[The East Wing]Glyphing 304

by **Clyde Sullins** on November 30th, 2013, 2:18 pm

64 Fall 513

Letting out a sigh, Clyde looked at the students arrayed before him. Clyde had learned his Glyphing over the years from various sources, back in Syliras where he was initiated into the craft, practicing in Zeltiva, and with other magics for supporting roles such as warding in Magecrafting and storage with Reimancy. For most of that time he had not had a true teacher, instead learning by trial and error and through pain and practice.

As he saw it one of the greatest purposes of a teacher was to instill said knowledge, thus allowing their students to bypass much of the trials and tribulations said instructor had to undergo in learning it.

Luckily for him he was a skilled enough Glypher to not have to teach the lower levels of Glyphing, endlessly initiating new practitioners and going over the basics of the craft. Instead he was an advanced Glyphing teacher, and as such went over the deeper mysteries and lessons of the craft. Things without a specific answer, things more theoretical and intellectual in nature than copying and remaking runes by rote.

For his first lesson he had a small hand of students arrayed before him, five wizards that practiced Glyphing and that were skilled enough to attend his class. All knew the basics well, and were ready and willing to press on to the more difficult tasks of Glyphing. They varied in sex and age. There were three males sitting at the desks, along with two females. Two looked to be late in their life, easily in their fifties, while another two where in their late teens to early twenties. The fifth, one of the females, looked to not even be in her teens just yet, likely only ten or eleven if not a bit younger.

Considering Clyde himself had started magic at the age of five, he did not begrudge her or assume to much about her before meeting, instead letting her skills explain her, not her age.

“Class. You are all reasonably skilled Glyphers, or else you would not be here. So I trust you all know the basics, or else you would not be in this advanced Glyphing class. I would like to start off with a bit of theory.”

Clyde paused for a moment, walked up to the chalkboard, and drew a large circle. Inside of it he drew a single dot, around which he drew a small circle.

“Glyphing by its nature rings true of the circle. By its nature it is not an active magic, does not do anything fancy, does not kill or change the world. Instead it is the stylus, the quill, and other magics are the inks that lay upon it. Through it great things can be done, undone, altered, or ascended. By in and of itself it does nothing. No matter how skilled you are at Glyphing, by itself you will never be able to do great things unless you also use it with other djeds. Be that as it may, the greater your understanding of Glyphing, the greater your control over such things, and the greater the end result.”

“So you should bear this in mind as you practice. Glyphing is both innately and uniquely harmless, but when used properly can do great things beyond many other magics alone could achieve. It is to be feared and respected in equal turns. And above all, it should be understood.”

Clyde paused for a moment, and marked a large line through the inner circle with one swift motion.

“But to understand, it must not be limited. If you make assumptions, if you self limit and say this is where it stops, this is all that can be done, then you are right. You will stop there. It is only when you push past that, push to the edges of possibility, that one can truly grasp the truth of Glyphing. Its uses are endless, or at least as endless as your own imagination and tenacity. Do not make assumptions then of how Glyphing works, how it functions or where it ends, instead test it, and press on. This is why we are here, to test theories and ideas, to press outward our understanding and the domain of Glyphing, to let it fully express itself beyond what most would assume are the ends of the craft.”

by **Clyde Sullins** on December 20th, 2014, 7:50 pm

As Clyde's lecture continued, he went into various theories and ideas which he wanted the class to consider.

“Now, there are certain rules that Glyphing follows, ways and limits and such inherent in it. However part of this is simply assumptions, something you do at your own folly.”

“The simplest rule is that Glyphing only affects magic, it only works when there is djed working about, in influencing, affecting, directing, combining, storing, splitting, or doing a number of other things to it.”

Clyde paused for a moment, and pointed at one of the male students, asking him a question.

“Now, what is required to store a spell?”

The student paused for a moment, clearly thinking it over, before he answered.

"Well... Generally a storage scroll or device would have a focus, a barrier, and a trigger."

Clyde grinned back at him, and shook his head.

“Wrong. I asked what is needed to store a spell. Now a simple storage scroll is the most often used instance of said storage, but a storage scroll is not the purest form of said concept, as it is not only a means of storage, but also dispersal. To simply store a spell or effect, all that is truly needed is a focus to hold it, and a barrier to keep it in. But at its base to store it a trigger is not needed.”

Clyde grinned back at the man, shaking his head before pressing onward.

“As I said, don't make assumptions. I cannot fault him on his answer, as most would answer as such. But I ask you all to press past such assumptions, such basic understandings, and cut to the quick, to the underlying essence and truth. If you understand the base needs and capabilities of the Glyphs, you can better understand them and their purpose and ability, and so propose new or unique variations or ideas.”

“While yes in general a means of dispersal is needed or desired, not always, so in a strictly storage example, it is not needed. Said source of a trigger could then either come from another scroll, or an outside force, or some other instance. But at its core a trigger is not needed on the storage. Think beyond, consider the essence of Glyphing, and what lays beyond the obvious.”

by **Clyde Sullins** on December 21st, 2014, 1:07 am

As his lesson went on, Clyde attempted to make his students think in new and different ways. To expand their minds and thought processes to new ideas.

“Now, if you consider the abilities of Glyphing, the core rules and strictures, you can do much with little, or little with much. in general one wants to find the simplest solution to a problem. Expend the least amount of energy to complete a goal. While you may make something complex, that does not mean it must be difficult or confusing to use. The best uses of Glyphing are simple in execution and as pared back to the essentials as possible, with nothing excess or misplaced. Only make what is needed, and so do not waste any time.”

Heading to the board again, Clyde began to draw out a simple ward, at least simple compared to some of the work he had done.

It was a simple warding structure Clyde had used when he first became a Magecrafter, a design he had constantly improved upon until he had ended up with the current style he know used.

He drew a circle with a slash across it at the center, to signify the pedestal and the item upon it, some sort of blade or elongated item. Next was a barrier, weaving in and out around it, a curving snakelike barrier with a series of dots. Next was a series of focus sandwiched inside of it weaving up and down snake like structure. Finally was another set of a barrier, ensconcing the focus laden layer, and finally completing its ensconcing circle.

It was a simple design, built with an extra layer of redundancy, along with a set of focus to absorb djed within. Not the optimum layout, as Clyde had since learned, but decent enough.

“Now, this is a simple layout I used long ago, for protection purposes when Magecrafting. Often when Magecrafting their is a danger of djed getting in and interfering with or affecting the reaction. Foreign or outside djed entering the reaction can be fatal if it messes up the reaction. At best it can make the item a dud, which with the cost inherent in Magecrafting can be quite costly.”

Making gestures and hand motions, Clyde explained the layout.

“Now, this bit here marks the pedestal, and the item upon it. This layer here is a simple barrier layer, meant to keep out external djed from entering into its confines. The additional layers are redundancies, fall backs and outer layers to further strengthen the set up, and to meet any threat of external djed from.”

“Now, before the next class, I want each of you to copy this layout down, and attempt to improve it. This is a early design of mine, so there is plenty to improve upon it.”

“I also give you a clue, something that when it occurred to me allowed me to greatly improve my warding for this specific usage. For every instance of something, its opposite or inverse is also possible. Bearing in mind that such a thing needs to be prepared for, improve this design for the specific purpose I have explained.”

With that his first lesson was completed. He had lectured for quite some time, given a few displays and explanations, attempted to force them to broaden their mind and understanding of Glyphing, and posed a practical question upon them.

Clyde could not help wondering how his students would do, and what ideas they would present on their next meeting. He also wondered if his cryptic hint would aid them in finding the solution he eventually did.

by **Zandelia** on February 4th, 2015, 2:19 am

Clyde :

Notes :

Any questions or concerns please PM me. As always, keep writing!

Solo [The East Wing]Glyphing 304