Arcanist Lore

[S'irila Nulah]

Okay, I apologize if this is a subject previously answered, but I can't seem to find much information on Arcanist lore. I have looked, but haven't found much other than 'they use geometry' basically.

Could someone explain to me more on how arcanima  works?

[Dat Oni]

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The roots of arcanima can be traced back to the esoteric calculations practiced by the people of the south sea isles. It was their efforts to express the nature of aether in mathematical terms that gave rise to the exacting science that we practice today. These definitive formalas are represented by "arcane geometries"--patterns that allow arcanists to manipulate aetheric energy and produce specific effects. The ability to shape this energy also allow practitioners to manifest arcane entities known collectively as "Carbuncle." This is perhaps the most defining power attributed to the art of arcanima. —Thubyrgeim, on arcanima

 

Put simply, they use Geometric symbols to summon squirrels.

[Shoshopu]

Specifically they use gems with geometries inscribed in them to summon carbuncles. In my interpretation it's not really clear what kind of gem, though. All colors of carbuncles have rubies on their heads, and in FFXI (yeah yeah I know) one used a Carbuncle's Ruby to unlock the Sumoner job, so I always call them rubies, but then the carbuncles have names like "Emerald Carbuncle" and "Topaz Carbuncle" so some people play it as, inscribed emeralds summon emerald carbuncles, inscribed topazes summon topaz carbuncles. Me, I just say it depends on the geometry which carbuncle you create but it's (usually) in a special ruby. I love playing with arcanists who summon their carbuncles in different ways, though!

 

What other sort of lore were you looking for? Like... how arcanima actually works? Because there's not very much hard lore on that either. The geometries shape the magic, and the ink used for grimoires is specially made from things like blood and electrum sand so that it conducts aether well. Beyond that it's a bit subjective, headcanon territory.

[Goodfellow]

Like others have said, there's a gemstone component to summoning Carbuncle specifically, but more generally arcanima is the use of enchanted ink to draw mystic geometric symbols which direct aether in certain ways.  So there's a geometric design that causes aether to shoot out as a bolt (e.g. Ruin) and other designs cause aether to knit wounds (e.g. Physick) and others, along with the gemstone element, bring forth a self-sustaining aetheric construct (i.e. Summon I and II). 

 

Writ very simply, it is the use of math to do magic, whereas other DoMs have other rituals/triggers to do magic. 

 

At the moment I can't find some of the more detailed discussions and examples that have been written up on these forums before (and there are many, and they are very detailed), but I'll try to dig around and link them.  Heck, someone else may beat me to it.

[Sounsyy]

Here's some lore on what Arcanists are and how they use their magic!

 

 

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The roots of arcanima can be traced back to the esoteric calculations practiced by the people of the south sea isles. It was their efforts to express the nature of aether in mathematical terms that gave rise to the exacting science that we practice today. These definitive formalas are represented by "arcane geometries"--patterns that allow arcanists to manipulate aetheric energy and produce specific effects. The ability to shape this energy also allow practitioners to manifest arcane entities known collectively as "Carbuncle." This is perhaps the most defining power attributed to the art of arcanima.

 

From what we've gathered, modern day Arcanima stems from the remnants of Nymian Scholars who lived on and around Vylbrand roughly 1,600 years ago, beginning sometime near the end of the 5th Astral Era until some point in the early 6th Astral Era when their entire civilization was wiped out by a horrible plague. These tactical magi of Nym created an Elemental-like creature called Fae in order to unlock greater forms of Succor, a magick which had been granted to the Amdaporians.

 

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Q: To follow up on a question from the stream earlier- the taxonomy that fairies fall into. Is there an origin to how they become fairies of Scholars. Were they fairies and then bound to scholars? or did the scholars create them?

 

MCKF: Yes, the second one. Fairies again, while they fall under the taxonomy of elementals, they are actually beings that were created. They did not exist before. The Scholar would take the energies and elements from around them and would basically create these beings that were made of the elements.

 

Scholars, in turn, are descendant from an even more ancient form of magic called Summoning, a famed practice of the ancient Allagans from 5,000 years ago.

 

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Let us review the history and role of the summoner, that we might never forget the tragedy that befell the unfortunate Tristan.

 

A summoner is a unique type of mage who harnesses the energy of the primals and reshapes it into a biddable avatar. In the ancient Allagan tongue, these avatars are known as "egi." Only those who are present at the defeat of a primal and have captured its savage essence are able to manifest such aetheric entities. Now, any explanation of the summoner is not complete without a brief history of its origin.

 

The Allagan Empire reached its peak during the Third Astral Era. Dissatisfied with dominion over Eorzea alone, this thriving civilization sought to expand its borders to ever more distant lands. Eventually, the empire cast its avaricious gaze upon the southern continent of Meracydia. The peoples of these nations did not, however, take kindly to being invaded, and they summoned the primals to repel the Allagan forces. Hard-pressed by these incarnations of elemental wrath, the leaders of the empire's military were forced to alter their tactics. They ordered the mages under their command to devise some manner of magic with which to counter the primals, and, after much experimentation, the art of summoning was born.

 

The magic invented by these arcane pioneers met with great success, and, within the Allagan Empire, the title of "summoner" earned the bearer an uncommon measure of awe and respect.

 

  Possible Spoiler Regarding Summoners (Reveal hidden contents)

While the "official" history credits the Allagans with the creation of Summoning, certain aspects of the MSQ heavily suggest that the Ascians may have taught the Allagans exactly how to do it in the first place.

 

 

So, to recap: The Allagans created Summoning to enslave the essences of defeated Primals to their will. Over 3,000 years later, Nymians, using a derivative form of Summoning, create and bond with an Elemental-like creature called a Fae to bolster their arcanima. The ability to summon or commune with these Fae is lost during the Green Rot and over the next 1,600 years, descendants of these Nymians are left with the most basic form of this 5,000 year old art, called Arcanima.

 

These Arcanists rely on ancient glyphs, mathematical equations, and the written word to channel their own aether into highly specialized spells. And by imbuing certain precious stones with their own aether, Arcanists are able to call upon a Familiar called Carbuncle, another creature of the "Lesser Elemental" taxonomy. So the essence of Arcanima's previous iterations remains to this day, even if the knowledge of the existence of such ancient jobs has been lost to most common Eorzeans.

 

Also, how Arcanists channel their aether and cast their spells is a bit different from other disciples of magic, as I've outlined in the quoted post below:

 

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An Arcanist's grimoire isn't just a focus like staves for Thaumaturges and Conjurers, but also an amplifier of their aether. According to the lodestone text on the mediums, it's the actual glyphs and symbols drawn in the book that are the focus for an Arcanist's spells, but it's the quality of the ink in which they are drawn which facilitates easier casting. Where as a Thaumaturge's strength comes from within himself and a Conjurer's strength comes from nature, perhaps an Arcanist's strength is more or less dependent upon the quality of their weapon?

 

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For an arcanist to weave his spells, he must conjure in his mind the image of distinct mystical diagrams known as arcane geometries. These geometries are inscribed upon the pages of a grimoire, such as the one you constructed at my request.

 

The most important aspect of any grimoire is the quality of the ink used to illustrate its pages. Geometries drawn with ink that is especially conductive to the flow of aether allow the arcanist to more effectively channel his magical strength.

 

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“Adepts of the art of arcanum derive their might from symbols of power born of geometric techniques hailing from across the southern seas. Held within occult grimoires' date=' these [b']symbols lend shape[/b] to the arcanist's aether, thereby allowing him to produce myriad powerful spells.

 

Using the selfsame symbols to unlock the latent power contained within gemstones, arcanists are also able to summon forth the familiar known as Carbuncle to carry out their bidding.”

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

[Goodfellow]

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-snip-

 

^Yep, that's what I was looking for.

[Gegenji]

So Nymian summoning really is wrought from the original Summoning techniques of the Allagan? Hm. That gives me idears.

[Nero]

Scooted over to FFXIV discussion.

 

Anyway, the gist is that you're essentially using the magic of mathematics to channel aether. Geometries, specifically. The inks used to draw the geometries are metallic in nature that are conducive to the flow of aether. An arcanist visualizes the design in their head--these tend to be complex, hence the image as a sort of reference--and thus casts the spell.

[S'irila Nulah]

Wow, so many replies in so little time, I'm surprised and impressed.

I'm beginning to get a better grasp of how arcanima works, thank you everyone^^

 

One question though: does the arcanist create the geometries themselves or are they merely copied from some already existing source, copy-paste style?

If the arcanist creates actually writes in their grimoires, that opens up the option of discovering and creating new spells, right? A sufficiently skilled arcanist could figure out a new pattern to use, or improve on an old one. That would be cool, certainly more interesting than simply being handed a new spell from a soul gem.

[FreelanceWizard]

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One question though: does the arcanist create the geometries themselves or are they merely copied from some already existing source, copy-paste style?

If the arcanist creates actually writes in their grimoires, that opens up the option of discovering and creating new spells, right? A sufficiently skilled arcanist could figure out a new pattern to use, or improve on an old one. That would be cool, certainly more interesting than simply being handed a new spell from a soul gem.

 

The questlines for SMN and SCH have you being taught the spells (for SMN, there's also a ritual involved), but I think it's safe to say that given the metaphysics of how arcanima works and how the MSQ has certain people developing new magical techniques like the spellcaster version of Star Trek, there's nothing in my mind that would keep a mage from developing new spells for use in RP. I'd go so far as to extend that out to all of the Disciplines of Magic, as it also dramatically simplifies how to handle magic Jobs in RP (which is to say, you basically sidestep them entirely ).

 

In fact, aetheric research for the purpose of developing new spells and formalizing magic theory is a major motivation of several characters in the FC I'm in.

 

EDIT: Also, in the MSQ, the advancement of magic through developing new spells is actually talked about with regards to teleportation magicks. This one snippet also clarifies that part of what you do during casting a spell is, in fact, incantations -- which is why Silence stops spellcasting.

 

  And this happens when... (Reveal hidden contents)

...you talk to Urianger about Y'shtola, where he explains the difference between modern teleportation and the earlier spell, Flow.

 

 

[Larson]

With your permission id like to use some of this in my little Scholar guide