Ineine Rhegoris

I teach in all disciplines, and I have had many occasions when kings and queens will try to have me remove particular subjects from study.

I always tell them that their children will learn about the world. If not from me, then it will be from another source. I can teach it in a safe environment. Most others cannot promise that. I also have had them enraged that I will teach those of all stations. The wealthy and the poor, for nothing more than a fee, or small amounts of manual labor.

A couple of coins or a couple hands helping me organize my equipment is all I need in return for teaching a lifetime of skills.

All people should have accessible education. A society cannot flourish if its people are intolerant to new ideas. Creativity is partially made of curiosity. The world will not shelter the young. We have to prepare all of them, no matter where they come from.

I have seen finer mages and swordsmen from slums than most manors and castles.

The contentious portions of my curriculum is the portion of Druidic spellcasting, Historical accounts, and lessons on physical labor (often called peasant’s tasks). However, all magic is inherently connected. People want to separate the major arcane forces from those that impact the natural world. We should teach not just how the world functions, but also the natural ways the world manifests those functions.

It is like those who want to enjoy meat without thinking about the fact that all our food was once alive.

Spellcasting is composed of the imaging, construction, limitations, and activation process.

The imaging process is a combination of theory and practice. Theory means that in order to cast a spell you must understand what you are attempting to create/ produce. The more you fundamentally know about the subject of your spell, the less aether it will require to fill the gaps in your knowledge.  For example, I have learned a Hemokinesis spell from the legendary mage Aster Tepes. I focus on my own blood, focusing on the plasma that suspends the cells, both the “white” cells involved with the immune system, and the “red” blood cells that carry oxygen through the entirety of the human body. I then focus on the generation of more blood going into a state of erythrocytosis while simultaneously enhancing the strength of my heart and the amount of blood that can flow through my veins. Practice requires you to imagine how it feels to perform such an action. The feeling of blood through your veins and the heart pumping harder. Some mages prefer to just feel how magic is preformed other than learn all the specifics of how their substance works. However, a great mage is formed when they utilize both aspects of imaging.

Now that it is imaged. We utilize aether’s fundamental properties. Enhancement, Conjuration, Manipulation, and Radiation through what we call an “arcane matrix”

An arcane matrix is the imaginary system that mages channel aether through in order to amplify their fundamental properties to suit the current use.

Enhancement is referring to fact that aether can be used to amplify the properties of already existing matter and substances. It can make oil more slippery or muscles capable of explosive force. The specific enhancement is related to the user’s intention. This is most commonly used by warriors to produce supernatural levels of strength, speed, and endurance. But mages can use this to heal and boost others as well.

Conjuration is referring to the fact that aether can be used to create new matter. Similar to fairies or yokai that are generated from the condensed aether within the web of aether that surrounds the world that we call the cultural unconscious. Mages can use aether to generate new substances or objects in its entirety. These created objects have the properties designated by their caster. It is important to note that the conservation of matter still applies to these substances. Nothing can be created without something of equal value being erased. So, it is impossible to create a sword that is infinitely sharp as it would require an infinite amount of aether to generate. This is why we need to make conditions and limitations to our magic as it gives us more “buying power” when it comes to the magic we can produce.

Manipulation is referring to the fact that aether can be controlled by the idea instilled, this includes actions and the caster’s own will. This results in the ability to use aether as a medium for manipulating already existing objects and substances. This also includes the controlling of individuals and their own actions. It is rare but manipulation can allow individuals to peer into the mind of another.

Evocation is referring to the fact that aether can mimic and behave as other substances, this is separated form conjuration as conjuration will create a new substance. Evocation will obtain the multiple properties of substances and attribute them to the users aether. So instead of generating a ball of fire, one can fire a ball of aether given the attributes of fire. These have their own pros and cons as generating the substance itself is costly, but it is often sturdier and more protective against outside forces. Evoking the other substances with aether is inherently more cost effective and allows for an easier application of multiple properties.

Finally, is radiation which simply refers to the fact that aether can activate and be manipulate outside of the body. It will lose its general strength the farther it is from the body, however the more powerful a mage, the farther they can fire their own aether. Usually, radiation is used with evocation and manipulation as they are more beneficial when used at a range.

For this instance I am using conjuration to generate new blood within my body, enhancement to increase my heart rate and the strength of my veins without injury, and manipulation to control and increase the flow of blood even further. This is Hemorythm, a spell that increases body temperature, blood flow, and blood cell count. This is a primary spell in the Tepes family as it allows for an easier use of blood magic without the fear of passing out.

Limitations are used because we simply cannot perform the impossible. Anything created is a transformation of something else, in the case of magic aether is the substance transformed. Limitations like range, hand movements, chants, and sacrificed components are all used to increase the power or even capability of a spell. I cannot create an infinite amount of blood, but I can increase the amount of blood needed by adding a limitation to the spell that I shall not move while it is active. These contracts are made with the self and as a result they last as long as you uphold them. If you feel that the bargain is weighed to heavily against you, then you can retract the limitation, and the benefit will also go away.

The actual casting is easy after that. You simply pour your aether through the arcane matrix you designed for the spell, and it is accomplished. This rings true for any spell. I encourage all my students to try and generate their own spells after casting their first one.

Magic is a fickle and personal thing. It responds to emotion and as a result the more a mage feels in tune with their chosen magic, the more efficient it is to preform. Magic is as much an art as it is a science and art is incomplete if its artist is only using tools, the emotion makes magic as powerful as it is today. I have lost many battles because I was not feeling the magic I was intending on using.

We live in a world with extraordinary magics. Inevitably that magic has integrated itself within the ecosystem of the world. Aether is found in all beings who are sentient. The specific manipulation of aether to cast magic belongs to those with the intelligence to understand the arcane system. There are five types of creatures within the world.

There are four primary educational practices when I introduce new mages with me. These exercises are difficult to master at first but are as necessary as breathing to a warrior.

The first exercise is EN, the process of controlling the flow and shape of one’s own aether around the body and restricting the loss of that resource. In older ages this would have been unnecessary as rituals took long buildups of aether as opposed to the relatively larger costs of modern magic. We preform EN to maintain a pool of aether within our own body to pull from. This creates a field of aether around the mage which is referred to as an aura. Experienced mages can register information about another’s skills based on aura alone. However, this can be a poor habit if the opposing mage is skilled at manipulating and restricting their aura.

The second exercise is RE, the process of concealing aether within the body to hide the aura produced by EN. This is important as the release of an individual’s aura can make them more sensitive to aether around them. This heightened awareness comes with the cost that there is no outer protection against magical attacks that most individuals have due to the faint aura caused by aether flowing out of the body. RE is primarily used during rest to increase the effectiveness of healing and rest as the life force within aether acts as an internal insulator.

The third exercise is PR, the process of intentionally generating and releasing a large aura of aether. This increased the resistance to magic and is generally the principal that warriors naturally preform subconsciously. The main purpose of PR to a mage is to cast spells with a high cost through the increase in aether available. Unlike RE, PR takes an extensive amount of effort to continuously preform, this makes it exhaustive despite its value to spellcasting.

Aether is innately tied to both logical thought and emotions. If aether is treated as fire, then emotion would be heat, the idea instilled would be the fuel and the life force of the being would function as oxygen. All beings that are living and sentient are capable of generating aether. However, only those who are sapient can fully manipulate it through focus and dedication. This is why most enhancement utilizing aether is subconscious as it is directed by the ideas instilled. There are varied spell systems that have formed from the various different studies that have been made by people across the globe. The very first rituals included a form of performance. This includes dancing, singing, and setting a specific environment for those spells to be cast. Musical magic has always existed, but it was perfected in the central sea where large theaters would be created for the gathering of many soon to be mages to perform. Nowadays it is not unusual to see a wandering musician who can use the aether formed from their performance to cast spells designated by their individual song or performance. It is important to note that the specific song is not integral to the casting of a spell. It is merely a method that these performers focus their aether to cast specific spells.

There are many instances where aether is used without invoking the modern system of magic, although all individuals are utilizing it in some form. The substance exists universally as a result of us being living organisms and as a result you can find interesting results across the world. Eastward there are entire sects of individuals who have a lifestyle around self-improvement. These temples are fascinating, and it is always worth the visit to places as the interaction people have with aether is very different around the world. To these monks, aether is a part of the body and it was their aid that helped me come to the realization that aether can be used for more than pure spellcasting. I have observed how they used aether, in the form of qi to preform extraordinary tasks. That journey helped advance humanity’s understanding of magic severely as before soldiers believed magic to only belong to spellcasters. Many use aether as a method to connect to their own ancestors. This is the Shamanist mindset when it comes to magic, and it is a deeply personal aspect of aether. I have watched as warriors focus on their lineage, both past and future. This is sometimes combined with elixirs or intense emotions, and they enter a state I can only call animalistic. It is not serene like the druidic magic system. They are berserkers who use their emotion and aether to gain strength and push their own bodies past the limits of the physical. There are also individuals who can access this enhanced state with an intense willpower and training. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a battle master using skills they have honed to perfection over many years. My current ongoing theory is that they become so in-tune with combat that their aether is reacting and enhancing the body as an automatic response. I primarily see individuals who are non-combative completely hiding the aether that is released from their body to hide in places open to the eyes. It is an eerie level of stealth that plays with our natural ability to sense living organisms.

Aether, the primary driving component of magic, it is pure energy that exists within the natural world around us. By itself aether is a remarkable substance, unseen, unheard, only felt by those who have learned of its existence. Currently we channel aether into a set of code that forms a specific outcome. It is the water to a waterwheel. These codes are called “Spells”, and their definition has wavered between the centuries. Originally all magic was through the pure manipulation of aether without any interpretation. This was akin to a baby learning to walk for the first time. We learned that aether could be stockpiled and released for later uses, combined with the first rudimentary understanding of aether’s properties, humanity created the first rituals. Rituals are a long buildup of aether in a central location with the express purpose of utilizing it for an external effect. These rituals were made efficient. Less time meant more aether as a cost, so humanity learned to store large quantities of aether within their bodies to make up for the difference. We recognize these shortened rituals as modern spells. The likes of manipulating outside elements or raw aether have come and gone in popularity as the years go by. Even so, all magic started with aether.

I have had to watch a good couple of gods rise from time to time. I don’t necessarily worship any, but I also don’t shame those who observe the magical and turn to prayer. I do bot judge the people begging the sky for help any more than I judge those begging a king. Although I must admit a part of me finds it a little foolish.

When a mortal attempts to become divine the first thing they must succeed in doing is a complete recognition of their cognitive ego and their opposing shadow.

A cognitive shadow is easy to recognize. It is all the aspects of oneself that we hide and repress. The urges to kill and plunder. The want to take and bleed and destroy. Though it if formed in a manner of social survival. There is a requirement that one recognizes the entirety of what their shadow encompasses.

The harder step is to recognize and fully form one’s cognitive ego. This is the face we show off to the world. It is everything we want others to see and to recognize as us. If you are to remove your body and ascend to godhood, then the only base you can be going off of is your own mind. Many others will ascend with no preconceived understanding of who they are. This results in a grotesque mutation of divinity that cannot die but has to icon, no worship, and no real form.

The recognition of these two facilities allows an individual to cleanly transform into their new blessed form. The one they defined around their Ego.

But if it was so simple then we would have an array of gods for every other dimwit who wishes to be immortal. You then need to form a gate to divinity.

Doors, gates, pathways, and bridges. Any symbol that represents the crossing of borders or planes will suffice. But a god requires sacrifice. These divine gateways are created from the death of thousands.

There was once a man who was worshiped and loved. He fed the poor and empowered the people. He was then hung brandishing a false crown of mockery. Many remember his story of one where those who killed him were forgiven. But I watched as his orchestrated plan functioned. He had his followers kill all onlookers.

They laid a blood red carpet before their new king.

They took the bones of the victims and formed pearly gates.

The people took their dead lord and passed him through the door.

They thought it failed. But there is a reason the man formed himself an Ego of good and honorable nature. When you obtain godhood. The Ego and the Shadow seperate and both ascend. The flaw was that the Ego was incapable of killing the Shadow left behind. There was now an unstoppable darkness that lied within his tomb. For three days it festered and boiled. His followers were visited by the god they loved. But they had also created a devil.

Godhood is never clean and it is never perfect. No being gains power without it being from a source of suffering. We too eat the death of other things. There is no shame in that.

There are many recorded afterlifes and i think its worthwhile to explain to my pupils the difference between the existing perceptions of the afterlife and how they function in the world of magic.

I was traveling along the path one day and to my surprise I had a knife to my throat. The encounter stirred up some memories.

Societies that are filled with individuals of a shorter lifespan will often go through cycles, those who live longer will often have to adapt because these cycles are caused by different individuals holding power. Golden ages, Wars, Totalitarianism, Revolution, Repeat.

One of the creatures that is struck hardest by these cycles are Dragons. I am not here to say that we should allow Dragons to burn down entire villages and cities because they are natural creatures. While I practice Druidic rituals I do not believe that there is virtue in maintaining all life. Sometimes, begrudgingly, a Dragon needs to die. They are territorial creatures that will establish their territory with intense violence.

However, it is important to recognize the value that Dragons have to the ecosystem. 295 years ago the majority of eastern kingdoms came to the conclusion that Dragons are a threat to all of society. The Great Dragon Hunt began. This was a golden age of equipment made from Dragons. Their scales are remarkably durable, their claws and teeth sharp and make excellent weapons, along with their internal organs carrying all sorts of infused magic. It got so common that people were able to make drinking horns from Dragons, even if it was owned by the rich.

This sadly resulted in the death of the Catenta. Most people don’t remember them, but they were large beasts like that of a mongoose with fins and gills. The two beasts would naturally kill and slaughter each other. I remember witnessing underground fighting rings between a Dragon and a Catenta.

The lack of a rival in the food chain allowed the Catenta to devour all of its prey and the food ran out. The Catenta wasn’t able to find enough food, and they all went extinct. This also left the environments completely barren of herbivores and plants grew in excess. The large bodies of the dead Catenta would leave the place barren and dangerous for all who entered.

Most people think the death of magical creatures is the same as the death of non magical creatures. There are consequences to killing such great beasts.

Magic is not a tool. It is a natural phenomena that we learn to control and utilize. Dragons, Catenta, Unicorns, Thunderbirds, and even Gods have large amounts of Mana and energies within them that will radiate and corrupt the environment around them.

The extinction of Dragons led to large wastelands where their corpse gave birth to horrible mutations and growths. Some created new life as bacteria evolved to become multicellular life and emerged as horrible beasts. Other times beings would be given growths that devour their body and organs. Even healing spells would be ineffective as it is a part of the body.

The death of Dragons led to the death of many beautiful environments. However, people did choose to begin Dragon breeding programs. The hope was to bring back the magic of the world and to bring back Dragons. This works, but it does bring issues of Dragon overpopulation.

If there are too many Dragons, especially in an environment where Dragons have their natural competitors extinct, then you have the same issues as with the Catena.

Short lived groups, especially humans, like to involve themselves in these life cycles because they only witness the short term effects. Meanwhile those who live for longer periods of time will witness the cycle of Dragons.

First there are too many Dragons. Then the Dragons need to die. Humans hunt all the Dragons. Then the environment suffers because of it. Humans start protecting and breeding Dragons. Dragons begin harming the environment. So there are too many Dragons.

I use familiars often. Both because holding concentration on spells is taxing, but they also can fit into spaces I cannot.

There are two recognized types of familiars. There are those you summon from elsewhere and they function as a patron, and there are those you create yourself out of your own subconscious.

I prefer to create my own, since I have the stamina to sustain them. But it’s always a pain seeing them fight each other.

I will often use familiars to demonstrate how our emotions and subconscious can affect how our magic presents itself.

One of my students Kirumi is a brilliant artist. She gave me permission to share her struggles.

Kirumi uses her artistic vision to represent what she wants to summon using paper and ink as a medium. However she does struggle with her own internal darkness and it manifests as the darkness of the ink she uses.

She can conjure beasts but they are all pitch black and will swallow up anything that comes into contact with it.

I was almost lost once, I wasn’t able to even swim because there was nothing there. It was darkness. No resistance, just gravity and an infinite space to fall into. Luckily I was holding onto a rope and was pulled out.

There’s no shame in it. We all manifest our own struggles and personality. Whether we like it or not, it is a part of us.

I’m not talking about the story. I mean the actual man.

Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, “The Dragon”, “The Impaler”. He’s actually quite a calm guy when you get to know him.

The tales are brutal, more brutal than he was when he was alive. Not that there wasn’t precedent for his brutality. But we wouldn’t want to be judged for our actions as children.

He fought on behalf of God actually. A man of faith, in the beginning. But no one gets to thrive forever in a war. His own people ran his name through the mud. Branded him as a monster once the war was nearing its end. He was tied up and the only thing he had left was the rivers of blood pooling from those he had slaughtered. Abandoned by the God he swore to fight for.

So the man shoved his own face in the bloody ground. He gave up on all humanity and drew in the blood of those he slaughtered, he killed his heart and swore never to partake in food again. The only sustenance he would allow is that of mankind. A Faustian bargain.

That was the day that both Werewolves and Vampires were born.

You should have seen him. On full moons he would ride across the sky as a brilliant beast of bright white fur. His fangs, spears. His claws, the chill nights wind. He could fight forever and never tire. Wood, garlic, the sun would all be ineffective. Silver swords would bound off his skin.

He once willingly placed his head on a chopping block, fifteen axes were sacrificed that day.

Now he wasn’t unkillable. He had no aversion to wood crosses, but those of silver affected his body. Only that which was holy and silver would pierce his flesh.

Eternal life also allowed him to tame the wolf within. He could willingly change and maintain his intellect. He could play the organ like a master, and he commanded magic with the same ease as taking a breath.

Nobody really caught on to his nature as both a vampire and a werewolf. Most likely because of the feuds between the two groups.

The legend of Vlad Dracula, the first vampire caught on. But it took a little bit of insight to see that behavior and scent all led to lycanthropy.

Dracula finally met his end a couple of years ago. A brilliant hunter, probably from one of those family lines he killed long ago.

But I will always remember how he spoke like moonlight upon a rose. His eyes wore the knowledge of ages.

For as much as I love the man. He did do some horrific acts. He tortured and killed countless. A life of constant violence and death. Even when he settled down, Dracula would kill all who entered his domain uninvited.

So how do I know him?

Dracula had sent me an invitation and a game. “Hunt down each of my prodigious children. Teach them the secrets I could not. Ensure that the Tepes family is not squandered by false lions.”

I have tried to track down any of his Offspring. However, most individuals that claim to be of the mighty Dracula are all boast.

I shiver thinking about it. A place where there is nothing. A universal garbage dump. If someone was lost there, would we remember it?

I know I’ve been in those spaces, or those lack of spaces? We travel through them every time we move through dimensions.

But I haven’t a single memory of existing within it. I tried once to draw magic from there. But it seemed too volatile to be used by me. It erased everything I touched and I heard… something.

The most difficult part is how romanticized they have become. Most vampires are turned either against their will or in a moment of desperation. Even the longer lived races struggle with identity every couple years. However, most vampires are originally individuals who are not meant to sustain immortal life.

Elves are prepared since birth, they have entire social communities built so that they don’t fall out of sanity. But the lesser lived races will always struggle with the realization that they no longer fall in the circle of life.

Even more mind-breaking is the realization that you cannot feed yourself on just blood. Blood is the main factor that you need to upkeep as a vampire, since your body will regenerate everything but your blood. However, organs, muscle, fat, and even bones are required for consumption. Along with the gruesome deed of cannibalism, there comes the realization that humans are not grapes. We do not have a thin layer of skin filled with liquid vitality. Instead we need to be punctured and drained. It is never a clean process.

So whenever I see or hear myths of a local vampire, I take the time to track them down and cure them. This time, without my staff, which made me pretty vulnerable.

I walked into a small and broken shack that this vampire was huddled up in. It was a mother crying bloody tears in the corner. She was holding a swaddling cloth. I restrained the urge to vomit.

She begged me for forgiveness. That the hunger was too great. I could only apologize that I was too late. I knelt down next to her. Another vampire, one more lost than herself, said that he would spare the child if she was turned. But, once the mother changed she couldn’t stop herself until the bloodlust was sated.

She cast away the swaddling cloth and I offered an embrace. This part is always painful. Feeling their cold hands against me. Blood fresh and staining my clothes. The tears streaming downwards. Fangs tearing deep into my flesh.

I know what will happen every time. They cannot help it. They need to feed just like the rest of us. So I gently embrace her. The blood draining out from my neck as I chant the purification ritual incantation. A light like the morning sun starts rising from within me. It flows through my blood and into her.

I rested her and took her to a nearby inn. Payed for two rooms. We talked in the morning. She is a lovely lady. I believe she would be a great mother. She still grieves. But now I can trust her to take care of herself with the help of the local townspeople.

Let me be clear that eldritch madness is not an ant walking upon a book and losing its understanding of reality.

It is when an ant walks onto a book that flies open and that ant absorbs all the information within that book. They learn that the symbols on that paper have a meaning and correspond with ideas and concepts made for entities far larger than its own life. Then, without any warning. The ant is placed back down on the ground with all that knowledge remaining.

Churches and faith has led my fellow scholars to fear the continuation of exploration because of the perceived threat of knowledge that corrupts. But knowledge is not the cause of harm to humanity, it never has.

It is only when we reject the truth of the world, that we are corrupted. Look upon anyone who hides their identity. The repression of oneself is inherently destructive to one’s own mind. This is exponentially greater when it comes to the eldritch truth.

I have seen Carcosa, I have walked among the planes of yha’au’zar, I have dipped into the blackness of Cheztarus. I am incapable of sharing my journey.