Thought-speech
Thought-speech is the common term for mental communication, be it with words, images, or other experiences shared between minds. Several sentient races naturally have the ability to thought-speak, including elves, dragons, nelfyns, and others. Humans and other races not born with the ability can have their minds "broken" by a higher sentient to gain the ability to thought-speak. Breaking a mind's natural barrier requires great care and skill to do correctly, and even then can result in madness. Human thought-speakers are almost non-existent outside of Etherea, where soldiers chosen to join the Wings of Etherea are Bonded to a dragon, a process which usually breaks their mind safely. Outside of the Wings and the The Dragon Guard most "thought-speakers" are practitioners of Mind Magic.
Contrary to popular belief, thought-speech is not related to Mind magic. The key difference between the two is the involvement of magic. Thought-speech is not considered a magical skill under Etherean standards of magic, and while mentalists are able to communicate mentally, the method they use differs from true thought-speech. Thought-speakers can sense other minds around them and reach out to touch them, but only other thought-speakers can hear or feel their presence, and they speak from outside the listener's mind. Mentalists, on the other hand, can infiltrate anyone's thoughts and project words into their mind. This process is commonly called a mind-link, and requires line-of-sight to the target or an appropriate focus. Thought-speech does not require line-of-site to use, and can be done over great distances.
Like any skill, thought-speech takes time and practice to do effectively. The stronger a thought-speaker is, the faster and farther they can communicate. Humans are the most limited distance-wise, usually only able to thought-speak to others within a day or two's ride. Dragons are the most powerful thought-speakers, and can search across entire kingdoms or beyond to speak with each other. With practice, humans that are Bonded to a dragon can usually speak as far as their dragon can.
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