Read The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) Online
Authors: J. Langland
The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) (99 page)
Appendix: Animus and Mana Wielders
Mana wielders (and animus wielders) are specially trained (or talented) people who are able to tap into mana and use it to do physical things. Different types of mana wielders access mana in different ways. All mana wielders are able to accumulate and contain larger levels of mana than normal people, due to their training and ability.
Wizards
: Wizards tap directly into the raw elemental mana of the universe. They draw the mana directly from the elements and their surroundings and use it for their own purposes. Different specialists are more easily able to tap mana from different elements (necromancers are sometimes an exception). Wizards manipulate mana through the use of spells. Spells are pattern frameworks to contain, direct and control the flow and processing of mana. With the exceptions of conjurors and necromancers, wizards deal very little with animus itself, generally dealing only with mana.
Clerics:
Clerics are mana wielders who do not draw their mana directly from nature at all. Rather, clerics tap into the vast streams of mana being channeled to their gods. The ordination process for a priest is the ceremony in which they are attuned to the mana stream flowing to their deity, and the deity allows them to utilize this power to perform "miracles" in the deity’s name. Thus, clerics are actually using mana that is already "processed" by living beings (this type of mana is sometimes referred to as spirit mana, not to be confused with the element of Spirit). Clerics generally only deal with animus in the highly organized state, with living spirit entities as a whole, and not with the smaller details that animages and animistic druids do.
Druids:
Druids are similar to clerics in that they normally use processed mana, but rather than drawing their mana from worshippers, they typically draw their mana from the plants and animals around them. There are three types of druids: hermetic, shamanistic and animistic. The different classifications are based upon the methods they use to channel mana. Druids generally use the excess mana that is naturally radiated away by living creatures, the principal exception being the sacrificial ceremonies performed by hermetic druids, where they take both animus and mana. Further, some druids are also capable of using raw elemental mana like a wizard, but do this less often, as it is more taxing and difficult for them. Like animages, druids also tend to work with animus a great deal. Animistic druids deal with animus in a manner similar to animages; hermetic druids deal with it more like wizards do (or don't), and shamanistic druids treat it in ways not unlike the cleric.
Animages:
Animages tend to defy easy classification. They are actually quite different than the other mana wielders. In some ways, one might consider the animage to be the purest form of mana and animus wielder. Animages make use of animus directly. They generally use the natural affinity of animus to animus to link their animus to that of others. This linking is what allows animages to read minds and do similar mental tricks. Other animages use animus to manipulate mana directly, without the use of spells. Since animages use mana through the manipulation of animus, they can manipulate the various elemental forces.
Necromancers:
Technically speaking, a necromancer is just another type of wizard, and they do function that way. However, in addition, the very nature of the necromancer is such that they also utilize "spirit mana" and are in contact with animus quite often. Necromancers often "harvest" mana from unwilling victims for their own purposes (as do "evil clerics"). Necromancers often use fear and other strong emotions to help them collect mana from others. Because they understand the effect of emotions and how they help to radiate mana, necromancers often try very hard to control their emotions, and thus often come off as being cold. Necromancers by definition are specialists in reanimating things that have died and chaining spirits to the earth in mana bodies or otherwise. Most creatures such as liches were once necromancers who decided they didn't want to leave and thus cast great spells and collected a lot of mana from others just for this purpose.
Conjurers:
Conjurers are wizards, and they use mana like any other wizard. The reason they deserve special mention is because what they do with this mana is different. Conjurers exploit the natural affinity for animus and mana. They use mana to contact and summon specific concentrations of animus (e.g., spirit-type beings, demons, ghosts, etc.) Normally animus attracts mana; in this case, conjurers use mana to attract or pull animus.
Bards:
While not normally considered spell weavers, legend dictates that some bards can use the power of music and song to cast spells. This is an alternate form of wizardry that is not well advertised. There are very few such bards and schools for them are rare, but they do exist.
Others:
Certain foreign individuals with skills in the martial arts seem to be able to perform magical or nearly magical feats. These feats are generally forms of animastery, similar to the work of some animages.
Appendix: Mana Pools and Anima Jars
Mana pools and anima jars are special arcane devices that allow the storage of mana and animus, respectively. Wizards, clerics, druids, and animages all may create these devices subject to the limitations of the spells or disciplines that govern the creation of mana pools and anima jars.
In general, mana pools are constructed from the highest quality gemstones. Anima jars are usually, but not always, finely wrought crystalline containers that may be sealed. The amount of mana or animus that may be stored depends upon the material from which the device is made, the abilities of the creator of the object, and the limitations of the spell or discipline used to create the device.
In all cases, the mana or animus stored in these devices may only be accessed through the use of mana and animus links (respectively). In the case of professions such as wizards, where such fine distinctions are not made on links, a simple object link is sufficient.
Mana pools and anima jars are extremely useful devices that allow mana and animus wielders to greatly extend their power. Any mana wielder may use any mana pool or anima jar made by others, as long as no current link to an owner exists. If such a link already exists, and if the individual desiring to use the mana pool or anima jar is capable, he or she may attempt to break the pre-existing link. However, the destruction (or even willful release by the owner) of the link destroys the anima jar or mana pool.
One of the first things attempted by overly ambitious mana wielders when mana pools and anima jars were first discovered was to try and use multiple pools at one time. Unfortunately, this tragic experiment met with great disaster and resulted in what was posthumously named Michael's First and Last Law of Animagic Containers. The law states that the animagic feedback through linked animagic pools is proportional to the square of the number of pools.
More simply speaking, using multiple mana pools or multiple anima jars in series (or parallel) is extremely dangerous. Using one of each is no problem, as anima jars and mana pools do not resonate, nor do they add to each other's feedback. Specifically, whenever a mana wielder attempts to use multiple mana pools or multiple anima jars, there is a chance of magical fumbling skyrockets in proportion to the number of mana pools
or
anima jars linked to the wielder (note that jars do not create feedback with pools; pools resonate only with pools, and jars with jars). This applies to all classes; the chance of a resonance feedback scales in proportion to the number of pools or jars in the link.
Thus, for safety reasons, very few mana wielders ever employ more than one mana pool at a time. The only known exception to this is the spell Mana Wheel, where somehow the creator of the spell got around this limitation. The details of this breaking of Michael's First and Last Law of Animagic Containers has puzzled more than a few hundred magical theorists. The best guess is that somehow, the very mana-draining nature of the spell keeps the feedback minimized.
One common confusion is that mages often tend to have multiple mana pools on them. However, generally only one or maybe two pools are for the wizard's own personal use. Most of the other mana pools have links to other magic items on the mage's person. While typically an arcane device that uses a mana pool would have its own mana pool, sometimes that item is too small to mount a gem of the correct size, so the creator may have created two matching pieces of jewelry, say a ring and pendant, where the actual mana pool for the ring was in the pendant, or perhaps someone later reworked the ring to add an extra mana pool. There are many possibilities.
Timekeeping in the Abyss, and most of the locations in the localverse, are imprecise. Aside from the cost of accurate timekeeping devices, there are few official authorities. Typically, the ruler of each region dictates the hours of the day in their region. In most cases, local scholars base the time of day on observations of Fierd and the moons. These scholars are then charged with synchronizing the sometimes-faulty timekeeping devices.
The most obvious effect of this is that there is essentially no synchronization of time between kingdoms. Most mana users who have an interest in interregional trade typically have a table of offsets so that they can coordinate communication via mirrors or other long-distance communication devices. The same is true for interdimensional traders, where time can be even trickier since different worlds may not only have a different breakdown of time, but often have different periods of rotation, and thus different day lengths.
The Abyss is even stranger, since it doesn’t have days. As far as anyone has been able to determine, the Abyss is flat, and probably infinite, or at least very large. No known entity has found and reported an edge, nor has anyone managed to circumscribe a spherical Abyss, despite journeys lasting centuries to millennia by intrepid explorers.
Further evidence of the Abyss’s flatness or extremely large spherical nature was provided during the construction of the boom tunnels. Throughout the breadth and scope of the boom tunnel network, Altrusian engineers were unable to detect any sign of systemic curvature to the Abyss. While there were numerous elevation differences over the vast distances, there was no evidence of actual curvature.
Most demons that visit the localverse use Court Time, based on the artificial days of the Courts of Chaos. While there are other cities or regions in the Abyss that have their own time, most copy the conventions of the Courts.
Druids, along with animages, are one of the most enigmatic professions in the world. Like the animage, part of this stems from the fact that the job specialization found within the profession can at times be so distinct as to make the specializations seem like completely different professions. Similar to animages, druids tend to guard rather closely the secrets of their power, making themselves seem more mysterious. This is different from clerics, who make no secret about where their power comes from, or wizards, who also make no secret of their craft; they simply charge a lot to teach people what they do. Finally, unlike the animage, a druid’s sense of secrecy comes not so much from historical reasons, but rather from the fact that most druids are more concerned about the natural and spirit worlds than the worlds of men. Hence, druids tend to ignore the questions of men, trying to answer instead the questions of nature.
Specializations:
There are three distinct types of druids. All three types share the same method of collecting and utilizing mana, and all three effectively have the same goals in mind: that of understanding and preserving the natural world around them. The differences in the specializations come in the means to these goals and their training on how to observe the natural world.
All druids generally use processed mana, or spirit mana, that has been absorbed and collected by living things. They collect the excess mana radiated by the living world around them and channel it back into the world in a more constructive manner (in theory, at least). This is not a hard-and-fast rule, however. Because they use mana that has been processed by living creatures, they are similar to clerics, but they do not have the intermediate buffer of the deity, so their use of mana can be a bit more hazardous.
The different approaches for druidic lore are given below. These are only rough overviews of the different lores. These are broad patterns that often vary and even overlap in different places and cultures. Also, one should be aware that while the ultimate goals are the same, and that while in some cultural groups these traditions and methods may overlap and blend, mix, and match, there are also places in the world where the different traditions are vehemently opposed to one another. The most notable of these are conflicts between hermetic and animistic druids in some parts of the world.
Hermetic Lore:
Hermetic druidism holds that the entire world, nature, and super-nature is a completely closed set. As such, it has limits and rules that can be understood and manipulated. Hermetic druids use ritualistic ceremonies, chants and complex dances to manipulate the natural world and influence the spirits that govern the day-to-day operation of nature.
Shamanistic Lore:
Shamanistic druidism holds that the world is populated by vast numbers of powerful spirits and beings, humanoid-kind being only the smallest part. It is the harmonious interaction of all these beings, these flows of animus and spirit, that drive the world. All such spirits have knowledge and intelligence to at least some degree, and by interacting positively with these beings, the good of all can be served.
Animistic Lore:
Animistic druidism holds that all of nature and super-nature is one. While on the surface, there is the appearance of separateness and individual free will among different beings and spirits, in reality all are part of a single entity. While at times, parts of the body may work in opposition to each other and sometimes even against the greater good of the whole, these are but temporary deviations. Animistic druids work at causing all parts of the Oneness to work together harmoniously for the greater good. Since animistic druids realize that all spirit, all animus, and even all matter and mana are one, they are able to manipulate all of these forms of the Oneness, much as they would their body. Consequently, the actual manipulation of mana and animus is very similar to that of animages.
Druidic Magic:
Druidic magic comes in three basic forms: spells, disciplines, and totem. Spells are divided into three basic types: ceremonies, chants and dances. Ceremonies are completely analogous to clerical rituals, and chants are analogous to clerical mantras. Mechanically speaking, dances are a combination of chants and ceremonies in the sense that their casting time is until something happens or until the spell caster gets tired and gives up.
Dances
are used primarily to influence or entice spirits into doing what the caster desires (if one is a shaman—hermetics generally insist that dances are simply extremely complex patterns that are used to channel energy).
Disciplines
work similar to animage disciplines and/or skills. As one progresses in knowledge of a discipline, one gains the ability to do greater and greater things with that discipline.
Totem
is something very hard to explain to a non-shaman (or “non-totemed” individual of any sort). Mechanically, totem behaves something like a skill or discipline. It is, however, much more. Totem is a way of life, an outlook, and a guide and guardian all rolled into one. One important distinction is that one does not exactly direct or use totem. Instead, totem guides, directs, inspires, and assists the “totemed” individual. The whole point of the totem “skill” is actually learning to listen to one's totem. It is the ability to recognize, listen to, and understand one's totem that is measured and discussed as if it were a skill.
Totem
What is a Totem?
The first step (and also the last step) in the path to understanding nature and the world is to understand oneself. To understand oneself, one must know who one is in the world and where one is going. This first step is not easy, and, in fact, many spend their entire lives trying to do just this. In this endeavor, it is very useful to have a guide or guideline to follow. Such a guide is a totem. An individual's totem can explain a lot about who that person is, where he or she has been and where he or she will go. It is a summation of the individual's past and family's path and a guide pointing to the future. Simply recognizing one's totem is a major undertaking.
Recognizing One's Totem:
In order to recognize one's totem, one must typically study with a sentient teacher the nature of totems. A shaman is someone who has recognized their totem and tries to live by it.
Living By One’s Totem
After discovering one's totem, the aspirant should have a better understanding of their nature and their outlook and motivation. This is generally useful in explaining why one feels a certain way or behaves in a certain manner.
Since the totem of an individual is directly indicative of his or her true nature, consistently not following the nature of totem, or fighting it, could be considered unwise and counterproductive from the point of view of personal growth. Any person who suppresses or denies his or her true nature is only doing self-harm.
Manifestations of Totem:
Totems manifest themselves in many ways. Totems are a reflection of who the person is and are at the same time a separate individual. Totems most often manifest themselves to the shaman as spirit-like beings in their visions and dreams, or as omens in the physical world.
Usually there is a specific spirit manifestation of the totem that the individual comes to associate with the totem. The level, nature, and frequency of the communication with this spirit manifestation is dependent on the nature of the totem and the skill level the shaman has in recognizing and understanding when the totem is trying to communicate.
Such manifestations are generally at the discretion of the totem. Naturally, the individual can seek out the totem's advice and the totem may or may not choose to give it, dependent on the nature of the totem, the skill level of the individual, and the need of the individual.
The totem may choose to manifest in dreams, hallucinations, or in the physical form of an animal of the totem's type, or simply in urges or compulsions as appropriate.
As examples, Bear is generally very blunt, direct, and to the point, but not overly explicit, generally being terse and without much patience. Rat tends to be secretive in giving information and may choose riddles or things of a similar nature. Owl, on the other hand, may get pedagogical to levels of detail undesired.
As the individual gains knowledge of his or her totem, he or she may even be able to assume attributes and the very form of the totem at will.