3 |
INT |
20 |
[Studying] You roll a 20 (required 10). Critical success‼
After thinking on it for a minute, you come to the conclusion that Spark would be the most useful of the three spells to have. As such, you decide to learn that one, and flip through the pages until you reach the spell's chapter.
The chapter begins by introducing three types of runes: subject runes, which refer to a target, such as a creature or a concept; aspect runes, which refer to a property of the subject, such as its shape or its colour; and command runes, which define how the aspect of a subject should be influenced.
You remember from Crystal Charm's lessons that runes are, simply put, words of the arcane language. While thousands of them are currently known to ponykind, there are likely yet more that are not.
Honourshine: "Thousands? That must be a pain to memorize."
Fortunately, this chapter only teaches three of them; one of each type. The first one is the highly common subject rune Locus. This rune allows the caster to designate any location within line of sight as the target, from a single point to an area within multiple points. For this spell, a single point will be used.
Thus, the caster must mentally create this point by measuring its relative position (abscissa, ordinate and applicate), and convey it to the rune in the form of an aspect (that is, an intention surrounded by a three-pointed aspect star, or tristar). Once the point is conveyed to the rune, the subject becomes defined.
To accomplish this, it is recommended for novices to take the time to stare at their target, such as the tip of the wick of a candle, until their vision solely focuses on that point alone. If an object (such as the whole wick or the candle itself), or if a different concept (such as the space around the wick) is conveyed instead, the subject will remain undefined, and the spell will fail.
Honourshine: "Hm. So if I understand this correctly, you have to think about where you're casting your spell, not what you're casting it at. How peculiar."
You nod; this feels like the opposite of how the Telekinesis spell works. Still, as you read further, you begin to understand how aspect stars are used, and how intentions relate to a rune. You take a moment to memorize the Locus rune, then turn the page.
Next is the aspect rune Calor. This rune refers to a subject's temperature. When linked to a single-pointed Locus rune, the reference simply becomes that point's temperature, and acts as an aspect.
Honourshine: "This one seems simple enough, though I suppose the more you learn, the easier it becomes to mix them up."
You agree, and take a moment to study the Calor rune carefully, along with how it relates to the rest of the spell. You feel like you are starting to understand. The circles, the triangles, the lines and the symbols, they all begin to make sense to you.
Last is the command rune Augeo. This rune requires a prepared subject and an aspect, and instructs magic to increase the aspect of that subject. In the case of this spell, it increases the temperature of a single point, thus potentially igniting the object (or air) where it is cast.
It is noted that like most basic spells, Spark is channelled, and its potency is directly proportional to the amount of magic used (cumulatively) in casting the spell. Thus, for a novice, it may require a few seconds of unbroken concentration to successfully start a fire.
You take another moment to memorize the rune Augeo, then find a complete version of the spell on the following pages, along with descriptions of each symbol used and their purpose. At the very end, you find the spell's magic name: Scintilla.
You stare at the pages for a few minutes, trying to commit the instructions and their order to memory... until it finally clicks. You slide out of bed, intent on giving it a try.
Honourshine: "Good idea; the night won't get any warmer."
You make your way downstairs and in front of the fireplace. After placing a log inside, you begin to focus on a single point upon it, and repeat the instructions in your mind. Locus... Calor... Augeo... Locus... Calor... Augeo... Suddenly, beyond the faint blue glow of your own horn, the log catches aflame.
You learn Spark!
Honourshine: "Well done, Blaze. It seems like your name was hiding this new talent of yours all along."
You grin proudly; you've successfully cast your first memorized spell! And with the fireplace now lit, you figure that now would be a good time to get ready for bed. Honourshine agrees, and after a quick round to the wet room, you return upstairs to settle into bed together.
As Honourshine reaches over to turn off the lamp, you decide to tease her one last time, and ask her if you're getting a goodnight kiss. She responds with a smirk that says it all, and with a click, the room goes dark.
You close your eyes, and begin to meditate on what you've learned today. But as you begin to feel the embrace of sleep taking hold of your body, you hear the rustling of sheets behind you, then a whisper.
Honourshine: "Blaze, are you still awake...?"
You hum a reply, and slowly roll over to face your foalhood friend. You crack an eye open, but it's too dark to see. More rustling, until her warmth is right next to you.
Honourshine: "I... meant to tell you this a long time ago, but..."
Suddenly, you feel a small, gentle peck on your muzzle.
Honourshine: "... Thanks for being patient with me."
You wrap a leg around Honourshine, and hug her close. She nestles against you just lightly enough to deny it later. And so, to the sound of her quiet breathing, you fall asleep with three words and a smile on your lips...
Enter a comment
To me, magic theory is absolutely fascinating! I hope others don't find it to be too dry. In terms of what we learned this update, in my own words...
- "Runes" are basically "words" (of the "arcane language"), and there's a sort of grammar to putting them together. That there are likely many that are unknown to ponykind is tantalizing.
- Locus uses Cartesian coordinates, eh? Why not polar? 🤓
- I still find "stars" a bit hard to precisely define... my guess is that they're sets of parameters. The 3-part Cartesian coordinate is passed via a "three pointed aspect star"/"tristar".
- Not sure how to say it, but magic is clearly deeply memetic/epistemological/psychological.
- Finally, an explicit definition of channeling... a "channeled" spell is one powered directly by the caster's magic, and has no distinctions in terms of phases/timing.
This crit-success is actually exciting, given that dice rolls become rationalized as part of the narrative. Now we're (potentially) good at heat/spark-related spells, due to the connection with our name/possibly even our special talent! Maybe after one or two more crit-successes, the narrative will have to acknowledge that Blazer is canonically good at magic, period, hehehe.
Honourshine and Blazer are elemental opposites, but still soulmates: one takes a long time to warm up to somepony, and makes few friends, while the other warms up fast and makes many. More fuel for the uneven/particular soul split theory.
As is tradition, I'll offer my thoughts on the day. The day lasted 7 months/32 updates. I thought the day might be shorter than others given that we spent a decent amount of time reading, but we also spent a couple updates dreaming, which is a new thing. I imagine the upcoming travel days might take fewer updates though, due to involving actual waiting.2023-12-25.
- Signed up to be an Equestrian Agent/Voyager and chose the Kirin and Elf quests.
- Met Honourshine, our long lost foalhood friend and soulmate!!
- Recruited and reconnected with Honourshine, and understood more about the nature of our relationship and potentially how to get our memories back.
- Learned a new spell, and a lot of background on how magic works.
I'm really happy we made such progress on the Honourshine questline/storyline; I know I predicted it might happen, but I couldn't know for sure it would happen like this. And we have solid leads for getting our memories back (ask Moondancer about divination), understanding whether we're related or not (consult a geneticist), and a (less direct) path forwards for romancing her (bide our time).
- Safely engage with the dream spirit.
- Take the train to Canterlot.
- Visit Moondancer to ask about divination for restoring our memories. I originally suggested it only if we have time, but actually it seems important enough to delay our travel for at least a few hours.
- Visit a geneticist in Canterlot (or Fillydelphia, but I imagine Canterlot would have the best quality) to find out if we're related to Honourshine. Although, it's unclear if we can do a same-day appointment... if it's like real life we might be forced to waste a bunch of time waiting in a doctor's office, so we may have to delay this until after we get back. Or we can at least give them some DNA samples to process?
- Take the train to Fillydelphia.
- Track down and interview Halfpipe Avenue band members. It's technically optional (2023-12-11), but I would feel bad about skipping it and not doing full due-diligence.
- Take our ship out to sea if it's ready.