Children Song
There is a children’s song which says that only a mage can kill a mage. Only a mage or a sigrax can kill a sigrax, only a mage, a sigrax or a warrior can kill a warrior, and every one can attack a “common man” and kill him (they have a single word for the person who isn’t neither a mage, nor a sigrax, nor a warrior, but I don’t know how to translate it in one word, so my decision was to use the expression “common man”)
. It is a song for children, and most of it isn’t true. However there is some true in it.Only two sorts of humans attack a mage by themselves: mages are the most common. If you don’t belong to the first group and your highest dream in life is to die painfully screaming and squirming, that puts you in the second group of people who try to hurt a mage by themselves. Mage, singular, because no one in this group tries it more than once.
The rest of this song however, is counterfactual. By the time I was a student on Black Centaur Castle many other students believed on the part were it says “only a mage or a sigrax can kill a sigrax”, probably because believe that to be true makes the average Mage Cast’s ego happy. Now, after I see one warrior_ alone_ kill two sigrax, I know better.
True to be told, no sane warrior will jump against a sigrax sightly. We do have relevant advantages, and no disadvantage since we also can learn what other men can learn about fight: some of us do.
Timing is the most important part of victory when a warrior cast go against a sigrax. This particular fellow attacked the two sigrax in the end of a very exhaustive day, for them, and only a feel days after they had been on a fight. This sigrax had not renewed their Energy Perimeter yet. This warrior had no way to know all that, he just got lucky; but most warriors will wait for the right moment if they must, and according to my opinion there is no shame on that (most warriors agree, I think).
Once the warrior attack a distracted false “mage” his first blow, what ever it is, fail. At same time the warrior must face the sigrax’s first line of defense, which is the Energy Perimeter. It will kill any men, if it is on good shape and if the “almost mage” made it well. Many sigrax don’t bother to make it as well as they should, and even the ones who do will lost most of their EP after the first use and not always have time recharge it before the next fight. Even so, the first blow will be deflected unless it is magical, you can count on it.
Being a worldly fellow this warrior knew he needed to make his first attack on each sigrax from save distance and dodge the instantaneous reaction at same time. Next second he needed to be near enough, to attack with his sword, because most magical tools at our disposal work better if he have some ground between us and our enemies. Counterbalance the need to be at save distance with the need to be at sword reach of someone takes experience in battle and some practical notion about how magic works: not to mention a extraordinary speed.
There is some people how are not Mage Cast but do have potential to use magic. Sigrax and mages are the ones who having the potential have being approved on the first test_ mages have been approved in the high degree and had kept that success in the second test (a test we never do, and which costs the life of anyone who fails it: most who try do fail it). Sigrax like myself have either been approved on low degree or they gave up “The Way” before the second test_ People who fail the first test completely go back to their caste of birth (only if their cast of birth IS the Mage caste, they must find another; in that case most choose Merchant Caste, for some reason Beyond my comprehension). Those who have magical potential but never became Mage Caste can still do things common people can’t: like use magical objects; weapons, armors, and tools; repairs all that; deal whit magical creatures and substances; among other less important things .
In some cities such wasted potentials go less wasted, because this “less than a sigrax” fellows have conquered the right to be their own caste, the Alchemist Caste. But no such caste exists on Lutianen_ my city on this Universe.
Well armed an alchemist can be a equal to a sigrax on a fair fight. Some make it a full time occupation, and I heard about a city were those even have a autonomous caste: “Assassin of Mages” or something like that (when it is convenient people call us “mages” and in that case it gives some pomposity to their caste). However, a city don't necessarily need a caste of Assassins of Mages to have people who work most their time doing that.
This people who do kill sigraxes as their main occupation_ at least where they are not a caste but instead just a occupation_ came mostly from the Warrior Caste. They are alchemists by necessity, but obviously not always can afford the fortunes needed to have the weapons and armors to face sigraxes as equals. Most times they study the particular sigrax they intend to assassinate for months before attack, in order to compensate their inferior power. To do that job one has to know the schools of magic as well as any person in the mage caste knows them. That because there is many schools and each one has limitations, and advantages.
For instance a Somatic Transformation will act faster that any normal human being_or other sigrax_ can think, and he will probably cut thru any armor magical or not as if it was not there; however this school asks allot from the people who follows it, you hardly see a Somatic sigrax do anything from a different school. Except (maybe) for the most basic moves. Beyond that, Somatic Transmutation gives very little in terms of long range spells. Unlike the average sigrax this fellows must be faced from as much distance as possible. A healer sigrax has a Energetic Perimeter impossible to dodge, if you go against one you must endure the blow, or have a suicide friend and be the second to attack the false mage. There is no manual for that sort of thing as far as I know, and no way to know what a sigrax practices by just looking at him: some sigraxes only learn spells from one school, some give one step or two on a dozen, but we all have our main choice and that is the first one we use in moments of surprise.
The spells from our "Way", as it is called, work better for us that others, faster and for a smaller cost in Xar. As we evolve in the Art more powerful spells became possible for us, but only spells from our Way. Even the mages, the true ones, can't learn much from the Ways they don't follow (they can learn more than us, and their 'weak' spells are more powerful than our powerful ones, so: mages must always be judged taking relatively, taking in consideration their pairs and not us).
The only way to know that sort of things is by constant observation, assassins of sigraxes don't share what they know outside their families. On the other hand, learn our secrets ins't that hard, because sigrax will practice The Way as often as he can. That is true in some degree because the Xar is pleasant to feel, addictive by itself. Even so, the main reason why neither sigraxes nor mages let the power rest inside them for long is that do magic makes us stronger users of magic. So, if you keep your trained eyes on a fellow from the Mage Caste for some time, you will inevitably know what Way he follows. Even if you don’t know each spell he can do, you probably will have enough to plan your move against him.
The man I was talking about however, the warrior who killed two sigraxes, he is no alchemist. He has no magical potential whatsoever. He did a more than fine job using warrior skill and courage only.
Warriors live their lives to do one thing: protect their cities from other warriors. They will jump in front of everything else too if it is endangering their beloved polis, even if that thing is an archmage.
Warriors die for their honor as you kisses you children when they go sleep, and there is nothing as honorable to them them as protect their Home Nation. Or at least that's how they are supposed to be, not all warriors reach those standards of course (still, a surprisingly high number of them do)
Obviously, if a man lives his life thinking about grow vegetables, and he came from ten million generation who have dedicated their lives to grow vegetables, and who mostly have married, and also have mostly chosen their heirs among their children thinking about who could grow vegetables better: ...well ! You have someone who has a better chance to grow excellent vegetables under hard circumstances than any warrior would have. What is valid about grow vegetables, in this case, is also valid about kill people and about win wars.
For someone who is not from Warrior Caste, who is a common man, to prevail in a life or death situation against a warrior is unlikely. But not as rare as a warrior to prevail against a sigrax is. No spells will be involved, no magical weapons or armors, so luck has a much better chance to intervene.
That said, this world is more complicated than my explanations may have suggested . I admit, let's that be clear: there is many things which can kill a warrior, a sigrax; and, yes, even powerful mage. Just not human things, in the last case.
About some things capable to kill mages there is children songs. Others no one know, not even by ancient tales. Most such things exist on distant wild places, sleep silent on dark caves or bellow a deep lake. Some hide on their own castles, right in the middle of a bustling city, know only by a few trusted individuals. Some even build their own cities, and make business with their human neighbors who may know what they are, or not know.
Children songs can’t know all, but they do tell something about the World. Children songs here, on this planet, I mean. Because on my home World children songs are far less instructive.
We have the idea that children must be protected on a dome of sweet lies. They should have no contact with violence or with the sexual nature of animals in general, and of the human animal in particular; those, among many other, are subjects forbidden in the presence of people bellow 18 years. We try to convince children that all humans are born equal, that human lives have a value higher than any other and that value is always the same for every single human. Only children very young actually fall for all that crazy talk, but most of us learn to lie about every day. That kind of lie became a second nature for us, which accompany us to the grave. That lie make our children a bunch of idiots, and make ourselves a bunch of hypocrites: obviously! Still, it is important.
It is a small price to pay for the greater good.
Here on Sharitarn they have lost the greater good perspective, or never knew it. However, and despite that, their ways do have some merit. Some virtuous quality hard to define. Of course, our way has merits and qualities as well, probably equivalents to the ones they have here in value and better for a advanced civilization.
Archmage Altair, loose papers
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