths, making the previous caverns into mazes of misdirection and misfortune.