I'm replaying Enderal, a total conversion for Skyrim. I found it well-made, with a gripping story, great characters, and excellent music. I got a whole bunch of mods for my next playthrough, and one adds in a journal one can write in to record thoughts, events, etc. I'll be keeping this journal up as I play, and I figured it would be fun to share it here.
Last Seed, 19th, 4E 8234
Damn, the bard here has a voice. Liliath, her name is. Might try to get to know her better while I'm here. Also kind of makes me want to practice some music myself. I picked up magic pretty quickly. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a musical prodigy too?
I spent the morning hiking up to the castle I mentioned yesterday. Castle Goldenford. I don't know much about it, but I'm certain that's where the Ashen Widow is. The courtyard felt... wrong. It's hard to describe, but it was tangible. I'll come back there once I've tracked down her bastard husband's claw. The castle itself was crawling with undead. It's been long-abandoned. From what I could gather, one of two things happened: either the inhabitants started to become afflicted with Red Madness, or one of them started taking up Entropy. The latter theory is based solely on the abundance of undead. In the keep, I crossed blades with what seemed to be the last living inhabitant of the castle. Whether she was responsible for its state or not isn't much more than theory. But Alice and I were able to bring her down. Something strange happened in the castle, too.
I got a bit in over my head and charged headlong into a group of undead. Not the fleshless skeletons, but the armored Lost Ones. I pulled back and did my best to keep them at bay, but one of them got a really good hit on me with a warhammer. Sent me flying back, and I couldn't breathe. Lost about all of my strength, and I couldn't swing Blutgang around anymore. Alice saved my hide there for sure, and I also learned that Elemental spells are valuable backups when exhausted at Death's door. But once we were done with them I was barely able to walk. Then something just... clicked, and I performed a gesture and called up some magic. One of the Lost Ones dissolved and I felt stronger. I tried it again and again I felt a bit stronger, like my wounds were actually mending. Entropic magic. Now I'm starting to see why it's forbidden.
Anyways, after that little excursion (and the discovery of a rather imposing steel mask I might keep around and wear if I'm charging into battle), I explored the castle a bit more and then left, making my way back to the path to Riverville. Not much of note other than an encounter with maybe the thirtieth wolf pack of the day. They're becoming annoying more than anything else. There are also a lot of bandit camps and hideouts. Blutgang's really pulling its weight, I must admit. The thing hits like a truck. One bastard made the mistake of trying to block a blow from the thing and ended up flying backwards into a tree.
After a long trek and a lot of bodies, I came upon Riverville. Immediately upon reaching the outskirts, this kid came up to me. I was a bit suspicious at first, but he seemed genuine. Wanted to show me something. I tagged along and we found a strongbox. The little guy was hoping it had coin in it for his father. They've got a tough landlord, it seems. Well, the box didn't have coin, but it did have a riddle. After a bit of hiking, I found a chest with a good hundred pennies. Let the kid have most of them. He needed them more than I did.
I'm staying at the inn tonight. It's a bit rowdier than I'm used to, but I kind of like the atmosphere. And I could listen to that bard sing all day. Reading to her music is actually one of the more enjoyable things I've done since coming to Enderal. Speaking of reading, I dug up an interesting little factoid about Entropy: necromancy isn't the resurrection of the dead, as I thought, but rather the summoning of physical manifestations of death in the form of those roiling torrents of emerald lightning and fire. Those spells are what make Entropy so potent, and so dangerous. The use of that kind of magic is strictly forbidden. If I want to last long here, I'd best keep to myself the fact that it's what I'm best at.
Speaking of magic, it's about time I started compiling the arcane knowledge I come across. My new abilities have been a Godsend, but I need to understand them. This is information I've found so far from a set of books called the Encyclopedia Arcana and a series titled the Disciplines of Magic.
First off, magic itself doesn't really conform to public perception. An arcanist doesn't "will" a fireball into existence and throw it at a foe. What really happens is that the arcanist perceives something called the Sea of Eventualities, a roiling storm of parallel worlds, one of which, for example, is exactly the same as the one he is in save for the fireball hurtling towards his target. All magic is drawn from the Sea. For example, when I summon up Blutgang, I'm instinctively peering into the Sea and picking out the reality where I have a massive ethereal greatsword.
Sounds contrived, I know, and I find myself asking the question you're probably posing: why not just find the eventuality in which your foes are vanquished and bring that into your reality? Theoretically, you could do that, but it would take an inordinate amount of strength and skill surpassing what anyone could possibly be capable of. It seemingly takes a great deal of effort and concentration to, say, bring forth a fireball, or summon up a creature.
However, bringing forth a reality in which an enemy is destroyed is somewhat possible via the school of Entropy. There's a reason it's forbidden: necromancy, the most dangerous and potent form of Entropy, draws from the Sea of Eventualities realities in which the target is dead or dying. It takes immense power to bring these realities fully into existence, and often the user finds themselves on the brink of death from doing so, as the process draws on their life force. But it is possible.
All of this magical power, however, comes at a great price. Those with magical gifts are afflicted with "arcane fever", which is what I've been experiencing for a little while now. If not controlled, it will quickly drive the arcanist first to madness, and then death as the Sea of Eventualities begins to converge. In rare cases, it will do so in such a manner so as to create a horrifying abomination: an Oorbaya, a product of the amalgamation of all of an arcanist's possible states in the Sea of Eventualities.
The arcane fever can be controlled, however. Apparently, the most common method involves a year of meditation, among other things. Sounds like hell to me. There are other rituals, but they're listed as dangerous due to their basis in Entropy. I might look into them.
Some final notes from the Encyclopedia: arcanists are looked upon with general distrust and fear, due to the reputation borne from wild mages. Anyone not "registered" with the Holy Order in Enderal is considered a wild mage and is thus a criminal. Until I make my way to the Holy Order itself, I'd best keep my magic to myself as much as I can.
Now for the specific schools. I already covered Entropy a fair amount, but I haven't mentioned its counterpart in the school of the dramatically-named "Sinestra": psionics. The manipulation of an enemy's mind. It's a dangerous art, with skilled users able to make others perceive entirely different realities. I'm sure it's well-recorded the kind of havoc that can be wrecked with such power. I don't think I'm going to focus too much on it, though. I prefer more straightforward approaches.
Elemantalism is probably the most well-known school of magic, and from it is born the typical rendition of an arcanist lobbing fireballs at enemies from on high. Unlike the school of Sinestra, Elementalism is well-respected, and commonly practiced for its offensive prowess. For me, it offers a good store of backup spells if necromancy proves itself not an option.
So far that's all I've got. I'll add more information to the list once I actually have some. I'm missing volumes on the schools of Mentalism and Light Magic, but from what I've gathered the former focuses on the manipulation of matter (for example, hardening skin or conjuring up magical defenses, while the latter is for healing and divine protection from undead and the like. They both sound useful, and I might look more into them.
One thing is for sure, though: I'm going to have to keep the Entropy to a minimum unless I'm in the wilderness. I'm not to keen on people asking questions. That means that if there are people around, I've got to use either Blutgang or Elementalism. Should be an interesting challenge. I'm glad to see Nehrim's not the only culture with systemic oppression and distrust, though.
Link to Enderal. It's important to note that the writing above is based almost entirely on the story created by an extraordinarily talented group of modders. Credit is due to them, not to me. I would also be remiss to not credit Arcones for the idea of using a parchment-looking background to add some flavor.
