A few in game questions

[CremePudding]

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!

...

 

Huh, that would be like saying people using hammers in a building (i.e. to put up paintings) would make the building collapse when you actually need a sledgehammer and deliberately smash around, and imagine if there's a Chestbuster Alien in the building and the marines are too worried about the building falling down that they'd just straight out surrender and get Chest-busted.

 

 

Granted, common sense could probably prevent some spell from ever happening , but in this setting, people have seen supernatural feats performed with no repercussions, and right now they have a large, trusted knowledge base that enabled them to use prior knowledge to solve these problem. Want to breath fire? Common sense say your body will go up in flames. No problem, just turn your body fireproof. Common sense might stop you from taking certain actions, but they also allow you to take other options.

Philippe's punching you and common sense say Freespace's Recurring Shock^TM will probably kill any human? No problem, use Freespace's Recurring Shockimages^TM

[freespace2dotcom]

HAHA! Great analogy Creme!

 

Learn the curse from me in the next 2 days and you'll even be taught how to make it sparkle red as it fries it's victim!

[freespace2dotcom]

New post because I've got NEW QUESTIONS!

 

1. Can you tell us who prof. Knoht is subbing for? Or at least if this mystery person will be in Y2?

 

2. What is the record for surviving solely on a pure-magical diet?

 

3. It occurs to me that with the ability to conjure up food the prospects of starving out a castle or fort into surrender is far far less likely. would there be a good negation magic for the attackers to remedy this easily? Or would a siege go on for years? Likely since there seem to be no siege weapons in this setting... Or does magic make traditional fortifications completely obsolete?

 

4. Compared to real life, What changes would be in the construction of a castle or fort due to magic/airships?

 

5. (for the CCC) On the subject of cakes, what would be considered the most and least popular flavors in Mineta?

 

6. This is kinda complicated. Given the (fairly-high) level of suppression on the history of the proscribed arts, Can you give a gauge as to what would allow lore of a Master of the arts to still be known in public circles? I mean Obviously it is known that Kasus was a Mastery user, even if most of the details of that were lost. How far down the chain does that go before the names fall into public obscurity? And then out of the books altogether? Would any mages from the end of the most recent preban era (and thus possibly still alive) have that distinction?

 

7. Can you tell us when the Schowanwicht school was founded? Or at least if it's old enough to have had to deal with other earlier bans?

 

8. Is it known for sure that the depictions (in paintings, etc.) of the college's namesakes actually what they looked like? Or is it suspected that such paintings are simple artists' "envisioning" what they would look like? The best real life example I can think of would be Jesus. I don't really think he looked anything like the bearded and long haired figure that is so well known today.

[Adrian]

For question 2) 6 days, and then he died of hunger. It might be worth noting that he was hungry the 6 previous days too. His wife insisted that he was posioned by his rivals, though the later ortobsy preformed by a skilled (and worryingly enthusiastic) doctor failed to find trases of anything poison related stating from his starved out state that the chance of him dying from anything other than starvation was about zero. He might have died of a bad case of hickups but it remains doubtful. In the end the man died and the woman was left pimless as the fortune was tied to his name and in case of suicide (as the insurance company labeled it) the money would go to his illegitimate children, making about seven young men and women very happy indeed.

 

 

...

 

Naa I'm kidding. I don't know.

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

1. Can you tell us who prof. Knoht is subbing for? Or at least if this mystery person will be in Y2?

 

She is not substituting for anyone in particular; each Year, if there's need, she can take over a Class (as well as cover other absences, as need arises.)

 

2. What is the record for surviving solely on a pure-magical diet?

 

Such a thing is possible to do indefinitely, if you have the skill and motivation to keep the duration of your magic food longer than your digestion.

 

3. It occurs to me that with the ability to conjure up food the prospects of starving out a castle or fort into surrender is far far less likely. would there be a good negation magic for the attackers to remedy this easily? Or would a siege go on for years? Likely since there seem to be no siege weapons in this setting... Or does magic make traditional fortifications completely obsolete?

 

Sieges can go on for years and attackers and defenders counter each other's magic. That said, these kinds of legendary sieges are very rare: neither side will commit wizards to a siege. The usual purpose is to shut the garrison in while a decisive battle is sought in the field.

 

4. Compared to real life, What changes would be in the construction of a castle or fort due to magic/airships?

 

None, apart from enchantments. The shape of fortresses are determined by geography and mundane need. Airships are vulnerable from beneath, and so usually would not try a direct a assault on a defended fortification (although it has happened). Magic is either handled by enchantment/defending wizard, or the fort must soon surrender.

 

5. (for the CCC) On the subject of cakes, what would be considered the most and least popular flavors in Mineta?

 

It's sweet. They are all popular.

 

6. This is kinda complicated. Given the (fairly-high) level of suppression on the history of the proscribed arts, Can you give a gauge as to what would allow lore of a Master of the arts to still be known in public circles? I mean Obviously it is known that Kasus was a Mastery user, even if most of the details of that were lost. How far down the chain does that go before the names fall into public obscurity? And then out of the books altogether? Would any mages from the end of the most recent preban era (and thus possibly still alive) have that distinction?

 

You can see a glimpse of that answer in the Lores already: Masters, unless legend, are unknown to the casual wizard, let alone the common folk.

 

7. Can you tell us when the Schowanwicht school was founded? Or at least if it's old enough to have had to deal with other earlier bans?

 

Hmm, check your Lores.

 

8. Is it known for sure that the depictions (in paintings, etc.) of the college's namesakes actually what they looked like? Or is it suspected that such paintings are simple artists' "envisioning" what they would look like? The best real life example I can think of would be Jesus. I don't really think he looked anything like the bearded and long haired figure that is so well known today.

 

Envisioning, definitely.

[freespace2dotcom]

Oh, so Knoht is more a general purpose instructor than a substitute, then? I could have sworn you said that she was covering for someone with an extended absence? I suppose that's a grey area that works both ways, but...

 

Also, I would imagine that airships, having cannons, would be capable of firing on a fort from a great range since the shots could be fired from a much higher relative altitude than conventional early artilery would be capable of. Especially rockships which would be ideal for that sort of fire since they might as well be untouchable to most defenders. Good luck firing an old style cannon a thousand feet skyward at maximum range and still have enough oomph to damage stone.

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

She is an Instructor without Portfolio, so she can fill a number of roles.

 

What you say is definitely true, though, about airship artillery, however in practice it's seldom used this way- the reason is that heavier airships (especially ships of stone) cannot fly overland, and, if they can, usually they cannot bear much weight. Some especially valuable ships, cut from volnauge of very high peaks, can act in the role you describe, though.

[freespace2dotcom]

Ah.

 

I expect we'll be seeing Knoht more often than most of the other professors, to be sure. I suspect that of all the professors introduced thus far she is probably one of the more versatile mages.

 

And I didn't realize that most airships were "that" limited in vertical operating range...

 

Hmm. Now that I think about it... How hard would it be to do a one or two day enchantment on such a ship to lessen it's weight? Not entirely, just to raise up an already floating ship up a few hundred feet.

[Schwarzbart]

The problem with the normal Airships I see is that they are fixed to a certain hight and only can change it trough gain or reduce of wight.

And so a Airship that can fligh very high have the problems how to get the extra wight to get down to a level where it can easy load/unload cargo and people.

[Legate of Mineta]

What Schwarzbart said is correct.

 

Enchantments of that type on ships are never done unless in utmost need- the reason is that it can interfere with the natural magic of the volnauge, in spectacularly disastrous ways.

[Adrian]

...

 

Now I really want to see what happens. Would it be "evil" of me to want to send a box of weightless sweets to my mother for her birthday? *grin*

[Legate of Mineta]

Adrian;

 

Oh that's not a problem- just using that enchantment on the ship's source of lift is a problem...

[Adrian]

Darn, ah well... I wonder if weightless chocolate is fattening... humm something to consider.

[Leoshi]

So Professor Knoht is an omnidisciplinarian mage.

[freespace2dotcom]

Actually, Leoshi, given how rare true Omnidisciplinarians are, I'd bet that Prof knoht is actually closer to a Multidisciplinarian. I'll bet she probably can't do anything beyond the simplest Astrology and probably Revision spells too.

 

I'm aiming to be capable of mixing all sorts of magic in novel and new ways. I think Knoht is mostly limited to sticking with 1 pillar at a time. Since so few do this omnidisciplinarian ideal, it should be relatively easy to experiment with multiple pillar magic and get new results. If my character gets a reputation for it after he graduates I can see him going back to the Academagia and asking to teach this brand of magic to 5th years. Good stuff.

 

Legate, what about just enchanting items on the ship for weight loss? Not the ship itself... Say all the cannons and cargo. I'm sure that would increase height by a bit in an emergency?

 

Also, will we eventually get the chance to see the statistics of the professors just like we have the ability to see the students?

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

It's possible to do what you suggest, just expensive.

 

Hmmm, I don't think you'll see their stats in Y2.

[freespace2dotcom]

I merely said eventually.

 

 

We will see them... Eventually, yes?

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

Hmmm...I imagine that yes, eventually, you will.

[Schwarzbart]

I think my next Avila char will be Omnidisciplinary in all legal Magical arts as Astrology is one of the skills I left out in my newer chars.

[freespace2dotcom]

My character doesn't take Astrology class, but the LotMoS is so powerful a tool you really don't need to take it. I don't mind if the Y1 libraries lose a lot of their potence in Y2, so long as we get a few others to augment or replace them as necessary. I for one think that the Contu Incantation School should have a nice library like the LotMos, though if the rate of learning there in Y2 is as fast as Y1 (or at least close to it) that might be a bit redundant. I'd love to see some dealing with the other pillars, as apart from Astrology, the only other pillar you can enhance with them would be Revision, though the LoM doesn't focus entirely on it, and learning Forge skills are a tad bit out of character for me. LoL is nice for Concentration, and thus Enspell if I also use it to learn Diction, which I think is a minor focus on my character, but apart from that....

[Schwarzbart]

I dont use LotMoS as I think a ability that just give out 2 Skill level is to weak compared to many other Abilitys.

Even the Sphinx was ranked down so that I only consider it as 2.5 level thanks to the extrem high failure rate of the 3. slot.

The failure rate of this slot is over 50% (thanks to the Research bug) when I finaly have a nearly 100% chance to use this ability.

[freespace2dotcom]

2 Astrology subskills improved at 2 skill steps apiece. That's in addition to whatever particular subskill you want to focus on learning. It's worth it, IMO, at least to get the Astrology parent skill up to 10, even if not every last one of the many subskills. It's the fact that you can choose any skill to learn and it's not random. I prefer the flexibility in choice than sheer ability gain.

[Schwarzbart]

NO just tested it again I only got Comets +1 and the Skill I selected +1. So its 2 Skill steps as it says not level!

So it might be usfull when your Attributes are to weak but usualy its only a 2 Skill level Ability and in my opinion only worth to call when the Sphinx only gives out 2 SS reliable.

Maybe you use a mod that change it.

[freespace2dotcom]

Hmmm. Maybe I imagined it....? I just tested it and you're right.

 

I could have SWORN it was that way....

 

I don't use mods and I don't make them so...

 

Edit: This is going to gnaw at my mind until I solve this mystery. My money's on a terrible black cat and black magic.

[Adrian]

Really Freespace, why would you *ever* think that? Really...

 

*whistles innocently as he pockets the wand*