The Essence(s) of Living Magic

04 Nov, 2025

A commonly held canon in the GLOG-osphere¹ is the belief that spells are actually living beings that a prospective Wizard traps in their mind in order to control. To quote the brilliant Skerples: Wizards have mind-guns that shoot spell-ferrets. They train and breed spells.
Recently I had the pleasure of stumbling upon Red Lantern and Whimsical Mountain's Flowers of Antimony/Low Alchemy Glogtober '24 collaboration, which introduces the idea of all living things being made up of 7 fundamental Essences (6 opposed pairs, and one unopposed but taboo) and goes in to detail on using these Essences to create alchemical concoctions. A very inspiring read I would highly recommend familiarising yourself with if you're not already. This, in combination with the common canon above, set my brain gears grinding in to motion.

The Fundamentals

Spells are unknowable, yet measurably living things, and like all living things in the realm are formed of the Fundamental Essences: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Perdition, Order, and the taboo Cognition. Each Spell is attuned primarily to one or more of the Essences and this is what grants the Spell it's power and form, and so to cast a Spell a Wizard must feed it the Essence it requires in order to breed and grow.
Not everyone is physically or mentally prepared for containing and utilising Spells or Essence, only those with Wizards Blood flowing through their veins, either by inheritance, pact, or transfusion, can hope to master the arcane arts. When magic first seeps through a body it changes it irrevocably, attuning it to, and granting the use of, a random Essence.
A Pyromancer may only require one Fire Essence be contained to cast a simple Ignite Spell, whilst casting Phoenix might require both a Fire and Air Essence. A Wizard needs not the Essence to be able to learn or memorise a Spell, only to cast it.

Essences are held in the mind, however, like Spells, they do not like to be contained and will carve themselves in to the skull of a Wizard over time, creating what is colloquially known by Treasure Hunters and Tomb Raiders as a Runeskull. These Runeskulls are an incredibly lucrative treasure for Wizard and non-Wizard alike and are often found in grand crypts and temples dedicated to the worship of the Wizard the skull used to belong to.

Gameplay

Characters:

• A character can contain a number of each Essence, up to their level. These are stored in their mind and so take up mental slots if your chosen system uses this.
• When a character first takes a Template that grants an MD (or equivalent), they will be granted 1 Essence from Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Perdition, or Order, decided by a D6. Cognition cannot be naturally gained in this manner.
• When taking an additional Template that grants an MD, a character has an [MD]-in-6 chance of gaining another random Essence from the above list.
• Some Divine beings may grant access to Essences as a Divine Favour, and can just as easily revoke them.
• Certain Treasures or powerful ancient Concoctions may also grant Essences either temporarily or permanently.

Casting:

• Every Spell has an Essence requirement, and cannot be cast by a character who does not have access to the Essence(s) listed. Most spells will have a single Essence, but more unique and powerful spells can have multiple.
• A Wizard does not need to contain the listed Essence(s) to learn or memorise the Spell, only to cast it.
• Cantrips, being minor tricks, do not require any Essence(s).
• Scrolls do not require the user to contain the Essences needed to cast the Spell, and provide +1MD to spell if the user doesn't have any MD themselves.
• Wizards Skin can be extracted from slain magical creatures (and Wizards) and can be used as a single charge of an Essence when casting a spell. Wizards Skin can be gathered as per the Flowers of Antimony Gathering rules, with relevant skills such as butchery, tanning, or hunting providing bonuses.

Gaining Essence The "Easy" Way

Due to the rarity of Essence and the need for Wizards Blood in order to cast Spells, magic is a rare and dangerous form of power, especially for the Wizard involved (see Gaining Essence The "Fun" Way below).

It is said that the former Wizard Kings could bend the very Essences to their will freely, crafting and breeding new Spells on a whim. This knowledge has been lost however and in it's place we have scholars of High Magic. These scholars - a mix of Wizards, Alchemists, learned folk, and heads of temples - have dedicated their life to studying the mysteries of the Fundamental Essences. Through careful study, alchemical alteration, dedication to the divine, and/or rigorous practice one can become attuned to the Essences over time, expanding their ability to command more complex and varied Spells.

Gaining Essence The "Fun" Way

As a Wizard casts and contains Spells the Essence seeps in to their blood, gets caught on their teeth, and dyes the elemental runes in to their skin. These resources can be gathered from a dead Wizard and used for further casting or transfer of Essence, as below:

• Blood: Carefully extracting and then injecting Wizards Blood grants the ability to tap in to and cast magic without outside aid. Gain a Wizard Template befitting the Wizard whose blood you used. Requires 1 weeks worth of recovery for both the donor (if applicable), and 1d6 weeks recovery for the recipient as the body adjusts and reforms.
• Skull: When carefully powdered and consumed a Runeskull grants the consumer the most potent Essence of the Wizard who supplied the skull, permanently. If the consumer is not blessed with Wizards Blood then this is a lethal act as their body is not prepared to handle Essence, resulting in the following:
  • Earth: Leafy branches burst violently from each orifice, flesh and bone turn to thick roots that arc towards the earth as the skin turns to bark. Within the resulting Runetree the heart still beats slowly, pumping blood turned to sap.
    Consuming the sap of a Runetree causes the tree to decay rapidly but grants both an Earth Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
  • Water: At first tears fall down ones face, followed by the eyes themselves. From the outside inwards the skin and flesh and bone turn to Runewine, a pearlesant ooze that never stays still and produces an ominous, yet pleasant, hum.
    Drinking the Runewine grants both a Water Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
  • Air: In a striking display of viscera the body violently explodes outwards in to a perfect sphere of flesh and bone, casting anything in the vicinity aside. For a few seconds it hangs in stasis before collapsing back in on itself, shrinking rapidly in to an impossibly small point, until all that is left is a pinhead sized orb of purest black. This Runevoid can be held and feels on the skin like a miniature tornado.
    If consumed the Runevoid grants both an Air Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
  • Fire: At first smoke fills the lungs and cavities as bone turns to a white hot metal, burning away the flesh attached. From the inside out the flesh is cooked, charred, and eroded as the now molten bones slowly seep and melt, leaving behind a small mass of brilliantly bright iridescent metal known as Runeore.
    Shaving the Runeore down and consuming grants both a Fire Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
  • Perdition: The stench of rot fills the room as flesh melts from rapidly decaying bone. Organs spill their contents as they turn to dust, and from within the heart a stone as black as midnight; a Runegem.
    Breaking down and consuming a Runegem grants both a Perdition Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
  • Order: A gentle hum fills the silence, followed by the distinctive sound of bones shattering as the flesh around them turns to red marble. The skin is sundered and flakes away, leaving behind a statue where once was a man. A single eye turns to fragile glass of pure white, a Runestone.
    Carefully extracting the Runestone without shattering it and placing it in ones mouth will cause it to melt away, releasing a sweet liquid core that when consumed grants both an Order Essence, and a Cognition Essence.
• Brain: Consuming the brain of a Wizard allows one to subsume the very knowledge within, granting a random spell that the Wizard knew. Be aware, that just because one knows the rites and rituals to cast a spell, this does not mean they automatically have access to the Essence to do so. Wizard Brains are shaped and reshaped by the spells entrapped within, transforming them in to ideal thought prisons. Some great ideas and examples of this phenomena can be found at this post by Words for Yellow.
• Skin: A Wizards Skin contains traces of the essences of the spells they cast, the same is true of many magical creatures. Carefully extracting the skin allows the new owner to use this as a source of the most potent Essence of the Wizard or creature it came from, allowing for spells to be cast even by those who do not have Wizards Blood running through them. When the skin is used in this way it turns to a fine powder as the last of the Essence burns up.
• Teeth:² As a Wizard speaks the language of Essence their teeth catch some of this magic and over time become saturated with it. Grinding down a set of Wizards Teeth produces an iridescent silver dust which grants +1 temporary MD. If a temporary MD isn't returned after casting then it is gone for good.

Of course, performing any of the above on a living person is seen as a crime higher than any other, both in the laws of Man and eyes of the Divine. Be prepared for extreme consequences should you choose this path.

Why use this?

One of the GLOGs greatest strengths, in my opinion, lies in its super flexible spell casting system. Using tags like [Dice] and [Sum] to create scalable yet level-less spells with an inherent risk factor is a masterclass in design, however it does feel somewhat limiting - in a sort of ironic way considering the freedom it offers - that any two Wizards of equal MD can only cast spells of equal power. One of the things I love to reward my players with are opportunities to learn, or even create, unique and powerful spells. In a Vancian system this is easily balanced by requiring a higher spell slot, or more expensive or rare reagents to cast, however there is no such way of balancing in a GLOG friendly manner³.

The idea of Essences acts as both a gate for more unique powerful spells, a hook for treasure and adventure, and a diegetic advancement system for magic users. On top of this it makes each Wizards spell list feel more tailored to the story and progression of the character.

It also adds the potential for a darker world-building edge to the story; if Wizards can get more powerful just by consuming their kin, what's stopping them from doing so right now? How far are your players willing to go in the pursuit of absolute power?

#GLOG #GLOGhack #OSR