The Naali
Overview
The Naali is an efficient yet dangerous style of Alteration employed by the Yzmir. This style involves directly channeling ideas—referred to as Aether—from the world of imagination and the collective unconscious.
Method and Power
The Aether invoked through the Naali is highly potent and enduring, almost pure. By channeling ideas directly from The Empyrean, Yzmir mages can manifest powerful and lasting alterations to reality.
The Cost: Contamination
In exchange for this power, the ideas channeled tend to seep into those who manipulate them. Over time, Yzmir mages become tainted, parasitized by these ideas. This contamination is cumulative and progressive.
When this contamination exceeds a certain threshold, Initiates can lose control, unable to restrain the ideas that bubble up and manifest within them. In the worst cases, the affected Initiate may give rise to a pocket of The Tumult within themselves, with dramatic consequences.
The Five Spheres
The Yzmir have divided their practice of Alteration into five complementary disciplines known as The Spheres of the Naali:
- Eidomancy: Invocation of ideas using Effigies
- Horomancy: Divination through study of idea currents via Irises
- Phonomancy: Manipulation of ideas through voice and sound—the Psalms
- Kinemancy: Mastery of primal and elemental forces through gesture—the Signs
- Gephyromancy: Magic of idea transfers and reinforcement through Sigils
Practitioner Specialization
While there are Alterers capable of mastering all five Spheres, others prefer to specialize in one domain to develop a single primary expertise. Most commonly, Alterers practice two or three disciplines, as it is challenging to devote oneself to the study of all these fields simultaneously.
Connection to Remanence
The dangerous nature of the Naali has led to the emergence of Remanence, a form of alienation that plunges even powerful Yzmir into trance-like states. Those afflicted can regurgitate Aether into reality at any moment, risking erratic and dangerous alterations. This has caused the Council to ask sorcerers to restrain their use of magic while seeking a cure.