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In Marrishland, magic is the source of all power, so it isn't surprising that it plays such an important role in its history and culture. It also lies at the heart of the conflict in the book. To find out how, read the book.

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Torutsen

Torutsen is a thick, bitter brown liquid used by Mar wizards and their apprentices to see the myst — the magic that exists everywhere except within living things. While the precise process of producing torutsen is a carefully guarded secret, it is fairly well known that it consists only of dried kalysut leaves boiled in water, and more than a few have managed to discover how long the leaves must soak before they produce torutsen. While it is possible to view the myst without the aid of torutsen, this requires the use of a Knowledge effect. As Mar wizards are less capable with Knowledge than with many other magicks, viewing the myst without torutsen is beyond the abilities of most apprentices, and even most wizards would have difficulty using any other magic while maintaining such a spell.

When an apprentice has sufficiently advanced his knowledge of magic in accordance with Bera's Unwritten Laws, his master gives him his first taste of torutsen, granting him his first glimpse of the myst. In time — and with a practice akin to a child learning to walk or talk — the apprentice learns first how to direct the flow of the myst, then to release its energy, and finally to call upon specific aspects of each of the eight kinds of magic. Eventually, an apprentice learns how to command the myst consistently even without needing to see it by means of torutsen. A tiny number of Mar in history have learned to use the myst without the aid of torutsen, either by accident or experiment, but only two were well-educated enough to escape execution by the wizards for wielding power beyond their understanding.

Torutsen also has many practical applications even after apprenticeship, and few wizards travel without at least one small flask of it on their persons. First, since myst moves whenever a wizard uses or prepares to use magic, the drinker can determine whether another wizard is preparing to do so and can even allow her to determine the likely nature of the spell. Second, event-triggered and self-perpetuating spells are visible as motes of myst, so the drinker can often detect magical traps and powerful enchantments by observing the myst while under the effect of torutsen. Third, torutsen is useful to scholars of magic, who often need to take precise measurements of myst. Finally, experienced wizards who wish to learn to wield myst more precisely often turn to torutsen to check their progress — guiding myst in specific patterns along their bodies, for example, or determining whether they are successfully wielding several magicks in appropriate proportions.

A small swallow of torutsen allows the drinker to perceive the myst for three or four hours. Larger quantities extend this duration somewhat, but there is a steeply diminishing return. Moreover, larger quantities of torutsen can result in unpleasant side-effects, including nausea, headache, and gastrointestinal damage, as well as temporary bouts of myst blindness — a condition in which the subject sees the myst as an almost solid wall, making her blind to anything more than a few inches away. Myst blindness, coupled with morutsen intoxication, is sometimes induced in those seeking the divine vision necessary to become a wizard or by those seeking the vision of an eighth-degree wizard.

(Contributed by Nightfire Tradition)