[Venora] Don't Hate, Abrogate

[Alistair]

17th of Saun, Arc 716

OOC: Permission acquired from Basilisk a few weeks ago to have Damien teach Alistair Abrogation. Furthermore, I discussed Abrogation thoroughly with Maltruism - its creator - before writing this thread, to ensure that I did not get it incorrectly.
OOC Note 2: Apologies in advance for this thread. I myself have a difficult time understanding Abrogation, as it's super complicated. I feel like I need to take adderall to properly digest it. Here is a post to help whoever reads/grades this understand it very basically.

Today was the day. Damien had promised him that he would teach Alistair Abrogation whenever "a great and tumultuous foe" loomed over them. In the past few weeks, much in Alistair's life had been magnified and quantifiably measured. He'd had the time to dissect what meant the most and the least to him, to determine his values, to uncover goals and to seek a path. In one of those paths, beyond the door, was the goal to depose Ellasin from her place as the Necromantic Tyrant and replace her with mages of sincerity and duty, who used their powers to further mankind rather than to set them backwards.

Ellasin was the foe for Alistair, the great monster that needed to be placed into submission, her ambitions quelled. As such, Damien had agreed to finally share the knowledge of Abrogation with Alistair, and to influence him with its powers; to initiate him. As such, the nobleman had woken early and had gone to the plains adrift from the city of Saintouseille to search for Damien, who was apparently investigating the wild life of eastern Venora as a part of his anatomical research.

The man brought no one and nothing with him, save for he, his clothes and the bag with which he kept his valuable belongings. In this group of belongings was a pen and parchment with which to write on, and a bottle of closed ink he'd brought from his office for the journey, especially in the possibility that he'd need to send a letter to Venora or some place of paramount importance. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to write in the fields outside of Saintouseille, but he would try to take notes if he had the ability to. If anything, he could try to lean the paper onto a rock or something . . . ?

"Alistair," the Lich said upon the nobleman arriving at the isolated fields. Everything around, for many miles, was green as it was flat. The sun rose in the distance and shone its light upon Damien, who turned to face his apprentice. "Are you ready for our lesson?" he asked. The mage nodded, to which the Lich replied with a grin. "Very well - let's begin."

[Alistair]

The man stood silently as Damien gazed upon a book - a journal rather - that he'd written for himself to properly dispense information about this particular magical study. He had many, one for each type of magic that he knew properly - Attunement, Necromancy, Abrogation and Transmutation. This one was titled "Don't Hate, Abrogate", which triggered a rolling of the eyes from Alistair, a gesture of moderate irritation that Damien quickly picked up upon. "Problem?" he asked.

The apprentice shook his head. "Absolutely not," the man said falsely. Except perhaps with your ridiculous mockery of magic. The Lich, as usual, merely followed his absurdity with more of it. "My Necromancy helpers journal is called Don't Hate, Reanimate." From that, a rolling of the eyes ensued that was so powerful that Alistair felt he was going to give himself a headache if he continued. His impatience was clear - he merely desired for Damien to continue on and silence himself with his absurd jokes.

"Alright, let's begin," he said. Alistair nodded his head and quickly tuned his focus to fully absorb everything that was to be explained to him. He'd seen Abrogation in action before, but had never gone into the theory and principles of its basic application. Today he would learn these things.

"Abrogation is divided into three distinctive forms: Preemptive Use, Reactive Use, and Replicative Use." The man determined it would be best to both reveal and explain these things to his apprentice, guaranteeing his apt learning. As such, he demonstrated replicative use very notably and explicitly for Alistair - he went to the man and grabbed the container of water he carried with him in his belongings, and opened the top. Shortly after, water began flowing out dramatically, as if it were being filled by a pump or some contraption Alistair wasn't aware of. "Did you just create water?" he asked.

"Yes. Sort of. I replicated it. Replicative Abrogation can duplicate substances - any substance as long as you know the feel and touch. It does not require a great amount of scientific knowledge of the object or its components, but simply a sort of instinctual awareness of it. As such, it is easy for me to recreate water and air, for they are things that populate the world - I experience them consistently, as do you." This intrigued the mage greatly. If one could replicate or duplicate substances, it would be akin to the warping of reality to their whim. Such a thing surely had limits, and so he asked - "Can you replicate a living thing with this magic?"

To which Damien shook his head. "Life cannot be remade, but with replicative Abrogation, it can be reinforced. I could establish layers and layers of hardness and resilience upon my skin to essentially nullify incoming damage; a sword could become as a dull fingernail scraping down my skin. This can additionally create particularly distinctive layers of defense against magic, acting as a sort of... spell-shield. Abrogation is very, very large in its scope. It is the ultimate anti-magic, and I have thus pursued it in my desire to contain dangerous mages." Of course, Ellasin was clearly one that Alistair could name off the bat. If Damien were to master abrogation, he could become a very real threat to Ellasin, as he could resist the damage of corrosion and the attacks by her minions.

[Alistair]

This theory only increased the more you learned about Abrogation. Damien had ensured to place an emphasis on the danger an Abrogator posed to mages - for they were the ultimate anti-mage weapon, capable of countering all other forms of magic. Necromancers were perhaps an exception due to their minions and the consistent pressure those could apply, but their corruption and the pinnacle of their arcane might itself could be suppressed. Damien even theorized that Necromancer's minions could be weakened by a preemptive dulling of magical energies by the foe; this would reduce their connection to the minions and so damage their functionality.

The magic of Abrogation was one that was complex, indeed. "Preemptive Abrogation reverses the polarity of energy; it almost distorts or inverts things and disables magical energies from being unleashed. As you go deeper into Abrogation you become capable of casting complex, other varieties of magic despite the preemptive field negating it. However, others are still inhibited and can have their spells halted or annihilated before they are even unleashed. This shuts down mages before they can do basically anything. It's a big reason I taught you years ago, in Etzos, to be capable of physical combat if necessary, as an Abrogator may prevent you from properly wielding your potential." A reversed polarity? That was interesting. He did not understand it fully, but with magic much of the knowledge came through your mind and body through proper usage and over time.

Alistair had researched the applications of Abrogation throughout history, and there were many theories and informative pieces written about its usage in battlefield situations. Now that Damien had demonstrated replication, many of these theories made sense. For example, to replicate and harden air with layers upon layers of air with increased density would explain the many historical usages of Abrogation to act as a barrier against physical harm, defending allies from volleys of arrows and other such things. Surely this could be used to oust others in physical combat, as well. The more he researched this magic, the more interested he became.

Damien demonstrated it while Alistair pondered and listened intently. He asked Alistair to cast corrosion, and so the mage did. Nearly instantly, it was dispersed, with the energy being locked and the mage unable to continue his cast. He quirked an eyebrow. Was this the reversed polarity, he wondered? Or something else? Reactive?

"That is the final usage of Abrogation, reactive. To cancel known spell quantities and limit a mage's ability to cast without needing to apply a preemptive polarity shift. You have been hit with and burned through with corrosion before, and have experienced Necromancy to its full width and breadth. You should be able to apply Reactive Abrogation to corrosion and cancel out this ability from other necromancers. Furthermore, as you know very well the process of reanimation and its weak points, you will - with some practice - be able to cancel the reanimation and well-tuning process of other Necromancers."

Which would, without saying, be very useful for the eventual Coven coup that Damien had planned, of course. Alistair made sure to acknowledge just how much of this was for the Lich's own personal benefit - but he also realized he had asked for and obtained much from the Lich, immeasurably so. As a result, he could not mind the truth of it all: that he owed him a great, insurmountable favor. The death of Ellasin would be the only appropriate return to all of the assistance the Lich had given him in the past.

"So - the final thing to get me started," Alistair said. Damien nodded.

"It's time for the initiation. I agree. Don't worry though - as a Lich, magic is my life blood. It will not be difficult for me to share my spark with you and allow you Abrogation. Just be patient, cautious and relaxed."

[Alistair]

Alistair had only been initiated once before, into Necromancy, and by a relatively unskilled man by the name of Pavus Palleanus. The man was a member of the Seekers, an arcane faction Alistair found himself averse to over time due to their absolute slothfulness and paranoia when it came to pursuing the arcane arts. They accomplished very little in a very long span of time, while Ellasin's coven grew quickly and the quantity of power within it almost amassed beyond control. Alistair was a living example of that - he was one of the most skilled Necromancers in the coven's Rynmere branch, and probably surpassed almost any Necromancer in the Seekers. Yet, he had only been a part of the coven for but three years, while he wasted many more with the ridiculous and arbitrary nature of the veiled faction of pompous mages.

He was sure that the process of now - the initiation - would not be nearly as grim as the one into Necromancy, where he recalled a great deal of pain and trauma. It was a mental suffering, and indeed a physical anguish, to be initiated by a man who was hardly more skilled than his apprentice. But Damien was one of the most spectacular mages Alistair had met in his lifetime, and everything when it came to he and Alistair flowed smoothly. He relaxed his body as the mage placed his hands upon Alistair's skin.

"Abrogation is a kind magic, Alistair. Not cruel and malicious like that of the magic we begrudgingly accept - Necromancy. It saves lives. It protects the innocent. Abrogators are known to be much greater in ethics than those of our kind. Look forward to this initiation - it is the beginning of your new path. Your forgiveness." The Lich gestured for the Necromancer to close his eyes, and so he did. Energy began to flow into him, and with the intensity of it, images flashed in his mind. The atmosphere of all around him shifted and inverted, with a haze of white-blue energy fluttering about along the wind. It cycled back and forth, as if hitting upon an invisible wall over and over again, recycling itself and infinitely recreating its lifespan.

He was beginning to understand what Abrogation was. It was the reflection of danger, removing yourself from the cross-hairs of destruction, like floating on the wind and casting aside the fear of demise. As the energy flowed more and more into him, he stopped. His lips parted and the sensation of initiation became clear; everything about him shifted for a time, his thoughts dispersing and being replaced by the crowding of a world of knowledge and power. Learning a new magic was to touch divinity, for but a moment. It was more alluring than the results of any intoxicant or drug. It was dangerous, and yet it secured one greater than anything else. It was malevolent, and benevolent.

Magic was the enemy of hubris. It was evidence that man could place himself to the greatest annals of success in this world, not bowing to subjective morality or the laws of the Immortals. In this way, magic was true liberation. And today, Alistair obtained another. As the image of what Abrogation truly was flashed into his mind, during the apex of the initiation, he realized something special indeed:

This power would be his greatest of all - evidence that mages could exist alongside others in this world. It would be this that would bring about his domination over the witch who had tarnished the integrity of mages across the mortal realm.

[Faith Augustin]

Peer Reviewed: Rewards!

Alistair

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 0/ 5 (solo thread)
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Basic
Damien: Thinks its important mages can engage in physical combat.
Damien: Believes abrogation is a kind magic
Damien: Initiated you into abrogation
Arcana: Abrogation
Abrogation: The anti-magic magic
Abrogation: Three basic uses: pre-emptive, reactive, replicative
Abrogation: There are limits
Abrogaation: replicative abrogation duplicates substances
Abrogation: pre-emptive abrogation reverses the polarities of energy
Abrogation: reactive abrogation
Politics: Historic use of magic
Specialised
Abrogation: to replicate a substance, you have to know it's touch/feel, not it's chemistry
Abrogation: necromantic reanimated corpses might not be immune
Abrogation: pre-emptive abrogation stops spells before they are cast
Abrogation: reactive abrogation "reverses" spells that have been cast
Psychology: Kindness is a step to self forgiveness

Loot:

NA

Fame:

-2 act of magic

Overview:

General comments. Well, I really enjoyed reading that and I learnt a lot! I like Damien more and more every time I read him -kudos to you on writing such a good NPC.
Story - great! Fun to read and you explained some very complex notions really well.
Structure = all good!

Please remember to mark this thread as "Reviewed" in the request for review thread.
Please record these in the "Skill Point Ledger" you have in your CS.
PM me if you've got any questions at all!

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