Test Drive #1

[magicademymods]

Test Drive #1



The Airship There

By carriage or coach, spellwagon or ship, perhaps even on the wings of magic, the Sundered heed the call to gather at the Tenzin High Dock of Vulbaria. On this, the appointed day, a great passenger airship sits in the dock, the seals of the six Houses fluttering from flagpoles along her length and her wooden planks atremble as if it is eager to be off. At last, the gangplank descends, and the Hand of Diatu opens her doors to the Sundered so they can take their first step on the path towards protection and salvation.

Inside, you may choose from long comfortable couches, broad circular tables surrounded by straight-backed, cushioned chairs, or viewing seats at the glass front of the ship. Sundered who need special accommodations are quickly provided for, ensuring everyone travels in comfort. Trays drift through the air periodically, offering snacks and drinks to the passengers.

This may be the first chance you've had to truly relax since being swept to this strange world. Certainly it is the first chance you've had to meet your fellow Sundered. As the airship lifts gracefully off from the High Dock, your journey to Diatu begins. Excited? Nervous? Simply angry? Or perhaps searching among the crowd here for a familiar face or some sign of hope?

Rain, Rain...

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. It's raining.

Seriously raining. One of those downpours that feels like a curtain has dropped on you, that soaks to the bone within a second of stepping into it. Obviously, this won't do, and a civic-minded cluster of Purifeul students has taken it upon themselves to solve this problem. No sooner do you step through the gates then you practically run into a giant and complex runic diagram being drawn out with long staffs by several students, all of them speaking seeming nonsense about derivatives, limits, and equations. Magic! In action right before your eyes!

And yet, just as their mathemagics wind towards the center of the diagram and they all make their final stroke -- one student slashes his line off on a weird tangent, speaking an equation that sounds nothing at all like what his fellows utter. The spell completes... weirdly, as the students look in horror at each other. The temperature abruptly drops seventy degrees, and a cold wind begins to blow.

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. Please get out of the blizzard before you freeze.

Thaumaturgy 101

After some fifteen minutes of grumbling from Professor Loshakle, followed by half an hour of theory and basics, the grouchy old man finally gets to drawing a magical symbol on the board. "This is straight out of Fundamental Principles of Wizarding," he says, writing Sense Magic next to the symbol. "As is everything you'll learn here. I'll emphasize yet again, you MUST know the name of the spell and the proper gestures. You can't simply wave your wand in any old pattern and say any old words. That isn't how it works," he says, glaring around the class as if daring someone to question him.

But he gives no one the opportunity, instead producing a wand and making the gesture to trace the symbol he'd drawn in midair. "Sense Magic," he intones, and the air and his wand both shimmer.

"Now. You all try." Just like that. What the Professor doesn't mention is that this spell can produce some very interesting results if the symbol is off, or the timing...

Bala-inlota Practice

Bala-inlota is the main interaction the Magicademies have with each other -- the sport of wizards! Two teams take the field, with the goal of heaving a ball through their opponent's hoop. The rules primarily revolve around not inflicting lethal injury, because bala-inlota is a free-for-all at best, where each team relies on both physical and magical might to win the day.

You kind of wish someone had told you this BEFORE you got hauled onto the field so the coach could see if you've got what it takes.

Now half a dozen players are charging down the field at your ragtag group of semi-willing recruits, while another half-dozen are preparing spells that you've been absolutely assured aren't as nasty as the ones deployed in actual play. On your side: the ball, your wits, your physical ability, and maybe three classes's worth of magical education.

On the upside, magic is pretty good at healing.

Comments

[darkenedmoon]

"Should they know my history, I dare say, yes. If not, they claim what brought us here was banned magick...should those in charge decide to cover it up, it would not surprise me if they just got rid of us. Somehow."

It was what Yotsuyu herself might do, when faced with such a thing. Certainly the Garleans had taught her well. But the Anastarans haven't so far, and so she shrugs, just a little, and gestures to yet another tray full of teacups floating by.

At least she's not ranting around the airship and demanding to know if people know who she is--assuming that meant anything, anyway.

Another tray whizzes by, this one filled with what looks like an assortment of pastries from a number of countries arrayed upon it. Yotsuyu stops it with a hand, and then wrinkles her nose.

"Ugh, dango. How dreadful. Do you see anything you'd choose here?" Though she disdains the dango, Yotsuyu selects a small cup of persimmon pudding and a spoon, gracefully juggling them into position in her lap. Finishing her cup of tea, she sets it, too, on the tray.

[perfectenn]

It is a mercy to be going incognito for many of them, surely. But the second part… that he has turned over in his mind since arrival.

"If they wanted to be rid of us, they would not waste this extravagance on us." Tenn motions to the cabin, and airship, in general. "And they would be disinclined to transport us in such a display of power and comfort unless they wanted favorable opinions."

If she hadn't stopped the tray, he would have, with wide-eyed interest. These are pastries, so of course, he must try them, taking three plates of varying desserts and arranging them around him with precision like he does this on the regular basis. While a smile flickered over his lips at the sight of the treats, he regards the dumplings with skepticism of his own. "I do like dango. But I did not expect to find familiar foods here." Unless it’s not truly made from mochiko. Well, adding this plate to his collection, too. For research.

[darkenedmoon]

The young man makes a valid point. The airship is nothing if not extravagant, a stark contrast to the ones she's seen before. Garlemald values efficiency--no servants, magickal or not, would serve tea and treats on one of their airships, Yotsuyu knew.

"Mayhap they want us to work for them, then." That idea doesn't seem to suit her any better than her paranoid poisoning one did, though. She stirs her pudding into a mess, but eats it in the end, with dainty spoonfuls.

Yotsuyu sighs, then. "Nor did I, but I suppose that it is a comfort that we have." She isn't about to go plate for plate with him, however. His metabolism might be able to handle it, but Yotsuyu simply doesn't want to have to deal with the necessity of burning all those extra calories off, later!