Jump to content
Black Chicken Studios Forums

A few in game questions


Adrian
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

@Legate of Mineta: Are there any students in the history of the Academagia who are noteworthy for being truly mysterious? I am generally thinking in terms akin to the Triplets - uncertain and mysterious loyalties/backgrounds, unexplained sources of money, and perhaps strange knowledge and goals - but other definitions of mysterious are also acceptable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rhi;

"That's a tricky question on a number of levels: there have been hundreds - if not thousands - who were mysterious in their own times, but whom history has either contextualized or just forgotten.  There's no particular reason to believe the Triplets will stand out in the annals of the school in a couple of centuries.

... No particular reason we can share....

So if you're looking for antecedents from the reasonably distant past there are only a handful of people out there who could give you semi-informed answers.  So, good luck asking Professor Viada.

We're being a little bit glib here, because the Triplets aren't the only mysteries in the school right now.  One obvious standout is Senara Sen, who showed up two years before the player character, having been shoved through a portal to land in the Legate's office - despite the fact that the school has magical defenses against that kind of thing, and Orso was hiding his office that year anyway.  To this day, nobody knows where she's from, and she's not telling.

There are also reportedly kids who live in the Venalicium, though nobody's clear on exactly who they are or how they came to be there - but people swear they see them sneaking into the school and attending lectures from the corners of their eyes."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Rhi;

We're being a little bit glib here, because the Triplets aren't the only mysteries in the school right now.  One obvious standout is Senara Sen, who showed up two years before the player character, having been shoved through a portal to land in the Legate's office - despite the fact that the school has magical defenses against that kind of thing, and Orso was hiding his office that year anyway.  To this day, nobody knows where she's from, and she's not telling.

There are also reportedly kids who live in the Venalicium, though nobody's clear on exactly who they are or how they came to be there - but people swear they see them sneaking into the school and attending lectures from the corners of their eyes."

Well, you have certainly given to me ideas - and you have given the Team a way to license people to write Isekai fiction set in your wonderful setting!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rhi;

"The two exotic things about Senara, from the Minetan point of view, are the accent (she's clearly a native Renaglian speaker, but nobody's quite sure from where) and the color of her irises.  The thing about the latter is that they change with the time of day: ice blue at dawn, golden at noon, violet at sunset, dark when the sun is down.  It's probably just a Glamour, of course.

...

Probably."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Rhi;

"The two exotic things about Senara, from the Minetan point of view, are the accent (she's clearly a native Renaglian speaker, but nobody's quite sure from where) and the color of her irises.  The thing about the latter is that they change with the time of day: ice blue at dawn, golden at noon, violet at sunset, dark when the sun is down.  It's probably just a Glamour, of course.

...

Probably."

So, what colour are her irises between dawn and noon and between noon and sunset?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/7/2022 at 8:06 PM, Legate of Mineta said:

ice blue at dawn, golden at noon, violet at sunset, dark when the sun is down.

I think the golden at noon is off here because the rest is all a variation of blue.

Edit: unless we talking about gold-green as this would mean the cycle is like this

1) from the morning to noon white is more and more replaced with yellow

2) from noon to evening yellow is more and more replaced with red

3) during the night red is more and more replaced with black

4) after midnight black is more and more replaced with white.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Schwarzbart;

"It's not a smooth turn of the color wheel.  More like:

DAWN: very pale blue ---->  EARLY MORNING: almost platinum ---->  MID-MORNING: very pale gold ----->  NOON: "pure" gold ----> EARLY AFTERNOON: "fiery" red-gold ----> LATE AFTERNOON: indigo with reddish flecks ----> SUNSET: violet.
 
The transition from very dark to very pale blue in the morning is essentially instantaneous, though nobody seems to have ever seen the exact moment when it happens, while all the day's changes are ongoing and subtle."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

1 ) Are there known spells that trigger a magic item over distance, maybe even one that is hold or worn by a other person?

2 ) Can spells from a other source then one self redirected to a different place? Maybe even to a place not in sight? 

3 ) If there are such spells what  year are they thought and what school of magic would the belong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Schwarzbart;

And the reply:

"1)  As a rule, they're rather hard to master and require an intimate knowledge of the magic item in question.  (The New Gods, famously, could do that casually.)  It's the sort of thing that an enterprising third or fourth-year Vernin kid might attempt as a special Enchantment project, and would consume months.

2)  Those techniques have been documented, and they're classified as Negation.  The sophistication of the effect determines the amount of education involved: on the easy side, if Wizard A throws a ball of fire at Target B, First-Year Student C might well be able to deflect it en route.  On the hard side, if Gates Master A arranges to teleport a ton of grain from Farm B to Town C, even Professor Briardi would be hard-pressed to redirect it to Town D.

And, obviously, in both those cases were talking about spells that are essentially very linear.  There are magical effects that essentially require compound spells, or spells in precise sequences - think the grand formulations by which the Astrologers of the old Empire tried to direct entire wars before they started - and redirecting those without breaking them, while theoretically possible, has probably never been successfully achieved.  Not even by the Dragons when humanity was laying down the primary enchantments on the Wall.

3)  See the above.  :)"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

S;

"You'd be hard-pressed to get access to the records that would confirm that kind of thing - but, if you asked the professors, the dominant view would probably be that it was Astrology.

The relationship between the upper classes and straight-up information gathering/destiny bending has been complicated for centuries.  The conceit is that gentlemen and gentlewomen might dabble in that kind of thing, but if they showed too much interest it meant that they were untrustworthy in affairs of business and state - and that they didn't trust their own ability to succeed.

But, at the same time, it has occasionally been useful for a powerful family with multiple children to cultivate "rogue elements."  Y'know, the good oldest daughter would never think to gain advantage by Astrological manipulation, and that means she can marry well and go to the good parties - but her younger brother?  Well, he was never going to amount to much anyway.

And, yes, Avila also tends to be stuffed with kids from "good families."  In the old days, there was more of an assumption that they would graduate and go on to preside over the great temples rather than muck around in mundane affairs - in fact, there's a decent argument to be made that the modern emphasis on female students harkens all the way back to the days when the Regent was almost guaranteed to retire straight into the nun-led Temples of the Midnight Flame.

Periodically, Vernin has bucked the trend and tried to legitimize Astrology in its own elite social circles.  "Look, it's not just for weird mystical women who end up with a lot of cats," that kind of thing.  The trick has traditionally been combining the classwork with socially respectable societies - you're not studying Astrology to benefit yourself, but in service of the Order of the Shattered Dragon!

The thing is, those societies have historically tended to become embarrassments (perhaps in no small part because they keep on crossing Avila, and Avila is almost always better at Astrology than Vernin), and everybody washes their hands of them."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

S;

"Oh, it's quite uncommon to switch Colleges - and it's not usually a problem for a Godina kid to sign up for enough Negation classes to attain a Durand-like degree of mastery if that's really what you want to do.  Heck, you could do it even if you were in Aranaz, though your Regent might start thinking you're a spy."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

1 ) Because most Academies focus on a single school of magic I wonder if there are competition game in a single school of magic between college of Academagia and other Academies 

(Sorry if I already asked this or a very similar question)

2 ) Also are there Competition games for student or apprentice of magic from the military?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

S;

"1)  If we're talking magic-based league sports, first and foremost (and overwhelmingly the most popular) is "True" Rimbal - which is deeply associated with Incantation, even if other Pillars are allowed.

The most prestigious Incantation competitions are collectively known as the Stoicheic Games, and they're held in Cimona every fourth summer - the last ones were in 1656, next are in 1660.  There are team competitions in that, and though the under-18 events are ostensibly grouped by city, Mineta's team is essentially all Academagia kids - while, say, the Esteban Contu crowd formally represents the town of Mescia.

In preparation for the Stoicheic Games, though, the big academies do in fact maintain an Incantation "Challenge League," where teams can square off in different magical sports.  It's not commercial, like Rimbal, and doesn't get as much attention, but it's there.

Competitions in Glamour and in Enchantment tend to be individual rather than team-based, and are often associated with local fairs sponsored/hosted by powerful courts or temples.

2)  The Minetan Guards have their own Grand Tourneys, and at least occasionally they're open to participants from outside courts or "prestigious" mercenary groups.

Every so often the Fey powers will also invite human wizards to compete for their pleasure, and as a general rule said human wizards generally try to get the patronage of the Guard or of one of the great academies before they go, just because it can offer some degree of protection from kidnapping, enchantment, or fey humiliation.  Except for when it doesn't."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...