Glyph loot

The usage of arcane glyphs and diagrams to power a wide variety of occult rituals.
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nobody
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Glyph loot

Post by nobody »

I vaguely remembered glyph loot getting mentioned at some point but cannot find the reference now. I've been contemplating what this would look like and for the longest time it's always been the cliché frail scrolls that an arcanist can try to study but they crumble in the process. I'm not opposed to that, but it is cliché. An idea occurred to me that might be a viable alternative and so I wanted to drop it here.

Glyph-Marked/Glyph-Etched Gemstones
Arcanists are generally all about the learning. Some arcanists try to keep their findings to themselves, others share their findings with a small circle of trusted allies, but some rare few dedicate themselves to the preservation of knowledge. It's a tricky business trying to commit those glyphs to written forms, perhaps the library uses metal plates because they need to be able to withstand the stresses of holding a mind bending form on them. It might be easier to teach someone without a heavy metal plate though, if you could show them. Perhaps the archivist-arcanists of yore learned how to remove a memory from their own mind (sanity loss!) and store it inside of a specially prepared gem. If another were to find it, and could learn how to unlock it's secrets, they could remove the memory of forming the glyph from the gem and store that memory in their own mind (more sanity loss!). It isn't as reusable as a heavy metal plate though, because once the memory is taken from the gem, it is empty of knowledge. Maaaaaybe it could be used again (to store a new memory in it), maybe not, but either way the memory is removed so all that is left is a decorated gemstone. Or maybe the occult preparations that held the memory were necessarily picked away at by the process of retrieving the memory, and they destroy the gem in the process. A crumbling gemstone might be cliché too, but at least it's not a scroll. Or maybe it isn't a gemstone at all, and is a small glass orb instead. But it doesn't need to be an explicitly written symbol if the treasure in question is a memory instead.

Edit to add: could also just be a specially prepared box. A memory-in-a-box-in-a-box if you will.
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nobody
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Re: Glyph loot

Post by nobody »

I had another thought about this, but it needs more work. I was thinking what if the glyph learning loot items were one-time-use not because of magical maguffin nature, but because they are an inherently temporary/consumable thing? So I asked myself, "What are things that are regularly getting used up?"
  • Food
  • Drink
  • Cooking supplies (spices and stuff, as opposed to more permanent cookware)
  • Toilet paper (I know it's not in game, but seriously disposable sanitary products are such a glory of modern living compared to some eras of the past)
  • Printer ink
  • Candles (not me personally, but plenty of people)
  • Cleaning supplies
  • Personal care supplies (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.)
So... it's not a super helpful list, I would love for more people to contribute (either modern things or their COGG equivalents). The most inspiring things for me are the ink, candles/incense, and drinks. I'd hesitate to drink a random vial I found in a lockbox, but if it had enough markings on it to do research at the library and identify it before drinking it, that would feel very scholarly... and maybe also still foolhardy. I don't know how to resolve the issue of the ink being permanent on a page, so maybe it isn't consumable enough, or maybe it's anomalum ink that fades away after being studied. I don't know how any of these things would necessarily impart knowledge of a new glyph by using it up aside from handwaving and saying 'It's maaaaagic!' but if anomalum soap would teach me more glyph usage, I am here for it.
Ephemeralis
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Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:29 am

Re: Glyph loot

Post by Ephemeralis »

Some variant of a 'minor' distyr glyph that is pre-impregnated with the occult power to use it could be interesting. Would allow you to potentially light flammable objects to have fire with the colour of your aura in them, or to give objects their own specific distyr-illuminating outline.

That could be a good way of explaining why they're cooped up in lockboxes AND consumable, too. Valuable products from experienced arcanists who have figured out niche techniques of embedding glyphs with the energy they need to function innately instead of demanding something from their users.
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