On the fifth day after the summer solstice in the eighteenth year of the reign of Empress Siraeth, a trio of mages who had been requesting an audience for some time appeared before Her Majesty. Chroniclers agree that it was the strangest trio imaginable: a Mantrin mage in his ceremonial armor, a priestess of the dead from Havdaur, and the renowned Archmaster of the Five Elements from Sairis, the venerable Teisen Cartaiade.
After respectfully greeting the Empress, they laid at her feet a leather case containing a scroll whose contents would purportedly change history. It is written that the venerable Teisen said then: “Having seen the scope of our work, we considered dedicating the deed to one of the great gods of Qurand. Then, however, we understood that its significance lies not in eternity, but in history, and so we bring it to Thee, Our Lady, for Thou standest between the world of eternity and history. We desire that Sirania be the first land to draw from our discovery.”
And so it happened. The revolutionary discovery detailed on the scroll—known ever since as the Red Conch due to the characteristic twist of the leather casing at both ends—spread first within Sirania and enabled the training of masters who then carried the doctrine into the surrounding world. Due to its principled simplicity, the doctrine gained the sympathy of both schoolteachers and the Black Siranians, whose understanding of the world it perfectly matched. It did not take long for this new perspective to become the fundamental one—at least for pupils leaving the Siranian state schools and for the export teachers of magic from among the Black Siranians.
But what did the revolutionary discovery contain? What was it that seems so clear today? About that, the chroniclers, with their characteristic simplicity, do not write, for they consider it so self-evident that it requires no mention. Fortunately, school textbooks exist into which we may peer, and they reveal this much:
The text of the Red Conch revealed the principled kinship of many schools of magic and enabled their interconnection. It reduced the problem of what magic is from a confusingly diverse mixture of colorful schools developing millennial traditions rooted in superstition and shamanism to the simple assertion: “All magic is the manipulation of energy.” Subsequently, it divided magic according to the energy it manipulates, thus creating a new classification that often cut across existing schools.
Yet the text of the Red Conch transcends even this division, asserting: “Since the nature of us, created beings, is composite, so it is for us to experience energy as composite and to distinguish its individual faces. Although for us an insurmountable given, in truth it is but the fruit of the senses and rational activity. At the deepest foundation, energy is but one and the same, appearing to us in many forms.” After this passage, which appears as a triumphant insight in all magic textbooks, follows another assertion which, for safety’s sake, is no longer included in the books: “For it is the Primordial Serpent, whose writhing and knotting body creates through its vastness the illusion of disunity—but our investigation, having penetrated even the shimmer of its diamond scales, descended into its essence, which is also our essence, and there received this revelation.”
Thus we see that what appeared to be a triumph of reason and rationality is in fact just another shamanic revelation—in this case, to a group of mages who worshipped the Cosmic Serpent. This observation, however, will not be found in the textbooks…
Now, let us imagine the classification found in the Red Conch:
0) Mechanical Energy: The energy of objects given either by their momentum or position—i.e., kinetic or potential energy.
1) Elemental Energy: The energy of the elements of which all things are composed. This energy also never occurs in a pure form, but always in the form of one of the elements: earth, water, air, fire, and ether. Other modalities are also counted among elemental energies—for example, energy radiating from certain deities and magical centers. In each case, these are essential energies, i.e., they are in connection with what the thing is. Should they depart, the object in which they reside would collapse.
2) Energy of Cosmic Currents: More accurately, energy resulting from the structure of the landscape or place. Within the structure, various elements fulfill different roles, thereby triggering cosmic currents that flow much like rivers from the mountains to the sea. This kind of energy is found everywhere in the landscape and in every stone; it is the subject of the study of Geomancy.
3) Energy of Lines: This includes energy radiating from runes, sigils, statues, and symbols. The origin of this energy is somewhat unclear, and there are those who consider it merely a modality of elemental energy. What is certain is that this energy does not exist in a “formless” state, but is present only in a specific, distinct shape. Such a shape distributes energy drawn through resonance with an archetype, which is guaranteed by a powerful deity or some cosmic principle.
4) Energy of Life: The life force of animals and plants; it stands in a peculiar intermediate state between the energy of currents and elements but forms a separate category, at least from a practical standpoint. Life force is the concern of healers, animators, druids, and herbalists.
5) Energy of Will: A very peculiar kind of energy that fulfills a unique role because it is simultaneously a passive and an active element. While all types of energy seem to be manifestations of activity, in reality, they are merely the passive objects of influences—whereas Will is the point where the Spirit breaks into the world of forms.
In addition to the wave of admiration, strong resistance rose against the Red Conch from traditionalist mages, and in many schools, this contribution is entirely ignored to this day. Furthermore, it was discovered over time that the presented revelation was not entirely complete, for despite the high initiation of its authors, entire cultures with their specific types of magic, which fit into the chosen categories only with difficulty, were omitted.
Nevertheless, over the years, eyes turned more and more frequently to that quoted textbook observation about the unity of all energies. When Empress Sirian II ascended the throne, she invited a group of Mantrin mages to Sairis for the purpose of investigating this matter, to collaborate with local experts.
After decades of grueling toil, the so-called Doctrine of Essential Unity emerged, which postulated that the entire universe—including all sets of infinities of its parallel existences, all phenomena, elements, beings, etc.—is composed of an infinitely deep series of small blinking eyes (which are composed of serpents, which are composed of eyes, etc., ad infinitum). All individual strands of energy are composed of these eyes, and the frequency of their blinking determines which kind of energy the strand will present.
Since the chain of eyes is not only horizontal (i.e., every energy creating matter is composed of them) but also vertical (i.e., the eyes themselves are composed of smaller eyes and vice versa), the Sairis researchers postulated that all of Qurand, and indeed the entire universe, is one such eye. In terror, they began the calculation of when that great eye is due to blink. Unfortunately, the astrological calculations initiated for this purpose have not been completed even after a hundred years, and the closest estimates (based on prophecies from officially sanctioned astromancers) indicate that the Great Eye of Qurand will, with a 66.6% probability, blink before the final calculation is done.
