Pietscona (/'pjetʃɔ'na/)
Pietscona is a nearly-lost art, preserved only by a few lun'Aeldvari in Tondo Talestro. Roughly translated as "living magic" or "enchanted life", it is the technique of creating an animated object via the enchantment school of magic. The most common example is the Capapielpo, an enchantment of a gemstone arcanther statue--usually a foot long--that allows it to enlarge on command and function as a steed.
On Lumasca, animated objects are the purview of arcane constructs: complex machines (usually of gran'Duovari design) powered by arcana. To create a similarly lifelike "creature" from a static object is commonly thought impossible--or, if not impossible, excessively more difficult and time-consuming. Enchanters on Lumasca are common, and even more refined enchantments can often be reverse-engineered and duplicated (with varying degrees of success, depending on the individual's enchanter's skill). Enchantment is one of the most useful, widely-sought arcane services for kinvari in any walk of life, so it seems impractical to redirect an enchanter's time and energy into researching and designing a method to, essentially, mimic what a good Duovaren artificer can already do.
The art of pietscona is unknown on Lumasca and barely known on the rest of the Shattered Isles outside Tondo Talestro. A capapielpo may be recognized by savvy kinvari in the Isles, but other examples of the art can go completely unrecognized; arcane sight will reveal the presence of a dense enchantment inextricably protected by a magical ward. It is not strictly impossible to unravel the near-perfect protections of the original enchantment, but it has not been yet done by anyone who is not already a master of pietscona.
If asked, Kiandriel would not claim to be a sorcerer of any unusual talent or rare power. Even to himself, he was realistic about his capabilities, his knowledge and skills, and his estimated potential. It was his pragmatic projection of his ability to comprehend magic that led him to staring unblinkingly at the once-more-animated sapphire cat that filled almost the entire floorspace of the small room. The magic that powered the construct was cloaked, warded, and illusioned to prevent casual eyes from peering into the nature of the weave and reverse-engineering it… but even the way the defenses were designed and layered, woven together and mutually reinforcing, spoke volumes about the mastery of whoever had enchanted this Capapielpo. “I may not ever be able to perform an enchantment half so complex and powerful,” he mused, “but by the Bright Eye, I would love to speak to those who can.” The Capapielpo did not react to Kiandriel’s observation, nor the tentative touches along its gleaming, sculpted shoulders and flanks. It felt like sapphire, even though it could move and flex as easily as flesh without so much as a grinding sound. The cat ignored any polite requests Kiandriel made, no matter what language he used, but it would move its head or its body if pressed. It was enough to allow a fairly thorough examination, and Kiandriel realized that, for all its realistic shape, it lacked most functionality of a real arcanther. Its jaws could not open, and its claws could not retract. The sculptor had taken great pains to detail the eyes, but they lacked eyelids or any sense of looking at something. Its chest did not expand with an imitation of breath.
If asked, Kiandriel would not claim to be a sorcerer of any unusual talent or rare power. Even to himself, he was realistic about his capabilities, his knowledge and skills, and his estimated potential. It was his pragmatic projection of his ability to comprehend magic that led him to staring unblinkingly at the once-more-animated sapphire cat that filled almost the entire floorspace of the small room. The magic that powered the construct was cloaked, warded, and illusioned to prevent casual eyes from peering into the nature of the weave and reverse-engineering it… but even the way the defenses were designed and layered, woven together and mutually reinforcing, spoke volumes about the mastery of whoever had enchanted this Capapielpo. “I may not ever be able to perform an enchantment half so complex and powerful,” he mused, “but by the Bright Eye, I would love to speak to those who can.” The Capapielpo did not react to Kiandriel’s observation, nor the tentative touches along its gleaming, sculpted shoulders and flanks. It felt like sapphire, even though it could move and flex as easily as flesh without so much as a grinding sound. The cat ignored any polite requests Kiandriel made, no matter what language he used, but it would move its head or its body if pressed. It was enough to allow a fairly thorough examination, and Kiandriel realized that, for all its realistic shape, it lacked most functionality of a real arcanther. Its jaws could not open, and its claws could not retract. The sculptor had taken great pains to detail the eyes, but they lacked eyelids or any sense of looking at something. Its chest did not expand with an imitation of breath.
Comments