[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

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Home of the Konti people, this ivory city is built of native konti stone half in and half out of the sea. Its borders touch the Silverwood, and stretch upwards towards Silver Lake, home of the infamous konti vision water. [Lore]

[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

Postby Arianni D'Sorn on August 29th, 2010, 4:31 pm

Inscribing Destiny


Date: 37th of Fall, 505 AV
Location: Spelltower Timandre

Control.

It always boiled down to control. Ever since that fateful day when she had somehow managed to open a portal to the Void large enough to swallow her and a horse, Arianni had received lesson after lesson from her mother about control. How was she to know how to handle such a large rip to the vast nothingness, when she expected her first successful attempt would open nothing bigger than a golden miza, instead of some yawning maw that looked like the dark eye of some gigantic god? It had blinked into existence an arm's length away from her, with a pull strong enough to drag the poor girl from where she stood. Desperately, she had tried to collapse it with her fledgling skill as it did not seem as if it would have collapsed in on itself any time soon. Needless to say, she got sucked in, and would have died had it not been for her mother.

And that's how it had all started. The magic dead girl everyone thought would not be able to cast a single spell managed to open a black hole in the middle of her mother's living room, overgave from the strain which resulted to her almost venting her right eye out of her skull, and ended up with a demon-red shade on said eye which everyone now thought was a mark from some dark, malicious god.

So now here she was, walking through empty streets and unused alleyways leading to Spelltower Timandre, on her way to learn “control”, as her mother had insisted. Avalone had been adamant about it. If she could not deny her daughter's interest in the arcane arts, she was determined for the girl to receive the best instruction for practicing it, and nobody was the equal of the Timandres when it came to magic. The woman should know, she was one of them, though Avalis knew she had done her best before to shield her daughter from her family. But ever since Arianni displayed a propensity in the art of Voiding (just like her mother!), it was inevitable.

Arianni had received very specific directions from her mother, from the location of the nautilus shaped structure that was Spelltower Timandre to the exact location of the room she had to go to inside, described down to the number of steps she had to take to arrive to the place. Thus the girl did not even need to ask anyone for directions to get to where she was headed; her mother's intimate knowledge of the place served better than any map. She found the place easy enough, a veritable palace to her simple tastes, all extravagant and exquisite with its carpeted floors and chandeliered ceilings. Her destination was a side room on one of the bookcase-lined hallways, and she encountered no one else in the tower save for a doddering elder Konti who was looking through the endless shelves of books and mumbling something about a missing cat. Hearing voices within, Arianni paused just outside the threshold of the room, out of sight, composing herself. Meeting new people had never been easy for her. At least there only seemed to be a couple of people in the room, judging from the sound. Taking a deep breath, Arianni turned the corner and entered.

The room was small and there were only two people in it. One was a girl about the same age as Arianni sitting in one of the few chairs in the room, listening attentively to a tall and wispy woman enumerating the properties of glyphs. Occasionally, she would dip her swan feather quill in an inkwell to scribble notes on her leather-bound book. She paused in her writing to stare when Arianni entered the room, prompting the shy girl to instinctively lower her gaze to the floor. The lecturer, noticing the girl's arrival as well, cleared her throat.

“Arianni, I presume. You realize you are late.” It wasn't a question. The woman sounded strict, though there was no trace of anger or annoyance in her voice. Arianni could only nod meekly at her in response. “Very well. You know why you are here. As such, you will not be late in my class again.

"I am Amaris, and if your mother has not told you yet, I will be the one instructing you to better channel the energies you draw upon to fuel your...gift.”


Arianni heard the slight pause in the Amaris' introduction. She imagined the woman staring at her red eye, though she really couldn't tell with her gaze still on the floor.

“Such things could be achieved through a number of other ways, meditation foremost among them. But since I do not have the patience to train your mind to achieve the discipline required for such a state, you will instead learn glyphing from me. At any rate, sit down. This is Kamalia, by the way.”

Amaris said the last part as if it should be of some significance to Arianni. The girl did not understand however, so she merely offered the other girl a faint smile and a soft, “Hello” before taking her seat. Gingerly, she took out her own notebook, quill and inkwell – much simpler items compared to the expensive-looking possessions of her co-student. They would still serve their purpose nonetheless.

Time to study control, then.
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[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

Postby Kamalia Timandre on October 30th, 2010, 3:58 pm

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Here in Konti, magic danced and whirled and stirred about in the air. It was everywhere—mostly as a result of the presence of gods and the plethora of gnosis they shared with their faithful; partly because of the mystical powers that permeated the Silver Lake. Everywhere there was magic and nowhere was that so true as in Mura, the gleaming tiara of the Konti Isle.

The peaceful city had no formal military and had never found the need for one, but she had suvai masters, healers and spellcasters aplenty at her beck and call should the need arise. Unlike the humanfolk of Sylira, the konti women were unprejudiced with their opinion of wizards for the island itself was awash in magical wonders. Many of these sorceresses hailed from the Timandre clan, one of the oldest dynasties in Mura. Since the beginning, the konti people sought the Timandre family in matters concerning arcane magic. They were fancily dubbed Mura’s “Silver Witches”.

Timandre herself, a trueborn and ancient daughter of Avalis and Laviku, and the first mother of the great dynasty that bore her name, was believed to be one of the first konti to have ever displayed the affinity for the arcane and studied the art of high sorcery. Mother Timandre had personally taught magic to her daughters and to their daughters in turn, for it was her lifelong Call to educate her people on the dreams that magic could weave and, of course, the nightmares that it could unleash.

A strong flow of sorcerous talent had resulted in many in this clan taking up the study of various magical disciplines and lost arcane secrets. They had forged a solid reputation in Mura as the principal konti family that invested piles of sovereign mizas into magic research. At the same time, a number of Timandre’s scions are known as accomplished martial artists, seers and suvai maidens.

Spelltower Timandre stood as one of the testaments to the wealth and power accumulated by the clan for centuries since the foundation of the city. The structure was not huge, yet it was built to inspire awe just the same. The wizard tower rose in a stately curve of marble and pearlescent stone, resembling a crowning nautilus, daubed with the colors of dawn. A lush pale garden surrounded the tower, and a ring of luminescent silver flowering trees neatly encircled the structure.

Here, a young konti maiden walked towards the large elaborate doors that magically swung open at her approach. She was garbed in pale blue robe that marked her as a reimancer apprentice.

Here again, at last. This moment of the day was hers and hers alone. Kamalia looked up to the stairs to the tower’s gleaming hallways. She smiled to herself, savoring the silence, drinking it like a connoisseur might delight in the bouquet of fine vintage. Slowly, knowingly, she took the stairs towards the bookcase-lined hallways one by one, each tread its own part in her private ritual. She left the Konti world behind her, reclaiming the sanctuary of her own role as a savant, a sorcerer and a scholar. By the time she reached the third floor, she had no thoughts save for the wonders she would read and learn again within!

Each day, Kamalia would come here, indulging herself in the knowledge that she would learn something new, pieces of erudition more expensive than jewelries and gem-studded combs.

She walked across the hallway, towards the section of bookshelves that had been her focus for the past few weeks. She drew a rather large, dark-bound book with the illustration of an arcane eye. The cover was inscribed with runes framing the illustration and the title: “The Eye of the Magi: A Primer to Auristics” by Antonifleros Mullonde. Excitedly, Kamalia brought the book to her study table, lit a candle and settled to peruse the tome.

She was intent on consuming the entire library, driving herself to read through page after page written by wizards and priests, paupers and princes, sages and merchants. She drove herself restlessly through hours upon hours of translation whenever she read books written in Nader-Canoch, to make sure she had not missed a single nuance of what might be gleaned from these ancient texts.

After a few spent candles, a white cat with a silver moon mark brushed itself against the konti’s legs. The young konti took from her pouch star-shaped confections and fed the purring feline. “Hello, Eclipse. I suppose it’s time for Aunt Amaris’s lecture now, isn't it? Stop giving grandaunt Kidala a headache,” she smiled as she gently scratched behind its ears.

She rose and made her way to Amaris’s study. Education was one thing that the Timandre elders supported strongly. Any discipline that required arduous, rigorous, systematic study was a welcome challenge for the scions of the clan. It immediately became clear that Kamalia was far beyond most of her young cousins in magical ability. After some customary greeting and protocol, Kamalia seated behind a large desk and brought out a leather-bound book. The lesson today was all about the properties of glyphs—and more importantly, control. Kamalia listened attentively, occasionally dipping her swan feather quill in a crystalline inkwell to jot down the lecture.

Kamalia paused in her writing when a girl about her age entered the room and cleared her throat. At first, there was irritation on the reimancer’s face, as if she resented being interrupted in her learning. This must be the new apprentice Aunt Kidala was talking about. Kamalia stared curiosuly as she spotted the newcomer’s unnerving crimson eye. She wondered how the girl acquired such peculiar eye color.

Her expression tightened again when the novice greeted her. These childish apprentices who came here for a few short hours of “study” never appreciated the wonders that surrounded them. She forced a smile. “Greetings and well met,” Kamalia said dryly and eloquently, as if teaching her the proper way to greet another apprentice. “My name is Kamalia, of the Timandre family. I will be delighted to study magic with you.”

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[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

Postby Arianni D'Sorn on November 7th, 2010, 1:25 pm

Arianni did not need her truth-sense to note the falseness in the other girl's words for she did not hide the condescension in her voice. The girl was Timandre and was likely entitled to such, so Arianni ignored it, merely nodding and giving the girl, Kamalia, another slight smile. She wondered briefly, however, if the tone in girl's greeting would be different if her own mother had claimed the same last name every recognized magic user seemed to have in the small island. They were cousins though the other girl did not know it yet. Arianni did not felt inclined to enlighten her, just averting her eyes to focus on the lecture instead.

She promptly forgot everything else as her mind zeroed in on Amaris' words, the lesson the elder Konti was imparting becoming the center of the girl's world.

"...wizards of yore were considered uneducated if they did not know glyphing," the woman was saying. She was giving a brief history about Glyphing it seemed, something Arianni had already read in her mother's small library at home. She listened to the lesson nonetheless. "You have to understand that the art was much more commonplace back then, and almost every magic user practiced it. Despite being a popular magic discipline, however, glyphing has a rather unique property. Arianni! Perhaps you can share with us what it is?"

While her ears were trained on the lecture the whole time, Arianni's head was bowed as she stared at the blank page of her open notebook. The woman must have thought that she was not listening and decided to make an example of her. Arianni's mismatched eyes flickered up for a moment, noting the cool gaze of Amaris upon her, before they returned to the spot on her notebook she had been staring at the whole time.

"It's, um...well, it can't generate an effect on its own. It-it needs to be used in conjunction with another magic discipline," she stammered, speaking just loud enough for Amaris to hear. "The saying goes that it's, um, a magic discipline without its own 'magic'."

There was a moment of silence and when Amais spoke again, Arianni did not need her eyes to know that her tutor approved of her answer. "Hmm. Yes, this is true," the woman confirmed. "On its own, glyphs cannot generate any effect. At all. Scribbled on a scroll without storing a magical effect, it could just be so much gibberish.

"Glyphing, however, makes it possible for a wizard to cast a spell from a discipline she do not know. Provided, of course, that she knows how to trigger it in the first place."


Amaris proceeded to give different examples on how one without any knowledge of magic could set off spells stored in a glyph. Most were simple and mundane, some benevolent in nature, but Arianni found the one about a floor plate trap that summons a manatee above an intruder to crush him particularly amusing. Amaris, in her serious tone, swearing that she did not make that one up made it even funnier. Suppressing a giggle, Arianni turned her head slowly to the side and peered at her seatmate to see if Kamalia found it funny as well.
Last edited by Arianni D'Sorn on April 20th, 2011, 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

Postby Kamalia Timandre on February 10th, 2011, 6:13 am

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Unlike Arianni who seemed reluctant to answer, Kamalia was academically aggressive to the extreme. She was the more outspoken of the two, demonstrating her intimate familiarity of the history of magic and the mechanics of djed whenever she was given opportunity. Her hand always immediately shot up in the air whenever Mistress Amaris posed a question to the two young novices, and Kamalia’s answers were always correct, detailed and precise. Each time her prodigious niece answered, Amaris responded with an approving nod. Arianni would glimpse an exultant smile from her Timandre cousin. When Amaris turned her head to look to her cousin, she would find that Kamalia was staring back at her. Kamalia's lips curved into a mysterious smile and her eyes twinkled in amusement.

Like Arianni, Kamalia’s entire concentration was focused on their aunt’s lecture. Amaris Timandre was known in Mura as an adhira of considerable talent and intellect, and she demanded from her students their utmost attention whenever she gave a lesson. “Glyphing is among the most potent world magicks to complement any other arcane discipline,” their teacher said in a perfectly even voice. “For centuries long before the Valterrian scorched the world, during the mage wars, did you think the wizards of Alahea and Suva would go into battle without their glyphs? Scrolls that summoned firestorms, lightning bolts and blizzards were not uncommon and mass-produced. Glyphs that brought the power of Voiding magic into the fray and mobilize its armies quickly were essential as well. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Alahean reimancer and master glypher, Tempestra Pyralis?” before Kamalia could utter an eager ‘yes’, the Adhira went on, “and the Morpher Lucenda Saeldain, better known in her magonym Lucera, during the reign of Nalessa Nymkarta around 4312 to 4289 pre-Valterrian?” Kamalia opened her mouth to say something again, but Amaris spoke quickly, “Lucera single-handedly morphed an entire battalion of Suvan soldiers into chickens by leading them into a giant maze made of pebbles and crystals. They did not know that the maze was actually a giant glyph charged with powerful Morphing magic.”

There was a slate in front of the room, and the Mistress walked over to it. From the sleeves of her white robe, the Mistress produced some kind of small crystal, as thin and as long as her fingers, which she used to write elegant Kontinese script with on the board. The script glimmered silver, shimmering faintly in the candlelight.

“Here is a framework that you two must remember of what Glyphing can accomplish,”
Mistress Amaris said impassively. She stared at both her students, her eyes icy and piercing, as if they could pierce into their soul. On the board, the list gleamed softly.

    • Store magic
    • Release magic upon activation of a trigger
    • Restrict magic into a fixed space
    • Channel the effects into an area, target or path
    • Split the effects of magic
    • Combine the effects of magic
    • Stabilize wild magic

“At least that is the framework you will find in every Zeltivan textbook,” Amaris said wryly. “The Wright University and its puffed up professors seem to have left out one of the most important functions that Glyphing can achieve,” the Mistress said coolly, and Kamalia’s hand instantly shot up in the air again.

“It is what drives the undead wizards of Sahova, devoting their undying lives to endless magical research, even as the kingdom that they serve is long gone, pulverized into ashes by the Valterrian. This has been forbidden in many magical circles, as well.” Amaris ignored Kamalia and turned to face Arianni, her silken dress gleaming faintly as she moved. The Adhira did something that was eerie and uncanny: she smiled— a bare curve of the corners of her mouth. “Mayhap you have something to contribute, Arianni? What do you suppose is it?” Amaris asked gently yet sternly, never taking her cold piercing gaze off Arianni's face.

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Kamalia Timandre
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[Flashback] Inscribing Destiny (Kamalia)

Postby Arianni D'Sorn on April 20th, 2011, 1:45 pm

Arianni seemed to shrink into her seat as Amaris turned her attention upon her. The elder Konti's ephemeral smile had the girl lowering her gaze from the attention, and she willed herself to become smaller with each word that passed through Amaris' lips, as if it were possible. She was ill at ease with the attention as for some reason she could not fathom, the woman seemed to be favoring her over the more active Kamalia, appearing as if eager to hear her knowledge on the subject matter. Despite her discomfort, she knew she had to speak soon, for a second reprimand on her first day would make her wish she did not attend. What would her mother say if that happened?

"It...it is said that the... the denizens of Sahova are bound to continue doing what they do," she began, her voice so small she thought that it sounded like the squeak of a little mouse. "They...each of them...signed a Grand Oath."

It was basic knowledge for her, of course. Besides the princilpes of the art, Avalone had taught her the history of Glyphing ever since she was old enough to understand and grasp them. Even some of the concepts written on the board were familiar to her. Glyphing just came naturally for Arianni. Her answer seemed to have satisfied Amaris, as the woman nodded before proceeding once again with the lesson, though the girl did not see the action, her mismatched eyes focused solely on the opened book on her table. Yet she was not reading the text.

Somewhat guiltily, she shifted her glance for a moment at her fellow student, hoping that the other girl was not looking at her. If she was, Arianni's gaze would dart immediately back to her book and she would lower herself in her chair and wish herself to vanish in her embarrassment. Kamalia had been eager to answer the question but Amaris had been intent on having Arianni answer it instead. She hoped the Timandre girl was not mad at her for the stolen opportunity. She did not wish to make an enemy out of anyone. Making friends was hard enough for her. She wondered if it had been the smart thing to do to attend this class.

Deep in her thoughts, she barely caught Amaris' instruction to take out parchment and quill: they were going to have a practical exercise.
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