Magic and the Bright Gulf
From Aparsus
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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, who are beings wholly composed of the forces which they wield.
Young Gremayrkyn are weak, nearly mindless creatures, while the older spirits are beings of incredible power. Many sorcerers deal with Gremayrkyn, trading for their service or assistance in plumbing the depths of the arcane.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Shamanism
Shamanism is a form of "hedge magic" - not proper sorcery, at least in the minds of sorcerers, but capable of numerous miracles. Shamen are not nearly as talented as true sorcerers, but make up for their lack of personal talent by making pacts with spirits. Most shamen rely on gremayrkyn and their near relatives, the elementals, for power and blessings, though others call upon the ghosts of their ancestors for power, and a few - particularly shamen from the barbarian tribes - call to the Totema, the guardian spirits of animal-kind, for their strength.
[edit] The Sorcerer
Sorcerers - sometimes called Arcanists or Wizards - are men and women feared throughout Aparsus for their powerm for sorcerers possess the ability - created and honed by years of dedicated study and training - to wield the psukhe which permeates the world, bending it to their will and using it to reshape the world. Most sorcerers are known by their "Wizard's Marks", subtle alterations and gross mutations to their physical forms which accompany such deep immersion in the energies of the Bright Gulf. What reception a reputation as a sorcerer will earn an individual varies from place to place - some cities and towns welcome sorcerers as heroes, or at least as people more than willing to spend a few coins and maybe make a few helping the village out, while others find that faith or fear compels them to stamp out the scourge of magic at its root.
Still, every generation sees people seeking out the secrets of sorcery in forgotten tomes, searching out revered masters and enduring the hardships of their apprenticeships for just a taste of the power of that sorcery provides.
Like any power, sorcery has its rules. Among these is the importance of a being's true name. As the Dvarfelin learned in the time of the Firstborn, psukhe is highly reactive to words as well as will - Dvarfelin rune-magic hinges on this idea. Because of this reaction, according to scholars, the psukhe that forges an individual's soul is bound into that person's name. It is for this reason that few people will give their full name to those they cannot trust, for a sorcerer in possession of a mortal's full name can weave spells onto that person's very soul. Sorcerers are especially protective of their own true names, for a sorcerer's true name can render his magic ineffectual, and leave him vulnerable to attack.
[edit] Other Forms of Magic
Sorcery, as it's practiced today, is the imposition of will - directed by knowledge - on the force of psukhe. Compared to the ancient magics of the Firstborn - it is crude and dangerous. That said, the magic practiced by Aelferic and Irridonians (Uruk are incapable of using sorcery of any kind, and most of the Beast Races have shamen, but little else), occasionally delves into these older disciplines - or follows darker paths better left unexplored - and so some of these "Old Magics" still exist in the world today.
[edit] Demon Sorcery
The power of sorcery is great, but it does have its limits and, just as with any limit, there are those who are driven to overcome it. Those who seek to attain power beyond that which is granted by sorcery often turn to the Demon Princes, who are more than happy to grant power to those who serve and worship them loyally. Demon Sorcerers are those who tap into the psukhe of the Evernight - the land of demons which sits across the Bright Gulf. With this power, they are capable of feats far beyond other sorcerers, but barter a small part of their soul away with each spell until all that remains is a perfect tool of the Demon Princes.
[edit] Dvarfelin Name-Magic
The Dvarfelin understood well the power of names, and wove great enchantments into their very language, turning simple words into spells of great power. Though a Dwarven Rune Mage could rain destruction with a single word or perform countless other miracles (according to legends), the greatest and most enduring legacy of Name-Magic is in the realm of Dvarfelin artiface. Name-Magic could be used to imbue into an item powerful qualities - binding raw psukhe to create a "soul" for the item which granted it great power - from autonomous clockworks to swords of living flame.
