A few in game questions

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace;

 

You could incant a fog like item, as Schwarzbart suggests, but something truly ethereal would not be in the sphere of Incantation. Revision could do something like this, of course.

 

As to why Ghosts and Ghost-traps seem to be related to Gates...no comment.

[freespace2dotcom]

1. Just how common is fortune telling? (crystal ball, et cetera)

 

2. Have there been any movements to build a new island? either a genuine island or even just a floating castle/fortress somewhere?

 

3. What is the style that farmers use to rotate their crops? A half cereal - half empty rotation every year? Or a 1/3 cereal 1/3 legume 1/3 empty type rotation? Or something completely different? And do they have greenhouses?

 

4. From what I can tell, sky pirates are mostly supposed to be 15-17th century "Golden era" pirates in the sky, and maybe dressed slightly different. Are we supposed to treat them in our minds as the "romantic" version as we treat them in this era, or the highly dangerous people whom you absolutely didn't want to meet as they actually were back then. I ask this because you seem to use a lot of pirate stereotypes that didn't necessarily apply to pirates as a whole. obviously you treat them as (at least somewhat) dangerous, though a player character who is the child of real sky pirates has a "cool" factor. I can't really see that being true in the golden age of piracy. Could you enlighten us on this?

 

5. Incanting a fireball seems straightforward, but what if you wanted to do something cooler like breathe fire? and is there a way to make yourself or another person extremely prone to aquiring static electricity? mwahahahaha

[Schwarzbart]

1) It was more common in the past because Astrology the main Magic Path for Fortune Telling have its best time behind it acording to ingame infos but I suspect its still common.

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace:

 

1. Just how common is fortune telling? (crystal ball, et cetera)

 

Schwarzbart is essentially correct- fortune telling and the like falls under Astrology, and is one of the central Pillars of magic.

 

2. Have there been any movements to build a new island? either a genuine island or even just a floating castle/fortress somewhere?

 

It happened in the past (the Wall is a prime example of this), but the foundational magics needed to keep buoyancy have been lost. Unless...

 

3. What is the style that farmers use to rotate their crops? A half cereal - half empty rotation every year? Or a 1/3 cereal 1/3 legume 1/3 empty type rotation? Or something completely different? And do they have greenhouses?

 

It differs throughout Elumia, and is based on weather. The region around Mineta generally has a Mediterranean climate (although the City of Mineta in particular does not, due to the Current of Embers.) In this region, more advanced 3 field or even 4 field agriculture practice can be seen. Greenhouses do exist, and are used to cultivate primarily flowers or, in the case of the Academagia, magical experiments.

 

4. From what I can tell, sky pirates are mostly supposed to be 15-17th century "Golden era" pirates in the sky, and maybe dressed slightly different. Are we supposed to treat them in our minds as the "romantic" version as we treat them in this era, or the highly dangerous people whom you absolutely didn't want to meet as they actually were back then. I ask this because you seem to use a lot of pirate stereotypes that didn't necessarily apply to pirates as a whole. obviously you treat them as (at least somewhat) dangerous, though a player character who is the child of real sky pirates has a "cool" factor. I can't really see that being true in the golden age of piracy. Could you enlighten us on this?

 

You are essentially correct- both archetypes are true. Pirates are dangerous, deadly, and to be avoided...which gives them a cool factor.

 

If you are the child of a Sky Pirate, clearly, your impression on these things may differ.

 

5. Incanting a fireball seems straightforward, but what if you wanted to do something cooler like breathe fire? and is there a way to make yourself or another person extremely prone to aquiring static electricity? mwahahahaha

 

Now *that's* a curse.

 

You can certainly incant a method to breathe fire, but this would simply be a more dramatic looking way to incant a stream of flame. If you actually wanted to breathe fire, you would need to Revise yourself.

 

Via Revision, you could make someone prone to acquiring static electricity. You could do something similar with Astrology, actually. Via Incantation, you could create static electricity for someone to enjoy, of course. Bahahaha!

[Schwarzbart]

If you actually wanted to breathe fire, you would need to Revise yourself.

 

Hmm this kind of reminds me on a Familiar Quest where your Familiar whant to learn how to breathe fire ^^ (Sadly I only haved this Familar once where I couldn't end the quest because its to hard to get the right uncommon familar)

[Esper]

Something just crossed my mind, even if it is not real lore question. How fixed are our character's family? Are they to be forever obscured in darkness as to allow us to imagine something or will we actually meet them (i think that it was mentioned that year two will start in summer vacation so I am guessing we will see some of them)or do do we get a fixed family with a mother, father eventual a sibling + other relatives, or are they custumizeable to some degree (but I can imagine that being kinda hard to write).

[Legate of Mineta]

Esper;

 

You will 'meet' your family during the vacation, and, right now, it's designed such that they will be customizable to a pretty large extent in terms of names, numbers of siblings and whether living or dead. Family Relationships are also a key part of that system, but I'm not totally sure how much of that is influenced by the Player. Some, I'm sure. There are some special cases for Families, too, but I imagine that's a surprise.

 

Alternatively, all this can be random, too.

[Esper]

N... names are something we have to come up with. In that case none of my characters gets siblings, or family at all. (bad at names)

Seriously,though it sound interesting and promising.

Just don't make what the core family consist of random, because the exotic pet option already makes me bang my head against my table since I seems to get stuck with the same familiar pretty often whenever I pick it.

[Legate of Mineta]

Esper;

 

Well, they'll have set/random names, but you can change them.

 

I don't think the core will be random, not to worry.

[Adrian]

I understand if this may vary quite heavily from place to place, but in the cities/villages near the borders to Oursouk would it be right to assume that a militia or similar type of military are employed? - If yes, in which scales do these range and how many are actual trained mages (with some combat knowledge)?

 

Expample: Village of Gyss with 800 residents have a militia of 40, only a few of which are decently trained, and of them 4 mages, 2 of which who knows how to throw a fireball without burning off their beards.

 

Also, if yes, is it natural to have militias in towns around Elumia or are they mostly a border thing? (could be between countries both inside Elumia)

I suspect that larger cities would have a militia of sorts and lesser cities/villages would then ask for aid as needed - but I am not so sure when it comes to borders - particularly when it is a border to Oursouk. I imagine that it would be easy to rile people in those areas that one side or the other was attacking... Would that lead to a larger degree of lawlessness? (again, in border areas)

[Legate of Mineta]

Adrian;

 

You are correct in that the islands near to Oursouk have militias or standing garrisons, and especially these have mages dispatched by local authorities or the Imperial Temple. I'd say that, as a rule, your numbers are probably correct.

 

Most villages in Elumia do not have standing militias, but may have a garrison by the local lord (as well as some of the local citizenry having a degree of training.) The current era still has a preponderence of feudal laws and responsibilities governing arms, especially in Meril.

[Leoshi]

A quick question about dorms.

 

Could family members just share dorm rooms? Or is it different genders in different rooms?

[Legate of Mineta]

Leoshi;

 

Different genders, different rooms. Otherwise, there would be no prohibition separating you out (other than the desire of the Regents to keep you two out of mischief. )

[freespace2dotcom]

Are there spells capable of "reinforcing" other spells?

 

I mean, If I wanted to do some simple prank that others would immediately negate when they saw it (or sprung it) could I use a spell to help "shield" it from negation spells?

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace;

 

If I understand you correctly, yes, you can 'wrap' another Spell around a Spell in order to help provide protection from Negation. In order to do this, though, the Spell being warded must be within the other, or, at least, be the first Spell in the path of whoever is Negating.

[MadHatt]

A question that I've been meaning to ask...the player character is in the dorm that Gera was in. Since Gera was in the third year (I think?) would that mean that the PC is sharing a dorm with two older students or do the dorms mess around with the years? I would think it's more convenient to share according to year since that way you always know which rooms will open up.

 

What sort of salaries do the professors get? Food and a room is a given, I'd guess but is it enough to make them wealthier than the average mage or are they more similar to real life teachers? And does Academagia have private investors, get government money or do they just get by with the money the students pay?

[freespace2dotcom]

It's my understanding that a student generally stays in a room until they either graduate or some other "circumstance" happens

 

I would like to know if we will get to see Gera in person in the future. I've got his repaired wand and would like to make a profit off of the deal.

[Legate of Mineta]

Mad and Freespace;

 

Free is correct- you'll stay in your dormitory room, for the most part, unless you move out or are kicked out. You do share according to year, however.

 

Professors are paid quite well, but not nearly as much as if they were, for instance, a court wizard, or in the employ of a merchant house. The real payment is in the research, the prestige and resources available to them.

 

Originally, the Academagia was entirely state funded, but this is no longer the case. Academagia has a variety of sources of income: private investment, investments the Academagia has made, and especially in the sale of magical items created by Students. State funding and Tuition are fairly small (but important) revenue sources as compared to these.

 

I'm not sure if you'll see Gera again...but it would be cool.

[freespace2dotcom]

I'd just like to point out that we never really did see Gera. Just some botched candy experiment leftovers and a note.

 

By the way, I trust will Oan be a character with a character page and everything in Y2?

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace;

 

I'm not sure. She'll be back, but I don't think you'll be able to interact with her apart from scripted appearances, such as Adventures, until we add upperclassmen. I can't say for a certainty when that would be, though- Year 4, maybe?

 

There does exist the possibility that she will be available in the [redacted] System, though. Bahahaha!

[freespace2dotcom]

Accursed [redacted] System!

 

It's bad enough that we know nothing about [redacted] but then you also mention [redacted] in a context that doesn't make any sense unless you already know about [redacted]!

 

I feel as though [redacted] is probably [redacted] but then if it was, we'd only get [redacted] as an answer!

 

Well, here's looking forward to the [redacted] system and all of the [redacted] things it will do for us.

 

My favorite thing about year 2? It's [redacted]!

[Legate of Mineta]

You know my favorite part about the Year 2 systems? [Redacted]

[freespace2dotcom]

Maybe we should all get together sometime and talk about [Redacted] and how it [Redacted] the [Redacted].

 

Seriously though, I really wish I had more patience.

 

Anyway, does anyone bury time capsules? or are there any good places that have been preserved since antiquity that a historian can look back on. I'm thinking along the lines of Pompeii but maybe not so tragic.

 

Edit:

Also, since even "permanent" spells would fade away after centuries, what is the stance on "repairing" the spells on sentient golems?

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace;

 

While undoubtedly there is a trove from other periods somewhere, waiting to be found, it has not yet.

 

I'm not sure that the question on the golems has surfaced in (at least) public debate, but I am sure the answers would like them to be repaired.

[Schwarzbart]

I wonder what would be in such a thing. Maybe a pen that call a Inkmonster each time you start to write with it?