A Simple Transaction I

Mastery of the art of Shaping carries both significance and power that cannot be understated. The division between a master and an adept is like to the difference between man and god, or between mortal and immortal if that id the context you live within. The step from adepthood to mastery is a qualitative transformation not unlike one that a cultivator might experience when breaking through, though unlike with cultivation stages there is no real hard difference or barrier between adepthood and mastery. Achieving mastery is generally not a matter of breaking through one's limits, but of realizing that the long process of learning and practicing shaping has made those limits fall away.

The achievement of mastery is often referred to as awakening because in truth it is little more than a shift in perspective that allows a near infinite expansion in the capabilities of a shaper. This is something that can generally only happen when an individual has reached the limits of what they can do under mastery. There are two elements to this shift in perspective. First, the realization of the effects that practicing shaping has had upon one's own shape and opening one's eyes to the newly inherent functions of one's mind and body. The second, is a shift in the senses that allows one to directly see, hear, touch, taste, smell, or otherwise directly sense and learn shapes.

Both of these realizations dramatically expand a shaper's abilities. From the changes to the shape of their self a shaper often finds that they have gained various new abilities. There are more passive expansions in capability such as enhancements to their mind and body, from gaining entirely new senses, increases of ones attributes, even up through the total transformation of their being into something completely different. On the other hand, Master Shaper's often gain some kind of active innate shaping abilities that can take various forms from simple paracausal abilities, it the imposition of a specific law or code as natural law in a defined area. These abilities range in scope, but are always significant in power and are always in some way related the shapes that a shaper learned up till they achieved mastery with a particular emphasis on their first learned shape and their most used and studied shape.

The transformations of a Master Shaper's body, mind, and being are manifold and strange. On the more moderate end of the scale a Master Shaper tends to end up as what ever species they were before but significantly better in most ways (the reason for the enhancements varies and is often not sourced in alterations of biology though just as frequently it is). Pushing a bit further new Master Shapers tend to end up similar in appearance to what their prior race was but end up different enough to the degree that they would be classified as a different species. On the low end this can be little more than a completely new genetic structure, but into the middle and high ends you can end up with some strange stuff such as bodies formed out of law or phenomenon (fire, water, wind, justice, emotions, etc), bodies formed of possessed objects(bodies made of scraps of books or newspapers, bodies made of junk, bodies of armor), bodies formed in ways that shouldn't be possible(a human form made entirely out of wings, feathers, eyes, and fire, an human formed ecosystem made of scraps of books on which live self-writing stories). At the greatest degree of transformation a new Master Shaper may abandon their body entirely becoming something non-physical such as a code of laws or a society, a story or dream that gets stuck in peoples heads and drives them to proliferate it, a series of prophecies that are unconditionally believed. Though it must be stated that most of those masters that fall into the last category typically underwent some kind of ritualistic behavior (that may be an actual shaping ritual in some cases) to prompt such a transformation. Master Shaper can truly end up as anything and even more miraculously, retain their selfhood and consciousness no matter what they may end up as.

There is one other means to achieve mastery of shaping aside from awakening. That is through initiation by a mentor when one fulfills the requisite requirements. Typically, not seen out side of the great schools of shaping, initiations both induce a transition into mastery and lock a shaper into following the path of the initiation. Much like with awakening one cannot be initiated until one has reached the limits of adepthood. When a mentor judges that one of their students or disciples has met the requisite conditions and puts them through a rite of initiation. If they successfully pass through the rite then their mentor will welcome them to the ranks of the Master Shapers of their particular school or tradition. Often mentors subtly prepare their students for the rite throughout their entire apprenticing as an extension of the rite itself and to ensure their knowledge is compatible with the rite.

The are a variety of difference and advantages between awakening and initiation. The biggest one is that an initiation can be forced as long as one meets the conditions for it. Whereas with awakening, even if one meet the conditions to awaken they cannot force it, they have to have the realization on their own. Trying to force an awakening is more likely to prevent it from ever happening than to help. This can result in it often taking much longer for someone to awaken to mastery than to achieve via initiation.

However, there are many advantages awakening has over initiation. For one, with awakening one does not require a mentor, and is not bound to the same or a similar path to their mentor if they have one. Second, because of the amount of time that it generally takes to awaken, those who awaken generally take to being a Master much more quickly and naturally than those who do not. Awakeners also have less standardized and more unique innate abilities as masters than initiates. It is also generally safer to awaken as the consequences of a botched initiation cannot be overstated. All this being said, there is much to say for just being able to grasp mastery in one's hands as soon as they qualify for it and most of these differences fade with time before the boundless power of mastery.

Innate abilities aside, mastery holistically increases the capabilities of a shaper to practice there are. Where before one might only know three shapes and would have difficulty stringing them together in a reasonable timeframe outside of several specific combinations, after one can write and paint, and draw as they please over the canvas that is reality. It is like the difference between being in the process of learning the letters of a language and being an accomplished writer looking into learning other languages or even into making a conlang for use in later works. Whether in speed, consistency, or knowledge the ability to directly sense and learn the shape of reality allows a shaper to quickly overcome their previous efforts once they achieve mastery. It is at this stage of proficiency that a shaper may finally delve into the taboo of directly meddling with the existing fabric of reality as they can see it and put it back together after they take it apart as long as they are paying attention anyways. This also allows a shaper to begin breaking free of the bindings of the laws of reality and to begin studying the principles upon which they are based (out of character I make the distinction between law and principle. Law is how a universe actually functions, whereas principle is the basis on from which the law stems. For example two cultivation universes might have wildly different, completely incompatible laws and systems, however ultimately both will subscribe to the principle of cultivation in their structure). Master Shaper grow ever towards ascension from a simply powerful godlike entity, to something nearly incomprehensible in scope and power, though even this pales before even the freshest of ascendant Grand Shapers.