On the Nature of Sorcery
Since Francescu tends to get into discussions about sorcery with people, this is where I'm gonna try to make some kind of sense out of the way his magic works, armed only with my online dictionary and a moderate-to-extensive experience with the thought processes of his author. And a profound capacity for bullshit.
...I'll come in again.
In canon, we get a lot more of what Francescu can do than how he does it and not much of that, even. The only reference to the metaphysics behind sorcery in Unclean Legacy is Sophie's speech in "Francescu's Answer," which I quoted in my last entry. I'll start by mining that for useful information, then start the frantic jazz-hands.
Francescu is a master of the seven forms and the eighteen pervulsions, the pnakotic nodes and the words of the unmemorable tongue, as well as several currently-irrelevant (although impressive) statements of capability. From the ordering, we can imply that the forms and pervulsions are the basics of sorcery, while the pnakotic nodes and the unmemorable tongue are methodologies or enhancements used by masters.
Or at least, that's what I'm choosing to have it mean. Stop looking at me like that.
Since that's all the information we have, let the frantic making-stuff-up begin.
Sorcery and Pattern
This part of Francescu's magic is purest speculation, developed over a year and a half in camp.
Everything in the world can be described as a pattern perceptible and manipulable by sorcery. Most sorcerers build and manipulate these patterns by rote; the best of them, such as Francescu, can manipulate them directly and on the fly, adapting their spells to the situation. The Seven Forms are specific methods of manipulating patterns; the energy to create them and the basis and scope of them come from the eighteen pervulsions.
The Seven Forms
The seven forms are the basis of sorcery, the transcendent methodologies that imposes the sorcerer's will upon the world. They encompass the Creative, Destructive, Conjunctive, Transitive, Perceptive, Compulsive and Negative. Each form governs a specific task or set of tasks; the Creative Form is used when creating something from nothing, for example, and the Compulsive Form to impose the sorcerer's will over external phenomena. Forms can be used separately or together; assumedly, it gets harder to cast spells the more Forms they incorporate. Rare is the sorcerer who has knowledge of all seven Forms, much less masters them.
The Creative Form governs the creation of forces, objects or creatures that did not previously exist. It forms a pattern from raw energy.
The Destructive Form is the most powerful offensive Form; it reduces existing forces, objects or creatures to nothing. It returns a pattern to base energy, or removes aspects of it.
The Conjunctive Form brings targets together or forges bonds between them. It is also used to summon spirits. It joins multiple patterns into one.
The Transitive Form changes the nature of a creature, object or force (flesh to stone, water to air, heat to cold, etc.) It alters existing properties of a pattern.
The Perceptive Form transforms perceptions, either enhancing or impeding them. It covers both illusions and the basis of Francescu's true-sight spell. It reveals aspects of a pattern; while it has no direct effect per se, it can be used to allow spells to adjust themselves based on their targets.
The Compulsive Form alters the behavior of creatures, objects or forces. It limits the behavior of a pattern.
The Negative Form returns a creature, object or force to its natural state. This affects sorcery (such as the Transformative Form) or mundane effect (such as wounds) with equal alacrity. As expected, it returns a pattern to the conception of wholeness inherent within its structure.
The Eighteen Pervulsions
The word pervulsion comes from the Latin "drawing-through." In this case, I interpret it to mean the methodology that governs the source and focus of a sorcerer's power. I'm dividing it as follows: there are three "base" pervulsions, each with an inverse form, and three power-source modifiers to each of them. Each combination must be learned separately.
The Within-And-Without Pervulsion governs tightly focused spells which require great precision, or, in its inverse, broad-scale spells with little finesse. Most spells of instant duration use the Within-And-Without Pervulsion, as it includes single-target effects. The base pattern it creates is designed simply to feed energy into the spell's effects steadily, until it runs dry.
The Asleep-And-Awake Pervulsion governs spells intended to remain quiescent until triggered or, in its inverse, spells which are intended to act separately from their caster. The base pattern it creates is capable of controlling the flow of energy from the spell's reserve, whether it be at a preset command from the caster or by the spell's own "intelligence."
The Everywhere-And-Nowhere Pervulsion governs spells which affect worlds where the caster is not present, or, in its inverse, spells which have no specific target. The base pattern it creates binds itself to the fundamental patterns of a world.
The three power-source modifiers are Earthly, Heavenly and Internal.
Earthly spells tap power from the world around the sorcerer; though the weakest of the three, they are the least difficult to cast. Only patterns natural to the world can draw Earthly power -- abstract or obscure spells must use a more powerful source.
Heavenly spells, despite their name, draw energy from the greater structure of the universe; specifically, the Five Realms. Realm energy is suited to specific tasks dependent on the Realm, and can accomplish those tasks with much less effort than an Earthly spell, as well as being able to accomplish things impossible with an Earthly power source.
The most difficult modifier, Internal, draws power directly from the sorcerer's will and intent. A sorcerer can use this source to create any pattern he or she can conceive of, but the price in personal energy is high and the sorcerer must conceive it completely and without error.
Pnakotic Nodes and the Unmemorable Tongue
This is the part where my handwaving hits phenomenal levels, in case anyone out there is keeping track. XD ETA: Lies. HANDWAVING IS OVER 9000 in this whole essay after a year and a half of play.
Pnakotic nodes are concepts which deform the universe around themselves slightly; they are an aspect of pnakotic geometry, which is a way of describing the fundamental pattern of the universe. They serve as focal points for spells, if the caster can conceive them properly.
The unmemorable tongue is a language so named because it literally cannot be learned by any but the most disciplined of scholars. It accurately describes the nature of reality, and the human mind recoils from the concepts which it implies. Without the proper training, its words fade from memory as soon as they are heard or spoken. Speaking an intention in the unmemorable tongue writes that intention directly into the world. Effectively, the unmemorable tongue describes patterns in the language the universe understands.
Yhis writeup may well expand or change as Francescu develops at CFUD and/or as I decide that some of the concepts here are dumb.
...I'll come in again.
In canon, we get a lot more of what Francescu can do than how he does it and not much of that, even. The only reference to the metaphysics behind sorcery in Unclean Legacy is Sophie's speech in "Francescu's Answer," which I quoted in my last entry. I'll start by mining that for useful information, then start the frantic jazz-hands.
Francescu is a master of the seven forms and the eighteen pervulsions, the pnakotic nodes and the words of the unmemorable tongue, as well as several currently-irrelevant (although impressive) statements of capability. From the ordering, we can imply that the forms and pervulsions are the basics of sorcery, while the pnakotic nodes and the unmemorable tongue are methodologies or enhancements used by masters.
Or at least, that's what I'm choosing to have it mean. Stop looking at me like that.
Since that's all the information we have, let the frantic making-stuff-up begin.
Sorcery and Pattern
This part of Francescu's magic is purest speculation, developed over a year and a half in camp.
Everything in the world can be described as a pattern perceptible and manipulable by sorcery. Most sorcerers build and manipulate these patterns by rote; the best of them, such as Francescu, can manipulate them directly and on the fly, adapting their spells to the situation. The Seven Forms are specific methods of manipulating patterns; the energy to create them and the basis and scope of them come from the eighteen pervulsions.
The Seven Forms
The seven forms are the basis of sorcery, the transcendent methodologies that imposes the sorcerer's will upon the world. They encompass the Creative, Destructive, Conjunctive, Transitive, Perceptive, Compulsive and Negative. Each form governs a specific task or set of tasks; the Creative Form is used when creating something from nothing, for example, and the Compulsive Form to impose the sorcerer's will over external phenomena. Forms can be used separately or together; assumedly, it gets harder to cast spells the more Forms they incorporate. Rare is the sorcerer who has knowledge of all seven Forms, much less masters them.
The Creative Form governs the creation of forces, objects or creatures that did not previously exist. It forms a pattern from raw energy.
The Destructive Form is the most powerful offensive Form; it reduces existing forces, objects or creatures to nothing. It returns a pattern to base energy, or removes aspects of it.
The Conjunctive Form brings targets together or forges bonds between them. It is also used to summon spirits. It joins multiple patterns into one.
The Transitive Form changes the nature of a creature, object or force (flesh to stone, water to air, heat to cold, etc.) It alters existing properties of a pattern.
The Perceptive Form transforms perceptions, either enhancing or impeding them. It covers both illusions and the basis of Francescu's true-sight spell. It reveals aspects of a pattern; while it has no direct effect per se, it can be used to allow spells to adjust themselves based on their targets.
The Compulsive Form alters the behavior of creatures, objects or forces. It limits the behavior of a pattern.
The Negative Form returns a creature, object or force to its natural state. This affects sorcery (such as the Transformative Form) or mundane effect (such as wounds) with equal alacrity. As expected, it returns a pattern to the conception of wholeness inherent within its structure.
The Eighteen Pervulsions
The word pervulsion comes from the Latin "drawing-through." In this case, I interpret it to mean the methodology that governs the source and focus of a sorcerer's power. I'm dividing it as follows: there are three "base" pervulsions, each with an inverse form, and three power-source modifiers to each of them. Each combination must be learned separately.
The Within-And-Without Pervulsion governs tightly focused spells which require great precision, or, in its inverse, broad-scale spells with little finesse. Most spells of instant duration use the Within-And-Without Pervulsion, as it includes single-target effects. The base pattern it creates is designed simply to feed energy into the spell's effects steadily, until it runs dry.
The Asleep-And-Awake Pervulsion governs spells intended to remain quiescent until triggered or, in its inverse, spells which are intended to act separately from their caster. The base pattern it creates is capable of controlling the flow of energy from the spell's reserve, whether it be at a preset command from the caster or by the spell's own "intelligence."
The Everywhere-And-Nowhere Pervulsion governs spells which affect worlds where the caster is not present, or, in its inverse, spells which have no specific target. The base pattern it creates binds itself to the fundamental patterns of a world.
The three power-source modifiers are Earthly, Heavenly and Internal.
Earthly spells tap power from the world around the sorcerer; though the weakest of the three, they are the least difficult to cast. Only patterns natural to the world can draw Earthly power -- abstract or obscure spells must use a more powerful source.
Heavenly spells, despite their name, draw energy from the greater structure of the universe; specifically, the Five Realms. Realm energy is suited to specific tasks dependent on the Realm, and can accomplish those tasks with much less effort than an Earthly spell, as well as being able to accomplish things impossible with an Earthly power source.
The most difficult modifier, Internal, draws power directly from the sorcerer's will and intent. A sorcerer can use this source to create any pattern he or she can conceive of, but the price in personal energy is high and the sorcerer must conceive it completely and without error.
Pnakotic Nodes and the Unmemorable Tongue
This is the part where my handwaving hits phenomenal levels, in case anyone out there is keeping track. XD ETA: Lies. HANDWAVING IS OVER 9000 in this whole essay after a year and a half of play.
Pnakotic nodes are concepts which deform the universe around themselves slightly; they are an aspect of pnakotic geometry, which is a way of describing the fundamental pattern of the universe. They serve as focal points for spells, if the caster can conceive them properly.
The unmemorable tongue is a language so named because it literally cannot be learned by any but the most disciplined of scholars. It accurately describes the nature of reality, and the human mind recoils from the concepts which it implies. Without the proper training, its words fade from memory as soon as they are heard or spoken. Speaking an intention in the unmemorable tongue writes that intention directly into the world. Effectively, the unmemorable tongue describes patterns in the language the universe understands.
Yhis writeup may well expand or change as Francescu develops at CFUD and/or as I decide that some of the concepts here are dumb.