Can't be a wizard without a hat

[les_magique]

[Video]

I have taken the time to figure out the use of this communication device for two reasons. The first is to show off my hat.

[She has a hat on. It's a wide brimmed pointy hat that looks exactly like the kind of hat a wizard would wear. She looks quite pleased to have it.]

I suppose a hat isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but I like this hat, and having ANYTHING from home is something of a luxury, given our current situation.

Anyways the other thing I wanted to talk about isn't quite so trivial. I'm curious about magic.

I have spent the last few years devoted to unlocking magic's mysteries, you see, and I THOUGHT I was making good headway. But now that I'm here, I'm realizing that this is a MUCH more complicated subject than I thought it was. Magic works entirely differently depending on what world you come from. Some worlds don't even HAVE magic in the first place!

So if you know anything about how magic works in your world, I would be interested in comparing notes.

[And then, a minute later.]

Oh right also. Gladio, if you wanted to try teleportation, now seems like as good a time as any.

Comments

[Action] Because my brain wouldn't let up on me until I did SOMETHING.

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita has her Manual open, absently sketching a chord for a spell diagram.]

The Speech's power comes in two parts - the ability to understand someone or something else, and the ability to persuade.

Most spells are convincing part of the universe to act in a way it couldn't do on its own, or just to do something faster or slower than it would normally. For that, you have to give something of yourself, usually energy. No spell without its price and all.

[Common knowledge between them, but it's still part of what Samata asked for.]

[les_magique]

That is a completely different paradigm from the world I know. It sounds almost like your magic is alive.

[As she said that, she peeked down from her bunk to see what Nita was sketching.]

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Bobo made a noise of quiet approval in the back of Nita's head; she smiled.]

In some ways, it is. To read intent at the level of complexity it does - what a wizard says tends to come true, so it pays to watch what you say - it practically has to get in your head itself.

Not in an invasive sense, though. If a wizard defaults to that, back home, they're doing it wrong.

[And not just in the moral sense.]

[les_magique]

My research has shown that magic is a natural force. A sort of energy flow that passes through the world. Sorcerers naturally draw it into themselves and can use it to power their spells. I can't draw it into myself but I can still change its flow and, through that, effect reality.

What are you drawing?

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita nodded, sitting up and turning her book around so Samata could see; the lines on the page were actually composed of words in the Speech - describing dimension, intent; numbers and words, though the chord was largely numbers at the moment.]

It's as natural as light where I'm from, too.

[If, depending on how you look at it, a little younger.]

And there's two ways to go about a spell; when you're young, you have a lot more power just in general, so you don't have to focus as much on detail. But when you get older, you have to emphasize specifics more, and strategy. So if you're altering the water currents in a given area, like this spell's for, you have to be more careful not to waste power, or you could render a whole part of the ocean unlivable.