Friday, August 10, 2007

Dhe’nari Bards

08/10/2007

I once gave a brief overview of the Dhe’nari bard here:

“The Dhe’nar bard is the lorekeeper of his people. It is the bard’s job to be the living history of the Dhe’nar, memorizing every last bit of history, genealogy, and mythology of the First Born. Their training lasts longer than that of any other Dhe’nar profession, as they must commit to memory every detail of a culture that has existed for 80,000 years. Utilizing a vast variety of mnemonic devices to retain all this knowledge, the Dhe’nar Lorekeepers claim to be the first of the mortal races to have discovered the magic resident within the spoken word. However, not all Dhe’nari bards become Lorekeepers. Those who seek combat can find themselves valued in the Warrior Caste, and those who prefer to research the nature of their sound magic can find a role with the Warlock caste as well.”

I would like to expand upon this now, as the Lorekeeper I mentioned then is but one role of many.

Though those of other nations choose to collectively refer to those that wield sound magic as entertainers, or “bards”, those of the Dhe’nar rarely share a common title, preferring to be known by their individual roles within their castes. Few, if any, are entertainers, as the Common term implies. Any of them may be a Lorekeeper, a Sonomancer, one of the Discordant, and so on.

It is, of course, their particular approach to magic, their belief in the raw power of sound, that truly unites the Dhe’nari “bards”, while simultaneous setting them apart from their brethren. Specifically, most believe that sound itself is the underlying foundation of all magic, and not only that, but creation itself, and it is through the manipulation of sound that they seek Ascension.

As the theory goes, everything that exists is tied to a certain sound, a certain harmony, known as its resonance. This resonance contains determines the object’s nature, and as something changes, so does its “sound”. Conversely, by changing something’s resonance, the object itself then changes.

These two elements form the basis of Dhe’nari theories of sound magic. The ability to “read” the information in an object’s resonance forms the basis of the “loresinging” ability, while the ability to change the resonance in oneself, another, or one’s surroundings, essentially “rewriting” them, forms the basis of bardic “spells”. Thus their “songs” are truly a method of creating an informational construct, then forcing it on the world by imposing its harmonics over those that existed previously. Once the “bard” ceases to transmit sounds, local reality reasserts itself once more.

Theoretically, one could change the very world, or the stars, or even creation itself, if one had the proper harmonics, and a powerful enough delivery system.

The Sonomancers believe that resonance is the true lynchpin underlying all magics, from those of the Drakes to the lowliest savage hedge wizard. Other orders of magicians tend to dispute this, naturally, though none have, as of yet, disproven it.

Although many different types of Dhe’nari bard exist, beyond the three I mentioned above, one is probably more likely to encounter a Sonomancer (pure sound mages, typically members of the Warlock Caste) or a member of the Discordant (a military order that applies destructive harmonics to its physical combat skills, members of the Warrior Caste).

The Lorekeepers are not often seen outside Sharath, as they have effectively turned themselves into living libraries. By changing their resonance bit by bit over many long years, and reinforcing every piece of information they impose on their minds, they become repositories of vast amounts of Dhe’nari lore, from History to Genealogy (very important in a society that suffered a catastrophic population loss, and wishes to avoid inbreeding) to Research, and so on. The eldest and most advanced Lorekeepers hold the combined knowledge of tens of thousands of years of Dhe’nar culture in their heads, dispensing such information as their people need it. The reasons one may never encounter such individuals outside Sharath are twofold, and may already be obvious to the reader.

For one, the value of such an individual to Dhe’nar society cannot be overstated, and leaving Sharath always comes with risk. And secondly, the most advanced Lorekeepers have sacrificed much for their abilities, and can easily find it difficult to interact on a normal basis with the mundane world.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Warlock Caste Overview

10/09/2005

The Warlock Caste includes both wizards and sorcerors. Collectively they are known as Warlocks.

The Warlocks seek Ascension through the manipulation of the laws that bind reality. To them, natural laws are a code that must be broken, in order to decipher the wisdom that lies beneath. Thus, they are ever engaged in magical research, with a wide variety of specialties.

Sorcerers and wizards, though they do not shape magical forces the same way, still operate closely together within the caste, sharing theoretical magical knowledge even if they cannot practice each others’ core spells. Wizards and sorcerers perform research and experimentation jointly, in order to apply both magical perspectives to the Caste’s studies. It is rare to find a research group staffed only by one profession or the other. Even those that study the summoning of demons, normally the sole purview of the sorcerer, benefit from a wizard’s perspective.

There are, of course, those Warlocks who seek a more martial channel for their arts, and they train jointly with the Warrior caste. Such Warlocks operate with their units in the field in order to provide magical fire support when needed.