“Remember Class … the NOSE always KNOWS.”
I went only minimally into the School of Smell in the WW post for 1-14-26. Today I’ll go into further detail.
The School of Smell is considered one of the minor schools, along with Taste and Touch. This isn’t to say the sense is valued less, only that Sight and Hearing are more popular with students, being easier and more instinctive to learn. Human beings, after all, rely on their sense of sight the most, followed by hearing. Other species, such as canines, rely mostly on smell to tell them about the world; a human being “seeing with their nose” as dogs do is already starting on an uphill path.
Of course, non-mages may take these courses as well. Often it’s part of their vocational path. A student who achieves the rank of Nasalist (first-year certification) is sure to find employment in any number of fields: perfumist, soapmaker, incense maker, herbalist, florist, vintner. Sometimes professionals already in these fields go for certification to bring their business to another level, or send an apprentice there for schooling. It’s also not unheard of for dilletantes or nobles to take these classes to impress their friends. If a student is ambitious enough, they may go for the Master Nasalist, which involves one-on-one training with the school’s finest teachers.
It’s also common for cooks and chefs to become Nasalists, since smell is such an important tool used in the preparation of food.
Another class of individuals who become Nasalists are those who work and live in the wilderness, where a keen sense of scent means one’s very survival — rangers, hunters, survivalists, scouts. It’s also not unknown for healers to become Nasalists, to use scent as a detection tool for illness.
Because humans don’t rely on their sense of smell as they do sight and hearing, these classes are comparatively more difficult. Much of the learning has to do with recognizing and analyzing odors down to the slightest differences between them. Students are expected to build up a memorized “scent library” of thousands of different smells. They also learn to track odors by analyzing air currents and other environmental factors. If this isn’t hard enough, they must also learn how to compose and preserve odors. (If you’ve ever seen the movie Perfume starring Ben Whishaw, you will have some idea of how difficult this is to do and how powerful those preserved odors can be.) The purpose of all this is to develop a keen sense of smell.
Students also learn the anatomy of the nose and how it differs between various species.
Instead of a library of books the School of Smell has a library of odors, where millions of vials containing magically preserved smells are kept. The building has several levels as well as a basement workshop. Regular trips out into the city prepare students in detecting smells in actual life.
After successfully gaining Nasalist status — and it’s difficult, one-third of the students fail — a would-be Aromamancer may advance to learning actual Smell magic. This consists of:
- Enhancing / changing one’s own sense of smell
- Enhancing / changing other beings’ sense of smell
- Creating olfactory illusions
- Manipulating existing odors and endowing them with magical qualities
- Using smells as spell components for other sorts of magic (this is where the Preserve Smell class comes in handy)
- Creating magic items utilizing the sense of smell, especially scents, creams, and ungeants. (A mage can make a good living from pheromone-laced perfume alone)
- Magic involving noses and other scenting organs. Can be deadly considering Aromamancers can create allergens that can debilitate or even kill those affected.
Like the other Five Senses schools, the course runs one year for Nasalist level, two years for Aromamancers. It is very intensive and students won’t have the time to do anything else while studying. The course must be taken for the whole year and classes can’t be skipped.
The crest for this school is a swirling cloud.
