Want a deeper look into the twisted parallel world that we inhabit, just next door to your own? Ezra is busy putting together a compendium that won’t reduce your eyes to boiling egg yolk. Learn about Imagomancy, the Gloom, and the Glimmer, all from a being that you wouldn’t trust with a pet rock, let alone the fate of the innocent.
The Madhouse
A secretive organization based out of a renovated insane asylum on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas. The Madhouse trains individuals in both martial combat skills as well as specialized meditative techniques to become Imagomancers, wielders of magical tattoos used to combat the Gloom and its harmful effects on reality.
Imagomancy
Imagomancy is the magical discipline of the Madhouse. It involves the inking of magical tattoos that render an Imagomancer into a walking spell book. The tattoos can be used at will, unless they are burned for an empowered magical effect. Burning a tattoo expends it, and an Imagomancer cannot use it again until they visit Solomon to provide another. Burning a tattoo also inflicts Imagomatic backlash upon the Imagomancer, and many an Imagomancer has had to decide between an early retirement or an early grave.
The Gloom
A malevolent, permeating force of evil in the world. Hell, Yin, Chaos, Isfet, the Abyss, whatever you want to call it, the Gloom invades our reality and warps it out of shape. Beings that draw their supernatural nature from the Gloom are known as Creeps, while magicians who seek to harness the Gloom’s dark power are known as Magi.
The Pact
An accord struck long ago. The intent behind the Pact, also known as the Pact of Porcelain for its fragility, was that the Creeps, the Magi, as well as agents of the Glimmer, would abide its terms as a tenuous ceasefire. The Pact forbids the harvesting of the young and the elderly, as both groups are close to the source of all power beyond being and non-being. The Pact also forbids Creeps from running amok, leading to the formation of Creep organizations such as the Menagerie, ran by more intelligent Creeps to keep their more instinct-driven bretheren in line. As you can imagine, the blurry lines of age, as well as what constitutes running amok, make enforcing the Pact fraught with difficulty.
The Glimmer
While the Gloom pervades reality, the Glimmer is much more remote. So far, the only beings known to be able to manipulate it are Solomon, Ezra, and the Gloomwatcher. Unlike the Magi’s more direct relationship with the Gloom, the Imagomancers are only able to interface with the Glimmer via Solomon’s tattoos. There are, however, rumors that there may be some gifted individuals with an innate connection to the Glimmer . . .
Creeps
Creatures of the night. Vampires, werewolves, as well as other, lesser-known but no less dangerous monsters are known as Creeps. They far exceed humans in diversity, with some Creeps primarily driven by insiatiable hunger and others possessing an intellect and cunning exceeding that of the most brilliant human mind. The Creeps share in common their relationship to the Gloom, as well as the Craving, an insatiable urge of some sort.
Magi
Barring some exceptions, most Creeps are ‘born’, not made. The same is not true of the Magi. Nobody accidentally becomes a Magi. The Magi consciously direct their will towards the manipulation of the Gloom for some sort of gain. Even Magi that start out with good intentions quite quickly find themselves drawn into a web of deceit, desire, and lust for power. Discipline in Magi circles is much looser than that of the Madhouse, resulting in a wider variety of magical prowess as many Magi are autodidacts.
Prop
A Prop is an enchanted tool use to facilitate a Magi’s working of the Gloom. For example, Magi involved in the harvesting of psyches will use a specialized stiletto to draw the soul out of the nasal cavity.