Our good lad Warmage, despite his mother's sternness, still has SOME measure of being a partyboy and glutton to him, even if it is nothing compared to what goes on in the Prince's royal court nowadays; the lad's learned not to let the Indulgence get the better'a him.



On this, a moment to explain the Indulgence properly as a phenomena: It's the Princedom's name for the manafat phenomenon, the creeping saturation of mana that makes a wolf a Worb, having started with the young Prince. It typically starts in one wolf building up an excess of ambient mana, usually radiated from any other Worbs around them; the mana being energy seeking a vacuum, but especially a vacuum within a living being, floods in, and is stored as energy would be on any body, as fat. A puffy, mallowy fat, hence the more inflated build, but nonetheless. The buildup is relatively gradual, a wolf can have a week of steadily bloating out before it becomes permanent; at a certain size, past a certain amount, however, it triggers a reaction, reaches a criticality point, where the mana within becomes essentially self-sustaining, defying sense.

At this point, the Indulgence is permanent, marked by a belly sigil burning itself in on the subject's abdomen; also often serving as the main conduit by which the new Worb will channel any magic they attempt to cast, if they do. At this point, depending on activity and magic use, the Worb themself may still slim down back to normal, but will *inevitably* swell back up, a font within them permanently opened. Indeed, one could easily compare it to a permaberry condition if that helps, just with raw magic. As well, the slow radiating aura of more magic if they let it build up and fully saturate them; Worbs do not pop (or it is intensely rare), but they do have a max cap, and excess slowly radiates off as an invisible field to fill their surroundings, and of course, others, continuing the cycle.

Some Worbs can likewise try to overfill, indeed, growing to truly immense sizes, but with that much energy within and pressure pushing at their hides, often leads to a state of hysteric, manic delirium, a megalomanic giddy rush that gives even the most debauched average Worb pause. It is a state often only seen in Siege Officers, Worbs swollen to such gargantuan proportions to 'lead' battles as prime artillery pieces, unleashing catastrophic amounts of energy upon the battlefield. A terrifying sight to behold, but at the same time, a very volatile, tenuous position that more needs to be herded and controlled by their attendants, rather than left wholly to their own devices.

It is...ambiguous what sort of effect the Indulgence has upon a Worb's mind, otherwise, even at normal sizes. Some suspect that, due to its draconic origins, it has a corruptive effect, drawing one to become more debauched, selfish, gluttonous and greedy; this may be an attempt to explain the new behavior of the Royal Court and its egregious excesses. Or, alternatively, it could merely be that it is neutral, and the behaviors seen from those so fully filled are simply power corrupting as it will do anyone given a font of power. It could have happened if these jarls were given infinite money just the same, for instance. Again, no one is sure.





And that's our TEDTalk on the Indulgence, thank you and goodnight!

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Art ©  Io Otter