[Warpworld] Ch 27 – Ride, Pyramid, Ride!

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            Well, it appeared that I won’t be needed to save this world, I thought. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t leave a little something behind to further things along. A Sama and a Briggs could both use a proper Power of Ten Caster, and any world with the Warp Gods represented definitely could use one.

            A little temporal acceleration should take care of the problem that I might not be here long, too, I considered. In the meantime...

            “Elders, I could help but notice that you seem somewhat startled by my display of magical ability. Are there no other humans around with magical ability worth your attention?” I asked archly.

            The elder elf frowned, looking to the younger. Of course, the elder had been locked away in the Vortex for who knew how long, so he’d had precious little knowledge of anything going on, especially of an inferior race.

            “The human arcane traditions were very... unstructured and haphazard,” Master Artlis spoke up after a moment of hesitation. “I came to them several centuries ago, during a particularly bad uprising of the Warp, and took it upon myself to give them a somewhat more regimented and controlled magical structure to employ.”

            I turned partway around. “You... taught humans the magical style you are using?” I asked with an ending groan.

            “No!” he refuted immediately, seeing my reaction. “I mean, yes, but with many restrictions. Humans are simply not capable of channeling magical energy aptly. They must follow one of the strict Colors of magic. Trying to expand upon it, to perceive and wield all the Colors of magic, is an open invitation to disaster...” he trailed off, since that did not at all explain what I was capable of.

            “Ugh!” I just tossed up my hands and shook my head. “Well, naturally humans can’t employ an elven magical tradition to its full breadth! We aren’t elves! Elves are generally optimized to master magic on most worlds, and this one is no exception! Your Creators basically made you to deftly and easily wield magical energy as a people. Humans evolved up to sapience the long, hard way. It doesn’t mean we can’t employ magic very, very well, since we’ve been living with it for all of our species’ existence, but we definitely can’t do it the same way an optimized species can!”

            Both of the elven archmages looked unsettled at my words. “You speak as if you know of the Creators,” Master Sethanon spoke up quickly, an edge to his words.

            “I know jack shit about your Creators,” I replied bluntly, which gave him pause. “I’m looking at you, not them, and you are a Created species.” Just like the reptoids were. I tapped my temple as I turned to look at them. “Do you know the difference between an evolved species and a Created species?” I asked the two of them.

            They looked at one another, the question probably never having occurred to them before. “I would posit that the Created species is intended to fill a role, and an evolved one...” Master Artlis trailed off.

            “Through natural selection, evolved species are made to survive,” I supplied calmly, not one to let them tease through the process. Both elves nodded slowly in agreement. “But what it also means is that a Created species is an end product. You aren’t forged by time and travails into what makes you an ‘elf’. That you might experience such things is a given, but you’re already primed, you’ve already reached the end of that path.

            “Elves are effectively ‘born as swords’. They don’t need to be mined out of the ground, smelted, hammered, shaped, honed, rune-crafted, imbued with magic, and then stand up to the world as potent weapons. You’re swords, right from birth, ready to wield magic and serve as swords.” I looked between the two of them, who looked both pleased and uncertain as they considered that perspective. “The main thing is... if you stop being a sword, you stop being an elf. Some swords are longer, sharper, heavier, and more magical than others. Trying to be a spear, or a flail, or a whip, sends you off the beaten path, and is decidedly un-elvish. You’re made to be ‘swords’.” I quoted the word.

            “And humans?” Master Artlis asked, interested in that viewpoint.

            “We came up out of the dirt. Literally. Follow the bloodline of humans back through the eons, and you get apes and monkeys, then rodents and lizards, then something that came out of the sea. Each generation over a billion generations competing to survive, and sometimes, in between, something did change, and grew stronger, and survived in this crazy, brutal world.

            “So, humans have a genetic code with a lot of now-useless junk in it. Junk is how you tell an evolved species from a Created one. Created ones don’t have junk.” I waved my hands at the two of them. “No junk in you. You’re Created to be swords. We clawed our way up over a million generations of evolution, and those who survived are what you call humans today.

            “You’re optimized to be a sword. Humans... are not. Trying to make an elf-sword out of a human is an exercise in disaster. Humans interact with magic differently than your people do. You know we aren’t optimized to control or channel it. That’s because we’re evolved to survive it, not control it. Over time, magic places great strain on elves, as half of magic is Chaos, and Chaos wants to change. Elves are not a race made to change. You are at the high end of the path, you are swords. Making an elf not a sword is, well, I’m sure you know of some examples of your people who went places they should not have, trying to reach beyond what you are.”

            Both of them tried to disguise how uncomfortable the thought made them.

            “Magic over time will also warp humans... and will also do almost nothing to us. We are made to survive it, not master it. To control it, well, magic responds to will, but channeling magic through yourself, without at least a Divine moderator, is asking for it to prey on the fact we are evolved and still evolving, and start some new and probably unwelcome changes.

            “The mutants I’ve seen among the followers of the Warp Gods are examples of how that process goes.

            “Humans, to use magic, must treat it like any other craft and science.” I reached out to Mortus Dius floating there, and hefted it. “They need to use proper tools.”

            “A staff?” Master Artlis asked softly. “This is the key to your power?”

            “No. My power is my power,” I corrected him directly. “My Staff is the tool I use to interface with powerful magic. When it comes time to channel the magic... my Staff is a Creation. It is an end product, made for one purpose.”

            Master Sethanon’s slanted golden eyes widened in enlightenment. “Just like we elves...”

            “Exactly. And through my Staff, I can wield all the Elements of magic, weave up spells that buffer the mind and soul against the grandeur of magic, and dumb it down to levels I can comprehend until my mind and soul grow enough to take on more of the load.

            “The Human tradition of arcane power requires Implements to truly work. Trying to manipulate magic directly, as do the elves, is going to be extremely limited, limiting, and dangerous, in the end.

            “Give a human arcanist a Staff, Rod, Scepter, Wand, Orb, or Tome, however, and suddenly the world becomes a very different thing to them.” Multi-hued energies danced between my fingers, their eyes flashing as they realized I had no issues with all their Colors of magic.

            “And over time, you temper both your tools and yourself, and your capabilities increase,” Master Artlis nodded slowly on seeing that. “A reasonable form of growth.”

            “Am I improper in believing that elves have an innate sense of magic, and learning magic is about not grabbing for power willy-nilly and inviting catastrophe, but pulling out just enough to do what needs to be done, restraining yourself from doing more than is intended?” I asked of them.

            Both elves sucked in small breaths. “That is... remarkably intuitive of you, Master Aelryinth,” the elder of the two murmured. “Yes, teaching the children not to pull on the wrong threads is a core part of our Tradition.”

            “While Master Artlis doubtless knows that isn’t anywhere near as big a problem with humans, because it takes so much time and effort for them to be able to pull on any string at all.”

            That raised a bemused smile from the younger of the two elves. “You don’t seem to be overly envious of our... superior heritage?” he asked.

            “Eh, the poor man envies the ease of the wealthy man, but doesn’t need to admire it, Master Artlis. Human magic is built on a lot of hard work AND discipline. Without showing both, my opinion of your magical Tradition is strictly neutral. And as for innate superiority...” I waved my hand around me, and their bright eyes flickered as they glanced about in spite of themselves. “The fruits of my training. I don’t think I’m lacking in comparison to yours. I’m just not as pretty.” That drew incredulous expressions from both of them at the admittance.

            “Also, I’d like to point out something Master Artlis is doubtless aware of in passing, but has never hard-coded a reason for. Humans are a species that fought its way up the ladder of evolution. What is Humanity’s specific gift, that aids in its survival?” I inclined my head at the two of them. “One that elves don’t specifically share. So, don’t talk about opposed thumbs, manual dexterity, and tool use.”

            They both smirked at that, while pondering the question, but the elder turned to the younger, who was thinking on it.

            “What makes humans dangerous...” he said aloud, considering me, then glancing about at the Pyramid again. “As you say, you are survivors. You survive by... adapting quickly to changes!” he stated firmly.

            “Which requires, Master Artlis?”

            “It would require intelligence and adaptability,” he said reasonably. “My human students... even if they were not gifted as my elven students, they learned at a pace that was most feverish,” he informed his elder.

            I nodded slowly. “Humans learn quickly. That is our greatest talent. We can potentially learn anything and everything, fair and foul, with some more gifted than others intellectually, and others simply having innate gifts which allow them to out-perform their betters.

            “Humans learn fast. It might surprise you both to know that I’ve been using magic for less than twenty-five years?”

            Both elves gawked at me. Both of them were centuries old, and probably had apprenticeships that had lasted longer than human lifespans. The idea that I could be this powerful in basically the blink of an eye had set their hearts to racing.

            “And that, my elders, is why I’m not worried about who has the better magical Tradition.”

            There was silence as they looked upon me, weighing what I’d said, and the implications thereof.

            At last, Master Sethanon spoke, “If elves are swords, then what are humans?”

            “Axes,” I replied without hesitation, making him blink. “It is not made all of metal. Indeed, the key part is the haft, and the haft is almost always made of wood. The head is added later.

            “The head of the axe can chop, it can slice, it can hack. If backed by a hammer, it can pound. If topped with a spike, it can pierce.

            “It cannot thrust or dance in the duel. But then, you don’t use a dueling sword to chop wood or hack through armor, either. Axe duels have their own brutal skills required for them, and axes evolve into halberds, bardiches, and glaives, while swords... swords just stay swords, and have only their one function they are idealized at.

            “The sword is, in the lexicon of weapons, the ideal tool for slaying large numbers of bipedal lightly armored opponents in a variety of terrains.

            “Elves are swords. They are better at their purpose than humans will ever be at it, and they will look better doing it, too.

            “But humans are damn good at all the other purposes out there, including the ones elves won’t touch...”

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