That is a very good question, and very difficult to answer. After all, power is relative, and, in fact, within any given form of wizardry there are different levels of power and skill.

In the end, of course, power is determined less by the amount of direct force able to be applied by that skill as it is by the breadth of effect of the skill, and well it is able to accomplish these things.

So let us explore the possibilities.

Easily one of the most powerful seeming of all forms of Wizardry is that of the Mooder. Able to draw on a greater amount of force at even the lowest levels than nearly any other form of wizardry, Mooding also has a massive breadth of things it can accomplish, cause, affect, making it a truly impressive skill.

On the other hand, it is really little more than a Talent, as it is virtually impossible to control, and what control one can gather is limited to one's ability to control oneself. While a valuable lesson, this invalidates Mooding as the most powerful form of wizardry.

Next is the Nullifier. The ability to cancel out forms of energy completely, basically sucking them into a void, is quite impressive. And, properly used can be quite powerful. For instance, with the elimination of gravity, one can do an approximation of flight. However, such truly impressive accomplishments require an extremely strong Nullification talent. There is, after all, a reason that Nullification has always been considered a power that nullifies magic, and usuallyit can only be used to nullify magic that is used against you, and sometimes, for more powerful Nullifiers, ambient magic as well, for reasons you all now understand. With such limited scope, nullification is actually useful only for personal protection.

This moves us on to Orchestration, which is as impressive as Nullification at first glance. Orchestrators are able to create temporary artificial bonds between molecules. And at highter levels are able to create permanent bonds, and even bonds between molecules of different types. But, when considering which is the most powerful, we have to consider the most common ncarnation, not the most powerful (this is after all a general discussion, not a powerplay or one of those role playing games you kids love to play so very much). These temporary bonds can be used to build bridges, shields, even weapons with only a molecule of thickness for an edge. It is one of my personal favorites of Wizardry, purely for it's artistic application (to whit, Cassle Asalain's famous water sculpture 'Mutable'). That gives it an extra dimension of social power, but does not necessarily make it the most powerful, but it is definitely a contender.

Next is the Psychokinetic. One of the weaknesses of this power is that it is extremely difficult to use, no matter how powerful you are. The Biped man is both fragile and complicated, and the other Self Systems exist for both protection and Self-correction, but obviously, the power to alter and influence the minds of others usually makes this the first consideration for the most powerful form of Wizardry. Oh stop smiling so hugely Farralan, I haven't said it is the most powerful yet, so will you let me finish? Thank you. As I was saying, though mind reading has so far proven impossible, forcing thoughts and impressions into a mind is definitely possible, but rarely as effective as we might like. No matter how powerful or intelligent we think ourselves, the minds of Biped, and even Intelligent, or simply Aware Beings have prove to be stubbornly unaffectable without constant attention, as I'm sure you've discovered Farralan when trying to get me to improve your grades. Or did you think I hadn't noticed? There is a reason I am the teacher and you are the student.

So, to conclude on Psychokineticism, the general stubborness and tendency towards stability and ennui of your fellow man deprives this skill of much of it's potential power. Still, A determined and strong willed psychokineticist can be a formidable force. And while lacking the outright potential for physicl mayhem that an Orchestrator posseses, they are definitely one of the top contenders for the throne.

Next we come to the Shapeshifter and the Morpher. Two very similar talents, but with one important difference. Still, it's difficult at best to even tell which is the more powerful of these two skills. The ability to assume the form of virtually any living creature in the same Kingdom that a Shapeshifter has, and the ability of the Morpher to assume the form of any inanimate object, up to a certain complexity are formidable skills. After all, there are many potential strengths to be gained from having the ability to fly from any situation, or being able to turn into a fierce beast, or simply by turning into a ball of lint and being unnoticed. Part of what makes these skills so powerful is the sheer breadth of what you can do with them, and that being the case, I won't go any further into it, since these are, for the most part, two relatively simply understood skills, and will simply say that, in my opinion and in general opinion, these can be accepted to be in the running along with Orchestration and Psychokineticism.

Next is the Summoner, in many ways combining the skill of the Shapeshifter and the Psychokineticist. Although it is rare to meet a Summoner cable of Summoning Bipeds of any type, the Summoning of smaller creatures (or larger in the cases of say, non-intelligent Dragons) can be useful enough. The control, while more complete than that of a Psychokinetic has it's disadvantages. For instance, while a Psychokinetics influence is potentially permanent if successful, a Summoner's influence is very, very temporary, and they have limited access to the Beings abilities, meaning they can only command it to a limited extent. A Summoned Being lacks many of it's normal abilities, so while it is quite possible, if you're powerful enough, to Summon a truly powerful Sorcery, under your influence that Sorcerer would be unable to actually cast a single spell, well, unless they had a spellbook handy, of course, and even that presents complications. Of course, most Summoners use there Summoning ability merely to bring the Being there, and then they release them, allowing them to act on their own with only the injuction not to harm the Summoner. This is a far better way of using the skill, makin git far more formidable. But in the end, Summoning really finds itself paling in comparison to either Shapeshift or Morphing, and Psychokineticism and Orchestration as well.

Finally that leaves us with Weaving. And yes, I know I've skipped over more than 20 other forms of Wizardry, but they, in their normal incarnations, are hardly a consideration in this discussion.

So back to Weaving. Upon first learning about it, many people fear this power. The ability to access and use the magic of others, and even combine magics in ways that would not normally be possible is a formidable talent. And many people fear the Weaver's ability to actually steal someone's magic, although there is not a single proven case of this ever happening, which brings us to the weakness inherent in Weaving. It requires the presence of outside magic. If there is no other magic user within the Weaver's range to acquire, they are pretty much helpless. While powerful, this dependency on others makes it a woefully lost cause as the most powerful form of magic. Still, with enough magical sources to draw upon, a skilled Weaver can be an unholy terror impossible to predict.

SO we are left with Orchestration, Psychokineticism, Shapeshifting and Morphing. Allow us to dismiss Morphing, because inanimate objects are fairly easy to come by. There are advantages to being one yourself, but there are disadvantages either, and many of you will know from our littl experiment with being pencils for an hour.

Next we will throw out Psychokineticism. As I have stated before, it is just too difficult to use, just too unpredictable, because living creatures are too unpredicatable. In most cases it's a lost cause, as many would be conquerors have learned to their dismay.

Finally that leaves us with Orchestration compared to Shapeshifting. In the end Shapeshifting wins because even at it's weakest, it is an effective and useful power, whereas, at it's weakest, Orchestration allows you to build small temporary shieds of out air or dust, an effect relatively easily duplicated by Telekineticism, and in fact, that Telekineticism can do far better, since it uses external pressure as opposed to internal attraction.

And that completes this discussion, which, incidentally, is totally ridiculous because, as I said, power is relative, and an intelligent and skilled Cursor could take even the most powerful Shapeshifter down.

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