~ Suggestions & Improvement ~

[Legate of Mineta]

Well, sure.

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: May I write a proposal for Sima's learning from the PC that the PC is a gates mage? The Team would be free to use it wherever/whenever they want.

[Legate of Mineta]

Sure.

[Rhialto]

1 hour ago, Legate of Mineta said:

There's a Baron Summerland in Thewkes whose paternal grandmother claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of "the Mariner King," and had both exotic jewelry and really weird astrological portents to back up her claims to connection to the old line.  The Summerland family added an orca to their family crest in the current baron's father's generation.

Not much can be said about the mysterious Mariner King himself - he appears to have been a Gates mage, and he left a cluster of rune-marked stones (since defaced) around a saltwater lake in western Mall Borough."

Two suggestions for this.

1. Can Tabin be vaguely aware of this story? Such would be interesting for my planned adventure with the talking dolphin.

2. Can the rune-marked stones be marked, at least in part, with an abugidic script (that, is, like Devanegari, Baybayin, Siddham, or this setting's Aklo script which I introduced into the setting)?

[Legate of Mineta]

Sure.

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: Would the Team be willing to write some formal guidelines for what we fans can and cannot put into stories which would be incorporated into Academagia?

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

I wouldn't imagine it happening any time soon- it takes time, unfortunately.

[Schwarzbart]

Even if your suggestion don't make it into Y2 you could do them your self then as we are supposed to get new modtools for Y2

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: I really hope that Louise Kandinski could wonder whether Gates Magic would allow her to fulfill her expected role without a husband - potentially leading to tension within her girlfriend PC's mind when said girlfriend is secretly a gates mage.

[Legate of Mineta]

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: Are there any plans for having PCs' able to go on specific dates with certain NPCs if certain additional requirements (aside from dating them) are met? I ask because I have an idea for a date during Y3 with Sima Venesico which I hope to write which only makes sense if she suspects correctly that the PC is a Gates mage.

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

Criteria can be a thing in dating, yes, but it's not quite as 0 or 1 as that.

[Rhialto]

27 minutes ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Rhi;

Criteria can be a thing in dating, yes, but it's not quite as 0 or 1 as that.

Can further explanation be provided? And does that mean that criteria reduced to a 1 or 0 cannot be used as the basis for such encounters?

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

No, rather, there are a number factors and nothing totally 'constrains'.

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: May I write a suggestion here, though, for why my proposed date would make no sense if Sima were not thinking the PC to be a secret Gates Mage?

[Legate of Mineta]

Sure!

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: Would it be permissible to have Sima reveal that she knows that one way of writing her name is "司馬"? Or would this be too much knowledge for her to have?

[Legate of Mineta]

Mmm, no, Team's not touching this one.

You can certainly write such a scenario, however.

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: I present to you my proposal for a romantic date and spelunking expedition with Sima Venesico, inspired by my readings about the real Tunnels at Baiae and speculations about them.

 

Walking and Talking with Sima Venesico

The Events before the Date: Sima Venesico, learning about a series of mysterious tunnels in Mineta from her “brother” Magsa, is fascinated when she ventures within them and recognizes that they utilize powerful glamours to create the illusion that the person going through the tunnels is not really going through such a series of tunnels but is going through a landscape – but a landscape clearly not Cyvan. The tunnels, after crossing a small underground river, lead to a subterranean chamber which she thinks may have served as a room for initiation – and beyond the chamber are portions behind doors which Magsa fears to open lest he disturb dangers. But into what would accessors of the chamber been initiated? Given the un-Cyvan landscapes leading to the tunnels, Sima suspects that the chamber may have been used by a cabal of gates mages in order to tempt newcomers with the power of another universe. But whom can she gain confirmation or rejection about this theory from? She does not trust Lambert’s competence, to say nothing of his discretion, and trying to find a known gates mage to assess the matter would be difficult in many ways. But she suspects her boyfriend, the PC, of being a gates mage of some sort, and so she tries to bring him into the tunnels. In order to disguise her efforts, she introduces the proposal as a date.

 

The Date: Sima leads the PC through the narrow tunnels (if the PC is Prodigy: On The Prowl, she comments about how she is sure that she is making his trip a pleasant viewing experience), across the underground river, and to the alleged initiation chamber. There, she asks the PC what he thinks about the scenery – and who made it.

 

Choices: The PC can do the following things, either alone or in combination:

1.      Try to learn what Sima knows about the complex; if successful, she will reveal most of the material in “The Events before the Date”.

2.      Try to bluff about not knowing or knowing – depending upon a skill check which may involve a gates related subskill introduced in future years (or may involve theory of gates)

3.      Honestly reveal knowing or not knowing

4.      Try to unlock the door (perhaps getting Sima’s help)

5.      Flirt with Sima and end the date

What Lies behind the Initiation Chamber:

1.      A small room filled with books, many in Bassan but a few in more obscure languages and scripts – including Aklo. A PC with the trait “Initiate into the Aklo Script” will recognize the writing as Aklo and can recognize that some of the Aklo script is used to write Eluminian, Bassan, and unknown languages. The PC can choose to reveal this knowledge to Sima,l and further reveal its source. Sima would speculate aloud about whether this means that Uliva has access to Gates magic or merely knows a script used by secretive people including gates mages. Deciphering the script would reveal that many of the books are about geometry and reports about dolphins and whales. As a romantic gesture, the PC could choose to write Sima’s name in Aklo script upon the floor – and Sima responds by writing her name as “司馬”. If asked about her writing her name that way, she replies with a story (perhaps true) about how a sailor who had travelled far to the east taught Magsa about the method, which he taught to her.

2.      A single, wider, tunnel (which Sima wants to enter) leading into another alleyway in Mineta, from which Sima and the PC make their ways back to the school.

The Reason for the Complex (not divulged to the player, but speculated about by Sima and the PC): Sima’s theory is correct. The complex was created by gates mages during the dying decades of legal gates magic in the Empire of Man. Its builders were a cabal of mages who believed that whales and dolphins could be used in order to challenge and defeat dragons; they wanted to breed or create or locate intelligent whales.

[Legate of Mineta]

Coooool!

[Rhialto]

11 minutes ago, Legate of Mineta said:

Coooool!

Does this mean that I have approval?

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

Well, go for it! But the Team, as always, may modify.

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: I hope that Tabin's interest in military strategy can be revealed in some stories during Y2 or later.

[Legate of Mineta]

Rhi;

Noted!

[Rhialto]

@Legate of Mineta: I hope that there are plans for some type of interactions involving a PC studying with the Purple wizards and Sima who loves to hypnotize (and may be studying mastery herself).