The Lives of Wizards and Pirates

Greetings, I am Isabella Esdras. Formally a writer at The Zenith Gazette, I then went on to become a historian at the Grand Master Institute where for many years I collated reports on events of old, attempting to decipher fact from fiction. Topics varied from the 50 Year War to the origins of our Alondrian calendar. However like most of us the Caldera Awakening changed my life forever, getting lost in false information and lack of documentation, these recent events inspired me to create accurate and detailed reports on our lives and culture.

While not a terribly technical due to the nature of culture and people, I do hope my travels and tales provide those without the opportunity and future generations to see and experience for themselves what the lives of wizards and pirates is or was like mere years after the Caldera Awakening. While working at the Grand Master Institute I befriended many that frequented the Institute including the Wizard Darnell Grove who invited me into his circles upon hearing my goal to record modern history.

After Darnell proposed the idea it took near two months before there was a formal introduction and meeting with the Royal Arcane Order. From the outside the Arcane Orders appear as exclusive and secretive collectives (which they are), but the mystique of it being a controlling and colluding force quickly disappears when attending the event, they're much like a fancy dinner party among friends and colleagues. At the head of the table was Tobarin defacto leader of the group but more importantly the King's Arcane Advisor. When I ask why I was allowed in Darnell explained that Tobarin was looking to dispel the tales that these Arcane Orders, or at least for this group, were in fact manipulating society and this provided a potential in doing so. Tobarin expanded Darnell's answer by saying that while previous groups and peoples may have done so, the Royal Arcane Order did not as they had no need or desire to do so as it's initial creation by the Kingdom of Hastil has fulfilled their goals long ago and no longer have a connection to the Kingdom other than in name.

Shortly after the introductions lavish food and drink were brought out, admittedly after the discussions of weather, local news, and gossip died down and as plates and cups grew empty. Discussions quickly went over my head as they theorised and debated on improving spell effectiveness and reducing the toll of Frangere. Staying by Darnell as he talked with Enora I managed to interject to learn more. The pair explained that there are two major classifications of magic, Tenere and Frangere, each with three sub-classifications. Enora claimed to be well versed in Tenere magic but was wishing to practice more Frangere but was suffering from it, as she pulled back her long sleeves to show bandages wrapped around her forearm. She was trying to create barriers of force and ended up with heavy bruising.

Darnell and Enora helped explain that Tenere magic conserves or maintains the world's energy and materials, this magic is much safer as the wizard is manipulating and changing what is available to them, setting up two candles they showed that moving the flame from one candle to the other did not change the amount of fire merely moving it and likewise when moulded the candle itself into a spiral, the amount of wax and wick remained but shape changed. Conversely Frangere magic breaks these rules, creating and destroying energy and material rather than changing, this however can create complications. Darnell proceeded to tap his wand in the air and the unlit candle sparked to life, he quickly placed the wand in my hand and I could feel a slight warmth from it, explaining that on a small scale there is little consequence but repeated, sustained or larger uses create a toll to the wizard. Enora then went on to say that Frangere often has an element of irony, one might expect that creating something hot would make the wizard cool but in fact if one makes something hot they too will become warm, she then gestured to her arms saying that one could try make a protective barrier but get battered and bruised in the process.

The following day I met up Darnell for lunch, where we had a small debrief and assessment both of us concluding that while it was throwing me into the deep sea, overall it was a success and majority of members were approving of my introduction. I asked if I could visit and observe Darnell's work and study, unfortunately he was going to be out of town for a couple weeks, he then suggested I possibly do so with Enora, after I expressed interest Darnell laid out a map of the city on the table, checked our location and another, stood up faced the direction of the other location and whispered both foreign and known language in the direction. After a moment he sat back down and said Enora would gladly have me. Before I even asked Darnell said that communicative magic is complex and largely unknown, the caster needs to be facing the direction of the recipient, further away they are the more precise the facing needs to be, it falls under Frangere magic and can cause migraines but can be lessened with shorter range and in recent months theories suspect that closer the relationship between the two also lessens the consequences but hard to document and test such theories. He then showed me the location of her home and study on the map and that I could visit this afternoon or tomorrow morning

The following morning I visited Enora's home, she greeted and invited me in and felt like stepping into a small bookshop or library, books and documents arranged neatly on shelves and tables. A diagram caught my attention, brilliantly drawn but subject was unnerving, depicting a left hand multiple times in a grid on 9 each hand in various states of damage, including burns, frostbite, broken joints, enlarged veins, the last three drawings are missing their pinkie finger, while also still suffering various ailments. While being the most horrifying to me, the bottom middle hand depicted a beautiful white and purple peony sprouting from their index finger, with the stem and vines running under the skin and in places breaking through. My enthrallment must have been obvious as Enora came to my side, and with a heavy sigh removed her left glove to reveal her heavily scared hand and missing pinkie finger, as she admits in her early years she pushed herself too far but takes some relief in that she thoroughly documented her endeavours.

As she put her glove back on I asked if healing magic would have helped in the recovery, Enora let out a small laughing huff but quickly apologised before I could feel like I was out of line. She went on to say that magical healing is likely the most mis-represented magic by the public, as it's often seen as a quicker and more effective treatment than traditional methods. In reality it is much quicker but much riskier, for example closing an open wound would have much more defined scarring or if healing a broken bone, if not positioned right the bone could fuse or heal incorrectly providing long term issues and side-effects. She also confided that attempting to cure illness weakens the body and opens to future illness or if wishing to alleviate pain works in the moment but in a few hours to a day or two returns much stronger like a gate holding back a flood. Doesn't deviate only holds it off for a time. My curiosity got to me and I asked what caused her to lose a finger, Enora looked to the poster and she simply said “I ignored the warnings of teleportation, I was very lucky to only lose a finger.” We stood in silence for a moment, she then ushered to follow her further into her home.

As she gave a tour of her study most of it was focused on Tenere magic, “Some the the arcane world see it as 'inferior' magic, due to my limitations I believed that at first, pushed myself too hard. These days I aim to prove them wrong, why fight against the world when you can bend it to your will?” That sentiment was echoed multiple times through the tour. First of the three Tenere was elemental. Simply put bending physical nature, like two nights ago moving a flame from one candle to another, but scale that up, one could divert a river, create or stop a landslide, hold back a forest fire, the options are vast and one just needs to look around. Second was similar, transmutation, turning a mug to a plate, an ingot to a sword, a block of marble into a statue. One cannot change the material itself but reshaping and repurposing is within the limits. Enora retold a story where a guard was chasing down a murdered, a nearby mage saw and managed to turn the murder's metal bracers into cuffs and pulled the stone road up around his feet. Last of the Tenere was illusion, at first I thought it would have fallen under Frangere but Enora explained that illusion was a tricky one, it's neither manipulating nature but nor is it creating or destroying. Illusions are just that, interacting or investigating it in any way and the illusions quickly falls apart but with preparation it could be a dazzling display or similar to a mirage in a desert.

We talked for some time eventually land back on consequences and scarring of magic but this time more on the culture side. Many mages like to be presentable and dignified, so they hide their scars with long sleeve clothing, gloves, hats, anything to cover themselves. Scars are seen as weakness or foolishness so some may even use illusions to hide their scars when wearing clothing that would expose their scars, but even Tenere has limits, unpractised or sustained use can take its toll. However in some circles the opposite is seen, scars are a show of strength and hardiness, they proudly display their scars as if to say 'look at what I survived and I'm not afraid to do so.' Enora admits she has a complicated relationship with her scars, they are a daily reminder of her foolish youth but also a valuable lesson on her strengths and abilities. She looked at her left hand pondering for a time before she returned to me, the curiosity must have still been visible as she promised she'd tell me more in time.

After Darnell's return I spent a lot of time with him and Enora, admittedly a fair amount unrelated to the study of arcane but it did tell me more about the pair and culture between mages. Darnell and Enora publicly began dating within the week of his return, spending their time studying and practicing with each other, Darnell helped Enora with finding ways to lessen the consequences of Frangere as she wished to do more but in a safe manner. Enora helped Darnell with his research into healing magic, ways to make it more beneficial and less prone to side effects, creating steps for cleaning wounds and setting bones before use of magic.

I was once again invited to the Arcane Orders' dinner party. Attending this time were familiar faces from the previous time but there was a new face to me, he stood off to the side by himself, his clothing was reminiscent of mage clothing, long sleeve, non-constricting, vibrant colours, well tailored, could be used for a formal event or in the field. The difference however was the clothing had padding, beard kept short, no gloves, a sword on his left hip and a foreign metallic looking object on his right. When I began my approach to introduce myself, I was quickly stopped by Darnell telling me that the figure is known as Red, and that he is a Spell Sword, someone trained in both might and magic, he is one of the few survivors from the first caldera expedition the catalyst for the Caldera Awakening. When I asked what he was doing here Darnell began his reply but neither of us had noticed we'd drawn Red's attention. Red answered for Darnell, he was the defacto leader of the Arcane Order before Tobarin, before the awakening, it was the first time he had returned to the order since the awakening two years ago. Red addressed the room, he was not there to return to the order only to seek information and transport, it wasn't until the mention of transport that whispers stirred. Tobarin was first to speak up and went into another room with Red. Whispers grew to discussion to unfound theories and grand tales.

The minutes passed, dinner was served and eaten, with no sign or word from Tobarin and Red. A few had retired to the lounge where I followed Darnell as Enora remained in the dining hall with a few others. As the drinks grew in number the books were put to the side when Myron asked Darnell what is going on between he and Enora, Darnell replied that she has met his parents, that they're not living together but have spent nights over at each other's. Myron and seemed to be unhappy with the answer vaguely asking if they've done it yet. In the moment I thought Myron had miss heard that Darnell said they have been sleeping together, to my surprise Myron replied that he knew that, he wanted to know about their spell books. At this point Darnell slowed the conversation down and explained that sharing one's spell book with another is deeply personal, showing their book to others is a show of trust but to allow another to write in their book is more defining to a relationship than sex, living together or marriage.

“To invite someone to write in your spell book is to say that you want them to not just be apart of your life but of every aspect of it.”

Myron coughed as to say 'You're deflecting, now answer', Darnell ignored this and continued to say that one's spell book where possible is always buried with its owner, and because of both the immense personal value and monetary value tombs of wizards are setup with traps and safeguards to protect their spell book. To steal or not bury the book is considered one of the worst things possible in the magic world. Myron coughed again, Darnell shook his head and relented, he told that a few nights ago they were working on a abjuration spell when Enora handed Darnell her spell book and asked for him to note down a sigil, he wasn't sure if she had realised she'd handed him her spell book, he asked if she was sure and she nodded. He cut the story there but said it was a very passionate night. He went on to say what he says is not suggesting anything, merely explaining more about spell books for my benefit. If two mages were to have a child it is tradition that the parents take parts of their spell books to create the start of the child's spell book. However if the parents aren't mages, creating or expanding your spell book is a personal journey of book making from scratch, from paper making to binding.