Adepts

[Endrek03]

Hey guys,

Just about to start an all new Earthdawn campaign with entirely new players to the system and world. For this reason, I have a LOT of things to introduce them to.

Now, I've already solidified the idea that Adepts are sort of like Jedi for easy reference, and they easily picked up the idea that all Adepts are magic users, just they hone their magic in specific ways called Disciplines.

What I can't figure out is . . . how is an Adept "spotted"? For example, I was thinking that they were born in a village, and as travelers came along, finally one with Astral Sight (or whatever) spotted their patterns as Adepts. After that, a few Adepts came to the village as word spread to "coerce" these untrained Adepts to their Discipline. Finally when they selected their path, they were trained for months - years to Circle 1, then their master left them and they stayed as defenders of the village. That is to say, as much as an Illusionist and Weapon Smith can defend a village.

Anyways, does that work? Am I missing something? How are Adepts found in the world of Earthdawn?

[Flowswithdrek]

Talent spotted by traveling adepts is certainly one option. There is always the option that the characters themselves sought out training and initiation into a discipline, perhaps part of a larger group traveling to a larger town or city and only they were selected. Somewhere in the fluff (not sure where or what edition) there is mention of spontaneous initiation into a discipline. This usually happens when under great stress or in times of peril, but would work if the village in question was isolated.

[Slimcreeper]

It's not that astral sight is normally the ability that picks out an adept, though. Most sword masters can't see into the astral, for example. They spy out potential adepts by having an eye for talent. When you were in school: there was the one kid who was a little faster, a little smarter, a little prettier than everyone else. That guy is your sword master adept. Oprah Winfrey is your troubadour.

[Heretikzer0]

A house rule we have in my games for people to spot other adepts is that because of the magical nature of adepts, sometimes aura's flare up during times of karma usage when making Discipline Talent tests. But, to temper that ability, the Adept can dampen his/her aura abilities by purposefully electing not to. Astral sight on the other hand, can still detect a patterns intensity. In my game, Illusionists have the easiest time hiding their discipline from others, as a matter of course. I've never had a spy in my game, so I couldn't really say much in that front.

My players like that, and it kinda gives them that same feeling they got when they would flare anima banners in another game called Exalted.

But in the event you won't/don't use that, as anyone who is good at teaching can spot a bright and talented student, its just something that people do. So, I'm in with Slimcreeper on that account.

[Kasbak]

I once had an NPC Windling seek out the party's Thief Adept in the hopes of being trained. To prove himself, when he showed up, he brought a "tribute"; a sack filled with the group Elementalist's unmentionables. Needless to say, she was quite upset with the little upstart when she found out, but he had shown himself capable of the Discipline's demands.

[Rogan Rubyeye]

Spontaneous initiations are usually matters of survival - the Name-giver is placed in a situation whereupon they undergo the mental readjustment necessary to utilise the magial forces of the world in a way that hekps them survive. Beastmasters and Thief adepts often manifest their abilities this way. (First mentioned in Legends of Earthdawn, 1st Edition & later expanded upon in The Adept's Way)

The main thing to remember is that an adept attunes their magical powers via their view of the world - someone who can spot such individuals and tutor them in the process leads to initiation.

[ukhata]

I remember reading somewhere that becoming an adept is more choice than potential.
You cannot become an adept if you dont want to become one.
as such in theorie everyone can become an adept. its just most people do not want the danger, adventure, singlemindedness, loss of home and hearth and likely the chance to procreate etc.

everyone of us can be a hero, most of us just do not choose to be one.

[Kasbak]

Sort of a yes and no on that one. You have to want to be an Adept because you have to believe you are an Adept in order to be one. From there, it's simply a matter of whether or not your belief is actually strong enough to channel magic in order to support it. Not everyone has that potential within them. It goes beyond willpower or perception stats, and is simply something you hold true down to your very core. Once you establish your belief that you have the potential, you'll bring about magic to make it happen, which others will then see and in turn will believe in your Adept potential, making your legend and thus your power spread from there.

[Telarus_KSC]

I don't quite buy the 'belief' angle any more (no problem with you using it in your Barsaive, of course). It's just after playing so much Mage: the Ascension, and getting very surreal with the whole 'concensus reality' angle multiple times... I prefer the absolute base-line mana-metaphysics for Earthdawn, as described by the tale of Lorm's Axe.

-= Patterns interacting with other Magical/Living patterns can cause change, focus, or growth to said original patterns. =-
The amount of magic (or stress) involved can scale the effect on the original pattern. Thus, a Namegiver who has started to think like an Adept needs to interact with another magical pattern, say an Adept magical pattern or stronger, and they may initiate into that Discipline. If this is another Adept with a Discipline they feel compatible with, this interaction causes the power of the Discipline to awaken in the student (see J'role and Garlthik in the Longing Ring). If a Namegiver is extremely inclined to a specific Discipline (already knows the stories, etc), then interaction with another magical pattern like a Horror, Passion, Spirit, etc, may cause the Discipline magic to awaken.

[So, in my metaphysics, it _is_ "tangling your stories together".. but the metaphysics rely less on "belief".]

[Kasbak]

Pardon me if I go on a slight tangent here. I've been getting very deep into the metaphysics with my Master's thesis (trying to create an actual defined physical understanding for astral space, with the eventual goal of drawing equivalencies to string theory), and have been looking for some alternate points of view to help flesh it out. Personally, I also tend to downplay the belief portion more, since there are certain laws that magic tends to follow universally regardless of the belief. However, one of those laws is the "belief creates reality" idea, which provides a lot of the basis for legends, the Passions, and so on. This means that, at least in certain aspects, astral space is psychosomatic (changes form based on thought), and it makes it very hard to nail anything down when the floor keeps moving.

Using your example, the story tangling idea can fit as a subset within the belief mechanic. You know the patterns are interacting through proximity, and that the interaction causes changes to them that last long after (law of contagion). Because you know this and believe it to function this way, that belief creates the reality and makes it happen in that fashion.

The best I've been able to come up with so far has been sort of a quantum mechanic approach; basically, the methodology for the cause of the event is all of the ideas happening at once, and the one that is real for you is simply a matter of which one you tune into based on your state and perspective. So, to tie back to the original topic, all of the methods discussed could be happening at once for each instance. An Adept picked up by a trainer could have magical potential in them from the start that the trainer brings out, and the interaction with the trainer's pattern could awaken the Adept potential in their pattern, and the Adept potential could spontaneously awaken through the training in place of a survival situation, and it could simply be the trainee believing strongly enough in their own potential that it channels magic according to the Discipline they believe in. Which one you pick as 'real' depends on how you see it, but they're all equally valid.

Again, sorry to stray off to the side like that. I hope it all still stays interesting and conducive to the topic at hand.