Ilvermorny School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Ilvermorny House Cognitions

The Cognition levels

Each person has a Primary Cognition - a process by which they go about making decisions. This Cognition relates directly to an aspect of a person's being - the Soul, Heart, Mind, or Body. They use this Cognition/aspect in every conscious decision that they make, regardless of the difficulty of that decision. For example, a Thunderbird is trying to decide on both what they are having for dinner and also which university to go to. They would trust their intuition primarily in both instances, even though one is a major decision and the other is relatively insignificant.

However, many people, if not most, have a Secondary Cognition that backs up their Primary Cognition and helps them to further make their best decision. So although a person may have a Thunderbird Primary Cognition, they may have a nearly-as-strong Horned Serpent Secondary Cognition that supports the Thunderbird Primary.

Alternatively, some may have two Cognitions that they use interchangeably based on the type of decision they may need to make. For the previous example, someone might use a Wampus Cognition for their dinner choice, but a Horned Serpent Cognition for their university choice. These are called Co-Cognitions, when they are used interchangeably and not one noticeably more than the other.

House Cognitions

Horned Serpent=logic

Thunderbird=intuition

Wampus=instincts

Pukwudgie=emotions

Horned Serpents use logic exclusively in all their decision-making. They have a Code of ethics that they weigh decisions against and they base decisions off of this Code regardless of emotions, intuition, or instincts - just cold, hard logic. They study everything out and think about it for longer than everyone else until they finally reach a logical conclusion to the problem, not letting feelings, in any form, get in the way - just what they believe logic requires to be done.

Thunderbirds relate all their decisions to how they connect to some kind of Greater Power - whether it be God, the Universe, the Force, Magic, or just some Power that be - that "speaks" to them through their intuition. They feel this connection to everything around them through this greater force/power, and make decisions on what their intuition is telling them this force/power wants of them.

Wampus use their instincts. Whatever they initially feel needs to be done, they do. They believe that their instincts are right because it is one of the most ingrained parts of them, so they often act more immediately than others (not necessarily impulsively, though - their immediate action could be immediately beginning to plan). Their instincts are honed, so what they immediately feel to be right, is right. And, if their instincts change and tell them something different, they follow the new information instead.

Pukwudgies base their decisions on their emotions. Emotions are different than instincts because they take more time to manifest. It's not their initial instincts, it's what feelings stay over a certain amount of time, once they've developed far enough. However much time they need to wait before knowing what their emotions are saying, or which emotions specifically they listen to, is entirely individual, decided by practice and trial & error throughout their lives. But all decisions are based on their own strong emotions.

Cognition grid

External - Thunderbird & Horned Serpent

Make decisions based on something outside of themselves - a greater logic/code or a Source - and what they think about this situation following it

Internal - Wampus & Pukwudgies

Make decisions based entirely on their internal world - either their emotions or their instincts - and what they think is right, regardless of exterior ideals

Developed - Horned Serpent & Pukwudgie

Make decisions based on developed traits & skills - logic and emotions - that improve and grow as more experience is gained throughout life

Innate - Wampus & Thunderbird

Make decisions based on basic functions - instincts or intuition - that are ingrained in a person just from being alive and do not change as time goes on

Thus, Thunderbird is External Innate, Wampus is Internal Innate, Horned Serpent is External Developed, and Pukwudgie is Internal Developed

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Disclaimer: This system is both imperfect and incomplete. Your Cognition does not necessarily determine your House. Cognition is only a small part of the House overall, and it only touches on the Body/Mind/Heart/Soul aspect of the house, not even the Warrior/Scholar/Healer/Adventurer part. So just because you may discover you have a Cognition that is not the House you believe you are in, does not mean that you were wrong about your House - everyone is unique!