Martel's War left an impact upon the Six Roads that can never be forgotten. The "Breath-Stealer" and his attempted revolution ushered in an era of fear across citizens under the Journeying Throne, fuelled by Martel's signature, sinister magic that left his opponents choking on thin air. Even three centuries hence, the shadow of Martel's actions casts a pall over the Roads; a pall that Talarak Sensip argues has prevented proper investigation of a uniquely practical school of magic.

In this early paper, one of the first of Sensips' illustrious career and recreated exactly as originally written, the newly-Artificed scholar develops his now-standard arguments for the inclusion of Martesian-school magic into the wider study of magic as a whole, and develops the first seeds of what would eventually become his standout academic movement for the decoupling of magical studies from historical events. Sensip has become his own part of the Six Roads' history; he starts that development here, with a scholar unlike any other.