Test Drive Reloaded! #1

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #1



Welcome to Diatu (I Like Swords)

The Arrival Hall is all aflurry with activity! No one had expected so many Sundered to suddenly pop up, the staff find themselves desperately scrambling to keep up with the influx, and a bunch of new arrivals find themselves hanging out in the Hall lobby, waiting to be seen, sent home if possible, or counseled and prepared for student life if not. Rumors run like wildfire: some people believe they've been kidnapped by aliens, a worryingly persistent suggestion that this is a setup for a murder-tournament keeps circulating, and one or two nutcases insist that a dragon tinkered with the rules of magic and now they have to study at a magic school to survive. Pie stocks are grievously low, and thought Headmaster Birony herself appeared and began violating the rules of space and time to summon pies from the future, a second Headmaster Birony with an eyepatch, several war scars, and a wild hairdo appeared and promptly yelled at the first Headmaster for stealing her pies. A pie fight erupted. Pie stocks are even more grievously low now.

Still, here's your chance to talk to your fellow arrivals. Or aggressively attack the nearest target in an outrage (they set up a target dummy and labeled it VENT AGGRESSION HERE, and are trusting you guys on the honor system). Staff don't have time to talk, but they promise they'll get to you soon!

A Day In The Life

The sun is bright, the air is warm, a cool breeze blows across Anastara, clouds keep drifting directly through the island and engulfing people... it's summer on Ascelion, and the day is ripe for learning. Or as ripe as Diatu Magicademy ever can be -- though no one would trade the character and charm of the lively campus for some stodgy, regimented school more interested in forcing students into the mold than encouraging them to be their best, sometimes conditions in the Magicademy are a little inconvenient.

A toilet in Kedrigan Hall keeps clamping onto the butts of those who attempt to use it. Thus far, half a dozen students have been freed from its clutches by their friends, while reports of singed buttocks have increased twofold. (Yes, only twofold. Think about that for a minute.) Staff are on the lookout for a prankster rather than a commode, so as of yet the treacherous toilet has gone unpunished...

Not far away, a group of cleaning golems has occupied the promenade as part of an ongoing strike. As they possess only rudimentary intelligence, they believe this involves seizing objects from anyone who passes nearby and hurling them at a set of bowling pins. Meliandre Tomekin, Head of Groundskeeping, has set up shop across the Promenade; any student who wanders too close gets a big block of ice shoved into their hands, along with instructions to hold it still while she shows those reprobates what-for...

In the Great Hall proper, school clubs and activities have, as was inevitable, escalated competition for new students to yet another level which only isn't a war crime because it isn't part of a treaty yet: they've conscripted geese. Horrible geese, to be precise, who dispense flyers for various clubs with less subtlety than a nuclear holocaust. Some of them fight for dominance, others have teamed up to pin down innocent students and stuff leaflets down their throat, and one has a wand and is somehow casting Discovery spells?!

A Forgery!

"I tried a mass-Forging technique," the older student says, showing off the briefcase full of identical wands and a sign that says 'FOR $ALE CHEAP'. "Some of them are exactly what I intended, they self-correct runes, but the rest, well.. . I don't know, I can't tell, and I'm not really interested in finding out one by one, so... you buying?"

All sales final. No refunds. Caveat emptor. As for what the wands do, well... there's a reason he answered with an ellipsis when asked. On the other hand, maybe the effect isn't too terrible? Maybe it's even beneficial! Maybe the wand shoots out rainbows and muffins! Or maybe it just animates and strikes you vigorously about the head and shoulders...

Three Dragon War

Someone, we're not naming names, canons, or the color of eyes and the dragon to which they belong that forms said person's obsession, may or may not be indirectly responsible for the latest game craze sweeping Anastara: Three Dragon War, a collectible card game that features players as dragons, deploying spells, creatures, and Sundered against each other to destroy each and avoid the machinations of the Third Dragon. The awesome thing about the game is that the Third Dragon comes in all different forms: classic bundled-with-the-starter-pack Ire, super-rare Anastara Diatu, suspiciously-rare Cam Birony, ultra-common Large Eagull, and more. The concept of an outside force adding randomness to the battle and being manipulated in turn by cards means Three Dragon War is the hottest card game that's come along since the last card game that was the hottest that had come along came along.

Face-to-face, you find yourself in a duel over these cards and the magical images they summon. Can this untested deck come through if you believe in it? Or are statistics and probability actual things that actually happen? Dragon Battle! Jiao Long Fu!

There's One in Every Test Drive

Not every magical disaster is caused by some wayward student you don't know. Many of them are caused by you instead. To wit: you're on the spot in one of the magical labs, being called on to demonstrate a technique more advanced than others you've mastered so far. Failure is expected, and the wards should prevent any injury to others from a miscast spell. But will the sparks of your magic just sputter out and die? Or will you inadvertently mispronounce, misform, misshape, or miscalculate in a way that brings chaos to you and your lab partner?

(You could also manage to succeed in casting the spell, but that isn't very fun.)

Comments

[whose_son_am_i]

Loki smiles, holding up a hand. Fading into sight with a hint of green-tinged magic are 3 more wands held in his hand. Presenting them to her, that smile remained. "Currently there are far too many gaps in our knowledge and variables to account for. I would still be interested in seeing what your research produces, however."

[sciencegirl]

"Yes! Though it could make a difference if the wands are in the hands of an experienced magic user. So, reverse that-" she hands her own off to Loki. "I'm a scientist, regardless if the use of magic in my world. You conduct demonstrations and I'll record results!"

[whose_son_am_i]

They traded piles, and Loki was very glad he'd paid attention to which wand was which as she'd held them up. Selecting one, the others were vanished in that same shimmer of green magic. This one was the one that turned itself invisible and cast other very minor spells.

Loki himself didn't use wands with his magic. Frigga had trained him, and it had been yet one more way he was different from his brother. From the other boys entirely, given the type of magic he'd studied was often associated with the feminine. Studying it in his hand, prying into the weave of the spell. Tightly knit, and layered--this was the spell that turned itself invisible while casting other, more minor spells.

It was as if the outermost spell-layer was knit over many looser threads in an effort to bind them. Yet some escaped in little tufts. At least, that's how it appeared from all he could tell. He was using his own knowledge as reference, so there was a chance he could be wrong--this world had its own rules.

After a moment of study, he held it away from himself, and gave it an experimental flick.

[sciencegirl]

She exchanges the stockpile, only briefly wondering why it is that Loki collected his own sum of them. Mostly she's just happy to have the same amount of them. A curious noise at the sudden disappearance of the wands and she's once again paying attention.

She has a tape measurer stretched between two locks of hair, already primed for data accumulation.

"Alight, what should I normally expect from that?" She asks.

[whose_son_am_i]

"Well, I can still feel the wand within my hand, as this is the one that turns invisible." As for the minor spells. "Wands are new to me, as I've never needed them before." That's why he was here though, along with everyone else apparently.

Moving the invisible wand to trace one of the spells he'd learned here. "This should produce a spell, though what kind I don't know." Fire--it was a fire spell. As a small fire started on one of the tables.

[sciencegirl]

The spells had been what she meant, so she nods as she takes notes as to the results.

"Fascinating. Honestly I regret my lack of expertise in magical arts at the moment. Most of my knowledge pertains to magical data and accumulation and storage. As well as robotics."

And cybernetics and a whole mess of things.

"Ooooh nice! Destructive capacity, check! It appears to not be aggressive in it's immolation which is preferable because we should put it out before it spreads beyond the table." In her chipper nasal voice, though, she doesn't sound particularly rushed to do so.

[whose_son_am_i]

"Where I am from magic and what's known as science are often the same thing." Loki said, amused. "I'd be interested in your work on how you measure and collect such data." He didn't sound in a particular rush to put the fire out either.

Given the he was used to thinking of and conceptualizing magic, he wondered if there was a 'spell' woven on the wand already that would have some way to do so.

[sciencegirl]

"Really? That sounds great. Most of my science often requires magical integration. Especially crystals."

Even as she's talking she's taking measurements of the flames. Then, after looking around, she finds a pitcher of what might be lemonade and dumps it right on the fire.

"Sorry, don't know spells for putting out fires yet. That should be one of the first ones I learn."

She makes enough of them while expirementing.