[Open] A Star In Hand Lit His Way

[rinwell]

WHO: Rinwell and various.
WHAT: Catch-all log for December!
WHEN: All December.
WHERE: Cadens (Free Cities) and Horizon
WARNINGS: TBD - will update as and when applicable!

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[OOC: plot with me in PMs, or on plurk at farlichu! Discord on request! ]

Comments

[petcromancer]

Are they obsessed with gold and immortality? That's all the 'true' alchemists on my world cared about.

[Hector's opinions are strongly colored by his father's view on the subject, may he burn in Hell. Anyways.]

I suppose so. That's part of what I can do, make creatures that can fight for me. The other side of it is giving new life to dead creatures, like our friend here.

[He gives a little whistle that draws the fox out of hiding from under the table. It circles again around Hector's feet, sniffing the air in Rinwell's direction but not yet approaching.]

[rinwell]

Making money from their inventions that are "superior" to magic seems to be the priority. They haven't mentioned immortality. But.. There are some alchemists who make medicine, according to Ciri. That seems a more practical thing to be doing.

[ Given the number of healing gels they'd use on their travels back home, being able to make your own? Sounds like a godsend.

She probably wouldn't even begrudge the science side of things, especially since magic is a rather exclusive club (you either can or can't do it), but everything about this city seems determined to rub Rinwell the wrong way lately..

Any worry that might flicker across her face when Hector confirms he can indeed make fighty creatures vanishes, replaced by both shock and curiousity when he confirms he..can bring things back to life? And here's a fox to prove it. Peering down, she slowly crouches to its level, though Rinwell doesn't reach for it.

Hootle, however, chirps curiously, before hopping down to the floor; he is a baby, so hardly a threatening size compared to the fox, but he tips his head this way and that trying to assess the dead thing. ]

That's...woah. You do that with magic?

[petcromancer]

I wish our alchemists would focus their talents on medicines.

[That would be too logical and helpful, though. Instead, the alchemists of Hector's world horded their power and hid it from the world at large.

The fox tiptoes forward towards the owl, then deciding he's ventured too close, leaps back like a startled cat. It's playful. Hector isn't as familiar with this desert variety as he is with those he'd found in the forests of Wallachia, but he thinks his little pet is young for its kind. He ducks behind Hector's boot and pops out on the other side.

Hector gives the creature a fond shake of his head.]

Yes. I get the body back in working order, then use magic to recall the spirit and rekindle it into life. Animals don't have souls the same way people do, and often enough if the body is in good repair, they can be called back without being changed.

[rinwell]

It certainly sounds like they'd prefer to be selfish with it.. But is immortality really possible?

[ And why would anyone want to live forever? That sounds incredibly lonely..

There's a startled hoot as the fox leaps back, Hootle flapping his wings to stay upright, before the little bird looks up at Hector, then back to the fox, before deciding he's just a little too small for this and flutters back to hide behind Rinwell instead. At boot level, of course, since she's still crouched. ]

That's...honestly amazing. And a little scary. [perhaps that's too honest to say, but she does at least smile up at Hector while she says it.] But if the astral energy answers when you call, I guess it can't be all bad. Especially if they get to live as they did before.

[petcromancer]

[Hector shrugs.]

Not if you wish to remain human. Vampires can, in theory, live forever, but they lose something in the exchange. Nobody is meant to last forever.

[Nobody knows the inevitability of death better than a necromancer, after all.

The fox tiptoes closer, now more curious than scared, to try to catch sight of Hootle again. He has no need to hunt, but his instincts still call out to stalk, if only as a game. Hector can intervene if needed, but he prefers to let his pets do as they will unless it threatens them or someone else.]

It's not good or bad. It just is. [Rinwell's honest answer doesn't bother Hector. He can appreciate that being the laws of nature would be, to most people, 'scary'. But he doesn't think of his work as falling on either side of the scale of morality, although the church would certainly disagree.]

In nature, things die and are reborn. I just do it faster, for creatures that could use a second chance.

[rinwell]

What's a vampire? And..what kind of things do they lose?

[ Living forever? That sounds like something made up for stories...things Rinwell is all to familiar with, thanks to her love of books. She's never read about vampires on Dahna, but fact has proven a lot stranger than fiction since she was pulled out of that well portal not so long ago.

Her attention is turned up and focused on Hector, while owl and undead fox play peekaboo around her legs. Hootle doesn't seem particularly worried about the stalking behaviour, though he does tilt his head this way and that to get a better view. ]

It just is.. That's like all magic then, isn't it? The magic itself isn't inherently anything except itself.

[ She's not entirely sure she's comfortable with the idea of messing with the cycle of life and death that way, but how he's explained it to her at least makes it..not better, but has lifted some worries from her shoulders. Besides, if he's friends with Jaskier and Geralt, he can't be that bad a guy. Right? ]

What other sort of animals have you brought back before?

[petcromancer]

[Hector raises an eyebrow. Really, there are people who haven't heard of vampires?

He wipes his hands clean on a towel, leaving the cooking so he can focus on Rinwell. The stew can keep simmering while he talks.]

Vampires used to be humans, but ones who have died and been resurrected as something else. They do not age or get ill, but they must drink human blood and avoid sunlight to survive.

[Hector used to think that their advanced age allowed them a wiser perspective on the world, but it turns out, it made them lose more than they gained. Go figure.]

Yes, morality is largely a human invention. In nature, there is only survival and adaptation.

[Of course, he's also responsible for a lot of death, so maybe his opinion isn't the best one to listen to on the topic.]

Oh, back home I had dogs, cats, hawks, foxes, anything I found dead near my home. They made delightful little pets. Here, so far, I have this one and a frog. He came with me from Thorne.