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

Umbral Courts

[08:29] <IXJac> Liz is aware of the Umbral Court, and in fact knows there are three of them. An Eastern, a Western, and an Egyptian
[08:29] <IXJac> Or, if she learned of it from Cathy, an Egyptian Court and then those two others
[08:29] <Peel> She got Umbrood Lore from Shiragon
[08:30] <Peel> So probably the Eastern Court and some gaijin trash
[08:31] <IXJac> There's also a Sky Lodge of more primordial spirits, which considers itself the oldest (and best!) Umbral Court
[08:32] <IXJac> There's some crossover between the courts, as some concepts are universal, and many umbrood sit on one or more courts in different aspects
[08:32] <IXJac> And then have fun arguing with themselves
[08:33] <IXJac> There's also rumours of a Higher Court, where all the really big leagues go to play
[08:34] <IXJac> The Eastern Court is the governing body of the Celestial Bureaucracy, under the August Personage of Jade
[08:36] <IXJac> The Western Court is currently using a neo-victorian setup, which it adopted with the rise of the technocracy, perhaps as a joke aimed at Queen Victoria
[08:36] <IXJac> It hasn't got around to morphing itself into the US Senate yet
[08:38] <IXJac> Anyway, there's also a High Court, which is where the big concepts meet
[08:38] <IXJac> Which transcends the various regional lines
[08:38] <IXJac> But it doesn't always meet, and is pretty esoteric
[08:40] <Norseman> But I got to wonder
[08:40] <Norseman> Why is there still an Egyptian Court?
[08:40] <IXJac> because they're stuffy and won't let anyone else in
[08:44] <IXJac> Well, Proteus probably wants the High Court
[08:45] <IXJac> Which is where Serious Shit is actually discussed
[08:45] <IXJac> But you'd have to be pretty powerful before Death or The Sun takes you seriously there
[08:47] <IXJac> Well, you'd want to start off in the Western Court I think
[08:48] <IXJac> Not as formalized as the Eastern, as exclusionary as the Egyptian, and probably a bit more form than the Great Sky Lodge
[08:50] <IXJac> Anyway, Shiragon, being an Akashic, would probably tell you to stay away from the courts. Men have no business in the games of Gods, little to gain, and much to lose by being enmeshed in their plots
[08:52] <Peel> Pfft. That's what they say about casinos.
[08:52] <Peel> "The house always wins."
[08:53] <Peel> Not when it loses $52K!
[08:52] <IXJac> I can't remember what the ruling body of the Celestial Bureaucracy is called. Jade something or other probably
[08:54] <IXJac> Council of Jade probably
[08:54] <IXJac> Where all the senior gods who push around all the littler gods meet to have tea - and push little gods around some more
[08:55] <Shrike> actually doesn't Cara have a bit of a rep in the western court now? Or would it be eastern?
[08:57] <Peel> Quaesitors have some kind of Umbral court standing I thought
[08:57] <IXJac> Hermetics and Dreamspeakers, yes
[08:57] <IXJac> And Taftani, of a sort
[08:57] <IXJac> But that's more fear
[08:58] <IXJac> Since part of the Taftani mission statement is "make all Spirits my bitch"
[08:59] <IXJac> Anyway, the Umbral Court is a strange and crazy thing, and it's going to be. . . fun. . . if you guys go there.
[09:01] <IXJac> The Egyptian Court has a LOT of rules. Rules Liz certainly wouldn't follow
[09:02] <IXJac> Note that the Western Court just calls itself the Umbral Court
[09:02] <IXJac> The Eastern actually calls itself the Council of Jade
[09:03] <IXJac> The Primodial the Great Sky Lodge
[09:03] <IXJac> And the Egyptian court probably something suitably Egyptian
[09:03] <IXJac> Like the Halls of Ma'at, or whatever
[09:20] <Shrike> I wonder what sort of stuff they discuss
[09:22] <IXJac> Well, since you're hearing this from Shiragon, all you'd know are the issues before the Council of Jade
[09:22] <IXJac> The big one being the Yama Kings trying to upset the treaty between men and the August Personage of Jade
[09:24] <IXJac> The Yama Kings argue that humans reneged on the deal anyway, so they should be free to come back and harvest souls
[09:27] <IXJac> Well, Liz is Lord over a den of gamblers
[09:27] <IXJac> So HARDLY the most reputable Lord
[09:28] <IXJac> Anyway, Shiragon would also have made clear that the Umbrood have very little power in the mortal world, but some of them covet it, and will do a great deal to win mortal pawns to do their bidding
[09:30] <Peel> Well if they covet it that much
[09:30] <Peel> That means leverage
[09:31] <IXJac> That probably wasn't the lesson Shiragon was hoping you'd take away from that
[09:31] <Shrike> :D
[09:31] <Peel> >:D
[09:31] <Shrike> Shiragon, for all her wisdom, doesn't get Liz

Non-Canon Rambling

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 (and everyone else), 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.
• The image must be presented to the world to manifest. Summoning from a concealed image is much harder.
• 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 into being. By narrating her own actions as part of a story, she can make performing magic with those actions easier.