Fragments from the Archives · College of Discernment
Glyphs, vortexes and the cost of power
On the means by which an ability is taken, preserved, transferred or shared.
The College records eleven known Glyphs. Strength, Speed and Metabolism are among the abilities most readily understood through their effects upon the body. Others – including Youth, Intelligence, Love, Sight, Voice and Beauty – are restricted or forbidden. Understanding permits communication across the boundaries of language and species. The surviving registers describe particular attributes, not an unlimited art of spellcasting.
The Metabolism Glyph accelerates the body’s processes. It can improve recovery, but those who bear its influence must contend with increased hunger and the consequences of accelerated ageing. An enhancement is never merely an advantage; the body must pay for what it does.
The transfer of an ability requires a source. The donor system makes that simple fact a matter of law, commerce and cruelty. The College’s records distinguish the power of a Glyph from the human arrangements through which that power is obtained.
The dargerlock-stasiscap discovery made suspension of living bodies possible. A vortex can preserve an occupant at the edge of ordinary time, while etched Glyphs and linked conduits permit other operations. Preservation is not the same as death, and the use of preserved lives as a resource remains the darkest controversy in these records.
A soul-bond links the lives and experiences of two beings. Such bonds have been feared, forbidden and later reconsidered under changing law. The College’s technical accounts cannot fully describe what the bonded experience, or what is lost when one life is severed.
Elemental powers and Accreter Stones belong to related but incompletely understood fields of study. Surviving records suggest that these stones can store or channel extraordinary force. Their origin, limits and relationship to the elementals remain matters of investigation.