Solo The First Few Steps

[Alric Wilmot]

Fall 65th of 513 AV ( note to whoever grades this, the items listed were bought here) Alric woke in the early morn with a smile on his face, eager to greet the day. He sprang up from the bed he had been sleeping on, a straw-stuffed cot that truly belonged to Miro. But Miro never slept anymore, not needing it. Thus with Miro's offer to stay at his home, the bed became Alric's. And despite the lumps, it was better than what Alric normally had to sleep on. Namely, the floor. He stretched and yawned as he got up and made the bed. He noticed that once more, Miro and his servant were gone apparently not making use of their own home. He shrugged his shoulders. What they did on their own time was none of his business. he quickly brought out the water basin and cleaned himself before getting dressed. He may spend all day inside, but that did not excuse a messy disheveled look. This was the first in a long series of steps toward mastering a new magical discipline. One that was far more tangible than his current power. He knew it was silly, but he felt like a small boy again, with his father bringing home a new book for him. He smiled, remembering better days, before the Djed Storm, the Winter Crisis, and the Zith's deathly assault on his father. Such things did not weaken him however, they only strengthened him, allowed him to face death and despair without being consumed by them. they were a part of life, unfortunately. Though, he had a plan to do away with them when the time was right... He shook his head and got into the proper frame of mind, going over to his things that he had placed neatly in the corner. The objects he bought yesterday were right on top. He plucked a piece of chalk, a book, and a human-shaped doll from the pile. He turned swiftly on his heel and went to an uncluttered section on the floor and sat down with his legs underneath him. Though he was eager to begin, he hadn't the slightest idea of what to do. Miro had suggested the chalk. Alric new he had to animate something, and had selected the doll due to the familiar shape. So, not knowing where to start, he brought out the book. It was old, though Alric doubted it was in circulation during the Alahean and Suvan Era. He opened it to the first page, and read.

[Alric Wilmot]

The book is written in dedication to my beautiful Galatea, may you find love, wherever you are. Before I begin, I must state this early on. This is a book for beginners, who have no prior knowledge of animation. If this does not describe you, then you'd best put this back. It will do you no good. Next, if you are a beginner, please, do not bite off more than you can chew. Animation is a glorious discipline, but like all magic, has a dark side. Never create anything without a kill phrase. Alric scratched his head at that. What was a kill phrase? He decided to keep reading. He figured the author would reveal this information as he went on. Now, the first thing that one must learn is that at lower levels, your creatures are not alive. They cannot think, or plan, or plot. All they can do is respond in ways you have told them to- Alric scoffed at that. All things were alive, and plotted and planned. That was as clear as day! He almost put aside the book, but decided that he still very much wanted to learn. And seeing as this was his only means of doing so, went back to reading in a rather perturbed mood. So it is wise then, to plan very broadly. When you animate an object, you are sending instructions to it. Whether these are instincts, muscle memory, or the very important kill phrase. You are sending information on what to do. It cannot do anything in its own. It is like you are playing with a doll, but in this case, you are doing so with naught but your voice. Now, to send instructions, you must draw a circle around both the thing you are animating and the the thing you want to base your instructions on. This can be yourself, but I will insist on using other creatures when needed. Your body may not be ideal in all situations. When these cirles are drawn, connect them with a line. This is essential, and if the line is cut, no information can be sent or received. For this reason, it is best to work alone. This will prevent accidents.

[Alric Wilmot]

Alric nodded at the wisdom, and found that for once, being by himself was an advantage. He took the chalk and did as the book instructed, drawing a circle around himself, and a smaller circle in front of him. He placed the doll in the smaller circle, and then drew the line leading from the middle of the smaller circle to his own. He brought up the book again with a lustful desire to learn more. Now, It is crucial that the object not leave the circle until the process is complete and the Animated being has been awakened. If using your own body, then this becomes less of a problem. Also, the item should not be altered in any way until that time, or the half-baked intelligence might get corrupted and become ruined or, in a few cases, even go berserk and uncontrollable. Now, I must stop my detailing of the process, to bring to you much needed knowledge on the principles of animation. If you are going to use these skills, it is crucial that you know some basic information and terminology. Otherwise, I fear you may be playing with fire without adequate protection. Animation works by attaching a Life Principle (abbreviated to LP by many mages) onto a given object. A Life Principle is an artificial soul, though in most cases it is a highly simplified one. Being a forged soul, the LP also possesses an astral body, the intermediate substance that can control the movements of a physical body. This is how an Animated construct can move around, provided it is designed to do so. The object's physical structure must have a reasonable weight and suitable joints allowing for the desired behaviors. For example, a granite statue will not be able to move if Animated, because it lacks joints to use as pivots for movement. The LP is never created from scratch; instead, another creature's soul is used as a template. All knowledge and behavior necessarily come from another source and are basically copied into the Animated object, though the Animator can modify them as well as mix and match behaviors from many different sources to one destination. The transfer of information takes place inside a pair of linked circles in a manner similar to Summoning, in that they are activated with a drop of the Animator's blood or other vital sap. The source of behavior stands inside the first circle, whereas the object to be Animated is in the other. The circles can even be customized and enhanced with Glyphing runes. Animating an object can easily require several sittings and take days or even months and years of effort in the case of exceptional golems. The source may vary every time, if the Animator wishes to instill bits of knowledge from different people and creatures. Of course, if the Animator is poor at the craft, the resulting behavior will be far from seamless and will resemble a patchwork of unrelated actions. If he is good, however, he can make the most of the different sources, merging that knowledge into something greater than the sum of its parts. Alric paused and blinked his eyes, tired from reading so much and trying to comprehend it. The author had said that this was a book for beginners, and it had started out fairly well. Very lax, and instructional. But with his detour into the principles of his craft, it seemed like his entire demeanor had changed. One new word after another, and another. Alric re-read the passage a few time to understand the content. Not even his hypnosis book had been so thorough in its first few pages.

[Alric Wilmot]

He read it a few more times to get the gist, but he finally believed he knew what it was saying. With his pace slowed, he read on, hoping to get back into the practical side of things. He wanted to actually do something, and while he was learning much from the text, he did much better from actual practice. Now, moving back to the actual process, the Animator after drawing the circle will shed a drop of blood on the circles. Then, he must deeply concentrate on transmitting information from the source to the destination. This first session is usually very short, and merely consists of creating the Soulcore - the very basis of identity, that which makes one different from another. The Animator will often use himself as a template, though this can create emotional attachment to the golem. I recommend avoiding when possible, but it is a personal choice. When you feel that there is a working Soulcore - one with the potential to live, albeit devoid of any information - the first step is complete. Alric re-read the instructions, feeling he was missing something. It stated what the steps were, but not necessarily how to accomplish them. How was he to make a soulcore? Wasn't he sendign instructions to "lifeless" objects? Shedding blood wasn't so clear either. How much blood? Did it matter where he extracted it from? Alric shook his head, rather sad at the lack of thoroughness that had been so complete before. He read ahead a bit to see if it became more clear later on. After reading the next few pages, it became apparent that that was all the book said on the subject of actually making a Soulcore. Alric decided to close the book. Today he would accomplish the first step. Tomorrow, he would move on. Alric gathered his thoughts as he put the book down by his side, outside of the chalk circle. He was glad he had chosen chalk, as opposed to charcoal. Chalk was easier to clean, and didn't stain quite so bad. Alric grabbed the knife he was accustomed to eating with, truly the only knife he knew, and placed its point on his index finger. He slowly pushed the point in, biting his tongue against the pain. The knife wasn't very sharp, and Alric had to try multiple times to cut himself. It didn't help that he was rather cautious, trying to make as little a cut as possible. Finally after the fifth attempt, he had a small bead of blood pooling on the tip of his finger. He placed it on the circle, and wiped the blood off his finger. He couldn't even see the cut. But, on the stark white chalk, he could plainly see the dark red blood. He had expected something to happen. A light or glow, or maybe a sound, all seemed like better payoffs. But nothing of the sort happened. All Alric felt was the familiar tingle of djed entering his mind. The same tingle he had felt on previous occasions when hypnotizing himself.

[Alric Wilmot]

Alric smiled, thinking that at least some aspects of Animation were familiar to him. He could send information along that line, which he imagined went toward the doll, much like how he hypnotized people. An imagined tendril, tethering him to the object, rather than something tangible, but real all the same. He thought then on the texts words. About how nothing was truly alive. He shook his head at the folly of the author. It was if he did not see the same world. The sun awoke like everyone else, and the water sang like a merry sailor. The cities knew you, and if you were a danger to them, directing you to back alleys and other dark places to be rid of you. The world was most definitely alive. Even that little doll was alive. It just didn't have any way to move. No muscles or bones to help it along. Alric decide then what Animation must truly be. It wasn't giving life, like the author claimed. It was unleashing it. So how was he to unleash it? The first step was to give the doll a Soulcore. But Alric didn't really know how. He decided to review what a Soulcore was then, just to see if he could figure something out. A Soulcore was the identity of the soul. It was separate from the personality and intelligence. It was also... actually, that was all he knew. Alric scratched his head, trying to think. Was that really all he knew about it? He decided to open the book again. Maybe there was a glossary in the back. He found few books had them, but they were very useful. To his luck, this particular book did in fact have a glossary. He gave a quick thanks to Ionu for his luck, though he knew finding knowledge was completely outside Ionu's domain. The book read thus. Soulcore is the deepest part of the soul; it is what gives the soul the property of being this soul. This part is responsible for the concept of self but carries no other information. Persona is the second layer, containing the soul's personality, feelings, skills and memories. It is more subject to modification that the Soulcore, and is usually shed entirely - though perhaps only temporarily suppressed - during reincarnation. Astral body is the third layer, which is responsible for interacting with the world. The astral body maneuvers the physical body like a puppet, and is synchronized with it. There is a magic discipline called Projection that allows the user to move the astral body independently of the physical one. Aura is not so much a layer as energy that is constantly radiated by the soul and can be felt and read in several ways such as Auristics. Auras are not limited to souls, however. Alric's eyes widened at the revelation of soul layers. He had never before heard this, despite knowing that the Soulcore was different from the intelligence and personality. He had assumed that they were separate, distinct from a soul, rather than a part of it. If this was the case, then it almost seemed that Animation was a magic that worked completely in souls. His reverence for the craft grew just a bit. But, to his dismay, he still did not know how to impart a Soulcore to the doll. With a slight shake of his head, he looked back to the doll, a burlap thing stuffed with straw and sewed on little reflective buttons. The buttons stared back at him, eyes begging for release. Yearning to truly see as he did. Alric couldn't deny this poor doll that opportunity. True, he had ulterior motives for learning Animation, but that did not mean that he couldn't do some good along the way. Finally Alric decided to just try. It wasn't laid out for him, but neither had most of his hypnotic revelations. He worked best when discovering things on his own. So that is what he would do.

[Alric Wilmot]

Alric closed his eyes and imagined the room he was staying in. The straw bed in the corner, the curtains by the window, the basin in the other corner, and the chair that held his meager worldly possessions; all of these he dismissed from his mind one by one. Nothing but Him, the doll, and the circles remained. He breathed in and out slowly, trying his best to concentrate. He went back to that familiar feeling at the back of his mind, that tendril of djed, and explored it. He imagined he could follow it, all the way to the doll. Nothing was inside it, and it felt like a large empty chamber. He then went the opposite way, back inside himself. And though he did not actually see or feel anything, he came to the impression of a fire, burning inside of him. He nearly opened his eyes, surprise plastered on his face. But he kept them shut, and focused on the task at hand. He thought, though he wasn't sure, that the fire might be his Soul. From it, might he extract a piece and place it within the doll? Curious, he reached out, to see if it would yield. Though it did yield, Alric found he could not take a piece of it. Though, as he imagined it, he found that he could copy its movements in his head. The twists, turns and dancing flames that were only in his head formed anew. In little time at all, there were two flames. Though the one he had made was small, the other flame a sun by comparison. Still, Alric smiled to himself. Though he had no way of confirming, he was certain that this was a Soulcore, the thing he had been so confused on how to make. Carefully, he placed it within the tether that led to the other circle, and the doll. He focused, as hard as he could, and moved the tiny flame into the human-shaped rag, praying that it would work. As he came to what he thought was doll's body, he met a resistance. Though he did not know if that was because their truly was any, or because he had imagined it. Regardless of its origins, he pushed through. There was a snap in his mind, and it seemed that the flame had been sucked into the doll. The flame was no longer there. After a brief panic, he slipped into the doll by way of the tether, and found that the flame had been placed within the doll. Alric breathed a sigh of relief. Alric opened his eyes then, and though he hadn't expected anything, really, was still disappointed that nothing had apparently changed in the real world. All of it had been in his head, and the doll looked the same as ever. But that did not stop him from smiling. He had completed the first step in what would eventually be a very important past of his plans. He had nowhere to go but up.

[Abstract]

Grade Awarded!

Alric

Skills

~ Animation - 5
~ Observation - 1
~ Meditation - 1

Lores

~ Animation: Creations are NOT Alive
~ Animation: Creations Controlled By Voice
~ Animation: Draw Circles around To-be Creation, and Model
~ Animation: Your Body may Not be Perfect for Modelling
~ Animation: Do Not Break Circles During Process
~ Animation: Attaching a Life Principal (LP) Onto An Object
~ The Four Layers of the Soul

Other

N/A

Notes

This was a great introduction into Animation for me, too! I didn't actually give much XP, as this was book learning rather than actually practicing the magic. However, I can't wait to see what you do next!