Thought Contagion

Thought Contagion is the insidious risk mages face when encountering foreign magical philosophies that destabilize their ability to harness their own power. Each Tradition has its own “Object of Focus”—Matter for Berythians, Mind for Nurhetics, Time for Aurimbics, and Embodiment for the Exiled—requiring an exclusive worldview that aligns practitioners with a singular force. Thought Contagion occurs when exposure to another Tradition disrupts this alignment, creating internal discord and diluting a mage’s potency. This “infection” isn’t merely distracting; it fundamentally weakens a mage’s spells, their cognitive clarity, and ultimately their connection to their Tradition’s power.
To guard against Thought Contagion, The Council of Landezon enforces the Writ of Singular Focus, barring cross-Tradition discussion of philosophy, techniques, and emotional states tied to magical practice. Each Tradition safeguards itself through meditative rituals, exemplar studies, and even periods of isolation, which reinforce their unique “focus geometry”—an internal structure that preserves clarity. Although Sympathizers, mages attuned to multiple Traditions, serve as cross-Tradition Diplomancers, their rank prevents them from achieving full mastery in any one Tradition, ensuring they remain translators, not practitioners, of foreign ideologies. The Speakers, polyglots from South Tyril, have been most helpful in developing a way for Grandmasters, who are most entrenched in their Object of Focus, to speak with one another as otherwise they lack a common language of reference, as each sees only one side of reality. Diplomancers work closely with the Speakers to oversee this work.
At its core, Thought Contagion embodies the conflict between knowledge-sharing and ideological purity. Like the blind men in the parable of the Elephant, each Tradition holds only part of a larger truth, though each claims completeness. To uphold purity and power, the Council mandates strict separation, preserving Traditions as distinct yet complementary facets of the cosmic order. Thought Contagion remains a reminder of the cost of unity—a price avoided to keep each Tradition unbroken and intact.