Clock Tower Records: Query #3567
Query Title: Atlas on the Nature of True Magic
Atlas Academy, located in the mountains of Egypt, is part of the Mage's association, specializing in alchemy. The first head of Atlas was said to have predicted the end of the earth using a completed mathematical model based on the idea of Laplace's Demon, the idea that if every atom in the universe were to be catalogued with their vectors and their location, then it would be possible to predict the future using classical mathematics to determine the position they would take in the future.
The following was written by the director of Atlas to the Director of Clock Tower on his view on True Magic. (The original letter was burned by Bartholemoi's successor, but the archives have retained a copy.)
To: Head Director of Clock Tower, ****** Barthomeloi
From: Head Director of Atlas Academy **** ******* Atlasia
Subject: your query on True Magic
I was surprised to see a familiar of yours today here at the academy, Ms. Barthomeloi. I suppose I underestimated your fervent hatred of Dead Apostles as you are willing to write to me for help in understanding True Magics. Has the Wizard Marshall really been that much of a thorn in your side that you needed to contact me? I doubt even with my meager understanding of them you could possibly create a counter against him, but I suppose since you already offered so much, I must comply.
True Magic. Most Magi know of them as Magecraft that is beyond the scope of reason, being given to those that have reached the root. Denial of Nothingness, the Kaleidoscope, Heaven's Feel, and the Blue. Those are the known ones, with the last being lost to time.
However, these Magics are all linked, with all five being part of one Magic, but looked upon by different people at different angles.
It all goes back to choice.
I am sure you know of Lalpace's Demon, correct? The idea behind Lalpace's Demon is that once you know what atom is going where at what velocity, all future reactions will be known. However, classical mathematics and actual physics do not really line up properly, and thus we here at atlas can only predict the most likely outcome. True Magic, for example, is one aspect that ruins our calculations due to their nature and how they affect choice.
The first, known as denial of nothingness, is about creating choice. Suppose you had the first for just a moment, and suppose you used it to create but one atom by rejecting that which does not exist. You have now created choices that did not exist before, because that atom could move in any direction. With one single atom, an innumerable amount of choices emerge, and thus you have created choice. (For more information on the first, please look at CTR: Magecraft #233)
The Second should be obvious in that it is about observing those choices. The second is all about choices and what-ifs and what-can-happens, with the ability to take a path and switch between. The kaleidoscope is infinite in scope, and that is its downfall. There are only so many choices one can observe even with the ability to sort and filter, that even then there are countless universes that could occur. (For more information on the first, please look at CTR: Magecraft #17)
The third is a bit trickier to explain. The Einzbern's describe it as the materialization of the soul, but that is only part of it. No, the real power behind the third magic is expansion of choice. Everything else is simply a side effect of that. Suppose one materializes the soul using heaven's feel. At that point, they could basically be called immortal because the soul generates prana which keeps itself running, like a perpetual motion machine. However, because the soul is immaterial, it holds countless choices that it could make. Suppose everything could be defined in 1's and 0's. The first could be considered adding numbers, the second would be viewing all possible numbers, while heaven's feel can be considered something along the lines of a random number generator, spitting out 1's and 0's in a fashion that is truly random and unpredictable in any possible model. A cohort of mine has another theory that the third is not a generation of choice but instead an acceptance of choice, which the materialization of the soul being the ultimate form of making a choice, but that is neither here nor there. (For more information on the first, please look at CTR: Magecraft #5768)
The fourth… I suppose you could say the ultimate goal of atlas is to reach the fourth magic. While the others are creation of choice, all choice, and generation of choice, this one can be considered Absolute Choice. The first Director's way of using Lalpace's Demon could be considered something along the lines of a fragment of the fourth, with his ability to view the most likely scenario by taking all into account. The fourth creates an Absolute, despite what gaia or any other higher or lower being might say. If you were to tell an atom to go this way, it would. If you were to make it so that a closed system would always generate with no loss, you could. The fourth is the path to victory, being the 'perfect' choice or the 'absolute' choice, going against anything and everything. (For more information on the first, please look at CTR: Magecraft #7899)
And then there is the fifth. The Blue. Suppose you were to catalog every choice on an infinitely long length of string by making a knot in it every time you made one. I chose to breathe, I chose to walk, I choose to stand, all that sort of stuff, until you had, let's say, 100 knots. Now, let's say, for your 101st decision, you decided you wanted to travel back in time to your 50th choice.
Now here lies the divide between conventional time distortion magecraft and the blue. Let's take your average mage and send him back in time. You would take your string, bend in upon itself, and rest it back at the 50th knot you made. Note that the knots after the 50th still exist. From the 50th, you make a dscision, put a knot in it, and continue your life making knots at a 90 degree angle from your original line, stemming from the 50th knot.
Now the Blue is different. What the Blue does is it invalidates the knots. It makes it so that the knots never even existed in the first place, so you would return to the 50th knot without any knots afterword.
If you haven't picked up on it, the difference between the two is that conventional magecraft does not forget the choices you have already made, and as such being like Zelretch can view the choices made between dimensions and what different choices there were because those knots still exist.
The Blue, on the other hand, invalidates those knots, resetting time to a place where it appears that it never existed in the first place. It removes choice. (For more information on the first, please look at CTR: Magecraft #234551)
This is where the fifth differentiates from the second, as many can't seem to understand that there is a difference.
If you wish for more details, then I suggest you talk to the wizard marshall himself. I understand that he gives lectures on the second magic simply because no one can understand it other than himself, so perhaps you could join a class of his to see what his magic entails.
Summary: Atlas believes that True magic falls under the concept of Choice, with each magic performing something different with the idea of choice.
This understanding is fundamentally different from Clock Tower's understanding of such, and thus this letter was sent to the records room in order to possibly verify its claims in the future.