Castor was on a ship exploring the lands to the North of Sentenza. His journey to the Forest of Brotherhood had turned out to be rather pointless, shortly after his arrival, another envoy of spectra arrived and took him home. What a magnificent waste of time.
Now though, this journey was not a waste of time, not when they had found... This.
It was strange at first, to see humanoid creatures who had lost physical form, existing as the purity of fire, or a shaped gust of wind. Whatever they were before, Castor knew not, but what he did find, unmistakably, were the signs of something greater.
The signs of Magic.
There was great energy up ahead, something waiting to be discovered.
Deep inside a stone temple, buried under the blowing sands, Castor found a strange congregation. A being of flesh and blood stood forth infront of his peers, and underwent a strange ritual.
The being created a veil of fire from nothing but the energy of Gaea itself! These beings were great magicians. He must pry these secrets from their minds.
When the veil dissipated, out came a being of pure flame. He tried to repeat the casting of fire, but to no avail. Another failure, another exile to be thrown to the wastes. Such was the price for failing to ascend.
As the being was cast from the temple, Castor followed. When he was sure they were alone, Castor reached out, and touched its mind. With an iron grasp, he willed the creature to stillness, and underwent a through, methodical, almost surgical search of the poor creature's psyche.
As the creature's mind collapsed, Castor received a great amount of knowledge. The fools were attempting to better harness the power of Gaea, through a training now ingrained into his mind, they achieved control of this new energy. They could bend it, shape it, define it.
Yet they failed to master the energy, they failed to be one, to achieve total control. Hence the ritual. Who could manipulate fire better than a creature of pure flame, the winds as well as a being made from the very winds? None, and thus they sought to transform themselves to better control and shape the energy at their disposal.
"Fools." Castor smirked. "Such is not the true path to power through magic."
Magic is not in the flames, it is not on the winds. Magic, is itself. To become fire to understand magic is pure folly.
No, to wield magic as if it were yourself, you need not to become the elements you wish to manipulate, such are the old ways, for old fools. This is the new dawn.
Castor saw the ritual instructions, and made a slight modification. This valuable find would be stored in one of the memory crystals he carried.
To wield magic, you must become the very power itself. To become its manifestation is a mere mockery. This, is the TRUE RITE OF ARCANERY.
Castor discovers the Rite of Arcanery, a spell that allows someone with understanding of the magical energy within Gaea to become the living embodiment of the energy itself, being able to wield this new magic as if it were natural. It allows for increased power and control over this magic. The Rite uses a mix of energy manipulation and umbra magic, applied directly to the caster. In essence, it converts the caster into pure power so they become a powerful caster. There is no caster among the spectra that has the understanding and mastery of the manipulation of magical energy yet to complete this rite.
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[–] bobusdoleus ago
A cute idea. A marvelous idea. Giving magic to mortals is the only way. The only way! To produce such varied and rarefied results.
I wonder if this creator understands the full. Consequence. Of such a transformation.
That it a blessed change, of course.
This next part, Umbralocht does not speak, nor think, for he cannot comprehend such a thought. Yet, it is so inevitable a concept, that it can go understood, even if unsaid. A thought formed by the shadow of other thoughts. A change, of course. But also. A great cost.
[m] Conditional aye. Just as a follower of fire who would transform himself completely into fire would be no more, so would a student of pure magic who transforms himself to magic shall be no more, consumed by his great work. Every transformation leaves you less, less than before. Changed, yes, changed, perhaps more powerful in some ways, perhaps more magical in some ways, but lesser.
Further - and I'd like Recursion God's opinion on this one - @ghotioninabarrel - I'd figure that to achieve natural mastery of such a transformation (barring some sort of divine inspiration or direct knowledge transferral artifact or whatever), one would need to study magic itself, that is, one would need to observe other casters working magic.
And further, that it would be most potent in affecting other's works of magic. A meta-magic, of sorts.
What say you?
[–] NobleParadox [S] ago
[–] bobusdoleus ago (edited ago)
[m]I would leave that up to the author of whatever story, but generally the transformation is supposed to be a bad thing, a cost, and turning entirely into X is meant to be a cessation of existence (which is what I meant when I wrote it), or for some other reason a really not desirable thing - like being reduced to mindlessness, or being unable to connect with one's people and one's motivations, or something, depending on author I guess (because it's not like I own this thing, and people have votes). That was the intent anyways.
At the very least, a complete transformation means you can't keep doing the magic, because you have nothing left to transform.
[–] ghotioninabarrel ago
In addition to studying others, I would expect that you would have to use the magic yourself, and master something else so you can understand mastering magic. It wouldn't be impossible to just read or see everything you need. Just very unlikely.