~*Ashgar's*~
The Many Faces of Fire

What is fire? Scientifically we know it to be released energy which was previously stored in bodies such as wood or rocks, and placed there by the sun or other various heavenly bodies. Unfortunately, many mages hold this mundane view of fire as truth when spell casting, limiting the true potential of the beautiful magical medium which is fire. The simple truth of fire is best expressed in a morbidly funny phrase coined by my favorite Reflectioness Selenity, "Fire burns things". In three words this statement accurately sums up the effects of fire, but these effects are prominently unnoticed until extensive studies of fire have been conducted. For instance, to a conjurer fire is an easily summoned element which can be manipulated into many shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, however, no matter how many sizes a conjurer's fire spell takes, it always seems to have the same result: "Fire burns your skin". Though this is effective, I find it to be highly unoriginal when repeated often, as the gist of the spell never changed. Fire is so much more powerful, so much more diverse, and in the hands of a Pyromancer like me, it must take more forms than 'fire burns your skin' What forms?, you ask yourself, befuddled by the notion that fire do more than melt away flesh and make things really hot. I shall trace the path of non-physical fire with a list of spells which best exemplify my thesis. Firstly, (and one of my favorites) the absorbtion of the opposing mages powers. Fire is an essential part of this spell in that it provides a link between mages' power sources from which you can channel the opponents powers into your own resume'. This thread of fire does not burn the opponent in the usual sense, but rather burns their powers from them and gives them to you simultaneously. Second, the manipulation of the enemie's mind by use of a highly powerful, highly delicate soul fire. This is basically a small fire which the spellcaster places in the opponent's mind, causing it to eat away and decay into nothing. Once again, fire is burning something, in this case the thought process, but notice it is not the scientfic properties of fire that allow it to do so. Please use caution in attempting this spell as even a brief lack of control on the spellcaster's part could result in permanant brain damage. Lastly, I would like to suggest the idea of elementals; creatures created by spellcasters through the use of the controllable elements. Elementals are very effective weapons as they are able to attack and use magic of their own while not being costly casualties. Elementals can sometimes be hard to control, and the use of them is usually preserved for speciallists in one of the elemental areas. It should also be noted that once again, fire can be used to attack or defend against the opposing magi without actually burning their flesh. I think I have now gone over a brief list of example proving that the limit to an elements spell possibilities extends as far as the creativity of the spellcaster. I'd like to point out that this same issue could be proposed about water, air, earth, or any other concrete element. I hope I have brought light to the misconception that fire merely 'burns things', and maybe our fire mages can take a page from my book as I have done from all the mages I encounter. Thank you.