Entry 3
The transcribed personal written records of Johnathan Altman in relation to his debaucherous research in Relative Magics and their implications. The staff of the Saunders College of Magics of Boston, Massachusetts, procured them as evidence in the lead-up to his trial.
May 23rd 1896
Magic is neither greater nor less than the humanities or sciences. It is the human imagination made material through long blood lineages tied to magical centers. I think this will be a good opening line for my book. Too many people exaggerate or mitigate the importance of magic in our modern world. I think being it to equality is the best approach. Hierarchy is important, but it’s limiting. We all become obsessed with rating things to see which is the best, but they are simply different approaches. Finals have passed now, and I can, between the numerous tasks that I have assigned myself, write my book. Hopefully, my colleagues will see it’s merited and write recommendations to it. I find that one of my main goals with it is to write it in terms that any literate American may read and comprehend. Think of the progress that the magical community can make when there are more people who can comprehend the work.
I prepare for my journey home for a short stint at the beginning of the next month. Ms. Fair has taught me a great deal, and I hope to share what I have learned with my sister. I have come to have such a greater respect for the weavatry craft. It is, in some ways, far more complex than even my own chosen craft. If the creator makes their own fabrics, especially. I think this expectation that the magical form would be simplistic or of lesser value is likely due to the commonness of the practice and the fact that women are able to perform it. However, I find myself exhausted at times by the labor.
I hope that one day, my sister will meet Madilyn. I am sure that the two of them will be the closest of friends because they both have similar attitudes. Perhaps I can convince the Jones boy to visit with her next summer, and I might be able to find a way for the two to meet. In the present, I have satisfied my romantic heart with our evening suppers. I find myself longing for her presence all the time. Even when I want quiet, I want quiet with her. I hope she feels the same for me. I have asked if she would mind me sending her a letter while I am away. She laughed and said she had expected more than one letter from a thesaurus like me. She has made a joke about me saying so much when one or two words would suffice.
I had thought the annoyances of the campus would end along with my partnership with GillGrass. But Casey has made it otherwise. I made the slightest mistake of even mentioning my book, and he has made it into an event, constantly asking me about my progress and seeing if he can help at all. Insisting on refacing other books from commonplace ones to ancient manuscripts. It is taking every bit of my self-control not to collapse the whole room on top of him. He has even insisted on joining me in visiting my family as it will be on his way to one of his talks in Albany. The worst part is that I think he likes arguing with me. “Academic jousting,” he calls it. I call it badgering. Unfortunately, he is right sometimes. In particular, a grouping of manuscripts he shared with me proved a shifting hierarchy of pyromancy, meaning that the current one based on Bishop Mathew Shaw is biased, and we may need to rethink how our current spell hierarchy.
Summers’s experiment has proved more difficult than first thought. Many of the spells documented are varied, and we may need to expand the research group and limit the number of volunteers we take in. Will Summers do so? I doubt it. His ego is just big enough to make this whole thing a disaster and drag my name down with him. I miss Calsoar. He has left for a dig in Wales. He had provided a good outlet for me to calm down. Summers only stoke those flames.
Bass is a stone wall to anything outside of work, and my starstruck attitude toward him has begun to wane. I still respect the man, but I can also see his flaws. He is not inventive like the great men of my generation. He simply wishes to find ways to slowly increase the strength of steel or the intricacies of finer metal craft. I want to rediscover the old practices. Metal that thinks multiplies; I want to make a flaming blade. I know that the practicality of this practice is no longer there, but we must innovate to ensure the continued existence of our craft outside of factory work.
Perhaps I can pursue these as extracurricular activities when I return home and have a workshop to myself. I am particularly interested in guided arrows, a practice lost in the 13th century. I think that if I can work on the spellcraft, I can apply it to other metals and perhaps other purposes. We shall see.
Chapter One Magical Conservation
Magic is temporal in nature. It shifts in power over time, waxing and waning in relation to the crafter. As we all know, some magicians are powerful enough that their magics last long after their death. Its temporal nature is why we first learn to dispel and strengthen or weaken wards(1) to maintain our control over the magics that are performed. Your own magical capability grows over time and distance to your Keystone(2). However, some people are stronger because of their bloodlines.
(1) Wards are spells after they have been cast.
(2) Keystone is the magical center it is the closest one to you when you are born.
Notes from Mr. Mathew Maroe are on the evidence above. 1911 August 16th
We see the development of the ArcLight forge that Johnathan would later construct. It seems his interest in resurrecting old practices is linked to his arrogance. He continues to equalize male and female magics flagrantly, and he does not consider the consequences; it is interesting to see the contention between him and Summers. The section at the bottom is only a rough draft of the first paragraph of his book, which still aligns with proper teachings.