Remnant

The Origins

Remnant was, originally, created by Kyrikain. Not intended at first for mortal hands, it was his method of understanding his own capabilities; the powers lodged within his Domains. Through Remnant, the fledgling God helped craft some of the intricacies of the human mind, and how it interacted with dreams and memories. While these ideas were prototypal, the God now interacting with mortal cognition in much more complex ways, the... remnant left behind remains the way in which mortal magi continue to interact with dreams and memories, even now.

Concepts

Engrams: The first concept a Remnomancer - a practitioner of Remnant - interacts with is called The Engram, or Engrams. Before anything else can be learned, one must understand the physical and arcane significance of the Engram, and its relationship with the brain. In Neuropsychology, an Engram is a permanent change left upon the brain due to the existence of a memory, or, more succinctly: a memory trace. While this definition is accurate, a Remnomancer views an Engram as a visual structure. Using ether, the magi is capable of distinguishing Engrams from within the tangle of the mind, acting as a beacon within the otherwise complex structure. Engrams act as focal points within dreams and memories; formed by significant events, thoughts or experiences, they serve as hubs of recognition. While over time they fade if not activated, a Remnomancer can discover even the most latent Engrams within the mind.

Visually, a Remnomancer enters the tangle of the brain through a complex structure known as the Mindscape. Depending on their state - waking or sleeping - the elements of the Mindscape may be more permanent and visual, or may occur to them more as flashes of imagery, disjointed. Whatever the case, as they tread through the Mindscape, Engrams will appear to them as glowing red centers: often a sphere or a globe, they exist as complex jungles of thought and recognition, each tied - typically - to either a certain and significant event, or a period in one's life. Through the magic, the Remnomancer may activate and restore the contents of an Engram, through a process known as Reclamation.

Reclamation: An Engram will appear more or less vibrant depending on its remaining significance to the brain. Dormant Engrams, such as those which have long since been utilized and may have occurred long ago, are 'forgotten' - a process effectively irreversible, as the Engram enters a sleep that cannot be physically recovered from. Remnomancers are capable of undoing this dormancy, reactivating old Engrams, their vibrancy returning as old memories return to the weave of the mind. Reclamation can do this, and more; it can move certain thoughts and memories to the forefront, perhaps making a man's most vivid memories those he had as a young child. It can also, paradoxically, be used to make memories dormant, even very recent ones. Reclamation is, effectively, the ability to rekindle or dim Engrams within the Mindscape, changing the landscape of it around them, and adjusting the Mindscape's more visual surface: the Memory Palace.

The Memory Palace: Dreams and memories are, in many ways, one and the same. By altering one's Engrams and restoring or dimming memories, the Memory Palace is altered. The Memory Palace is a visual manifestation of one's mind. It is often called 'the dream world', 'the subconscious', or even 'memory' itself. Within the internal memory of one's mind exists a collision of ideas; memories and experiences, fears, doubts, desires, creative concepts, imagined splendor and much more. These all go into sculpting the Memory Palace. To put it into example, a person may have been raised in the slums of Nivenhain; they may have served on a ship for years, experiencing other cultures, and dreaming of many. They may fear the man who murdered their mother, and nightmarishly witness him often. They may desire to be a Lord. All of these experiences, memories, fears and desires coalesce within the Memory Palace, which converges into a both dystopian and hopeful amalgamation of their thoughts. Perhaps a twisted form of Nivenhain, surrounded by an open sea, prowled by the man who murdered their mother - now a Lord - and his informants which hunt the dreamer as prey. A complex, imaginary world, it is very much living even while dormant, as the dreamer lies awake.

The Remnomancer can access this Memory Palace, and as if enacting change upon the physical world, can alter it. Remnomancers, in truth, can live within many minds; their own, those they've acquired access to, and eventually even those very distant.

Initiation

WIP.

Threshold Sickness

The drawbacks listed below do not always come in pairs, and certainly not simultaneously. Some may come and others may not.

Lesser: Nausea, fatigue, headaches, muscle spasms, dehydration

Moderate: Bleeding through the nose, eyes and ears, intense cramps, seizure-like shocks and spasms, internal bleeding, vomiting and weakness

WIP: X

Severe

WIP: X

Mutations

X

Abilities

Voyage: The Voyage is sometimes known as 'Dreamdiving'; it is the ability to enter one's Mindscape, a corridor through which lie many doors, all leading to separate junctions within the Memory Palace. These doors may take one to different parts of the same city, which serves as a crux or nucleus of the dreamer's cognition. Or, perhaps, they will take the dreamer to multiple different realms of cognition, each distinct and separate. The complexity of the Voyage and the sites through which the Remnomancer may dive all depend on the complex experiences, aspirations, fears and so on of the person whose mind is being dived into. One individual's Memory Palace may resemble a nation, even a continent in depth and potential, while another's may resemble a hamlet, and another's may encompass a great city of seemingly endless scale.

The Voyage is inherent to the Mark of Remnant. An initiated Remnomancer can Voyage, and as a Novice, does so by entering a sleeping state and exploring their own mind. As they begin to be able to navigate their own Mindscape and Memory Palace, becoming more familiar with Dreamdiving, they learn to enter others. At Apprentice, a Remnomancer can - by entering sleep - enter the minds of those sleeping around them, with a less resistant mind allowing them greater clarity, access and depth. As one progresses, and particularly around the latter stages of Journeyman expertise, one can dramatically widen the distance through which one may Voyage, capable of entering the dreams of those familiar to them from hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Sometimes, a Remnomancer may dive through a random mind, experiencing the cognition of a stranger purely by chance, or as a result of the exceptional depth of their Engrams. Interestingly, Elves experience these dream-invaders more often than other mortals, as their enhanced lifespan naturally produces more Engrams, inherently drawing in more Remnomancers by accident as they Voyage.

Guidance: The ability to locate Engrams. Novice. WIP.

Junction: Rekindle memories through Engrams. Apprentice. WIP.

Pervade: Suffuse an object or place with an idea, concept or thought, often around an Engram, or from a concept related to one's Palace. Apprentice. WIP.

Phantasm: Memorize aspects, particularly visual or physical experiences, apparitions or entities from another's Palace into your own. Journeyman. WIP.

Falsification: Adjust existing memories in subtle ways, affects Palace. Must be reasonably in line with target individual's reality/experiences. Journeyman. WIP.

Phantasmal Reckoning: Project Phantasms onto visual reality in the form of tangible illusions. Consumes exponentially more ether based on the complexity of the Phantasm, especially if trying to induce other magical effects. Expert. WIP.

The Mask: Masks present self with projected self from the past, altering appearance and even rekindling past physicality and health. Can mask mutations. As one oversteps, the mask begins to dwindle and eventually fully recede, marginally losing effect from Light to Severe overstepping. Expert. WIP.

Astralization: Project aspects of an entire Palace onto the world. Master. WIP.

Trial: Pulls the target individual and the Remnomancer, physically, into the Remnomancer's Palace or the target's Palace. Master. WIP.

Abyssal Abilities

Mind Leech: Inserts a 'Mind Leech' into target's Mindscape, rapidly consuming their memories, the integrity of their dreamscape and their cognitive capabilities. WIP.

The Bridge: Links the Abyssal's Palace to the target's. WIP.

Novice

X

Apprentice

X

Journeyman

X

Expert

X

Master

X

Ascension: The Abyssal

X

Notes

• The Remnomancer cannot determine facts about another individual's Memory Palace without their consent. This magic is meant to be collaborative and must be played as such.