Talk:Mythurgy

Jnani Shinto

[01:47] <IXJac> Well, Shiragon is a Jnani Shinto Shaman
[01:47] <IXJac> the Jnani sect believe the mind, body and spirit are one, and in fact the physical and spirit worlds are identical across the Tapestry
[01:48] <IXJac> They also beleive size is an illusion, and everything represents everything else in some way
[01:48] <IXJac> So the smallest thing affects the largest, and vice versa
[01:50] <IXJac> Their magical style is elaborate magickal mandalas, writings, invoking celestial beings, and the usual physical rituals and martial arts
[01:50] <IXJac> Basically anime shamans. ;)
[01:51] <IXJac> They also have a reputation of being hard on new students, and continually trying to drive them away.

Arete 4 Quest

• Return to your family and reconcile your actions with their existence.

[07:29] <@IXJac> Liz is mentally exhausted, and returns home to dream of laser armed cockroaches, and spiders in tophats with huge cuban cigars and pinstriped waistcoats. Liz and her army of cockroaches thrash the spiders soundly, and Liz stands triumphant on their mountain of stolen (repossessed!) lucre.
[07:30] <@IXJac> "Hrrmp." Says a figure just out of her view, A shadow of a tall man, and feathers falling over her. "One small victory, and they think they've won the war. Children these days."
[07:31] <@IXJac> There is silence. "Small victory! Hooorray!??" cheers one of the tiny laser armed cockroaches, before falling silent and cringing under the shadow's glare.
[07:33] <@IXJac> "Still, you step forward on the path of your anscenstors. That is. . . something." Says the shadow. "But don't let it get tou your head!" The feathers, which might be a headdress ruffle, and and the figure turns and vanishes as Liz wakes with a start. . . to Arete 4

Non-Canon Musings

Ethics

• You're writing a story, but the story is real. Uphold good endings and avoid bad ideas.
• A story is bigger than any one idea. Don't let one take over.
• An idea is bigger than any one story. Don't try to stop it spreading to others.
• Acknowledge where your ideas came from. Remember where your story started.
• For stories and mages, rules are just guidelines.

Theory

• The first principle (and tenth sphere) is imagination. It is actualised by inspiration.
• Magic is, generalised, fantastical action. It is action that is not supposed to work, but does work because the author writes it so and her imagination overrides mundanity. That's why it's harmed by rejection by sleepers - they decry the story you tell as 'false' and insist that it couldn't possibly happen and you should do your homework instead.
• The 'science' of the technocracy is based on a rejection of the fantastical by the weaver of fantasy herself. This is obviously damaging and unsustainable. Etherites claim the mantle of science, but have clearly rediscovered the fantastic and just failed to update their terminology. What they produce might be better termed magitech.

Cosmology

• The Umbra is the collective imagination of human- and nonhumankind.
• The Dreaming is the heart and source of the umbra.
• The Gauntlet is artificial, created by fear and reinforced by apathy. When humans were taught to reject the fantastic and disbelieve in heroes, they made a bubble of percieved safety and pushed their dreams outside of it.
• The Horizon is the limits of imagination. Some things Outside are things never imagined by humanity. Others are things once imagined, but mass-rejected from the scope of thought. Tread carefully.

Method

• Liz cannot (yet) summon concepts from pure imagination into the exterior world. An image is required, because an image represents a story, and the story is real there and can be made real here with the right thinking.
• An image need not be a picture on a card, though this is a very convenient method.

• It might be a costume worn, or a piece of paraphanelia that tells and inspires a story in the mind of the viewer. This is the basis of Liz's mikology.
• It might even be words, though it is generally accepted that at least a thousand words are needed to provide sufficient definition without support from other media.

• Reinforcement can give the story definition and aid in bringing it into the mundane world. Standard reinforcement methods are in-character actions and narrative speech. By performing an authentic-looking shinto ritual and observing Japanese formalities, Liz can bring more spiritual powers of the miko. By narrating her own actions as part of a story, she can make performing magic with those actions easier.