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Setting Elaboration
The second district is Shred. It too has four categories of magic: Gourmet, Hedge, Dance, and Toon.

Mages: Executing Magic by School (Part 2: Shred)
Gourmet
Primary Energy Source: Void
Elemental Affinity: Incendiary
School District: Shred (+Hedge, +Dance, +Toon)
Practitioners: Gourmands
Gourmet Magic works off the assumption that the stomach is the ‘sea of chi’, through which all power is absorbed into the body. Gourmet Magicians infuse edibles with energy, which imbue living beings with their magical benefit when ingested. While any consumable is a viable host for this magic, alcohol and other beverages are a favorite for practiced magicians in this school.
Favored offensive spellcasting within the Gourmet school involve potions of elemental breath. Fire is particularly potent; it can be augmented by casting on spicy food and utilizing the resulting discomfort. Gourmet Magic’s greatest strength, though, is its ability to enhance the natural abilities of the consuming subject. It is also very portable; a Gourmet magician can make a potion which will hold its potency for years and can be sold, traded, and transported. Even a complete stranger can benefit from the magic within the concoction.
The vampire Carmilla (Red) was a Gourmand and her vampirism was a direct result of using the discipline in excess. The dark energies comprising the magic eventually corrupted her body, turning her into a creature of the night. Similarly, other vampires either inflicted their undead state with Gourmet magic or had it inflicted by someone already exposed to the darkness.
Of note, though, is that D’Arsonius is NOT a Gourmand. The source of his vampirism and the implications of its variation are mysteries which will be revealed later.

Hedge
Primary Energy Source: Wood
Elemental Affinity: Electric
School District: Shred (+Gourmet, +Dance, +Toon)
Practitioners: Topiarists
Hedge Magic pours energy into the ground to shape and manipulate plants in interesting ways. A topiarist grows plants which reach maturity in record time, perform bizarre and even nonsensical functions, and even move at their whim. Telivar has demonstrated several of these practices, such as growing victory topiary, revitalizing a forest, and even cultivating pumpkin patch clones of himself.
When used for offense, Hedge magic traditionally involves the growth of fruit ‘grenades’ which erupt in elemental bursts after being thrown.
Hedge magic was the first school of magic to be devised when I was constructing the world. Its function and its primary practitioner Telivar are based on a character from an Xbox 360 indie game Hedge Wizard by Zombie Bonsai. Here’s a quote from the game:
“It is a love greater than any other in the world… the love of a wizard for his gold. Cities across the world suffer from fires, floods, hordes of zombies, and poor civic planning. You can help them, and in exchange they will give you gold. Gold you could never get yourself. Gold that is more than an arm’s reach… from your recliner.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJpyT6uLxOM
I happened upon this game years ago and found it absolutely hilarious. I felt I needed to honor it somehow, and I have done so in the creation of the key topiarist Telivar.
The dragon Bankraz was also a practitioner of hedge magic, which is one of the reasons why he attacked Telivar in the first place. He did not, however, utilize hedge magic at all during his brief appearance in the plot. If he returns later in the game, he will likely demonstrate his power in this capacity.

Dance
Primary Energy Source: Stone
Elemental Affinity: Electric
School District: Shred (+Gourmet, +Hedge, +Toon)
Practitioners: Astaires
Dance Magic converts kinetic energy into magical energy to achieve various forms of reality manipulation. The most common form of Dance magic controls weather, though it can be utilized for many other applications including the raising of undead minions.
Combat with Dance magic involves the Astaire using bizarre body movements to confuse the opponent while calling down storms, chills, or spirals of fire from the feet.
There have been no examples of Dance magic thus far.

Toon
Primary Energy Source: Metal
Elemental Affinity: Electric
School District: Shred (+Gourmet, +Hedge, +Dance)
Practitioners: Cartoonists
Toon Magic, like its name implies, is a cartoony expression of power. It functions on a refusal to accept the established laws of reality. Gravity? Who ever heard of gravity?! As long as you don’t look down, you won’t fall.
Toon magic is immensely powerful but depends on a firm disbelief in how the world works. When challenged with actual facts, a Cartoonist who cannot refute them will watch their magic crash back into the boring harshness of reality. As such, it is often combined with other forms of magic to create distance between the Cartoonist and their work, thereby ensuring the durability of the spells.
Telivar used Toon magic to enchant his sea of gold, making it like water (when clearly gold is solid and can’t be swam in as one would a lake, let alone drown in).

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