Talisman

A talisman is an occult object, typically small and portable, created to produce some magical effect. Talismans are generally less durable or may only be used fewer times than a magical amulet, although this is not a hard definition. Legally, some jurisdictions may require talismans and amulets to be distinguished in advertising. Many talismans are designed to allow users with no magical experience to use them, such as for common household tasks.

Talisman creation

There are various ways to create a talisman. The Serszec System is commonly used to create talismans because of its low cost, versatility, and which creates designs that can be drawn or printed.

Serszec System

The Serszec System was developed in 1650 by scholars at the University of Serszec, and originally used mana gall inks on paper made from the bark of magical trees. It was originally devised to create simple talismans and prototype amulets, but later improvements suitable for complex talismans and other, more permanent magical constructs. Modern formulations of mana-based ink allow for limited capabilities even on mundane paper, although best results come from high-quality magical paper. The University of Serszec publishes guidelines for the Serszec System once every decade, most recently in 2061, which contains improvements to the Serszec System and recommended standards for scientific control conditions.

The Serszec System revolves around glyphs, arranged patterns of mana ink that perform some function. Primitives are the most basic type of glyph, which by itself performs very little. A translation primitive, for example, moves an object by some amount. By combining primitives, a glyph that performs more complex tasks can be made, called a complex. Complexes can contain any glyph, even other complexes. This has the advantage of abstraction: it is not necessary to fully understand a complex’s design to be able to use it in another complex, as long as you know what the first complex is used for.

The Serszec System does not provide a specific way for complexes to pass information between each other, and historically talismans crudely manipulated its own construction as a way to “store” information. Talismans were also used with mechanical devices, such as an abacus, which was capable of storing information. Reading and storing information was quite complicated and expensive until the electronic computer. In modern times, a microchip is capable of reading the state of a glyph, storing information, and passing information to another glyph by altering its state. The field of study associated with this magical-digital interaction is called datamancy.