|
Post by Althea on May 17, 2017 0:09:03 GMT -6
"Oh, about all I've got is stubbornness. It has served me well over time though. Turns out you really can do nearly anything if you just refuse to admit it's impossible!" She couldn't help but grin lightly but at the same time it was also remarkably honest by Althea standards at least. Most of her achievements were due less to being smarter than anyone else, so much as simply not giving up where everyone else had. After all, what kind of idiot would chase after ruins of Nan Madol? What manner of moron would even bother investigating Tir na Nog? Oh, she had her share of bad decisions and misunderstanding of risks. But all too many times her refusal to give up had paid off in spades in the end.
Though his lecture on control was... well. He was talking to the wrong mage to be lecturing her on that. Althea was intellectually aware that he meant well, but er... "Yes, I am more of a technical type than a brute force one. I am familiar with the concept, Aura." Still working on the energy ideas for her magic, but hey, everyone had to start from somewhere. She was just trying to redefine her entire magical field along a separate axis, what could go wrong? "I believe my disconnect is that I do not understand how one... creates and focuses the healing magic. The Nether I can understand. Control. Manipulate. I calculate realspace coordinates, align vertices, create and link seal-portal combinations to siphon and tactically direct the energies of the Nether. For each action, a reaction. Allow in so many units of energy - mix with so many parts prana - maintain the seal - so on and so forth."
As she spoke she ran through each process mentally, not feeling a need to actually demonstrate most of them - a waste of time and magic alike - but she could have done so in the moment at each junction. The calculations were complex but she had experience with each set. "Turning, say, the amount of prana required to form a simple Flux spell, into healing magic, and how - to understand that is my goal."
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 21, 2017 20:58:43 GMT -6
Aura laughed at Althea's admittance of effort over practicality. "If we had more people like you in the world, we would already have found a way to fly through the skies." Hmm, ships that can sail they skies as assuredly as they did the seas, now that was a dream worth dreaming and something he could get behind. Though, perhaps that might be impossible. Wait, what was he thinking, they just agreed nothing is impossible!
Ah right, she was already familiar with the concepts... he felt his face flush with embarrassment. Though he would not say it the truth of the matter is that his rant about it was born more of old memories surfacing. The more he spoke on it the greater his recovery, and he liked the ideas he was remembering. It was a very strange sort of thinking he was going through at the time.
Her magical process was rather foreign to him. It was like she saw the world in an entirely new spectrum, a new dimensional wall or veil that she broke in order to cast as she did. It was fascinating to him, but in this moment he was not the student, he had to be the teacher. She was not very emotional either so healing magic was going to be exceedingly difficult to explain. "Erm..." He rubbed the back of his head trying to find a way to explain that she could relate to.
"Ah, I got it, how about this then." He held up one hand and began. "Imagine this energy is your orb of flux." The same soft green as before but he focused it into the shape of an orb. It was far more difficult to do than he would verbally let on, but the sweat and slight grimace on his face revealed as such. "Once you bring it to form you only have so much to work with, healing is not like this. If you give a set amount that is all you will ever have. You can't do this or the wounds may never heal. You have to break that seal and let it continually flow." He altered the shape like a deflating balloon as he expelled a burst of healing energy. It seemed to lighten the air in the room but it also brought Aura to weakness again as he fell back onto Althea's bed.
"Oooo... You can't focus on absolute control, you just have to let it go wild into the source. Then you cut off the flow the moment that the injury is fine. Now, as for how to transition the flux into healing, that is entirely wrong. They possess separate sources and you can't just transition one into another... at least not at our ability. You have to feed it from desire to help others, just as you feed nether from understanding."
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 22, 2017 14:26:13 GMT -6
"I am almost certain that Excalibur magic was once harnessed with engines of flight before the Scouring, and that it could be done again if our so-called mage community could stop arguing about idiotic drivel long enough to work on progress once again." Talk about enough salt to re-salinate the ocean, between her envy of anima mages being able to fly and the general distaste for modern magical community, Althea was not exactly a calm and impartial voter in that regard.
But she was at least self controlled enough to mostly focus on the task at hand, which was learning how to not suck at healing yaaay. Althea leaned forward slightly as Aura spoke, trying to comprehend his explanation - difficult enough for her without being distracted by silly shenanigans. This idea of magic being a... flow, she could at least understand that. SOME of her attempts at advancing her dark magic had existed under similar paradigms; controlling constant flows of energy under rigid constraints.
Aura was talking about something more... natural, though. But she didn't like what he said at the end. "No, that doesn't make sense. If healing magic is drawn from the mage's prana, then the fundamental base is the same as dark, or light, or anima magic - the magician uses their own prana to fuel the spell. It is what comes after; when the Nether, or the spirits, or one's will is introduced, that the raw magic becomes an actual spell, shaped by the tome it is based on." THAT much she was certain of. That she did not understand how to go to healing magic from there was unfortunate, but understandable. She would not accept Aura's explanation of healing magic in that regard exactly. "Unless you are stating that even the basic fuel for healing magic comes from a source not of the mage - which would make it effortless to cast - it must be born of prana at the core." The shaman laughed quietly though, a wry smile at the corners of her lips. "This would be much easier to practice with an actual staff. I will have to look into purchasing one at some point soon so I can practice."
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 23, 2017 22:10:50 GMT -6
Erm... this was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be. Maybe he was just in the wrong and he was only able to use healing magic 'so well' because it was the first one he was taught. Still though, the priests always told him it was drawn from a desire for good, to heal, to mend, to help. But, she was not wrong that it came from one's own prana. All magic, that he was aware of, came from within. Huh, that was an interesting thought, magic coming from without like the magic swords forged by alchemists or even better, beyond, by a greater power than ones self, now that was an interesting prospect. Focus Aura, FOCUS!
"Well, you aren't wrong on any front. Perhaps I am thinking too strongly on the mindscape while you are looking for the real practical side of things." He agreed and acknowledged. "Though, you may be on to something with getting a staff. Staffs are great for the purpose of channeling, focusing, and even amplifying prana into the spell it was designed for." Obviously there were other more specialized staves that worked differently but the merits of the simple heal staff were as he described.
"Nonsomantic casting is hard. But a staff would allow you to directly use the healing spell just by focusing your magic through it, and hey, while I make a pretty bad teacher maybe you could use that to analyze it in a way that works for you to grasp its function... and if not you still have a healing stick."
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 24, 2017 14:25:05 GMT -6
"I see..." Althea brought a hand to her chin and nonexistent beard, considering the merits of what he had said. Her... outburst had been perhaps unwise in retrospect but the disagreement had apparently been mostly academic, and it seemed as though through it they had learned something together. "And better understand what you were saying now as well, I believe. Yes, all magic is fueled by one's own internal magic - mana, prana, aura, ki, chi, whatever the term you prefer is - but its final form, its actual use, is heavily influenced and directed by what it is married to. The Nether is used to forge Elder magic, spirits aid in creating Anima, and healing magic is that basic fuel melded with the desire to aid others, if I am to understand you correctly."
THAT, at least, she could comprehend. She didn't necessarily understand it on a level that would let her go randomly healing people, but at least on a core conceptual level it made sense if she broke it down like that. "And rather than a coherent single spell, healing magic works through the ongoing flow of that prana and desire mingled into one stream, until the job is done or one runs out of their magical reserves, compared to a single measured Flux or Mire spell." Admittedly she was more speaking aloud for her own benefit than Aura's exactly, but it didn't hurt to make sure they were still on the same page. "Unfortunately, you may be correct. While I believe I better understand the conceptual application of healing magic now, there is a reason that all beginners start with tomes and staves - the presence of a focus built for that purpose vastly aids in the learning process. Certainly I was not born with the ability to cast Flux, regardless of my development since learning it."
Well, it wasn't like she had expected to magically learn healing magic in its entirety in one afternoon by talking with a guy who could barely heal himself, so Althea wasn't actually disappointed. Rather, she was grateful that Aura had taken the time to explain it to her and given her a strong starting base to begin practicing once she did get her hands on a real staff. She smiled gently at the not!priest. "Thank you, Aura. I believe you have aided me greatly in beginning my... sightseeing journey into healing magic," she said, as with much honesty as the occasionally tongue in cheek wording allowed. She wasn't planning on turning into a priest after all, it was just a useful side skill to pick up and contrast her typical focus of dark magic in.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 25, 2017 22:26:26 GMT -6
Aura smiled gently as the two found some common ground. It was a right beautiful breakthrough! There was a lot of theory going around in this talk now and some things she said he had some counterpoints on, but first he should offer a comment or two to definitively close out the discussion as it was on purely staves. "Well then. I am just glad what little I know could be used to help you in any way. If you would like I can help you shop for a staff? I get to see and work around them constantly so I can't guarantee the quality of what we find but I can say for certain the quality of the one you get will be the best of them."
He then segwayed himself into a new line of conversation. "Now, there is something you said I don't quite agree with. A minor infraction if you will, but one of utmost importance in distinctions." He grinned at her cheekily enjoying this trivial debate he was looking to begin. "You referred to chi and ki as another name for magic at its source. This is neither confirmed or denied yet and in turn is a subject of much theoretical debate. You see, Ki and Chi are thought to be an internal source of physical capacity. Mana and prana turns outward. Think the soul and the body. Mana and Prana as the soul, ki and chi is the body. Ki is a far more explosive power used up in bursts to hit hard or move fast. Like adrenaline you can control and manipulate." All theory but he was hopeful for an intellectual discussion.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 26, 2017 0:06:29 GMT -6
She could appreciate the importance of specificity, but Aura's smug smile warned Althea that she was walking into a mine field. And so she had apparently. She had a reasonable amount of knowledge on the general subject of magical energy needless to say but her focus had never really been on the human body beyond its magical capabilities so it was possible that Aura was indeed correct... though for an amnesiac priest who could barely heal himself, he sure seemed to know a LOT about some oddly random subjects. For better or for worse she wasn't exactly suspicious - THAT ship had sailed long ago, if she was going to be suspicious of him it would be for the massive backstory discrepancies not some random tidbits on physical magic.
...Though it did give some suggestions of what the 'him' before memory loss might have been capable of or at least studied. Intriguing. Althea filed that line of thought away for later consideration. "I see... some systems of magic do refer to them as such. From what I had read, at least in one system, ki and chi were separate though, with ki being the body's internal energy and chi being the magical. Supposedly being able to balance and mingle the two led to all manner of power. I admit I am not especially familiar with the subject though as physical magic has never been a special focus of mine, but it does raise interesting questions. The mechanics of Strength magic in particular. It is generally agreed to be fueled by the mage's magical ability, but enhances them physically rather than magically..."
The dark mage trailed off, her gaze blanking out for a moment as she temporarily departed the material plane as a thought struck her. "Hm... worded that way, it sounds as if it converts one to the other. Spending magic to boost the body's natural energies. Is that even possible?" Rather than a rhetorical question there was an actual line of uncertainty to the pale woman's questioning, a tacit admission that she actually didn't know something. Was that what Jalid had been doing back then? It seemed so... strong. But she wasn't familiar enough with physical enhancement magic to be absolutely certain just yet.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 27, 2017 19:18:26 GMT -6
Is it possible to spend magic to enhance ones body? Well, that seemed like a silly question at this point in time, of course it was possible. "Well, turning magic into natural strength IS the entire idea behind the magic of strength after all, spend a little bit of that and boom! Off you go being enhanced and stuff." Wait a minute! That may just be exactly what Althea needed to hear to understand healing magic for herself. He visibly perked up as his mind raced with this idea bouncing in place as he tried to get his body to match with the pace of his brain. He looked rather silly but he did not care in the least.
"I think I know just how you can understand healing magic. I feel so silly for not thinking of it this way until now!" [In character and out] "So, imagine it like this. You are expending your magic in order to aid the natural healing process of yourself or another. As the magic makes contact it mixes with the body and makes the body repair itself in a much faster method than is normal. You could call it rapidly aging that part of the body if you would understand it better as such, or just enhancing its natural processes." Yes, that should help her along her road to learning and a deeper knowledge quite nicely. "There is still a lot of questions about it all I feel need to be answered that I just can't do as I am now though." He shrugged.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 29, 2017 15:50:49 GMT -6
"Yes, but-" But what? She didn't quite follow. If there was such a divide between magic and natural energies, then how did one convert between them? Admittedly if it was THAT easy there wouldn't be a bloody staff for it but she didn't get the theory behind it nonetheless. Either Aura was wrong, she was missing something obvious, or the truth lay somewhere in between.
Then again, her interest in physical strengthening magic was somewhere south of nonexistent so Althea resolved to let this little conundrum drop by the wayside like a squirrel beneath a carriage's tires. Besides, Aura was already on a different subject, excitable guy that he was, and she'd feel like a bit of a female dog if she tried to redirect the conversation back to a proper argument. Besides, healing magic was a more interesting subject anyways, and Aura seemed to have hit on a better way to explain it than his earlier attempts. At least from his perspective. What about hers? Hm... she had to dissect the concept on her own to better comprehend it. The idea of speeding up the body's natural healing... using magic to help repair. Hm. Well, it did make sense than just magically remaking everything if nothing else.
That being healed did not actually age people suggested it was a bit more complex than JUST speeding up natural aging/healing but that was also a part of the magic she presumed... both aiding up natural healing as well as strengthening and reversing damage to the cells? It made sense at least. "Yes. That makes sense." Althea nodded, her relief evident on her face at the thought of actually having some... basic understanding of healing magic now if nothing else. She was still gonna need to track down a staff to practice it better but at least now she knew not to whack people over the head with it, right? "Thank you, Aura. I believe I have a better understanding of the conceptual underpinnings now."
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on Jun 1, 2017 17:28:43 GMT -6
Aura listened to the thanks again, it rhymed with her previous thanks on the subject and was promptly altered with the depths and degree of her newfound understanding. Underneath it all he had to wonder if that meant he had done a good job or if she was just being kind and patronizing him to keep him quiet. He would not voice this of course, he had no desire to get into an altercation so he just silently nodded, slowly at first, until he had it right. "Well, I'm just glad I could help." It seemed to be a stock phrase for him anymore, geeze.
Moving right along and changing the subject he looked about the room. It certainly was a mess, but it was nothing like he expected. "You know, back in Etruria they have such disdain for people like you." Harsh, he began to wander the room with his hands behind his back. "But, you know what I think? I think you're absolutely brilliant. I could never imagine any of the monks or bishops doing what you can do, or thinking of the things you think of." He turned to her and smiled. "Before I met you, they would have me believe you would be more interested in batwings and other things." He looked at the floor and some of her research notes. He had little time to skim over them but he did begin to gather them into a stack. "But, even if you use the dark, you have a good heart, and... even using the light, that woman from earlier was clearly full of wickedness."
He sighed, "You may not know this, but there is light magic that is considered heretical. I never asked about it too deeply but now I think I may be beginning to understand it just a little bit better. Maybe there are no gods, only men." he caught himself in his musing with a look of clear shock that would say such a thing. "Excuse me... that..." He turned red and just set the papers onto a clear space.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on Jun 1, 2017 22:58:34 GMT -6
Althea blinked at Aura's crass comment, her eyes betraying little of her thoughts in his thoughtless wording. Given her experience of him so far she could only assume he had not meant it harmfully, but it stung nonetheless in the wake of the truth as she knew it. "...Believe me, Aura, I am well aware of how Etruria treats... even its own countrymen who utilize dark magic." That was all she would say on that subject. It was all that was worth saying. She didn't have to tell him about her family, her past, and she would not regardless, not out of distrust but simply because she didn't tell anyone about it. It had been so many years since she had been able to trust others that she hardly remembered how, even if Drei, Circe, and others seemed to have been trying quite hard in recent months.
Besides, there was no need to be harsh when he was trying to be positive. Spoiling the mood and all that. Leaving behind her previous comment and thoughts in the garbage where they belonged, she did her best to aid him in changing the subject. "But... thank you. I think." Bat wings? Unless there was a magical colony of super-bats somewhere in Elibe, she didn't understand why he would have expected them lying around. It seemed incredibly cruel to torture wild animals, even for magic. "And I believe you are correct. Light magic is driven by willpower, Dark by understanding. Neither are naturally inclined towards any moral standing; the Light can be used for evil just as easily as the Dark, it is merely a matter of perception and aesthetics." At least that was her belief. Maybe there was some evil gremlin in the Nether that turned every shaman evil eventually, though she doubted it could be any more obnoxious than Eris. But until such time as she saw proof, Althea would continue to see it as mere conjecture.
One of the things he had said definitely caught her attention though. More so the talk of magic than his comments about gods and men, which she didn't follow at all and seemed to be directed more to himself than her anyways. "Though I must admit I am not as familiar with the concept of heretical light magic. Would you mind expounding on that subject, Aura?"
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on Jun 1, 2017 23:58:28 GMT -6
Oh dear, it seemed he had insulted her, that was never his intention. He quietly rubbed the back of his neck, not having wanted to do that, but she seemed to shrug it off at least. So he decided to indulge her on her own question, it would be better that way.
"Light is powered by will?" That was the first he had heard of it. "The church always taught that it was a gift of the divine, and only through faith could one hope to master and wield the light." Well, perhaps he had just found his answers. "Well, I do not know the spells myself, or anything about them and the fundamentals, not even their names, but I think I may have a theory about why they are considered heretical."
He tapped his index finger to his thumb for a moment as he sifted through his thoughts in order to express them to their fullest. "So, you said that nether is understanding and light comes from will. That would make perfect sense. If the church teaches that light is of the divine, then faith and the will to serve God could empower it! But what if there was a spell of light, that had further requirements?" He let that thought linger in the air. "Can I say what that would be or mean? Well no." He shrugged, "But it would conflict with the teachings or at best it would be accounted as something questionable and apocryphal. So, they label it heretical." Now these spells interested him. Goodness he may be a fake priest but he was a terrible fake priest.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on Jun 2, 2017 0:15:04 GMT -6
"Well. It depends on who you ask, I suppose." Althea shrugged. She hadn't meant to try to patronize Aura there, if anything he probably knew more about light magic than her given the Hildebrand connection, she had only said what came to mind. "Etruria claims that all light magic descends from Elimine herself and from faith, but I believe the scholarly approach is that it is derived from either will, faith in self or a singular goal, or emotion. Much as with dark magic, it is difficult to find an absolute consensus." And admittedly, that was one debate she had steered well clear of. Althea did not like not knowing, but she liked even less to engage Etrurian zealots at all.
This thought of... extra requirements on Light magic was a bit out of her comfort zone, at least in that she actually didn't know that much about it, but she did at least know about the Dark aspect of it. "I am... not well versed in additional requirements to light magic, but I can speak to Elder magic having something similar. It is relatively well known that the Nether has effects on the emotions of its wielders... for good or ill, dulling or exciting them. If light magic were to have similar tomes..." The dark mage trailed off, her mind exploring the concept. It was actually fairly intriguing. Exactly as Aura had stated, the canonized version of Light magic was taught almost exclusively by the Etrurian church... and they certainly had incentive to twist the truth somewhat to support their position. "...I believe you may be on to something interesting, Aura. Possibly game changing. If one could actually prove that light magic is not granted by the Saint, it would deal a ruinous blow to the church, perhaps even weaken its hold on those who swear fealty to it."
...And there she was again with the Elibe-breaking craziness that would DEFINITELY get church assassins jammed up her ass if she even tried.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on Jun 4, 2017 22:39:24 GMT -6
Woah there! Let us slow our horses and get a grip on those reins here! What was this about dealing ruinous blows to the church? He may have the whole of the inquisition wanting him captured for questioning but at the same time he was not in the business of toppling religions and whole governments. "Ah, well, uh... It is all still just conjecture and theory here!" He was back peddling nervously now, with waving arms and the full nines of it.
"Neither of us are on particularly good terms with the Elimine church but you know IF such knowledge were to come forth we would be enemies worth silencing at all costs. Surely it would precede any controversy that would surround our deaths. Or... leave us as martyrs... either way I want no part in that." He tried to end that last bit off with a light chuckle. Suddenly, he felt absolutely exhausted as he flopped onto the floor leaning back on his hands to support him.
"I don't know about you but I think the day may be catching up with me now." He yawned. He began to stare intently at a wall, his mind sorting through all sorts of things, from the day, to what had happened to him up until now, to the hazy memories that were surfaced. To someone not as pensive as him he surely looked like an oddball staring so intently at nothing. "This is going to sound really cheesy and what not, but, I am really glad you were the one that saved me."
|
|
|
Post by Althea on Jun 5, 2017 21:06:31 GMT -6
"Everything was conjecture and theory once," Althea intoned mysteriously, before smiling lightly as she withdrew from pushing that particular angle too hard. He was right of course, they didn't have nearly enough to work on and she didn't want to turn the Etrurian government against her either. Though how... easily he shirked away from it did bother her. If it was the right thing to do, was there a moral obligation to do it despite a risk to self? It wasn't something she had thought heavily on before, at least not as applied to herself, and it wasn't as easy in real life, facing the actual possibility of Etrurian assassins, as it would be in a thought game.
A thought for another day, perhaps. As-is she certainly didn't have much in the ways of heretical spells ready to unleash. Instead she was moved to motion by Aura's musing about matters of rest and safety, standing as she recalled what she had originally come here to do and began rooting through her desk looking for the gold she knew was somewhere in there, speaking to Aura without looking at him. "You certainly have had an... exhausting day, I imagine. After I find the fee you'll have a room of your own to relax in. ...Please don't get any crusted blood or dirt on my bed." AND SO THE SORDID TRUTH CAME OUT, HER TRUE DARK INTENTIONS LAID TO LIGHT.
The subject of saving him was a little less simple to answer though, at least for her, because that would require a well developed and mature sense of emotional attachment or at least the ability to pretend to be a decent human being. Since she didn't really have either of those going for her, she just said what came to mind instead. "Better I than Hildebrand, at least." Oh yeah, good move Althea, respond to the honestly kind and grateful statement with a bad joke. That was Eris tier bad. Hell she could probably actually blame Eris for that, if explaining Eris to Aura wouldn't make her look even more like a weirdo now. "But, er, yes. It was nice to meet you Aura. And I am... glad that I was able to aid you."
|
|