montereybayaquarium: nubbsgalore: the downside up Whoa this is stunning “…the idea

montereybayaquarium:

nubbsgalore:

the downside up

Whoa this is stunning

“…the idea that certain mundane animals might be able to use magic is not entirely a new one. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed that dolphins were somewhere between mermaids and sea-serpents in terms of their innate magical power, and many magical societies around the world still hold similar beliefs. Central African mages have a long held that the Mountain Gorilla has been known to cast obscuring charms of remarkable power, and that whole, vast colonies of the ape dwell in hidden valleys never seen by man. For the most part, however, magical scholars have scoffed at the notion of mystical apes, shape-shifting foxes, or ravens with a secret wisdom.

New studies released by the Bureau of Conversation and Magical Resources (CMR), however, may have those same scholars eating, as it were, crow. Doctor Laurent Von Anker [Blackgate, Class of 85] has worked for the last ten years with the departments’ task-force studying the breeding habits and populations of the Pacific-Sea Serpent. Best known as one the AWC’s primary sources of wand-cores, the Pacific Sea Serpent’s spines are a highly sought after magical commodity and the health of their pods if closely monitored by the CMR to ensure harvesting is humane and doesn’t harm the population.

Doctor Von Anker was the team lead responsible for recording and studying the mating songs of the sea-serpent, considered to be one of nature’s most complex and beautiful songs. Occasionally, of course, other sounds get picked up by the recording bubbles deployed by the CMR during its studies, but these are, by in large, ignored by the scientists. That was until Doctor Von Anker discovered something amazing:

“I come from Muggle stock, and it is my great shame that my great, great grandfather was the captain of a whaling ship. He died on that ship, not that it matters much, but I have dedicated a great part of my life to undoing some of his evils and I must admit that I have a very deep affection for cetaceans of all sorts, especially their music. Often I would save the recordings of the whale songs we would pick up for my own collection.”

It was listening to those songs that Doctor Von Anker discovered something amazing: “That whales were not just singing to communicate…a small but not inconsiderable number of their songs included magical harmonics - the sort of patterns and repetitions wizards versed in musical enchantments would recognize immediately. It is similar to the magic woven by sirens and other creatures whose cries are considered innately ‘magical.’”

After some intensive study Doctor Von Anker was able to issue a report identifying the enchantments being woven by the whales, “Most of them are fairly complex, but not difficult to translate into normal thaumaturgical theory - spells of healing or guidance, mostly. But a significant number of the spells were not nearly so focused, and were not even regulated to a single species of whale. In fact, it seems the enchantment is being woven by countless cetaceans working in concert.”

And what is that spell, being sung across the ocean in an echoing harmony?

“It’s a sleeping spell. Or a calming spell…its hard to tell. But what we do know at this point is that is a powerful, multipart harmony, requiring the sort of complex spell casting that only wizardingkind’s most powerful mages could pull off after years of preparation. And it also appears to be slightly skewed…probably due the actions of men like my grandfather, hurting particular parts of the vocals. But the enchantment is still wildly powerful, even in a state of fluctuation”

But what is the spell being aimed at?

“We don’t know.” Doctor Von Anker says nervously, “But I’m afraid we might find out sooner rather than later.” 

-Zophi Kog, The Journal of Magical Ecology and Conservation “The Sorcery of Cetaceans - What Whale Song has Revealed about Magical Fauna,” (March 1, 2017.)