Note: pretty sure a lot of things should be tagged "Meander Corporation".
Elemental
Construction
Ghosts,
along with curses and holy magic, are the reason I believe that there are two
types of magic in the world. The first – our magic that consists of the four
elements and for some reason necromantic energy – is from outside our world;
whereas the second – our souls, the curses that create vampires and werebeasts,
even the holy magic cast by the clerics – seem to originate from within us,
something that is imbued in our world or imbued in us by virtue of being alive.
Elementals (and the darker creation, wraiths) are a union of these two magics, created by imbuing the remnant soul of a human being (often a ghost of some kind; as an ordinary soul is hard to find and contain) with the power of an element. In the case of the ordinary elements, the magic is imbued into the soul itself, becoming a tool it can use to produce heat and cold, or movement of the air and earth. And strangely, unlike the normal examples of such imbuement, an elemental can use the power imbued into it for as long as it persists (though there is a relatively small cap upon the power, albeit one large enough for an elemental to be quite powerful). An elemental will persist for several, sometimes several decades, though all eventually fade as the imbued ghost passes (there are dangerous, broken souled ghosts that seem to persist eternal; but these insane individuals should not be imbued – and would rarely give one opportunity to do so).
Stranger still is that – through very careful manipulation – one can turn one’s own soul into an elemental, before one’s death. This will cut one off from our magic forever, which makes it an unappealing option for most studying magi; yet is something often done to servants, or those close to the mage, to provide powerful living guardians. Notably, the rare few that return as ghosts after death do return as elementals, as one would expect. A further oddity is that in very rare cases the magic will persist in a bloodline (though with varying strength from generation to generation). I have, myself, only encountered three such cases; only one of which persisted for more than a single generation.
One cannot complete discussion of elementals without mentioning wraiths. These are dark perversions of normal magic, like all necromancy; rather than merging with the soul, the necromancy seems to replace it, to destroy it. All wraiths are cunning psychopaths at best, and usually murderous lunatics. Performing such an imbuement on a living being – I have been told – will always end their life, and always cause the creation of a wraith. Instead of normal elemental abilities, the wraith may only consume the souls of living creatures. Thankfully they grow no stronger from their terrible meals.
The creation of several elementals is a good means of protecting oneself from intruders and the ever more organised necromancer cults. If possible, however, the optimal solution is to imbue servants with the power; as they will (hopefully) live much longer than a ghost would linger in this world. The rest of this tome shall detail my methods of elemental creation and related experiments; copies may be acquired by sending me (or my descendants) a letter and, of course, suitable recompense for the times.
Elementals (and the darker creation, wraiths) are a union of these two magics, created by imbuing the remnant soul of a human being (often a ghost of some kind; as an ordinary soul is hard to find and contain) with the power of an element. In the case of the ordinary elements, the magic is imbued into the soul itself, becoming a tool it can use to produce heat and cold, or movement of the air and earth. And strangely, unlike the normal examples of such imbuement, an elemental can use the power imbued into it for as long as it persists (though there is a relatively small cap upon the power, albeit one large enough for an elemental to be quite powerful). An elemental will persist for several, sometimes several decades, though all eventually fade as the imbued ghost passes (there are dangerous, broken souled ghosts that seem to persist eternal; but these insane individuals should not be imbued – and would rarely give one opportunity to do so).
Stranger still is that – through very careful manipulation – one can turn one’s own soul into an elemental, before one’s death. This will cut one off from our magic forever, which makes it an unappealing option for most studying magi; yet is something often done to servants, or those close to the mage, to provide powerful living guardians. Notably, the rare few that return as ghosts after death do return as elementals, as one would expect. A further oddity is that in very rare cases the magic will persist in a bloodline (though with varying strength from generation to generation). I have, myself, only encountered three such cases; only one of which persisted for more than a single generation.
One cannot complete discussion of elementals without mentioning wraiths. These are dark perversions of normal magic, like all necromancy; rather than merging with the soul, the necromancy seems to replace it, to destroy it. All wraiths are cunning psychopaths at best, and usually murderous lunatics. Performing such an imbuement on a living being – I have been told – will always end their life, and always cause the creation of a wraith. Instead of normal elemental abilities, the wraith may only consume the souls of living creatures. Thankfully they grow no stronger from their terrible meals.
The creation of several elementals is a good means of protecting oneself from intruders and the ever more organised necromancer cults. If possible, however, the optimal solution is to imbue servants with the power; as they will (hopefully) live much longer than a ghost would linger in this world. The rest of this tome shall detail my methods of elemental creation and related experiments; copies may be acquired by sending me (or my descendants) a letter and, of course, suitable recompense for the times.
-- Introduction to tome in the Meander Corporation archives;
titled “Elemental Construction, Maintenance and Control, Master Edition”. Tome
was partially damaged in combat during acquisition, and is missing much of the
Control chapters.
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