Post by Beolakh on Jan 30, 2009 3:54:29 GMT -5
Macehua: Dance Magic
Overview
Macehua (mah-SEH-wah) is a form of dance-based magic native to Quamnis which utilizes physical alignments and movements to achieve magical effects. While the system of dance magic takes a lifetime of study to master, skilled macehuani (mah-seh-WAH-nee) are capable of astoundingly powerful magical feats. The art of macehua is at once both a form of magic and a taxing yet elegant martial art.
Region of Use:
While some ambitious humans and elves have attempted to take the concepts of macehua back to their home countries, the physical nature of the art means that those who don't share tehuanti physiology have had to reinvent some of the most basic techniques. Thus, macehua is still practiced for the most part only by tehuanti in Quamnis.
Basic Principles
Some of the more important concepts in macehua:
Zahualli (sah-WAHL-lee) – a dense web of connective force woven through all things.
Icpatl (eek-PAH-tl) – a specific connection between the zahualli and a part of the dancer's body.
Centlaxitl (sen-tla-SHE-tl) – sequences of stances and movements through which dancers manipulate their icpatl to produce effects within the zahualli.
Yahualli (yah-WAHL-lee) – the circle. The tehuanti believe that like the earth, sun, and moon, the zahualli is circular, woven like a spider's web. Therefore, the most effective centlaxitil follow circular paths.
Atoyatl (a-to-YAH-tl) – flow. A common macehuani proverb is “Zahualli does not blink.” Just as the zahualli is ever existing, ever continuous, the most effective centlaxitl are performed with perfectly fluid motion from one stance to another.
Unlike most other systems of magic, macehua is fundamentally physical in nature. Each technique has only a small mental component compared to its physical counterpart, and centlaxitl derive nearly all their energy from the physical movement of the dancer. Therefore, macehuani must be in extraordinary physical condition, and much of their training focuses on that end. For this reason, even among the tehuanti, magic-dancers are rare. Rather than being separate from the warrior class as in other cultures, most macehuani are necessarily included as an elite caste within the ranks of Quamnis' less-magical soldiers.
Technique
There are three types of techniques in macehua.
Mati
Mati (MAH-tee) is the most fundamental component of macehua, and the technique with the largest mental aspect. No other techniques are possible until mati has been achieved. It is, in a way, a state of mind and body; it involves aligning and opening to the zahualli, causing the icpatl to become responsive to the dancer's body.
To enter the mati state, the macehuani must hold a firm, stable stance, and remain perfectly motionless—this is the one time in macehua execution that atoyatl is broken. Then, as many teachers say, he must “feel, feel with his bones, and the marrows of his bones, and the marrows of the marrow.” The dancer must learn to sense, recognize, and open all the channels of zahualli which run through his body. Through this process, practitioners gain a very detailed sense of their own bodies; when in the mati state, dancers become acutely aware of any ailments or flaws in their physical forms.
Advanced macehuani are able to expand the mati state and use it to gain a form of second sight, feeling the environment around them. Some masters are even reported to have been able to achieve perfect atoyatl, sustaining mati indefinitely, able to work centlaxitl at all times and always feel their surroundings. For most, however, the mati state fades after a time—usually a few minutes for beginners, scaling up to an hour or so for journeymen, and several hours for masters.
Cahua
Cahua (KAH-wah) are precise stances and alignments of the body. Once in the mati state, dancers use various cahua techniques to strengthen and stimulate a target icpatl. The most common and important cahua is the yei (YAY) stance—an ideal posture in which any movement generates tension in the zahualli which can be released through other techniques.
Ayi
Ayi (ah-YEE) are movements performed following cahua to bend or shift a targeted icapatl. These are the techniques which tend to visibly produce effects. (However, in many advanced centlaxitl, each individual movement has no apparent effect at all. Only when the entire sequence is completed and its energy released does a visible change occur.)
At least one ayi must be performed continuously to maintain atoyatl. The most common for this role is the nenemi (neh-NEH-mee) technique, which can be performed from a number of basic cahua. Nenemi consists of walking along a circular path (according to yahualli), with the torso and head always facing the center of the circle being traced. The size of the circle can vary according to circumstance. When performed from the yei stance, nenemi builds up tension which can be used to amplify other ayi.
Due to the permeance of the zahualli, the effects of ayi are incredibly diverse. Even the same ayi can have different effects when performed from different starting cahua, since the focal icpatl are not the same. The results of different centlaxitl sequences can vary from feats of telekinesis to manipulating plant growth to causing sections of rivers to freeze. Always constant, however, is the limitation that the energy of ayi originates in the physical exertion of the macehuani. While that energy can be built up over time using the yei and nenemi techniques, even adepts struggle to maintain large amounts of tension in the zahualli. Additionally, if a macehuani is immobilized or falls out of the mati state, his magic becomes useless.
See the appendices for catalogues of some of the cahua, ayi, and centlaxitl used in macehua.
<<Note: Macehua is based on a unification of the martial arts of Ba Gua Zhang and Capoeira. If you're interested in getting a rough idea of what these movements look like, check those out.>>
Methods of Study
Study of macehua is for the most part informal; young men and women seeking to pursue the art will find a master (a temachtiani [teh-matsh-TYAH-nee]) under whom to train. A temachtiani may have as many as five apprentices (machtiani) at any one time. While various temachtiani have different methods of teaching, in almost every case a machtiani must leave his family and live with his master and the other apprentices, serving in something of a student-servant role under the master dancer. The training itself involves brutal physical conditioning and exercises to increase concentration, precision, etc.
History/Origin
Even the oldest tehuanti temples bear engravings of macehuani, so it is different to guess when the art first originated. Certainly, it has been passed down from generation to generation for at least as long as Qualtl history can remember. The log of the first Aetheraen explorer to Quamnis records macehua as being alive and well among an elite class of Qualtl warriors.
Around the outbreak of the Elven-Dwarven Wars, a notable figure in the history of macehua arose: Ixnextic (eesh-NESH-teek), a female macehuani from a village on the Hualquiztia River. While macehua had previously been male-dominated due to the kind of physical strength it entailed (and the fact that most techniques were not designed to function with the female physiology), Ixnextic developed a number of new techniques which made macehua more accessible to females. Due in no small part to her work, both the elves and the dwarves were prevented from setting up beachheads on the Qualtl coast during the wars.
Overview
Macehua (mah-SEH-wah) is a form of dance-based magic native to Quamnis which utilizes physical alignments and movements to achieve magical effects. While the system of dance magic takes a lifetime of study to master, skilled macehuani (mah-seh-WAH-nee) are capable of astoundingly powerful magical feats. The art of macehua is at once both a form of magic and a taxing yet elegant martial art.
Region of Use:
While some ambitious humans and elves have attempted to take the concepts of macehua back to their home countries, the physical nature of the art means that those who don't share tehuanti physiology have had to reinvent some of the most basic techniques. Thus, macehua is still practiced for the most part only by tehuanti in Quamnis.
Basic Principles
Some of the more important concepts in macehua:
Zahualli (sah-WAHL-lee) – a dense web of connective force woven through all things.
Icpatl (eek-PAH-tl) – a specific connection between the zahualli and a part of the dancer's body.
Centlaxitl (sen-tla-SHE-tl) – sequences of stances and movements through which dancers manipulate their icpatl to produce effects within the zahualli.
Yahualli (yah-WAHL-lee) – the circle. The tehuanti believe that like the earth, sun, and moon, the zahualli is circular, woven like a spider's web. Therefore, the most effective centlaxitil follow circular paths.
Atoyatl (a-to-YAH-tl) – flow. A common macehuani proverb is “Zahualli does not blink.” Just as the zahualli is ever existing, ever continuous, the most effective centlaxitl are performed with perfectly fluid motion from one stance to another.
Unlike most other systems of magic, macehua is fundamentally physical in nature. Each technique has only a small mental component compared to its physical counterpart, and centlaxitl derive nearly all their energy from the physical movement of the dancer. Therefore, macehuani must be in extraordinary physical condition, and much of their training focuses on that end. For this reason, even among the tehuanti, magic-dancers are rare. Rather than being separate from the warrior class as in other cultures, most macehuani are necessarily included as an elite caste within the ranks of Quamnis' less-magical soldiers.
Technique
There are three types of techniques in macehua.
Mati
Mati (MAH-tee) is the most fundamental component of macehua, and the technique with the largest mental aspect. No other techniques are possible until mati has been achieved. It is, in a way, a state of mind and body; it involves aligning and opening to the zahualli, causing the icpatl to become responsive to the dancer's body.
To enter the mati state, the macehuani must hold a firm, stable stance, and remain perfectly motionless—this is the one time in macehua execution that atoyatl is broken. Then, as many teachers say, he must “feel, feel with his bones, and the marrows of his bones, and the marrows of the marrow.” The dancer must learn to sense, recognize, and open all the channels of zahualli which run through his body. Through this process, practitioners gain a very detailed sense of their own bodies; when in the mati state, dancers become acutely aware of any ailments or flaws in their physical forms.
Advanced macehuani are able to expand the mati state and use it to gain a form of second sight, feeling the environment around them. Some masters are even reported to have been able to achieve perfect atoyatl, sustaining mati indefinitely, able to work centlaxitl at all times and always feel their surroundings. For most, however, the mati state fades after a time—usually a few minutes for beginners, scaling up to an hour or so for journeymen, and several hours for masters.
Cahua
Cahua (KAH-wah) are precise stances and alignments of the body. Once in the mati state, dancers use various cahua techniques to strengthen and stimulate a target icpatl. The most common and important cahua is the yei (YAY) stance—an ideal posture in which any movement generates tension in the zahualli which can be released through other techniques.
Ayi
Ayi (ah-YEE) are movements performed following cahua to bend or shift a targeted icapatl. These are the techniques which tend to visibly produce effects. (However, in many advanced centlaxitl, each individual movement has no apparent effect at all. Only when the entire sequence is completed and its energy released does a visible change occur.)
At least one ayi must be performed continuously to maintain atoyatl. The most common for this role is the nenemi (neh-NEH-mee) technique, which can be performed from a number of basic cahua. Nenemi consists of walking along a circular path (according to yahualli), with the torso and head always facing the center of the circle being traced. The size of the circle can vary according to circumstance. When performed from the yei stance, nenemi builds up tension which can be used to amplify other ayi.
Due to the permeance of the zahualli, the effects of ayi are incredibly diverse. Even the same ayi can have different effects when performed from different starting cahua, since the focal icpatl are not the same. The results of different centlaxitl sequences can vary from feats of telekinesis to manipulating plant growth to causing sections of rivers to freeze. Always constant, however, is the limitation that the energy of ayi originates in the physical exertion of the macehuani. While that energy can be built up over time using the yei and nenemi techniques, even adepts struggle to maintain large amounts of tension in the zahualli. Additionally, if a macehuani is immobilized or falls out of the mati state, his magic becomes useless.
See the appendices for catalogues of some of the cahua, ayi, and centlaxitl used in macehua.
<<Note: Macehua is based on a unification of the martial arts of Ba Gua Zhang and Capoeira. If you're interested in getting a rough idea of what these movements look like, check those out.>>
Methods of Study
Study of macehua is for the most part informal; young men and women seeking to pursue the art will find a master (a temachtiani [teh-matsh-TYAH-nee]) under whom to train. A temachtiani may have as many as five apprentices (machtiani) at any one time. While various temachtiani have different methods of teaching, in almost every case a machtiani must leave his family and live with his master and the other apprentices, serving in something of a student-servant role under the master dancer. The training itself involves brutal physical conditioning and exercises to increase concentration, precision, etc.
History/Origin
Even the oldest tehuanti temples bear engravings of macehuani, so it is different to guess when the art first originated. Certainly, it has been passed down from generation to generation for at least as long as Qualtl history can remember. The log of the first Aetheraen explorer to Quamnis records macehua as being alive and well among an elite class of Qualtl warriors.
Around the outbreak of the Elven-Dwarven Wars, a notable figure in the history of macehua arose: Ixnextic (eesh-NESH-teek), a female macehuani from a village on the Hualquiztia River. While macehua had previously been male-dominated due to the kind of physical strength it entailed (and the fact that most techniques were not designed to function with the female physiology), Ixnextic developed a number of new techniques which made macehua more accessible to females. Due in no small part to her work, both the elves and the dwarves were prevented from setting up beachheads on the Qualtl coast during the wars.