"The statement 'this statement is a lie', fundamentally, is nothing out of the ordinary. 'This is true mystery', on the other hand, is deeply paradoxical."
≛Name: Felix Pompeo-Elea
≛Also Known As: The Absurdist
≛Species: Human, Magus
≛Gender: Male
≛Blood Type: AB
≛Place of Origin: Campania, Italy
≛Birthday: February 29
≛Age: 23
TRAITS
Circuit Quantity A+ — It's not about quality.
Circuit Quality D — It's about quantity.
Circuit Composition — Abnormal at first, and simultaneously normal. It is something akin to an illusion, or a painting whose eerie eyes follow you as you move. The mana which regularly flows through a magus seems impossibly still in Felix, and though it does not hinder his spell-casting abilities, it does not provide any supernatural boosts either. Simply put, it is odd to be odd.
Affinity — Fire, Water
Attribute — Apagoge
Origin — Inertia
BOND Department of Modern Magecraft Theory
Rumors spread in the Department of Modern Magecraft Theory about a peculiar man. They say that students who find themselves spiraling into a depression, students who are moments before the deadline, or even professors who've lost sight of their goal, come to meet this person, and suddenly an epiphany dawns on them. They describe him as a "magical therapist", a person who disects not a magus's mental health, but their grasp on their own theories. It is the equivalent of brainstorming with that one coworker that just won't concede, but won't bring anything new to the table either. No matter who comes to meet the therapist, they all agree on this: magecraft theory and formulas improve under his scrutiny. Though he is referred to as a "therapist" for magecraft, Felix Pompeo-Elea prefers the title "the Absurdist"—he believes very certain things, and yet tackles others through the lense that nothing makes sense, and everything is incomprehensible. By creating critical paradoxes in the client's way of thinking, Felix invigorates a new sense of passion and a better understanding of the subject at hand in a previously clueless magus.
"An important aspect of absurdism is that it does not involve only certain situations, but life as a whole. When constructing your formulas, remember that motion is an illusion; a blaze of fire could never motion over a field, and thus your spell could never work, but it could manifest upon it in gradual, deliberate steps, through particular placement. Or, else, if upon a fire you drop a bucket of water, the flames will never cease; it is the displacement of the fire itself which quells it, not the interaction between water and fire, or even the blocking of oxygen."
BOND School of Thought
The Eleatics are a group of Pre-Socratic philosophers who firmly reject the epistemological validity of sense experience, and instead used logic to decide on what's true and what's not. In reference to magecraft, this is an ambitious but inefficient way of thinking. Pompeo-Eleatics present differently—to deceive the planet is unnecessary as long as you follow its logic. You must agree, first, that motion is impossible. Then, agree that the World operates as a paradox. At last, pick up your leg and get moving. That theory of motion and logic slightly contradict older variations of Eleatic thought, but this contradiction is seen by the family members of the Pompeo-Elea branch as something intrinsic in all magecraft systems.
"In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead. Achilles, in all his glory, could never defeat the tortoise. If that does not convince you, then what must you say about the arrow? If time is limitless and infinite, then isn't it logical to propose smaller dots of time between movements? And then, is it not logical to say that what is between those two points of movement, is unmoving? Now, then. How could that arrow regain its momentum after every smidgen of immovability? I'd say, the archer is simply rather good."
Chaos Magecraft allows one to mix and match between foundations based on one's own beliefs, while Paradox Magecraft is achieved by breaking down foundations and exploiting their most basic miscalculations. The scriptures of the Church rely on the idea that God is almighty and all-capable—can God create something even he himself cannot destroy? The Nordic Runes rely on the idea that symbols possess power, but do they remain efficient against a man who's blind? Does the song of a siren refer to one who's deaf? All these contradictions, those clauses, are then used directly in Paradox Magecraft to dispel and disavow. The two foundations are opposite, and yet similar in nature.
Eleatics, who venture most prominently into paradoxes of the senses, directly use Epistemological Paradox Magecraft and are oft mercenaries who seek and hunt those who are assigned Sealing Designations of the Hermit variation.
The Pompeo-Eleatics deny mercenary jobs. They've returned to the trade of scholastic study and came to accept the world is absurd; they've changed their ways, and no longer simply deny. Birthed in the 19th century, there was a new conviction among the Pompeo-Eleatics that Felix enjoys superbly: if something is absurd, it is real and it is everywhere. An arrow which rides along an infinite stretch of time stops, and yet proceeds onwards. Achilles who races the tortoise does indeed surpass it, but will forever stay behind. The paradox does not exclude its opposite, and truth lies in both descriptions. It is true that motion doesn't exist, and it is also true that the World accepts motion.
BOND The Sickness Unto Death
Felix had lived his life salivating at "experience".
His mother, the heir of the Pompeo-Eleatics, had made his birth a complicated display of confirmation and rejection, so he could truly count as a paradox himself, and thus attain greatness in this uncertain world. Through a feast of pomegranates and rituals of bacchanalia, the family twisted what Felix eventually would become to "Inertia", the impossible force that motions onwards, though it is fake and meaningless. As far as the family is concerned, the only thing that truly existed at that moment was Felix himself, and Felix alone. He was the only paradox which they could experience in earnest, the only object in an ocean of experiences derived from the senses.
He was privileged in experiences, but never in health. His soul was destined to perish young, for even in sleep and meditation it barreled through, always losing energy. Everything came and went in seconds: sickness, pleasure, anger, disdain. Felix always lived full lives in single moments, every day a universe, every year a Root of itself. As death came by at night, all bonds created yesterday were lost, friendships and whatnot obliterated in motion.
"I don't forget, not really. I experience nostalgia on a far greater scale than anyone else, that's all. What might take you decades to reminisce on will take me minutes. Lord El-Melloi caught me crying over spilled milk, once—how could I explain that the broken glass was everything to me? Others might call me a crybaby, but I disagree. Tears express nostalgia for innocence, and an appeal to the essence of being."
BOND Credo Quia Absurdum
I believe because it is absurd. I believe because the World is absurd. I believe because nothing but the absurd is the World.
The agent believes that the sun is always shining, but could the agent be dreaming? If the agent dreams, he would not be aware of the dream, and thus the sun could do a myriad of actions but shine.
The Eleatics since ancient time do not concern themselves with spellcraft, but Mystic Codes most prominently. They believe that the physical manifestation of paradoxes is more supreme than the theoretical application of such. In addition to Mystic Codes, they employ the Sixth Imaginary Factor thusly — the suffering of humanity, which Daemons are meant to solve, is born in uncertainty; paradoxes showcase impossible uncertainties—> Daemons must solve Paradoxes. The nature of the Affinity Apagoge makes this welding of Daemons part of the Pompeo-Eleatics' right of passage, and denies Daemon Possession. Daemons are normally attuned to Mystic Codes crafted by the main family, but Felix himself is capable of fair craftsmanship too.
THE TORTOISE & THE ARROW
A bow and arrow construct which summarizes the notion that motion is impossible. Felix, who still harbors wishes deep within, says it was born from the desire to understand why things wither and disappear. Why, if nothing ever moves, does everything rush past him. The bow itself is made of tortoise shells, melted together by a blacksmith magus affiliated with the Eleatics—the paradox is built within the arrow, but requires the shells to sip the concept of "nothing can ever surpass anything". The Sixth Imaginary Factor, here, solves the paradox (if nothing can surpass anything, and motion is a lie, how did the arrow hit the target?) by indicating that the arrow itself is further than the target, creating a situation in which physical contact with the arrow is impossible to avoid.
THE RAVEN
All ravens are black. All things which are not black are not ravens. An apple is neither black nor a raven, so it is further evidence for the argument that all ravens are black. By creating this loop of confirmations, one can reach any desired conclusion. The Raven is trapped within a bird cage, and Felix describes it as his own heart yearning to escape the explainable, his wish for ultimate absurdity. By affirming a logically contrapositive statement, one can strengthen the original assumption. All men named Felix are powerful. All men not named Felix are not powerful. A woman who is neither named Felix nor powerful affirms the second statement, which counts as evidence that Felix is indeed powerful. The Raven acts as an amplifier, a beacon which can apply temporary paradoxes as miniature Marbles. It can only affect the wielder of the bird cage.
THE GRAND HOTEL
Imagine walking into a big, beautiful, hotel, looking for a room. How big? Infinitely big. This hotel has a countably infinite number of rooms. However, all the rooms are currently occupied by a countably infinite number of guests. One might assume that the hotel would not be able to accommodate you, let alone more guests, but this is false. In order to accommodate you, the hotel could, hypothetically, move the guest in room one to room two. Simultaneously, the guest in room two could be moved to three, and so on, which would move every guest from their current room, x, to a new room, x+1. As there are infinite rooms, everyone would get a new room, and now, room one is totally vacant. Felix sees the Grand Hotel, which is trapped in a cloak, as another anchor to the absurd. As one who dwells in nonsense and paradoxes, and is himself an impossibility, the idea that the World will always have more room for someone like him is heartwarming. Felix can use the Grand Hotel to dwell in any spot, move through every physical object and exist in spaces which vehemently deny living humans.
Originally, the Grand Hotel was used by the Pompeo-Eleatics to access the Root, but it has failed miserably, and the entire mission was abandoned, along with any ambition to try again. Felix prefers it that way.
BOND Reductio ad absurdum
"This world which I touch doesn't exist, not for me, at least. The sand beneath my feet, the trees I see before me, will be reduced to the absurd by tomorrow. I'd judge that the world is false, if you'd let me. I exist, that's all I know. Me, myself, and thought itself. Your ideas exist, your desires, your passions, but not you. You will be reduced to the absurd, too. I cannot deny this fate of yours, not a single man can."
"..."
"Once you're aware of the absurd, you can never return from it, I'm afraid—the confrontation between the need for meaning and the irrationality of it all has taken me by the throat and hadn't given way since the day I first learned to speak. But, I accepted the proposition long ago. You may not."
"..."
"Life will be lived all the better without meaning or purpose, and only experiences can pave the way to true happiness. Do not restrict yourself to what is true and what is false, let yourself see a world; it is not the quality of each breath you take, it's the quantity. Give the void color, for me, if not for anyone else."
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
BOND On The Self
♩
The Day of Decisive Battle
Beneath a train, so high in the sky, drowned in a river or burned alive. All these methods are imaginary to Felix, who will face something far greater. In one of his escapades, he will come across a plane that far exceeds him, entities of greater Problem-Solving Prowess (Greater Daemons) who will judge and perceive him. Stuck there, wrapped in the Grand Hotel, holding onto the cage and the bow, he will come to understand one simple thing: he too, is a paradox. He too must be solved—he could bring only what he's sure of, only what he perceives as true and sincere. Beliefs, thoughts, concepts and himself. Without a friend that stands above purpose, he will surely perish.
Originally Posted by Kamera
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