Ascendant's Rite (The Moontide Quartet) (114 page)

The Facets of the Gnosis

There are three facets to the gnosis: Magic, Runes and Studies.

Magic: Magic is the use of basic magical energies, such as discharging energy at an enemy (a ‘mage-bolt’), lifting or moving an object with gnosis (kinesis), mind-to-mind communication, or protecting oneself with gnosis (shielding).

Runes: These are a series of symbols from the old Yothic alphabet (the ‘runes’), assigned for convenience to specific gnostic abilities. The symbols don’t have intrinsic power; they are merely a form of shorthand for magical abilities. Some are assigned to general-use powers (like the Chain-rune, or wardings), and others represent powers accessed only through Studies (see below).

Studies: These are the most sophisticated applications of gnosis, and even the best and most talented magi are usually only capable of using two-thirds of them, as their minds are conditioned to perform some tasks better than others. There are four Classes (or Fields) of gnosis and within each Class, four specific Studies (meaning there are sixteen Studies in all). The combination of Studies that a mage finds himself able to use is determined largely by personality (or ‘affinity’).

Class Affinity: There are four Classes of gnosis; a mage will normally find they have more affinity to one than others, and therefore antipathy towards the opposing Study: for example, Thaumaturgy is the antithesis of Theurgy, and Hermetic the antithesis of Sorcery.

Elemental Affinity: Each mage will also have an affinity to an element that will shape how they operate. This combined with Class-affinity will determine the abilities that mage will excel at, those they will merely be functional at, and those they cannot perform at all.

A mage who has an ‘absolute affinity’ has supreme mastery over a Study. It requires single-minded devotion to one Study for which they already have a strong affinity (in both Class and element). A mage with absolute affinity often has a narrower selection of Studies at which they are proficient.

The Classes (or Fields): Thaumaturgy: the manipulation of the prime elemental forces: earth, water, fire and air. Earth and Air are held as antithetical, as are Water and Fire. This is the simplest Class.

Hermetic: use of gnosis on living organisms, divided into Healing (restoring someone to normal), Morphic (altering ‘normal’ forms), Animism (emulating and controlling creatures) and Sylvanism (manipulating plant-matter).

Theurgy: use of the gnosis to affect the mind; divided into Mesmerism (influencing other minds), Illusion (deceiving the senses), Mysticism (communion of minds), and Spiritualism (projecting of the spirit).

Sorcery: dealing with other spirits; divided into Clairvoyance (using the ‘eyes’ of the spirits to observe other places), Divination (using the ‘eyes’ and knowledge of spirits to predict the future), Wizardry (control and use of spirits), and Necromancy (communion with the recently dead).

The Studies

Thaumaturgy: Fire: an aggressive Study; gives a resistance to fire and an ability to douse flame. This Study is primarily used by the military, as well as in metal-working.

Air: a versatile Study that gives the ability to fly and also to manipulate weather. It is widely used in commerce and by the military.

Water: the ability to shape water, to purify water, to breathe water and to use water as a weapon at times (the more skilful have been known to drown a man on dry land).

Earth: the ability to shape stone is valuable in construction. Earth-gnosis is also widely used in mining, hunting (tracking) and smithing, and has even been used to create or still earthquakes.

Hermetic: Healing (Water-linked): restoring flesh to its normal undamaged state. It can be applied against illnesses and viruses as well. It is regarded as unglamorous.

Morphism (Fire-linked): the manipulation of the human form can be used to enhance (or deplete) musculature or appearance, right up to taking on the appearance of another person. Often used to gain special endurance for a task. The most feared use – to disguise oneself as another person – is illegal. It cannot be sustained for long periods.

Animism (Air-linked): can be used to enhance the senses, to command the behaviour of other creatures and even to take on beast-form oneself. Many applications, both in civilian and military context.

Sylvanism (Earth-linked): can be used to enhance or deplete wood and plant material. Often used in construction of buildings, tools and transport, in both peace and wartime. Wide use of potions and unguents for temporary gnostic affects.

Theurgy: Mesmerism (Fire-linked): this is the use of mind-to-mind interaction to aid, dominate or mislead another. Can be used to strengthen another’s determination or sense of purpose, but more infamously used to manipulate and mislead.

Illusion (Air-linked): the ability to produce false sights, smells, tastes or sounds to deceive others. Can also be used for protection from the same, to deceive attackers, and to entertain.

Mysticism (Water-linked): the communion of minds, permitting rapid teaching, deep-probing of minds to restore lost memories and to heal mental disorders or calm anxiety. Can be used to link the minds of magi to enhance the power of gnosis-workings by sharing energy.

Spiritualism (Earth-linked): the ability to send one’s spirit out of the body, where it can then travel long distance and use limited gnosis once there. Used in communication, also in scouting and similar.

Sorcery: Clairvoyance (Water-linked): the ability to see other places, the distances being determined by the skill and power of the mage. It can be blocked by concentrated layers of earth or water, and certain other restrictions.

Divination (Air-linked): questions can be asked of the spirit world, which will then give information (often captured in visual symbols) and will allow the mage to predict a probable outcome based on the known information. Unreliable and subject to distortion by personal bias and knowledge gaps.

Wizardry (Fire-linked): the ability to summon a spirit and control it, either in its natural spirit form or within a body supplied by the caster. Perilous, due to hostility of spirits, and considered theologically dubious. Can give access to all other Studies second-hand, so widely used to achieve indirectly effects provided by other Studies.

Necromancy (Earth-linked): the ability to deal death through forcing the spirit to depart; can also be used to communicate with the recently dead, and even to bring a spirit back to reanimate a dead body. Its acceptable uses are to question the recently dead on crimes related to their deaths or to help a spirit ‘pass on’ (exorcism), but reanimation especially is illegal and other uses are morally and theologically dubious.

Gnosis Affinity Table

Below is a Mage Affinity table.

How to use the table:

• All magi have a primary affinity to a Study, and/or to an Element. Most have an affinity to both, and many have a weaker secondary affinity.

• Any affinity creates a blind spot to its opposite:

Fire and Water are opposites Thaumaturgy and Sorcery are opposites

Air and Earth are opposites Hermetic and Theurgy are opposites

• So a person with affinities to Fire and Sorcery will be strongest at Wizardry and most vulnerable against Water-gnosis.

Glossary

Rimoni

Alpha Umo: First Man; an expression meaning the leader of a group of men

Amici/Amica: Friend (male / female)

Amori/Amora: Love(r) (male / female)

Arrivederci: Farewell

Bastidinio: Little bastard

Buona Notte: Goodnight

Castrato: Castrated man; in the Rimoni Empire it was common to castrate boy singers and male servants.

Cichita: Young woman

Cojones: Testicles

Come sta: How are you?

Condotiori: Mercenary

Cunni: A woman’s genitals (obscenity)

Dildus: A colloquial word for a penis

Dio: God

Donna: An unmarried woman, the equivalent of ‘Miss’

Drui: A Sollan priest

Familioso: A term for a family clan that runs criminal activity in a town

Froci: Homosexual (principally male, singular: frocio)

Giovanotto: Young man

Grazie: Thank you

Pater: Father

Paterfamilias: Head of the family (male)

Ragazza: Young girl

Rukk/rukka!: Fuck! (obscenity)

Rukka mio!: Fuck me! (obscenity)

Safian: Homosexual woman

Si: Yes

Signor/i: Gentleman/gentlemen

Silencio: Silence

Stronzo: Arsehole (also with connotations of stupidity)

Keshi/Dhassan/Jhafi

Afreet: Evil spirit of the air in Kesh mythology

Bekira-shroud: Loose-fitting black over-robe worn by Amteh women

Dom-al’Ahm: Amteh place of worship.

Eyeed: The three-day festival after the Holy month of Rami

Fatwah: A religious death sentence decreed against those who have offended Ahm

Godsinger: A person assigned to call the faithful to prayer

Godspeaker: A senior Amteh priest and scholar

Raki: Rice-based spirit, known in Lakh as arak

Scriptualist: An Amteh priest

Shihad: A holy war decreed against a people or place for religious reasons

Souk: Market

Tribaddi: Homosexual woman

Wadi: Dried riverbed

Lakh

Achaa: Okay or Yes or Very well

Arak: Rice-based spirit, known in Kesh and Dhassa as Raki

Babu: ‘Big man’, a word for a local community leader

Baksheesh: A tip or a bribe or a gift, depending upon the context

Father: Father

Bhai: Brother

Chai: Tea, usually heavily spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, mint and other herbs and spices

Chapatti: Flat bread

Chela: A trainee Omali priest or sadhu

Chod!: Fuck! (obscenity)

Chodia!: Fucker! (obscenity)

Dalit: An ‘untouchable’; the lowest, most menial class of Lakh society

Didi: Sister

Dodi Manghal: The pre-dawn meal before wedding

Dom-al’Ahm: Lakh (originally Gatioch) word for an Amteh temple

Dupatta: A scarf worn by women with a salwar, and often used to veil the face from the sun or for modesty

Fenni: A rough and cheap spirit distilled from wheat

Ferang: Foreigner

Ganga: Marijuana

Garud: A bird-deity; the steed of the God Vishnarayan

Ghat: Terraced steps leading down to water, used for worship and washing in Lakh

Gopi: A milkmaid

Guru: Teacher or wise person

Havan Kund: Part of the wedding ritual, where the couple separately and together circle a fire, performing ritual words and actions

Haveli: Walled style of house with an inner courtyard common among the well-off of Lakh

Jadugara: A witch or wizard

Jhuggi: Slums, shanty towns where the poor dwell

Kutti: A woman’s genitals (obscenity)

Lingam: Male sexual organs

Mandap: The holiest place in a shrine, and the consecrated place where wedding vows are exchanged in a person’s house (which is blessed to become a temporary shrine)