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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 12, 2010 14:39:45 GMT -5
All in all, a very interesting set of answers, each one a bit of an insight into the person who had said it. Now, to try and collect it all into one somewhat-unified (if eurocentric) whole.
"The process of magic," Professor Freeman said, "because that is what we're interested in, consists of two main parts. The power itself, and the mage's intentions for what that power is to do. In general, although there are some notable exceptions, any words, writings, or gestures while casting are components of that second part."
"First, though, let us discuss power. There are many, many sources of power. Life creates power. Destruction creates power. There are also many supernatural entities who can provide power. The list goes on, but those are the three main ones."
"Control, on the other hand, comes from a single source - the soul. A soul in itself is not magic, but it interacts with the world through magical means. How do you control magic? You are already doing it without even thinking about it."
"So," he continued, looking at the late arrival, "if power is common, and everyone has the potential to control it, why isn't everyone a mage?"
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Post by Beau Boudreaux on Jul 12, 2010 14:50:23 GMT -5
Beau stared at the teacher for a second like a deer into headlights. Then he smiled and answered. "Jus' 'cause dey got potential don't mean dey tap into dat potential. Potential alone don't do nuttin'."
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Post by Less Than Beta East Tundra on Jul 12, 2010 15:29:59 GMT -5
Less finally finished his construction and set it in the center of the table. "Some people don't have magic," he said. "They have to be given it by an elder or find a natural source. Without magic you cannot control magic."
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Jul 12, 2010 15:42:26 GMT -5
"I don't know, for the human side of things. It's not really worth looking into. I don't think they all have potential, you're missing like, three senses." Verin got up a bit, stretching his wings. He'd have to learn a better way of sitting with them.
" Back home, everyone's traits determine their caste. Of course, one of my vaunted blood ended up with a bunch of different traits. I was just best at magic."
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 12, 2010 19:25:04 GMT -5
"Tell me, mister Malphus," Prof. Freeman said, "have you heard of house Ba'al? How about house Namater? Both powerful houses in their day, and both of them were stopped cold - thwarted, even, by human mages. Is the force that could cast Namater to its doom really not worth your study?"
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Jul 12, 2010 19:43:57 GMT -5
Verin twitched a little. What the professor just said amounted to an insult to all demonkind. "If they lost their power..." he said, with obviously forced calm, "They must have been flawed in some way. If their house had been perfect, they would have kept their power. But they didn't. They were flawed. For Ba'al, it was their ambition outgrowing their power. For Namater, their determination to move forward made them lose hold of their roots. Each generation learns mistakes from its predecessors, and makes new mistakes to make room for the next conquest. That is the way of things."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 12, 2010 21:30:58 GMT -5
A faint and repetitive 'crunch, crunch' could be heard outside the classroom windows as Groundsman Fredericks trudged by though the light layer of icy snow that had fallen the night before. Other than having switched to a long sleeved flannel shirt instead of a short sleeved, he was dressed the same as always, apparently unconcerned by the weather. He had a saw propped against his shoulder and was dragging a moderate sized tree branch behind him.
He paused momentarily outside the window to the classroom and looked up to peer through the windows. Although impossible to hear through the glass the motion of his head made his scoff plain to everyone inside. He turned and resumed his walk.
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Post by Beau Boudreaux on Jul 12, 2010 21:46:23 GMT -5
Beau looked at Verin curiously. "How you know dey flawed? Maybe da 'umans was jus' bettah. I no mean ta be rude but if one side is da winner...seem like a 'scuse to say da losah flawed. Survival o' da fittest ya know?" Beau shrugged as he finished his comment.
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 12, 2010 22:59:55 GMT -5
Professor Freeman kept his face carefully neutral. That had not gone exactly as he'd hoped, and it looked like he'd hit a nerve in the process. However, hopefully, Verin would get his point. Regardless, there was a class to teach. He was about to continue when Beau proceeded to ask precisely the wrong question.
Professor Freeman muttered a few very significant words, preparing to, but not actually, calling a significant amount of Power to him. If things went south, he could definitely protect everyone else in the room. Beau might have to fend for himself for a few moments, but without making it obvious that he was ready for a fight, there was only so much he could do.
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Post by Susan Daunt on Jul 13, 2010 0:53:28 GMT -5
Susan frowned over one shoulder at Verin, filing him into her 'beings to detain for the local magical authorities imediately' category. "He's right, you know. Through diplomacy and skill, power and faith, we humans have largely kept your ilk from this plane," the Daunt scion intoned seriously, quoting again, eyes narrow unamused slits, "And I'm almost sure that inflated egos and rudeness didn't help your kind before either."
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 13, 2010 1:13:08 GMT -5
"That's enough," Professor Freeman said, without raising his voice. To emphasize his point, he summoned a significant amount of power - enough to shield the entire room, or more in keeping with his plans, wrap each of the potential troublemakers in nigh-impenetrable bubbles.
"We are here to discuss magic, not underworld history and philosophy. Mister Malphus, all demons are fallible, just like everyone else. Miss Daunt, kindly stop antagonizing your classmate."
Professor Freeman paused for a second to catch their reactions before continuing.
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Post by Nikolai Zhukov on Jul 13, 2010 1:26:23 GMT -5
Nikolai leaned back in his chair, looking over the classroom. He'd carefully kept his opinions on magic to himself, given that there were people here far more versed in its practice than him. All he did was transform. Human to Sulimov dog to human. Maybe a jackal proper, if he really pushed it. But he defaulted to a Sulimov dog, and he was well aware of the dangers of trying to forcibly change his animal form. Madness was one of them.
He brushed a loose strand of hair out of his eyes and was instantly annoyed by it. His hair really needed to behave itself.
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Post by Susan Daunt on Jul 13, 2010 2:14:39 GMT -5
The Daunt scion continued her glare at Verrin for a few seconds longer before turning back to her notes with a soft, "Yes, Sir. I apoligize for my outburst."
'Jerk Tiefling' was added to the margins of her notes, complete with a crude doodle of Verrin kicking a puppy.
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Post by Shihab on Jul 13, 2010 8:49:14 GMT -5
Shihab observed the petty squabbling with an interested, rather amused look-- much the same expression he leveled on the passing groundskeeper, along with a subtle (but very, very rude) hand gesture, out of the professor's line of sight, and mostly in the groundskeeper's peripheral vision. It was, he'd decided, most definitely in his best interest to find out how observant the man was, at least if he was to go through with any of his plans.
On his paper, meanwhile, he'd written "Soul" at the top, with an asterisk and question mark, and beneath it, in parentheses, Life, Destruction-- power. Components-- words, writing, gestures. He made a mental note to figure out what, exactly, tied the soul to the gestures. The meaning inherent in their execution? Did a gesture have to mean something to you personally-- did a word? That didn't make much sense-- but magic was a tool of the mind. Worth research, he decided, and returned to the discussion at hand, which didn't really deserve hsi attention, he thought ruefully.
He grinned at Professor Freeman's dismissal of Susan and the demon-boy. The kid sounded like he needed a serious take-down, and Shihab was quite happy to begin plotting it. What kind of idiot rejected an entire half of their bloodstream, anyway? There was no way he was fully demon.
"Yeah, everyone knows the only infallible race out there," he added in his best impersonation of a nose-in-the-air brat, "Is teenagers. We're special."
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Jul 13, 2010 9:30:26 GMT -5
"Certainly, sir." Verin forced through gritted teeth. The professor had power, that much was certain, and he could respect that even if he was human.
"When it's my turn, all your holy trinkets and petty cantrips won't earn you any respite." he muttered.
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 13, 2010 10:30:38 GMT -5
Fredericks continued to trudge on, giving no indication that he had seen Shihab's gesture.
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Post by Beau Boudreaux on Jul 13, 2010 11:10:11 GMT -5
Beau sat in his chair, somewhat confused as to what had just happened. Why was everyone so angry? Then his mind wandered to the barriers the teacher had put up. He had blasted through barriers before but this guy was different. He knew he'd probably never get the chance to take on these barriers still he wished he could try. It was fun challenging strong people. Then Beau noticed some old man walking outside. Beau wondered who he was and what he did. He realized people were talking again and focused on class once again.
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 13, 2010 12:15:00 GMT -5
"The question of why mages aren't more common is the first of several unanswered problems that we'll find in this course. Some say it's just a question of practice and focus, that anyone can reach across the void and grasp power. Some say it's impossible without outside aid, which also may well be the case. This is where some of the crypto-arcanist practices come from, including the magics practiced by the Hellfire Club. Rather than being able to directly control magic, they used ceremony, repetition, and magically significant materials, albeit clumsily, to manipulate power."
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Post by Less Than Beta East Tundra on Jul 13, 2010 13:13:42 GMT -5
"What is the Hellfire Club?" Less Than Beta asked. He was fairly unruffled by the spat behind him, as he considered it little more than the other students' way of ranking themselves. He expected that Verin and those two other students would have a more formal challenge amongst themselves soon enough. If it happened on school property, however, Less felt that as a Student Council representative he would have to do what he could to prevent collateral damage.
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Post by Susan Daunt on Jul 13, 2010 13:19:37 GMT -5
Susan's pen furiously scribbled down her teacher's words into her own nigh indiciperable handwriting. Interesting interesting interesting... Hellfire Club sounded nasty, like something out of a comic book... Huh. That sounded like a good question.
"Mr. Freeman?" she asked in a pause in the lecture, "How common are the... ah, aware mages? Thousands? Tens of thousands?"
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jul 14, 2010 18:07:30 GMT -5
Despite her really wanting to hate a class that was all talking, Aurora found herself somewhat entranced by Professor Morgan's lecture. His voice had this mesmerizing, soothing tone to it, and he spoke of the most interesting topics. She had started to get nervous with all the threats and hostility breaking out (and also made some mental adjustments about how calm and cool Verin was), but the Professor had set all of them straight.
While she was ruminating on how smart and forceful and wise he was, she noted that he was also tall and handsome...
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 15, 2010 1:22:11 GMT -5
"Two very good questions," Professor Freeman said. "Miss Daunt, the number depends on who you consider a mage. No one knows for sure, but my estimate is that there are maybe twenty thousand Master-level mages with conventional techniques worldwide, of which two hundred or so are truly powerful Adepts. There are maybe that many again who are journeymen, apprentices, or other learning ranks, and some similar number - forty thousand or so, who practice magic in unconventional ways. No one knows for sure, those are just my estimates."
"As for the hellfire club, they were a social club for young rich gentlemen some two and a half hundred years ago. They never amounted to much magically, being much more significant for cementing the images of dark robes, caves, and elaborate rituals as "magic" into the public mind. Much like Crowley and his ilk, they're magical history at this point - relatively important to understand because of how they affected the public's perception of magic, but not terribly relevant to theoretical magic."
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Post by Beau Boudreaux on Jul 15, 2010 2:12:14 GMT -5
Beau raised his hand. "What choo gotta know ta be Adept? And what ta be Mastah? What da diff'rence?"
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Post by Shihab on Jul 15, 2010 21:50:37 GMT -5
Against his better (or worse, again, depending on one's perspective) judgement, Shihab found himself thinking Serious Thoughts and, with a sour look, began writing furiously on his notebook, his writing wandering back and forth between English, Arabic, and a few other languages and alphabets, depending on what language had the precise word he was looking for. Without stopping his hand, he looked up at Beau's question, frowning.
"I think the real question is, if it's only a question of concentration, why do we have a class for mages and a class for non-mages? There's got to be something more to the study, if there are so few users world-wide-- and what's more..." He paused, biting his lip, and briefly wondered if he should raise his hand in this class, as some students seemed to be doing. Or at least, he thought, speaking quietly to himself, rather than doing all his ramblings in a fairly loud conversational tone. With a mental shrug, he continued.
"For one thing, forty thousand people practicing measurable amounts of magic is a tremendously tiny amount, even for a conservative estimate, if magic is actually something any human can do, let alone whatever eerie, ethereal, creepy and frighteningly unrealistic non-humans or part-humans we have hanging around," he said, winking broadly and cheerily at Verin. "And that's even considering that Real Magic, the kind you have to study and practice and focus for years to achieve, takes... well, years or decades. This-- there are so many people out there who would kill for that kind of power, let alone spend a few years learning to make fire.
"For another thing, it smacks of elitism to me," he said, now speaking more to himself-- but definitely very audible. "If we say everyone -can- do it, but some of us just don't care enough, aren't we basically saying everyone who doesn't practice magic is lazy? And that sets the magic-using population up for all kinds of tyranny, Harry Potter style. So, even leaving out any kind of social stigmas that may have prevented people from wanting to learn or use magic, and basic human laziness, that's still an incredibly small fraction of the world population, even as a conservative estimate.
"...Anyway, I think it's more likely that some people have more ability than others. And I don't think it has anything to do with soul power-- I think it's something connected to the soul, but... there's nothing wrong with not using magic. Or using it."
He shrugged, having said his piece, and looked down at his now-crowded paper, to resume drawing caricatures of demons, or limericks based on fires and idiot goths who wore too much chain.
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Post by Susan Daunt on Jul 15, 2010 23:04:12 GMT -5
Susan frowned a little at Shihab's speech, blue eyes narrowingly slightly, musing softly, "...The kind of beings who would kill for that kind of power don't deserve it. And all too often lose so much of themselves getting it that to put them down is a mercy to them and everyone else they'd hurt."
The Daunt in her was inclined to look up this Harry Potter thing to see if she had been insulted or not.
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Post by Prof. Michael Freeman on Jul 16, 2010 1:24:37 GMT -5
"Wouldn't saying that only the chosen few have magical abilities also count as elitist?" Professor Freeman asked. "Regardless, we're running out of time. The boundary between Master and Adept is fairly undefined - in general, you aren't an Adept until other Adepts recognize you as one. That's all for today - Wednesday, we'll start discussing how spells work."
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Post by Less Than Beta East Tundra on Jul 16, 2010 12:19:28 GMT -5
That really hadn't been as long as he had hoped the class would be. But Less wasn't one to complain, so he packed up his spell components and slung the satchel over his shoulder. But before he left, the werewolf went over to place the stick, rawhide, and catgut construction on the professor's desk.
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Post by Verin Vetis Malphus on Jul 16, 2010 13:36:46 GMT -5
"Impetuous upstart." Verin grumbled. He wouldn't admit it, but to him, Shihab at least had the right idea. Human talent was as far as he could see, very rare. But his comments were too much. Very little of Verin counted as human, both mentally and physically. And he'd spent a good part of his life teaching those who said otherwise to keep quiet. By removing their tongues. Or their heads. "Lucky this school doesn't condone violence... back home, we'd use you to clear out traps."
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Post by Susan Daunt on Jul 16, 2010 13:49:59 GMT -5
Susan gave the taller tiefling a 'I've got my eye on you' gesture over one shoulder, her lips quirked before she headed out of the class. Verin's blustering didn't bother her one iota. The louder the smack talk, she had been taught, the less threatening the target for reasons of stamina or power or speed or some other weakness that made them desire to puff themselves up and scare the target off without a fight.
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jul 16, 2010 14:12:42 GMT -5
Aurora approached the professor as people started to leave. She had a bit of a smitten look, and wasn't hiding it very well.
"That was a really cool class, professor, even though it was just talking which is usually boring but for you it's not." Realizing that she was rambling, she tried to think of something to ask him about the class. "My mom always said stuff like you - that everyone had magic in them but they didn't know how to use it."
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