The Six Disciplines: Combustion
In a previous post, Greg wrote about how we moved away from Earth-Wind-Fire-Water, and ended up with the six disciplines of alchemy we currently have. Drawing on our internal wiki about Nomali, its inhabitants, and the world surrounding it, we'll be posting six blogs to give a little more information on the six disciplines.
At the time of our game, Combustion is a fairly new discipline, enjoying just about 20 years of expanding use. The Abradacci twins, Delia and Dalmazzio, founded their eponymous guild a couple years after their discovery of phlogiston, a substance which [barely] stores incredible amounts of energy. While the other five guilds are already deeply ensconced in city politics, with roots and ties to various rich families, the Abradacci guild has thrived nonetheless, with the city's free market quickly giving rise to a number of new sharp-minded combustion moguls.
Prior to the Dalmazzios' establishing of Combustion as a separate discipline, some metallurgists had done significant work with combustion, as it can be of use in working with metals to super-heat or liquefy them. The Dalmazzios were among them-- they were prodigy Ogmite journeymen themselves in their teen years. But the work of most Ogmites was rather scientific and serious. The Dalmazzios founded a guild as brash and exciting as they themselves. The guild of course attracted out-and-out pyromaniacs, as well as people who appreciated explosions, fires, reckless experimentation, quick innovation, and modern industry. Fun-lovers and thrill-seekers, found ample reward in joining the prodigious twins in the exploration of a rapidly-evolving discipline.
Combusters tend to be energetic, bold, full of themselves, passionate, willing to make some mistakes. Most are rather young, and they come from all ethnic and class segments of Nomali society. Their dress tends to be extravagant, but often singed. Most avoid flowing robes which present an extra risk, though some display their confidence in exactly that way. More than any other discipline, Combusters are willing to burn through their own resources quickly in the pursuit of their ambitions. By the time of our game, Combusters and their industry have already proliferated to the point where you can find large workshops with dozens working on light rail transport, gas-lighting, cauldron-heating, or long-range explosives; and you can find small workshops where two combusters work together on a single crucible design.
The favored servants of Combusters are Salamanders, Devils, Contraptions, Elementals, and Sparks. In the case of all but Contraptions, the Combuster accepts that their servants may be more erratic than disciplined.