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

[stillnewatthis]

"My creator is Efi Oladele," Orisa responded, her quad-eyeshields tilting and narrowing so her eyes became like carat symbols. Even with her lacking a mouth, the good humor in her expression was unmistakable. "She heavily customized and modified an OR15 chassis and installed my personality within it. If and when I see her again, I shall convey your compliments to her!"

[logdates]

Peridot gave a light laugh, though - as it always tended to with her - it came out as more of a snicker. "This is amazing! Way better than all of this magic stuff."

She grinned. "So, Efi Oladele must be a member of a highly advanced and very intelligent civilization, right?"

[stillnewatthis]

Orisa took a moment to consider this.

"Human civilization has numerous flaws, but I consider it superior to omnic society. However, I have not directly experienced the latter, so my beliefs may simply be a data point derived from available knowledge and my interpretation."

[logdates]

For a moment, Peridot just stared at Orisa. That couldn't be right; had she misheard? Humans couldn't even begin to think about making something like the creation in front of her.

And then, after that moment of confused shock, she began to laugh once again. "Oh! That was a joke, wasn't it? I get it! Humans... Ha!"

[stillnewatthis]

"While I am capable of humor," Orisa said, still irrepressibly cheerful, "I was not employing it in this case. The OR15 line of omnic was designed by humans, and I was personally rebuilt and reprogrammed by Efi Oladele."

[logdates]

"Wait, you're serious? That's..." Impossible. That was the word that almost came out of her mouth, but... Okay. Maybe it was time she started giving humans a little more credit, after all. "...Heh. Pretty impressive."

Peridot tilted her head as she regarded Orisa. "You seem highly sentient... How autonomous are you, though?"

[stillnewatthis]

"My autonomy is equal to that of humans or other AIs considered 'full and complex' by classification standards." Which was a complicated answer to a question that Orisa felt was far more complicated than the words made it. "To put it another way, I have programming to follow, but may choose to override it."

[logdates]

"Amazing..." Peridot muttered, shaking her head with a smile. She offered a hand up in the air for a shake. If Orisa had been built by humans, she probably was familiar with such a gesture, Peridot figured.

"I'm Peridot. It's nice to meet you."

[stillnewatthis]

Hopefully the proper hand. Orisa was of course left-handed, being as her right arm ended in a massive gun rather than a hand.

"My name is Orisa. It is a pleasure to meet you too, Peridot." Her eyed whirred into those catlike carat shapes once again. "It seems we will be students together!"

[logdates]

"Yes, so it does!" Peridot said. She was feeling cheerier than she had in - Well. A while, honestly. "Which means this may not be such an annoying mission, after all!"

[stillnewatthis]

"Thank you for the compliment!" Orisa said, brightly indeed. "Have you done any preliminary study? I have attempted some, but resources were few and far between."

[logdates]

"Mmm, well... A little," Peridot said. She didn't look too pleased about it, though. "It wasn't exactly successful."

[stillnewatthis]

"You have actually made attempts? That seems dangerous," said the heavily-armed robot designed for combat.

[logdates]

Peridot nodded, because... Well, there was no disagreeing with the facts. "Yes. But... It seemed like the only way to prepare myself."

[stillnewatthis]

"I believe a theoretical grounding only, outside of a safe practice environment, would be wisest. I am capable of repairing myself, but the tools and parts I would need do not appear to be in supply here." Sometimes she envied biological creatures their fairly advanced self-repair systems.