Conveyance
Knowledge is power in a very real, tangible way. Yet, it's harder to hoard than gold, for once knowledge runs wild, it can spread like fire. Where
magic is concerned, however, the intricacies involved with it change this paradigm.
People can pass on information directly to each other, but it is often through word of mouth, or simple writings. Consider the book, a fairly common way of knowledge transference. A mundane book can potentially be copied by anyone who has the materials, time, and skill to do so. This becomes the backbone of so-called 'mundane knowledge', where the literal meanings are all that it is, and all that it sends out.
A magical book is radically different because it can
convey more than simply 'ideas' as 'written down'. It can transmit experiences, comprehension, memories, raw sensation, and anything else the book's writer wills directly into the reader. What is sent depends entirely on the writer's skills, and also the recipent's ability to receive it. Magical books written for
humans would have trouble being fully understood by
rachtoh or
gehurm, for example. Another prominent issue is that one cannot simply 'copy' the book, they must be able to fully replicate all of its attached experiences as well. Otherwise, only a mundane book will be created.
One notorious magical 'book' would be the
Tome of Verbosity, whose near-limitless wealth of knowledge drives almost everyone who 'reads' it insane.
The ability to convey meaning in such a complete and total method is where many, many civilizations found a solution to magical education. Grand mistresses could create venerable tomes that students could study, and thus achieve magic similar to them.
Nerzin's cultivators and mages created vast libraries of scrolls, books, and tomes describing understanding,
immortality and transcendence, and profound epiphanies over the nature of universal laws. Tribal families in
Immensio carry parchment scrolls that form their iconic methods, and reinforce familial lineages by proxy. Intricate balls of
shermadi storytails formed the first real record keeping of their species, and so magic as well as history developed through shamans.
Mundane methods retain their usefulness, however. Not all magical methods can successfully convey to even the intended reader, as something about them may be incompatible. Similarly, following in the footsteps of another may result in incompatibilities or dire limitations later on. Simple recordings allow for anyone to start building their 'own' understanding, but without the benefit of potentially being boosted further along by a forerunner. All sorts of arguments, disagreements, and philosophies surround pursue magical education as a result.
Dragonkind
Where conveyance is concerned,
dragonkind must be addressed in some form or another. The titular mistresses of conveyance, dragons utilize it as naturally as they breathe, and it forms the underpinnings of all their cultures. To dragons, talking and conveying are the same thing, and it allows them to connect to one another with a deeply profound sense of empathic understanding. It is something many other species struggle to capture or understand fully, as conveyance is very much learned, and very much more limited for them.
It is not that someone cannot speak to the same sophisticated degree as dragons, only that it takes tremendous work to match them to such an extent. Furthermore, their fundamental perception of conveyance will always be 'somewhat different'. Dragons, naturally born with the ability, perceive the world in a way often incomprehensible to other species. It is this connection they have with one another that served as a great barrier between them and other species.
Ultimately, even dragons do not have 'absolute' knowing over the idea of conveyance. As with all forms of magic, perception and understanding constantly mutate and change what it can be, or become. However, there are arguments to be made if these increasingly different forms of 'conveyance' are truly conveyance as most would understand it. After a certain point, being able to directly receive another being's experiences, memories, and thoughts is perhaps closer to a true psychic connection or some form of multi-body brain than otherwise.
Some have even attempted to push the potential of conveyance in such a direction, for better or worse. It may even be an underpinning principle to beings like
Omnis, the Living Nation. By far and large, dragons are largely satisfied with conveyance as they understand it. Whether or not other peoples will try to match that, or go off on their own, is really no concern of theirs at all.
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