[The Sanctuary] Inner Strength Outer Strength Part 2.

[Kavala]

Timestamp: 5th of Fall, 511
Location: Sanctuary
Purpose: Shielding Training
Status: Closed - Continued from Here.


So, having a basic understanding of both casting and tasking, Kavala needed to learn stacking. However, before she could try that, one of the things she really wanted to know was what her limits were. All skills had them, the same with magics. So while a novice horse breeder might be lucky to get one mare in foal, a breeder like her had the opportunity to create a new breed. What was the equivalent in shielding? What could she realistically hope to achieve verses what could she actually not do right off the bat? This caused Kavala to skip forward in her notes and look at the levels involved in shielding. She knew she was a novice, so she treated herself thusly and read what she'd copied earlier in the year.

Novice shielders are not going to be very good with creating perfectly uniform, even, or well-tasked shields. They have a great deal of problems starting out, but with practice can resolve these issues fairly quickly. If they are well-versed in other magics that manipulate djed, they will definitely have an advantage at this stage. Otherwise, they are simply going to stick to learning how to extrude djed, form it, then surround objects with it. Purposing djed is fairly easy for them, and they can task it to say screen out sound or sunlight along with djed of a foreign nature. However, their shields are always less than pretty usually because they vary in thickness and complexity.

Okay, Kavala got it. She was going to be sloppy for a while and it would be something she needed to work on shield wise. There was no way her shields could ever be expected, at her skill level, to be permeneant or remain longer than a day or so. And the book was clear she definitely couldn't stack shields either. Once her shields smoothed out and became better constructed, then she could do that. But according to the text it would be a while. Also, another flaw she noticed was that while she could block djed, absorbing djed to strengthen her shield was not something she could enjoy until later stages.

The final blow had to do with 'size'. Her book clearly stated she could not cast a shield greater than the mass of her body. So there'd be no rain shield over her or her horses as they rode until she got better. She could cover herself, and maybe a horses' head, but not without extreme concentration before the ride.

Fair enough, Kavala thought. So what about other levels? What came next and what could she expect? She flipped through, skipping ahead, and looked for the answers buried in the book.

As a shielder grows more competent, their shields will take on a smoother look and their thickness will vary very little. Uniformity is the key to success and once that's achieved, they will be able to create stronger shields. Competant shielders can task shields with two purposes, and while they still cannot stack shields, their shields can absorb djed and weave it into the shield to strengthen it. Multiple shielder weaves are possible at this level also. In a way, the shield was a bit leachy at this level because it absorbs and retasks djed so easily. Shielders who were competent had huge shields, far large enough to cover buildings and structures... even land as big as five acres or less. (Kavala: Note to self - pastures burnproof against fire). Biological tasking at this point is possible as well....

Wait... what was biological tasking? Kavala blinked, reread it, and frowned. She needed to go back and finish the bits of the book she'd skipped because evidently she missed a whole section.

[Kavala]

Kavala turned the pages of her book, looking for the answer she was seeking. A delicate pale finger slipped down the pages, turning first one page then another, continuing her search. When it hit on the right phrasing with her finger she nodded, realizing the terminology did indeed make sense.

Biological tasking is the ability of expert shielders to block very specific things from entering their shields – or more importantly – allowing only specific biological materials to enter. For example, in order to task a shield against a bladed weapon, one must have a bit of material from that bladed weapon – like iron – and form the shield with the intent to block iron blades. A bone blade could still pass or so could a copper or brass blade. But when one talks about biological tasking, all one needs is a bit of living material such as hair or tissue from a specific thing to block all those things from passing. So a big of tissue from a human could thus be used in a shields weave to block all humans from passing. That shield would not block an Isur or a pycon, but would be effective against a human. On the same note, a shielder could take a bit of their blood and weave it into a shield and task that shield to ONLY allow that biological type to pass through, thus blocking someone from say opening a book or even touching it or passing through the entrance of a building. Things tasked from regular readily available material, such as sand in the desert or fire, are easily built. Shields made and tasked against more obscure things are more difficult to task and block. So you cannot weave a shield to stop a diamond unless you have a diamond to weave the shield out of. One must always have the proper material to task! If not, it is near impossible to build a shield.

Kavala took multiple lessons away from this. Once she could biologically task something, shields kept people out and allowed only specific individuals in – those she tasked with permission – much like a lock and a key. The shield was the lock, the biological material was the key. Another thing she realized was simply that if someone tasked a shield to keep glassbeaks out, wearing a glassbeak dagger or earring might indeed prevent someone from crossing the threshold as well because they wore biological material that the shield was tasked to keep out.

And one thing she was slowly understanding was that shielding was a fine art, not prone to generalities and one that took incredible practice. Kavala nodded to herself, pushed the book back, and summoned res. She created a sphere of quartz crystal in her hand, bigger than an egg, but small enough to be clutched in her palm. She oozed the res into her hand in a pool, swirled it up, and solidified it as she willed it. Smiling, the Konti nodded to herself, feeling every inch the Sapphire Clan member. Then, switching disciplines, Kavala swirled djed up and around the sphere, building a shield. The shield was like moving cold honey with her mind, slow to build, not uniform in thickness, and mostly unwilling to do her bidding. It was one thing using res, which by now she could do without thinking. But it was another to concentrate on the sphere and think about swirling a shield about it.

Sweat broke out on her forehead and at the small of her back. But she worked on it, concentrating, until an imperfect film of a shield surrounded the ball sized quartz in her hand. She was tired by the time she was done, but that just meant it was time to take a break and go back to reading. Kavala was tenacious when it came to new magics. She wouldn’t rest until she had it figured out.