THE ESOTERIC COSMOGONY
On the Wizard and His Lair
I am the wizard, you may call me Mordecai. You may have met my counterpart the bard, who goes by Mortaki. I make the magic, and she weaves it into stories for others. Though it may appear otherwise at times, we are the same person.
This section of the site is essentially the inside of my brain made HTML. It is the place I put any ideas (experiments), prompts, inspiration, and anything else that catches my attention. It is probably stuffed full with things that are only barely related, but that's how my brain works.
It houses all my worldbuilding projects, my conlangs, lore logs for games I play, random story ideas I have, things I want to do on my site, things I'm currently interested in, quotes I really like, and sites I think are really cool. It is where I make all the magic that goes into my stories and where other people's magic inspires me.
I call it the Esoteric Cosmogony not just because that's an awesome name (though it is), but because of what those words mean. Esoteric means "only known to a small group" and cosmogony means "theory of the origin of the universe". This is the origin of universes only known to me, and now, you.
On Navigating the Lair
Because I use technical magic terminology in my research notes, an outsider may have trouble navigating my study. This guide will help clear up any confusion. You certainly wouldn't want to wander carelessly down here...
Header
* WIZARD: page where you are currently, click to refresh
* BARD: takes you to the index page where the bard, Mortaki, resides
* SPELLBOOK: a collection of things that resonated with me (lot of links)
* GRIMOIRE: takes you to the archive where I keep notes on my research
Left Sidebar
* BARDIC LORE: where I document the inner workings of the bard's stories (lorebooks)
* MYSTIC TONGUES: guides on how to understand languages I've created
* PLANAR ORBS: various ttrpg things I've made (wip)
* CUBIC WISDOM: game logs for the various block games I play (wip)
* ECHOES FROM THE VOID: quotes I have taken a liking to
Tabs
* ANNOTATIONS: tab you are on currently; scroll to bottom for my buttons as well as cliques and other exit links
* EXPERIMENTS: these are ideas that are not yet ready for the bard to work with; they need work to be proper stories
* DISCOVERIES: my changelog and to-do list
* TREATISES: resources that helped me make my site and other things
Right Sidebar
* CURRENT RESEARCH: these are things I am currently interested in, studying, or taking inspiration from
* SPELLBOUND FAVORITES: my favorite things
* NEIGHBORING MAGES: mages and other magicians I've encountered in my internet travels
codename: mordecai
A story based on our very own wizard where he lives as the only magic practitioner in the world. Or so he believes.
codename: sun magic
A man runs away from all the things that haunt him by becoming a teacher in another country. There, he finds family, community, and a historian he can't help but fall in love with.
codename: mortaki
Mortaki saved the world once, though she doesn't remember it. Now, she wanders, looking for fragments she has forgotten in a world that's forgotten her. A story that asks, "what happens to our heroes after they've won?"
codename: witchcraft
A worldbuilding project based on a modern setting where supernaturals hide amongst humans. In this world, magic is both a science and an artform and witches are known as master wielders of it.
codename: the guild
A homebrew campaign meant to be optimized for oneshot-like sessions that are still part of a long-term campaign/narrative. Meant to be able to play without full party present.
codename: the world fair
A homebrew campaign based on the Chicago World Fair.
Recent Breakthroughs in the Grimoire
Changes To The Lair
This month's updates to the site. Past updates can be accessed through my changelog rss feed; it updates on a monthly basis.
oct 2025
- launched writer webring
- joined cozy drinks webring
- added some badges and buttons to index page
- edited the layout of the index page a bit
- added the ruse to the all works page (I forgot lol)
- made a changelog rss feed, retroactively added everything since the relaunch
- made a update rss feed for red handed, shora, and the ruse
- rearranged the index page (again) and added the "alive internet theory and web revival" section
- new redhanded update: chapter four
- new bardic work: "idealistic"; a poem
- new bardic work: "birthday"; a poem
- made a kofi and linked it on my index page; optimistic? maybe. yolo.
- added lots of little hover text on the index page for funsies
- did an itty biity, tiny amount of work on the shora lorebook
- put the ruse on the backburner so to speak; it can be found on the all works page but has been removed from the current works section. it will still receive updates though infrequently
- replaced the ruse with a teaser for "The Consorts" in the current works section
- updated the mordecai experiment to better reflect progress and the creative direction of the project
- css changes on index page
- changed the "the middle of everyhere" experiment's codename to "sun magic" bc a codename should be short dammit (sun magic was the working title for a long time)
- updated the guild experiment
- added the "bardic philosophy" section to the index page
- LOTS of text on the index page now, so added some links for navigatng to different sections
- added fwonsh to neighboring mages under "friends-ish"
- added a shroom guardian to the lair
- added a patron to the lair
- joined nobility clique
- new grimoire entry about my writing process
- changed the lair's header links; now links to the grimoire and a new collection/resources page called the spellbook
- added more mobile compatibilty to the index page
Potions to be Brewed
- witchcraft lorebook
- more shelves for the library
- more recs for the library
- witchy html/css template
- template for original eggs with sauce layout
- game logs for minecraft and vintage story (cubic wisdom)
- world fair campaign pdf (using homebrewery)
- the guild campaign pdf (but it's using the fate system so either I settle for a boring text document or I make the graphics myself ughhhhhhhh)
- a digital closet maybe? some sort of fashion page
- the ruse ch 2
- red handed chapter 5
- shora short story about Etho?
- resource journal
- grimoire entry about bad tech habits redirection methods that require a certain amount of self-restraint (what you call self-restraint, I call self-directed spite)
- redo library front desk css
- grimoire post about finding what works for you (posthumous editing)
Arcane Tools
What I use personally to make my site.
- Milanote for inspo boards and establishing theming
- VSCodium for my code editor (used to use Notepadd++, which is also good)
- Neocities for hosting main site
- Bear Blog for hosting the grimoire
- Libresprite for making my button
The Web-onomicon
What I used to learn what I know now.
- MDN Web Documentation for learning the basics of HTML/CSS (apparently people find this hard to decipher as a beginner; if that's the case for you, try W3Schools)
- HTML/CSS Cheat Sheet for learning iframes specifically
- Sadgrl's guides for random HTML/CSS tidbits I couldn't find elsewhere
- a lot of browsing personal sites and using Inspect Element and View Page Source if I'm being honest lol
- currently using this for learning javascript but it's not working too good; not because it's a bad resource, because I don't get along with javascript on a personal level :)
Bardic Devices
What I use to write and plan the bard's stories.
- Writemonkey 3 for editing pieces I wrote on paper
- LibreOffice for writing directly on my computer and formatting things edited on Writemonkey
- Obsidian for compiling worldbuilding notes and lore
- a commonplace book for brainstorming and writing down random notes/plans/ideas
- a notebook specifically for longform writing
- Ruff, a notetaking app I use when my commonplace book is unavailable for whatever reason
- a rich text to html converter that I use to make my stories readable in browser
- Google Docs when I'm collaborating with another writer or have someone proofreading my work.