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not steve -> Topour - Building myself a world... (11/2/2010 18:58:27)

Well, here is a bit of an introduction...

http://megaswf.com/serve/59191/

As that link probably shows, I am building myself a world. Why? Various reasons, I am a bit of a lucid dreamer you see, and I need a place to go at night. I'm tired of leaching off of other people's worlds, so I descied that I wanted to make my own. This started out as more of an art project than a writing one, but as time went on it really did transform, and there is a ridicules amount of text involved in this. So I figured it would probably be more appropriate in the writing forum than the art one. Don't bother clicking around the library, it hasn't been updated in a while and everything that was once there is going to be posted here as well.

So what does this include? Well, there are the four major books. One containing the countries' histories, (which wont take much to fill, it is just to give an idea), another the way magic works in this world, a third with some mythology (I'm hoping to just put a bunch of short stories in it) and lastly the beastiary, which is turning out to be the big one. Ultimetly I intend to use this world as a setting for a bunch of stories, or maybe build myself a big ol' flash game. I really can't say I've decided on much at this point. But enjoy nevertheless.

I'm always happy to get comments, questions, corrections, what have you. Just let me know you are alive people. xD

Comment thread is here by the way. ;)




not steve -> RE: Topour - Building myself a world... (11/2/2010 19:01:43)

The Beastiary:

I'm trying to get these out alphabetically. Here is what I have so far:

Badger: This earth aligned mammal is native to the plain covered rejoins or Ranek, Aevo, southern Ulicet and the Amonian islands. It is about 70cm long with it's tail and 30cm tall when standing, it has a black body which fades to brown at it's tail occasionally and thick fur coat with white stripes along it's head. It's sharp claws and teeth are only used for defence, as it's diet consists of mainly roots, berries and various grains. It is very territorial, and will act aggressively towards humans, so best not to anger it. It's meat isn't that tasty anyway.

Banshie: This wind and darkness associated spirit, native to the plains of west Onan and rarely central Nouh, has a very large head with thick hair upon it. Underneath is a structure that looks a bit like torn rags. This creature is famous for it's screaming. Like most spirits it is nocturnal (mana is easier to find at night for various reasons), it will sneak up on large sleeping animals and scream at them hoping they will faint into a deeper unconsciousness, and is usually successful. Once they do the Banshie drains the creature of it's mana and moves on. It's head has a diameter of 50-70cm and at the rags that drag underneath it don't add much hight.

Basalisc: Associated with darkness and earth, this massive snake lives on the deserts and coasts of northern savel and Nouh. Greenish brown in colour and six to eight meters long, it hunts nesting large birds on the coast, sandwalkers among other things in the desert and is even known to take down small fire and light wyverns and drakes. Contrary to popular belief, because of it's size it's poison is very very weak. If you are bitten by it you should be concerned more with the missing limb than weather or not whatever is left of you is infected.

Bat: This mammal with the gift of flight associates itself with wind and darkness. Common in the caves of west Ranek, south west Aevo, costal Onen, the Amonian islands and the northern scerovian islands it emerges at night to devour the pestilence that pelages the land they are upon. Where their territories cross with banshees they flee at the sight of them, as their good scene of hearing is all that keeps them from starvation in a land without light.

Bear: Bears, large earth aligned mammals, live in river adjacent forests of Ranek and western Nouh (and rarely in Southern Aevo). These brown furry creatures have the face of a wolf, but the head of a man, the body of a plump troll, the claws of a massive badger and the tail of a doe. Quite a miraculous combination! They can reach two meters tall but are more often than not a bit short of that, they eat fish they swat out of the river as well as berries, fruits and honey when they can get their hands on it.

Beetle: These annoying little earth creatures make up one of only three bugs found on topour. These creatures very greatly in size, habitat and colour but they are set apart by their six small legs, small horn and small ovoid chest cavity. They make up the diet of many small creatures but they themselves only eat bits and prices of whatever lies upon the ground. Their average size is around two centimeters in length and about half that in width.

Behemoth: These mammalian earthbound creatures are large and have fur the colour of good dark soil. They have bean-shaped torsos and no necks, small legs and eyes but massive arms, hands and flat straight teeth. They make use of all those things, because they are uniquely equipped for eating trees. The bark and roots mainly although it will eat the wood on occasion. It takes youngish trees and uproots them with it's massive arms employing various tactics, often it will spend hours or days pushing and pulling and twisting a tree before it can remove it. Once the tree is out of the earth it strips it of it's bark, eats the roots and than peels off the wood with it's teeth until it reaches the finest wood in the centre of the log, which it eats.

Blue Boar: These animals were discovered relatively recently with the advent of Airship's availability to men lesser than legendary enchanters and kings (Aka, people who had better things to do than poke around the sky). These fantastic mammals have light brown fur with stout snouts, floppy ears, plump bodies and tusks. The reason they are called blue boars is because there hooves glow blue when they walk about the clouds. They can't fly, so no one knows how they got up there or exactly what it is they are eating. They have their snouts in the clouds often, so it is assumed they derive sustenance from them in some way. They are approximately a meter long and half that in hight. They are found atop the georian, warrian, and anencion seas as well as much of Aevo and Ulicet.

Golem: This spirit inhabits the mountainous regions of Nouh, Onan, Ulicet and Ranek and alighns itself with earth and time. They very greatly in size and appearance, but are distinct in that they are a pile of animated rocks in a somewhat humanoid forum (four limbs and a head anyway). Golems first attach themselves to small rocks and boar their ways into the sides of mountains in search of greater mass. You can tell the age of a golem by the preciousness of the metal or rocks it is made up of, since greater quality minerals attract more mana older golems will have better metals. The magical properties of many obscure metals were first discovered when mages saw golems hoarding them. Don't try to remove the metals from a golem however, as they are quite ferocious when threatened.

Bluecap: Bluecaps are small creatures that look quite a bit like mushrooms, but no specific mushroom. Their small shriveled bodies and limbs are protected by a large blue cap with yellow spots on it, the cap is like a cone in shape and about as tall as the body that rests beneath it. They populate the lower mountainous rejoins of Ranek, Ulicet and Nouh, crossing territory with their rival and cousin the redcap only in Ranek. They are relatively docile but are often hunted, as their cap is useful in many medicines and potions. They eat mostly beetles, various leaves, grasses and fauna, stand upright, and are around 35cm tall when fully grown.

Boggart: These furry, large toothed nocturnal mammals align themselves solely with darkness. Inhabiting the plains and badlands of Onan, grass covered coasts of Savel and hills of Aevo these creatures hunt mice on their own, but will occasionally gang up on larger pray in groups. Their massive and sharp teeth allow them to tear quite a few different apart in seconds. In appearance they have pitch black fur, and limbs attached to their heads with vital organs all held in their massive skull cavity, just enough room brain. It is quite a feat that they are able to function at all. They are slow moving, which is why they hunt at night, and around thirty centimeters tall and wide. Their four legs are only five centimeters long fully extended, but very very strong.

Bracken: This fish is different from it's fellow sea creatures not in it's water alinement but because of it's large head and six tentacles, adorned with suction cups and hooks. It is native to the outer waters of southern Savel, and the coasts of Scerovia and southern Nouh (particularly lower Tolken's gulf). It survives on various fish and small whales, and is known to attack small ships mistaking them for whales. Those ships are often lost. Fortunately for us, not many travel in the deep sea in small ships. If they did Brackens would be the least of their worries. They are 6-8 meters in length and their bodies are around 1.5 meters in diameter.

Broxa: This dark bird of pray is found in the forests of Onan, Nouh, and rarely in western Aevo. Though it is not nocturnal it only hunts in very dark environments, it has the body structure of an owl but a head more like a crow's, except proportionately the size of an owl's. These beasts are black with a sapphire underbelly and glowing yellow eyes but it can be hard to tell, as wherever they stand darkness seems to radiate outwards in a 5-7 meter radius, only when it is dead is it exposed. It uses this to subdue it's pray. (nymphs, stray blue and redcaps, mice, other small animals) the darkness confuses them and the glowing yellow eyes attract them to their doom. They stand approximately 50cm tall and have a wingspan of slightly more than that.

Caladrius: Caladri are light aligned birds that travel in flocks, spending much of their time plains, coasts and marshes along Nouh, Savel, especially Ulicet and the Amonion islands. They have a wingspan of 40cm, a body slightly less than that in length, but legs much inproportionately long. They eat beetles and other bugs primarily, but also seeds in quantity as well. Renowned for the healing properties of their golden chest plumage, they look a bit like a dove, but with elongated beaks and legs which they use for hunting and getting seeds from various harder to penetrate coniferous trees. They are often captured and kept as pet's by paladins and lumomancers alike, as they are renowned for their good judge of character. Going so far as to flee the room is they sense someone has evil intentions.

Carp:This lake and river dwelling fish of nearly all continents and islands is the basic meat staple of a lot of local animals and even poorer men. Despite it's reputation, a number of culinary delights have been developed around it (especially in Dandor and Yewdare). The fish itself is water aligned, survives off of seaweed (well, lakeweed) mostly and is around 30cm long.

Cat: Cats are grey earth aligned mammals that live in plains and rarely in deserts. They are common in Aevo, Savel (although they aren't indigenous, they were imported), Nouh and the Amoneian islands. They hunt mice mostly, and are about 60cm long (without their tail) and 40cm tall. Kept as pets (prized in Savel) by some they are renowned for their speed which rivals a fox's and their retractable claws, similar to a gryphon or sphinx's, which are useful in a great deal of things. Soft to the touch, they can be a very wide range of colors from brown to a light olive.

Catfish: These water aligned lake dwelling fish often live in the deltas of nearly every continent. They are given their name because they look as if they have whiskers on their faces. They eat minnows and submerged fauna, and are caught for sport, as they can very in size greatly. The largest ever recorded was over two meters long, but most grow only 20-70cm depending on environmental factors.

Ceryneian Hind: This mammal dwells in the forests of Ranek, south ulicet and central nouh. Surviving off of bark and berries, it is renowned for the quality of it's fur and horns. Pure white, with antlers of a substance very much like gold. Fortunately for it it is more than capable of dealing with predators (human and otherwise) as it is capable of fantastic speeds and jump distances. Those capable of buying them tend to have a great deal more respect for this beautiful creature than a common poacher. Aligned with light and earth, it is said that those who do slay it will be cursed by those gods and as such many high sceptic philosophers have hunted them and worn their fur. In almost every case they lost their wealth influence immediately after, but it has been said that their falls began before the hunt, and that the timing was coincidence.

Cheshire Cat: Cheshire cats are not related precisely to cats, but look wife like them with exadurated features, typically with larger noses, eyes, girths, heads and especially teeth. They have gregory purple and pink stripes running around the circumference of their body and are famous for their incredible smiles. These wind-time spirits constantly evaporate and reestablish themselves leaving only their smiles floating disembodied. They do it for any number of reasons, often simply leisure. But occasionally in hunting. Unlike almost all other spirits this one survives in a manner somewhat similar to eating, it deployed small creatures whole, where their mana is quickly drained in the creature's chest cavity. When the cat has absorbed it's magical energy it evaporates away, returning it's prey's freedom. They dwell in for forests of Onan, Ulicet and Ranek and are around 70cm long and 30cm tall without their tails.

Chicken: These earth aligned avians are about 30cm tall with brown feathers and yellow beaks. They are capable of flight but usually don't bother. Chickens are highly domesticated, and make up much of the meat diet of men on most continents. Prominent everywhere, hear wild plains birds are pray for many many animals, it is hard to believe the species is as prevalent as it is when the creatures themselves are so ludicrously dumb. Fortunately that exact trait (and the deliciousness of their meat) will ensure their survival, artificial as domesticated life is.

Chimera: This fire breathing desert dwelling mammal has a body similar to the back half of a gryphon. It's front follows the pattern, if has the head of a goat with a main of fur coming out around the bottom of it's neck, and the tail of a reptile. Aligned with earth and fire, it breathes the latter element at it's attackers. It goes after it's pray stealthily, hiding behind sand dunes often near an Oasis. If eats nearly all the creatures of the desert, including basaliscs. Unfortunately in it's struggles with those particular creatures it doesn't always win. They are quite common in Nouh, and are existent in the north western rejoins of Ranek, but for some reason not many at all are found in Savel. They are ably two meters long without their tail and slightly more than half of that in height.

Cow: This large plain dwelling bovine is the chicken's mammalian counterpart. Both earth aligned, both universal in range, and both delicious. In the wild these are slightly less defenseless, they graze in herds making them much more intimidating to predators, as if their horns and size weren't enough. The fact that these creatures are so widely domesticated is a testament of human dominance in the animal world, we took a formidable beast and made It our own. They live off of grass, have a thin brown fur over their black skin usually, four hover legs, a large head and are nearly two meters long without their short tails, reaching a little more than half that in hight when fully grown.

Crow: These birds are somewhat similar to Broxa in anatomy, but somewhat smaller and totally different in behavior. Their bodies are more streamlined and heir colors more complete in it's blackness, but the major difference is the communal nature of these birds. The crows casing sound is rather famous, as they call whenever they are among one another (which is much of the time) almost as if they had their own little language. Aligned with wind and darkness, the dwell the groves and forests of Onan, Ulicet, the ammonian islands and Ranek. They are generally 25cm tall with a similar wingspan. Considered among the cleverer birds, they are often made enemies of by farmers because of their diet. The battle between the two is almost always 'won' by the ever returning crow, as it is smart enough to know when to fly away.

Darkness dragon: These massive reptiles fit into the mold of regular dragons. Mountain dwelling, powerfully powerful and stupidly stupid. These ones are a little more clever than average however, rivaling the intelligence of a crow at times. Their breath attack is a poisonous chemical which blinds those who inhale it and burns eyes on contact. They use this for subduing pray, as it's advantages dictate. Like all other dragons anything in their domain is fair game, but they tend to leave smaller creature like blue and redcaps to themselves. Their larger kills more than sustain them. In appearance their wings are thin and boney, much as their limbs. Their chests and heads however are quite strong. The have horns shaped like a rams on their heads. Strong jaws and teath as per usual. They live on Onan, Ulicet, and Nouh and can grow to seven meters long without their tail or neck, and four meters high.

Demon: These fire and darkness spirits live in the human settlements and plains of Onan, Aevo, and Savel as well as bits of Ulicet. They live offs of humans, finding a host and draining them over several days. The prowess is non-fatal but horrifying to watch. It is said that the calibre of a man's soul is what repulsed demons, they do tend to pray on the weak at least, but the amount of mana one has is a factor as well. It was custom in bits of Aevo and Saval to pick from a list of kings in a musical chairs style contest, reeling enough demons for all but one candidate and quickly expelling them once the last man standing became clear. When 'possessing' a person their eyes will become bloodshot and they will act violent and even insane in the latter period of the drain. When not possessing a demon is a somewhat translucent misty red figure with flaming black eyes and very real horns jutting out it's crown. They are hard to measure in terms of length and width but their volume is around half that of a fully grown man's.

Dog: Domestication has obscured what this creature really is, in fact few of them live in the wild at all, but a number of things can be said by this blanketed group. Dogs are earth aligned mammals which live exclusively in human settlements or dwellings. They are used for hunting and fishing but mainly valued for their companionship, and are popularly kept in Ranek, Nouh and to some extent in Aevo. They are omnivores, thankfully consuming anything lain before them and seen as symbols of loyalty because of their devotion to their masters. The have four limbs and a tail, a long face and can be from a quarter to three quarters the size of a man when fully grown. They very greatly in appearance besides that, but they are easy to distinguish from wolves and foxes.

Dolphin: The dolphin is one of the few aquatic mammals that exists on Topour. Aligned with water it is found in most seas in some numbers but concentrated the highest in the waters of Savel. These animals are a pale blue-grey colour, have long mouths hag seem to protrude outwards from their foreheads, and a powerful tail fin which moves on the vertical axis of the creature. Dolphins are famous for their intelligence, and family like units. Considered smart because of their coordinated group tactics against prey and predator alike their tribes or families are very closely knit socially. These creatures are about 1.5m in length and 40cm in diameter, they consume mostly small fish and crustations.

Doppelganger: Though a spirit of earth and time this is a lot more troublesome than any Pixie you might encounter. They live in the woods of Onan, Nouh, and Ranek but dwell into nearby settlements occasionally. These creatures live by infiltrating herds of creatures and human communities. The shapeshift, taking on the appearance of a member of the community so that the others in the group are comfortable with it and absorb mana from all the other members very gradually. Their lack of physical form eventually roots them out. Among wild animals this usually happens when one member bumps into and than falls through the Dopelganger or alternately, attempts to mate with or fight it. With humans usually when someone tries to talk with them. They are promptly driven out shortly thereafter.

Dove: Doves are small white birds with fantastic tail plumage are found on Nouh, Savel, and Aevo and the Amonian islands. Dwelling on plains and other high elevation areas with grass it survives off seeds mostly, and small insects such as beetles and worms if it finds them. Famously a symbol of peace and purity in many countries they are often captured and sold to be released, as relaxing them is considered good luck in nearly all of the areas where his bird is indigenous. With it's stunning beauty and relative frailty and defenseless countless bards have written of them, and they have been taken as symbols be queens.

Drake: It is argued that this is meerly a subspecies of dragon, and in some respects it is. They are both great reptiles that come in a variety of elements, but here are characteristics which set Dracs apart. Both are reptiles, but these creatures lack a top set of arms, having their wings be used as them. Equipped with small little fingers on the tips of them. They are somewhat more comfortable than dragons in flight but as a consequence of this only about 3/4ths the size of a regular dragon. This makes them prey for many larger creatures in the mountain ecosystems such as Rocs. The prey the same way as dragons though, nearly anything smaller than them is enjoyed by their palate. They enjoy the same habitat as their cousins as well, and are somewhat more numerous. True dragons are only famed for their majesty, drakes and auberge are much more common in actuality.




not steve -> RE: Topour - Building myself a world... (11/2/2010 19:04:15)

Magic

Woo. Not sure how many of these I'll end up doing, as many as it takes I suppose.

Chapter 1: Mana

Mana, what is it? Well, simply put it is the energy that slows humans to preform magic, but where does it come from? How does it allow these feats? These and many other questions are best explained through the principles of Mana: 

1. Mana wants to be evenly dispersed everywhere
2. If Mana is moved more will come in to fill the gap, if slowly. The bigger the gap the quicker he filling.
3. Mana does not recognize density, only volume, and can be compressed.
4. Mana can be moved by the will of creatures, the way in which the mana is moved is what causes magic.

So what does this mean? Let's look at the principles one by one. The first is rather simple. Mana wants evenly dispersed. The second is where we begin to draw some conclusions.

If mana isn't evenly dispersed it wishes to become so again. So say a person casts a spell, gradually they will get back the mana they used gradually. How gradually? Well that depends on a number of things. The first is the conditions, for whatever reason mana flows more readily at night, and especially well into immobile objects. So if one is asleep they will regenerate their mana quicker as well. A third common factor is something called Magical Memory. The more spells you have cast, the better your body gets at handling the flow of mana. You will be able to get it back faster as well as hold more of it. Think of it like weight training.

Mana doesn't recognize density, and can be compressed. Here is where we really get into it, this is very useful when it comes to choosing magically aiding materials. (it also is a key principle in many principles of advanced non-finite magics but we can get into that later) Because of structuring many metals hold their mana very well, as well as gems. There is an odd overlap between things that men are attached to make jewelry out of and things that are useful in magic, perhaps subconsciously we have always sensed their usefulness, and prized them because of it. But never mind that, because of the ability of organic things to channel mana wood is often used to help direct spells in staves, whereas heads are often made of metal and gems because it amplifies the power of the spells shying through it. A good staff or rod or wand can make a Mage many times as powerful as he is on his own, but we can get into that later as well in the staffcrafting chapter.

Mana can be moved by the will of creatures, and the way it is moved is what makes magic what it is. Wow, this is the really big one. The implications of this should be obvious, but I'll write them down anyway if I can find the words to express it. There are so very many different types of magic, but they all boil down to this. Everything else is in the execution. Every element starts off as a different impulse, but once beyond that all else is in the subtleties. Say one was trying to set a stack of hay aflame, the simplest way would be to point your hand at the stack, focus on your hand and the pathway to it in such a way as to convey fire (this is the hardest part of teaching magic, as it cannot be written down, and believe me when I say mages love to write. Magic's basics can take weeks or months to learn even with a mayor magical authority as your teacher) and focus on a point on the hay and a pathway too it in a way conveyor fire. Than suddenly release, the though. A flame will appear and the stack will light. The foremost pyromancer at the time of this writing (Galerick Vandren) can do the same to a single blade of grass from nearly half a kilometer away with his eyes closed and arms folded in an instant, than extinguish the flame with the blade unsigned. So as you can see, you get used to these movements. There are many diverse elements of pyromancy as well as l other magics, but that is another thing we can get into another time.

Chapter 2: The Myriad of Magicians

It is very accepted that there are seven types of magic, into which every spell and technique can be divided, but something less well known are the three major schools of magic. Why? Because they are less precise. The landscape of magicians is in constant flux, and new denominations are created every so often, but there are three major types of magicians: Mages, Sorcerers, and Wizards.

Mage is an abbreviation of the term battle mage, as the school of magic was conceived by the magically inclined who wished to become soldiers. Although because of the relative freedom, the high funds required and the catalystic nature of these men they are often mercenaries. They tend to focus on efficiency in spells, looking for the maximum amount of power per point (for they were the first to quantify mana into a unit) of mana. To a sorcerer a big fireball you can weave only twice is more valuable than a small one you can weave seven times, but this is not so to a Mage. Accordingly, the ability to preform spells in rapid succession is also very important to them. Mages are classified by element simply by tacking the name of their element in front of their name. Eg: FireMage, TimeMage, LightMage, etc. Te most powerful among them are refuted to an Archmage, although there is no metric by which they are judged. The best Mage in a large town is often considered an Archmage regardless of his accrual abilities.

Sorcerers are nearly the exact opposite of mages, they are concerned only with he biggest bang regardless of the metaphorical buck. Though it may seem to be illconceived it has many many applications. For example, because sorcerers operate in the largest scale they were the proposers of many of today's widely accepted magical theories, they invented evoking (more on that later) and spawned enchanting. To a sorcerer everything is about potential, and the value of learning from and teaching one another, even at very high levels. Sorcerers tend to be philosophers more or less, advisors to leaders, teachers of magic (if not  always sorcery) and great enchanters or potion makers. Sorcerers are somewhat less elementally tied than most, but are classified with the name of their element and 'caster' tacked onto the end. Eg: Air Caster, Dark Caster, Water Caster. The greatest amour the sorcerers are called Acolytes. Since sorcerers tend to be very aware of their peers because of their pursuit of knowledge and technique the term isn't used as loosely as Archmage.

Wizards tend to be the most ridged elementally of the magicians, learning magic only from one school and detecting all others completely. In terms of philosophy however they are more difficult to precisely define than sorcerers or mages, as they aren't directly polar to either. They tend to be more passive in their magic, looking less at power and efficiency and more at influence, where an Earth caster would lift a boulder from atop a cliff to crush something beneath a Lithomancer would active the same end in pushing it off and manipulating it's fall, but that isn't the best example. They often work through familiars, sprites and in he case of necromancers, the undead.As you could have discerned from the information you already have wizards are classified by element as such: the element's old Ulician name (as opposed to modern Althronian) followed by 'mancer'. Eg: Pyromancer, hydromancer, aeromancer, lithomancer, lumomancer, necromancer, and chronomancer. The greatest among them are called Magus's, the term just as Archmage is used often, but like Acolyte isn't often used when a wizard describes himself.

There are a myriad of differences between these schools which will become apparent later, but I hope these brief overviews have helped. Before this ends however perhaps we should go over the two other important kinds of mages often overlooked even more briefly. The first is evokers, and the second is enchanters. Evokers use evocation objects to cast magic (more on those later), basically they hold an object, speak an incantation or preform and action and it's enchantment activates, casting a spell for them. The idea is that evokers don't need to know anything about magic. Enchantress are much more difficult to explain, but they are the people that make the evocation objects, as well as much else. Their magic is very complex and involves a lot of very fine craftsmanship, but is derived largely from chronomancy. (that just means time magic by the way, not specifically time wizardry)

Chapter 4: Magical Instruments

There are many types of devices used for making magic more potent than it would otherwise be, but the following are the most common. There is nothing specific that says one's shoe cannot be the instrument for their magic but there are many reasons why it commonly isn't. Staves, rods, wands and orbs are for channeling and/or amplifying magic and do quite the job of it. As explained in part in chapter one organic material channels mana (Er go, your arm and, say, wood), metals attract mana (as a property of their quality only by semi-explicable coincidence) and gemstones amplify the power and intensity of magic. That all seems very cut and dry, but when one becomes a staff crafter, wandsmith or rod maker they begin to see that subtleties make all the difference. Alloys sometimes provide better subpools than either of their parts, certain cuts of gem if off by a fraction of a degree completely alter the intended effect, certain woods are better than others in terms of magic, others in terms of durability. One of the most important things in these arts are the enchantments that are layered upon, and that is a whole other world of complexities to be covered later.It can get pretty complicated, and that is why things like durability are important, most magicians can cast using others implements, but they all have a certain reverence Orr their own that gives them infinitely more potential. His is to help you decide which is right for you.

Staves appear the most common, many of the stereotypical  white bearded pointy hatted wizards you see carry them (at the time of this volume's writing the world's authority on chronomancy is an unhatted 37 year old rod wielding mage, take that preconceptions) and there is a great deal of merit to them. The long middle section not only provides more precise aim because of length but by forcing the user to wield it with two hands. The heftiness of it makes it useful as a melée weapon if you are ever short on potions, they are also very easy to enchant extensively to the point where the user might be able to modify it himself if he wished without ruining it and they are by far the least expensive to produce or procure. Fantastic for beginners and they hold their value to advanced sorcerers. The drawbacks are that they generally don't amplify the spells as much as they could (the wood resists he flow very slightly, the length of the shaft weakens the spell slightly. Though the focus that it provides the spell usually makes up for it) and are incredibly slow to maneuver and downright cumbersome sometimes.if sorcery is your thing than his is a great choice, otherwise I'd look into the others first.

Rods are much like staves, only miniaturized. Generally not much longer Han the length of one's arm. The heads on these prices are generally much more elaborate, and they focus more on the amplification and retention aspects than on precision. They are often tipped with balls of metal on their bottom ends to help retain stray mana from outgoing spells. As you can see here the focus is efficiency, and these are definitely geared toasted battlemages. These are more effective with the corporeal elements (earth, water, wind, fire is a bit of a toss up) than with the non corporeal ones , whereas the staff is more balanced. It doesn't make a huge difference however (like previously stated, the head time mags uses a rod), often times it's other benefits are too important to pass up, and all elements can take corporeal and non-corporial forms as well. Even though it is more difficult to enchant tweak than a staff it can still be done by amateurs, although in now way advised. The main advantage it has over the staff the ability one has to swing it with great ease, a special set of flow control techniques were developed some time ago using very fluid movements called spell slinging, the rod is ideal for this. For battlemages this is the most obvious choice, many sorcerers and wizards are fond of these even. Many battle mages do go after wands or orbs occasionally however, so read on if this isn't grabbing you.

Wands are somewhat disadvantaged at first glance, the short shaft seems to provide little aim and and to staff and rod patrons the heads are on the wrong ends of the things. At first glance their only advantage is the quickness of their movements. All of these preconceived notions vanish when one looks a little deeper. Firstly the ability to move it as quickly as you can results in an overall loses of precision that ought weighs the extra speed, though they are short he attention to detail of their cuts dramatically improves accuracy (If wielded correctly). Assiduously, the head being on he end you make contact with actually makes a lot more scene for this device. Inherent to rods Hess are better with noncorporial spells but again, not much of a difference is made. The idea of amplification before channeling certainly hurts retention, but because of the short distance it must travel out the end it dramatically improves spell focus. These are actually favored by wizards because of that particular element, as many of their spells and spell practices require some fantastic accuracy and focus to work. These are also chosen occasionally by mages for various reasons and used occasionally for specific tasked by sorcerers.




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