"We Shapers are imbued with immense power and responsibility, and in our positions of governance, it is essential we make use of our powers to ensure order and stability, and above all, make sure our own hubris does not lead to our downfall. This, of course, encompasses the ban on such dangerous and uncontrollable arts as Necromancy and Diabolism, as well as maintaining discipline and restraint within ourselves and our colleagues,
but this responsibility also includes more nebulous and difficult matters, such as maintaining the impossibly delicate economic balance within our Empire."
"As the rulers and governors of Terrestria, it falls upon us to ensure the prosperity of our domain and its citizens. None under our governance should ever lack for food or shelter, or ever feel compelled to rise up against their rightful rulers. This is an impossible goal, as always shall those low in society feel resentful towards their superiors, whether justly or not, but it is a course we must hold to, for all of history has shown the folly of outright ignoring the circumstances of the common people. All throughout recorded history, tyrants have again and again claimed power, and attempted to maintain it through fear, and again and again their territories have been reduced to destitute cesspits of disorder, rising up to free themselves of their unjust rulers via revolution, or else simply collapsing into utter chaos upon said tyrant's death, inevitably wiping out any true legacy said figure might have had other than one of complete disorder."
"It is true that we Shapers hold a power unknown to any group before in all of history, the power to create new life to suit us, the power of Shaping.
But though it may ensure our dominance and prosperity, Shaping, like so many other tools of governance, is a double edged sword. Recall the horrific devastation wrought upon the land when Shaping loses control - recall the lesson of the Dera Reaches. Even with perfect discipline and control, however, we Shapers are still, in the end, reliant upon those below us to retain our power. Whatever else we may do, we Shapers are not a civilization in of ourselves alone, and in the end, we must inevitably recruit new Shapers from the progeny of the Outsider population. Even if the lesser peoples of our Empire can never prevail against the might of our Creations, how can we enjoy our rule if, in the end, we have destroyed Terrestria to secure it?"- Excerpt from
Lessons of Governance, by Osmond Croft, 22nd Master of the Council
***
Of particular interest to you in your observations as a conscripted research assistant, is Ithlum College's greatest field of research, the development of new Creations. A full third of the facility's resources seemed to be devoted to the subject. Strange and wondrous beasts abound are conceived of and brought to life within Ithlum's laboratories. In addition to the pack-predators you observed devouring that unfortunate Servile some time ago, the researchers here have brought to life massive furred hulks, grotesque fleshy blobs, giants insects wielding inborn sorcery, and everything in between. The vast majority, however, seem to go nowhere.
As far as you have gleaned, the process of developing a new Creation goes something like this - a Shaper gets an idea for a new Creation, or is set to task attempting to improve upon or create something to fulfill a specific purpose. The research team assigned to the project brainstorms a thousand different concepts and potential anatomies, and goes through testing the efficacy of each one by one. Most display persistent physiological defects, or simply prove unsuited or inefficient in their conceived role, and are thus disposed of. Some prove suitable in short-term testing, and are then replicated and retained in a simulated environment in the long-term to observe whether they will truly fulfill their proposed purpose in the field - again, most summarily display mental or behavioral defects, and are thus scrapped. An infinitesimally small portion of the entirety of the experiments fulfills the requirements, and has no persistent defects that cannot be corrected, and the design and several live examples of it are sent off to be reviewed by a design standards committee elsewhere. After rigorous testing, if the Creation is still found to suit its proposed purpose, and to meet the standards of the committee, it passes. Most of the time, it does not, and depending on exactly how well it fared, either the entire project is scrapped, or the prototypes are returned to the research team and they are told to keep on trying, in which case they either continue attempting to refine their existing design, or scrap it and start over from scratch.
The entire process, of course, takes years or even decades to produce a reliable and stable new Creation type that is either superior in a given role than already existing designs, or satisfactory in an entirely new role.
A common complaint you have overheard from frustrated researchers is that their Creations just won't behave as they're supposed to. Apparently, dealing with the brain and resulting behavioral issues from any defects or imperfections within it comprises the vast majority of the obstacles a research team faces - designing the rest of the body is child's play to any full Shaper in comparison. Apparently, Shapers do not possess the full mastery of neurology that they do over nearly all other facets of biology - it seems that even the slightest imperfection in the brain can cause unacceptable behavioral quirks in a Creation, and the matter is further complicated by the fact that the brain is still not entirely understood by Shapers.
In your free time, you fraternize with your classmates, not out of any desire for socialization, but out of the knowledge that many Shapers start forging their professional connections with their colleagues in their time at their academy, and networking is essential to anyone who desires any involvement in politics - something essential if one desires a position of true power in Shaper society, due to the Shapers' role as the rulers of Terrestria. Most of your class doesn't seem like they'll be able to hack it in Ithlum, and you expect they'll either be sent off to a less stressful academy, or perhaps demoted to Mage prospectives - but a few catch your eye as seeming like they'll make it to full Shaper status.
Marcus - a timid, scholarly boy, Marcus is barely keeping up with the instructors demands of the students as research assistants, but he is intelligent and curious, second only to you in his absorption of the material, and if nothing else he'll pass due to nepotism, as his mother is one of the few alchemists throughout Terrestria trusted to synthesize Essence for the Shapers. He has, of course, chosen the Shaper sect.
Katherine - an aggressive, brusque girl who is thoroughly irritated by her position as a conscripted lab rat, but who nevertheless fulfills her duties well, driven by a surfeit of spite. Katherine has taken especially well to those few lessons elucidating you all on magic, particularly those lessons focusing on such things as the conjuration and flinging of fire and acid - she'd make a natural war-mage if she hadn't been selected as a Shaper prospective. It seemed to you that she could've gone for any of the sects, but surprisingly enough to you, she chose the path of the pure Shaper.
Arianna - a silent girl who naturally melts into the background, Arianna nevertheless caught your eye as natural Agent material, always observing everything around her and evading any notice herself with ease. Funnily enough, she even manages to evades the eyes of the instructors, distracted as they are - you only very rarely see her serving as an assistant in the same capacity of the rest of you. She, of course, chose the path of the agent - the only one amongst your class who did who you think can actually hack it.
Oswild - the most physically inclined of your classmates, and a natural athlete, Oswild is nevertheless rather intelligent - a prospective Shaper could hardly fail to be - simply more interested in athletic pursuits than intellectual ones. You've often seen him asking the Outsider guards about their lives as shoulders, adeptly charming them with his bluntness and honesty. He's the most promising of the students who have chosen the Guardian sect, in your estimation.
The next nine months pass in a blur, things continuing much the same as in the past two months, further drudgery in laboratories, the occasional actual lessons, and the scant moments of socialization and lamentation with your classmates. Many of the few lessons your class does receive are more lectures than anything else, informing you of the dangers of uncontrolled Shaping, particularly why Outsiders must never get their hands on it, and why even Shapers must always maintain rigorous discipline and restraint. Of particular interest is the fact that the Dera Reaches, your home province, a harsh and desolate place, are actually desolate as a result of wild Shaping. You had always know that the deep wastes were dangerous, but it is why they are dangerous that interests you - apparently, once a powerful Shaper went mad, and experimented wildly and irresponsibly, corrupted Essence seeping into the earth to kill all vegetation and life within it, and twisted things coming from his laboratories to reek havoc on the province. Only a long and brutal campaign waged by the Empire's Guardians put a stop to his depredations, and even now, a century and a half afterward, the land is utterly poisoned. To this day, pools of corrupted Essence seep into the earth from the deep wastes, occasionally birthing twisting monsters that go forth to terrorize the people. Much of it smacks of exaggerated propaganda, but clearly
something happened to make the Reaches what they are today, and certainly it must have been terrible for the Shapers to be trying to reverse its effects to this day.
These lectures on the dangers of Shaping culminated in an excursion from the facility proper to a smaller lab located deeper into the wastes. Your instructors showed you all how one of the projects Ithlum is working on is a type of plant meant to draw the poison and corrupted Essence from the soil, so that it may be properly disposed of and the Reaches made fertile again. The project was having troubles, however - the plant, a thing like a thin, twisted tree, sprouting glowing white bulbs, did manage to draw out the poison and store it in the bulbs it grew, but the result proved... Unsuitably hazardous. One of your instructors demonstrated by lobbing a rock at one of the trees, deliberately located further from the rest, and upon contact the bulbs on the tree exploded, blinding you all for a few moments and scorching the ground surrounding it, the tree itself utterly destroyed.
The end of the year is soon approaching, and your skills are increasing further. Your class is now being put to work attempting to make a creature much more complicated than the slugs and snails before, some manner of twisted frog-thing meant to give you all practice in dealing with complex musculature. You have yet to make a perfect specimen, all of your attempts being warped or deviating from the design somehow, but once again, you are first in your class in matters of Shaping.
(Reference image -
http://exquisitebeast.tumblr.com/post/37889346825/the-ninety-second-beast-the-beast-has)
What was your response to the lectures on the consequences of uncontrolled Shaping?How do you continue to spend your scant moments of free time?What manner of experiments and research do you continue to observe most closely?- Alchemical experiments
- Development of new Creations
- Research into raw Essence manipulation
- Research into Essence-based enchantment
- Further refinement of ability to control Creations
- Other (write-in)
Author
Topic: You Are a Shaper! (Second Try) (Read 5187 times)