So, I realized I haven't done a Lesser Act yet and it's making me feel a little self conscious. I drafted something I thought was interesting that I'll probably Author next Epoch, is this still small enough to be a Lesser? What would I need to cut back on if it's too much?
The intention for this to be a way for magical knowledge to be redistributed and iterated on. It takes the knowledge that already exists in a world, archives it along with collecting a lot of the magical energy from the environment, and then gives away an optimized spell made from that archived knowledge programmed into a gemstone made from the all the saved up magic to whoever wins the scavenger hunt for the keys and then the race for the puzzle box.
People can break the keys it gives away to learn some random magical trivia that may or may not be useful on its own, or they can keep them and continue competing for the prize and study them to glean other uses out of them. So it's redistributing knowledge and seeding the beginning of magical study everywhere it goes.
It's long term an adventure generator, since a bunch of adventurers would probably travel all around the universe to follow it wherever it goes and participate in the event every time. What do you guys think?
---
Create the Question of Magic, and send it first to the world Aebrirea (Lesser?)
The Question of Magic is a locked puzzle box that can only be opened by either solving the puzzle on its sides, a poetic riddle that changes each time it appears, or by using one of its Keys. It appears on a world suddenly, hidden in whatever place is most rich in magical energies, and rapidly drains that place of power while gradually spreading its area of effect over time. The draining effect weakens as the area covered expands, but it will always remain at a noticeable level should one be paying attention for it. The puzzle box archives all of the mystical wisdom of the world where it arrives and continues to hold it even after moving on to the next world, while the magic it gathers is refined and condensed into substance held within the puzzle box, crystalized into a single jewel of untold potency called a Wishstone on opening it.
As the Question of Magic accumulates magical energy, it randomly casts into the world a number of keys, placed into the hands of mortals. Each of the keys it releases hold a bare copied fragment of its stored knowledge and power, and should one give into temptation and break them, they would gain that fragment for themselves. Those keys are a promise of greater things awaiting should their holders find the Question of Magic and unlock it, the reward beyond compare to what the keys themselves offer on breaking. The keys given in past appearances of the Question of Magic will always work should they be brought to it, and were enough of them to be amassed and effort made to study them, they may be found to hold even greater and more varied uses than a Wishstone.
On opening the puzzle box one is given a single spell of their hearts desire, perfected to the greatest degree that the gathered knowledge and wisdom of the Question of Magic is capable, learnable by any with the potential for use of magic. It will not be of any school or tradition, because it is drawn from every school and tradition, the basis for trailblazing new magical disciplines entirely on their own. That spell is recorded into the Wishstone made by all the collected energy of the Question of Magic as the nucleus around which it crystallizes, and then the puzzle box disappears to reemerge on another world to continue the cycle, leaving the all of the keys it had made behind. The Wishstone may be used to wield formidable magic even by the magically inept, but it can only preform the spell it holds within itself or serve as a battery, and while still an immense source of power besides, the jewel's capacity will still be ultimately finite and exhaust itself given enough time and use.
Wherever it appears next may be seen should one look upon the night sky, for where it arrives next the sun shall shine as the Arising Star, and as it leaves the Triumphant Comet will follow its trail to the next world. The holders of the keys will always know in which direction the puzzle box is in and how they may reach it, but following this given path will always lead one to meeting others searching for the Question of Magic, and this sense fails as they enter its draining range of influence.