Chaos, the uncontrollable force of the unknown. Chaos brings unpredictability into our lives, makes our hardest efforts to understand the nature of things, fallible. Systems of true chaos will forever be beyond our grasp, all the study of science and arcane gives us zero insight into the constant changeability of such systems.

Chaos, likes to play and mix with the order, to make the certain thing, uncertain. To comprehend the chaos, we can only study its effects on ordered systems. The occurrences of chaos are common in nature, examples of what is known, are as follows.

The first, and most important aspect of chaos, is free will. Given an ordered system, it's theoretically always possible to determine its course of action or change in time. That is, based on a set of data (environment) as input and state of a system, we get a single output. We call psyche entities of pure order, deterministic entities, or robots.

However, once order in the psyche is altered by chaos, the same input and state don't always produce the same output. There might be two reasons for this, signs of chaotical behavior of the robotic system, what we call a corrupted machine, or the existence of choice function, in which case we assume that the system has free will. Of course, these options aren't exclusive. The corruption of free choice is one of the subcategories of insanity, where given the choice of outputs, the final output differs from the one that was chosen.

The chaos, however, assuming a correct dose of order, is controllable by rigorous means. One of such possibilities, in the case of highly ordered chaos, is the study of the probability of a pseudo-chaotic system. The probability of a system allows us to determine the numerical chance that the given output of a non-deterministic system appears, based on input.

In the case of probability, there exists an array of arcane studies that allows altering odds that a specific output appears. We call some spells of such magic schools, blessing or hexes, but there exist other, neutral categories. Blessing normally are ought to increase the chance of beneficial effects, while hexes increase the chance of negative effects.

Moreover, there exist entities that are naturally capable of altering the chances of other systems upon interaction with them. Similarly, we call those blessed or doomed, but there also exist neutral categories. The capability to alter the odds in interaction with other systems, is called luck factor or simply luck.

Examples of hexes include such things as a shield of disruption, which utilizes lack of understanding in intuitive casting to the defender's benefit, increasing odds that the magical attack will dispel or miss. Another example of a powerful hex is the prophecy of death, which makes the target vulnerable to accidents that will inevitably end its life.

For blessings and luck, there are records of beings, who managed to conquer thousands of labyrinth layers with the massive help of pure chance, by always finding the greatest artifacts or civilized cities and helpful party members. Some of them had their blessing function as a shared aura, which carried all of the group to the new heights with them, others were always the lucky survivors, which sometimes was the case of luck-vampirism, a double-edged aspect of luck, a certain curse.

Now, we mentioned prophecies. Prophecy is a study of probability that in time, certain events will happen. Prophecy can only be one hundred percent certain If the system is deterministic, so given the chaotic nature of the world and its intuitive understanding, it must be realized that there exists no such thing as absolutely certain prophecy, unless the system is deterministic and lacks free choice. A non-deterministic system can be changed into a deterministic one, with the help of absolute curses and blessings, but to fully change the odds of a system with free will, one must either limit the capability of choice or fully control external factors, that is input, to limit the array of outputs.

To make it simpler, we give an example. If a player tosses a coin, you can prophesize that the result will be 'heads'. To achieve such results, you need to have a full understanding of environmental circumstances, such as the strength of the wind. Perhaps, regardless of the decision when to toss the coin, all factors lead to heads. That's because all the external factors create a system that is deterministic and lacks free will. The player is not part of the system. The prophecy is not about the choices of the player, but about the environment.

If one wants to prophesize about the players, that would mean your suggestion must alter a gambler's decision as to how and when to toss the coin, or in the most brutal case, at least temporarily devoid the gambler of free will.

If the entity is capable of determining a finite set of possible futures of a deterministic system, we call it an oracle. If the entity determines the future precisely, to a single option. We call it a prophet.

The systems capable of manipulating the future are fearsome enemies, and may even remove some of your possible futures altogether, by changing the determinism of the system around you. We call these entities the fate alterators.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Now, let's go back to pure chaos altered by choice. In pure chaos, there is no telling, for example, what chaotic matter might become in any interval of time. Yet, one can impose a choice on the chaotic system, freezing it in an ordered state or frame. We call beings capable of imposing their choice on purely chaotic systems, regulators.

Such as it's always the case, it's hard to find pure representatives of a given aspect, so even a system that appears as fully ordered, might have an ounce of chaos within it. The measure of chaos in order is called system's instability. For highly unstable systems, we can encounter systems such as water spontaneously turning into flames and vice-versa, in irregular patterns. For highly stable systems, there might be a chunk of gold that turns into lead without the influence of any external factors, over a period of billions of years.

You may ask, do there exist beings capable of speeding up that process or decreasing the stability of the system? The answer is yes. For example, fairies and genies possess such unique traits. Another example, are disease known as 'Alice' or 'Eldritch' syndrome, where the subject often unconsciously alters the world correspondingly into a dreamlike or nightmarish state or can impose its choice on highly stable systems, turning even stone into flowers or butterflies, or a mass of writhing tentacle horrors. One of theories, is that the monster suffers from both of these unbelievably rare diseases, at once.

Another manifestation of chaos is a mutation of an ordered system, which often is a result of temporary and minuscule alteration by chaos. Such a system maintains its order, but its previous state is altered into a new one, often severely disfigured. While the order itself might be at fault, the chaos plays an important part in creating diseases, of both physical and psyche aspects, that might be close to impossible to alter and control. It's believed that this inner chaos is the driving force behind the evolution of the labyrinth and the architects adapt to it, by removing the defects of mutated systems and leaving only the beneficial traits. The chaos in their biological systems, for example, might be the reason, why two parents of the elven race can bear a child resembling an offspring of a dwarf.

Chaos can also destabilize a system, making other aspects outbalance their initial order. Based on aspects, we will provide an analysis of examples for each of the seven symptoms.

Aether – the system has abnormal growth, size of a system changes progressively, or subject experiences tumors and outgrowths. In case of deficit, the parts of the system grow at a slowed rate or not at all.

Nether – the system experiences decay, its body deteriorates and disintegrates in alarming tempo. In case of deficit, the system shows hints of immortality.

Order – the system experiences rapid evolution, it adapts and learns at an accelerated rate, acts like a prodigy or genius. In case of deficit, the system appears primitive and doesn't adapt to the changing environment in sufficient tempo.

Physicality – the system shows signs of physical extremes, such as high gravity, durability, or ability to exempt force. In case of deficit, the system is frail and its ability to affect the matter is limited.

Psyche – the system shows higher power of will and alertness, might be a natural-born empath and feel a wider range of emotions. In case of deficit, the subject becomes emotion lacking or emotionless, and its other aspects of the psyche also deteriorate.

Time – the system can perceive time at a slower pace or its own existence branches into multiple timelines. In case of deficit, everything around the system seems to act at an accelerated pace, or it lives only a fraction of its own timeline, in temporary distortions or jumps between intervals of time continuum.

Space – the system can exist in multiple dimensions at once, as a multi-dimensional entity, or occupy a vast spatial region without destabilization, in case of deficit, the existence of the system is reduced to the simplest dimensions and it can occupy only small regions without destabilization.

The chaos is also what allows the existence of paradoxical beings, or systems of contradictions. Lava planets encased in a thick layer of ice, mechanical fairies, ghost machines – perhaps some existing with a framework built exclusively from emotions.

In the most extreme cases, pure chaos can theoretically bring the impossible into the world, create systems that would otherwise collapse or shatter under the rules of order, or require tremendous amounts of effort to exist.

Chaos can create a system of worlds where every possible choice leads to a creation of a new world system with that choice being taken.

Chaos is the reason space monstrosities as massive as the Star Devourer are capable of existing.

Chaos is why there exist entities that can't be imprisoned and seem to jump between universes either at ease or at random. Chaos is why inaccessible becomes accessible.

Chaos is why the order of a realm can be altered, creating a different set of physical, spatial, and time properties than the original.

Chaos can cause nether to nullify functions and powers of a system completely, without requirements of complicated rigorous techniques, like upon touch of a child.

Chaos is why entities without souls can have a psyche.

Chaos is why some entities synchronize and desynchronize in space-time spontaneously, making them exist at different places and times at once, then unite into a reduced amount of beings.

Chaos is why there are beings that can reject local reality at a whim and substitute it with one of their own choice.

In short, controllable chaos is a cheap solution to difficult problems, but it never comes without a risk. It's best to remember, that chaos can't be controlled and in any form, even in highly stable systems, it might one day turn against you.

One of the alternative theories of the rupture, is that chaos created a cascading nether destabilization that, like a wave, traveled across all the planes and realms, simply reducing them to the most primitive form of matter, and that later – our world reemerged from that primitive matter by pure chance with the help of chaos.

The same could happen any day, starting right where you are, right where you sit.

That's the thing with chaos, by playing with it, we play with fire.

With that information, I suggest you properly understand the order, before you study chaos magic, because you can't control chaos, you can only control the order that it's embedded in.