Fasologist

A fasologist is an interpreter of secret, or otherwise obscure signs from divide, or meta-natural sources, from these sources a fasologist can predict aspects about the world which would otherwise be unknown.

History
Before having an official title, fasologists were referred to as seers within the Moon kingdom where they were most common. Seers were revered for their ability to seemingly interpret signs left by the divine, and Queen Rose the First had several seers on her royal council during her reign in the first era.

At this time reliable seers outside of the royal council were a rarity, a majority of these seers were not accurately interpreting signs, but were instead extorting and manipulating others for their own benefit. Once Queen Rose heard of the building negative reputation these pseudo seers forced the Queen to ban the profession outside of her court, this ban lasted from 5AT to 12AT.

During the seer ban, the remaining royal seers were instructed to study and document how they practiced their craft, this lead to seers then being officially known as fasologists, and their subject of study was fasology, the study of fate.

Now with the completed first edition of fasology knowledge the royal fasologists passed on the teaching material to the Spire Academy with the intention of the subject being taught to those gifted, or determined enough to learn it.

While fasologists still remain a relatively niche profession across all three kingdoms, its influences have bled into the culture at large, mainly through familiar symbolic meanings for flowers, lunar phases, body parts, and birth stones as a few examples.

It wasn’t until 30AT that fasologists became a recognised profession across all three kingdoms, as both the Sun and Earth kingdom adopted their own royal fasologists.

Rune Casting
Not to be confused with rune crafting, rune casting is the practice of attempting to ask a divine, or meta-natural source a question. These sources can be a lost spirit, a devoid creature, or a sentinel for example.

To prepare the question to be answered the asker is instructed to pick from an assortment of runes blindly, these runes are Astorian letters and symbols carved on smooth flat stones. Once the runes are selected by the asker, the fasologist jumbles the selection before lightly throwing, or casting them into a reading bowl. The answer is interpreted by the fasologist based on the positions of the runes.

Additionally, the success of receiving a reliable answer depends on the source being asked, and the time of the rune casting matching a lunar phase specific to the source.

Spirit Channelling
Often seen as taboo in both the church of the Almighty Blaze, and the Merciful Earth Mother, spirit channelling is the practice of attracting lost spirits for the purpose of attempting to contact them. Those who request spirit channelling often believe that the one they are contacting require extra help to move on, or wish to confirm the spirit has in fact moved on, in some cases spirit channelling has also been used to contact a devoid.

To begin spirit channelling a fasologist will link hands with the individual(s) who wishes to contact a specific spirit over a table, the name of the spirit to be contacted is spoken by each individual around the table before the personal items of the spirit are placed in the centre of the table, acting as a beacon.

These personal items are placed specifically in the centre of a channelling circle, which is a flat, circular tablet with indentations to indicate where items should be placed. The outer section of the channelling circle is periodically lined with embedded clear quartzes, which when a spirit is in close enough proximity will become cloudy.

Spirit channelling may take multiple hours, and during this time the group must keep their hands linked as the fasologist attempts to attract the spirit with a series of chants and calls. If the circle is broken during any part of the channelling the process will be finished.

Once the spirit is in close enough proximity, as indicated by the quartzes in the channelling circle, the fasologist will be able to act as a communication intermediate between the spirit and the group.

Ink Gazing
Ink gazing in the general practice of interpreting meaning from ink patterns. There are three main methods of creating these patterns;

Ink drifting – Involves the use of a special kind of paper which allows liquids to be both absorbed and run along its surface. To create the patterns to interpret, an individual needs to lightly coat one edge of the paper with water before then dripping ink of various sizes along the same edge. Once the water and ink begin to run the paper should be left on a downwards slanted surface to dry.

The resulting pattern is used to gain insight into the future of the individual(s) who adds the ink drops, and is a popular practice with couples.

Ink blotching – Involves a fasologists creating a number of inked patterns using a form of thick ink on absorbent paper, to then fold it over to create a symmetrical pattern. Using an assortment of these patterns a fasologist will present them to an individual in a random order, the individual is then asked to say the first word which comes to mind when viewing the image.

The answers given by the individual from each presented pattern can allow a fasologist to interpret their subconscious thoughts, and also aid in determining if the individual’s soul is in harmony with their body.

Ink melding – Involves the filling of a shallow tray with water and introducing inks of various colours to its surface. The liquid in the tray is then manipulated by the pulling of one, or multiple thin strings to move and mix parts of the ink. Once the ink is mixed to a suitable degree, as determined by the fasologist, an absorbent paper or cloth is laid across the tray to transfer the pattern.

The dried pattern on the paper or cloth allows the fasologist to interpret aspects of the future, most commonly the future linked to the local area where the ink melding took place.

Card Reading
Card reading is the practice of learning about an individual through the shuffling and drawing of seer cards for their meanings to then be interpreted by a fasologist. Readings are often, but not exclusively, used to attempt to ask a divine source a question about an individual’s past, present, or future.

To do a card reading a fasologist needs to continuously shuffle their deck of seer cards until the asker has finished asking their question either in their mind, or out loud. Once the question has been asked, the fasologist will draw 6 cards for the asker to choose 3 from the selection based on their feelings, which the fasologist will interpret the meaning from.