You lecture, "Ethics of Magic, Volume I, for Iskra. Today's lesson we will begin studying the fundamentals of spellcasting, such as the spelling of the word 'spellcasting'... Some scholars believe this word starts with the letter S, and others rightly claim that it begins with the venerable letter C..."

You say, "...I'm kidding."

Tirost lets out a long sigh of relief.

Navesi says to you, "My dear, it's Navesi. I believe you have a good crowd going now."

Qiyan says, "Its like a lecture crawl instead of a pub crawl."

You exclaim, "Thank you, miss Navesi! I hope you have your note-taking tools ready!"

Navesi says to you, "In my hands."

You say, "Okay... we're going to begin in a moment... so I'm going to see if this thing has fancy magic. It's ethical, I hope."

You pull a small device on the podium, setting the meeting room to have relative silence.

You flick one ear back as though listening for something.

You quietly say, "Yay."

You exclaim, "Okay, um... so I prepared this lecture over the last few days... I'm just going to blurt it out as fast as I can before I forget things!"

You clear your throat.

---

*The Actual Lecture*

You say, "The other day, I tried to learn about sorcery, to understand what makes it dangerous. I chose to ask two warrior mages, because I thought that they should not have any reason to say its good or bad one way or another. A person who wants to practice sorcery will say its good, and the people who don't want them to will say its bad. I wanted to know WHY its bad, and HOW it does to harm our world."

You say, "What I learned, is that there are several types of sorcery. There is sorcerous casting, that is using mana you cannot sense, to cast spells that are not meant for your guild. The people I talked to had no proof that this was causing harm to anyone but the user. I would ask, why would you want to cause harm to yourself by using it? There is not just the backlash of accidentally putting the wrong mana type into the spell matrix, but the mental strain of harnessing unknown amounts of mana can cause bad moods and worsen your day! If you are someone who lashes out at others, you are making life for everyone around you miserable for some tiny magical gains."

You say, "Then there is low sorcery. This is the magic of necromancy... Um. I know very little about this at the moment... so I will move on."

You say, "Last, there is high sorcery, in which the spell itself needs a combination of mana types to function, and in doing so, alters the way our reality functions. The kind of high sorcery known to warrior mages is High-low-morphic sorcery. It changes the way elements behave. Fire that does not act like fire."

You ask, "How does this fire act, then? Does it burn water instead of air? Or does it move like water? Is it cold to touch? It could be any of these. The changes made to reality to make fire do this... They don't go away. They leave scars. Little ones, maybe. Or big ones, I don't know. Do you know how to heal scars on reality? Do you know what happens to an empath when there is more scar than body? And do you know how to stomp a fire out, if its not really fire to begin with?"

You say, "There are other types of high sorcery... Each has its own damaging effects. Teleological sorcery interferes with the Plane of Probability, and... I forget what its called, but the kind of high sorcery clerics can do does, um... something... Um, the thing is, all these types that change how our reality work, they also have another effect, which is to diminish the power the gods have over our plane. Or else, they give power to the demons. Neither of these are good things to have happen, and I would say they sound to me to be one and the same."

You guzzle down the water. It tickles your tongue and throat with its effervescence!
You wipe your mouth.

You say, "There is proof that sorcery has been damaging our plane. As I understand it, all four mana types exist together and form a shield around our world. Even one of these mana types vanishing can cause harm. The Standing Stones near Riverhaven. Those are there because elemental mana was sucked dry, weakning the mana shield to allow demons to pierce through into our plane. There is a place called the Dark Hand... I don't know where it is, or what it is, or how it is, but lady Isharon probably does. Lastly, the weakening of our mana shield has allowed zenzics and starcrashers from the Plane of Probability to ravage our world. All of these were made possible by sorcery, and it may be that the scars left by its use will never, ever be healed."

You say, "When I was only seventeen years old, I was hungry for knowledge. I went to the Empath's guild, to the library, and read books. In those books, I found magic. Life magic, a magic I had never knew of before. I was a warrior mage, and my love was lightning. I didn't know what sorcery was. I didn't know much of anything, except raw elemental power. So I studied that book, and I pulled life mana around myself, and somehow, I combined not only two types of mana, but two types of spells. I created lightning that was not lightning, and I did it by using my body. And now that part of me is gone."

(Iskra prods at her eyeballs with the tips of her claws.)

You say, "I see more now than I did back then. I see that no one gets to be innocent. No one gets to be blind to the dangers, if we are to survive. This is a cruel world. It is full of unkindnesses. There are evil things everwhere in this plane alone, from the depths of mountains, the darkness of an old forest, to the heart of the person sitting next to you right now."

You ask, "So I ask you, what are you going to do about it?"

You say, "There are some people who say all we can do is let it be. They say its MEANT to be. If someone is hurt, there was no stopping it. It was fate that it happened. No one's fault. No one to blame, so no apology necessary. The world is cruel, live with it, or don't. It was their time to be hurt."

You exclaim, "Think of a spider's web. When its finished, it may look beautiful, or it may look drab and dingy, covered with dust. They say fate is a web. Lady Harawep's web... which do you think it is? Beautiful, or dusty and torn? Its neither. She is still weaving it!"

You say, "Every moment, right now, there is more and more web. Fate is not predestination, it is the past. When a moon mage makes a prediction, it is not absolute. It is a well-guided guess as to what strand lady Harawep will next weave us. A possibility, and thus, a choice."

You say, "Lady Harawep is not a god of destiny. She is a god of decisions. We make decisions every day. We choose what becomes fate."

You ask, "This is a cruel world. It is full of unkindnesses. What are you going to do about it? Because you always have a choice. You may not like the consequences of that choice. You may find yourself making a choice between two hurts. Weigh them carefully. Which choice will cause the most hurt? Which choice will cause the most hurt to you, and to others?"

You guzzle down the water. It tickles your tongue and throat with its effervescence!
You finish off the rest of it, and set the glass aside.

You ask, "Which choice will fill this world with more cruelty? Which choice will make it just a little bit better?"

(Iskra points at nothing in particular.)

You say, "You are not made by this world. You are made by your decisions. You are to blame for what you become, and you owe an apology to those people you hurt. You chose to let this cruel world turn you cruel in kind. I am choosing not to."

You say, "If you're the kind of person who visits cruelty upon others, for whatever reason, then I aim to make you miserable. There is darkness in my heart, and you can't have it. Nor do you get my kindness. My heart is closed off to you, and you will not break it through cruelty. You will spend energy thinking about me, how to destroy me. You will waste time throwing every cruelty you can imagine at me. It will not break for you."

You straighten your ears up with a sense of inborn pride.

You say, "This is a decision I will make every time I wake up. It's not a decision I want to make. Some days, I may not be able to make it. But I will try. Because that is love. Love for this cruel, unkind world. Because I believe, someday, it won't be cruel and unkind any more. And that change is because I believe change is possible. Because I know fate is not what is going to be, but what has already been. Fate is the foundation of the future."

You ask, "To end my thoughts... I want to ask you one more thing. I want to ask you to dream of two worlds. One world, where we stop using sorcery, and one world where we don't. Dream as long as you can, and then make one more choice: which world do you want to wake up in tomorrow?"

---

Heartsfyre says, "Interesting observation there."

Navesi says to you, "I'm impressed at the interest you've shown in this topic, and the research you've done."

Isharon says to you, "The Dark Hand is south of Shard. It was blighted by the necromancy of Dragon Priests, and only the Emerald Knights hold its corruption at bay."

You exclaim to Navesi, "Thank you!"

Agalea sassily says to you, "Very well spoken."

Navesi says, "I believe we all do well to think more on sorcery in all its forms."

Whiteburn says to you, "Very wise words, my child. Lady Harawep surely smiles upon you."

You say, "Golly."

Perune says to you, "Gutsy, like I said."

Collain says, "You're omitting Shadow Clan and their sacrifice."

Tirost says to you, "You did very well, Iskra - explained your points very clearly."

You exclaim, "Um, I don't know Shadow Clan! Sorry!"

You say, "But I would like to learn about it now."

Chrysagon says, "A lot to chew on there."

Talmoon quietly says, "One thing I'd point out is that some people from some certain tower argue that certain nodes of 'fate' are inescapable. There might be bad people because bad people are needed to move forward, as strange as that sounds."

Isharon says to you, "I don't know much about the Shadow Clan either, but I was mustered into the Emerald Knights as a squire and have served my time on the walls."

Collain says, "Shadow Clan is a human clan that lives within the Dark Hand. They fight the darkness so that it never reaches Corik's Wall where the Emerald Knights stand their vigil."

Heartsfyre says, "Ya have to check the balance. from evil to good. there is always a balance."

Aashja says to Talmoon, "Chaos and order is balance."

Whiteburn says, "Sorcery is not a part of this balance."

You slowly say, "I feel pretty certain we could live without a perfect balance of people being kind and people being cruel."

Tirost asks you, "Iskra... you asked us to imagine a world with and without sorcery. May I ask why?"

Navesi says, "In my view, balance is a false aim. What we must aim for instead is the good of civilization, to fight that which would erode our lives, health, or happiness."

Heartsfyre says, "You realise that when you choose to not be the one to do sorcery or give in into itsdesign, there is that person who will always want that piece of cake.. balance."

You say, "Because, mister Tirost... dreams are the best way to see the future. And people with knowledge will find their dreams are closer to reality... and I want to know what's going to happen in those dreams."

Perune says, "More importantly, to continue tearing at our Plane with sorcerous corruption and all it entails will make it so you can't live here. The 'Balance' you need to preserve is the natural balance of the world without spells that break the state as is."

Navesi says to Heartsfyre, "I think that is false. I believe people tell that to themselves to allow them to feel like they can be the bad person. Because it is 'needed' somehow. It isn't. We should all strive to be better than that."

Tirost says to you, "I like your method of persuasion, Iskra."

You say, "People dream, and then people create."

Rze asks, "Is the lecture over?"

Heartsfyre says, "Its a thought process, if one is willing to not use it. there is the other willing to do it.. its a state of mind."

You say, "Yes it is... thank you for listening..."

Navesi says, "There will always be those who are selfish, greedy, or hungry for power. We must fight that as much as we can."

Mazrian says, "I stand firmly with the defenders of reality and our way of life."

Mazrian says, "All my stuff is here."

Miskton asks you, "Hello there. This is Miskton, again. You said earlier that you had been looking to speak to me?"

Talmoon quietly says, "Is it impossible for Fate to have accounted even the slightest for the fact that Elanthia's inhabitants will have discovered and practiced sorcery? I would think, that while it's bad, it's still part of the overall design."

You say, "Yes, mister Digmo said I should ask Miskton and Mistanna about things. I forget what they are now."

Tirost says, "It is also unfortunate that the greater good is difficult to discern for mortals, and each tends to decide what is good for all based on what is good for him or her."

Isharon says to Talmoon, "The way Harawep seems to have accounted for that is to scour our plane of the corruption."

Miskton says to you, "Well, if you remember, feel free to track me down and ask."

Talmoon quietly says, "Fair enough."

Isharon says, "Kill us all and let the Spiral sort it out."

Talmoon quietly says, "But she hasn't, even though it's an ongoing issue."

You say, "I will have to ask mister Digmo about it again! I think... it might have been about the web of fate, and what exactly that is. Or maybe I'm confusing it with my conversation with mister Tirost I had the next day..."

Mazrian says, "It's the kind of threat you can only really carry out once."

Perune says to you, "I had advised you speak to Miskton about the Web as well. You had a lot of questions as to the theory of its function and potential damage."

Navesi says to Miskton, "I had a few questions for you as well, if you don't mind sometime."

You ask, "You know, maybe it wasn't mister Digmo who told me, it was mister Perune all along?"

You quietly say, "My head hurts."

Perune says, "Maybe, all along."

Miskton says to Navesi, "Certainly."

Perune says to you, "You did good. If you have any troubles, please let me know."

Navesi asks Miskton, "Has there been any word in the Ilithi court of a response to the recent planar disaster?"

Perune says, "The voice of the good shouldn't be stomped out by the actions of the criminally stupid."

You say, "I feel like the kind of people I would make miserable didn't show up for my lecture, probably."

Collain says, "Keep asking questions. The more mages realize they are wrong, the better off we're going to be."

Miskton says to Navesi, "To my knowledge, there has not been an official response."

Whiteburn says to Talmoon, "It was the sacrifice of the few faithful that stayed Mistress Harawep's hand. If we mortals prove that we refuse to learn, then we may very well pay the ultimate price. It may prove to be more effective to burn out the poison than to continue to allow it to fester."

Navesi asks Miskton, "As court mage, are you in a position to... bring up the subject, perhaps?"

Azettie says, "This makes me glad I am magicly useless."

Qiyan says to Azettie, "Finally innocent of something."

Miskton says to Navesi, "The Tower has been made aware of the issue, but beyond that I can't comment."

You say, "I wish I had never learned magic, too."

Navesi asks Miskton, "Do you have any personal comment to add on the behavior of Aerathor and Aaoskar?"

Talmoon quietly asks, "Based on what Azettie said, don't the gods have other options?"

Tirost quietly says to you, "I hope you feel differently some day."

Qiyan says, "I believe there are ways to become magically disabled."

You say, "I got to cast some nice lightning and stormclouds. That's all I dreamt of when I left Sunfall."

Isharon says, "And there are some born mana blind, who are incapable of attuning to any kind of mana."

Whiteburn says to you, "There is no inherent evil in magic. Meraud entrusted us with His gift. But it, as you say, a choice. Do you use your gift wisely and with intent to do good? Or with intent to cause sorrow and misery? Magic... mana... is a part of the balance of this world."

Talmoon quietly says, "Well, it's like, you can't steal from someone without hands, but you also can't steal from someone without something to steal. Maybe the gods can some how protect us from ourselves rather than rely on us to be good."

Miskton says to Navesi, "I... think that given what we knew at the time, their actions were foolish, but the extent of the danger was greater than could be expected. Having observed the outcome, however, the lack of remorse is disappointing."

Tirost says to Whiteburn, "Many sorces of power could be thought of the same way."

Navesi says to Miskton, "Thank you, Court Mage."

Isharon says to Talmoon, "I think the Light Aspects try."

Navesi says to you, "You might be interested to know that I was not able to attune to the mana frequency that I had hoped for initially."

Perune says to Talmoon, "They may do that. Or Harawep may say Nevermind, and try to "start over", as it were."

Whiteburn curtly says, "Not all sources of power have a place in this world."

You say, "That is... interesting, actually..."

Isharon curiously asks Navesi, "What was your first choice?"

Navesi says, "I used to suffer from debilitating headaches. Heartsfyre can confirm, as she was my personal physician at the time. I tried to join the Moon Mage guild at the time, but during the preparations, my headaches increased in magnitude several-fold."

You ask, "Oh, that's just Kssarh's voice, surely?"

Navesi says, "Master Kssarh told me that attuning to Lunar mana would pose a great danger to me."

Isharon wryly says to Navesi, "There is a joke in there somewhere."

Navesi says, "Hence my choice of the Bard guild instead."

Whiteburn says to you, "That is the question I was to ask, myself."

Isharon asks, "Headaches? Have you tried not being defenestrated?"

Navesi says, "As it turns out, though, my preference is for historical study, so that worked out well. Also, the headaches disappeared after I attuned to Elemental."

Navesi says, "I find the sound of it to be very soothing. For those who are not attuned, it is something like... being near the ocean."

You ask, "You can... hear mana?"

Navesi says, "A kind of pulsing, rushing sound that overtakes me and calms me."

You whine and complain, probably annoying anyone within earshot.

Navesi says, "Yes, we Bards have an auditory perception of the mana streams, rather than visual."

Tirost says to Perune, "Hearing her speak of her attunement makes me sypathize with Oscearo..."

Navesi asks, "Is she not happy with hers?"

Isharon says, "When Paladins perceive holy mana, they see an indication of their spiritual conviction."

Tirost says to Navesi, "She once perceived it as you do now."

Azettie says, "That could be peaceful unless you can't swim, Well I should let the ones with strong thinking spounges continue with this."

Tirost says, "But no longer."

You ask, "What happened?"

Perune says, "Oscearo struggled for a long time to become accustomed to the ways of our Guild."

Tirost says to you, "You'll have to ask her."

Perune says, "But she has improved greatly."

Perune says, "Though her way of casting Targetted Spells is still amusing."

Tirost softly says, "And she is not confident in spellcasting..."

You say, "I need a miss Navesi-approved notebook that I can write dots in."

Navesi says, "I'm confident she will come into her own."

Perune says, "It is simply a matter of time."

You say, "I have too many people to talk to about too many things... I am going to forget."

Navesi says to you, "Show me anything you like. I'm sure we can find a suitable one."

Perune says to you, "Get someone to be your scribe."

Navesi says, "Yes. The Olvi make excellent scribes, in my opinion."

Perune says, "Like an apprentice who keeps track of your to-do list."

You say, "Olvi make me uneasy."

Navesi slowly asks, "They do?"

You say, "There was a man next to me at the hospital, his stomach exploded from eating tarts..."

Navesi says, "Oh my."

Talmoon quietly says, "No doubt he died on his own terms. A brave hero."

Perune asks, "Are you sure that's why his stomach exploded?"

You exclaim, "That's what I heard!"

Navesi says, "It may be true that one shouldn't give too many tarts to an Olvi. I have heard that some of them are unable to stop themselves if food is in front of them..."

Perune says, "Well you're not supposed to believe everything you hear. That probably wasn't even his stomach."

You say, "It was a tart eating competition? He didn't die, though."

You say, "But he did complain a lot..."

Whiteburn asks, "Did he wish for more tarts?"

You sadly say, "Yes. Mostly that."

Perune says, "I imagine he did. As did everyone near him."

Talmoon quietly says, "Well, I'm glad we could end on an inspirational story."

Qiyan says, "Well it was a most interestin lecture and presented succinctly and shortly, thank you Iskra."

Isharon jokingly says to Talmoon, "Feel free to share your own casual racism."

You ask, "It was short?"

Tirost says to you, "I must be off, Ms Iskra, but I am very happy I got to hear your thoughts and research on sorcery."

You say, "Oh... thank you, mister Tirost."

Qiyan says to you, "Well the topic lends itself to much longer lectures I'm sure."

Perune says to you, "Some of us rant for a very long time."

Tirost says to you, "I look forward to hearing more, as you research further."

You say, "I thought I just went on and on and on..."

Tirost says to you, "Take care of yourself. I'll see you soon, I hope."

Qiyan says to you, "Thank ya again fer yer words, it certainly left me with somethin to think on."

You say, "Thinking is good."

Miskton says to you, "On that note, it did sound like you had a decent high level grasp on the Web of Fate."

Talmoon quietly says, "You might look into what those dirty Moonies define as nodes and threads of Fate, too."

You say, "I'll see you soon, too, I hope."

Kaelie says to you, "It was very well spoken, and thought provoking."

Maltris says, "To each of you, a good morning."

You say, "See, jokes."

Perune asks you, "You did quite well. Were you nervous?"

You say to Miskton, "I was actually thinking about it like that before I talked with mister Digmo about it..."

You say to Perune, "No, I just imagined everyone was naked. Like I always do."

Perune says, "Well.. I mean, we might be."

Whiteburn says to you, "I am pleased to hear that you have given this subject the serious consideration it deserves. You have clearly been touched by the Web-Weaver. I pray that She continues to guide you along the righteous path."

(Iskra pries her eyes open wider and leans forward, peering around the room with her creepy vacant gaze.)

Navesi says to Whiteburn, "Well said, Mother."

You say, "Thank you, mother Whiteburn. Your sibilant voice is always a nice thing to hear! Always wise and teaching me things."

Navesi says, "Now if you all will excuse me please, there is a matter I must attend to."

Navesi says to you, "Well done again. I am pleased with your interest and I encourage you to pursue it further."

You say, "But not too far."

Whiteburn says to you, "Today it is you who have taught me something. I look forward to speaking with you again, my child. Until the strands of the Web permit us to meet again, I pray that safety and peace become you as the gentle waters of Eluned's domain."

You say, "Goll-EE."

You say, "You sure say nice things for a bloodthirsty fanatic! Um, I mean, not that I think you're one..."

Miskton says, "Well, it's been a long night and the sun is up, so I think it's time for me to get some rest. You did well with your lecture, Iskra. Keep at it."

You quietly say, "Thank you, mother Whiteburn..."

Whiteburn says to you, "Of course, my child."

Perune says to you, "You're not my child. But I imagine I'll see you again soon. Let me know if there are any problems."

Kaelie says, "Have a good morning all."