#ty for your help bas i am soo happy w what we came up with 😊

[beneathsilverstars]

chatted with @horatiocomehome about how the underpinning logic of crafting might work, particularly in relation to wishcraft and loop's existence! it turned into a whole metaphor that i'm very happy with. i had a little fun with the prose towards the end so this is um 1.5k long? lmao, enjoy 💖

(major spoilers for all of In Stars And Time)

Each person is their own well of craft power. When you craft, you are creating a path for that water to flow through, like digging channels. Each act of magic, then, has two components: the energy source, and the channel.

We know people are naturally aligned to certain craft types. If the magic of your soul is aligned with scissors, it will flow much more intuitively through scissors-shaped channels. But it's still possible to use a rock shape instead — it just takes more effort and precision to get the results you want.

Across all craft types, of course, there are techniques to learn and skills to practice. You can work on building paths that can hold more power, or direct it more precisely, or filter out certain parts of it, or transfer it more efficiently. And you can build them towards all sorts of different destinations, for different purposes. Some of these skills are more universally applicable, and some are specific to the particular kind of craft you're doing.

Some types of crafting aren't so neatly divided into the three styles — maybe this one is technically under the paper umbrella but is fairly intuitive to scissors types as well; maybe that one can actually be accomplished equally well using any of the three approaches. Some, like bodycraft, are seen as an entirely separate type... but really, none of them are quite as separate as people tend to assume. They're all just different styles of controlling the flow of water.

The techniques for building channels are fairly consistent and scientific. A bit abstract, but they can be taught and even somewhat quantified. However, there's another component at play: the well of the soul. And this varies quite a bit by person.

There's the obvious craft types, of course, but there are also differences in flow strength and consistency, the amount of power the well holds and the rate at which it replenishes itself, and subtler quirks and inclinations. Even when you know the technical methods of a craft, it can take some fine-tuning to get it to work for you. Often this means customizing the technique, but it can also include altering the source.

Because, people change, from day to day and even minute to minute! Strong emotions can change the flow and flavor of the water. When you've got a favorite skill that you know inside and out, you can expect consistent results, perhaps even automatically adjusting the channel as needed to take advantage of variations in the source. But when a skill is new or already a bit of a poor match for you, you may need to put some real effort into centering yourself, or thinking papery thoughts, or hoping really hard that it will work.

Hoping really hard, because all craft is about willpower. You want to change something, and you change it, channeling your energy and emotion through specific techniques — or just pouring it out with minimal guidance, and whatever happens happens.

Which brings us to wishcraft.

A wish is just the energy, without any channel. You deliberately hold your wish in your heart and let it flavor your magic, then externalize it and let that magic flow where it may. This means it's much more flexible than rock-paper-scissors crafts, because you don't need to know the best path down the hill for the water to be able to find it! This also means it's much less predictable, because you can't know what will be the best path down the hill until the water finds it.

Since the magic has no guide other than your emotions, the effect of those emotions is much more obvious when performing this type of craft. Instead of just nudging the results, they define the results; your wish tells the water which way is down. The stronger the wish, the stronger the pull!

(In actuality, the pull is there during all types of crafting. But if you're building pipes that are pointed straight "down" anyway, you don't tend to notice gravity's exact direction and strength unless it's the wrong direction. You see "this isn't working well, I need to focus up" or "this worked just fine, and at the very end here you can see my own personal splash pattern", without much nuance between.)

When performing wishcraft, sometimes the destination is close enough that the pull of the wish is all you need. Sharpening a knife is well within the reach of deliberately channeled craft, so it's easy enough for Siffrin to whisper, "please be sharp," and let a trickle of their magic find the easiest path to sharpness.

If the destination is too far for your own magic to reach, though, there are other sources of power. There are puddles and storms and ice-melt waterfalls, the vast network of magical energy that keeps the universe running. Wishcraft lets you tap into these sources; performing a ritual signals your need to the universe in its own language, attempting to open up a connection through which power can flow. If rock-paper-scissors craft is creating a series of gutters and pipes and wheels to guide your wellwater, wishcraft is building a rain cistern or trying to dig deep enough to hit a natural aquifer.

The more complex and precisely-executed the ritual, the better the connection to the universal source. Once that connection has been made, the energy of the universe flows into your own, taking on the flavor and gravity of your wish. Now mixed, all of the water spills downwards, taking whatever path is necessary to reach the bottom.

Sometimes it doesn't make it. Sometimes the pull is not strong enough to pass the obstacles; sometimes there is not enough water, and it evaporates along the way. More of one can make up for a lack of the other, but only to a certain extent. But sometimes, it is enough, and the energy reaches its goal and pools. Once your wish has been fulfilled, you no longer have cause to wish it, and your connection to the universe's energy closes, and the stream dries up, and the water at the bottom stills. Eventually, it will evaporate into the air and sink back into the ground, returning to the sources from whence it came.

The King had a strong wish. He poured out his entire being, and that energy sang with longing. He is just one person, but he completed every ritual he could, tapping into every possible source. It all built up until finally, a terrible rain fell over Vaugarde, and each small drop fell towards perfect stillness.

Vaugarde had a very strong wish. So many people aimlessly poured out their energy towards "please free the country" and "please defeat the King", and these wishes merged into a confluence of craft with a powerful gravity — but since they weren't tapped into a greater source, there simply was not enough water to smash through the obstacles.

Until Siffrin made a wish that pulled in a similar direction. And Siffrin's wish had a tidy ritual behind it, a strike through rock to reach the spring water behind. A trickle of power from the universe mixed with Siffrin's wish, then joined with the people of Vaugarde's and suddenly that great gravity had a source to pull from. Power erupted from the spring of the universe, a river rushing towards "save the country" and "stay with my friends."

Eventually, eventually, the water nearly reached the bottom — finally, Siffrin beat the king — but from there, the gravities diverged. The water, having reached one goal, crashed back towards the other. Siffrin looped again, and... gave up.

A trickle with nowhere to go may slow and stop. A stream that is pulled nowhere may simply pool where it is. A rushing river, however, does not still so easily, caught between momentum ahead and vacuum behind.

In the awful torrent, Siffrin made a new wish, which pulled in a similar-but-different direction. A new source, a new goal. First a sharp drop sideways — cutting off from the initial sources — and then a deep pool, from which a stream of "I wish it could be over" and "I wish I could get out of here" and "I wish for someone to help me" continued to pour.

(A pool is not... the same thing as a well. But then, is not all water the same? A well, an aquifer, a spring, a river, a waterfall, a lake, an ocean, a storm. It's all water. And some parts of the universe are called people, and this part called themself Loop.)

Now sequestered, Loop's abandonment of their initial wish no longer tainted that wish's water. The well of Siffrin remained intact upstream, and poured out the same initial wish, with the same ritual connecting it to the same spring of the Universe. And the river continued to flow towards salvation and companionship, and its inevitable rocking between the two. (And the stream ran parallel, seeking freedom and help.)

Trapped between its goals, the water raged, great terrible waves one direction and then the other. The new Siffrin's wish soured, and the gravity of it distorted, until he gave it up. And oh, how the water crashed! How the valley flooded in terrible waves, how the world cracked!

Then

Settled

As Siffrin found their wish again

For this time salvation did not mean the end of companionship

So the wish, fulfilled, could let go of its source

And the calm water could gently flow back into the ocean

Until the last of the river ran dry.

(Though, there was still the cut-off pool. Loop's crashing hell of endless rush and wave was over, and finally they were out, all the way out. Maybe they got all the help they needed, too, and their wish quietly relinquished its star-source. Without a source, the pool would eventually dry up, but who could guess how long that would take?

Or maybe their wish continued to pull, pleading, "help me, someone, anyone." With the ritual connection still open, the pool would continue to replenish itself, each drop saturated with the flavor of their wish. And who could guess what ripples that would cause, the next time they tried to craft?)