Exfides

I'd imagine Courtly Fashion also involves designing clothing to appeal to the ruling class and "the Beautiful People" as well. Why would we need a non-magical skill to turn sackcloth into silk that's what Revision spells are for.

Don't we have a skill for that already, namely Courtly Fashion? Seriously, read the description for that skill...

Thank you Legate for such a quick and complete set of answers, so late in the day!

OK, lately I've been reading a certain Let's Play thread and it's reminded me of something that I've wondered about, casting via tattooed phemes. I don't think the following questions have been asked or answered. Obviously you need phemes some where on your body, but is a tattooed boundary around them necessary like on a palette, or is it the act of touching them that matters? I'm aware of them appearing in only one Dev made Adventure and then only on one evil wizard. Are they as rare as this implies, or is it just that wizards in this setting tend to wear robes so it isn't apparent how common they are? Despite the obvious advantages of being able to cast at least some spells when wandless, are there any potential drawbacks to having magical tattoos like this? If so, are they just practical (e.g. it makes them easier to detect by some magical spells) or just unpleasant in nature (e.g. the tattooed area hurts when used to cast a spell, or the creation requires something most find morally repugnant like the deaths of small cute creatures)? On the subject of tattoo creation, what is the process involved in creation of these most intimate of magical artifacts? Are they just normal tattoos that can be done by any decent tattoo artist and then enchanted? Or must they be inscribed by the wizard him/herself to work?

I'd just like to chime in to state I'm also against adding voices. As others have pointed-out; voice acting is one of those things that when it's good, it's very good, and when it's bad, it's horrible. As much as I like and respect Black Chicken, I know they won't be able to afford the upper tier of voice actors (VA) for all or even most of the many characters in this game. A distinct voice would be needed for each student and instructor, talented VAs may be able to do three or four voices and keep them distinct but that's still approaching two dozen VAs, at minimum! IMHO that means too much expense and risk for comparatively little reward.

Thank you Legate! I knew the islands which were part of (and I guess technically still are) part of the Empire of Man are Elumia. Instead, I meant all of the bits of land the dragons wrenched from Cyve, so it would be Azhiamas. Also, your conspicuous avoidance of the main topic of my post is duly noted. Well by now it's to be expected that the Dev's reaction would be [redacted].

I definitely don't consider ghosts to be in "stasis", instead I a better word for my conception of them is "bound". They are apparently souls/spirits bound to the physical world, and often to very specific pieces of it (e.g. locations, objects, people, etc...), instead of going to whatever afterlife there is in this setting. As to how this happens, I'm less certain and there are probably multiple ways that "produce" a ghost. Although I am almost certain all of them have something to do with the general nature of what magic is and how it works in this setting, even if just indirectly. That leads me to believe that the incidence of haunting (i.e. having one or more bound ghosts) is much greater for locations, objects, and people that are innately magical or use magic. Therefore, while sometimes it seems that one can't far anywhere within Academagia's grounds without (metaphorically) tripping over one or more ghosts; this is not the case for all of the floating islands (Aside: What's their collective name again?), but given their nature they are probably more haunted than Cyve as a whole. To go deeper into this idea, I'm sure there have been spells developed to intentionally to sunder the spiritual-physical connection of a person and then bound the resulting free spirit (pun intended ) in some way. I'm sure there are also magical accidents (e.g. a miscast spell, different spells/magical effects interacting in chaotic ways, etc...) that can do the same. However, I really doubt that these would be the only sources of ghosts. Even ruling-out the potential actions of the Old and New Gods (think curses), there are a certain amount of "natural" ghosts (to the extent that magic seems an innate and therefore "natural" part of the physical world in this setting). However, given just what's presented in-game and on the Forums we are mostly limited to pure speculation on the details of how this happens, at least from my perspective. Aside: I sometimes wonder what the Dev Team thinks about the fan musings on the Forms.

Hmm, can you tell us if it will still rely on wands and palettes, like the magic already present in the game? Yes that's exactly what I'm getting at, the possibility of anything from an Academagian Student finding and "awakening" their college's namesake (or perhaps even better, their rival college's namesake), to a powerful wizard from antiquity (potentially a friend or foe), or even just finding a poor soul thrust from everything they know and love who now has to rebuild their life in changed and largely unfamiliar world. Good to know, I might actually get around to making an adventure story-line for Year 2. Only in the sense that it's further indication of "redacted" being favorite English word.

Well, Red Panda's are sufficiently vulpine for that viewpoint to be both reasonable and understandable.

I wouldn't dream of prying into the identity of this member of the Dev Team, but do they also regularly post on the Forums using a nome de plume that begins with "L"?

Thank you for the response Legate. However, it does bring-up an other question (I'm sure you find that shocking!). How are magical results that require multiple schools actually achieved, and are there any differences between the in-story portrayal and potential game mechanics in future years? For example, would placing someone under suspended animation require a different spell from each of the three pillars of magic you mentioned, would it be one spell that that somehow mixed the three pillars of magic in a way that hasn't been seen in Year 1, or would it be described as if it was one spell in the in-game text but actually require three "sub-spells" by the game engine? In addition to just my innate curiosity, I was specifically wondering if stories of finding people or creatures in such stasis from the far past were possible in this setting (hence the reference to "Once and Future King"). Furthermore, I don't mean just some long lost leader, but also just someone in an average or above-average station in life during the Early or Middle Empire. As to cause, it could be an accident, it could be intentionally self-inflicted (e.g. a powerful but unhappy wizard wanted to leave everything they know behind them and start again really fresh), or intentionally done to another (e.g. to get someone out-of-the-way or severely punish them without killing, though some might feel this would be a fate worse than death especially if the victim was aware but totally cut-off from the rest of the world). Nyaa, I respectfully disagree about your conclusion on the Ghosts found in the game. They are souls that simply lack bodies, but can still to, at least some extent, perceive and interact with other people and/or the physical world. Now my concept of a true stasis would me a person's body could not change, therefore could not feel stimulus of any kind nor move at all. This why I would hope the person would be unconscious if this state could last for a long time... Imagine being unable to see, hear, taste, smell, or feel anything at all. In addition to experiencing the ultimate in literal sensory deprivation you would have absolutely no way to gauge the passage of time, your internal circadian rhythm would be halted as well! Now, if someone was an unwilling recipient (or more correctly victim) of this magic they might not even know how long they'd be in this state, or even that it is actually temporary. I think that would be enough to drive most people insane after a relatively short time! However, one thing your post inspired is recognition of a third option, neither the total mental solitary confinement nor simple unconsciousness. This third possibility would be a body in stasis but a mind in a ghost-like state of limited perception and interaction with the rest of the world. While still potentially a very unpleasant condition to be in, it would be less likely induce permanent mental breakdown and more importantly offer some interesting story possibilities over what I outlined above... Hmmm

*shrug* I guess it depends on if you think of "suspended animation" as only like the natural hibernation of certain real life animals. Although your idea does seem reasonable a way to achieve that sort of hibernation. Instead, I was thinking of a true stasis; not death (fake or otherwise), not extremely attenuated life, but a person's body exists in such a way that their physical body does not and cannot change. As for their mind, they probably would just black-out for the duration, I would certainly hope so if such a state could last years or longer...

Your promising a Cow Familiar, and no such certainty for Fox Familiar? Legate say it ain't so! *sniff* (Oh I'm just joking, I know you promised nothing. However, if we do get a cow (of all things) before/instead of a fox I would be rather annoyed. )

Hmm... So by "essentially not permanent" do you mean there are Negation spells that could safely put someone in suspended animation? If so, could it be for years, decades, centuries, "Once and Future King" territory?

Great to hear! Of course, I'm not against new music either. For example, just about anything on this list would be a possibility. IMHO, there should be more chamber music in pop culture media! I'm only half-joking though, just look at what Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas did to expose music from the first half of the 20th Century to many people who probably wouldn't have ever heard them.