September Event Log

[magicademymods]

September Event Log The Magicademy has a special treat for students this week: Combined Classes. The Curriculum-by-Curriculum education of the Magicademy lends itself to viewing each Curriculum on its own, not part of the greater whole that is magic. So in lieu of normal lessons this week, Professors are joint-teaching classes to show you what you can do by merging magic together. Profs. Porfsin & Kith: Making Modification Fantastic If Diatu students love anything, it's expressing their individuality by wearing unique clothing, particular ones similar to home in the case of the Sundered. Working together, the good Professors will teach you a basic and beloved trick of wizards everywhere: combining Modification and Fantastics to make a spell that provides you with clothes that are outstandingly fashionable and flamboyant on the outside, but fit perfectly and comfortably despite their flair. At last, the secret of how wizards can swoop around in dramatic capes and flowing robes without constantly tripping! Of course, the potential for mayhem is pretty high in practice. Shrinking clothes, accidentally creating a scarf 250 feet long... Professor Trammel has loaned them his familiar, a top hat named Decorum, so it is on hand to quickly deploy wide black censor bars in the event a mishap leaves you perhaps offering more in the way of an Anatomy of the Sundered class than you might expect. But if you work hard and give it your all, you might come out of this looking good indeed! Profs. Loshakle & Mala: Advanced Warding A lesson Professor Loshakle hammers home in his classes: the more broad the spell, the weaker its effect. A ward against fire specifically will repel so much more fire than a general ward, but of course the fire ward is entirely worthless against lightning. Today, these two Professors show one way to get the best of both world: a Predictive Ward. The theory is simple: Suspend an Intimation effect within the ward's construction, then make the ward manifold-responsive -- or in other terms, capable of shifting its focus from one danger to another. The Intimation spell predicts the damage and preemptively shifts the ward to full effect. Simple! Enjoy testing them. Since it involves hurling some things at each other. What better way to test a ward than practically? Profs. Trammel & King: Pocket Summoning One of the problems inherent to Discovery is the danger involved in creation. For example, if you desire a large quantity of water for whatever reason, you need to create it all at once -- you can't create it ahead of time without a way to transport it, for example. Sundering offers an intriguing possibility that actually is much safer than most of its uses: opening a portal into a small pocket dimension, where you can Discover and store whatever you might need, and release it later in small doses or full-tilt. Now, mess up the Sundering spell and you could end up discharging a large volume of water or stone or pudding out of midair at a terribly inopportune time. But don't worry! Several groundskeeping golems are on-hand to help with the inevitable messes. Also Professor Trammel knows how to clean clothing. You might need that help. Headmaster Camillah Birony: ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO ATTEND THIS CLASS This opportunity is unique. For all her flaws, Headmaster Birony is unquestionably a master wizard, who has developed an entire branch of magic hereto undiscovered by wizardkind. The art of working magic on magic, or as she calls it, "Metamagic". "And it will be the third Metacurriculum! Wizardkind everywhere will develop and master these powers that I have paved the way for! AND THEY CALLED ME MAD!" she yells to the sky, before flinging her hands wide and laughing maniacally. So! You get to start very basic: Modifying a spell to last longer. Pick your favorite spell, any spell, and cast it. While its magical energies still exist in the pattern your will has imposed on them, Modify them. A simple equation. Add 1 to them. Multiply them by 2. Whatever works for you. You don't get much more instruction than that, says the Headmaster, because you have to figure out how to make it work for yourself. More than most magic, this depends entirely on your will and your determination. Everything else is just trappings -- take what you want from the foci of Modification, that will help, but find your own path forward. And unlike every other lesson, this one is utterly safe. At the first sign of a spell getting out of control or going haywire, Headmaster Birony squelches it like a bug beneath her heel. Not even literally, for a pleasant change!

Comments

[sublimelymagnificentblitz]

"Yeah, I gotta say that's going good," he said, folding his hands behind his head with a smug smile. It really was, though he'd been working damn hard to earn his renown. "That's where I'm the best."

[magicademynpcs]

"Yes. That is our hope and intent. It is not a promise, but we believe it can be done. In fact it may be easier to do it that way than any other."

[outofyourshadow]

"Maybe we can find a way to be invisible to everyone else but still be able to see each other. Like, both of us being invisible cancels it out for each other somehow."

That's how it worked sometimes on TV.

[outofyourshadow]

Lena shrugged a bit. "Well, don't think about it too much. They exist, so you exist. That's all that matters right now."

[woo_oo]

And when has TV ever been wrong?

"Lena, your brilliance never ceases to amaze me!"

[stillnewatthis]

"That is an important concern, but I believe that further analysis of my existence is valuable. We omnics often have a difficult place in the world. You do not see it here, but back on Earth, most people dislike and distrust omnics, and not without cause. I need to understand my place."

[outofyourshadow]

She snickered. "I know."

And she definitely liked hearing it.

[outofyourshadow]

"Well...while you're here in this world, you don't need to worry about those kinda things. I don't think anyone here cares that your an omnic."

[gender_neutral]

"If there is any actual chance that you can actually pull that off, consider my vast knowledge and power available to you for use. How can I assist?"

[stillnewatthis]

"They do not regard me with prejudice, although my robotic nature is frequently a cause for commentary." So they did care a little, just not in a bad way! "But I wish to understand my existence better, especially now that I am certain I have a soul."

[outofyourshadow]

"Really? I mean...I believe you. But how do you know that you have one if you...didn't before?"

[stillnewatthis]

"Do you remembered when some people found themselves in the wrong bodies? I was one of them!"

[outofyourshadow]

"Oh...yeah, I remember that," she said after a moment. It was a bit of a blur, but she was sure she'd ended up in someone else's body too. "You got switched with someone?"

[stillnewatthis]

"And at another point I was under some sort of strange control, which caused me to duel Yugi with cards!" she said, still sounding entirely too cheerful about this. "Diagnostics indicated no changes or flaws in my programming, so what else could have been influenced but a soul?"

[outofyourshadow]

"Huh...yeah, that's a good point."

It was easier for Orisa to figure that stuff out, though, strange as that was. Orisa probably wasn't susceptible to mind control, so her reasoning made sense.

[stillnewatthis]

If nothing else, Orisa had robust self-diagnostics that could detect the influence of programming alterations. Having observed none and yet still behaving differently allowed for only one conclusion!

"It is a very good thing to know."

[magicademynpcs]

"Work within the Curricula. Stretch them, by all means, but do not go outside them. If you try to force your way through, you may in fact change things so much that we can't meet that hope."

Headmaster Birony adds, "We're trying to build a door. If you smash through the wall, that's a big problem!"

[gender_neutral]

"While I can see structural concerns, and the possibility of attracting monsters as noise of that level is rarely rewarded with a long peaceful rest, ultimately blasting the hole wall the door will generally get you at least closer to the intended room, if not actual entry." A frown, a considering thought, "Is this analogy or literal? And in either case are we on a square grid or hexes?"

[magicademynpcs]

"Literalism breaks down when magic is involved, but whatever the case, you have to admit that smashing the wall really loses some of the subtle intricacies of going through the door. And 'going back to the proper time' is one of those intricacies!"

[gender_neutral]

A slight twitch. "Very well, let me see the work you have been doing so far and I shall see where I can contribute."

[magicademynpcs]

"We entirely respect and appreciate your desire to contribute," Professor Trammel says, thinking very quickly indeed. "Would you be willing to review diagrams of summoning circles and inscriptions? Your knowledge may assist us in refining them."

[gender_neutral]

"Of course," V said with a nod. "I will warn you if any of them are doilies however that there is perhaps more power at play than most might be aware of."

[magicademynpcs]

"Yeah, no." Headmaster Birony isn't the diplomatic one here, of course.

[gender_neutral]

"Good, then we have saved ourself much in structural damage." V is being completely serious here.

[magicademynpcs]

"Hooray!" Headmaster Birony waves a flag she hadn't had a moment ago.

Pity Professor Trammel, whose efforts to look unfazed and unexhausted are heroic. "We'll arrange to have some sent your way soon."