[ Strange tends to launch into crystal conversations without much preamble or hellos either, so he appreciates the brusqueness; it cuts the fat. He double-checks the sending crystal name attached to the unfamiliar voice — Isaac, then — and then gladly rolls with it. ]
Here: offensive, for the most part. Bursts of telekinesis or blasts of energy, and summoning arcane shields and weaponry: shields, flaming swords, whips, restraints, and the like. From my reading and witnessing others’ abilities, I believe the most comparable local analogues would be force magic and spirit magic, for the summoned constructs part.
Quite. There’s an established practice around weaponry, Voss could tell you more.
[ Whether she would is another matter, the former Knight-Enchanter has run afoul of enough Rifters in her day. (Maybe if he led with the restraints.)
But Strange doesn’t describe small spells, the fiddly work of fucked hands. Precision, then, remains his purpose in asking. Diverted, however temporarily: ]
Hm, thank you, perhaps I’ll seek her out. I’m always interested in seeing if I can readapt with more practice, since— well, yes. Teleportation, more precise telekinesis, magical wards, illusions, conjuring actual physical objects like drinks or clothing, scrying someone’s location, astral projection, ejecting someone’s spirit from their body… Sorcery where I’m from is a much broader school of study. I used to be more powerful.
[ A little wistful. He’s never really gonna be over it. ]
[ i used to be more powerful. it reminds of others here and gone, scratching against the same bonds; whatever barrier the veil presents between imagination and access. he owns greater sympathy for them now, all these years on.
(i wish i could do that, athessa had told him, over a simple spark. a returned confession: i think that i would too.) ]
- That energy has a shape. The Fade is responsive to will, but it presses upon the mind in turn. The farther you travel along a given path, the more difficult it grows to walk elsewhere; start anew. Does that make sense?
[ He makes a thoughtful noise. Of course the other sorcerers had had some predilections back home, greater or lesser levels of ease, some people had a better flair for defensive wards over offensive spellwork, but there hadn’t been specialties or schools the same way he’s heard them discussed here. So it does seem relevant for Thedas, where everything comes a little harder, reaching for his magic feeling like trying to run through water. ]
I believe so. We have a perhaps-related saying: ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. So you’re saying that— mastery might come more easily if I stayed focused on one school above the others? A narrower focus rather than broad?
[ —which might sound self-evident to most, but Doctor Strange had always bitten off more than he could chew, and never had to limit himself about it until now. ]
- But certainly, there was a day when I might have turned my focus elsewhere. It's well behind me now. To the hammer, every problem a nail, yes? If you will forgive the venture,
[ doesn't matter, doing it anyway, ]
Many Rifters I have spoken with elect surprise at the psychological nature of our magic. When I say that your studies will shape you in turn, I am quite literal.
[ Strange laughs, then — although Isaac hadn’t said anything particularly funny — but he’s reminded of other teachers, a pang of nostalgia. It’s been years, and he misses the Ancient One still. ]
Rest assured, that’s one thing that’s familiar. Magic, where I come from, it’s accompanied by sketching runes into the air with your hands. When I was first learning, I was convinced it was a physical thing: the precision of your fingers’ movement, the accuracy of the glyphs, the exact reproduction of the gestures, like pressing the right keys on the piano in the right order. Then I met a man without an arm who could outcast me in a heartbeat.
My mentor taught me that magic is more a state of mind than anything else. With thoughts, we focus the body.
Then you're well-placed to examine Circle practice. Establishing a framework for your thought is - a tedious degree of the work. To detach it from feeling, another.
I'd an apprentice once who insisted on singing for shorthand. Claimed it was the influence of the Chant, but do you know, he stopped after Mlle Marchonne was transferred? That's teenagers for you.
Ha— [ Amused, and then warmly curious: ] But the most important question: did the singing actually work, to focus the magic? I’ve seen stranger things.
And apprentices. Enchanter. So, you teach?
[ There’s the titles, but there’s also Isaac’s tone of voice throughout this entire conversation: those gently probing questions, the knowledgeable cant in terms of fields of study. ]
With the primary effect of inducing migraine. He might have gotten there, it isn't unprecedented.
[ orlais, bards; a culture that conceals purpose. strange can draw his own conclusions. ]
I've been employed as a tutor these past few years. Not spellcraft, of course, but - mn, a Chantry education spends more cheaply than the University. Gives your heirs fewer ideas.
I rather liked what I’d encountered of the university; there’s a few professors friendly to Riftwatch’s efforts now, and the dean of Lydes College was a particular fan.
( Still ruminating on the nature of training and spellcraft, however, he pivots back: ) In a perfect world I’d be able to pick up creation magic from yourself or others, but that particular school isn’t close to what I practiced even before this. Trying to work it would presumably be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Well-worn grooves, as you said. The shape of my magic simply— isn’t that.
( Squints. There’s a small beat where Strange looks down at his crystal, and he’s ticking over the words and that dry-as-bones tone of voice and searching for the trap, the mockery; suspecting there is one, but he simply doesn’t know Isaac well enough to say. Hmmm.
Safer territory, then, sidling back to referencing the mage’s former student: )
If I start doing musical scales to practice my spellwork, I’ll give you the headsup, so you don’t have to be subjected to the horror.
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portalling) wrote2022-04-02 01:17 pm
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crystals; at some point when everything isn't on fire
[ hi, hello, etcetera ]
no subject
Here: offensive, for the most part. Bursts of telekinesis or blasts of energy, and summoning arcane shields and weaponry: shields, flaming swords, whips, restraints, and the like. From my reading and witnessing others’ abilities, I believe the most comparable local analogues would be force magic and spirit magic, for the summoned constructs part.
no subject
[ Whether she would is another matter, the former Knight-Enchanter has run afoul of enough Rifters in her day. (Maybe if he led with the restraints.)
But Strange doesn’t describe small spells, the fiddly work of fucked hands. Precision, then, remains his purpose in asking. Diverted, however temporarily: ]
Here - you recall a greater range of skills?
no subject
[ A little wistful. He’s never really gonna be over it. ]
But I make do.
no subject
[ i used to be more powerful. it reminds of others here and gone, scratching against the same bonds; whatever barrier the veil presents between imagination and access. he owns greater sympathy for them now, all these years on.
(i wish i could do that, athessa had told him, over a simple spark. a returned confession: i think that i would too.) ]
- That energy has a shape. The Fade is responsive to will, but it presses upon the mind in turn. The farther you travel along a given path, the more difficult it grows to walk elsewhere; start anew. Does that make sense?
no subject
I believe so. We have a perhaps-related saying: ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. So you’re saying that— mastery might come more easily if I stayed focused on one school above the others? A narrower focus rather than broad?
[ —which might sound self-evident to most, but Doctor Strange had always bitten off more than he could chew, and never had to limit himself about it until now. ]
no subject
[ he can. will, the second it's convenient. ]
- But certainly, there was a day when I might have turned my focus elsewhere. It's well behind me now. To the hammer, every problem a nail, yes? If you will forgive the venture,
[ doesn't matter, doing it anyway, ]
Many Rifters I have spoken with elect surprise at the psychological nature of our magic. When I say that your studies will shape you in turn, I am quite literal.
no subject
Rest assured, that’s one thing that’s familiar. Magic, where I come from, it’s accompanied by sketching runes into the air with your hands. When I was first learning, I was convinced it was a physical thing: the precision of your fingers’ movement, the accuracy of the glyphs, the exact reproduction of the gestures, like pressing the right keys on the piano in the right order. Then I met a man without an arm who could outcast me in a heartbeat.
My mentor taught me that magic is more a state of mind than anything else. With thoughts, we focus the body.
no subject
I'd an apprentice once who insisted on singing for shorthand. Claimed it was the influence of the Chant, but do you know, he stopped after Mlle Marchonne was transferred? That's teenagers for you.
no subject
And apprentices. Enchanter. So, you teach?
[ There’s the titles, but there’s also Isaac’s tone of voice throughout this entire conversation: those gently probing questions, the knowledgeable cant in terms of fields of study. ]
no subject
[ orlais, bards; a culture that conceals purpose. strange can draw his own conclusions. ]
I've been employed as a tutor these past few years. Not spellcraft, of course, but - mn, a Chantry education spends more cheaply than the University. Gives your heirs fewer ideas.
no subject
( Still ruminating on the nature of training and spellcraft, however, he pivots back: ) In a perfect world I’d be able to pick up creation magic from yourself or others, but that particular school isn’t close to what I practiced even before this. Trying to work it would presumably be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Well-worn grooves, as you said. The shape of my magic simply— isn’t that.
no subject
[ one hole joke. he's allowed one hole joke. ]
Thought impresses form, form wears into itself. But you're clever: Practice, and I trust you'll find, mn. Novel holes.
[ alright two. he's allowed two. ]
no subject
Safer territory, then, sidling back to referencing the mage’s former student: )
If I start doing musical scales to practice my spellwork, I’ll give you the headsup, so you don’t have to be subjected to the horror.