freespace2dotcom Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 While waiting for the CCC legality issue to be resolved so that I might continue, I've reviewed some ideas on another adventure or two for later years. I got new questions. Some having to do with them, others are just general. 1. What is the Calendar counting years from? 2. Where is Dona Adria? I can't find it on the world map. Also, what is the name of the city in the caldera of the volcano? 3. Was the volcano a result of the Exile, or did it exist before then? 4. At what point in history did Oursouk mages obtain their insanity? I'm almost certain that that was asked before but the WoA thread doesn't have it. (BAD NYAA!! *gets out a water spray bottle*) 5. Did the madness of Oursouk mages affect only those who already lived there for some time (when it started), or just any mage who was travelling the region? 6. Is there any event of historical importance that happened on Dona Adria? 7. While I know it would have been far more common to do a contract or sorts with spirit binding of golems in the preban era, I must ask if Mastery was acknowledged to have been used in the creation process. (not just used later) 8. Given that magical enchantments do fade with time... About what is the longest known duration to magic? (apart from the magical exile, of course.) 9. Speaking of the Exile, what is commonly known about those magics used in it? 10. On the subject of physically negating a spell, is the danger proportional to the danger of the spell being negated itself, or the power behind the spellcaster? Both? For example, which of the three would be the most dangerous to physically negate? A. A 13 Incantation skill Y1 student enchanting an item to spew electricity at intruders. B. Orso Orsi using a powerful Glamour to sound a campus wide alarm if ol' Sixt tried to break into his office. C. One of Olivier Marchant's Revision spells that turned someone into a very warty toad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Free; For your questions: 1. What is the Calendar counting years from? The founding of the Empire. 2. Where is Dona Adria? I can't find it on the world map. Also, what is the name of the city in the caldera of the volcano? Dona Adria is a large island southish of Mineta. It's where the Duchy of Ceada is. Do you mean Sung? 3. Was the volcano a result of the Exile, or did it exist before then? The Exile...maybe. 4. At what point in history did Oursouk mages obtain their insanity? I'm almost certain that that was asked before but the WoA thread doesn't have it. (BAD NYAA!! *gets out a water spray bottle*) Around the Cataclysm of Monteon. 5. Did the madness of Oursouk mages affect only those who already lived there for some time (when it started), or just any mage who was travelling the region? It affected those who studied the magical traditions of Oursouk. 6. Is there any event of historical importance that happened on Dona Adria? Well, yes. Many. 7. While I know it would have been far more common to do a contract or sorts with spirit binding of golems in the preban era, I must ask if Mastery was acknowledged to have been used in the creation process. (not just used later) Mastery was not acknowledged. 8. Given that magical enchantments do fade with time... About what is the longest known duration to magic? (apart from the magical exile, of course.) Several enchanted blades, a book, golems and a few other minor curiosities are thought to come from very early periods. 9. Speaking of the Exile, what is commonly known about those magics used in it? Nothing. 10. On the subject of physically negating a spell, is the danger proportional to the danger of the spell being negated itself, or the power behind the spellcaster? Both? For example, which of the three would be the most dangerous to physically negate? A. A 13 Incantation skill Y1 student enchanting an item to spew electricity at intruders. B. Orso Orsi using a powerful Glamour to sound a campus wide alarm if ol' Sixt tried to break into his office. C. One of Olivier Marchant's Revision spells that turned someone into a very warty toad. It's proportional to the Spell itself, so probably A is the most dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 On 2 if the city you referenced here is named "Sung" then yes. otherwise no. On 6, since I suppose I asked too broad of a question, I shall rephrase: Historically speaking, what is the island most noted for? (I get that geographically, theres a big volcano there! ) Also, though not a question, I would just like to say that just today I realized the true form of Diavesque. I just about near choked to death on my drink. I hope you're happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Free; Ah, no- that's not Sung. Dona Adria, historically, is noted for being the seat of the false, or Calvian, Empire- an event related to the beauty of the daughter of its king. The beauty of the king's line would again figure in Dona Adria's later history, rather bloodily destroying the Kingdom of Strozza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Free; Ah, no- that's not Sung. Then what is it's name? You must love how I seem to be on right as soon as you log on. To be fair I've been up all night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Free; Bah! I knew I should have written that to begin with: it's named Adria, after the Island (which in turn is named after a famous Queen.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 I see, so the city on the volcano itself shares the name with the island (and a past queen.) I suppose the volcano itself is referred to as Mt. Adria. It's probably the volcano itself that is named on the world map! Thanks! Mr. Pebbles needs a bit of history, and I've got about all I need to start writing the Y2 adventure. (whenever I feel like it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leoshi Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I go off-line for a few days and Freespace adds a few more pages to the questions thread. My turn! 1) How big are the spider familiars? If they are normal size wouldn't it be pretty easy to accidentally squish them? 2) Considering we are on a floating island, how do we deal with constant cloud covering? 3) Are there air-barnacles? 4) What is the general believe about ghosts? Do people absolutely believe they exist or do they regard them as superstitions? 5) How high up is the school? Let's say I kick Freespace from the gates and timed it, how long will it take for him to reach the city? 6) Is there a Leonardo da Vinci in this world? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Leoshi; 1) How big are the spider familiars? If they are normal size wouldn't it be pretty easy to accidentally squish them? I guess they are normal size and easily squished? I'm not sure. 2) Considering we are on a floating island, how do we deal with constant cloud covering? I'm not sure what you mean- cloud cover is weather dependent, and not unusual (despite the fact you are in the sky!) There are often clouds *below* the isles, of course. 3) Are there air-barnacles? Haha, no. 4) What is the general believe about ghosts? Do people absolutely believe they exist or do they regard them as superstitions? They exist. 5) How high up is the school? Let's say I kick Freespace from the gates and timed it, how long will it take for him to reach the city? The University is on the same level as the Upper City, no real height difference. 6) Is there a Leonardo da Vinci in this world? You'll have to ask someone a few centuries from now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leoshi Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I should have phrase a few questions better. 2) Do clouds naturally drift so close to the islands that mages have to direct them above / below / around the islands everyday? 4) What I meant was do people think of ghosts as superstitious until they see it as real or do they already know that ghost exists? (Example: Oriabel Sidot) 5) The map confused me. And 7) I'm trying to get a little creative with swears so should I use By Oliver (Storey)'s Bald Head!, By Orsi's Balding Head!, or the blasphemous By Octavius' Balding Head! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Leoshi; 2) No. 4) Ah...a mix of both. Peasants will swear they are real, but most educated people will say that they are superstitions...until they see one, of course. 7) Probably Octavius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I make no apologies for people who can't keep up with the way of nature. Things change, things pile up. That being said I *might* make an attempt to if there was some information on.. Erhem.. "chocolate cake" on the table. More questions. 1. If Elumia is so high up so that you might see a curved horizon, I have to ask: Even if the air is not especially thin, if I or Leoshi were to actually visit the place, would the stars show through more brightly? (as a space buff, I can say that once you get ~half the way to the recognized barrier to space [when a curved horizon really becomes noticable] The stars will start to shine even in what's left of the daylight.) 2. Do any pre-exile maps exist? 3. Is the Y1 student population a good indicator of the amount of students in each year? Or is it expected that the number of students in following years dwindle slightly? 4. Can you tell us what the most merit/demerit given for one single event was? 5. What makes for a good focus/core for a wand? I can only envision lightsaber crystals here, which while I suppose something like that would work on a wand, that's a very incomplete analogy. 6. The Astrology ability to determine the past of a particular item. I must ask (nay, I insist!) that you include the chance to look up the past of a particularly old book in a place like the Library of Longshade. 7. Will we eventually get to see a picture or painting of the all kings and queens whom are the college's namesakes? 8. If you somehow ran into a younger dragon whilst out adventuring. What would you be expected to do? What could you do as a Y1-2, save running and screaming like a little girl? I know that you said that mages could potentially match a dragon if their mobility was addressed, but that I think assumes a fully trained wizard. 9. I get that dragons in this setting are to be feared, and respected (even if only for their ability) but what in particular got them to be so unbearable that the scars left in the population's psyche is so strong thousands of years later? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzbart Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 3) Its expected that some Students drop out. In Year 2 we maybe even see more Students as some might be able to direct join year 2 and no one can drop out in year 1 but after this my expectation is that we have less and less Students each year and by year 5 not even half of what it was in year 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I know that we as the players will actually have more power over this than is expected of the average student. But I'm mostly asking as to what would be the case *usually* if the player wasn't there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzbart Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Yes this is my expection without interception trough the player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Hmm. And we can't forget that students can die, too. I doubt any of the class in Y2 will be in danger (yet) but I've got this aching feeling that we'll see a scripted scene in a story of the results of an experiment gone bad. I think that unless the player intervenes and makes a conscious choice to do so, half of the class getting kicked out by Y5 is a bit unlikely on average in the school. Maybe they had one or two years in the Academagia's long history where it happened, but overall I think that's not going to happen so severely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzbart Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 It all depends if making it trough year 3 is already enough to get some serious Mage jobs.I.e. I think for enchanting Battlemacefigures year 3 should be enough if your focus was enchanting / artificing. If I just think how Bachelor and Master work in my country right now for some specialitys that not even a quarter of all the people who started the Bachelor get the chance to ever make the Master then you maybe can see why I kind of expect this high dropout rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Well, I agree with you on that mostly. Especially the 3rd year probably being pretty capable for some mage jobs. (Remember the one Adventure where you get a job with a skiff? In Y1! WOW! ) But I suspect that with the Academagia being a 5Year education it would be closer to a "Bachelors" than a "Masters" degree. I think that what we're somewhat forgetting here is that a good part of the education takes place in what would be upper primary/ high school years. Logically The Academagia functions as a learning institution that would be the equivalent of a high quality trade school. Not necessarily for the absolute top "Master class" education, but that's not what makes it special. (though I think we'll see that they'll be able to get closer to that ideal than most people will give them credit for) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzbart Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Will we actual be able to focus on each of the year 1 class skills for all 5 years or are there skills that are "finished" when you focused on them for lets say 3 years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Well, I suspect that we'll be able to work on them for all years, but it will get more indirect as the years go on and you specialize. (or are supposed to.) I think the way Y2 will let us unlock skill levels past 10 is by forcing us to study in the new branch fields. Say you want to get past 10 in Incantation? Then you'll nee to raise the new "Conjuration*" and "Evocation*" branch skills (and their phemes/spells/theory subskills) to 10. Every 2 or so you raise the branch skill, you'll raise the CAP of the base pillar by one, and will still need to raise the actual skill which is rediculously hard because of the skill steps it eventually will take. In Y3 there will be two new branches of the Y2 branches and it will get quite difficult to raise the base pillar skills. But there shouldn't be any limit to what you can accomplish except time. *Names made up, and evocation would probably be a Gates branch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Free and Schwarzbart; 1. If Elumia is so high up so that you might see a curved horizon, I have to ask: Even if the air is not especially thin, if I or Leoshi were to actually visit the place, would the stars show through more brightly? (as a space buff, I can say that once you get ~half the way to the recognized barrier to space [when a curved horizon really becomes noticable] The stars will start to shine even in what's left of the daylight.) No, they do not shine more brightly. 2. Do any pre-exile maps exist? Yes, but it definitely takes artistic license. 3. Is the Y1 student population a good indicator of the amount of students in each year? Or is it expected that the number of students in following years dwindle slightly? Subsequent years do dwindle, due to expulsion and/or other reasons, but it's not so severe as 50%. On the other hand, not all graduates are...ah...exceptional wizards. They may be exceptionally wealthy, of course. 4. Can you tell us what the most merit/demerit given for one single event was? Haha, I do not know. It's probably related to cake. 5. What makes for a good focus/core for a wand? I can only envision lightsaber crystals here, which while I suppose something like that would work on a wand, that's a very incomplete analogy. It depends on what you want the wand to be good at. 6. The Astrology ability to determine the past of a particular item. I must ask (nay, I insist!) that you include the chance to look up the past of a particularly old book in a place like the Library of Longshade. Ha! That's kind of what the Registry is. 7. Will we eventually get to see a picture or painting of the all kings and queens whom are the college's namesakes? Sure. Your Characters probably have already. 8. If you somehow ran into a younger dragon whilst out adventuring. What would you be expected to do? What could you do as a Y1-2, save running and screaming like a little girl? I know that you said that mages could potentially match a dragon if their mobility was addressed, but that I think assumes a fully trained wizard. Yes; it would be expected that you would run and tell someone. Or, at the very least, bravely died trying to defeat it, of course. 9. I get that dragons in this setting are to be feared, and respected (even if only for their ability) but what in particular got them to be so unbearable that the scars left in the population's psyche is so strong thousands of years later? Oh, I don't know. Slavery and tyranny, reinforced by religion, might have that effect on some people. "Will we actual be able to focus on each of the year 1 class skills for all 5 years or are there skills that are "finished" when you focused on them for lets say 3 years?" For the core Pillars, yes, you can study them all 5 years. Other Classes may end earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 on 4, was it *chocolate* cake? Ah, on 7, I was mostly refering to us, as the players, not so much the Player character. on 9. I just don't know. I get the odd feeling that there had to be some crazy other reason or ten if the pain was still strong so many generations ago. I mean in real life there was all sorts of tyranny and slavery going on until the modern age, (and some might say still does in some corners) Yet that sort of thing is often forgotten after the first century or so and past that is mostly a footnote in a history book. Of course, in most cases there still isn't a potential danger of a return to such ways... I dunno how to weigh it but it just seems wrong. on 3 I suppose that last year of the teaching at the academagia is to ensure that even the dull students have the chance to meet the standards of a 4-year college which historically in RL seems to be far more common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 "I suppose that last year of the teaching at the academagia is to ensure that even the dull students have the chance to meet the standards of a 4-year college which historically in RL seems to be far more common." BAHAHA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freespace2dotcom Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Oh, and on 5, what about a very good general purpose wand for us omnidisciplinarians? (maybe also good for [redacted]) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legate of Mineta Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Free; There are a few options for a 'generalist', but such wands aren't made of wood (and tend to be very delicate, making them impractical for field use.) The classic example would be Queen Hedi's Spell, which was a miniature Palette, sealed in crystal. It was destroyed in the Exile, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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