Dear Sylphie,
I cannot thank you enough for writing to me last week - this sadly makes you the only person from the Conjurer's guild who still corresponds with me. I am deeply grateful for your support, and since you've requested to know how
my studies are going, I'll be happy to indulge you.
I'm doing well, all things considered. There's a lot more reading involved in this training than there ever was at the Conjurer's guild, and I had to give my academic side a good rousing to meet that challenge.
The Yawning Abyss and the
Fundamental Thaumaturgic Principles are indeed not easy reads.
Learning thaumaturgy itself has honestly been quite troubling for me - mostly because this new magical art feels extremely similar to conjury, actually. It turns out thaumaturgy isn't all darkness and death - most of it is plain old
elemental magic. It's just that instead of earth, air and water, thaumaturgy focuses on lightning, fire and ice.
This got me curious: why are the elements divided like so? I brought this problem to master Cocobuki, who gave me a reading list of 15 different titles to peruse on the subject. I think it means that he doesn't know the answer.
The biggest difference I've found between conjurers and thaumaturges so far lies in the source of their power. Conjurers attune themselves to nature to channel the aether swirling in the environment. Thaumaturges do the opposite - they reach within themselves to draw from the well of their own energy.
This came as quite the shock to me, and I understand if it is one for you as well. After all, we were both
brought to the Conjurers because our natural gifts for healing put us at risk of depleting our life force, and we were told that using a different source was the solution. It boggles my mind a little, even though I don't think that thaumaturgy would have succeeded in helping either of us, since there is no method for healing taught in in this discipline.
Plus, this practice remains dangerous despite how freely thaumaturges use it. From the very beginning, we are taught to monitor our aetheric level very carefully and rely on special techniques to quickly recover it. Furthermore, the guild refuses to take on individuals with modest reserves of inner aether - like the guildmasters' own brother, Cocobusi.
I wonder if there's something intrisical to the techniques thaumaturges and conjurers use that makes them better suited for different types of aether. Healing using your own energy is dangerous, we know that; would casting, say, fire spells using environmental aether be similarly risky?
As you can see, from an academic perspective, this is proving to be an extremely interesting endeavor. I'm realizing that there is much I had never thought to question in conjury and white magic.
But oh, how I miss
Gridania... I hope that soon, I'll return home with the answers I seek.
Stay safe, and send my warm regards to all conjurers who would accept them. Tell them that despite what they might think of me now, I am still the same as I was before. Thaumaturgy is malms away from being the evil, corrupting force some of our brothers and sisters believe it to be.
Your friend,
LalliP.S. I just remembered - I need a favor. Do you remember the voidsent
Akoman? It's a bit of a long story, but he
works for me now, and he
saved me from the Praetorium not long ago. He hasn't answered my summons in a while, however, and I'm starting to wonder why. Could you ask the Twin Adder if he's been sighted in the Twelveswood? Many thanks!
