"Well I don't remember much about my mother, she had died when I was about three or four. Me and my father, a retired red mage, lived on the edge of the grasslands near the base of the mountains. Father would earn his coin by being a simple street performer as a flame juggler when he visited Estark and Ravnica, however he would also teach me in his spare time to become a red mage as well when we discovered I could tap into mana. He had sold his more powerful spells when he had retired to marry my mother however he kept the simple ones for defensive measures. When he finally died he left me the gems and instructions to "make my own destiny". Turns out he was unhappy to have retired from being a mage after my mother had died but didn't want to abandon me or take me on journeys that would put me at risk. Anyways, my father had a different take on mana than most mages. He personally believed that the emotions of all beings were more powerful than the simple terrain we lived around. Everyone could become a living mana battery that you have to link into to access. Rage, curiosity, courage, greed, determination...all the emotions lead to actual leylines of mana for each color. You just have see it and reach out for it."
David sighed from giving his back story. He didn't have anything special about himself to tell but at least he had something to tell in the end.
Jor nodded appreciatively saying, "Your father sounds like a true student and philosopher of mana. There are not too many mages that I have come across that have actually taken the time to consider how mana comes into existence and why the lands seem to be the only source."
Jor smiled saying, "But anyone who was here at the last Festival would have seen what your father suspected. People can be a mana battery as you put it. Though the fella I saw do it looked like the process caused him physical harm."
Jor's smile widened as he said, "Then of course there are the elves. They embody forest magic so readily that many of them are mana sources that can be drawn upon."
Jor's smile faded as he pondered out loud, "Emotions will not always work though, except perhaps for red and black mana. Those two colors lend themselves to erratic emotional outbursts. The other three colors would require a concentrated and intense emotion to tap into enough mana that could be worked into spells. Mana is funny like that."
David pondered what Jor had said. He was right, Red and Black mana were the easiest to access from a more emotional perspective. Blue, White, and Green though would require more thought and effort.
"I believe White mana though could be a little easier than you think. Courage, honor, self sacrifice, piety. Though I will admit that those qualities will not be as easy to find as I think they would be. Green mana I would say would be the second hardest. Serenity with nature, the primal urges, and the growth of oneself would be something to search for. Blue mana I believe would be the toughest. The thirst of knowledge, curiosity, the harsh cold of separating fact from fiction...Doable but would take the most concentration ot draw out. However I agree, mana is funny like that."
As they walked he looked at the view around him. He half admired and half scanned for anything that seemed odd.
The further south they traveled the more trees and wild life they saw along the road. Still walking the same pace, Jor followed up David's comment saying, "The thing with drawing mana from emotions is that the mana tends to manifest through one powerful emotion or several very similar emotions, all experienced intensely. As you just pointed out with white mana there are traits such as honor and self-sacrifice as well as piety. Those are more a state of being than actual emotion and as such are difficult to form into consistent mana. Courage could do it, but the problem there is that one would have to be facing an equally strong and powerful foe that elicits fear in the mage. Through that fear comes the possibility of great courage which could be concentrated into mana."
"Forcing manifestations of mana through emotions gets complicated when you look at the other colors besides red and black." commented Jor. "Again there is the sense of tranquility, a hard state of mind to maintain when one is trying to draw on mana while in combat. Not impossible mind you, simply difficult due to the discipline required. Which is odd seeing as green mana could form from the savage like nature druids and shamans can display at times. So with green mana that would tend to mean one emotion or the other focused to one extreme or the other."
Jor laughed, "Indeed thinking about the properties of mana and how they come into existence is funny and entertaining."
"Also a great way to pass the time while we travel to our destination." David replied laughing along with Jor. As he calmed down he looked towards his fellow traveler.
"So Jor, tell me about yourself then. Obviously your no ordinary random traveler, you must be knowledgeable in some spells outside of just the philosophies of mana."
Jor took the opportunity to side step the question for awhile by lighting his pipe. Taking several long drawn out puffs he finally exhaled saying, "Me? I'm no one special. Just a traveler that's been here and there and everywhere in between. I juggle blades to entertain. I argue semantics because I can. I listen to gossip, for knowledge is power!"
Jor gave a wink as he said, "That and there's always a fool willing to pay for information."
Jor waved at his person showing no sign of a satchel saying, "But, alas, of all the things I am, I can tell you truthfully: I am no mage of this world."
David sighed, realizing that was going to be all he was probably going to get out of Jor. Catching up with him, he scanned the scenery again for anything that looked out of the ordinary.
"You know what would be both ironic and hilarious? If that woman was going to be in the town that I was going to."
Jor chuckled saying, "If that's the case then the two of us might have a longer road ahead of us before we can get a good nights rest. That's assuming we continue to travel together."
"Fair enough good sir." David gave a small chuckle.
"It would be a shame to part ways with one such as yourself but I can understand that the road must be continued by one while the other arrives at their destination. However let us not look on that for now and enjoy the journey we have."
"Jack had a bounty for them in his shop. He gave me the details that the Wurms were becoming a big problem and that the contractor want them to be driven off or killed. I don't know how many I'll be facing but something tells me it's going to be one wild party."
David gave a wink and a smile to Jor. "Might be a show worth watching eh?"
"From what I've gathered, the people are feeling threatened by the fact that the Wurms were coming closer to their town each day. Their line of thinking is that if they can at least have enough of them killed, whatever is left over will just simply run away. I doubt I can kill all of them but I'll aim for a good number of them. Either way I'm sure by the time I get there I'll be having my hands full."
"I wonder who was there first?" asked Jor taking a long puff on his pipe. Then exhaling to the side he looked at David saying, "The towns people or the creatures of the woods?"
David shook his head to the question. He was a bit unsure as to answer but felt he had to say something none the less.
"Unfortunately that is not my job to find out. However it wouldn't surprise me if the creatures were there first and the townsfolk came later after a few seasons where the Wurms hibernated or migrated to somewhere else."
"I can hazard a guess that they might be stupid enough to try to cut down the forest. However it wouldn't surprise me if the forest defended itself with something far worse than just some Wurms in heat. Nature itself is a living entity from Elementals to even the common Grizzly Bear*. My job is to take care of a good majority of the Wurms, if the townsfolk want to expand their village then they do it at their own risk."
David said with an air of un-interest. Deep down though he pondered Jor's question about the forest. Would the towns people really be that foolish? He wasn't intune with green mana but he had heard enough stories during the Festivals he had attended with father about the various beasts that live in the forest from hunters and other mages. His own father even told him of the raw primal strength that inhabited the power of green mana that resided in the forest. He'll have to pose the question before he did anything else in the town to attempt to complete the bounty.
"I'm the mage first as I could not have become a bounty hunter without having the abilities I have now. Well I could have became a bounty hunter but my chances of survival would have been worse off than they are now. So yes as I said, I am the mage first."
Jor nodded thoughtfully and then asked, "Then as a mage have you considered what might happen to the mana of the region once you complete this bounty? Have you considered the ripple effect of their removal?"
He was right. The mana would be shaken up permanently if the villagers were to expand and destroy a good chunk of the forest if the Wurms were to disappear. All the colors of magic are important regardless of what your preference was, and if one were to be weakened it would shake the balance among them.
"I think my friend you are looking too far into the negative. For all we know something might replace the Wurms as a bigger threat to the villagers when their gone, or the villagers themselves might not want to further their progress just out of fear for disturbing some other migration patterns."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
David sighed from giving his back story. He didn't have anything special about himself to tell but at least he had something to tell in the end.
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
Jor smiled saying, "But anyone who was here at the last Festival would have seen what your father suspected. People can be a mana battery as you put it. Though the fella I saw do it looked like the process caused him physical harm."
Jor's smile widened as he said, "Then of course there are the elves. They embody forest magic so readily that many of them are mana sources that can be drawn upon."
Jor's smile faded as he pondered out loud, "Emotions will not always work though, except perhaps for red and black mana. Those two colors lend themselves to erratic emotional outbursts. The other three colors would require a concentrated and intense emotion to tap into enough mana that could be worked into spells. Mana is funny like that."
"I believe White mana though could be a little easier than you think. Courage, honor, self sacrifice, piety. Though I will admit that those qualities will not be as easy to find as I think they would be. Green mana I would say would be the second hardest. Serenity with nature, the primal urges, and the growth of oneself would be something to search for. Blue mana I believe would be the toughest. The thirst of knowledge, curiosity, the harsh cold of separating fact from fiction...Doable but would take the most concentration ot draw out. However I agree, mana is funny like that."
As they walked he looked at the view around him. He half admired and half scanned for anything that seemed odd.
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
"Forcing manifestations of mana through emotions gets complicated when you look at the other colors besides red and black." commented Jor. "Again there is the sense of tranquility, a hard state of mind to maintain when one is trying to draw on mana while in combat. Not impossible mind you, simply difficult due to the discipline required. Which is odd seeing as green mana could form from the savage like nature druids and shamans can display at times. So with green mana that would tend to mean one emotion or the other focused to one extreme or the other."
Jor laughed, "Indeed thinking about the properties of mana and how they come into existence is funny and entertaining."
"So Jor, tell me about yourself then. Obviously your no ordinary random traveler, you must be knowledgeable in some spells outside of just the philosophies of mana."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
Jor gave a wink as he said, "That and there's always a fool willing to pay for information."
Jor waved at his person showing no sign of a satchel saying, "But, alas, of all the things I am, I can tell you truthfully: I am no mage of this world."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
Puffs of smoke trailed from the pipe over Jor's right shoulder as his stick continued to beat out a steady walking pace.
"You know what would be both ironic and hilarious? If that woman was going to be in the town that I was going to."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
"It would be a shame to part ways with one such as yourself but I can understand that the road must be continued by one while the other arrives at their destination. However let us not look on that for now and enjoy the journey we have."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
David gave a wink and a smile to Jor. "Might be a show worth watching eh?"
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
"Unfortunately that is not my job to find out. However it wouldn't surprise me if the creatures were there first and the townsfolk came later after a few seasons where the Wurms hibernated or migrated to somewhere else."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
David said with an air of un-interest. Deep down though he pondered Jor's question about the forest. Would the towns people really be that foolish? He wasn't intune with green mana but he had heard enough stories during the Festivals he had attended with father about the various beasts that live in the forest from hunters and other mages. His own father even told him of the raw primal strength that inhabited the power of green mana that resided in the forest. He'll have to pose the question before he did anything else in the town to attempt to complete the bounty.
*occ: couldn't resist.
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
There was once [The Pack], but no more.
"I think my friend you are looking too far into the negative. For all we know something might replace the Wurms as a bigger threat to the villagers when their gone, or the villagers themselves might not want to further their progress just out of fear for disturbing some other migration patterns."
There was once [The Pack], but no more.