Mad Wizard

Biodata

Background

Mad Wizards emerged from Legendary Wizards willing to risk everything in trades with Outer Gods. Early successes inspired more wizards to take the path. The later emergence of the Gate of Legends made completed trades safer for them, and the Gate grew stronger alongside the Mad Wizards it protected 166.

Modern Mad Wizards generally make more cautious trades than their predecessors. Isaac Solomon is regarded as an exception: his willingness to seize Outer God power recalls the most reckless wizards of the old era 166 228 301 317.

Abilities & Practices

Outer God Trade Rituals

• A successful trade can yield power, knowledge, or sorcery beyond the wizard’s current stage; failure can cost the wizard everything 4 353.
• Mad Wizards excel at manipulating the concepts and rituals involved in these trades 150 254.
• Repeated trades may develop a distinctive trait useful in rituals and combat. Remy Gerard’s Miracle trait, for example, strengthens his curses and helps him prevail in Outer God trades 266 353.

Gate of Legends

• After a completed trade, the Gate prevents the Outer God from discovering the trading wizard’s identity 166 192.
• As it grew stronger, it also became capable of interfering with trades in Mad Wizards’ favor 166.
• Its protection does not block the power of an Orthodox God 198.

Spirit Summoning

• Mad Wizards adapted this believer’s spell to temporarily disguise a wizard’s identity from a higher being. Isaac uses it to appear to the Lord of Myriad Flesh as one of the god’s cultists 192.
• The disguise helps draw reluctant Outer Gods into rituals: refusing an apparent follower’s lavish offering could undermine that god’s standing with its believers 192.

Risks and Reputation

• Other factions often expel Mad Wizards rather than kill them. Before Sixth Order, the Outer God powers held by a Mad Wizard can break loose on death, corroding the surroundings and exposing the real world’s coordinates to Outer Gods 260.
• A failed trade ritual can also create an opportunity for an Outer God invasion 173.
• Mad Wizards are feared for their unpredictability, but surviving repeated dealings with Outer Gods also earns them a reputation for exceptional talent 148 262.

Known Mad Wizards

• Isaac Solomon — practices the ancient, high-risk form of Mad Wizardry and becomes known as the “Mad Wizard among Mad Wizards” 301 276.
• Philo — identified as a Mad Wizard, though Angel considers Isaac far more extraordinary 166.
• Remy Gerard, the Master of Mischief — a curse specialist whose Mad Wizard trait is Miracle 266.