The Magic of Luck

Written by Mincus Topple, 28 Hammer (Deepwinter) 68

throughout and around the written text occasionally appear several loose phrases, sometimes close to a particular paragraph, sometimes in a corner of the margin, but all related to the concept of luck - it is some sort of simple illusion spell

We all have our own ideas on what it means to be lucky, or to have luck. And most of us have our own ideas on what we attribute our luck to, should we experience it. Some say there is no such thing as luck, only hard work. I believe the magic of luck to be one of the most ancient and most raw forms of magic.

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

The magic of luck, I imagine, is a giant web of, clearly, invisible but also infinite strands woven through time and space, with nodes of luck where the strands intertwine, if one were to use that word, and gaps where luck is not existent, or perhaps bad luck if you will. There are paths through the web of strands, yet not a path in a way as you walk it, as the strands are anything but linear, or any shape we could grasp, much like magic itself. Some of these paths are made up almost exclusively of nodes, some paths go only through holes - but these are rare, and most paths coil around a balance between luck and no luck, as it is a game of chance, as we cannot affect it. Or can we, perhaps?

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

To continue, I must first address those attributing luck to the gods. I dare to go further, and claim the gods themselves to be caught within this same web, as are we all. Surely, some gods we may perceive as holders of luck, like lady Tymora, or omens of bad luck, like lady Beshaba, but I simply claim their paths are somehow more knotted (in the case of Tymora) or more gapped (when speaking of Beshaba), and those with an above average amount of luck in their paths may cross or parallel the path of Tymora a bit more often, and those with lack of luck the path of Beshaba.

"Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it."

But my point is, in the web of invisible and infinite strands woven through time and space we are all equals, in the sense that we are all but sojourners in this web. The web doesn't favour, it simply is. Whether we call another lucky or unlucky is, after all, subjective. This is how some describe faith, but I believe luck and faith to be different entities, but perhaps not unrelated to each other.

"We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?"

If even the gods seem to not be able to actively influence their own luck, how could we do this ourselves? The paths of the gods in the web I imagine to be more rigid, more constant than the paths we travel. After all, only gods seem able to influence the paths of other gods with the exception of a few. In the sense of luck I may even dare to argue that the gods are in a certain manner cursed, able only to influence the luck of others, but doomed to rigidity of their own luck.

"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which one you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."

While you and me, we can influence the paths of ourselves and others almost directly - we can steal from one another, with a direct and immediate result of bad luck for one, and luck for the other. Until of course the one stolen from is pitied by a wealthy king and granted many riches, and until the thief gets caught and is imprisoned.

"The only sure thing about luck is that it will change."

The beauty of the magic of luck is that one needs not to be a sorcerer or wizard, no priest or blessed to be able to wield it. As illustrated above, we can cast a spell of bad luck with the slip of a finger on another, and with that same finger cast a spell of luck on ourselves. But to become an actual expert wielder of luck magic, with the insight to look many steps ahead, does require an amount of training many lifetimes may not even be able to contain. And I think it a great aspiration to try and become as adept as one can in the magic of luck.

"Diligence is the mother of luck."

I would like to end with posing a question to which I myself have formulated many answers, but none I am yet satisfied with - and it may take a long time before I will...

... is faith too, a matter of luck?