August Event Log

[magicademymods]

August Event Log Speed of Lightning, Roar of Thunder The latest rage in Diatu: portable lightning generators! These little spheres, compact enough to be held in the hand, can launch a miniature bolt of electricity out with flair and pizzazz and surprisingly nonlethal effects. Getting zapped is like getting bit by a horsefly, not much worse. Naturally, all sorts of sports and pastimes have grown up overnight. The new sports of Lightning Tag, Lightningball, and Zap Each Other With Lightning Till Someone Collapses Because We're Tough Guys Dammit routinely break out on campus, while people who think they're funny can't go ten seconds without bolting someone's posterior. So what's your role in this? Eager participant? Sportsman? Buttzapper? Or is your idea totally new and wild? And Break the Laws That They Should Fear A rash of thefts plagues Anastara and the Magicademy both. Nothing huge, nothing heavy -- little things, like food, jewelry, trinkets and knickknacks... because the perpetrators are rats. Large and obviously clever rats, who have somehow wormed their way through defensive enchantments and mundane security both with the fearsome tenacity of their species. Look around at just the right time, and you might spot a rat scrambling for the safety of the caverns, something clutched in its jaws. Maybe something of yours? The Cry Goes Up Both Far and Near Finals draw ever-closer, and right about now students start realizing that maybe they don't understand this or that; maybe they could do with some outside material; maybe a second viewpoint would come in handy. Thus this week brings the Diatu Book Exchange! Outside of the Great Hall, students of all sorts brings books they no longer need and exchange them for books they do. The Book Exchange goes past merely scholarly works, though; time has grown it to encompass books of all sorts, from genre fiction and unlikely stories about seemingly ordinary kids attending an engineering boarding school to comics to philosophical works and more. Come to trade, browse, or lust -- there's something here for everyone! Research on the SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) The research team has learned one important thing: Conflict is the key. The Codification of Sundering is the door. Somehow, of late, something has changed the nature of Sundering magic. They do not know why or how, but the very existence of the concept of Sundering magic now causes summoning anomalies that focus on other worlds, resulting in the transport of the Sundered here. This is, well, bad. The Codifications should not be slipping, not unless something has the power to completely overwhelm the entirety of human thought and will... To test theory more deeply, this month's Research has the Sundered locked in a room with another Sundered, a pair of chairs, and nothing else. The goal is to observe the warp and weft of magic around them with minimal interference from any other source save perhaps each other. So who did you get shut in with, and how long can you just sit and talk without going crazy?

Comments

[temptationaccomplished]

[What is the centuarlike-machanical-person in the middle of the floor? Are they a robot? And how did they manage to look so cute?]

Nor do I, honestly, but I AM somewhat concerned for the other participants. I mean, humans have needs and such. They cannot be confined for too long.

[stillnewatthis]

The researchers have not done anything deliberately harmful thus far. I believe we can trust them.

[Sure, a lot of bad things HAD happened, but Orisa feels such things should be expected when dabbling with powerful magic. After all, look at how things went on campus on a daily basis.]

[temptationaccomplished]

[He glances towards the door.] I'm sure we can. I'm just concerned about--
Wait, what do you mean they haven't done anything deliberately harmful? What have they done unintentionally? Aside from simply us being here at all.

[stillnewatthis]

Their experiments often have unintended consequences. I was once teleported to someone's dormitory room! That was an awkward night.

[temptationaccomplished]

So you...had to spend the night in someone else's room? That seems like a horrid invasion of privacy.

I didn't realize Sundering was quite so random and... finicky.

[stillnewatthis]

Oh, no! He was there at the time and let me out.

I believe on analysis, the difficulty is that no one understands why we are here, so it is an unknown factor. But I also think Sundering is very much finicky, and has the potential for great danger. So some side effects are to be expected. [Orisa is not perturbed. If that is how it has to be, she accepts that and will work with it!]

[temptationaccomplished]

Understandable, yes. Of course there's always the potential for side effects with anything new.

Do you suppose that--well, if they tried to intentionally Sunder someone into this realm from another world, might it succeed better than any attempts to de-Sunder us have? Have they tried that before?

[stillnewatthis]

If they have attempted that, they have not said it.

[Orisa's eyeshields whirl about, rotating till they snap into a configuration that narrows the light of her optics to yellow slits. Could such a thing be possible? If so, she has misconstrued the efforts of the team...]

[temptationaccomplished]

[He wanted to ask her if she suspected the researchers attempted things they did not speak about, but thought better of it. Walls and ducks and ears and all that.]

I see. How often do they conduct these research experiments?

[stillnewatthis]

They usually begin new studies near the beginning of the month. [As is the case right now, in fact!] Although not always.

[temptationaccomplished]

I see. And they always open them for our participation? How many have you participated in?

[stillnewatthis]

Several at this point! They wish as many Sundered as possible to participate. The value of large sample sizes cannot be overrated in experimentation.

[Especially considering how distinct the different people here are. Orisa considers her participation almost obligatory, as the only omnic here.]