Rainbows loom

[Nephrite]

Moore smiles. "I know it seems odd, but maybe think about it like this -- say you have an apple, right? Okay, so you already have an idea of what that apple is and what it looks like. That idea for the apple came from your experiences with apples in the past. Someone else might envision a totally different apple, but it's still an apple. Anyway, go back a thousands years. Do you think the idea for an apple was much different? Maybe. Go back even longer. Longer than that. Go back to the very beginning, when Eldath herself likely created what would eventually be an apple with divine will. Before apples existed, Eldath had a domain over plants, right?"

He stops here for a moment. "My point is that the idea for an apple started somewhere, and continues to evolve, shape and change itself over creation. The same can be said for the idea for knowledge itself, the fundamental building block of experience and information. To give you another example -- take a spell like Divine Insight. It gives you a brief extra boost of power in a certain subject... but where, exactly does that come from? Obviously it's magic, but the magic is powered by the ideas behind it." He explains. "...I'm probably starting to sound a little too much like Tepen with all of this, but I hope you can at least understand what I'm going for."

[Anastasia]

The look you get is so lost that not even a Find the Path spell could help.

[Nephrite]

Moore smiles and rubs his chin. "Okay, how about..."

He thinks for a few minutes. "How about thinking about it like this, in terms of magic... think of the school of evocation. What does that do? It makes something from nothing, generally, right, using magic? Well, when to develop a new spell that's an evocation, you could consider it that your ideas and knowledge are combined with magic to create something."

A smile after that. "So take it one step farther -- a concept is something like a formless spell that hasn't been given its form yet. An idea is what you have when you've put the building blocks of the spell together, and knowledge is what you have when you've completed the spell and can summon it from the Weave. Does that... help at all, or am I still just sounding insane?" He asks.

[Anastasia]

"I'm so lost," Mei finally says. "Completely."

[Nephrite]

"Okay, then let me try one other way. Where do deities get their powers from?" Moore asks. "What gives them power over their various domains? Or, more succinctly, what is a domain?"

[Anastasia]

"I...don't know?" Mei finally asks. "Aren't deities powerful because they are deities?"

[Nephrite]

Moore looks up towards the sky and then back at Mei.

"I mean, that doesn't really make sense in a world where you have mortals who can rise and be deities, does it?" He counters. "If that logic was the only way a deity got powerful, you'd never have any new ones."

A smile after that. "A deity is powerful because they draw power from their domains. They exemplify these things that give them power, and, in turn, give power back to them -- you're right that, ultimately, a deity is powerful because of being a deity, and thus drawing and giving power back to those domains... but until you reach that point, that's certainly not true."

A pause there. "With that in mind, then, what is a domain? It's a concept, it's an idea, made manifest into Creation itself that draws on all the experiences and thus, knowledge, of all things like it. Take the Fire domain for example -- all of the powers a cleric gains by having that domain are related to... Fire, right? But it's not all the same type of fire. There's burning hands, Wall of Fire... do you understand what I'm getting at here?"

[Anastasia]

"Enough to know when it's best if I simply nod and explain to them that it's a complicated arcane theory," Mei says, "They'll understand."

[Nephrite]

Moore lets out a laugh. "Sorry, I'd say I'm not normally like this, but I guess as of lately I am. Any help to have an audience would be greatly appreciated."

[Anastasia]

"I'll see about it, I'll be back soon," Mei says, gone in an instant.

[Nephrite]

"It's interesting, at first, I didn't really think I had much of a grasp on this either." Moore says. "But after explaining it just now, it honestly makes a lot more sense to me."

[Anastasia]

Cresiel nods slightly, and after a few moments, "Then praise Raziel, for courage and valor serve again." His voice is bone dry.

[Nephrite]

"...Sorry, I know this is really boring." Moore says.

[Anastasia]

"I am not bored," Cresiel says plainly, "I think that was too much of playing the straight man, as they say."

[Nephrite]

"Hah!" Moore barks. "You're right, you're too good at it sometimes. I've been watching you and I'm impressed with how you've changed since Aurora, though."