Comic Genesis Forums

Bah. It's pointless for me to even speculate on anything until I get the blasted CD.

Aurrin wrote:Bah. It's pointless for me to even speculate on anything until I get the blasted CD.

Not at all IMHO... the CD certainly doesn't seem to cover EVERYTHING Ralph has made up about the setting. In fact my guess would be that it doesn't even cover a TENTH. This would be a wise move on Ralph's part. There are a wide variety of small but important details that you could probably think of that Ralph probably hasn't even considered. By all means order the CD, but until then keep speculating... you might learn something. I know I personally tend to seek out to discuss things with those noticably MORE knowledgable than myself or noticably LESS on the given topic at least as much as I enjoy talking to those equally knowledgable.

To Ralph:
How much historical and semi-historical (non-fiction and fiction) information survives from the pre-"Harrow the Farmer" days, or has come through via trade with the Dwarves or other such sources?
In other words: how plausible would it be that Barnard would have read something in his youth about snow and related matters?

well, the Seven Villages is about 500 years old. They've had trade with outsiders in some form up to less than 100 years ago, probably less than 50.... and a few brave souls that ventured outside the Wall of Mists to do trading themselves. So they'd certainly know ABOUT snow.

Having experience WITH snow would be another matter.

(BTW, I would think forest trails would be a little bit clearer than open roads, due to sheltering of the trees...)

RHJunior wrote: So they'd certainly know ABOUT snow.

Having experience WITH snow would be another matter.

The following is my expression at this time(except for the mouth):

Use this mouth:

Soundtrack:
Manaical laughter...

OOoooo... this is going to be Fuuuunnn...

DracoDei wrote: The following is my expression at this time(except for the mouth):

Use this mouth:

Soundtrack:
Manaical laughter...

OOoooo... this is going to be Fuuuunnn...

Muh? What was that about... GAH! *hides in a dark corner, confuzzled*

Of note: if you're looking for a wizard in Sanctuary, start at the Wizard's College.
It's right across the way from the Dog Bone (the College of Artifactors and Alchemists) and just south of the Bard's College. (Reflect for a moment on the consequences of having bardic, technological, and magical students all within walking distance of one another.... Yes. Cal Tech times three. Guardsmen have been known to resign their commission rather than take duty in that district.)
lemme post another map...
[/img]

RHJunior wrote: (Reflect for a moment on the consequences of having bardic, technological, and magical students all within walking distance of one another.... Yes. Cal Tech times three.

Whoa, I can imagin. Its bad enough when you have two colages in one city, never mind three within walking distance.

BTW I don't know if the Rac Conan Daimh use mules much... they use goats for most pulling work, and the giant tree-apes for the heavier stuff (think of a Ent with serious mental retardation that never gets really 'hasty' but also doesn't talk things to death). Oakroot, who was the one who (under the direction of his rider) hauled all the Gragum Quentin killed to his house for him to sign for them).

Another minor note: someone's going to notice if your character doesn't ever use lux, or if he doesn't use kenning or magesight when prompted... and remember, rac conans use small piddly spells all the time, and as casually as you or I would tie our shoes.... to tie their shoes. or to brush off dust or mud, or re-warm their cold mug of tea, or to shoo insects, or stir a pot of soup... granted, they may assume he's one of the rare magically handicapped--- luxblind, or the like. But if he <I>pleads ignorance,</i> that will definitely rouse suspicion.

BTW, I may not have made this clear, but Kyvan is right around middle age. Let's say about 45, which is the reason that he treats a 20-something as still a kit.

- Mjolnir

Yeah, I figured that was the case. But can you honestly see a 20-year-old appreciating that? I'm trying to make her react authentically.

Perfectly understandible. I'd react the same way.

- Mjolnir

I need to run something by ya quick, Ralph. See, I "borrowed" Adam from a pet project of mine that I'm trying to get up and running (read: get my butt in gear), and I need to know whether some of his equipment would work in the Questorverse, and how powerful it could be.

The knives aren't anything special; your basic "sharpened, flat metal with handle" type. Curved and not really all that decorative.

The gauntlets on the other hand... well, they're what I call "mage gloves". They're basically designed to allow the user to catch and hold spells so they can examine and learn from them. Some are designed to store spells as well until they're needed or enough magic is available to power them. We're not talking god-mode here, but Adam would at least be able to put the hurt on a lot of bad guys. =P Maybe slay a dragon if he's lucky.

The gloves do have limits though, and a large enough spell has to be channeled through it to disperse the magic, instead of stopping it outright. Kinda the difference between catch a baseball and a cannonball. One you'd just plant your feet right and clamp down on it at the right time, stopping it cold. The other you're better off slowing it down somehow before attempting to even hold it. If the spell's too powerful, the user of the glove is better off draining it of lux first then trying to capture it. If they tried catching it outright, they'd probably have the gloves explode in their face and be one crispy coon.

Now, on to the really tricky part: construction.

The rough idea I have for their design is a pair of leather gloves with a sort of metal "circuitry" overlaid on them, and a special stone set on the back of each. Some have stones on the palms as well, which is what Adam has. Supposed to aid in catching and diverting a spell or its power. The problem I run into is flexibility. I know there need to be joints, but I'm a bit unsure of how to go about it. Plus, I don't know of any "circuitry" that would have joints, and I don't know how well other metals bend. Still, if it's workable, I'd like to know if this would work.

Any thoughts on this? Ralph, I am gonna need your opinion on this. I'd like to keep them if I can, otherwise I'll toss them in favor of something else, like a crossbow or maybe some magical device made by an artifactor friend of his.

That's all for now. Hope I make the cut!

I'm not really sure if that sort of device is actually canonical. The inner workings of luxcraft are still somewhat vague to me.... but I get the vibe that spells are more ephemeral than that. They're a dynamic process, not a static structure.

Relatively few spells are encapsulated so as to be self sustaining or structured...... even then it would be like trying to learn how to construct a radio by "catching" a radio broadcast in your hands.

or perhaps more aptly compared, like trying to catch a candleflame in a mason jar. Even if you could, the next instant all you'd have is a little bit of soot smudged on the bottom of the jar. If you wanted to study a flame, you'd have to study it <I>where it burns,</i> on the end of the candle.

Likewise you'd learn luxcraft by studying the runic patterns on the material object, or observing and "kenning" as another spellcaster formed the generative runic patterns with his mind in the aether.


The artifacts your describing could, of course, alternatively catch a "flash photograph" of the spell in action, which the wielder could analyze later. It wouldn't tell him anything about the runic patterns used in the incantation, but it would allow him to study the spell effect at leisure and to try and reverse engineer the results.

Though there might be metal threads running through the leather, the "circuitry" as such would be in the gemstones and crystals and their settings, not in the glove leather itself (rule #1 of artifacting: never put the runes on a part that gets a lot of wear and tear.) There would be, I suspect, a row of small crystals across the back of the wrist-- those would be the equivalent of the film in the camera. As the gloves "caught" and snuffed each incoming spell, each one would light up or change color, indicating that crystal had been "exposed" and had caught a "picture" of the spell. Mind, actually STOPPING the incoming spell would cost a lot of energy-- probably some of the wielder's own, to extinguish a spell completely. He might opt for variable resistance, choosing whether to "catch" and snuff the spell, merely deflect or disperse it, or simply allow it to pass by---trailing his fingers through it, as it were.

They might also be useful for analyzing static enchantments or runes on an object. Place his gloved hand against an artifact, get a preserved recording of the runic patterns inside---- again, acting as a flash photo camera. He wouldn't be able to CAST the spell with the copy-crystal (the copy crystals would be too "soft" and would fry like overexposed film) but he'd be able to sit down and manually replicate the pattern on another object, following the pattern in the recording. (note: this wouldn't be much use on something like Quentyn's sword: the patterns are too minute, multilayered and complex. It'd be like a fuzzy, unfocused photograph. But for simpler spells it would be good.)

Now that sounds cool. I was trying to adapt this to Questorverse physics, and that does sorta keep the original intent I had in mind. When I get around to writing my own story though, I'll have to decide if I need to change anything. I'll be sure to submit it for your dismemberment, er, critique once I get enough done.

I think it would be better if the gloves were made mostly for dispersing spells rather than outright stopping them. It's like the baseball vs. cannonball analogy, or the difference between stopping a leaping frog and a charging tiger. =P Since we're probably gonna be facing spells along the line of "charging tiger" (roaring dragon *rimshot*), dispersal would be a better option.

He might have one or two basic spells for defense encoded on the gloves, mostly where they wouldn't get in the way of the "film" being developed. I'm thinking a sort of "sonic boom" spell that compresses the air and knocks the enemy back, though it'd make the ears of anybody nearby ring for a bit. I'm not sure what other spell he might have, though it'd be good to have one that won't make ya go deaf. Anyone who has a suggestion, please feel free to mention it. Ralph can tweak or veto it as he see fits.

The irony is that, with the new design and function, this reminds me of that robot in Sonic Battle or whatever... learns new moves when they're used on it. And now I have a Rac Conan version. Ain't life weird?

Well, you could always just slap the standard stun-staff enchantment on them... the one that makes the target feel like they hit their funny bone in every joint in their body. I think that USUALLY requires contact though.

<talking through my hat>
Hmmm.... I don't know how familiar the Rac Conan Daimh are with the electro-magnetic spectrum, but a popular thing with police and muggers might be a fairly tightly focused, high powered microwave beam... gives your target a skin rash/heat and also REALLY does uncomfortable things to metal, tends to make people ditch swords and rings (=money) pretty quick.
</talking through my hat>

Similar to a stun-staff: If you can target the retinal cells and make them ALL fire simultaniously you get the equivalent of a blinding flash of light, but only the target is effective. I hear that a bright enough flash of light IRL can K.O. someone. The nice part is that (depending on how exactly you do it) there shouldn't be any lasting damage.

Transmute some of the tear-film over there eyeballs into Hydrogen Peroxide(Chemical formula: H2O2)? Although, I have just looked at a bottle and it says not to use in the eyes, but it doesn't give a specific counter-measure if your kid does so (or whatever), like it does for accidental ingestion.

Weak powered but high speed Random TK of all water containing liquids in the area of effect... Think about what this would tend to do to the balance system in the inner ear... badguy falls riiiiiight over...

DracoDei wrote:Well, you could always just slap the standard stun-staff enchantment on them... the one that makes the target feel like they hit their funny bone in every joint in their body. I think that USUALLY requires contact though.

That sounds like a pretty good idea. Good for close combat situations, though larger enemies might not feel it as much. Considering the Guardsmen double as the police as well as the bulk of the army (I think), Adam would likely have some non-lethal tricks up his sleeve in case of trouble. I'll keep this one in mind.

DracoDei wrote:<talking through my hat>
Hmmm.... I don't know how familiar the Rac Conan Daimh are with the electro-magnetic spectrum, but a popular thing with police and muggers might be a fairly tightly focused, high powered microwave beam... gives your target a skin rash/heat and also REALLY does uncomfortable things to metal, tends to make people ditch swords and rings (=money) pretty quick.
</talking through my hat>

Eh, I don't know about this one. For one thing, Rac Conan's have fur. =P Unless he can manage to get a bullseye on their nose, they might not feel anything. Or have the police tested these things on nosy raccoons lately?

DracoDei wrote:Similar to a stun-staff: If you can target the retinal cells and make them ALL fire simultaniously you get the equivalent of a blinding flash of light, but only the target is effective. I hear that a bright enough flash of light IRL can K.O. someone. The nice part is that (depending on how exactly you do it) there shouldn't be any lasting damage.

This might be useful, but it'd have to be focused in one direction, and you'd have to warn your teammates first so they don't get blinded. Plus, there are legal implications to be considered if you set this off in a public area. I don't want to know the lawsuits brought up because Adam blinded half the people in a marketplace!

DracoDei wrote:Transmute some of the tear-film over there eyeballs into Hydrogen Peroxide(Chemical formula: H2O2)? Although, I have just looked at a bottle and it says not to use in the eyes, but it doesn't give a specific counter-measure if your kid does so (or whatever), like it does for accidental ingestion.

Eh, I'm gonna veto this one. It sounds like it'd require a lot of skill with lux to pull off, not to mention an intricate knowledge of molecular formulae. If you don't even know those things exist how the hell are you gonna manipulate them? Besides, I doubt even some of the Rac Conan wizards have that kinda power. And they'd be more interested in efficient lux use than some parlor trick that costs half their reserves to cast on one person!

DracoDei wrote:Weak powered but high speed Random TK of all water containing liquids in the area of effect... Think about what this would tend to do to the balance system in the inner ear... badguy falls riiiiiight over...

Not to mention pukes his guts out from having his lunch tumble around in his stomach. If it doesn't outright kill them from messing with the bloodstream. You forget just much of a typical animal's body consists of water. Once again, I'm gonna have to veto this. Sounds like it needs a lot of power to pull off, even more so if you're not touching them. That's one thing ya gotta remember with the Rac Cona Daihm: they don't give a rip how pretty the fireworks are; does it do the dang job or not? More practicality and less fantasy, okay?

One thought I had was to maybe use the levin bolts spell Lady Millfolk used. True, it might only singe some larger creatures and it seems to be a rather widespread attack made for crowd situations, but I think it'd still be useful. Adam might also have a similar spell that mostly targets just one or two people at a time. In any case, it'd be lethal if anyone got too close.

Another point not related to my gloves: when the s#!7 hits the fan, we may find ourselves going in front of the entire council just to explain what the hell is going on. At that point, we're gonna need someone to play the various members of the council...

...oh, Ralph. I do believe this is your chance to be a DM.

Why not just make them like lux spell amplifyers? You know, increasing power outage of a lux based attack or adding a lux factor to a meely wepon?

Why are there more watchtowers on one side of the city? Was there a bit of a duel out there once?

And what's the Tumbledown?