PM to join [Scholars' Forum] The Hadriatic Method

[Hadrian]

42nd Winter, 512 A.V. Hadrian had a problem: since returning from Sahova, he had certainly been busy, but not with students. Vhast, his prize pupil in cultural anthropology, was away on a research trip. Others had fallen away for whatever reasons in his absence. There was no blame attached, of course; he understood the way life worked, and time. Ah, time. He wondered if he would ever be graced with an audience with Tanroa, to study Time, as it were, face to face. The world was full of possibility. But if students were not applying to study anthropology, his specialty, then he knew he would have to teach magical theory in order to maintain his place, however tenuous, on the University's faculty. So here he was, in a public place, prepared to do that which he abhorred in order to attract students. But if applied magic was going to be the lure, he would hold it out of reach until he was sure a student had a sound foundation in theory and, gods willing, ethics. Watching all those artifacts sold to the highest bidder in the Summer had set his hackles up. A Syliran upbringing may not have enamored him of the Knighthood, especially after the mess that had become his research trip to Sahova, but he did believe in morality. His morality was just different from that of most he knew. Seated by himself, Hadrian began to take his breathing into strict control. He shut his eyes and brought his focus down to himself, letting sensory impressions from without pass over him and through him without holding onto them. When they had passed, he turned his mind's eye to observe the path. Where they had gone, there was Nothing. Only Hadrian remained. His storm-bright eyes opened, his hands cupping the air before him, and he channeled djed into them. It was an attractive force then, pulling everything away from a single point in his hands, until he had created Nothing. Void. The portal opened, a pinprick of utter darkness. With the pulse of his heartbeat, it grew, dilating like a pupil in the air. It wouldn't grow much bigger than his hand, though. The faintest Pull allowed air to slip through, but wouldn't take much else. There, public magic. If that would not attract the curious, he didn't know what would.

[Lucas Arias]

Lucas also had a problem. Teaching and studying at the university wasn’t everything he had thought it would be. Oh, he enjoyed learning about magic, about different languages and different cultures, and teaching was fun even though he had the feeling that his students didn’t take him serious, but it was all so theoretical! It was magical theory. Cultural Theory. Theoretical Physics. He wished they would actually open portals in class or that the professor would invite a few Symenestra or Zith or Jamoura so that they could study them and question them.

But alas, most of the time they were just reading books or listening to what the professors had to say (which wasn’t always interesting). He missed Nyka. He missed his adventures in the Aperture. He even missed the knights even though they were overly serious and had no sense of humour. Why didn’t the university offer any courses in applied magic? Or better yet – applied adventuring? What was wrong with making things a little more exciting? And why didn’t the Headmaster allow him to take his students to a pub to teach them some real rhetoric?

At this point he was seriously considering taking a semester off. He really wanted to finish his education (he had learned the hard way that you didn’t get anywhere without one), but he didn’t want to risk dying of boredom before that. But first he wanted to get reacquainted with his old (and probably current) employer Hadrian. The mage had recently informed him that he was back in Zeltiva.

The former squire and bartender often visited the Scholar’s Forum in his spare time and participated in philosophical discussions. He’d recently had a most interesting one about the reasons for the Benshira’s love of goats. Besides that, he would occasionally entertain his classmates. That day he wasn’t there to talk about goat lovers or tell gullible people their fortune though.

He was looking for somebody – and found him almost right away. A man doing magic in public was hard to miss. With a smile the redhead walked over to the mage and remarked, „I think it’s gotten bigger. I’m still trying to make a decent sized portal myself. So how have you been?“

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was too focused on his modest little portal to the Void to pay too much attention to the auristic spectrum around him, but when Lucas' arrival cast a shadow in his vision, he turned to look. There was even a crooked smile for the ex-squire, ex-bartender that Hadrian had kept running into in different cities and then persuaded to follow him. He was glad Lucas hadn't come to Sahova, though. Hadrian had almost died a few times. He would have felt terrible leading the lad into that. No, he was a man. Hadrian made a point to think of him as such. He was only perhaps four years younger than him, and had traveled and experienced a great deal. "I'm glad you came," he said, "but I think you might have been drinking too much the last time you saw me open one." His grin was a little less awkward. Knowing Lucas for a while helped him feel a little more at home with him around. "I have been worse," he admitted. "Why don't you show me how it's done? I don't think I can get it any bigger without breaking my brain, so I'll just see how long I can maintain it."

[Lucas Arias]

„Could be“, Lucas conceded and shrugged as Hadrian remarked that he might have been drinking too much the last time. He drank a lot and wasn’t ashamed of it. He had been a bartender. A bartender who didn’t drink himself was a joke. „But it’s still impressive, at least compared to the portals my colleagues at the university have opened so far. I’ve taken a course in Voiding last season. Most of the time we just talked about portals which means that the majority of my colleagues haven’t created anything bigger than a fingernail so far due to their lack of practical experience. Anyway …“

He came closer to Hadrian and sat down next to him. „I can show you how it’s done, although I didn’t have a proper teacher, just a weird girl in Syliras and that professor here who only talks about Voiding and probably …“ He broke off abruptly as he realized just what Hadrian had said. „Can you really break your brain? What does breaking your brain feel like?“ He looked worried for a moment, but then he decided to just go ahead. He was a responsible, experienced mage. His brain would never break.

Emptying his mind had always been the hardest part for the former squire. His mind was constantly full of thoughts that wanted out, questions that wanted to be asked, songs that wanted to be sung, jokes that wanted to be told and insults in at least a dozen different languages. The Scholar’s Forum was full of distractions. So he closed his eyes which helped a little and then he started repeating nonsensical words in his mind over and over again until there was nothing there which took quite some time.

And then a tiny portal appeared in front of him. It wasn’t much bigger or better looking than Hadrian’s – despite what he had said, Lucas didn’t have a lot of practical experience himself - but it was a portal, and it seemed relatively stable for the time being. There were two men practicing magic in public now, and at least one of them was really enjoying it.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was quiet as Lucas prepared, not wanting to distract him any more than the surroundings already did. He observed with eyes and his sense of the auristic spectrum as well as any practicing wizard's awareness of the djed around them. The technique was slightly different, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. Perhaps if he watched Lucas work more often, or they spoke about their processes, it might come clear. When the twin portals were floating next to each other, he smiled, but continued to observe. Would they react to each other, interact, or cancel each other out? So far nothing, it seemed. Once it was stable, though, he began to speak again. "Someday, I'll have to learn Projection so I can manipulate them, move them around. But yes, you can break your brain on just about any personal magic. Even auristics. With Voiding it's much the same as many. You have to beware of addiction for one, which could push you to spending far too much of your energy and doing further damage. But insanity, bleeding from the ears, nose, eyes, and throat. I've heard tell of a man who lost control of his magic and began opening tiny portals inside his own body, tearing it to shreds and sending it into the Void. Any sort of self-voiding is always a risk... So you can break more than brain." He paused, frowned. "I can't believe I haven't told you all this. I apologize. I haven't been a very good teacher to you. When I persuaded you to come to Zeltiva, I didn't realize I would agree to the trip to Sahova, to taking over the Farson Home. But I will be here for you now. I've even turned down a place on that trip to Darva, much as I would love to go. My responsibilities are here. "If you're still interested." Then he glanced to the little portal that was slowly sapping energy from his aura to maintain itself.

[Lucas Arias]

„So you need a different kind of magic to move the portals around?“ Lucas wanted to know and made a face. He didn’t want to have to learn a second kind of magic when he hadn’t even mastered Voiding yet. He wasn’t even completely sure what exactly Projection was. „That sucks“, he remarked. „Do you think I can get by without Projection?“

„Anyway, I don’t think I’ll get addicted to magic, a least not to Voiding“, he continued. „My portals aren’t impressive enough to warrant any kind of addiction. I’m not good at being addicted to anything – besides ale, maybe – and I have no interest in bleeding from my ears and eyes either. It sounds fairly painful, so I will try not to do too much magic.“

He sounded very serious, like a responsible, young man that was very careful with dangerous things like magic, but then his eyes suddenly lit up and he looked at the older man with a strange kind of interest. Lucas had always been fascinated by violent and bloody things, and this here sounded very violent and bloody. Even though he’d turned eighteen this year, he still acted like a boy sometimes. Always pretending to be a mature adult bored him.

„Have you ever tried it? Self voiding, I mean? Did you ever bleed from your eyes? You know a lot of magic …“

„There’s no need to apologize“, he informed him, frowing slightly because the whoel „I will be here for you“ stuff sounded more like something you’d say to your little brother or your boyfriend than to your student and employee. „I’ve had worse teachers. How was Sahova? As for the trip to Darva, I’ve actually considered taking part. Kenabelle Wright was my childhood hero. I’ve always wanted to go on adventures like her. What do you think?“

„And of course I’m still interested.“

[Hadrian]

"Well, from what I understand, when you're better at this than I am, you can move them somewhat, but I remember when reading about Projection that it allows for more precise and quick movements, and, say, remote manipulation, like from across a large room or... maybe more." He didn't like to speculate too much about things he could not do himself or otherwise verify. "But you should be fine without it. Focus on the one thing at a time, I think." Unless one was crazy like Hadrian. He nodded, though, to what Lucas said. "I'm not particularly fond of Voiding. I mean, I can see the value of it, but more so at higher levels of expertise. You should practice, just be aware of how much it wears you out. Don't do it when you're tired. I built up my stamina for magical things by doing little bits frequently. I never wore myself out, but I was constantly practicing and getting better. "No, I can't fit into a portal this small, and from what I understand, it's easy to get stuck over there anyway. I've never bled, I don't think, but I've had killer headaches, and had periods where I couldn't do anything magical for a while because my control was shot. "Well, good. Ah, Sahova was crazy. I'm not sure how much I'm actually supposed to talk about it until the Regents and the Guild and Lord Maria decide some things. Dangerous as always, as I'm sure Darva will be, but you should go and then tell me what you find." He grinned. "I'm glad you're still interested."

[Lucas Arias]

„I’ll see how good I get at moving my portals without Projection first“, Lucas decided. „I don’t need Projection to throw a portal at my enemies and send them into the Void, although …“ He thought about it for a moment and then he shrugged his shoulders, deciding that talking about using magic for murder, even in jest, in such a public location was probably not a good idea. „I just want to study the Void. Focusing on one thing is an excellent idea.“ He nodded and looked like a responsible adult for a change – or a young man who did his best to listen to what the professor said.

„I love Voiding“, he retorted as Hadrian admitted to not being particularly fond of it. „It’s … different. Everybody seems to want to make things burn these days or read auras – no offense, I know that you have learned Auristics as well.“ He shrugged his shoulders again and then made an effort to nod at everything the older man said so that Hadrian would know that Lucas valued his life and his sanity and wanted to have an intact brain for as long as possible.

„Do you know what it’s like over there?“ he wanted to know. His eyes were bright with curiosity. „Is there anything interesting? Like treasure? I’ve always thought the Void would be a good place to hide things. As for headaches, never had any when doing magic. I only have headaches after an evening at the pub.“ He grinned. He really loved the various pubs of Zeltiva. Zeltiva had much better pubs than Nyka.

„Well, then I suppose I won’t ask you about Sahova … unless … would you tell me if I swear that I won’t talk to anybody about it? I’m a very reliable man. I promise I can keep a secret. In return I’ll tell you everything about Darva. Even the things you don’t want to know.“

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name: Lucas Arias XP Award: Voiding- 1 Interrogation- 1 Lore: Breaking the brain is dangerous! Love of the Void Notes: Too bad the thread didnt continue. We all will miss Haddy Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM