Sagwort

Character Analysis & Writing Compelling Dialogue Forward This guide is being written as a more refined version of a roleplay guide I wrote several years ago which was sheer chaos and entirely too long (I’m not even going to link it). This distills the concepts in that guide with a few additions. Ideally, this guide is used to improve upon current characters and understand their psyche so roleplay becomes more deliberate and rich. That being said, this is best suited for experienced roleplayers who are familiar with their characters and comfortable writing. Note that not all of these ideas are necessarily mine. Many of them are altered writing concepts that I found on various writing blogs and guides. Granted, I’ve always had the belief that roleplay is much like collaborative, real time writing with story that unfold before those involved. Of course, those involved still need to put in the effort to unfold a decent story. Since we, as players, can only interact with this story via singular characters, it would seem most appropriate to start there. Character Analysis Mayhaps the most provocative aspect of roleplay is the creation of characters. Personas upon which we as players can project our fantasies and fears. However, I find that many character creation guides only explore surface level concepts such as ineffectual physical traits and humdrum quirks. No one cares what your character has in their left pocket or that they hate the taste of nuts. The only “traits” you should be concerned about are those which reveal something about your character’s inner psyche. An excellent motto to develop characters by is: “Everything should communicate something.” That might seem quite Freudian, but for the purposes of developing compelling and unforgettable characters, it is crucial. Now, in my last guide I talked about six pillars of character which were: secrets, fears, desires, quirks, flaws, and strengths. While useful, they tend to be too situational in their application. The goal of this new system is understand one’s character so thoroughly that they can react to any situation believably and consistently whilst in character. Too often people revert to their own reactions when facing roleplay circumstances opposed to how the character they are attempting to cultivate would react. Lose yourself in your character, don’t lose your character in yourself. Of course, to even attempt this one must understand their character on a level far deeper than simple personality traits. Lose the concepts of strengths and weaknesses. While useful starting points, they will forever leave your character feeling one-dimensional and unbelievable. People are more than a list of traits, afterall. Below are the five dimensions of character which explain the psyche and persona of one’s character. Presence Your character’s presence is how they present themselves to the exterior world. It includes three major concepts: energy, attention, and movement. Note; however, that none of these should be superficial. Remember, everything should communicate something. What does your character’s default posture reveal about them? What about their walk? Their eyes? If your character walked into a job interview, what would one’s first impression be? The presence should be an outward manifestation of their personality. Below are a few questions to get you started on understanding your character’s presence. Avoid recreating cliches or character tropes which often arise from questionnaires such as these. Think about your character as an individual and how their experiences have uniquely shaped them. Furthermore, these questions should be answered as though you were someone else describing your character’s presence. What mannerisms does your character have? How does your character move? Does your character seem present or detached? Is your character lively or still? Is your character expressive or stoic? Is your character forward or reserved? Is your character tense or relaxed? Is your character confident or reluctant? Is your character sensitive or resilient? How intense is your character’s stare and how much eye contact do they make? What is your character’s habitual posture? Do your character’s movements seem cultivated or natural? Interaction It is said that our relationships define us. This is quite true in our case. How your character interacts and communicates with others should reveal something about their psyche. One should ask themselves how quickly their character opens up to others. Are they naturally suspicious or perhaps a bit too trusting? Motivation Motivation is what prompts your character to react. It explains the catalyst behind reactions and emotions. So far as we are concerned, the only motivation is fear. Or, more specifically, insecurity. For our characters, every motivation is prompted first by a fear. The desire to travel comes from a fear of mundanity. A desire to find love comes from a fear of loneliness. One seeks a profession because they fear a meaningless life. So, when looking for a motivation start with fear. What does your character fear on a subconscious level? Motivations can be used to dictate a character’s presence and interactions. One should ask why their character behaves the way they do. Mayhaps they have intense eye contact because they crave fulfilling relationships. Maybe they walk fast because they fear wasting time. Method A character’s method is the approach they take to solving problems, or more broadly, their motivations. Indirectly, it should reveal how your character thinks. When faced with adversity do they prefer a familiar procedure or do they prefer to experiment? Do they face their dilemmas alone or actively seek help? Are they methodical or do they rely on intuition? Are they proactive or do they run from their fears? Method is directly tied to motivation in that it explains how your character intends to achieve their goals or how they react to their fears. Underpinning When all personas and agendas are stripped away the underpinning of one’s character is left. It is the seat of their personality, the subconscious core of their existence. This dimension is difficult to explain due to its inherently abstract connotations. The most efficient way to find a character’s underpinning is to explore their backstory, early childhood would be most effective. Based upon these foundational memories one can then determine how they might affect their character’s development. Remember that one’s underpinning is subconscious. While the creator should be aware of it, the character should not. However, their underpinning should still leak through their methods, motivations, interactions and presence. Here I have laid out a rough procedure one can take when analyzing their character: Developing Compelling Dialogue While a proper character analysis is all well and good, poor utilization of the analysis makes the process useless. We have discussed how physical interactions can reveal a great deal about a character’s psyche. However, particularly in LotC, dialogue is the most used form of communication. With dialogue we continue to live by the motto “everything should communicate something.” Most writing advice pertaining to dialogue typically advises using plot to advance the plot, raise stakes, etc… Unfortunately, this only works when the author has a direction they are heading. The intriguing aspect of roleplay is that we do not always have a direction. However, this often leads to mindless, meandering conversations that quickly become boring. This becomes such an issue that most people don’t even want to start a conversation unless they have an obvious reason to. Truly excellent dialogue should not only be interesting to partake in, but also observe. A bystander should be fascinated by your conversations and draw them in. This does not mean fabricating elaborate stories or speaking in melodramatic ways. If we allow every aspect of our dialogue to communicate something beyond the words being uttered, we produce captivating dialogue. In summary, the secret ingredient is subtext. Reveal Character This sort of dialogue ties directly to what we discussed in the character analysis section. Note that dialogue should not just reveal character. It should be subtle subtext to your dialogue which would otherwise be a mundane conversation or a high stakes argument. Much like a character’s presence, a character’s dialogue can expose their inner psyche through word choice, pacing, tone, and of course, presence. Examples of what dialogue can reveal are as follows: Show what your character is thinking. Show how your character thinks. Suggest conversational styles and skills. Reveal relationship dynamics. Hint at backstory. Suggest worldview, perspective and morals. Imply emotion and attitude. Divulge goals, passions and dreams. Again, subtlety is key. Avoid simply stating any of the above points. The age old writer’s advice of “show don’t tell” applies here. Furthermore, don’t use emotive words as a crutch either. It is often said that a writer should never need to use any other word besides said following speech. As in, he said, she said, they said, etc… This is because using such things as, he chided, or he said sarcastically simply tells the reader how the character sounds opposed to showing it through tone and subtext. If you do use emotes, show tone through body movement and facial expressions (i.e. presence) Here is a bad example: Opposed to: Which one is more compelling? I would say the second one. We did not change a single thing about the dialogue but communicated a great deal by showing nervousness and insecurity opposed to simply stating he was nervous. We have also revealed deeper aspects of the character’s presence, interactions, and even motivations. He fidgets when nervous, a form of presence. He is also clearly uncomfortable sharing his feelings, suggesting he is probably insecure about such things, likely due to a fear of rejection. That one line of dialogue has revealed a boat load of information without stating a single thing. Here is an example more focused on the speech itself: Opposed to: The first example is a classic infodump. Stating information as though it were in a list with no subtext. The second one proves to be more subtle, however. For instance, the use of the word mother opposed to mom suggests their relationship was professional, at best. Furthermore, the fact that he pauses before describing her suggests a certain amount of uneasiness on the topic. This person does not think about his mother often since he is forced to almost recall her by looking off into distance. It dusty memory was just shaken out of him. Furthermore, he says “I never liked her”. This suggests that others had different opinions. Now both of these bits of dialogue reveal the same amount of information. However, one does it through infodumping and one does it through subtext. If I were listening into this conversation I would find the second example twice and interesting as the first. How will the other person react? How will this conversation continue? Pace Control When writing dialogue we must also consider the entire interaction opposed to a few lines of text. Real conversations are not he said, and then he said, and then he said, and then he said. No, there are pauses, awkward silences, moments for information to sink in, etc… An endless rambling of dialogue becomes boring quickly. To avoid this we can inject pacing into the conversation. Pacing is momentum. It should be perpetually fluctuating, speeding up and slowing down like a compelling story. This momentum can be monitored by injecting emotional cues via emotes or slightly longer strings of speech. For example: This is a bit of an exaggerated example, but you can see a variation in pacing and momentum. There are a few lines of quick back-and-forth followed by a few longer lines which slows the conversation down considerably. Even more, these few lines of text tell us about the characters themselves as well as the sort of relationship they have. The boy is clearly quite reserved and finds it difficult to portray whatever emotion he is experiencing here. The girl; however, is more forward, if a bit crass. Yet, she seems endearing and cares for the boy. The last few lines suggest that this kind of interaction is common between them. There is also something else here, even more subtle yet adds considerably to the interaction. That is… microtension. Microtension Perhaps the most difficult aspect of dialogue is microtension, a subtle dissonance between two characters when they interact. In a single conversation this tension can increase or decrease depending on the subtext and pacing of the dialogue. For instance, in the last example the dialogue begins with fairly little tension. It comes across as a mundane interaction. However, within three lines the interaction becomes considerably more tense. There is dissonance there, emotional conflict between what the girl wants and what the boy wants. The boy is reserved, probably wants to be left alone whereas the girl wants him to open up, she wants to help him. Conversations don’t need to be weighty and melodramatic to achieve this tension, however. Something as simple as asking for a glass of water can have tension. Through tone, emotes and word choice, the asker can reveal what they think about the askee. Do they look down on them? Do they consider them an equal? A superior? Is there tension between a past interaction which may be strained their relationship? Have they recently healed their relationship and are still nervous about setting the other person off? Remember, subtext, subtext, subtext. Do not expect to become a dialogue guru overnight. This sort of thing takes practice and a deep understanding of your character. You shouldn’t need to write a book report on every line of dialogue you write. You should know your character so thoroughly that these lines of subtext and microtension flow from your character instinctively.

Alright, I took a screenshots of each section and organized them into spoilers for easy reading.

It's done, unfortunately, due to formatting issues many of the diagrams and all of the equations could not be brought in. If you are concerned about us "altering" the lore... the most relevant information is within the text itself and won't be changed.

This lore has no direct impact on day to day roleplay. Really, it was made for people who wish to study astronomy in-game. Oocly, I suppose it might, down the line, provide guidance for people who want to add more lore pertaining to the cosmology of lotc whether that be deific or magic or whatever. Or, allow the event team to make more consistent astronomical events such as eclipses (which is another topic entirely, our system does not allow for eclipses even though one has occurred in-game before leading us to conclude that eclipses must be supernatural in nature) or something similar to that. Put simply, it adds depth to our world but is really only relevant to people who are rply interested in astronomy. As stated in the post, we presented it as an rp thesis because we wanted it to be accessible for everyone rply. We also provided only information one would be able to conclude by viewing these astral phenomena from the surface of the physical plane. So in that sense, this is all able to be learned through in-character means. Whether that be through observation or by reading this as though you found it in a library. Edit: areas of more... "lore" interest that we might go into more detail later, or someone else can, include the exact nature of these celestial bodies, what they like, etc... I have heard people say that they are the realms of Aenguls and Daemons which is of some major debate since theese realms are supposed to be immaterial. We purposefully did not go into much detail on that topic for that reason. I suppose they might be simple projections of the actual realms from the point of view of the physical plane, or maybe they're all gaseous, or maybe they're portals to the realm only accessible to the Aenguls and Daemons, idk but a lot of potential.

Yeah, Swgrclan mentioned this in the early stages of the lore. However, we wanted all of the information within the lore to be things we could observe from the physical plane... we were not sure how we could conclude that the moon was limbo just by staring at it and math. That being said, our observation that there is a physically dark and light side of the moon may shed some light on that, should this lore be accepted.

In the lore we state that the seasons are caused by the physical plane passing closer to the primary celestial bodies. So, as the physical plane's orbit comes closer to the celestial bodies of Medeis, Lychnus, and Securis the seasons are summer. As the physical plane passes near Virgam the season changes to fall. As the physical plane passes near Hiem and Ceryx the it becomes winter, and as the physical plane passes near Alvus it becomes spring. We initially ran into some problems changing the season because the orbit of the physical plane is uniform and there is no "axis" like there is for irl earth so seasons are not caused by the sun in our lore but by the primary celestial bodies. Also, I'd like to point out that our "names" for the planets need not be canon since we came up with them in rp. Thanks for the support.

On the Heavens By Dr. Ambros & Dr. Lorolith Iira, a thesis from the Imperial Phrontistery 12th of Malin’s Welcome, 1623 Preamble Herein is the cumulative empirical observations of the Imperial Phrontistery concerning the movement and cosmology of the heavens. For many a century has the scholarly pursuits of the realm neglected, or perhaps avoided, the nature of the skies, at least in any substantial amount. By the nature of scholarly inquiry, all conclusions which can be read below are falsifiable and disputable should more inclusive theories arise from different or similar observations. Beyond mundane observation, cultural inspiration has been drawn from older and more mythological sources which will be described aptly. [[HUGE special thanks to Swgrclan for general lore input. Lorolith did all of the math, thanks to him we have proofs!]] READ THIS [[Take note that this is a rather dense piece of literature and was more so written for the furthering of astronomy roleplay and astronomy research type roleplay. It is not necessary for the wellbeing of the server, and will not change anything about how the world or the realm currently works. Consider this document more of an elaboration on what is already known about the world through canonical lore as well as making conclusions based upon what we already know, and using it as proof.]] [[Yes, there is a lot of math, but that is what astronomy is, mostly math. We could have certainly posted this as just a basic roleplay post but we wanted to get it canonized so that more astronomy type roleplay and research could be built off of it since “astronomer” seems to be a fairly neglected job title in the world of LotC. This lore can be read without taking too much consideration of the math, though it is interesting. The math is mostly, again, elaboration for the sake of astronomer roleplay. A very short summary is included in the ‘final structure of the cosmos’ section.]] [[We are presenting this as a roleplay post so that it can be referenced and known in-game since, again, we are making primarily for in-game academic roleplay.]] Concerning the Structure of the Physical Plane Concerning the Sun and the Movement of the Physical Plane Concerning the Moon and its Movement Concerning the Stars and Their Movement Concerning the Primary Celestial Bodies, Their Influence on the Physical Plane, and the Seven Houses Concerning the Lesser Celestial Bodies and Their Movement Final Structure of the Movement [[For the full experience, we suggest you listen to this and read the document as fast as you possibly can.]] [[If you don’t fancy reading or math we have provided a convenient bullet pointed form of the lore to get the main idea across oocly. For more indepth “proofs” of each section read the actual section provided within.]]

Arithmancy The Poetry of Number Lore by Sagwort Credit to Toxzero & Phil for commentary “Mathematics are most necessary in magic, for everything which is done through natural virtue is governed by number, weight, and measure. By mathematics one can produce without any natural virtue, operations which seem natural, statues and figures which move and speak. Pythagoras said that numbers have more reality than natural things, hence the superiority of mathematical magic to natural magic.” -Cornelius Agrippa STOP, READ THIS Forward Arithmancy, the distilled beauty of man’s knowledge of reality. Like the poet composes inspiring verses and prose within the age old rules of rhythm and linguistics, so too does the arithmancer bend the will of nature utilizing the very fabric of its being, that is, the wonders of ratios, numbers, and their relation. While the voidal magi might spend their days observing and recording natural phenomenon in hopes of reproducing it through their nixian magic, the arithmancers busy themselves within some fetid study pouring over charts and equations, distilling the abstract essence of these same natural phenomenon through language and number. In this way, arithmancy is inherently “rational” in its execution while normal voidal magics are empirical. While arithmancy is not technically a distinct magical discipline within its own right, it is a form of magical study, a curiosity for magi and scholars alike. However, arithmancy’s focus on mathematics, pattern identification and symbology links it more closely to alchemy and glyph enchanting than the traditional voidal magic. Concept art from FFXIV arcanist class, which is where this magic was inspired Arithmancy, as a field of study, is a composition of three distinct skill sets which are: gematria, metrica, and formulae writing. Together, these makes up the breadth of arithmancy, all of them required to effectively practice this abstruse magic. The Governing Laws The entirety of arithmancy is built upon two laws: the law of names, and the law of abstract reality. They are described herein. Law of Names The law of names suggests that since all magi have a connection to the void through thought, so too does language, as language is but a translation of thought. Just as the magi might use their own mind to weave spells of the void, language may be utilized by arithmancers in a similar fashion. Of course, being a translation, much of the original thought loses its potency upon utterance so the magi must use arithmancy to strengthen this power of language. Law of Abstract Reality The law of abstract reality states that reality, finding origin in the void, is nothing more than organized and materialized chaos that is the void. This is, to mortal minds, represented through relation, number, measure, space, etc… Giving order to discord. These two laws are used in tandem by the arithmancers. Words have power, and mathematics is the ordering of voidal chaos, thus, by ascribing mathematics to language one is able to bolster these inherent laws of reality and manipulate it to some degree. This is the discipline of arithmancy, manipulating language and mathematics to alter and reorder. These methods are described through Gematria, the assigning of value to words and Metrica, the study of ratio and numerical relations and their meaning to language. Gematria While more commonly known as numerology, Gematria is one of the three primary disciplines of arithmancy and is the study of assigning linguistic meaning and symbolism to numbers. Study of gematria provides arithmancers with foundational knowledge in performing their magic. The Mather’s Table Perhaps the most widely utilized tool of the artihmancer is the Mather’s Table which is is the table of single digit numbers and the letters which they represent. Using this table words or entire phrases may be assigned numeric value. For instance, the letters used in the word fire are 6, 9, 9, and 5. These values can be added together to produce 29. 2 and 9 can then be added together to produce 11. 1 and 1 can be added together to produce 2. This single digit value is the vibrational value of the word fire. This value reveals a certain hidden nature of the word which is what defines the practice of numerology or gematria. There is a more “disputed” practice among arithmancers to attempt to predict future events utilizing this technique and the names of people or certain dates. For instance, the name Billy Bob has the values 2 + 9 + 3 + 3 + 7 + 2 + 6 + 2 = 34. 3 + 4 = 7. Thus, the vibrational value of Billy Bob is 7. Or, the date 2/13/1619 is added to produce 2 + 1 + 3 +1 + 6 + 1 + 9 = 23, 2 + 3 = 5. The vibrational value of the 13th of the Amber Cold, 1619 is 5. These vibrational values can, theoretically, be used to provide insight into a particular person, family, or date. Granted, whether or not vibrational values can be used in divination is up for debate. Metrica Metrica, or arcane geometry, is the fine science of ratios and proportions. While a great deal of useful magic can be produced using basic gematria, by applying metrica more complex and specific magic formulae can be produced, which will be elaborated on later. One of the most integral concepts in metrica is the prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, etc... A visualization of prime numbers While any word can be summed to produce any number, in order to have any amount of significant power the word must initially sum to produce a prime number. For instance, fire is 6 + 9 + 9 + 5 = 29. This is a prime number and, thus, the word fire has strong voidal ties. We shall call these prime number words, words of power, in that, prime numbers are only divisible by themselves and the number one which makes them the “fundamental values” of arithmancy. Notice that when summing words, only use vibrational values, that is, never sum values with more than one digit. When producing magical formulae only words of power may be used. This makes producing magical formulae exceedingly tedious and the need to construct lexicons of words of power to easily be pulled from is useful. In this way, spells are not created but discovered. Another fundamental property in metrica is the vibrational sequences or a sequence of numbers which all sum to the same vibrational value. Any number within a vibrational sequence can also represent its vibrational value in a magic square. This allows arithmancer to utilize larger and larger squares for more powerful formulae. This will be explained next. A Brief Lexicon of Words of Power Activating Words These words of power are used in formulae to determine “how” the magic takes place. Summon - 23 Induce - 29 Disperse - 41 Hurl - 23 Ward - 29 Ignite - 37 Energy Descriptor Words These words of power are used in formulae to determine “what” magic takes place. Fire - 29 Aqua - 13 Ice - 17 Wind - 23 Stone - 19 Sand - 11 Burn - 19 Light - 29 Bugs - 13 Avoirdupois - 59 Addle - 17 Weariness - 41 Force - 29 Aegis - 23 Modifier Words These words are used to modify descriptor words. Evocation - 41 Illusory - 41 Orb - 17 Aegis - 23 Shard - 23 Magic Squares The magic square is founded on basic arithmetic concepts where the numbers in any direction on the square add up to the same number. More complex square are considered to produce more powerful formulae. There exists five practiced magical squares, though there is theoretically infinite. The value each row adds up to is known as the magic constant. Generally speaking, the larger the square the more powerful the spell. For this reason, arithmancers use vibrational sequences so they can represent vibrational values as larger numbers and, thus, use larger squares. Essentially each square is a “tier” in magic totalling in five, the progression of use of quite similar to normal magic tier progression, except less subjective. Tier 1 Magic Square All numbers add up to 45, each row adds up to 15 Tier 2 Magic Square All numbers add up to 136, each row adds up to 34 Tier 3 Magic Square All numbers add up to 325, each row adds up to 65 Tier 4 Magic Square All numbers add up to 666, each row adds up to 111 Tier 5 Magic Square All numbers add up to 1225, each row adds up to 175 Magical Formulae Creating magical formulae is the cornerstone technique in practical arithmancy which utilizes all the above techniques. The process can be broken into 4 steps: An arithmancer produces a magical formulae 1. Describing intent At this point, the arithmancer must decide what they want their formulae to depict and produce. For example, we wish to produce a magic formula that will protect against fire evocation. Thus, the arithmancer must determine the most efficient way to produce such instruction clearly and without any potential misinterpretation, exact language is crucial. Remember, only words of power can be used when describing intent. For instance, to produce a magical formula to ward against fire evocations one would use the words of power ward fire evocation. 2. Reducing intent to numeric cipher Once the intent has been clearly described it must then be reduced into its numeric cipher. Note that one should refer to individual letters and their respective vibrational values when reducing. If one were to use the vibrational values or one of the sums of a word in the phrase and then drew the formula, it would be impossible to interpret. First, all vowels are removed from the intent: WRD FR VCTN This becomes the numerical cipher 5-9-4 6-9 4-3-2-5 Stumped by a particularly difficult formula 3. Select magic square Now, the arithmancer must select a magic square to produce the formula upon. The larger the numbers used in the formula the more powerful the formula. Thus, advanced arithmancers use vibrational sequences to increase the values in their formula which then requires the use of larger squares. Notice that words cannot start and/or end on a number which is repeated anywhere else in the cipher. Assuming our arithmancer has full knowledge of all magical squares, he will maximise their spell power by first changing all numbers to their largest possible form. 41-45-49 42-45 49-48-47-41 Then, he will change any repeated numbers at the start or end of words to a lower value within its respective vibrational sequence. 41-45-49 42-36 40-48-47-32 This is the most powerful form of the given magic cipher. 4. Drawing the formula The most intriguing part of magical formulae is the actual drawing of them upon the magic square. Each word is drawn individually, each number connected by a straight line. Each word starts with an open circle (o) and ends with a short perpendicular line (⟂) or arrow. Note that in order for a number to be considered part of the word it must have a point, circle, or sharp curve. A straight line passing through a number does not include the number it passes through. If the line does happen to move straight through a number but that number should be included in the word, it is marked with a bump in the line over the appropriate number. To indicate two of the same number in a row the line is made with with two bumps in it. All good arithmancers carry a compass to measure angles for their formulae If the end of a line and the start of another line are on the same number, a triangle is placed there. Thus, the words ward, fire and evocation respectively using the above cipher is: When layered atop each other they produce the full formula. Example Formulae Induce Weariness | NDC WRNSS | 5-4-3 5-9-5-1-1 | 41-49-48 32-45-23-46-37 Would produce an illusory fatigue to the wearer Ward Fire Evocation | WRD FR VCTN | 5-9-4 6-9 4-3-2-5 Protects wearer/object against fire evocation Ward Aqua/Ice Evocation | WRD Q/C VCTN | 5-9-4 8/3 4-3-2-5 Protects wearer/object against water/ice evocation Ward Stone Evocation | WRD STN VCTN | 5-9-4 1-2-5 4-3-2-5 Protects wearer/object against earth evocation Ward Wind Evocation | WRD WND VCTN | 5-9-4 5-5-4 4-3-2-5 Protects wearer/object against air evocation Induce Burn | NDC BURN | 5-4-3 2-3-9-5 Causes wearer to feel burning sensation, or any who touch object feel burning sensation Ignite | GNT | 7-5-2 Formulae ignites spontaneously Induce Avoirdupois | NDC VRDPS | 5-4-3 4-9-4-7-1 Causes object to feel heavier Summon Light | SMMN LGHT | 1-4-4-5 3-8-7-2 | 46-49-49-41 48-44-43-47 Causes object to glow Summon Aegis Orb | SMMN GS RB | 1-4-4-5 7-1 9-2 Summons a spherical arcanic shield around wearer Summon Aegis Barricade | SMMN GS BRRCD | 1-4-4-5 7-1 2-9-9-3-4 Summons an arcanic shield wall before the wearer On Roleplaying an Arithmancer Arithmancy is, of course, not for everyone and, I believe, would require a very distinct sort of playstyle that goes beyond spell slinging. One might be turned off by the amount of independent work required to perform arithmancy. In fact, the very act of being an arithmancer forces the player to produce a character willing to live a quiet scholarly life pouring of charts, formulas, magic squares, tables, etc… Women can be arithmancers too! One visual goal of the arithmancer image was to produce a magi that, may not, be entirely grounded in reality or even practicality even though an arithmancer might consider themselves above a far more practical and… even “powerful” voidal magi due to arithmancy’s “logical purity”. It is a magic for high society scholars, professors, and academics. Imagine walking around, always with a hefty tome at your character’s side containing all myriad of charts, graphs, formulae, drawings, and, of course, a lexicon of words of power. IDK, maybe he just activated one of his formulae and is now using it

A nearby person would say: Your concerns are duly noted, and the The Council will review said deceased Avenel.

To Whom it May Concern, The following have been accepted to the Worshipful Guild of Astronomers. Contact Ambros of the Astrologicum in Bastion for further consorting.

☉ THE WORSHIPFUL GUILD OF ASTRONOMERS ☾ VTᐧAPVDᐧSICᐧINFRA - Est. 18th of Snow’s Maiden, 1602 “And Horen, may your people one day explore the Seven Skies” -Ancient History, by Availer In Conversation with God “There exists a cardinal harmony which cascades and ebbs through the cosmos; it is as if the grand architect did strike a tuning fork, letting the resounding song of creation ring into eternity, for this is what we sense when we turn our gaze to the heavens, the notes of genesis.” - Musica Universalis Ever has man coveted the knowledge of realms beyond the physical plane. Thus, the ancient and divine arts of magic came to be. That is, until he decided to look to the stars above and learned to read the heavens through its eldritch composition. So comes the Worshipful Guild of Astronomers, an order of sky gazers who seek to unravel the untold mysteries of the planes of existence. Royally chartered by the Crown of the Westerlands, the Guild of Astronomers is positioned within the city of Bastion inside of the Astrologicum. THE DISCIPLINES The Guild of Astronomers recognizes three disciplines of the heavens and beyond. They are as follows: Astrometry Otherwise known as celestial mechanics or celestial navigation, astrometry is the study and measurement of the movements and positions of celestial bodies. An understanding of astrometry requires a deep knowledge of geometry and mathematics which serves as the cornerstone of more advanced disciplines of astronomy. Cosmology Among the most coveted of astronomical disciplines, cosmology is the study of the structure, nature, and origins of the cosmos and existence as a whole. From the Spirit Realms, the nixian Void, and the Immortal Planes of Aenguls and Daemons, the ethereal nature of worlds beyond our observation makes cosmology a highly theoretical, philosophical, and even theological pursuit. Astrology A new and alluring field that involves the study of the movement and relative positions of celestial bodies as a means for divining information or determining the optimum time for terrestrial affairs such as weddings, marriages and war. It is considered a form of “practical” or “useful” astronomy. MEMBERS Master ☉ In order to be deemed a Master Astronomer of the guild, one must publish a “master work” of celestial observations which demonstrates a understanding of advanced and novel concepts. Journeyman ☾ After completing several years of training, an apprentice of the Guild may become a Journeyman in which they have proven a satisfactory understanding of basic concepts. Apprentice ☆ Burgeoning astronomers are apprenticed to a Master of the Guild who will teach them basic knowledge in the three disciplines of astronomy. They are expected to assist their Master with any requests pertaining to research. CONSORTING The Guild of Astronomers, while prestigious and rigorous in its work, is permissive to those who seek the wisdom of the great beyond. Potential apprentices need only complete the following inquiry: --------☉-------- Reason of Admittance: Prior Experience in Astronomical Study: Signature: --------☾-------- Astronomer Consorts with Monk After a brief consultation with a master of the Guild, potential members will be given an appropriate position within the Guild. Note that a period of examination will commence after said consultation, with Masters of the Guild being able to dismiss new, uninitiated members. All knowledge discovered by the Guild will be open to members of the venerable order and the selected public. PUBLICATIONS OF NOTE N/A

I'm a fan of this recent turning with divine and dark magic focusing on souls and the nature of mortals, etc.... While mayhaps a "dark souls-y" I think it really helps streamline lore opposed to just existing as separate pockets of disconnected lore as well as establish an actual theme and tone for the server overall. We were getting a bit too fractured there for a bit.