![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enhancomancerI have never been without magic! It's very different in this realm! The first thing I had to learn was that my talent doesn't work the same, but supposedly I can do things that only other people could do back home in Xanth, this is wonderful too, as all magic is.
When magic is used for evil, it can be very terrifying.
Rapunzel was my pun-pal for four years! She lived in the Ivory Coast Tower and was not allowed to leave for fear of the Ivory Coast sea monster who ate fair maidens. I accidentally used a spell when I was looking for a cleansing spell! Instead, it was a banish monster spell: to clean the region of dangerous monsters! But spells don't have intelligent thought behind them, so it accidentally banished my best friend: Stanley Steamer, the gap dragon. I was training my baby brother Dolph to fly out and find him by turning into a bird, but Grundy stopped me, and promised that he and Grandpa Bink would find Stanley, even though they took Mortimer, my monster under the bed. And my bed. I had to get a new one, but I wasn't sleeping on it much anyway! Usually I slept out in the garden with Stanley, and even though I couldn't do that without him, I just slept on cushions. Grundy got an answer from the Good Magician Humphrey to go to the Ivory Tower, and so they set out on an adventure! I wasn't allowed to go, on account of being a Princess and likely in danger from the sea monster.
It turned out the sea monster doesn't eat princesses OR fair maidens! He rescues them! One time some mundanes tried to sacrifice a poor maiden and chained her to rocks, and this really made him mad because they didn't use one of their strong armored soldiers! So he vowed to patrol coasts and rescue fair maidens. That is how Grundy begged his help in freeing Rapunzel!
Rapunzel wasn't allowed to tell me, but she was actually being held captive by the witch we called the Sea Hag!
The Sea Hag is immortal! Her magic is that she can take over bodies of willing people, but doing that kills them! She always prefers pretty fair maidens, but she has taken on the forms of fish, monsters, allegories, bees, queen bees, and elf princes! She is restricted in knowledge by whatever the form she possesses knew during life, and whoever gives her the body must do it willingly -- so she always tricks them! But every time she possesses someone, the body starts to rot from her evil inside out!
She took Rapunzel from a very young age so that Rapunzel didn't know about the Sea Witch, and then the Sea Hag taught her all about Xanth that she wanted herself to be able to know! Rapunzel called her Mother Sweetness until Grundy was able to show her the witch's true nature, and they ran away together, so Grundy could rescue her. There was a lot more stuff that happened, and Grundy had to duel her with Demon Xanth himself as the judge! All of Xanth got to watch! It was kind of weird! And everyone was really bored. Until Grundy totally outsmarted her and got her banished to the Brain Coral!
The Sea Hag is not the only hag or witch in Xanth. All hags and witches are terrifying foes!!!
My grandmother Iris, for whom I have iris flowers in my tiara for, because she loves me lots, and taught me a lot of most important stuff ever -- is the sorceress of illusion! She wasn't deemed Magician caliber until King Arnolde the Centaur had to become King of Xanth during the Nextwave invasion of mundanes; two years before I was born. He agreed with her that there was sexism at play in deciding the degree of sorceress strength; and furthermore, he uncovered that women magicians could be Kings of Xanth too!!! Grandmother Iris didn't used to think much of centaurs before that, but boy did she ever change her tune then -- according to the rest of my older family! Grandmother Iris taught me that the most important part of illusions is to have reality back it up! This is a very important trick in Xanth!
Tangle trees can make illusionary paths, but these are very dangerous, because that is how they get their prey to come to them! In the hypnogourd, even though it's the realm of dreams, the Night Stallion tries to use as much reality as economically feasible to back up his illusions too!
Illusions are important, but must always be backed up with real strength!
Hags and witches lie and pretend, trying to use illusion to hide their weaknesses and true nature, but reality will always show their true nature, we just have to know to look for it, and be willing to accept it, even if it's not what we'd want, like Rapunzel and "Mother Sweetness."
Witches and hags don't use their magic for good things like love and beauty and protecting others; but only for themselves at the cost of others'! I'm most scared of losing my soul. Souls can regenerate (very slowly), but only when freely given, not sold to a demon or forcibly taken. I don't know what would happen if someone took a bite out of mine!
I suspect they are using Merlin, Dreamfinder, and Hades' magic to power their own, using foul dark magic to keep them trapped and sucking the life or magic from them!!! That is how witches and hags do!
We need to free them first. Not just because they are hostages, but because it is the only way to weaken the three. Then we can do an all out assault! Reality to their illusions! But we must also be careful not to get tricked and overconfident. When Grundy got Rapunzel away from the Ivory Coast, he thought the worst part was over, but the Sea Hag committed suicide, and started possessing other animals and monsters so she could kill him, and still try to trick Rapunzel! So we must also be careful not to think the danger is over or get tricked by trying to free them, only to bring back the witches in disguise!
---------
Part 2: A Treatise on Wishful and Charming Magic in The Kingdom (not Xanth)
Not to repeat the book, but Charming magic influences people's perceptions!!! This is most similar to my magic in Xanth! There I am the Magician of Enhancement! I can do almost anything! Almost! Chex and I couldn't quite fly together, but we came really close! Everyone gets a lot smarter, and I didn't even know what I was until my friend Hugo told me, because I enhanced him so much, he said without me around, he never would have been smart enough on his own. I think that's just defeatist self-depreciation (not to be confused with reality at all, this is another illusion!!!), and that his family and others agree with him doesn't help. Hugo is a genius, which is only right, because both his parents are too! His magic is summoning fruits!
Which brings me to Wishful magic!
Now I can summon fruit too! Weird, huh? But fun! You just wish for whatever you want! If you aren't practiced or experienced enough, it fails like Hugo's would without me around, he says. And that's it! So I will summon cherry bombs if any of the witches get near me. And scream plaintively. That is an important thing for all Princess to do in times of trouble, and somehow we always get helped! Like by Ivory Coast sea monster who made that his mission in life.
Charming and Wishful magic for you to practice tangibly on to get the hang of it!
Wish for:
Food!
Clothes!
Changing your hair and back!
Furniture - starting with a stool, and working your way up!
Remember: all illusions must be backed up by reality! It's easier to change food with minor alterations than out of nothing, but not impossible! Same with clothes and furniture! And if your magic isn't strong enough, they won't last very long! And can be interrupted by enemies, so make sure you practice focus!
Charming:
Self-esteem! YOU CAN DO THIS I KNOW YOU CAN! Practice first on yourself, and then when it works, you can practice on others!
Charm the others into patience! This is so hard, but so important!!! We have to make sure we have a unified plan so we don't get shredded like Xanth during the mundane invasions!
Balance! Can you balance on your head? Can you get others to? I know you can!
Invisibility! No one saw anything! Make it happen!
Like illusions, charms have to be backed up with reality. You can't convince someone something you don't yourself believe!! So your first task is to really believe in yourself!! You know you're strong! You know you're brave! You know you're a genius! Show it to everyone else and help them understand their greatest assets too! It might be really hard for you to believe in people you don't know yet, so you have got to work on charming yourself first to know that you can! Everyone is like a soldier in your deck of cards, you are the player, the cardmaster, everyone is a card, it's up to you to put them in the right order! Don't worry as much about the magic itself as just being the best Magician you can! Mystics are all Magicians, even if you and the Doctor are from worlds without magic.
