The Wizard and I

Hello Hollerites,

You will never guess who I ran into on my way out of Hamitsdown last week.

I was just headed off on my next research mission when I stumbled across a clearing, and then directly into a wall. In my defense, the wall was invisible, so this is not a commentary on how clumsy I can be (it happens). As soon as my nose hit stone a voice drifted down from on high- not a mocking jabber or a deital hallucination brought on by concussive force, but a man, voice pitched high with concern. At least, he was until he saw that the poor soul who had brained themselves upon his tower was me.

Wizard Jeffries is under the impression that I am very hard-headed.

In sharp contrast to some others I have had the fortune (or misfortune) of visiting, the tower of Wizard Jeffries is just like those found in story books, historic records, and popular novels. It stands, usually cloaked, in an idyllic meadow, high in the foothills of the southern range of the Ellisax mountains. With each floor traversed, the view over the continent gets deeper, wider, until one feels they can see out at far as Wansborne in one direction and Mittflare in another.

The foyer is stone, but warm, lit with sconces and braziers and lined with rich tapestries depicting historically accurate events, such as the Gifting of the Stone and The Treaty of Barktruffan, picked out in vivid, shimmering color, with characters that shift subtly in their frames. The windows are wide, open, and enchanted so skillfully to retain heat that if one were to press their fingers over the threshold the could feel a breeze while their palm stayed perfectly temperate.

The steps winding up from the foyer give way to a modest sitting room, comfortably laid out with couches and chairs, all arranged around a gorgeously wrought stone fireplace with depictions of dragons that are carved as though they are breathing fire into the hearth itself. I was reminded of the intimate gatherings that I have been fortunate enough to attend in Hamitsdown when Jeffries is in residence as an instructor at the local U. It is clear this sitting room is designed to host what I imagine to be lively discussions on magical theory and practice.

Near the mouth of the hearth, napping on a plush cushion as wide as I am tall, was a badger. Its greying fur and nose was dappled in white, along with the truly prodigious snoring, marked the creatures age, and it slept on as we found our seats and settled in. When I asked, the Wizard only smiled softly, and indicated that the badger was an old friend getting on in years, who had taken to prolonged visits as the weather turned.

The soul of hospitality, Wizard Jeffries heated water for tea over the fire himself, and presented me with a mellow and buttery oolong that I will likely dream about until the end of my days.

Then, of course, we got down to some impromptu business.

EC: So. How’s your sabbatical going?

WJ: Well, when I’m not rescuing poor creatures who have concussed themselves on my tower.

EC: Troubling. That must happen a lot, given your tower is in the middle of a field and invisible.

WJ: Less often than you might think. Most creatures are gently redirected by my wards, but the particularly bullish ones are indeed difficult to sway.

EC: Yes, I can see how it would be taxing to plan for every eventuality.

WJ: One cannot always account for doggish persistence, it is true.

EC: Right. When last we spoke, you mentioned that you were retreating to your tower to think on some ‘vexing ideology’ you have been encountering in your work as a instructor on casting, as well as to pursue a passion project or two. What ‘vexing ideology’ has your attention?

WJ: A difficult topic, to be sure. I have, of late, been meditating on the growing desire on the part of my students to eschew ethics when summoning a familiar or a focus for their spellwork. In the past year alone, I have had more than a dozen students attempt to argue for their ‘right’ as casters to pull a creature to their side, with no regard for the creature whom they may attempt to pull.

EC: Ah, the subjugation question. An increasingly common debate.

WJ: Yes, it has become somewhat of a controversial topic in casting spaces, I am ashamed to say.

EC: How so?

WJ: Well. If someone had walked into my classroom fifty years ago and attempted to argue that just because something could be done it should be done, specifically the subjugation of another being, they would have been either laughed out of the room or gently taken to the side and given a booklet on the history of summoning and a referral to a school counselor who specializes in the intersection of power and feelings of superiority.

WJ: These days, more than a handful of students are suddenly willing to engage in a debate that was put to bed hundreds of years ago. And in engaging the conversation, they validate it, they prolong it.

Here, Jeffries shakes his head and looks into his mug, expression frustrated and resigned.

WJ: As an educator, it’s akin to watching my students argue against gravity.

EC: There are arguments against gravity.

WJ: Yes! There are levitation spells and long-form castings, and flight, even stairs. But when not being actively acted against, gravity exists as a general aspect of the plane we reside on. I am an expert caster and spell researcher, I am not a physicist, but the fundamentals of reality are not so obscure that I cannot grasp them. We teach them to be grasped by even the meanest of minds. Unfortunately, this does nothing to prevent the willfully ignorant from ignoring those facets of reality that they don’t find sufficiently scandalous or in keeping with their ideal world view and inflicting their misinformed beliefs on the rest of us.

EC: Where does you staunch disbelief in the superiority of creatures who cannot be summoned come from?

WJ: Aside from decency? It can be influenced. If the ability to summon a creature was truly innate to the type of creature being summoned, then it wouldn’t matter where they stood or what they did. But I can demonstrate to you, conclusively, that there are places where the magical veil is weaker than others, and that lends itself to tears- tears from which creatures can be pulled, for lack of a better word, from one location to another. A sufficiently powerful caster can summon a creature regardless of location.

WJ: Beyond that, regardless of a creatures ability to be pulled from one location to another by means magical or otherwise, I do not believe it to be a commentary on any innate aspect that indicates they are intrinsically meant to be bound or controlled, but merely a vulnerability that must be taken into account.

WJ: The spells and casting rituals that allow a magic user to bind a creature to their will are not exclusive to non-humanoid creatures. Yet, because the summoning rituals are so often paired with a binding ritual, the belief that one is necessarily tied to the other has become pervasive.

WJ: When I was young and taking my own courses in casting, I once had a professor who was faced with a similar question by a fellow student of mine. When this student raised the debate about their ability to summon a creature, and thus what they saw as their right to bind it, my professor did not argue with him. She simply drew out a summoning circle, pulled the student from his seat in the back of the lecture hall to his knees before us all, and bound him to her.

EC: Oh!

WJ: Yes, it was quite dramatic. My classmate was an elf, one of the races believed to be exempt from being summoned, so you can imagine how this startled the class quite badly. My professor went on to lecture on the nature of magic, how it moves and can be compounded in the vessel of a creature’s body, regardless of the nature of that creature, and she left my classmate where she’d pulled him, voiceless, until she was finished speaking.

WJ: It was a temporary binding, of course, and such educational techniques have since been strictly forbidden by nearly every institution, which contributes to why binding and summoning is always a tricky subject to teach, but I will say that it left an impression.

EC: I can imagine.

WJ: These days, given the restriction on practical demonstration in the classroom, instructors are left to rely on theory, which I am sad to say does not resonate with every student the way we hope it will. True understanding of the practice, I believe, comes from experience, and while I don’t condone binding any creature against their will, even for demonstration purposes, I do believe there is a path forward where we as instructors can show the harm and potential consequences of reckless, misinformed, and malicious summoning and binding in a way that will provide insight to those who have entrusted us to teach them.

EC: I appreciate your insight. If someone were curious to learn more on the subject, where would you recommend they begin?

WJ: The history section of your local library.

EC: Really?

WJ: Yes. This is not a new issue, nor a unique debate, but a conversation that has been in progress since the evolution of magic itself. Those who truly seek to understand would do well to find a solid foundation in the lives and troubles of those who came before us.

It was in this manner that Jeffries and I passed a pleasant evening discussing magical theory, the eternal struggle that is teaching history to those readily positioned to make the same mistakes of those who came before us, and lighter topics like Hamitsdown’s local dragonball picks of the season and which indoor racing league has the best spectator rink.

It was lovely to chat with someone so knowledgeable in their field, who could speak from a place of personal experience and convey their knowledge so clearly. I understand why Jeffries is regarded as a leading player in his field. Were I the slightest bit inclined to learn spell casting, I’d sign up for one of his seminars. I still might, if only to understand the theory behind it all.

In upcoming Holler news, I will be out and about traveling for what may be the next several seasons, so I apologize for any delay of Dear Eze responses as the interns sort out how to forward my mail.

I look forward to seeing y’all out there!

Live from the Holler,

Eze Clearwater