[Mental Magic Addition] Reaching and Projection

[Mephistophelian 972]

Another Lore submission from Yours Truly! Before I start, I must bring attention to the maker of the art I use. Cameron Gray. Amazing artist, check him out sometime. Other than that... Here we go:

Mental Magic: Reaching and Projection

 

There is no magic better at getting into someone's head than Mental Magic. This has been an undebated fact for many years, and it shall be for many years to come...Yet there are more facets to this magic than had previously been known. Indeed, there are many more that have yet to be uncovered.

Today, however, we focus on the two that have just been revealed. Deep in what appears to be a forgotten ruin, a library rests. As old libraries usually go, there lies many a book on its shelf, most of which appear as old as time itself...Except they have been disturbed after aeons of rest. A new spot has been pushed between the books, where a contrastingly, undoubtedly fresh book has been placed, titled 'Reaching and Projection - A study by Lorien Carcimor'. Should one of curious mind open the tome, reams of neat, slanted words would be seen. They read as follows:

 

"For many years I have practice the art of Mental Magic, and developed an equally plentiful library of techniques to use at my whim. It is not until recently, however, that I have re-taken this magic into my careful hands, and had the chance to study with it once more. It is with this recent even that, upon quite the happenstance, I discovered a technique that had previously been unknown to me. Through this chance discovery and much experimentation, another technique was gleaned. To put it quite simply; it was the mistake of a once powerful Mental Mage who had almost forgotten how to use his powers. I had reached out to find a mind without truly seeing it, and unknowingly found myself sensing for other minds within the vicinity.

I call this first technique 'Reaching'. Through its use, I was able to sense the minds of the many creatures and critters that delved in the space around me, and could even feel which ones were of greater mind, and which were lesser. Indeed, descendants stood out like beacons amongst the feeble flames of nature. Though I could not connect to more than one mind, as per usual, I was able to sense them around me. This alone was quite the spectacle, and I could think of many uses for such a skill. I did, however, find that my reach was very limited. Even the eye could see further than my mind could.

The second use was a subset of the first. I now realised that Mental Magic wasn't entirely bound to the physical sense of 'seeing', and locations could be made familiar to me if I studied them hard enough. After a level of studying that I have only ever had to do as a Tranfiguration user, I was able to envision the area of a location with certainty. I dare say it is a similar process to that of Transfiguration and Translocation put together. To break from the 'T' trend, I decided to name it 'Projection'. At first, it may not seem immediately obvious as to why...But it is clear when one considers the fact that, after having memorised a location to the maximum of their ability, a Mental Mage may sit down and project their conscious towards said location. It took a great deal of meditation, and the bringing forth of the location, but I was eventually able to project my consciousness to the spot. Unfortunately, the sense of elation was too great, and I lost my connection faster than I could blink. It shall be attempted once again, with a witness to relay what is seen and possible."

 

Overview

 

--==[Reaching]==--

 

Involving the expansion of one's conscious mind via Mental Magic, this circumnavigates a barrier that normally would have prevented Mental Mages from performing this. Simply, the Mage in question must connect to the void, then 'search' for any minds nearby. Descendant minds shall 'outshine' other minds, meaning critters such as mice shall fall into the background if a descendant is nearby. This process is not a passive action, and requires active thought and action to perform, as well as a pause for the Mental Mage to expand their mental reach. Reaching is by no means a fit replacement for vision, as it takes too much concentration, requires mana, and does not show anything without a mind (such as walls). Additionally, the radius of Reaching is extremely limited, only ever being able to expand over a radius of  ten to twelve meters. Even at that limit, the Reaching is not as effective as close range.

Red Lines of Reaching:

- You cannot simply pause and detect someone. It takes around three to five emotes to properly Reach out.

- Reaching is limited to 12m/blocks in radius.

- You must alert those near to you that you are Reaching out for them. Failure to do so means failure to perform the spell, and thus not detecting or sensing anything.

- If there are many descendants, the Reaching is ineffective, due to it causing a disturbance. All they shall detect are too many minds.
- If a descendant is nearby, detecting an animal is far more difficult.
- If the mental mage should wish to connect to a mind within the Reaching radius, they may. Then, the common rules to Mental Magic MUST apply (required sight of target, etc).

- This may not be used as a means for 'finding' people that are about to sneak up on you. Again; unless your mage has prepared to perform this, they cannot do it on will (Your mage won't do a 'routine scan' or some rubbish. Unless there are clues to hint that someone is nearby, I suggest against using Reaching).

- Though not ridiculously taxing, Reaching is not easier, either. It would be between the difficulty of cataleptic illusions and mind melding.

--==[Projection]==--

 

If Reaching was attempting to see well on a moonlit night, Projection is trying to navigate from A to B on a moonless one. Involving the carrying forth of a Mage's conscious from their current position to a location that they have taken the time to analyse. Just as with Transfiguration or Translocation, the Mental Mage must analyse the physical, magical and other aspects of the spot. They must then sit down and enter a meditative state. Just as one must view the mind of their target, they must view the 'landscape' of the area they wish to project themselves. Then, the Mental Mage does exactly that, and shifts their being towards this area. Beforehand, a large amount of meditation and preparation must be had, meaning this technique cannot be used quickly nor on random locations. Though there is no limit on how far the location can be, the location itself is very peculiar. It may not be one with many enchantments present in or around, as those affect the mana flow of the area, and thus stops the Projection from happening. It must also be on a fixed location (i.e. the spot does not move), else the Mage cannot physically locate it. Finally, it cannot be in a region that is predominantly living. In fact, the region must be less living than 'dead' (as life means changing mana and physical proportions). This results in the Mental Mage being incapable of making Projection areas in trees or some place without stable mana. Once Projected, the Mental Mage is able to Reach out and detect for minds. This allows for long distance communication or observation.

Red Lines of Projection:

- When Projecting, the mage MUST alert any people within the room/location of their projection that they are doing so, so as to avoid accusations of metagaming.
- Projection takes a very long time to set up and prepare. To perform the act itself, the mage must meditate for at least an hour. Any distractions that would break a normal connection would reset the Projection.

- To set up a Projection area, the amount of living matter and creatures in the room must not be plentiful, so as to avoid any irregularities. Simply put, you cannot make a Projection area in a tree or on the back of a giant, immobile turtle... You can, however, make it on a forest floor, or near trees.

- Only once the Projection area is set up can there be  lots of 'life' in it (or items of fluctuating mana), since the location has already been marked in the mind. If, however, there is a permanent, constant fluctuation of the norm, the location shall no longer be accessible. Basically, the location must not have people in it whilst it is being marked.
- Once Projected, the normal rules of Mental Magic apply, apart from the one where targets must be in physical vicinity.

- A Mental Mage may have a maximum of four Projection locations at one time. No more.

- Projections are essentially long-range Reaches in a smaller, defined area. As long as what is done confines to this comment, all is well.

- The size of the projection area is limited to the maximum size of Reaching.
 

After note:

That's about it, folks! I'm sure you will have many questions, so feel free to ask! As usual, constructive criticism and feedback is appreciated :D

[ShameJax 1391]

I support this piece of X-Men / Star Wars /  whatever Hugo thinks it is!

[Booklight12 477]

I support this lore greatly! The only issue is about a year or two ago me and kaun made lore similiar to this and brought it to an lm though were told it would most likely not be accepted due to it having a possibility of meta gaming. Though, I hope the stance has changed since then. 

[Mephistophelian 972]

1 minute ago, Booklight12 said:

I support this lore greatly! The only issue is about a year or two ago me and kaun made lore similiar to this and brought it to an lm though were told it would most likely not be accepted due to it having a possibility of meta gaming. Though, I hope the stance has changed since then. 

I understand the concerns, and had similar ones when thinking of this lore. I believe my fixes to it have addressed the metagaming issues. The fixes being:

None of these are immediate, and both require some form of preparation.

Both require other parties affected to be told about it. One cannot simply do it and get away with it, as metagaming often does.

One of them requires a very delicate concentration. IF someone knows of the Projection, they could easily break it.

[GDPR 014 23]

I thought this was already a thing! Plus one regardless.

[jamesb 218]

After reading over this lore, and asking Hugo a few questions(mainly because I have very little experience with Mental Magic), I can offer this lore my support. +1

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

+1. The first part I thought was already a thing (scanning I think). Just for clarification, I'm assuming the second goes along with how people can technically connect to minds wherever, but due to comprehension issues are limited to sight normally and since the caster has a complete understanding of the area, this would improve the mage's comprehension so that they would be able to locate it while performing the magic? Correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm rather curious.

[Mephistophelian 972]

4 minutes ago, The Pink Lion said:

+1. The first part I thought was already a thing (scanning I think). Just for clarification, I'm assuming the second goes along with how people can technically connect to minds wherever, but due to comprehension issues are limited to sight normally and since the caster has a complete understanding of the area, this would improve the mage's comprehension so that they would be able to locate it while performing the magic? Correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm rather curious.

 

Exactly. Since they have a complete understanding of the area, they can locate it via the void, and thus 'move' their conscious there.

[Runabarn 1026]

This piece of lore is very well written and I like the concept overall, but I have a glaring issue with it. The limitations to both these additions are so many and so big that it seems to me that making use of them would be pointless.

 

In reaching, the reach (hue) of the spell is so small and the time it takes to perform it so long that I simply cannot think of a situation where it'd make sense to actually use it.

 

With Projection, the limitations seem to effectively prevent the spell from working on pretty much 90% of Vailor. There are so many places where grass grows, cities and other locations of interests won't work because of how many people are there and let's be real, forests are everywhere. The entire wood elf island is basically a non-projection zone with these limitations. The only places that meet the conditions for the spell to work are pretty much barren deserts, wastelands or cold mountains. In other words, places where nothing ever happens and thus projecting to them would be useless.

 

Again, I like the idea behind this lore, but I fail to see how it'd be useful in roleplay due to the huge limitations and red lines.

[Mephistophelian 972]

4 hours ago, Whimsylicious said:

This piece of lore is very well written and I like the concept overall, but I have a glaring issue with it. The limitations to both these additions are so many and so big that it seems to me that making use of them would be pointless.

 

In reaching, the reach (hue) of the spell is so small and the time it takes to perform it so long that I simply cannot think of a situation where it'd make sense to actually use it.

 

With Projection, the limitations seem to effectively prevent the spell from working on pretty much 90% of Vailor. There are so many places where grass grows, cities and other locations of interests won't work because of how many people are there and let's be real, forests are everywhere. The entire wood elf island is basically a non-projection zone with these limitations. The only places that meet the conditions for the spell to work are pretty much barren deserts, wastelands or cold mountains. In other words, places where nothing ever happens and thus projecting to them would be useless.

 

Again, I like the idea behind this lore, but I fail to see how it'd be useful in roleplay due to the huge limitations and red lines.

It was a poor choice of wording from me. I basically meant that you cannot mark an area that is on a large amount of 'living'. Sooo a treehouse would be a poor idea. A forest floor would be doable, though. As for the Reaching spell radius; it is kinda small, yeah... What would you suggest as a better radius? 

[Runabarn 1026]

As it stands, the current radius for reaching is about 6 blocks. I think around twice that amount would be reasonable, enough to sense someone approaching your front door from the living room.

[Mephistophelian 972]

30 minutes ago, Whimsylicious said:

As it stands, the current radius for reaching is about 6 blocks. I think around twice that amount would be reasonable, enough to sense someone approaching your front door from the living room.

 

Fair enough. I made it 10-12 meters/blocks :)

[Delmodan 852]

This lore is very well done yet I do agree that the radius of Reaching is small. Given the OOC rules you set in place for it already, I can see radius able to be  expanded some.   

[Mephistophelian 972]

9 hours ago, Delmodan said:

This lore is very well done yet I do agree that the radius of Reaching is small. Given the OOC rules you set in place for it already, I can see radius able to be  expanded some.   

Do you believe the edited radius of 12 m is still small?