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[evictedSaint]

As mentioned in the postwar report, both sides soldiers are pretty ticked no one invented any "regrow missing legs" spells.

[Egan_BW]

Kind of impressive how you managed all that without the basic understanding of the mathematics behind it...

Less counting, foolish Arstotzkan, more praying!

As mentioned in the postwar report, both sides soldiers are pretty ticked no one invented any "regrow missing legs" spells.

I'll get to work on that just as soon as I'm done killing traitors...

[Kadzar]

The cultures grew further apart as time went on, yeah. Although, Moskurg's religious fanaticism goes all the way back to the very start, from the initial description of al-Mutriqa:

Some propaganda, then:

al-Mutriqa (The Hammer) is a pious man, driven by a single vision; to bring the Light of God to the heathen Arstotzkans. And he truly, in his heart of hearts, believes that the best way to do this is to crush their heads until they convert. He is an accomplished warrior, well-read scholar, master poet, and wizard extraordinaire.
He did not set out to become a wizard; he simply read the Spellbook out of idle curiosity, hoping to perhaps find some inspiration for a new poem. Yet what he read turned some switch in his brain, and he saw in those ancient pages another aspect of his God; a new way to praise His name and do His deeds. He wrote his poem, in the end, and several more. But these poems were also treatises on the nature of magic, and attempts to combine elements of the faith with it.
al-Mutriqa wears fine scalemail armour ^{((If wizards can wear armour in this setting))} beneath his flowing robes, which are opulently dyed in yellow, red, and purple. A helmet is worn beneath his turban. In one hand he holds a mace, in the other an open spellbook. When he casts he is surrounded by a glowing light, which he claims is the Light of God made manifest through his devotion.
As a poet and a scholar, he is considered a paragon by the nobles of Moskurg, who gladly follow him into battle. As a warrior and a man of the faith, he is considered a hero by the common soldiers, who fight twice as hard at the sight of his banner fluttering in the wind.

Speaking of which, round of applause for the two master wizards, yeah? They've been at it for almost forty years non-stop (well, they got a few years rest whilst recovering from duels with each other). They really managed to become fully-fledged characters, over the years.

Say, whose idea was mathemagics, anyway?

Yeah, I think both of our cultures were really defined by our master wizards. We started out as some sort of Viking culture, which we occasionally made reference to, but the Sovietesque aspects of our culture seemed to have arisen from our description of Myark:

Here is my propaganda submission: Master Wizard Myark
Before magic was discovered, Master Wizard Myark was an average soldier in our army. They were just like every other soldier fighting in this war. He had been on the front lines, and has caught and bled for this great country. Like every man, he was feirce and true patriot who would give his life to keep the Moskurg invaders out of our ancestral lands. When magic was discovered, he discovered he had a great affinity for it and began training with our nations wizards. Now he's returned to the frontline to fight with his compatriots once again. He is a devastating force, single handedly keeping the enemy from taking our fields and farms out in the plains. Rumors of his power and humility are rampant among the men. They say he plucks the sun from the sky and hurls at the enemies. They say he can burn entire armies with a single blow. They say that after his Great Stand of 910, fire wasps came from across the world to join our army because they think he's their king. Similar grandois tales are widespread, and entertain and inspire the men. Those that have met him on the front lines attest to his character, and to the wild stories surrounding him. Truly he is an Arstotzkan hero.

Also, likely due to the Wand of Heroism, Moskurg started out as a culture that believes in investing in elite units, exemplified by their Grammary training some of their Apprentices to Wizard level and most of their spells being at least expensive, whereas Arstotzka's Academy was made to increase the base competence of all Apprentices and increase the amount of people who could use at least baseline magic, and thus most of our spells were made to be cheap (nevermind the fact that we somewhat negated that advantage by investing heavily in magitech that didn't even need mages to use).

[NUKE9.13]

I think the sovietesque elements are actually references to the original Arms Race.

Also, a lot of our design choices were in fact driven by a 'We have reserves' mentality, since quantity over quality was a preset Moskurg trait. I argued against picking the wand of Heroism for that reason. Our move towards elite wizards came about due to the luck of the dice, mostly, which dictated that very few of our more useful spells were Cheap.

[RAM]

O thought that mathemagics(though not the name) was a result of a six on one of our earlier crystal designs...

[Kashyyk]

I did think of healing, but as we had literally no relevant knowledge and we were midgame I didn't bother mentioning it. 

[Taricus]

Well, think of the benefits Moskurg brings to you Arstotzkans:

• Self-heating/cooling houses
• Durable cookware
• Temperature controlled protective gear
• An efficient legal system
• Telecommunications
• Effective rescue services
• Lighting that never burns out in a single night nor produces smoke or heat
• Faith in glorious allah!
• Flamethrowers (For getting rid of the really pesky weeds)

[RAM]

I, umm... Arstotzka already had all of those, better in most cases. Is adamantine really common enough to build a city out of?

[NUKE9.13]

An efficient legal system

I mean, you say that, but really, what's more efficient than just executing people without trial? Say what you like about Arstotzka's sense of justice, at least it keeps costs down.

[Madman198237]

Just as common as crystal, if not more so, since all our master wizards, mages, and apprentices have survived the war without getting butchered as part of the pointless last stand of a dying regime relying on technology to prop it up.

Crystal is becoming a rarity now, I suspect.

[Taricus]

Dude it's cheap. I'm pretty sure we can make a city out of it. And I highly doubt you have most of the stuff on the list natively.

And nuke, it's not like we don't execute people, it's just that we're executing the ones that actually committed crimes by virtue of reading minds.

[Chiefwaffles]

The thing is, Crystal doesn't require apprentices to make.
Crystal can be fabricated by circuitry if provided power. And we have plug-n-play reactors. It can also be fabricated in mathematically perfect shapes. We actually just 3D-print crystal whenever we need it.

In fact, the Crystalworks gave a +1 Expense bonus to all crystal designs.

[Egan_BW]

Neeeerds.

[Devastator]

The thing is, Crystal doesn't require apprentices to make.
Crystal can be fabricated by circuitry if provided power. And we have plug-n-play reactors. It can also be fabricated in mathematically perfect shapes. We actually just 3D-print crystal whenever we need it.

In fact, the Crystalworks gave a +1 Expense bonus to all crystal designs.

That's not how crystal works..

I'm still miffed at calling batch fabrication cheapening expense.  It's like flow processes aren't better!

[andrea]

That is how our crystal works.
And automated large scale 3D printing may not be the best  thing ever, but it sure beats medieval hand forging, flow or no flow.