Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
"Utena" Fragment
"Utena" Fragment
#1
I'm in a sharing mood this morning. Here's a little bit of business I wrote for the hypothetical Utena Step, but it applies as much to the discussion of the DW cosmology and Hexe's origins over in the DW2 forum as to Utena proper.
---
There's a big difference between the High Magicks and the kind of stuff most spell-slingers do. For one thing, you don't need a magegift to do them. Yeah, I know that sounds like it doesn't make sense. The thing is, there's magic, and then there's Magick. Spellcasters and mage-freaks like me, well, what we do is use local power for local effects. The magegift lets us find, tap and shape that power, but with a few exceptions ( Lina Inverse Willow Rosenberg ) we can rarely affect an area larger than, say, a small town. And that only if we're lucky and have a lot of power handy.The High Magicks, well, they're closer to priestly rites than spellcasting. They're often like little plays -- dramaturgy, I guess you'd call it -- where each participant has a specified role. And it's the roles that are important. Because in the High Magicks, the partipants don't just draw or call on power, they *become* Powers. The ritual makes its participants, however briefly, one with the Forces and Beings and, and... Things that they are representing, which they can then alter -- and be altered by, in turn, because it's a reciprocal relationship. That's the danger of the High Magicks -- the loss of self, the immersion in the cosmic forces you are calling on. You tell it how you want it to control you, and if you bungle it, well... I sometimes wonder if Hexe came into the world because a certain young German girl named Helene accidentally -- and more or less fatally -- invoked her with a High Magick ritual, many years ago.Another of the differences between spellcasting and the High Magicks is that the Powers don't mind the High Magicks. Spells to call upon the Powers (or worse, physically manifest Them) usually leave Them pissed off -- I suspect it's the metaphysical equivalent of a really obnoxious telemarketer calling at dinner time. But when it comes to the High Magicks... Well, I'm not sure why, but They respond willingly to the rituals and are bound by the results. It's probably the reciprocal nature of the process. Or maybe it's because for the time the ritual is performed, there is no real difference between the participants and the Powers, and thus there's no level of coercion or supplication. The question that was foremost in my mind right now was, just what rituals, involving which Powers, were played out on the rose-shaped Circle of the duelling floor?And which Power was Himemiya Anthy, really?

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
Re: "Utena" Fragment
#2
Oh, and just a note: Doug's speculation about the origins of Hexe here are wrong. As I recall, Hexe has never in game explained her origins, but the capsule description I gave over in the DW2 forum is correct: Hexe intentionally poured all of herself into a mortal form at its conception, and grew up more or less as a normal human child until her overself awakened in her late teens.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
Re: "Utena" Fragment
#3
May I Have Some More, Please?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
Reply
re: Lina Magic/Doug Magic
#4
[Before I get into this: Hope you had a merry Christmas! Have a happy New Year! Remember: alcohol and family reunions are a good combination!]
There's a big difference between the High Magicks and the kind of
stuff most spell-slingers do. For one thing, you don't need a
magegift to do them.
[Sorry, do which? Magic or "MAGICK"]
Yeah, I know that sounds like it doesn't
make sense. The thing is, there's magic, and then there's
Magick. Spellcasters and mage-freaks like me, well, what we do
is use local power for local effects. The magegift lets us find,
tap and shape that power, but with a few exceptions ( Lina
Inverse Willow Rosenberg ) we can rarely
affect an area larger than, say, a small town. And that only if
we're lucky and have a lot of power handy.
[Ah, now, see, here I'll have to disagree on the wording.
Lina and company do not "tap local forces". The energy that they channel is basically universal to their universe (or at least global to their . . . globe). Anywhere they are, they can get energy from the Elements or the Astral Plane or channel from the various Mazoku. And Lina is just one of many who can do a Dragon Slave, which affects a bit more than a small town. It's just that she's very good at it.]
The High Magicks, well, they're closer to priestly rites than
spellcasting. They're often like little plays -- dramaturgy, I
guess you'd call it -- where each participant has a specified
role. And it's the roles that are important. Because in the
High Magicks, the partipants don't just draw or call on power,
they *become* Powers. The ritual makes its participants, however
briefly, one with the Forces and Beings and, and... Things that
they are representing, which they can then alter -- and be
altered by, in turn, because it's a reciprocal relationship.
That's the danger of the High Magicks -- the loss of self, the
immersion in the cosmic forces you are calling on. You tell it
how you want it to control you, and if you bungle it, well... I
sometimes wonder if Hexe came into the world because a certain
young German girl named Helene accidentally -- and more or less
fatally -- invoked her with a High Magick ritual, many years ago.
[Now I know that this sounds similar to Lina's Giga Slave--and it probably is, but it's pretty much the only spell in the Slayers-verse that does this. And even then, it doesn't happen every time. And the Lord of Nightmares has to leave the body or the world will be destroyed.
Oh, and the Slayersverse does do a lot of channeling from the Mazoku, but that doesn't mean that, say, Gaav could inhabit Lina's body when she does a Gaav Flare. It's just drawing energy from Gaav.]
Reply
Re: "Utena" Fragment
#5
Quote:
May I Have Some More, Please?
Sorry, that's all for now.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
Re: re: Lina Magic/Doug Magic
#6
Quote:
Sorry, do which? Magic or "MAGICK"
The High Magicks.
Quote:
Lina and company do not "tap local forces".
Thanks for the correction. Remember, my Slayers experience is quite limited. While writing this I was less concerned with the accuracy vis-a-vis Slayers canon than I was with getting the general idea across. If I do end up using this passage, I'll probably move Lina from the "spellslinger" part to the end. That being said, however...
Quote:
Now I know that this sounds similar to Lina's Giga Slave--and it probably is, but it's pretty much the only spell in the Slayers-verse that does this. And even then, it doesn't happen every time. And the Lord of Nightmares has to leave the body or the world will be destroyed.
Oh, and the Slayersverse does do a lot of channeling from the Mazoku, but that doesn't mean that, say, Gaav could inhabit Lina's body when she does a Gaav Flare. It's just drawing energy from Gaav.
Okay, here's a difference I should probably make clearer in the passage. Both Sorcery/Necromancy and the High Magicks draw upon the Powers -- but they're different ways of doing so. Sorcery is making bargains, or stealing power, or binding and draining -- it is the caster vs. the spirit, or the caster teamed with the spirit. In the High Magicks, there is no difference -- the caster is the spirit is the caster. Possession as a result or side effect of a sorcerous spell isn't the same thing.
Does that make any sense?

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
Re: re: Lina Magic/Doug Magic
#7
>Does that make any sense?
It's making a vague sort of sense to me, (but then again I'm also sure I've seen five different types of vampire across the media streams) I admit transfictional magical theory is not an area I've got a lot of grounding in and actually gets me into a bit of trouble in Balder's Gate II (even with the hintbook) so the connection's with what I'm picking up from early 'Gold Digger' and the odd Hellblazer fanfic.
--Rod.H
"I'm more a tech user than a 'spellslinger'"
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)