ubermensching | Drei - Fatum and Geschichte (Action)

[He was slightly amused to find that a profession had been arbitrarily granted to him. Even more amusing was the fact that he had been made a librarian. He supposed that handling books and physical manifestations of knowledge wouldn't be very different from the other means he usually had of handling such.

Still, it was an odd feeling, listening to people ask him for specific titles and having to find them. He was much more used to being able to call up any knowledge he needed at the moment that it took a bit of getting used to even for him. Yet there was something thrilling about being forced into relying on the limitations of a human body. And even if much of the job seem repetitious, it was at least a learning experience for him in the boundaries that actually seemed to provide hindrances to mortal men in simple tasks.

Though even now, he couldn't understand how it was so hard to put things in perfect alphabetical order.]

[OOC: So Wilhelm will be working at the library for the rest of the day. Feel free to come bug the hell out of him at work.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Perhaps. Then again, there's something interesting about a game that requires as much mathematical thinking to play properly.

[He doesn't really react to the tossing. He just watches.]

It does leave quite a bit desired for a house of knowledge.

I highly doubt that's what most people think about when playing it, though.

Damn straight it does. I'm sick of looking at books abut fucking golf, lawn car, car care, and other pieces of this towns stereotypical bullshit. I'm just glad they returned my books to me here or I'd be going out of my mind by now.

[And you've peaked his interest, Theo.]

What kind of books?

[He gives you a smug look, then lights a cigarette. Hooray 1950s, you can smoke anywhere. And even if you couldn't, like Theo cares.]

I happen to be the owner of a very prestigious collection of magical texts. The town initially returned it to me before giving back my magic, but that gave me more time to study.

[He sits down on one of the desks nearby, eyes never leaving Theo's. He maintains eye contact no matter where he positions himself.]

Magic is a rather broad term. Exactly what in magic do you practice. The more western ideals of ceremonial and ritual magic, or eastern ideals of mysticism.

Define it.

Hnn. Western. Where I'm from, it's ritualistic. Very defined spells, use of components and certain phrases. Requires a lot of study and practice and determination if you ever wish to get anywhere. A lot of discipline. And the books I have are priceless tools in my trade.

And yet not the books are not the most important tool you might have in casting, are they?

Right. First is having the ability to actually cast magic. That certain spark that sets you apart from the rest. Without that, you can't do anything with magic.

Willpower.

That certainly is a big part of it. That might even be it. You definitely can't be weak-willed if you want to cast spells. It takes a lot of effort and energy to do it.

Willpower is power in it's purest form. All things that one makes occur, one makes occur through their own will. Effort and energy are merely conditions created by will itself in order to act. Boiled down to their base, they simply come to be will yet again.

And all people, if they can understand their will, can harness it. But few ever do.

It's a theory I've heard before, and I'm inclined to believe it. But in the end, I can cast and that's what's important to me.

You seem pretty well-versed in this. I'm guessing you're a caster then?

Perhaps you should ensure you know how it comes to be if it's important to you.

No.

Hnn. I plan to, trust me. One day. For now I'll continuing at honing my casting abilities. But with my limited books and lack of casters from my world here, my research is limited.

Really? So where did you get your information then?

Understandable. Though looking for understanding by searching outside sources is rarely necessary.

I am it's source. Or a part of it's source.

I've talked to other casters here. Our magic is similar, but not exactly the same.

You… what? What the hell do you mean?

Mm. And how do they believe their magic works?

Men's minds are not entirely separate. While all men might possess individuality, the race as a whole possess one entire fount of knowledge: the Unus Mundus, or Collective Unconscious, which formed when sentient life first became aware of itself.

I am it's representative.

[He says this casually. He clearly doesn't see any reason to have to make a grand proclamation or display about it.]

[He thinks on that. It's a hard thing to believe, and Theo was a naturally suspicious person. You get an appraising look.] Really. So basically, you're telling me you know everything. Or at least everything mankind knows.

I know most of its stored knowledge. And I know things unknown to it, as well. Or, at least, consciously unknown to it.

...that sounds difficult, how anyone could retain that sort of knowledge and stay sane. It also seems like it would take the fun out of a lot of things.

If I were human, perhaps I would have fallen into insanity.

Then again, sanity is always a subjective statement.

I suppose not being human would help. But admittedly this isn't a subject I know anything about. It's a bit hard to swallow, honestly. But then again I've seen some pretty weird shit in this town, so it's hard to surprise me at this point.

Whether or not you should believe it is your own decision.

Tell me...can you cast? Or has that been stricken from you since entering here?

I can now. But I was without it for awhile. I got it back after that whole goddamn Soviet mess.

I'm afraid I arrived after that, from what I can tell.

I am interested in how the landscape of this dimension can apparently be changed at will by its controller.