Note: any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental
Once upon a time, in a far and distant land, there was a group of people who were born different. They were usually recognized by slightly impaired social skills, a disregard for fashion, and magical abilities. Their talents, and differences, appeared from a young age, setting them apart.
In effect it made them loners. However, their unique talents also allowed them to create things. An enlightened monarch of the time, who needed help in a war with a neighbour, had a group of them brought together and funded. They discovered how to layer spells to obtain a scrying network, that allowed them to contact each other.
This was a blessing, because they could finally communicate with people who were just like them. They took the insult ‘sourcerer’ that had been thrown at them by scornful and envious people, and turned it into a badge of honour. They found comfort in each other’s company and in creating new and complex rituals together.
After a while, though, a strange thing happened. Some sourcerers, being at the right place at the right time, became successful and immensely rich. As a result more and more people wanted to emulate them. The sourcerers of old had created many layers of magic. It was no longer necessary to master them all to access minor spells. Many people could produce tricks, sparks, rabbits and flowers, or had somehow acquired powerful artefacts, and could now, too, perform magic ! So they called themselves ‘sourcerer’ too.
The original sourcerers were incensed. These new sourcerers were outrageously normal. They were the very people who had excluded them before for looking frumpy and knowing the powers of two ! How could a prettyboy who could draw swirls and windows in the air, or a vain girl waving a pretty wand pretend to wizardhood !
As a reaction, the sourcerers of old withdrew to older circles of the scrying network. They exchanged secret signs and tokens of recognition, so that they would know they were amongst equals. They started to shun gatherings of new sourcerers, and tended to meet up only in certain prearranged locations. And they started looking for a new name.
Very well written!
Brilliant
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It’s actually something that’s been on my mind recently..things like the, erhm, Female Sourcerer Banquet do seem to be applying the term rather liberally. I seem to remember that Shakespeare wrote something very nice and flowery about names. The conclusion, if memory serves me, was that flowers retain their scent regardless of their name. Perhaps the same holds true for sourcerers. And perhaps trying to fit into a neatly confined subculture, identified by a unique name, isn’t as important as some make it out to be indeed.
But hey, I call myself a Lesser Geek
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Impressive writing!
Bram, i agree with you, the whole story is a amusing.
Why so bitter?
This reminds me of the “web programmers are not real programmers” and other non-discussions.
Hmm..bitterness? I can’t particularly say that I detected any of that :/
Luckily for those sourcerers, some of those gatherings are held in wore-down rooms of big institutions. I guess it will still take some time before the sourcerers of the new kind will arrive there.
What .. you mean there’s going to be a fork ?
Tell me where to send her and when !
Dear Wolf-Man,
The Source is strong with thee, but thou art not a Jedi yet. Dids thee not notice the Words: ‘Note: any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental’?
I understand all sides of this story, really. The artistic sourcerers and artefact-bearers have no name to designate themselves with, so they picked the closest one. But the sourcerers had a subculture going linked to attitude and a set of skills. Imagine how a goth would feel about someone with black eyeliner calling themselves a goth.
Wearable magic tokens help with mutual recognition.
I can say from experience that Über Goths don’t really care if a random person slaps on some eyeliner and proclaims to be a goth. They’ll snigger, of course, but that’s generally where it ends.
I think we all understand all sides of the story (if we didn’t, we’d probably have to degrade ourselves to lesser-artefact-bearers). The thing with fads and names is that they’re pretty transient. So they call themselves geeks now. In a couple years it’ll be something else. It’ll blow over. No?
Either way, there is no box or label accurate enough for any one person. Maybe subcultures should be expressed in a slightly more mathematical way…Me, I’d say I’m Geek∩Goth∩Pervert∩Swordsman∩Weird.