Varistha's Notes

Channeling Vys and the Nature of Effects
Your lecture concluded you extract a few pages of the Varistha's notes and begin to read through them. The pages are old and yellowed, the handwriting sloppy. You'd guess that this is some of Varistha Sehzade's earlier research. He starts off by discussing how one filters magic. Essentially, according to the Varistha, the process of filtering magic involves stripping it of any aspects not related to the magic you wish to cast.

He gives an example, if one wishes to filter raw vys into Water magic they must first strip away fire magic, which the Varistha posits makes raw vys erratic and unpredictable. Next they must strip away Earth magic, which makes raw vys corrosive. Metal magic is a bit more difficult to explain but the Varistha thinks that it makes raw vys unstable, transmutable, and ever-changing. Nature magic is the last to have its aspects stripped away, and the Varistha proposes that it makes raw vys self-propagating to some extent.

What one is left with is the necessary component to cast Water magic, vys which flows calmly and assimilates easily with vys of its kind. Now, as for how one actually goes about stripping aspects from vys, the Varistha seems to have a few theories. One of his theories suggest that it's simply a facet of channeling, one only channels certain aspects of vys that compose one individual types of vys. You're a fan of this theory, personally. It's simple, and it makes sense. However, the Varistha also proposes that it may rely on some sort of proto-Earth magic to erode the connections between types of vys.

The Varistha posits that effects may be created by altering the aspects of vys itself. Poison, he suggest, is a facet of Earth magic. It's the pure corrosive power of Earth. Paralysis is likely some manner of Metal magic, it reinforces the joints of the target until they're solidified. Slow probably works in a similar manner to Paralysis, though he has no idea how Speed works. He suggest Pain is an aspect of Earth magic, again a facet of its corrosive power. He goes down a long list, naming some effects which you know and others you don't. He doesn't delve into metamagic, unfortunately.

Personally, you're not so certain that vys is as differentiated as the Varistha seems to suggest. You're inclined to say it's a much more homogenous mixture and that, rather than strip away aspects, one must weave aspects together in order to create a desired affect. You've always conceptualized it that way. As for effects, you can more or less agree that each individual effect likely hinges upon altering some aspect of a major element, though you're not quite convinced by his argument. He doesn't really make an argument, he just states his belief. On this particular issue, you're not entirely sure of whether or not you agree with the Varistha.

The Relations Between the Gods
You work through a good four chapters of the book before tucking it back into your cloak, resolving to finish it another day. Then you pull out the Varistha's notes and start to leaf through them. You've more or less finished off most of his notes on magic theory, so you start on his notes related to philosophy. They're the largest stack by far. You start with the oldest writings, since these seem to follow a stricter progression than most of his other rambling notes.

The pages are old and yellowed, and the writing hard to follow. You almost get the impression that the first several pages are an assignment or something he was forced to complete as a student of theology. You're fairly certain your little brother has written similar papers, though his aren't about Pani as an Empress of the Gods. You've never heard her referred to as such except by Sehzade and the other monks in the temple. Perhaps it's a relic from a forgotten time, maintained only by Sehzade's teachings.

Regardless you can't say that anything in the first few pages is anything you haven't heard before. Pani is the highest of the gods, crowned by the Lotus to symbolize her spiritual purity and dedication to her task. She cleanses the souls of the recently departed without attachment, surrendering them unto the sacred river where they are purged of their memories, both of hardship and triumph, before emerging from the river's mouth as a newborn.

Here the Varistha claims that Pani defeated Surya in battle to solidify her status as ruler of the gods, as Surya had challenged her authority. You're almost positive that this is a falsehood, or at the very least not the whole truth. The Metal Codex claims that Pani, with the help of Prthvi, enslaved Surya because he granted the spark of divinity to mortals, allowing them to shape the world to some limited extent just as the gods do. The entrance to Prthvi's tomb, or at least what you think was Prthvi's tomb, likewise contained a number of carvings depicting Pani and Prthvi battling Surya together.

Regardless you read on. That segment of documents seems to end and a new one begins, this one seeming just slightly less yellowed to your eye. Of course, it may simply be your imagination. It seems to be written as a sort of personal journal. He begins by remarking that he's been transferred to a temple in Marqash. He goes off on a long rant about how he's a veteran of the wars and yet his superiors are treating him the same as any other new monk. He's being forced to scrub the floors and tend the gardens and cook for the others. Always the last to be allowed to sit. He talks about how he could rip the spines from everyone in his temple and feast on their hearts instead.

Really, you're shocked by the sheer detail with which the Varistha describes how he would extract his revenge. You suppose this was written shortly after the Fall of Hiacia and Rhynia, if he's talking about having fought in the wars in the past sense. Either after the Fall of Hiacia or in that interim period when Hiacia still stood by Rhynia had fallen. He was probably fresh from the front, still addicted to Spice, and generally a different man than the one you knew. The journal paints a picture of a man wholly dissimilar to the wizened Sehzade.

Eventually he starts to wax on about the library in Marqash, but your thoughts are interrupted by a chorus of voices wishing you a happy birthday.