Editing Connections (section)

==Uses ==
[[Practitioner]]s can see connections through the [[Sight]], one of its most basic applications;<ref name=":0">Reminder: your average practitioner will be able to look and see if something’s watching them, even if it’s a camera. - [[Interlude 10]]</ref> they might appear as ribbons, strings, patterns in the flow of spirits, or even something nonphysical like gut feelings.<ref name=":4">“Listen up, you two, here’s your first lesson in the field.  I want you to pay particular attention to all the weirdness going on around us.  Start with the immediate stuff, the connections between each of us, things being carried back and forth.  Over time, you’ll visualize it into something like cords, strings, ribbons…”<br><br>“It’s more a feeling for me,” Nick said.  “Physical.  Everyone sees it differently.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/05/03 Excerpt] from [[Subordination 6.3]]</ref><ref name=":7">I switched to my other sight.  “June Burlison.”<br><br>I could see the connection.  Frail, spirits reacting between me and the book, me and Rose, and between me and something out there in the woods.  Too general, indirect and fleeting to point the way to anything.<br><br>“June Burlison,” Rose said.  I could see the same connections forming.  The connection passed to me, then out to the woods, like the aftermath of lighting that darted between conductive targets.<br><br>Would this same strategy work for finding people?  Objects?  If I wanted to find Laird, could I call out his name until I could make out the connection? - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/01/25 Excerpt] from [[Damages 2.3]]</ref><ref name=":11">I did.  I searched for the connection, but I couldn’t make out much. The world was buried under a haze, and the wind was blowing in too many directions at once.<br><br>“Trace your eyes along the paths that things run in parallel, the straightest lines.  Good place to start, and good places to avoid if you think someone’s searching for you.”<br><br>I looked harder.  The saturation and contrast seemed exaggerated, the world painted in a impasto style with coarse brush strokes, animated with life and constant motion.  I followed the areas where the strokes and lines met, so I could see the flow of it, not stopping at a dead end but naturally sweeping my eyes along the straighter paths where the particles danced.<br>[...]<br>My eye traveled over the splash of minor spirits that danced around it, seeking out the areas where they were traveling in the straightest lines.<br><br>One, blocked by the house.  I eyeballed it, figured out the direction, found it on the other side of the house, faint, disappearing into the woods and glades.<br><br>''The Briar Girl'', I thought. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/01/28 Excerpt] from [[Damages 2.4]]</ref> Which connections are easier to make out varies between Practitioners.<ref>She sat at the end of the bench.  Pamela seated herself beside Avery. [...] Her Sight was more farsighted than not, which was a pain, because she <em>really</em> would have liked to see and study the band that stretched between her and Pamela. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/05/30 Excerpt] from [[Lost for Words 1.7]]</ref> Similarly, many forms of [[Other]] can perceive some types of connection, such as sensing and avoiding people's vision (especially the [[Innocent]]).<ref name=":1" />

Many Practitioners or Others can also modify or exploit connections. Schools of Practice that deal heavily with connections are known as the [[Practitioner#Relation.2FInteraction|Schools of Relation]]<ref>''Relation'' practices are those which dwell on connection or the interaction of practitioner and another.  Practices of illusion, deception, misdirection, and those practices where the power is drawn from sources that must be negotiated with each time they are used will fall in this field.  The Oni and Faerie practices can be both, while Enchantresses and Enchantment may lean into the former, and Shamans or Finders the latter.<br><br>[...]<br><br>Relation practices are focused on other individuals and when taken to a Demesne, are almost always a place to invite Others to.  The space can be customized and part of that customization may be to make it more hospitable or comfortable.  In other cases, it may be a lens to work through.  - excerpt from [[List of Books#Demesnes|Demesnes]], quoted in [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/12 Bonus Material: Demesnes Text]</ref> and include [[Enchanting]], [[Binding]] and [[Sympathetic magic]].

Connections also tie people and things to the world, so if all the connections get severed then they fall into the cracks of [[Limbo]], [[Paths|Chaos]] etc. People that have fewer connections are more vulnerable to certain magical hazards.{{cite}} [[Others]] will usually have far less connections then a human.<ref>It was tricky, sometimes.  She could only carry so much.  Miss had told her what she needed to know, before leaving.  That being Lost made it hard to hold onto things.  Many Others, with a big exception for those that were specifically ''about'' having stuff, had a hard time holding onto things.  They had less connections, or connections meant for other things.<br><br>She probably wouldn’t hold onto the butter knife, or holding onto the knife would mean losing something she didn’t really care about or pay attention to, like her own personal dog tag.<br><br>Miss had had to use tricks to keep her stuff.  If she didn’t come back, then maybe Snowdrop would take over the same position.  Then she’d have to learn and use those same tricks, like juggling and lending things.  Miss had made deals with Others who didn’t come into Kennet, giving them things with power, then taking them back when needed, or calling in favors, to keep people busy. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/12 Excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.x]]</ref>