I’m gonna do something different this week. Religious sects! Christian ones specifically. There are, and were, dozens, and hundreds, of these. A lot of them arose in the early days of the Catholic Church when it was spreading rapidly and there was no central authority to set the dogma in stone. Thus we get Gnosticism, …
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, …
I realized I went all-in on WW 1/14/26 on describing magic centering around the sense of smell, but didn’t give any background information. Today I’m going to rectify that. First I’d like call attention to the marvelous illustration above by Wenjing Yang. It’s typical of the artists’s style, using fresh, garish pastels, futuristic shapes, and …
When I was in high school I got into playing Dungeons and Dragons. This was the very first edition – two or three flimsy books that were stapled together, not bound, which came with a set of dice and some graph paper. I got it at Sears which shows you how long ago that was. …
My favorite magic items of the year 2025 from my X feed. 2025 Magic Items (Best of) Bell of Freedom and Captivity: When struck once, this bell will free prisoners from confinement. Rung twice, it will put them back into whatever confinement they left. Cape of Un-bearable Deflection: Made from the shaggy brown fur …
My favorite magic spells of the year 2025 from my X feed. 2025 Magic Spells (Best of) Anti-exotic Eyes: Changes a human’s eye color from gemlike or unique (purple, emerald, etc.) to an ordinary brown. Drachenrippe: Also known as Dragon Ribs. Makes the recipient’s torso incredibly strong and sturdy with an AC of …
Clement Moore’s version of Santa’s reindeer team was not the only one. Children’s author L. Frank Baum, known for his Oz series, offered a competing version: A team of ten (!) named Flossie and Glossie, Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady. The names used a rhyming, alliterative style …
In my original plans for this post I wanted to generate some names for new members of Santa’s flying reindeer team, but instead I went down a rabbit hole of Christmas canon. For example, much of our (meaning American) ideas about Santa Claus came from poet Clement Moore’s work “A Visit from St. Nicholas” which …
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