Subject: Re: Unidentified subject!
From: Ari Miettinen (emiettin@hytti.uku.fi)
Date: Thu Aug 19 1999 - 14:45:15 EEST
There has been lots of talk about magic, guilds and so on. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter: Each magical guild could know three to six (or so) different magical symbols. The more symbols they know, the mightier the guild is. I ain't too great in describing things verbally, so I use examples, I hope you catch my meaning. First some notes about my terminology, since I don't know what terms you use for my original terms (From Ars Magica) nowadays: Techniques are the arts which control how the Form and Power are manipulated. Forms are the arts which control what is manipulated by the spell. Power arts define the spell in detail. Gestures are movements which the caster does to invoke a magical art, Words are magical words which invoke magical art and Substances are symbolic representations of magical arts. They are used later in the examples. Example Guilds: Guild 1 knows: * Techniques: Gesture of Creation * Forms: Word of Fire * Power: Substance of Ball, Substance of Bolt Guild 2 knows: * Techniques: Word of Creation * Forms: Substance of Flesh * Power: Gesture of Wound, Substance of Wound What powers would the guilds have? Guild 1 would be fire mages. They can create fire bolts and fire balls by using their Creation technique, Fire form and bolt or ball substance. Guild 2 would be healers. They can heal wounds efficiently by using their Creation technique, Flesh form and their powerful Wound power Their healing spells would be powerful, because they know both the Gesture and Substance of Wound-magic. Guild 1 would teach their students by saying: To create a bolt of Fire do this * say 'Blah' [The Word of Fire] * wave your hand from right to left [Gesture of Creation] * holding a ruby in your fist [Substance of Bolt] To Create a ball of Fire do this * wave your hand from right to left [Gesture of Creation] * and hold a rose in your fist [Substance of Ball] * and finally yell 'Blah' Guild 2 would teach their students To heal any wound do this: * Give a drop of blood to the wounded person [The Substance of Flesh] * Raise your hand towards the sky [Gesture of Wound] * place the Spider Web [The Substance of Wound] on the wound * and say the holy word 'Eki-Eki-Tapang!' [The Word of Creation] * and see the wound closing beneath the silk of the spider web. If a person from guild 1 met a person from guild 2 and compared their spell casting, they would have no similarities, but both would use Creation technique. Also, the order of the spell casting procedure is not important, but the guilds have always taught their spells in those forms, so every member of the guild does the spell in same manner. Example: Incorrect spell casting procedure Someone forgets the correct procedure and tries to cast fire bolt anyway, when an orc rushes from the bushes against him: * He grabs his Ruby [Substance of Bolt], * Waves his hand from right to left [Gesture of Creation] and * yells 'Blah'! [The Word of Fire] and is quite happy to see that the spell succeeded. Later he goes to the guildmaster and asks him how the spell was done, and learns that he did the spell incorrectly, but it still functioned. This encourages experimentation with the magical arts. What if someone belongs to both guilds? (Healers would not normally accept Fire Mages into their guild and vice versa, but nothing prevents an enterprising mage / healer from lying their way in to the other guild. If that is so, he would know the following magical arts: * Techniques: Gesture AND Word of Creation * Forms: Word of Fire, Substance of Flesh * Power: Substance of Ball, Substance of Bolt, Gesture of Wound, Substance of Wound If he was smart and brave enough to experiment, he would test what happens if he combines the Gesture of Creation which he learned from Fire Mages and the Word of Creation which he learned from Healers, Substance of Flesh, Gesture of Wound and Substance of Wound and would find out that he has got even more powerful healing spell than the healers guild. Later he might try: * Gesture of Creation, Substance of Flesh and Substance of Ball and create a disgusting ball of flesh. Well, even that could be useful as a food source. Later he learns the Gesture of Food and could cast: * Gesture of Creation, Substance of Flesh, Substance of Ball and Gesture of Food and would create an orange (Or some other spherical shaped food) I hope that at least some of the above made some sense. If you have any questions / comments / ideas and so on, I would be very happy to hear them. -------------------------------------------------------- Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. --------------------------------------------------------
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