Rina's Lesson

Rina's Lesson

"First of all, what do you know about magic?"

I sit back in my chair to think about that.  "Well, there's inherent magic, which are like spells but some mamono are just born with them.  That's the stuff like succubi and Apophises being able to hypnotize, or like you turning into a cat."  She nods.  "These are usually limited to some extent, though.  Almost none of them work on holy ground, and a lot of the ones that affect people are limited to only having sexual effects.  They also don't work in some circumstances, like against the particularly strong-willed or hateful - one of the reasons the Order worked so hard to instill hatred."  I'd probably studied what my sisters were capable of doing more than they had, so this wasn't anything particularly taxing.
"Well, when you say 'holy ground' you're really just talking about a kind of abjuration that the Order developed, but you're right."
"Yeah, well, there's that, and then there's learned magic where some people are born with the knack for sensing magic and casting spells.  They can do things like fly, turn invisible, shoot fire, and all that other wizard stuff."

She nods slowly and thoughtfully.  "I suppose it makes sense.  You don't really have a knowledge of magic so much as you have a knowledge of how to avoid getting married."
I never liked that euphemism.  It implies that there's no difference between being raped and naturally falling in love.
"I think what you need is a foundation.  There's a lot more to magic than just practical effects."

"Thaumatology isn't a new science by any measure, but it might as well be.  Anyone more than a hundred years ago wouldn't recognize what we're studying now.  Part of that is that human mages and mamono are now working together and part of it is that there's a desire to get more from the topic than just new ways to combat the other."  Once again I note the comfortable ease with which she slips into these spiels.  "Without the end of the wars we might never have found the thaum or discovered the spell to restore areas where magic had been nullified."

She reads my raised brow exactly as I intended it.  "Right, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.  The most basic unit of magic is the thaum.  You probably already know this, but it's like the magical equivalent of an atom for physical matter.  Just like there are different atoms for every substance there are dozens of different types of thaum.  In large amounts, people, and areas, we still use the old term 'mana,' and generally areas are noted for the general 'aspect' of the particles in that area.  For instance, zombies usually gather in graveyards because the local mana is aspected to deathly energy.

"So it's more comfortable for them?"
She pauses for a moment.  I can almost see her train of thought trying to recover from the break in her lesson.  "Well, yes, but it's not that simple.  They don't require as much energy to survive, since some of the magic in the area is actively supporting them.  This was also one of the reasons why demonic realms were so populated, when most mamono would've had better luck searching in one of the 'friendly' territories for husbands.  It's also why you see certain groups form, such as elves, pixies, and sidhe all tending to live in the same areas.  They don't have as much need for energy in those forests, so they're more comfortable there."

"There are two types of mana that are most important for non-mages, though: what we call 'spirit energy' and demonic energy."
She comes to a stop in her lesson and looks at me, expecting the question that I was about to interrupt her with.  "Okay, I'll bite.  Semen is a kind of magic?"
She shakes her head, smiling.  "No.  Obviously those mamono who need spirit energy to survive need more than just the physical substance of semen.  Otherwise we could survive off of a substitute, or just normal meals.  Once again, researchers of old didn't know what they were looking for and noted that mamono could survive off of semen, and looked no further.  Most people - even mamono - still think that semen and spirit energy are the same thing.  What we've found is that it's just the most concentrated source of spirit energy."

"Ah, so that's why mamono who need spirit energy to live are called thaumavores."
"Right.  Of course, there's still an issue with the term 'spirit energy,' since a pretty huge number of thaums could be described as 'spirit energy.'  Does love-aspected mana not come from the spirit?  Or what about mana aspected to hatred?  Fear is another one, and is what modern researchers believe Nightmares survived off of in prehistory.  So obviously the term 'spirit energy' is a bit too vague.  A better name for what mamono need from their husbands would be 'masculine sexual energy.'  Once you think of it that way, it's rather obvious why it's concentrated in semen."

"It's still important to know the difference, though.  If the old assumptions were correct, things like manastones would be completely worthless.  We'd only need refrigerated semen, and mages could devote themselves to some other job."
I raise a finger, "But it's not like semen doesn't have that energy, right?  I know that it doesn't work as sustenance after a while, but I've never read why there isn't a way to store it."
She tips her head to the side in a sort of half-nod.  "Well, it's not like the spirit energy can't be kept in.  There's magic to do that; it just takes more energy to cast than to make a manastone.  As for how long it stays potent without magic, we've found that it has something similar to a half-life.  Every couple hours after leaving the body it contains roughly half as much energy."

"After that there's demonic energy, which is unique in ways that we still don't fully understand.  What we do know is that it operates differently on certain thresholds.  At low levels it acts in men and women in roughly the same way: it greatly increases lust.  It's only once it reaches a threshold that it transforms women into mamono and men into incubi.  Beyond that, it operates in accordance with the will of the demon lord, and in her absence has continued to do what she willed.  The only difference now is that it no longer has a font from which to constantly flow into the world, and now slowly dissipates when outside of a sapient being."

"Demonic energy is also unique in how it comes into existence.  Normal thaums are produced by a number of things: natural phenomena, strong emotions, conflicts, astrological alignments, the list goes on.  Demonic energy, though, can transform the mana around it.  Spirit energy is the most commonly affected; anything a mamono takes in beyond what she needs to survive is either transformed into demonic energy or, in the case of thaumavores, is stored for the sake of sustaining a daughter until adolescence."

We pause when the food arrives.  The salmon looks a little overcooked, but not to the point of getting rubbery.  Rina looks significantly more pleased by her tilapia, so at least that's good.  The exposition comes to a stop as we eat, and doesn't start back up again until we're both almost done.

"Of course, this all deals with true, thaumaturgical magic.  The benedictions that the Order still use operate independently of mana levels or aspects.  I'd like to say we have any idea why that is, but all we have are theories since the Order still refuses to let any mage do research on them."

"Beyond that there are still things like lunar resonance influencing demonic energy, areas of low or high mana, words of power, the various styles of casting and so on.  Still, for your purposes I think that's everything."