PtahWithin

((Correct!))

((One way to find out))

((Replace the weird slanted f with the normal f and you're good.))

((Someone posted a 'solution' recently in a status. That is not the translation.))

Oh come on, do it by hand...

((Cryptographers, get to work!))

Well if you are writing lore about the Forest Dwarves I suggest you contact a few first like Saviordude.

What of Forest Dwarves like Saviticus?

Not quite true.

I am your first convert.

Thank you very much for your response. In light of the objections I have decided to remove that bit entirely until further notice.

It is designed to have one specific use: for scholarly and scientific and engineer characters. And again, Sagwort told me that you could not cast an illusion on yourself, so I am not certain that an Illusionist could do what I have presented here.

Yes: thought this is a subset of Illusionary magic, it has its own unique properties. But most of it is simply the added intellectual help of visualization.

Thank you, I shall take that into full consideration as to how to fix that, or whether to remove it entirely.

Sagwort gave me my information regarding how an Illusionist would use illusions on himself. I agree with your reasoning, but it seems that is not the case.

Thank you. I was told that a standard Illusionist could not use Illusions on himself for the reasons I explained above: how do you trick yourself into believing something while knowing it is false and powering the illusion? A Cognat would use The Spectator Mind to do this, something other Illusionists do not have.

[Cognitism] Cognitism is the magic of affecting the perceptions of the self to increase intellectual and imaginative power, making it a subtype of Arcane Illusionism. 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. 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. 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 MAT or LT members, and should they be in the same category as the last an Administrator must approve it, and possibly the Lore Team and/or Event Team must as well. 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] ((To be added, I would like some assistance with this.))