The Boundless Fate, the handmade vessel captained by Hella Varal, rests upon the shore of the unnamed river which glides through the forest west of the Last University. It is an appropriate resting point for a boat named such: Just a decade prior, before the bard Lem King opened an invisible valve, this river simply didn’t exist. But as the pattern workers of the archives know well: When action is taken, consequences follow. Now, the travelers from Aubade depart the boat and head east towards not only family and friends, but to the consequential present. Are they--is anyone--ready for what comes next?

This Week on Spring in Hieron: Something You've Practiced

IDENTITY is the first component, this is beyond debate. Before we may refer to this reagent or that somatic expression, we must first conceptualize a “this” or a “that,” things made whole by their boundaries. This staff is distinct from this floor, which is distinct from me, though I touch both. What is, is itself.

Where there is argument, though, is whether such a quality is the PRIMARY component in matters arcane. The so-called semioticians argue that SYNTHESIS is more important than identity. Though they dress it up in words like “god” and “faith,” priests rely on PROXIMITY to some original source of magic as the key component.

They are all wrong, of course: If identity is first, then RELATION is principal in the magical arts. What is, is itself. And nothing else.

-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

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