Skye[10][5][9]
You have some success with history.. the current war stance started about forty years ago, with a series of attacks on neighboring countries in what was called "The Great Duel", as what was to become the magic empire fought it out with a nearby nation, for unclear reasons. It was a fairly equal fight, but eventually the greater use of magic in the magic empire won out, and allowed them to occupy their neighboring country.. and bind both sets of allies into varying degress of annexation.
The empire was built properly in the reorganization that followed those treaties.. this school was built, along with some others, and the army was reoganized, and the 'ruling council' that managed the war granted themselves semi-absolute power. You aren't able to find out much about the current rulers, but there's about a dozen people in the 'inner council' who make the decisions, and maybe a hundred or so advisors and senior officers who actually execute those orders along with serving as advisors.
Goals are more doubtful. I mean, world conquest? But you don't really know any details. There's a couple of active wars going on right now, but they aren't really all-out.. at least on this end.
The magic schools are to train up soldiers and technicians, as well as doing some magical experimentation, to improve weapons and magical technologies, along with ensuring a steady stream of new soldiers and experts.
Schoolwork goes pretty well, and you think you get the hang of basic evocation theory. In general, how it works is you sort of develop a mental template for energy, and then fill that with your mana, which is then expressed according to your ability to memorize said template, assuming you have enough magic to fill the mold with, so to speak. Directing it, applying motion.. those are all done at the moment of casting, by choosing an effective template.
Choose a spell or an energy type you'd like to have some theoretical knowledge of.It doesn't give you any idea on how you could cast it here, I'm afraid.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177922.msg8239075#msg8239075Universal
True name: Aiunara'narae Plex
Traits: Resiliant. +1 to resisting wounds, or recovering from them.
Aware: Immunity to fumbles leading to surprise attacks, when not wounded. (This includes things like being walked in while doing something sneaky, not just outright attacks.) +1 to social and observational perception rolls.
Mild: -1 to all attacking rolls.
Name: Skye
Character Description: Orphan, orphaned by the war. Human, light blue hair, dark blue eyes.
Field of Excellence: Spying/Covert Operations. +3 to attempts at stealth, -1 to Suspicion gained.
Reason for attending the Chief School of Magic: Wants to destroy the magic empire
Major: Evocation
Local progress: Evocation theory 1 complete! Evocation theory 2, 2/28.
Suspicion: 0
Scrutiny: 1
[8][4][1+3]
You knuckle down on your studies, trying to learn more about alteration.
This time things go better. You get the basic idea that alteration is about adopting parts of things outside you, so you can make them part of yourself, so to speak, grasping them magically. Then you can change things about the little bit you've made part of you, and then send that back into the other substance, hopefully where your changes will get adopted by the rest of the material? This part still seems strange to you. And since you can't actually do it, it's much harder for you to learn how it's done..
Choose one or more basic things you'd like to be able to do with specific items. What would you like those spells you were practicing to be?As for introducing technology, you're really not sure where to begin. I mean, technology just works, right? It's just using the way things are. Gravity is here, as is heat, as is light, as is life.. you're really not sure where to begin. For specific things, well, some might be harder than others, but at least at the school there are generally some examples of things.. at least in small amounts. There might not be a barrel of sulphuric acid, but there should be a vial about. Gunpowder? Well, there might even be some here, but there won't be a massive corning mill.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177922.msg8238985#msg8238985Universal:
True Name: Aing
Inventing: +1 to designing or engineering items.
Perception: +1 to perception and examination rolls. Immunity to fumbles leading to suprise attacks, when not wounded. (This includes things like being walked in when you are doing something sneaky, not just outright attacks.)
Lazy: -1 when engaged in a project that has taken more than two turns.
Name: Ding
Character Description: A male human fairly average in appearance, standing about five and a half feet tall with black hair and brown skin. Conned way in by creating and then cladding a non-magical piece of equipment in some decorative magical camouflage.
Field of Excellence: Technology. +3 when examining things to determine what they are and how they work. +1 to designing or engineering items.
Reason for attending the Chief School of Magic: A desire to learn about the powers of this world.
Major: Abjuration
Local progress: Alteration Theory 1. 2XP for specific spells.
Suspicion, 0
Scrutiny, 2
Oh, the opportunity to make friends with Vardis still exists, it was just that you were stuck with all your fellow first-years, and she was on the other side of the school. But you know where she is now, and who her friends are, so you can find the opportunity to meet with her whenever you wish to do so, be it something important or just to try and make friends.
[3+1 (new students)][4+1 (new students)][9]
You do manage to get along with some of the other students, although it's difficult to make close friendships, given the gap between you and them, given their innate magic and the knowledge you are on some basic level different than they are.
But you are all young students, and there is still much to understand each other, and you find yourself attracted to a clique of fairly normal kids lead by a smart but reserved one called Ronald. He's a fast thinker who is pretty much in control of himself.
Class goes pretty well, and you figure out that the basics of alteration are that you are supposed to take part of the material you are working with and.. infect it with your mana, which eventually brings a small portion of it under your control. You can then use your magic to affect it, somehow, and make it do things differently.
It's all pretty hard given that you can't actually do it, but you are starting to get some of the idea of it.
What sorts of changes would you like to have tried to make, in theory, or were you interested in more basic magic, such as how to make spells last longer or be more powerful?
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177922.msg8238837#msg8238837Universal:
True Name: Salem Monroe
Traits: Heroic. +1 to situations where you are opposed to forces which are significantly more powerful than yourself.
Unbreakable Will. +1 to NOT DIE, immune to fumbles which would lead to instant death. (no head in the nuclear reactor, for instance, no standing inside the giant grinder to fix it. Immunity to fumbles is waived when in a wounded state.)
Poor magic talent. -1 to working with magical materials. (As all characters in Incindia are already incapable of using magic by default.)
Name: Salem Monroe
Character Description: Human teenage boy with unkempt blond hair and a solid build. Wears the school uniform even when off duty. Has calm green eyes and typically has a pair of white gloves on at all times.
Field of Excellence: Forgery. +3 to making duplicates or imitations of things you have examples of, granted access to raw materials. +1 to creating artwork in general.
Major: Alteration
Local progress Alteration Theory 1. Alteration Theory 2, 2/28. 3XP for other things.
Suspicion
Scrutiny
You borrow a book on metallurgy.. these interesting diagrams of the relationships between combinations of obscure metals and steel would help significantly with any attempts to actually make things.
[7]
Next up is to study what sorts of magical materials there are here. I mean, you're pretty good with steel, bronze, copper.. basic materials that you can work with on yourself, without magic, but what sorts of weird stuff is there, and how do you work it?
[7]
Sadly, there's no mirror-steel which you can work like butter, and the magical materials which you find all seem to require some kind of magical technology or equipment to work properly.. [11+3] although your swift mind figures that those might only be common techniques for magic-using smiths, so you shouldn't take the stuff on order here as proof that you can't work with them.
There are four common kinds of magical metals, which you can expect to see in somewhat common use.
There's Water Metal, which is white, and has varying hardness and volume when it meets a type of evocation magic. Like far more than anything else. It's used for the equivalent of hydraulics and various magical mechanical devices, due to it's ability to change shape and ease of manipulation.
There's Gesiron, which is grayish and looks like steel, but it's made of a magic ore mixed with wood charcoal, hence why it's treated like steel. It's basically Light Steel, weighing as little as magnesium while being somewhat stronger and non-flammable.
There's Pour Metal, which can be cast at very low temperatures until treated with magic, where it will harden up to about the strength of soft bronze. In semi-liquid form it flows slowly but controllably, and is extremely malleable. You can put it in a cold environment if you want to sculpt or carve it before it's hardened. Once hardened, it's that way until it eventually starts to denature years later.
Last is Quin Metal, which is the other key element of magical devices. This is the material which can conduct magical energy, and, once activated by an application of mana which you don't have, can carry the stuff from one place to another like a siphon. This might be of use, but you still cannot prime the pump. It also isn't a storage medium, the creation of which is described in other books, but that's enough for today.
[4] You really don't have too much time to spend on Alteration, with all these visits to the library to study more important things. Still, you feel that you could learn some of the theory of Alteration with just a bit more effort.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177922.msg8238625#msg8238625Universal:
True name: Acter Nobody
Bonuses: Tinker: All craftsmanship, +1.
Precision: Fumble immunity for dangerous actions involving precision. (disarming bombs, shooting guns, enacting rituals.)
Emotionally Inept: -1 to in-person social actions.
Character Description: Jackson is thin and a bit short, has strong musculature, and an anvil tattoo.
Field of Excellence: Metal-based craftsmanship, +3, Engineering and design, +1
Reason for Attendance: To gain knowledge.
Major: Alteration
Local progress: Alteration theory 1, 8/14
Borrowed book on Mettalurgy. +1 to smelting advanced metals.
Suspicion: 0
Scrutiny: 1
Author
Topic: Multiverse Crash: Incindia (Read 2275 times)