View source for Introduction to the Art of Divination

Penned by Faern Bel'qualyn of Qu'ellar Dy'Nin, a guide to the Art of Divination for any of Sorcere who wish to understand what it is they do.

The Art of Divination is the study of the Pattern formed by threads of Lloth's Weave, the same threads which we of Sorcere call upon to work the Great Art. Unlike other Arts, the Seer rarely seeks to bring change through application of his Art, but instead to learn, that his other talents - or those of his associates - may be better directed.

Reading the Pattern is naut easy. Its nature is associative; that is to say, objects which have close associations with one another will be close in the Pattern. Such things change over time, and thus the Pattern changes also. Most uses of the Art focus on understanding the present, for the view shown through the Pattern is unlike that presented to mundane senses, and much can be learnt by it. But a skilled reader of the Pattern may see more than the present, may be able to discern hints of past or future by studying the movements of the present.

To understand what is possible through the Art, one must understand the Pattern. The better one's understanding, the more one knows to be possible. One stone on the path to understanding concerns names.

Names have power, because they create associations. By naming something or someone, mortals create an association between the name and the thing. That association can be read, in the Pattern. One of the simplest uses of Divination is to determine the properties of an object. First among those properties is the name, and other properties are revealed, by reading the object's interactions with others in the Pattern. A simple use of the Art, to find answers associated closely with the object in question.

A second stone on the path is the importance of minds. The will of mortals alters the Pattern with every decision made, and thus the mind of a mortal stands out starkly in the Pattern, a swirling nexus of possibilities becoming reality. While mortals may hide themselves, or conceal themselves behind wards or walls, physical closeness forms a weak association between two individuals, as they affect one another with their words or behaviour. Even apprentice diviners can learn to detect nearby individuals through some wards, but more skilled Seers can sense the nearness of another more precisely; none can hide from a skilled Seer reading the Pattern.

It is rare for a Diviner to use their Art to directly affect the world. But a powerful Seer can do more than read the Pattern; they can affect it, plucking on the threads of the Weave directly. Such is a challenging and dangerous task, for if too little care is employed, the Seer may twist the threads about themselves. But to one skilled in the Art, another's mind or heart may be stopped for a while, by simulating the effect on the Pattern of a stimulus that would cause the same. Greater effects are also possible, but the Pattern follows its own rules, and to attempt to achieve an end directly without having seen it happen naturally, requires either great luck or a truly complete understanding of the Pattern.

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