video

[cloakand_danger]

Who: Yuan and whoever answers
When: Now.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The library on the Iskaulit

[The feed comes on to show Yuan in the library, with a scattering of handwritten notes in front of him. He addresses the camera in a calm, businesslike tone:]

So there's something I've been wondering about for a while now, since I started meeting people here, and now seems as good a time as any to start a conversation on the subject: there seem to be a fair number of different kinds of elves in the Fleet. Where I come from, elven blood is the only source of magical abilities, at least for mortals. [He holds up a hand, palm upward, and a crackling ball of lightning appears hovering over it in demonstration. Once he's sure his point has been made, he lets it wink out and continues.]

If anyone's willing, I'd like to hear about the elves of your worlds and their relationship to magic, if there is one. And if you have magic that doesn't derive from elven blood, I'd be curious to hear about how you came by it.

Comments

voice;

[helmsplitter]

What if we just know someone who's got magic that ain't an elf?

voice

[cloakand_danger]

I'd still be interested to learn anything you happen to know about their magic and where it comes from.

voice

[helmsplitter]

They can bring stuff to life using their powers. My saniwa brought me to life that way. They're attuned to spirits, too.

But that lightning thing? They don't do that.

voice

[cloakand_danger]

Attuned to spirits...you mean they can make pacts? And what sort of things do they bring to life? [That sounds like summoner magic to him.]

voice

[helmsplitter]

Uh... I dunno about pacts? But they brought us swords to life. I guess anything with enough spiritual energy, they could bring to life though.

[...]

But hopefully they don't do it with like...karakasa or something. Those things can be nasty.

voice

[experiencepoints]

... Only elves have magic? That's bizarre. Everyone but the merfolk have magic where I'm from.

voice

[cloakand_danger]

How do you learn it?

voice

[experiencepoints]

Training and practice?

... Well, in my case, I stole one of my mother's spellbooks to start. But that's a little unusual.

voice

[cloakand_danger]

So you can just...read a book, and learn magic from it? On my world, only those with elven blood can even sense mana in order to draw on it for spellcasting.

Video

[halfbloodhatchling]

[ Kai doesn't particularly want to answer this, but he's sort of the target audience. ]

Elfin in my world come in two varieties, sidhe and unsidhe. Both have magic. The unsidhe tend to use blood magic more, but that's a matter of preference and training rather than any real reflection of natural capability.

A few humans have some magic, but it seems to have been introduced to their world at the same time elfin were.

Video

[cloakand_danger]

Two kinds of elves... [Yuan makes a note of that on a fresh sheet of paper.] That's the first time I've heard that. ...Can you elaborate on what 'blood magic' is? My world doesn't have anything by that name.

Video

[halfbloodhatchling]

Blood magic is magic where the source of the power is blood - often someone else's other than the caster. It can be used for a variety of things, but most commonly for the creation of creatures controlled by the elfin who created them.

Video

[cloakand_danger]

That sounds...disturbing, honestly. Nothing of the sort exists in my world, outside of perhaps stories written by ignorant humans who want to scare one another about the evils of half-elves and their magic. [Bitter? He's not bitter.]

Since you have a specific name for it, I assume there's at least one other kind of magic with a different power source?

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

We don't actually have elves in our world, but we have magic. It usually takes years of study to learn it.

Voice;

[cloakand_danger]

No elves at all? Then how do you even have- [an exasperated noise goes here] No, that's probably too far off-topic for today.

How is magic studied? Where does the power come from?

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

No, it's just humans.

It depends, really. Different families and groups have their own styles of magic and spells, but they aren't about to share their techniques to outsiders. Having magic others don't know how to counter can give you the edge and all that.

As for the energy...it depends. Most spells just uses a person's energy. But others spells might call for a person's blood or even some of their life-force. Using those too often can be dangerous to your health.

And then there's the forbidden arts, like necromancy. Those use other people or the dead as their fuel.

Voice;

[cloakand_danger]

[Yuan is learning about all kinds of disturbing things today!]

Necromancy isn't...that isn't a real thing. At home, anyway. Humans tell each other a lot of stories about how they think magic works when they've never actually seen it done, give each other reasons to fear us. But all spellcasting ultimately works by drawing mana from the environment, not...not that.

[Exspheres aren't spellcasting. That's a topic for another probably-never.]

Video;

[wolfuncaged]

Not all elves in Thedas are mages. It is said, in the past, the opposite was true. But mingling with humans altered them and made the lose both their magic and their immortality.

...That is the tale the Dalish like to tell, anyway.

Video;

[cloakand_danger]

[Yuan tilts his head.]

Do you know a different story, or have reason to doubt it? I'll admit that sounds pretty implausible based on what I know of elves and magic, but obviously my knowledge doesn't always apply to other worlds.

Video;

[wolfuncaged]

I do not. Perhaps that is how it is. I have little care for the Dalish. They wish for things to go back to the old days, to the point where perhaps they...embellished some of the facts.

We age slower than the other races, so perhaps the immortality part, at least, were true once upon a time.

Video;

[cloakand_danger]

It does sound like the kind of thing the elves of my world would claim just so that they didn't have to acknowledge or spend time around what they consider to be lesser races.

What of magic, then? Do you know anything about where it does come from, if not elven blood?

action

[lord_wizard]

[Felix is around, but of course he is, and waits until Yuan is finished speaking to set a small armload of books down on an adjacent table, where he begins to sort them as he speaks in a somewhat off-handed manner]

There isn't, nor have there ever been, to my knowledge, elves on my own world. The magic I have, as many others in my own world also have, is something one is born with. I imagine there is something hereditary about it, as wizards are often born in the same family line.

action

[cloakand_danger]

So it is in the blood rather than learned by study, even if it doesn't originate from elves. [He makes a note of that as well.]

Are there any stories, legends, that you can recall discussing the origin of wizardry? I'm well aware of how things get distorted down the years [says the former companion of the ancient hero who sacrificed his life to take the place of the legendary mana tree] but even fragments might be a starting point of sorts.

[lord_wizard]

[Felix sits as he makes a thoughtful noise] No, not really, though I suppose most disciplines can be traced back to Cymellune in one way or another. Whether the Cymellunar wizards pioneered the study of magic or somehow enkindled the trait in people in begin with we will likely never know.

[cloakand_danger]

[Yuan nods.] Lost to the sands of time, like so much else.

Is the power you wield inherent to yourself, or do you draw it from your surroundings? Or some...other source? [Please at least tell him you don't steal energy from dead people. He's had enough upsetting new thoughts for one day.]