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

[zanarkandian]

"Heh, you've got that right," Tidus snorts, quieting for a moment. This is another opportunity to dwell on the past, and that's what he's trying to avoid doing.

But the memory bubbles up anyway. "Yeah, when people face something new and powerful that they don't know...it can get pretty ugly, and fast. At least they're just shipping us off to school?"

Not that he's all that fond of school. But just being here is a gift, for now.

[delusionsofleveilleur]

He says something quite grave but follows with a lighthearted question. He's right about both points, of course, something which Alphinaud knows all too well. For all that mankind is raised on education, in the end, they never seem to learn.

"Something new and powerful," he muses aloud. "I assume you're referring to the method by which we were transported to this place? I confess that I am curious of the details, though I doubt that those will be uncovered through the curriculum here alone. Still, there is much to be gained from other perspectives, be they of the mind or of its creations."

As this one suggests, many are prone to fear the unknown, particularly when left to its whims. While magicks were plentiful where he hails from, even the disciplines there were as night and day. This foreign power is one which he cannot rely on, and yet at the same time, is forced to rely upon. It puts him at a disadvantage, and he's certainly not fond of that.

"We too bring with us our knowledge and experiences," he continues. "Just as we are unaware of the potential this magick yields, so too are they unaware of our own capabilities."

[zanarkandian]

"Heh, yeah. But I don't think me swinging a sword or kicking a ball at them is going to do much to someone who can do...all that."

It was easier to joke than to dwell too much on the unknown.

"But hey. It might not be all that bad? I'm Tidus, nice to meetcha."

[delusionsofleveilleur]

"Power exists in various forms," Alphinaud reminds him. Tidus's concerns are valid, of course, but true strength has a way of overcoming limitations that are generally perceived by the public, creating nothing short of miracles.

"Alphinaud Leveilleur." He extends his hand formally to complete the introduction. "Time will tell the answers to our queries. Before that, however, let us both do our best to acquaint ourselves with this land and the powers we have received of it."