[Circle of Hands] Learning spells

[John W]

How do wizards (PC & NPC) learn their spells?  Spellbooks don't seem to fit this setting, nor do years of study.  For wizards, I imagine something like revealed knowledge that comes to them as they commit to Amboriyon or Rbaja. Maybe once you've learned a few, the rest become obvious.  For non-wizards, perhaps spells are shared orally like recipes.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey John, good question. I never answered it to my satisfaction twenty years ago, and although I'm not very interested in any such thing being a part of play, I think it matters for pure Color and a sense of solidity with the setting.

Which is to say, I don't know quite yet, but it should be in there. More thoughts coming later.

[Nyhteg]

Not that you're asking, but I'm taken with the notion that the process of becoming a wizard and learning spells might be quite...shamanic.

Simply spending a single harrowing night, say, in an Amboriyon or Rbaja zone might well be enough to grant spell casting ability.

Being more intentional about things - fasting, burning pode, spilling blood, performing particular symbolic acts, maybe - and remaining in a zone for a far more extended period would attune a character completely to the magical forces involved (and thus gaining access to the 'whole spell book').

Rbaja and Amboriyon zones occur naturally, so 'accidental empowerment' could possibly occur but mostly it is done very much on purpose.
I can easily imagine historical or contemporary uses of Enchantment plus Wrath and Distort to intentionally create 'sacred groves' or 'cursed caves' specifically for the purpose of becoming a spell caster of one colour or the other.

Spells wouldn't be 'learned' as such, but are expressions of personality, character, habit, desire and intent; a motile affinity rather than a memorisation.
Spell lists, to whatever extent they exist in the fiction, are not 'recipes' but taxonomies of the effects consistently observed in the wild.

None of this is musty and intellectual; magic is visceral and permanent and personally threatening. It's never a case of "shrug I guess I'll try being a wizard for a bit".  It's not even a case of picking a side in the war. The way I see it at the moment is that it's a highly volitional, deeply ideological act; literally a human sacrifice.
Choosing to become a wizard of either colour is to irreparably change yourself in unknowable ways.
Choosing to become a Grey Wizard and go through this not once but twice is a major, personality and reality shaking process. I'm thinking only a totally driven bad ass with a will of incandescent iron would be able to take it on...

You'll have your own thoughts, of course - I'm just getting over-excited. :)

Gethyn

[Ron Edwards]

My current thoughts.

1. No one learns magic in any way without dedicated intention.

2. Learning spells without becoming a wizard requires book-learning and mentoring, including controlled contact with Amboriyon or Rbaja. You can't do it by yourself.

I'm thinking of rounding out some of the creatures with this capacity. The Guide seems ready-made for it, and so does the Imp.

3. Becoming a wizard requires both of the following.

i) Extended contact with Rbaja or Amboriyon, including staying in a zone just as Gethyn describes.
ii) Book study.

What I have in mind is less fully shamanic than Gethyn's suggestion, but has many elements of it. I also think it will go a long way toward helping the Color of spellcasting (my "oil, bone, smoke" text).

4. There are "spell books," or more accurately, "magic books," or more accuractly, "documents" of various kinds. None of them are themselves magic entities, although I can see that people might enchant them with various protections, and none of them can teach anything at all to anyone who hasn't received the contact mentioned in #2 and #3(i) above. Such a person who looks at these documents will see words in understandable language, but gain no useful instruction; it'll be boring and worthless. Also, none of these documents are standardized.

5. Nothing intrinsically stops anyone from doing this for both Rbaja and Amboriyon magic. However, the cultural, ideological, and experiential gateway into doing so has always reinforced that it's one or the other. Until the Circle came about, either no one tried or they quickly ended up dead.

6. I don't currently see much benefit in over-narrating the precise histories of Circle knights with magic. They may or may not have used spells before joining the Circle, and even a Circle wizard may have received full training after joining. If such history is important to a character, such as Semblance for Krimhilde, then sure; if not, then not, and it's no big deal either way.

Best, Ron