Homekeeping Magic

Summary

Also known under names like casual and apprentice magic, homekeeping magic is an extremely broad umbrella that encompasses a variety of magical artforms. All of them are among the smallest applicable forms of magic, and are often the very first forms of magic any civilization or person encounters. Most mages-in-training or other magical aspirants begin their careers by practicing with homekeeping magic. For many more, who otherwise lack the talent, time, training, or resources needed for such great investments, it is a valuable tool upon their proverbial belts.   Veltrona's wildernesses are often tough and hard to survive in, some far moreso than others. The first proto-mages became busy figuring out ways to create better forms of magic to live in such places. With what they did have on hand, they created small instances of magical wonder to help them live their lives. The earliest known example is the filtration of dirty water, creating purified water instead. Others that followed are small sparks to start fires, various kinds of 'cleaning' like gathering dust or squeezing out filth from clothing, creating insect repellent forces, and so on.   Given how the mechanisms of magic work, what kinds of homekeeping magic emerged depended greatly on their parent cultures. Those in Sa-kemet direly needed methods for water, heat cooling, and sand/dust removal, for instance. Issues like insects were far less of a concern; even beneficial, in some cases. So unlike those in Jerhegn or Etzli Cuauhtla, such methodology never developed to a sophisticated extent.   Beyond practical need, ideas of what is or is not proper, as well as personal aptitude, continued to influence the magic's development. Handling filth of any kind can carry social stigma, while those who can ensure clean water become valuable or elevated. It could be argued some of the first social roles that emerged were based on those who could provide useful magical work. From these roles eventually emerged the 'mage' as an idea of a profession centered on magic. Priestesses for many kinds of religions often encompassed the role as well, at least until mages outside of their religion became normalized. Or ostracized.   However, those are all forms of people using magic for far grander purposes. As a divide in the different tiers of magic settled in, homekeeping magics remained comfortably in what they provided. Given they played off peoples' aptitudes all the same, some were more capable in particular types than others. Cleaners became popular for a variety of reasons, with one to a handful of them enough to keep several households in relatively pristine order. Clean is not necessarily 'sanitary', though, as the concept of what sanitation is could change frequently. Mending clothing and small structural damages ranked among popular choices as well, since both often went through hardships. Anything related to food processing could be respectable or despised, since it might involve anything from animal corpses to raw products of some description.   Other forms more for recreation arose as well. Playful shows of lights and demure sounds, as well as optical illusions of all kinds, became tricks of the trade for entertainers. Musical instruments informed sound-based magic all the more, allowing skilled performers to emulate or even change what the instruments could do. Stone-based art styles arose with those skilled in that: handheld statuettes/figurines, tablets, primitive 'coins', and even arrowheads were common talents. Early tailors developed efficient ways of using 'raw' animal or plant fibers, creating effective and stylized clothes.   Homekeeping magic is ultimately defined by peoples' needs in their lives, both great and small. As one form of the magic solved a problem, new desires informed a different direction. The realization of technology and its endless multitudes, too, proved a pivotal change in the paradigm. Tailors being a great example, better harvesting equipment and fabric processing let them change their talents in different directions. Some focused more on applying dye colorations, others in 'reinforcing' the product(s) for durability or even military usage, embroidery, and so on. New designs emerged, ones that were quite physically impossible to do with mundane hands or tools, requiring very particular specialists. The rachtoh took these concepts at large and ran away with them thanks to their natural silk making.   If those with sufficient abilities are on hand, the quality of life they improve is dramatically noticeable. Whether they end up as servants, public workers, tradewomen, or otherwise, does depend but one would be hardpressed to find somewhere without some people skilled at it. After all, that is quite a good job opportunity waiting.    

Practical Examples

Due to how wide and varied some things may be under homekeeping magic, some useful and more common examples of it will be provided. Do note that some examples requiring certain affinities, such as creating water or making fire, are by their nature more specialized even if their scale is still quite minor.  

Dust cleaning, debris gathering, and other small articles of filth using wind or water to gather the it appropriately.

Small sparks and tiny flames like those of a match stick.

Cleaning a cup's worth of water, generally by moving the filth out of the water (or the water into another container).

Small puffs and streams of air, such as cooling someone down or helping to clear smoke from cooking.

Manipulating fibres and threads, particularly in tailoring. The more threads one tries to manipulate, it becomes exponentially harder, hence needles and other tools remain very useful.

Creating colorful marks as if using ink; these marks vanish after some hours.

Echoing sounds or creating generally modest imitation sounds, such as instruments, birds chirping, water running, etc. Children are notorious for making use of this the most, alongside performers.

Extracting filth and stains out of clothing; generally quite difficult for anything beyond spot repairs, but it can make the act of cleaning clothing easier to do with items like soap.

Manipulating a handful of fine liquid application, such as oil for polishing, varnish for wood/silver, etc.

Increased heating; a particular application more useful for something like massaging and doesn't suffice for keeping one warm during colder weather.

Heatless sparkles and flashes of colorful light, similar to very small fireworks. Children are easily entertained by these and love doing it themselves.

Coin sorting for about a small purse's worth, generally by shuffling them in one's hands and then letting them arrange neatly into stacks, saving countless hours of having to do it by hand.

Insect crushing, usually through air pressure as if one caught and pinched them between their fingers.

Teeth cleaning, principally using water but sometimes air or veltron. While it can remove easy particulate, longer term problems like plaque and cavities require far more sophisticated solutions.

Manipulating dirt or stone; generally the more 'solid' it is, far more effort becomes required. This normally takes forms similar to making small dirt balls, or lightly carving/polishing stone surfaces.

Locating an object the person is familiar with, such as door keys or a small pin that fell out of armor during maintenance. The range is at most the size of a small bedroom.

Whispering a message; generally across a short distance like a classroom. As it's usually done through sound or air instead of telepathy, other people can 'intercept' or 'overhear' the whispering if they're close to the source, receiver, or on the path inbetween.

Tiny illusionary creations at most the size of a hand that are see-through and hours-long temporary; shopping lists for errant wives and husbands is a popular and common use of this technique.

Playing instruments, generally those with lighter requirements like violins, wind flutes, drums by using sticks instead of hands, etcetra. It simply allows the performer to utilize multiple instruments, they don't play themselves in some arbitrary fashion.

Recreating certain scents and smells, as one would with a bottle of perfume. Children are also notorious for abusing this ability in certain, uh, inventive ways. Some aromists, however, make their careers off recreating and maintaining desirable scents, especially those of loved ones who passed away.

Testing the edibility of foodstuffs, ostensibly also checking for poisons. Its capability is limited to 'will I get sick?', so some things like spicy foods will produce false-warnings.