Animus and Mana Wielders[11]
Hilda put down her glass of wine and reached for a piece of H’skallen cheese. They had gone back to Jenn’s room and decided that since they could not have dinner together, they should at least have a late lunch; that way Jenn and Gastropé could try some of the alvaren delicacies she’d gotten from the quartermaster’s pantry. She had to be able to back up her wedding cover story, and clearly anyone who knew Hilda would naturally have assumed she would have raided a few of the buffet tables at an alvaren wedding.
However, as enticing as the wine was, with this rather insane story of Jenn’s, she had to keep a grip. As it was, she was fighting a splitting headache from the stupid wards blanketing the city. When she and Trisfelt had entered the city, she had nearly fallen off her horse. She had to pretend to have nausea from some stale travel cake at breakfast. Not very convincing, but better than the truth. She had had to quickly work out a ritual to damp down the expulsion symptoms, so she could enter. Technically, the ward was supposed to have been for demons, but clearly, it was aimed at general extra-planar beings. Fortunately, being a saint, she had a mortal background and was not a pure spirit. An archon would have had a lot more trouble with the wards. They would need to keep that in mind if the Host needed to enter the city.
Once she was settled, she could come up with something better. The best thing would probably be to anoint an amulet with its own mana pool so she would not have to maintain the ritual herself. If she got seriously distracted, say fending off a wizard who had caught on to her, she wanted the expulsion repulsion, or whatever she was going to call it, to stay on. Otherwise, the wards would send her packing.
“So, let me see if I have this right,” Hilda tried to clarify. “Trevin thinks that one of the archdemons might actually be an old goddess named Bastet, from Natoor?”
“Exactly,” Gastropé confirmed rather tipsily. Hilda had to smile; these youngsters were so much easier to loosen up than Trisfelt. That man was a professional imbiber. She had needed a few divine tricks to keep her head about her last night and get him inebriated. It really would have been nice if she had been able to let go and truly enjoy the wine’s effects. However, she had had a job to do. Moreover, today, with her headache, she was more than happy to just do her job.
A clock in the courtyard gonged that the afternoon was halfway done. “Oh, dear lord!” Trisfelt exclaimed in dismay. “I need to meet with Elrose! He needed to meet with me privately and in person!”
Gastropé nodded. “Yeah, he’s going to tell you about the expedition.”
“And,” Jenn hiccupped, “that since both he and I are going, Lenamare and Jehenna need you inside the city for their project.”
“Project?” Hilda asked. “Surely the wards are stable and the city secure?”
“No,” Jenn shook her head, “the other project, the one that got Exador to attack the castle.”
Hilda thought back for a moment. “I don’t recall what you said that was — some dispute about an artifact of some sort?”
“A stupid magic spell book they can’t figure out how to open,” Jenn said. Gastropé was nodding up and down in rather excessive agreement.
“Okay, yes, I remember now. I’d sort of forgotten that in all the other crazy adventures you’ve been through.” Hilda shook her head in sympathy at Jenn.
“I fear I must take my leave to go and see Master Elrose then, before he leaves.” Trisfelt stood.
Hilda nodded. “Danyel and I should be getting home. I am pretty clear on our route in, so we should be able to get ourselves back to the stables.” She glanced a bit skeptically over at Danyel, who was also inexperienced when it came to libations. She shook her head and gave Trisfelt a glance, as she noted that he had noticed her look to Danyel.
“Youth,” he said and chuckled softly, shaking his head in agreement as well. He seemed quite fine. Hilda was not surprised; the man had true fortitude when it came to libations. She briefly wondered if he had a similar fortitude in the romance department. Hilda blushed; clearly, the wine and headache were getting to her, for that thought to pop up!
Mana Pools and Anima Jars[12]
Chapter 86
Estrebrius handed the waiter demon another coin for his second mug of Denubian Choco-CoffeeTM. This was really a crapper of a day — actually, the last two days. He had been hanging out in his penta-cage at his accursed master’s laboratory when that damned crazy expulsion spell had hit him. He had nearly puked out his non-existent guts and released his non-existent bowels. He had headed out of the city as fast as possible and seen the last half of the fateful battle before being dispatched by those bastards in the flying boat after the battle.
Then, still recovering, his accursed master had summoned him! That had been very painful, although the magic of the summoning did help accelerate his healing. However, his accursed master had apparently become completely unhinged. This stunk! Master Vaselle was the best accursed master he had ever had. He never wantonly tortured and only did modest and appropriate punishments when warranted. Plus he let Estrebrius hang out in Freehold with him, which was a much more interesting place than the outlands of the Abyss, and safer than the Courts.
He was not a huge fan of the Courts, but when you needed a drink there weren’t a lot of other options. Estrebrius sighed; he wished he could cry. He felt so despondent! How would he ever find this new demon lord? Everyone in the Abyss was trying to figure out who he was and what he was up to, and no one knew anything! In addition, there were plenty of others trying to find the demon lord. What chance did he have?
Even if he did find the demon lord, what then? Assuming the demon lord did not eat him for lunch, he would never agree to see Vaselle. He was going to fail in his task and likely die in it. The only thing worse would probably be to succeed. Well, maybe that would not be worse than dying, unless he died in that option too. The point was, if the demon lord did agree to meet with Vaselle, he would surely kill the wizard and then he would be out a particularly good master. Not that it was such a bad thing, but he had never had much luck staying free, so it was better to be bound to a decent master.
“Hoy, Estrebrius! Why so glum, dear chap?” Estrebrius looked up to see Boggy joining him at the table. He was happy to see that Boggy had recovered from his post-master-slaying drinking binge. Estrebrius had checked out early from that party. He had not wanted a hangover when Vaselle summoned him to work the next day.
“I am up the Styx without a paddle,” Estrebrius whined despondently.
“Why, what happened?” Boggy asked.
“You know that big demon that kidnapped the knight of Tiernon?”
Boggy beamed extremely brightly. “I certainly do!”
Estrebrius shook his head, not understanding why Boggy was so enthusiastic about it; but of course, if he had been in the Courts he could not not know about the demon. “Anyway, my master, Vaselle — ”
“The one you keep telling me is a decent fellow? The one I insist can’t be?” Boggy interrupted.
“Yes, him. He has gone over the edge. Bonkers! And he’s set me to an impossible task!” Estrebrius ground his eyes into the palms of his hands.
“Ahh, finally tortured you. I told you, they all do it eventually!” Boggy patted his arm.
“No... If only!” Estrebrius looked up, dropping his arms to the table. “It’s worse than that. He is completely insane! And he’s given me an insane task that I can’t possibly complete!”
Boggy nodded. “Cor blimey, I hate it when they do that. We aren’t djinns, for the Concordenax’s sake!” Boggy sighed. “So what does he want you to do?”
Mana wielders (and animus wielders) are specially trained (or talented) people who are able to tap into mana and use it to do physical things. Different types of mana wielders access mana in different ways. All mana wielders are able to accumulate and contain larger levels of mana than normal people, due to their training and ability.
Wizards: Wizards tap directly into the raw elemental mana of the universe. They draw the mana directly from the elements and their surroundings and use it for their own purposes. Different specialists are more easily able to tap mana from different elements (necromancers are sometimes an exception). Wizards manipulate mana through the use of spells. Spells are pattern frameworks to contain, direct and control the flow and processing of mana. With the exceptions of conjurors and necromancers, wizards deal very little with animus itself, generally dealing only with mana.
Clerics: Clerics are mana wielders who do not draw their mana directly from nature at all. Rather, clerics tap into the vast streams of mana being channeled to their gods. The ordination process for a priest is the ceremony in which they are attuned to the mana stream flowing to their deity, and the deity allows them to utilize this power to perform "miracles" in the deity’s name. Thus, clerics are actually using mana that is already "processed" by living beings (this type of mana is sometimes referred to as spirit mana, not to be confused with the element of Spirit). Clerics generally only deal with animus in the highly organized state, with living spirit entities as a whole, and not with the smaller details that animages and animistic druids do.
Druids: Druids are similar to clerics in that they normally use processed mana, but rather than drawing their mana from worshippers, they typically draw their mana from the plants and animals around them. There are three types of druids: hermetic, shamanistic and animistic. The different classifications are based upon the methods they use to channel mana. Druids generally use the excess mana that is naturally radiated away by living creatures, the principal exception being the sacrificial ceremonies performed by hermetic druids, where they take both animus and mana. Further, some druids are also capable of using raw elemental mana like a wizard, but do this less often, as it is more taxing and difficult for them. Like animages, druids also tend to work with animus a great deal. Animistic druids deal with animus in a manner similar to animages; hermetic druids deal with it more like wizards do (or don't), and shamanistic druids treat it in ways not unlike the cleric.
Animages: Animages tend to defy easy classification. They are actually quite different than the other mana wielders. In some ways, one might consider the animage to be the purest form of mana and animus wielder. Animages make use of animus directly. They generally use the natural affinity of animus to animus to link their animus to that of others. This linking is what allows animages to read minds and do similar mental tricks. Other animages use animus to manipulate mana directly, without the use of spells. Since animages use mana through the manipulation of animus, they can manipulate the various elemental forces.
Necromancers: Technically speaking, a necromancer is just another type of wizard, and they do function that way. However, in addition, the very nature of the necromancer is such that they also utilize "spirit mana" and are in contact with animus quite often. Necromancers often "harvest" mana from unwilling victims for their own purposes (as do "evil clerics"). Necromancers often use fear and other strong emotions to help them collect mana from others. Because they understand the effect of emotions and how they help to radiate mana, necromancers often try very hard to control their emotions, and thus often come off as being cold. Necromancers by definition are specialists in reanimating things that have died and chaining spirits to the earth in mana bodies or otherwise. Most creatures such as liches were once necromancers who decided they didn't want to leave and thus cast great spells and collected a lot of mana from others just for this purpose.
Conjurers: Conjurers are wizards, and they use mana like any other wizard. The reason they deserve special mention is because what they do with this mana is different. Conjurers exploit the natural affinity for animus and mana. They use mana to contact and summon specific concentrations of animus (e.g., spirit-type beings, demons, ghosts, etc.) Normally animus attracts mana; in this case, conjurers use mana to attract or pull animus.
Bards: While not normally considered spell weavers, legend dictates that some bards can use the power of music and song to cast spells. This is an alternate form of wizardry that is not well advertised. There are very few such bards and schools for them are rare, but they do exist.
Others: Certain foreign individuals with skills in the martial arts seem to be able to perform magical or nearly magical feats. These feats are generally forms of animastery, similar to the work of some animages.
Mana pools and anima jars are special arcane devices that allow the storage of mana and animus, respectively. Wizards, clerics, druids, and animages all may create these devices subject to the limitations of the spells or disciplines that govern the creation of mana pools and anima jars.
In general, mana pools are constructed from the highest quality gemstones. Anima jars are usually, but not always, finely wrought crystalline containers that may be sealed. The amount of mana or animus that may be stored depends upon the material from which the device is made, the abilities of the creator of the object, and the limitations of the spell or discipline used to create the device.
In all cases, the mana or animus stored in these devices may only be accessed through the use of mana and animus links (respectively). In the case of professions such as wizards, where such fine distinctions are not made on links, a simple object link is sufficient.
Mana pools and anima jars are extremely useful devices that allow mana and animus wielders to greatly extend their power. Any mana wielder may use any mana pool or anima jar made by others, as long as no current link to an owner exists. If such a link already exists, and if the individual desiring to use the mana pool or anima jar is capable, he or she may attempt to break the pre-existing link. However, the destruction (or even willful release by the owner) of the link destroys the anima jar or mana pool.
One of the first things attempted by overly ambitious mana wielders when mana pools and anima jars were first discovered was to try and use multiple pools at one time. Unfortunately, this tragic experiment met with great disaster and resulted in what was posthumously named Michael's First and Last Law of Animagic Containers. The law states that the animagic feedback through linked animagic pools is proportional to the square of the number of pools.
More simply speaking, using multiple mana pools or multiple anima jars in series (or parallel) is extremely dangerous. Using one of each is no problem, as anima jars and mana pools do not resonate, nor do they add to each other's feedback. Specifically, whenever a mana wielder attempts to use multiple mana pools or multiple anima jars, there is a chance of magical fumbling skyrockets in proportion to the number of mana pools
Thus, for safety reasons, very few mana wielders ever employ more than one mana pool at a time. The only known exception to this is the spell Mana Wheel, where somehow the creator of the spell got around this limitation. The details of this breaking of Michael's First and Last Law of Animagic Containers has puzzled more than a few hundred magical theorists. The best guess is that somehow, the very mana-draining nature of the spell keeps the feedback minimized.
One common confusion is that mages often tend to have multiple mana pools on them. However, generally only one or maybe two pools are for the wizard's own personal use. Most of the other mana pools have links to other magic items on the mage's person. While typically an arcane device that uses a mana pool would have its own mana pool, sometimes that item is too small to mount a gem of the correct size, so the creator may have created two matching pieces of jewelry, say a ring and pendant, where the actual mana pool for the ring was in the pendant, or perhaps someone later reworked the ring to add an extra mana pool. There are many possibilities.