Solo The Art of Magic

[Rosela]

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Timestamp: 35th of Autumn 513AV

Rosela didn't know why she was thinking back on the Winter Council meeting of last year, but she was, and it was distracting. With such big plans swirling around in her life, she'd latched onto something Leo had said: Akvin's ascension to godhood. It had taken place in the rush of power from releasing Ivak from his prison, and the very notion that a mere mortal could simply ascend was intriguing to say the least. It bothered her that she had no further details, and with Leo gone from the city, her only avenue of information was now gone.

Magic held a particular interest in the subject, and though she remembered telling herself she needed to look into the disciplines of magic, she couldn’t remember what Leo had said to spark such a thought. Did it really matter? There was no harm in harnessing more power for oneself, especially if these did not require divine intervention to acquire.

She knew next to nothing about magic, having only learned it from an academic standpoint as a child. There was something about… Ded? Jed? Springing to action, Rosela threw the wool cloak she was working on over her table and stood. She’d closed shop nearly a bell ago, but the Library would be open for some time.

The walk to the library was brisk in the failing light, and she paused outside the door to kick a leaf off her shoe. It was getting damper and colder with each day, and soon enough she’d have to upgrade to warmer clothing to survive her walks home. Her dress was fine for the time being, but days when she didn’t go outside except for the walk to and from work, she didn’t get to enjoy the sun very much. Casting one last look at the darkening sky, she pushed through the door inside.

There was a young Akalak at the front desk and she gave him a cursory smile as she moved by. She’d been in the massive hall enough times that she knew where the section on magic was, though she’d never browsed it before. Indeed, she found it easily enough and looked with wonder down the multiple rows of books on the subject. She hadn’t decided what discipline she wanted to study, so throwing back her cloak, she began to browse in earnest.

After nearly a bell of simply wandering and pulling off books, she teetered over to a table and spilled her burden of books onto it. Her hands were lined and sore from carrying so many and she collapsed into the chair with a huff. She’d gotten carried away with herself, but at least she’d acquired a decent spread: reimancy, glyphing, voiding, hypnotism, and even a book on djed. She only knew what the last two sections were even about, but trusted her education would return to her after she started reading. Opening up the book on djed, she settled into the chair for a long evening.

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[Rosela]

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The study of the nature of djed is long and storied. The very word djed means “backbone” in Nader-canoch, the ancient tongue, and it describes the basest form of energy in Mizahar. Though it is commonly only associated with the magical disciplines, Djed is also responsible for the sentience of life, and our very free will. The schools of Sahova have studied…

Skipping ahead a few sections, Rosela looked for more on the practical application. She didn’t care how it was studied, just how it was used. She came upon a picture of a triangle and stopped.

Observe this triangle. By conventional thinking, this shape is only made up of ink on paper. However, what gives this shape its identity? If it were only made up of ink and paper, it would be no different from a square, or a circle. Something has marked this image, this idea, as triangle. That something is Djed. Djed determines the nature of this and any object, allowing us to identify it.

Now observe this pair of triangles. Because they are identical, it would stand to reason that their Djed is also identical, does it not? This would be incorrect. While Djed determines the nature of an object, it also determines the identity of that object. Twin objects, whether they are triangles or people, will have similar, but still different Djed, because the very nature of being two objects requires different Djed.

Rosela sat back and considered the idea, her brow knitted in confusion. So everything, even she, was made up of Djed? Were the gods also made up of it? It stood to reason they were, just…godly Djed. Djed that identified them as gods. She looked around the dim library, as though seeing it anew. Djed was everywhere. There was book Djed, shelf Djed, floor Djed, and dirt Djed under that. She was sitting on a chair with Djed that told it exactly how springy it was to be, and maybe even a predetermination of how many sits it could withstand before it fell through. Could someone who could see Djed see…everything? How close a stair was to breaking, where masonry stones had come from, how old a sheep had been when its fleece was sheared and turned into a wool sweater. The possibilities were seemingly endless.

Mind still spinning, she turned back to the book.

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[Rosela]

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The Laws of Djed

There are three laws defining the properties of Djed:

1. Djed cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.
2. Some forms of Djed are purer than others.
3. Some transformations are irreversible.

On the first law, observe the below square, and then the figure next to it, with a line drawn through it to transform the square into two triangles. With the simple action of drawing a line, the Djed of the square has been transformed into the Djed of two triangles. The Djed of the square has not been lost, only transformed. There is no action that may destroy or create Djed, only transform it.

Regarding the second law, observe the below images of a child and a triangle. Do not think of them as two drawings, but instead picture the child in your mind as real and alive next to the drawn triangle. The Djed of the triangle only contains what information is needed to define the triangle: its borders, shape, and material. The Djed of the child is infinitely more complex, as the Djed does not only shape the child’s constantly growing shape, but the mind is also defined. Every action of free will alters the child’s own Djed, form it continuously as the child grows and matures. For this reason, the Djed of the child is significantly more powerful than that of the triangle’s.

The third and final law is in regards to these transformations that take place on Djed. Imagine taking a paper with the triangle on it, and burning it. Remember from the first law that the Djed of the triangle has not been destroyed by the act of burning. The Djed has only been transformed to that of paper ashes. However, there are no magicks that might restore these ashes to their original paper. The ashes may be ground into a new piece of paper, re-transformed, but the Djed will never return to its original state before being burned. Not all transformations are irreversible, but there do exist a select few, complete burning being the most common.

Feeling tired, Rosela set the book down and sat back in the chair. Djed couldn’t be destroyed, some forms were purer than others, and some transformations were irreversible. It seemed fairly straight forward.

The library could be burned down, all its books destroyed, and then completely rebuilt. The Djed of the old library would be transformed into ashes, and could never be changed back, even if a new library were built using components of the old one. Whether the books or the walls had more powerful Djed was likely up for some debate, as neither were living objects, but Rosela wanted to believe the books were more powerful. Walls were just walls, but books had pages that contained words and ideas. There may be a shape in the grain of the wall that sortof looked like a letter, and the Djed would allow that the letter be interpreted, but that would be as far as it went.

About to dive back into the book, Rosela caught herself and forced it closed. As interesting as this all was on a philosophical level, she’d come for a lesson in magic, something practical. The three laws would be well and good while learning the other disciplines, but she needed to specialize a bit if she was ever going to learn something practical.

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[Rosela]

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‘Reimancy: Crafting the Elements’

Rosela picked this book up next, as Reimancy had been one of the largest sections with clear sections on Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. It was obviously some discipline that involved controlling the elements, and while it was an interesting image to see herself controlling the wind with her mind, she couldn’t think of any practical application of being able to move the earth. Still, she flipped open to the first chapter and settled in.

The discipline of Reimancy allows a user to expel part of their personal Djed from their body in the form of ‘Res’, which can then be manipulated into any one of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Res in its raw form appears as either a thin gas or a thick gel, depending on the inclination of the caster. Beginners may cast only one element, but a true master may summon any combination of the four at whim.

Reassessing her initial impression of Reimancy, Rosela discarded the idea of controlling the existing elements. She supposed a Reimancer would be able to…light their hearth without flint, or create a stone box out of nothing. It still wasn’t that appealing, but out of curiosity, she flipped to the chapter on Initiation.

Many wizards may look back on their initiation into Reimancy as frightening or traumatic. However, to gain access to the great benefits of the elements, one must endure great trial.

The use of Res does not simply happen to a wizard, they must be immersed in it by a master, and allow their body to be invaded by the teacher’s Res. It must be inhaled as gas, as well as forced through the openings in one’s body. The natural openings are often not enough to absorb the Res to sufficient levels, and cuts are made in the hands.

The absorption process is painful and often quite dangerous. Acolytes are encouraged to only undergo initiation with a trusted teacher, as while the Res is being absorbed, any transformation taken by the teacher would likely prove fatal for the student.

Rosela’s face grew steadily more horrified as she read through the section, wondering who in their right mind would want to go through such a process. Creating the various elements from nothing sounded great, but it held no appeal for her. Going through her pile of books, she removed the several she had on Reimancy and put them aside. She had no desire to pursue that line of magic.

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[Rosela]

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Her next book was a large volume on Glyphing, and a quick flip through the pages showed it to be a bookish kind of discipline. Pages were filled with symbols and diagrams, and she felt herself being turned off by the amount of information apparently needed. Opening up to the beginning chapter, she tried to read with an open mind.

While many consider Glyphing to be a secondary skill, it is among the most powerful of the world magicks. Glyphing allows a user to tap into and control other branches of magic through the use of runes and sigils. Many great wizards have channeled their power into scrolls, using the power of Glyphing to unleash the scrolls at a moment’s notice. Because Glyphing works with other branches of magic, instead of independently, it is advised that novice wizards not choose Glyphing as their first branch of magic.

Rosela stuck her tongue out at the book, and heaved it to the side with irritation. Two other volumes on Glyphing soon followed suit and shrunk her ‘to-read’ pile slightly more. Glyphing was still of interest, particularly whether these scrolls could be bought and used by novices, but if one of the first notes on a discipline was that it not be a student’s first area of study, she’d be stupid not to follow that advice.

‘Voiding and You’ was next, and she had slightly higher hopes about this one. Now that she was a little deeper into study, she thought she remembered Voiding – sending things into some pocket hole in the world. That sounded quite useful, after a moment of thought. Storage space for her store would disappear, and it would all be nice and secure on the other side.

Voiding is one of the many disciplines of magic whose origins were lost in the Valterrian. The concept is simple: Open a portal to the Void, and a wizard may leave items, or enemies, on the other side. Portals may be generated that have a pull, or suction, to them to better facilitate their use in capturing enemies. Anchors may be used to be sure portals open to a specific area of the Void. Through the use of these anchors, the expert Voider may open several portals around the same anchor, allowing an item or person to pass through them to another point on Mizahar. There is great risk in entering any portal, however, as portals cannot be opened from the Void, and if a portal is closed with a user inside, rescue from the outside is the only way of returning to this world.

Rosela raised her eyebrows as she flipped through the book. Portal travel sounded vastly interesting, especially when regular travel was so time-consuming and dangerous. Maybe use a glyph to open a portal on the other end, and a user could pop between cities on a daily basis. Looking through the table of contents, she found the chapter on initiation and flipped to it.

Initiation into voiding is far less traumatic than many other disciplines, though does require significantly more time. An acolyte must be separated from all worldly things for a significant amount of time, sometimes weeks, contemplating the notion of nothingness and emptiness. A phrase must be repeated continuously until it loses all meaning and can become the initiating spark for a portal to be opened.

While the process was significantly more bearable than that for Reimancy, Rosela certainly didn’t have the time to isolate herself for weeks on end. Who did? It seemed like something a prisoner might contemplate in their captivity, which seemed like a dangerous occurrence in itself. The idea of learning voiding was still quite appealing, but it would likely have to wait for another time, when her business was well enough that she could afford to take a few weeks off.

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[Rosela]

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The next book Rosela slid out of the pile was on Hypnotism, a discipline she actually vaguely remembered. A Hypnotist could look into someone’s eyes and turn their mind to any idea the Hypnotist desired. Her childhood studies hadn’t focused on it any more than any other discipline, but the idea had stuck like a fish hook in the mind of the young, lonely Rosela. To make the other children play with her, make them like her and give her their toys, it was like a dream that such a thing was possible.

However, like all subjects her tutors had tried to interest her with, reports and the actual work of studying had turned her off, and it had become just another passing fancy she’d once entertained. Now that she was a grown woman, she had the ability to return to the idea.

Hypnotism as a discipline is the manipulation of Djed through not just force of will, but personal charisma. The caster’s Djed is sent into another living being to manipulate their Djed. This manipulation manifests as changes in character, mood, or actions. At the higher levels of the discipline, the master can even outright control another being.

However, there exists a great deal of hype around the abilities of Hypnotists, often spread by Hypnotists themselves. A Hypnotist cannot force a victim to go against their ingrained principles. A steadfast champion of Priskil will not be forced to barbarism in the name of Myri, even if manipulated by a master of the art. However, a kindly man may be manipulated into theft, or a thief coerced into turning himself in. Small acts are where the Hypnotist excel – pushing just the right emotional triggers to lead a man down the right path.

Rosela set the book down and bit a thumbnail in thought. Maybe Hypnotists weren’t as all-powerful as she’d grown up believing. Did she have the knowledge to manipulate others well enough? Was she good enough at reading people to tell what she should say or what thought she should implant? She liked to think that she’d gotten to a point where she could sell to her customers fairly well, but this was more widespread than that.

The thought of her shop brought up another thought, the sneaky little idea of using Hypnotism to coerce people into buying her clothing. Did she dare?

The thought seemed bright and promising at first, but abruptly came crashing down. There would be no greater blow to her reputation than word getting out that she was a Hypnotist, forcing her wares on people. Her shop would be abandoned; no one would come near her for fear of her manipulations. It wasn’t as though she could unlearn Hypnotism to prove her innocence either; a good reputation lost was lost forever. Still…

Out of curiosity, and nothing else, she told herself, she flipped open to the chapter on initiation into the discipline.

Hypnotism is first and foremost an instinctive art, relying more on the wizard’s personality than any incantations or gestures. Acolytes into the discipline are encouraged to meditate in front of a mirror for several days, speaking to themselves until the action becomes automatic. The study of one’s own mind is crucial to unlocking the secrets of others’.

“Ma’am?”

Rosela snapped her head up in alarm, almost not recognizing the Tukant of the Akalak librarian. ”Yes? I, um…”

“The library, ma’am,” He switched to Common for her with a smile. “It’s closing now.”

”Is it that late? I’m sorry, let me… Let me just go.” Her cloak was thrown on in a hurried flourish and she sped away and out of the library as though she’d been caught doing something illegal. Hypnotism sounded so…appealing, even in spite of the danger it would pose to her reputation. She had no doubt being known as a Hypnotist would bring a good deal of suspicion upon herself. If she could pull it off though, if she could just pull it off in secret…

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[Taylani]

Rosela

Skills :

+3 intelligence

Lores :

Theology: Akvins Ascension to godhood
Reimancy: Literal translation of Djed “Backbone”
Djed cannot be destroyed
Reimancy: Beginners cast only one element but Masters can cast many.
Initiation into Reimancy is traumatic

Notes :

I gave you intelligence points for gathering intelligence on the various subjects of magic. Didn’t give you any points in magic simply because only snippets wouldn’t gain skills. I always want to just cuddle Rosela when she thinks about her childhood  PM me with any concerns about your grade, and don’t forget to delete/edit the grade request