Loggage post: Making the crystal for Rabastan
Strahan sat in the semi-darkened room, waiting for his god to arrive. Tonight they would work on the crystal they'd promised to give to Rabastan for Lestrange's help in keeping Strahan out of the danger the Doom Clock presented. To say he was restless was putting it mildly. He had not done anything seriously magical with his god in a long time now, and the opportunity to create something magical-or rather, the opportunity to learn to create something magical made him feel young in spirit again. Now the concept of creating crystals was nothing new. Strahan already knew how to create lifestones as it was something every Ihlini leader needed to know. When an Ihlini pledged himself to the Seker, a lifestone was created as a bond between the person and the god, and someone had to oversee its manufacture. That task fell to the one who led that faction of the Ihlini sworn to Asar-Suti. This stone was going to be different. It was going to house properties no lifestone ever held before. It was going to house the morphogenetic field of Rabastan Lestrange's wolf shape. And on top of that, several other animal forms that the wizard would be allowed to choose as alternate shapes. A break from having to be a wolf, as it were.
But where was Asar-Suti?
Asar-Suti turned up after a while, an apology almost on his lips, but then he reminded himself that a god wouldn't apologise to a follower, so he merely said, "Here I am; are you ready for our work?"
In answer Strahan held out his hand and opened it. Upon his palm was a small stone that, in the muted light, was difficult to identify. The fact that it was a stone was not in doubt. If making Rabastan's crystal was akin to making lifestones then Strahan needed a stone to serve as the house of Rabastan's various animal forms, and he'd spent all of the previous night selecting the right stone for the task. "Aye, I am ready to begin."
Asar-Suti, being a god, would have summarily created the stone - but it would be better to work with elements that were already familiar. "It is a good stone," he said, nodding. "Where is it from?" He sat, and held out his hand for the object. It would be just as easy to code the magic into the crystal structure as it was to code it and build the crystal around. Divine laziness had let him chose his method so far; but for Strahan, it would be stressful.
It would also be easier for a lazy god to simply implant the magic into an existing stone rather than to create one from scratch, which is partially why Ihlini tend to select existing stones when creating their lifestones rather than making one from out of thin air. Strahan gave the Seker a strange look as he handed over the small rock to his god. "It was in my personal collection of various gemstones," he said. "I have created a small gallery of precious and semi-precious gems and stones since my arrival here, and I thought that this one would serve Rabastan Lestrange the best." And should Asar-Suti worry that the stone was tampered with, it hasn't been. Not yet. Strahan would wait until the god had turned the stone into a shapeshifter's power locus before he added his own ... touches to it.
"Now, what I do is encode the magic in the stone, just as we'd have coded a person's life force into the stone, so it exists independent of the person? So we encode the shape change that triggers the different shapes into the stone so he can get at will," Asar-Suti explained, watching anxiously for signs of comprehension or incomperhension on Strahan's face.
Strahan understood well enough. How hard was it to understand anyways? The way the Seker described it the stone was a miniature earth and like the earth would store the animal form Rabastan chose to take the way it did with each Cheysuli's lir-shape. Not a difficult concept to learn, really. "And when we have done that, we will have something to set it in." In his other hand was a ring that had an empty series of prongs set in a circle, all waiting to clasp the stone it would soon hold against its metalic body. Silver. Not gold. Gold was for Cheysuli and Rabastan was anything but.
Asar-Suti, once more, would have set it in some of the mithril he got from the bar a long time ago, but then, again, it was better to let Strahan do it his way than try and impose something new. The idea of storing any magic in stones was enough newness for him, for one session.
Actually, it wasn't a new concept if you considered the storing of each Ihlini's lifeforce inside a small stone magic. The only thing new here was the usage of a stone to house the forms of different animals an individual would select and use in the future. The ring was placed upon a small table, so it would be out of the way. If Asar-Suti needed Strahan to help with the spellwork then he'd probably need his follower to have both hands free to work with. But there was one question he had on his mind before they began.
"We are giving him multiple forms, aye? Shapes other than his wolf?"
"We can only give him shapes that he's already tried, so it's just the wolf and the human now; but the crystal will hold up to five or six shapes," Asar-Suti shrugged. At first, let him master the wolf - he'd made good progress towards that.
Well Rabastan was born human, so there wasn't much need to store the human form in the stone save to give Rabastan something to return to once he was finished using the animal shape. "Five or six," he said thoughtfully. "Aye, a good number, and more than any Cheysuli warrior will ever hope to claim as their own." Keely, on the other hand, had ten animal forms, which was more than what Rabastan would receive, but still, what the wizard was getting was, in Strahan's estimation, a generous number. With five or six other animal forms to access there was no reason for Rabastan to bemoan his fate, not with a handful of creatures he could become in the future. He would not be forced to accept the wolf and the man as his only options.
"Do you remember the shape shift Rabastan underwent, from man to wolf? Could you spell that out in a rune? And if so, could you try it on me to see if the rune is right?" Asar-Suti suggested, by way of letting Strahan do as much of this as he could. So he would learn.
Yes he remembered. Very well. Every hair and tooth of the body. Seemingly insubstantial but lethal in its own way. Strahan briefly concerned himself with the possibility of Asar-Suti attacking him while in the body of a werewolf transformed, but thought better of it. This was Asar-Suti he was dealing with. A god. Mortal curses like lycanthropy was no issue for the Seker. So he turned his mind towards the rune he would use on his god. The corner of his mouth curved minutely. Strahan was going to use magic on the Seker and turn the god into an animal. A brief reversal of roles between the two and he knew it. He began to chant in the ancient dialect of the Ihlini, the dialect used when the Firstborn still existed, watching their progeny diverge into two new races. Sketching the rune as best he could, knowing that Rabastan was not a true wolf. The rune would have to be modified appropriately, hence the chanting. All he could do was hope it worked.
Asar-Suti took the transformation passively, adding not hte slightest element of his own - yes, that was right, this was what Rabastan had been, it was just right, and the god slipped into the shape as naturally and smoothly as possible. It worked very well, my dear Strahan, he informed his last faithful follower. I would now change back so we can code the rune into the crystal.
Leaving the Seker as the god was was a tempting prospect, but having his throat torn out was not, and using the rune for the Seker himself Strahan called the god back into his body. Or rather, the body all Ihlini knew. The one that was made of cold purple fire and lavender smoke. No living Ihlini had ever seen their god as human; they only saw him as fire. If the rune worked then the odds that Asar-Suti would come back as flame and not flesh were pretty good.
And he did - Strahan's rune just dissolved him into his old and most natural fire-shaped. Of course - this was what he was for Strahan, first and foremost. The fire shivered for a moment, then swirled in on itself and turned back into the human-shaped sorcerer Milliways knew. "Yes, let's code it into the stone now," he just said.
The stone (which had been set next to the ring) was picked up and examined. Strahan gave it another inspection to ascertain that it was the right one to use. Then shrugging as though he had decided that it would do as well as any other, he held it out in his hand, waiting for Asar-Suti to tell him when the infusion was to begin.
Asar-Suti picked it up and held it in his upturned palm; it began to glow purple with the godfire that the god infused into it. It was ready, waiting. "Draw the rune over it, can you?" Asar-Suti said, supposing that would be the most obvious way for Strahan to do it.
Godfire snapped, crackled, popped as it was sketched over the stone. A smaller version than the one used on the Seker but no less powerful. It hovered over the stone, shivering either from the movement of the flame or the anticipation its caster felt in this moment, waiting. Waiting to be drawn down into the stone that lay in Asar-Suti's hand.
Godfire entwined with godfire, and swirled into the stone, which lay quietly in the god's flat plam as before.
"Here," Asar-Suti said. "The crystal, all ready to be used. The magic will work as often as he wants."
It was now time to pick up the ring that would bear the stone. Strahan didn't know what size Rabastan was, but it didn't matter. It would form-fit itself to the wizard's finger once it was placed upon it. Taking the stone he placed it in the tiny, shallow cup at the base of the crown of prongs, and, using magic learned out on the tourney field of Valgaard the prongs curled around the stone, one by one, until the stone was set firmly into place. He examined his handiwork. The ring would make any jeweler proud, as well as being virtually indistinguishable from far less magical rings, save for the fact that a spark of godfire glowed from within the stone. Yes, he was pleased with the results. All he had to do was give it over to Rabastan and tell the wizard that soon he would be taught the mastery of the wolf-shape. Once that was learned a new animal form would be given, and only then.
"Very good," the god said, and left. Strahan would deal with it.-
But where was Asar-Suti?
Asar-Suti turned up after a while, an apology almost on his lips, but then he reminded himself that a god wouldn't apologise to a follower, so he merely said, "Here I am; are you ready for our work?"
In answer Strahan held out his hand and opened it. Upon his palm was a small stone that, in the muted light, was difficult to identify. The fact that it was a stone was not in doubt. If making Rabastan's crystal was akin to making lifestones then Strahan needed a stone to serve as the house of Rabastan's various animal forms, and he'd spent all of the previous night selecting the right stone for the task. "Aye, I am ready to begin."
Asar-Suti, being a god, would have summarily created the stone - but it would be better to work with elements that were already familiar. "It is a good stone," he said, nodding. "Where is it from?" He sat, and held out his hand for the object. It would be just as easy to code the magic into the crystal structure as it was to code it and build the crystal around. Divine laziness had let him chose his method so far; but for Strahan, it would be stressful.
It would also be easier for a lazy god to simply implant the magic into an existing stone rather than to create one from scratch, which is partially why Ihlini tend to select existing stones when creating their lifestones rather than making one from out of thin air. Strahan gave the Seker a strange look as he handed over the small rock to his god. "It was in my personal collection of various gemstones," he said. "I have created a small gallery of precious and semi-precious gems and stones since my arrival here, and I thought that this one would serve Rabastan Lestrange the best." And should Asar-Suti worry that the stone was tampered with, it hasn't been. Not yet. Strahan would wait until the god had turned the stone into a shapeshifter's power locus before he added his own ... touches to it.
"Now, what I do is encode the magic in the stone, just as we'd have coded a person's life force into the stone, so it exists independent of the person? So we encode the shape change that triggers the different shapes into the stone so he can get at will," Asar-Suti explained, watching anxiously for signs of comprehension or incomperhension on Strahan's face.
Strahan understood well enough. How hard was it to understand anyways? The way the Seker described it the stone was a miniature earth and like the earth would store the animal form Rabastan chose to take the way it did with each Cheysuli's lir-shape. Not a difficult concept to learn, really. "And when we have done that, we will have something to set it in." In his other hand was a ring that had an empty series of prongs set in a circle, all waiting to clasp the stone it would soon hold against its metalic body. Silver. Not gold. Gold was for Cheysuli and Rabastan was anything but.
Asar-Suti, once more, would have set it in some of the mithril he got from the bar a long time ago, but then, again, it was better to let Strahan do it his way than try and impose something new. The idea of storing any magic in stones was enough newness for him, for one session.
Actually, it wasn't a new concept if you considered the storing of each Ihlini's lifeforce inside a small stone magic. The only thing new here was the usage of a stone to house the forms of different animals an individual would select and use in the future. The ring was placed upon a small table, so it would be out of the way. If Asar-Suti needed Strahan to help with the spellwork then he'd probably need his follower to have both hands free to work with. But there was one question he had on his mind before they began.
"We are giving him multiple forms, aye? Shapes other than his wolf?"
"We can only give him shapes that he's already tried, so it's just the wolf and the human now; but the crystal will hold up to five or six shapes," Asar-Suti shrugged. At first, let him master the wolf - he'd made good progress towards that.
Well Rabastan was born human, so there wasn't much need to store the human form in the stone save to give Rabastan something to return to once he was finished using the animal shape. "Five or six," he said thoughtfully. "Aye, a good number, and more than any Cheysuli warrior will ever hope to claim as their own." Keely, on the other hand, had ten animal forms, which was more than what Rabastan would receive, but still, what the wizard was getting was, in Strahan's estimation, a generous number. With five or six other animal forms to access there was no reason for Rabastan to bemoan his fate, not with a handful of creatures he could become in the future. He would not be forced to accept the wolf and the man as his only options.
"Do you remember the shape shift Rabastan underwent, from man to wolf? Could you spell that out in a rune? And if so, could you try it on me to see if the rune is right?" Asar-Suti suggested, by way of letting Strahan do as much of this as he could. So he would learn.
Yes he remembered. Very well. Every hair and tooth of the body. Seemingly insubstantial but lethal in its own way. Strahan briefly concerned himself with the possibility of Asar-Suti attacking him while in the body of a werewolf transformed, but thought better of it. This was Asar-Suti he was dealing with. A god. Mortal curses like lycanthropy was no issue for the Seker. So he turned his mind towards the rune he would use on his god. The corner of his mouth curved minutely. Strahan was going to use magic on the Seker and turn the god into an animal. A brief reversal of roles between the two and he knew it. He began to chant in the ancient dialect of the Ihlini, the dialect used when the Firstborn still existed, watching their progeny diverge into two new races. Sketching the rune as best he could, knowing that Rabastan was not a true wolf. The rune would have to be modified appropriately, hence the chanting. All he could do was hope it worked.
Asar-Suti took the transformation passively, adding not hte slightest element of his own - yes, that was right, this was what Rabastan had been, it was just right, and the god slipped into the shape as naturally and smoothly as possible. It worked very well, my dear Strahan, he informed his last faithful follower. I would now change back so we can code the rune into the crystal.
Leaving the Seker as the god was was a tempting prospect, but having his throat torn out was not, and using the rune for the Seker himself Strahan called the god back into his body. Or rather, the body all Ihlini knew. The one that was made of cold purple fire and lavender smoke. No living Ihlini had ever seen their god as human; they only saw him as fire. If the rune worked then the odds that Asar-Suti would come back as flame and not flesh were pretty good.
And he did - Strahan's rune just dissolved him into his old and most natural fire-shaped. Of course - this was what he was for Strahan, first and foremost. The fire shivered for a moment, then swirled in on itself and turned back into the human-shaped sorcerer Milliways knew. "Yes, let's code it into the stone now," he just said.
The stone (which had been set next to the ring) was picked up and examined. Strahan gave it another inspection to ascertain that it was the right one to use. Then shrugging as though he had decided that it would do as well as any other, he held it out in his hand, waiting for Asar-Suti to tell him when the infusion was to begin.
Asar-Suti picked it up and held it in his upturned palm; it began to glow purple with the godfire that the god infused into it. It was ready, waiting. "Draw the rune over it, can you?" Asar-Suti said, supposing that would be the most obvious way for Strahan to do it.
Godfire snapped, crackled, popped as it was sketched over the stone. A smaller version than the one used on the Seker but no less powerful. It hovered over the stone, shivering either from the movement of the flame or the anticipation its caster felt in this moment, waiting. Waiting to be drawn down into the stone that lay in Asar-Suti's hand.
Godfire entwined with godfire, and swirled into the stone, which lay quietly in the god's flat plam as before.
"Here," Asar-Suti said. "The crystal, all ready to be used. The magic will work as often as he wants."
It was now time to pick up the ring that would bear the stone. Strahan didn't know what size Rabastan was, but it didn't matter. It would form-fit itself to the wizard's finger once it was placed upon it. Taking the stone he placed it in the tiny, shallow cup at the base of the crown of prongs, and, using magic learned out on the tourney field of Valgaard the prongs curled around the stone, one by one, until the stone was set firmly into place. He examined his handiwork. The ring would make any jeweler proud, as well as being virtually indistinguishable from far less magical rings, save for the fact that a spark of godfire glowed from within the stone. Yes, he was pleased with the results. All he had to do was give it over to Rabastan and tell the wizard that soon he would be taught the mastery of the wolf-shape. Once that was learned a new animal form would be given, and only then.
"Very good," the god said, and left. Strahan would deal with it.-