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A few in game questions


Adrian
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Been reading through Nyaa's World of Academagia thread to fill the blanks in my knowledge of lore. Seeing as the Dragons occupy a pretty prominent position in the world's history I thought I'd ask some of things it didn't quite answer.

1. The Wall that protects Elumia (or a larger area?) from Dragons, where is it actually located?

On 1/31/2011 at 3:30 AM, Legate of Mineta said:

The Wall functions in two ways: firstly, it is a 'convenient' rest stop for Dragons along the Winds of Embers. After thousands of miles flying without rest, every Dragon to date has determined to rest upon the parapets of the Wall when it first finds it on its way. The second is that it contains an enchantment to enervate these beasts; making them more weary and in some cases binding or restricting flight. The method for this has been lost, although Vernin...well...enough said. :)
 

This mentions Dragons flying for thousands of miles, but the map by Sapiento lacks a scale to indicate distances, so it's quite difficult to evaluate what direction they are coming from (considering that the islands are floating doesn't really help :lol:)

2. Also, what is the scale for Sapiento's map?

On 2/2/2011 at 7:30 AM, Legate of Mineta said:

It's hard to say why. The Imperial Temple maintains that the Wall, first built by the New Gods, was made to be irresistible to their kind. Others hold that it is simple arrogance or inexperience, the Dragons being fractious at best. Still others point to the fact that no Dragon has yet returned to the Onyx Isles, having taken the Current of Embers to the Wall, and therefore no credible report may have been returned to the Emperor regarding its dangers.

3. Further on, if I'm not going blind (a distinct possibility), are the Onyx Isles not on the Elumia map? If not, which direction are they from the map?

On 2/2/2011 at 7:33 PM, Legate of Mineta said:

I should add a little extra tidbit- although Elumia is connected to several other archipelagos stretching eastward on the north and south side, and although these areas are, or have been, ruled by Sakkanaks in the past, the Dragons have never mounted any serious attempt to invade via these (much more easy) routes. These lands are mostly unknown to Elumia, although Renaglian merchants (in particular) have been trading along the southern isles for several centuries, and even have a few trading posts and conquered isles to their names.

This would suggest south?

Sorry if all of this has been answered a thousand times already, but going through over 300 pages of discussion is quite an ordeal.

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Marcus;

1) If you look on the map of Elumia, you can actually see the Wall- it stretches from Montevre to Calamina. Dragons approach from the East.

2) I'm not sure on this one- we have a scaled map, but it is different from this map. As a rough indicator, Mineta, east to west, is about ~125mi across.

3) They are the East.

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3 minutes ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Marcus;

1) If you look on the map of Elumia, you can actually see the Wall- it stretches from Montevre to Calamina. Dragons approach from the East.

2) I'm not sure on this one- we have a scaled map, but it is different from this map. As a rough indicator, Mineta, east to west, is about ~125mi across.

3) They are the East.

Thanks, for the clarification. I was wondering what that line was.

East would make sense, seeing as Miya Hikari was from there.

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1. What would the reaction of Regent Badcrumble be if she were shown the spell Disaster in the Heavens?

2. What about if she were told about its origins as perceived by the PC?

3. Ana Flavia is minor aristocracy and yet her father is a craftsman. Is this evidence of her family's poverty, or are such activities approved of among aristocracy in certain circumstances?

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@Legate of Mineta

1. What is a coster? a type of airship?

2. Which 1st year students (aside from the PC and Prudence) joined the Belonging Brethren?

3. Are there any plans by the team for the cream coloured, blue-eyed mage who hangs out in taverns near Academagia in Y2? And would I be correct in thinking that she is a masterer?

4. Is it acceptable to call a user of master magic a masterer? As far as coinages for the setting, it would be less daring than phemes.

5. Is there any taboo around calling non-magical people/items that summon summoners, due to an association with gates magic/fear of being mistaken for being associated with gates magic?

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6. How does one defend themselves against a Gates mage? It seems to me that getting hit by a Gates spell is like a 1 hit KO, or worse. Not saying it would necessarily be different from getting hit from an incantor wielding superheated plasma balls, but at least heat is probably easier to counter due to opposites being easier to visualize. Can general negation spells, (Or failing that, dodging like a champ) really protect against a spell designed to rend you in a million pieces spread out over 100 miles?

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Rhialto;

1) Yes, but also a kind of mercantile association.

2) I cannot say, but that's because I am not sure! :)

3) Now you know that's [redacted].

4) It's not a common parlance, no.

5) Certainly, it would raise eyebrows.

Free;

Gates is actually a little easier to blanket defend against, because its roots are more widely shared across its spells than Incantation. There is also the fact that Gates is more physically demanding to cast, and can take significantly more time.

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1. What is the environment at Schohanwicht like, in a general sense? It's on another plane sure, but are the general surroundings your ordinary grass, trees and blue skies kind of deal or is it weirder/more unearthly?

2. How does the cafeteria food there compare to the academagia?

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Aaaand here you are:

1. The Schohanwicht School is enclosed in a massive orichalcum dome with a single breach (known as the Anoptikon) near the crown looking out into a vast and terrifying darkness.  There are three bands of gold that circle the dome - one low to the ground, one about halfway to the crown, and one just below the level of the breach - and each lights up and spills out something convincingly like sunlight to mark a period of the day.

There is grass, and there are trees, but they've been in this environment for a really long time; most have mutated (lots of color changes), and some have developed strange kinds of intelligence.  A great many are blown by winds that most of the students can't feel.

Of course, some days the campus looks like it did when it was first founded, or like it will on the day the dome collapses and [Redacted].  Those days are pretty weird.

2. One popular rumor is that the meals served at Schohanwicht are always the "perfect" forms of the flawed dishes served at the Academagia - since the Academagia is a much larger school, that would explain why there are always more plates than there are Schohanwicht students.  That's probably not true, particularly since Schohanwicht collects a lot of the food it produces as tithes to certain entities outside the dome, but it does properly reflect that the eating is pretty darn good.  ;)

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1. Since the staff and students always wear long cloaks to hide their faces and probably also their general forms from identification, because sometimes powerful mages find their way to the school and would be a great threat. I was wondering how often that happens. Does it happen at all during the time the player might be a student there? And what might actually happen if a curious exploring student just happens to discover Schohanwicht, and gets caught?

2. Exactly how large is the dome, in which Schohanwicht is encased? Would I be correct in guessing that it gives maybe half the space as the Academagia's Campus has?

3. Can you talk about the intelligence that the plants seem to have? At least from the perspective of the casual observer. As we are talking about Gates here, it wouldn't be surprised if spirits found a way into the plants due to the heavy presence of Gates, but... I am thinking more on the level like seen here: at 31 seconds in on the top left side of the screen. The plant shields itself from the sun but isn't really sentient. Although some plants at the Academagia seem to have that level of intelligence too, so I am curious if there is a difference worth noting

 

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And voila!

1.  Outright invasion doesn't happen often.  The powers behind the school are very good at creating [Redacted] based on the general intent of people trying to arrive (which, yes, [Redacted]).  There certainly have been wizards powerful enough to break through wards through brute magical force alone, and a very few clever enough to trick their way past them, but the simple truth is that if you're that good you can probably just secure an invitation.
 
Anyway, a full-blown break-in happens maybe once in a generation, and it didn't happen in the player character's first year.
 
As for what happens if a student just finds the place - well, he or she won't get very far, but the odds are pretty good that he or she will be thoroughly checked out and invited to enroll in the following year.  If people are sufficiently impressed, fees could even be set aside to be repaid later in the wizard's career.
 
Of course, every so often an example has to be made instead.  Memories can be wiped, and [Redacted].
 
2.  Actually, no.  Though the effective campus is considerably smaller than the Academagia's, the dome covers more area overall.  Sometimes it has to contract, and the powers that be at the school want to be sure that none of the essential buildings are damaged.
 
3.  Depends on the scale you're talking about.  The grass is something like a hive mind; individual blades won't necessarily react to stimulus, but an entire field might become sharp as glass if it perceived a threat.  Some of the trees, in contrast, are thought to have become infused with the spirits (or at least spiritual impressions) of dead teachers and students, and have very distinct human and near-human intelligences.  Some just have singular personalities who may or may not be willing to communicate; some contain entire legions, and are thought to be rather predatory.  Bushes and lesser flowering plants tend to have magical natures that reflect their locations as much as anything else: near the school proper, they're functional and domesticated, while near the dome they're smarter and generally more aggressive.  I.e., some roses are like dogs and some are like wolves.
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9 hours ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Of course, every so often an example has to be made instead.  Memories can be wiped, and [Redacted].

Sadly, though [redacted] officially, After reading the invitation one can acquire in Y1, I have a pretty good idea as to how the school makes examples. Not very pretty, but, with so much at stake I can't fault them.

How often does the dome contract? And by how much? Since the school is at least a few centuries old I imagine you can see traces of how warped the dome is from contracting, unless it was designed that way...?

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@Legate of Mineta

1. So, Schohanwicht can memory-wipe people. Does this mean that they have access to/knowledge of mastery?

2. Are Miya and Malthezar citizens? If not, can they not race horses at Chyte?

3. Speaking of horseracing, are Morvidus students more likely than members of the other colleges to be involved in that sport?

4. Is there any process within the Empire of Man for registering new phemes and ensuring that they are not gates/mastery phemes?

5. For how long has the Purple Academy of Thei been operating in its current, astrologically focused, very small size?

6. Which legal pillar of magic uses enchanted items the most?

7. Has there ever been a movement to get alchemy established as its own pillar?

8. Is arithmetic essential for being a skilled or even competent alchemist?

9. When mastery was legal, did glamour magic have a poor reputation on the ground that glamour merely interferes with five senses, whereas mastery, by interfering with the mind, can create even more powerful illusions?

10. The lore reveals that revision magic was originally seen as a subset of glamour magic. Did this classification ever lead to rivalry/tension between Morvidus and Hedi colleges?

11. Is it known whether Dragons recognized pillars of magic that humans have never recognized?

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12. Is already clear what SS change their main skill in Year 2 and can you give us a overview about the class SS affected by this?

@Rhialto

8. Alchemy is a Revision sub path from what the Legate told us so far (Also check out the Age-Stopping Potion Formula its a Alchemy formulary but say you need Revision magic beyond your year 1 knowledge)

9. Glamour actual can create pseudoreal stuff i.e. a bridge where you actual can walk over. So there is a big difference between what Glamour and Mastery can do.

Edit ups missed 5. I'm not sure if the team did work it out more clear then my design what was:

Quote

After the ban this Academy was closed down for nearly a century before opened again by the current headmaster.

For the last centuries only the Enchanting of items with Astrology effects was thought at this school.

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Also a good chunk of "good" Mastery is now Glammour there's a difference between the two pillars then and the two pillars now.

Altough I am sure they were some tensions between the two pillars when Mastery was legal, for exemple in diplomacy now uterly dominated by Glamour practicer not so much before.

There's also the fact that Glammour is the most widespread pillar and supposedly the most "easy" to learn. I would not be suprised that in some Mastery circle, Glammour is the lesser Art, a gateway to the real Art that is Mastery. (a bit like calligraphy/Orthography). 

Altough now I wonder if Glammour/Mastery mastery was in anyway common for mage talented enough to master more than 2 pillars. The two seems to synergise nicely.

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Questions!

@Legate of Mineta

1. So, Schohanwicht can memory-wipe people. Does this mean that they have access to/knowledge of mastery?

[Redacted]!

2. Are Miya and Malthezar citizens? If not, can they not race horses at Chyte?

They are not citizens.

3. Speaking of horseracing, are Morvidus students more likely than members of the other colleges to be involved in that sport?

Mmmm...no, not more likely. It may be more likely in Vernin, in fact.

4. Is there any process within the Empire of Man for registering new phemes and ensuring that they are not gates/mastery phemes?

Not a formal process, no.

5. For how long has the Purple Academy of Thei been operating in its current, astrologically focused, very small size?

As Schwarzbart wrote. :)

6. Which legal pillar of magic uses enchanted items the most?

That's an interesting question- I would think it's fairly even across them all.

7. Has there ever been a movement to get alchemy established as its own pillar?

As Schwarzbart wrote. :)

8. Is arithmetic essential for being a skilled or even competent alchemist?

Yes, I would certainly say so!

9. When mastery was legal, did glamour magic have a poor reputation on the ground that glamour merely interferes with five senses, whereas mastery, by interfering with the mind, can create even more powerful illusions?

As Schwarzbart and isadorbg have written.

10. The lore reveals that revision magic was originally seen as a subset of glamour magic. Did this classification ever lead to rivalry/tension between Morvidus and Hedi colleges?

Yes. :)

11. Is it known whether Dragons recognized pillars of magic that humans have never recognized?

Although things could have changed, the origins of the Pillars are how the Dragons classified magic.

12. Is already clear what SS change their main skill in Year 2 and can you give us a overview about the class SS affected by this?

No SS will end up changing their Parent (I believe!), but there is a mechanic where a Sub Skill might have multiple Parents.

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  • 3 weeks later...

@Legate of Mineta: 1. How would Miya and/or Malthezar gain citizenship in Mineta?

2. Would their lack of citizenship prevent their being able to race at Chyte?

3. Would citizenship in Mineta extend to all of the Empire of Mankind?

4. Are there any human lands (within the empire or otherwise) that have a caste system? What about serfdom?

5. Is there any tradition of touring entertainers with no fixed base of operation?

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