The Acana Field (Initiate Training)

[Selegon Merith]

Season of Spring, of Era II

- Initiate to Apprentice. One Master
- Apprentice to Journeyman. Three Masters
- Journeyman to Master. Three Masters, One Archmage; or Six Masters
- Master to Archmage. Three Archmages; or Nine Masters

Selegon was not much of type of person to use Arcana, but at time this could be useful for one such as him, and they main reason for this was enchantments. See Selegon thought of enchanting arrows in battle. There could be many strong points to this as well as its weak points, but Selegon cared not for either he just wanted to know some Arcana and he shall begin to try, but first he must find some one to teach him. In these parts it may not be to hard to find a Archmage or Master of some kind, but Selegon shall look and look he shall. Selegon left the city and headed toward the Forest of Light, there was a field just ouside of the forest and Selegon seen a man sitting in the middle of the field. Older looking man he had a staff that lay next to him he had grey hair and he looked almost like a man who had devoted his whole life to Arcana. He was saying words in a tounge Selegon could not understand, words like:...Kil'na tus Oak bidein...Thats all Selegon could make out, were those words.

Selegon entered the field and proceeded to the man but before he got there the man spoke to Selegon. "What brings you to me Elf?" Asked the man Selegon looked at him to notice he was facing the other way from him and noticed that he was a Human and knew that Selegon was comming to him, strange. 'I, I wish to learn Arcana, and I was wondering if you could assist me in this?' The man stood up and walked the rest of the way to Selegon and looked him down and replied to him. "Now, if I did not better master Elf. you look like a Ranger, are you not? The man asked smiling. The man had a wizards hat and he held a book in his left hand and he had a long light grey, cloke of somekind. 'Well yes, I am. But see I would also like to presue Arcana, for my own self, and maybe to help others aswell.' Selegon said, standing there. "Ok, Ill help you. My name Fremoir, yours is?" Fremoir asked Selegon. 'I am Selegon Merith, I live in Ethgan'tor.'

Fremoir eyed Selegon and tapped him with his staff. "First thing, I suggest you get a staff master Selegon, follow me. I have a few of them. I can lend you one, now hurry we must make haste. Selegon was nodding and trying to speak at the same time. 'Why the hurry?' Selegon asked Fremoir in a confused state. "Making haste is sometimes good, no matter. I am sure you understand that faster is not always good. The reasons are: You may forget things, may not catch everything, and you may do something wrong. Those are oly a few." Selegon was amazed at this mans knowledge and wizdom, but Selegon knew what he spoke of. That this will not be easy, but more difficult then anything. Selegon and Fremoir proceed to small house, almost like a shack. "Here you are master Selegon, a very sturdy staff and its about that same hight as you, and thats good." Selegon took the staff and walked with Fremoir back to the field where the would continue.

[Selegon Merith]

When they got to the field where they would proceed with Selegon's Training. "Master Selegon, you have to know this before we do hands on training. Listen to me very very carefully for this is VERY important.
So, the basics are:

You have the ‘material’ world, made up of Ara. Ara is the generalized term for arcane ‘essences’ that make up the world, the ‘organized’ weaves of Ara that form objects (Vis) and for magic itself on the material plane (again called ‘Ara’).

That aside the important part is to know the difference between Ara, essence and Vis is very fundamental.

Ara: Arcana essence, usually in its raw form floating around the world (visible from the essence plane/Astral plane, whatever you want to call it) It is chaotic, unorganized and very occasionally randomly reacts together causing random magical fluctuations.

Essence: The extremely raw, highly unstable substance that gives character to the ‘material’ plane, Essences originate from a selection of different planes that are all accessible from the ‘astral’ or ‘essence’ plane, it exists either as part of a Vis weave (stable), or as Mana (a construction of raw essence and Vis, very unstable).

Vis: Vis is STILL Ara, that is to say it’s ORGANISED Ara, it’s still chaotic but it’s organized in the sense that it forms patterns, these patterns are present in people, in rocks, in every ‘thing’ in the world, Vis also contains essences in a stable form, these essences define what the Vis produces (anything from fire to humans to steel).

Now again, another contradiction is that Juan refers to Vis as personal Ara, the personal Ara of a SINGLE person and that everything else, even the organized forms of Ara in rocks and other people (the ‘weaves’ of Ara) are called Ara…I prefer to call any organized form of Ara Vis to avoid confusion with chaotic, disorganized Ara.

So, that point aside, the fundamentals are above, Vis is organized Ara that makes up every object (including a casting mage), Ara is everything else in the material and ‘essence’ is raw magic of a certain type that exists either on another plane, on the material plane in a stable form (Vis) or as an unstable form (mana), how do we get from this to a spell? Quite simply really.

The first step is Meditation:

Meditation involves deep concentration, transcending a merely meditative state into something that alters the person’s ability to see things, allowing them to view magic and realize its existence, this stage is fundamental and different for everyone, some see it as color others see it as something else but once they can see it the major bridge is reached. From this position in the ‘essence’ plane, a plane that intersects many others, a mage can begin to draw on specific essences and so create mana of specific types, or just the generalized mana created by the use of Ara on the material plane that will create the resource necessary for ‘techniques’ rather than spells. (Techniques being things such as unbinding, circle of magic and so forth)

Focusing:

Once a mage has reached Meditation they can begin to focus on either the Ara in the material plane or the Essence they seek from one of the other planes around themselves, this is a mental process of attuning the mind to the targeted source of power, nothing more.

Channeling:

Comes next and involves drawing the essence or Ara from its home through the essence plane and into the Vis of a mage using the Vis as a conduit, during this process the first stage of Arcana dissipation takes place, the unstable substance leaking into the stable material plane areas and Vis of a person so it needs to be conducted either quickly or with much essence to play off the dissipation loss.

The Reaction and Shaping:

At this point a natural reaction occurs between the essence or Ara and the Vis, this produces ‘mana’, the materialization of an essence in the material plane. This is highly unstable and again suffers from dissipation so the next stage, shaping this mana, must be performed equally quickly using a selection or single technique from the list of five in the Arcana primers (can also be done by simple thought processes…depends on level of knowledge about arcane mechanics etc)

Spellcasting:

The mana is then expunged from the Vis where it was formed into a spell into the material plane using either the Vis as a conduit or another method…through a wand or simply using the Vis as a catapult to send it to a certain places, it all depends on what the spell is.

So there you have it, the six steps:

1) Meditate
2) Focus on Essence
3) Channel essence
4) Mix with Vis to create mana
5) Shape Mana
6) Cast spell

So you see there is more then just learning a spell and casting it Master Selegon. Now to the more phisical aspect of Acana will be next in your training. Any questions?" Selegon was suprised at the mans knowledge of Arcana, but he was a Master or a Wisard. 'No we will proceed then.'
OCC: Thank to Ducan for this Acana 101 info.

[Selegon Merith]

After Selegon processed this information into his mind, then he sat on thr grass in the field. "Ok Master Selegon next is the Meditation. Remember to concentrate and relax your body and feal nothing and take deep breaths." Selegon proceed to do so and felt very relaxed and no tense in his bondy at all. "Next focus on Essence and stay focused and do not un focus yourself."Time went by and went by Selegon was catching onto this very very fast and he was doing really well. "We will continue tommorow. Get some rest will will do some more. Good night Master Selegon." Fremoir waited for Selegon to go to sleep and then he proceed to go to his house and leave him a "suprise" that he wil never forget, and Illusion of Arcana that will scare him to death. It will be a good lesson for him and he will then try to teach Selegon the begining of Illusion and then work from there. Fremoir took his staff and said: "From the fires of Kônes Narth in the moutains deep, may these burn here and remain." This was a custom made spell? Yes, he made this for illusion purposes and he will make Selegon think he house is on fire and make the fire look as reall as possiable.He'll Wait untill morning to cast it.

[Selegon Merith]

It was the next morning and Selegon woke up and seen that his home was on fire. 'What in the world!' he thought. The he knew better, that no one would start his home on fire and he did not burn his own house down. He then went to touch the flames, and they were hot. Selegon thought then, that maybe his home really was burning down. Selegon then grabbed his bow, sword, and his new staff and his armour and ran out of his home. 'That wizard must have done this!' Selegon said enraged and upset. At that moment he grabbed his sword and bow and walked out toward the field to see the wisard sitting down and making no noise, faceing the opposeing dircetion of Selegon. "You upset, Master Selegon?" Selegon had his fist clenched ready to strike the Wizard. 'Im not one to express emotion, but you made a mistake by burning my home down! Now you shall meet the death you asked for! Selegon grabbed his bow and a arrow and shot it at him really fast. It stopped dead in the air and dropped to the ground. "Master Selegon, that was a illusion, and I know you are going to say 'but the flames are hot'. That was all in your mind. I had no control over that." Selegon just stood there and looked blankly at the Wizard. He felt really stupid. He had no responce. "First phisical lesson, Illusions. This is the basics. Selegon nodded and sat down next to the Wizard.

[Selegon Merith]

Selegon had many questions that maybe could be answerd and some that he knew could not. Such as how long this was going to last. Which Selegon knew it was hard to tell being there was no speed they were going at. 'Ah Fremoir, I have a question.'[i] Selegon knew that this one could be answerd, just for the fact that this Wizard better know this one.[i]"Yes, what is your question, my Initiate." aksed the highly skilled Wizard. 'Which of the branches of Arcana will we be studying? I have really takan a liking to Elmentism.' Selegon looke at him hoping thats what he was going to teach him or if thats what he knew and not something like Druidism. "Well, your in luck master Selegon. I'm Archmage of the world of Elementism. Heres what I will teach you in this Initiate state,
Earth Spike, Elemental Grasp, Elemental Orb, Elemental Shock Glowing Sphere, Inner Radiance. These are all of fairly high skill. But first the illsuion comes." Selegon was happy he would know something out of his beginning state of Acana. "Ok first go though you spell casting steps then ill tell you what to do next." Selegon relaxed himself and began to start his steps. About 25-30 Minutes later... "Ok hold out your hand like im going to give you something. Next say this 'From the fires of Kônes Narth in the moutains deep, may these burn here and remain.' Then this should cast on the field, what I casted on your home." Selegon repeated what he was suposed to say then a small part of the field looked as if it was on fire. 'How do I make it bigger?' Selegon asked. "Ok, fir it to grow in size just wave your hand out in front of you with your palm facing the ground." Selegon tried it again and then it went around them. Selegom made a mistake and did a full circle around them and they are in the middle of the fake flames. "Very good. Now to stop the flames say this and all will disapper. 'IN the dark places of the world lie no flame or fire'' Then all the flames died off, and Selegon was amasied at that. This was all so interesting to Selegon.

[Selegon Merith]

"Next master Selegon we will look at the Ice and Water areas pg illusion. Hold your hand out he same way and say this, Cold casim , freazing fortune. Then Ice shall cover the area of which you wave." Selegon was pleased that he had learned something new out of the expirance of being a learner of Arcana. This was diffreant from his useal, everyday type of doings. "Well master selegon we cannot continue tonight im afraid. The night is creeping on us. We will call it a day. Good night." Said the wizard walking off.