#pb magic

[pactbinder-if]

Professor Fausett, are there any theories as to why Spirits take the form of familiar things like birds and snakes? Did they die and gain some sort of high spirit energy or something? Furthermore, are we limited to one familiar?

Professor Fausett encloses a response to a curious Spirit mage Pactbinder below - though it appears one of your collegemates has been sketching on the margins of the letter...

Dear Anon,

It is important to differentiate Spirits - the entities - from the concepts of spirits - the souls of the departed. The Spirits of Elsewhere are a distinct - unique - classification of living organism, not ghosts.

When thinking beings - to wit, humans, arguably higher Spirits - pass, Elsewhere collects an imprint of their memories and feelings, yet the Realms of Divinity - Heaven, Hell - are as fundamentally divorced from Elsewhere as they are from our world of flesh.

for the avoidance of doubt - mages have no more evidence for the existence of hell, heaven, purgatory, nirvana, sheol, etc. than the ungifted -AdM

Many theories abound as to the patterns and predilections of Spirits when taking corporeal form; today's scholarly consensus is that the denizens of Elsewhere borrow their conceptions of Form and Name from our world - ethereal beings by nature, they sense the shape and contours of the memories and emotions of the deceased, and select names and forms for themselves according to their own whims and preferences, derived from the substance of the Mists - the boundary between Elsewhere and physical reality.

correct this is current consensus albeit the 'selection' point is questionable in my view; does a spirit's taking of names / forms begin with the taking of physical shape, or are they more fundamentally things of reverie, spawned from human dreaming? - AdM

This selection of forms allows them to interface with our reality, and also answers your question: Spirits fashion for themselves forms that align with their own beliefs and personalities. They recognize the associations that humans have with particular animals, and act accordingly - a Spirit that wishes to be feared might take on a Lion's aspect, for example.

Not all Spirits do take on animal form, however; though it is rarer, others are attracted to more abstract shapes. Others prefer to work to a broader theme - taking our violent fear-seeking Spirit example, rather than take the shape of a lion, a wolf or a shark, it might incorporate aspects of each into its form instead.

This is only a very entry-level treaty - we have not begun to speak of competing theories, of Elselings, of Archspirits, of Spirit taxonomies and naming conventions. But we must let Professor Eincroft have his fun, no? Ha ha.

Seek ever after knowledge,

Sir John Fausett

To answer your other question - some mages can form multiple familiar-bonds. through family spells, or rare witchgift-mutations. these don't apply to you - but you aren't missing out. spirits that really matter - like your anzu - are too proud to bond to a mage who'd take other familiars. better one excellent companion than ten average ones. -AdM

[pactbinder-if]

Pactbinder February Poll - Magic

Which Mastery are you currently most interested in?

Life

Matter

Mind

Spirit

Voting ended onFeb 11

Another quick question out of curiosity, mostly for those who've already read through C2 - I'm intentionally not having a 'not sure yet' option as I imagine most people will want to go through initial classes before really committing - just curious as to what people's gut feelings are at the moment!

[pactbinder-if]

Actually how does Matter work in terms of elemental manifestation? What I mean is, does water and earth require a source whilst fire and air can be produced from the caster? Do they all require sources? Can they all be generated?

Thanks for the ask!

The easiest way to explain this comprehensively is to outline the broader magic system!

Answer below cut, if people want the details in summary (but also this is alluded to in C3 and will be reinforced in C4, so don't stress about missing the important stuff):

To summarize; each Mastery has two forms:

Invocation: The 'basic' power of the Mastery. Usually something very simple and 'intuitive', and much less varied. Fast-casting enough to use in tense situations. Relies on instinct and natural aptitude (and, in the PB's case, the innate power of the Pact...)

Transmutation: The 'advanced' power of the Mastery - these are more sophisticated uses of magic that are slower casting but more versatile and potent. They can rely either on the products of an Invocation, or on the environment, depending on context. These rely on study and understanding - these are the things that are likened to sciences and other undergrad-level studies during C3.

Elemental manifestation is Matter's Invocation - it's the mage summoning quantities of fire, earth, water and air in their immediate vicinity. They don't require sources for any. Invoked elements are however less 'real' than 'natural' matter - Fire won't necessarily burn as hot, earth won't absorb as much damage, etc, and their presence fades over time - e.g. without reinforcement via transmutation, an Invoked wall of stone will crumble into nothing.

Transmutation of Matter covers a wider array of techniques that can be anything from enhancing invocations to make up for the above weakness (e.g. amplifying heat until fire is as hot as the real thing, bolstering earth until it can maintain its structural integrity over time, block deadlier attacks, etc) to more sophisticated or esoteric things (turning one material into another, rebuilding a broken building, disintegrating a prison cell door, etc etc.)

In Pactbinder, we'll see more Invocation than Transmutation over the course of the story, since it's faster-casting and a more natural suit for the kinds of often-urgent situations where skill-checks are needed, but classroom scenes will be more focused around learning Transmutation - since that's what the university is trying to teach, versus the Pactbinder's shenanigans.

[pactbinder-if]

Professor Fausett, how would you recommend a prospecting student select their mastery?

The Professor has a lengthy response below the cut. Bear in mind that he's answering a Pactbinder he assumes is an ordinary student, with all of a mage's normal limitations - one mastery may be all they get!

And his view is much more academically focused, of course - Fausett isn't about to recommend people learn Matter to shoot fireballs at people, for example.

Dear anon,

You are wise not to take this crucial decision lightly. In my view, we are each of us shaped by the Mastery we first seek to pursue.

Even those of us blessed with the proclivity to pursue others will find their Gift's first awakening most potent, the centrepiece of their magical talents. For example, though it has been a long, long time since I first awakened, I still consider myself a practitioner of Life, first and foremost.

With all that said, my advice to you would be to attend your lessons diligently in the coming weeks and consider which classes resonate with you most strongly. The pursuit of each Mastery requires different aptitudes, after all.

Those of you drawn to understanding the composition of the world we all inhabit, mages and mundane alike, might be best suited to Mastery of Matter. True skill with the art comes from years of practise, of learning the nature of each and every element and their potential reactions. I know that you are new to our world - the best analogy might be a degree in Chemistry.

The Artists amongst you might be best suited to pursuit of Mind, if you can tolerate Professor Carcer's dubious pedagogy. I would not blame you if you could not. Much is made of Mind's power to purloin the secrets of others and assert one's will over the Ungifted, but at its core it is the ability to express your own vision of the world. To that end, those who excel in the field tend to be those who are most capable of refining that vision.

It will be of no surprise to you that study of Life has much in common with various aspects of Biology and Medicine. Knowledge of botany and anatomy is useful to those who wish to assert their authority over the living world. Believe me, you children are fortunate. In my day, they taught us how to invoke Life by striking us with rods until those of us with the knack were able to reverse the hurts inflicted upon us! Heal thyself, indeed...

Though Hightower demands excellence in any field that you choose to pursue, I understand that Spirit is considered the most difficult Mastery to study by most students in their first term; If you were drawn to mathematics or physics before you were accepted into Hightower, it might be of interest to you. At its heart, Spirit is the field of using Elsewhere's aspatial nature to disturb our altogether more consistent reality. To break these rules safely, one must understand them...

Of course, I speak whilst labouring under the assumption that you will have a choice of Mastery in the first place. These days, many discover over the course of their first term that their Gift can only be shaped for one or two of the Masteries. A few unfortunates might struggle even for that, these days...But I digress. Somehow, I feel that you will not be one of those students.

Seek ever after knowledge,

Sir John Fausett

[pactbinder-if]

hi author! <3

quick question about the incident in the mist: why didnt the hightower students react to pb's spirit companion, anzu?

do they not have tiers or classifications for spirit companions?

or ig they don't see anzu? 😭

You mean the students in the branch where you go looking in the Mists? I think your Antioch friends do remark on it when you go there, as does Julian in a rarer branch.

It just wasn't too surprising! A good chunk of the class summoned Spirits after all - others, like Eleanor, found theirs in the Mists after their initial call was part successful.

Classifying a Spirit precisely isn't too easy unless it's very weak (e.g. Adelais could tell that the Spirits in the Mists were pretty weak as they were very easy to exorcise) or you're actively studying it, so at a glance the only thing they could tell about Anzu was that they probably weren't very weak. Nothing suspicious...

[pactbinder-if]

Okay, I’m not sure if this would count as spoilers, but is there any actual merit to what Carcer was saying with it being a waste of time and resources to try and train people who don’t start out with a natural inclination towards Mind?

Like, to me he reads like one of those bad teachers that don’t want to bother with anyone who isn’t smart enough to basically teach themselves even without his involvement, but is it actually a diminishing returns thing? Do other universities generally follow Hightower’s approach?

It just seems like shooting yourself in the foot lmao like you ALREADY have a shortage dog what are you doinggg

Great question and observation - the PB has the option to challenge him on similar grounds IIRC.

Carcer would argue his stance is more nuanced than that; he isn't excluding students who lack aptitude for Mind Magic, he is excluding students who lack a natural instinct for defending against mind magic. He would say that this is an ethical position in that he is ensuring that any student skilled at Mind is capable of protecting the secrets they steal: otherwise getting mind-read by one Mind mage would be like getting mind-read by all of them. Bad for a place like Hightower.

Others would disagree. They'd point out innate mental defenses do correlate with a knack for Mind. That other schools are less discriminatory. They'd say that if Mind magic is so spooky and terrible, surely every student, Mind mage or not, should learn to defend against it (and many do get private lessons on this). Or it should be regulated outright.

To these people, Carcer says: lol. Lmao, even. Sucks to not be the greatest Mind Mage in England.

Who's right, though? Who knows...

[pactbinder-if]

Hi so I was thinking, and it's just a request for the moment I'm not sure if it's the direction you're going for, but I'd actually like my Pactbinder to choose to hyperspecialise rather than diversify at least in first year. Being able to access multiple Masteries is a great perk but I wish I could see what would happen if they choose to instead devote even more time into their first Mastery. Can that be a choice?

Great question. Mechanics spoiler below cut; the short answer is that it is possible, but isn't as straightforward as just taking free time out to study a second Mastery in private.

The progression the Pactbinder gets with their initial Mastery is balanced around them being about as good at that Mastery as is possible at their level of experience at any point in time - they're always going to be top of their class, basically.

That's what they've paid for, and they'd hit some walls trying to push harder than that - it's technically possible, it would just be really inefficient and hit diminishing returns, since they'd be going so far ahead in the curriculum, then wasting time in subsequent classes re-learning stuff. I won't make that an option since it would be a balancing trap for players (and it wouldn't add much to the narrative, since the Pactbinder's already top of the class!)

But - there are advanced magical techniques that depend on high levels of skill with each Mastery, and those take time to learn too; the player may have already discovered the existence of one such skill over the course of C3.

So a single-Mastery specialist Pactbinder might be best served using their free time trying to discover those techniques, then learning them once they have the ability to do so - and of course, since they have more free time than other Pactbinders due to not burning loads of it learning another Mastery, it's easier for them to dedicate the time to finding these techniques and learning them.

[pactbinder-if]

How subtle could Mind mastery be?If Matter was our primary and Mind secondary could we be proficient enough for subtle machinations?Like in a duel could we alter our distance from an opponent by a very small margin but enough to not be noticed directly while using Matter as a cover?Or sending the feeling of burning with a fire that didn’t actually touch an opponent?

Thanks for the ask! Depends on the type of magic you're using with Mind.

The usual rule of thumb for Mind is that non-harmful Invocation spells (projecting simple thoughts, images and sensations onto others) can be subtle, whilst offensive Invocations (inflicting pain on others) and Transmutation spells (reading minds, more sophisticated mental illusions, etc) has more tells, particularly when used on somebody trained in and resistant to Mind Magic. It's also easier to cast subtly when someone's attention isn't on you.

So Mind isn't too subtle in the middle of a duel (and except for pain blasts, it's too slow to get a ton of sophisticated use out of it), but it's great for subtlety in other circumstances - sneaking around, or whilst holding a conversation if you're charismatic enough to keep it under wraps.