pulls out red string and tacks, dumps conspiracy theories out of pockets

Professor Bell clears away his desk so there's a space in the middle, even moving anything on her side to make sure she can see, so he can start explaining everything to her.

To start, he draws something that looks rather like this:


Disregard, of course, that the continents of Earth are what's pictured.

1. A leyline in Talam is a magical pathway that, yes, is rather fixed like a road. There are larger ones that frame their world - and there he points out the thicker lines, the ones that intersect to create a starburst with ten lines - and those are sites of monumental magical power, regardless of where the intersection lay.

There are smaller sites like this - he points out the smaller nodes of six and four alike - that still, despite their smaller scale, carry a great deal of magical weight.

And then there are hundreds upon hundreds of smaller pathways, branching out from these intersections. It's all a very complicated web of magic, but all connected. The smaller lines get power from the larger ones, and influence the environment that they run along.

2. Tracking them is easier for those who have an affinity for magic, he admits. Unfortunate that he doesn't have much of a spark, but there have been many before him that have tried to chart out the leylines of Talam, and he's had Witches aid him in his exploration of the ones in Geardagas. A Witch can tap into leylines, following its course once they do and drawing on the magic there, if only the pulse is strong. Monsters can also sense the quality of a leyline, if it has a particular strength; because they're drawn to magic and are affected by it, a leyline full of magic is easier for them to sense.

Both can be done regardless of whether it's a positive or a negative sort of strength. There is such a thing as a tainted leyline, one that has been given negative energy or has been damaged in some way so as to... make it wrong, as it were.

Raising his hands, he makes a compressing gesture so that his palms grow closer together. Leylines shrink and grow - in theory - depending on the quantity and quality of the magic that they output and intake. They never shorten, and he's not sure if they can break, but, again, they can be tainted. It's not so much good or bad as it is simply...

Ah, a healthy leyline will be somewhere that the energy is positive, where one may feel safe. The land around it is typically also healthy, and abundant with life. One that is wrong will feel unsafe, "oppressive yet charged," inflicting dread on anyone in the area. It can kill the landscape, make it barren. The Wilde has become such a place, in a way, with the infection of the Cwyld. (More on that in 4.)

3. Aefenglom is! Most cities in Geardagas are, actually. At the very least, those that still thrive are, as if the leyline helps to sustain them. Why, the Coven and the builders of the city tapped into the leyline they sit on to ensure that the Bright Wall would be successful!

4. He wouldn't go so far as to say that they're related, per se, but Dewaint Forest in theory sits on one of the larger nodes. No one has been within the Wilde for so long that they can't say for certain whether the leylines there are healthy or wrong, however, so it truly is a great deal of theories.

It would explain, however, how the Cwyld could spread so fast if it originated there: the Cwyld is a magical affliction, and having such a site of enormous magical power would easily enable the growth of both the blight and of the forest itself. It would also explain why the forest continues to grow, even with an all-killing disease such as the Cwyld.

to be fair, it's a lot of information that's very "wow that sounds like bullshit" to most people in reality, and a huge info dump. take your time, and please feel free to ask for OOC clarifications as well if needed!

Professor Bell only laughs, hardly offended. After all, it is fairly true; many before him have devoted their lives to trying to understand it, Ser MacAlpine included, and the only reason he's made it so far is because of those scholars and explorers. He's also had a good 57 years to his life in a world that he was born in! He may have an advantage here over new arrivals such as the young miss.

1. The humor fades here, though, and he becomes a little more solemn. Deaths do taint a leyline, as while blood is a power ingredient in spellwork and general magic - many a feat has been pulled off in desperation because of blood, and it's actively used for powerful spells - death... death can be just as powerful, if not moreso. It's a sacrifice, whether made knowingly or willingly, when it's done in large quantities.

Wars have been waged across Geardagas, the last of which being some 300 odd years ago by their sovereign tyrant, King Serwyl da Uathmar. da Uathmar meaning the dreadful. He sought to rule all of Geardagas with Aefenglom as his seat, before the city united to depose him and his heirs from the throne. Many, many people died needlessly, and many of them on small and large leyline alike.

The energy that came about from the war, the deaths as well as people with ill intentions using the power of the leylines, could very well have weakened and tainted the leylines they fell upon.

2. A good example would be the Coven destroying King Serwyl's castle and taking back the land. They already resided on the grounds because the Looking-Glass House has... well, always been there, after all, so they destroyed the castle and took a part of it for their use while distributing the rest to the city itself. Some of that land now lies outside the Wall, but regardless they worked to cleanse it with more positive magic, nourishing the growth of plantlife to repair the Bond Aefenglom has with its leyline.

The same could, theoretically, work on larger stretches of leylines damaged by war and intent.

3. Dreams are certainly strange things! No one has seen Dewaint Forest in such a long time, at the very least not in a way that she's explaining. He will admit he doesn't know much about dreams or dream magic, but it isn't an uncommon thing in lore and faerytales that dreams give way to other worlds. Especially when the Fae are involved! And to think that creatures infected by the Cwyld would be there... he supposes that it's possible the blight began to spread that long ago, when Dewaint was at its prime, as they're uncertain when and where the Cwyld originated exactly.

Both dreams and the Cwyld are more Miss Bell's field, although he's not sure how many answers she may be able to give them.

4. Ah, Ser MacAlpine is a delight to speak to, and is always happy to share their knowledge. Bit of an ancient being in their own right, he notes with a laugh. But their opinion on his theoretical research into leylines is... mixed, at times. They do agree on many things - he built up his theories from their research, after all - but they don't indulge him much on the points they don't agree on. (The theories about Fae and Dewaint, mostly.)

However, Ser MacAlpine's research delves more into the connection of leylines and the Cwyld than his own does.

1. No, hardly lightly: the old King was a tyrant, and caused a war that raged across all of Geardagas. Though, da Uathmar was rumored to be a Witch, although rumors also state that he never cast a spell himself - he had advisors to do it for him, so he wouldn't have to lift a finger in public.

2. It is entirely possible! He'll note that Miss Bell is frequently excited about, well, many things. Having more Witches to teach is surely a delight for her, though, and would certainly be a help in the combat against the Cwyld.

3. Godspeed, Yako. Godspeed.

4. He's sure that the old goat'll like her, as she's an inquisitive thing and rather well-mannered. Though, Ser MacAlpine can be a little wily sometimes in his experience... but she might fair better than him.

5. This is purely theoretical, mind, but Fae could very well have been the original caretakers of the leylines. He's basing this off of lore, and the knowledge that Fauns have held a similar role in the world prior to the Cwyld.

Fauns did once tend to the forests and springs and the like that cropped up on them, helping to foster a healthier land and leyline alike, but theirs was more of a connection to the nature of the land than it was the magic. Nowadays there aren't any Nymphs for them to foster this relationship with, effectively pushed into extinction by the Cwyld's touch.

But they could have worked alongside the Fae, allowing them to channel the magic of the world and ensure that the leylines were healthy. Especially if Dewaint Forest sits on a node, as Ser MacAlpine and he both theorize.

6. There is! Ser MacAlpine is actually in possession of one that they keep updated as best they can, so she'll have more luck getting it from them, he thinks. Rather unlike him, the ser is actually retired, so doesn't have classes or students to contend with; simply their research, so they can devote their full attention to it.

7. In his opinion, he offers gently, Miss Yako and her ilk - the other arrivals to their world, if their theory is correct, that the Looking-Glass House brought them from other worlds, other universes even, an interesting theory that he could nary expand upon on his own - are empty cups. The best thing they could do is fill those cups, and then fill the cups of others with their knowledge, with what they learn. True, it would be a reckless thing to go out into the world without much magical knowledge, or the strengths Monsters carry in and of themselves.

But risks are always taken in the pursuit of knowledge.

Professor Bell undoes his cuff and rolls up his left sleeve as he says that, showing her a deep knot of scar tissue that is discolored a greyish tint. It's in the meat of his forearm close to the inner elbow and up a bit into his bicep.

The Wilders and Coven alike are becoming better prepared with every day, and are always willing to share their knowledge with those who ask it of them, so he can only hope that she never faces the same risks as he did while being as unprepared as he was in his youth. But if she's willing to look for the answers she seeks, then he has faith in such an inquisitive mind. If Dewaint Forest still exists - and oh, he hopes it does, just as much as his bones tell him it does - then it may very well be these new arrivals that help to discover it again.

"Go out into the world, Miss Yako. So much awaits you."

Professor Bell will certainly let her know if he does open those classes again; considering he's an anthropologist, he has to focus on his actual core curriculum or lose his funding. But he does try to sneak some of the theories in, considering how closely the leylines play into the development of their society and development.

With a fondness that's grown from Yako's desire to learn, Miss Endya is happy to act as intermediary. Ser MacAlpine's availability is more... open, compared to Professor Bell, and she's invited to their home on the west side of the residential district. If she remembers from the festival in her very first month in Aefenglom, this is the side of the district that houses more Monsters than humans.

Surprisingly, when greeted at the door to a quaint home squished between other buildings, she's welcomed in by a goat Faun. The professor was being literal with that nickname.

The Educative Seats of Parliament, Yako will find, are rather... strict. But Professor Bell is fairly safe in his bubble, and so can occasionally push out ideas that aren't his curriculum norm. He'll let her know if that happens.

Ser MacAlpine's home is fairly modest, but very, very cluttered. There are books, charts, globes, and miscellaneous knickknacks that look like they may be magitech - very academic, at first. But there are also plants everywhere, which makes the air very clean but also a little humid. Some may look familiar, others resemble familiarity, and then there's just some that look downright exotic to anyone not from Talam. Vines creep up the walls and to the ceiling, and one would be forgiven for thinking that the Faun's home simply had unique wallpaper at first glance.

But they're watching Yako as she takes in their home, considering her in the same way she's trying to learn more about them. Whatever they find, they seem to approve of, so calmly tap her on the back of the wrist with keratin-tough fingertips. They lead her to a parlor, of sorts, round in shape and full of tall bookshelves. More plants weave between shelves, atop them, spilling out here and there. The chairs are tall-backed, but comfortable, and they drop into one and gesture her to join them in the other.

The old goat is an excellent host and has a giant (obviously enchanted, given its constantly cool surface without ice) pitcher of what is... actually, it's lemonade. Much more prepared than the professor, that's for sure.

What can they do for her?

Ser MacAlpine sits back, nodding. They were given some notice from both Miss Endya and Professor Bell, so they've been expecting her, and have been working to get some things together. They pull some scrolls out from the box situated next to their seat, unrolling one and spreading it out across the table between them. It's an enormous map - and holds some minor resemblance to the one that the archivists tend to at Undermael.

Now, Cohen is a smart young lad. But he's a professor, and that means he's an academic, and teaches like an academic on that level. Those theories can get awful confusing.

But, now, why is it so hard to find information? MacAlpine thinks one of two things: the first, that it was unwritten because of an event that someone in power could have wanted hidden, or second, that it could be so simple (and there's dryness in their tone, indicating that they don't think this is quite so simple) as their past historians simply assumed it would always be part of their lives, the same as the old language. The runes have fallen out of use, and thus out of everyone's minds and vocabulary. It's practically dead, outside of magic, which means that terms and locations and knowledge is lost to the old books written in those runes.

Perhaps even Dewaint.

Ser MacAlpine supposes Miss Yako may have something there, as da Uathmar sought to overtake Geardagas to such a degree that he would depose other rulers given the chance. Threats and all that. The High Queen of the Fae was a rather grand threat, making Dewaint and its node a prime target for such a thing. Many a battle was had across the country, but he never did manage to take the Fae Courts - especially not since it was home to many True Fae.

MacAlpine theorizes that there was at least one, if not numerous, sieges close to or actually upon Dewaint Forest, that it could have had an impact. Whether it was on the lost knowledge of Dewaint, the expansion of the Wilde, the source of Cwyld, the standstill of the war itself... they can't say for sure. There's so little knowledge confirmed and so many fanciful theories that they have more questions than answers without an expedition.

(And Yako knows, now, how well the last one went.)

Now see, that's the objectively more interesting bit -- they came into possession of these materials through various means, the old goat'll say with a hushed voice (though more for impression than actual need for secrecy), from an old friend in the college itself, their own family keeping bits and pieces through oral tradition (all penned down, once Ser MacAlpine got their hands on it), as well as personal experiences.

The map itself's from their friend, who'd been in love with how the leylines laid upon the lines of the land, but had passed rather recently... T'was his last wish for them to have it, so they're quite fond of that piece, they are. Wouldn't be willing to part with it if she asked, but with a little time they ought be able to draw up a similar one for her reference if she'd like. And, since Yako's more out in the world than they are these days, perhaps she'll learn things that they haven't, and be able to add to her own copy. Ser MacAlpine'd like to see it then.

The history of Geardagas is a bit of this and that, from stories passed through families and the like, though Witches have always had a better understanding of such things thanks to their handy education there's just as much to be found from the elderly like themselves, they'd think, given some time and a bit of tea.

As for the last, why they chose to hold some things back... Keep them unpublished, tucked into this old belt of theirs, is because they're more like tidbits than publishable pieces. Building blocks to a greater building. Oh, they'll certainly hand them off to someone once death's lantern is at their window, let them take a crack at it, but til then they'll remain safe as can be in this house of theirs.

That said, the tidbits are somewhat interesting to those with an open mind -- that leylines seemed to draw power from the world in the same breath it exhales it, so a land that's dead of magic won't have a leyline until something magic begins to manifest through other means; similarly, lands with those tainted nodes need sufficient "clean" magic to run through the veins and push the bad stuff out, but it just isn't possible at the moment. Not with everyone so scattered as they are, it's not.