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December 27, 2019
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Jim Tigwell
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Mystics
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Mystics were all killed during the Dreamwalker's Plague, centuries ago.
Mystics are the subject of much speculation in Temir. Pecuiliar to the Madjan Krugtoje, these apparently mad spellcasters dwell in scattered groves across the frontier. No one knows how many there are, and they're seldom studied, though it's said they have great powers of healing and divination.
From the mage Angelus's treatise On the Matter of Mystics:
To say magic is a complex phenomenon is an understatement. It is an ocean of potential and power, governed by forces we may never quite understand. The will of the world, perhaps. An underpinning in the arch of creation. In sorcerers it flows naturally, while wizards strain to master it, and other disciplines find their own way to sip from its dangerous waters. Priests and druids are granted a measure of its power, going to the shore during their prayers and carrying within them a waterskin of miracles.
Mystics are different.
Their magic is dangerous. Powerful, and unpredictable, they wrench moments of clarity from constant ritual. Within their groves, their power is indisputable, but they have never been known to cross those boundaries.
Groves
Mystics groves are places of famous power, from holding back corruption to tidal waves, they form natural bastions with an unassailable mage at the heart. As civilization expands into the frontier, it overtakes the territory of mystics, but people seldom seek them out. The answers a mystic gives are rarely the ones you want, and though the legends of their prophetic nature are widely known, knowing the future can be a terrible burden.
From the text:
Every mystic I have met seemed beleaguered. Strained. Most wizards tax themselves to unleash a torrent of power, but mystics seem hard pressed to hold it back, lest they spout a truth that changes the world. Like Paladins, they act without knowing why, speak without reason, and employ strange sensory practices and modes of perception beyond those of the most skilled wizard.
Mystics are weird. Their magic sits on the edge of civilization, a wildness and a reminder of the hidden dimensions of the world that no one quite understands. No one knows why they're there, but Angelus speculates:
I believe mystics are necessary. These immortal, embodied guardians are not spigots for the great ocean of power that flows in the universe; they are dams. They exist where the world is frayed, and serve to contain the tide. Why they exist, and why only here, I cannot say, but something in the Madjan's dark past must have rent the fabric of creation itself.
Prophets
Mystics are tied to their grove. Their power is bound up there. In a few legends, some have come unstuck, carrying their power around as a great prophet, with knowledge and strength far beyond that of others, but vastly more mortal, as well. A prophet has no grove to give hem strength and guidance, so they have to find other ways.
Known Mystics
There are many known mystics, though their precise locations within the region are always a little in flux.
- The Blanchwood Mystic, in the Aelthindaar: a melancholy Elven woman who paints with the colours of he forest.
- The Kestrelspark Mystic, in Rill Iryss: An eclectic sorcerer feared by the Five Lakes Tribes.
- The Lotus-Eye Mystic, in Brindonwood: A drunken sot who sees through flowers.
- The Black Temple Mystic, in Uld Vroggen: A powerful monk who seeks great challenges.
- The Rattleclaw Mystic, in the Grimweald: A temperamental shaman dressed like a pillbug.
- The Emberweave Mystic, in the Kelder Steppes: A young girl served by burning beasts.
- The Bleak Bow Mystics, in the Tharakka Morass: A telepathic archer said to be a heroic priestess.
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