Aaron Abstract and Change

Aaron Abstract and Change are a character pair in LAST THING STANDING.

Equipment/Abilities:
Aaron Abstract is an Aurumancer, one of the more esoteric schools of magic. It’s not the best-named discipline, as being an aurumancer is not strictly the manipulation of gold. Instead Aaron could be better known as a higher class of specialized pathomancer, being capable of altering perceptions of objects – specifically their perceived value. For example he can cause someone to value a simple toilet plunger as much as they would value a ton of diamonds – and a ton of diamonds isn’t actually worth much in reality.

Which brings us to Change, Aaron’s familiar. Change is a living Transaction, an economic abstraction bound into a physical manifestation. In its current form, it appears as a bundle of notes of indeterminable currency and denomination that swims through the air like a fish – but it could equally be a microwave oven, a car, or even just a pile of…change. Change is less the physical form it wears than the concept of the value it represents – the monetary value that can become anything that can be bought. Except services. Neither Aaron nor Change know how to exchange that value for anything more abstract than a toaster, since the proper theory hasn’t even been developed yet (and don’t even get into incremental things like mortgages and bills). Aurumancy is a relatively new field. Change communicates with Aaron telepathically but openly, making it a direct but mental analogue of ordinary speech.

Aaron has a Bag of Holding slung under his robe, but not a very good one. On the outside it’s the size of a small satchel – on the inside it’s the size of a small satchel. It is, in fact, just a bag. That holds things. Currently it holds a loaf of bread, a sphere of water, his pointy hat (folded) and some trinkets for trade. There is also a spot where Change sometimes sits.

Description:
Aaron is young for a graduate wizard – most graduates normally defer their graduation to take further study, since the laws and studies of magic are intricate and complex. However aurumancy’s course material is somewhat lacking for want of actual knowledge. As a direct result graduates in aurumancy are required to take a postgraduate field and application research sabbatical in order to expand the coffers of knowledge. Aaron is of medium height and sports short, dark brown hair – dark enough that many people mistake it for black at first glance – and grey, boring eyes: the eyes of an accountant, perhaps, of one who knows that gold holds no value but what people assign and doesn’t pretend otherwise. He wears a dyed-blue travelling robe of some hard-worn fabric, worn somewhat thin from washings and starchings. He dislikes the obligatory pointy hat, and therefore stows it in his Bag of Holding whenever it’s not actually compulsory. He’s a cynical individual, which comes from spending your education learning that the whole of society could collapse at any second if confidence in anything falls, and also that once aurumancers finish their sabbatical they’re almost certainly going to be drafted into being Adjusters, correcting errors and flaws in the economic system through forcible aurumancy. He also likes cake.

Change is a familiar. It has sentience, but of a…monetary sort. As Change is effectively an abstract conception of value, its thoughts tend to revolve around that as such. Even so, however, it still remains Aaron’s closest friend and confidante, and would be vice versa if Transactions had anything to confide. Change can take many forms, but usually sticks with the bundle-of-notes.

Biography:
In the postmodern-medieval land of Libertaria, there lies Deletrium Univercity, one of the three capital Univercities in a land obsessed with knowledge. From its halls it produced an individual – well, it produced many individuals, but this one in particular slouched his way down the venerable steps that led down to the Grand Square. Behind him followed a small, levitating stack of banknotes, sliding through the air with sinuous flicks of its body.

“Well, Change – that’s it! We’ve graduated.” Aaron Abstract, newly-qualified aurumancer, looked around at the milling, dispersing crowds. “…like everyone else here. They’re all so old, well, older-”

''Remember Aaron – the others opted to stay for more study. Like a deposit, with compound interest: the longer they remain, the more knowledge they accumulate. In fact, most of the wizards you see today are likely to walk straight back after this.''

“Lucky bastards.”

-~-~-~-

Time passed. And through the towns of the Libertarian plane, Aaron did as well. Occasionally he sent back a thesis by mechanical pigeon as he trekked among the backwaters of the world, cursing at the social circumstances that had both wrought this technology-powered medieval world and that had placed him into its outer edges, doing drudge work for the professors who would gain all the accolades.

On a dirt path from town to town, on a darkened, moonless night, Aaron trudged slowly along. “This isn’t fair!”

“Ah, hell right it isn’, pal.” Under a tree beside the path, a drawling voice and its owner came out from the shadows. “Student wizard, eh? You’ve got t’ have somethin’ on you.” From nowhere came a knife, tip to Aaron’s throat, its glowing edge betraying the energy coils buried under the blade.

Aaron just smiled, and the bandit, unnerved, faltered.

“Y-your money or your life!” he cried, and his nerve shook further as the wizard’s smile just widened.

“Is that a formal transaction? I’ll pay you…for a life?”

A bead of sweat trickled from the bandit’s brow. The blade shook, visibly, bare millimeters from Aaron’s throat. Wordlessly, the bandit nodded.

“And can you make change?”

“What th’ hell are you goin’ on about?! Gimme your cash! Change an’ everythin’!”

''Okay. The voice of the Transaction rang like gold in the still night, as a swarm of low-denomination coinage rose from the wizard’s satchel – the knife went flying as the bandit went down under the mass of metal…''

“Was it necessary to kill him?” The duo continued down the road, Change having returned to note form.

''He stipulated the transaction. You were to pay him in exchange for a life. You paid him, we took his life, and when he was dead, any cash on him was ours for the taking.''

“I suppose so.”

Aurumancer and Transaction walked on eastward, hearts heavy, thoughts preoccupied – and then they disappeared.