Magic and the Bright Gulf
From Aparsus
Contents |
The Bright Gulf: The Source of Magic
Very few in the mortal world speak of the Bright Gulf - most aren't ever taught of its existence and many deny that it is real. Only those with a gift for magic can even see the brilliant, blue-white vortex that is the Bright Gulf, hanging in the sky above the world, and even they can only see it at night. It is for this reason that the Bright Gulf is sometimes called the Sorcerer's Moon.
Understandably, very few people have been able to study the Bright Gulf. Those that have often must do so with the help of demons, for the Bright Gulf lies on the border between their world and the world of mortals. Those that have studied it believe that it is the font from which all magic emerges, the great wellspring of psukhe that suffuses the world with the power of sorcery. Beyond that, very little is understood about the Bright Gulf, and nothing is known about what lies beyond its farthest reaches, for that is a journey that can only be made once.
The Bright Gulf and the mortal soul
The Bright Gulf has a unique connection to the souls of mortal beings. This connection arises from the fact that every mortal soul is given shape from psukhe, and when a mortal dies, their soul - if it is not taken by one of the Demon Princes for their own purposes - returns to the Bright Gulf and passes through to the other side. Some believe that it dissolves in the course of this passage, returning to the mortal world as the fuel of magic, while others say that souls are reborn from the Gulf into new bodies, and still others claim that the Bright Gulf is the domain of the gods. No one knows for sure, however, as no one has ever ascended into the Bright Gulf successfully while still alive, and so the mystery remains one whose answer can only be guessed at by sorcerers and expounded upon by the faithful.
Animal Souls
It should be noted that animals also possess souls and, like the souls of thinking beings, the souls of animals are forged from psukhe. The souls of animals do not go into the Bright Gulf when they expire, however. Instead, there is a hidden land which few mortals ever see, known as the Fields of Shadow. There dwell the Totema, the great spirits of animal-kind. The Totema are the source of the psukhe which makes up the soul of animals, and it is to this source that those souls return, wandering the forests and plains of the Fields of Shadow, far from the world of mortals.
Ghosts
Sometimes, a mortal soul refuses to pass into the Bright Gulf. Many times, this is because the mortal had unfinished business in life, or died in the throes of strong emotion. Some stay to watch over a legacy that they created, while others are bound into their bones by dark and powerful necromancy, to watch over their tombs as guardians. Such errant souls are known as ghosts, and live forever in a gray half-world, until their task is finished or they are dispersed, in which case they give in to the persistent tug of the Bright Gulf and pass beyond its gates forever.
Ghosts absorb ambient psukhe from their surroundings. They attract it, creating a wellspring around their territory, and it permeates their very being. With time, ghosts may become very powerful in this fashion, but the long years slowly erode their sanity. Most ghosts are little better than animals anyway, only a few retain any scraps of will or intelligence, and even those are slowly worn away as time and tide destroy the fetters which bind the ghost to the mortal realm, and the pull of the Bright Gulf becomes more and more persistent. Many ghosts stave off this descent by seeking out the worship of mortals, which strengthens them as it does demons. Others welcome it, becoming rabid beasts drunk on their own power, and using it to harrow mortals as they grow ever more jealous and bitter.
There are nearly as many kinds of ghosts as there are ghosts themselves. The nature of one's death and purpose in the afterlife has a unique, resonant effect on the ghost itself, altering its outlook, its capabilities, even the visible form that it takes.
Dustborn
These ghosts are created by an ancient, powerful ritual known by some necromancers, which requires the sacrifice of an innocent mortal, whose ghost is bound into grave dust or sand. The result is a spirit guardian that, unlike most ghosts, is capable of easily taking corporeal form and affecting the mortal world. The Dustborn were often used as tomb guardians in ancient times, a practice that has fallen somewhat out of favour, but still remains in some parts of the world.
A notable corollary to the Dustborn is the Gravehound, a creature born when the Ritual of Dust is used on a mass murderer. The result is a guardian of immense power, as the ghost of the victim is bolstered by the bound spirits of those that he has killed. Such a guardian is an implacable hunter of tomb robbers, and almost impossible to kill. It also has the power to create Dustborn without the Ritual of Dust, by imbuing the ghosts of his victims into the surrounding landscape.
Psukhe: The Fabric of Magic
Psukhe is the energy through which magic expresses itself in the world. It is a fundamental building block of all life - everything that lives in the mortal world, thinking being or animal, possesses a soul, and the soul is made of psukhe, bound into shape and given over to filling that creature with its vital spark.
Unshaped Psukhe is everywhere, it flows throughout the mortal world, and possesses its own currents and eddies. It pools in places known as "wellsprings", where magic is easier, and avoids those places called "shoals", where magic is more difficult. Psukhe is an active force, with a will of its own - so it seems - and it desires to change things. If directed by the will of a powerful sorcerer, it will change the world according to his desire. Left to its own accord, it twists things seemingly at random. Though psukhe is a vital part of the world, it is also the source of many of the world's monsters, beings who are twisted by its power - or whose parents were touched by it. Even sorcerers, in time, develop strange mutations due to their exposure to the energies of the Bright Gulf. These mutations, known as "wizard marks", are the surest sign of the presence of a sorcerer, for nearly every sorcerer possesses them.
The Dwellers in the Gulf: The Weavers of Magic
No one is certain what lies beyond the Gulf - the only answers someone will find to that question are in church and in school, and those pretty consistently contradict each other (sometimes within the same church). Though what lies beyond is a mystery, the beings that dwell IN the Gulf - the Gremayrkyn - are somewhat less so. Sometimes called sprites, or "airy spirits", the Gremayrkyn are native to the vortex of the Bright Gulf. They are born there, living and breathing the psukhe energy of the Gulf, and ride its currents to the mortal world. Only those with the gift of magic can perceive gremayrkyn, for it is that ability which lies at the basis of the most powerful magics.
The Gremayrkyn, when they are young, are weak, nearly mindless, but mischievous and skilled in the weaving of psukhe. With the proper training, a mortal might harness them, using their skill to weave the energy of magic according to his will. These lesser Gremayrkyn, however, are only capable of limited effects - their power is weak, and they are yet imperfect channels for psukhe. Stronger Gremayrkyn exist, however, which a trained sorcerer may call upon by binding them with a pact. Such an action is dangerous, and a sorcerer must know the proper rituals to create the desired effect inside and out in order to achieve what he wants safely, but the power of the gremayrkyn is great, and with it a skilled sorcerer can move mountains.
What do the Gremayrkyn get from these pacts? No one is really sure. Many sorcerers theorize that the act of pact-making opens a conduit between the spirit and the sorcerer, allowing the Gremayrkyn to strengthen itself with the smallest bit of the sorcerer's soul in exchange for the use of its power, but the Gremayrkyn are - in many ways - more alien than demons, and their true desires are often inscrutible to mortalkind.
Elementals: The Bones of the World
Just as psukhe shapes the world in a thousand different ways, gremayrkyn, as creatures of psukhe, can become so bound to the mortal world that they become a part of it. When this happens, they become a being known as an elemental. An elemental might become known as the spirit of a place, the home where the Gremayrkyn dwelled, or may have been intentionally bound into an object, such as a family heirloom, in order to give it great mystical power. Sometimes, an elemental may just be an expression of the naked force of the nature world - the unyielding strength of stone, or the burning passion of fire.
Elementals can be bound just as easily as other Gremayrkyn, and are often quite powerful. Many sorcerers seek out elementals as servants, due to their strength and their innate connection to both the mortal world and the energies of the Bright Gulf.
Black Magic
The Gremayrkyn are not the only means by which a sorcerer can weave magic in the mortal world, psukhe responds to any sufficiently strong will, so long as the will knows how to make it respond. Some few mortals develop the ability to manipulate psukhe directly, but they lack the intimate connection to magic possessed by eternal beings like demons and the Gremayrkyn, and the effects that they can create are limited, if sometimes useful.
Others, however, delve into what many call the "Dark Arts", drawing their power to weave the threads of magic from beings other than the Gremayrkyn. Most learned scholars divide the dark arts of black magic into three distinct categories, depending on the spirits with which the practitioner deals. They are Demon Sorcery, Necromancy and Shamanism, and are detailed herein.
Demon Sorcery
The most common form of black magic, Demon Sorcery is a direct parallel to the more acceptable form of sorcery practiced with Gremayrkyn. The Demon Sorcerer deals directly with the creatures of the Evernight, summoning them and binding them to his will or making pacts with them as one would with a Gremayrkyn. Demonic pacts are not the same as the oaths which bind sorcerers to Gremayrkyn. Demons demand worship, sacrifice and numerous other tasks for the use of their power and with every use, their price becomes all the more steep.
Still, there are those who seek out the path of Demon Sorcery, for the power and promise of the Demon Princes is such that they can teach their dread sorcerers many dark secrets of magic, powers which most mortals can never achieve.
Necromancy
The path of Necromancy relies on ghosts, and attracts its adherents because ghosts are understandable, simple creatures. They require little, and even the strongest ghost can be bent to a necromancer's will without the need for pact-making and service. Many necromancers worship the dead, leading ancestor cults to strengthen their pet ghosts, while others simply bind spirits to their will without a care.
Many pursue the secrets of necromancy in search of hints of what may lie beyond death, while others seek out that path as a means to bring something that they cared about back from beyond the Bright Gulf, something that most sorcerers agree is impossible. As a result of their studies, necromancers attain insight into death and dying, and their magic takes a darker turn, granting them access to fell secrets of the afterlife.
Shamanism
The rarest form of black magic, shamanism is often practiced alongside normal spiritualism, and carries little of the taint of the other dark arts, being included only because of its similarities. Shamen seek power from the Totema, the powerful guardian spirits of animal-kind. The Totema, in exchange for their blessings, lay taboos on the shaman - dietary and behavioural guidelines to which he, and the tribe he leads (if there is one) must adhere.
The path of the shaman holds many blessings for the one who seeks it out, for shamen learn the ways of animals. They are able hunters and trackers, to be sure, but more importantly, they may be blessed with the power to speak with animals, and to command them, and some have even learned the deepest secrets of shapechanging, and can wear the skins of their patron beasts.
