Trading Trades Once Again [Clyde Sullins]

[Reaver]

Reaver regarded the question. What was it his teacher said on the subject? "The 'common' directives I suppose. Movement is a must, obedience to one or more masters, how to prove trustworthy to it, survival instincts, non-violence, and Killphrases. Commands that will shut the creation down, be it a limited duration or not. Try to limit how many words are in a directive, however. They might not think as fast as you'd like. I'd not recommend worrying about adding too many things until you're more practiced with the art. Once you have transferred the Directives and the knowledge it needs in order to follow those directives, you move to the next step." Reaver was almost done, it seamed like his lecture was long enough after all. "Alright, now the next step is building, or probably more like 'shaping' the Astral Body for your creature. The Persona is the mind, the Astal Body is the muscles. The door must have it's hinges attached to the Astral Body in order to move them, and the Persona tells it when to move them. This will often be a long task, however. You must teach it every movement the item will need to know. For a door, that's open and shut, but teaching a puppet to walk would be VERY difficult. Even if you get it to walk, you then need to teach it to walk up and down slopes, stairs, over or around boundaries, lots of work. Find a doll and try it some-time, a cloth one should do fine." Reaver paused, noticing he was off topic. "Right, a tip to help you remember. Just because you have muscles that moves you ears, doesn't mean your brain can move them. Not everyone's tongue can touch their nose. Keep that in mind while you build the Astral Body for the item, you would need to teach it even simple things you may normally overlook." Reaver finished his work, but he decided not to leave the circle and activate it just yet. "Before I continue, any other questions?"

[Clyde Sullins]

Listening, Clyde took it all in. It seemed pretty straightforward. All common sense that things would be that way. It seemed pretty much things you would teach anything, say if you tried to train dog. A dog who started as a blank slate. Its a good thing they did not need to breath... That would be bad to forget.... "Okay, so first you make the soulcore. The base empty vessel. Next is the persona, the personality and ways that they act. After that is the astral body, which allows it to interact with the world and move itself. The astral body takes up the item, and inhabits its limits... Sort of like a way to limit and hold the entire thing in?" It all seemed pretty straightforward, though there were still a few fuzzy spots. "Well... One thing... Uhm... What if the container for the animated thing is damaged? Say if you had a wooden doll. What would happen if one of its legs were cut off?" "And if you then made a new leg, and connected it to the doll to replace it, would the new leg work just like the previous one?" "I think that is it, besides that question you can just finish it."

[Reaver]

"Again, good questions. I suspect you'll learn more about this art then I will through your experimentation. It's... like a limit, but the Life Principle holds it all, remember? And when the item is damaged, it's ability to remain functional is appropriately damaged. Your wooden doll would be unable to use it's leg, and like any animated thing, may cease all function if the damage is great enough. Making it a new leg wouldn't do much good, because it wouldn't be an animated leg, would it? It's Astral Body wouldn't be in the new leg. It would be like a peg-leg on a person, or in this case another person's leg being attached. You could teach the object to adapt to the change, but it won't really be able to fix it. Animating something with the ability to learn has proven difficult to me, though I intend to learn that eventually." "Now, a review. Draw the circles. Put you in one, the item in the other. Possibly other sources to build souls from in others if desired. Once done, activate the circle using your blood. Next, animate the object, a series of steps, then you're done. To animate it, build its Soulcore, then Persona, then Astral Body. The three components of the animation are known as a Life Principle. Why? Animation could be in itself creating life, though false life. Those dedicated to it may learn to make false life that can be truly alive, such as the Nuit or a ghost bound to a puppet... or any other number of strange things. But the future for you is a mystery, and the first step, may work like this." Reaver stood, and stepped out of the circle, gesturing to the stick. It immediately began rolling away, until hitting a tree. It wiggled almost violently. Reaver walked over, and picked it up, and brought it to Clyde. "But even things like this can have their uses, yes? I'd like to hear a good example of a simple design like this one." Reaver offered the stick to Clyde.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde did his best to listen intently, and take in everything. Most of it was just a recap, but it was still helpful. He tried to think on what he had said, for his own idea. Though the stick thing was pretty cool... "Okay... I think I get most of it.... For my own?... Hmm... How about using your belt, and getting it to move? I have a leather one, so I guess it would also be able to hear... How is that? Though I guess it could move in more ways than your stick..." Taking the stick, Clyde tried to hold onto it, as it wiggled around furiously, not wanting to sit still. What exactly was this things use? He was not sure, but it was good as a novelty.

[Reaver]

Reaver considered his reaction. "Thin leather can hear, belts are built far too thick. It would be unlikely to hear much beyond an explosion next to it, thinner allows for better hearing. Say you got your belt to move, what would it do? It's the purpose I'm looking for. Making things move for the sake of moving is fine, but a use for them is far better. For a belt, why not teach it to fasten itself when you give it a tug? Useful, and simple." Reaver sighed a bit. "Try coming up with your own, I'm sure you can think up something." Reaver grabbed the other stick, and set it in the circle his stick was in. "Not that this stick needs a use, keep it very simple. It it can move at all, it's purpose is filled." Reaver moved out of the circles and sat down, content to wait.

[Clyde Sullins]

Listening, Clyde nodded. He had not known that about hearing with animation, which was useful for future reference. He thought over some different things, trying to see what was possible. There were a few things, though some were more advanced than others. "Well, you could animate a wagon so that it rolls itself without needing a horse. And if it could see, you might even be able to teach it to follow along a road without needing to be guided. Maybe you could animate a rope to tie specific knots, or to even try to strangle someone... How about those?" That was about all he could think of for now. He might get more with more time thinking, eventually. Though he wondered what Reaver was going to have him animate, for his try... Another stick?

[Reaver]

"Good examples, yes. Both a touch beyond your level now, but good examples all the same. Are you ready to begin, then? Let's stay simple for the first exorcise, let's go with 'wiggle.' A former apprentice of mine managed to get it right on the first try." Reaver gestured to the circle. "Though, there are always more sticks."

[Clyde Sullins]

Walking to the circle, Clyde was ready for his attempt at animation. He thought through what all had been said, and had a base idea of what to do. "Okay, I am ready. I guess I will get started..." Taking out a small knife, he prodded the tip of a finger. A drop of blood fell, landing on the circle. Connected to the other circle, it would allow him to work with the stick. First on his list, was making the soulcore. He made the shell of the thing he was creating, using his own soul as a source. He willed his djed and shaped it, into the shape he wanted. Visualizing it, he made a simple shape to fill later with other things. At first nothing happened, and he had to press farther. Going into his djed, he formed it, and eventually got a wanted shape for it. Finally, he could sense the shell of the thing, through his connection to it through the animation circles. At that moment he was overwhelmed by a sense of emptiness, as he felt the raw shell. It was hollow, and needed filling. Soon he would put bits and things in there, to fill it out to a complete thing, but for know, it was devoid of anything but its base shape. Letting out a deep breath, Clyde relaxed, having finished the first part. "Okay, I think I got it.... The shell.... So empty... Is ready to be filled..."

[Reaver]

Reaver nodded, content to hear the news. "Oh, I get updates, how pleasant. My last student did it during my lecture, he did well enough. I will mention now, that using your own soul as a source may leave you feeling attached to the item. Like it's a security blanket, or important to you. Just know that's an effect of the magic. Like wanting to cast more when you really shouldn't. Just take your time, the Djed isn't going anywhere." Reaver arbitrarily drew glyphs in the dirt, he had to practice after all.

[Clyde Sullins]

Listening to what Reaver said, Clyde continued on with his work. Next was creating the persona, so he got to work on doing so. He willed his djed into action, and tried to transfer over some thoughts. He first showed him non-motion, the stick staying still. Next he transferred motion, of the stick wiggling, and bending. It was simple enough. Next he did rolling, and showed the stick rolling along, and going across the ground. He felt this was most of the persona, for what he wanted the stick to do, which was not to much... Finally, he started work on the astral body. He willed his djed to act once more, creating what the stick could do. He taught it how to wiggle... He taught it how to bend... And he taught it how to roll... Not to complicated... And yet it still took him several minutes. All of this seemed to be rather pleasant, as he filled the gaping whole that once existed, and put some substance to his creation. Now it had a base, and it had a mind, and it also new how to move. All that was left to do know was to awaken it... Willing his creation to be awakened, he then stepped out of the circle. He smiled, as his stick wiggled and thrashed, trying to do as it was told. It started to roll a bit to, though it would stop every so often to thrash around some more. Then it would continue to roll... "Well... I think I got it.... So is that it?... It... was not to bad.... I think for my first try, I did well..."