Guess I don't want to collapse the wavefunction so much as I want to know what kind of actions I can take to interact with it. Can I try to scan passively without imposing my will on the world? Can I speak through it? Is it something I cast and know what it'll do, or something that I allow to act through me?
These are somewhat silly questions to be asking, because I'm the one who invented it, not you. But I'll ask them anyway.
Also, Caroline is the human; Evelyn is the alien.
I'll try and remember which is which.
You can possibly scan passively. What yo udiscover through that is to be determined.
Speaking through it could happen. Speaking meaningfully would require some luck.
Know what it'll do? Evelyn might understand what the ability is supposed to do, but the effect in this world might be beyond her way of thinking.
You could definitely attempt to allow it to act through you.
Hmm. as a bit of a passive, you can use the ability to get a sort of sense of things beyond your normal understanding -flow of magic, mystical rituals, other esoteric information, that sort of thing. but otherwise, you are basically "using forces beyond your understanding to attempt to interact with this world in a way those forces weren't exactly designed for, on account of those forces being designed for another reality." Make sense?
"I suspect that in both cases things fell apart near the start, and that one of those mistakes was my own choice to attempt to go scouting for a better place to put the carts in person when I had not yet seen how capable the two designated teams and team leads were. I do not know firsthand if my being there could have helped, but not being onhand certainly did not. After all, by the time I came back, the carts were destroyed, and the chain reaction of events had begun. By the same token though, since I wasn't there, I don't know what other errors were made."
"Coordination and guidance are key in leadership roles. Your background as a solitary wanderer and shapetaker gears you toward independent action. A conflict of styles, it seems. Is this a fair assessment of why you chose to leave your teams to their own devices, or is there , possibly, more to it?"peek my head up out of the cart and see if everyone has left yet.
If so, grab a box of rations and sneak off somewhere.
Maybe use my soften earth tattoo to dig a nice little cave for myself to rest in between missions.
((Hey ozarck, did we ever establish the requirements for being able to use multiple tattoos simultaneously?
I recall a vague "after a few level up's" but nothing specific.))
The cat is there, and some kind of small flying fairy thing. The fairy thing requests your assistance with Dar's moss and metal.
((I don't recall what we established about multitasking. I think it was either: add a spec, or gain a level in the skill involved.))
((@Ozarck
There's still a very relevant question, of what would happen if Egan's example had +2 instead of -2 magic skill. Let's say their spec is in a pretty versatile school, like Ebony's wizardry. In what way is that char balanced with their peers? They can cast, with apparently nigh-perfect reliability and great power, a vast array of spells that can occupy a great range of roles.))
"This one requires assistance first. Could Baldmonkey send one to bring Moss to base of Base, and bring metal to Magesmith? Cat will give report then."
Dar says the above to the creature. He's stubbornly staying with the cart and his items until his request is met, but will begrudgingly follow afterward.
((two +2s require -7 in other skills, for a starting character, so they would be a specialist indeed. I have stated before that Spellcasting is one of the most powerful magics - though not as flexible as sorcery, for example. Limiting factors would include: having the spells on hand, being free of motion and able to speak to cast, and a few other things like that. But yes, in the instance you describe, they would be quite powerful with what spells they have available.))
The being tilts its head at you for a moment.
"You there! it calls out to Cho Ja
Please take this moss to the canyon floor, and then take the other stuff to the Foundry. She turns back to you.
That's solved, then. Now, about what you experienced on the dying metal world?((@double spec - I would not allow it, but would allow specializations of specializations. eg: wizard has spec magic, can then pick up spec of quickcasting to let him cast spells faster, or spec distant casting to extend their effective range, or so on.))
a reasonable alternative.