Natural and Supernatural Forms of Energy

Treatise on the Flow of Heat in Supernatural Ways

- by Obanion the Wise
Annotations by Tarabatius, Lorechronicler in the great library

What is Heat?

It has long been known, that heat will always flow from sourcing places to claiming places. Colloquially speaking, warm things heat their surrounding, and never the other way around. This is a fundamental observation, which forms the basis of much of our knowledge of the natural world. The word heat can however be misleading for someone not used to the jargon of natural scientists. Heat in our case refers to the innate energy everything has. As an example, a piece of wood stored in the winter shed is quite cold, yet it contains a great deal of heat that can be released by setting it on fire in your fireplace. Much like firewood in our example, many kinds of energy can be found in even the most basic of things, but to harness this heat, steps need to be taken.

These steps, or processes to be more scientific, are called the flow of heat and most of the time, it follows easily observable steps, which can explain how most natural processes take place. This flow of heat can be likened to a body of water, which starts at a high point in the mountains and from there always will follow its path downward the slopes. The water itself does not choose its path, for it is not intelligent, it simply goes in the direction that is down, pulled by the unending pull of its weight.

Eventually, the water reaches a new point of equilibrium, where it can no longer flow further down, having reached a lake, the ocean or man-made bucket which has no path downward. There the water stays, because it never, let me repeat this it never, can flow the opposite direction.

Heat is like water, if it is not in equilibrium, meaning that it has a path it can

Annotation 1: Since the time of Obanion, we now know that while water can in fact flow in the opposite direction. For details read up on the Miracle of the Rising Lake.

flow to which is lower, then it will flow that path. Where the heat comes from is unknown to any sage I am aware of, myself included, for it is like asking where the water comes from in the mountain or in the sea. It must come from somewhere and one likely explanation would be the gods, who create it in places of inequilibrium like the mountain spring to start a new journey, a new flowing to equilibrium.

Natural Flow

For our purposes it is important to briefly touch upon a common distinction, thus being the difference between natural and supernatural things. In our society, we distinguish change, which is what the flow of heat is ultimately about, by a seemingly meaningful choice. It is however, from the viewpoint of a sage of the natural science, completely arbitrary. Natural change, is what commonly be known as change with a source and a process that is evident to our senses.
To use a simple example, the lighting of a fire from a piece of firewood has a simple and observable source. The wood contains heat and that heat is released by an action that we can comprehend. Natural change is always a simple transaction of heat that had an observable form and a process that results in a perceivable change.

Supernatural Flow

As one will undoubtedly have heard, there are other kinds of change, referred to as magick by the common folk or as supernatural flow of heat by the more educated, but nonetheless shortsighted. An example for this could be the ability to create a flame from thin air, in ones hand for example, a very showy example that I have personally seen a warlock use as an attempt to impress me and other sages.

What I want to draw attention to however, is that ultimately, the distinction between natural and supernatural is pointless when conversing about heat itself. Allow me to explain. If we compare the two examples used, they have an surprising amount of parallels.

In both cases, a person creates a flame. They create it by undertaking a conscious action. That conscious action opens a pathway though which heat can flow from source to claim. That flow of heat is accompanied by a visible effect. The differences are almost superfluous if one thinks about them in context. In the "natural" case, the source of the heat was the wood, and the action was the observable act of bringing flame to the wood.
Despite what some magick-users may claim, the same is true for the "supernatural" case. The magick is also just a process, which is however not necessarily perceivable by us. The source is also not perceivable, but the absence of sense does not mean that it does not exist. Classically arcane

Annotation 2: Every time I read Obanions words I am astounded by his brilliance. His reasoning is sound, and to my knowledge even now, many milennia after his death, nothing has refuted this simple truth.
It opens up quite a few interesting conundrums though... If he speaks true, could with the right process, anything magical be achieved by ordinary means?

magick-users such as warlocks reportedly are exhausted after greater feats of magick suggesting that the source of heat comes from their being.

To conclude my comparison: The absence of source or cause for the flow of heat is inconsequential for our purposes. All flow of heat follows the same rules, be it natural or supernatural.

1. Heat exists in an equilibrium whenever possible.
2. It will only follow pathways that allow for the flow towards a lower equilibrium.
3. The flow of heat is generally irreversible.
The only way heat can reach another state of higher equilibrium is if an equal or greater flow occurs in the opposite direction.

This treatise by Obanion the Wise revolutionized the field of the natural sciences and its especially astounding considering the fact that when it was written, we had far less variety in the tools we can use to examine heat and its flow. In fact, it was Obanion himself who coined heat as the generally accepted term for what one might describe as energy, an important step in of itself, given the need for accuracy in scientific descriptions.
I want to append a short summary to this treatise to give an overview to aspiring lorechroniclers on the discoveries we have made since the times of Obanion.

Forms of Energy/Heat

To what I can only imagine would be Obanions nightmare, the distinction between natural and supernatural flow of energy remained popular and is still in use to this day. This is because it gives a very useful tool of categorizing types of heat. Most commonly this is done by the source of the heat, and then by the process by which it is channelled.

Natural Forms of Heat

• Living Heat: The most mystical of all forms of heat, but still undeniably natural. This is heat stored in living things. Usually processed by immolation (e. g. burning firewood) or consumation (e. g. matter being consumed by other living things).
• Mineral Heat: Heat stored in rock and stone. Most common form being coal, though other cases are known, such as Leik (an edge case of natural vs. supernatural heat flow). Processed mostly by immolation (see above) or rarely movement (e. g. magnetite being moved).
• Positional Heat: Heat stored in matter due to its unique position. Here Obanions example of flowing water fits beautifully. Processed by movement of the matter.

Supernatural Forms of Heat

These each deserve their own paragraph. Again, the distinction is primarily drawn by the source of the heat.

Arcana

Heat directly drawn from natural forms, but processed supernaturally. Classically trained mages and the now presumed extinct race of Warlocks and Witches are the most famous practicioners using Arcana as a source of magic.

Magick: The almost ancient form of supernatural spellcasting that was already known in Obanions times. The source of heat is the body of the spellcaster and the processes are ritualistic steps which are passed down through time. The way these steps enable the new pathway for heat to flow are not understood in our time, partly due to the secretive nature of Magick users and their unwillingness to reveal their trade to outsiders. A relatively unpopular but at least internally consistent hypothesis was proposed by Alrezin some years back.

Alrezins Hypothesis states, that the processes of Magick are not actually enabled by the rituals themselves. The process is instead the result of internal metabolic routes that the Magick-user was born with. The ritual in turn is required to physically and mentally prepare the body for the process, which it then goes through subconsciously after the right conditions have been met.

• Runescribing: Runescribing was originally developed by the Dwarves. The source of the heat is usually mineral, drawing from some form of stored heat which needs to prepared in advance. Rarely, the heat can also be drawn from living things. The process channels the heat into a pathway, not unlike a canal channeling water to use Obanions metaphor. Runescribing has the distinct advantage that it requires almost no knowledge by the user once the runes are in place and ready to go. Once heat is present, it follows the channels and produces the effect. It is however also quite wasteful, with a quite alot of heat dissipating as warmth throughout the process.

Soul

Heat drawn from the spirit of one or many of the surrounding things. In this case I can not, with good academic conscience, write much about the source, because it would be speculation of the highest order. If Magick-users were secretive, Travelers of Spirit and the Emerald Vines are mutes. All we know about the source is that every thing with a soul produces heat just by existing. Two major processes exist, which siphon away tiny amounts of this heat.

• Dwimor: also known as druidic magic. Dwimor practitioners take heat from the souls surrounding them. Practitioners often adamantly maintain that the heat is given with consent, though a citation of this is needed. Dwimor often shows effects closely related to living things, such as healing effects or those influencing plant or beast. Linking this to the source of the supernatural heat is the next logical step, but has not yet been confirmed beyond doubt.
• Necromancy: Often described as the antithesis of Dwimor. Not much is known about the how, but the what is often described. Necromancy can bind consciousness to the living world after the bodily exitus. It is also able to reanimate corpses, which poses a significant paradox, because it is well known that heat cannot flow upward (see above).

Draconic

It is well known that Dragons are inherently magical beings and can therefore perceive supernatural heat flow, but far fewer know that this puts the effect before the cause.
It is in fact that Dragons perceive the world differently, which allows them their magical powers. Our order has in the past had the honor of conversing with a dragon, though it cost our treasury dearly. According to the dragon, they are able to perceive heat in its pure form. Additionally, the evolved the ability to push such reservoirs of heat in equilibrium over small bumps by adding their own. The dragon described it as vibrations of heat, which resonate to cause this effect. Dragons call this vibration of heat the "world song". If someone were able to gain the same understanding of heat, they too could produce similar effects, but so far, no species ever even got close.

Divine

Finally, there is the divine. Despite the attempts of mysticism by the collective clergies of all the worlds faiths, we have a relatively good understanding of what gives gods power, which they can channel through their followers. True faith of a following slowly aggregates heat, a willing portion of given away. This faith collects and pools together, strengthening the subject of that particular faith. The question of if the faith or the gods exists first is a well known paradox in philosophy, but in reality both cases have been reported in the past. The sage Lhizhan calls this pool of heat Soa, which translates to "nourishment", a very apt decription. Soa indeed nourishes divine beings and their magic.