agoge | >>@SUBUBI

Entry tags:

>>@SUBUBI | @ALL

I may be completely alone in this, but is anyone else disturbed by the alarming dearth of rebel archivests?

Fortunately it seems that the number of books outnumber the actual people who wish to burn them which is rather fortunate because some of these things I can actually read. The Malleus Maleficarum is actually quite a facinating read if you're interested in the true barbarism of this world.

Malleus refers to a hammer and Maleficarum is the plural of Maleficar which refers to one who is wicked or depraved. In this sense it seems to loosely translate as Hammer of Witches...I laughed admittedly.

I'm certain it would be Hammer of Mages where I come from, but that is completely apart from the point.

Apparently these people believed that magic was some sort of delusion of the mind precipitated by demonic seduction through visions and dreams. They blamed the most rudimentary of problems on people, captured them, tortured them into fraudulent admissions, and then killed them.

The magic and spells they discuss are not even real magic, not as I know it anyway...unless one considers mathematics, philosophy, and general enlightenment magical.

I suppose I would define magic as the ability to expend mana...or putting it more simply, the ability to burn my accuser's face off by willing primal fire into being.

And here I thought the Southern Circles were bestial. Flaying someone alive for anomalous intelligengence, very dyed-in-the-wool dedication to the extermination of magic...and that there could be a book devoted to the finding and killing these so-called magic users.

It's certainly telling, not completely unfamiliar either. I'm certain the Southern Chantry has their own step-by-step process for teasing out mages and spiriting them away to the Circles.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's certainly a fantasy, more like silly old wives tales than actual magic. They must be properly scared of this demon they keep referring to if it makes them behave in such an uncivilized manner.

I have an interest in libraries, this city might be a shithole, but it has books...well bore books than people who are willing to burn them. I grabbed this one out of an...I don't know...abbey? Not a proper library, but they did have books, several written in a language I can understand.

Mages are often different from normal people and when you come upon one there is no disputing it or riddling about with it. It tends to be rather obvious.

In my own time, the word just identified any kind of spirit, rather than a specifically malicious one.

If there are any that you find issue with, I might have an idea on how to best read them. [If there's Greek, then this is absolutely your man.]

That I can't dispute at all. But based on your word use, I am also going to guess that your own magi are distinct from the ones I've encountered.

Where I come from we just refer to demons as demons for the most part, but there are specific kinds of demons as well. Some demons are so powerful and ancient that they have their own names, such as the four Forbidden Ones...they call the demon in this book Devil.

Some of them are written in a language I can only describe as Orlesian and I am not well versed enough in Orlesian to read it, but enough to know what a few scant words are.

It would depend on the sort of magi you have encountered.

I can say that the concept of a Devil did not exist in my own lifetime. Specific kinds of spirits? Always the case.

If you've the time, I could meet you in person and look it over? I can't say I have heard of Orlesian, but I might be able to figure out something.

A mix. There are the kind that hold themselves remote from the world to focus on their studies and goals, and then the kind who are wholly human and soft, potentially ill suited to the hard demands of the many duties that being a mage demands.

We have such demons as desire, rage, despair, fear, hunger, pride, terror, sloth. They are typically vices twisted from their original virtue such as spirits of compassion, virtue, justice, purpose, valor and so on. They usually become twisted when they come into contact with humans willingly or against their will.

I think Orlesian would be the equivalent language of this country, but there are a few books I could bring to you and if you think you can translate them then that would be helpful.

[Dorian is a book nerd, it would be more than helpful.]

I see. Being ill suited to magic isn't really an option where I am from, it's more like you become skilled at it or you risk possession from a demon and death. You don't have to specialize in the more complicated areas of magic, but you do have to learn control.

What you're describing is a sort of variation of what they did in my own time. Typically they're more a guiding spirit associated with one person, rather than something connected with the duality of virtue and vice you describe here.

There's no harm in making an attempt to do so. The question then becomes time and place.

Interesting. Magecraft is a matter that becomes inherited from one generation to the next, with a small population of people with the ability in comparison to the overall population. They keep the abilities hidden from everyone else as well.

Demons and spirits are, typically, denizens of a realm that parallels our world called the Fade. The material world is separated from the fade by a veil, something imperceivable to most except mages. They are their own entity, in a sense.

My dance card is, decidedly, empty. Whenever and wherever you'd like.

Hm. Magic is inherited through bloodlines, the stronger the magical bloodline, the more one increases the likelihood of producing a mage heir. It's how it it is done anyway, you want to give birth to a talented mage and so you breed powerful magical houses with one another in order to distill this perfect scion of sorcerery. My parents thought it would be me, but alas, I am ever the disappointment. It's different in the south, mages are discouraged from having children and I suspect if non-magic parents of children who are born with magical gifts could hide it, they would. The rules are not always exact. Sometimes mage parents can produce a child with no mage abilities and vice-versa.

We have no real concept of this Fade. There's the realm of Hades, naturally, but that is for men when they meet their natural ends. The Gods themselves are on Olympus, and all else can move freely.

If you've a free afternoon tomorrow then?

Mm, in that case, your world's magic and the magecraft I am accustomed two are one in the same, although there is also a literal inheritance in the form of a family crest, which is transferred down the line and contains the stores of the family's magic. There's no discouragement from having heirs. Do all of your mages also share a same goal, or is that not so much the case?

I suppose you could say that the Fade would be similar to Hades in that is where you go when you die. You return to the Maker, the wellspring of all, he is the deity worshiped by most on Thedas. At least by most humans. Elves, Dwarves, the Chasind, the Avvar, the Qun and most dragon cults believe in other deities, sometimes multiple ones, sometimes none at all, and in the case of Dwarves, they worship ancestral paragons.

Certainly.

[Read to him Chiron.]

Not at all. Mages in the North are vastly different from mages in the South. Of course most Northern mages of highbirth or nobility tend to have similar aspirations: marry other mages of powerful and reputable status and give birth to an heir they can proudly hand over their seat in the Magisterium to. Most of all they want to give birth to the perfect mage--perfect mind, perfect body, the perfect leader.

In the South mages are rebelling against their fates, but I think their motivations and goals are far too varied to give an accurate account of.

Mm. We have all manner of things ourselves, centaurs, satyrs, titans, and an endless list of others, but there is no variation in the gods being worshipped. They simply are.

Do you have a preferred location?]

[With pleasure.]

I see. Magi, in my current time and place, all share the same goal of reaching the Root of the universe, which has unlimited powers and abilities. A family's magecraft is typically centered around refining their abilities until this goal is achieved, hence my question. The way they seem to do things in your North aligns with the societal elements, if not the goal.

I cannot say I have ever heard of centaurs, satyrs, and titans honestly.

I suppose somewhere relatively clean and free of hideous smells where wine is ideally accessible, but wine is not a requirement.

Of course that's what they seek to achieve, power after power in which it is never enough. I personally do not agree with it as seeking power after power leads to nothing but dissatisfaction and injustice. Not that I've been proper all of my life, but my parents did not get what they wanted from me and took actions to try and motivate me to be what they wanted. These actions involved tapping into a damnable source of magical power to achieve their ends. Needless to say I didn't believe in the corrupt weaknesses of their choices.

The first two are easy enough to explain: centaurs are half-man and half-horse, satyrs half-man and half-goat. Titans are simply beings that predate the gods.

I'm racking my brain to find anything that actually fits that description, wine included or not.

There's occasionally interesting developments in those pursuits, mainly in the realm of ritual. [Really, he wouldn't be here without the insane rituals.} That said, I'm deeply sorry that any of that happened. I expect there's no additional words that can be added to express any additional horror at the circumstance.

Well that's...interesting. I suppose it's no more peculiar than a race of people that resemble dragons.

I've no wish for you to hurt yourself, I suspect the abbey would be the closest there is to fitting that description, but I feel like I am being judged on principle just by my presence alone in such a place.

I suppose. I don't know about your magi, maybe they are not quite as corrupt, but usually nothing good comes from seeking more power. It typically goes something like : "let's play with magic we don't understand, it'll make us incredibly powerful." Never mind ripping holes in the fabric of time or committing other atrocities along the way.

Ah, you needn't concern yourself with me, I'm habitually dramatic.

That sounds perfectly normal to me.

Then conversation and translation should make any feeling of judgement far easier to ignore. I'll see you around two?

I can't venture a concrete opinion on the matter of corrupt or non-corrupt. My own situation is something that gives me a slightly limited judgement

But self-aware, which not all are.

Whatever normal happens to be.

Especially if you're reading to me, I imagine you have a pleasant voice and that always helps.

I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder. The idea of what one does and does not consider corrupt differs from individual to individual.

I do consider myself very self-aware and unapologetic for it if you'll bare with me.

I can imagine that something akin to a centaur but with a dragon would have made for even more interesting encounters back home.

I couldn't possibly comment on that fact, and will need to let you make that determination.

Well, having a limited sample size to make judgement is also a factor, particularity in my case.

It is no issue at all. My past colleagues have certainly been brazen and unapologetic.

I am not sure how to describe a Qunari to be honest, massive in size, with many human-esque features, but their skin is more ashen, their eyes are more striking, but it is really the horns that make them stand out.

Gladly.

I suppose it's different when you have an entire continent of mages to choose from.

I hope to at least be worthy.

Horns almost make them sound like a cousin of the Minotaur, if I am being perfectly candid in comparisons.

Mm. A continent versus a grand total of what ought to be 14 is a markedly different matter.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

>>@SUBUBI | @ALL

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject