Saturday, April 23, 2016

Alchemical Rules in Dyscrasia Fiction

Doctor Grave Flays Ante Lysis

Doctor Grave’s Arcane Axioms (Dyscrasia Fiction)

Literally, dyscrasia means “a bad mixture of liquids.”  Historically, dyscrasia referred to any imbalance of the four medicinal humors professed by the ancient Greeks to sustain life (phlegm, blood, black and yellow bile).  Artisans, anatomists, and chemists of the Renaissance expressed shared interest in the humors; accordingly, the scope of humorism evolved to include aspects of the four alchemical elements (water, air, earth and fire) and psychological temperaments (phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic and choleric).  In short, the humors are mystical media of color, energy, and emotion; Dyscrasia Fiction presents them as spiritual muses for artisans, sources of magical power, and contagions of a deadly disease; the books explore the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies.

Rule  of  Animating the Dead
“Possess the blood of a corpse to regulate its body; control its heart to direct its mind”
Rule of Blood and Ether

“Blood is the medium bridging the physical world with the ethereal, connecting soul to body”
Rule of Matching Hue

“The souls of the healthy living exhibit the same color in the astral realm as their oxygen-enriched blood does in the corporeal realm; mismatched hues indicate departure from homeostasis: illness”
Rule of Muses
“Artists are inspired by the emotive ether, as they craft, they consume that which ignited their creativity”
Rule of Relics
“Souls remain attached to their master’s bones; emotions of artists remain with their art; memories adhere to their place of origin”
Rule of Sight

“Ethereal memories, emotions, and souls remain invisible to those who see the physical world in color; those who can see the colors of ether, see the tangible world in gray”