Question Faux-Wiz

The Wizard trait is described as the ability to gather ambient mystical energies. Or, tap into Essence pools, altars etc... But these Wizard variations are rarer.

Let's say... An Avatar with no magic potential of his own bonds with a spirit, that while inherently magical as most (if not, all?) spirits are, ISN'T a mage.

The Avatar is bent on learning the craft and incessantly asks his spirit for help, so the spirit reaches an accord with its host. "I, a spirit of the Forest, have no knowledge of this... Craft, you vehemently speak of. However, I'm no stranger to the energies that power it. In exchange for this modest dwelling I'll provide you with some of my apples."

Apples in this text refer to the mystical energies spirits gather at their True Hallow. In other words... Essence.

It would make sense. Since spiritual energy is denser than Essence making it a fair trade.

However, since Wakan Takan provides some Essence to Kayda and has stated to only be able to provide Kayda with only a little bit of it since giving her more would "muddle" the connection between them. Does this apply to your regular Avatar bondings?

Another thing, how deep does the "magic template" spirits set on their Avatars go? It's been stated a few times spirits can change their avatar's appearances to fit their agenda. And some have even "given" new abilities to their avatars this way, or so it seems...

PD: that was just one of the many examples I could come up with. If that example does not cut it for you... Just think of an AU Tansy who wants to learn magic but still bonds with Mustang (who doesn't seem to be a mage).

In my actual story the Avatar bonds with an Air Elemental. Which complicates things a even further since... Raw Air Essence + Untrained (Unlit well) Human Mage = YIKES!!!!!!! Recipe for disaster.

I added this to the "Suggestion Box" by mistake. Can anyone move it to the right place or delete it so I can re-post it to "Concepts/Big Picture".

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure where you are going with this.
It doesn't seem to be a question.

As to examples - Glyph

There are three sets of powers that run into in-universe classification problems. That is because when Gaia dreamed of trying out humans again, part of the design specs was that, as a class, humans are espers and magicians (and Schimmelhorn engineers may be a side effect). That doesn't mean that any specific Homo sap. can read minds and throw lightning from their fingertips once they blow out thirteen candles on their birthday cake. It means that if J. Random has the mindset and interest and support needed to learn, to practice, and to improve skills that can't be shown off to their friends, then they may - some day - pull off some neat stuff.

J. Random: "I wanna learn magick!"
Air elemental*: "It's spelled m-a-g-i-c, which you would know if you read a book."
J. Random: "But I don't have a Book of Shadows or a grimoire!"
Air elemental: "Start by aiming a bit lower, Chuckles. Maybe do your homework, for once? If you really gave a damn, you'd get a job, so you could afford real books that are more magical than that sticky Playboy under your bed."
J. Random: "B-but!"
Air elemental: "Prove to my satisfaction that you're serious and I'll listen to you whine some more."

* MBTI/Socionics reflects four-humors philosophy: xNTx/air/sanguine, xNFx/water/phlegmatic, xSTx/fire/choleric, xSFx/earth/melancholic.

Soooo. There are ways to measure Essence draw in orders of magnitude beyond baseline (i.e., human), and in an active mutant the parsimonious assumption is that they have a Wizard trait.

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What you're talking about sounds a lot like Channeling done by a mutant with an active Avatar trait: they get something that works a lot like Western formalist magic - as part of the rental payment on a Hallow - in place of some other form of compensation.

There's also Channeling as done by a mutant with an active Wizard trait: some entity gets a cut of the mutant's incoming Essence (and/or other considerations) in exchange for deliverables specified under separate cover.


I'd be tempted to call "channeling ambient essence" a Warper-v (energy effects that make no sense to our understanding) trait that could be called a faux-WIZ trait, because the outcomes act similar to those demonstrated by a WIZ-type mutant while acting via different mechanisms.

Astrodragon wrote: I'm not sure where you are going with this. It doesn't seem to be a question.

That's because Softdreams posted in Suggestions by mistake, instead of posting to the Concepts board.