(From a letter from Geros Haram to Mirafelle c. 1446) . . . In other news, farmer Goffs' hens hatched out a cockatrice. He killed it shortly after hatching, but called on the church to help with the purification. Lesli and I went out and adjudicated [1] a Purification and burned the little monster. At supper afterward, some remarks started me thinking. What if the ability we call 'essence' is only the human aspect of something much broader? Just as mages arise from humans, so do cockatrices arise from chickens, both using 'essence' or internal magic. We can speculate on other essential forms; Unicorns might arise from goats, for example. You know that I have never been happy with classifying Rohain abilities as boon [2]. If my idea of essential creatures arising from base creatures is correct, however, it presents a different view on the matter. The gifts of the rohain are just as much essence as the gifts of the mages created by Miracradasa. Though both arise from humans, Feroze changes the essential form so that the powers of the rohain flow along a different path from those of magery. This is probably no more difficult for him than animal breeding is for us. Please pass these speculations along to those you know in Mirabalpur. I'd be very interested in their response. . . . [1] There are certain Exquaestio rites which seem to be effective no matter who performs them. Consecrate, Purify, and the like, though most effective when performed by espiri, still apparantly do _something_ when performed by anradan or even quaestae. While, espiri _perform_ these rites, non-espiri _adjudicate_ the rites. [2] Geros feels that the term 'authority' has been overused to the point of meaninglessness. Instead, he speaks of Nature and Magic, and in turn divides Nature into Physics and Society, and Magic into Essence and Boon. --- Jefferson (Exquaestio) http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/Exq_Main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
