Playing with/ Thoughts on the Game in General.

[freespace2dotcom]

So I've played with DLC 16. I just thought I'd chime in a bit on my thoughts on it. as well as maybe give some feedback to the team.

 

Since I thought I'd go for another attempt at a character expy of myself (probably 90% of my playthroughs are as such...) I have limited experience with the game outside of being an Aranaz student, etc, etc. I've read the lores and such in the modtools when I could, but its not quite the same as playing as a Vernin student, or as a secret mage with tons of forbidden knowledge.

 

Firstly, I like self styling myself as an "Omni Disciplinarian", which I have come to personally interpret as a mage that focuses on trying to learn magic all across the board, focusing primarily on the main recognized pillars. Learning more specialized magic (like botany, or dialectic) is not very high priority, although I do tend to pick up a few skill steps in these from random events and so, but usually not enough to make an end of year roll on the skill.

 

As such an Aranaz student, I like to focus on taking Negation, Incantation, Revision and Glamour in addition to the college classes of Aranaz, (Calligraphy and History)

 

This is clearly "magic heavy" and I'm sure that in setting a student would be... politely dissuaded from taking so many of these classes, and indeed for a certain type of player you can probably accomplish more learning with a broader selection of classes as many random events have magic options that are useful at raising your skills over the year. I choose these classes partly for role-play and partly for the attribute boosts one receives when at study level 10. (not all of them do, but the other class bonuses aren't that bad either imo)

 

When starting, I usually start studying at the venalicium until the option disappears and then I do either an adventure step I know I can accomplish or study at another library. I've gotten pretty good at nailing what order I need to do things with and can get my study levels for all classes at 10 about as early as possible for the attribute raises. (note that I am not really a save scummer. On a rare occasion at the very end of a year I get a little uptight about ensuring an adventure is finished on time now, but that isn't too bad as I rarely bother to even start classmate adventures on the kids I don't care about.)

 

Once this Is done I have my library knowledge pretty high and have unlocked all the libraries that can be used to effectively make the train action obsolete. (I think that maybe the train action should also give a skillstep on something extra based on the location in which you train. that'd be a nice touch and give more value to both the action and choosing a location as largely I don't mess with either)

 

I focus on learning at the Library of Longshade next. typically I try for learning a low subskill. One that is holding back its parent skill, and I do that along with more adventures until my concentration is maxed out. One thing that I have noticed is that more and more adventures not are completed rapid-fire in one day (if your skills are up to snuff) and that has a marked effect on the game as a whole. especially with DLC 16 as I will show in a moment.

 

Anyway I continue focusing on training at the other libraries, even the Library of the Mantle of the Stars. I find it useful for unlocking all the astrology subskills but even if it doesn't give as much skill steps as some actions *cough* the Sphinx *cough* I greatly prefer it because I would rather focus on making sure I know one skil that is important to me (a pillar of magic) than a bunch of other skills that are probably too specialized for me on average. (plus the sphinx is rather high on requirements but that's another thing all together.) I focus on skills that I think I need for my adventures, or easy attribute gains/utility. (acrobatics/conceal are usually raised to at least 4, and then it makes sense to go for sleight of hand 4, too)

 

Somewhere along this time is the midterms, but I don't care about them. my study is maxed and all class skills are maybe at 5-7 at this point. (I don't train these class skills at all. Mostly there's no need except maybe 1 random subskill at the end sometimes) not to mention that midterms hold barely any weight compared to the finals and time is too precious.

 

After the exams I mostly spam adventure, but it varies a lot. I typically Attend prof Sido's back office to unlock language skills and raise his relationship to ten. I like raising instructor relationships but I find it hard to do so outside of adventures. I liked the Incantation class adventure for that reason. I'm pretty sure that was added in DLC 16 as I think I would have remembered it despite there being one for most other classes.

 

I always do the Lord of hawks adventure so I can get the book of deep shadows. I have access to the forbidden section of the Venalicium by now, but unlocking those Mastery skills is way easier, faster and safer this way.(no randomly selecting Mastery methods 4 times in a row)

 

Still, I'm forced to do this with Gates to unlock the subskills (I don't like the secret heritage background as it takes a point and also more or less sucks you into Schohanwicht, which I think is an unhealthy relationship in the long run) Still I only merely unlock these skills as I feel that such knowledge can be dangerous and honestly I've got adventures to complete right now so it gets put on the backburner.

 

Later, after I get down to the last few tough adventures that require that extra oomph to complete I start measuring exactly what I need to accomplish in order to make the current run a satisfactory attempt for Y2. In this last runthrough, this part of the game came about a month earlier than it normally does. This, I attribute to having extra adventures ironically, which gave me more attributes in a faster time allowing me to acquire skills faster, allowing for adventures to be completed faster. It was pretty amazing.

 

I've pretty much maxed out most of the main pillars skills at this point, also. Aranaz got most of the merit prizes thanks very little to me (I did help a little) ironically I pay tuition for contu's incantation school only so that I can unlock the diction subskill by taking irregular studies. (so I can get enspell at 10, which is practically the only way I can reliably finish the sphinx syndicate adventure. Plus enspell seems like another magic heavy skill to know)

 

The end result of having an extra month to fool around with was raising more skills. I've never felt that research was worthy of my time despite the potential for raising the level caps on skills. (Too much time spent for that) so instead I wound up training other skills, including Gates and Mastery to beyond casual contact levels (though not all the way.. 'just' to 4)

 

I understand that you don't want to let certain skills get too far ahead (especially the magical ones) but it does feel a little sucky to want to learn more direct magic skills and have to resort to needing to learn the proscribed arts to continue growing in magical prowess. (I don't care about plants, by and large, even if you get some plant-centric phemes and spells by learning botany, you're not really growing as a mage, imo) The only magical skills I think I didn't learn were the new synchronicity skills, and that has more to do with the fact that I am unwilling to limit myself because somebody says I need a mark to keep me from going out and taking over all of Mineta. (well, that and they do take a lot of effort to learn.) I realize that synchronicity is supposed to be a relatively beneficial form/offshoot of Mastery but the way I see it 'Regular' Mastery should still be able to do that stuff too (unless for game mechanics' sake the team chooses not to do that, which would be a shame, imo) and by learning regular mastery in secret well, sure that's a danger but at least you're not advertising that you're practicing it should the powers that be decide something unpleasant for you..

 

I LOVED that adventure, though. seriously!

 

Anyway, eventually my game gets down to the wire and I start finishing learning certain skills that need a little extra oomph to complete... like Orthography. and use timeslots for spells to get better finals scores or finish the odd troublesome adventure. When it comes right down to it, I think I've mostly got the game down pat, and I don't think I can do much better than this latest playthrough without save scumming (in fact, my char got perfect attendance this time around, a first for me considering I rested maybe 3 times in the year, max. The truth of the matter is, I think the game is pretty tapped out as far as "Potential for getting a better Char for Y2" goes. sure, more adventures will be nice for a DLC 17, but I for one am ready for Y2, and all of the new challenges that await, as I'm not going to be practically raising my Incantation past 13 in Y1....

 

On a side note, I seriously acquired a fair bit more items this playthrough as well as a more balanced acquisition of attribute points, but Insight is still pretty crazy. If you take into account my accursed 'slightly queezy' effect my insight at endgame was 18! (the rest was at 10 at best)

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Schwarzbart]

You still can see Synchronicity as a subset of Mastery but to profit from Mastery and Synchronicity you probably should not take the adventure but instead unlock it via abilities giving random skills.

In my opinion its bad if official people know you learn in the direction of Mastery but don't accept the block that would prevent you to use Mastery.

For my Character it was absolute great as he could learn one Magic art more while still staying full on the legal side.

I also hope it allows him to stretch his glamour a bit more in the direction of Mastery in coming years without going over to Mastery.

(Means I hope for a Skill set that make a bridge between Synchronicity and Glamour )

[isadorbg]

I see Synchronicity as the very first advanced class that our character can take. Synchronicity is nothing more than a very specialized form of Mastery and i expect those "specialist" magic to be very hard to learn in the future and by hard i don't only mean to find but also to have to make choice just like synchro and i loved the adventure btw even if the whole "you need to do one more final test was getting a bit old and funny by the end .

 

I don't think that someone who only learned the basic skill which is represented by the pillar name (like mastery or negation...) should be capable to do what someone who know the specialist form can do. I see the main skill more like the "theoritical" knowledge and the advanced form more like the "practice" skill and more specialised knowledge like for exemple Mastery is Physics and Synchonicity is like Mechanical Engineering. Of course the Phycisian will have theoritical" knowledge of the mecanic physics but not the pratical aspect of it (represented in Synchronicity by the empathy or serenity skill for exemple) and more often than not does not posses as much knowledge of mecanic than the engineer (reprensented in Synchronicity by bond-bridging i believe?) only general stuff.

 

For what i remember the legate also said that to increase the advanced class in year 2. You'll need to have the main skill at the same level ? like to have "element' advanced of incantation at 15 you need to have incantation at 15 first? maybe the legate can give us more information? (cast: summon legate Rufus Felix Northbridge.. using incantation of course nothing illegal here )

 

 

That's my view

 

Edit: Also i see the master's mark as a great thing actually. Call me optimistic but it actually give you the perfect excuse to actually study Mastery since you can't use it anyway (out of lore and rp wise too!). Plus it's a tattoo and since my chars are mostly from the best college of Academagia that for some reason is called Vernin and that the legate has already confirmed that tatoo magic fall under Enchant... well lets just say that i planned to study mastery for "scholar" purpose and in 2 or 3 years with enough knowledge of Enchant, who knows ?

[Legate of Mineta]

isadorbg;

 

You don't need the basic Skill necessarily to improve an advanced Skill, but it helps immensely.

[Xandran]

until I get to create my own Dragons with Gates I will never be done with this game please release years 2 through 5 thanks

 

also not sure how my incantation can get much better if I can already start hurricanes to menace farmers for no reason

[Metis]

I would note that this is a massive block of text you've typed out, but the first stage for that one Y2 adventure I typed (and that, obviously, is not in DLC16) was actually a full page longer than this. Just reminiscing about hot damn since when have I been so wordy!? Anyway, on to the actual commentated quote fest 2014 post...

 

Once this Is done I have my library knowledge pretty high and have unlocked all the libraries that can be used to effectively make the train action obsolete. (I think that maybe the train action should also give a skillstep on something extra based on the location in which you train. that'd be a nice touch and give more value to both the action and choosing a location as largely I don't mess with either)

Please remember: Attend Class is only barely more efficient than Train in terms of skill steps gained per action, and if you have a really crappy classload it's plain less efficient.

 

I liked the Incantation class adventure for that reason. I'm pretty sure that was added in DLC 16 as I think I would have remembered it despite there being one for most other classes.

A Day in Incantation was indeed added in DLC16.

 

I LOVED that adventure, though. seriously!

 

Now to start really running my mouth every which way. With this one:

 

The only magical skills I think I didn't learn were the new synchronicity skills, and that has more to do with the fact that I am unwilling to limit myself because somebody says I need a mark to keep me from going out and taking over all of Mineta. (well, that and they do take a lot of effort to learn.) I realize that synchronicity is supposed to be a relatively beneficial form/offshoot of Mastery but the way I see it 'Regular' Mastery should still be able to do that stuff too (unless for game mechanics' sake the team chooses not to do that, which would be a shame, imo)

I can't speak for the team, so what I know is only a theoretical possibility at best, but for reasons that, quite frankly, should be obvious I do have a bit to say on this subject.

 

-The Master's Mark does have the effect of "+90% CoF at casting Mastery spells", but that isn't it's primary/only purpose. You'll recall that the adventure stated the following?

"Inside the entrance hall there's two sets of staircases leading to a second floor, and on the second floor stand two individuals dressed in formal clothes. They look like nobility, but you don't see any house sigils."

You didn't because they were hidden by Glamours. No one tells you, but The Master's Mark is their house sigil. Rest assured that the one the PC gets is different in shape, if not in function, to the one that Nhordum hides on his wrist, but it is a recognised sigil all the same.

 

-The adventure never states it, incidentally, but Nhordum's last name is Kazus.

 

-It's true that what Mastery and Sync can do overlap considerably, but how the subject experiences it makes all the difference. You can with Mastery, say, force someone to not feel any pain, but they'd experience it like someone dropping a block of concrete on them to drown the pain out. Compared to Sync, which, well, do I really need to quote that section of the adventure? Incidentally, Sync cannot allow you to take direct control of someone like Mastery can. Personally I suspect that all of the "good" things that Mastery can do will be stuff unlocked by way of Sync - presently there's a grand total of 1 spell unlocked by Mastery skills that isn't obviously hostile (even if it isn't typed as such).

 

-Recall when the adventure, Nhordum's father specifically, says this:

"Our craft is a practice known as Synchronicity. It used to simply be a form of Mastery, but an...incident forced our practice to detach itself from the school of Mastery and go it's own way. Our family, long ago, learned the hard way that combining our craft and Mastery inevitably results in unspeakable disasters. Not disasters akin to a Gates spell miscasting and conjuring a Dragon in the middle of a city, but on a personal level the results are far, far worse. It's said that a victim of Mastery will never trust his puppeteer ever again, but this wasn't always true. There were few, long ago, that could not only dominate others, but create and maintain strong bonds of trust with their servants as well. False bonds as the students of King Morvidus assumed, perhaps, but those that held them never thought that way. What happens to an individual when they are subject to both is best not discussed, but what must be known, and remembered, is why things are the way they are."

History had proven that both skills cannot be used together without breaking the individual that's on the receiving end of it's effects. Sync and Mastery can be combined, and to create some very tenacious results at that, but if you want people to remain sane in the long run you're better off putting them in front of a Dragon with a steak necklace.

 

-Regarding the comment about the students of King Morvidus: I imagine that when Sync was still taught College Kazus had a bitter rivalry with Morvidus, since the latter's idea of what friendship and trust means went completely against what Kazus though and did with their magic. Icanicix, incidentally, would have been at odds with Vernin, over a disagreement on whether it's better to be able to Gate in everything you could ever need or to be able to craft equipment yourself and Enchant it to do anything you could ever need. Given that, IIRC, Gates cannot create items out of nothing, only displace items that already exist in some point/space/time/whatever, that'd be an interesting disagreement. After Icanicix and Kazus were disbanded the rivalry between Morvidus and Vernin eventually started, over relatively minor details compared to Morvidus and Kazus.

 

-Leene and Lotus, by the by, share the same family name, but they're not related by blood. Leene changed her name after the three of them opened up their shop, which was named after the official proprietor - Lotus Gressel.

 

-Fun Fact for isadorbg: Nhordum is the one that gives the PC his/her Mark, and yes, he was a Vernin student. Leene and Lotus were both in Morvidus, as Professor Vickery indirectly states:

"[Nhordum] met and befriended Leene and Lotus during their time in the Acadenagia, despite being from rivalling colleges."

[isadorbg]

 

 

 

 

-The Master's Mark does have the effect of "+90% CoF at casting Mastery spells", but that isn't it's primary/only purpose. You'll recall that the adventure stated the following?

"Inside the entrance hall there's two sets of staircases leading to a second floor, and on the second floor stand two individuals dressed in formal clothes. They look like nobility, but you don't see any house sigils."

You didn't because they were hidden by Glamours. No one tells you, but The Master's Mark is their house sigil. Rest assured that the one the PC gets is different in shape, if not in function, to the one that Nhordum hides on his wrist, but it is a recognised sigil all the same.

 

Let's not forget that synchro is a part of Mastery infact the Mark clearly says that the penalty concern only the illegal aspect of Mastery.

 

I also have a theory on my own about this. Remember when we're told that they will be a final test possibly very dangerous or something? well a little something says to me that this test has a little of ''real'' mastery in it and that the mark of year 1 is not the real one. we'll see

 

 

-Regarding the comment about the students of King Morvidus: I imagine that when Sync was still taught College Kazus had a bitter rivalry with Morvidus, since the latter's idea of what friendship and trust means went completely against what Kazus though and did with their magic. Icanicix, incidentally, would have been at odds with Vernin, over a disagreement on whether it's better to be able to Gate in everything you could ever need or to be able to craft equipment yourself and Enchant it to do anything you could ever need. Given that, IIRC, Gates cannot create items out of nothing, only displace items that already exist in some point/space/time/whatever, that'd be an interesting disagreement. After Icanicix and Kazus were disbanded the rivalry between Morvidus and Vernin eventually started, over relatively minor details compared to Morvidus and Kazus.

 

 

There was actually a post of our good legate about this in the question thread. For what i remember Icanicix and Vernin where indeed rival but i think Kazus was in rivalry with Durand?anyway he said that it change over time

 

 

Fun Fact for isadorbg: Nhordum is the one that gives the PC his/her Mark, and yes, he was a Vernin student. Leene and Lotus were both in Morvidus, as Professor Vickery indirectly states:

 

"[Nhordum] met and befriended Leene and Lotus during their time in the Acadenagia, despite being from rivalling colleges."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't say i am suprised. Gifted student tend to come from a specific college .

 

and Metis for your own good, you should not master the legate you will regret it

 

 

Edit: Your post just reminded me that when i was playing the adventure i noticed a glaring resemblence between how the effect of synchronicity where described and the familar's bond. So now i wonder if there is a correlation between Synchro or the whole Mastery and the familiar's bond.

Hum... familiar and their... MASTER... . Can't be just a coincidence.

 

Edit 2: HAHA! Found it!!

 

 

Well, College rivalries tend to change over time. Icanicix was rival to Vernin for many centuries, and Kazus was rival to Durand.

 

And about the Kings and heroes: yes, all the Colleges are named after influential people in the revolt against the Dragons. King Kazio the Lesser was the King of the Bryzech tribes, and was famed for dominating the Dragon who ruled Brysia.

 

 

found there: http://academagia.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1274&page=7

 

Such an awesome memory (At least 50)

[freespace2dotcom]

"In my opinion its bad if official people know you learn in the direction of Mastery but don't accept the block that would prevent you to use Mastery."

 

Agree 100% with this, which is why I played it with another character before I did this run. Thus I only managed to unlock 2 of the subskills during my run but I'll try to learn it to a degree in Y2.

 

-The adventure never states it, incidentally, but Nhordum's last name is Kazus.

 

Wasn't the king who was the namesake of Kasus actually named Kazio? I never understood that.

[isadorbg]

Wasn't the king who was the namesake of Kasus actually named Kazio? I never understood that.

 

Sometimes name change because of language for exemple king william the conqueror of england never wore that name most problably called willhaume or guillaume depends if you prounonce it with the norman french accent of the time or modern french

[Metis]

Okay, where's the three page essays on "you're wrong"?

 

I also have a theory on my own about this. Remember when we're told that they will be a final test possibly very dangerous or something? well a little something says to me that this test has a little of ''real'' mastery in it and that the mark of year 1 is not the real one. we'll see

The adventure never states it, would have but that was edited out later (not by the team, mind), but the final test did not involve proper Mastery. The normal final test involves the student Syncing with a trusted friend of their choosing who willingly agreed to be a part of the test, and locking a memory of the student's left wrist, sans Mark, so that the fried would never forget. Memory manipulation like that can be done with proper Mastery, but Sync can do it as well - recall that Leene removed a mental suggestion implanted by the Sageni. Fun Fact: The PC did not remove the suggestion from Girars, Leene did when cleaning up after the PC and Gwendy. The final test that Nhordum's family would have/had devised did not involve memory manipulation for exactly that reason - the PC simply cannot do it yet, and trying would result in disaster whether they succeed or fail.

There was actually a post of our good legate about this in the question thread. For what i remember Icanicix and Vernin where indeed rival but i think Kazus was in rivalry with Durand?anyway he said that it change over time

 

Edit 2: HAHA! Found it!!

Really, now? Kazus and Durand? Well...that can work. Durand, IIRC, has a stick thing for doing the "right" thing, Dialectic is a mandatory class for them, and I would imagine that Kazus' idea of "right" might conflict there. That does bring a layer of irony on the adventure, though, because, well, you know how Nhordum's parents give him the cold shoulder but don't give Leene the same? Nhordum went against his parent's wishes and joined Vernin to pursue his personal hobby, brewing, while tradition stated that the members of their family that attended the Academagia joined College Durand. In part to hopefully learn their sense of honest justice, in part to witness Aranaz as a bad example of seeking perfection for the sake of it rather than for the greater good. Sorry, free.

 

Edit: Your post just reminded me that when i was playing the adventure i noticed a glaring resemblence between how the effect of synchronicity where described and the familar's bond. So now i wonder if there is a correlation between Synchro or the whole Mastery and the familiar's bond.

Hum... familiar and their... MASTER... . Can't be just a coincidence.

Sync, the very basic of it, is pretty much forming a Bond-equivalent with another person. No fancy magic bonuses to either person like they'd get with a proper Bond, but emotionally? Yeah.

 

Wasn't the king who was the namesake of Kasus actually named Kazio? I never understood that.

Could be that Kazio is Elumian and Kazus is just the...oh dear word...Renaglian translation/pronouciation thereof? I actually don't know if Nhordum's family is a direct line, only married into it and pursued their own goals under their new name, maybe changed their name, or what. Last name's Kazus, though, take from that what you will.

[Xandran]

Don't really see why Icanicix and Vernin would necessarily be at odds, but a lot of similar feuds/rivalries never make that much sense anyways.

 

So a couple new adventures in this DLC! Obviously there's An Outing..., but Just Another Day in Mineta is also clearly a new adventure.

 

Not sure if 'Early Morning Chill' is new or not. I think it is? Anyways it is about evil slime and fart gas.

 

why do they take Diavesque away from me every time I get caught skipping class ughhhh

[Metis]

Here's a topic for listing the new DLC16 adventures

 

Diavesque the Living, BTW, is a book attuned to Gates. It's kinda highly illegal.

[Xandran]

My problem is more that they somehow find all my illegal items regardless of whether I have a chance of discovery of -9% and maxed out sleight of hand and various other things and then when they find my eight illegal items that I got at the end of adventure chains they are just gone forever and sometimes it doesn't even give me a message so I keep playing and then oops they took all my items three timeslots ago? better load the game from an earlier save

 

also he is illegal because he is a dragon don't agree to pacts with dragons trapped in the form of books

 

dragons are mean

[isadorbg]

Don't really see why Icanicix and Vernin would necessarily be at odds, but a lot of similar feuds/rivalries never make that much sense anyways.

 

Rivalvry between college like the legate said doesn't necessarly come from their chosen pillar but more about the general attitude of each college. Maybe at the times Vernin wasn;t the top college (hard to believe i know ) and to rivalry came from the competition or something else.

My problem is more that they somehow find all my illegal items regardless of whether I have a chance of discovery of -9% and maxed out sleight of hand and various other things and then when they find my eight illegal items that I got at the end of adventure chains they are just gone forever and sometimes it doesn't even give me a message so I keep playing and then oops they took all my items three timeslots ago? better load the game from an earlier save

 

Yeah.. that's not great when you lose items and the game doesn't inform you. For my part i took the habit to put immediatly all the forbidden items (or rather those I cared about) in the wardrobe where their safe at least until the summer holidays

[Albert]

I got Synchronicity at 10 by the midsemester exams, Instinct, Mindbridging and Serenity.

 

It sounds "cool" but it doesn't seem that incredibly useful or dangerous. I got it from random skills so I don't know what marks you're talking about.

 

I'm guessing there is some quest for it.

[Metis]

An Outing... is the adventure that deals with Sync. It's a good example of what a trained (read: not first year) person with Sync can do, and it's also how you get the Mark, if you want it.

 

Hint: You do.

[isadorbg]

I got Synchronicity at 10 by the midsemester exams, Instinct, Mindbridging and Serenity.

 

It sounds "cool" but it doesn't seem that incredibly useful or dangerous. I got it from random skills so I don't know what marks you're talking about.

 

I'm guessing there is some quest for it.

 

Even in its own adventure synchro is not that useful. It's the kind of skill that will be more useful in year 2 (hopefully)

[Albert]

So, you want a mark that prevents you from using it outside the School area? Why learn such a skill that won't be of any use after you graduate?

 

EDIT: Or it's a licence that allows you to use it when someone gives permission to use it to help them? I guess that could be useful.

What more troubling is if that puts you on a permanent record of "mastery" users, in case the powers that be decides to kill of all mastery users, even the ones that used to have a licence. Never mind the social or political implication of being revealed as a mastery used among ignorant people.

 

I guess it's very much undercover until you feel you have to reveal it to someone to ask for permission to help them.

[Albert]

Kind of reminds me of how mages are made tranquil in Dragonage 1&2. Though this seems to affect "Mastery" more than anything else.

 

I did the first quest of the Outing, interestign quest, a little creepy though. (Though that's what mastery attracts I guess, creepy stuff)

[Metis]

The Mark is the house sigil for Those of Noble Mind, AKA House Kazus. You want it because with it you are officially considered part of their House, if only as a student under their umbrella, so if the guard captain/council decides to get cute and accuse you of illegal usage of Mastery they'll, by extension, accuse the entire House thereof.

 

The PC, BTW, can get away with refusing the Mark even after demonstrating they know and can use Sync because it's not legally required. The Mark is something that the House itself introduced and mandates of it's own accord because, well, history had shown that Mastery and Sync don't play nice together. That is why accusing the House, or one of their students, of Mastery is a dumb idea - the evidence is stacked in favour of the student. The Mark does put you on an official list as a user of Mastery, or as a user of Sync at least, but so long as you have the Mark you can't cast a proper Mastery spell worth a damn, so everyone within a ten mile radius that can cast a spell is a more likely suspect than you are.

[Albert]

Kazus was the college for Mastery students before it was banned wasn't it?

 

It does make sense that they would create something that nutered them to be allowed to live after legislation of capitalpunishment was passed.

It makes sense for people to want to convince people they can let them live because they are no longer capable of casting mastery spells even if they had been stydying it.

 

It also makes sense that the legislators would allow it to avoid a bloodbath in case the potentialy thousands of Mastery users that had been graduated over the years decided they didn't want to get hung.

Might have ended with the whole army and guard mastered and the magistrates hung instead by the new regime that rebelled to save their own lives.

 

It's all very interesting, and it's far more humane than the way they do it in dragonage (Biowares games).

 

 

Also, I was doing that quest with that lifeprolonging potion recipe. Sounds like it's somethign that will be very useful later in life.

I heard most life prolonging things had serious drawback but that one doesn't seem that bad, asside from it possibly being expensive to by the reagents over and over again.

 

That Swartzbart weed is also useful for that wand of negation quest.

I was curious about what that spell was that that mage had been using until you got him the potion recipe... Wish I could have asked for a scroll for that aswell!

[Albert]

If they can stop wizards from using Mastery by giving them marks/tatoos, can't they just stamp every wizard with that mark upon entering the Academagia or any other magic school. Or a similar mark that does the same thing.

If they encoutner a wizard without a mark they just drag them in for branding and tose them out in the streets once done.

 

Or is it too expensive and hangings are more cost effective?

 

Judge at a local court.

Judge: You have been found to posess basic spell casting skills and you lack the branding required by the law, I sentence you to branding, if you can't pay we will hang you instead! Next case!

 

Perhaps a similar mark for Gates magic. Then later when people are worried about Incantation starting fires they can start branding wizards against using Incantation aswell. It is after all not a "tool" for healing people.

[isadorbg]

unlike dragon age,everyone can be a mage and by extension study mastery plus i strongly suspect that the mark is something that could be removed if not easily then not that hard either. It's more like a gesture of good faith to prove that we are not mastery users not a way to forbid the use of the pillar.

 

My 2 cents

[Albert]

It's not like I've found a lot of use for mastery anyway. Though sometimes it might seem right, if a dragon attacks and you master it(assuming you can) Or some other monster.

 

It seems like forms of it can be used for good aswell, I guess it also depends on the purpose of your action.

 

Otherwise I can certainly see how "evil" and wrong it is to force yourself onto someone else, noone would want to be on the reciving end of that.

 

Anyway, the knowledge shouldn't be enough to prosecute anyone, you would have to prove that they did something wrong. Just having stumbled over those things over the years shouldn't be enough. But I doubt people who are afraid cares.

 

But, the way it was described in the adventure it sounds like it will stay with you forever. But Iguess forever didn't include intentional removal. Who knows. Still, it was a nice adventure, there seemed to be several spellign errors in there though but I havn't coppied the exact positions of them. But there seemed to be quite a few. Apothecary seemed to be misspelt quite a bit in the first quest/s, I think. And there were otherthings aswell.

[Metis]

Isadorbg's idea is correct. As I mentioned earlier, the House gives out and monitors the Master's Mark. There's no legal institution that mandates it or even anyone in one that knows how to apply it, they just know it exists and what it signifies. Nhordum knows because he's part of the family and that, as per Vernin class mandates, he's trained in Enchant. Learning how to apply the Mark was his way of making amends with his family for going against their wishes and not joining College Durand.

 

It's entirely possible to Negate or remove the Mark completely. Hell, it's a physical Mark, if you're desperate enough you can just grab an axe and cut your arm off. No magic needed and the Mark will go away (admittedly as will your arm and without magic chopping an arm off kinda leaves you in a bad state, but it can happen). "It'll stay with you forever" definitely didn't account for someone removing it, but doing so...eh. You have to accept the Mark, so to later remove it of your own will means you've actively forsaken the ideology of the only/one of the few legally recognised groups of people that practice ethical uses and forms of Mastery, and instead have chosen to once again allow yourself to practice a banned school of magic that, as history has shown, does not mix well with what skill you must know to have received the Mark. It's kinda legal suicide, and given the fact that House Kazus is honour bound, both by law and by their own tradition, to find and bring illegal Mastery users to light, it's personal suicide as well.

 

Fun Fact: Remember the point in the adventure where you're given the choice to learn what Leene did to you? There was an option specifically for people that know Mastery to quietly admit to themselves that they do, but they'd never admit it. Leene, however, found out during the PC's operation and forced the PC to follow through with the adventure, ending with the PC either accepting the Mark or explaining their actions to the court. I don't know if that line still exists in the actual adventure, though probably not because that line was kinda unfinished.