Thursday, 19 April 2012
Q is for Quaysh
Quaysh is known by common names such as True Magic and High Magic. It is the weaving of all colors of magic into powerful spells that only the High Elves of Ulthuan are able to wield.
It is speculated that when Magnus the Pious consented and chartered the magical colleges of the Empire the High Elf teachers recognized that man was not capable of wielding High Magic. Instead the teacher's choose to identify in man individual attunement to the eight winds. Mastering a single wind of magic was seen as the easy path and less likely to fry the brain in the primitives (as the High Elfs saw mankind). The newly ordained magic users aided in defeating the Chaos armies for Magnus.
The High Elfs returned to Ulthuan and continued to weave Quaysh for their own purposes, whether benign, great or martial. And no purpose is more important than understanding and maintaining the Vortex on the Isle of the Dead in Ulthuan.
Little is known of the magic origins of the Vortex save that the High Elf Masters that crafted it still reside within it in a suspended animation. What is known is that it serves a singular purpose of draining the excess magical energies that threaten to destroy all the world. The High Elves acknowledge a time before man, dwarf, and Chaos where a great star faring race known only as the Old Ones ruled. The Old Ones maintained powerful magical gates in the polar regions of the world. The Old Ones were defeated a great war, or so it is thought, and the gates collapsed, releasing the magical energies in great floods of energy. The High Elves of old understood that the magical energies would destroy the world and learned quickly how to weave it, but the great excesses could not be managed, save drained from the world.
So the Vortex may represent the greatest example of Quaysh and its power. As only the High Elves wield the magical winds in harmony through Quaysh some might say saving the world at the same time. Whether selflessly or not is another debate.
It is speculated that when Magnus the Pious consented and chartered the magical colleges of the Empire the High Elf teachers recognized that man was not capable of wielding High Magic. Instead the teacher's choose to identify in man individual attunement to the eight winds. Mastering a single wind of magic was seen as the easy path and less likely to fry the brain in the primitives (as the High Elfs saw mankind). The newly ordained magic users aided in defeating the Chaos armies for Magnus.
The High Elfs returned to Ulthuan and continued to weave Quaysh for their own purposes, whether benign, great or martial. And no purpose is more important than understanding and maintaining the Vortex on the Isle of the Dead in Ulthuan.
Little is known of the magic origins of the Vortex save that the High Elf Masters that crafted it still reside within it in a suspended animation. What is known is that it serves a singular purpose of draining the excess magical energies that threaten to destroy all the world. The High Elves acknowledge a time before man, dwarf, and Chaos where a great star faring race known only as the Old Ones ruled. The Old Ones maintained powerful magical gates in the polar regions of the world. The Old Ones were defeated a great war, or so it is thought, and the gates collapsed, releasing the magical energies in great floods of energy. The High Elves of old understood that the magical energies would destroy the world and learned quickly how to weave it, but the great excesses could not be managed, save drained from the world.
So the Vortex may represent the greatest example of Quaysh and its power. As only the High Elves wield the magical winds in harmony through Quaysh some might say saving the world at the same time. Whether selflessly or not is another debate.
Posted by at 1:46 PM in d10
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