I'm hardly about to doubt your assessment of his combat prowess, considering you would likely know him best. Miss Mordio, as well, strikes me as a sort of person who should be well-versed in the limits and mechanics of the artes she utilizes...which makes it clear that the turning of her spell upon her own hand was not at all any matter of shortcoming on her part.
We are certainly dealing with an enemy with access to capabilities we know far too little of, one way or another. If he was ever human once, it would seem he has somehow found a way to surpass what either of us would consider to be "normal" human limitations. [A daunting sort of thing to wrap one's head around; even viewing it as objectively as Jade tries to, this sort of thing remains very unfamiliar ground for him to tread. The greatest display of feats "beyond humanity" he's ever witnessed himself would probably fall along the lines of Lorelei's power, forcibly stolen by Van in the last confrontation they'd had...and all this seems, well. Several magnitudes beyond, to say the least; perhaps another category of power altogether. Wonderful!] I am afraid your guess on what 'soul manipulation' might entail is as good as my own. There are no fonic artes or other means back in my own home that ever could manage to reach such a domain. I suppose the same could be said for your own world as well?
The first step is probably seeking out someone here who could be familiar with such a thing, first and foremost...
The only parallel I can think of is an imperfect one, and one I don't understand terribly well. In Terca Lumireis exist creatures called Entelexia. They are long-lived and extremely intelligent, but appear to our eyes as monsters. They have the ability to take aer, the foundation of our world, into themselves and condense it into a sort of crystal which can later be broken down and used to perform artes. All artes, all technology, relies on this crystal made from the soul of a living creature.
So, while there are no specific artes to manipulate a living soul, all artes and technology in Terca Lumireis could be said to be powered by formerly-living ones.
This wasn't widely known until very recently. Rita would know much more than I.
[Hm, hm? Rest assured this is certainly some very interesting information that Flynn's dropping, about now--highly topical as it is, where the matter of souls are currently concerned. But...if he's reading this right...huh.]
These crystals you're speaking of, do you mean to refer to "blastia"?
Miss Mordio has indeed explained some aspects of blastia mechanics to me, at any rate. Mainly that they are the only means by which artes can be performed by human beings, where you all happen to be from. [Quite unlike the mechanics of things where Jade's from himself--any human in possession of working fon slots has the capacity for artes with no other external items necessary, after all--and so this difference had been a very intriguing sort of thing to hear about at the time. And yet...] I must say that she never mentioned anything about them being comprised of the souls of long-lived beings, however. Hm, perhaps on account of it being such a recent discovery...? At some point I may ask her more about this, yes; thank you for bringing it to attention.
[You know, Jade is boldly assuming that Flynn hasn't actually just divulged some dark secret of his world's mechanics, or something like that...anyway.....!]
Blastia seem to be made from these crystals. they're fragments of them, and she is correct that, at the moment, they are the only way humans have access to magic.
[ With the notable exception of Estellise, but Flynn is smart enough at least to not go spreading that particular bit of knowledge around. It's been protected for this long for a reason, after all. ]
It could very well be because it is a recent discovery, although when I say recent, I mean recent to us. Commandant Alexei was apparently quite aware of this, as are a number of other Empire officials.
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come_sailaway
no subject
We are certainly dealing with an enemy with access to capabilities we know far too little of, one way or another. If he was ever human once, it would seem he has somehow found a way to surpass what either of us would consider to be "normal" human limitations. [A daunting sort of thing to wrap one's head around; even viewing it as objectively as Jade tries to, this sort of thing remains very unfamiliar ground for him to tread. The greatest display of feats "beyond humanity" he's ever witnessed himself would probably fall along the lines of Lorelei's power, forcibly stolen by Van in the last confrontation they'd had...and all this seems, well. Several magnitudes beyond, to say the least; perhaps another category of power altogether. Wonderful!] I am afraid your guess on what 'soul manipulation' might entail is as good as my own. There are no fonic artes or other means back in my own home that ever could manage to reach such a domain. I suppose the same could be said for your own world as well?
The first step is probably seeking out someone here who could be familiar with such a thing, first and foremost...
no subject
So, while there are no specific artes to manipulate a living soul, all artes and technology in Terca Lumireis could be said to be powered by formerly-living ones.
This wasn't widely known until very recently. Rita would know much more than I.
no subject
These crystals you're speaking of, do you mean to refer to "blastia"?
Miss Mordio has indeed explained some aspects of blastia mechanics to me, at any rate. Mainly that they are the only means by which artes can be performed by human beings, where you all happen to be from. [Quite unlike the mechanics of things where Jade's from himself--any human in possession of working fon slots has the capacity for artes with no other external items necessary, after all--and so this difference had been a very intriguing sort of thing to hear about at the time. And yet...] I must say that she never mentioned anything about them being comprised of the souls of long-lived beings, however. Hm, perhaps on account of it being such a recent discovery...? At some point I may ask her more about this, yes; thank you for bringing it to attention.
[You know, Jade is boldly assuming that Flynn hasn't actually just divulged some dark secret of his world's mechanics, or something like that...anyway.....!]
no subject
[ With the notable exception of Estellise, but Flynn is smart enough at least to not go spreading that particular bit of knowledge around. It's been protected for this long for a reason, after all. ]
It could very well be because it is a recent discovery, although when I say recent, I mean recent to us. Commandant Alexei was apparently quite aware of this, as are a number of other Empire officials.