Juanita "Nita" Louise Callahan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inlifesname) wrote2013-10-18 04:22 pm
inlifesname) wrote2013-10-18 04:22 pm
Paradisa app
PERSONAL
NAME: Beth
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
elfwannabeEMAIL: emaj88@gmail.com
AIM: elfwannabe88
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Galadriel
CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Juanita “Nita” Louise Callahan
SERIES: Young Wizards by Diane Duane
CANON POINT: Mid-transport, when she, Kit, Ponch, Ronan, Sker’ret, and Filif are transporting from the Moon to the Crossings in Wizards at War
LOSS: The ability to find and manipulate the “kernel” of a world- the part of a universe that contains its most basic physical laws and structure.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER:
Nita Callahan is a bit of a nerd. Or to be more charitable, she has a special talent for and takes extreme delight in learning and the written word in particular. This hasn’t always worked to her advantage. Like many kids with these particular tendencies, she was the victim of bullying; her peers tossed all the usual insults at her “bookworm,” “teacher’s pet,” “brown noser,” and she was even beat up on occasion. Reflecting on the unfairness of this, she thinks “I just like to find things out!” And whatever trouble that trait may cause her socially, it serves her exceedingly well as a wizard. In fact, it's highly unlikely that anyone who wasn't intelligent and at home with words would find themselves a wizard.
The Art, in the Young Wizards canon, is not about waving wands, but about understanding the universe and manipulating it. This necessarily entails a lot of calculations; one has to account for natural forces, like gravity, the presence and magical effects of other individuals, etc or else the spell may go horribly wrong. Wizardry basically acts like a combination of math, science, and persuasive argument. A good wizard will have some skill in all these things and Nita does, no matter how much she may protest that she hates math. Her love of astronomy has helped her in her trips across the galaxy and in understanding some of the more complex issues with planets and stars. Her desire to learn has enabled her to quickly pick up the important facts about alien species. Basically, her smarts and her enthusiasm for knowledge have enabled her to put in the necessary effort in understanding the world around her.
But it's not just innate intelligence that makes Nita an excellent wizard. Plain old hard work and a willingness to do the nitty gritty work is another big part of it. When Nita receives her manual, the very first thing she does after taking the Oath is to sit down and read it- study it, even. And it's a good thing too; almost immediately, she finds herself pulled into her ordeal- something every wizard has to face, but hers was particularly grueling. She passed, though, with flying colors, preventing the Lone One from changing Manhattan to match the Manhattan in a nightmarish alternate universe. But Nita's dedication to research and preparation didn't end when she passed and became a full-fledged wizard; throughout the series, her reaction to puzzling problems (or even potential problems) is to do research in the manual. During her time in Ireland, she looks up wizarding history to solve the problem of people "slipping sideways" through time. Her reaction to her mother's brain tumor is to exhaust herself looking for a magical solution and, even when that doesn't work out, she continues her work on the subject, studying it to the extent that it becomes one of her specialties. In summary, Nita is not just intelligent, but dedicated, hard working, and willing to do the grunt work if she has to.
Perhaps the most important characteristic of Nita's, however, is just how much she cares. Above all things, Nita is kind, empathetic, and loyal. Since the main point of wizardry is to protect life and to slow entropy, these are vital traits for her trade. But more than that, they define the way that she lives her life and determines the choices that she makes.
Nita's demonstrations of compassion, love, and devotion run throughout the series. During her ordeal, she changed what was written in The Book of Night with Moon in order to give the Lone One the opportunity to change. In Deep Wizardry she unintentionally signs herself up to be sacrificed in order to bind the Lone One (or a fragment of him). She has the opportunity to back out and live, but at a cost. She would lose her wizardry and any memory she had of it, leaving her with the feeling of an empty space in her heart. But more importantly, breaking her word would give the Lone One an advantage that he could use to break the spell and it would almost guarantee the failure of the ritual involved- potentially leading to a tremendous amount of death and suffering. And she just wasn't willing to let that happen. Of course, circumstances prevent her from actually having to make that sacrifice, but the fact that the suffering and deaths of strangers was enough to keep her from backing out says a great deal about her.
And when the people in danger are not abstract, but rather her loved ones, Nita's propensity for self-sacrifice and placing herself in danger gets amped up to eleven. While it's true that in Deep Wizardry, the thought of deaths and suffering of strangers is enough to keep Nita from backing out of her deal, when it comes time to make the sacrifice, the thing that finally allows her to make it whole-heartedly is the fact that Kit is in danger and will almost certainly die if she doesn't. Similarly, when Dairine, her little sister, is on her ordeal in High Wizardry and Nita realizes that the Lone Power was willing to wipe out an entire solar system just to keep her from helping Dairine, her reaction is swift and dramatic.
And this was what was going after her little sister.
The anger in Nita got very, very cold. "Let's go find her," she said.
It's worth noting that this is one of very few times that Nita is described as this angry.
Finally, in A Wizard's Dilemma, Nita's mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor. As I said before, her immediate reaction is to search for a magical solution. It was this research that eventually led to her specialization in "kernels"; the thought was that she could alter the cancer in her mother's brain and convince it not to multiply. This was risky, however, and not at all a guarantee. Seeing an opportunity to get rid of a troublesome pest, the Lone One approaches Nita with an offer: she gives up her wizardry and he saves her mother's life. And, despite knowing the dangers and hating the Lone One, Nita very nearly accepts. She might have, if her mother had not intervened. Her own life and happiness mattered far less to her than the life of someone she loved.
Unfortunately, Nita's mother does pass away between books. And once again, in A Wizard Alone, we see Nita placing those she loves above herself. Despite the fact that she's fallen into a deep depression, Nita is the one who steps up and takes care of everyone. She learns to make coffee for her dad, she gets Dairine out of bed and to school on time, and she starts helping her dad with the shopping. Eventually, she does get help herself and she learns to balance her own life with added family responsibilities, but as far as her first instinct? It's too make sure that everyone else keeps functioning.
Which is not to say that Nita’s always tenderhearted. She has a fiery side too, which, in its more benign form, comes out in banter and quips, even in the heat of battle. Unfortunately, this also gets her in trouble sometimes. In fact, when Nita hides in the library to avoid bullies in the first book, it’s because she told the bullies exactly what she thought of them. It wasn’t smart, but it burst out anyway. She had to learn to temper this when she became a wizard- as I have said, wizards must be very careful with words and something said in haste could have disastrous results. But, while she may be more careful with what she says, she still has that temper.
And, of course, she’s still got all the issues that come from being a fifteen year old girl: dealing with her changing feelings for her friend Kit, trying to figure out how to handle social situations, that sort of thing. Sadly, being a wizard does not make any of these things any easier. As early as the second book, Nita is already questioning whether her feelings for her best friend and wizarding partner Kit were becoming something more than friendly. But it's not until the ninth book in the series (after her canon point in this app) that she finally admits to herself- and to him- that her feelings are romantic in nature. She fumbles a bit with her other peers too, struggling to fit in (or at least not stand out as as much of a geek). She wants to wear skirts that her mother thought were too short. She worries about being teased.
Like any kid, Nita struggles with figuring our her feelings, figuring how who she is and who she wants to be, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life. And, really, that's what makes her such a good wizard, in the end; Nita is very human, with all the strengths and weaknesses that that implies.
ABILITIES:
Basics
Words lie at the foundation of all wizardry. When reduced to it’s basics, all spells are basically ways to persuade matter into behaving in a certain way. In order to do this, Wizards make use of a language known as The Speech. The Speech, in the Young Wizards universe, is related to all other languages and because of this a wizard who speaks it can theoretically understand all other living beings as well as a number of nonliving beings (characters have been shown to talk to cars, refrigerators, and trains, for example). In the case of nonliving beings, it’s said that they don’t really “speak” they way living beings do, but express purposes, impressions of what they’re meant to do and how they “feel” about it- even wizards have a hard time explaining this.
A more active use of the Speech is persuading things to behave as you wish them to. This can be as simple as a conversation with a tree or asking the crab grass to please grow in the vacant lot next door instead, or it can be as complicated as a complex diagram showing exactly how you want to bend space and time to get from one place to another- math can be involved. It’s important to note that wizards are extremely careful about what they say in the Speech because of its power to change things. If you describe something incorrectly (or worse someone), it/they may change to match your description. This is also likely the reason that it’s considered highly inadvisable to lie in the Speech, to the point that most wizards will simply say that you “can’t.”
Telepathy
All wizards have at least a low level of telepathy. Often, the closer two wizards get, the more they find themselves “overhearing” each other’s thoughts- the exception being wizarding partners (wizards who work together), who experience exactly the opposite: they hear each other’s thoughts less and less. Aside from things that are “overheard,” this is by and large a voluntary thing- used to communicate over distances or in situations where speaking aloud would not necessarily be wise.
Energy and Power Levels
There’s not a lot that wizardry can’t do, really, but it isn’t without it’s tolls; every spell requires energy and it takes it out of the wizard who works it. The more complex a spell is, the greater the amount of energy required. Something simple may have the same result as running up and down a set of stairs a few times, but something extremely complex and powerful may even take years off a wizard’s life. That’s not the end of the story, however. Wizards are also capable of setting up extended payments, particularly for work on already existing wizardry, and there is even such a thing as a “blank check” wizardry- an agreement where the Powers that Be provide the needed energy and power for a spell, to be paid back later.
The power levels of a wizard are dependant on a number of things. First, the younger a wizard, the more powerful they are, generally speaking. Power levels tend to drop and stabilize with age. On a day to day basis, wizards try to keep their strength up the way that anyone doing a strenuous job would- a good diet, proper exercise, etc. It is also worth noting that emotions lend power to a spell- even negative emotions like anger can act as fuel and are thus seen as a tool, albeit one that must be carefully managed.
It is possible for a wizard to take on/channel entirely too much power for them to handle. When this happens, there is risk to the wizard him/herself- the power runs through their synapses and may burn them out. This risk can be mitigated by splitting the work between multiple wizards.
Specialties
While wizardry itself is an extremely broad discipline, it’s common for individual wizards to specialize. Nita is at an age where her specialty is in flux, so there are a number of things that are/were/are potential specialties.
Life forms- Nita’s first specialty was, put simply, working with living things. In it’s earliest incarnations, this was particularly evident with plant life; she talks to trees and grass, makes use of a Rowan branch as a wand, and shows skill with healing. This talent later grows into something more broad and she finds herself with an interest in and knowledge of all manner of alien beings. It’s usually Nita who knows something about the strange species that they come across on their travels.
Precognition/dreams/”hunches”- this specialty was present from the first, but it’s not until later on in the series that Nita starts to notice it as something significant. Before significant events occur, Nita often has dreams that give her hints about what’s coming or what she should do. As she progresses as a wizard, she learns to lucid dream at will, even going so far as to move into the dreams and minds of other people in order to better communicate with them. This doesn’t seem to be unique, since it’s mentioned that she’s often contacted by alien species with wizarding problems this way.
In a similar way, Nita seems to get a greater than average number of hunches, which, for a wizard, are almost always significant and worth following up. There are no coincidences, as they say.
Research- There are some wizards whose specialty is solely researching the manual and lately, Nita has been dabbling in this. She has chosen to predominantly research the Speech, learning not only new words and how to better master the language, but different rituals and uses of it. It is, for example, through this research that Nita learned of the Binding Oath, which she subjected a fragment of the Lone Power in Wizard’s Holiday. This specialty gives her a particularly good understanding of some of the more theoretical or abstract concepts involved in the workings of wizardry.
“Kernels”- In the Young Wizard series, each universe, planet, world, etc, has what is often referred to in the text as a “kernel,” a bundle of energy that contains the information on that world’s physical laws, foundations, and basic principles. Nita has learned to locate this kernel and use it to manipulate the world around her. This would be her loss in Paradisa, so it’s not really relevant here.
Frequently used
I’ll also mention and describe a few of the spells/techniques that we see Nita use most often in canon, since they are the most likely to come up.
“Beam me up Scotty” spell- A basic transport spell, moves the wizard and chosen companions to a specified place.
Rowan wand- the branch of a Rowan tree left for several nights under the moon has a certain power. It can be used as a weapon, shooting beams of what appears to be moonlight, as a light, as a booster for other spells, etc.
Shield defense spell- the first spell that Nita ever learned. It creates an invisible shield around the wizard and/or anyone the wizard specifies. Anything aimed at them, from spells to physical attacks to the effects of a nuclear blast can be blocked out, depending on the strength of the spell.
Offensive spell- A spell with the specific intent to do harm to another being, usually used in combat. There are several variants, including what is basically a modified “Beam me up Scotty” spell- simply leaving the intended location of arrival unspecified or making it a location inhospitable to life is a particularly deadly weapon.
Charm bracelet- The charm bracelet that Nita is carrying at this canon point is the physical manifestation of a number of wizardries that she prepared in advance and left ready to activate. It’s a convenient way of having more complicated spells ready to go at a moment’s notice, requiring only a word or two to complete.
Otherspace pocket- A small pocket of space accessible to the wizard wherever he or she goes. It’s essentially a method of portable storage.
The Manual and the Oath
The Wizard’s Manual is the most basic and important tool of almost any wizard (although they access it in different forms, depending on culture and location), so it really deserves its own section. The Manual contains almost all the information that a wizard could potentially need- spells, details about strange planets that they find themselves on, lists of active wizards in the area and much, much more. Significantly, the Manual seems to grow, providing more information based on what the wizard needs at the time and what they are allowed to know.
The Manual is also where would-be wizards first come across the Oath and learn of the existence and purpose of wizardry. All of the wonderful, amazing experiences that a wizard can have are, in the end, side effects. The main purpose of wizardry is to conserve energy, to preserve Life- to fight entropy, the slow decay of the Universe. The Wizard’s Oath is said by each wizard prior to his or her Ordeal and becoming a full fledged wizard. It is as follows:
“In Life's name and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so -- till Universe's end.”
THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:
Nita arrived in the lobby of Paradisa with the characteristic bang! of a transport spell and the confused look of a person who is decidedly not where she expected to be.
“Unless they did some fast redecorating in the Crossings... Sker’ret-” She cut herself off, abruptly realizing that Sker’ret wasn’t there; none of the others were.
“Crud.” This wasn’t the first time that she’d found herself someplace unexpected because of Wizardry, but somehow she never quite got used to it. Still, there are no coincidences. If she was here- if something had interfered with her spell- then it had to be for a reason.
She took a deep breath and reached into her otherspace pocket to pull out her Wizard’s Manual, paging through it until she found what she wanted- a spell for detecting other wizards. Some calculations, a few muttered words, and sure enough! There’s another wizard here. Part of her wants to sprint off right away and start figuring things out as soon as she can. But this place seemed safe enough to linger in and it never hurt to do a little extra research. She flipped a few more pages in the Manual, looking for the list of active wizards in the area.
There. Her name, followed by a room number she didn’t recognize and-
No.
“Dair?” Her disbelief didn’t last long. Her day was turning weirder by the second- of course Dair would be involved somehow. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing it back behind her ears, and gave a soft sigh before setting off in search of her younger sister. Hopefully she would have some answers.
FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Dear mun entry
INTENT: I think Nita would be a particularly good balance to Galadriel. She’s young, more of the active hero- type, and although she’s smart, she’s not as likely to sit there and pick apart the situation before acting. I also think her experiences in canon with traveling between worlds and galaxies are likely to make her reactions to Paradisa very interesting and fun.
Finally, in A Wizard's Dilemma, Nita's mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor. As I said before, her immediate reaction is to search for a magical solution. It was this research that eventually led to her specialization in "kernels"; the thought was that she could alter the cancer in her mother's brain and convince it not to multiply. This was risky, however, and not at all a guarantee. Seeing an opportunity to get rid of a troublesome pest, the Lone One approaches Nita with an offer: she gives up her wizardry and he saves her mother's life. And, despite knowing the dangers and hating the Lone One, Nita very nearly accepts. She might have, if her mother had not intervened. Her own life and happiness mattered far less to her than the life of someone she loved.
Unfortunately, Nita's mother does pass away between books. And once again, in A Wizard Alone, we see Nita placing those she loves above herself. Despite the fact that she's fallen into a deep depression, Nita is the one who steps up and takes care of everyone. She learns to make coffee for her dad, she gets Dairine out of bed and to school on time, and she starts helping her dad with the shopping. Eventually, she does get help herself and she learns to balance her own life with added family responsibilities, but as far as her first instinct? It's too make sure that everyone else keeps functioning.
Which is not to say that Nita’s always tenderhearted. She has a fiery side too, which, in its more benign form, comes out in banter and quips, even in the heat of battle. Unfortunately, this also gets her in trouble sometimes. In fact, when Nita hides in the library to avoid bullies in the first book, it’s because she told the bullies exactly what she thought of them. It wasn’t smart, but it burst out anyway. She had to learn to temper this when she became a wizard- as I have said, wizards must be very careful with words and something said in haste could have disastrous results. But, while she may be more careful with what she says, she still has that temper.
And, of course, she’s still got all the issues that come from being a fifteen year old girl: dealing with her changing feelings for her friend Kit, trying to figure out how to handle social situations, that sort of thing. Sadly, being a wizard does not make any of these things any easier. As early as the second book, Nita is already questioning whether her feelings for her best friend and wizarding partner Kit were becoming something more than friendly. But it's not until the ninth book in the series (after her canon point in this app) that she finally admits to herself- and to him- that her feelings are romantic in nature. She fumbles a bit with her other peers too, struggling to fit in (or at least not stand out as as much of a geek). She wants to wear skirts that her mother thought were too short. She worries about being teased.
Like any kid, Nita struggles with figuring our her feelings, figuring how who she is and who she wants to be, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life. And, really, that's what makes her such a good wizard, in the end; Nita is very human, with all the strengths and weaknesses that that implies.
ABILITIES:
Basics
Words lie at the foundation of all wizardry. When reduced to it’s basics, all spells are basically ways to persuade matter into behaving in a certain way. In order to do this, Wizards make use of a language known as The Speech. The Speech, in the Young Wizards universe, is related to all other languages and because of this a wizard who speaks it can theoretically understand all other living beings as well as a number of nonliving beings (characters have been shown to talk to cars, refrigerators, and trains, for example). In the case of nonliving beings, it’s said that they don’t really “speak” they way living beings do, but express purposes, impressions of what they’re meant to do and how they “feel” about it- even wizards have a hard time explaining this.
A more active use of the Speech is persuading things to behave as you wish them to. This can be as simple as a conversation with a tree or asking the crab grass to please grow in the vacant lot next door instead, or it can be as complicated as a complex diagram showing exactly how you want to bend space and time to get from one place to another- math can be involved. It’s important to note that wizards are extremely careful about what they say in the Speech because of its power to change things. If you describe something incorrectly (or worse someone), it/they may change to match your description. This is also likely the reason that it’s considered highly inadvisable to lie in the Speech, to the point that most wizards will simply say that you “can’t.”
Telepathy
All wizards have at least a low level of telepathy. Often, the closer two wizards get, the more they find themselves “overhearing” each other’s thoughts- the exception being wizarding partners (wizards who work together), who experience exactly the opposite: they hear each other’s thoughts less and less. Aside from things that are “overheard,” this is by and large a voluntary thing- used to communicate over distances or in situations where speaking aloud would not necessarily be wise.
Energy and Power Levels
There’s not a lot that wizardry can’t do, really, but it isn’t without it’s tolls; every spell requires energy and it takes it out of the wizard who works it. The more complex a spell is, the greater the amount of energy required. Something simple may have the same result as running up and down a set of stairs a few times, but something extremely complex and powerful may even take years off a wizard’s life. That’s not the end of the story, however. Wizards are also capable of setting up extended payments, particularly for work on already existing wizardry, and there is even such a thing as a “blank check” wizardry- an agreement where the Powers that Be provide the needed energy and power for a spell, to be paid back later.
The power levels of a wizard are dependant on a number of things. First, the younger a wizard, the more powerful they are, generally speaking. Power levels tend to drop and stabilize with age. On a day to day basis, wizards try to keep their strength up the way that anyone doing a strenuous job would- a good diet, proper exercise, etc. It is also worth noting that emotions lend power to a spell- even negative emotions like anger can act as fuel and are thus seen as a tool, albeit one that must be carefully managed.
It is possible for a wizard to take on/channel entirely too much power for them to handle. When this happens, there is risk to the wizard him/herself- the power runs through their synapses and may burn them out. This risk can be mitigated by splitting the work between multiple wizards.
Specialties
While wizardry itself is an extremely broad discipline, it’s common for individual wizards to specialize. Nita is at an age where her specialty is in flux, so there are a number of things that are/were/are potential specialties.
Life forms- Nita’s first specialty was, put simply, working with living things. In it’s earliest incarnations, this was particularly evident with plant life; she talks to trees and grass, makes use of a Rowan branch as a wand, and shows skill with healing. This talent later grows into something more broad and she finds herself with an interest in and knowledge of all manner of alien beings. It’s usually Nita who knows something about the strange species that they come across on their travels.
Precognition/dreams/”hunches”- this specialty was present from the first, but it’s not until later on in the series that Nita starts to notice it as something significant. Before significant events occur, Nita often has dreams that give her hints about what’s coming or what she should do. As she progresses as a wizard, she learns to lucid dream at will, even going so far as to move into the dreams and minds of other people in order to better communicate with them. This doesn’t seem to be unique, since it’s mentioned that she’s often contacted by alien species with wizarding problems this way.
In a similar way, Nita seems to get a greater than average number of hunches, which, for a wizard, are almost always significant and worth following up. There are no coincidences, as they say.
Research- There are some wizards whose specialty is solely researching the manual and lately, Nita has been dabbling in this. She has chosen to predominantly research the Speech, learning not only new words and how to better master the language, but different rituals and uses of it. It is, for example, through this research that Nita learned of the Binding Oath, which she subjected a fragment of the Lone Power in Wizard’s Holiday. This specialty gives her a particularly good understanding of some of the more theoretical or abstract concepts involved in the workings of wizardry.
“Kernels”- In the Young Wizard series, each universe, planet, world, etc, has what is often referred to in the text as a “kernel,” a bundle of energy that contains the information on that world’s physical laws, foundations, and basic principles. Nita has learned to locate this kernel and use it to manipulate the world around her. This would be her loss in Paradisa, so it’s not really relevant here.
Frequently used
I’ll also mention and describe a few of the spells/techniques that we see Nita use most often in canon, since they are the most likely to come up.
“Beam me up Scotty” spell- A basic transport spell, moves the wizard and chosen companions to a specified place.
Rowan wand- the branch of a Rowan tree left for several nights under the moon has a certain power. It can be used as a weapon, shooting beams of what appears to be moonlight, as a light, as a booster for other spells, etc.
Shield defense spell- the first spell that Nita ever learned. It creates an invisible shield around the wizard and/or anyone the wizard specifies. Anything aimed at them, from spells to physical attacks to the effects of a nuclear blast can be blocked out, depending on the strength of the spell.
Offensive spell- A spell with the specific intent to do harm to another being, usually used in combat. There are several variants, including what is basically a modified “Beam me up Scotty” spell- simply leaving the intended location of arrival unspecified or making it a location inhospitable to life is a particularly deadly weapon.
Charm bracelet- The charm bracelet that Nita is carrying at this canon point is the physical manifestation of a number of wizardries that she prepared in advance and left ready to activate. It’s a convenient way of having more complicated spells ready to go at a moment’s notice, requiring only a word or two to complete.
Otherspace pocket- A small pocket of space accessible to the wizard wherever he or she goes. It’s essentially a method of portable storage.
The Manual and the Oath
The Wizard’s Manual is the most basic and important tool of almost any wizard (although they access it in different forms, depending on culture and location), so it really deserves its own section. The Manual contains almost all the information that a wizard could potentially need- spells, details about strange planets that they find themselves on, lists of active wizards in the area and much, much more. Significantly, the Manual seems to grow, providing more information based on what the wizard needs at the time and what they are allowed to know.
The Manual is also where would-be wizards first come across the Oath and learn of the existence and purpose of wizardry. All of the wonderful, amazing experiences that a wizard can have are, in the end, side effects. The main purpose of wizardry is to conserve energy, to preserve Life- to fight entropy, the slow decay of the Universe. The Wizard’s Oath is said by each wizard prior to his or her Ordeal and becoming a full fledged wizard. It is as follows:
“In Life's name and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so -- till Universe's end.”
THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:
Nita arrived in the lobby of Paradisa with the characteristic bang! of a transport spell and the confused look of a person who is decidedly not where she expected to be.
“Unless they did some fast redecorating in the Crossings... Sker’ret-” She cut herself off, abruptly realizing that Sker’ret wasn’t there; none of the others were.
“Crud.” This wasn’t the first time that she’d found herself someplace unexpected because of Wizardry, but somehow she never quite got used to it. Still, there are no coincidences. If she was here- if something had interfered with her spell- then it had to be for a reason.
She took a deep breath and reached into her otherspace pocket to pull out her Wizard’s Manual, paging through it until she found what she wanted- a spell for detecting other wizards. Some calculations, a few muttered words, and sure enough! There’s another wizard here. Part of her wants to sprint off right away and start figuring things out as soon as she can. But this place seemed safe enough to linger in and it never hurt to do a little extra research. She flipped a few more pages in the Manual, looking for the list of active wizards in the area.
There. Her name, followed by a room number she didn’t recognize and-
No.
“Dair?” Her disbelief didn’t last long. Her day was turning weirder by the second- of course Dair would be involved somehow. She ran her hand through her hair, pushing it back behind her ears, and gave a soft sigh before setting off in search of her younger sister. Hopefully she would have some answers.
FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Dear mun entry
INTENT: I think Nita would be a particularly good balance to Galadriel. She’s young, more of the active hero- type, and although she’s smart, she’s not as likely to sit there and pick apart the situation before acting. I also think her experiences in canon with traveling between worlds and galaxies are likely to make her reactions to Paradisa very interesting and fun.