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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7968830" data-attributes="member: 177">The fact that it comes from the mind does not imply that it does so without assistance and support.&nbsp; It isn't like humans (or other races) are particularly good at complete and total concentration of their minds without various practices.As for &quot;making sense&quot; in fantasy magical systems... I think you miss the mark.&nbsp; What's called for is thematic appropriateness, not &quot;sense&quot;.&nbsp; None of this makes a darned lick of sense if you look at it more than skin deep.Bat poop?&nbsp; That doesn't seem thematically appropriate for psi.&nbsp; But crystals or other foci seem quite reasonable.&nbsp; Similar for chanted mantras, or body controls that may require movements (tai chi, for example, could easily be a psionic support practice).Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels are probably the best written portrayal of psi as the magic of a fantasy world - and the characters very frequently make use of various meditative foci, physical practices, and spoken words.&nbsp; And, many of the workings the characters perform are ritual in nature, because the attention and focus needed to gather significant power is difficult on a six-second timescale...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 7968830, member: 177"] The fact that it comes from the mind does not imply that it does so [I]without assistance and support[/I]. It isn't like humans (or other races) are particularly good at complete and total concentration of their minds without various practices. As for "making sense" in [I]fantasy magical systems[/I]... I think you miss the mark. What's called for is thematic appropriateness, not "sense". None of this makes a darned lick of sense if you look at it more than skin deep. Bat poop? That doesn't seem thematically appropriate for psi. But crystals or other foci seem quite reasonable. Similar for chanted mantras, or body controls that may require movements (tai chi, for example, could easily be a psionic support practice). Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels are probably the best written portrayal of psi as the magic of a fantasy world - and the characters very frequently make use of various meditative foci, physical practices, and spoken words. And, many of the workings the characters perform are [I]ritual[/I] in nature, because the attention and focus needed to gather significant power is difficult on a six-second timescale... [/QUOTE]

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