The Perfect Circle

[SteelFire he/him]

How hard is it to draw a perfect circle? In front of you?  It's hard.  Then how hard is it to draw a perfect circle around the entire body?  Harder.  This is exactly what you need to do in order to be a decent Rithmatist. The youth of the United Isles are constantly learning how to do this, and they say practice makes perfect.  The thing is though is that the students don't pay attention.  Much like a normal high school students they don't care enough to actually learn the material.  How do they actually do it?  Are the people of the United Isles, evolved differently than that of the normal Humans on our earth?  This could be the case as there are many Rithmatists who are able to do this with speed and exceptionally good accuracy..  Much like we do in a videogame.  We practice very hard to be able to play videogames, to sight, reload, move, macro, micro, heal up, speed up and snipe.  And all of this in a matter of seconds.  The neural pathways allow us to do this.  This is most likely how they are able to do this.  But much like we are not perfect no matter how many times we play the video games, they cannot possibly be able to make a perfect circle well before their prime, and after it as well.  Fingers grow old and slow and they fall with the times.  Not to mention how at the tower the wild chalklings somehow are able to sense the weaknesses of a circle.  Making you vulnerable.  How do they do it?  How are they able to draw circles with speed, and aim for impeccable accuracy?  

 

Let me know in the comments what you think and how I can improve.  Thanks, and good Worldhopping!

[Archer he/him]

Minor spoilers to follow. 

I never understood why they didn't use templates more often. In dueling it would be unfair, but against a non rithmatist enemy it would make a lot of sense. If the schools and homes of rithmatists had painted perfect circle templates for defences in key locations, then the people who got ambushed wouldn't have been killed so easily. And in the warzone? Where it would be used constantly? They definitely should have put them out there. 

I heard somewhere that only psychopaths can draw a perfect circle freehand.[citation needed, probably not true] But with practice and proper technique, I agree, you could get pretty good. But as for rithmatists having any supernatural drawing ability, I don't think so. We seem them fail to make good drawings all the time. I believe it's just down to practice, skill and mindset. 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Archer

[Random Reader]

Just give Rithmatists large compasses with chalk and spear ends. To draw a circle, stick the spear into the ground, and don't for anything else. The spear end would also be useful for self-defense.

[1st of Lunch he/him]

I don't think they draw a perfect circle as often as thought. Sure, with practice they do better than I would but there are still weaknesses. This is why they can be defeated, and sometimes easily so.

[Selleshar she/her]

A lot of the students weren't paying attention in their classes yes, but a lot of them were also really bad at drawing good circles. Those who didn't pay attention, didn't succeed.

It's just like with regular students. The goofs do poorly on tests, and the few freakishly devoted nerds ace them. I think the same principle applies here. Stories tend center on the abnormal people, so I guess that's why it seems that in the Rithmatist... a lot of people can draw good circles. They're just the ones that we interact with more.

I liked your post though. Drawing with chalk is what Rithmatists do for fun instead of video games. xD Beautifully put.

[TheManKnownAsHoid]

Also remember it takes a lot more time to draw with a template than it does freehand. In combat situations, that could mean life or death. What Im curious about is whether a geometrically perfect circle could be destroyed by lines of Invocation.