driftfleet | video

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.

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[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.

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.

[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.

[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.]

[Felix folds his hands together] That may widely be up for debate, as wizards in my world are so fond of doing. Generally I'd say that it is internal, as the magnitude and intensity of each wizard's magic is unique to each individual, and it's a quality we can sense in each other. Also, drawing on too much at once can take a physical toll.

However...[He gestures with a heavily ringed hand, to mark to the counterpoint]...nobody really knows what magic is. Definitively, at least. There are some Kekropian scholars who claim it's a force of the world of the spirit and which Cymellunar mystics referred to as manar - curiously similar, I note, to your mana. If it comes from there, then perhaps what we perceive as a wizard's power is merely their potential - the shape and size of their reservoir, if you will. But, that's just one theory piled upon many more.

[Yuan follows this explanation with interest, nodding periodically.]

That's how our magic works, more or less: individual spellcasters have different potential, partly related to the strength of their blood, but anyone who can cast spells to start with can increase their capacity to do so with training. The caster uses their own mana to draw in mana from outside and then shape it - and using too much power at once is not only draining, but can be life-threatening if taken to extremes.

I don't know the exact mechanism of it, unfortunately - the actual act of spellcasting is woefully under-researched, probably because most research facilities are staffed by humans more interested in magitech that they can use than spells they can't. ...Maybe that will start to change in the years to come.

I suppose that's where we differ. There is no way to increase one's power. There are certainly more powerful techniques one can use, most of which are distasteful, but in the end it can never change the limit they can reach.

[Because if that were true, Malkar would never have needed him, and Malkar had assuredly scraped the barrel of any possible way to elevate himself]

I remember you speaking about the melding of magic and technology in your world. You're saying that's how humans bypass the need for the proper heritage to use magic on their own?

So a child can in theory cast at the same level of power as an adult? That seems dangerous on many levels.

Yes, exactly. The elves must have taught them originally, although that would have been long, long before even I was born. By the time I was a child, human cities were full of magitechnological conveniences that improved every aspect of the average person's life. And magitech is also more versatile than pure spellcasting, which doesn't necessarily have much use outside of combat or healing.

It is dangerous, which is exactly the problem. Without someone to train them there's always the risk of accident, but, it's difficult to accomplish much without training. In any case, the talent doesn't generally manifest until their age of maturity, at which point they hopefully have the wits to seek out said training.

[He crosses his arms in thought] Do you know how it works? Magitech?

[He shakes his head.] Not much. I know it's powered by mana, and that magitech weapons use more mana than most devices, but I'm afraid I've always left most of the technical details to engineers.

As far as casting ability - what I meant is, where I come from even untrained children who exhibit an unusual degree of capability might be...pursued by those who wish to take advantage of it. I can only imagine how much worse that might be if they were already able to use artes at an adult level. ...But then again, I guess that would be less of a problem if it doesn't manifest until adulthood to start with.

I'm less interested in the mechanical workings and more in how they imbue it with magic that allows anyone else to use it. Unless those things are one and the same...

[Felix's mouth twisted into a frown. He'd really only fully understood how the system in Marathat was less than ideal until he'd left, though it seemed that no country had yet to really perfect the education of young wizards. More to the point,
Yuan was exactly right about some of the reasons it was a problem. At least, in his case.]

Adulthood is a matter of perspective, unfortunately. Most wizards manifest around sixteen or seventeen, but for some, like myself, it can occur much earlier.

[Felix fidget uncomfortably for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing]

How is it that people learn magic there you are from?

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