Intro

The magick in Dangerous Journeys is presumed to use an energy known as Heka. In the original Mythus Gygax said that Heka was equivalent to out Electromagnetism. But then he also include electrical as a type of damage in combat. Now given that electricity is a manifestation of Electromagneticism, why not let Heka be a manifestation of Heka as a force?

Heka

In the worlds of Dangerous Journeys—including Mythus—along with the forces that we know—such as the Strong Nuclear—there is a force known as Heka.

In short Heka is the force that allows magick, and in this post we’ll have a look at just how.

Empowering Magick

Now the forces we know are manifestations of how spacetime is shaped. I suspect that this is the result of the interaction of spacetime in a high energy state with spacetime in a low energy state, but that’s just a guess. How spacetime is curved by this interaction depends a great deal on how it can be curved, and that depends on the nature of spacetime.

With Heka I’m letting it be the result of spacetime/spacetime interaction somewhere between the Weak Force and Electromagnetism, with Heka being closer to Electromagnetism. In short, you can think of Heka as being like Electromagnetism only with different properties.

And like Electromagnetism Heka is associated with the particle known as the hekon. The hekon being Heka’s equivalent of Electromagnetism’s atom. In addition there are sub-hekon particles that I need to come up with names for. In a sense hekons and sub-hekon particles form a sort of matter, but instead of being physical matter it can be thought of as a sort of magickal matter.

In addition these hekons are able to join together into structures very much like physical molecules. In effect what you have is a sort of magickal chemistry, though properly speaking it is not a sort of alternate alchemy.

Enter Hekalite

It is at this point that we need to consider the substance called hekalite. Hekalite is made up of hekons, which are joined together into molecules and these then bound together into minerals. Hekalite is a source of Heka as an energy, but it is not the only source.

Heka Sources

You get right down to it, everything is a source of Heka. Atoms are a source of Heka, as are sub-atomic particles. In fact you need to go down in the hierarchy of particles to below super-strings before you get to the level where the space-time/space-time interaction produces the space-time curvature of Heka.

But another thing to remember about Heka is that the Heka particles are all interconnected in ways physical matter is not. In addition, much as we can manipulate that physical matter with which we have a permanent or temporary  contact with, so we can manipulate Heka. Though not everybody, not at all times, and not at more than a short distance.

The reason why is it takes effort. It can wear a person out, and how much Heka one can employ depends on physical, mental, and spiritual ability and what knowledge one has in a skill related to Heka use in some sense.

Break

Which is another signal that I need to pause for awhile in order to compose the next part in this series. This will be on just who can use Heka to shape a desired effect. Next up: Castings.