Purimancy

Legend

“Millennia ago, before the cousins split, a Yarogryl seer craved a finer tune and made her shards sing divine.”

“As the harmony peaked, stillness of sound, turn, and time. By gods, what a chime.”

—Skjald Kazumix

 

Description

Purimancy is what we call the art of magic shard merging, a skill with ancient roots from before our world and even surpassing the gods in terms of the astral wheel under its belt. Ancient, and most certainly not something done by the masses or needed for everyday survival, but for the specialised suppliers to mana manipulators, enchanters, and crafters. It’s a rare and most delicate skill to delve into, and one cannot, and should not, progress safely on gut feelings alone. Thus, it is considered a tertiary learnt skill.

It pairs logically with the Kaleidomancer and Synesthemancer skills. But, where Kaleidomancy and Synesthemancy is about perception and analysis, Purimancy is about transformation and essence. Together, they form a dual discipline—the seeing and the shaping. Many study all three academies up to a certain point of expertise and from there specialise in either course. There’s the occasional individual taking all above the Lord level, but it’s a rare one – even rarer if it’s a human due to their short lifespan. But it has happened.

Purimancers also utilise Kaleidomancer and Synesthemancer tools, but mainly focus on their crucible, as that’s the actual shard merge tool. Some even only travel with their crucible and a limited amount of shards, as their customer or destination generally supplies what they need or are asked to refine.

“Placing the ‘eyes’ and performing their ‘swirl’, a new ‘mind’ is born.”

—Skjald Yell'a'Beard

 

History

Dark Ages

Long before the written glyphs of the Kaleidomancers and Synesthemancers, before the Ljostari bronze was ever smelted, the art of Purimancy stirred in the deep places of the Void. Not in the grand gardens with cities, nor those with sturdy towers, but in the fungi-lit Ataurca caverns beneath the naturally shaped Yarogryl spires of Ataurca, where song was sacred and light was a stranger.

The Yarogryl were not builders. They were listeners. Their kind did not shape the world—they heard it. And it was Veyr, a seer that became blind due to the cave’s magic fungi and whose skin shimmered with residual mana, who first understood that shards were not merely fragments of power but fragments of existence – of truth. She did not fuse them to grow stronger—she fused them to make them whole. The first to understand that only truly divine, at its maximum purity, a shard should be used in creations. An act the Vornir offered to acknowledege by giving her sight again, wich she declined and instead was offered immortality from age and sickness.

Veyr’s Crucible was not metal—it was bone from an organic Sarcian, the very one who had taught her void weaving. Although her weave was not cast—it was sung. And her first fusion, the Shard of Stillness, is said to still pulse beneath the roots of the world, untouched by time. It has since been claimed that if truly divine shards of all eight realms were merged with a ninth, a chaotic divine, it would create a vision revealing the whereabouts of the Shard of Stillness.

“It was not born—it was remembered.”

—Skjald El Mary

 

First Age

As the void gardens were harvested and turned into our world, many things changed. One of the changes was that the Yarogryl retracted to half-stitched in realms of odd existences only seen or accessed under certain conditions. So they faded into myth, but their teachings were carried by Ljost Alfars, who had heard Veyr’s songs and transcribed both hers and other songs into glyphs and etched them into the first bronze crucibles. They added structure, ritual, and the eight-tiered path of mastery.

Later, during the Vampire conflict, the Dwarves refined metallurgy not only for weapons and armour but also for their increased interest in the magic side of a conflict. Saw the embedding of resonance chambers and purity amplifiers. Greatly improving the shard merging process – and the safety.

—Skjald Vinotis

 

Second Age

As the 1st Cataclysm unfolded and tore the world apart, many things changed. Most notably did the worldwide travel grid take damage.

Having a greater understanding of the elder divines, especially the Wickeryadii, is an aspect of the grand ploy. The Fautyr had interpreted Veyr’s songs in a more naturalistic way, and they added emotional attunement to the merging process. An act that totally redefined shard merging and allowed for way more divine shards instead of fizzles. Worth mentioning is also that Undines learnt how to merge shards underwater, using fluid harmonics.

“Veyr’s songs have been voiced by many, but none as elegantly as by Fautyr flutes.”

—Skjald Sigurd

 

Third Age

As the Wanderers came alongside their bullheaded god, stirring up lands to the south. Their vague presence and untold secrets did not impact much on the northern lands, but in one area. The bull-headed gods roaming and fighting vampires increased people flocking to the safety of religion, praise, and sacred temples. And in this light the scholary clergy of the indigenous Clovincaz grew stronger than ever before.

It was humans of the Clovincaz tribes who defined Purimancy with its grand vibe, its name, rites, and borders. They saw in it not just a craft, but a philosophy: to refine is to ascend. Clovincaz mana manipulators, channelling archpriests, Synesthemancy’s shard appraisers, and Kaleidomancy’s merge-singers, convinced their followers to build the first grand academies, codified the ranks, and declared the Grand Lord of Purimancy a title worthy of their works importance. The very first to wear this feathered mantle, Nahguhz Yantaq, is said to have been a descendant of the ever-young Veyr and a Clovincaz king.

To this day, scholars argue: was Veyr truly Yarogryl? Some claim she was Tatongol, born in exile and raised by the deepkin. Others say she was Undine, her blindness a gift from the Sea of Swirl. A few even whisper she was not of any race—but a shard given form. Oh, if they only knew. But the truth, as the Purimancers say, is hidden in the shards.

“It matters not who first merged a shard. It matters who first heard it sing.”

—Skjald Sejrik

 

Fourth Age

The tilting of the world, the sinking of Ljostari and the eruption of Mt Ljostari, creating the odd realm of Mt Vula, as such changed nothing regarding Shard merging or worldly leaks. The only thing that stirred Purimancers somewhat was the sudden urge to aid slaying Arisen. As these new or reborn beings tended to leave behind multicoloured shards when repulsed back to their spirit-slumber. But as the dangers of facing Arisen became apparent, most Purimancers turned to once more obtaining multicoloured shards from leaks or bought them from monster hunters and other heroic individuals.

“Reborn in the tsunami-turmoil of swirling taintings, that is what they leave behind when hibernating once more.”

—Skjald Sigurd