OOC: Ronan's info post

[not_in_the_book]

Info post ahoy! I should have done this a while ago, but it's never too late to jump on the bandwagon. ;)

WARNING: This post is HEAVILY spoilery for events in two of the Young Wizards novels (A Wizard Abroad and Wizards at War), and mildly spoilery for some of the other novels, so read at your own risk.

NOTE: This got SERIOUSLY tl;dr as I was writing. Like, SERIOUSLY. So it's been edited down. A lot. (Because I have a tendency to make things FAR too complicated in cases like these. Alas.) If you saw the original version, this should be much easier to read.
Edited: 5/12/2007


The Wizard's Oath
In Life's name and for Life's sake,
I say that I will use the Art for nothing
but the service of that Life. I will guard
growth and ease pain. I will fight to
preserve what grows and lives well in its
own way; and I will change no object or
creature unless its growth and life, or
that of the system of which it is part, are
threatened. To these ends, in the practice
of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage,
and death for life, when it is right to do so
-- till Universe's end.

     Ronan Nolan

Ronan Nolan, Jr., is a character from the Young Wizards series of novels, by Diane Duane. He has so far appeared in two novels: A Wizard Abroad (book four), and the most recent release, Wizards at War (book eight).

We first encounter him through the lens of series protagonist, twelve-yeard-old Nita Callahan, who, in AWAB, is sent to Ireland by her parents for six weeks during her summer vacation, where she stays with her Aunt Annie. They do it under the belief that it's to get her away from wizardry -- getting her away from her partner-in-wizardry, Kit Rodriguez, as well as her sister Dairine, a new wizard -- but it turns out that, while Nita is in Ireland, she's called to active status by the Powers That Be.

Upon discovering some of the immediate problems, Nita goes searching for a local wizard, someone who knows the territory. She checks in her Manual (more on that later), and ends up finding one Ronan Nolan -- a young man some two years her senior whom she had previously met in a café in the town nearest to her aunt's farm. Nita's first encounter with Ronan casts him as a sarcastic, angry youth, one whom has no use for a foreigner until she proves her worth on the field of verbal sparring -- but when he learns that she's a wizard, a 'blow-in', his Irish prejudices first come full-force, and he complains strongly about how the Irish can deal with their own problems. It gets pointed out to Ronan that Nita and Kit were responsible for three recent major events in wizardry, each of which had ramifications for either Earth as a whole, or the universe in general. So she's not just 'some blow-in', and Ronan starts to learn that not everything is as he initially sees it. In fact, over the course of the novel, he develops some affection for Nita, and at one point in the novel the two share a kiss.

This has some mildly disastrous results, for Nita, during the kiss, recognises a force that is residing inside of Nolan: one of the Powers That Be, known as the One's Champion, who has been Athena, Thor, the archangel Michael, Lugh, and many other Champion-type deities. Also, for some years, 'he' had been living as a she: specifically, the oracular macaw 'owned' by Nita and Kit's local senior wizards, Tom and Carl. Macchu Picchu, or 'Peach', had sacrificed that form during Nita and Kit's last adventure, and since then had found his/her way to Ronan for his/her next manifestation.

In the final battle of the novel, the wizards of Ireland (plus Nita and Kit) recreate the classic Battle of Moytura against a manifestation of the Lone Power, Balor. During this battle, Ronan wields the reforged Spear Luin, the Spear of Light, wielded by the hero Lugh in the original battle. To do so, however, requires that Ronan give himself over to the One's Champion, which is not something he is immediately prepared to do. However, Ronan makes the choice he feels he needs to make, and the Battle of Moytura is once again won -- and Ronan has to live with the One's Champion as a part of him from now on.

The next time we see Ronan, it's in the novel Wizards at War. Nita, Kit, Dairine, and three wizards visiting from other planets on 'cultural exchange' have just learned that there is a force trying to tear apart the universe called the pullulus, and the earliest effects include the adult wizards -- 'anyone past latency' -- losing their own wizardry. This leaves the younger wizards, especially the more powerful and more experienced, as seniors, and while half of them are to stay on-planet and deal with whatever comes up, the other half (which includes the aforementioned group) to go out into the universe and find the source of the problem.

Until Ronan shows up on Kit's doorstep.

Ronan has inside information on the problems currently facing the universe as a whole, thanks to the fact that he shares his body with the One's Champion. While, yes, the pullulus is an immediate threat, there are indications that it is in some way an attempt to draw attention away from another event occuring elsewhere in the universe. Nita and Kit's group is to go out and find this event, and help it along.

(It's worth adding that Ronan is carrying the Spear of Light at the time -- disguised as a ballpoint pen that lengthens into the spear when he shakes it. Oh, Young Wizards. Im in ur books, disguisin ur legendary artifacts as office supplies.)

Over the course of the novel, the group of young wizards make their way to a planet that is owned completely and utterly by their nemesis, the Lone Power. However, on this planet, a new power is about to be born into the flow of time, and that power is one who is as the Lone Power would have been had it never fallen. Which is a pretty big deal, all things considered.

But the birth of this power is challenged by the Lone Power, and, when the Lone Power blocks the use of wizardry in the local space, the only way to bring it forth again is to release the One's Champion -- which Ronan does, by throwing the Spear of Light and having it swing back around to pierce his own chest. He should have died -- was, in fact, willing to die to save the universe, but that he was willing to die was enough, and the One's Champion forced the Spear just slightly to the side. While he was dealt a grave injury, Ronan did not immediately die. In fact, the other wizards were able to get him into stasis and take him back to Earth, where another wizard was able to heal Ronan's injury, at least to the point where he was stable. There's another major battle before the end -- which Ronan sleeps through -- and then he wakes up and goes home. (Oh. And the newly born Power also went off with the spear, so Ronan no longer has it.)

Then we get to Fandom: Ronan is leaving Ireland for Fandom approximately two months after the events of Wizards at War. He is currently suffering from a mild depression (situational, not chronic), due to the fact that he tried to kill himself (even if for a good cause), and also to the loss of the One's Champion (who isn't, y'know, dead, because hello, one of the Powers that created the universe. Still, not likely to show up inside the flow of time for a long while). This is why he is currently exhibiting a relapse into his Sullen and Angry behaviour, as we as some fairly severe mood swings. He'll also be having sleeping issues: alternately sleeping too much and too little.

He is also -- for reasons unknown -- a year in his future; when he left, it was 2006.





     Wizardry and the Speech

So you want to be a wizard. At least, Ronan did; the power will not long within an unwilling heart. I'm sure that, by now, you're wondering exactly how wizardry works in Ronan's universe. It's actually very simple.

Wizardry is the act of telling the universe what you want, and then getting it.

Seriously, it's that simple. Well, almost; see, first you have to be a wizard, which not everyone can be. People with potential are, at some point, offered the choice: while American wizards like Nita and Kit find the Manual in book form (and later increasingly technological forms), then to find the Wizard's Oath on the first page and, if they are willing, to take it, Irish wizards like Ronan have the choice given to them abruptly -- their manual comes in a non-tangible form. Essentially, they commit the basics of the Manual to memory, and simply know changes as they come up -- and though they still take the Oath, as do all wizards, it is not so immediately conscious. Sort of.

There are a few aspects that could be a little clearer in the source. ;) So sue me.

The Speech is the most important part of wizardry: it is, quite simply, the language with with the universe was spoken into being. Everything in creation -- animate or otherwise -- can understand it; inanimate objects can converse in it, if you know how to listen (as wizards must); it's even used as a lingua franca in many parts of the universe, especially those that accept wizardry openly. While wizards exhibit an instinctive understanding of the basics of the Speech, and thus can use it pretty much immediately after taking the Oath, anyone can learn it -- as exhibited by our own Carmela, sister of Kit, who is equally conversant in it as any of the wizards we've met, although she can't use it for wizardry itself. As I said, all things can understand the Speech; conversely, one who can speak the Speech can understand any language, as all languages derive from it at their earliest point of being.

The reason that wizardry works for a wizard is that, by taking the oath and promising themselves to the furtherance of the universe and to doing all they can to prevent and slow the spread of entropy, they are given the power to make the universe listen when they speak. While someone like Carmela can be understood by anyone or anything, a wizard can be understood by the universe, and they have access to the power necessary to make their request happen.





     The Manual and its functions

Wizardry comes from the Manual, in its myriad forms. Ronan deals with the traditional Irish method of accessing the Manual, the Knowledge.

What does this mean for Ronan? Essentially, he can do in his head all of what other people do on paper, or in glowing spheres. Therefore, don't be surprised by references to 'mental notes', complete with distracted gazes, or references to mental communication with other wizards. The Manual gives him access to note-taking, inter-manual communication, scanning capabilities for the local world-space, and information on cultures, planets, solar systems, etc. It doesn't, however, tend to have much information on individuals, beyond the Directory -- contact information for every local wizard, or, as needed, wizards a bit less local. When he needs new information from the Manual, he hears it as a voice in his head.

This is NOT omniscience. He doesn't know (and can't know) everything. Information is controlled by the Powers, and often only what Ronan needs to know is what he gets. There will always be basic information about his surroundings, but more detailed information, while often there if he looks (the Powers are hardly averse to people wanting to learn), is not going to be anything about your characters that Ronan shouldn't know. If you have concerns, feel absolutely free to contact me OOC, so we can discuss anything Ronan can and can't find out about your characters and/or worlds when he asks.





     Theology in the YW universe: The Powers and the Lone Power

I should conclude with a brief discussion, I think, of the theology of the Young Wizards universe: essentially, there's the One. The One created life, the universe, and everything, but first it created the Powers to help it. These Power exist outside of time, although they can enter it. A first entry comes at great risk, and if it fails for whatever reason, that Power can never again enter into time's flow; later entries are easier, and less risky, although if for whatever reason a given manifestation fails, that manifestation can't be brought about again.

During the creation, one Power turned away from the One's vision and added something new to the One's creation: entropy. Death. The Lone Power, as it came to be known, the "Fairest and Fallen," introduced death into the One's creation, and so it must one day come to an end. Wizards battle against the Lone Power as it seeks to speed entropy and bring about the heat death of the universe.

Each Power has existed in countless forms, in countless cultures, on countless planets. Every deity in every culture is a manifestion on some level of one of the Powers.

The Powers have a tendency to maneuver wizards into positions and locations where they will do the most good, but no choice is ever made for a wizard: all actions must be taken willingly. There is always a choice.




More information:
Official Website
ErrantryWiki, the official YW Wiki

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is one heck of an info post. *Feels much smarter now, if not ded from exertion*