[Infinity Manor] Virgin Earth and Magic Circles

[Savis Maren]

7th of Winter, 518 AV

The belly of the beast.

The basement of Infinity Manor was somewhere Savis had come to know quite well, and truly, it was a marvel of a space given Savis' unrestricted access to it. In Lhavit, all things had a cost to them. Whether that cost was worth the payment rendered was up to the skill or luck that the citizen possessed. In Savis' case, perhaps, it was a bit of both. Luck was on her side that fateful day in the Silk Palace. Luck was on her side the moment Madeira Craven looked upon a Nuit and didn't stray away from her in terror or disgust. But, it was the Nuit's resourceful nature and access to numerous disciplines of magic that seemed to keep the young Spiritist's attention. At times, Savis Maren battled the idea of being at the heel of such a being, so close as to be of constant access and known location for the Spiritist, who even with the use of Auristics the Nuit felt she understood only as well as Madeira wanted her to. Of course, this quality was one that the Nuit respected nearly as much as it frustrated her, for the secrecy of mages was a pre-disposition that the Nuit Animator knew far too well.

I never kept secrets from Madeira, and yet... she kept that powerful secret from me, she reminded herself, harkening back to that day when they'd met Laird in the Hunter's Guild. The day Madeira Craven played out her hand and the Nuit happened to be in the proper state of mind to witness it. Seeing the alteration in Laird's aura and how personal djed actively sought to write emotions into his very mind at the Spiritist's command was astonishing, and the reminder that Craven herself was privy to powers that Savis Maren could scarcely imagine. The extent of her new ally's powers were as of yet unknown to the Nuit, and then again... hers were to Madeira. Two mages, different and powerful in their own right, allied to one another to carve out their destinies. How truly sobering the idea of that was. The final thought of her insecurity within that alliance faded as she allowed her eyes to cast their silver gaze along the breadth of the basement. First, her eyes moved along the bookshelves, not quite filled but possessing of tomes that the Nuit hadn't yet taken the time to read.

Next, her eyes crawled over the pitch-colored surface of the chalkboards, which were mottled with faint white from the chalk the Spiritist surely used in her own musings. Savis wondered what Madeira Craven might come to this laboratory to do, and if aside from her ventures into the triad of world magicks she possessed (none of which seemed to require such a sanctum) if she kept yet another secret from her. The Nuit might never know, and she decided at that moment that it didn't matter. Madeira provided powerful resources and a sharp mind to connive and plot with in privacy. The Spiritist also offered of her resources without asking (yet) for anything in return. Surely the day where Savis Maren might prove useful to the woman was approaching, and the idea of that filled Savis with anticipation rather than fear or dead.

I can only provide myself with so many challenges. My needs are few and far between, and the ideas I form have more than enough time to stew and become concrete before I enact them. she reflected before her gaze moved next towards the floor. The 'summoning star' that Savis noticed immediately upon arrival was the first sight her gaze gravitated towards, the sign of Alahea, a civilization from the time before the great cataclysm and a ghost of a nation that bound the citadel of Sahova to its arcane machinations. When Savis discovered the star on the floor of a Kalean home, she was initially very surprised. Now, she knew that Madeira scarcely understood it the same way Savis did, or else has another understanding of it altogether. The idea never bothered the Nuit again, and she made sure to pass the star by.

WC: 699

[Savis Maren]

Savis navigated the basement with not just her eyes, but her legs. The Nuit carried herself through that basement, her steps slow, steady in order for her to muse carefully about where she wished to position her 'gift' to the basement. Savis Maren, whether she knew it or not, was being watched, for the structure of Infinity Manor followed each of her steps. The Nuit didn't notice as the hearth rose into flame, nor did she care. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness well enough, and her position on the other side of that room scarcely brought the fireplace's light to her. The prime location, far from the immediate entrance into the basement and out of the way enough to not be a disturbance encouraged Savis to make use of it. The Nuit allowed a moment to envision the idea she had in mind for this space before she stepped away. Djed pulled from the depths of her soul, but not from the center as she'd done so many times before. Savis Maren immediately felt the call of djed arise within her arms, and the Nuit cradled the djed about her astral body before lifting it up. The method, she found, made detachments faster for her, and she scarcely felt the discomfort of the process anymore because of it.

Savis Maren willed her astral arms out of the corporeal, and those arms fell limp at her sides as they moved independently of one another to acquire the resources she needed. The Nuit's astral arms extended over the space she had in mind, to the adjacent area that was filled with tools that the Spiritist thought appropriate for a laboratory such as this. Screws and gears in one box pricked at the astral fingertips of her thinned and stretched arms. The Nuit sifted through the boxes until she found a knife sheathed in a leather container. While Savis Maren supposed those tools came in handy in the Spiritist's bone magic, she'd find them equally effective for her ideas now.

Savis pulled back that arm, using the other to push the boxes back into their proper place. The Nuit reached next for her satchel, which was supported on a coat rack near the entrance to the basement. Little by little, the Nuit became more accustomed to the strength of her newfound prowess in Projection, and she took full advantage of it. She brought her satchel and set it on a table, more than ten feet away but far closer than it'd been before. Eager to begin her work, the Nuit pulled her astral limb back towards her physical body. She willed the empty hand and its arm back into place, willing her astral form to carry into her flesh. The other arm, however, she kept disconnected and navigated the silver blade closer to her face. She studied the wooden hilt carefully before looking to that blade. Perhaps she'd felt differently with merely her Projected hands to act as her guides, but this wasn't a knife she'd ever seen before.

Two flat and dull edges on a single piece of metal. Perpendicular to one another to form a sort of wedge. This isn't a carving knife... It more closely resembles a tiny shovel... Not exactly what I had in mind, but I suppose trying to accomplish these tasks from thirty feet away isn't exactly... precise?

The more Savis thought about it, the more she realized the awkward, handled wedge she'd pulled out of that box would serve her purposes nicely. The tool seemed designed to dig rather than cut or shred, and that was exactly what she needed it for. The Nuit put the wedge down on the table before re-attaching her astral limb. Before she sullied Madeira's house, she wanted to have an effective idea of what she was going to do. General ideas were well enough to get one moving, but it was the deeper ploys, the specifics of the matter that required the most paying attention to, and Savis wouldn't disrespect Infinity Manor, or worse still, herself by having to repeat a task over and over to get it right.

WC: 693

[Savis Maren]

Particularly when the task is so menial in nature, she mused. Deep within the empty void of her thoughts, the Nuit imagined the space in front of her, a blank expanse nearly eight feet wide and perhaps double that distance across. She plunged into the work ahead, imagining the construction of the Twin Circles as she'd drawn or painted so many times before. The circles Savis Maren ordinarily drew were practical: bare and insulting to the senses. The Glyphs she drew within them were functional at best and eyesores at worst. She decided in that moment to allow some time to consider closely how she wanted to mark Madeira Craven's house. Not merely for the sake of the Spiritist herself, but the sentience she'd infected the property with.

"I'll do my best for you, Infinity," she murmured quietly, only in part convinced that any sort of entity could even hear her. She allowed a moment between that utterance and the inevitable call to action she had. The Nuit found a growing reliance on personal djed, the movement of her astral limbs was faster than her corporeal, with less moving parts that created a lesser margin for error. The corpse-flesh she bound was flawed and rotting, and she deigned to allow the force of her soul to assist her in these most important of endeavors.

My astral limbs, where they lack in strength, are faster and steadier than the physical. So long as I mind my usage of djed, it's the preferable method, the Nuit reflected just as she brought forth that wedge and allowed it to touch ground for the first time. The blade though flat at the edges possessed a point, and the Nuit drove it into the ground before sliding it through the virgin earth. Little by little, the Nuit carved a circle in the ground, throwing the rubble away from the circle. Larger and wider the circle grew until it was fully formed. Five feet in diameter, the first circle took a great deal of time, and she cut it off at that for the moment. The Nuit pulled back her limb before the strain got to her entirely. Rather than press forward with her physical form, Savis Maren allowed herself a reprieve. It bode an equal risk for her to remain hunched over on the ground, with old bones and decaying flesh than it did to use djed to accomplish these tasks.

Savis Maren, having completed the first of the Twin Circles, rose to her feet. She'd move towards an empty wall, setting her back against it before she fell to the earth in an effort to collect herself. Unlike mortal wizards, Savis Maren could not eat to recuperate her djed. Nor could she sleep to do so. Instead, the Nuit relied on the passage of time and her ability to absolve her mind of its burdens. Taking her seat, the undead's fingernails traced the earth beneath her. Those nails clicked a pattern against the surface as her eyes fell shut and the world passed her by. For two bells the Nuit filled the silence of her mind with the flashes of the past. Briefly she visited her turmoil in the Summer, the loss of her senses and the eradication of her ability to function. So close to a true death she'd come, and the fear of that rest, of losing all that she'd worked, suffered and lied for drove fiery wedges through her mind.

In that time, I'd come to Lhavit to hide from the dangers of the world. To practice my magic and come to understand a life of peace. The Summer taught me pain and suffering again, and how even here in this city, it is but a turn and a corner away. Always, she reasoned. To trust was foreign to the Nuit, well before that and she thought it might be for time eternal. Then, the owner of this manor made her see things in a different way. Savis Maren learned anew the value of a comrade. She saw her first encounter with the Spiritist, and how over their series of meetings Madeira Craven proved herself a resourceful ally and a valued friend. So much so that even when Savis Maren learned of the Spiritist's deceptions and realized just a taste of the scope of her unknown powers, she ignored them. Willingly, she set her questions and the burgeoning distrust aside. Surely, the Spiritist had her reasons for her deception, and how it bode the Nuit well to keep close to her and see the deceptions from within.

WC: 772

[Savis Maren]

The Nuit felt her fatigue dwindle away as the thoughts rose to their conclusion. Two bells, or perhaps more passed without much to show for it, but Savis Maren was prepared anew for the work that needed doing. She rose to her feet and allowed the strength of the soul to overtake her astral limbs. Again, the Nuit slid her djed between the layers of her soul, slithering the energy about her elbow and lower along the length of that arm. She forced the astral limb out in its entirety, at last disconnecting it past the elbow. When the entirety of her limb was freed, the Nuit sat back down, realizing that the placement was preferable when the object of her concentration was lower to the ground.

Savis Maren reached forth with her astral limb immediately. She seized the wedge, taking a strong grip on its wooden handle before staking it into the circle she'd formed. The Nuit dug a straight line, two feet across before she began her effort of drawing the latter section of the Twin Circles. Her technique was rough, but taking the time to complete the task to satisfaction, the earth she dug up was thrown out of the circle callously. Caution was reserved only for her actions. Everything else was irrelevant. The Nuit took nearly five chimes to carve the second circle, pushing her astral arm further and further away from her until the second Circle connected with the straight line she'd formed. The entirety of an Animation Circle marked the ruptured earth, and the Nuit was glad the skeleton of her craft no longer required an ordeal of paint to form.

This will save me a great deal of time an energy. Instead of drawing the Source and Destination, my attention will be fixed to drawing or painting the supporting Glyphs. The barriers, paths and foci needed in order to create a smoother, effective process. Once the circles were drawn in full, Savis Maren no longer required the use of Projection. She willed her limb back and allowed it to resume its placement within her arm. Satisfied with the task she'd set forth to accomplish, she realized there was one more task to be completed. First the Nuit walked to a dank corner of the room, where a broom and dustpan were stored. The Nuit wondered who made use of these objects, for it seemed the basement had scarcely anyone to make use of it at all.

[i]An arcane laboratory in full created by a woman who needed, perhaps, only a small workshop. Usually, such utter excess is unwise, but Madeira has ambitions for the future, she mused. The Nuit handled the broom and dustpan with slow, sluggish movements. Nonetheless, she accomplished the task, dragging dirt into the dustpan before she discarded the broom and placed what she picked up into a waste receptacle. Savis Maren felt the flare of fatigue cast within her again, and she elected that her task was completed. The process of Animation would be easier from then on, with a permanent Animation circle at her disposal, she need only ensure the solidity of that circle and the augmentations she could only use once per creation, if even that.

Glyphs are fleeting, and need re-doing on a regular basis. Trying to weave them into an eternal circle should be done on a case-by-case basis, and based on my needs at the time.

The Nuit left the basement, leaving her satchel in that place before ascending to her own room, eager for the comforts of privacy to recover in full from the tasks performed.

WC: 606

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

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Savis Maren

Skills

• Observation: 2xp
• Logic: 3xp
• Projection: 3xp
• Carving: 2xp
• Meditation: 1xp
• Cleaning: 1xp

Lores

• Lore of the benefits of allies
• Lore of ruminating on ones situation
• Carving: the right tools for the job
• Projection: the benifits for Nuit
• Meditation: recuperating dijed

Awards & Retribution
+Magic Circles: animation circles carved roughly into the Infinity Manor's stone basement

Notes
This was a good recap of Savvy over the last few seasons and an interesting look into her state of mind. Loved it. <3