>>@SUBUBI | @ALL

[excelsus]

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.

Comments

[northerndragon]

FROM:@AEGONNER

I don't think those things are magical. If I can do sums, there can't be any magic in them.

But I've never heard of a Southern Chantry that spirits mages away to Circles, only the Citadel in Oldtown where those who wish to be Maesters can train. Will you tell me more about your world?

[excelsus]

@AEGONNER It seems as though these witch or mage hunters targeted anyone with a modicum of enlightened thought. They called it witchcraft and punished you for it...severely if this book is to be taken seriously.

@AEGONNER Yes, this is becoming a theme, all of these people from different worlds, I'm not adverse to sharing information, but where to begin.

@AEGONNER I suppose I'll start with Thedas. It is a large continent divided into numerous countries, in the South mages, like myself, are rounded up and taken to these Mage Circles when it is discovered that one possesses magic.

Mage Circles are institutes devoted to the training and protection of mages, at least that is what the Chantry will tell you. Ah, the Chantry is the dominate religious organization in Thedas and in the South it espouses rhetoric about the dangers of magic so as you can imagine Southern Circles are not these happy little institutes for learning and protection. Many Circle mages in the South refer to the Southern Circle as a choice between various deaths of body and spirit.

It is different in the North where I am from, Circles are an institute for learning, prestigeous schools where magic is safely practiced. Magic is praised. You're not snatched from your families as a child and chained up, highborn children do not lose their claims, you don't spend the rest of your life in a prison being spied on and abused by templars who are force-fed Chantry rhetoric.

Templars are knights of a sort, by the way.

un: @MINIMALCAT

[hakanai]

@SUBUBI By the standards of these books I should have been accused and tortured into admitting my 'witch powers' just on the basis of my clearly delightful personality. Isn't it fortunate that everyone is so distracted?

They've not even noticed when I set their sleeves on fire during the riots, instead blaming whoever's nearest of being clumsy with a torch. Whether they have a torch or not.

If there are any actual magic users in this land, I doubt they're ever actually caught.

>>@BASICWITCH

[courtintrigue]

@SUBUBI I have no need of a hammer, but the thought of wielding one as I might a staff is mildly entertaining.

I had started to believe I was the only recruit -- if I can truly be called that -- from Thedas, but surely you are. Unless there are multiple worlds where mages are herded into Circles to be watched closely for any deviation from the Chantry's prescribed path.

[excelsus]

@MINIMALCAT Fortunate indeed. No one has yet to notice that I'm walking about with a staff that has a skull crowning it, you would think that would draw a gaze or two.

So are you a mage of sorts?

I suspect these people wouldn't believe real magic existed even if it bit them in their wits end. Their idea of magic is far too convoluted.

@BASICWITCH

[excelsus]

@BASICWITCH I can only imagine how graceful that would be. Like a druffalo trying to dance I suspect.

Fancy meeting another fellow Thedosian in a shithole like this, though we've yet to officially meet. We might have to, especially if you're a mage...and by all appearances I think I'm assuming correctly.

[hakanai]

@SUBIBI I read in one book that you can rid yourself of an unwanted husband by coating the skin in honey, rolling in grain and then baking bread with the mixture. Why this should be labelled as magic, I cannot say; even without being some kind of ritual it would no doubt chase a partner away.

Or attract them further, if they are of a certain mindset.

You might call me a mage, though I have never used a specific word for what I do. Most of my magical skills are of an elemental nature, though I can conjure light-based illusions and have a few other tricks up my sleeve.

un: @ponytail

[horsepowered]

It seems what you're describing is a book that has a fantasy of what magecraft is, and would be good for going after people that fit a certain mold. I am curious as to where you read this though, as it seems...interesting. The only part I myself recognize is that magi have some other element involved that isn't strictly human in nature.

[excelsus]

[You can't see it, but he's laughing.]

@MINIMALCAT That's absurd! I love it, it's almost as awful as the superstitious nonsense they get up to where I am from. Placing leeches on a child's limbs to absorb any magic before it takes hold. Madness.

Hmm. We might have to share and compare, I'm able to use elemental magic as well as spirit, but I specialize in Necromancy.

[hakanai]

@SUBIBI That's a waste of perfectly good leeches. All the medical uses they have and they choose to torture children with them? Nobody wants to risk a 'magical leech' either. Can you imagine the chaos they might cause?

[He's rather enjoying himself now. Good nonsense, this.]

Necromancy? How does that work? I'm completely unfamiliar with the term but it's nothing I've ever seen outside of legends.

[excelsus]

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.

[horsepowered]

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.

[excelsus]

@MINIMALCAT Oh I can only imagine the true abomination that could born. Magic draining leeches who've developed a taste for magical energies, can you imagine if one were able to feed until bursting. An explosion of magic...can't even begin to imagine what that would look like.

[He's just imagining random spells flying around all willy-nilly]

Spirits are drawn to death. A Necromancer binds these spirits to varying purposes, I can strike fear and horror into my enemies. I can have the spirits fight on my behalf. I can increase the power of my spells or have a spirit take on my likeness and fight on if I am injured in battle. I can siphon life and mana from death and curse my enemies to explode. I suppose another useful spell is being able to increase speed which makes it appear as though your enemies are attcking rather slowly.

[excelsus]

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.

[horsepowered]

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.

[hakanai]

@SUBIBI A truly chaotic whirlwind... I suppose they might start to question their ideas about magic after that, hmm? With things changing form or exploding around them without any particular rhythm.

That's interesting. I have known others with some of those skills but never all of them at once; widely varied magical abilities in one person are rather rare in my home. Aside from myself I have known only a handful.

[excelsus]

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.

[horsepowered]

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.

[excelsus]

@MINIMALCAT It would be poetic, to be certain, to have their own superstitious beliefs blow up in their face quite literally.

Most mages tend to focus on just the basics, enough to be able to control and master certain spells and control their influence over magic. The more specialized a mage becomes the closer it brings them to danger so it takes a great deal of skill and talent...and of course the willingness.

[excelsus]

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.

[horsepowered]

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?

[excelsus]

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.

[horsepowered]

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.

[excelsus]

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.

[hakanai]

@SUBIBI There's more to that danger than just accidentally burning your squad-mate's hair, isn't there? Fascinating.

It's been a very long time since I thought about my own power and whether I could do more with it. Conversations like this ignite that curiousity again. Perhaps I'll have to consider that as this mission progresses, and if we ever get to the base the commander insists is real.