Magiontology is an ongoing project of fantasy art and stories, planned to become a book (or books). It’s an alternative history that adds magic to our world, mostly in the form of magical beings, or as I call them: magions.
The project began as a type of bestiary, with a scholarly twist. That is how I came up with the name: magiontology means ‘the study of magical beings’. Visually, I was inspired mostly by naturalist illustrations, which fit the idea of scientific records of magical being. But I do delve into other styles when it fits thematically.
I began playing around with making up fantastical critters and imagining how they can be fitted into our world (secretly, of course). It raised all kind of questions: Where do they live? How do they keep hidden? How are they built? What cultures and habits do they have? What is their history?And also - who makes all these records?
And that’s when the stories were born.
At the center of most of these stories is a secret society, The Magiontology Society, with the mission to protect and study magic in our world. It connects scholars of magic life (magiontologists), holds a great archive and engages agents for missions of observance, data collecting and when needed - rescue of magions, or the occasional human that got into the wrong place in the wrong time. They each have their own story, as does the Society, but the core of magiontology is the magions - each with their own taxonomy, biological notes, culture and history.
Take for example the Spectans canis (Eying hound): basically big shaggy dogs with four eye stokes.
Are they adorable? Yes. Are they friendly? Yes (and love playing fetch). Are they great watch dogs? Sure! Would people generally freak out seeing one? Probably also yes.
After figuring out how a Spectans canis skull would accommodate the retracting eye stokes, and how would that affect their physiology (hint: their ear canals are relatively short), I delved into their history.
It seemed sensible that magical dogs would have magical owners, and well, witches do have the happiest history, so it figured that Spectans canis too would be persecuted and hunted. This was one case when I veered with the visual inspiration: I decided to use medieval hunting imagery and create my version, depicting a hunting of Spectans canis.
You can read more about the Spectans canis here, and also find more magions (some pictured bellow) and more about magiontology in general at the project’s website/wiki here: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/magiontology-peculiaris
I built it using World Anvil, a world-building platform, and it is open to all. You are also very welcome to join the magiontology community on Patreon - free membership will keep you updated with new posts and the general progress of the project.
There is also a secret site, I mean - it is a secret society after all.
Magiontology is my dream project, it combines pretty much everything that I love and I spend every moment I can spare on it. But I don’t have many moments to spare. Making art tends to take a lot more time than it is rewarded for, monetarily, at least, and sometimes I am forced to put magiontology aside for a while - put all the magions in my head on a shelf for a while, where they look at me (more or less) patiently until I can come back to them. That is why I started a Patreon for this project, knowing that people are waiting for me to pick a magion of the shelf, dust it a bit (unless they like dust), and paint and write it, keeps me going. It keeps magiontology going.
Every follower on social media (the project has its own Instagram and YouTube accounts), Patreon or World Anvil makes a difference and I cherish every comment or like - it means a lot to have people interested, so please do share and tell friends :)
If you are able and interested in helping magiontology further, please consider joining as a paying member on Patreon. You will get your official Magiontology Society member number and certificate, and be added to the members list in the website. Depending on the tier can will also get early access, exclusive content, digital goodies, and even a signed version of the planned book when it is published. You can find all the details on Patreon. Income from Patreon allows me to dedicate more time to the project, get more magions and stories out and will help bring magiontology books out.