@hauntzed My, this is full of lots of mage lingo PeePaw is not entirely familiar with! However I assume you and all the others reading my reading will know what they mean :)
Here’s the jist of the prologue:
This guide was written by a Hollow One named Bryce Grimm. He’s a wandering rogue type who is either always looking for the next “magickal trend” or on the run from the Technocracy. He boasts to have received training in almost every Tradition and Craft still being practiced in the Modern Nights. This is the third in a series of guides to the nine spheres of magick based upon his various methods he has mastered over time. I’ve never met Bryce but he seems like a cool guy from what I’ve heard. Rumor has it he and Penny Dreadful got married in secret recently and she’s expecting their first child...but this could all just be rumors. A bit of magi drama never hurt anyone though.
Chapter 1 basically goes over what the “Sphere” of “Matter” is all about. Here are the highlights:
The sphere of matter is, at its core, all about the inorganic matter that bears Quintessence in the Tellurian. All the elements on the period table and the mystic elements of earth, air, and water, no matter what form they’re in - solid, liquid, gas, or plasma - contain Quintessence. This can be harder for some to grasp as you can see the patterns of reality more clearly in living things (such as with the spheres of Life and Entropy) or in actions (as with the spheres of Correspondence and Forces). To study the patterns of Matter and learn how to alter them gives you the ability to change the very form of magical energy to your will. As such, it is not recommended for the beginners.
Before I start explaining how to change the fabric of reality, Zed how skilled are you in the other spheres? It says you have an easier time learning this if you have prior experience in others. I wouldn’t want you to turn yourself into a soda on accident...
For @hexenbomb I had a great time writing this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Day 1
“Vhat iz zhis…” Gretchen looked around in wonder. Just a second ago this oasis seemed nothing more than a delightful respite through an otherwise sweltering trip through the cracked clay and stinging sands of the desert between Piltover and the Factory she and Charlie called home. But Michael had made a modification to her goggles the night before, and these filters made it known to her that there was a thick mist hanging in the air. It moved in waves from the earth up into the sky; thick, dense clouds forming despite the wind still blowing the arid heat across her face. This fog was a place of naturally occurring mana in a concentration high enough for even non-natural magic users to interact. It was just the sort of place Michael had been looking for the months between promising her lessons and the present. It was the perfect setting, because he knew all too well that Gretchen was a mind set so firmly in science that he would have to appeal to both her reason and her eyes to break down her inborn inhibitions to believe in something so aethereal at magic. “Zhis iz amazing! Vhat iz it? It doesn’t seem to move when I vave my hand through it.”
“It’s Mana, Gretchen. A dense manifestation of the natural magical energy that courses through our world. It is the fuel that we burn to make our magic happen. It’s the source of power for both mages, like myself, and hexcrystals. Normally it’s completely invisible, but in certain places it’s so concentrated that you can see it under special circumstances. Magic is simple. Using this fuel, we either push or pull the natural energy of the world around us. You can’t touch it with your body, instead… try to reach out with your mind. Your will. Make it move.”
Together they sat on a pair of stones by the oasis pushing the air back and forth. It took her hours to even make it move, but found that the effort made her break a sweat. Once she finally managed a gust, Michael practically had to catch her to keep her from falling into the pool of water from her excited outburst. From that point, she was like a bloodhound on the scent of a fresh trail. Every day she was ready at sunrise to travel back to their little slice of paradise to practice more of her technique. Every day Michael woke to that big, goofy grin and the reflection of his face in her goggles, but not once was he ever disappointed to see her excitement. He was all too happy to have a student so dedicated to learning that even he struggled to keep pace. It was refreshing. It was nice to finally create again after so many years of destroying. For Gretchen, it was an amazing new experience the likes of which she never even considered. A whole new side of what she called reality that was, up until now, hidden from her.
Day 50
“Vhat now, Michael? I feel like I’m ready for the next step. I can move zhe mist around like second nature now. It… feels comfortable. Right. Natural.” She smiled that big, enthusiastic smile of hers, arms folded back behind her with fingers interlocked as she walked beside him to their normal spot. “I can’t imagine vhat is next, zhough. Vhat do ve do vith zhis energy? How do I do zhe things you do? It confuses and excites me, and I can’t vait to see zhe answer.”
Michael offered a chuckle in response as he sat down on his stone. “That’s just fine, Gretch. It’ll all make sense soon enough. You see, I’ve been giving you these exercises to do for a reason. I’ve been watching you while you work to find out what kind of magic you have an affinity for, and I can tell you it went about as expected. Your talent lies in fire. Fire and air magic in tandem, to be exact. Fitting that the demolitions expert would specialize in magic perfect for making explosions, no? So, let’s get started on teaching you how to use it properly.”
He proceeded to show her how to use the mana rather than just move it. Taught her how to draw it in and use it to fuel herself and the magic within her. Though it took days more, she finally conjured her first flame. And like that flame, a passion started deep in her gut that day that burned hotter than even Ghost Rock. A passion, a determination to wrangle this new frontier of her world. Every day that blaze behind her goggles burned brighter, and every day that flame in her palm grew larger. Her progress rolled on with incredible momentum. She started reading Michael’s old books and practicing in areas less dense in mana. She even started working with the crystals at the manor, using them like a body builder used weights to strengthen her mental muscles for the next lesson. Now she understood the difference between the pseudomagic of her own world and this strange place of wonder. It was as easy as comparing Ghost Rock to Hexcrystals. The former had to be burned, and ultimately did the same thing as coal. To a greater degree, certain, but still locked into its use by the means of using it. Limited. Stagnable. Just like the hocus pocus, abracadabra she was used to from her world. But these crystals, they were something else entirely. Not a catalyst but a conduit. Like a battery that she could store energy with, and a tool to discharge it. The distinct feeling of being limited by only her imagination was what these crystals provided her. A kind of freedom she never had before, and perhaps it was that feeling that she was missing that kept her from believing in magic beforehand. The sky was the limit for her now, and… wait a moment…
“Eureka!”
Day 130
“Gretchen?” Michael could feel something stirring in the air. Magic being worked, and from the feel of is magic being worked clear through the night while he slept. With a mug of coffee in hand, he descended into the basement of the Manor, which had been fashioned into a kind of workshop for Gretchen, Charlie, and himself. What he found was a frantically tinkering German who looked something akin to a mad scientist running from table to table assembling something and testing a set of Hexcrystals that were hooked into an electrical circuit. “Gretchen!”
“Vhat?!?” She snapped around out of her engineering trance to look Michael in the eyes with goggles smudged over with ash and soot. “Oh! Guten morgen, Michael. Come! Come! Look! I’ve gotten underway vith a big project, ja ja ja!” Still groggy, he was essentially shoved over to the desks to see what she was talking about. “I’ve been vanting to modify my veapon for a long time, now, and I’ve finally settled on a vay to do zhat because of you.”
The old launcher was laid out on the desk with the internals exposed to the air. “You’re just in time too, Michael! I vas just about to assemble the final product, but I vanted to show you my design before I did.” The firing mechanism was lined with whole paragraphs of runes, which already gave Michael reason to raise his eyebrows. It was clear that his student was studying on her own, and if he were still capable it would have brought a tear of pride to his eyes. But what impressed him more, still, was the fact that she installed a dial on the side of the gun just behind the trigger. With this nuanced little addition, she could rotate a disc shaped plate that had a series of different runes to finish the paragraph ahead of it and adjust the strength of the spell inscribed. “Gretch… This is genius… Where in the world did you read anything about this? I’ve never seen anything like it?”
Of course, she just grinned and scratched idly at the back of her head, as if she was too modest to answer. “Oh, zhis? It just came to me in zhe middle of zhe night, and I just had to run vith it. I’ve, ah…” She looked down and rubbed her right toe into the ground. “I’ve lost track of time again, haven’t I?” The cocked eyebrow and deadpan nod from the mage was all she needed for confirmation. “Schiesse… Oh vell, I suppose it can’t be helped now. Vould you mind helping me reassemble it all?”
“Happily. Let’s get to work.” Hours of small adjustments and calibrations, and many pots of coffee later and Gretchen finally had her new launcher. Fueled by two hexcrystals charged with fire and air energy respectively, it lobbed a highly explosive blob of what was essentially heavily oxygenated napalm.
“Impressive, truly impressive.” He smiled and plopped down beside her in the middle of the workshop, both with a bowl of liquor in hand for a victory drink. “I think it’s official. Your training under me is complete, and you’re ready to study on your own.”
How are the mentors for young mages chosen? Is it a case of "I found them I get to train them"? Are they assigned? Something else? Does it vary by region? (This isn't really supposed to be for a character to answer but if you want to do that idc)
I’ll just answer this myself since a character would give you a biased opinion.
It does vary some by region, but the most common way of going about it is, “I found them so I get to train them”, yes - though sometimes its, “hey so I found this kid with talent but I either don’t want a student/I need to be really picky about a student/I already have too many students to handle, you want ‘em”? Like, Lady Dogwitch feels she’s too young for a student right now, but she’s got a nose for sniffing out talent (ohohoho) so, like, she often knows who’s open to having more students and will pass the information on to them. But the person who finds them gets first dibs usually.
UNLESS. Like, the Primus and the Inquisitor of the area both are REAL CHOOSY about who they train for their position - so… like, if they think a student would be good for the role, it’s often acceptable practice for them to be allowed to… y’know… nab the student. Sometimes in the middle of training. Usually this is done with permission.
sometimes not. although stealing a student without permission is a GREAT way to ruffle feathers and ensure that your relationship with your student is going to be bad.
Now, some of the special cases involve the various secret societies and cults that exist. Some of those have more of a class like structure, where students are put into groups and a bunch of magi train them. It’s meant to emphasize the community atmosphere and to pass on traditions and stuff - and the cults have way more traditions to pass on than just normal magi.
It’s not a super organized system, though, so sometimes a teacher who doesn’t want a student can get one forced on them??? Like, particularly if they’re being a Huge Pain in the Butt about not wanting to train people. Usually, though, there are magi like the Rose Bride to pick up slack in a domain. The Rose Bride runs the information network in the city, and she trains a TON of students. Also, if there’s nobody else, usually there’s a secret society ready to train someone.
…I should write about the cults/various societies in a post sometime, since there won’t be any information in the story for a long time. and I think they’re Cool ™.
