NationStates Jolt Archive

//OOC: A few terms that might be used here and you may not know what they mean:

Hermetic Magic: A kind of magical art based upon the Hermetic Theory of Magic developed by the archmagus Bonisagus. More information here (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Hermetic_Magic).

Vis: Latin for "Power". The raw form of magic used by wizards and spellcasters to work and study the arcane energies at it's purest form.

Filius: A magus trained by another magus.

Parens: A magus who trained another magus.


-------------------------------------------------------

High Chancellor Gustavus took a deep breath after reading through the documents. He left them over the desk, took his glasses off and leaned back on his seat "What you are proposing... it can not be done. It goes against the limits imposed by the Hermetic Theory of Magic, and you should know better than anyone that this academy can no support such kind of transgressions. We would throw the entire Magisterium on us"

Karloff walked nervously around the High Chancellor's office "Gustavus is correct, Hyeronimus; even though your assumptions on the results of such kind of experiment seem, on a first glance, correct, it is by all means forbidden by the Oath, and thus beyond the reach everyone in this academy, including yourself"

"But we can not let such kind of opportunity pass unattended! How many times can we take advantage of a fully matured magical node sprouting spontaneously within our reach?" The old Hyeronimus was thrilled by the idea "I have been predicting the appearance of this node for decades, based on the notorious build-up of vis within the Western Thalos Sea Trench, and now it is ripe for us to make use of it. Otherwise, if my calculations are correct, the node will start denaturalizing within less than a month, and will dissipate entirely before the turn of the year"

"Hyeronimus, Hyeronimus, my good friend. You have become far too obsessed with this experiment. I hold you in utmost regard, but you should know there are rumours, bad rumours, circulating both in the academy and the Magisterium. Other magi have begun to think you have fallen victim of madness, and that you should stripped of your powers and sent to Spellhold before you do something that endangers us all" Gustavus seemed worried "And as much as I would hate to see such thing taking place, your insistence with this project may very well become the last piece of proof they need to take you before the Grand Tribunal"

"But Gustavus, you must understand the value of..."

Karloff interrupted the old magus "You do not play with time. You do not experiment with time. You do not meddle in the affairs of time. The Hermetic Oath bind us to such kind of limits for a reason, and that reason is the imminent danger contained within anything that attempts to manipulate time. Your proposal is absolutely out of question"

Hyeronimus suppressed his visceral need to burst Karloff into flames. Since that man took place as Gustavus Vice Chancellor, creativity and innovation had been drained from the Ivory Academy, all because of his fanatical devotion to the Hermetic Oath, and the sickening interpretations he had of it "I do hope you two understand that I will carry on with this experiment, with or without the support from the academy. I have the resources to do it on my own, and I know my predictions are absolutely correct"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause, as the three magi exchanged tense looks. Then both Hyeronimus and Karloff looked at the High Chancellor, awaiting for him to express the final words. Both knew, however, what he would say "Then I am afraid you will be removed from your seat within the academy's Chamber of Scholars. All your rights, titles and honours will be stripped from you, and your name will be stricken out of our books, forever damning you into shame and woe" Gustavus had a hard time keeping his voice from breaking "And from that point forward, you will become a prey of the Magisterium, having all your rights removed and impeded from having a trial before the Grand Tribunal. Your only possible sentence will be death, and your soul shall be cast into the devouring darkness of the Chained Fortress, with eternal oblivion as your unbreakable fate. Do you understand the dangers of breaking the Oath?"

Hyeronimus' face seemed made of stone, as his eyes sat on an invisible point behind Gustavus. He gave a short glance at Gustavus, nodded, and walked outside the room, smashing the door open with a wave of his hand. His robed figure disappeared far into the impossibly long hallway.

Karloff looked at Gustavus with a gesture that mixed both surprise and annoyance "You will let him leave just like that?!"

Gustavus rose from his seat and stood before the tall glass windows that overlooked the massive forest of lean towers, hanging bridges and white stone buildings that composed the Ivory Academy "I learned all I know about magic from Hyeronimus; I was his filius, and he has been obsessed with this experiment for as long as I can remember, but I always thought his calculations were wrong, that we would never find a vis node with the exact characteristics required by his model. The least I can do is grant him the chance to leave the academy before the Magisterium's agents get a hold of him. I can not allow him to fall into such shame in front of the entire academy. I owe him that much"

"You are letting him escape?!" Karloff seemed bewildered "That sick maniac came here before you, blatantly announced his will to break the Oath, and you let him leave? He is a traitor, and you damn well know how are we supposed to treat traitors!"

"Well, Karloff, you are entitled to capture him" Gustavus knew that Hyeronimus was far beyond the power of Karloff "But it would be unwise to risk the lives of the students and schoolars of the academy by engaging in a duel with Hyeronimus. The Magisterium will deal with him later"

Karloff's face was as red as his robes "Then I expect you to report his crime as soon as possible"

"Of course, as soon as he commits it" Gustavus sat again at his desk and wore his glasses "Now, if you permit me, I have several documents to work on right now"

"You are making a terrible mistake, Gustavus, a terrible mistake!" Karloff exited the office vehemently.

Gustavus droped his glasses and massaged his eyes "I know I am, I know I am..."

Western Thalos Sea Trench, Central Sisgardia:

Marking the deepest point of the narrow strait that marked the limit between the states of Der Angst and the Technocratic Republics, the Western Thalos Sea Trench had seen little use from the surrounding nations in quite a long time. Although a thriving fishing area in past times, centuries of industrial dumping, ship traffic, and encroachment of overpopulated coastal megalopolises have turned it into little more than a useless patch of water too deep to build anything on top of it; otherwise, the endless cities that cover both states would have crashed together a long time ago.
But although lacking interest for both industrial and strategic uses, recent developments have made it specially captivating to magi from the Thanedom, who have flocked in large groups to study the spontaneous birth of a Vis Node, an impressively rare event of paramount transcendence to anyone who delves within the Art of Magic.

Vis, the purest, most fundamental state of magical energy, is not something that can be often found in a natural state. Magi have developed a series of means to siphon it and bring it forward into the physical world, but artificially channeled vis tends to lack the strength and purity of naturally occurring one. But since the physical and magical world are not meant to exist together, one has to be quite lucky to ever find a source of vis that was not generated through the tampering of the fundamental laws of reality.

Years ago, however, a group of students of the Ivory Academy working on a task set onto them by scholar Hyeronimus detected the faint but hard to miss signal emitted by raw vis as it springs into the physical world from the Realm of Magic. As such kind of thing has rarely occurred during recorded history (only four other cases had been ever detected in the region), they set up a series of studies to be carried out on the anomaly. Scholar Hyeronimus, however, was the most excited of them all. Since the early years of his life as a Hermetic Magus, he had theorized of a way to break one of the Supreme Limits of the Hermetic Theory of Magic, the Supreme Limit of Time. But he had been never able to demonstrate it, as it required an amount of pure vis so large that there was no possible way to obtain it.

The Supreme Limits are those barriers that Hermetic Magic has so far demonstrated to be impossible to overcome. This include things such as the Supreme Limit of Essential Nature, which indicates that Hermetic Magic can not redefine nor alter a fundamental principle of nature, or the Supreme Limit of Divinity, which indicates that the powers of the divine can not be tampered by Hermetic Magic. The Supreme Limit of Time, which rules out any attempt of affecting the natural flow of time, or altering both past or future, has been always considered unbreakable, as all other Limits. However, Hyeronimus did not thought so. According to his calculations, time was basically tied to matter; time was not as much of a "flowing river" as it was just another state of existence of matter, not dissimilar from height or length. Therefore, time was limited to the physical world, and magic itself would be timeless. However, how to escape the grasp of the physical world? A magi was essentially a physical being who manipulated magic to alter his environment, so he could not escape time (it has been in fact shown that when a magi becomes too entwined with magic, he begins to loose his grasp of reality and ultimately experiences a terrible fate). But Hyeronomus believed that if an amount of vis large enough was permeated into a fixed area of physical space, it would effectively displace it from its natural state, leaving it somewhere between the physical world and the Realm of Magic, serving as a "bridge" between both.

Hyeronimus had no interest in passing to the Realm of Magic; he would most likely be torn apart into nothingness by such act. However, he was interested in the timelessness of pure magic. If he could manage to find a mean to remain in a place where both matter and magic coexisted fully, he could take advantage of a lack of time, while being able to physically exist. In doing so, he could potentially break the Supreme Limit of Time, by creating a way to travel in time.
Sadly enough, his theory required massive amounts of pure vis, something impossible to find. Even the largest springs of natural vis ever recorded were far too small to affect matter in such a way as to displace it. For years he searched for a solution, attempting all kinds of methods to achieve the level of vis purity he required (artificially channeled vis had the disadvantage of being "contaminated" by the physical world, and loosing some of its basic properties, such as timelessness). However, he always met failure. That, and the increasing concern among the members of the Magisterium of Magical Art that his actions could be breaking the code contained within the Hermetic Oath, forced him to put his experiment to rest.

But when the students he commanded discovered the unusually strong build-up of vis that was taking place at the bottom of the Western Thalos Sea Trench, his hopes for it to become large and dense enough to produce the effects he had predicted were fueled, and he jumped straight into more calculations. So far he has been unable to directly visit the node, as the Magisterium considered it far too dangerous until further studies had been conducted and closed it to anyone but a handful of researchers from it's own personnel. But all the reading he has been able to make from the outside indicate that the amount of vis accumulated down there is reaching outrageously high levels, almost to the point of a catastrophical collapse. He insist that the node must be taken advantage of before it implodes, but no one at either the Magisterium nor the Ivory Academy is willing to do so, specially after knowing what his plans really are. A breaking of the Oath is the worst kind of crime a magus can commit.

Cerulean Wing of the Ivory Academy:

Hyeronimus walked quickly through the dark laboratory, barely lit with the preternatural glows of alchemical liquids and the occasional purple and blue flashes produced by the excess of magic accumulated in the room "Is the gateway fully prepared?" He asked Deo, one of his students, when he found him collecting series of important documents behind a tall piece of furniture.

"Oh, yes, yes, of course. Thadeus completed the ritual just a short while ago, sire" Deo almost dropped what he carried by the sudden appearance of his old master.

"Excellent. We must leave this place at once! Collect all you can find of any importance to our work, and walk into the gateway!" Commanded the magi, as he stormed over laboratory, shuffling scrolls, books and papers of all kinds "The academy guards shall arrive shortly, and I am afraid the Magisterium's Hoplites have already been called in. Time is of the essence, my fili!"

Deo left a huge pile of documents over the closest table, and he gazed at his parens with his face plagued by worries "But... there is not enough time! There are far too many important things to recover! Experiment schedules, formulaic processes... the living diagrams! By the powers, we can not interrupt the living diagrams now!" The student ran almost hysterically around the laboratory, unable to decide where to start. The floating cords of energy that folded and over-folded by themselves above the large patches of arcane diagrams were too fragile to sustain any kind of movement, and even the slightest touch would break the enchantment and bring the whole process to a halt, ruining months of work.

"Forget about the living diagrams! We can recreate them once we are safe. It will not matter anyway if the Hoplites get us first!" Hyeronimus threw all kinds of unusual contraptions and mystical apparatuses inside a large coffer, and a quick set of gestures put the entire container into spontaneous levitation "Theocritus, push this box through the gateway!" The student, who was knee-deep into a pile of grimoires with more years than he could dare to calculate, tried to comply as fast a he could.

Klaus, the only dwarf among Hyeronimus' fili, showed up behind a corner "Grand Scholar Hyeronimus, sire, I know I am not supposed to use any form of scrying magic within the walls of the academy, and that..."

"Oh, skip all that needless blathering, Klaus! We already broke every single line of the Oath to be worried about those petty academic rules!"

The dwarf scratched his beard nervously "Oh, sorry. Uhm, well, I used a Window of the Unseen Watcher to... I just... there are... a detachment of Hoplites seems to have entered the academy, and they are on the way to the Cerulean Wing already. They seem quite angry as well, and heavily armed, if I might...."

"Hoplites!" Hyeronimus accidentally broke a pair of glass containers in the hurry, making a big hole in the stone floor as the alchemical liquids ate it away "It was that blasted Karloff! He has far too good connections within the Magisterium. The Hoplites never acted in such and expeditious way. Besides, I am sure all the magistri want me dead already, anyway!" It seemed rather ironic that Hyeronimus had been one of the main proposers of reforms within the Magisterium to eliminate bureaucracy and improve quickness of action "Pick whatever you have within hand's reach and haste into the portal!"

"But we will never be able to take the equipment back with us!" Yelled Deo, terrified with the idea of leaving all this behind for the Hoplites to tear apart and burn.

"We can care about that later! I have a contingency plan!" Hyeronimus practically pushed his four students into the gateway. As they stepped into it, the image inside the portal broke as if it was made of glass, and sounding likewise. When they were all gone, Hyeronimus took a second to look around the laboratory he had been using for so many years "And to think all this will be lost. Bloody close-minded fools" He glanced back into the portal, his hands filled with documents, containers and all kinds of unusual objects "I only hope Helenda will answer my call for help...." And with a single step, he was gone. The gateway collapsed over itself afterward.

When the Holplites, followed by an impressively angry Karloff, entered the laboratory, all they found was an otherworldly mess, as if someone had ransacked the entire place just a few moments ago "The blasted traitor got away" Karloff's fury could almost be felt by those around him "Hunter Belasni! Have your men search the entire place! I want to know where has he gone, and you better find it out quickly!"

Meanwhile, on a small, far away tower built atop a rock deep into the sea, a group composed of five overburdened magi struggled to recover their breath and get a hold of their stomaches. There was a reason behind the teachings of the academy of not using teleportation magic without the proper time to prepare.

"If this is as dangerous as the report says, Magister, then you must understand my position" Said Praefectus Mothran "This seems to go beyond the sole reaches of the Magisterium, and into a matter of national security"

Magister Augustus, representative of the Magisterium of Magic, did not seem happy with the Praefectus' answer "In matters of magic, it is us who should be acting. There is no need for the Praefectura to meddle in this affair. I do not even know why was this report sent to you"

"I am glad someone did" Mothran spoke with a severe tone "Magic is something far beyond my reach, but I do not need to be a wizards to realise that if such kind of... eventuality were to happen, millions would be in danger. Do you know how many people lives close to this area?"

"Praefectus, if you just leave the problem to us, you can have confidence that the Magisterium's agents will know how to deal with this criminal and put and end to his perilous investigation" He walked slowly around the office, using his ornate staff as support "Even though the node is unstable, we are capable enough to be able to nullify it... when such need comes by"

"Comes by?"

"Ah, well, of course. We have contingency plans to terminate the vis accumulation process if it ever reaches a degree of dangerous unstability. However, our predictions indicate that it should reach a critical point, stabilize and remain as a valuable source of raw vis"

Mothran grumbled. Since dwarfs were specially well fit for grumbling, the gesture almost scared the wizard "This report includes the declarations made by the scholar Hyeronimus, and he seems to suggest that this node you speak of will collapse given a certain amount of time. The further documentation we have gathered indicates not only the same, but also details a long list of all the possible outcomes, and none of them were things I would like to be nearby"

Augustus smiled "But you must see the value of this finding! Even though it can be used for ill purposes, like the one the traitor Hyeronimus is pretending, it also has an immense potential in the right hands!"

"And I suppose those right hands are yours?"

"Well of course" The Magister seemed offended by the implicit suggestion "We at the Magisterium have thousands of years of experience in matters such as these, and..."

"And you sent us all into more years of bloody war than I care to remember. It was your Magisterium that sent the Thanes into entombment, and it was also your Magisterium that devastated this entire nation when it saw itself loosing the grip of power" The dwarf stood from his desk "So forgive me if I do, but I have absolute distrust of you, your kind and your oh-so-grand Magisterium. The Praefectura is taking care of this operation, and I advice you to cooperate, lest you wish us to bring the case to the Court of Thanes" Mothran knew such kind of threats would work. The magi's position before the ruling Thanes is quite fragile, and they will never be able to stand a chance at the most important of tribunals. They would have to let the Praefecti in. Wizards. They were all the same.

OOC: What role do you envision others taking in this RP?
Looks cool, I just don't want to tread on anything you've planned by jumping in.

OCC:Ditto. I've been keeping track of this for a little while now, and am curious as to how to get involved.

//OOC: Oh, hehe, actually I was just getting to that. This post explains why it is an open RP. My apologies for taking so long.

-------------------------------------------------

Floating Citadel of the Magisterium of Magical Arts:

The Magistri were worried. They had two large problems in their hands: First, there was the great dangers posed by the bold experiments Hyeronimus was supposedly about to undertake on the Vis Node found beneath the sea. No one but the most ancients of wizards had ever seen or handled a source of naturally occurring power of such magnitude, and even then all records are sketchy on the matter. And Hyeronimus not only was seeking to experiment with the node, but also attempt to break one of the Supreme Limits of Magic in the process! That could very well lead to such a catastrophe that not even all the magi of the Order of Hermes combined could help it.

Normally, they would deal with rogue wizards by sending the Hoplites and killing all those involved, then casting their souls into the Chained Fortress of Tartzerkar for them to never return. That is how the Magisterium has dealt with traitors and opposing magi for thousands of years. But, there have been rare exceptions.

From time to time, a particularly powerful magi shows up to be not quite the Order of Hermes had expected. According to Archimagus Bonisagus, the founder of the Order and the father of the Hermetic Theory of Magic, when magi attaint a degree of power far above that of his peers, he suddenly finds out that it all fits, that all what is contained within the Oath of Hermes makes sense. He becomes a Virtuous, a magi who does not abide to the fundamental rules of the Order because of fear of retaliation, but because he understands the actual meaning of them unlike anyone else.
However, Bonisagus lived in an old age, where there were simply not enough magi for his theory to be demolished.

Throughout many millennia, the Magisterium has faced all kinds of traitors, some of them too powerful to be handled. Even though they like to insist that prowess in magic and unsurpassed intellect have finally helped them, the truth is that, so far, only luck has been the determining factor between the continued legacy of Bonisagus, and the utter destruction of the Order beneath the foot of a rogue wizard.
It was hard to accept it, but Hyeronimus seemed to be one of those magi the Magistri were simple uncapable of handling by themselves.

Within the Hermetic Theory of Magic, the existence of a powerful kind of protection, called the Parma Magica, has allowed magi to trust each other enough to be able to give birth to the Order to Hermes, as they could walk close by without fear of the other wizards striking first (magi have an uncanny tendency to distrust each other in the absence of protection). However, time has shown that, while a fantastic mean to smoothen relations among spellcasters, the Parma Magica can become a great barrier when dealing with rogue wizards, and Hermetic Magic has severe difficulties to break such shield. And when combined with a powerful magi, it is simply an unbearable headache for the Magisterium, as all its members understand the complications of the case. They hoped for these things not to happen again, but Hyeronimus had to show up.

What to do, then? The Magisterium wanted to eliminate Hyeronimus, but that seemed hard to accomplish all by themselves. They could bring in the Mundanes, and ask the Praefectura and the Legion to intervene, but that would severely undermine the already fragile power magi wield within the nation, as it would give yet another excuse for the Thanes, rulers of the realm, to push the Order into extinction (the Order of Hermes stood by the side of Mordenkainen the Great when he seized power of the nation in the past, casting the Thanes into an imprisonment that lasted for thousands of years. The Thanes were not very glad to see the magi still standing after Mordenkainent was deposed). No, this had to be handled by the Magisterium. But how?

The Hermetic Magi adored to bask in their self-imposed glory, believing their art to be the one true Ars Magica, dismissing all other forms as primitive and obscure. But in face of the current situation, the magistri had begun to wonder if perhaps the answer to the problem could actually be found within other, foreign arts. They have knowledge of the magic practiced by the fae, or the impressive power that the representatives of both holy and unholy divinities wielded. And they have heard of other arts, much different from the rules and theories of the Hermetic Magic. Perhaps it was time for them to bend the rules of the Oath a bit to fix a broken part, and ask for the request of those who delve in powers beyond their reach and understanding...

----------------------------------------------

//OOC: Very well, now is when people can start to jump in. The Magisterium of Magical Arts and the Order of Hermes itself is passing through a very difficult moment, where it tetter at the brink of collapse due to a rogue wizard of immense power, who seeks to deal with forces far beyond any of them has ever seen before.

But external support is required. Other magical arts will have to come into effect if Hyeronimus is to be stopped. The Hermetic Magi are not too happy about this, but they know they have no other choice.

So, how to join? I have always thought the continuous exchange to official letters and documents to be rather boring, so we can skip that part and assume all those interested have somehow managed to be contacted by the Magisterium. Support may come in the form of individual characters, who may work strange arts much different than Hermetic Magic; the spells of the elves, the strange magi-technology of unknown space beings, or perhaps even more unusual things. But it also may come in the form of larger movements, such as detachments of individuals fitted for the situation, diplomatical envoys to the Magisterium interested in gathering further information, et cetera.

However, this event will be played from both sides: Those who seek to terminate Hyeronimus, and Hyeronimus himself seeking to carry on with his experiment. So you may also join in the support of Hyeronimus cause, who has been also extending certain requests for help to various contacts and peers, although in a much more subtle and hidden way.

This RP will be conducted in two "layers", so to speak: The Character Layer, where all the happenings among individuals or at a similar level will be conducted (A meets B, C speaks of subject with D, E goes to F, et cetera), and the Event Layer, well all the "big things" will take place (such as effects of Hyeronimus experimentation, large movements, changes in the overall scenario, et cetera).

I do not have a specific set course for this RP, as I wish to see how it develops with your participation. I will continue to explain how certain things work (like what can happen with the Vis Node; further player interaction can change this. Perhaps a foreign wizard has further knowledge on what raw magic can do to its surroundings, for example), but it is on the unexpected results of interaction that I keep my interest on. If things go awfully bad it will be as perfect as if things go incredibly good.

Those who were born with the spark, the gift of magic, had certain rights and responsiblities.
Their right? To exercise the additional powers that they had been granted.
Their responsibility? To never use their powers to harm those less fortunate, and to help society as they could.

As such, many worked in Incognitia as healers; as crafters using their arts to add to their goods; some as performers. Many more spent their lives advancing the knowledge of magic, and they formed the ancient core of Incognitia's universities. A few became soldiers, or rather war-mages. Used as part of the elite shock force the Consiliar Guard, they had crushed many an enemy.

However, they were in all ways part of society. They were not separate amongst themselves. When the Consilium heard of the issue involving the Thalos Vis build-up, they were shocked and disgusted.
A party was at once assembled from amongst the best magical practitioners in the land, using some of their talents to gather them swiftly.
Four Army battle-mages: Ben Deegan, Tom Wright, David Northcott, George Wood.
Four savants: James Glenister, Sarah Woolven, Holly Mills, Peter Murray.
And four others: Jacob Hedges, Elara Benton, Grace Ferris, Daniel Rawel.

All had developed their skills in different directions, and all had something to contribute. Elara led, as this was an unconventional situation, and the 25 year old was certainly that.
(Elara: 25. 5'10". Athletic build. Dark hair, light skin, dark eyes. Misleadingly elfin in appearance. Aka 'trouble'.)

"Is everyone finally ready?"
Captain Deegan, senior of the battle mages, was getting fed up with how slowly the others were preparing themselves. He and his mages had all their necessary equipment on their backs. The other eight...in a varying state of readiness...had chests, boxes and packets. Large numbers of books were in evidence, though they were strictly speaking unnecessary.

Half an hour later, amid much packing and panicking, they finally were. Deegan, by now almost red with rage, called a halt to it all by proclaiming that any additional equipment would be flamed, either by him or one of his mages. Everything that was still 'necessary' suddenly became 'too precious to risk.'
The circle was ready, all concerned took their places within it, and the chanting began. After a minute of slowly building sound, all closed their mouths, and the chanting continued. Purple sparks began whirling. And, at last, the party winked out of existence...to reappear in the nearest open space to the sender of the news of trouble. That was the wonder of the spell...you could leap blindly, but safely, as long as you had something touched by someone at the other end - preferrably signed by them.

OOC: More detail on each character as they matter. The magical style is basically drawn from within, with rituals and so on as a focussing aid for the magician themselves. With enough knowledge and concentration, nothing is required but the mage themself.
Oh, and where they come out, and who they meet, is obviously your call.

Big Ugly BUMP.