. . . Tell me about curses, in your world. Or however you would define your specialty. You ought to make it a pride indulgence - or I suppose another sin, if it would fit better. [. . .] I hope not lust?
[ And the emotion that blares out is obvious elation and excitement, just cause... Well, he likes people despite not knowing them much. Anyway, this can be the rec room and he was playing a videogame. gonna pause. ]
Oh. Yeah, pride works out in this case if you don't mind blabbing about cursed techniques into it. [ sit, sit!! ] Feel free to share, too. Those Revenants are still on my mind.
... Did you want me to ramble or did you have specific questions?
Questions that haven't been answered before are good questions, I think. Even then, some will understand things differently, so I think all questions are fine.
[ Gojou says, as a teacher, but anyway. Let's see. ]
Simply, cursed spirits are created from humans naturally emitting cursed energy! And cursed energy is a power source drawn from negative emotions. It's what fuels the sorcery that helps us exorcise these spirits, at least for the few of us capable of controlling cursed energy.
The strength of a cursed spirit is dependent on the strength of the cursed energy, basically how deep those negative emotions run. With a focal point, cursed spirits can be catastrophically powerful. As an example, one of my students' sorrow and longing over his dead girlfriend bore a curse that has unlimited curse energy, which allows it to continuously use its abilities.
I hold myself to a higher standard than "all questions are fine."
[If he is a teacher, she is a nightmare student who wants to know whether A+s are being given out and we she didn't get one. But she is still interested.]
How is it that certain humans are capable of controlling cursed energy? Is it an innate ability, or something that can be learned?
[ oh, but gojou loves that kind of student. they're so funny??? and he would purposely not give them A+s. there's amusement and approval since higher standards is good, but he goes on to explain. ]
It is innate and can't be learned. If it isn't in your bloodline, you wouldn't know about this layer of the world since you wouldn't be able to see curses at all. Cursed techniques, too, are innate and different per person. Sorcerer families have their trademark techniques that are passed down for generations, but you'll find outliers where a sorcerer is born from a non-sorcerer family. For those without a clan, it's all chance.
It is similar for necromancers. I am not aware of anything like curse energy, but the energy of life and death is a layer of the world that can be seen and manipulated with the ability, if one is born with it. It is linked to genetics, though there is no guarantee of a child of necromancers possessing the ability, and the ability can appear among children who have no known necromantic ancestry.
[ He nods, reciprocating the same genuine interest. Death and life essence itself sounds fucking dangerous, though, so there's a blip of reverence. ]
Oh, that's the same for us. Even if you come from a sorcerer family, the most influential ones included, you might not receive any cursed techniques.
It isn't a big deal since they serve the family as servants, but for some families it's... [ Hm. ] Some families highly regard cursed techniques, so they shun those that aren't so lucky to be blessed. You might as well not exist to them.
[Kind of a pang of negative feelings, here. Something a little personal and shameful.]
It is. It's rare for children to be born necromancers in general and hardly a guarantee even among families that have the lineage, but it is essential for the Houses to have a sufficient number, and the heir to the House must be a necromancer. It isn't so much a matter of preference as it is survival; where we live would not be habitable without necromantic techniques.
[ He's quiet for a bit. The feeling here is sympathy, but not pity. Life is what it is in other places. ]
If you don't mind that I ask, what makes necromancy in your world? [ How does it work, what do they use it for aside from survival it sounds like. ] Are there specializations?
Well, as I said, it is all a matter of the energy of life and death - thalergy and thanergy. All living beings in the universe produce both. Thalergy is what is generated by things that are alive, but it is not especially conducive to manipulation. You can burn thalergy to do a few things, but it is not efficient. Thanergy is generated by decay. A living creature, at low levels, is always generating thanergy as well from cellular decay. But the more complex the organism that dies, the more thanergy will be generated, so it is essentially a waste to harvest thanergy from anything without sentience.
The greatest production of thanergy comes at the bloom of death in a sentient being and approximately thirty to sixty seconds after. Sentient beings have spirits, and the apopneumatism that occurs when the spirit is forced from the body causes a thanergetic cascade. From this comes the typical combat application of necromancy, wherein a necromancer is paired with a swordsman who will generate death for the purposes of thanergy production, which can then be utilized by a necromancer in a variety of techniques. However, beyond the initial bloom, corpses still generate significant amounts of thanergy. The fresher the corpse, the more potent the thanergy generation.
From here you have the specialties. Each House has their own particular methods and techniques for which they are known, but they all principally deal in similar methods of thanergy generation and three specialties. There are necromancers who deal primarily in matters of the spirit, the soul. Either by siphoning energy from souls of the living, or calling souls that have been separated from the body. Flesh magicians tend to make use of the thanergy of corpses, though skilled ones can also draw thanergy from living bodies. My House specializes in bone. Bone is less potent than a cadaver with flesh on it, but it has the advantage of lasting, and it serves as a highly effective conduit for thanergy. My technique is principally to infuse bone with additional thanergy - I can store the additional energy from the initial bloom, which I can then carry with me and draw from later; I can also manipulate the bone into other forms and grow it.
This method also bypasses the need to generate fresh corpses in order to be effective in combat. Most of the dead I've drawn thanergy from were of my household, and died naturally before their conversion.
So I fear that I am no spirit expert, which would be the most comparable to what you deal in, but I do understand the fundamental principles of it better than your standard spirit caller, because I am very good.
[ BONES. He listens carefully, intrigued especially by what makes thalergy and thanergy. It all also makes sense?
isn't this like goth loveless ]
I feel like if you came to my world, you would adapt really quick.
[ Nod nod. ]
What an interesting system... It'd make sense to have a pair; one acts as a battery for their caster. Bone being used as an extra charge or channel is really neat! I'd say very clever since if by chance you're not accompanied by your swordsman, you have another card to play. But it's your House's trademark, right? Still, it sounds very versatile considering you said you can manipulate bone, too? Like make constructs in battle. It sounds like you'd have a lot of room to be creative.
This is also why you see death differently, right?
[ wow, the I've collected thanergy from people from my household bit. But. Also EVERYTHING??? ]
It's my House's traditional technique, yes - but I have mastered it beyond what my ancestors ever thought to achieve with it. I've never really had a swordsman of any worth to rely on to begin with.
[Just bluntly putting that out there. She has a big ego, but she also feels this is an honest assessment.]
. . . There has been an assumption by certain parties that necromancy means I mind less about murder, which is bizarre to me. I still don't enjoy the notion of people I am friendly with being killed? [But whatever.] I mean more that I view the theory differently. I've had conversations with Greed and Gluttony of what becomes of corpses here and what is eating them, and it is difficult because I know they do not have the same academic framework as I do so I fear whether I am correctly parsing their questions. Greed once prompted me to acknowledge the difference between someone living and someone dead is whether their soul remains in their body, which is actually a gross oversimplification.
Besides that, I'd say the difference is primarily that the notion of being sentimental over remains is an odd one to me. [She'll point to one of her bone bracelets.] This came from a woman who was often my nursemaid as a child. When she died, I harvested her bone as I would any other cadaver. She would have considered it an honour.
A swordsman at that point would be more of an add-on for you, then.
[ She's a prodigy, isn't she? Gojou isn't surprised and the assessment is solid. ]
That's such a wild assumption? Just cause death is a big theme in your life, doesn't mean you're completely desensitized. [ oh my god. ] I wonder if Greed told you that because you might be overcomplicating death in the context of this station... Though, honestly, the idea of something eating anything substantial from a corpse is complicated for my understanding. Cursed energy is released once people die, so there's not much else. Then soul theory is more metaphysical in my world, so the study is all questions that cannot be answered with our current understanding. Mahito was big on it, but he was a curse that had the power to directly manipulate the soul and its shape.
[ He leans over to look at her bracelet. ]
That's not too different from one of the funeral rites common in my country. Cremation is popular, especially when added to lockets to wear. [ He tilts his head. ] So you mean like... If you showed this to someone, they get shocked because how could you do that to your nursemaid's remains? And then they get extremely sad for you?
I suppose they might, if I explained it. But to me, it doesn't even have that level of sentimental value. They are only remains.
[So like. The idea that people care about being respectful towards dead bodies, or find them unsettling. . . doesn't make sense.]
Cursed energy isn't something I'm familiar with, either. I mentioned revenants before; these are often caused by the shock of a soul leaving a body during a violent death, which can cause parts of the soul to fragment and form violent creatures. They are also rarely sentient; only in unusual circumstances does a revenant retain enough components of the soul to form something like a ghost, with awareness and personality.
[ Interesting... Gojou doesn't find it too weird. ]
It's difficult to explain since it does fall under something more supernatural. Studies of it currently cannot explain the phenomenon, but we've found that only a population of people produce it. Scholars are trying to trace the reason through ancestry in hopes to find a way to neutralize it.
[ spooky. ]
Hm... It sounds like revenants are closer to curses that are born when a sorcerer dies. Most curses come from living humans, but sorcerers are different. With how they contain cursed energy for their sorcery, they die with a concentrated bundle of it. They retain their shape, personality, and some memories as a curse—most likely the memories where cursed energy is active. This is the price for not letting your own cursed energy spread, I guess. Easy pass for immortality if it weren't for the fact that they're basically a vengeful spirit only filled with the worst emotions.
Got any fears about becoming a revanant, Harrowhark? Or is it not possible for necromancers?
That's true. Can't worry when you literally can't.
[ Makes sense to him. It would be fragments of her soul and that can be barely anything. ]
Not sure afraid is the right word, but I do think it'd be annoying? I'd be a menace and people will have a hard time exorcising me since I'm the strongest among us. [ Mm. ] As long as a sorcerer is killed by sorcery, they won't become a curse, but that doesn't mean much when I can die randomly where no one can find me. Or even die naturally without warning.
In a way, I would say this place would make a nice grave if it weren't for the mumbo jumbo happening.
[Somehow she finds this a little amusing, in a way that's like - so that's your deal.]
If you're really so clever, can't you find a better way to resolve that problem? Make plans to deal with it in advance? Or do you only have brute strength without the intelligence to back it up?
I am a teacher, so my solid contingency plan is raising a new generation of sorcerers that will be as strong as I am—ideally, stronger. Of course, that's not their only purpose! They're the future of our society and I expect a lot of great things from them.
[ He seems... Very excited when talking about his students and their potential. ]
Otherwise, I can reconfigure Reverse Cursed Technique to achieve immortality until I have a secure exit... It's mainly used to heal wounds and regrow body parts, but I'm sure with some tinkering I can figure it out. Maybe with some reading on cancer cells and bacteria, though talking to our token immortal sorcerer would be helpful, too. [ Not worried. ] The universe is still unpredictable, so I'll have to see how things pan out?
[See, what she does appreciate about Gojou is she said that in the meannest way possible, and he just took the question in the spirit it was intended and answered.]
So you have thought it through. I expected as much.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w5; tuesday
. . . Tell me about curses, in your world. Or however you would define your specialty. You ought to make it a pride indulgence - or I suppose another sin, if it would fit better. [. . .] I hope not lust?
no subject
[ And the emotion that blares out is obvious elation and excitement, just cause... Well, he likes people despite not knowing them much. Anyway, this can be the rec room and he was playing a videogame. gonna pause. ]
Oh. Yeah, pride works out in this case if you don't mind blabbing about cursed techniques into it. [ sit, sit!! ] Feel free to share, too. Those Revenants are still on my mind.
... Did you want me to ramble or did you have specific questions?
no subject
[Her emotion is genuine interest and curiosity. She will sit down for it.]
no subject
[ Gojou says, as a teacher, but anyway. Let's see. ]
Simply, cursed spirits are created from humans naturally emitting cursed energy! And cursed energy is a power source drawn from negative emotions. It's what fuels the sorcery that helps us exorcise these spirits, at least for the few of us capable of controlling cursed energy.
The strength of a cursed spirit is dependent on the strength of the cursed energy, basically how deep those negative emotions run. With a focal point, cursed spirits can be catastrophically powerful. As an example, one of my students' sorrow and longing over his dead girlfriend bore a curse that has unlimited curse energy, which allows it to continuously use its abilities.
no subject
I hold myself to a higher standard than "all questions are fine."
[If he is a teacher, she is a nightmare student who wants to know whether A+s are being given out and we she didn't get one. But she is still interested.]
How is it that certain humans are capable of controlling cursed energy? Is it an innate ability, or something that can be learned?
no subject
It is innate and can't be learned. If it isn't in your bloodline, you wouldn't know about this layer of the world since you wouldn't be able to see curses at all. Cursed techniques, too, are innate and different per person. Sorcerer families have their trademark techniques that are passed down for generations, but you'll find outliers where a sorcerer is born from a non-sorcerer family. For those without a clan, it's all chance.
no subject
no subject
Oh, that's the same for us. Even if you come from a sorcerer family, the most influential ones included, you might not receive any cursed techniques.
It isn't a big deal since they serve the family as servants, but for some families it's... [ Hm. ] Some families highly regard cursed techniques, so they shun those that aren't so lucky to be blessed. You might as well not exist to them.
I hope it isn't like that for your world.
no subject
It is. It's rare for children to be born necromancers in general and hardly a guarantee even among families that have the lineage, but it is essential for the Houses to have a sufficient number, and the heir to the House must be a necromancer. It isn't so much a matter of preference as it is survival; where we live would not be habitable without necromantic techniques.
no subject
If you don't mind that I ask, what makes necromancy in your world? [ How does it work, what do they use it for aside from survival it sounds like. ] Are there specializations?
no subject
Well, as I said, it is all a matter of the energy of life and death - thalergy and thanergy. All living beings in the universe produce both. Thalergy is what is generated by things that are alive, but it is not especially conducive to manipulation. You can burn thalergy to do a few things, but it is not efficient. Thanergy is generated by decay. A living creature, at low levels, is always generating thanergy as well from cellular decay. But the more complex the organism that dies, the more thanergy will be generated, so it is essentially a waste to harvest thanergy from anything without sentience.
The greatest production of thanergy comes at the bloom of death in a sentient being and approximately thirty to sixty seconds after. Sentient beings have spirits, and the apopneumatism that occurs when the spirit is forced from the body causes a thanergetic cascade. From this comes the typical combat application of necromancy, wherein a necromancer is paired with a swordsman who will generate death for the purposes of thanergy production, which can then be utilized by a necromancer in a variety of techniques. However, beyond the initial bloom, corpses still generate significant amounts of thanergy. The fresher the corpse, the more potent the thanergy generation.
From here you have the specialties. Each House has their own particular methods and techniques for which they are known, but they all principally deal in similar methods of thanergy generation and three specialties. There are necromancers who deal primarily in matters of the spirit, the soul. Either by siphoning energy from souls of the living, or calling souls that have been separated from the body. Flesh magicians tend to make use of the thanergy of corpses, though skilled ones can also draw thanergy from living bodies. My House specializes in bone. Bone is less potent than a cadaver with flesh on it, but it has the advantage of lasting, and it serves as a highly effective conduit for thanergy. My technique is principally to infuse bone with additional thanergy - I can store the additional energy from the initial bloom, which I can then carry with me and draw from later; I can also manipulate the bone into other forms and grow it.
This method also bypasses the need to generate fresh corpses in order to be effective in combat. Most of the dead I've drawn thanergy from were of my household, and died naturally before their conversion.
So I fear that I am no spirit expert, which would be the most comparable to what you deal in, but I do understand the fundamental principles of it better than your standard spirit caller, because I am very good.
no subject
isn't this like goth loveless ]
I feel like if you came to my world, you would adapt really quick.
[ Nod nod. ]
What an interesting system... It'd make sense to have a pair; one acts as a battery for their caster. Bone being used as an extra charge or channel is really neat! I'd say very clever since if by chance you're not accompanied by your swordsman, you have another card to play. But it's your House's trademark, right? Still, it sounds very versatile considering you said you can manipulate bone, too? Like make constructs in battle. It sounds like you'd have a lot of room to be creative.
This is also why you see death differently, right?
[ wow, the I've collected thanergy from people from my household bit. But. Also EVERYTHING??? ]
no subject
[Just bluntly putting that out there. She has a big ego, but she also feels this is an honest assessment.]
. . . There has been an assumption by certain parties that necromancy means I mind less about murder, which is bizarre to me. I still don't enjoy the notion of people I am friendly with being killed? [But whatever.] I mean more that I view the theory differently. I've had conversations with Greed and Gluttony of what becomes of corpses here and what is eating them, and it is difficult because I know they do not have the same academic framework as I do so I fear whether I am correctly parsing their questions. Greed once prompted me to acknowledge the difference between someone living and someone dead is whether their soul remains in their body, which is actually a gross oversimplification.
Besides that, I'd say the difference is primarily that the notion of being sentimental over remains is an odd one to me. [She'll point to one of her bone bracelets.] This came from a woman who was often my nursemaid as a child. When she died, I harvested her bone as I would any other cadaver. She would have considered it an honour.
no subject
[ She's a prodigy, isn't she? Gojou isn't surprised and the assessment is solid. ]
That's such a wild assumption? Just cause death is a big theme in your life, doesn't mean you're completely desensitized. [ oh my god. ] I wonder if Greed told you that because you might be overcomplicating death in the context of this station... Though, honestly, the idea of something eating anything substantial from a corpse is complicated for my understanding. Cursed energy is released once people die, so there's not much else. Then soul theory is more metaphysical in my world, so the study is all questions that cannot be answered with our current understanding. Mahito was big on it, but he was a curse that had the power to directly manipulate the soul and its shape.
[ He leans over to look at her bracelet. ]
That's not too different from one of the funeral rites common in my country. Cremation is popular, especially when added to lockets to wear. [ He tilts his head. ] So you mean like... If you showed this to someone, they get shocked because how could you do that to your nursemaid's remains? And then they get extremely sad for you?
no subject
[So like. The idea that people care about being respectful towards dead bodies, or find them unsettling. . . doesn't make sense.]
Cursed energy isn't something I'm familiar with, either. I mentioned revenants before; these are often caused by the shock of a soul leaving a body during a violent death, which can cause parts of the soul to fragment and form violent creatures. They are also rarely sentient; only in unusual circumstances does a revenant retain enough components of the soul to form something like a ghost, with awareness and personality.
no subject
[ Interesting... Gojou doesn't find it too weird. ]
It's difficult to explain since it does fall under something more supernatural. Studies of it currently cannot explain the phenomenon, but we've found that only a population of people produce it. Scholars are trying to trace the reason through ancestry in hopes to find a way to neutralize it.
[ spooky. ]
Hm... It sounds like revenants are closer to curses that are born when a sorcerer dies. Most curses come from living humans, but sorcerers are different. With how they contain cursed energy for their sorcery, they die with a concentrated bundle of it. They retain their shape, personality, and some memories as a curse—most likely the memories where cursed energy is active. This is the price for not letting your own cursed energy spread, I guess. Easy pass for immortality if it weren't for the fact that they're basically a vengeful spirit only filled with the worst emotions.
Got any fears about becoming a revanant, Harrowhark? Or is it not possible for necromancers?
no subject
[But that does sound interesting.]
Are you afraid of becoming a curse?
no subject
[ Makes sense to him. It would be fragments of her soul and that can be barely anything. ]
Not sure afraid is the right word, but I do think it'd be annoying? I'd be a menace and people will have a hard time exorcising me since I'm the strongest among us. [ Mm. ] As long as a sorcerer is killed by sorcery, they won't become a curse, but that doesn't mean much when I can die randomly where no one can find me. Or even die naturally without warning.
In a way, I would say this place would make a nice grave if it weren't for the mumbo jumbo happening.
no subject
[Somehow she finds this a little amusing, in a way that's like - so that's your deal.]
If you're really so clever, can't you find a better way to resolve that problem? Make plans to deal with it in advance? Or do you only have brute strength without the intelligence to back it up?
no subject
[ He seems... Very excited when talking about his students and their potential. ]
Otherwise, I can reconfigure Reverse Cursed Technique to achieve immortality until I have a secure exit... It's mainly used to heal wounds and regrow body parts, but I'm sure with some tinkering I can figure it out. Maybe with some reading on cancer cells and bacteria, though talking to our token immortal sorcerer would be helpful, too. [ Not worried. ] The universe is still unpredictable, so I'll have to see how things pan out?
no subject
So you have thought it through. I expected as much.
no subject
Be kind of silly if I didn't, right? Teachers should set good examples and all.
[ he has done none of that in this station ]