[Mkguild] Of Fire And Water & Flying Lessons

[Ryx]

> From: Christof M. Bradford <christof.bradford at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Mkguild] Of Fire And Water & Flying Lessons
> To: "Metamor Keep" <mkguild at lists.integral.org>
> Date: Thursday, May 22, 2008, 7:49 PM
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> Ryx wrote:
> | magic of the rune in the overall construct).
> |
> | Thus, a mage without 'hands' can still manipulate
> magic through the use of
> | runes.  Look at them very much like the old Japanese high
> letters, more an
> | art form than a linguistic structure.  The gryfon's
> talons can make use of
> | runes.
> |
> | After all, look at Jessica, all she has is wing-fingers
> that are probably
> | nearly as limiting as the Gryph's only having the
> talons of their forefeet.
> |
> Actually, the fingers on Jessica's wings are more
> limited in manual dexterity
> than her feet or the forefeet of a gryphon.  An avian foot
> has a thumb, but
> Jessica does not have thumbs on her wings.  Also, I believe
> that Matty has
> written that the fingers on Jessica's wings are
> severely limited in range of
> motion.
> 

Indeed.
Jessica, like Rickkter and Muri, is a sorceress more than a ritualist or circle casting mage (though, being a student of Wessex, she has considerable skills in the latter two as well).  Her strength with sorcery is quite limited, but she can weave others into her sorcery on-the-fly with little preperation.
Sorcery is the most swift type of magic because it can be performed solely with the mind, but it is also has the least 'strength' or raw power.  Physical gestures, incantations, alchemal concoctions, and ritual constructs (runes, wards, et al) serve to greatly amplify the sorcerous power at the core of all magic types.
Certain sorcerers have great strength, but limited range, such as Muri.  He understands runes and ritual circles, but has relatively little skill with them.  He can use physical gestures to ammend his castings, as well verbal components but those are weaker for him than others.
As for rune-weaving like Agathe... he has never even encountered it before... *LOL*

So, you can see, there are as many schools of magic as there are, say, schools of music or art.  Each one focuses on a particular style and strengthens that style at the detriment of other approaches.
But a mage skilled in an area closely associated with others, they can learn and incorporate other approaches into their own magic.  Metamor offers just such an approach to knowledge, as it has no guild to limit their training styles.
Currently the more powerful mages at the keep, such as Rickkter and through Misha's sister, Metamor actively attempts to keep any of the guilds from establishing a foot-hold at the Keep while not denying scholars from examining the texts available in the Libaries.