Apostates, How to Identify Them and Protect One's Self.

"You cannot be serious Stormlady Fenna, that tome cannot be the basis upon which you were trained. That is asinine, where were you raised, where were you schooled!?"

"Skyshear Temple, the hall of worship within Grakenfjord, my home city. Why Friya, how is it asinine? T'is a great aide and resource, lays out its information really thoroughly and well, givin' a detailed analysis of magick an' 'ow it operates. It explains well what ta look fer, the sorts of oddities to pay attention to, and various methods of identification and ways to protect yerself."

"My goodness, your kind are slow to learn and change aren't they my dwarven love. Have ye ever actually attempted any of the wardings or carryin' any of the 'protective' charms and trinkets that tome swears by? More to the point have ye ever actually fought an apostate, or even a magister for that matter, and been protected in any way?"

"I....nae. Nae I haven't actually. I've never hunted an apostate before. However if that tome is not good information why would it be taught?"

"Cause it was written by someone a very long time ago, as a way to influence those like you, attempting to trick them into heinous behaviors. Rounding up kids and testing them in the means described? Targeting adults with 'prominence or promiscious attitudes' or 'herbalists and alchemists'? None of those things make anyone more predisposed to the Touch, and in fact are just a good way to turn people against you."

A conversation between Magister Friya Ostamore and her Templar lover and traveling companion Fenna Brondainionle Novikoal in regards to the validity of the tome in question, and its supposed origins

Written nearly a thousand years ago, and for a long time used as basically a training manual by most churches of the Ascended, this tome has within the last two centuries become a subject of deep condemation and academic debate. Its author, a supposed Magister of the Amethyst Order, whom no records of exist with the Collegiate, is now believed to have been instead someone with ill intentions and a terribly lacking understanding of the Touch of Arcanis and how it actually works. It is becoming understood that this dubious source is actually a terrible resource to learn from, though as religious institutions are oft want to do, there is much resistance to this shift and change from the Ascended Faiths, though the amount of such resistance varies based on which faith.

"Garlic, what in the name of o' the Bloodhound's cock does garlic have ta do with hunting an apostate, Bela!?"

"Its to ward off evil spirits and the restless dead Coris. Apostates often raise corpses and other undead to serve them, as per Chapter 3, paragraph 12 of Apostates, How to Identify Them and Protect One's Self. by Magister Lelina Assim of the Amethyst Order. Knowledge and basic training passed down across many of the faiths of the Ascended."

"Bela, dearest lass, ye know I promised ta keep ya safe. But I cannae save ye from yer own thick skull. Ye do know that so called magister nary ever existed right? Its a fake name, and that tome was likely written by some damned fool wit' a personal vendetta against elves, women, an' basically anyone nae human or dwarf. Besides the escapee was a bloody pyromancer! In what world is a pyromancer raising the bleedin' dead!?!? Nae, enough about fuckin' seasonin', can we actually start talking bout what we know? If we can find 'im afore the authorities I bet there be a fucking ransom o' a bounty fer such information.

A conversation between adventuring companions Coris Alrimac Baraz-Barak the Battle-Rager and Bela Naimeth the Sun-Caller Priestess.