The Ilmodo and Spellcasting:
Some people have the ability to sense the power that exists all around us: the invisible potent energy of the Second World. In the Nessantico-controlled regions of the world, usage of magic has always been linked to religious faith, all the way back into prehistory. The myth of Cenzi extends deep into the historical mist, and it is the followers of Cenzi who have always possessed the power to manipulate the “Ilmodo” through chants and hand motions.
The chanting that binds the power of the Ilmodo is the “Ilmodo language” that all acolyte teni are taught. The Ilmodo language actually has its linguistic roots in the speech of the Tehuantin language, though neither those of the Concenzia Faith nor the Numetodo realized that for centuries. The Tehuantin of the Westlands also take power from the Second World via the instrument of religion, though through a different god and mythology, and they have their own name for the Ilmodo: X’in Ka.
The Numetodo have taken the most recent path to this power: not through faith at all, but essentially by making a “science” of magic. The cult of the Numetodo first arose in the late 400s, originally from the Isle of Paeti, and spread mostly west and south from there, sometimes reacting violently with the culture of Nessantico and the Concenzia Faith.
However the power is gained, there is a necessary “payment” for spell use: using spells costs the wielder physically; the greater the effect, the higher the cost in exhaustion and weariness for the caster.
Different paths have resulted in different abilities-for Concenzian teni, there is no “storage” of spells-their spells take time to cast and once prepared, they must be cast or they are lost. However, the teni of the Faith have the advantage of being able to cast spells that linger for some time after the casting (see “The Lights of Nessantico” or “The Sun Throne of the Kralji”). Teni who cast spells quickly and effectively are unusual, and have in historical times been suspected of heresy.
The Numetodo, in contrast, have found a way to cast their spells several turns of the glass earlier (though such spells can’t be stored indefinitely). Like all users of this power, they “pay” for it with exhaustion but hold the power with their minds to be released with a single gesture and word. Their spells are generally longer and more arduous to create (even more so than that of the teni), but do not require “faith”-as is required by both the path of Concenzia and the Tehuantin. All they require is that the spellcaster follows a “formula.” However, any variation from the formula, even small, will generally ruin the spell.
The Tehuantin, following what they call X’in Ka, must perform the chants and hand gestures much like the teni, but they can also “enchant” an object with a spell (something neither teni nor Numetodo can do), so that the object (e.g.: a walking stick) manipulated in a particular way (e.g.: striking someone) can release a spell (e.g.: a shocking jolt that renders the struck person unconscious).
In all cases and whatever the path of the spellcaster, the spells of the Second World tend to be linked to elementals in our world: fire, earth, air, and water. Most spellcasters have an ability sharply stronger in one element and much weaker in the others. Rarely does a spellcaster have the ability to handle two or more elements with any skill; even more rare are those who can move easily between any of the elements.
The Ranks of Teni in the Concenzia Faith:
The teni are ranked in the following order, from lowest to highest:
• Acolyte -those who are receiving instruction to become one of the teni-generally, the instruction requires tuition be paid to Concenzia by the students’ families. The Concenzia Faith brings in both male and female students to become teni, though realistically the classes tend to be largely male, and there are fewer women than men represented in the higher ranks of the teni. (There have been only six female Archigi in the long history of the Faith.) During the acolyte period (typically three years), the students serve within the Faith, doing menial tasks for the teni, and also begin to learn the chants and mental discipline necessary for Ilmodo, the manipulation of the universe-energy. Typically, only about 10% of the acolytes receive the Marque of the Teni. There are schools for acolytes in all the major cities of Nessantico, each presided over by the a’teni of the region.
• E’Teni -the lowest teni rank for those brought into the service of the Faith. The acolytes who receive their Marque are, with exceedingly few exceptions, awarded this rank, which denotes that they have some small skill with Ilmodo. At this point, they are generally tasked with menial labor that requires the magic of Cenzi, such as lighting the city lamps, and expected to increase their skill and demonstrate their continuing mastery of the Ilmodo.
• O’Teni -an e’teni will be awarded this rank, generally after one to five years of service, at which point they are either put in service of one of the temples, administering to the needs of the community, or they are placed in charge of one of the teni-powered industries within the city. This is where most teni will end their careers. Only a select few will pass this rank to become u’teni.
• U’Teni -u’teni serve directly under the a’teni of the region. An u’teni is generally responsible for maintaining one of the temples of the city, and overseeing the activities of the o’teni attached to that temple.
• A’Teni -the highest rank within the Faith with the exception of that of Archigos. The a’teni each are in charge of a region centered around one of the large cities of the Holdings. There, they generally wield enormous power and influence with the political leaders and over the citizenry. At times this can be a contentious relationship; most often, however, it is neutral or mutually beneficial. In the year of Kraljica Marguerite’s Jubilee, there are twenty-three a’teni in the Faith, an increase of three from the time she ascended the throne. Generally, the larger and more influential the city where they are based, the more influence the a’teni have within the Faith.
• Archigos -the head of the Faith. This is not necessarily an elective office. Often, the Archigos designates his or her own successor from among the a’teni or even potentially a favorite u’teni. However, in practice, there have been “coups” within Concenzia where either the Archigos died before naming a successor, or where the right of the successor to ascend to the position has been disputed, sometimes violently. When that happens, those a’teni who aspire to the seat of the Archigos are locked in a special room within the Archigos’ Temple for the Concord A’Teni. What happens there is a matter of great speculation and debate. One will, however, emerge as Archigos.
The Creation of Cenzi:
At the start of all things, there was only Vucta, the Great Night, the eyeless female essence who had always existed, wandering alone through the nothing-ness of the universe. Though Vucta could not see the stars, she could feel their heat, and when she was cold, she would come to them and stay for a time. It was near one star that she found something she had never experienced before: a world-a place of rocks and water, and she stayed there for a time, wondering and dreaming as she walked in this strange place, touching everything to feel its shape and listening to the wind and the surf, feeling the rain and the snow and the touch of the clouds. She hoped that here, in this strange place near the star, there might be another like her, but there were no animals here yet, nor trees, nor anything living.
As Vucta walked the world, wisps of her dream-thoughts gathered around her like a mist, coalescing and hardening and finally growing heavy from their sheer volume. The dream-thoughts began to shape themselves, a white shroud around Vucta that grew longer and more substantial as she walked, heavier and heavier with each step until the weightiest part of it drooped to the ground and snagged on a rock. Eyeless, Vucta could not see that. She continued her walking and her thinking, and her dream-thoughts poured from her, but now they lay solid where they had fallen, stretching and thinning as she strode away from where they were caught. Vucta, in truth was already growing tired of this place and her search, and she desired the heat of another sun, so she leaped away from the world and the shroud of her dream-thoughts snapped as she flew.
Vucta’s dream-thoughts lay there, all of them coalescing, and when the sun shone on the first day after Vucta’s departure, there was a form like hers curled on the ground. On the second day, the sun’s light made the dream-thoughts stir, and the form moved arms and legs, though it did not know itself. The dream-thoughts that were the yearning of Vucta gathered in its head, and from Vucta’s desire to know the place where she walked, they made eyes in the face.
On the third day, when the sun touched it once more, it opened those eyes and it saw the world. “I am Cenzi,” the creature said, “and this place is mine.” And he rose then and began to walk about.
That is the opening of the Toustour, the All-Tale. In time, as the creation story continues, Cenzi would become lonely and he would create companions-the Moitidi-fashioning them from the breath of his body, which still contained Vucta’s strong power.. Those companions, in turn, would imitate their creator and fashion all the living creatures of the earth: plant and animal, including the humans. The Moitidi’s own breaths were weak, and thus those they created were correspondingly more flawed. But it was Cenzi’s breath and the weaker breaths of the
