Yovinkus Wotch

From Mizahar Lore

"There are decisions that neither the butterfly nor the sequoia can escape. Either every instant is precious, or none is. I have made my choice." - Yovinkus Wotch, letter to a colleague

Yovinkus Wotch

Race	Human
Date of birth	604 BV
Place of birth	Treval, Alahea
Date of death	511 BV (aged 93)
Place of death	Treval, Alahea
Title	Father of modern Animation

Yovinkus Wotch was a great Alahean wizard who specialized in Animation. He is credited with heralding a veritable paradigm shift for the discipline, grounding it in magical science. Among other discoveries, he authored a revolutionary version of the Daek-nuit ritual for creating the Nuit undead that did not require human sacrifices. Wotch is also remembered as a philosopher, moralist and anti-war intellectual.

Biography

Yovinkus Wotch was born in the Alahean capitol, Treval, in 604 BV. Thirdborn son of an upper middle class family, he received the best education money can buy, and breathed an atmosphere of open-mindedness and tolerance from a very early age. While his older brother and sister went on to inherit their father's business, young Yovinkus sought an apprenticeship at various magical schools, but never managed to pass his entrance tests due to his poor results in personal magic. Refusing to be a burden on his family, he found humble employment as a carpenter's apprentice. It was here, when his workshop received a commission for a the body of a wooden golem that he was first introduced to Animation. The art was still very crude at the time, having progressed far less than most other disciplines of magic. It was considered a fringe theory by mainstream wizards, and early golems took vast amount of magepower to animate, often going berserk on their creators.

Introduced almost by accident, Wotch developed an instant passion for the art. Frustrated at how little information was available, he traveled across the country, seeking the rural wisemen and hedge-mages who still practiced it in its oldest form. He visited remote little islands where half-crazy hermits were said to possess this or that bit of knowledge. In doing so, he accumulated a vast wealth of data. By cross-comparing and analyzing the multitude of different approaches, he was able to separate fact from superstition. The standard Animation process is due to Wotch, as is the first relatively safe version of the Daek-nuit ritual. He was also the first to theorize that golems might be able to surpass human intelligence, given enough resources.

Finally recognized by the government, Wotch was nevertheless never touted as a hero because of his philosophy and anti-war stances. Several times he was on the verge of being accused of treason for meeting with like-minded Suvan intellectuals. He never wrote books or held formal classes, but he transmitted his knowledge through his vast epistulary exchanges. For all his contributions, Wotch is most famous for his refusal to turn undead - despite pressures from the Court Mage himself - with the ritual of his own making. He was perhaps disturbed by the aloofness and general cynicism of those who had undergone the Daek-nuit. Instead, he died serenely of old age in his Treval home, surrounded by his loving family. Vuld Shaik famously remarked that "the world got its one virtuous mage, and he's the only one who died and stayed dead."