A few in game questions

[Legate of Mineta]

Surprisingly, Schwarzbart, it's not from Cat.

[Schwarzbart]

I now start to wonder how many % of all the animals have human like intelligence in Academagia. I supsect when some of my Morvidus chars learn that there so many animals with human like intelligence then they probably become vegan.

[Leoshi]

Oh so THAT's why Girars is a vegan.

 

But to me that line on eating small creatures sound like a certain Hedi boy if you didn't help him with his quest for a cure.

[Adrian]

Small question/possible spoiler so if there's no comment (or if it is in game but I forgot) then it's cool.

 

Do the Sphinx Syndicate report to Rupprect? - I know there is a sense of symbiosis, but whether or not Sixt is at the top (/or near it) is my question.

[freespace2dotcom]

Haha!

 

Personally I try to focus on just one character, my alter ego which tends to have the same adventures over and over again, so I probably miss a fair bit of content. Still, I'm content as that way I can safely remember the adventures that I've done.

 

All is not lost though. I did wind up making a Godina girl (of all things) whose entire focus is learning forbidden magic at every corner. Realisically I'd be cautious about it, which is why my main character is still a "casual contactee" but this girl... It will be a miracle if she survives to Y5, let alone keep from getting expelled, She hasn't done anything overt yet, but she's not subtle, so it will be... interesting... for her in Y2.

 

Edit: Adrian, you snuck up on me!

 

I personally imagine as I am an Aranaz focused student, that Rupprecht is not the head the syndicate per se. Although since he is the head of Aranaz I'm sure he knows of *most* of their activities and guides them mostly out of self interest and advancement of his own goals. He's involved with them on unofficial channels no doubt, but certainly nothing that can lead back to him. Regardless of the student shenanigans that may be partially supported by him, as an instructor he undoubtably is required to mantain the façade of supporting the academy.

 

When he wants to give you some help in the sphinx quest it's quite clear how he acts in regard to them. His sole interest is in raising the prestige of the College, which makes him look good. He doesn't really care about how it happens, so long as the masquerade is unbroken If you charm Briardi with a Glamour in that step he shows with absolute clarity how close to disaster that would have brought you, (SUSPENSION, not just detention) and then tells you what happens if you break the masquerade by being caught and blabbing.

 

It's fair to say I'm fond of the old man, and Orsi too. I'm gonna be crying tears when I have to choose one or the other.

[MadHatt]

Was acting restricted at some point for females? Is it considered degrading by nobility and royalty? It only got positive connotations around the 19th century for our world, and since it is a skill and there are plays, I imagine it's quite different for the Academagia world. Women were only allowed to perform in the 17th century. Before that it was considered disgraceful.

 

Secondly, the lower part of Mineta: would wizards be feared even by regular folk in so much as allowing them to walk unmolested or are they fair game? In the Godina adventure that includes the Pitts, they don't really seem to care that you could definitely unleash fire and electricity on them?

 

On that, how often is electricity used for normal day to day activities?

 

Plumbing...specifically indoor plumbing. (well, someone had to ask...). Is it magical, steampunk or just an odd case of modern engineering? You can incant hot water for your bath, I suppose, but how about flushing?

 

Also, I've been trying to find the answer to this as I'm sure I've seen a variant of the question, but here goes: How big are baby dragons? Are they as tiny as a faux dragon when they hatch and then grow huge or are they fairly large at birth/egg hatching/ egg laying?

 

...I'm thinking about where to hide one.

[Schwarzbart]

but how about flushing?

Now I suspect most houses just use the gravity without water and some sawdust above it to reduce the smell. Beside this I suspect the pisspot is still in common use.

[Legate of Mineta]

Adrian;

 

"Do the Sphinx Syndicate report to Rupprect? - I know there is a sense of symbiosis, but whether or not Sixt is at the top (/or near it) is my question."

 

No comment.

 

Mad;

 

"Was acting restricted at some point for females? Is it considered degrading by nobility and royalty? It only got positive connotations around the 19th century for our world, and since it is a skill and there are plays, I imagine it's quite different for the Academagia world. Women were only allowed to perform in the 17th century. Before that it was considered disgraceful."

 

No, due to the early patronage of the New (and Old) Gods, theater was not gender biased.

 

"Secondly, the lower part of Mineta: would wizards be feared even by regular folk in so much as allowing them to walk unmolested or are they fair game? In the Godina adventure that includes the Pitts, they don't really seem to care that you could definitely unleash fire and electricity on them?"

 

In Mineta, wizards are a fairly common occurrence, and reasonably well policed. In fact, the reason why the Upper City is so (generally) suspicious of wizards is because of the high population of *students* there.

 

"On that, how often is electricity used for normal day to day activities?"

 

In Mineta, it is not. In Ruckmarn, there are electro-mechanical engines, although these aren't used for day-to-day activities.

 

"Plumbing...specifically indoor plumbing. (well, someone had to ask...). Is it magical, steampunk or just an odd case of modern engineering? You can incant hot water for your bath, I suppose, but how about flushing?"

 

Much of old Mineta has magically enhanced plumbing and sewers, built by the early Emperors. As the city expanded, however, those kinds of projects were not extended, and Schwarzbart's description is more accurate. Thankfully for you, accommodations are quite nice at the Academagia. Well...maybe not for Avila boys.

 

"Also, I've been trying to find the answer to this as I'm sure I've seen a variant of the question, but here goes: How big are baby dragons? Are they as tiny as a faux dragon when they hatch and then grow huge or are they fairly large at birth/egg hatching/ egg laying?"

 

Eggs are about the size of a man, sometimes larger, and newborn Dragons are similarly sized.

 

Edit:

 

Oh, and here's one for Hatt:

 

"“Are you a curse doll-making puppeteer?” you ask wearily.

 

A wary pause stretches out long enough for your eyelids to dip steadily downward.

 

“...Yes?” a small voice peeps out.""

[Legate of Mineta]

Ah, missed Schwarzbart:

 

"I now start to wonder how many % of all the animals have human like intelligence in Academagia. I supsect when some of my Morvidus chars learn that there so many animals with human like intelligence then they probably become vegan."

 

Relatively few- most that do are Familiars, or descendants of Familiars. You find quite a high concentration of intelligent animals around the campus, though- more than enough to put off most casual carnivores.

[MadHatt]

AHA!! Are they Absurdly Spacious Sewer? (I could have linked to TV tropes and didn't. Your spare time is welcome)

 

So it's fairly hard to find an egg and take it with you, is it? Considering it must be heavy and huge. There go my dreams of being the first dragon hatcher/tamer. Oh well, there's still Mastery.

 

Thank you for the quote. ...Doll familiar adventure? ...Man, I can't wait for Y2. It sounds awesome.

 

It's also good thing it was not a Captain quote or I actually would have started screaming out. I am on a subway.

[Legate of Mineta]

Surprisingly, not the Doll.

[freespace2dotcom]

Haha! Poor Avila boys!

 

Hmmm. What is known about dragons?

 

1. How long is it before a Dragon egg hatches?

 

2. How long do baby dragons take before they can show the intelligence/ability that humans might take 5-6 years to accomplish?

 

3. What do dragon eggs look like? leathery like a snake? Or like a bird? Transparent?

 

4. How many eggs would a dragon lay on average?

 

5. Do dragons in this setting have traditional treasure hoards? I imagine that they would have a bunch of wealth being rulers and all but I can't see them stockpiling it like you might see in D&D.

 

6. If you had to kill one, would you have better luck going for the heart(s)? Or the head? Or just use Gates to whisk it away and hope for the best?

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

1. How long is it before a Dragon egg hatches?

 

Unknown.

 

2. How long do baby dragons take before they can show the intelligence/ability that humans might take 5-6 years to accomplish?

 

Unknown.

 

3. What do dragon eggs look like? leathery like a snake? Or like a bird? Transparent?

 

Unknown.

 

4. How many eggs would a dragon lay on average?

 

Unknown.

 

5. Do dragons in this setting have traditional treasure hoards? I imagine that they would have a bunch of wealth being rulers and all but I can't see them stockpiling it like you might see in D&D.

 

They do hoard, but not D&D style, as you suggest.

 

6. If you had to kill one, would you have better luck going for the heart(s)? Or the head? Or just use Gates to whisk it away and hope for the best?

 

Unknown.

[freespace2dotcom]

...

 

Well, isn't that grand! Thanks for answering those for me, it clears up so much!

 

As an aside, What colors would dragons in this setting be? Would they vary like human skin or do they stay pretty similar?

[Legate of Mineta]

They vary.

 

...and no problem!

[CremePudding]

""I need to do this! Gates magic can be safe! Think about! We can talk to people who have been dead for centuries!" [Redacted] exclaims back at you.""

No, Oriabel, think about! We can talk to dead people from distant worlds! We can talk to people not even resembling people!

 

"“I’ve been…hunting small creatures…mice, and other rodents…and eating them…they’re really good for some reason!...is that strange?”"

Ulvia? (who is *well* on her way to becoming a snake.) Margaret? Or Freespace's Recurring Eating Disorder^TM, which helps free space in your stomach by inducing diarrhea via abnormal diet.

 

"It is a long but not difficult climb to the top of Annerito Tower. When you arrive, however, it is neither the Queen of Cats nor her court that awaits you. Only Oyes is standing there alone, blue fur shining in the moonlight.

 

“I see you’ve come to betray me after all I’ve done for you,” he says, stalking calmly towards you."

....Nyaa?

 

-

 

By the way, are there any students you guys weren't too happy how they turned out in the end or that you found them not receiving enough attention?

[Legate of Mineta]

Creme;

 

I think a few of them haven't received too much attention, but I think overall the Team was happy with them all. It's one big family.

[Adrian]

One big family, where ~half isn't invited to the parties. Some for being insufferable, some because they simply aren't liked. One because we don't want a meteorite to strike the host's house. One of two stay awake because the dinner two years ago contained faint traces of meat.

[freespace2dotcom]

You know, I wonder just how many "Dreams" that all the students have would turn out poorly because they really don't seem to think about all the potential disasters that could happen if even one thing goes wrong!

 

Between turning into a snake, and Grasshopper, I am slightly worried about what the future has in store for such dreamers. I'd almost say that the students assume the world is a "dreams come true" trope, but in reality it is mostly a pessimistic deconstruction. The Player has the ability to make it more of a reconstruction, but still.

 

I think that lots of things are cute or cool, but that doesn't mean that everything would be better if I were in the form of "X" or just had X because it's almost always a trade off. In order to be a snake, you'd have to give up most of your social life, and the ability to do lots of things! If you wanted to make yourself a friend because you didn't have any, you might just miss several opportunity to make real friends in that pursuit, and maybe your made up friend might not like you anyway. Even relatively "simple" changes can have big ramifications! Look at the classic "genderswap" scenario. Even if you wanted to do that sort of thing, the social stigmas would mean it'd probably be your greatest secret, and that's not even counting getting accustomed to new gender roles. (which in this setting especially would be less accomodating than current Real life)

 

Overall I think Magic should best be used as a suppliment to one's life. I don't think it's wise to rely on it in such a fashion that you wind up with a magical crisis every time you use it. Salt is a great spice, but would anyone eat pure plain salt straight? I don't think so.

[Legate of Mineta]

Freespace clearly made all the Instructors happy.

 

Well...most of them.

[freespace2dotcom]

I'm sorry, Prof. Aventyrare!

 

I like using magic in grand style too! but I just think that it needs to be tempered by common sense sometimes!

[Adrian]

As long as we agree that it should be tempered and not trapped by common sense then sure.

[freespace2dotcom]

So, Adrian... Can you tell us of a situation where "common sense" would "trap" magic?

 

Commmon sense would tell you that if there is a situation where you should use magic... Use it!

[Adrian]

I got a whole arsenal, a few of which would backfire so horribly that I should probably NOT mention most of them. But consider how many great (yet unpractical) things are around that we would be without if common sense dictated our line of thought.

 

Well... *squirms* right. This may be a bit lame but bare with me: Common sense would say that casting negation magics (in general) while standing on an island FLAOTING GODS ONLY KNOWS HOW HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH carried by magics is a GODS DAMNED HORRIBLE IDEA. - Yet we use it, and to great effect. Imagine if the first mages had been cursed with a shred of common sense when they rose against the dragons. We'd be trapped in the stoneages!

 

...

 

Actually, that argument wasn't... that bad. My first idea was something about architecture and tall buildings not really relating to magic, then realizing that it was about waterspells indoors to make your brother look like he peed himself. But this is better.

 

Besides, if we don't extinguish small fires with a waterfall then we'd never get to cast that kind of spells!

[freespace2dotcom]

Actually, Negation magics that endanger the islands is a bad idea, and I agree shouldn't be used save for the very advanced Negaters.. The Legate can correct if either of us are wrong but I'm quite sure that any old negation magics can't be used on the islands. I mean nobody even knows what the magics are that put them up there in the first place and in order to really affect magic of that level you would have to deliberately gather several powerful Negaters with the express purpose of negating the magics of the islands. But since it's not known how to do so you'd have to use that special branch of Negation which cancels magic entirely, but that branch already is partly proscribed, for that very reason. So In all, it's common sense applied very thoroughly.

 

And I'm *fairly* sure that when the first kings rebelled against the dragons the common sense applied was "We'll either defeat them, or be dead. Either way we'll be free of them." Based on how the dragons seem to have ruled I can say with 100% certainty that that statement is about the most mild version that you would find in their history books.

 

And Yes you can cast a waterfall spell anytime you want within common sense.

 

Want a new soothing meditation room?

Want that bully to be taught a lesson?

Want to extinguish that absolutely huge house fire?

 

A waterfall can do all that and more, though applying common sense, water is probably the least desirable way to extinguish a fire, even if it's the soundest way. Perhaps some Negation is in order.