A few in game questions

[freespace2dotcom]

Perhaps I should rephrase? "the last ban to end"? I speak of the previous ban. the 'last' one before the current. perhaps my context was not clear?

[Metis]

Context should be fine for anyone that doesn't prefer to interpret "last" as "numerically last/most recent" and completely forgets that "last" can also mean "previous". Like me.

 

Anyway, handy dandy question quote block for the Legate with my own questions added:

 

1. Is it possible to unlock a Extra Class trough an Adventure that has to be finished trough the Summer break?

 

2. When does an imported year 1 char have to decide about the class (s)he takes? Right at the start or short before the end of the Summer break?

 

3. In Y2 will we have the opportunity to go beyond the Y2 material? I understand that you want limits on characters, but I'd like to see a dedicated second year Negator be more skilled than an average 3rd year. The only way I see this as possible with limits is if more pillar related skills exist.

 

4. Since gates and Mastery were repeatedly banned and unbanned throughout history, what was the (main) reason the last ban ended?

 

5. Do other types of magic outside the pillars (fey for example) also rely on phemes or are they naturally unlearnable?

 

6. Since the metric system has recently been created, there must have been need for some standardization. As our real life 'imperial' units did not become standardized until recently, (it took ww2 to get everyone to agree on an inch) and in some cases are still not standardized (though likely would have if not for metrification) I am curious how standardized Elumia's measurement system is since they all mostly have common history.

 

7. An Outing... mentioned the Captain disregarding licenses to practice Mastery. I personally imagine him as seeing my adventure crew as a potential threat that he'll question and investigate any time he's given a reasonably credible reason to do so, but he refrains from doing stuff like dragging them to the headquarters for questioning every time a rumour pops up since that would cause too much fuzz and get the council on his case. Is that a decently accurate idea, and if not, what's the Captain's deal?

 

8. Say, hypothetically, that a spellcaster breaks into the Academagia, Masters one of the professors and causes a wee bit of a public spectacle with stray fireballs and icicles flying all over the place in broad daylight. And when that spellcaster is arrested he pretty much says "Oh, I'm just Grunt #1, my in-transit master is who you really need to worry about." to anyone willing to listen. What are the percentage odds of the Legate being able to persuade the authorities that the Academagia staff can handle this case entirely on their own, if he cared to try?

 

9. I heard that in Y2 it's possible for the PC to die. Is this limited to specific situations where, say, if the PC fails a roll than rocks fall everyone dies, or is it possible to have a situation where you can take so much damage that the PC bleeds out and dies, but won't if you have the Fitness/Vitality to not die?

[freespace2dotcom]

For 9 I'm fairly certain that death will only happen in adventures. (in Y2) I also suspect that even though our characters may know Gates or Mastery we probably will not be killed over it if discovered. (again only in Y2) expulsion, on the other hand....

[Dreamweaver]

Expulsion is no different from death. In the sense that it produces a gameover at least.

 

Hopefully those who found out would seek to blackmail instead, but being caught officially at that age would best-case scenario be a complete career-killer with life in supervision afterwards. Not sure they'd be allowed to do magic at all anymore.

[Metis]

I figured 9 only applies to adventures, but still. Is it possible during an adventure to, say, fail a Climb roll, fall of a cliff and die if you happen to not have enough vitality to eat the damage?

[freespace2dotcom]

I could totally picture getting caught with knowledge on illegal magic. I sometimes picture Briardi finding my character in a study cubicle looking over mind reading spells out of curiosity and causing a major moral dilemma.

 

Here's a question for you legate:

 

10: What is the level of knowledge required for the Mastery feats that Dicossa demonstrates in the vernin wall adventure? Specifically the telepathy and mind reading? Its probably safe to say a skill level of 10-11 won't cut it, but can we expect to be able to pull it off if we're hot stuff in Y2? also...

 

11. If sync is borderline acceptable, why aren't other parts of Mastery that aren't related to controlling others treated similarly? Is there danger in those spells?

[isadorbg]

i think you can still use telepathy even without Mastery, the adventure "you're being watched" comes to my mind. Altough maybe you have to use it to "force" the contact.

[Metis]

Man, these questions are adding up quickly, they've hit double digits.

 

10. Perhaps a spoiler, but what level of "telepathy" are you referring to? That adventure...well, let's say there's more than one instance of telepathy and some are a little more complex than others.

 

11. Pardon my ignorance, but what other parts of Mastery would you be referring to?

 

I might also have an explanation for 11 but that might also be completely wrong, so I figure I'll ask first.

[freespace2dotcom]

10. If I recall, that adventure had telepathy in the form of a simple warning "Don't trust him." It also is implied that Di cossa was reading the minds of people which is why he was knowledgeable of what was happening even from his cell.

 

What impresses me most about the adventure is that all the Mastery shown was 99% subtle in that adventure. The only time anyone started suspecting Mastery is when Di cossa's life was in danger and had no choice but to lay his cards on the table. Even Vernin's regent was mastered in the opening step when Di cossa figured that he needed to intervene when Giovanni was screwing up the spell and yet that was totally overlooked by everyone.

 

11. From my limited level of understanding of Mastery. The act of controlling a physical body like a puppet seems to be an overall low percentage of what the magic is actually capable of. That part is easily the main reason why Mastery as a whole is banned. I don't think that sync can do every beneficial thing that regular Mastery is capable of or even doing it as well most of the time. I'm referring to things like telepathy, (potentially on a large scale) or mind reading, and the known beneficial aspects, or maybe even things like forcing truths which would be questionable... I think the main reason all of these things were tossed out is because in order to learn all these things, you probably need to learn the "bad" things as well as they can't be neatly separated from the rest.

[isadorbg]

10- Actually you have quit lengthy discussion with your "blackmailer". I have to check it back but i remember distinctly that the first part of the adventure was doing what he wanted so he "get out" of your mind (might be mastery but i doubt it since there is no reference or even slight hint of potential use of forbidden magic). But i wouldn't be surprised that mastery has more efficient telepathy.

 

-11) Maybe there are other forms of legalised mastery, who knows? and a lot of legal mastery has been incorporated into Glammour. For the rest i guess the most "unethical" part of masteryis mandatory to either use whats left in the piller eiher or simplu to knowledge is required (which is punishable by death, remember?) or simply its not that useful, and you can do as much whith an another pillar so why take risks by permiting the use of "contreversial" magic.

 

Plus i don't think "mind reading" falls into "good" mastery. Its barely better than puppeting someone and still fall under the violation of the private mind which makes mastery so contreversial. Also a i already see a lot of abuse that can come with someone who can read mind at will and the paranoia that he can cause.

 

12) A new Question!!! Would i be wrong if i say that Glammour became a pillar around the times that Mastery was outlawed and Orthography was demoted? Seems this pillar grew a lot since those time.

 

Edit: Ok, I just realised that free was responding to Metis and not me, my bad! . I think it times to go to bed already!

[Metis]

10. If I recall, that adventure had telepathy in the form of a simple warning "Don't trust him." It also is implied that Di cossa was reading the minds of people which is why he was knowledgeable of what was happening even from his cell.

 

What impresses me most about the adventure is that all the Mastery shown was 99% subtle in that adventure. The only time anyone started suspecting Mastery is when Di cossa's life was in danger and had no choice but to lay his cards on the table. Even Vernin's regent was mastered in the opening step when Di cossa figured that he needed to intervene when Giovanni was screwing up the spell and yet that was totally overlooked by everyone.

 

11. From my limited level of understanding of Mastery. The act of controlling a physical body like a puppet seems to be an overall low percentage of what the magic is actually capable of. That part is easily the main reason why Mastery as a whole is banned. I don't think that sync can do every beneficial thing that regular Mastery is capable of or even doing it as well most of the time. I'm referring to things like telepathy, (potentially on a large scale) or mind reading, and the known beneficial aspects, or maybe even things like forcing truths which would be questionable... I think the main reason all of these things were tossed out is because in order to learn all these things, you probably need to learn the "bad" things as well as they can't be neatly separated from the rest.

 

10. Okay, since that adventure also showed some Mastery on a, well, larger scale. That definitely wouldn't be Y2 material, though if it is I seriously hope Sync gets better anti-Mastery stuff at later levels.

 

11. "or even doing it as well most of the time" describes Sync pretty well when compared to Mastery. It can actually do everything you've mentioned, but not as well as proper Mastery, maybe Glamour can.

-Telepathy with Sync is possible, but it becomes exponentially harder with greater distance. It also gets exponentially harder the more people are part of it. Both to the point where it's so impractical it's pretty much impossible. A few people sitting next to you? Doable. Someone in Mineta while you're in the Academagia? Not happening.

-Mind reading is something Sync does very, very well. If the target accepts it and is standing close by. Otherwise, you again should bust out Mastery because you'd be in a brown creek without a boat. Remember that during An Outing... the PC can still, somewhat effectively, resist Leene's magic while unconscious, tripping and confused.

-"know beneficial aspects"?

-Forcing truths is another thing Sync is good at, but again, only if the target is cooperative and not as skilled at Sync as you are. If at least one of those is not true, bust out the Mastery because you'd be getting nowhere fast.

 

The one thing that Sync absolutely cannot do that Mastery can, if nothing else, is taking physical control of others. That might be one of two reasons why Sync is given a pass, the other reason being that it's easy to resist even without having any magic of your own (relative to actual Mastery, or even Glamour).

[freespace2dotcom]

Oh, indeed. I wouldn't expect to do everything he did or as proficiently, but I think it should be possible to do on a more rudimentary level at the end of Y2.

[Metis]

You can physically control people in Y1, I don't see how telepathy would be too hard to do in Y2

[isadorbg]

forget me if i am mistaken but how can Glammour can control body, telepathy or forcing truth or mind reading?

 

As i understand it Glammour is about messing with senses (sight,hearing,tasten touch, smell) and while it can perfoms powerfull "illusion", it does not really affect the mind only the exterior "stimuli" and while you can "manipulate" someone to tell the truth, tell him to do something or making him believes you can read it mind you can't really force him to do anything thats more for Mastery (Sync included).

[Metis]

Glamour can't control a body, as far as I know, but I think it might be useful for telepathy-like purposes. Like creating a noise inside a person's ear that only that person hears, which might be mistaken for something projected directly into their brain through Mastery. Not quite "telepathy", but if you want to communicate at a distance without the other person knowing, it might work.

 

I'm not really sure, it's just something that I imagine is possible.

[isadorbg]

thats a good point actually maybe you can also use the same spell to hear the noise in the area (like voice) thus making a sort of telepathy (but without mind reading) but yeah telepathy might works with Glammour. maybe you can even use glammour to speak with other species/animal like that wand in the new adventure and it might explain why it's the favorite pillar for diplomats (and the whole illusion to make others more comfortable/influence their mood).

 

It's just that Glammour and Mastery are often compared and while some Glammour seems close to how Mastery works (Dream Glammour?). The fact that you are unable with glammour to mess with directly mess with the mind make them completly different for me

[Metis]

Directly messing with someone's mind seems, to me, to be the point where Glamour ends and Mastery begins. I think the Glamour dream magic adventure (oh gods forgot the name...) said if not exactly that something to that effect.

[isadorbg]

Agreed. Glammour is all about perception, you can mess with other's senses and maybe influence their feelings too (which is powerful in itself really) but not the minds... and since people have different... taste and react differently to the same situation it make thing all the more tricky . Glammour is a pillar of subtlety while Mastery is more straight forward... Control them and do whatever you want with them

[isadorbg]

Ok I add one more question, gotta make the legate works to catch up for the holidays. .

 

Edit: actually two more

 

 

 

1. Is it possible to unlock a Extra Class trough an Adventure that has to be finished trough the Summer break?

2. When does an imported year 1 char have to decide about the class (s)he takes? Right at the start or short before the end of the Summer break?

3. In Y2 will we have the opportunity to go beyond the Y2 material? I understand that you want limits on characters, but I'd like to see a dedicated second year Negator be more skilled than an average 3rd year. The only way I see this as possible with limits is if more pillar related skills exist.

4. Since gates and Mastery were repeatedly banned and unbanned throughout history, what was the (main) reason the last ban ended?

5. Do other types of magic outside the pillars (fey for example) also rely on phemes or are they naturally unlearnable?

6. Since the metric system has recently been created, there must have been need for some standardization. As our real life 'imperial' units did not become standardized until recently, (it took ww2 to get everyone to agree on an inch) and in some cases are still not standardized (though likely would have if not for metrification) I am curious how standardized Elumia's measurement system is since they all mostly have common history.

7. An Outing... mentioned the Captain disregarding licenses to practice Mastery. I personally imagine him as seeing my adventure crew as a potential threat that he'll question and investigate any time he's given a reasonably credible reason to do so, but he refrains from doing stuff like dragging them to the headquarters for questioning every time a rumour pops up since that would cause too much fuzz and get the council on his case. Is that a decently accurate idea, and if not, what's the Captain's deal?

8. Say, hypothetically, that a spellcaster breaks into the Academagia, Masters one of the professors and causes a wee bit of a public spectacle with stray fireballs and icicles flying all over the place in broad daylight. And when that spellcaster is arrested he pretty much says "Oh, I'm just Grunt #1, my in-transit master is who you really need to worry about." to anyone willing to listen. What are the percentage odds of the Legate being able to persuade the authorities that the Academagia staff can handle this case entirely on their own, if he cared to try?

9. I heard that in Y2 it's possible for the PC to die. Is this limited to specific situations where, say, if the PC fails a roll than rocks fall everyone dies, or is it possible to have a situation where you can take so much damage that the PC bleeds out and dies, but won't if you have the Fitness/Vitality to not die?

10: What is the level of knowledge required for the Mastery feats that Dicossa demonstrates in the vernin wall adventure? Specifically the telepathy and mind reading? Its probably safe to say a skill level of 10-11 won't cut it, but can we expect to be able to pull it off if we're hot stuff in Y2? also...

11. If sync is borderline acceptable, why aren't other parts of Mastery that aren't related to controlling others treated similarly? Is there danger in those spells?

12) A new Question!!! Would i be wrong if i say that Glammour became a pillar around the times that Mastery was outlawed and Orthography was demoted? Seems this pillar grew a lot since those time

13) Another one !!! Glammour in nowadays the more popular of the pillars was it also the case in the pre-ban era? mages drawn by the capacities of Glammour might have thought that Mastery was easier and more efficient to achieve the same result? There was a quote of free about how diplomat began to use Mastery commonly completlry denaturing diplomacy.

 

14) Are there pillar who are or at least rumored to be more easier or more harder to learn/master ? I ask this because it seems that Incantation or Glammour are way more popular than say Revision or Astrology. Not that a Master of Glammour is weaker than a Revision master just it might seems more simple to learn for mages (like how mathematics has a nasty reputation in student and former student).

[freespace2dotcom]

also.

 

15. can you explain in greater detail on the interactions of various magics? like if a spell came into the area of influence of another spell? would the palettes/phemes interact like in a direct collision or would it do nothing? Does it require a specific design to do so? etc, etc.

[Legate of Mineta]

All;

 

1. Is it possible to unlock a Extra Class trough an Adventure that has to be finished trough the Summer break?

No, I believe not.

2. When does an imported year 1 char have to decide about the class (s)he takes? Right at the start or short before the end of the Summer break?

Right at the end, just after your return to the Academagia.

3. In Y2 will we have the opportunity to go beyond the Y2 material? I understand that you want limits on characters, but I'd like to see a dedicated second year Negator be more skilled than an average 3rd year. The only way I see this as possible with limits is if more pillar related skills exist.

Mmmm...not more so than you saw Y2 material in Y1.

4. Since gates and Mastery were repeatedly banned and unbanned throughout history, what was the (main) reason the last ban ended?

You'll have to guess from the limited sources available...

5. Do other types of magic outside the pillars (fey for example) also rely on phemes or are they naturally unlearnable?

They can be shown to rely upon Phemes, in some as yet unknown way.

6. Since the metric system has recently been created, there must have been need for some standardization. As our real life 'imperial' units did not become standardized until recently, (it took ww2 to get everyone to agree on an inch) and in some cases are still not standardized (though likely would have if not for metrification) I am curious how standardized Elumia's measurement system is since they all mostly have common history.

It's not standard at all. However, inspired by the Phemes, which represent 'ideals', a drive to standardize has increasingly become common.

7. An Outing... mentioned the Captain disregarding licenses to practice Mastery. I personally imagine him as seeing my adventure crew as a potential threat that he'll question and investigate any time he's given a reasonably credible reason to do so, but he refrains from doing stuff like dragging them to the headquarters for questioning every time a rumour pops up since that would cause too much fuzz and get the council on his case. Is that a decently accurate idea, and if not, what's the Captain's deal?

You'll have to decide.

8. Say, hypothetically, that a spellcaster breaks into the Academagia, Masters one of the professors and causes a wee bit of a public spectacle with stray fireballs and icicles flying all over the place in broad daylight. And when that spellcaster is arrested he pretty much says "Oh, I'm just Grunt #1, my in-transit master is who you really need to worry about." to anyone willing to listen. What are the percentage odds of the Legate being able to persuade the authorities that the Academagia staff can handle this case entirely on their own, if he cared to try?

High. If he cared to try.

9. I heard that in Y2 it's possible for the PC to die. Is this limited to specific situations where, say, if the PC fails a roll than rocks fall everyone dies, or is it possible to have a situation where you can take so much damage that the PC bleeds out and dies, but won't if you have the Fitness/Vitality to not die?

Both are possible ending paths.

10: What is the level of knowledge required for the Mastery feats that Dicossa demonstrates in the vernin wall adventure? Specifically the telepathy and mind reading? Its probably safe to say a skill level of 10-11 won't cut it, but can we expect to be able to pull it off if we're hot stuff in Y2? also...

I think you can do both in Y2, to a certain extent.

11. If sync is borderline acceptable, why aren't other parts of Mastery that aren't related to controlling others treated similarly? Is there danger in those spells?

No, it's essentially political.

12) A new Question!!! Would i be wrong if i say that Glammour became a pillar around the times that Mastery was outlawed and Orthography was demoted? Seems this pillar grew a lot since those time

No, it was a Pillar from ages ago.

13) Another one !!! Glammour in nowadays the more popular of the pillars was it also the case in the pre-ban era? mages drawn by the capacities of Glammour might have thought that Mastery was easier and more efficient to achieve the same result? There was a quote of free about how diplomat began to use Mastery commonly completlry denaturing diplomacy.

Glamour, while powerful, is more difficult to achieve similar results than Mastery. It is, after all, much more subtle.

 

14) Are there pillar who are or at least rumored to be more easier or more harder to learn/master ? I ask this because it seems that Incantation or Glammour are way more popular than say Revision or Astrology. Not that a Master of Glammour is weaker than a Revision master just it might seems more simple to learn for mages (like how mathematics has a nasty reputation in student and former student).

 

Revision and Negation are probably the two hardest to master.

 

15. can you explain in greater detail on the interactions of various magics? like if a spell came into the area of influence of another spell? would the palettes/phemes interact like in a direct collision or would it do nothing? Does it require a specific design to do so? etc, etc.

 

Their Phemes might interact, depending on the Spell's design. Their Palettes only interact if they overlap physically, though.

 

...thanks for the questions and the excellent summaries!

[freespace2dotcom]

The Legate's back! YAY!

 

Obviously Gates and Mastery are somewhat hard to learn since most materials are locked up... but assuming ease of access to the knowledge was equal to the other pillars taught at the Academagia, how difficult would learning Gates or Mastery be compared to the legal pillars?

[Schwarzbart]

So Incantation or Astrology are considered the most easy Pillar to learn from the Pillars current thought at Academagia?

(I personal doubt the that Astrology is considered easy given how hard it is to really understand the results)

[isadorbg]

more like Incantation and Glammour, if i remember right Astrology is the least studied of all the pillars.

[Schwarzbart]

The Number of Students say nothing about how easy it is to learn more that the results of Astrology are not that reliable and that it is not in fashion to learn this kind of magic.