thaum world

the fictional works of thaum world, as written by J

nutshell

thaum world is a universe ive been writing for a long time. the primary aspects i like to play with are top down world building, fantasy sciences, and philosophy. the biggest difference in thaum world is the addition of the particle, thaum, an electricity that is the inner workings of consiousness and life itself.

galaxies

the great violet spiral

a large galaxy that contains the store of the land of fog and snow

the great violet spiral

thaum

Thaum is a form of matter that flows through all living things.
The flow of thaum “keeps its shape” and can capture or be molded to the form of concepts.

Thaum can be suspended and stored within crystalline structures.
When destabilized, thaum releases energy and conceptual structure back into the environment.

The control of thaum input and output is the basis of what is commonly called magic.

Consciousness is an example of thaum in structured form.
Thaum is what makes things alive and what makes them aware.

Earth contains very little ambient thaum.
There are regions of the universe where thaum is absent, referred to as dead zones.

thaumic concepts

Thaum is not only energy — it also carries structure.

Thaum is capable of binding to :

• Physical forces

  ex : thermal energy, static electricity, sound, light, life, conductivity

• Abstract ideas

  ex : hate, love, sympathy, lies, death,

• Biological patterns

  ex : dna sequences ( how creatures and places are referenced ), dna alternatives

• Stored memory

  ex : a sent message, a situation, an event

• Individual consciousness

  a single highly specific harmonic frequency

these are refered to as “concepts” each thaum particle has a concept. thaum is normally mixed, and concepts are not all the same across stored thaum.

thaum can change concept over time, but slowly. this conceptual change can be sped up at the cost of energy. thaum slowly changes over time out of entropy.

every concept in the universe has a place on the frequency system. some concepts take more energy to reference than others.

conductivity of thaum

Thaum flows more easily through certain materials, environments, and biological systems.

Living beings naturally conduct thaum.

Crystalline structures are especially effective at suspending and storing thaum.

Environments rich in death, decay, or biological matter can become saturated with thaum as energy is recycled through compost, digestion, and decay.

Regions with low thaum conductivity become dead zones, where life and consciousness are difficult or impossible to sustain.

resonance of thaum

Like concepts resonate with like concepts.

Thaum-bound concepts can detect and influence other similar concepts through resonance.

This resonance is similar to tuned bells:

• One resonating system can cause others of similar structure to respond
• Information and structure can transfer between aligned concepts

This allows for:

• Transfer of knowledge between similar conceptual entities
• Detection of similar entities at a distance
• Reinforcement of shared conceptual structures

Resonance is a core mechanism for how thaumic systems communicate and evolve.

glyphs

glyphs represent reference to a concept each glyph has a sound and thaumic frequency that it resonates with the resonation of glyphs molds the concept of thaum. this is magic at it’s core.

each conciousness can be attuned to one glyph at a time, and this can shift over time. this is attunment. see “conciousness and thaum”

a conciousness does not have to be attuned to a glyph to cast it from a spell. see “how someone learns a glyph”

conciousness and thaum

each conciousness can only be attuned to a thaumic frequency at a time

creatures with multiple cooperating consiousnesses can tune each one separatly

each conciousness can be attuned to, and can therefore be represented as a glyph.

a conciousness is not attuned to their own glyph by default, but casters often learn their own glyph first out of proximity.

how someone learns a glyph

to learn a glyph, a consiousness must have the following.

• the understanding of thaumic frequencies well enough to have a natural reference point
• the understanding of a specific glyphs thaumic frequency compared to a natural reference point

that being said, someone doesnt need to know how to spellcast to reference a glyph.

craftsmen who make magic items do this by building thaumic circuits

attunment

an attuned being is one conciousness who has attuned their natural thaumic resonance to a glyph, and therefore a harmonic frequency. a consiesness is normally not attuned to a specific frequency at the start of their life.

This occurs naturally through :

• Long-term focus and exposure on a single refined concept

  ex : in craftsmen who have found themselves to be devoted experts to their field, or mages devoted to mastering a glyph

• Massive natural concentrations of a concept

  ex : mass graves of those who have died in similar ways or with similar emotions, or mages who store massive amounts of thaum attuned soley to a single glyph

• Consumption of large amounts of thaum-bound life energy

  ex : wild animals eating lots of other wild animals in areas of thaumic presense, or those who hunt the attuned to consume their matter

implications of thaum

Thaum explains the existence of:

• Life
• Consciousness
• Magic
• Deities
• Golems and emergent entities
• Conceptual ecosystems

Thaum is not merely mystical — it is a fundamental structural component of the universe.

The behavior of thaum creates ecosystems of concepts, where ideas, entities, and environments influence each other through stored energy, structure, and resonance.

The universe can be understood as a network of interacting thaumic systems bound together by shared concepts.