All use of Talent follows the Path. If it does not, if it remains untutored, or comes Undone, it leads often to the destruction of the Talented, and those he cares for most. There was an age of the world when Bards were guardians of the Talented, safekeeping all those who shake with Macháin’s Word. This is why, it is said, they are universally honored and respected, because they have held the world in this way, in addition to literally, in their memories of history.

Of course, this is a history lesson at the Practical (an ancient school of magic in Cahál), so its skew may be … deep.

In nearly every Draoí (a recognized wizard/mage/witch/person of power in the Five Kingdoms), there is a pattern. The Talent in them arises, and it chooses for them one of the Paths. As the Draoí is trained or diligently experiments to master what is rising withing them, they will grow into stable use of that Path. In some small number of Draoí, their power can pour into a second Path - but more often, with continued specific application of a Path, one of or more Sciences emerge.

There are 4 Paths:

Flesh

The Path of Flesh is the alignment of the corporeal with the vibration of Arcodd the Mother. The Path of Flesh is mastery of one’s own Body - and eventually, terrifyingly, the bodies of others. Masters of the Path of Flesh are the most common expressions of the Talent; it is also the most stable and least likely to become Undone. They exercise their power by writing the Word upon themselves, by shaping the word about them, and causing the expressions of the Mother to respond to their expression. Tangibility, Gesture and Voice are important to this Path, and most of the Sciences fall most comfortably in its purview.

the Whisper

The Path of the Whisper is the internalization of the Word; the intricacies of the Word enter into Understanding through Voice, Connection and Expression. It is thought that most of the Unbound come from this Path, since because of its subtle nature it is the most likely to go initially unnoticed.

The critical practice of the Path of the Whisper is the formulation of Concept and the Holding of the Word in the mind’s eye. Some pathwalkers formulate the literal letters of the language of magic in their mind. There are also the ways of holding the Concept, finding the sheer vibration of the naming of something, and holding that in your consciousness. In that state, the consciousness of other beings is also a kind of shaking which can be sensed, and occasionally secrets like motive, or intent can be discerned.

One of the great fears directed at those who stride the Path of Whispers is the fear of the dark mentalist - of the man who can sort through one’s thoughts and root out hidden sins and misdeeds. There is no mindreading - not as such. By holding a Word in mind, and speaking that same word, making eye contact with another person, you can influence their feelings, thoughts, immediate behaviors. The more unlikely the influence the more sure the Talented can be of strange results.

the Word

The Path of the Word is akin to the power of the Gods. Aligning with the Talent, visualizing the world changing around them, those who walk the Path of the Word speak new rules for the Mother’s world into being. This path begins weak, because the Mother holds what is strongly in her Dreaming; but once the Talented speaker of The Word finds their calling, their place, they are a power to be reckoned with!

Beyond

The Path Beyond is mysterious, it is the way of connecting into the future and the past, a way to touch the fallen heroes and powers that populate the Vault of the Night - it was said at The Practical that there are no remaining students of the Path Beyond, that all perished in the great Wars of Freedom (or Wars of Blood) that freed the 5 Kingdoms from the High Kingdom’s rule.

The Sciences are something beside the the Path, like a way of Walking. For some obsessives, they are a Path all their own, or can be a refuge on a weak Path. For some they are a rough guide - especially the Talented of Cahál.

Letters

The Great Science of Letters is the dead Night Lodge God Ciánan’s binding of the Word into form. Letters allow the peoples of Arcodd to fix the memory of the past beyond any single human’s recollection, a kind of miracle that the Bards of Pynwydden Abbey fear will lessen their grip on Mawr’s culture.

There is a subtle blasphemy, a secret lawbreaking in the heart of all who work the Science of Letters. Perhaps that is their true power. The writing of words is a power unto itself - even for those without the Talent. For the Talented, when they write Macháin’s words - perhaps in ink, or their own bodily fluids, or on their flesh, or in their imagination, they participate in the power of the Gods, the naming, the making, the binding of the world.

Skilled in the Science of Letters, you know the Modern Script and the Ancient Script. Typically, the Modern script would be used to affect the vulgar world - the works and deeds of men, and the secret that Macháin wants know one to know - a way to save information and communicate it without a human’s memory and speech - directly, through time and space.

The Ancient Script would be used to affect the subtle world - the nature of things, the connections of the world, magical things and places, the understanding of what is.

Casting

There is an Application or collegiate Science to Letters, called Casting, which is the placing of letters into physical objects, and imbuing them with power. Often the walkers of the Path of Flesh are thought best at Casting, but in the writings and designs of Cahál’s great Masters (Such as Master N who is the current Great Mystery of Cahál), the learned begin to suspect that may not be the case.

Eye

The Science of the Eye is the embracing of the Secret World. The making and unmaking of things can be perceived with the Eye. The execution of the Talent can be perceived. Secrets and new insights can be leaped into with the exercise of this Science. Be wary with this work - things Seen cannot be forgotten or unseen, and it is said that the Emptiness strives always to enter the Talented through this Science.

The terrible Questioners of Tuhál - those wizards who don red and turn all their magic to the foiling of others with the Talent - speak with some wonder and fear of the opening of the Eye in the presence of Builder artifacts.

Binding

This is the easiest Science to come to naturally, and the most difficult science to learn. This is the tying of two things together - once bound, they are destined to travel the Mother’s world together, either as counterbalances, as twin experiences, or simply being drawn back together.

Power

The science of Power is the experience of energy directly, that force which moves and animates everything in the world - whether it is seeming alive or not. Everything, to those who study Power, vibrates or moves or shines in some essential way, and different wielders of this science interact with that differently. Some are able to wield Light itself. Others can direct, draw or quell the Heat of fire and flame. Some are like masters of carts, able to smoothly guide physical energy along byways to be used cunningly by themselves.

Blunt, this science can be one of the most overtly powerful expressions of the Talent. Cultivated, and it could lower mountains or still the sounding sea.

The Master Sciences

It is said that there are a number of other sciences reserved for Masters - for those who relinquish their names to be known only by secret letters at the Colleges of the Twin Kingdoms. The Great Mystery of Cahál, Master N, is known to be a student of something he called Lines. It had something to do with his obsessive charcoal rubbings and ink drawings of Culae architecture.

These are the basics of the Path. Tread wisely.

The Nightwings

The passage of the Mother’s bright children in the sky have a direct effect on the Talented and their workings.

• Golden Lainír makes inspiration, creation of thoughts, binding easier; it makes confusion, hiding, obfuscating more difficult.
• Gray Brugán makes convincing, impelling, coercing, darkness easier; it makes steadying, positive and creative effects more difficult.
• Silver-blue Gromgud makes hiding and locating more easy; she makes clarity, revelation, light more difficult.
• Dark Dolain eases travel, rest, sleep, makes hard construction, creation.
• Faic increases the power of all Workings, and adds the possibility of unexpected failures and side effects.