Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (62 page)
Read Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) Online
Authors: J. Langland
"An animage then?" Damien asked. While Maelen had claimed to be a Seer and Healer, usually only
Animages were both. The man hadn't said he was an Animage though.
"I guess, I haven't read the auras of that many
Animages." Antefalken said. "Rupert on the other hand had similarities to different parts of Edwyrd's aura, and other things that I've taken to indicate a wizard in the past."
Damien just shook his head, not knowing what to make of the information. "The problem
, as you know,” Antefalken continued, “is that while demonic sight is a little bit better than wizard sight, it still isn't very exact. I'd suspect that a Seer like Maelen could be a lot more precise. That's part of what Seers do for a living after all."
"The question," Damien said, "is where do we go from here in our little jigsaw puzzle. We now have more of the pieces, but none of them seem to fit."
"I suppose, you'll want to tell your buddies on the highly-esteemed Council of Wizards, that in addition to having two warring wizards and a marching Rod on their hands, they've also got an archdemon coming for dinner?" Antefalken suggested with a smile.
"Don't," Damien groaned, "remind me. This is not going to be pleasant. I fear I'll be trapped all afternoon and evening."
C
urriculum Proficiebat: College of Wizardry
University of the Council States
Maelen’s Note: This information, which I have uncovered in the Council’s Private Library here in Freehold (apparently the doors are not locked, ahem). Seems to have been pirated from documents from an Animagic School. It is too similar to some of own introductory texts and we should, at some point look into how this information was attained.
Animages are individuals who use their minds to manipulate their own personal animus. Using their animus, they can manipulate mana, and hence the elements and the physical world around them. For all practical purposes, animages are individuals who simply need concentrate in the proper manner to achieve magic or spell-like effects. Consequently, the manipulations of animages are far more basic and simplistic than clerics or wizards, yet also much more flexible. Using their power in a building-block manner, animages can achieve almost any effect imaginable. The cost and difficulty, however, is often higher than that for wizards or clerics to do the same thing.
People actually calling themselves animages are actually relatively rare. This does not, however, imply that there are not very many animages. While there are probably both more clerics and wizards than animages, animages are not as uncommon as the general populace believes. The reason is not exactly that animages are in hiding, although in some regions this is the case. The real reason is that animages often specialize in particular disciplines and the most common of these specializations have names associated with them that many people mistake as a profession.
This confusion is not helped by the fact that certain animage specialization groups have even set up schools, as if they were a separate profession. In fact, it is these schools that really cause confusion. While it is not that uncommon to find a school devoted to a particular specialization, a pure animage school, which goes by such a name is almost completely unheard of. Most animages, outside a few select specializations, are either taught on a one-to-one basis by a single master, or in a few rare cases, semi-self-taught. The various specializations as well as the learning structure of animages are discussed in the Animage School section.
Part of the low profile of animages is due to the fact that with the possible exception of the hermetic druids, the animage is probably the least understood of all professions. The majority of other mana
-wielding professions hold animages at some level of suspicion. This suspicion is usually transmitted down to the laymen as well. The reason for this is that most other mana wielders do not understand exactly what animages do or how they manipulate mana. Among the non-magical population, the Animage’s position is looked upon suspiciously due to trepidation and fear. The trepidation and fear comes from the stereotype that all animages are mind readers and telepaths. This is not actually true.
With the exception of hermetic druids, other mana wielders are, by and large, spell casters. In other words, they use rituals, pronouncements
, incantations, etc. as well-defined vehicles of mana transport. Animages, on the other hand, do nothing of the sort. What animages do is to manipulate mana using their own personal animus. In other words, they bypass the traditional frameworks and achieve spell-like effects solely by force of concentration and will.
Actually, this is a slight over simplification. In actual point of fact, an animage cannot simply will something to happen; rather he or she must manipulate his or her animus in such a way as to cause mana to behave in the desired manner. While it may look very easy and straightforward, it is, in fact, a much more difficult, albeit more direct, method of using mana. Learning to manipulate animus, and hence mana, is something that takes many years of intense study, practice, and literal 'soul searching.' Hence, an animage's ability to achieve desired spell-like effects is measured in terms of skill-like abilities. These animage skills are referred to as Disciplines.
Animagic Disciplines
Animagic Disciplines | ||
1 | Aeromastery | Aeromastery is the discipline of manipulating the element of Air. Thus, aeromastery involves the manipulation of the air and gases. Winds, vacuum, breathing, gases and clouds all lie within its realm. Great masters of the air can summon huge winds and tornadoes, and combined with Aquamastery and Electromastery great storms can be summoned. Aeromasters can also affect the local atmosphere to disperse or induce poison gases and to create vacuums. Aeromastery combined with body mastery can allow an individual to become lighter than air and to rise above the clouds in flight |
2 | Animastery | Animastery is the direct manipulation of animus. This discipline allows the user directly to manipulate animus in much the same way one might manipulate an element. |
3 | Aquamastery | Aquamastery is the discipline of controlling liquids. All liquids can be controlled, in a manner similar to that of gases in Aeromastery |
4 | Astramastery | Astramastery is actually a slightly misleading term. On first examination, it might appear to solely be the study of the Astral Plane, but in reality, it is a whole lot more. Actually, It should also be noted that Astral and out-of-body travel for animages is much more primitive yet more flex |
5 | Body Mastery | Body Mastery is the study and understanding of how to control and assist the functions of one's own body. Originally, this discipline was used for manipulating the practitioner's own body, but knowledge of one's own body can be extremely useful when working with others', especially for healin |
6 | Cell Mastery | Cell Mastery is the study of living cells. It is also the study of flesh and the body. Cell Mastery can be used to |
7 | Clairomastery | Clairomastery is the study of extending one's senses beyond the normal. In its simplest form, it allows for extended mundane senses. At high skill levels, the clairomaster can see into other realms and places, and used with Prescience Mastery and Temporamastery it can be used to see through the very veils of time. |
8 | Electromastery | Electromastery is a specialized study of the element of Fire. Electricity is actually an aspect of Fire, but its use has been studied intently and has actually become a separate discipline from pyromastery. |
9 | Geomastery | Geomastery is the st |
10 | Kinetomastery | Kinetom |
11 | Link Mastery | Link Mastery is the study of animus and mana links. Link Mastery is fundamental to many animage disciplines, as it is that which allows an animage to contact another being for healing, mind reading or any number of other activities. While the specific effects of Link Mastery are not spectacular, they are critical in the function of most major animage disciplines. In the case of living beings, these links are animus or mana cords between the individuals. In the case of objects, small amounts of animus or mana are attached to the object (see Object Mastery) and a link is then formed. Animage mana links are identical to the links used by wizards in bindings and object links. Animus links are usually the sorts of links used by clerics, such as in the Wedding Ceremony. The silver cord seen by out-of-body travelers is an example of a very strong animus link. |
12 | Mana Mastery | Mana Mastery is similar to Animastery in that it is the study of the manipulation of true mana. This discipline deals with the channeling and controlling of mana in its raw form. |
13 | Multimastery | Multimastery is a discipline unlike all the others. For very experienced animages, it is perhaps the most useful discipline there is, opening a whole new realm of possibilities. For less experienced animages, however, it can be of limited use in the game of survival. Multimastery is the science of combing multiple disciplines into a single effect. The u |
14 | Object Mastery | Object Mastery is the science of attaching mana and animus to inanimate objects. It is actually a rather tricky discipline since inanimate objects have no animus and usually little mana. In general, this task is |
15 | Prescience Mastery | Prescience Mastery is the study of the unknown. It is an outgrowth of Clairomastery focusing on seeing into other places and events unknown to the user. |
16 | Pyromastery | Pyromastery is the study of the element of Fire in its aspects of fire, light, and heat. |
17 | Spatiomastery | Spatiomastery is the study of space and the various dimensions |
18 | Summastery | Summastery is the discipline of summoning creatures or beings from afar. It usually requires some form of Link |
19 | Telemastery | Perhaps the most well-known and feared of all disciplines by outsiders, Telemastery is the science of the mind. It is the discipline that allows skilled animages to read the very minds of other individuals. |
20 | Temporamastery | Temporamastery is the manipulation of time and an individual's perception of time. Actually, since time itself is extremely hard to manipulate, it is often the perception that is easier to affect. It is also a hard discipline to learn, as very few masters still exist. Only the Time Warriors were ever true masters and they seem to have all died. Thus, learning this skill can be difficult. |
21 | This discipline does not exist. Despite rumors, there is no 21 | This discipline does not exist. There is no such discipline. The rumors are completely unfounded and made up by If such a discipline existed, which it doesn't, it would be almost impossible to learn. No individual c Theoretically speaking of course, if such a discipline could be learned (which it cannot, since it doesn't actua |