The Warlock's Guide: Introduction

Hail, students of the Craft. For those unfamiliar with my reputation, my name is Belial Blake, praetor of Ithacar and Warlock of the Lightless Flame. As should be readily aparent from the title of the tome in your hands, it is in the spirit of the latter title with which I address you here today.

Although I suspect this text may save many lives, I confess that I feel compelled to write these words primarily out of a deep and abiding irritation. For as long as I have practiced my craft, the art of "warlocking," for lack of a better word has been *grossly* misunderstood and mischaracterized by commoners, other schools of magecraft, and if I may be so bold, many warlocks themselves, leaving us to be known in the public consciousness by the most pathetic representatives to be counted among our number.

When done *properly*, the warlock's craft is not simply a shortcut for those without the intellect for magecraft. It is not wizardry with an insidious occult aesthetic, and it is most certainly NOT the practice of becoming the lover, minion, or fucking **pet** of an extraplanar horror.

It is the art of contracts, deals, and Law.

Wizards study the observable world and, at great effort, tease apart the mysteries of the known universe. But there are jealously guarded secrets of magic not written down in any grimoire. To be a warlock is to turn one's intellect to cosmological and mundane law, and to sharpen one's guile to a metaphorical razor-sharp edge to wrest these secrets from their keepers' unearthly grasp.

In some of the oldest tales, magic, the power to bend reality itself to one's will, was the domain of what we once called gods. Some are still called gods, but that is beside the point. In some cases it was gifted. In others, bartered for. In yet others, stolen.

I cannot speak to the accuracy of these tales, but the general thrust of them resonates well with my personal ethos. It used to be theirs. Now it's ours, and we're never fucking giving it back. The art of the warlock is one of squeezing those bastards for every last metaphorical drop they have remaining. To wheel and deal. To beg, borrow, cheat, steal, and **extort** until the vast gulf between *us* and the secrets *they* hoard is erased entirely. To TAKE on behalf of mortalkind and to never let go.

Extraplanar entities, by and large, be they benevolent or malevolent, see mortals as sheep. Some seek to shepherd, some to fleece, and others to butcher. Insulting though this prospect may be, it is also your primary advantage. They underestimate you. Their hubris is their undoing.

I can imagine what some of you are thinking. "This man just proposed that I, a humble practitioner of magic, could take part in the oldest and most dangerous game the magical arts have to offer against entities who have been playing it masterfully since before my ancestors were even born! This sounds like a trap. Bare minimum, hubris and folly."

If that is your reaction, my only response is this. "Well done." You have the proper instincts for this field, and I encourage you to check this book **thoroughly** for curses and enchantments, research my own background, and investigate the publisher at Ithacar Press to ensure that the words are actually written by myself, as I claim, as should be your process going forward with *any* tome on the subject.

In fact, if that lingering suspicion was *not* your first reaction, I encourage you to put this book away and abandon the pursuit entirely, lest you replicate Brighton's Blunder and suffer a fate worse than death.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/s/eSkQUgHqtu

Now that the fools with more hubris than sense have hopefully left the proverbial lecture hall, I ask you: Have you verified that my words are accurate? Have you studied at *bare minimum* a basic foundation in wards, summoning, at least one art of self-defense, and the nuances of mundane and at least one other field of extraplanar law?

If so, good. Let us begin. This book may very well save your life.

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**IMAGE SOURCE:** Grimoire bound in imp skin from Baldur's Gate 3

*uw/ Hey guys, it's ya boy the criminal. Not much to this one since it's just the introduction but I thought it'd be fun to do a little series in the form of a book Belial wrote presenting "warlockin" as a serious craft practiced by mages who turn their minds to contract law instead of just magical sugar babies.*

*Idk how frequent they'll be but I plan to have entries on different patron categories (the fiend, the fey, the dead, the divine, and the unknown) as well as appendices on more specific topics like familiars, specific rites, and the differences between various extraplanar systems of law. So if you care about dry fictional textbooks with occasional narrative excerpts keep an eye out I guess*