THE
XEUÁ
PRINCIPLE |
Xeuá (Styrásh: Xeuá, "the connecting") is believed to be the great elemental force that holds everything together. Cár’áll ("magical energy", "natural astral aura" is the substance and quality of everything, but it is Xeuá that helps to define true shape and nature, how all the elements react with one another and how they affect an object or person as a whole. Xeuá therefore is often also refered to as the "in-between", the "medium", the "linkage of things" or simply as the "chain" or "key".
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Many - especially the
elves - believe that Xeuá itself is the mutual
dependence and realization of the two ever-fighting cosmological principles of
ahm ("responding", "passive" and soór ("talking", "active").
This relation is introduced in detail in Chapter II of the famous
elven myth, the
Cárpa’dosía and has been adapted by the
Ximaxian mages to found their system of magical
categorization on it.
Human philosophers tend to see Xeuá as the
spirit or soul, that which holds together all the elements:
Wind, Water, Earth, and
Fire. In this way, Xeuá is often also called the “fifth
element” or the "element of creation", a transitory element that holds the rest
together and gives life and meaning to things that would otherwise have no real
life at all. Philosophically spoken, Xeuá represents the "category
of existence" (as defined by the
famous Xeuatán Khaelvan III.).
Opposed to Xeuá is the elemental force "Ecuá" (Styrásh
Ecuá
for "breaking", "disconnecting"). Ecuá is
interpreted as the other side of Xeuá, sometimes even as the
"sixth element" or the "element of destruction", which co-exists with Xeuá by
the same right, though the latter is still heavily debated
among scholars.
Degrees of Xeuá.
As stated before, Xeuá is the mutual dependence of the two principles of
ahm and soór, one of which is
believed to be passive (receiving) and the other which is thought to be active
(speaking). It should be noted, however, that ahm and
soór aren't completely static
principles existing within an entity's cár'áll, but
that this "simplification is mainly necessary to define
magic and its predictablity" (Khaelvan III.,
"Treatise on Xeuá", p.4). It is supposed that ahm and
soór within an object's cár'áll
are in fact constantly shifting (elves
often refer to this as "breathing" , though there exist clearly reproduceable
tendencies towards certain states regarding the conjunction of elements within
the cár'áll. Ximaxian
Xeuatáns prefer to negelect these objections whatsoever, claiming that the
"breathing shifts" of ahm and soór
do not substantially influence the success of spellcasting.
Xeuá magic targets these connections between elements by changing their state
from ahm and soór or from
soór to ahm.
The Principle of
Ahm
The Principle of
Ahm is that of receiving, or being passive, as
humans call it. Through less forceful Xeuá
(connections) an element or a relation between certain elements becomes less
evident in an object or person. In this way, the qualities of an element or its
affinity towards other elements are not as prominent in the physical and
spiritual properties of that object/entity. This does not necessarily make an
element within a person ‘weak’, as the elements still
reside in the same amount within the cár'áll of an
object/entity. It is merely less acted upon; its qualities are not manifested in
the object or entity they possess.
Example: A spell targeting a block of ice can make a link between the
water and the earth element
weaker by changing the active state (soór) of connection
between these two elements to passive (ahm), resulting in
a melting of the object.
The Principle of
Soór
The Principle
of Soór is that of speaking, or being active, as
humans tend to call it. Through more active
and forceful Xeuá links, the particular qualities of an element or a relation
between certain elements become more evident in an object or person. If elements
have many forceful connections, the qualities of an element or its affinity
towards another element will be prominently manifested within an object/entity,
both physically and spiritually. Though an element may be more prominent, it
doesn’t necessarily mean that the element makes up most of an
entity's cár'áll, it merely means the links are
speaking, or acting forcibly within the cár'áll.
Example: A spell targeting water can make a link between
the water and the
earth element stronger by changing the passive state (ahm)
of a connection between these two elements to active (soór),
resulting in making the object more solid.
Conservation of Voice
This law relates to the amount of ahm and
soór links within a
cár'áll, more specifically how much “speaking” there
will be in a cár'áll. It
states “Always will a harmony exist between ahm and
soór in the form of equality.”
This means that there will always be the same amount of ahm
and soór links in a cár'áll.
There will never be a case in which all the links in a person’s
cár'áll are all ahm and
soór. As soon as one link goes from being
ahm and soór, an opposite link will
go from soór to
ahm. In this manner, all things are balanced.
Linking Elements. Linking elements is a magical art. Each of the four elements which is being linked to others has its advantages and disadvantages as described below:
Wind
Links
Wind Xeuá tends to be a bit difficult to control, just
because the Xeuá is so willing to change. The active quality of
wind and how it is apt for change and movement can
sometimes make it difficult to keep a Xeuá link ahm or
soór. However, many wind magi
have developed the skill to make the Xeuá, no matter the principle it
represents, hold.
Earth
Links
Earth Xeuá takes a lot of effort and technique to change
in the first place. While wind will gladly bend and
change, speak or receive, as a mage should wish, the Earth Xeuá takes a bit more
effort to change. However, unlike volatile wind xeuá,
earth will tend to stay where you put it. If you make it
soór, it will remain soór for a
long while, as with ahm.
Water
Links
The Element of
Water is basically the attempt of wind to be
more like earth - this is already a central theme in the
elven Cárpa'dosía, the
elven myth of the beginnings, and it
also applies to the definition of water in respect of
Xeuá magic. In this way, the element has characteristics of both
wind and earth, though its
qualities sway, of course, more toward the element of wind.
The xeuá acts in a similar manner. The water
xeuá is easily changed by a caster, like
wind, but still requires some force to move, like
earth. Obviously, more force is needed to change a water
xeuá from ahm or soór or vice versa as compared to wind,
and the quality has more likelihood to change than as compared to
earth. Technique needs to be used in order to keep the
quality of the Xeuá (ahm or soór),
but there is some strength needed to change it.
Fire
Links
Fire as an element is known as earth
in attempt to be like wind. The element, thus, has
characteristics of both wind and
earth, but tends to be a bit more like
earth. This quality
transitions to its Xeuá qualities. The fire
xeuá tends to be rather difficult to move or change, but, like
earth, will not so easily move from the quality a mage
put it in. The fire
xeuá carries qualities of wind,
however, in its inclination to try to change quality (ahm
or soór) based on the things around it.
Link Types. There exist basically two kinds of linking: linking the same element with each other (Oé’xeuá) and linking two different elements (Vér’xeuá):
Oé’xeuá (Linking the same Elements)
Oé’xeuá deals with Xeuá linking cár'áll of the same
element, such as wind with wind or
fire with fire.
Oé’xeuá tends to take on the properties of the elements it links. Elements have
many properties, and certain types of cár'áll
correlate with the strongest property they
characterize. There are, however, some properties more prominent when it come to
characteristics of Xeuá links. These different qualities are what make it hard
for a mage to manipulate two different elements, as the qualities need to be
brought into proper conjunction.
Vér’xeuá (Linking of other Elements)
Vér’xeuá refers to Xeuá between two elements, connecting, for example,
wind with fire, or
earth with water. These links
are some of the most complicated, usually because they are apt to changes in
their very quality based on the condition of the cár’áll
they connect.
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Basic scheme of the Xeuágram showing the arrangements of the elements within the cár'áll. |
Information provided by
Rayne Avalotus
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