Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

[charysa]

Finally finished reading through the thread... Have a few questions for @Silently Watches if it's not too spoilery...

It was briefly mentioned a few pages back that Chevalier was kept in the dark about the PRT Guardian Beast project. Was there any reason Legend, who's himself head of the Protectorate and not the PRT, didn't brief the local Protectorate on what was going on? Situation seems to be begging for some kind of friendly fire incident between a first-time GB squad and that newbie Ward. Also it didn't seem like they told Calamity Witch to keep it quiet, so imagine the awkwardness if we had mentioned it to Vista, and she blurts it out to Chevalier in the middle of some heated argument...

Does Perfect Storm have the dimensional coordinates of that plane Phantasm pulled CM into during the Simurgh fight? If not, does Cassiel remember that info and does she know if the other Endbringer cores are present there? Is that dimension accessible by Dimensional Teleport (or would an action need to be spent to find out)? Seems like a possible option for the Sojourner to be able to fire the Arc-en-Ciel on them without having to worry about collateral damage.

 

[Lovnag]

If you were offered the chance to learn ONE type of magic that you could use here in the real world, what would it be and why?

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Well, not to sound boring, but Greater Wish.

Outside of that, maybe something time-related? It is plenty useful, although regarding the fact that it is real world, it would just basically be space-power.

I'm pretty sure that the rule of cool plays quite a bit into such a debate, so it is hard to pick, especially while taking into account real world physics and such.
In fact, from that point of view, maybe picking up something light-centered would be super helpful, after all, that covers for almost everything going on around us. I guess, after thinking about it, that would be the choice.

Well, another great idea would be some kind of eldritch communion with higher realms, or something like that. It can really be anything at all. The reason is simply that such a choice allows forgoing all the connotations of it being the real world. The usefulness in the day-to-day life is kind of doubtful, but that is kind of not the point, I guess? After all, if you can really begin to grasp something like that, what does it matter. Although chances are you can go mad from this, and probably will.

 

[Silently Watches]

Finally finished reading through the thread

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Welcome aboard!

It was briefly mentioned a few pages back that Chevalier was kept in the dark about the PRT Guardian Beast project. Was there any reason Legend, who's himself head of the Protectorate and not the PRT, didn't brief the local Protectorate on what was going on? Situation seems to be begging for some kind of friendly fire incident between a first-time GB squad and that newbie Ward. Also it didn't seem like they told Calamity Witch to keep it quiet, so imagine the awkwardness if we had mentioned it to Vista, and she blurts it out to Chevalier in the middle of some heated argument...

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Because Alexandria/RCB, who is head of the PRT, and Legend discussed the possible ways they could see the inherent ability of magic in a pseudo-military/law enforcement setting, and they felt that for a debut, they wanted a demonstration that was as uninfluenced by parahuman mentality as possible. Particularly natural trigger mentality, which is all of the Protectorate heroes in Philly.

They are also preemptively preparing for the demands of branch directors who, like Piggot, aren't fond of parahumans in general. Those directors will insist on PRT agents-turned-mages and their Guardian Beasts staying with the PRT rather than going to the Protectorate. Lexi and Legend will press everyone to work closely together, but there will have to be some reorganization of the system now, and it's best that they know exactly what they're offering.

Because they will continue this distribution unless the Guardian Beast plan flunks horribly. Say what you want about the Triumvirate and Cauldron, but they undeniably were acting on the desire to keep humanity intact and functioning. Scion is gone, so the only threats are the Endbringers, but now even the Endbringers could conceivably be killed. When these existential threats to the human species are gone, there will be nothing to stop the PRT and the Protectorate from finally applying their full strength against parahuman criminality.

They have to know just what kind of giant they will be waking.

Does Perfect Storm have the dimensional coordinates of that plane Phantasm pulled CM into during the Simurgh fight? If not, does Cassiel remember that info and does she know if the other Endbringer cores are present there? Is that dimension accessible by Dimensional Teleport (or would an action need to be spent to find out)? Seems like a possible option for the Sojourner to be able to fire the Arc-en-Ciel on them without having to worry about collateral damage.

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The Entities and shards can access subdimensions that humans cannot, so no, you can't pop into Phantasm's world to shoot Endbringer cores without her taking you there.

 

[Solusandra]

They have to know just what kind of giant they will be waking.

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A more interesting one, if they sell us a few Tinkers. People like Dragon, Armsmaster, Squeeler, Bakuda and Bonesaw who can translate shards into gadgets. Heck, never been entirely sure why they never formed their own competing toybox. Between The new employment situation and Tim's ability to translate tinker trump BS, I wouldn't be surprised to see her go back to her old tricks on a magical level. It'd just be Tim doing the "Evaluation of Tinker Gear" instead of her.

 

[dhasenan]

That being said, since some people seem to want a new conversation topic. If you were offered the chance to learn ONE type of magic that you could use here in the real world, what would it be and why?

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The ability to create mutagen serums, of course! Even if it doesn't confer any magical abilities, it's basically weird cosmetic surgery with less unpleasantness.

 

[Solusandra]

That being said, since some people seem to want a new conversation topic. If you were offered the chance to learn ONE type of magic that you could use here in the real world, what would it be and why?

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Depends on how you mean one type.
Template? Engineer. I've always liked Iron Man.
Tree? Utility/void because it offers flight and teleportation.
Spell? Flight again. I'd choose telekinesis, but it's majorly gimped here.
NOT in nanoha; Runes. I like the idea of being able to design my own powers. We sorta did that early on, and you said we continued to do it, but it doesn't allow you to craft spells whole cloth thus far, just edit some parameters.

 

[Shaseyu]

That being said, since some people seem to want a new conversation topic. If you were offered the chance to learn ONE type of magic that you could use here in the real world, what would it be and why?

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Mind magic, of course.
There is only two viewpoints: my own and wrong. It's time for the world to finally accept it and embrace gloriousness of Shaseyusm.
As a side benefit, it would be nice to finally understand what's going on in my head and heads of other people.

Ability to shift through timelines would be interesting too. To compare our history with infinite number of what could have been, to realize what went right, what went wrong and where is our place in comparison with other humanities.
For forty years the world was balancing on the edge of nuclear apocalypse. Does it make us crazy warmongers, because most of other Earths never delved into the Cold War? Does it make us reasonable and peaceful people, because most of other Earths fell in nuclear war?
Are we hellish dimension full of sexism, racism and homophobia or are we beacon of liberty because other Earths have it even worse?

 

[Hate Fish]

At which point the downside to using the serum is…?

Yet another attempt to mitigate all downsides and turn it into nothing but positives. Not gonna happen

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The downside is the same as if it had critfailed without the modifications - horrific appearance, mindbending pain as their form is twisted unimaginably, and no magical powers. Hell, the horrific appearance is enough for being a Case 53 to be a massive downside, and that's with them not knowing what they lost.

Still, your point is taken, I will vanish until the next vote.

 

[Wyrd]

The Entities and shards can access subdimensions that humans cannot, so no, you can't pop into Phantasm's world to shoot Endbringer cores without her taking you there.

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Which brings up the obvious question of can Phantasm take the Sojourner into that dimension, and would it be safe to use the Arc-en-ciel there?

Back to the more important debate:

My preferences for magic systems operate from a few important details: How hard is it to use, as there's little point in getting magic and not being able to use it? What is the cost of using it? What can you do with it? Last, and honestly speaking, least, how cool is it? Harry Potter takes too much of the mystique out of magic without giving anywhere near as much utility as I would like to see as a consequence.

So, what kind of uses matter the most to me? I love shape shifting and transformation of almost any kind. Species, size, age, sex, it's all good, with the one exception being rewriting minds. I do not support magic that kills a person and gives their body to somebody new who thinks the way you want them to.

Travel and enchantment wind up effectively tied when it comes to the utility priority for a system.

As for some specific examples:
Shadowrun's magic can accomplish a lot at no real risk to yourself unless you overdo things. The expansion books add a lot more non combat utility, but half of what makes that setting's magic fun is dealing with spirits and the astral plane.

The Amber series by Zelazny has people who can walk from world to world at will. If they can imagine a world, they can find it. That would be really cool. One of the Princes of Amber spent decades watching the same battles being fought over and over, changing one detail to see how it impacted the fight, which is a bit too much grinding for my tastes, but just picking worlds where I can see how things would have gone if a particular thing were different? Yes, please.

In Rayearth, magic is simply imagination and will. If it allowed shape shifting, that would probably be my favorite.

 

[Silently Watches]

Which brings up the obvious question of can Phantasm take the Sojourner into that dimension, and would it be safe to use the Arc-en-ciel there?

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She can't shift that much mass, sadly. Also, her power is essentially a pocket dimension, so firing the AEC might have problems depending on how big that pocket dimension is.

 

[Lab_Accident]

If it's a casting system, planeswalker magic (yes, my magic pick is literally Magic). If it's a school, divination, because telepathy and being able to find (or at least, look for) answers to all the big questions of life. More specifically, numerology-based divination, and my best attempts to combine it with probabilistics and computer science (I'd probably use divination to figure out how to combine these disciplines in the first place).

 

[charysa]

Something that's been percolating since the early pages when everyone was paranoid that Taylor would get a hyperactive pidgeon for her GB.


Unintended Consequences

Tanya Abigail mechanically shoved another spoonful of potatoes into her mouth as her eyelids fought a battle to stay open. Her recent work schedule had been insane, what with the sudden responsibility for the care and training of a magical were-dog. It's just as well there hadn't been any calls for her normal PRT duties, or else she wouldn't even have the few hours a day to sleep.

"Mom, I'm done, can I play with the puppy?"

The excited voice of her daughter broke through Tanya's stupor, and she gave the unfairly peppy girl a cursory look.

<<I can play with her! Can I play with her? Can I? Can I?>>

And there goes the equally exasperating mind voice of her new partner. Tanya wondered again what she'd done in a previous life to deserve being saddled with a second hyperactive brat to haunt her, even at work. Verbally, however, she just brutally crushed their hopes.

"Finish your vegetables first, Lizzie. All of it."

"But I don't like broccoli..." her daughter whined, turning a pathetic look at the man sitting at the dinner table. "Daaaaddy--"

"Listen to your mother, Lizzie." Walter quickly replied before she could get further, knowing better than to get in the middle of that recurring fight.

The eleven-year-old in question scowled at both adults, then eyed the bright-eyed beagle bouncing under the table. Deciding that she probably wouldn't be able to covertly get rid of her broccoli to that potential partner in crime, she huffed and quickly stuffed them all into her mouth in one go.

"Mrrffffllllgrrrrrnnnwwww?"

Tanya's mouth twitched at her daughter's chipmunk impression. Before she could think of some other reason to refuse, however, she was interrupted by a mental litany of--

<<Can we? Can we? Can we can we can w-->>

"Ugh, yes, fine, go!" Anything to get some peace and quiet.

There was a twin "Yay!" from both the child and dog as they raced out of the room. And for a long moment after that, blessed silence descended. It wasn't until they were clearing away the dishes that her husband finally spoke up.

"Are you getting transferred to the PRT's new K9 unit or something?" Walter asked curiously.

Tanya shook her head. "No, I'm staying on the field teams."

"They couldn't afford hiring separate handlers for the dogs?" Walter joked.

"Who knows what the bureaucrats are thinking?" Tanya sneered. "Paulson just dumped it on me out of the blue." Which was the actual truth. "He probably got the orders dumped on him from higher up." Which was her speculation, given the chaos back at HQ at how to organize the sudden pack of para--well, magic dog-men.

Walter was about to make another joke about PRT bureaucracy when they were suddenly interrupted by a crash on the other side of the house. Her reflexes taking over, Tanya dropped the dish in her hand and rushed over. She came to a screeching halt at the door of the front den.

There was a large hole in the birdcage and no sign of the pigeon that Walter was caring for for Animal Rescue. There was also a tween with grey feathered hair awkwardly extricating herself from her daughter. There was also her guardian beast, trying to slink under the couch. Tanya could put two and two together.

<<What. Did. You. Do?!">>

To further her shock, the responses came from not just one source.

<<I just wanted to help! She kept asking me and, and, and yourealwaysworriedabouthersafety...>>

That was the mental whine from her new (soon to be ex at the rate he was going) partner.

"I just wanted a talking pet like yours, Mom! Oh my god! It worked! It worked! Did you see that!"

That was her motormouth of a daughter. Apparently her magically talented, telepathic-eavesdropper, daughter.

"Heyaheyahi! Like, we're gonna be the bestest friends forever!!!"

And that was the feather-haired intruder.

There's three of them now, was the next disbelieving thought that immediately crossed Tanya's mind. Three impulsive, hyperactive, tweens.

"Tanya? What in the world is going on?" Came Walter's worried voice behind her.

Maybe Director Paulson would put her out of her misery so she wouldn't have to deal with this. Tanya thought darkly. Aloud, all she could voice was weary, resigned--

"Ffff--frick."

 

[Solusandra]

For forty years the world was balancing on the edge of nuclear apocalypse. Does it make us crazy warmongers, because most of other Earths never delved into the Cold War? Does it make us reasonable and peaceful people, because most of other Earths fell in nuclear war?
Are we hellish dimension full of sexism, racism and homophobia or are we beacon of liberty because other Earths have it even worse?

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From declassed files Nuclear war should have wiped us out 3 times already (none of which were public knowledge) but were avoided because even the people who were supposed to hit the launch button didn't fing want to. Which is good, because it turned out each of those alerts were rockets testing out something completely different.
As for the more recent political issue, GFG, just look at history and foreign news feeds. First world problems people.

Mind magic, of course.

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As for some specific examples:
Shadowrun's magic
The Amber series by Zelazny has people who can walk from world to world at will.
In Rayearth, magic is simply imagination and will.

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If it's a casting system, planeswalker magic

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Well, if we're going this broad, Warcraft's Arcane tree. WoW itself is fairly limited, but the fluff text insists it's a cross between Full Metal Alchemist runic system and Magic The Gathering's most ridiculous shit. Arcane magic is literally the laws of the universe codified into a magic system and If you take the time to learn the art system needed to cast spells, you can literally do anything. As I said a few posts ago, I like the idea of being able to custom design your powers.

 

[Valdimarian]

I'd have to say if I had to pick a single DND / Pathfinder school of magic could have I'd go with Psychoportation from Dreamscarred Press's version of Psionics.

Even if limited to Nomad exclusive list you've got flight, teleportation, the ability to Teleport bits off of things and as a 9th level power Undo time.


If it's one school from NWOD's Mage: The Awakening (with all the associated faults) the Fate tree is pretty awesome. "I was walking down the street and a $100 bill just flew into my face" "I guessed randomly for the whole test and got a 95%" "A guy tried to mug me, but he stepped on a wet spot and ended up upside down in a trash can"

 

[DestinyPlayer]

Now that I think about it more, I would probably prefer to have Tinkering, or Artifice when it comes to magic. Maybe Gramarie. Making things has always been a passion of mine.

 

[Oruzhiye]

There's three of them now, was the next disbelieving thought that immediately crossed Abigail's mind. Three impulsive, hyperactive, tweens.

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Best unintended consequences ever.

 

[RoninSword]

So if Dragon converts a piece of tinkertech into magic tech, does that mean a sufficiently skilled magic engineer could build the magic version of the tinkertech?

 

[Wyrd]

Do any of you get flashes of moments where you seem to be experiencing something several times simultaneously?

So if Dragon converts a piece of tinkertech into magic tech, does that mean a sufficiently skilled magic engineer could build the magic version of the tinkertech?

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Presumably, yes. The thing that keeps people from replicating tinker tech is not understanding it enough to put together without the help of a shard, and sometimes without the shard actively converting some of what they are working on without them even knowing.

Using Tim's inspirations would likely require another TG, but what Dragon builds, she can teach others to build.

 

[Silently Watches]

Unintended Consequences

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This is awesome. Definitely a point for you.

…In fact, I would happily make this canon. The only hindrance is that Abigail is her surname, not her first name (otherwise Paulson wouldn't call her "Agent Abigail"). Change this, and I'll put it in the threadmarks.

In case you're wondering, I have the name Tanya down in my notes, but this is more a placeholder than anything and would be updated if I canonize this.

So if Dragon converts a piece of tinkertech into magic tech, does that mean a sufficiently skilled magic engineer could build the magic version of the tinkertech?

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Correct. This is true for most of Tim's stuff, too.

 

[Solusandra]

So if Dragon converts a piece of tinkertech into magic tech, does that mean a sufficiently skilled magic engineer could build the magic version of the tinkertech?

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Presumably, yes. The thing that keeps people from replicating tinker tech is not understanding it enough to put together without the help of a shard, and sometimes without the shard actively converting some of what they are working on without them even knowing.

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Wildbow's been rather schitzophrenic on that front. Initially he put out a massive post about how if the Tinker put out a comprehensive users guide and you had a masters in engineering, you could maintain and even reproduce it, but tinkertech would always have the flaw of being too complicated for Joe Motorpool to do anything with it.

Then he changed it later to "while in Tiner Fugue, the shard is puppeting your body and making meta-materials via micro-teleknesis, so not even a multi-doctoral engineer can simply copy shit". Dragon and other thinkers can only do so because their thinker ability cheats.

This was around the same time he described a Tinker 12 as vomiting up magic potions, pulling super-alloys out of his bones, shitting out complex parts and seeing in a hundred different spectrum while the Tinker Fugue ran non-stop. ANd hope you never sleep, because you can understand the Cthulhu making your life an eternal hell when you dream.

 

[Wyrd]

Wildbow's been rather schitzophrenic on that front. Initially he put out a massive post about how if the Tinker put out a comprehensive users guide and you had a masters in engineering, you could maintain and even reproduce it, but tinkertech would always have the flaw of being too complicated for Joe Motorpool to do anything with it.

Then he changed it later to "while in Tiner Fugue, the shard is puppeting your body and making meta-materials via micro-teleknesis, so not even a multi-doctoral engineer can simply copy shit". Dragon and other thinkers can only do so because their thinker ability cheats.

This was around the same time he described a Tinker 12 as vomiting up magic potions, pulling super-alloys out of his bones, shitting out complex parts and seeing in a hundred different spectrum while the Tinker Fugue ran non-stop. ANd hope you never sleep, because you can understand the Cthulhu making your life an eternal hell when you dream.

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While I strongly dislike that rework of tinker tech, I think Dragon's tech HAS to be reproducable. She isn't using her shard to do anything directly to what her foundries are making, and she has a complete record of her every thought process while working out and then replicating the tinkertech. I could see arguing that a few items require her direct intervention, essentially piloting her foundries the same way she pilots her armor, but that doesn't work with anything she successfully mass produces, like the Dragon's Teeth gear.

 

[Oruzhiye]

Tanya

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Because Youjo Senki was already on my mind and I'm mildly curious why you would have the name Tanya in your notes, would it be possible to make something similar to the Youjo Senki style of magic?

 

[Silently Watches]

Because Youjo Senki was already on my mind and I'm mildly curious why you would have the name Tanya in your notes, would it be possible to make something similar to the Youjo Senki style of magic?

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To answer the unasked question, yes, I watched the first… eight?… episodes of Youjo Senki. I stopped mostly because I really couldn't sympathize with or find interest in any of the characters (which, considering some of the characters I've written, is saying something) and therefore didn't care about what happened next.

As for the magic style, I actually started watching the show because it was similar to the magic in Nanoha. Magic bullets, computerized foci, humans flying around and getting in dogfights, etc. I don't remember enough of the show now to remember the major differences off the top of my head, so you'll have to tell me exactly what it is that you're looking for.

 

[charysa]

This is awesome. Definitely a point for you.

…In fact, I would happily make this canon. The only hindrance is that Abigail is her surname, not her first name (otherwise Paulson wouldn't call her "Agent Abigail"). Change this, and I'll put it in the threadmarks.

In case you're wondering, I have the name Tanya down in my notes, but this is more a placeholder than anything and would be updated if I canonize this.

Correct. This is true for most of Tim's stuff, too.

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I've changed the name. Will save the point for now.

To complete the joke, the pidgeon is also a stealth class, because every little girl needs an imaginary friend. Even if it means the whole family has to end up in M/S quarantine overnight.

Also, if you haven't named the new department yet, I'd suggest something that abbreviates to RK9 (arcane k9 ).


Edit: More seriously, I wonder how long it's going to take the bigwigs and the new PRT mages to realize the import of magic being a more consistently inheritable trait. The temptation to whisper the secret to your aging and vulnerable mother, or other maternal relatives.

For that matter, do we get a bonus when checking for linker cores in someone maternally related to another confirmed potential mage? Like, Aster or if Lacey ever has a kid? Or, hypothetically, if Epoch has a sibling?

 

[RoninSword]

And birds were mentioned by Sam to be around the same level of belligerence that cat Guardian Beasts are at. Fun Times.