Ardelor’s Hypothesis, named after the sorceress who discovered the phenomenon, is a Krean magic concept which explains why Magic Persuasive cannot bring about something that one cannot attain through Magic Mechanical.

Background. Krean magic is divided into three tiers according to the methodology used in spell-casting: Magic Mechanical, Magic Persuasive, Magic Existential. Magic Persuasive, the “arch-school” of the Krean Arcane Pyramid, entails “defining” the desired possibility and “persuading” the First Wave to substitute that for the existing reality. The more lucid the description and the more cogent the “arguments”, the more likely the Web is to integrate that possibility - thus the less energy the mage has to spend to force his vision into reality.[1]

Essentially, a spell of the “persuasive” echelon carries out exactly the same process a mechanical mage would follow but does so through a ‘short-cut’: the mage outlines the purpose, what she wants to accomplish, and leaves the First Wave to take care of the technicalities. The “persuasive” mage is the architect who draws the blueprint and the First Wave the builder on the construction site.

As a rule of thumb, Persuasion is not to be attempted without a sound understanding of the Mechanics: one cannot ask the First Wave to do for one something one could not theoretically do on one’s own.

The Aredelor Hypothesis. According to Ardelor, the fact that one generally cannot successfully employ a persuasive spell to “describe” something one cannot bring about manually (that is, via Magic Mechanical) suggests that it is not the First Wave but the subconscious that completes the groundwork. An analogy would be how one no longer needs to think about how to draw each letter and how to form words with them once the process of writing becomes automatic. The Ardelor Hypothesis (note the word hypothesis) remains controversial however: see, for instance, Nirveillir’s powerful dissent.

Nirveillir's Critique. Nirveillir argues that following the Ardelor Hypothesis one arrives at the rather surprising proposition that all one has to converse with, convince, in working a spell into the Lace is one’s own mind. With no external First Wave to persuade, does this mean, asks Nirveillir, that - provided the mage is sufficiently self-delusional - “anything goes”?
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Footnotes.
[1] Compendium’s Note: This, of course, is an oversimplification. The reader is encouraged to consult the overview on Krean arcane arts and the entry on Magic Persuasive. [Back]

27th Rising Sun 1669 a.S. Information provided by Coren FrozenZephyr