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A few in game questions


Adrian
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And now, the reply:

"1)  Working airship models are absolutely a possible project for Academagia students.  It's a lot of work, and probably more feasible as a group project than a solo effort, but it's doable.

2)  There's a pretty good case to be made that a player character with a Strange Doll familiar fits that bill.

Anyway, yes, it has happened.  The construct/non-biological entity either has to be magically sophisticated enough to sustain a tiny spark of something like sentience (note: Gates) or has to have such a strong emotional attachment (or, y'know, Bond) to the wizard that magic bleeds over and imbues sentience (i.e., a childhood toy that isn't just loved, but obsessed over).  Neither is common, unsurprisingly.

3)  The easiest way to do this - and it's not at all easy - is to shape a device out of ectoplasm and astrologically attach it to the ghost.  So, as most ghosts manifest in an ectoplasmic semblance of clothes they wore in life, the new article would just become part of the "outfit."  The problem with that system is that it's hard to make anything that works out of ectoplasm; an ectoplasmic watch almost certainly won't keep time, and an ectoplasmic ring is almost possible to enchant.

The other approach is to take something real and try to enchant it to associate it astrologically with the ghost.  The ghost will almost certainly lose it; sometimes they won't be able to touch it, sometimes they'll forget about it and drift away, etc.  But, if the magic works, the item and the ghost will repeatedly be drawn together and reconnect."

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3 hours ago, yurisama said:

1) I remember reading here Astrology could not be used by dragons and familiars, but between one adventure and game mechanics was this changed/retconned?

As for dragons' inability to use astrology, that is a religious doctrine in the Empire of Man - and religious doctrines, even if not true, can be difficult to challenge.

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y-sama;

"1a. Magical theory holds that the dragons must have a parallel system to Astrology - poetically drawing either from the darkness between the stars or from other planes of existence altogether.  Either way it's both draconic and Gates-y, as well as largely hypothetical, so it's not exactly open to public study. But it is accepted fact that Dragons, being wholly without Divine favor, cannot use Astrology.
 
1b.  Familiars are Astrologically so much in the shadow of their mages that conducting conventional Astrological magic just gets distorted. 
 
This is a terrible, terrible metaphor, but: imagine Astrological systems as being akin to gravity at the scale of a solar system.  At the hub of it all is the Divine Emanation, which we'll pretend is the sun, and the Astrologer is a planet in orbit around it: the gravitation of the sun is the most dominant force in the system.  A familiar, then, might be conceived as a moon orbiting the Astrologer.  The influence and magic of the Divine Emanation is still exerted over the moon, but it's not the most immediate, direct force at play.
 
In theory, a familiar can perform Astrological rites, because Astrological forces do apply.  But the familiar would have to be an outright savant to do most of it properly.
 
2.  Familiar battles are permitted as a legitimate form of dueling, but both parties have to agree to it in advance for it to be perceived as proper.  And, most of the time, that doesn't happen; having a familiar take your place is generally seen as a mark of poor character (unless the whole point is to showcase the skills of the familiar, at which point it becomes kind of a distinct sporting subculture rather than a means to resolve disputes)."
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A few thoughs about it

If the Herald is a dragon and he teaches you "disorder the heaven's" with is classified as spell type Astrology, it can be seen dragons can use it, but its a bit meta and a cool theory the darkness between the stars part and the idea they could develop something similar for some cases. Being a fan made adventure it could be seen from the dark modder, but i checked the topic and there is a different spell, a Mastery one

When i think of Astrology the first two things that come to mind are divination and good luck but i can see multiple dnd archetypes here 

Cleric - as the pilgrim of Iudocia

Wizard - with the divination specialization, default avila student

Witch - hexes and curses, i remember a case about a professor using astrology to steal the youth of her students

Oracle - a bit more mysterious

Psychic -  the esoteric starseeker subclass, for the purple wizards

On the familiars part, the analogy was pretty good

 

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1) Are there philosophical questions about Astrology and evil( like some curses)? As in why the gods would teach something like this etc

2) Is Cinzia the student council president?

I know that in the aranaz st. council adventure at some point the player says "who put her in charge" but could be a pontual thing so a clarification please

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y-sama;

"There are always philosophical questions - but there is a dominant religious teaching/consensus about curses, and the simplified version is that they're divinely sanctioned because the Gods want the weak and the victimized to be able to humble the strong and the tyrannical.  Folktales are rife stuffed with abused stepdaughters being shown simple maledictions by kindly strangers and falsely imprisoned soldiers seeing mysterious phemes appear in the dark in corners of their prison cells.

There's a more esoteric line of thinking that suggests that they're also kind of a manifestation of cosmic chaos and uncertainty - if the ideal Empire is a sociological mirror of the divine order, then curses that supersede laws and conventions represent the same kind of randomness the Gods themselves encourage to prevent stagnation.

On the other hand, there are people who argue that curses are actually an ancient draconic perversion of pure Astrology.  But the joke is that these are just the people who have actually been cursed."

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Nice, amazing some thought it was put into. Say, i added one question later so ill repost here if you can get this one more

1) Is Cinzia the year 1 student council president?

I know she is part of the council and is said to be in charge in one meeting from aranaz adventure but i dont know if its as the president or just a pontual meeting

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Cinzia;

"What we saw in the Aranaz adventure is technically a "Class Council."  Kids from a given year get together, discuss concerns, and occasionally appoint representatives to bring important matters to either the Standing Student Council (which is elected from students of all classes, and in which no First Years ever serve) or to Student Council Conferences (which tend to be events called by the Standing Council to address specific issues).

Anyway, at least in Y1, there was no single president of the First Year Class Council.  The gavel was passed from College to College (when it was necessary to have open forums, anyway), and the kids from within the College who had bothered to attend would decide who took it up among themselves. 

There were permanent officers - Treasurer, Recording Secretary, and a few others - and that was where poor Vincent came in in the Aranaz adventure.  He was Keeper of the Keys.

The powers granted to the Committee of Un-Academagia Activities by the Class Council were... um... not as impressive as the conspirators in the Aranaz adventure may have convinced themselves they'd be.  Durand definitely still remained a problem. ;)

For what it's worth, Avila takes the Class Council more seriously than some - Regent Badcrumble believes it's good training for leadership roles later in life - and Cinzia was the acting Avila president more often than not, though there may have been occasions when Gwendy or Olivia stepped in.  But there is a reason why she was designated to lead her session in the adventure while the Godina president was chosen randomly."

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1. Is a foreign criminal, be they from Meril, Alesfa, Pievre, Oursook (insofar that they still have a recognizable/interpretable legal system?) or wherever else, automatically considered a criminal in Mineta?

2. Can foreign criminals be granted some kind of pardon for their crimes in Mineta, at least insofar that they're no longer considered a criminal in Mineta itself?

3. What would it take for someone to be granted such a pardon, assuming it is (was?) possible?

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M;

"1.  In theory, a crime committed anywhere in the Empire is a crime in Mineta.  In practice, realistically, a thief from Meril who makes it to the city is unlikely to be pursued or detained; the city guard has too much else on its plate to keep up with fugitive reports from faraway places unless the crimes are really spectacular (or inconvenient for the Captain).

Criminals from farther afield are a somewhat different story. Would the Guard get in the way of bounty hunters from the south?  Probably not, if the latter were responsible enough to carry paperwork and explain what they're about; religion might play a role here, too.

2.  The Captain claims the Imperial power to grant full and unconditional pardons - but he's never actually tested it, because it's not at all clear that the Duke of Thiomenes would accept its validity if that card were played.

The Captain and/or the Minetan Council can also offer sanctuary within the city limits, though, and that's pretty much uncontested.  A criminal who gets to Mineta and makes a case for clemency can remain free within the city itself.

3.  As a rule, convincing proof of innocence (or really spectacular oratory proclaiming innocence), a meritorious show of contrition (usually, but not always, either a gift to or a term of service with the city or one of its temples), or a recognized conservator - a figure of high standing willing to put his/her/their reputation on the line to guarantee the supplicant's good behavior and good intentions.  The latter started out, historically, as a form of house arrest, but the terms became much more forgiving over time."

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y-sama;

"All we can really say with confidence is that Avila and Hedi often appear together in very ancient art; there are even a few folk songs that seem to suggest that they were sisters or close cousins, though that's not generally taken literally.  (There's also one ancient poem, surviving only in fragments, that seems to suggest that Hedi betrayed Avila at a key moment - though what that moment would have been isn't preserved.)  It's fairly clear that they were frequent allies, though.

As for Icanix/Icanicix/Icanxix: no, she seems genuinely to have been well-loved for most of her life, though there are all sorts of stories about her having to leave civilization to live in the wild during periods of either madness, haunting or possession (depending on how you read them).  In the oldest surviving stories, her work with Gates was generally presented as heroic self-sacrifice rather than a moral failing.

Those stories can't really be told in public anymore."

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Are this story about Icanix in a public library of Academagia or restricted in one of the remaining gate library of Academagia?

Fun comment on the side I(ch) kann ni(x/chts) is dialect for (not sure how to clean translating it word for word its: ) I can (do) nothing ... but I think a better translation is I'm inapt ;) 

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Schwarzbart & Rhi;

"To Schwarzbart: We need to remember that bit.  ;)

The easiest place to find old Icanix stories/traditions is in the restricted section of the Venalicium - if you know what you're looking for, anyway. Sometimes you can find these stories out of the Restricted section, in cases where the subject isn't obvious or known by the librarians.

As for connections in stories between Gates magic and spirit possession - oh, that's not [redacted].  That's Minetan pop culture - it's the stuff of campfire tales, particularly at the Academagia itself.  "Student leans an old, mysterious set of phemes and opens a Gate to show off, and at first nothing seems to happen.  But then things start breaking around her dorm, and her personality seems to darken, and then somebody notices her eyes have changed color, etc."  Seemingly innocent Gates magic turning around to destroy the caster in one way or another has been the stuff of magical horror for centuries. Nonetheless frowned upon."

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