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You are awoken from a sound sleep by the sound of running feet and screaming. It is not the normal screaming of the Magus waking you all for a midnight drill or stargazing. It is borderline hysterical, an undercurrent of panic running through the words. “FIRE FIRE! FIRE IN THE LOWER CITY” If that hadn’t gotten you up, the chiming of the bells, now starting to ring from the twelve towers would do it. If you had time to think of it, you’d give a small prayer of gratitude for the fact that years of unexpected stargazing and alchemical rituals requiring priming every hour had taught you to find your senses quicker than other men, but you’re too busy with the reality of the situation. No time to get fully dressed. You slip your gloves on. You’d rather die than be caught not wearing them, and then you grab your boots, and wish desperately you had a weapon beyond the quarterstaffs given to novices. You manage to fasten them and head to the door before Alois is up. He’s your assigned Clypeus, and it looks like he *is* allowed to stash weapons in his room. You’ve never been happier to see his ugly mug. In one hand he has a dangerous looking axe you’ve never seen before, in the other, the symbol of his station, the silver shield with the thrice inscribed circle. “We need to get moving Gladius” he yells at you, you’re surprised you can understand him, considering the cacophonous din of the bells has risen to a deafening roar. You didn’t realize the drat things were so loud. “To the walls” you manage to convey, having to strain your voice to be heard. The Academia is located well above the lower city. From the walls you should be able to see what is happening. You seem to be the first of the four Sophos in your hallway to make it out, or perhaps the last. Heedless you make your way past the guardhouse, which is currently unmanned. You imagine the guards must have rushed out... and as you step through the door into the exterior courtyard you can see why.  The night itself is alight with fire. You can feel fear beating in your heart, before the icy hand of control squeezes it down. You can’t imagine the kind of blaze that would turn the night into day. You hurry, Alois still behind you. You’re sure you could send him on ahead, he’s certainly faster than you, but for years you’ve been taught that a Gladius is nothing without a Clypeus. Sword and Shield, together more than the sum of their parts. Outside of the academy, indeed, outside of conversations with Alois you are a Sophos, but between the two of you, he is a Clypeus and you are a Gladius. The both of you manage to cross the courtyard undisturbed, the bells echoing in your head, muting the sounds of panic coming from the building behind you. For the city to be ablaze the Suma Aqua which protects the city must have failed. You can’t imagine what kind of sabotage it would take to make that happen, but as you climb the ladder up the wall, you do your best to push it out of your mind. What matters now is assessing the current situation. If the Suma Aqua is damaged, nobody short of the Archmage can fix it. As you make it to the walls, you note that they’re surprisingly unmanned. A bad reflection on the custodes, although this *is* unprecedented. You look over the city, and have to steel yourself as a wave of nauseating fear sweeps over you. Whatever you imagined looking at the sky, it’s worse. A wall of flame seems to have enveloped the entire lower district, a perfect circle, surrounding it, closing in. Because of the Suma Aqua the entire lower city and most of the middle city are made entirely of wood. A second, smaller row of fires seems to have hit the docks, and you can see several of the ships in the harbor are ablaze. More than anything the smell of burning wood fills your nostrils. You can feel your heart trying to beat out of your chest. The flames are sweeping out, it's only a matter of time until the flames spread further upward, towards you, consuming the middle city. The only ways out are through the lower city and the harbors, and soon that will all be a blazing inferno. You hold out your staff, and say, your voice cracking. “Aegis”. It’s the sign for Alois that you’re about to enter Mage Fuge. The manipulation of mana will take all your attention. Your senses will barely be able to perceive the world, and doing anything other than focusing on the chants and gestures will drat you to an unpleasant death. Alois nods, and you begin to focus, not even conscious of the stream of words leaving your mouth as you let your mundane senses fade away. You focus your imagination on the plaza. You know it well, you walked by it every day when you would deliver messages to your older brother in the warehouse. It's only a few blocks away from where your parents used to live in the middle city. Right over the separating wall. You remember the carefully sculpted fountain at the square. Four fish, hanging from a fisherman's hook, spitting water down an elaborately carved masthead. The hole under it to allow servitors to crawl in and out undisturbed and barely noticed, worn into a groove by years of small mechanical legs skittering. The dilapidated wooden warehouses on either side, worn down by years of sea-winds and rain, the merchants more concerned with structural stability than charm. The indentations on the paved road, meant to carry water down towards the ocean in the case of a flooding storm. The motifs on the road, long ago worn away by the selfsame water. The holes in the upper part of the warehouse, designed to allow the flying messengers easy access, so the inventory would always be accurate. You can feel the cobbles under your feet, hear the fountain, feel the sea breeze. You feel the mana pouring out of you, like wine being decanted.  You feel it now. Every inch of ground. Astral Projection is not an easy magic, and the fact that you managed to achieve this distance is only possible because you know your target with exact familiarity. You can’t use your eyes here, of course, only your mage senses travel through the projection. You’ll only be able to hold it for a beat, but that should be enough. You take a deep breath and open those senses to the world, assuming the risk it implies, that another mage may hijack you, enter your mindspace, or simply burn you out until your mind is gone. Your senses take it all in at once, and it takes your brain a bit to parse it. It's been almost seven years since you’ve unlocked your greater sight, and you’re still not used to it. A personal failing perhaps, but not unexpected. Greater sight, or mage sight is an entirely different thing from sight, smell, or taste. It's most akin to touch, or maybe balance if anything. It's like running your fingers over a grooved surface, except instead of fingers it's every inch of your skin all at once, and the grooved surface is every possible temperature.  There is your tether. You, as far as the astral projection is concerned. A link back to the real you. A point from which you may see, and act, and from which you may be seen and acted upon.  There is Water Mana. It reminds you of the smell of fresh rain, the sound of waves, and the feeling of plunging into the ocean blindfolded. It is blue, the same way drinking seawater is blue. You expected to see it there. The shapes of it are right, since it is near the ocean. You are surprised there isn’t more of it, but without accessing the spiritual plane you can’t see the shape of the Prima Aqua.  There is Shaped Earth Mana. Immobile. Indifferent. It smells of brick and stone. It feels like running your fist into a wall, and discovering it will not yield. You can taste unwillingness to move or change. It is grey. It's the warehouses and to a lesser extent the fountain that provide it. You do not have a great track record working with Shaped Earth Mana.  There is Life Mana. It pulses and writhes. It smells sticky, and it moves weirdly in your head, like you’re trying to hold on to a squirming larva. It is green, but predominantly it feels like the dry feeling you get at the back of your throat when you bite into some especially bloody meat. You estimate that the amount of mana there means there are maybe 30 people in the warehouses, although it could be 45 elderly people, or 15 young children, or an absurd amount of rats. The way the mana writhes suggests its mostly people, though. Animals squirm more than writhe.  There is Fire Mana. It tastes like putting your tongue on a too hot metal surface. It smells like timbers creaking and falling. It feels pleasantly warm, like wearing a blanket during a storm. You can feel your own fear of it seeping through. You’ve worked with it before of course. But never in this amount. It's unnatural for there to be this much fire. You cannot accept it. Worse, you can feel it trying to grow, The shapes are a consumption pattern. It is transforming the Shaped Earth Mana into more fire mana. Then even more fire mana will bloom behind it, until the shapes form unfavorably and it consumes itself. That should be all… but it is not.  There is a mana type you recognize but have only seen in the most advanced of exercises. Void Mana. It smells like water rushing up your nostrils as you drown. It tastes like your tongue swelling to fill your mouth and suffocate you. It is cold, as cold as you’ve ever felt anything. It reminds you of twinkling stars on an icy morning, and it feels like steel plates crushing you. Void mana is a conjured mana, that is, it does not usually occur naturally.  You have an impression of what it is attached to, or what is producing it. Chitinous. Large. As long as two horses. Carapace that changes when you try to look at it. Eight legs, designed for climbing with ease. Stingers at the end of each. An impossibly large maw. Claws, such as might belong to a crab, for tearing and rending. You don’t know how many of them are in the square. If all the mana belongs to one, or a dozen. With that the beat is over. You feel your real body pulling your astral senses back into it. You could fight it. Spend energy you might need later in exchange for more information now, but you choose not to. There is too much to do. The whole process, from start to finish has taken ten seconds. Ten seconds where you were vulnerable. Where someone armed with only a rock could have bashed your head in before you were able to return to your body. That’s why you have Alois. “Ecfectus” you say, signifying the trance is over. Many of the traditions of your school are rooted in High Imperial, and you always found it silly to use the words of a dead language instead of more modern ones, but in this moment holding on to traditions gives you a sense of foundation you would have scoffed at only hours ago. You open your mouth to fill Alois in, when you hear a voice behind you. “Old Man!” if the high pitched voice didn’t give it away, only Emilie calls you that. You turn and face her, she’s still bounding towards you, she always moves like that, quickly, like a lioness closing the distance between her and some helpless prey. Her features are sharp, almost painfully angled, but her eyes gleam with mirth. The crisis doesn’t seem to have phased her at all. It looks like she has her Clypeus in tow. A tall woman named Tamiko, you know very little about her, other than she’s not from Aqua, rumors say she came from as far as Nova, but why would anyone abandon the center of civilization for Aqua of all places? She somehow found the time to put on her full suit of armour and you are suddenly keenly aware of the fact that you’re not wearing very much at all. Following closely behind Emilie and Tamiko is Tabor, who is a class below you and Emilie, and his Clypeus, Lael. You don’t know either of the two super well, but rumors swirled for a long time that Lael was totally mute. They both look like they rushed out of bed as well, which makes you wonder how Tamiko managed to get a full suit of armour on and still make it out here. You take a deep breath, and as quickly as you can, but with as much detail as possible, fill them in on what you gleaned from your astral projection. Emilie’s expression doesn’t change, other than a slight curve at the edge of her lips that you’ve learned signals displeasure. Tabor looks pale as a sheet, and you’re concerned he might pass out. “gently caress” you hear, uttered softly, and the five of you turn to look at Lael. This is only the second time ever you’ve heard the man utter a word, so it must be truly dire. “Well, you’re the oldest of us” Emile says, her voice deadpan as she looks at you, only a slight smile giving away the joke as she speaks. “What do you think we should do?” she asks. What do you think you should do? A.) The city is on fire. The only way out of the city is through the lower city or the docks. Obviously with the Suma Aqua ruined, it's only a matter of time until you’re all consumed by fire. Whatever the void beasts are, they’re probably here to kill the Archmage. You don’t want to die. Go to the docks and steal a boat that is not on fire or only mildly on fire. Flee for your life. None of you is a full fledged Windcaller, and… [Wavefunction has not collapsed yet] your knowledge of boats is uncertain. Maybe you know a lot about them? Maybe you don’t? We’ll discover as your character’s traits stabilize over the next few votes. B.) The city is on fire. The only way out of the city is through the lower city or the docks. Obviously with the Suma Aqua ruined, it's only a matter of time until you’re all consumed by fire. Whatever the void beasts are, they’re probably here to kill the Archmage. You don’t want to die. Try to skirt the edges of the lower city and make it to the Eye of Septimus, the smallest of the gates, and the one furthest away from the blaze. Hope you don’t run into any void beasts. C.) Your family! Your family all lives in the Middle city, except for [Wavefunction has not collapsed yet]. Your brother might live in the high city. Or the lower city. Or he might be dead. We don’t know yet. [end of uncertainty]. Rush to the middle city and try to rescue your family. Emilie and Tabor are unlikely to go with this plan, although you might persuade them if you agree to get their families too? D.) The lower city! You’re not a fully trained Sophos, you’re not even a Magus, really. You’re not, technically, supposed to do magic unsupervised outside of the Academia. [Wavefunction has not collapsed yet] Your Guild might be tolerant of rule breaking given the crisis. They might not. If you get kicked out of the Academia for rule breaking, you will never become a Sophos. It could mean the end of your magical education. It could also not matter at all if the city burns down. What guild you’re a part of has not yet been determined. [end of uncertainty.] Go to the lower city and use your magic there to help as best you can. You’ll assess what that means when you reach the lower city. E.) The lower city is screwed. I mean look at it. It's on fire. There’s some kind of monster(s?) rampaging through it. IT’S ON FIRE. Go to the middle city. [Wavefunction has not collapsed yet] Your Guild might be tolerant of rule breaking given the crisis. They might not. If you get kicked out of the Academia for rule breaking, you will never become a Sophos. It could mean the end of your magical education. It could also not matter at all if the city burns down [end of uncertainty.] Use your magic to protect the middle city as best you can. You will determine what that means exactly when you reach the middle city. F.) Only one person can set this right. The Archmage. The leader of your city and the most powerful Magus in the region, indeed a five years ago you [Wavelength has not collapsed yet] did you see him destroy the army that threatened the city? Or did you merely hear about it after the fact?[end of uncertainty]. You have no idea where he is presently, but you know his living quarters are in the Glass spire. Go there [Wavefunction has not collapsed] You don’t have the clout or contacts to go to the glass spires normally. Or do you?[end of uncertainty]. Surely a messenger has reached him by now, but what if one hasn’t? G.) Convince your companions that you need to gather more of your class and then decide what to do. They might have useful, relevant opinions and each additional Sophos in training is another mage for a potential ritual circle. It also dilutes your ability to influence the group [Wavefunction has not collapsed] Sophos traditionally don’t really get along super well, or take orders, but depending on your guild and relationships, this is either doable, or totally impossible [end uncertainty] H.) Surely the Monstrante and the Archmage have this well in hand. Stay on the walls and observe. Emilie is extremely unlikely to agree to this. She has a strong bias for action. Still [wavefunction has not collapsed] What is your relationship with her anyway? Are you more friends, or rivals? [end uncertainty] J.) Write in. I will answer any questions I can, but you have not yet finished fleshing out Loren’s past, so I cannot answer questions about it. Many things are in flux. Many are not. I will discard any writeins that are not viable.
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Apr 7, 2020 22:10
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TheCog posted:Update Do we know of defensible points in the Lower or Middle cities? Where is the place a small group like ourselves could fend off a threat most effectively?
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Apr 7, 2020 22:33
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There Bias Two posted:Do we know of defensible points in the Lower or Middle cities? Where is the place a small group like ourselves could fend off a threat most effectively? There are five major and two minor gates leading into the lower city. The major gates allow large groups in and are probably 5-7 ox carts wide. Once you're inside the lower city is a laberinth of major thoroughfares leading to the docks and tiny splinter streets coming off off them. Of course [Wavefunction unstable] How much time did you spend in the lower city? Or studying the history of Aqua? Or military theory?[uncertainty over]. The middle city is separated from the lower city not by walls, but by the naturally occurring cliffs and narrowing ocean on both sides. There are three major gates and one minor one that lead from the lower city to the middle city. Both parts of the city are primarily wood however, so you're [Wavefunction unstable] do you know much about historical fires? Alchemy? Or the theory of fire mana?[uncertainty over]. Against a conventional attack any one of those gates would be a valid defensible point. Against magical creatures [Wavefunction unstable] How much attention did you pay in your classes relating to demonology, conjuring and binding void mana? [uncertainty over]
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Apr 7, 2020 22:47
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D
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Apr 7, 2020 23:03
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E. We're gonna shonen hero our way through this! We need to do what's right, and drat the consequences! People could get hurt!
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Apr 7, 2020 23:04
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E
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Apr 7, 2020 23:09
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G I get the feeling the monster(s) is beyond us, possibly even with our entire class. But perhaps with their assistance we might have a way to help slow down the fire, buying precious time for civilians to flee. Easier to flee from magical beasts when the escape routes aren't burning, no?
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Apr 7, 2020 23:12
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Well, this started quickly. E
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Apr 7, 2020 23:49
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G
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Apr 8, 2020 02:35
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G Ritual circle seems like the way to go here, we're out of our league on our own but as a group can accomplish more. Cog, what's the minimum number of Sophos for a ritual circle?
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Apr 8, 2020 02:58
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G, a few half-trained students aren't going to do much against fire-slinging crab demons, but maybe the whole class together can... I dunno, do an anti-fire ritual? Be a useful auxiliary for someone actually powerful and in charge? Die together at least?
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Apr 8, 2020 03:02
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Olothreutes posted:G Ritual circle seems like the way to go here, we're out of our league on our own but as a group can accomplish more. Two. The more Sophos in a ritual circle the more raw mana they can draw upon, and the more likely things are to go wrong. A circle requires extreme concentration, and a high degree of trust, in each other, and in the circle leader. A single misstep will wind up with a circle of corpses holding hands. Most circles consist of mages that have been practicing as a circle for a long time, although its not unknown for circles to form spontaneously in a crisis where mages are forced to cooperate. That said, a ritual circle can do truly amazing things. A circle of five might be able to create a ward able to turn away all projectiles, or cause a ship to grow wooden wings and fly. A circle of twelve might control a storm or create a ward of life-force so powerful it can stop anyone around it from dying, no matter their injuries. A circle of a hundred, which you've only read about as a theoretical possibility, might sink an entire island into the ocean, change the climate for a continent, or cause a city to rise from the ground and fly off. The issues with the circle is that a circle is always limited by the weakest link, each Sophos can only each contribute as much as the weakest mage, or the circle will be unbalanced. The other issue is that the circle can only manage to create magic that the leader of the circle understands, and they're constrained by the leaders maximum mana output. In this case, if you managed to gather 5-7 mages, you might, all together, add up to a fully trained Sophos. TheCog fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Apr 8, 2020 |
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Apr 8, 2020 03:15
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Fires grow, they don't shrink. What's more, if these void bugs can bring down the Suma Aqua, the big hitters will have to deal with them. Meanwhile, the fire grows. The fire is going to grow faster than our numbers will, and we can't let it distract the big kids. We know the fire has to be put out. So do others. We can meet up there D , but with the annendum that we send our lower classmates to muster our fellows and send them to us. He's younger, and we have a responsibility to keep him safer than us. Unless he's a natural with earth mana Question: Do we know what kind of mana our companions like to use?
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Apr 8, 2020 04:31
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Hmmm... Question: The more mages in a circle, the more power and the more things that could go wrong. Could, in theory, several smaller mage circles work together to offset the risk? Less power to wield towards the desired result of course, but at considerably less danger?
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Apr 8, 2020 05:09
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Arcanuse posted:Question: The more mages in a circle, the more power and the more things that could go wrong. Yes and no. If the question is "can you have several independent mage circles all working on their own thing" the answer is yes. If the question is "can two mage circles combine to work towards the same goal" the answer is yes but with a caveat. Two independent circles will have less mana to work with, but more mana output. The issue is if they're interacting with the same mana groupings they could fall into a resonance cascade. Resonance issues, where to groups are doing magic that is closely aligned is a real issue for trying to get several circles working towards the same task. [Waveform has not collapsed] Do you know anything about theoretical or historical magic involving multiple circles? How about military theory about using a small circle to induce resonance cascades?[/uncertainty end] Inverted Icon posted:Question: Do we know what kind of mana our companions like to use? Emilie is a Impetar, a force mage. She's focused on placing down force mana, which represents the ability to act on physical objects. In combat this can go one of two ways a more personal focus, where the mage enhances their own skills by making their fists strike with incredible force and blades glance off their skin as if it were armor or an active focus, where the mage uses magic to squeeze knights out of armour or topple buildings on top of them. The non-combat applications of an Impetar are almost limitless, from erecting buildings and digging canals to singlehandedly manning boats or infusing servitors with useful manipulators. You have no idea what Tabor is good at, so you ask. "Vivomancy" he says, quietly. "Enhancive Vivomancy. I'm not very good though." he says, trying and failing to keep a quiver out of his voice. He's being modest about it, Vivomancy is an extremely rare concentration, and enhancive vivomancy is terribly difficult and has a lot of potential to go wrong in the hands of all but the most skilled and cautious of mages. If he weren't very good, he'd be dead.
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Apr 8, 2020 18:30
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Er, what is enhanceive vivomancy? Healing? Buffing? Creating life?
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Apr 8, 2020 19:39
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Patrick Spens posted:Er, what is enhanceive vivomancy? Healing? Buffing? Creating life? Enhancive vivomancy manipulates life mana in either the caster or someone who's mind-space the caster has access to, to greatly boost natural abilities, and create others wholesale. A basic vivomancer might be able to make you run for days, punch hard enough to break bricks or see in the dark, or regenerate from minor wounds. A more advanced one might allow you to grow wings, spit venom, or develop a shell that would turn away arrows. A fully trained vivomancer might let you transform into a monstrous beast, let you move fast enough to snatch arrows out of the air, or assume the form of an insect, and recover from any injury short of your body being entirely destroyed. All vivomancers can manage rudimentary healing, but life mana is very... vigorous, so healing serious injuries without unwanted and often fatal side effects can be a challenge.
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Apr 8, 2020 20:10
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TheCog posted:Enhancive vivomancy manipulates life mana in either the caster or someone who's mind-space the caster has access to, to greatly boost natural abilities, and create others wholesale. A basic vivomancer might be able to make you run for days, punch hard enough to break bricks or see in the dark, or regenerate from minor wounds. A more advanced one might allow you to grow wings, spit venom, or develop a shell that would turn away arrows. A fully trained vivomancer might let you transform into a monstrous beast, let you move fast enough to snatch arrows out of the air, or assume the form of an insect, and recover from any injury short of your body being entirely destroyed. Could a vivomancer help enhance a personal-focused impetar? Like the impetar boosts their own physical prowess while the vivomancer gives them additional endurance, healing, and strength beyond just the impetar's own ability? Basically can Emilie and Tabor combine their respective talents to turn Emilie into some sort of super juggernaut?
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Apr 8, 2020 20:32
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Olothreutes posted:Could a vivomancer help enhance a personal-focused impetar? Like the impetar boosts their own physical prowess while the vivomancer gives them additional endurance, healing, and strength beyond just the impetar's own ability? Basically can Emilie and Tabor combine their respective talents to turn Emilie into some sort of super juggernaut? It would depend on Emilie's mindspace capacity, and Tabor's comfort in working in someone else's mindspace. In theory, sure.
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Apr 8, 2020 20:37
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Do we have a teacher, mentor, or senior student who could give us orders or direction?
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Apr 8, 2020 21:27
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Magnusth posted:Do we have a teacher, mentor, or senior student who could give us orders or direction? F. Is there any sort of magical (emergency) communications network for the school and/or city? Can we recall any emergency procedures that might apply?
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Apr 8, 2020 21:54
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Magnusth posted:Do we have a teacher, mentor, or senior student who could give us orders or direction? Teachers do not live in the Academia. There are of course guards that have the right to issue orders to the students, but there were none in the guardhouse when you left. The Magister *does* live in the Academia, and she alone can administer tests and issue edicts to the whole Acedmia. The whole floor she lives on is totally off limit to the students. You could try knocking. As for other students [waveform is in flux] mentors? Older students? [/end uncertainty] Ralith posted:
Messengers and Servitors are not allowed on the campus, the only place in the whole city they cannot go to, as far as you know. Under ordinary circumstances, a Messenger, which is a small wooden mouse, can transmit a message anywhere in the city. You simply find one, write your message on a small scroll, and feed it to the mouse, and within 5-30 minutes depending on how busy the system is, it will be delivered. You can always summon a messenger at a messenger-den. Under these circumstances, you have no idea if the messenger system is working normally. There are certainly other systems, you know the white-hats have their own communication methods and methods of making announcements... but you haven't heard any. Is the Acadmeia isolated from those too, or has there been none? As far as emergency procedures go... Obey any white-hat announcements, listen to people who seem to know what they're doing, and if a Sophos passes down guidance from the guilds do that? Aqua is not exactly rife with emergencies. When something goes wrong its usually small scale, and Servitors and white-hats will help before anything gets out of control, and there's an expectation that if something is going wrong, people who are around will try to help each other out.
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Apr 9, 2020 06:39
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Question How many people live in the lower city?
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Apr 10, 2020 01:38
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Inverted Icon posted:Question How many people live in the lower city? You don't know for sure. 100000? 150000? You're pretty sure its in that ballpark. Voting is closed. Update tonight, as soon as I'm done writing options
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Apr 10, 2020 02:53
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You were twelve when you took the Aptitudes. The youngest age they’ll allow. The Aptitudes take place annually. Anyone over the age of 11 who is not a criminal is welcome to participate, regardless of social standing, financial status, or education. The Aptitudes do assume a basic level of literacy, but it’s one that any child born in Aqua will achieve. Most of the less wealthy children via the public lessons taught by Servitors, the wealthier by shared, or even private tutors. Knowledge and preparation give anyone attempting the Aptitudes an edge, of course, but not as sharp as one would expect. Perhaps half the test is about determining if you have the studiousness, the determination and focus that a career in magic will require. The other half is about determining more… intangible things. The tests change from year to year, as they’re more carefully honed. It is still one of the oddest experiences of your young life. The first half was a series of written tests, focused on literary comprehension, basic knowledge of history and the ability to do math. There were sections that required memorizing seemingly arbitrary and random bits of text. Others focused on trying to divine meaning from grammatically ambiguous sentences. For some portions, the proctor would explain three rules for constructing a sentence, and ask you to recite a sentence that respected all three, and then one that broke only one… then he’d change the rules, and begin anew.  The strangest bit was the very last hour of the test. Perhaps a dozen of you were ushered into a room. A dozen out of hundreds taking the test. A large round room, with an hourglass as the dominating feature in the center. You were then split into groups of three. That’s where you first met Emilie. She and a tall brawny man in his 20’s were your group. The test was simple. Each group was given a single gold coin. The proctor then revealed that the group with the most gold coins at the end would be allowed to pledge a guild. The rest would fail the aptitudes. The proctor then left, closing the door, and the hourglass, of its own volition, turned, as if announcing the beginning of a game. Emile looked at you, with the same murky brown eyes that are staring at you now, and said “I have a plan. But we have to act fast. Will you trust me?” 1. Did you? A. Yes, and I meant it B. I said Yes, but that was just a step in my plan. C. No, I had my own plan (fill in) D. No, I knew our group was physically stronger than the rest, which were entirely children. I wanted to use force E. No, I wanted to wait till the timer was nearly exhausted and then snatch coins from the other teams. Regardless of your vote, I would like to hear how you would approach the test You passed the test of course. Which meant you’d be allowed to train as a Sophos. As soon as you selected a guild. The guild will pay for your housing, room, board and education, there is no expectation that you’ll work for the guild, beyond the work you’ll do during your time in the Academia. Of course during the time you’re in the Academia, you give up all your rights to the Guild. Up to and including your life. Every year some students of the Academia simply do not survive, and its accepted as part of the risks one undertakes in their path to greater power. It's tradition, although not everyone follows, that you will join the guild once you’ve established yourself, taking part in votes within it, and of course paying guild dues. Not everyone does. The guilds own enough resources that the loss of people who train and then don’t join the guilds is written off as a cost of maintaining a city flush with magical potential. Which guild you pledged determines both what rules you are bound by now, and what resources and learning opportunities are available to you. It will not determine what kind of mana you specialize in, but it may make certain paths more attractive. Which guild did you pledge to? 2.  A. The Windcallers. The second oldest guild, and one of the Great Three guilds. The Great Three are the major guilds that take responsibility for keeping the city running. The Windcallers are in charge of commerce and the weather, as well as the creation of the gossamer sails that power the ships leaving Aqua. They essentially own the harbors, and by law, no Aqua ship can set sail without a Windcaller. Not that any would wish to. Managing the sails without a dedicated Windcaller would be a nightmare, and only a Windcaller could mend them if they were to tear. Generally only more junior Windcallers go out on ships. Their contracts are extremely lucrative and a Windcaller can expect to retire or own their own ship with only a few years of work. Windcallers tend to specialize in Water, Air or Salt mana, with a small minority being extremely strong in Force mana. Hierarchically Windcallers have a strong adherence to authority, in that in a ship the captain must be obeyed. That said, as windcallers tend to be the ones in charge, there’s a lot of focus on leadership and taking charge in uncertain situations. Pledging to the Windcallers almost guarantees you a lucrative career when you’re done, if you can bear dealing with authority, and 3 am swimming drills. Joining the Windcallers will skew your skills towards sailing, swimming, commerce and meteorology.  B. Aqua’s Reach, the smallest of the Great Three, they’re still essential to the running of the city. They furnish both the warmages as well as the white-hats, the city’s police force, and they’re in charge of approving any and all Servitors, as well as being responsible for producing roughly two thirds of the ones available in the city. They do *not* run the courts, beyond providing Truthseekers for investigating difficult cases. They are the poorest of the Great Three, though by no means poor, their income coming mostly from selling servitors, and the nominal servitor inspection fees. All fines collected by Aqua’s Reach go directly into the coffers of the Hermetic Secret, as per their ancient agreement. Joining the Aqua’s Reach will expose you to the greatest variety of types of mana, as there is no mandated specialization track, although they’ll greatly encourage anyone who wants to to focus on Life, Fire or Earth mana, as those are always underfilled roles. Aqua’s Reach prefers decisive action, rather than long periods of consideration, and encourages a strong independent streak in their students. There’s this belief among Aqua’s Reach that a Warmage who only knows how to follow orders is an useless Warmage. Aqua’s Reach is the least popular of the Great Three for prospective students to join, but those that join have a fierce loyalty towards each other. Joining Aqua’s Reach will give you classes focused on military history, ethics, law and tactics.  C. Children of the Stars, the oldest and most prestigious of the Great Three. This was the guild that originally founded Aqua and built the Summa Aqua that gives the city its name. They provide the entire bureaucracy that makes the city move, magical and non-magical (although only those with magical aptitude can pledge to the guild, of course). They maintain all the enchantments that make the city work, from the Oxless Carts to the Aqua to the sewers. They also provide the funds that keep the city running, and make sure no one is ever hungry or unemployed. In exchange for this, they charge the other guilds rent, which allows them to continue funding the city. They are also the primary arcane researchers, spending a lot of time and money in supporting the discovery and investigation of new magical theory. As a whole the Children of the Stars tend to possess a certain idealistic approach to power, believing that those that can pursue power must, so that they can help those who are less able. As the biggest of the guilds, they have a great variety in the schools of mana their members focus on, but there’s a special demand for mages focused on Arcane and Astral mana, and the resources for mages focused on Water or Wind are much more limited, as some parts of the Children scoff at these “lesser” schools. The Children value, above all, responsibility. Behaving in the way that does the most good, even at personal cost. In many ways it's a matter of prestige to show how selflessly one can behave. They believe in following rules, and measuring three or four times before cutting, and relying on the support of the existing authority systems. If you join them after graduating, you can expect a relatively comfortable job, with lots of opportunities for advancement, if you’re willing to play the bureaucratic games. The Archmage is always traditionally a member of the Children of the Stars, as is half of the council of twelve. The Children of the Stars will offer you the greatest variety of possible study topics, with a focus on magical theory, mana theory, history, geography and mathematics.  D. The SIlver Scroll is one of the two notable minor guilds you could pledge to. Superficially their primary job duty is to furnish the city with diplomats and minor bureaucrats. Under the surface, they produce primarily spies, and the odd diplomat. Its a well kept secret that one of the reasons Aqua has so little trouble with its neighbors is because members of the Silver Scroll are extremely proactive about neutralizing threats, be it diplomatically or through assassination, blackmail, or other duplicitous means. The Silver Scroll is partially funded by the Children of the Moon and the Windcallers both of which have long standing agreements with the Silver Scroll. No one really knows where the rest of their income comes from, or if they do know, they’re not saying. Very few people pledge to the Silver Scroll, but those that do have a propensity for clever ruses, cunning and the ability to calculate what is in their best interest very keenly. The Silver Scroll teaching process is difficult, and they have the highest rate of student deaths out of any guild. That said, those that emerge from the Silver Scroll are frighteningly competent, both at their cover jobs, and their real jobs. Some of the most influential people in Aqua graduated from the Silver Scrolls and declined to officially join the guild, instead taking their talents to be wildly successful in other guilds. The Silver Scroll is not picky about what kinds of mana their students manipulate, although there’s a clear focus on “clever” types of mana, like Light and Arcane. Still the Silver Scroll believes that any tool can be made into a weapon. The Silver Scroll will offer classes in diplomacy, etiquette, local history and other, less savory things.  E. The Hermetic Secret. The Hermetic Secret is the larger of the two minor guilds, which means it's still very small. It produces alchemists, in charge of creating magical reagents and items that form the primary exports of Aqua. Despite their size the Hermetic Secret has coffers that rival the Windcallers, and many who are driven to the Hermetic Secret seeking wealth. The whole organization however is focused in one way or another in cracking the secret they named themselves after, a codex left behind by an ancient civilization that no mage has ever managed to open. Only the highest members of the society have ever seen it. The Hermetic Secret, as a whole, is organized so that wealth determines rank. Specifically the bigger the dues you pay are, the higher rank you can reach, with the top seven becoming the Secret Keepers. The Hermetic Secret, for all their focus on money, also produces excellent products. Their Reagents are Igniters sold at a premium in other cities, and there are certainly members of Secret who are more interested in their craft than money. The Hermetic secret supports Water and Salt mana primarily, since they’re key for distilling their primary products. They do not offer much support for more “esoteric” mana, such as Astral or Light. They also have the best teachers of alchemy of any of the guilds.They are seen as the least rigorous of the guilds, and their classes are very much focused on teaching you practical things. You can expect to take classes in alchemy, bartering, mana theory, and law. “You want to wait around?” Emilie’s voice gets even more high pitched somehow, full of incredulity, “Did you miss the fact that the lower city is on FIRE?!” She asks, as if it were possible to ignore that fact with the taste of ash being carried on the wind. “We’re just neophytes” you counter, your tone even. This is not the first time an idea of yours has been met with incredulity by Emilie. You suspect it won’t be the last, either, unless you all die here of course. “We need everything we can get. Our quarters alone house forty students. Surely we can get a few more to come with us before we rush off to the middle city?” Emilie rolls her eyes at you. “Fine” she says, her tone curt. “We’ll split up and meet back at the gate in ten minutes.” She frowns at you. “Then I’m going. No more waiting around. If you’re too chicken to come with me, I’ll leave you behind old man. Don’t think I won’t” you know she will. Once Emilie has made up her mind you’d have a better chance of convincing the tides to stop than getting her to step aside. Tabor remains silent through this, looking more terrified than anything. When you and Emilie part ways, he follows her, a little like a lost puppy, before she says something to him and he peels off in a different direction. Ten minutes is not a long time, and you don’t have a good way of telling the time. You surmise that any students left in the building have probably not stayed in their rooms. Not if they value their hearing anyway. That leaves three options. The courtyard, where… you would see them, the sanctum, or the library. Without much time to decide, you head towards the Sanctum. It’s the all stone part of the building, shielded from magical interference, and a likely haven for people to regroup. You make good time, and by the time you make it down the several flights of stairs you’re slightly out of breath. Alois, who hustles behind you seems to have not exerted himself at all. You open the door to the Sanctum, and find… significantly fewer students than you expected. Just two. Did half your dormitory have an examination tonight or something? It's Felix, who’s in your year, a girl you don’t recognize, but that must be a brand new initiate, given how young she looks. She must be an initiate, given that there’s only one Clypeus between the two of them. Felix is brash, mildly crass, and one of the better water manipulators in your year. He’s also shorter than anyone in your year and about five years older. But there isn’t time. You don’t have a chronometer on you, but it’s probably already been five minutes. “We have to go” you announce, trying not to sound too winded. “A few of us are going to the city to help out with the fire, and we need all the help we can get.” you pause. “You’re not going to be especially safe here if the shadow beasts we saw in the city make it up here.” This seems to galvanize the girl into action at least, as she gets up and begins to walk towards you. “Come on Felix” she says. Felix seems to hesitate, as if he wants to say something, and then stops himself. He nods. “Alright. Who’s ‘a few of us’?” he asks, as the four of you make your way up. You quickly explain the situation on your way up, and the girl introduces herself as Aurora. She is in fact a first-year student, which means she hasn’t even earned a Clypeus yet. Felix confirms that there is an examination happening tonight, he saw them going out. Which explains why this building at least is mostly empty. When you make it to the door Emilie is waiting for you with Tabor. It looks like they didn’t pick anyone else up. “I knocked on dorm doors,” he explains. “But no one was there”. You look at Emilie, and she shrugs at you “I took care of something else” she says, before looking back at Aurora. “Are you sure a kid is going to be much help?” she asks, with that biting sarcasm that has earned her so many enemies. You give her an exaggerated shrug “One more Clypeus and Felix is nothing to sneer at. Or have you forgotten the Adrift Exam?” she gives you a look that concedes the point. Her ego has obviously not recovered from that loss. The doors to the Academia are not really designed to bar exit, at least not to a determined student. Sneaking out of the Academia is an offense for which you can be severely punished… and a lifelong tradition for students to engage in. Outside, waiting for you is a Salterpillar. A large wooden vehicle, made entirely of treads. A quick way of moving around… but why is it waiting for you? They’re Servitors available to all citizens, free of charge of course, with the option to donate for their maintenance, but summoning one requires a Messenger, and some patience. You shoot Emilie a sly glance and she just smiles at you. “As I said, taking care of things”. As you all clamber into the wooden Salterpillar, the smell of salt floods out even the smoke outside. The seats are not super uncomfortable, wood, but somehow softer than expected. A soothing female voice speaks into the cabin. “Please give a destination, from the list of available locations”. A small white grid shows up, highlighting possible locations. The entire lower city is displayed in black, indicating it is unavailable. Looks like you're going to have to pick a location in the middle city. Where are you going? 3. A. Lampeye's Gate: One of the medium sized gates leading into the city, and the closest to the harbor. If you think there's any point to heading to the harbor, this is the gate to go to. It may or may not be mobbed by fleeing citizens. Its certainly a highly relevant point tactically speaking, but your invaders aren't human, so its hard to tell if they'll go for it. Its the closest reasonable point in the middle city that is near the spot you astral projected to. B. Revelation Plaza: The center of the middle city, and where indubitably help for the lower city would be marshaled if anyone is at all organized. Its the most central point to the most gates, and it has the best roads, its where white-hats are likely running a field hospital, and coordinating efforts. You could go here to lend a hand without getting into harms way... or you might be given orders you don't like, like "Return to the Acadmeia at once". C. Divination Crag. A tower overseeing the lower city from the middle city. Its a good observation point to get more detailed information on the lower city... and a potential point from which you might enter the lower city, as it has a small two way gate that is unlikely to be being swarmed right now. A decent location if your plan includes entering the lower city, or if you just want to get closer to the city and get more information. D. Wings of the Seraph: The largest gate between the middle and lower city. Its also the busiest, and where terrified people in the lower city are probably swarming as they try to make their way into the middle city and theoretical safety. This is a good place to go if you want to organize concerted efforts to help people, and potentially gain entrance to the lower city, although the gate might be crushed by the weight of fleeing people. E. Shrine of the Heart. Located in a far corner of the middle city, its not so much a shrine as a series of buildings. Its the home of the Heartkeepers the branch of the Children of the Moon responsible for maintaining the Suma Aqua. Maybe you can help them mend what is broken, or get more information on what is going on with the Summa. Maybe get kicked out and told to go elsewhere. F. I have some other kind of location in mind, TheCog will tell me if its possible and add it as an option. We tried to keep this from being an overwhelming list of options. 4. What is your priority in this crisis? Write it in. TheCog fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Apr 10, 2020 |
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Apr 10, 2020 03:31
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Magnusth fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Apr 10, 2020 |
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Apr 10, 2020 03:50
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1. A. Emilie might be... okay, she is a bit of a hothead, but she has a good head on her shoulders. 2. B. We've already established we are a shonen hero, and the 'fight with magic' and "focuses on Fire magic" Guild sounds right up our alley. 3. C. We need all the information we can get our hands on, and this point would let us form a plan quickly and effectively. 4. "Alright, Felix, focus on putting out fires with your water magic. Emilie, if we encounter a demon, use your telekinesis to try and keep it pushed away and stunned. Aurora, try and focus on help evacuating people who are injured or unable to move."
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Apr 10, 2020 04:06
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B C B To help however possible, fight, heal, transport, reconnaissance.
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Apr 10, 2020 04:07
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A B B To help people in need, to prevent the spread of fires
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Apr 10, 2020 04:16
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A D B Sure, most of the guilds all have their perks, but the most powerful magic of all is the magic of friendship (or, failing that, the silver tongue needed to pretend you're friends and/or shady contacts that can stand in for friends). The Silver Scroll are probably the real power brokers and thus the people we really want to be friends with, and they don't discriminate against any schools like the rest do so our options stay as open as possible and our guildmates will be the most varied. It's a good environment to start in imo, getting forged in the fires of the guild with the hardest but best teaching process sounds like a very good place to start a successful career from.
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Apr 10, 2020 04:28
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1: C -The rules of the task were simple: The group with the most coins passes. -But each group was given a coin. -All we have to do to pass is prevent any of the other groups from giving away theirs. -Words would be nice, but being physically stronger means we could enforce this if necessary. -Additionally, as a safety of sorts, we could discuss merging groups. Why four groups of three where one group might pass when we could form one group where all would pass? 2: B -While the hermetics secret book is interesting, Aqua's Reach offers the best opportunity to create our own arcane automata; what with the Servitors and all. 3: F (B+C) -Bluntly, most of our abilities and skill aren't the best suited for stopping this. -But. We have a vivomancer. -Tabor should go to Revelation Plaza while we head to Divination Crag. If there is a field hospital there, Tabor could assist with the wounded; freeing a white hat or two to work on more critical injuries while we figure out what's going on. -From there we can decide where we would be best suited to go. 4: Damage control. We can't save everyone, but with some effort more might live than would've otherwise.
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Apr 10, 2020 04:32
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1. C, I think if each group holds onto the gold coin and doesn't panic as the hour glass runs out we will all technically have the most gold coins and win. Encourage each member of a group to eat their coin to get rid of the temptation. 2. B, battle mage guild pls. 3. D, organize people there to help people escape and we will be in position to ward off the fires that get too close or go all in and run into the city. 4. Evacuate the people with a side quest of maybe interfering in a magic battle to tip the odds.
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Apr 10, 2020 04:53
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E: Nvm
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Apr 10, 2020 04:56
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"Yeah, well, she'll make a good messenger, won't she?" (Meaning the first year girl) 1) "gently caress that" We walked up to the weakest looking kid and sucker punched them full force in the back of the head. Alas, it was but the first of many painful lessons learned at the Academia. Lessons that would eventually teach us wisdom. All these years later, and we can at least take ten minutes to plan before we rush off to battle. D 2) It was the Silver Scroll that did that (D). Hard lessons leave deep impressions, and we get wiser every day. They taught us to be cunning, and wary. And to assume your enemy was smarter, and warier. If we planned this raid, we'd turn Revelation Plaza into a meat grinder. We shouldn't go there. Seraphim Wings is going to be a mad crush. We won't be able to enter the lower city from there without a lot of time wasted. The harbor would be a good place to draw water from, but surely people are all over that. Shrine of the Heart is above our paygrade That leaves [3)C] Divination Craig. It'll be the best vantage point 4. THAT FIRE! Active destruction and the promise of death looming at such a scale leaves a pressing sense of doom. We can feel our skin getting hotter. The feeling of time running out is more terrible than the rasp of sand in the hourglass at our Aptitudes. ...we can't act out of instinct this time. We have to put out that fire. It will destroy the city otherwise. But it was set for a reason. There are saboteurs in the city. We need to be ready to see them
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Apr 10, 2020 06:06
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Location Questions: Do we know of any Armory, warehouses, or manastores we can use or the enemy might try to loot Sewers/Tunnels/Catacombs we or the enemy can use Vulnerable places. They took out the Aqua, and set the lower city on fire. Is there a natural next target?
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Apr 10, 2020 06:26
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1. D 2. A 3. A 4. Get eyes on one of those shadow creatures and see what it takes to kill it.
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Apr 10, 2020 06:59
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Starting to write, so voting will close at midnight EST.
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Apr 14, 2020 00:08
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1. C - Plan Everyone Keep a Coin and We ALL Have the Most 2. D - Wizard Spy? Yeah. Wizard Spy.  3. C - Gather intel then decide. 4. Find Out Who's Responsible For This - We likely haven't got the juice to decide this matter. Either the real Wizards can handle it and we're going to win, or the real Wizards can't in which case what we add won't matter. But since the real Wizards are going to be busy fighting or doing damage control, we might be able to sneak around and see if we can discover who summoned(?) these things so that the city can strike back if we win....or be avenged if we lose.
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Apr 14, 2020 01:16
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1 C - We all have a coin, which is a tie for first. 2 D - Clever mana! 3 C - Need more data. 4 - Defeat at least one of the creepy crab things.
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Apr 14, 2020 03:38
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 04:35 |
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2 is currently a tie between B and D. I'll leave voting open till I wake up in the morning and if its still a tie I'll flip a coin.
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Apr 14, 2020 05:00
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