The Konti stood in the middle of a pitch black room. She’d found her way down a newly formed stairway hidden in the guise of a cabinet in the newest edition to The Sanctuary: It’s forge. She couldn’t see in the dark, but concentrating slightly, the Konti remembered her lessons well and slowly manipulated her eyes so that her pupils changed, restructured themselves, and morphed into the semblance of an Akalak’s eye structure. The process was slow, something Kavala had to do with great care. Messing with her eyes was dangerous to those who lacked patience. So she went slowly, infusing her vision with djed as she morphed her gaze into something that could see clearly in the dark.
The room took shape, clarity, and color though all was tinted with the underpinnings of infravision. Violet and reds flooded her awareness, giving the room an already mystical glow. She paced its length and breath while she thought. Kavala was here to plan. Kavala was here to dream her first lessons. It wasn’t so difficult a concept to understand, not really, especially not to those who had Nysel’s attention and mark. But it was definitely an unusual approach.
This was something utterly new Kavala was setting out to accomplish. There was nothing special about picking up a book and learning something or hiring a tutor or teaching to instruct. That’s the way things always were done. But here in Riverfall, there was no resources. There were no books, not tutors, no places of higher learning where one could walk in and ask to learn the art of making artifacts.
Kavala had discovered another way. She’d learned something on a walk into Vanator’s chavi that had shocked her. And then it had made her curious. The more trips she made the more interest she acquired. And with her interest peaked, a plan formed. Half of Dreamwalking was being something of a voyeur. You stepped into other people’s lives and lived them for a time, acquiring a fundamental understanding of other times and other cultures. It was eye opening and enlightening on Kavala’s part about how much the world had lost prior to the Valterrian. People talked all the time about the destruction and the rebuilding. But the Konti felt like no one had a true idea of what the world really was like before the land rearranged itself, the Suvan Sea was born and two great empires fell.
It all started with her trip into Kalea and her introduction to the Kingdom of Sultros. The Isur were a strong echo of the past having retained a great deal of their knowledge, culture and technology from the past. But they were isolationists, afraid in many ways of humans not because humans were stronger, but because they were dangerous in their recklessness and lack of common sense. Kavala agreed with them, but not enough to shy away from the culture. Instead she took the opposite approach and tended to try to educate and level out as many humans as she could come in contact with them day to day. They were not all bad nor was there hopelessness to their culture. They were bright and promising if they took things in moderation and gentle steps forward. Her longevity would help her to see more of it in the future, she suspected.
But Vanator…. had a surprising secret. He was a magesmith in his past incarnation, someone the Suvan Empire had referred to as The War Dog of Alahea. Everything he built was bent on the destruction of the Suvan Empire or the transcendence of the Alahean Empire. He was single minded in his pursuit of power and in his early years had been educated by some incredible masters from the old kingdom. Maedoc Drust was his name. And even saying it, watching his life through his own eyes walking his Chavi, scared Kavala to her core. She hated fear and being afraid but Maedoc had been the cause of much anxiety in one of her past lives where she’d been a kelvic shield pinto and bonded to one of Marcus Kelvic’s right hand men. Maedoc and Marcus had been sworn enemies. Marcus had suspected Maedoc of being responsible for the disappearance of his twin sister which had lead to him developing the kelvic initiative and creating a new race. Maedoc had felt the threat of Marcus’ particular blend of science and magic and had taken it upon himself to declare Marcus a public enemy of Alahea for his abomination of both something called genetics and the incorporation of what his council had called alien fauna into local fauna. From what Kavala could understand with her limited knowledge, Maedoc considered Marcus’ work something like deliberate parasitism.
Parasitism she understood. It consisted of one organism utilizing another for survival, protection, and even sometimes reproduction. Looking at Marcus’ work from that perspective, Kavala could understand why the creation of the kelvic race had been considered something of an abomination to the Alahea Empire. Marcus was Suvan through and through, as Maedoc used to be. They were childhood companions that had grown up in the same class in a long dead Kalean city. But Maedoc’s childhood had taken a brutal turn. And although Maedoc came from extreme wealth as well, he did not have the claim of having a Grandmother for a Goddess that Marcus had. It was an early resentment. Then, against his wishes, he was apprenticed to a Master Magesmith at an early age to pay a debt that his family owed the mage. The family had wanted to pay the debt in coin as was willing too, but the mage would have none of it. He opted for a firstborn and only child instead. So while Marcus was able to focus on his dreams and pursue his curiosities at his whims. Maedoc had no choice in his career. Having enough money, and ultimately the backing of the Suvan Empire, Marcus was seen as a hero. Exported to the Alahean Empire, Maedoc was seen as a traitor.
So as a result, Maedroc Drust’s early lessons in magic came hard. Kavala sat hours watching him learn glyphing and the basics of magical theory and applied science by a man who had no true gift for teaching and no real love of his student. There were other students as well, ones that were also there against their will. Kavala understood immediately what the children were. She immediately realized they were both political prisoners and potential weapons being raised in the discipline of hatred. The youths had nothing to compare their lives too because all they knew from the age of seven was the towers they were confined in and the lessons they learned. Kavala didn’t have to buy into that practice though. She could set the politics and political atmosphere aside. What she was aiming for was the core education the children received and why it made the mages of Alahea some of the most famous mages in history.
The room took shape, clarity, and color though all was tinted with the underpinnings of infravision. Violet and reds flooded her awareness, giving the room an already mystical glow. She paced its length and breath while she thought. Kavala was here to plan. Kavala was here to dream her first lessons. It wasn’t so difficult a concept to understand, not really, especially not to those who had Nysel’s attention and mark. But it was definitely an unusual approach.
This was something utterly new Kavala was setting out to accomplish. There was nothing special about picking up a book and learning something or hiring a tutor or teaching to instruct. That’s the way things always were done. But here in Riverfall, there was no resources. There were no books, not tutors, no places of higher learning where one could walk in and ask to learn the art of making artifacts.
Kavala had discovered another way. She’d learned something on a walk into Vanator’s chavi that had shocked her. And then it had made her curious. The more trips she made the more interest she acquired. And with her interest peaked, a plan formed. Half of Dreamwalking was being something of a voyeur. You stepped into other people’s lives and lived them for a time, acquiring a fundamental understanding of other times and other cultures. It was eye opening and enlightening on Kavala’s part about how much the world had lost prior to the Valterrian. People talked all the time about the destruction and the rebuilding. But the Konti felt like no one had a true idea of what the world really was like before the land rearranged itself, the Suvan Sea was born and two great empires fell.
It all started with her trip into Kalea and her introduction to the Kingdom of Sultros. The Isur were a strong echo of the past having retained a great deal of their knowledge, culture and technology from the past. But they were isolationists, afraid in many ways of humans not because humans were stronger, but because they were dangerous in their recklessness and lack of common sense. Kavala agreed with them, but not enough to shy away from the culture. Instead she took the opposite approach and tended to try to educate and level out as many humans as she could come in contact with them day to day. They were not all bad nor was there hopelessness to their culture. They were bright and promising if they took things in moderation and gentle steps forward. Her longevity would help her to see more of it in the future, she suspected.
But Vanator…. had a surprising secret. He was a magesmith in his past incarnation, someone the Suvan Empire had referred to as The War Dog of Alahea. Everything he built was bent on the destruction of the Suvan Empire or the transcendence of the Alahean Empire. He was single minded in his pursuit of power and in his early years had been educated by some incredible masters from the old kingdom. Maedoc Drust was his name. And even saying it, watching his life through his own eyes walking his Chavi, scared Kavala to her core. She hated fear and being afraid but Maedoc had been the cause of much anxiety in one of her past lives where she’d been a kelvic shield pinto and bonded to one of Marcus Kelvic’s right hand men. Maedoc and Marcus had been sworn enemies. Marcus had suspected Maedoc of being responsible for the disappearance of his twin sister which had lead to him developing the kelvic initiative and creating a new race. Maedoc had felt the threat of Marcus’ particular blend of science and magic and had taken it upon himself to declare Marcus a public enemy of Alahea for his abomination of both something called genetics and the incorporation of what his council had called alien fauna into local fauna. From what Kavala could understand with her limited knowledge, Maedoc considered Marcus’ work something like deliberate parasitism.
Parasitism she understood. It consisted of one organism utilizing another for survival, protection, and even sometimes reproduction. Looking at Marcus’ work from that perspective, Kavala could understand why the creation of the kelvic race had been considered something of an abomination to the Alahea Empire. Marcus was Suvan through and through, as Maedoc used to be. They were childhood companions that had grown up in the same class in a long dead Kalean city. But Maedoc’s childhood had taken a brutal turn. And although Maedoc came from extreme wealth as well, he did not have the claim of having a Grandmother for a Goddess that Marcus had. It was an early resentment. Then, against his wishes, he was apprenticed to a Master Magesmith at an early age to pay a debt that his family owed the mage. The family had wanted to pay the debt in coin as was willing too, but the mage would have none of it. He opted for a firstborn and only child instead. So while Marcus was able to focus on his dreams and pursue his curiosities at his whims. Maedoc had no choice in his career. Having enough money, and ultimately the backing of the Suvan Empire, Marcus was seen as a hero. Exported to the Alahean Empire, Maedoc was seen as a traitor.
So as a result, Maedroc Drust’s early lessons in magic came hard. Kavala sat hours watching him learn glyphing and the basics of magical theory and applied science by a man who had no true gift for teaching and no real love of his student. There were other students as well, ones that were also there against their will. Kavala understood immediately what the children were. She immediately realized they were both political prisoners and potential weapons being raised in the discipline of hatred. The youths had nothing to compare their lives too because all they knew from the age of seven was the towers they were confined in and the lessons they learned. Kavala didn’t have to buy into that practice though. She could set the politics and political atmosphere aside. What she was aiming for was the core education the children received and why it made the mages of Alahea some of the most famous mages in history.
