[The Valkalah Library] On the Nature of Djed

by **Jorin Ertihan** on October 13th, 2013, 4:08 pm

Season of Fall, Day 42, 513 AV

It was a rare quiet day for Jorin. Rinya was busy at work, and Jorin... wasn't. It wasn't that the Amphitheater didn't always have work for him to do, but there were days like today when the work was mostly light. Rehearsals, followed by some light swordfight practice, all things that really only took up half the day. Which left a large portion of the afternoon that Jorin usually spent wandering the city until Rinya got off work and they could go somewhere together. But Jorin had decided that on this day, he would do something more... unique.

When he'd been younger, and studying mathematics under his father, Jorin had often walked past many of the classrooms of the University of Zeltiva, where the concepts of magic were being discussed. At the time he hadn't really been paying much attention, since he was more worried about not being late to his father's daily "sessions", but he couldn't help overhear certain terms being repeated. One in particular. "Djed".

Jorin had no clue what "Djed" was, but apparently every single form of magic used it, so it had to be important, or so he figured. But while mages were not entirely uncommon, they were also not completely ubiquitous either. And Jorin wasn't really interested in learning any sort of offensive magic; he wasn't interested in hurting anyone. He just wanted to satiate his curiosity. What was this Djed stuff? Did everyone have it? If so why wasn't everyone a mage?

That was how he found himself before the Valkalah Library, and as he walked in and approached the desk where a large Akalak was sitting, the man looked up and smiled.

"Greetings!" he called out to Jorin. "I don't recognize you. My name is Zandar. How can I be of assistance?"

Jorin nodded and replied, "Hi, yes, I've not been to the library before, but I wonder if I could peruse the magic section?"

Zandar nodded, getting up and motioning Jorin to follow him. "I should caution you that the magical section is read-only, and the books may not be checked out," he warned as he continued to lead Jorin further into the back. "Is there a particular book you are looking for?"

Jorin shrugged helplessly. "Anything on basic magic would be nice," he replied. Zandar shrugged and stopped, as they had reached the magic section of the library. Pursing his lips, Zandar glanced at the spines of the books before retrieving "On the Nature of Djed", a fairly comprehensive background text on the very fundamentals of magic. It gave no information that could really be used to actually learn any specific discipline, but Jorin hadn't indicated he even knew what those disciplines were.

"Just to remind you again, you are not permitted to check the book out," Zandar cautioned a second time. "Let me know if you need anything else," he added, before striding off back to the front desk.

Jorin acknowledged Zandar with a curt nod, and sat down to read. He was somewhat excited, actually. He'd finally find out what this mysterious "Djed" was all about.

by **Jorin Ertihan** on October 13th, 2013, 4:41 pm

In order to fully understand any form of magic, one must begin with the fundamental building block upon which all magic relies. That concept is known as "Djed", meaning "backbone" in the ancient tongue.

Jorin sighed. Long-winded. Great. The author of this text must really love the sound of his own... quill.

The basic principle of Djed is that it is "essence". Djed is both information, and essence, and it is this fundamental concept that needs to be understood before any magic can be performed.

The Djed of a rock, then, describes what that rock is, and in theory if one could perfectly understand the Djed of that rock, one could make an identical copy of it, for the Djed describes all the characteristics of said rock down to the tiniest detail.

Jorin shrugged helplessly as he continued to read. This seemed all-too-theoretical, like his father's equations. He still failed to see how any of the text so far had any practical value. Djed so far sounded more like an abstract concept than a concrete thing.

However Djed is not just the information that describes an object, it is also the manifestation of said information. It describes not just the physical attributes but the energetic ones; thus it describes the energy contained within fire just as much as the structure contained within stone.

It is this fact that makes magic possible. All things, living or otherwise, have Djed, but intelligent beings such as humans have a great deal more than something as simple as a stone.

Jorin could feel his molars grinding in the back of his mouth. Get to the point.

This treatise mainly covers the fundamental principles and theories behind Djed, and not its practical application. Though a great deal of research has been performed on this concept it is not fully understood. But there are a few basic laws on Djed that must be obeyed.

Jorin had a feeling he knew what a few of these laws would be. His father had taught him many times. The equation must be balanced. What is on the left of the equal sign must be the same as on the right. There are no exceptions. Mathematics was... pure, in that sense. Jorin wondered if Djed was too.

First, and most importantly, Djed cannot be created or destroyed. It is the information, energy, and essence of all things, and as such it can only be transformed.

When a Reimancer produces a ball of fire, the fire does not come from "nowhere". The energy expended to create that magical effect came from his personal Djed, the very essence and life-force that is keeping that Reimancer alive.

Jorin almost growled. Whoever the author of this tome was clearly did not have novices like Jorin in mind. He didn't even know what Reimancy was, although from the context of the book he gathered it was probably creating elements with magic. Too aggressive, not a magic Jorin would be interested in anyway.

Tying into the first law, transformation of Djed is never fully efficient. In a theoretically perfect environment, a certain amount of Djed would produce an equal effect from magic. But nature is not perfect.

For example, a novice mage might use an amount of Djed to create a fireball, but due to his lack of practice much of the Djed is expended just controlling the effect and they produce a tiny flame that barely travels. A master might do the same and produce a prodigious effect, using the same amount of Djed as the novice.

But even in the case of the master, some of the Djed is lost in the conversion, regardless of skill. That Djed is irretrievable, like how the Djed that defines what a piece of parchment is would be irreversibly transformed into the Djed of ash once that parchment is burned.

It made sense, actually. You needed to use Djed to control Djed. But at this point, Jorin didn't think the book would be that much further assistance. The rest of the text mainly went into the sort of research experiments that the author had been privy to (not very many), and the results of said experiments (mainly, a more verbose reprise of what was said in the introduction).

The text did give an overview of some of the more commonly-used magics, however.

By far the most commonly-seen and arguably the most visually stunning magic is Reimancy, the art of transforming Djed into Res (and Res into one of the four elements). Res is manifested Djed, and in a future treatise, we may go into further detail on the nature of Res and how it is not the same as Djed.

Other magics of course exist. They include the art of Voiding, which links our world to a mysterious realm of nothingness, the art of Auristics, or reading the information contained in the Djed of other objects or people to gain more knowledge about them, or Shielding, the art of utilizing Djed in a protective barrier to block out unwanted foreign Djed, or [...]

Jorin stopped. Shielding. That certainly sounded interesting. He got up, carefully closed the book, and put it back in the location he saw Zandar take it from. Then he padded quietly to the front desk to request another book.

by **Jorin Ertihan** on November 13th, 2013, 7:24 pm

Zandar looked up in surprise as Jorin returned earlier than he had originally expected. The book on the nature of Djed would normally take much longer to read, but he suspected the young man might not have read the entire thing. Nonetheless, he smiled gently and commented, "Back so soon? Did you not find what you were looking for?"

Jorin shrugged. "Yes and no. I read through this book, but it seems to only be a theoretical overview of the basics of magic with very few practical exercises. The text mentioned something called 'Shielding'... would you happen to have any books on that?"

Zandar merely shrugged. "I can certainly look," he suggested, as he lead Jorin back to the stacks with the magic-related tomes. After a few chimes of searching, he handed another book to Jorin. The title on the spine said it was "Fundamentals of Shielding", which sounded promising. He also noted the author, one Malik Canfree, was the same as the one who penned "On the Nature of Djed". Oh wonderful. Yet another treatise from the long-winded Malik.

"There are a few other books on the subject, but they are probably more advanced than what you're looking for," Zandar mentioned. "I can get them for you anyway, if you want..." Jorin just shook his head.

"That won't be necessary," he replied. "This should be fine."

Zandar nodded and returned to the front desk, and Jorin cracked open the spine on the new book to see what he could learn about the fundamentals of Shielding.

Chapter 1: Djed and Shielding - an Overview

In our previous trestise we went over the fundamental nature of what Djed was. But there is a significant difference between just regular Djed, which describes everything, and usable Djed, which is the Djed any wizard actively accesses in order to perform magic. While all things have Djed, that does not mean all Djed is created equal: when a mage uses Djed to perform magic they are tapping into something very specific.

Jorin sighed. Well of course. It wouldn't be Malik without a lengthy and flowery and ultimately useless introduction, now would it? Growling at the text, Jorin read on, hoping the man would eventually get to the point and tell him how to access this "special" Djed.

Since every person's Djed is unique it is not possible to have any set strategy to explain how to access it. The act of touching one's own essential life force is not something that can be described, merely experienced.

Djed, as has been explained, is more than just the information that describes what something is, but also the energy that this information describes. So, while Djed does in fact describe the very energy that keeps our hearts beating, it also is said life energy.

And while anyone can feel that energy simply by way of being conscious, that does not mean they can manipulate it, access it, or harness it. All people have the potential for magic. Not everyone has the capability, however.

Oh. Oh of course. It can't be explained, only experienced? Jorin almost threw the book against a wall. It was useless, utterly useless! That was circular logic: if it wasn't possible to describe it how did existing mages become mages? Jorin was quite sure there were plenty of human mages and as far as he knew no one was born knowing magic.

Ultimately each mage follows their own path toward accessing their Djed, and the end result is unique for each person. For some, it is as simple as pure concentration; perhaps aided by arcane words or gestures to assist. For others, it comes from deep meditation to access the deepest parts of the mind and body, to truly feel the energy before it can be modified.

Ultimately, no advice can or should be given. The only fact that must be stressed is that finding one's essential energy is the first and most important step toward learning any magic, not just Shielding. Without this, one is attempting to paint without a canvas.

Jorin groaned. So basically, the rest of the book would be useless to him if he didn't first learn how to "find" his Djed inside. He wondered how that was supposed to be done. The book mentioned some people just concentrated, but he rather doubted it could be that simple. It also mentioned meditation... perhaps that was a route he could try? Jorin determined to pick up a book on Meditation before he left.

Nonetheless, with a sigh, Jorin pressed on. Since he was not allowed to actually borrow this tome, he might as well read to the end to glean as much about this mysterious art as he could.

by **Jorin Ertihan** on November 13th, 2013, 8:50 pm

The next chapter, it seemed, was a bit more specific in terms of what Shielding itself actually was.

Chapter 2: Shielding - the Fundamental Principles

Ultimately a Shield is a filter. Just as the nets of a fisherman permit the water to flow through the weave but prevent the fish from swimming through, a Shield only permits certain Djed from passing through. This does not mean a Shield is perfect: just as a big enough fish can tear through a fisherman's net, so too can a powerful enough effect break through a Shield.

All Shields block Djed, but as Djed is such a broad term, it is more accurate to say that all Shields are tasked to block certain things from changing its fundamental nature. Imagine, for example, a piece of paper. Then imagine that paper being brought toward a candle and burned.

The paper's Djed is instantly changed to reflect its new nature as ash. Now imagine a Shield around that paper, tasked against fire. The paper will fail to burn; because the Djed of the Shield resists change to its fundamental nature from the source it is tasked against. However, since the Shield is not tasked against steel, a dagger can easily penetrate it and cut the paper in half.

The Djed used to create a Shield is extruded from the mage in a multitude of different ways, depending on how that mage understands their own Djed. Some extrude it from all their pores, almost like pheromones, and then tighten it about themselves, or objects, or others to form a barrier.

Others, release it in waves, then layer them atop the target, coating it almost like layers of paint. Still others weave their Djed like cloth, and some even breathe out their Djed. It all depends on the way in which that mage understands their personal Djed.

Jorin frowned. So it sounded like, just as with Djed itself, Shielding was no more a disciplined science. There were just too many variables, like an equation that is unbalanced because the number of independent variables outnumbered the dependent ones. And once again, without knowing how to access his usable Djed, or indeed if he even could, he was stuck. He didn't know which of these Djed extrusion techniques, if indeed any of them, would work.

At least the text made it clear what a Shield actually was. So the Djed extruded acted as a filter. The Shield itself appears to be, then, almost like a physical shield in a sense that it resists change to itself from the source it is "tasked" against. And because the Shield resists the change, the object it is protecting resists it as well, being that it is on the other side of it.

A very important thing to note: Tasking is not as simple as saying to oneself that one wishes the shield to block said material. All Shields, by their very nature, will block foreign magical Djed (note: magical Djed. It does not by default block all Djed; as everything naturally has Djed).

However, Tasking a Shield against something specific - such as Iron, or Animals - means one must first fundamentally understand the nature of what one seeks to guard against. The more fully one understands the nature of what one seeks to filter out by means of Shielding, the more "correct" the Task would be.

It is for this reason that Shielding is so often paired with the magic of Auristics; the magic that allows a mage to understand the true nature of things by reading their Djed or Aura. Beginner Shielders are encouraged to start with tasking their shields against something simpler, such as light, or sound. The fundamental nature of these simpler concepts are easier to grasp than then the more complex ones that are more the purview of advanced Shielding.

Jorin's head was beginning to hurt. The subject of Shielding was clearly a very complex one, and this was just the fundamentals! He wondered what advanched Shielding would look like, but right now he wasn't even sure he could handle even the barest basics.

But one thing struck him: assuming he actually managed to touch his Djed, and was able to manipulate it and extrude it somehow, how was he supposed to know his Shielding actually worked? He supposed he'd have to shield, say, a window against light and see if light passed through it, or something. But were Shields even visible? He read further.

Shields are visible to Shielders and can in fact look very beautiful. They usually appear as a sort of shimmering over whatever object they are protecting, though each Shield will have a distinct, unique look to it. In fact, the Shields of experienced Shielders will often have a distinctive appearance that almost serves as a hallmark.

Oh. Well, that's good. Jorin sighed. He figured there would be a great deal more he would need to learn, but it was getting later in the day and he was feeling like his brain was about to explode. Closing the book on Shielding, he carefully returned it and the other books to the shelves. Walking over to a nearby section of non-magical tomes, he carefully looked down the spines until he found what he was looking for.

Walking toward the front of the Library, Jorin carried the book carefully under his arm. Zandar looked up and smiled. "Find what you were looking for?" he asked. Jorin nodded.

"I think so. I'd like a copy of this one, please," he requested, placing "Basic Meditation Techniques" on the desk. Zandar nodded.

"That one's actually quite popular among mages," he said. Jorin nodded and thanked the Akalak, paying the requisite fee and took the copy gratefully from the man's hands.

Meditation alone might not be able to allow him to "feel" his Djed, but it was a start. And hopefully, with enough effort and time, he could do much more.

~Fin~

Ledger-10 GM (Copy of "Basic Meditation Techniques")

by **Taylani** on November 14th, 2013, 5:55 pm

Jorin Ertihan

Skills :

Lores :

Notes :

Solo [The Valkalah Library] On the Nature of Djed