Introduction to Arcane & Metaphysical Theory 1000 - Week 1

Provide one example of Coincidental magic, and one example of Vulgar magic, OR; provide an example of a scenario in which the same type of 'effect' might be considered with Coincidental -or- Vulgar, depending on Consensus, OR; provide examples of two different 'types' of Consensus.

"Or, or, or ..." Fliss muttered to herself, scowling at her notebook. She had a horrible feeling she was not going to get a passing mark on this course, but she intended to at least try. The professor seemed to have very different ideas about how magic worked than the ones she had come up with on her own, but then ....she was being raised by the Human Torch, whose abilities with fire were not magical in nature, unlike her own. It all promised to be very confusing for a while.

The first option for the homework was the easiest, she had to admit, but she had already done that when she'd asked for clarification in class. Her examples to make herself clear had been examples of Coincidental and Vulgar magic, and she didn't think Professor D'Arcstorm was the type to forgive her repeating herself just for the sake of taking the easy road. So that ruled that one out.

The second option was still confusing her - what did he mean by 'effect'" Did he mean a spell" In which case, she didn't know where to start. Her own experiences had nothing to do with casting spells; fire just happened. She concentrated - or in some cases, reacted - and flames made themselves tangible and real, often on her person. She'd never had to physically cast a spell in the conventional sense, and without understanding what was meant by 'effect', there was no way she was going to be able to make sense enough of that option to be able to apply it to the ever-befuddling term Consensus.

Which left the third option. Two different types of Consensus. Admittedly, her grasp of what a Consensus actually was was still a little shaky, but she thought she sort of understood. The trouble was, she wasn't sure quite how to go about writing about this. Was it permissible to hand in one short paragraph, or would he be expecting an essay' Should she write it by hand, or type it up for ease of reading" Was she overthinking this homework thing a little too much"

Sighing, she reached for her pen, blinking when her fingers encountered only the smooth wood of the table. "What the ..."

Looking up, her eyes found the pen just out of reach, a little too far to have simply rolled away when she'd put it down. Her gaze traveled to her little brother, hard at work on the other side of the table and apparently not paying her any attention at all. Grasping her pen, she looked back down at her notes, and snorted with laughter as the page turned right in front of her, with no apparent intervention from anyone.

"Alex," she complained, looking up at her brother, who offered her an innocent smile. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"What did I do?" the seven-year-old asked innocently, but not even that innocent question could hide the cheeky smile on his face.

Fliss' eyes narrowed above her smile. "Stop practicing on me when I'm doing homework," she warned him. "Later, not now."

"Promise?"

Her smile deepened as she nodded. "Promise, peanut," she assured him. "We can do the flame pictures thing we did last night."

As an excited smile crossed her brother's face, Fliss chuckled, looking back down at her notepad. Alex was something of a wonder to her, almost more than Maria. While Maria was mute and had a truly amazing grasp of her own empathic power, Alex had been a little harder to work out. The telepathy had taken time to manifest itself even after he had settled in here, and as for the telekinesis ....that was a work in progress. He was almost afraid to use it most of the time, coming as it did with the memory of what he had done to protect Maria in the facility they had been rescued from. But for some reason, he was quite happy to practice with that particular ability around his big sister. Fliss was honored, but she had no idea why.

It was a little inspiring, though. Maybe, for Alex, there were two different types of Consensus. The Consensus where the so-called normal people lived - people like Mom and Bess, like Aunt Lucy and some of the others on the Grove; people who didn't have any extraordinary abilities and who might not know how to react to seeing him display them. And the Consensus where Fliss and Maria and Dad lived - people who had special abilities of their own, people who didn't even blink when Alex showed what he could do. It was a start, anyway.

Provide examples of two different 'types' of Consensus

Consensus One - Rhy'Din A place where advanced technology and magical intervention and ability are commonplace and accepted. If a person were to walk through a wall of flame in front of witnesses on Rhy'Din, most of those witnesses would automatically assume that the walker was possessed of some ability or technology that protected them from being harmed. It is the accepted mode of thought, and very little that might otherwise be considered miraculous or improbable on another world is strange enough to even raise comment among the majority of Rhy'Din's population.

Consensus Two - An example of Earth Specifically, an Earth where magic has never been acknowledged or accepted as possible. While technologically on a par with other parallel Earths, no trace of magic is known to exist; they do not even know the word. On this world, if a person were to walk through a wall of flame in front of witnesses, it would be considered a terrible impossibility - the very fact that they survived would not be seen as miraculous, but terrifying. The walker might well be imprisoned and experimented upon to determine the source of their ability, perhaps even executed out of fear, but ultimately, it would likely be put down as a fluke of some kind. Nonetheless, efforts would be made to replicate the feat; efforts that would fail in a world where technology cannot match this expression of magic, and cause untold harm to those making the attempt.

Felicity Storm

Introduction to Arcane & Metaphysical Theory - Homework 3

Write a paper on how this field trip could have been made better; highlight what the high and low points of it were for you. As always, any additional feedback is also welcome.

Fliss stared down at her Codex in mild dismay. This was the homework" She'd forgotten all about it in the insanity that had engulfed the campus, and now that she had been returned to her classes, it was staring her in the face. Hadn't she been clear enough during the lesson, she wondered, feeling her face flush at the memory of her slight confrontation with the professor. Come to think of it, did he even want her back" She wasn't exactly excelling in his chosen subject, and she'd all but picked a fight with him the last time they'd been in the same room. Dream. Whatever.

Still he had asked ...

Sighing, she picked up her pen, one hand absently scratching Bella's head as the dog laid her muzzle on the teenager's knee. "Well, Bells ....if this doesn't get me kicked out, I don't know what will."

Professor D'Arcstorm,

I realize that you requested a paper on this subject, but it seems to me, on reflection, that you are actually asking for an assessment of the way you handled the field trip and how it could have been improved. As such, I have decided to write you a letter, instead. Feel free to disregard it, and me, if this offends.

The field trip was certainly an experience, and enough time has passed that I'm not immediately reacting to the situation you placed us in with the same violence as occurred during the lesson itself. The basic premise was intriguing; a visit to a different plane of existence, or dimension, or however you want to describe it, has many attractive qualities, and I was interested in the realm of Dream as a place. It opens up the possibility of visiting other dimensions, or planes, and despite my pretty grounded outlook, this does interest me.

The execution, however, was less than smooth. I feel that some warning ahead of time as to the content of the excursion, and what we were going to be asked to do, would have gone a long way toward preventing my rather visceral reaction in the moment. Your students are not children; we are rational beings, capable of making the decision whether or not to join in such excursions if all the information is given to us. In the moment, however, with the information handed out piecemeal, I felt cornered; pressured into taking part in an activity that felt wrong to me at the time, and still does.

Peer pressure is a very real thing, professor, and we are all susceptible to it from time to time. With my peers all engaged in the lesson, I felt as though I was disrupting the lesson with my questions, and I did not want to be impeding their interest and involvement. As such, I swallowed my objections and did as you asked, but I was not, and am not, comfortable with the action of capturing someone else's dream to use as a prop for my learning. I was fortunate enough to find a dream that was mine, but if I had chosen not to select a dream, would I still have been able to take part in what came after" Would I have learned how to manipulate dream energies, if I had gone with my instincts and refused to capture something that does not belong to me" It concerns me that you seem to be so dismissive of other peoples' private thoughts and wishes, and seemingly unconcerned with the very real problems presented by a violation of that privacy.

However, that said, I did enjoy the challenge of making something from the dream I had chosen manifest. It isn't an area of magic I am ever likely to study, or to have a use for, but it was a fascinating look at how others with magical ability might see and manipulate the world around them. I'd never really considered how other magic users alter their reality; my own ability manifests in very direct, often unpleasant, ways, and though I am still learning how to use it, it will never be more or less than it is. The idea that others can create something from nothing, and that something will be as real as anything else in the world is amazing to me.

So, to summarize ....I believe the field trip was reasonably successful. Others in the class clearly got more out of it than I did, and that is not a reflection on anyone. We all approach things in different ways. However, I think that clear information given beforehand would have made it a more comfortable experience for me, at least, and perhaps having an alternative to the willful violation of someone else's mind would have been expedient.

Sincerely, in the hope that you didn't just combust in fury,

Felicity Storm