Aletheia I.a: The Appearance of the Blaze
The Appearance of the Blaze (燚, Itsu), written by Kaen Homura (火焱 炎) and translated by Matthian Brimm, is a text on pyromancy which, while highly regarded in certain thaumaturgical circles, has largely faded into obscurity in the present day. Eschewing the traditional four-elements-based introduction to the field, The Appearance of the Blaze instead begins by setting out what Kaen calls “the Locus of Exothermic Transference”, and uses this to derive equivalents of the foundational laws and formulae of pyromancy from first principles. The grimoire goes on to apply its unique methodology to elucidate a wide variety of advanced pyromantic spells and rituals, exploring the field through a pedagogical route which often cuts back and forth across commonly-established subdisciplines. In his foreword, Brimm writes: “Kaen’s novel approach casts a new light on the field of pyromancy from an entirely new direction, and there is much to learn from the different ways in which our shadows align.”