Lykata vs Auristics

[Vann]

This is more so for some general clarification. In regards to the claim that auristics is a jack-of-all-trades type of discipline versus, for example, the specified purpose of Lykata.

Would a good rule-of-thumb be something like this:

Auristics (generally speaking - let's not muddy this up with Novice vs Master, etc.): Could read a sword's aura and 'taste' blood on it, thereby inferring it has been used to kill someone.

Lykata: Could be used on that same sword and discover that the sword has been used to kill someone exactly four times.

So where auristics can be used to infer general information about something, it can't get as specific as the specialised magic(s). Is that more or less correct or is there more to it?

[Brandon Blackwing]

Though I am by no means an expert in magic or gnosis, I think I might be able to answer your question.

First of all, Auristics is indeed used to read auras, but since only living things have an aura, noticing that a sword has been used to kill with is out of the question, since it has no aura. That's not all though. Aurists (masters, that is) are capable of reading the emotions and mental state of sentient beings they use their magic on, and I guess they could gauge the mental state of animals or so too, but less accurate since animals are not humanoid. (just a guess of my part). Master aurists can also see/taste/smell for example that a person has killed. They can actually find out just about anything a person is trying to hide, but that's masters only.

Lykata is something else entirely. One marked with the gnosis must touch the object they wish to receive information about and will (this is how I envision it) see flashes of the object's past. For example they will see the face of the creator for a brief moment, if it's for example a mug, they will probably see it being used over and over, bits and pieces of information about the people that have used it in the past will be given to them.

But that's just what I think. I could very well be wrong, like I stated before, I am not an expert in gnosis and magic.

Credit goes to Ollic

[Venser Rush]

That's not entirely true. All things have auras. The size and intensity of said aura depends on one's djed. As all things contain djed, they therefore have auras. An aurist could read from a sword, but whether they'll be able to taste blood on it is contingent on the aurist and their focus in performing their magic. It will likely be unable to be picked up passively, as it is a very specific phenomenon stirring from a very small aura, but nonetheless, if enough focus is directed upon the aura, then it is possible.

Auristics works by synchronizing one's djed with the aura in question, allowing a person a link to it and to feed from that link in order to acquire knowledge. The skill factor is important, but ultimately, auristics does the same thing all the way through the progression. So you'd have to link with the sword, then get from it whatever limited information is available to the user.

Lykata is also limited. Very much so. At L1, you will only get a few streams of information from an object at a touch. Rather than tasting blood as with Auristics, you would get an exact bit of information, but who was killed, how, etc, is lost until you use Lykata more often. A repeated cycle can draw more information, but you may not receive everything.

Auristics is most useful when used with sentient auras and being able to examine them thoroughly, but it can be used for this purpose, as well.

Auristics can be specific, but only with a growing skill level.