Editors
219
edits
Difference between revisions of "Khrissalla's Journal"
→Entries
|
=== Sand Mastery Test ===
Mystery surrounds the test for sand mastery, but in actuality it's quite mundane. In most cases, the Diem tests children between the ages of eight and twelve.
{{image|Sand_Mastery_Test.jpg|side=left|width=150px|Sketch of the test for sand mastery.}}
The recruit holds a handful of sand as a proctor encourages the recruit to concentrate, to feel every grain of sand they hold, to call out to it in their mind and offer it to drink of the water of their body. If the sand comes to life, the recruit becomes an acolent in the Diem, and the strength of the sand's reaction is usually a good indicator of how powerful a sand master the acolent might become.
{{image|Sand_Mastery_Example.jpg|side=right|width=150px|Sketch of the test for sand mastery.}}
Acolents who learn to control fifteen or more ribbons are watched closely and mentoed by a mastrell. When an acolent has reached their full potential, meaning they stop being able to control increasingly more ribbons through the course of their development, they are allowed to petition for a rank inside the Diem. It is no surprise that those privately mentored by mastrells are usually granted that same rank.
There are no spontaneous sand masters, and only a sand master can administer the test. It's as if one has to be introduced to the power by one who already holds it, then the power itself chooses who to unlock and to what degree. This is well-documented in the Diem's records and reminds me of how Starcarved are discovered.
This knowledge makes the Kerzian massacre all the more terrifying, for if they had killed every known sand master, then theoretically, the ability would have disappeared from the sands entirely.
Occasionally, a sand master has been expelled from the Diem. Rather than allow them to leave and potentially find and train other sand masters - thus creating a rival to the Diem - these sand masters are required to be indentured to the Diem, incarcerated, or placed on strict parole. If they are considered dangerous enough, there is a proces by which the ability to master sand can be burned out of them, but as often as not, the process kills the individual.
Any sand master who goes rogue is hunted down by an elite group within the Diem, about which Kenton has been his usual tight-lipped self.
=== Sand Mastery Observations ===
A part of me is disappointed I didn't pass the test for sand mastery, but mostly I'm relieved. I'm not very likely to swear fealty to the Diem over my loyalty to Elis. (Honestly, I'd go back to Darkside whether the Lord Mastrell allowed me to or not. Then Kenton could send his secret sand masters to neutralize me. I'm a little sad to not be able to study them firsthand.)
Living temporarily in the Diem has given me a chance to observe sand masters during their daily training and practice regimens. If a supposedly weak sand master such as Kenton can create a decoy of himself out of sand, as I saw him do during one of the assassination attempts, then think of all the things sand masters are capable of if they get creative. (Now that Kenton can control more than one ribbon, I hope he doesn't loose the ingenuity only one ribbon forced upon him.)
{{image|Sand_Mastery_Observations.jpg|side=right|width=165px|Sketched examples of sand mastery in use.}}
Based on my observations, even one ribbon can do many things:
: * Launch a sand master into the air
: * Slice things like a razor
: * Propel a sand master forward
: * Create decoys from sand
: * Slip into cracks in stone and expand
: * Lift items several times heavier than the sand master
: * Throw up a protective shield
: * Deactivate other ribbons if touched head on or from the side
: * There's no end to the possibilites
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center; width:75%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | [[File: Sand_Mastery_Theory_1.jpg|140px|center]]
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | If ribbons can be razor sharp, then can sand masters fight with living sand on their arms as whips or blades, similar to how some of the Starcarved fight?
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | [[File: Sand_Mastery_Theory_2.jpg|200px|center]]
|-
| colspan=3 style="border: none; width:20%;" | If one ribbon can launch a sand master, many can carry them higher. Then why don't we see more of this type of thing?
| colspan=3 style="border: none; width:20%;" | [[File: Sand_Mastery_Theory_3.jpg|250px|center]]
|-
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | [[File: Sand_Mastery_Theory_4.jpg|150px|center]]
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | If ribbons can create a decoy and be used as shields, can they also be used like this, similar to the Starcarved who are impervious to our bullets?
| colspan=2 style="border: none; width:20%;" | [[File: Sand_Mastery_Theory_5.jpg|150px|center]]
|}
=== Overburning ===
| |||