Irumiya Crest
The sole cause by which the name Irumiya - that of a humble, five-generation clan from the Japanese backwater - should garner recognition through every reach of the Clock Tower, and one of the most curious thaumaturgical innovations in well over a century. To explain, we must go back just over a century, to when a man named Irumiya Tokichi was first introduced to the wide world of Magecraft. As is oft the case with strangers to this most noble art, Tokichi and his ilk lacked a proper appreciation for the rigmaroles of perfecting one's family craft - the heartless breeding of successive generations, the harsh hierarchies, the selection of but one single heir, and so on. Unlike so many upstarts however, Tokichi was blessed with a smattering of what some might call
talent.
Conventionally, Magic Crests are passed down from one head to the next, risking the loss of the crest should a head or their heir meet an inopportune end. To ensure the survival of his craft, and to guarantee the welfare of his five children, Irumiya Tokichi through his dream-pertaining Magectaft devised a complete overhaul of the system. Irumiya heirs possess a "mental Magic Crest," wherein the knowledge of the family's Spells is compressed into a cognitive construct that can be retained within the mind of the bearer. In short, while a traditional Magic Crest consists of Circuits that can be activated to cast Spells even the current holder does not know, Irumiya Magi subvert this obstacle entirely by simply inscribing the knowledge of their Magecraft directly in the minds of their children. The construct is then embedded within a particular memory in the mind of the target (in the case of Irumiya Ikuto, the memory of scolding his tongue the first time he tasted coffee), and for so long as the person recalls this memory, so too do they recall the inner workings of their Magecraft. Because this is a process that requires a intimate connection between the minds of two individuals, a strong emotional bond is required, typically that of parent and child or husband and wife.
The task of transferring a Crest, usually one that can take decades of labour, can be performed in just under a month. Because the Crest is entirely mental and the knowledge transferred is retained by the transferer, it even becomes possible for one to possess multiple heirs. Thus did Tokichi break his Magecraft down into five disciplines, pass one down to each of his children, and in his mind guarantee that they would work together to build a more glorious Irumiya family than he could ever imagine.
That it took not even half a decade after his death for the family to splinter is the subject of several self-deprecating jokes on the nature of Magi.
Tokiya-Irumiya
Tokichi's Magecraft was broken down into five disciplines. The children who inherited these disciplines then warred over which among them was most qualified to guide the family, whether their knowledge should be pooled, and the stark gulfs in power between the five techniques. A century later, five Irumiya clans exist, each holding but a portion of the true Irumiya Magecraft. In the case of Ikuto, he is the forebear of Tokichi's second son, Tokiya, who was made the heritor of "dream exploration" Magecraft.
All Irumiya Magecraft takes as its base core the manipulation of dreams, the creation of a "dreamscape" based around the notion of cognitive loci, and interfacing with the dreams of others. In dreams, the dreamer themselves is the core (Root) of an entire World. Through exploring one's own dreams, it becomes possible to reach the core of the self and attain enlightenment, or so Tokiya's descendents believe. The hope is that, once they have honed their craft sufficiently, they will be able to explore their subconscious right down to level of genetic memory, reach the "existence before birth," and gain insight into some deeper truth within Akasha. The resemblance to a certain other Japanese clan's desire to instead move
forward in their perception is startling.
As their own use of Tokichi's Magecraft typically only affects the individual, Tokiya's descendents unlike their peers have not invested in developing mediums that allow them to interface with the dreams of others more easily. Ikuto and his kin can thus only access another person's mental landscape if a strong emotional connection exists between them, though this need not be reciprocated. Likewise, both parties must be in REM sleep for any interaction to be possible.
Dream exploration primarily focuses around the notion of memory, and of delving into the layers of either the Magus' or the target's identity. This allows for such applications as
- Perfect eidetic memory
- Peering into the subconscious minds of opponents
- "Reawakening" traits from the genetic memories of animals, allowing even the domestic creatures they use as familiars to regain a portion of their primal nature
- Recreating a split personality based on one's earlier memories; traditionally upon reaching eighteen, a Tokiya-Irumiya establishes a second self using their memories as a sixteen year-old, replacing this personality when they reach twenty and again every two years, using the divided brain to assist in calculations and planning
While Ikuto's own grasp of his clan's craft was initially disappointing, he has improved leaps and bounds in the last year - for which he should be thankful, for the untimely deaths of his parents and four elder siblings has placed him as heir. Perhaps because...
The Goshi's Lost Kingdom
The unique 'art' of Irumiya Ikuto, it in truth can be labelled neither a technique nor an ability, but an 'accidental invention' born of Ikuto's stark lack of experience. It is an application of Tokiya-style Magecraft he first became familiar with while exploring the mindscape of his elder brother, Ayato, as part of his training; whilst inside, he for but a moment pondered the unfairness of his situation, that he would never know the praise of his more successful siblings - and saw his brother's mind go up in flames.
Goshi's Lost Kingdom is, ultimately, no different from the standard practice of retrieving memories from the subconscious mind, the most basic of basics among Tokiya's descendents. All that differs is the scope. Rather than bringing a particular moment, or fragment of meaning to mind, Ikuto's Magecraft in essence brings to mind every moment; the memory of stubbing one's toe as a child, of eating breakfast this morning, of reading a book, of meeting a friend, of breathing. Not only is the memory itself revived, but so is the self, the thought patterns and personality of the person as they existed in that exact moment in time. Yourself as you were at five, yourself as you were upon entering adolescence, yourself as you were thirty seconds ago. Millions upon billions of 'selves' are forcibly resurrected and made to share the same body, a screaming incoherent mass of once-weres and near-forgottens. An entire life history being lived all at once, unable to die.
An internal hemorrhage from intense brain activity usually follows after around twenty seconds, by which point the victim has descended into outright insanity.
This is not a Spell, and it is not anything Ikuto can call upon at his will. Rather, Goshi's Last Kingdom will autonomously activate should he ever for but a moment experience negative emotions while in another's cognitive space, a burning resentment that expands to encompass all he surveys. Only that a strong emotional bond must exist between him and a potential victim keeps this in check.
Needless to say, incinerating a person's mind while he is currently in it is not without consequences, as Ikuto discovered shortly after falling asleep following the death of his brother, still working to convince himself he could not be at fault. There, in his own head, he found the scorched remains of his irritating sibling's subconscious, the embers of another mind that had been burnt into his own. A cognitive entity he has taken to calling Nightmare. A collection of mostly-fragmented memories and half-remembered dreams, Nightmare is an existence with a will of its own currently dwelling within Ikuto, providing him with his fallen family member's knowledge of Magecraft in exchange for its constant escape attempts. A portion of his very self attempting to shake itself loose by clawing blindly at the world around it.
As it exists within Ikuto, Nightmare is capable of using his own Irumiya Magecraft to enter the mental landscapes of others - such as say, his other siblings, or their parents - dragging Ikuto himself along with it, at which point the resulting terror Ikuto felt would typically..... Well. The effort of supporting a conglomerate of his own tortured, raging family members at all times in his subconscious places a heavy strain on Ikuto's sense of self, and it is unlikely he will ever be able to pass on his Crest. That his baby brother, Manato, has yet to develop a 'mind' sufficient to constitute a mindscape is all that may have spared him thus far, and the knowledge of what he may one day do does so weigh on Ikuto's thoughts. To grow close to anyone is now to destroy them. To grow close to no-one is to destroy himself. So ends but a portion of Irumiya Tokichi's well-meaning legacy.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by FSF 5, Chapter 14: Gold and Lions I
) or inspiration to flesh out her character. Heck, maybe I should've just gone with the dominatrix idea after all...
