A few in game questions

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

1) Definitely not!

2) You'd have to ask the Instructors...:)

3) That's a lengthy one- I'll ask, and see what they would like to reveal.

[Metis]

Quick check, what was the name of the playground memorial at the Academagia where the staff put automatons in memory of the students that died during their first year?

That is an actual location and not just something that came to me in a fever dream, right?

[Metis]

New post to mark as new (been a while since I've done that, huh?): Does the Doll Familiar need to breathe?

Incidentally I figured it out, the location is called Retolian Playground.

EDIT: Oh and also, can Y2 adventures go off of just raw skill or can it not erase/ignore item/spell buffs? Related, can Y2 adventures forbid spellcasting (I vaguely recall that spellcasting during adventures was a thing or something).

Edited May 27, 2018 by Metis

[Legate of Mineta]

M;

It's always paired, but that's an interesting idea...

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: @Metis's question makes me wonder - are rooms that are specifically warded against magic (possibly even to the extent of suppressing active magical effects) known? if so, are they common in extremely secure places or research facilities?

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

There are, and there are several on campus, but they are fairly unusual because they require a lot of maintenance.

[Metis]

Really ? Well, that changes a few things...

[freespace2dotcom]

Any chance for a response from the Team on those questions I PM'd conerning Valentino's sequel story?

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

Not yet...:)

[Schwarzbart]

Its a long time when I did repost unanswered questions so I put some up again this time from Freespace and me. 

Sorry if I posted a question you already answered or missed some..(I only did go back till February)

1) At the Workshop Days we meet magicians but the text leave it kind of open if their "magic" is pure slight of hand or real magic?
2) When was the last time a split of from Academagia students and/or workforces happened and what was the reason?
3) I am very interested in learning more about the previous regent of Aranaz, Professor Strom,  Unfortunately as he is tied into the main story somehow we are a lot less likely to learn anything about him until the team chooses to reveal such info
4) Are there Historical records about spells beside weather magic or creature summoning that did level a entire city with just 1 spell?
5) Could you give me a hit if there is a good way to train the Calligraphy sub skill beside taking the class in year 1? (I talking about a action, ability or spell that give at last 1 step toward a random Calligraphy SS beside one or more other SS)
6) A mercenary was imprisoned by the guards from Mineta because he killed the child of a noble and his friends within the city. The mercenary claims that he just attacked goblins that where aiming their bows at him. Now the question would there be a investigation if there was magic in play and how deep will this go or is the mercenary considered guilty of murder because it was him who have slain the noble?
7) When changing college in year 2 will it be possible to cover up for a weak skill with a strong one? I.e. if I want to change to Avila would be a Astrology of 15 (with items) cover for a geometry of only 5 (without items)
8) Or are to join a different college in year 2 the sub skills tested instead of the skill if you didn't have it as class in year 1?
9) Could you give us the planed cycle of the already set cyclic class of our 1st year?
10) What colors to unicorns appear in? Only white? And do winged variants appear?
11) Can you tell us anything about Opossum and Racoon Familiars? Are they unheard of? Since the Familiar bond process is partly up to chance, it has to have happened before. Any good stories surrounding them?
12) Given that magical herbs and mushrooms are fairly common, I have to ask about any common recreational drugs in setting, including magical variants, as well as the Academagia's policy on usage of such items, especially those which have genuine beneficial uses.
13) Are there any sort of cliches surrounding wizards who like to live in very tall towers isolated from large communities?

[Legate of Mineta]

Hmm, a special Memorial Day edition of Q&A? Let's see...;)

[Legate of Mineta]

And now, the response!

1) The street magicians were indeed practicing what we call stage magic - as you say, pure sleight of hand.

2) If you're wondering when the last time support staff at the Academagia itself went on strike, there was a brief action when Orso first arrived.  He spent months avoiding people who wanted him to clear up bureaucratic knots and hurdles.  Professor Briardi - who wasn't yet Regent of Durand back then - finally had to distinguish herself by tracking him down, breaking the glamours he used to hide his office, and forcing him to wade through paperwork for a week.

If you're wondering when the last time students and faculty broke off from the school en masse and tried to create a new institution was... well, that's one's gonna be [redacted].

3) We can say that Professor von Rupprecht ultimately arranged for Strom's removal by "exposing a trade in illegal magical artifacts."  In fact, it seems he was actually selling magical weapons to air pirates and diverting the money to support certain Minetan political factions.

Unless von Rupprecht framed him, obviously.

4) That's kind of a tricky question. The more people that are in a city (and especially the more mages are in a city), the more ley lines and dragon lines bend toward them; magical forces inherently become more chaotic. To balance that out, ever since the creation of Mineta, urban planning has involved designing temples, wardstones, and other enchanted public features to limit the scope of magical chain reactions.  There are indirect workarounds - calling in disastrous weather, as you say, or trying to use a gate to drop a small mountain on an enemy settlement - but in theory it should require about one wizard for every seventy-three citizens in a city, working in concert, to create a single magical effect capable of catastrophically affecting every district and every neighborhood.

The theory was proven wrong about eight hundred years ago, in a place called Solora, but the details have been expunged from public histories.

5) We think the Class is the best way, although you never know what may come in Y2.

6) If a mercenary (presumably a foreigner at that!) killed one or more noble children, there would be an overwhelming amount of pressure to turn the man (or woman) over for magical interrogation and/or physical abuse followed by prompt execution - not least to deter other mercenaries from ever even thinking about doing something similar.  For that to be delayed in favor of a proper investigation... well, that would involve somebody powerful stepping in and demanding that the said investigation happen.  It would be more politics than procedure, if that makes any sense.

7) Kind of. Higher Skill Levels are looked upon with favor.

8) It's the Skill.

9) Not yet.

10) Any color but white or gold is considered an extremely bad omen.  And, yes, there have been winged unicorns sighted, though they're extremely rare; they tend to be associated with nighttime rainfall, for some reason.

11) Raccoons and opossums aren't native to Elumia.  Thanks to Gates magic (we think), there are colonies of them in certain mountainous regions in the western Merilien-speaking counties and duchies, but they're not common.

They can be and have been familiars, though - when Kate Badcrumble was a student, back in the 1640s, a raccoon (whom the kids called a "bandit cat") actually made off with the Vernin Regent's wand.  Naturally, the wand was never found...

12) The short and oversimplified version: if it's a mushroom, a leaf, or a weed from Mineta or further north, and it's chewed or drunk, and it's a mild intoxicant, it's treated more or less like beer or wine - legal, but forbidden to underage students.  If it's a mild stimulant, it's acceptable in moderation.

Hallucinogens are commonly associated with fey magic, fairly or unfairly, and are banned.

If it's associated with Saisyne and the south, and especially if it's smoked (particularly stuff called "barish"), it's illegal in Mineta - as much for cultural reasons as for medical ones.  Unfortunately, these southern specialties are generally the most effective natural pain-killers - but there are legal offshoots that can be crushed into powder and mixed with hot water.

There are broad categories of what we'd call "harder" drugs that are regulated more as poisons.  It's illegal to sell them and illegal to buy them, but if you voluntarily take them yourself you're not committing a crime.  That said, you're liable for your activities while under their influence, and Minetan doctors will start turning you away pretty quickly if you're suffering serious health effects.  [Partially, that's because drugs that cause addiction are still associated with draconic slavery, when they were rather famously used to ensnare particularly useful human agents.  Just for the record.]

13) Either they're prima donnas or they're very bad news.

[Schwarzbart]

Wow the complete block answered, thanks Legate.

[freespace2dotcom]

Oh, wow! We're all caught up now! We're gonna have to come up with more questions later, but for now, I think the team deserves a rest.

[freespace2dotcom]

Break's over.

 

1. Since the Academagia is largely staffed by former students, I was wondering about it's policies concerning non-alumnis getting teaching jobs there. While I can't imagine there being too much resistance to the idea, Has not being a graduate hampered many campaigns to become a Regent, or the Legate?

2. On the subject of omni-disciplinarianism, I thought I'd ask if it is public knowledge on whether professors have mastered a second (or more) pillar(s) so that one could potentially ask them for their experiences?

3. Exactly how are Gates and Mastery referred to in official statements? Since most folks prefer pretending that they don't exist, I imagine they aren't even referred to as pillars. (though before the ban most certainly they were, and I know on the forum here we don't discriminate, hehe) I can only imagine that they would have some way to describe them officially if only so that there would be a way to convey meaning without having to actually say 'Gates' or 'Mastery'. If Somebody said, the 'proscribed arts', would anything else be lumped in with it like that anti-magic negation stuff?

4. Regarding the Anti magic Negation stuff, I have a video to share.

Please tell me that something like this has been done in the setting of Academagia before. It's too awesome to not write into the lore.

[Legate of Mineta]

Hahaha! I'll ask.

[isadorbg]

2) I am sure it's common knowledge that Orsi is adepts of more than one pillars.

As for the video the most interesting question is whether an equivalent of wild magic exist... oh wait there is it's called Gates. Maybe someone karaoke'd Monteon out of existence too.  

[freespace2dotcom]

1 hour ago, isadorbg said:

2) I am sure it's common knowledge that Orsi is adepts of more than one pillars.

As for the video the most interesting question is whether an equivalent of wild magic exist... oh wait there is it's called Gates. Maybe someone karaoke'd Monteon out of existence too.  

It is well inferred, but it isn't known whether he is a Master of any, or merely an exceptional Jack of all. I'm pretty sure even he has limits to his knowledge somewhere, and I'd bet it's not well known exactly where they are, except maybe to his closest confidants.

 

And when seeing that video, the idea of somebody drunkenly destroying Monteon in an accidental magic mishap did cross my mind. Still, that could easily have been intentional, too....

[Schwarzbart]

Sound like the focus of Orso Orsi is Glamour otherwise he couldn't keep hidden for so long against a Negation specialist. Also because he was Spy for a long time its a other hint in my opinion for his Glamour focus.

[Schwarzbart]

1) How useful for your future live is a good foundation in all legal magic pillars build in year 1 even if you focus on just one or two pillar for the rest of your time in Academagia?

[Legate of Mineta]

S;

Hmmm- that's an interesting question. I think it would depend on your career.

[freespace2dotcom]

Mmm.

You've got an interesting idea there Schwarzbart!

Legate, Assuming I changed my mind on omnidisciplinarianism after the end of Y2 to focus on one pillar.... (I wouldn't, but hypothetically....)  Would that count as a solid foundation, or would it be considered lacking for jobs that really required flexible skills?

Also, Since we can pretty much go through Y1 without hardly any penalty for omni-study, I figure that even if we can't max out all of the magic skills in Y2, we should be able to appreciably raise them, so the difference between an omni and a specialist should not be so large in a single pillar after Y2 that you couldn't catch up in following years if you decided to apply yourself appropriately to a single pillar. (Especially if all future years have level caps!)

Is my line of thinking correct, here? Because as it stands, with so much of advanced magic in setting being hidden from us, it only seems to make sense to study as much magic as possible early on so that we can put off having to really choose a specific path until later when we know more.

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

I think it's a solid foundation, in the same way that a foundation in mathematics, for example, would be useful if you later try to pursue a career in engineering. But they aren't the same things, and you can only go so far with what you would know.

[freespace2dotcom]

So.... to add on to the questions

5  Including researchers, About how many mages does the Academagia Employ?

6. Are there any good stories about any talented wizards choosing to simply become a janitor or other lowly profession at the school, who then proceeds to defeat an overconfident professor in a duel?

7. While obviously school uniform rules would apply almost everywhere else, but at least in your dorm rooms, would it be strictly speaking against the rules to wear a crimson sky-pirate bandana?

8. While Gates items have a tendency to shine in telling colors, and some probably have that 'suck you into another dimension' feeling' when being held, are there any equivalent magical sense associated with the other pillars? (Include Mastery, if you can, please.)

[Legate of Mineta]

7) No, that would normally be fine.

...I'll ask for the rest.