prismatica | 001

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[Edward's been seeing all of these different posts come up. It's obnoxious to him, but he can see the potential of being able to communicate with so many like this, so he decided to give it a try.]

It's come to my attention that there's a few people here who use "magic." From what I've seen, there's nothing like it where I come from and I have a few questions for anyone who's willing to answer. In science, you've got different laws that everything follows. Is that the same for magic? Does some magic have laws while others don't? Are there different fields of magic? What are they? Where does the energy or power come from? What makes it "magic" and not a field of science?

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[One big, cat-like stretch before she settled back in her seat.]

Well, that all depends on the world, really. Some have a sort of 'law', while others simply need a source.

If we were to take my home world, for instance, you have different schools of magic: Adjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy and Transmutation. These each have different properties, different... power sources, let's say.

Some call upon your bond with a god or a demon. Some come straight from the magic coursing through your blood. Others still call upon the offering of various items. But some demand you bend the rules a bit, do a little naughty thing as mere mortals to delve into what normally should not belong to us.

[Of course she responded with a video. It wasn't that Ed was camera-shy or anything. He just wasn't used to it. It took him a little bit and some fumbling, but he found out how to work it for now.]

Transmutation is magic where you're from?

[He frowned. He had been expecting some complexities regarding the subject, but not any overlap between what he considered science and what others considered magic.]

I'm guessing you know all of this because you use magic yourself? What do you specialize in?

Glad to see you've decided to give this some serious consideration, Edward. [ Believe it or not, that grin is genuinely pleased.

Also: "come to my attention" he says.

You're getting video because she hasn't the patience to type out all that she wants to say so DEAL WITH IT, ED. ]

I'm not certain about laws, I'm no scholar or Sharlayan, but I'll tell you what I can.

Each magic discipline has its own set of limitations and draw from different sources. In... [ Wait. She stops, frowns, pausing before muttering- ] Would it be in or on...? Gods damn it all. [ Alright, enough of that. ] The world I'm from is filled with aether. It's more or less the life force of every living thing on the planet, and our source of energy for magic. One has to be born with the ability to manipulate aether in order to use magic, though.

[ She'll stop there for now because NO DOUBT he has questions already. He's even mouthier than she is (and she finds it both amusing and amazing). ]

From what I understand just about anyone can study science. That's not always the case with magic. Not everyone can use it or learn how to. Some people just don't make the cut.

Even if you can, you probably can't use every kind of magic.

[ He's a bit late to this message because he's been considering what, exactly, counts as magic. Quirks aren't... magic, but they're not what used to be normal, either. ]

We don't have magic, but most people are born with abilities like that it now.

Somebody would probably confuse it for magic.

All things possess a quantifiable form and function. "Magic" is no exception to this. Once you arrive at the necessary conclusion to grasp these, it becomes possible to utilize factors that would seem impossible or incomprehensible without this understanding.

Well, I don’t really think we consider it magic back home, but people seem to be reacting to my bending as if it’s magic... so perhaps I ought to consider it as such. Basically, certain members of the population where I’m from are born with the ability to control one of the four elements: earth, fire, air, or water. They all have their own individual limitations based on the bender’s skill and some environmental factors... and then there’s the Avatar, who’s the one person who can use all of them.

There’s also the spiritual realm, which tends to play by its own rules.

[She will not be caged to voice and text alone! ...Aww. Look at this cute kid. He's like a fluffy shiba inu that wants to study magic.]

It is! It's rather like being your own blacksmith. As for my specialty, I'm a bard, so I dabble into a little bit of everything. My favorites are enchantments.

We tieflings descend from demons, so we're born with boatloads of magic within us. I channel mine through my songs.

[She cleared her throat, and eased into a single, prolonged note. She weaved her fingers through the air, gathering some odd threads that bloomed to life between them.]

Oy Lazare Lazare, tuka ni sa kazali...

[The threads coalesced into small dancing lights that played through the air, moving to the rhythm of her song.]

Kolko liste po gorach, tolko zdrave na taz kyshcha...!

[She clapped her hands over the lights, and they burst into multicolored sparks before fading to nothing.]

[Fine. He will deal with a video response. Just like how Ziva's going to have to deal with what might be a nauseatingly shaky camera.]

Hey! I'm man enough to admit when I was wrong about something!

[Usually.

Holy crap. He was able to follow that!]

But what about that circular thing you pulled out to do those spells? Is that something you need to perform those spells?

[ Aw Ed. She's actually proud of you! ]

Good on you. I've known others sadly lacking in such good sense. There's always something more to learn in life, for all of us.

[ Oh gods, well. Compared to the overwhelming dizzy spells that come with the Echo it isn't so bad, though she does squint just a little to minimize the visual disruption in any way she can. ]

Yes, that's called an astrometer. It acts as a focus for my mana- magical energy -to cast my spells. All mages require a similar tool to harness it. In my case, however, it also houses the cards that I draw on for enhancements.

What determines that? There's different levels of skill between people when it comes to alchemy, but it's generally thought to be based on the person's understanding of it.

What kind of abilities? Do you have one of these?

If that's the case, then how what's the difference between science and magic? Do you differentiate between the two where you're from?

[ well.................. ]

Yeah.

[ ...that's a big pause. ]

We call them quirks.

There are alchemists where I'm from who base their transmutations on the four elements like that, though we're not limited to transmuting with only one element. Is there overlap between bending these elements? For instance, would a person who can control air and a person who can control water both be able to work with steam?

What determines who can control what? Why can this Avatar guy control all elements but everyone else can only control one? What does this spiritual realm have to do with it?

Beats me. My guess is that it works the same way. Sometimes people just have an aptitude for it and others don't.

I've fought plenty of people and all of them have had a different skill level and favored different magics. Then there's me who puts their own special twist on the magic they use.

Magic is merely a word used to describe phenomena that one lacks full understanding of its form. "Any sufficiently advanced technology becomes indistinguishable from magic."

However, as one can use a machine without understanding exactly how it works, some may utilize these phenomena without understanding the full scope of its function, and thereby call it magic for lack of awareness of its workings.

Edited 2019-03-30 03:02 (UTC)

[A shiba inu would be a good dog to represent Ed, though might a suggest a corgi?]

For me, we call it alchemy. The act of performing alchemy is called the transmutation, and it can be applied to anything as long as you know the composition of the object you want to transmute.

[Ed wasn't sure about this whole 'demon' thing, but he'd take her word for it now. Oh wait? Was this a demonstration? Ed's opinion over video communication increased ten-fold. He watched and listened, trying to analyze what exactly he was seeing. It looked cool. It sounded cool. But...]

What did you just do?

[Ed had been expecting Ziva to jab at him again. He was pleasantly surprised to hear a compliment instead. He shrugged.]

Yeah, well, you can't make any progress if you're stuck with your head in the sand.

[Ed's picturing playing cards but he's certain those aren't the kinds of cards she's talking about.]

Ok, so a couple questions. What are these astrometers and such made of? What about them lets you harness this aether stuff? And what are the cards you mentioned? They're not paper playing cards, right?

Can you give me an example?

[C'mon dude, give him something to work with here.]

Whatever I wanted. [She dusted off her hands.]

Were we speaking in person, that would have been my opportunity to offer you inspiration. It could also be the chance to cast a charm spell on you, or even blow you away with sheer volume. But over video, I can do nothing more than simple party tricks.

[She paused.]

Hmm, but your alchemy sounds about the same as my transmutation. The exact science of knowing what to take to build something from the ground up, as well as the tales of the Magnum Opus. Why, I've always wondered if the stone was real...

What are these different magics you're talking about? What;s this 'twist' of yours?

That's what I thought too. In my world, there are people who believe in magic or miracles or whatever, but in reality they're just misunderstanding something.

What I've encountered here is different though. I had someone perform something on me. She knew what she was doing and she's been explaining it to me that makes me think that there's a way you can come to an understanding of how it works, but she still refers to it as 'magic.' I wasn't able to explain it based on what I knew either, so I figured I was missing something. Perhaps they use the term 'magic' to describe a set of laws that function separately from natural scientific laws that we could be unaware of?

[Ed tilted his head in contemplation.]

So that one song allows you to have that much variety with the spell? Or does say, a charm spell need a different song than blowing out my eardrums?

[Ed points at the screen, picking up on something she's said.]

Right there! You just said the 'exact science of knowing what to take,' but you were referring to something you consider magic. Is there overlap where you're from, or do you consider them one in the same?

....

What's this Magnum Opus?

One of my brothers has an affinity for wind and light based magics. Big surprise there. My other brother seems to be pretty decent at magic across the board. Another person I know is adept in time magics.

[ Unfortunately he's not keen on answering questions about himself. ]

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