Neverstone Lore Musings: Mystics

I was having a rather Spicy day the other Tuesday. “But Ned,” you may ask, “is spicy good or bad?” And if I had the sort of taste buds to care about such a thing, I’d have a more definitive answer. But alas, I’m the sort of creature that can only define spicy as “having a great and overwhelming intensity” condensed to a merciful disyllabic remnant.

But more specifically, that Tuesday sucked. I got lemon juice in my eye. I don’t even remember how; I haven’t gone near a lemon in months. Can’t trust the damn things. (On a related note, I’m short five bucks and my wallet smells of Lysol.)

Having lemon juice in my eye reminded me of an element you may have been seeing in Neverstone every so often: Mystics.

You may know Mystics from a certain one-third of the Chosen Three, seen here in the middle:

But this isn’t about Liv.* This is about Mystics in general.

What are Mystics?

D&D Warlocks with a Scoville rating. But since no one’s going to be satisfied with that…

When you want to cast magic in Luminar, you either learn spells from a scroll (usually at the behest of Koschei Thaumaturgicals, or one of the many independent spellcraft companies they’re in the process of enslaving), or you make them yourself through carefully-constructed sigil rituals. In the latter case: slide rules are involved, and no one has any fun. In the former case: thanks to inflation, the choice is usually between paying for college or shooting one kind of fireball in particular.

But there’s a third option (yes, Era, we see you, shut up) — one can make your own spells through artistic meditation. (And by “one” I mean “a Mystic.”)

Mystics have a direct spiritual connection to the source of all magic – the Cosmic Torch. This connection takes a form of a single multicolored flame — literally a piece of the Torch — stored within a Mystic’s soul. The flame is accessed through two portals that replace a Mystic’s eyes. It’s a common misconception that Mystics have two eye-fires; it’s the same flame, viewed from two different points in space and time.

With access to that raw energy, a Mystic can psychically mold their flame like clay into new spells — most commonly destruction magic, but healer Mystics aren’t unheard of.

As a result of this spell-forming ability, most Mystics view their magic as more of an art than a science, and as such, give their spells a theme or a signature style. (The most prominent example is Liv’s use of skull motifs in just about all of her spells. Artist statement: “I like skulls.”) Spells can be in just about any element, but it’s easiest to make fire from fire.

Here’s three more particulars about the eye-fires:

1. They allow Mystics to see a huge variety of colors invisible to the human eye. The closest I can come to describing some of these colors without eye-fires of my own is something like “pink, but financially estranged” and “grey, but it’s undressing you with its eyes in the meat section of a Food Lion in Birmingham, AL.”
2. You can put out a Mystic’s eye-fires with a splash of water, rendering them “fireblind” – they can’t see and can’t cast. Of course, they can re-ignite their flames with a snap of a finger, and they’ll probably be very angry, so… don’t.
3. When one Mystic kills another, the eye-fires merge. The winner absorbs the loser’s eye-fires and their power.

Can I become a Mystic?

…not intentionally, anyway.

The only way for someone to become a Mystic is to be “anointed” by the Cosmic Torch’s guardian, Kuhallen, a.k.a. the Mystic Spirit.

Kuhallen (Kobal for “the Lighthouse”) is a monster created by the ancient Kobal people long ago to protect the Cosmic Torch from what we can only assume to be magic-hating firefighters. Proximity to the Torch made Kuhallen unthinkably strong and self-aware. Wanderlust set in, but the monster was designed to be sessile — bound to its post for eternity. As such, Kuhallen gives random mortals a connection to the strongest magic in the Universe in exchange for using them as a human GoPro to observe the world. (Everything a Mystic sees, Kuhallen sees — yes, Liv, that includes your extensive hentai collection. Kuhallen’s a little embarrassed.)

But since Kuhallen’s a little too stupid to ask first, non-consensual mind-melding/eye-melting most often occurs between the ages of 8 and 12 (in human Mystics) and 760 to 1,482 (in Kobal Mystics), when the mind’s resistance to long-distance penetration is at its weakest. Kids are understandably not big fans of having the eyes burned out of their skull by a psychic fire god, even if said god does have good intentions – but again, Kuhallen’s kind of an idiot.

What about that mask?

Masks don’t generally have any supernatural qualities. In less tolerant times, Mystics wore them to hide the unseemly “exit scars” left by the anointment process. Nowadays, the mask is more of an optional fashion statement that comes with the job. Some Mystics’ belief systems see the mask as mandatory, others take it less seriously – similar to how a Mennonite and a Catholic are both Christians, but only one has to dress like they’re in Fiddler on the Roof.

The most common recurring theme about the mask stem from the Laws of Queen Sammat-Nanna:

1. If a Mystic gives you their mask, that’s a marriage proposal.
2. If you steal the mask, you own that Mystic as a slave.
3. If you procure the mask either way and return it to its owner, they have to commit suicide.

If it seems a bit barbaric, it should be emphasized that Queen Sammat-Nanna was actually writing poetry and “mask” was a metaphor for blowjobs or something, but ancient words are going to be taken out of context, full stop.

Naturally, advancements in modern not-being-weird have made Rule 1 non-binding and Rules 2 and 3 illegal, but Rule 1 still maintains its meaning in a symbolic aspect.

What makes Mystics so dangerous? …y’know, apart from the literal fireballs ‘n’ shit?

A Mystic’s control over magic comes from the heart & spirit instead of the brain. Which means that if they lose control of their emotions, their emotions might control their eye-fires. The result is a temporary spike in power accompanied by a monstrous transformation unique to its user – the Riastrad. Every Riastrad is different, but every design usually incorporates crystalline armor.

An inexperienced Mystic’s Riastrad will cause them to lose their ability to distinguish friend from foe, attacking indiscriminately. “Feral Riastrad”, the most savage and intense form of the Riastrad state, results in the temporary loss of even the subject’s name, identity, and memories.

Also, if you die during your Riastrad, you’ll survive — but your eye-fires would be gone for good.

Very few have mastered the Riastrad, but those who have say that true control of the state comes from embracing your strongest emotions rather than keeping them bottled up.

If I thought Tropic Thunder was a good movie, I’d say something about never going full Riastrad. But I didn’t, so I won’t.

*(Yes, Liv, I see your text message, and I am NOT opening it. You’ll get your profile post soon enough. You don’t need to send me the whole Navy Seal Copypasta about it.)