Solo [Flashback; closed] Like a Circle in a Spiral (Part 1)

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

Timestamp: 30th Day of Summer, 498 AV (4th bell) Location: Area of Glasswater Bay. oocTiernan is 11 years old in the thread. NPC : Full Name: Rana Swiftriver NPC Type: Stationary Race: Svefra Association: Mother Religion: Laviku (Cultural & Devout) Birthplace & Age: Middle Suvan Sea; 45. Status: Alive Skills: Summoning: 30 Reimancy : 10 Drawing: 5 Fishing: 5 History It's a little strange that Rana was raised as she was; anyone would have expected her to be an airhead through and through, the kind of person who would have little better to do than move from one party to another, rolling on through not having a care in the world. It isn't as if Rana doesn't; it's just that there's a fair deal more to her than the free flowing lifestyle. She is quite bubbly yet intelligent, having been raised into the arcane by her own father who taught her the mysteries of summoning and reimancy. Skills which she in turn passed to her son Tiernan Swiftriver. Her compassion marking her cheerful a counterweight to her husbands personality. She lives aboard the same ship as the Lia of the Swiftriver Pod, and her husband. She best works along side her husband fishing, and summoning creatures when necessary to preform minor labor tasks or to help defend the ship. A part of Tiernan felt as if he was in a some amount of trouble, as if his mother had been asked to punish him by his father. This thought deriving from the fact that his normally cheerful, bubbly, happy go lucky mother now stood out on the bow of the Palivar overlooking the idyllic ocean-scape with focused eyes. The night was soothing as the calms seas seemed to mirror the starry skies above. Tiernan could hear the bangs of near ships rumbling together that were rafted-up with each other which belonged to fellow members of the Swiftriver pod. Tiernan partly had learned to tell the time of the day it was by the sounds that greeted him when he walked onto the upper deck. Since all the near ships were quite, and his father was back asleep in their own cabin. He knew it was late into the night, especially since the Pod's Lia Gwendolyn Swiftriver was nowhere in sight swinging her cutlass. Being an ambitious, capricious, and deliberate child. Tiernan was extremely focused when it came to his arcane studies most of which were taught to him by his mother. Though at the moment he no longer saw her as his mother, but rather as a superior educational figure. And like all superior adults that a child looks up too, his body language became submissive. HIs steps were slow, his breathing slightly quickened, and he did not speak a word unless spoken too first. The sound of footsteps approaching made Rana Swiftriver turn around to her son, whom she had asked meet her for his studies. brought to her. She looked over the boy who was still so young to the eyes of the world, yet there was a wisdom and maturity there beyond that of the other young children who were the same age, even beyond that of most of the older young adults. "As promised, now that the eleventh year of your birth has passed I am going to show you the basics of my practiced craft." Rana smiled and gestured to the chair on the bow of the ship with a small desk next to it. On the table rested other artistic supplies that belonged to his mother for her own summoning practices. Lowering herself to the wooden seat were they could talk and enjoy the beauty of the sea. Tiernan made a soft smile, happy that she was keeping her promise. This would be his second initiation into the arcane, having been painfully initiated into the art of Reimancy exactly a year to the date ago when he passed his tenth birthday. "Aye have been practicing' drawn' circled shapes as'ya asked." His mother walked to the opposite end of the small table, taking a seat in her own chair. She stuck her tongue against her cheek as she rolled her eyes. "The word is 'I', not 'Aye'. I swear you are turning more into your father every day." SInce his father always spoke in Fratava and his mother spoke in common, Tiernan's vocabulary was always caught in a cross of the two languages. As a result he spoke like an illiterate sailor even though he was an intelligent child. "Aye... I... I." Whispering softly to himself as he looked at the table. "I'm sorry ma, I didn't realize I was doing it." His mother smile as she reached out to lightly stroke his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Don't worry, becoming like your father isn't a bad thing. He is a good man." Pulling her arm back, she shrugged her shoulders to let her cloak fall and drape along the back rest of the chair. Pulling out a piece of parchment she set it down on the table infront of Tiernan. "Show me. Draw a large circle for me." He didn't understand why she wanted him to practice drawing circles. It was something she told him to practice ever since his eleventh birthday on the twenty fifth of summer. Ever since then he had covered several parchments with half circles, squiggled circles, and circles that were incomplete; coming to learn that drawing a perfect circle free-handed was tougher then it looked.

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

Tiernan froze, not from the surprise of her order to draw a circle but from a sudden self-doubt. Ever since his Reimancy practices he had started to build in aggression and cruelty towards himself and others. After overgiving during several of his training sessions, his irritability and anger over his imperfection often drove him to Impulsivity listen to the sweet whispers. While it was true he lived like a true Svefra performing actions with little or no regret or thought, studying the arcane arts was the spark that brought on his anti-social behavior. -Later in his life as an adult, Tiernan would balance his perfectionist self-hating personality with a charismatic demeanor. Not afraid to break rules, and lacking of emotions and holding apathy towards hurting others not important to him.- If his circle was imperfect than he couldn't bare to see his mothers face, that look of false empathy covered up by her motherly affection to protect him like he couldn't draw a circle on his own. Like he was a failure. No. He would not allow himself to fail infront of her prying eyes. Next to the parchment laid three charcoal stick, a quill, and inscribers ink that belonged to his mother. Since he was use to charcoal sticks it was the utensil he decided to use. His fingers gripped onto the slender stick of charcoal lifting it to his eye level to examine the tip. It held a slight point which was perfect since he hated blunt sticks. Holding his arm above the parchment, he stuck his tongue out sightly while making an intensely concentrated facial expression. The weight of his hand fell onto the parchment allowing his palm to be supported by the desk as he drew. The head of the charcoal stick sunk into the parchment as he began to move his hand in a wide circular motion. To get the measurements proportion correct he drew a half circle from the top of the rectangular parchment to the left side and then to the bottom of the page. Using the outermost arches of the circles diameter as a guide, each arch would touch either four ends of the circle equally. Repeating the motion of his palm in a clockwork direction, he made another half circle that completed the circle. HIs mother observed as he he drew the circle, soon clapping her hands together when he was finished as if he had completed a great accomplishment. Rana looked to Tiernan, completely sure of how to begin the lesson. "The root and route of Summoning is like a circle in a spiral." She intoned softly after a moment or two of silent deliberation. She lifted her right hands index finger, and traced a smaller second imaginary circle inside of the larger circle he had just drawn, then randomly twising her finger into a spiral at the center of the circle. "With circles we summoners create and open gateways to the stars." After lacing her finger into full circle along the page she brought her hand back to lay in her lap and looked over to Tiernan. HIs eyes were set on her finger the entire time she had drawn imaginary lines. Following the strokes and patterns of her fingers against the parchment. He began to imagine what she had laced across the page in his head to form a basic mental image of a Summoning Minimal circle. "Did you want me to draw that?" He said softly and bit his lip lightly, remaining silent as he focused on the mental image of the Minimal circle to not forget it. "Only draw the second circle within the large circle." Using the large circle as an outline, he began to draw the second circle inside of the larger one; Its diameter an inch smaller then the larger circle that it ran parallel to.

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

"This is the basis for all types of circles…" Tiernan pursed his lips as he leaned back, grazing the charcoal stick against the table as she considered what was just spoken. "There are other types of circles, ma?" Rana nodded along in agreement with her sons question. "There are basic Minimal circles, which I am showing you now. Focused circles, Elaborate circles, three-Circle used for wider gates, Five-Circle gates, six, and eight circle gates. I will tech you about the effects of the gates in out future lessons my dear. For now just concentrate on Minimal circles." Tiernan fell silent again, wondering if he would be able to open a portal soon. "Okay, so what do the circles mean?" He asked curiously before waiting for his mother response. "The outer circle represents the border of the circle. used to keep the reaction of the portal inside its boundaries." Looking to the parchment Rana smiled as she patted her hands against her lap. "If you remember what I have shown you, then please complete the circle." Tiernan was in a surprisingly good mood for once. Delighted to be learning with his mother again. He spent most of his time alone by himself manifesting his Djed into Res, that he ignored playing with other children in his pod and even his own blood related family. He knew it was wrong, and he loved feeling connected with his relatives. It was at that moment that he decided he would try to work on socially interacting with people more. To stow his personal issues away to deal with them privately. He then began to draw the horizontal and vertical lines that ran though the innermost circle. Once that was done he made a third centralized circle around the intersecting point of the lines, forming a third tinier sphere that was set at the exact center of the drawn circle. "Aye'am done with the circle." "No, the circle is still incomplete." She said smoothly, with no hit of what he did wrong showing in her voice. "What?" Tiernan said as his eyes grazed over the entirety of the parchment. "What have'aye done wrong ma?" His voice was slightly panicked which cause his mother to shift her brow up curiously. She wasn't sure if it was just from the excitement of learning something new, or a childish tantrum that pushed him so quickly over the edge so suddenly. Only moments before he was clam and collected and now acted as if his world was ending. She even noticed as a small bead of sweat formed on his forehead in frustration. "Umm... You did nothing wrong Tiernan. I just haven't shown you the next step yet." Canting her head as she observed him, Tiernan began to calm down. "Oh?" He mused as his eyes shifted from the parchment to the sea. Realizing that she was simply moving the lesson into its further stages. "So than what is next?" Spoken clearly in hopes to refocus the topic of conversation back onto the subject at hand.

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

oocunsure if the flashback blank book would count as a reward or if I need to pay for it. If payment is needed, then i will add it to my ledge when the thread is graded. "Astral coordinates" Rana was quietly making up her own mind as to whether or not she thought Tiernan was really ready to learn how to open a gateway. However she was naturally optimistic and simply smiled, taking a leap of faith for her son. Tiernan took the time to let her mother's words sink in. This was the first time he had heard of the actual term Astral Coordinates. He wondered how different places out in the sky could a person summon things from. "Astral? As in, astral navigation? like what pa taught me about Astronomy and sailing by the stars?" He stated softly, pausing very briefly on that note as he looked up to the starry night sky. For a moment, time seemed to pass slower as Rana watched Tiernan look to the sky. Her expression showing how intrigued she was at the fact couldn't seem to wrap her thoughts around what Tiernan was thinking; or perhaps it was that she had managed just that, and that was why she was struggling so to either halt or continue his lesson at the moment. "Yes my dear. Each astral coordinate is made up of a sixteen digit number that represents a planets Djed emission. It for this reason why I said your circle was incomplete, you need the Coordinates love." Sliding the quill and inscribing ink towards him, his mother then handed him a book. Picking it up, Tiernan quickly flipped through the pages and noticed one obvious thing about it. "It is blank?" "Exactly. You will now write down and repeat everything I am about to tell you. Tiernan opened to the first page of the blank book before putting the quill to ink. Looking to his mother he began to listen as she spoke aloud. From her memory, she began to list all the common world's a summoner should know. Pressing the Quill to paper, he repeated aloud whatever his mother said as he scribed the words to paper. "Fyrden. Astral coordinates: 6701984710485453. Note to self: 6+7+0+1+9+8+4+7+1+0+4+8+5+4+5+3=72" The mathematical equation cause his mother to quirk her brow at her son, having never thought add the numbers herself to help memorize the coordinates. Tiernan was too busy looking down as he wrote to notice his mothers expression, so he kept repeating and writing. "Unmoving Two sided World of Familiars, the Lightface is named for its constant state of day time. Likewise, the darkface is always dark." Once he was sure he had all the information down onto the paper, he glanced up at his mother before the moved on to the next common world. "Kseyden. Aastral coordinates: 3893849280160001. Note to self: 3+8+9+3+8+4+9+2+8+0+1+6+0+0+0+1=62. Planet that is completely covered in a plant called Vilemoss, can cause painful burns and sores on the skin if touched. Likewise, hazardous to eat. Take extreme care if summoning and harvesting for poison. Interestingly enough, he felt as if this world would be his practicing portal to test summoning because he would never harvest the plant anytime soon. "Shoyden. Astral coordinates: 0012926672185630. Note to self: 0+0+1+2+9+2+6+6+7+2+1+8+5+6+3+0=58. Once a Alahean scientific and military outpost, it has since been over run by the creatures know as Glassbeaks. Like the ones found in the sea of Grass in Cyphrus." Since he had never seen a Glassbeaks, he imagined they were like faster and angrier Alohota. Thus he felt no need to ever summon anything from the world. "Swalden. Astral coordinates: 8492841047291777. Note to self: 8+4+9+2+8+4+1+0+4+7+2+9+1+7+7+7=80." His mother kept speaking, yet this world managed to cause Tiernan to look up from the book and stop writing. A stone that gives memories, and requires one in return? He thought to himself before continuing to write. "A gas-like world surrounded by a crystalline ring of stones called Memosites. Will be given a memory but must return a memory of my own. Requires opening a separate portal to return the Memosite to the crystal ring." "Zaiden. Astral coordinates: 1069002583582104. Note to self: 1+0+6+9+0+0+2+5+8+3+5+8+2+1+0+4=54. A chaotic barbarian world where a mutated race of Humans know as the 'Diverse' live. Their attitudes match the world, barbaric. They require some type of loot and blood shed to be persuaded to fight for me when summoned." He had seen his mother summon a diverse once to fend off pirates. So he knew their effectiveness. Once all the common worlds were scribed down into the book, Tiernan looked up to his mother. "What now?" It was a simple question as his mind was flooded with new information. "Now you will pick a world to open a gateway too." Smiling, Rana stood up from her seat to lean on the railing of this ship as she glanced down into the sea. Looking back to his notes, he decided what world he would choose. "Kseyden" The word slipped from his lips like honey as he moved the book aside to smirk at the incomplete summoners circle he had drawn up.

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

Rana marched across the bow of the Palivar from the railing she leaned on to walk an imaginary line in a counter-clockwise path. She held her arms out to her sides as if trying to balance herself on the imaginary rope, making fake staggering wobbles as she continued to walk. "To add the astral coordinates to the circle they must be entered in a reverse circle. Start at bow of the circle and then set the numbers in the direction of Port, then from port to stern until the circle is complete." HIs mother used nautical terms since she felt he would better understand them. Tiernan smiled brightly as he watched her pretend to stagger. Gritting his teeth when he actually thought she was going to fall when she leaned to far to either of her sides. "If entered from bow to starboard then the summoning will always fail." The smile only lasted for as long as his eyes remained fixed on his mother. It quickly faded once he looked down to the book he had written in. Taking up the quill again he set it into ink as he jotted down more notes. This time he only thought to himself rather than speak aloud. "When setting the astral coordinates, work in a bow to port motion." He wore a stoic expression as stopped writing. The quill lifted slightly above the paper when a question came to mind. "And how do I enter the astral coordinates to my Minimal circle?" His head snapped up slightly canted to the side as he looked at his mother. Saying nothing as she walked back over to the table lifting her right hand and pointed out her index finger. She poked Tiernan on the tip of his nose softly which caused him to squinch his nose playfully. Her finger then moved down to trace lightly along the second largest summoning circle he had drawn on the parchment. She slowly traced sixteen smaller circles in a clockwise motion along its line. "Is it really be that simple?" Tiernan was taken aback for only a moment. He looked at parchment trying to imagine what a fully drawn summoning circle looked like, and his mother nodded to him in reply to his rhetorical question. "Yes my son, but therein lies the danger. We open the gateways to wonderful or terrible places to contact creatures. Creatures who most likely have no intention of listening to us. You see; i taught you reimancy to defend yourself form creatures who might break your leash or escape. We cannot allow the monster we summon to escape. It is our duty to make things right if one should escape." Tiernan knew his mother was warm, generous, and dependable but this was a first for him. Watching her show a strong sense of responsibility and duty inspired him to want to practice his reimancy abilities to be able to protect his family. "Don't worry ma, aye'll not let anything escape. Aye promise." Setting the book aside he began to draw sixteen small circles along the second inner ring of the circle. Once he was finished he input the astral coordinates for Kseyden, 3893849280160001, in a counter clockwise pattern. Finally completing the creation of his first summoners circle.

[Tiernan Swiftriver]

The fledgling summoner stood up from his seat leaving the circle on the table. "Now this aye'have seen before when you cut yourself to start the circle ma.." Previously he did not know how a summoning was done, but he had seen his mother do it before to know some basic information from an observational stand point. "Blood will be used to link your djed to the circle to activate the portal. Any summoned creature passing through your portal will be enveloped by an aura of your djed and will be controlled by your leash." The feeling of optimism had long since evaporated from his mind, leaving Tiernan's to muse uncomfortably on the consequences of an incomplete circle and the resulting effects on its leash. "Once you are ready to begin, all that is required is a drop of blood placed on the largest drawn boarder circle and use your Djed to activate the gateway." Remaining cautious, Tiernan took the piece of parchment and set it on the ground in the center of the bow of the ship. Tiernan had his own blade that he practice with, often being forced into spars with Lia Gwendolyn. It was his own personal Kopis. A one-handed, single-edged knife about a foot and a half feet in length, with a blade curving forward and widening near the tip. The blade had a reinforced spine to give it greater strength and durability, and the hilt's wrap-around grip made the knife less likely to slip out of his hand when a raining or in the heat of battle. Removing the blade from its sheath in his right hand, he pricked his left ring finger on the tip of the blade causing a speck of blood to flow down his hand. Pressing the blood to the outer circle drawn on the parchment he began to through sheer force of will to make his Djed activate the summoning circle. The immediate result of the activation was first smelt rather than seen. As if something in the center of the parchment was covered in fish oil, or oils used to light lanterns. The latter seemed to be the more appropriate thought to connect to the summoning as a light suddenly began to shine brightly from the exact center of the parchment. Yet, the smell was powerfully distinct from any other type of oils that he had smelt before. So he took the smell into his memory as he sniffed into the air. Taking note of the specific tanginess in the air so that he could recognize future summoning circles by their smell alone. The light began to swirl as it grew like a slowly unwinding coil until the edges of the bright glowing spiral touched the boarder circle stopping the portals growth. As soon as the edges of the portal touched the boarder circle, it make a sharp crackling sound as if electricity surged within the deep white nexus of the swirling energy within the gateway. SInce it was his Djed use, the aura of the portal itself took on the alabaster colored properties of his own power. Looking inside of the vortex it was as if he were looking right down into a window through the sea. On the other side he could see the ground of Kseyden covered in Vilemoss. "Aye'have done it." It was then that he truly understood what his mother meant as he spoke the words aloud to himself. "Like a circle in a spiral, aye have opened a'gate'ta Kseyden." It was all Tiernan intended to do, even though he did wish to take a sample of the Vilemoss plant. He had no way of controlling or handling the substance so all he could do was just observe his portal with a childish glee, and wide smile. "You can keep the portal open for as long as you can my darling to study. You have made me so proud today." Rana stepped towards her son purposely holding a hand along his back, fully aware of Tiernan's amazement. A wonderment all summoners felt when activating their first gateway. He glanced up to his mother then back to the portal. "Kseyden, three thousand eight hundred ninety three. The number runs along the bow from the top line to the port line along the first arch of the circle. Eight-thousand four-hundred ninety-two follows the second arch from port to stern. Eight-thousand sixteen from stern to starboard, and zero-zero-zero one along the last arch to complete the Aastral coordinate. Added together equals…" He went back to his book to write down the memorized number set. 3893+8492+8016+0001= 20402. He would etch the numbers into his mind until he knew them by heart. He then began to repeat the numerical numbers in his head as he glanced towards his portal. Rana's eyes glanced towards her son as he began to practice his studies. Staying near the portal to keep a watchful eye on as he studied. She knew the night would be long as the windmills of his Mind spun like a circle in a spiral.

[Cascade]

Adventurer's Loot Tiernan's Loot : Skill XP Reward Drawing +1 Observation +1 Writing +1 Summoning +3 Lore: 'I', Not 'Aye' Summoning: Root And Route Summoning: Types Of Circles Summoning: The Purpose Of Astral Coordinates Summoning: The Common Worlds Opening A Portal To Kseyden Items or Consequences: -3 gm for the blank book Notes: NOTES I hope you know the consequences of teaching a child all this magic. You make it work in your writing, but it's magic, so remember that he has to be careful about it. It would also be interesting to find out why exactly they're training him this way -- in depth! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!