Cognatism

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[Cognitism]

Cognitism is the magic of affecting the perceptions of the self to increase intellectual and imaginative power, making it a subtype of Arcane Illusion. The Cognat specializes on using illusionary spells solely to assist in mental ability either by creating helpful intellectual illusions or directly affecting his mind itself.

But due to the nature of Illusion magic, if you want to cast an illusion on yourself you must find a way to trick yourself into believing something is there - while maintaining a part of your mind which realizes that it is false and is powering the illusion. This dissonance in the perceptions can indeed be achieved. Through intense meditation and practice a Cognat can create The Spectator Mind, a mental construct which the Cognat can immerse himself in and perceive his illusions. After initialization it keeps little concentration to maintain The Spectator Mind, but should the Cognat see something very disturbing, frightening or confusing, The Spectator Mind will be temporarily disabled, depending on the skill of the Cognat and the intensity of the disturbing stimuli. A state of silence and free-flowing of thought must be made through meditation before the Cognat can re-initialize it. In addition, The Spectator Mind can be dissipated by a learned Illusionist, or worse even tampered with by Master Illusionists to create a perception feedback loop and effectively killing the Cognat.

 

Though The Spectator Mind can be disabled, a part of the process of establishing it for the first time involves a permanent change to the thinking of the Cognat. In order to maintain The Spectator Mind, one's thoughts must be permanently split in two. Though this is an abstract concept, and one that proves difficult to comprehend given the difficulty in defining how thoughts work, the easiest way to describe it is that two things can be thought of at once, though this is largely unhelpful and still not a clear definition. For new Cognats, this "splitting" of the mind can lead to disjointed thoughts and a difficulty in focusing. Over time, a Cognat will grow more versed in managing this change, able to navigate these two minds more or less normally when The Spectator Mind is not active. This is also why mental magic is largely ineffective against Cognats, and why Cognats cannot learn mental magic.

The magical abilities of any Cognat are also determined by the natural intelligence of the user. Being a Cognat in no way benefits the user in combat situations: indeed, during combat the Cognat may be less effective as he tries to maintain the concentration required to keep The Spectator Mind enabled all the while dodging thrusts of swords. Being a Cognat gives you none of the standard Illusionist abilities: it is a very specific form of the magic that can only be used to affect the self.


[Magical Capabilities]
The ways through which a Cognat can improve his intellectual and imaginative abilities are numerous:

 

• Creating helpful visual aids seen to the eyes, such as a ruler that can be used to measure an object.
• Composing a full and complete three-dimensional model of an object within the mind's eye.
• Creating illusions around an object which lists the various properties and data that the Cognat has available to him pertaining to the object.
• Maintaining "notes" on individuals or objects which can be brought forth to assist with one's memory.
• The creation of scents, sounds, feelings or any other sensory experience. Though largely used for intellectuals purposes, this servers as "self-illusion."
  
• Using the mind's eye to visualize mathematical operations and hence complete them much faster than someone working with pen and paper.
• Directly converting short-term memories into long-term ones, and enhancing the capacity of both.

 

Lastly, Master Cognats can enter a state of hyper-thought after considerable meditation and concentration.

In the state of hyper-thought, the Cognat brings his actual mind 'closer' to The Spectator Mind while accelerating the speed of thought in both minds. The Cognat will bring them closer and closer to each other - then immediately separate them and carry both minds down through a long series of logical considerations about data the Cognat has before decided on in order to stabilize them both. Upon completion, several states are possible. The Cognat could be carried through a series of random and chaotic thoughts with no clear revealing pattern, and is forced to disable The Spectator Mind in order to stop the stream of random data. The Cognat could also have made an error in the process, such as allowing the two minds to make contact, causing a perception feedback loop and frying the Cognat's brain.

But there is also a slim possibility that the Cognat would succeed, and from the data he fed into both minds to stabilize them produce a Revelation.

A Revelation can be any sort of realization: realizing that the Cognat can save money by buying food in a different city; an imaginative solution to an engineering problem; or something even as great as delving into the patterns of the world to predict when and where some catastrophe will happen. ((Revelations must be pre-approved by LT members, and should they be in the same category as the last an Administrator must approve it, and possibly the Event Team if it pertains to one of their events. The last possibility is included so that a Cognat can have the potential to be used as a plot device in an event, either predicting when some dire disaster will occur or finding a solution to some currently occurring cataclysm.))

 

[Resistance to Mental Magic]

The mind of a cognate is a rather unique thing. Torn asunder so one might make use of the Spectator Mind, a cognate’s thoughts are scattered and unclear, brought together by one’s own practiced cooperation between the two. Though a practitioner of cognatism may seem calm, collected and generally well put together, this is not an accurate depiction of what goes on within their minds, as thoughts are spread between the two minds.

 

The disorganization of their thoughts and minds inevitably has some effect on their behavior, yet the root source of this is their minds. This truly becomes a greater problem when others endeavor to view what lies within through the process of mental magic, or other means. To try and do so is to try and step through two doors at once, a process which even the most capable of mental mages would struggle with greatly. Those most capable in the art would barely be able to discern the most base of logical thought, receiving scattered flashes of images or words, if even that. Those less skilled would have a harder time, and find nothing at all.

 

Just as one mind cannot enter two, a cognate cannot get two minds to enter one. Mental magic is the extreme requiring precision of the mind, whereas cognitism creates a disorderly one. This is not to suggest that this magic makes one incapable of focus, but specifically creates difficulty when one seeks to explore another's mind with their own, as coordinating the regular and Spectator Minds is already a lofty feat which cannot be balanced with the attempt to also enter the mind of another. Unlike most void magics, these two are incompatible, and one cannot learn both.

[Stages of Learning]
Before one can begin learning this peculiar magic, the "splitting" of the mind in two must commence. Though many of the first Cognats actually had this occur by mistake, other Cognats have learned how to do this at will, and thus managed to show others how. Different mental exercises can be used to achieve this end, yet it is the initial step necessary in becoming a Cognat (this is a place where teachers can show creativity, and "split" the minds in whatever method they wish).

 

Once this occurs, the next step is learning how to establish The Spectator Mind. Because the mind is already split, this task is already half-done. For a Cognat to create The Spectator Mind, he or she must connect to the void with one portion of their mind, whilst utilizing the other one as usual. This is what allows one portion of the mind to cast illusions upon the other, thus leading to the culmination of Cognitism. Of course, this first requires a knowledge on connecting to the void.

 

Once The Spectator Mind has been established, the students primary remaining task is simply learning the basics of illusion, albeit only to be cast upon oneself. These are typically almost exclusively visual, though a Cognat is capable of learning the illusioning of all senses to be cast upon themselves. What is taught here is largely up to the teacher's discretion, and due to some of the benefits of The Spectator Mind and its effects on one's thinking, Cognats are often able to experiment and learn on their own in this regard.

 

The last thing a Cognat would likely be taught is how to perform a Revelation. Only the most practiced of Cognats can perform Revelations, done in the process described above. Not only must one be a skilled Cognat to learn how to perform such an action, but also be versed in the types of topics that can be resolved via Revelations, and familiar with the nature of their mind. The longer one has lived with "split" minds, the more familiar they are with their altered thinking, and the more capable they are of achieving a Revelation.

 

 

Credit to Ptah for writing the initial lore (and thus most of this), and having the initial concept.

[Lhindir_ 3436]

+1 

[ℤ∃ʁ∅ 823]

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[Demotheus 649]

I never understood why seeing your own illusions requires an entire subtype to achieve. It's fantasy. Magic shouldn't be so damn scientific lol.

[Nekkore 641]

42 minutes ago, Demotheus said:

I never understood why seeing your own illusions requires an entire subtype to achieve. It's fantasy. Magic shouldn't be so damn scientific lol.

 

"Magic is just science we don't understand yet." - Arthur C. Clarke