Cognatism

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Art by Unknown Cognatism

Cognatism, the voidal feat that came forth from a Voidal Horror invading one’s mind, is a rather rare and barely used magical art. It causes the user to have a second mind invading their first, and with proper experience, one can learn to utilize this formed, chaotic second mind to work in tandem with the first, to enhance their mental capacity to a great extent.

History

Like most forms of magic the history of Cognatism is filled with myths and legends about the creation of this magic. The most common one follows the simple idea of an individual trying to summon a being from the Void, yet, failing to stabilize the body and turning it into a semi-existing form instead. By combining their minds the magic was created through this newly found symbiosis of two different beings.

Learning Cognatism

Cognatism can’t be learnt through simple books and tomes, it needs to be taught by someone with enough experience in the areas of the mind and of voidal forms of magic. Those which tried to learn Cognatism without any previous experiences or without a teacher were often seen going insane and sometimes even committing suicide, due to the simple failure of creating a stable symbiosis.

When learning Cognatism the Horror must be able to enter the mind of one who is wishing to experience its depth and brevity in knowledge and shared experience. In wanting to learn this feat, one must find a Horror Stone. This Horror Stones location is usually at the discretion of the lore holder but should be going around constantly. After one is given this Horror Stone, they will have to meditate with it and allow a Voidal Horror to enter into their mind to take root. They connect to the void first, while still meditating with this Horror Stone, they will then at some point accidentally stumble across a Voidal Horror, this will cause the mind of the Cognat to connect to the Voidal Horror’s own mindscape.

At first, when one is learning Cognatism, they will have many difficulties in dealing with this horror inside of their mind. As it will be an incredibly exposing time periods where the minds will begin to form a bond by exchanging information between each other. Over time, it will become less abrasive towards The Cognat and become more comfortable inside the mind of them. Though, this, of course, does not mean the process is over. The Voidal Horror will begin to help their host, but this also means that they will begin to test their host as well. Putting them through trials and tests to observe and learn more about their host. They will analyze them and prod them. They will bring negative things upon their host, but these, if passed, will only strengthen the relationship. As they may take things wrong on purpose, or on accident. Leading to unexpected and unforeseen consequences.

Over time, the bond will strengthen, and the host will begin to execute more abilities of the Voidal Horror. The progression going as follows. The initial abilities one gains from Cognatism will be the ability to use symbiotic minds and storing information with their horror. A few days after the mind trial that the horror will put their host through, The Cognat will be able to use the Voidal Horror for Mental and Visual Aids. A week after this mind trial one will be able to use the ability known as Inducing. Three weeks after this mind trial, they will be able to practice Hyper-Thought, and a month after this mind trial they will be able to experience Revelations and do the Expanding Ritual.

Abilities

Cognatism is, of course, the mental utilization of a Voidal Horror in the mind of a mage. This mage is of course usually a mental or an illusion mage as those are the two main subjects might partake in Cognatism with, of course. Cognatism is much broader than at first it might seem. In the grand view of things, the complications of having an alien and foreign being in the mind of one may lead to many consequences that prove either beneficial or negative to those that practice this feat, as it were. These go from using the Horror to store information, to use it to pull illusions and tricks upon your own mind for self-benefiting purposes.

Symbiotic Minds

Due to the simple fact of having two minds working in tandem with one another, there is a constant output of voices and factors which make the mind of a Cognat a difficult place to walk. Signals and thoughts are being sent back and forth at a constant rate through the connection to the Voidal Horror, which, should a Mental Mage attempt to penetrate the mind, will offer nothing but scrambled thoughts.

While a Cognat’s mind is not impossible to penetrate, thanks to the connection with the Horror they are able to hold a second layer of defense. Should a Mental Mage hiccup the process of invasion, their attempts will succeed in getting into the mind of the Horror. It is possible, should the Mental Mage incorrectly connect with the user, to accidentally slip into the mind of the Horror. This acts as a counter-attack to the Mental Mage, and can often lead to the Horror toying and attacking back at the Mental Mage.

Information Storage

Due to the nature of the curiosity of Voidal Horrors, the connection between the Horror’s mind and the mind of the Cognat is a nearly permanent feature, with the Horror listening and noting every piece of information that it is fed. The Horror maintains these “notes” and can offer them back to the user upon request.

Through a similar method, the Horror will assist the user in converting the short-term memories the Cognat has into long-term ones, and using the connection between the two minds to enhance the storage capacity of the user.

Visual Aid

Through the use of the Horror, the user of Cognatism can call upon and utilise a visual aid through their own sight. Visible only to the user, a full, and complete three-dimensional model of an object can be constructed to aid the Cognat in his or her tasks.

Due to the innate abilities the Horror possesses, the constant connection to the being will allow the mind to operate at a higher level, and calculate various operations in a much short time. This is done by creating a visualisation of the operations. This, however, will only aid someone who is able to work out calculation normally, as the connection does not increase your intelligence. Another use of this is the ability to project a visual aid such as a ruler to measure an object.

To aid the user, a complete projection of data is shown to the user through a visual rendition of a table. Much alike all visual aids, this process is only visible to the Cognat, and will simply offer a list of various properties and data that the Cognat, or Horror, already has available in regards to the objects. This can include numbers and other information regarding the object, such as weight, height and contents should the Cognat already know them.

Accelerated Thoughts

By the Horror and Cognat’s will, they will be able to actively think at the same time, and raise the curtain from one realm to another-- allowing the minds to be closer to one another. This state is known as Hyper-thought, when both minds are in complete synergy: This allows for incredibly powerful illusions on the self, as well as increase the processing of information and the potential of figuring out of said information. This ability is not usable in combat; however, in the research and problem-solving spectrum, this is a boon. With this, the ability to have a revelation is possible.

Mental Aid

Due to the nature of the Horrors note taking, the constant connection between the user and the other mind allows for easy sharing of information between the user and it’s Horror. Being able to bring forth previously stored data on the fly, the Horror uses it’s connection to aid the memory of the user, and allow for the user to utilise previously forgotten information to adequately handle and or approach a situation. While connected, the user has the ability to call upon the assistance of the Horror, and request the creation of scents, sounds, feelings or any other sensory experience. Though largely used for intellectuals purposes, this serves as "self-illusion." This could be used to calm one down, or place someone in a focal trance/berserker’s rage.

Revelation

Following the stages of Hyper-Thought, an inducement of ‘Revelations’ are possible through prolonged and intense synergy with the Horror’s mind. A Revelation is a sudden realisation of imaginative proportions. The Revelation the Cognat can receive can be anything, from coming to the understanding that they left the Bread to go stale, or a solution to an engineering problem. The Revelations can even be so powerful as to analyse patterns and make predictions for Future World Events, or aid in the users understanding of the Void. There can, however, be horrible side effects or failures resulting from this attempted connection. Due to the nature of the process, one must bring the mind of the user and the Horror closer together in a state of hyper-flux, and should one make even the slightest mistake, the two minds may coincide with one another, which can cause the user to suffer prolonged fatigue, muscle and mental pain, and even short-to-long term mania.

Revelations must be pre-approved by the LT, and may even require Administrative approval. One may also use this in conjunction with the ET to aid in their plotline.

Enchanting

Ability to imbue the Cognats abilities onto the object, as well as craft a 'spectator’ or artificial mind from synergy of Horror and caster, allowing the ability to make things like talking skulls that have intelligence. The artificial mind provides more potential in enchantment, not only in the joviality of a talking skull, but a mind to harness and calculate information, or even a mere weaved enchantment on a stave to give it minor power over another enchantment imbued in the staff. Mayhaps with connected enchantments, one could create a sentient tome, one that speaks in text to you.

To enchant, one must obviously have the knowledge of Enchanting. To do so, one must be a Transfigurationist, and must understand just how to Enchant an object before they attempt to do so.

Redlines of Cognatism

Cognatism has several redlines of what a mage can do and what a mage can’t do. As such those redlines should be followed at any time and breaking them can result in a removal of your magic permissions.

• One must always communicate with the appropriate team, be they ET, MAT or LT, when wishing to use Revelations.
• Cognatism does not make you smarter. It simply permits you to utilise more aspects to allow you more fluid self and mental RP.
• Having Cognatism does not make your connection to the Void suddenly stronger, and you do not have a constant connection. Instead, one has a constant mental connection to a Voidal Horror.
• The mental connection to the Voidal Horror can be disrupted, through warding or sudden disconnect in successful the event of a Mental Mages attack being successful.
• The Cognat’s mind is not impenetrable, there will always be leaks into their scattered mind, especially when they are unconscious.
• By no means is the horror your friend. Think of this like a mutual relationship between a knowledge leech and a human being (though the leech could be fond of you). By giving it knowledge, the leech spits out some knowledge to you. However, there is always the growing chance of mania from the horror. In fact, the first few trials are very much mania inducing.
• The Horror cannot have any physical manifestation on the world, it only remains with the person.

Trivia

• Some legends are stating that a Voidal Horror once took full control over the casters body, using the caster as it’s puppet. It used the caster to commit several crimes and was forcing the host to commit suicide in the end.
• Voidal Horrors can take on different forms and shapes, depending on their classification and strength.

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