arcanarum

[gordianknots]

I find it a little strange that you keep fretting about lack of activity and then proceed to laze about and refuse to rectify the problem. If your complaint (on occasion, as I have noted) is a lack of other cast members, then seek them out and do so without worrying about the impression you make. If it's unfamiliarity with others within the community, then either sit and consume the appropriate media or find other avenues for communication and actually use them. Inaction, while a form of action itself, only perpetuates what exists. It's foolish, and I have to admit that even this is a childish thing to do.

However if it takes plain writing for you to plan out what must be done, so be it. But please make this the first and last time you air such complaints. I've had a number of younger Clock Tower students with better clarity towards their problems.

Comments

[gordianknots]

There was much more writing before an account, so no, not so much. It's stranger functioning with people completely alien to the world we're used to, honestly.

[And that's very much the truth, because in writing things make sense, and there is comfort. Here, not at all, and flailing around like an undignified crane smashing into a wall is not what Waver enjoys.

Also, he misses teaching.]

[answerer_sword]

I suppose the writing was of the serious, introspective sort.

[She nods.]

I have encountered various forms of strange magicks in my games. I would think that an experienced magus like yourself would be more interested. After all, you would be able to grasp the ideas described better than I.

[gordianknots]

Yes and no, I suppose. Moreso focused on the progression of events of the fourth grail war - title, new friends, taking apart the grail and the aftermath of angering the association [which REALLY MAY OR MAY NOT have involved a close sealing designation buuuuut she doesn't need to know about that bit.]

Well, I'd be willing to listen and try and give a diagnosis.

[answerer_sword]

That sounds interesting. I hear humans sometimes publish their memoirs. Perhaps you should try the same?

[She takes a moment to think.]

Under what conditions is it possible to perform magecraft without circuits?

[gordianknots]

Not when writing down things could be used against me. I haven't accomplished everything I need to yet.

[blink, that was not a question he was expecting]

Magecraft as we know it or some other version? And is that version interchangeable with magic?

[answerer_sword]

They call it magic.

[gordianknots]

Is it following our school of thought though? [takes a good, long moment to think about this, then exhales] If it's magecraft, as the Association defines it, then I would have to say no. We don't have any research on the generation right before magic circuits are acquired. If it isn't magecraft then we know it, then it's very possible.

Recall that one of the foremost important points of magecraft is belief in the system, and that belief is power just like prana is. Presumably, other systems of magic rely on the same principle, and so in those methods a circuit system may not be necessary, permitting use.

In theory, yes.

[answerer_sword]

So that is how it works. Then...their bodies have adapted to an entirely different way of channeling prana into spells.

[gordianknots]

Are they using other tools though? There may be something to be said for the pop culture cliche of wands and staffs--

[answerer_sword]

Yes, there was at least one world where magic could only be channeled through such means.

[gordianknots]

Well, I guess if you prod into the second magic and look at how parallel worlds approach magic and magecraft, the possibilities are endless.

My question becomes have you been capable of spellcasting using those other systems.

[answerer_sword]

No, I have had no chance nor interest to learn spells from those systems yet.

[After all, most of her spells are used for close-quarter combat.]

[gordianknots]

[whereas Waver is fascinated with the idea and looks visibly disappointed.]

I see. Do you know if those systems are also hereditary?

[answerer_sword]

I think at least one of them should be. There is at least one person who described a land filled with magi.

[gordianknots]

...And it's common for non-magi to know of them?

[answerer_sword]

Yes, it is. And then there are magi whose worlds do not have an Association regulating their behaviors.

[gordianknots]

They lack any governing body whatsoever? That strikes me as dangerous, regardless of my thoughts towards the Association's problems.

[answerer_sword]

And yet they fail to acknowledge that problem.

[gordianknots]

Are they any good with self regulation? That's the only reason I can think of for there being such a lack of control

[answerer_sword]

So far, they seem to be altruistic, but they chafe at any sort of authority.

[gordianknots]

Mm, that altruism may be the answer then. I don't see that ever working within the Association.

[answerer_sword]

No, I do not think it would work either.

[As generalized as the rules for Association magi were, they were still quite rigid. Even then, there were many cases of backstabbing and skirting the rules.]

This is another curiosity, but...how would you classify Eastern forms of magecraft? I have seen at least one case where it might resemble more the Holy spells of the Church. Is there a division between what they call Houjutsu and Holy magic?

[gordianknots]

We're too inclined to be selfish. The mere notion of reaching the root of all magecraft became a race to see who gets there first eons ago.

[but the regulation is preferable to chaos, every time. Systems can always be reformed and changed.]

My experience there is fairly minimal, and the friends in Japan I have continue to practice Western magic. [he pauses, trying to remember what readings he has done] I understand that it is built on some aspects of Eastern religion, which may account for the similarity. Beyond that though, I can't offer a concrete answer.

[answerer_sword]

I understand.

[A pause.]

My mun is finding stories for me. Currently, one that entertains her is the tale of Etain and Midir.

[gordianknots]

And mine is grinning like a loon at that. Which means nothing good.