Peregrine
2006-06-12, 09:10 AM
Public Notice
of
Resignation of Tenure
by
Loreman Ulwisk
Mage-President of the Arcane Collegiate
Reader of the Mystical Society
Licensed Handler of Magical Creatures in the Kingdom of Alchen
et c.
Only a fool ever believes he knows a thing completely.
I accounted myself a great scholar once, completely familiar with the ways of the mind. I studied the arcane arts, and somewhat of the divine. It was I who settled the long-standing question of how unschooled sorcerers could shape magic to their will. I became famous for healing afflictions of the brain.
I had turned my attention to creatures I considered greater, more mysterious than the humans and elves and gnomes that had been my main interest; I thought I knew them completely. First I studied the fey; then, the dragons. I documented their magical powers, I studied their workings, and at last I reproduced them. I believed, as did many others, there was no being whose powers could not be learnt and imitated with a spell.
I turned then to the small number of creatures whose powers had long remained a mystery to even the most learned of my peers; my first choice was the sinister intellect devourer, but I had difficulty in obtaining specimens. I could do little more than confirm the existence of their odd powers, not investigate their source.
On the night I was to travel to another city and take possession of a live creature, a woman came to my door. Her child, she said, was sick, and showing strange powers. I sat her down and explained the gift of sorcery to her, and how it first manifested in the young, as I had to many fearful mothers before her. As had many before her, she insisted I come and look at her child. Despite the delay to my journey, I acquiesced.
When I came to her home, the child in question -- a young girl, younger than most who developed sorcerous powers -- was immediately obvious. Twin beams of light shone forth from her eyes, lighting up the opposite wall. She crouched in a corner, rocking on her heels, while her brothers and sisters huddled together, well away from her. A low hum filled the room.
All my examinations revealed little; it was not a power I had seen before, and though it appeared to be affecting the flow of magic around her, I could not see where or how she was drawing on that flow. The light faded in a few minutes, and the girl fell asleep.
I begged leave to examine her again on the morrow; I sent a messenger with my apologies about the intellect devourer.
I learnt little from the girl, who never showed any unusual abilities except those beams of light. I wrote of my findings, and heard back from colleagues who had similar cases of their own.
We were all taken aback when Coristan, once a pupil of mine, proved a link between the size-altering power of the intellect devourer, and one shown by a young man he was examining. (And he used my intellect devourer specimen to do it!) Whatever this power's source, it had long existed in certain monstrous beasts; but now it was appearing among our own kind. We were observing an awakening.
I had an opportunity to speak to Coristan's young subject myself. The man described the process as being simply an exercise of his imagination; he concentrated on the idea of being smaller, and lo, through pure mental effort he became smaller!
This was not magic as we knew it; this was something new. I call it mentalism. (Coristan calls it 'psionics', but I don't expect that that name shall find much favour.) Some mentalists are beginning to make a formal study of their own powers, and develop them much as we wizards study and train our own mastery. I fear they have overtaken me in the matter of intellect devourers.
I have been a fool, and I therefore resign my tenure at this institution. My remaining years shall be devoted to the further study of mentalism. I look forward to the provision of my pension...
-- Loreman Ulwisk, now former Mage-President of the Arcane Collegiate, et c.
[hr]
So, that's the 'mythology'. The overall theme is discovery of psionic powers, and learning to use them. There will probably not be any race, creature, feat, power, or prestige class. The item was a flash of inspiration and I wrote up a mythology just 'cause I can. ;D
of
Resignation of Tenure
by
Loreman Ulwisk
Mage-President of the Arcane Collegiate
Reader of the Mystical Society
Licensed Handler of Magical Creatures in the Kingdom of Alchen
et c.
Only a fool ever believes he knows a thing completely.
I accounted myself a great scholar once, completely familiar with the ways of the mind. I studied the arcane arts, and somewhat of the divine. It was I who settled the long-standing question of how unschooled sorcerers could shape magic to their will. I became famous for healing afflictions of the brain.
I had turned my attention to creatures I considered greater, more mysterious than the humans and elves and gnomes that had been my main interest; I thought I knew them completely. First I studied the fey; then, the dragons. I documented their magical powers, I studied their workings, and at last I reproduced them. I believed, as did many others, there was no being whose powers could not be learnt and imitated with a spell.
I turned then to the small number of creatures whose powers had long remained a mystery to even the most learned of my peers; my first choice was the sinister intellect devourer, but I had difficulty in obtaining specimens. I could do little more than confirm the existence of their odd powers, not investigate their source.
On the night I was to travel to another city and take possession of a live creature, a woman came to my door. Her child, she said, was sick, and showing strange powers. I sat her down and explained the gift of sorcery to her, and how it first manifested in the young, as I had to many fearful mothers before her. As had many before her, she insisted I come and look at her child. Despite the delay to my journey, I acquiesced.
When I came to her home, the child in question -- a young girl, younger than most who developed sorcerous powers -- was immediately obvious. Twin beams of light shone forth from her eyes, lighting up the opposite wall. She crouched in a corner, rocking on her heels, while her brothers and sisters huddled together, well away from her. A low hum filled the room.
All my examinations revealed little; it was not a power I had seen before, and though it appeared to be affecting the flow of magic around her, I could not see where or how she was drawing on that flow. The light faded in a few minutes, and the girl fell asleep.
I begged leave to examine her again on the morrow; I sent a messenger with my apologies about the intellect devourer.
I learnt little from the girl, who never showed any unusual abilities except those beams of light. I wrote of my findings, and heard back from colleagues who had similar cases of their own.
We were all taken aback when Coristan, once a pupil of mine, proved a link between the size-altering power of the intellect devourer, and one shown by a young man he was examining. (And he used my intellect devourer specimen to do it!) Whatever this power's source, it had long existed in certain monstrous beasts; but now it was appearing among our own kind. We were observing an awakening.
I had an opportunity to speak to Coristan's young subject myself. The man described the process as being simply an exercise of his imagination; he concentrated on the idea of being smaller, and lo, through pure mental effort he became smaller!
This was not magic as we knew it; this was something new. I call it mentalism. (Coristan calls it 'psionics', but I don't expect that that name shall find much favour.) Some mentalists are beginning to make a formal study of their own powers, and develop them much as we wizards study and train our own mastery. I fear they have overtaken me in the matter of intellect devourers.
I have been a fool, and I therefore resign my tenure at this institution. My remaining years shall be devoted to the further study of mentalism. I look forward to the provision of my pension...
-- Loreman Ulwisk, now former Mage-President of the Arcane Collegiate, et c.
[hr]
So, that's the 'mythology'. The overall theme is discovery of psionic powers, and learning to use them. There will probably not be any race, creature, feat, power, or prestige class. The item was a flash of inspiration and I wrote up a mythology just 'cause I can. ;D