Spellweaving

Wizards search for the true names of things, the stuff inside the part that you see and touch. All things have an inner beingness, and a name which corresponds to its identity. Not just the peninsula and atoll as a whole, but every pebble and blade of grass dwelling there.

To change a thing in the world you have to understand its truer nature, how it's connected to the whole. Things can only change in accordance with their nature. The deeper sms more significant the change, the more things have to change around it to compensate. The more you stay with something's original state the less work needs to be done.

A log is a log, no more work needs to be done. It is already perfect.

A river with a dam needs not only the materials to make it, but all the accumulated technology, life-stories, knowledge, and infrastructure required for dam building. 70,000 years of history.

A beaver builds a dam out of logs. They do so, without thinking of it at all, in a way that improves the land around them. They create habitats and bring balance to the area.

When humans make a dam the landscape changes, the river changes, the fish die, the forest dies, the river dies. Humans have gained mastery, but in their mastery also destroyed. Things are thoughtlessly moved out of place and the world around compensates by dying.

Wizards learn the art of the beaver. Health, hearth, home with tiny movements and simple words, nothing more. Change the least and preserve the balance.