[sorry, about misdirecting my previous attempt to send this] Starshadw at aol.com writes: > Thomas Yan wrote: > > ** p154-155 ** "Your [Vlad's] education # is sadly lacking." > > [primer Orb-sorcery, Greater Sea, necrophia, resonance, > > correspondence] [primer on Elder sorcery, amorphia] [primer > > on necromancy, necrophia, amorphia, energy levels of life- > > states] [primer on witchcraft, understanding] > > Ummmm....I read Issola, and I didn't see much that specifically > defined what wizardry entailed. It isn't any of the items you list > above at all. Whoops, you're right. I was so excited about all that it did define or mention, I forgot that. That reminds me, there's a bunch of contradictory stuff about gods, which includes tantalizing hints about wizards. inconsistency: _Jhereg_, ch9; p80 in _The Book of Jhereg_ [Aliera] "Not all [Jenoine] were destroyed # They had other interests besides genetics. One of them was the study of Chaos. [... boom!] # Great Sea of Amorphia, a few new gods, # no more Jenoine." inconsistency: _Phoenix_, pp107-108 of Lesson 8 (pp103-118) [Morrolan] "Some [gods] are actually Jenoine {really?} who survived the Creation of the Great Sea of Chaos. Others are servants {ok} of theirs who managed to adapt when it occurred and use its energy, either while it was happening or in the millennia that followed." [Aliera] "Some # are simply wizards who have become immortal {?}, and acquired the power to exist on more than one plane at the same time." _Issola_ p37 ** [big bang, fate of original Jenoine on Dragaera] "# it is clear that it was Verra, and a few others, # who unleashed upon the world that which we call sorcery, who themselves became the first of those we know as gods, and who destroyed all of the Jenoine who then lived on this world." {"sorcery" -- literally, no magic at all before, e.g. no witchcraft?} {wording intentionally ambiguous? how do we reconcile this account with the _Jhereg_ & _Phoenix_ quotes above? + "The first of those we know": Perhaps there were gods we don't know about, e.g. prior to the existence of sorcery? + There are no Jenoine gods? Or, some Jenoine who were not on Dragaera were nonetheless affected and became gods?} > All that we've ever really heard about wizardry - via > Vlad and others - are hints. No one with any kind of actual > knowledge and experience has ever come out and said, "wizards do > this and that." Steve has said that wizardry is, in fact, its own > "branch" of magic, just like sorcery and witchcraft. But what > exactly that branch is capable of doing, we still aren't sure. Yeah, you're right again. In penance, here are the hints I have notes for. p37: [Sethra, on how a wizard is different from a sorceror and on Loraan] "There aren't many who can achieve the skill in sorcery, necromancy, and other disciplines {namely?} to combine them effectively. Most wizards are # Athyra or # Dzur. Loraan is an Athyra. # He's never done anything remarkable #. He is a researcher of magic, as are most Athyra wizards." [found how to temporarily record a dying person's last thoughts] [wants a] "more reliable means of communicating with the dead" [Vlad] "sorcery I'll never need to know" {hah!} [Sethra on a staff] "necromantic oddity, # soul of a being # neither alive nor dead # unable to reach Plane of Waiting Souls [or] Paths of the Dead", "he happened to acquire it shortly after the end of the Interregnum", "We have been searching for it for more than 200 years" Issola p139: [Morrolan] "thin black wizard's staff" <--> "blue ring # on left hand" > Adding to the confusion is that "wizard" is also used as a > descriptive term which seems to be entirely separate from the > concept of a wizard practicing wizardry as a sorcerer practices > sorcery. Not only that, but all we ever get is conjecture as to > what wizards are - I'm guessing that neither Vlad nor Savn really > knows, they are simply making guesses. Now, when Aliera, Morrolan > or Sethra (or someone else knowledgeable) tells us what wizardry is, > then I'll be satisfied. Agreed, e.g. p214 _Yendi_ (in the Book of Jhereg omnibus): *Wizard*, by the way, can mean either a particular kind of very powerful sorceror, or, in the Jhereg, someone who does any one specific job very well. If you wonder how to tell which is meant -- well, so do I. - tky