RuneScape Forum Archive | Planar, Magic, & Tradition

AttilaSquare

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~ II. Conclusions ~

II.1 Planar Theory

(1) Because planar theory concerns transcendentals, specifically the transcendental property of being-in-a-world or being-related-to-a-world-or-worlds, we ought to begin by rediscovering the metaphors underlying the language that we use to speak of planes. We rediscover these metaphors by immersing ourselves in the intellectual, scientific, religious, and cultural traditions that enshrine the experiences and experiments in which these metaphors were originally developed.

(2) I will illustrate the need for this method with an example. Some years ago Mod Osborne provided us with the "Swiss Cheese Model" of the planes. There was no indication of why we should think of the planes like air pockets in Swiss cheese - we had either to accept it dogmatically or to seek out other theories. Its language was not justified - it failed to compel.

(3) Unfortunately working through every metaphor implicit in the language that we use to speak of worlds might take a lifetime, but as mentioned above this could be accomplished more efficiently by taking up a particular tradition of reflection upon the 'planar phenomena.' One such tradition and its planar theory emerge in Part III. Until then, I will limit myself to the following.

20-Dec-2016 01:55:55 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:39:34 by AttilaSquare

AttilaSquare

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(4) Based on the lore so far, here is a preliminary list of phenomena that any good planar theory should address. I hope this can serve as a model for a variety of planar theories in the future. Finally, I can also state the specific function of planar theory.

(5) Planar theory seeks out the best metaphors for explaining the 'planar phenomena,' which can be grouped under the following categories:
1) the planes - their creation and destruction, their elemental compositions and levels of development, dimensional barriers and weak places, mystical resonances, etc.
2) the abyss - pockets, its uses, etc.
3) the void - as empty 'space,' as the absence of the abyss, as a barrier between worlds, as a spatial 'pocket,' as related to dimensional straddling, as a means of travel for pests, etc.
4) shadow realms and related phenomena - such as spirit realms, dream worlds, etc. and their uses, etc.
5) pocket dimensions - their creation and destruction, 'flattening magics,' etc.
6) portals - teleportation, rifts, portal dynamics, portal systems and nodes, stability and instability, openness and closedness, the role of talismans, the role of energy in using or collapsing portals, etc.
7) 'planar distance' and other relations among the planes - such as between Gielinor and the spirit beast's realm or the Land of Snow or Agrith-Naar's world or Zanaris, the Zanarisian eclipse, aetheric threads, the relations of planes to memory, anima, and spirits, etc.

20-Dec-2016 01:56:05 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:17:42 by AttilaSquare

AttilaSquare

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II.2 Anima and Magic Theory

(1) In order to approach the topics of magic and anima, some preliminary comments are necessary. First, because these topics are intimately related, I think they ought to be treated together. Second, like planar theory, these are transcendentals and are best addressed in the context of a particular tradition. Third, unlike planar theory, it is much harder to gather together a list of phenomena which a good theory of magic and anima should address - in part because the list would be vast, and in part because so little has been developed in the direction of a canonical account of magic and anima.

(2) Therefore, I will present here a different sort of sketch than I did for planar theory - an outline of the historical development of the concepts of magic and anima, which is treated extensively in the next section. Take note - the following is partially headcannon.

(3) The earliest form of human magic, which I call sorcery , dealt with the invisible spirits that populate Gielinor and that are responsible for all of its natural processes. During this time, the concepts of anima and sorcery were tightly linked: sorcery, and the early runic magics within its purview, were understood as the reflective participation in the spirits of Gielinor ; anima was understood as the receptivity of visible things to invisible things , i.e. as the capacity of things for life, the capacity for responding to the promptings of spirits. To be alive meant to respond to spirits. Sorcery happened when animate creatures reflected upon their responsiveness to invisible spirits and acted with such reflective knowledge.

20-Dec-2016 01:56:13 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:18:14 by AttilaSquare

AttilaSquare

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(4) Human magics evolved with the advent of new gods, races, magics, and empires in the late 2nd age, into what I call mysticism . Mysticism recognized greater diversity in the invisible things which move the heart. These include spirits native to Gielinor or native to other worlds and spirits which span the abyss and transcend worlds. The heart is also moved by something other than these spirits, by something that I have called 'the ultimate darkness' - a concept developed during the destruction of the Godwars and underlying our inherited image of the mystic, who studies what is invisible and knowable, i.e. spirits, in order to find satisfaction in what is invisible and unknowable. The ultimate darkness is the invisible and unknowable, that which lies beyond the known spirits. Mysticism was understood as the study of the spiritual, of everything that moves the heart .

(5) The maturation of mysticism in the late 3rd age led to the condemnation of necromantic practices among humans and a new respect for anima, especially sapient anima. Anima was still understood in the ancient way, as the receptivity of visible things to invisible things , but in the late 3rd age anima was understood as the gateway to far more complex and mysterious aspects of the invisible than were known before.

20-Dec-2016 01:56:36 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:18:49 by AttilaSquare

AttilaSquare

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(6) The return of Guthix ended the Godwars, transformed human life on Gielinor, and led to the rise of Guthixian druidism in the early 4th age. The druids inherited the traditional respect for anima and the condemnation of necromancy, but the abrupt change and new struggles of the 4th age also led to the slow abandonment of the rest of the ancient wisdom and ways of sorcerers and mystics. This process culminated in what I have called the 'Age of Obelisks' in the late 4th age - the beginning of the modern magic . This period saw the discoveries in druidic summoning, demon summoning, and oneiromancy, a new interest in the elements of magic, and a reconception of magic in terms of lawfully regulated exchange. From this period we also receive the last art of the mystical tradition: the construction of mystic staves.

(7) In the course of the 4th age, the conceptual links among magic, anima, and spirits were lost. Within the paradigm of modern magics, anima was reconceived - as a raw material or quantifiable force underlying the lawfully regulated magical phenomena. It became detached from the study of magic, a variable input in mathematical equations. Anima became spiritual power , and magic became the direction of spiritual power . These conceptual changes were solidified with the discovery and unmatched success of modern runic magic at the start of the 5th age, but the question of anima and its relation to magic has emerged again with the fall of the Edicts, the discovery of divination, and the threat of the elder goddesses' return.

20-Dec-2016 01:56:40 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:19:46 by AttilaSquare

AttilaSquare

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(8) To summarize, I divide the history of human magic s in Gielinor into three broad periods:
The Age of Sorcery - the 1st age and part of the 2nd
The Age of Mysticism - part of the 2nd age, through much of the 4th age
T he Age of Magic - the last centuries of the 4th age to the present day
(I speak of all three as 'magic s ' and of the most recent form as 'magic' more narrowly.)

(9) Over time, both magic and anima have been conceived differently. Sorcery was the reflective participation in spirits; mysticism was the study of the spiritual; magic is the direction of spiritual power. Conversely, anima has been conceived as receptivity to spirits, as receptivity in general, and as spiritual power. The shifts are subtle, but by examining them closely I think I can (1) make better sense of the lore we have and (2) elucidate the metaphorical links among the various concepts that we use to describe magic and anima. The next section will sketch this history in far greater detail.

20-Dec-2016 01:56:46 - Last edited on 31-Dec-2016 17:20:11 by AttilaSquare