So there's a character type that I've always wanted to play, and I don't know if it's a better idea to do it in AVftS or in a new RP. Essentially it's a weird style of mage that just does magic in unconventional ways. I referenced it a little bit with Rizali, who enjoys doing standard spells with strange or imaginative weaves, but that's such a light version of the concept.
Originally I was inspired to do it by "Prequel Adventure", particularly
this page of it, in which a specialist of the mysticism branch of magic in Elder Scrolls explains how he sees magic to the main character, a Khajiit named Katia Managan. The quote follows, entirely collapsible for those who don't want to read several paragraphs on it. Summary will follow it so don't read it if you're not interested.
It’s like… to someone who only knows how to dig with a spoon, the notion of digging something as large as a trench will terrify them. All they know are spoons, so as far as they’re concerned, digging is simply difficult. The only way they can imagine it getting any easier is if they change – digging with a spoon until they get stronger, faster, and tougher. And the dangerous people, they’ll actually try this.
Everyone who will ever oppose you in life is a crazy, burly dude with a spoon, and you will never be able to outspoon them. Even the powerful people, they’re just spooning harder and more vigorously than everyone else, like hungry orphan children eating soup. Except the soup is power. I’ll level with you here: I have completely lost track of this analogy.
What I’m saying, giant talking cat, is that everyone is stupid. They attain a narrow grasp of reality and live their life as though there is nothing else. But you, me, creatures with imagination – we aren’t constrained by our experiences. We’re inspired by them. If we have trouble digging with a spoon, we build a shovel. If we’re stopped by a wall, we make a door. And if we can’t make a door, we ask ourselves whether we really need an opening to pass through something solid in the first place.
You point out that you’re not a ghost, and that you do need an opening to pass through solid objects.
No – that’s your mistake, he replies. That’s why you’re still not thinking like a witchhunter. You’re trying to do things right, and that’s wrong. Mysticism means taking a step back – accepting that the very laws of reason and logic you abide by are merely one option of many. It means knowing you only see half the picture in a world where everyone else thinks they see the whole thing. It means having the sheer arrogance to have humility.
That’s why I’m saying you have to think like a witchhunter. You have to be a little wrong to be completely right – to abandon truth in favor of questioning falsehood. If you think something’s the easiest way, you have to know you’re wrong. You have to understand how to stand against the very stance of understanding! You have to know you are inferior; that your knowledge and perceptions will never stand up to the true scope of all possible reality. You have to be a little further from perfect, and embrace that notion.
In summary, it says that in understanding that you are constrained by the rules you were originally taught, you can start to see alternate possibilities. It's better to consider logic and natural laws options than... well, laws. The best example I can give of my own writing was a character on The Sinking Lure who was named Zeredah. She was a young girl who was invisible because of a curse she'd been dealing with since she turned 13, but she also had very strangely-manifesting magical powers. For example, she could cross magical barriers because she assumed they'd be easier to open from the other side, or she could stop the rain because she was curious what the sun was thinking about and wanted to ask it. I really enjoyed this character because her approach to things was nonsensical by traditional ideas, but if you took a step back you could see why it worked.
I don't know if it's too silly an idea for this RP or not, but I also don't want to spread our fantasy RP points too thin. Maybe a character in the empire?
Edit: Mm! I just thought of another good example of the type of power I'm talking about. Sans in Undertale. Specifically how he can just warp from one place to another and, while it's referenced in the game itself, it's not utilised to be a game-breaking power. I love that sort of goofiness. Of course, there's a possibility of seeing his extreme power at one point in the game, but you have to do a lot to push him there. Otherwise he just sort of does silly things, and I love that.
