The Poisoned Source



The Poisoned Source is a book by Tissaia de Vries which is said to respond to the question of whether individuals are born mages or not, and whether or not mages should reproduce.

Journal entry

 * No one is born a mage. We still know too little about genetics and the mechanisms of heredity. We devote too little time and resources to this research. Sadly, we still conduct trials in the inheritance of magic ability using, let us say, natural methods. The results of these pseudo-experiments far too often can be seen in the gutters of our cities and begging outside our temple walls. Far too often we see and encounter brain-dead and moronic women, women covered in their own spittle and passing themselves off as prophetesses, seers, village diviners and miracle workers — cretins with brains degenerated by the uncontrolled Power they inherited.


 * These simpletons and fools can themselves breed and pass on their "abilities" and continue the degeneration. Is anyone capable of foreseeing or defining what the last link in such a chain will look like?


 * Most of us mages lose the ability to procreate as a result of changes and disruptions to the functioning of our pituitary glands. Others — sorceresses, most often — mature into their magic powers with gonads intact. They can conceive and give birth — and have the audacity to consider that good fortune, a blessing. Yet I repeat: no one is born a mage. And no one should be! Aware of the gravity of what I write, I provide an answer to the question posed at the Summit in Cidaris. I answer with every certitude: each of us must decide what she wants to be — a sorceress or a mother.

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