Essentials

Essentials is a tome that serves as a very basic, novice-level guide to the Practice.<ref name="1.3e1"/> It's standard reading and provided to most novices.<ref name="2.5e1">“Tell me, can you identify the Other we just saw?”
“Name it? No. Stick a label on it? I could maybe say it’s a Faerie, but that’s only a guess.”
“Very true. In this case, I think it’s a safe assumption. You’ve read Essentials, I assume? Standard reading for most new practitioners.”
“I have,” I said.
“Then you know what Faerie are weak against?”
I thought, but I couldn’t connect it. “Something about raw iron, but…”
“Crude elements,” Rose cut in. “Things that have been worked, refined, or crafted are less effective against them.” - excerpt from Damages 2.5</ref><ref>Pact Dice: Mile End</ref>

In some cases, an edition would have details tailored to suit the local customs.<ref name=":0">Pact Dice: Mile End - Essentials</ref>

Chapter One, the introduction, gives an overview on Others.<ref>All of the most foolish and brutish Others have been captured, slain, consumed, driven off, or tricked away. Recognize all Others for what they are, and know that they, by a process of elimination two thousand and six hundred years in the making, are cunning by nature, they are slave to those who are, or they were made to be cunning to better serve in their duties. Wit is the greatest defense and the sharpest weapon, on battlefields such as these.

Essentials, chapter one, the introduction, on Others. Laying down the ground rules, the most basic stuff we needed to know. Others were liars. - excerpt from Bonds 1.4</ref>

Chapter Eight is titled Dangers a practitioner faces, with short alphabetized entries covering various threats.<ref name="1.4">Bonds 1.4</ref>
The full Awakening ritual, including diagrams and pronounciation guides.<ref name="1.3e1"> Read Essentials. It sits on the book stand. A novice’s guide to the most basic things, it outlines the steps to awakening yourself. - excerpt from Bonds 1.3 </ref><ref name=":0" />
Advice on how to control your Second Sight.<ref>“The book says you need to learn to manage your extra senses. If you

don’t, they can swallow you up, and you won’t find your way back to reality.”

“I think I remember.”

“It suggests techniques, but you have to find what works for you. Closing your eyes, but not moving your eyelids. Or try refocusing them,

and find that point you reach to where you’re trying to refocus your

eyes but you’re doing something else. It becomes as natural as anything

else about your body.  Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.” - [1]excerpt from Bonds 1.7

</ref>

The basic rules for what elements are used to bind different types of Other.<ref>Like in Essentials, malignant Others are going to react to purifying substances and patterns, like salt and running water. Fresh wood against dead things.”

“Iron against things that are born from nature,” I said. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7</ref><ref name="2.5e1" />

Descriptions of common classifications of Other and their weaknesses, such as Faeries and their vulnerability to crude materials.<ref name="2.5e1" />
A vague reference to the Seal of Solomon.<ref>Bonds 1.7</ref>
The fact that some Practitioners would train their Second Sight to focus on particular things.<ref>With my newly acquired second sight, I could make out the spirits that infused everything. Just as I might focus my eyes, I could focus this sight. I could train it. According to Essentials, some practitioners would train their sight to focus on things better suited to their talents. Imagery would take hold. - excerpt from Damages 2.1</ref>
Descriptions of different schools of magic, such as Enchantresses.<ref>What were enchantresses? Essentials had filled me in on the basics. They would be focused on altering relationships. Influencing people, influencing things. An object could have its owner reassigned, so it might find its way into someone else’s hands, or be tethered to a location, so it would continually end up there. On the higher end of things, people could be altered, with an enchantress literally stealing someone’s love. On the very high end of things, familiars could be claimed by an enchantress that didn’t already have one, among other general bends and twists in more fundamental rules. - excerpt from Damages 2.1</ref>
Examples of Implements and their potential meanings.<ref>“A watch. It’s less direct than the objects Essentials gave as examples. It doesn’t suggest anything particular.”

“It’s a… way of seeing how the world works on a fundamental level. For someone who does the omen thing, I can sort of understand that.” - excerpt from Bonds 1.5</ref>

An appendix at the back.<ref>Alexis had the book on protections in her lap, while Ty had the Essentials tome, his attention apparently on the very last few pages. The appendix? - excerpt from Subordination 6.3</ref>

Quotes

All of the most foolish and brutish Others have been captured, slain, consumed, driven off, or tricked away. Recognize all Others for what they are, and know that they, by a process of elimination two thousand and six hundred years in the making, are cunning by nature, they are slave to those who are, or they were made to be cunning to better serve in their duties. Wit is the greatest defense and the sharpest weapon, on battlefields such as these.
- Chapter One

Being forsworn, betrayal within the coven, betrayal by familiars, covens, crusades, death, demesnes, execution, exquirere… Lords, loss of implements, loss of sight, loss of soul… Witch hunters. - some headings from Chapter Eight, "Dangers a practitioner faces"<ref name="1.4" />

Witch hunters: Witch hunters are markedly different from inquisitors. Where an inquisitor is organized by an outside party, the witch hunter is in the employ of practitioners or Others. Oft used to guard a Lord’s power, maintain a balance or hunt down rogue parties. Witch Hunters do not use faith or innocence as tools, but use gifts provided by those they serve, alongside the protections the uninitiated enjoy, as well as the ability to circumvent defenses that would ward off practitioners and Others. - Entry in Chapter Eight<ref name="1.4" />

To open your eyes to the Sight and enable Practice, you must first make a compact. The following ritual is adapted to the Mile End families.

A WARNING: Once this ritual is conducted, your words will matter. It is this mattering that makes your practices work, both in word and in action. To lie weakens you, and to be called on a lie is to be Forsworn - a wound as deep on your character and practice as an axe striking home might be to your physical body. In severe cases, the damage could well be permanent.

The Practicing of The Awakening:

Clear out a space. Draw out a diagram as depicted:

- Mile End edition of Essentials - "A First Practice - The Awakening"<ref name=":0" />

References

Contents

Quotes

References