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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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Interlude DLXXXIII: Report on Genie Arcane Studies and Lore-Keeping
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    • Report on Genie Arcane Studies and Lore-Keeping​

    Authors: Taeris of Tolos and Aleyne Flowers, Envoys to Armun Kelisk and the Opaline Vault
    Subject: Genie Arcane lore and the Study of Magic

    Introduction: While both the lore and depth of practical experience in matters of arcane training greatly impressed our Scholarum liaison, many of the methods depend upon the cultural and metaphysical conjunctures of the two realms and would require extensive adaptation to a Sphere both poorer in magic and whose people are less accustomed to its practice.

    The Ark of Knowledge: Rather than the Spire of the Opaline Vault, the accumulated lore of the Djinn is not rooted in place at the heart of their power but travels freely through the Endless Sky, both seeking new lore to add to its collection and sharing it freely with those the custodians deem will use it wisely. While its custodians showed some interest in the various historical and cultural lore we passed on, the equivalent exchange would have mostly been texts that had already been acquired. However, several tomes of plays, poetry, and other Djinn literature were acquired for both the edification of Scholarum students and those of the Academy of Fine Arts (+2 Knowledge the Planes; +1 Knowledge Arcana; greater depth of Extraplanar Literature)

    Arcane Training of the Peerless Empire: It quickly became apparent that the methods of the full-blooded Shaitans were not relevant to our search, dealing as they do with shaping their natural dominion over stone and earth into more complex sorcery. Other traditions such as that which gave rise to the court minstrels of the Sultana's court require long decades of study simply too laborious to adapt to a realm concerned with training those with the potential for sorcery as effectively as possible. In the end two institutions were singled out as being the most likely to yield a fruitful collaboration if approached in the future, the Guild of Shapers that trains the simple Artisan Mages that form the backbone of the empire's crafts and the Academy of War where the empire's Battle Mages are trained alongside its officers. Both have expressed at least an openness in working with mages from the Realm of Balance in the future if an exchange amenable to both sides can be achieved.

    Arcane Training Among the Skyholds: Academies of magic are far rarer among the Djinn who seem to favor loosely affiliated mage circles who train their students each according to their own methods, though they are sworn to the protection of the realm in one of the most strictly enforced laws among the Wind-Born. Of these circles the Order of Cryomancers sought us out with an offer of guest lecturers at the Scholarum while the Order of the Arcane Seal and the Order of Stormweavers were both open to a more limited exchange of lore. The captain of the Sultan's Windbows went to far as to unilaterally offer lore on the techniques of their non-Djinn Auxiliaries, though it is to be noted that this consists of study of archery as much or more than spell-craft.

    Conclusion: There are likely many other arcane traditions to borrow and draw inspiration from among our genie allies, but doing so is not without cost in infrastructure, time and the attention of skilled teachers, thus just as the two empires of the Spheres have done we must measure cost against benefit.

    OOC: The people who redacted this are envoys to the city itself not the royal courts, low level diplomats that handle minor tasks, not major affairs of state. Also, technically, the report included information on the Spire of Wisdom, but there did not seem to be any point in rewriting in another form something you guys saw in detail in an update.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    Report on Genie Arcane Studies and Lore-Keeping​

    Authors: Taeris of Tolos and Aleyne Flowers, Envoys to Armun Kelisk and the Oppaline Vault*
    Subject: Actions of the Cult of Asmodeus in Meereen and the wider Slaver's Bay area

    Introduction: While both the lore and the depth of practical experience in matters of arcane training greatly impressed our Scholarum liaison, many of the methods depend upon the cultural and metaphysical conjunctures of the two realms, and would require extensive adaptation to a sphere both poorer in magic and whose people are less accustomed to its practice.

    The Ark of Knowledge: Rather than the Spire of the Opaline Vault, the accumulated lore of the Djinn is not rooted in place at the heart of their power but travels freely though the Endless Sky, both seeking new lore to add to its collection and sharing it freely with those the custodians deem will use it wisely. While its custodians showed some interest in the various historical and cultural lore we passed on, the equivalent exchange would have mostly been texts that had already been acquired. Several tomes were acquired, however, containing plays, poetry, and other Djinn literature for both the edification of Scholarum students and those of the Academy of Fine Arts. (+2 Knowledge the Planes; +1 Knowledge Arcana; greater depth of extra-planar literature)

    Arcane Training of the Peerless Empire: It quickly became apparent that the methods of the full-blooded Shaitans were not relevant to our search, dealing as they do with shaping their natural dominion over stone and earth into more complex sorcery. Other traditions, such as that which gave rise to the minstrels of the Sultana's court, require long decades of study simply too laborious to adapt to a realm concerned with training those with the potential for sorcery as effectively as posibile.

    In the end, two institutions were singled out as being the most likely to yield a fruitful collaboration if approached in the future, the Guild of Shapers, that trains the simple artisan mages that form the backbone of the empire's crafts and the Academy of War where the empire's battle mages are trained alongside its officers. Both have expressed at least an openness in working with mages from the Realm of Balance in the future if an exchange amenable to both sides can be achieved.

    Arcane Training Among the Skyholds: Academies of Magic are far rarer among the Djinn, who seem to favor loosely affiliated mage circles which train their students each according to their own methods, though they are sworn to the protection of the realm in one of the most strictly enforced laws among the Wind-Born.

    Of these circles, the Order of Cryomancers sought us out with an offer of guest lecturers at the Scholarum while the Order of the Arcane Seal and the Order of Stormweavers were both open to a more limited exchange of lore. The captain of the Sultan's Windbows went so far as to unilaterally offer lore on the techniques of their non-Djinn auxiliaries, though it is to be noted that this consists of study of archery as much or more than spell-craft.

    Conclusion: There are likely many other arcane traditions to borrow and draw inspiration from among our genie allies, but doing so is not without cost in infrastructure, time, and the attention of skilled teachers. Thus, just as the two empires of the Spheres have done, we must measure cost against benefit.

    OOC:The people who redacted this are envoys to the city itself not the royal courts, low level diplomats that handle minor tasks not major affairs of state. Also technically, the report included information on the Spire of Wisdom, but there did not seem to be any point in rewriting in another form something you guys saw in detail in an update. Not yet beta-ed
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.

    The subject line of the report doesn't match the contents, though.
     
    egoo said:
    Well, fuck.
    Ah, Waymar and Vee are safe...
    Mhm.
    At this rate, we may be better off outright not doing it, than sending those few people we have Mindblanked in there without support :/
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    Duesal said:
    It's not exactly urgent, so I would recommend just reassigning the PCs elsewhere until a fully Mind Blanked team can go hunting.
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    Just Communal Mindblank whoever needs to go with Wild Arcana, it's not going to take all day so I think it's more than reasonable to divide it 4 ways.
     
    ...alright, I really should have went to sleep earlier, for as excited as I am, I'm barely getting through this.

    We went in with desires to:
    A) Exchange a whole bunch of lore with Shaitan and Djinn libraries.
    Apparently under equivalent exchange that meant little.
    But it's not like we have a lot of actual lore we can exchange Willy-nilly, and none was put on the voted list.

    B) Set up contacts with magical schools of Djinn/Shaitan.
    Total success there.

    Cryomancer lecturers would be just a treat, and I'm sure we can set up an exchange of people with War academy of Shaitan easily enough.

    All the lore is great too.
    We are getting better and better teaching methods open to us nowadays, with so many various schools we are subsuming.

    @DragonParadox how did out exchange work out with Spire of Wisdom?
    I'm muddy on the details, but I think they offered to do a single RA for us as the start..?

    Will we start exchanging lore with them in earnest from 11th month?


    Also, y'all, I propose visiting the Arc of Knowledge with Lya some time.

    Not sure what lore to offer for efficient exchange...
    But that would be a great date if nothing else :V
     
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    egoo said:
    @DragonParadox how did out exchange work out with Spire of Wisdom?
    I'm muddy on the details, but I think they offered to do a single RA for us as the start..?
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    Well if you guys give them rare lore like say Qyburn's line of necromancy studies or the divine lore you got from Blodoraven they will do a research action for you. This is a lot more doable for me that setting up a huge list of higher lore for you guys to pick from, fluff wise whatever you guys choose part of the progress will be achieved by consulting their existing knowledge.
     
    Deliste said:
    A level 1 spell?

    Why is it so expensive?
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    Because the 1st level version only affects one subject. The Mass Sanctuary spell is 5th level and only affects one subject per caster level. Assuming the penalty that it only affects Undead is enough to make a Mass Sanctuary spell protect an entire ship, and would this only need the one spell, the cost would be 18,000 IM.
     
    Goldfish said:
    Because the 1st level version only affects one subject. The Mass Sanctuary spell is 5th level and only affects one subject per caster level. Assuming the penalty that it only affects Undead is enough to make a Mass Sanctuary spell protect an entire ship, and would this only need the one spell, the cost would be 18,000 IM.
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    What about if we extend it to all undead and not just water ones? Also would the Moonchaser count as a ship? Because if so PlanofWater ship operations could use it as a basic defense. 18k is only expensive for traditional ships afterall. For key resources like Moonchasers? It's just one more optional component.

    Or even other specific types of undead? Anyone wanna try research shifting it to ice based undead? It making them for buildings instead of ships? At its base this is a suitable area based sanctuary ward item enchantment.
     
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    Abhishek M said:
    What about if we extend it to all undead and not just water ones? Also would the Moonchaser count as a ship? Because if so PlanofWater ship operations could use it as a basic defense. 18k is only expensive for traditional ships afterall. For key resources like Moonchasers? It's just one more optional component.

    Or even other specific types of undead? Anyone wanna try research shifting it to ice based undead? It making them for buildings instead of ships? At its base this is a suitable area based sanctuary ward item enchantment.
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    At that level of expense, it'd be better to pick a more common enemy. The Moonchaser bit should be way more expensive and require a specific variant of enchantment in my opinion; a spell built for a Spanish galleon shouldn't effect the Enterprise.

    I don't see much of a point for the buildings; sanctuary stops direct attacks, but not AoE that covers the subjects of the spell. Fixed positions would just get bombed out of existence instead of swarmed with goons. We have other spells for anti minion duty that have no research cost.
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    At that level of expense, it'd be better to pick a more common enemy. The Moonchaser bit should be way more expensive and require a specific variant of enchantment in my opinion; a spell built for a Spanish galleon shouldn't effect the Enterprise.

    I don't see much of a point for the buildings; sanctuary stops direct attacks, but not AoE that covers the subjects of the spell. Fixed positions would just get bombed out of existence instead of swarmed with goons. We have other spells for anti minion duty that have no research cost.
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    Each Moonchaser costs 104,895 IM to enchant. Even with our crafting capacity, we've had to split the enchanting over a two month period.

    18,000 IM for something as niche as an Undead-specific Sanctuary effect is far too much. That's as much as three Herald Constructs.
     
    @Goldfish Going to have Blight's Bane finish up the Tribal Unification action upcoming turn, how many Gigantean Manta Rays can we assign to help him escort the rest? I fully expect a Kraken encounter, and I want them to get FUCKED UP when they do rear their ugly tentacles.
     
    Crake said:
    @Goldfish Going to have Blight's Bane finish up the Tribal Unification action upcoming turn, how many Gigantean Manta Rays can we assign to help him escort the rest? I fully expect a Kraken encounter, and I want them to get FUCKED UP when they do rear their ugly tentacles.
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    We have 10 of them, and only three or four were sent with the Yi-Ti fleet, so we can easily afford to assign him two or three, if not more.
     
    Crake said:
    @Goldfish Going to have Blight's Bane finish up the Tribal Unification action upcoming turn, how many Gigantean Manta Rays can we assign to help him escort the rest? I fully expect a Kraken encounter, and I want them to get FUCKED UP when they do rear their ugly tentacles.
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    Then its Breathtaker who'll go in Marid/Brine Dragon city with us.
    *makes a note*
    Duesal said:
    I am excited for Kraken Corpses.
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    of course you are.
    Goldfish said:
    We have 10 of them, and only three or four were sent with the Yi-Ti fleet, so we can easily afford to assign him two or three, if not more.
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    Shall we take several with us on PoW-expedition, either bottled or not?
     
    There's five with the trade fleet right now.

    So we have five available. Three with Blight's Bane, two with us?
     
    Duesal said:
    I am excited for Kraken Corpses.
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    ... we have fungal templates, and have figured out a way to suppress the "infect all life" urge. Could we continue this research chain and make our own genestealers?
    Just imagine having a fungal kraken swim right up to Lys for study.

    If we set it up so that the organisms made through this method have no desire/capacity to propagate the infection the odds of zombie apocalypse should stay in reasonable bounds. :V

    egoo said:
    Shall we take several with us on PoW-expedition, either bottled or not?
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    Can we paint the bottles red and white?

    Edit: fixed quotation mark.
     
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