Thaumcraft offers considerable power from its devices and tools. But power comes with a price.... As of version 4.2, that price is represented by Warp: a corruption of the characters mind and soul, inflicting progressively more dire effects upon them. While the effects of warp can range from annoying to deadly, accumulating enough of it can also grant you access to greater power... at the cost of increasing madness, and attention from dark powers.
Basics of Warp[]
There are four types of warp: Permanent warp is a permanent change to your character, it cannot be removed. "Normal" warp does not naturally go away, but can be removed by an advanced recipe. (Unfortunately, you need to be somewhat warped already to discover that recipe....) "Temporary" warp will fade on its own over time, but the same recipe can be used to remove it more quickly. "Equipment" warp attaches to unholy items, rather than to the character themselves.
The various sorts are gained as follows:
- Forbidden research gives permanent and normal warp.
- Crafting forbidden items gives normal and temporary warp.
- Eating zombie brains, or the attack of an eldritch guardian, can also give temporary warp.
- Certain advanced equipment has a "Warping" characteristic inherent to the items. Upon wearing or wielding this equipment, the character's effective warp will be increased. Merely taking off the equipment will not cancel this, the equipment must actually be dropped or put away, that is leaving the player's inventory entirely.
Warp Effects[]
Once warped, you will suffer various effects at unpredictable intervals. However, if you then avoid warping activities, these will become less frequent over time and eventually stop entirely... until you gain more warp, which will reawaken the effects.
With small amounts of warp, the effects will be minor -- various sinister visuals and sounds, and creepy messages. One of the more common effects is useful: The voices that whisper forbidden secrets will actually give you research points. As you accumulate more warp, the effects can get more dangerous, including:
- Unnatural Hunger: No normal food can satisfy this hunger... however, several pieces of rotten meat (or zombie brains) can ease it by stages.
- Blurred vision: Fairly short duration, but it's Not Fun when this happens during a fight.
- Sunscorned: Your eyes and even skin become very sensitive, and if you venture into sunlight, you will be burned. (Helmets don't help.)
- Flux Flu, Flux Phage, Thaumorreah: Flux Flu drastically increases your vis usage, both for crafting and when using foci. Flux Phage is a contagious version: While your golems and farm animals won't be seriously affected themselves, they can remain infected even after you recover... and transmit the illness back to you. Thaumorreah causes you to leave occasional messes in your wake... remember, it's best not to leave pools of flux goo lying around too long.
- Eldritch Guardians: Once your madness passes a certain threshold, it will attract attention from dark realms. A dense fog will appear, and within it the fearsome monster called an Eldritch Guardian. With luck, by this time your armor and weapons will be good enough to fight them off.... (Tip: They're bigger than you, but that's their problem!)
- As your madness deepens, you can get more dire effects: Those "mind spiders" are a little more than hallucinations, and your stare can become not just frightening, but actually dangerous to the creatures around you.
Warp Progression[]
However, madness does have its benefits: At various levels of warp, you will receive key insights, leading to new discoveries:
- At a fairly early stage, you will learn various remedies that can forestall or partly cure the effects of warp: Purifying Bath Salts that can block all effects for a limited time, and Sanitizing Soap that can actually remove some of the warp (not the permanent part).
- Later, you will gain the Eldritch Epiphany, and a new page will appear in your Thaumonomicon with new devices and discoveries. Note especially the Sanity Checker, by which you can gauge your descent into horror.
- Further exploration of dark knowledge will lead to the Eldritch Revelation, granting still more unholy power.
- Plunging still further into the depths will allow comprehension of the Crimson Cult's writings, and the power of Opening the Eye and venturing into a darker world.