[center][h3]Rumors of the Ruse[/h3][i]an excerpt, by Kipling Barborossa[/i][/center]

It is common understanding that different cultures have differing definitions of what is collectively called the "Ruse." Throughout my travels I have encountered such explanations as follows:

[list][*]They are great monsters that devour dreams in order to gain selfish power.
[*]They are the whispers in one's ear, the heckling voice in one's own head.
[*]They are visions of persons, places or events that have since gone, as mirages in the desert.
[*]They are formless pockets of energy, with or without sentience, which inhabit liminal spaces.
[*]They are flora, fauna, minerals, objects or elements which exist and behave in ways that defy natural laws.
[*]They are gods, demigods and deities with power and authority over nature.
[*]They are the spirits of the dead.
[*]They are comprised of a fifth natural element.
[*]They are a foreign corruption of Nature.
[*]They are inseparable from existence itself.
[*]They do not exist at all.[/list]

It is my privilege to present a conclusive definition which, through extensive research, encompasses every documented form of the Ruse:

[i]The Ruse are a presence -- physical or spiritual, living or inanimate -- whose existence is defined by or depends upon thought.[/i]

But what is [i]thought?[/i] Thought is interchangeably referred to as [i]intention, emotion, belief,[/i] and [i]dream.[/i] Thought is not, as commonly assumed, limited to human minds. Fauna (and even, in certain circumstances, flora) are as capable of thought and its effects, if to smaller degrees, as humanity. They simply lack the concentration that we humans take for granted.

[i]Concentration[/i] -- whether intentional, as in a spell of witchcraft, or unintentional, as a recurring nightmare -- is the womb from which a Ruse is born.

But what, then, is the difference between a Ruse and a spell?

A Ruse, as previously defined, is a [i]presence[/i]. Something that, for lack of a better term, [i]exists[/i] with some level of independence. A light in the sky may be a Ruse. A voice may be a Ruse.

A spell, however, is the process of applying thought and intent to [i]affect[/i] something else directly. The enchantment of objects is an application of spellwork. A chant to cause the clouds to gather and rain, or a sigil drawn on a door to protect a home, or a potion brewed with the intent to cure an ailment -- these are all examples of spells. A spell may -- and commonly will -- create a Ruse. A Ruse which possesses enough sentience to also possess thought may also cast spells.

Ruse and spells are undeniably intertwined, in that both are only possible through the power of thought. [i]Thought[/i], I am confident, is a natural element, just as important as fire, water, earth and air. It may exist independently, yet may also be utilized as a tool to change the world around us.

In the next chapter I will discuss the philosophical question of the Ruse: who is to say that everything that now exists does not depend on some cosmic sustained thought, and that all of us and all that we know are not Ruse ourselves?