[Syliran Archives] Books and Adventure

[Nivel]

26th Day of Winter

“Greetings Sir Otryn” Nivel said cheerfully from the stone floor of the Archives lobby. The man couldn’t see the tiny pycon but even his old ears could recognize the voice of one of his regulars.
“Good day, Sera Nivel” The diligent scribe said as she wrote her name in the log book. “have a nice day and try not to make too much mess this time” He lightly chuckled.
“I’ll try not too” Nivel said with a touch of guilt since she knew there would be no way she would be able to keep that promise.

Nivel wiggled under the door, it was always easier than most to open but she always found it was better just to slip under them. Once she found herself on the other side, she could see all of the books lined on the shelves, just waiting to be explored. Sadly she was limited to the bottom shelves unless she asked someone for help and Nivel didn't like to do that. She scurried over to where the herbalism books were kept and skimmed through the titles scribbled on their spines. She couldn’t really read the writing but she liked the look of the ink lines on one book in particular, so she pried it out from between the other books and pushed open the cover.

The book was filled with illustrations of different plants, with a few lines of scribbled notes dedicated to each one. Nivel looked through them aimlessly until she spotted a drawing that caught her attention, the rosette of leaves and the flowers looked promising. It was called Connel and like Tolm root it aided in relieving aching joints, healing woods and was a sleep inducer if used in tea. She looked through more of the pages but nothing else stuck out so she closed it. She tried to pick it up and place it back but it was far too awkward for a pycon to do, So she left knowing all to well that Orton would forgive her.

She made her way over to the study desk, Nivel knew there would be some books left over by some reckless squires for her to peruse. She outstretched her arm and pulled herself up to the chair and then did so to the desk. She was pleased to see the mess that was left, there was practically a mountain of books scattered over the table and they were all for her! She did a merry little jig and pounced on the first book. It was a book on leadership, and was crafted with much better care than the herbalism book from before.

Nivel opened the book and did a handstand to make the activity more interesting. While she strained to keep herself stable she read the words on the page. She wobbled back and forth but managed to read the first line about leading by example before falling over on her back with a thud. From this position she raised herself into an arch and flipped forward onto another book. After pushing the cover open and skimmed it's contents, it became clear that It was a book about Philosophy. Nivel skimmed through a bit of the pages as she practiced her dance steps; She would do a slow pirouette then read a line, then wiggled her hips and read another.

The book talked about how a person should think more, and not be too swayed by popular opinion. They should know themselves and frequently analyze their own thoughts and opinions. It got Nivel thinking about whether she truly knew herself and where she was heading. Did she really just become a knight because her mother was one or did she truly embody what it takes to be a Knight?

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The morning was a regular start. He’d been training. Being put through his paces as usual however unlike the last few weeks he wasn’t as tired. He’d gotten used to only four hours of sleep a night now a much simpler routine. Drop at the first bell after midnight and rise again at five in the morning. A routine which had taken time to get used too but one which was helping him accelerate his learning tremendously, due to this he was able to sneak in three hours of combat training every day at the training grounds. He’d been resolute in this since he’d been completely humiliated by Ball. He needed to learn about how to get around facing against an opponent that was both so much smaller and so skilled. He wasn’t the strongest but he did have a modicum of speed. So his best chance of overcoming things was to learn strategy and technique. Over power his opponents with his mind. The open thing that not many chose to flex.

Stepping into the Archives he was met with Ser Otryn, after a brief conversation between himself and the scribe knight, and a small berating after the incident from last time. He lowered his head and apologized owning the problem and promised it wouldn’t happen again. Writing his name down in the book of visitors. He stepped into the open halls of the archives, the sprawling expanse lined with books and tomes, grimoires and codex. He took a deep breath. Inhaling the scent of paper and ink. Stepping through the hallways he found a simple aisle that read “strategy”. Stepping down it Alex found a large leather bound tome with the words embossed in golden inlay on the spine “Combat’s ups and downs.” Hauling the tome over to one of the desks. Strewn with books He dropped the heavy tome on the edge of the table with a loud and rumbling thud.

Flipping the page of the book open he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Another…pycon. Whoever is playing jokes on me…You’ve had your fun. Typical he’d be lead to a table with a pycon on it. He was fast finding a reason to have a bias against pycons, but still he was civil and calm.

Flipping through the pages he found a passage which read “How to deal with a larger force”. Alex buried his head in his book before seeing the pycon standing on it’s hands…Odd.
“Excuse me, sorry if I seem ruse but what exactly are you doing?” An honest enough question from him. He was just flatly confused. Were all pycons odd or was it just the select few that he’d found his way into meeting?

[Nivel]

Being entranced by her own thoughts and activities, Nivel didn’t quite notice that a Tall Folk had approached her table. When he addressed her Nivel was suddenly startled and leapt away from the sound as if she was under attack. Her tails shot out in the squires direction and snapped threateningly at the young man. When she looked up at the confused squire, she felt embarrassed by her mistake.
“Oh Sorry!” She quickly apologized with her wing shaped ears lowering to show her discomfort with the situation. “Sorry I guess I got a little lost in thought.”

“What were you trying to ask me?” Nivel replied mostly to herself as she tired to recall the information. “Oh that’s right you wanted to know what I was doing, Well I was doing what everyone does in an Archive… I was doing research silly” She shrugged her shoulders and giggled a bit at what she thought was a bit of a silly question.
“What are you reading?” Nivel’s prehensile hair swayed about on it’s own accord as she casually walked over to get a better look at the Tall Folks book. “I was just reading a book on philosophy, you should look into it after you’re done with that book.

“Anyway, I’m going to be building a fortress out of books if you’d like to join me. I’m also okay with receiving tips on it’s construction, It would be dreadful if there was a fatal flaw that my enemies could exploit.” She looked about as if to spot any nefarious individuals that might be hidden behind the book shelves. She walked back to her pile of books and began organizing them, not alphabetically or by colour but by her own special system. She wanted books that seemed strong to her, whether by their subject matter or the boldness of the text. In Nivel’s nexus they would make her tower impenetrable. She pushed the books she didn’t like into another pile and dragged the ones she did to form a circle shaped foundation.

She stopped the process for a moment and looked back at the squire. “I can’t believe I didn’t introduce myself again” She shook her tiny head in dismay “My name is Nivel, I’m a Mage within the order.” She gave a bow to show her respect “And these are my body guards, Oglaba and Dinky” She gestured to each of her tails as they both followed Nivel’s example and lowered their heads. “What might your name be?”
Upon hearing his name Nivel ears fluttered like a butterfly. “Oh I like that name! It’s a name suited for a great Knight, I hope it serves you well.”
Oocsorry I took so long

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The small pycon leapt away from him as he spoke almost freaked out by his voice. Perhaps she’d been so entranced in her own studies he’d simply just startled her. A swift apology cane and he just lightly waved it off recognizing the fault was on him. He was right in his assumption of what he’d done when she told him. Clearly she was a little scatter brained right now. But again she was doing research, same as him although quite possibly there for a different subject. However she suggested a book on philosophy, whilst he was there learning how to lead and how to plan. What could he learn about that from a philosophy book? Still he didn’t dismiss it out of hand. A small smirk emerged from him absent himself.

“I’ll let you know if there’s a problem with the construction.” Oddly enough there were squires like this too it seemed. However when she announced herself as a mage pycon, it became readily clear why she was so eccentric. However he hadn’t assumed her to be quite as…mad as she was to him. Though as she asked him what his name was. “Sorry, I didn’t give that first. I’m Alexander.” The compliment didn’t seem warranted to him. “Nah, I’m just a simple squire. And it’s a fairly generic name.” He paused a moment before burying his nose into the book and scanning over a few passages about learning how to circle behind an opponent or use a force to break off and surround a force.

“Nivel. Mind if I ask.” He peered his eyes up and over, the smooth softness of his voice it’s usual flowing level. “What magic do you specialize in? I’ve seen a squire harnessing fire and creating this weird…Pale green gel. So I’m curious can you do the same? Or is your magic different.” There was a tail of curiosity to his voice that wasn’t prying. If she didn’t want to tell him, then she didn’t have too. “And that book on philosophy I’ll take a glance at when you’re done with it.” He took a glance at the walls of her fort from books. “Perhaps it’d be better if you used the thicker books as the supports. Might allow it to stand a little better.” A small smile of sincerity on his face as he spoke and then drove his eyes back down to the book flicking through its pages and finding another chapter on luring out an attack which you expect and countering from the blind spot.

OOCDont worry about it

[Nivel]

“I’ve heard that Philosophy is good for critical thinking and wisdom, which is pretty important for a Knight” Nivel added as she worked about on her book castle. “Thinking modestly and justly should actually be something every one covets but those with power have an even greater need for it.”
Nivel finished putting the last book on the pile when she noticed that it was the book on leadership she hadn’t finished reading before. She flipped to the page she left on and read the second paragraph about humility. Reading through it she realized how well philosophy could help her build her leadership skills. While a leader may be in charge they should stay as humble as possible and recognize the strength in the ones they hopes to guide.

“Oh well, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone named Alexander and I like the sound of it.” Nivel replied with a smile she moulded into her clay mouth. Alexander went back to his book and Nivel didn’t want the disturb him so she went back to work on constructing her grand book castle.


When Alexander lifted himself from his reading to ask a question about magic, Nivel was ready to explain it to him. It wasn’t something she was always comfortable explaining but she had a good feeling about the squire.

“The magical disciplines I have the most experience in are Autistics, which helps you see and read the Auras that are invisible to the eye, and Flux which increases your strength and speed by manipulating your energy steams that weave through your body. I know a bit of the magical practice your revering to with the gel conjuring, It’s called Reimancy. That gel is called Res and can be shaped into various stages of viscosity and its colour is depended on the user. Its actually their..” She stopped and started to gesture with her hands as if to pull the words she needed into her mouth. Nivel just didn’t know how best to explain this to one who knew nothing about magic but she soon found a suitable word.
“um..life energy that they can manipulate into different forms. My Res is also green but I can only conjure wind, But as I grow in power I’ll be able to master all four elements. The fourth magical discipline I know is Shielding, it allows you to weave invisible barriers. I'm not very good at it and can only really make a shield that reflects very weak magic.“

Nivel squealed happily when Alexander gave his suggestion on her castle. “ohh that’s a good idea!”
The pycon promptly began to push the bricks of her castle over so that she could reassemble it with even more strength than before. Nivel began sorting through the books in her discard pile and finding the bulkiest amongst them. After grabbing a rather heavy one and dragging it over to the base she mentally measured out the distance between herself and the pile. She figured out how many forward flips it would take so she would know when to stop and with a running start she thrust herself into the first one. She landed on her arms and pushed her torso and legs with the forward momentum until she needed to stop. She jumped high and landed squarely on her legs but lost her balance and fell back into the pile of books.

She got up like it never happened and pushed the lighter books off until she reached the one she wanted. It was a simple but bulky book on farming. Nivel stopped to look at the contents but she lost interest quickly and continued to pull it with her to her castle.
"Oh sorry you wanted the Philosophy book didn't you" Nivel realized her mistake and found the philosophy book on the desk and dragged it over to her companion.
"Tell me what you think"

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex peered over the rim of his book and locked eyes on the small pycon, the oddity of the situation wasn’t lost on him. It was a stark contrast to the seriousness of both Ball and Archailist, and to be honest quite refreshing. Though he soon found out why the pycon was so different. But he couldn’t disagree with what she said. “It’s true that people should be modest and act justly. But that’s not something which can be learnt from a book.” He gave a small smile he was speaking from a place of honesty and thinking back on people he’d met. Still though the pause and comment on his name wasn’t a harsh one but enough to make him pause a moment.

He closed his book laying the tome atop the table and placed an arm across it as she spoke recounting the magics she had a power over. A dizzying array of magics. Auristics, Flux, Reimancy, and Shielding. The proceeding explanations of each bombarding him, blotting out all other thoughts and simply burying him under an avalanche of words. He shook his head lightly Looking very confused even the simplest of the magics were lost on him. “I’m sorry you’ve lost me. The others kind of fell from certainty. And I lost a hold of what you were saying. I caught the briefest of explanations on “Reimancy” was it, but what’s this “Auristics?” Auras? What?” Alex was more confused now than when he’d begun. But then again it was something that made it very clear to him how she acted.

Though watching the tower of literature fall was something simply perplexing. Why spend so much time to build something only to crumble it and build it again? Still he couldn’t quite follow what she was doing against his better judgement he decided to help her with this book fort/castle/thing. Alex shuffled across the bench and helped her stand two thicker books up as support pillars next to the base work book. Still unlike the other two pycons he’d met she was innately goofy and much more carefree. Something about the almost childlike silliness drew Alex’s attention more than it possibly should have. So much so that both of them got lost in the creation of this now much more grounded book foot. When she pulled free the philosophy book he gave a small smile and a nod.

“Thanks for that I half forgot about it.” He lifted the slightly crisping and frayed cover and began to thumb through it allowing her time to mill about with the castle as she felt she needed too. The point of a singular chapter that held his attention. “Dealing with the past.” A pause fell over him as he simply looked through the book reading it carefully and holding it just up so Nivel couldn’t quite see what he was reading.

[Nivel]

“True. but books can help the process if you read the right ones.” Nivel retorted playfully but with dry undertones. The pycon didn’t have a long life to sort out things without any aid, dusty tomes had become her solution to learn about the world as quickly as possible. She felt a bit defensive when people called books usefulness into question because of her growing dependence on them.

“I’m sorry it can be difficult to explain these things to people who aren’t mages, especially since I’ve been around magic my entire life.” Nivel had build her basic understanding of how things work around magic and couldn’t even remember a time that she didn’t know about djed and it’s role.
“hrm..okay um well everything is like a book, trees, people, and rocks are all made of information written by the gods. Mages have learned to rearrange the words in our own books or even tweak a few words in other books. Aurists can read other peoples books while most people only see the bound covers. If I focus I can see glowing energy around people or objects and learn things about them, But don’t worry I won’t read your Aura unless you give me permission. Though most of what I can learn from you isn’t very intrusive. Since you haven’t been blessed by a god or practice magic the most I can really tell is if you’re sick, if you’re pregnant, how you’re feeling or how old you are. It is useful for seeing in the dark since I can clearly see the glow of all the objects in my view regardless of how dark it is, I can also see ghosts, and taste things I wouldn’t normally be able to eat.” The tiny mage felt that her explanation was more or less adequate but still had an unpleasant glimmer of doubt. She had tried to explain this subject to Ball, Arch and a few others but they never really understood it. She was also a little afraid she had said too much, The pycon didn’t want this squire to think she could freely invade peoples privacy.

Her anxiety faded as she worked on her castle with the help of the squire. She hadn’t ever received help when she built her book or snow castles before, the closest thing was when sparing knights would accidentally help with the demolishing. It probably wasn’t the best idea to make her snow castles in the training grounds but It shouldn't have been to much to expect trained warriors to be familiar with their surroundings. Her current structure had probably reached as high as it could go with the amount of books that were on the desk and she had a squire to thank for this accomplishment. Now she would need another project to work on while she was studying.

While Alex read about philosophy Nivel continued to read about leadership. She started the section on Communication. Nivel felt she had already learned this lesson but the part about listening made her realize that she still had a few things to learn. She liked listening to stories but she didn’t always follow advice people had given her, especially her patron. If she had she might not have had an incident with over giving at the beginning of the season.

“What section are you reading?” Nivel casually asked upon seeing that he was at a different portion than she had read.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

“Yes, you’re right but, knowing when something is right or wrong is something you’re born with. You can’t teach someone with no moral compass how to act justly. And it’s not something a book can give someone.” Alex was speaking from the perspective of someone who’d been through some of the worst places on Mizahar and had seen somethings from people who had no moral compass. Nivel’s apology for the literal bombardment of explanation was something that Alex just gave a small smirk and a passing comment too.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve never really been one with an aptitude for magic.” Though as Alex finished Nivel began to explain the basics in a much simpler format. Apparently the world was like a book. Everything in it simply a form of information written by the gods. Like the world itself was a library, and that mages were the ones who could change how the books were written. Or even look at the books which ere other people. Having a minor metaphor like that helped him understand what she meant a little better. And the magic she’d mentioned was one of being able to see. To peer into things one usually couldn’t.

“I think I see what you mean. But yeah please don’t go peering into me. You may not like what you find.” A soft smile adorned his face as he continued to help her with the tower, even with the book raised to a standing point at he read. Her question on what he was reading something eh couldn’t fully answer. “Nothing too special. Not even really that important. By the way did you think about using the thinner books as a floor? It’d leave you larger ones for the structure.” He tried his best to re arrange the subject and get it focused away from him. The less people knew about him and his past the better he figured.

“Nivel if I might ask. Is it possible to teach a non-mage these magics?” Alex spoke from an angle of curiosity. A simplistic point of nature, he couldn’t leave well enough alone when it came to learning things. Occasionally it got him in trouble but perhaps that was a trait they shared. The curiosity in her was something that made her a little more approachable than either of the other two pycons he’d met? As he pondered this he knocked his book over with his elbow by accident revealing the pages to her, the book graciously turning to fall to a page marked. “Dealing with the world around you.”

[Nivel]

“That’s silly, Everything changes why would morality be the exception” Nivel retorted with a dismissive shooing gesture of her hand. “Though this may be something we have to agree to disagree on.”
Being a devote worshiper of Harameus the deity of change, it was unlikely she would ever let someone convince her that people couldn’t reform if they really wanted to. Her soft heart was one of the things that she struggled with when she first started as a squire, she just couldn’t see her self killing anyone. It was only a matter of time before this would have to be tested.

“You haven’t been exposed to it very much so it would make sense. My father was a fairly skilled mage so I’ve grown up with it” The pycon calmly explained. Very few people grew up ever knowing a mage let alone having one as a parent, Nivel was quickly realizing this whenever she talked about magic with the people of Syliras.

Nivel had a sudden burst of curiosity that filled her nexus at Alex’s next comment. She couldn’t help wonder just what this Tall Folk she had just met would have that she wouldn’t like in his aura. There wasn’t really too many things that Nivel didn’t like, and most of them couldn’t be found inside of someone. The pycon listed all the things she didn’t like in her nexus; among them were the god of illusions, alcohol, swimming, being stepped on and injustice. Could his aura have been infected by the taint of Ale or had the unruly Ionu tamper with his aura in unseeable ways.
“What do you mean I won’t like what I see?” She finally blurted out without really thinking. “I’m sorry I know you Tall Folk covet your privacy…but..you’re comment only made me all the more curious…Sorry I’ll change the subject.” Nivel quickly stammered but her nexus didn’t really completely move on and continued to agonize over what he could have meant in the background of her thoughts.

“Oh yes the floor!” Nivel exclaimed, trying her best to forget Alex’s aura. “How could I forget the floor, good call Alexander!” She proceeded to place the thinner books that she’d lined the top inside of her short tower as evenly as she could on the floor of her structure.

“Everyone is capable, the better question is should they. Magic can be a very dangerous thing to know and if you don’t tread carefully it can destroy you.” The pycon’s tone became suddenly serious and even sounded a bit grim but progressively became less harsh as she continued. “Though some practices are easier than others, I’m certain that Auristics is probably the most forgiving magics. It’s much harder to cause yourself harm than say Reimancy which can easily go wrong if you aren’t careful. If fact if-“ Nivel’s words were interrupted by the cover of Alex’s book hitting the table.
“Oh you dropped your book” Nivel quickly skipped over to the open tome and took a quick peek at the words.
“ Oh you're learning how to properly negotiate?” Nivel asked looking up at the squire “that can be tricky, though all you have to do is have something they want. Most people seem to want Miza coins for some reason, Couldn’t really tell you why. What can you even do with Miza that makes it so desirable, I wonder?”

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

“I agree with you there though. Everything changes. But you can’t change it with a book. It has to be experienced to be changed. But as you’ve said it’s possibly better to agree to disagree.” He offered a small tilt of his signalling his want to just leave the subject be. Alex rolled the idea around in his head though. If he could be changed and his morality changed he hoped that one thing would remain. His want to help people. The thing that made him who he was his purity of a purpose. Simple and easy to uphold even in the darkest moments he hoped that small ray of light would hold true.

Nivel spoke of being unexposed to magic, she was right there and he couldn’t deny it. He’d only been exposed to very brief flashes of it in distant and strange circumstances. Still hearing that Nivel was actually descended from a stronger mage was something interesting too him. However her sudden spark of curiosity wasn’t unknown to him. She almost seemingly perked up at his mention and then the comment came. What did he mean? He half-heartedly gave a small sigh. “I mean, I’ve seen some bad things and done some too…I’m worried that they’ll be on display.” He took her apology in stride almost waving the whole issue off with a small flick of the hand. “If you’re really that curious about it you’re welcome to take a look I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m just worried it might be…tainted, for lack of a better word.” He spoke with a small look of not quite remorse not despair but something between them.

Still he waved off the brief flash of it in his face turning back to help her with the small fort praying that he didn’t get caught slacking off when he was supposed to be studying. Perhaps helping the mini mage was something that would be considered studying? However as Nivel continued about the dangers and possible implications of the repercussions of the magic Alex almost recoiled a little nudging a book lightly with his hand. Swift reactions though allowed him to push it back in without compromising the structure of the now “book tower”. “So this Auristics is the safest magic, to an extent. And I’ve seen what reimancy can do when it’s controlled…I really don’t want to see what it can do when it has no control. The mere thought actually gives me chills.” He spoke with a look of distance like he’d had a brief encounter with what magic could do when it had no restraint.

Having only now seen he’d knocked over the book next to him and the words about negotiations from Nivel he sighed slightly not for having to explain why but more that he didn’t have to explain what it was on before. “People do strange and often very bad things for Mizas. People even kill over money. That’s where I find that learning how to stop people from doing something they may regret late would be a great thing to learn. And often I find that giving people an alternative is a good way to do so. So I’m learning how to better present that alternative.” As he finished with his at least to him eloquent response to her question he placed another floor on the tower and lifted his hand to his jaw. It was missing something. Something vital. He knew that but he couldn’t qui- Stairs!

It was missing stairs! But how in the name of Izurdin was he going to get stairs made from books without making the thing bulky? A confusing conundrum indeed.