boy, you're an alien [Thoth]

Nephthys · Jul 26, 2015

Siri was taking in what he said, though she found it a little difficult to process the concept of magic as something like countries. "We have a lot countries," she confirmed. "Countries, continents, and so on. I could list them all, but it might be better just to find a book for you. I’m from a country up north called Norway. It gets very cold and we like brown cheese. But a lot of history and culture for each country is tied into just where that place is on the globe. Are you implying that a person’s magic is a cultural thing more important than where they’re actually from, or do you mean to say that what kind of magic you use is determined by where you’re from?"

It was something she hadn’t necessarily considered before, but she realized she probably should have a lot sooner. There were different sorts of magics described in myths around the world. There were some reoccurring themes, but even creatures like vampires and dragons differed greatly from place to place. If the entire human race was magical where this boy was from, then it was fair to think different places would have evolved different ways to express their magic.

However, maybe that was still wrong. The more she invented possibilities in her head, the more she went back to his original question. "Actually, it might be better to ask: how you define a country? This is a world that is, for the majority, not at all magical. Our ideas of what a country is might be really different."

This person needed books. He needed so many books. And he needed to write one for her in between his reading, because there was a lot she needed to sort out. For the moment, though, the more they could sort out the basics, the easier it would be to get him pointed in the right direction. This was… sort of a good start?

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Romi · Jul 27, 2015

It was all very interesting to listen to, and he was so eager to not only be able to return the favor with information of his own, but to be queried with questions that revealed as much about his world as they did about the world he'd arrived in. "We have continents, but we don't have countries. Not for a long while." He knew they had once upon a time, but they'd fallen by the wayside. Of course, they still had general regions, but there weren't hard and fast lines between them. "I suppose both. If you were born in a town that's local school was the School of Chants, you'd likely attend it for your education, and be loyal to the School of Chants. And for the most part, you'd have a lot of School of Chants towns all located nearby." Patches of different schools, like a massive quilt, as opposed to having a single country following a single school.

"They shouldn't be, really. When I say country..." He paused, trying to make it as clear as possible. "My translation spell translates concepts rather than individual words. So when I say 'country', I mean... a... nation I guess?" The terminology was a bit of a struggle for him, considering they no longer had countries. "A physical location that has a ruler, who rules over them. Organized by location, as opposed to by loyalty to a school." Was he even doing a good job? It was kind of hard to tell. He knew how to explain things to children, but even children had a general sense of how the world was, and this girl didn't.

"So, who are you loyal to? If... if a war broke out or something, who would you be loyal to?" It was a very deep question, but it didn't seem so to Enelen.

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Nephthys · Aug 3, 2015

"That’s about right," Siri nodded when he explained his definition. They were at least on the same page. For the most part anyway. It helped to know that the translation spell did a little more than just giving words like a google translator, it was actually translating the actual meaning behind that word as well. It would be safe to assume that they were going to be on the same page for most of what could be understood then.

However, she laughed at his question and gave a quick shrug. "As far as loyalty goes, most would follow their country even if it was in an uneasy sort of patriotism. I think the desire to protect one’s home is pretty natural. Unless, of course, it’s a civil war and you even have family members slaughtering each other for mixed beliefs on how they think the country should be." And that was the majority. On one hand, one could imagine that Enelen’s culture might be more advanced if they were loyal to their schools rather than just location. However, she also imagined it being a it of a mess in a hypothetical war between whatever schools he was talking about.

She finished off her ice cream as her brain worked out the imagery. "Though if you’re asking about me personally, that can get complicated. It makes more sense to me to follow whatever I’d benefit from the most, even if it meant helping to overthrow my country." Siri hardly thought that was as cruel-sounding as it could have come off to be. The simple truth was that she wasn’t tied to much, not even feeling strong loyalty to her own parents. She would always follow whatever logical route benefitted her the most. But that probably wasn’t quite what Enelen was trying to get at.

"So, would someone from where you’re from most likely be loyal to their school? If a war broke out and there was a different school nearby would they just stomp over and burn it down? War or no war, could you switch schools? Can you belong to more than one school? Do immediate families ever end up with mixed schools?"

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Romi · Aug 6, 2015

The idea of being loyal to a country - to a physical location - was bizarre to him. On his home world, people were loyal to their schools first and foremost. They were loyal to their way of life, to the people who thought and acted like them. They weren't loyal to the place they'd been born in. He didn't even know the name of the town he'd been born in. He knew the school he'd grown up in, and while everyone had a place in their heart for the school that had raised them, the school was the school - each one just as worthy of loyalty and dedication as any other in the system.

He was slightly taken aback by the admission that she'd take whatever side benefited her the most. That was... odd. Certainly some people were willing to sell their friends, family, and allies out. But not everyone was like that. Maybe it was just her. More importantly, even fewer would admit it. Some people did sell out their schools, although people never fully recovered from that. Schools would pay dearly for the greatest secret of other schools, from mages in the highest echelons... but it was too big a price to pay. A mage from another school would never be truly accepted at his new school. They would always be treated with scorn.

Few took that option.

"We haven't had any wars for a very long time. The schools are all fairly interconnected at this point. Any school that went to war would find themselves cut off. For example, the school of ritual does almost all the building - the only things they don't build are the main schools themselves." Although, begrudgingly, the other schools had allowed them to build smaller, more remote ones for them. It was simply so much easier. "But yes, if war broke out, you'd be loyal to your school. Switching schools is possible, but almost no one does it."

He actually had to pause to consider her last question.

"No, one school only, and... no, not really. Schools run in families. So the child of two people from the school of chants end up in the school of chants. Mixed marriages do exist, but only rarely, and even then they have to school a school." And children from mixed marriages were almost never given up to the school itself as a result - at least not knowingly.

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Nephthys · Aug 11, 2015

It made complete sense to her to structure a society based on who was best at what. It was like building country with the resources of one half and the labor of the other. That much was efficient. However, her brow knitted in confusion when he continued.

Not many people switched schools. That was fair. Few people left their home country unless they were particularly drawn to another or felt that it was impossible to stay. Perhaps there was something deeper in a person’s genetics that made them best in their given school then. However, what seemed odd to her was that mixed marriages and more than one school was as uncommon as he was making it out to be.

"And you don’t think that’s a lot of wasted potential?" She asked, not that concerned by how blunt or disappointed she may have sounded. "It’s too rigid. I can’t help but imagine all of the people who were just stuck in one school performing averagely when perhaps they could have excelled at a kind of magic they never had a chance to practice. Unless I’m misunderstanding what a school is entirely. I feel like that would also highly limit skillsets. Think of all the wasted opportunities for discovery that mixing schools could have brought—the new schools that could have been birthed by trying something different. Unless your society had totally peaked in development. And even then, you’re here now and everyone else could be dead. Whole schools of magic outside of your own, generations of development, are totally gone because it was so taboo to have more than one school. Just poof. Gone forever!"

No. No, bad. Perhaps that was too far. Siri took a pause to remind herself that this young man had only just appeared and he didn’t need to be reminded of the worst case scenarios. She had a lot of doubts in the structure of his world, but it wasn’t her place to overload him with what would probably be taken negatively before he could even get situated in a new place. "Well, whatever. I should probably show you where the Academy is so we can find somewhere for you to stay."

With that, she motioned for him to follow her. "And what was your school, by the way?"

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Romi · Aug 13, 2015

For Enelen it was a matter of focus and instincts. Certainly someone could have learned from all four schools, but in the end they would only be average at best. They would be a jack of all trades, but a master of none, and each school was focused on creating masters.

"Well, there's a lot of subschools, some of which are a bit like what you're talking about - like a school that's sort of like another school but not all the way." Was that what she was talking about? It sounded similar enough, but part of it was actually going over Enelen's head. It was a lot to think about.

"But you could say the same thing the other way. There's no way for one person to be the complete master of everything a school has to offer - if I had studied at all the schools, I would have a basic understanding of four kinds of magic, but anything above the basics would be lost for good." And that would be far more tragic in his mind. Better to have one well developed form of magic than four primitive types. His own school was the closest to his heart, so of course that would be the one he felt was most worthy of protecting, even if intellectually he knew all four were valuable.

"The school of staves." He paused, then shook his staff a bit. Not a walking stick - it was as tall as he was, and the top was quite ornate, although it looked to have been hand carved (and it was). "We're a versatile school that isn't considered to be very dangerous to the caster, but we require a lot of upkeep. The schools of words or chants don't require anything but your wits and your energy, but to cast magic effectively we require a stave." But, in turn, they were faster than chants and less dangerous than words. It was an elaborate balancing system, with only Ritual standing apart.

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boy, you're an alien [Thoth]

Nephthys

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Romi

Secretly a Bird

Nephthys

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Romi

Secretly a Bird

Nephthys

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Romi

Secretly a Bird