La Maison Soloumbre: Afternoon of April 10th

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La Maison Soloumbre: Afternoon of April 10th

Post by Nathan of the FoS »

After the morning's lecture from Esteemed Brother Hazan there is a brief hiatus while several Brothers previously deputized bring out a collation of cold meats, cheeses, and pastries for the afternoon repast. (The Fraternity has opted to retain the Core custom of reserving the day's largest meal for the evening, rather than the native Souragnien custom of taking it in the middle of the day.) A few drops of rain fall, but the storm which has been brewing throughout the morning seems to wish to delay its entrance. The weird tension which always preceeds a thunderstorm makes the gathering rather more subdued than it was yesterday afternoon; conversations are carried on in low, muffled voices, and it seems everyone is continually glancing over his shoulder; the sensation of being watched is quite strong.

Smaller lectures are being held in different rooms through the Maison before the featured speakers of the evening give their discourses; accordingly, the gathering breaks up, most going to the lecture of one or another fellow-brother, while a few remain in the ballroom or venture outdoors to make sure their accomodations are sufficiently prepared for the inclement weather to come.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Raphael Buchvold walked onto the platform that had been hurriedly erected in the library. He was completely at ease with his surroundings.

"My thanks, brothers in shadow, for your attendance. I sincerely believe that you will find my talk well worth your time"

My investigations into this topic started with investigating quite another. My original goal was a simple investigation of the creatures known as fiends.

However, it is my hypothesis that these creatures, belief and arcane energy all overlap.

Buchvold then goes into a discussion of a large number of fiends he has researched either personally, or (In the cases of more powerful fiends) through records. In each case he establishes a relatively clear link between the fiends behaviour, powers and modus opperandi and a belief, either a vice (Such as Lust, and sucbubi), or a fear(the fear of control, and an ultraloth in one case study)

Buchvold then moves on to the basics of the idea that belief and arcana are linked. He does not delve into much detail, but refers to clerics and mythical monsters that bear a large semblance to existing ones as his major sources of information.

"Unfortunately, in spite of the ability of many fiends to wield arcane powers, this is but conjecture. However, I do have one piece of evidence that proves my theory."

He gestures to a low ranking initiate to come up to the platform .He removes his amulet from around his neck, and presents it to the initiate.

"What can you hear?"

The initiate confirmed Buchvold's evidence. Upon donning the amulet, he could here a telepathic whispering in his ear. This "whisper" continually recited arcane formulae, strait into the initiates mind. Buchvold then revealed that the amulet contained a bound fiend. He is careful to stress that this has been his sole attempt at this art. Since thus, the subconscious essence of a fiend could be made to recite arcane formulae, this established a reasonable link between fiends, and pure arcane energy, as not every medium could be inscribed with arcana

Buchvold has a smile as he concludes this explanation

"Any questions?"
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Post by alhoon »

Draxton heard Buchvold with mild interest. So he has delved that path. That leads to opportunities. Buchvold's style of speaking was good and the lecture informative and creative.
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Post by Jason of the Fraternity »

Anthony Reuland listens intently from his seat near the back of the room. The grey-skinned man looks impeccably clean this afternoon. He wears a pair of black trousers a white cotton shirt. A crimson vest and golden pocket watch being the only noticeable adornments. A pair of tinted spectacles adorns his nose and hides his eyes. His wild mop of black hair has been carefully pulled back and tied into place. Yet, despite the cleanliness of his attire, a strange aroma of decay surrounds the man.

"Truly an interesting hypothesis, Brother Buchvold," Anthony stated. "My own ‘limited’ research on fiends would tend to support your idea that these creatures tend to focus around a particular belief, which oftentimes ends up being some sort of sin. However, how can we be certain that these ‘beliefs’ ties into the fiends arcane powers?"

"Perhaps, fiends merely learn and master powers that correspond with the particular ideals and/or beliefs that they follow. Take your gathered brothers as an example," Anthony mentioned as he motioned to the rest of the room with his hand. "We have a wide variety of Brothers gathered here this afternoon, and I would daresay that each Brother has his own perspective to things. In addition, each Brother has found his own way to study magic. Some Brothers follow the basic following of the arcane arts, and others chose to specialize in particular schools that suited their interests. Mind you, I wouldn’t say that anyone here is ‘fiendish’, but you understand the point…"

"Now, if I may play the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ for a moment?" Anthony smirked slightly at the bad pun as he distantly examined the amulet from afar. "What are your personal thoughts concerning the connection between belief and arcane power? Do you think that this ‘belief’ is based on the individual’s efforts, such as force of will, or more so from a group? Would a fiend’s arcane power increase if it more strongly believed in something? Would a fiend’s power diminish if the populace believed differently of it?"

"Personally," Anthony added, "I think that force of will could comprise a large portion of it. However, I have my doubts that 'force of will' and belief' can be truly considered the same thing."

Anthony sat back into his chair and looked to Buchvold. "Anyway, I would be interested in hearing what your research would indicate thus far…"
Last edited by Jason of the Fraternity on Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Jason of the Fraternity wrote:Anthony Reuland listens intently from his seat near the back of the room. The grey-skinned man looks impeccably clean this afternoon. He wears a pair of black trousers a white cotton shirt. A crimson vest and golden pocket watch being the only noticeable adornments. A pair of tinted spectacles adorns his nose and hides his eyes. His wild mop of black hair has been carefully pulled back and tied into place. Yet, despite the cleanliness of his attire, a strange aroma of decay surrounds the man.

"Truly an interesting hypothesis, Brother Buchvold," Anthony stated. "My own ‘limited’ research on fiends would tend to support your idea that these creatures tend to focus around a particular belief, which oftentimes ends up being some sort of sin. However, how can we be certain that these ‘beliefs’ ties into the fiends arcane powers?"

"Perhaps, fiends merely learn and master powers that correspond with the particular ideals and/or beliefs that they follow. Take your gathered brothers as an example," Anthony mentioned as he motioned to the rest of the room with his hand. "We have a wide variety of Brothers gathered here this afternoon, and I would daresay that each Brother has his own perspective to things. In addition, each Brother has found his own way to study magic. Some Brothers follow the basic following of the arcane arts, and others chose to specialize in particular schools that suited their interests. Mind you, I wouldn’t say that anyone here is ‘fiendish’, but you understand the point…"

"Now, if I may play the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ for a moment?" Anthony smirked slightly at the bad pun as he distantly examined the amulet from afar. "What are your personal thoughts concerning the connection between belief and arcane power? Do you think that this ‘belief’ is based on the individual’s efforts, such as force of will, or more so from a group? Would a fiend’s arcane power increase if it more strongly believed in something? Would a fiend’s power diminish if the populace believed differently of it?"

"Personally," Anthony added, "I think that force of will could comprise a large portion of it. However, I have my doubts that 'force of will' and belief' can be truly considered the same thing."

Anthony sat back into his chair and looked to Buchvold. "Anyway, I would be interested in hearing what your research would indicate thus far…"
"You make many good points, Brother Reuland" Buchvold replies, with the barest hint of a smile, possesed by one who enjoys debate.

"The link between fiends' powers and belief is something that I can only speculate on for now. It certianly bares further investigation, but that would be dificult and is beyond my ability for the moment."

"However, studying the cases of the fiends I have alredy refered to; along with a good deal more that I omitted, for sake of clarity, allows me to make an intelegent guess." Buchvold holds up a second notebook, and mainly for the look of the thing, skims through it whirlst he talks.

"Fiends have several diferences from the good brothers here, but one of the most important is quite simple. A total lack of adaptation. The good brothers here, givern time, can reserch new spells, and gain new abilities. In all the cases I have studies, never once has a fiend changed their patetern of usage of powers. For that matter, their entire modus opperandi, whilst they do adapt it, allways remains around a central thematic. On that evidence, the idea of free will controaling their abilities seems highly unlikely"

"As you might have guessed, I personally believe in the "belief" theory." Buchvold winces at that one
"That, on my research, seems more probable. People stick to at least the central ideas of religon almost permanantly. However, it is certianly not beyond doubt that it's own will could affect a fiend. That has been seen, I believe, in one notable case, amongst the living dead."
Last edited by Moral Machivelli on Sat May 12, 2007 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Jason of the Fraternity »

"Duly noted, Brother Buchvold," Anthony concedes with a slight nod. "Religious texts as well as philosophical studies have shown that 'free will' is one of the greatest benefits of the humanoid races. A benefit that, according to your findings, fiends do not seem to possess. However, as you said yourself, these assumptions are merely based upon your studies thus far..."

"As far as our most recent studies have shown, fiends are nearly immortal. I would argue that these fiends may adapt and change given hundreds or even thousands of years." Anthony smirks slightly as he adjusts his darkly tinted glasses. "If nothing else, Brother, ideals and beliefs would change over time, which would in turn change the fiends themselves. Yes?"

"Anyway," Anthony continues, "we could discuss planar philosophy all afternoon. However, the real question that needs to be answered yet is 'what benefits do you feel this presents to those of us here..?'"
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"Not necessarily" Buchvold replies to Antony's first point.

"Whilst the particulars of religions do change, on the whole, certain beliefs are constant, throughout most religions, and it is those that tend to be the focus of fiends.

"What benefits? That is far easier than your prior question, Brother Reuland " Buchvold smiled

"Although I have not proved it, their is a strong possibility that fiends gain their power from the beliefs of the populous. That is, arcane power can, under the right circumstance, be channelled into larger projects through manipulation of the mind"

"A talent this organization has long possessed."
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Post by Jason of the Fraternity »

"A talent this organization has long possessed," Anthony continues, "as well as made significant use of. However, you believe that there is potential to take this to another level?"

Anthony scratches his chin slightly as he ponders the concept. "I could certainly see the benefits of such an application. Plus, I agree that the idea has merit. I would assume that a great deal of 'belief' would be necessary to create any true benefit..."

"Have you given any further thought as how to benefit from this?" Anthony asks he stops rubbing at his chin and listens more intently. "Beyond the simple fact of having greater aracane resources that is. While I'm sure that the Fraternity could certainly gain power from harnessing the mental energy of belief, it would take a great deal of time and energy to garner a large group of people to believe in something very strongly."
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"It would." admits Buchvold. "However, the possibilities that energy in this form could bring are interesting to say the least. The amount of power generated could be more than worth the effort. The amount used to create fiends must be stagering. I myself have sketched out a few ideas, which could possibly be used." Buchvold flicks through the leger again for a second, then closes it and adresses Reuland once more
"However, without further research, they remain nothing but ideas. One in particular I find extremely interesting; it ties with my more recent area of work. However, even that is still problematical..."

Buchvold levees the sentence at that.
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Post by Jason of the Fraternity »

"Well, Brother Buchvold," Anthony says as he casually checks his pocketwatch, "I'm sure that I am not the only one in this room who would be interested in hearing more about your ideas about haranessing such power. However, my presence is required elsewhere at the moment."

"Perhaps," the grey-skinned man continues as he rises from his seat, "we can discuss this in more detail this evening. I have done some research of my own in this general area, and, in all modesty, we might be find some mutual benefits in comparing notes."

Leaning slightly on his bronzewood cane, Anthony nods and slowly heads toward the rear doorway. "That is, of course, assuming that you will find have some freetime amidst the various other lectures..."

Nodding slightly, Anthony quietly exits and leaves the others to finishing the discussion before the next presentation starts.
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Buchvold only nods to Reuland.

As the brother leves, Buchvold gives a synopsis of one or two of his ideas for "belief arcana". They are quite inventive, and the advantages of their implementation are apparent. However, the Borcan only srcatches the surface. He goes into little depth on the matter.
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Post by Pamela »

Gertrude rose and asked, “Brother, I understand the links you are making between fiends and the characteristic vice which is usually associated with them. But I am afraid I fail to see exactly how we are supposed to use them. You speak about manipulating belief but my own studies of faith have shown that in order to do so successfully, the manipulator must also share in those beliefs. Charlatans are able to prey upon gullible individuals, and to seize upon a crowd for a short period of time. But the depth of belief that would be required to do what you suggest would not be possible without subjective involvement. There must be an element of faith or belief, even if self-deluded.

“Exactly what kind of beliefs are you suggesting that we-” she gestured to the gathered brethren, “would focus on for such a task? What kind of demon do you see as most useful to our purposes?”
His only real danger is if stupidity is contagious and lethal. In which case, we’re all dead…-Gertrude
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"If a link between demons and belief could be investigated directly, Professor Kingsly, then we could utalise it. Divert the power from that belief towards our own ends. However, that is beyond our abilities for the moment. Still, the power that could be generated through such a link must be imense."

Buchvold pauses for a moment.

"If we ever were able to manipulate existing belief to gain power in this way, however, the belief I would personally recomend, is in fact, a fear. To be more accurate the fear of controal. Which, since it is one most civilised peoples posses to one degree or another, should take account of your self involvment theory. According to my findings, this appears to be the belief behind the devil known as the Maestro, formally opperating in Richemulot."

OOC Bulf DC 31 to disguise the fact that Buchvold has thaught of another Idea, but does not wish to share it with the bretheren.
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Post by Pamela »

“And what does the Fraternity offer to counterbalance this fear? What do we have that empowers us from falling into the trap of our own creation of this demon? And what shape does that take? Once you start embodying beliefs, you cannot stop the process.”
His only real danger is if stupidity is contagious and lethal. In which case, we’re all dead…-Gertrude
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"Illusion works both ways, Professor Kingsly. As well as creating such fears in others, if carefully done, we could utilise our abilities to create re-assurance. If we can make people fear somthing, logicly we can make them overcome that fear. It mearly requieres a little thaught."
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