Common Place Magic, and Everyday Alchemy in High Fantasy Games

In some game settings magic is a truly rare thing. Sometimes it’s because it takes a lifetime of mastery, or it is particularly resource-intensive, and thus it is only something that can be called on by the elite of a society. Other times magic is unpredictable, making it unreliable at best and outright dangerous at worst. And in some systems magic is tainted, its powers a gateway for dread powers and forces that should not be named.

All power comes at a price, after all.

However, in high magic games, magic is everywhere. Whether it’s in the inborn abilities of particular species of creatures, the commonality of spellcasting classes, or just in how readily-available items like healing potions, magic wands, alchemical charms and unguents, etc., are. And while there are always GMs who want to dismiss that commonality, you really do get a lot more creativity out of embracing the sheer ridiculousness that can come with magic being something most people have at least heard of, even if they don’t use it on a daily basis themselves.

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How Does This Change and Shape Your Setting?

Consider, for just a moment, the availability of alchemy in a high-fantasy setting.

Now we’re not just talking alchemist PCs; we’re talking anyone with a formula book who can make a particular recipe to create a usable item with extraordinary properties. If you're in a high fantasy game, alchemist is likely a necessary profession in your setting; it might even have its own guild, like the Ingeneurs in my splat book Silkgift: City of Sails (available for PFClassic and DND 5E). Not only that, but since every fantasy RPG has ships sailing and merchant caravans traveling, these items could easily find their way into people’s lives and homes the world over. And the easier something is to make in a particular region, the more commonly available it's likely to be.

Got a new shipment of them just today.

But take a moment to ask yourself what alchemists, or just those who raise and care for magical beasts, could make out of the astonishing materials in your average high fantasy setting, or accomplish with the help of these unique creatures. Just off the top of my head you might find:

- A poultice made with troll’s blood, though it stings like mad, can help quickly stop bleeding, minimizing scarring, and leading to rapid recovery from even wounds. Something that was once dismissed as a swamp remedy that’s now standard practice.

- Cockatrice venom, when applied to darts, can allow for safe capture of dangerous animals and people alike. A common trick used by bounty hunters, city watch, and game wardens alike.

- Cinder lizards are practically immune to the effects of fire and smoke, making them ideal beasts of burden for assisting in large-scale foundries and forges, or for riding across deserts.

From creating new forms of smokeless lamp oil using slow-burning drake bile, to inventing a hard-drying masonry with the addition of unique components into the mixture, to coming up with an explosive mixture of powdered dragon horn and rendered animal fat used for blasting tunnels through mountains, there are hundreds of little ways people’s lives might be changed just with a little applied cleverness. Even the regular presence of healing potions and their equivalent could drastically alter how long people live, and what’s considered a death sentence in the setting.

Not only that, but the entire culture of an area might shift because of the possibilities of a single invention, or the application of particular creatures. Dwarves are always associated with mining, for example, but why not orcs, as they’re strong, tough, and can see in the dark as well as any dwarf? Or tieflings, for that matter? Even if these are just small, regional changes or local shifts in the ways we think of certain species, consider how it might change the setting in big ways and small alike.

And Then There’s Magic

Magic is, in many ways, the icing on the cake. Because in a high magic setting it’s going to be pretty commonly available. There are colleges that train new magic users every year, spellcasters are often found in specialist positions in armies or in mercenary companies, and there are usually entire guilds dedicated to the preservation and teaching of the magical arts.

And this is when things can get a little on the bonkers side.

Now, on the big end you could have places like Moüd, City of Bones (available in Pathfinder Classic or DND 5E), where the city is run by a guild of necromancers, and it is kept intact by a workforce made up of the risen dead. They clean the streets, keep the highways from being covered in sand, repair buildings, tend the orchards, and hundreds of other tasks that would be extremely demanding from a workforce that had to eat, drink, breathe, and rest in the middle of the desert. You might have a natural city where the trees have come together to form shelters, watched over and tended by a cult of druids whose animal companions and spells allow them to do seemingly impossible tasks. There might even be cities tended to by bound djinn, devils, or worse, using their powers on behalf of conjurers to create miracles for the people who live there.

Just sign on the dotted line, here. And here.

But let’s wind that back a touch.

Because even if magic is taught on a fairly wide scale across a setting, not all who study it will excel. Some may reach a certain point and simply no longer be able to proceed. Others may only learn a few minor spells, and be unable to master more than that… but even minor magics, spread wide, can change the face of a setting.

As an example, take prestidigitation. Put into a wand, it could be a method of cleaning one’s home, doing laundry, or tidying up a kitchen that can be done with a flick of the wrist. Whether used on clients’ clothes, or the streets of a city, this one cantrip if known by enough people, could alter communal cleanliness. Everburning torches, which are made with a simple spell, can light homes, streets, vehicles, and more, which is something those of us in the modern-day often forget was a colossal leap forward. Even a simple spell like mount would allow someone to get onto a ghostly horse that needs no food, leaves no waste, doesn’t have to be stabled, and which vanishes once the rider reaches their destination. The ability to cast create water to make clean, drinkable water anywhere could allow farms to avoid drought, would ensure city cisterns are filled, and so on, and so forth, eliminating a massive problem that could befall any nation.

Though it’s true that big, impressive spells could drastically alter the lives and expectations of those in a fantasy setting (teleporting goods and people across continents, shaping raw stone into huge buildings in a matter of hours instead of years, enchanting golems or elementals to act as the brute muscle in any kind of industry, etc.), even little things if commonly available can alter the world in big ways. So even if the magic available is just the ability to preserve meat on long journeys with something like gentle repose, take a moment and ask yourself who is going to use that magic, and what they might use it for.

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Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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Villains of Sundara? What Makes Archbliss Such an Important Installment

For folks who are just now tuning in, I've been hard at work on my own fantasy RPG setting since the end of 2020. Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is written for both Pathfinder Classic and DND 5th Edition, and the goal with this setting it is to leave behind many of the associated tropes and artifacts that have clung to previous games, and that players have often complained takes them out of the experience. So there's no alignment, there's no monocultures, and large portions of the setting are focused on harnessing the natural resources that exist in order to progress and move forward.

In a game that's about forward-thinking, about progress, and about solving problems rather than cut-and-dried, black-and-white, good-and-evil, a lot of players kept asking me who the "bad guys" are? After all, if you're not fighting goblins because goblins aren't inherently evil, and you're not tripping over slavers and devil worshipers in every other town, then what is a heavily-armed group of morally-flexible protagonists supposed to do with themselves? Sure, there are disasters that need to be averted, mindless undead that need to be dealt with, or dangerous animals that need to be corralled, but what about those villains adventurers oppose in fantasy games?

Well, I never said there wouldn't be villains... just that they wouldn't be what we're used to.

And that is where these guys come in.

In case you were wondering, the flying city of infinite possibility that hides corruption, selfishness, abuse of power, and a rigid hierarchy where which rung you're on determines how much of a person you are is a breeding ground for the types of attitudes and actions that make you a villain in this setting.

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What is Archbliss?

Archbliss (which is available both in a Pathfinder version and in a DND 5E version if you haven't gotten your copy yet) is one of the great wonders of Sundara. A floating city, Archbliss was created by a massive cooperative effort of disparate sorcerers more than a thousand years ago. Outcast from fear, mistreated by the populace, and finding solace in one another, the sorcerers combined their power to create a place where the impossible could happen. And then when they were threatened by their neighbors, who saw what the sorcerers were capable of and could only imagine being put under their collective boot heels, they raised their city into the sky to escape that kind of judgment and prejudice more completely.

This began the golden age of Archbliss, which is still spoken of in myth. Great sorcerers would descend from the city to save towns and cities from war, plagues, and droughts, only asking to take with them those who displayed a knack for magic. Those who were not born in the heights, and who had no sorcerous powers, were rarely allowed into Archbliss. And so it remained a legend, able to be seen from below, but far beyond the knowledge of most people.

Every myth hides a truth.

Though Archbliss ceased wandering to float above a plateau centuries ago, and while it is now far more possible for non-sorcerers to enter the city, the city's facade covers much of what it's become. The glimmering spires, the everyday miracles that line its streets, and the mastery of magics that puts so many other places to shame, makes it seem like it's truly part of another world.

But those who rule Archbliss are mortal, and it is their mortal flaws that make many of them villains.

Because there was no, single sorcerer responsible for the creation of the flying city. It took the combined efforts of all of them, from the great to the small, to achieve this impossible feat. The longer they were cut off from the world, however, the more clannish the sorcerers became. In time they formed into Great Houses, and attempted to keep their ranks pure. While there was new blood trickling into the city with fresh sorcerers seeking teachers, they found the hierarchy was already in place. So rather than attempting to dismantle it, they simply started climbing over one another as fast as they could.

Over centuries this led to the flaws that are rotting Archbliss from within. Many of the sorcerers are entitled, assuming their comforts are conjured from the ether with no cost. Others are selfish, refusing to expend any of their own efforts to help others, even if it would take nothing more than a small spell to set someone or something to rights. Those in power hoard their resources as surely as their position, using it to exert force over those beneath them. And while there are those who might be able to challenge the arcane might of the sorcerers who lead the city, the agents of the Black Tower ensure they disappear before they could ever raise a rallying cry against those who have an iron grip on the reins of power... even if that grip is going to cause Archbliss to tumble from the clouds rather than remain a proud beacon of what cooperative efforts can achieve.

This is Why There Aren't Other Aristocracies (So Far, At Least)

One of the common threads running through the other installments of my Cities of Sundara series is that they're generally organized around commerce, the common good, invention, or a confederacy of allied interests. Ironfire, for example, is a city that's driven by industry, but it also knows that in order to achieve long-term prosperity it has to train the next generation, provide room for experimentation, and make sure there's security for its citizens. Moüd is a desert-bound metropolis whose existence is only made possible by the copious use of the undead, and it is ruled over by a guild that manages the city with the same goals and ideals it manages its other affairs. Silkgift is a city with a robust safety net for all its citizens, and whose main industry is ideas, creativity, and invention. Even Hoardreach is predicated on mutual aid and shared territory, with the central pillar of its governance being the stewardship of the five dragons that founded the city in the first place.

Archbliss is a magistocracy that, over time, has twisted itself to put the wants of those at the top of the hierarchy over the needs not just of those at the bottom, but of those anywhere in the world.

It's all crumbling down... bit by bit.

The issue is not, strictly speaking, that those with magic run the city. It's that the ideals that founded the city have been lost, and the Great Houses now play games of appearances and influence rather than fixing problems. Those in charge are more concerned with how much of the city's power grid can be used to maintain their own comfort, how much influence their words have, and how important they appear to others in the city. Worse, when they do attempt to solve issues (such as the shrinking amount of power in the veins of sorcerer's quartz that keeps the city afloat) it's usually through the most inhumane solutions that will preserve their own power and position (such as imprisoning sorcerers, wizards, and witches in cells that will drain them of their powers, instead of actually rationing energy or giving up any of their own power to contribute to the good of the whole).

Archbliss is not some universally evil place, like we see in a lot of fantasy settings. It is a place that has good people in it, and a place that is full of genuinely amazing things. But it's also a place where the established power structure is slowly choking it to death, and those around it have been socialized to see it as normal. Conditioned to believe that change cannot be made through tearing down the old order (something that is very possible given how many sorcerers there are in the city), but only by submitting to the process and trying to climb the ladder themselves. A ladder that those in the power structure have control of, allowing them to stymie any change that they deem unwanted, or a threat to them. Even if refusing to change means they may be dooming themselves and those around them to a dire fate when the city eventually starts to lean, to list, and then to fall.

Despite the potential of Archbliss, and how steeped in sorcery it is, it represents a very real, very familiar, and very banal evil (with a lowercase "e"). And it's why even as places across Sundara are rising in power through cooperative efforts, sharing resources, and helping one another that Archbliss is fading as the few powerful individuals at the top refuse to do anything that inconveniences them and their position even for a moment.

There are no devils in Sundara. No monstrous species you can just slay without worry or thought. But there are still villains that must be opposed, and systems that need to be dismantled. Archbliss is one of the clearest representations of those I've provided in the setting thus far.

Sundara So Far

Speaking of my setting, the first 5 of the Cities of Sundara series have dropped. I'm switching gears after this to Gods of Sundara next month, and then after that delving into the species of the world and what makes them unusual and unique. If you're looking for a setting that's about progress, fresh solutions, and where the old conceits of alignment are thrown right out the window, then Sundara might be for you.

Also, you can slot these locations into existing settings to use on their own, if you're just looking for something to plug into an empty spot on your campaign map! So in addition to Archbliss, consider grabbing the following:

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!