New Feature A New Lost Discipline: Pathfinding

[Gossamer]

Merry Christmas Mizahar!

This is the Christmas Present I hinted at in the Card Thread I posted earlier. We need new items in the wiki and Lost Disciplines do a great job at filling in niches that need filling. I hope you enjoy this new magic. It's designed to be a supplemental type of roleplay though it could definitely be designed to be a primary roleplay in some people. Throughout the game, I'd like to see a rise of the old Iraso Guild. Just remember, if everyone learns it, then its not mysterious or elite. Try to keep it elite.

For a while, both players and STs will need to drop a ticket into the HD to introduce this into their storylines. I want to make sure the way it gets inserted into the game is conducive to the way the artform was lost.

For a full idea of what the Discipline offers, please check out the whole article of Pathfinding located in the Wiki. Below is the abstract.

Pathfinding is a discipline of personal magic involving the ability to physically see the individual djed of a person, animal or item and track that remnant djed trail through all kinds of environments. Once prevalent throughout Mizahar before the Valterrian, Pathfinding (if acknowledged at all) is currently considered a Lost Discipline that perished pre-Valterrian. Because it was controlled exclusively by the powerful and widespread Iraso Guild in The Suvan Empire, training in Pathfinding was not easily acquired. Very little evidence remains to prove the actual existence of Pathfinding other than brief references and writings found in pre-Valterrian documents. These notations only hint at the once powerful Iraso Guild and outline very little of its original structure or purpose.

Pathfinding also has an animal element to it. Animals who have been magically inducted into Pathfinding can utilize it and become Pathfinders themselves. They can also induct people and other animals, this being one of the ways Pathfinding has survived the Valterrian and possibly may get rediscovered. I'd like to leave this aspect relatively unrestricted out of the gate. If abuses of the animal scenario happens, we will address some restrictions in the future.

Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy this new addition to the wiki.

----Gossamer

[Yisanareysin]

This is wonderful and fantastic.

Aislyn Leavold and I have a few questions, and a lot of excitement.

1)If someone utilizes auristics on a path, would it be the same effect as if a higher level pathfinder had tried to find information? Or would it be like the pathfinder had just used auristics on the person it came from?

2)Do you create pathfinding animals by initiating them? How sentient are pathfinding animals? kelvic level sentience? Does it depend on the natural intelligence of the animal?

3)Could you be inducted by a pathfinding animal? Do pathfinding animals have skill levels as well?

4)If the pathfinder belongs to a race that has two different eye colors depending on their form, will the sunbursts also switch colors?

5)Do the eyes also change in animals?

6)How do vantha eyes work in this scenario? Do the sunbursts change colour with mood as well?

7)If a person was carrying a magical item would the pathfinder be able to see two trails overlaid?

8 )Does the trail change if the person being tracked shifts forms?

9)Do pathfinders see all trails in their field of vision or do they have to focus on one?

Thanks Goss

[Gossamer]

Yisanareysin's questions answered.

1)If someone utilizes auristics on a path, would it be the same effect as if a higher level pathfinder had tried to find information? Or would it be like the pathfinder had just used auristics on the person it came from?

Auristics cannot see Djed Trails. Only Pathfinders can. That's what makes them unique. Auristics reads auras. Remember that.

2)Do you create pathfinding animals by initiating them? How sentient are pathfinding animals? kelvic level sentience? Does it depend on the natural intelligence of the animal?

Yes you can. Same initiation. They might die or go insane too. They are below kelvics and simply more intelligent than non-pathfinding animals of their kind. You were reading the article before the announcement because the word 'sentient' has been stricken from them as per Gillar's request. All animals have a level of intelligence judged on an individual basis.. much like people. That would factor in, yes.

3)Could you be inducted by a pathfinding animal? Do pathfinding animals have skill levels as well?

Yes, the article says so. They can, yes, especially those created by PC pathfinders. Re-read the article for details... especially the skill levels where this is clarified.

4)If the pathfinder belongs to a race that has two different eye colors depending on their form, will the sunbursts also switch colors?

The sunbursts will always be a contrasting color to the individual iris. If the eyes change the sunbursts will change with them. They are not a matched set as well. They are individual to the individual eyes and what color they are at the time.

5)Do the eyes also change in animals?

Yes, the article says so.

6)How do vantha eyes work in this scenario? Do the sunbursts change colour with mood as well?

This is basically the same question as question number four and the same answer applies.

7)If a person was carrying a magical item would the pathfinder be able to see two trails overlaid?

Is the pathfinder looking for the item? They might notice it if they are high enough level, but if they are looking for a person, they'd see the person's djed trail primarily. It's fairly level and situationally dependent.

8 )Does the trail change if the person being tracked shifts forms?

No, it does not. I should add that to the article specifically instead of implied. The article does say the djed trails are individual to individual people and can't be concealed or altered for the most part. The exception is blocking them by shielding if a PC is aware of a djed trail and what it can be.

9)Do pathfinders see all trails in their field of vision or do they have to focus on one?

It depends on how they are utilizing their Iraso vision and if its in play. They can see all and they can narrow down as well.

[Yisanareysin]

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to clear that up for us

[Amunet]

Questions if you please:

1. Can the magic path spirits?
2. If someone is dead, can it still track the residual djed? if so does the color or nature change?
3. at expert or master level can it determine if that person or animal has a gnosis? Does a person with a gnosis 'burn' brighter so to speak?
4. at expert level and master level it is said they can gather information, what if that information changed in the middle of pathing, would that reach the finder?

[Nivel]

Sorry to bug you with more questions but.
Do pycons show signs of having Pathfinder magic? they don't have the same eyes as other races.

[Ssafirsotibones]

A few questions also, since all the cool kids are asking them. Though I've got to say, I think this new magic looks awesome. 1- In regards to being unable to use Pathfinding if you were blind, what if you were a morpher and grew extra/new eyes, either to replace or in addition to your normal two?(assuming they are at this point likely a expert or master morpher, and so it would be feasible to do this long term-ish) Would those new eyes once more allow you to use the magic? 2- If you were a morpher, would it be possible to use the magic to hide these distinctive changes, or would it be constant and immutable? Along that vein, if you grew extra eyes, would those also normally gain this special coloration? Would you be able to use Iraso vision through these extra eyes? 3- Iraso vision- What all can be seen in this? Is it limited to what you can see with your mundane eyes? If you were following a trail for instance, and it led to someone hiding behind a door or a wall, would you be able to see their djed body as if they were standing before you, or would the wall be enough to block this? 4- If you've seen a particular trail of a particular item, person, or animal, would you recognize it right away as that said things trail? If I know Bob, have tracked him down, and know the given trail leads to him, upon coming across it again later would I know its Bob's trail? 5- If its possible to make Magecrafted items that function as a Pathfinder, could it be possible to make a Anti-Pathfinding item, one that blocks the reading of ones djed and thus tracking by a Pathfinder, such as a cloak of anti-Pathfinding?(with the assumption in mind that a Pathfinder would likely need to assist in its making) 6- Would changing into dhani form affect using this magic at all? Or would magical body changes, Dhani, Kelvic, etc, not affect it so long as you still had eyes? (bats might have an issue here)

[Gossamer]

Amunet's Questions

1. Can the magic path spirits?

If by saying spirits you mean ghosts, then no. Ghosts, according to the ghost writeup, do not have their own djed. It's dead. Gone. Because of that fact, I'm going to make an executive decision that even in possession of a Pathfinder, it wouldn't work for them.

2. If someone is dead, can it still track the residual djed? if so does the color or nature change?

Yes. Because alive or dead the trial is still there. Living creatures aren't sustaining or influencing their djed trails after they've passed. It's all residual. Makes it nice for say cold case CSI Files doesn't it?

3. at expert or master level can it determine if that person or animal has a gnosis? Does a person with a gnosis 'burn' brighter so to speak?

This would be a situational. It's possible, but not offhand would I say a resounding yes. Much like normal pcs... does the pathfinder know what to look for? Would it even recognize a gnosis if it saw one? Does it have one itself? If they do then the answer is more probably yes. Is it the same gnosis as their bestie that they hang out with on a daily basis? Maybe yes to a higher rate. Overall, no though. The information the djed trails contain are general at best, trace residues and not all that informative for the most part unless your a master.

4. at expert level and master level it is said they can gather information, what if that information changed in the middle of pathing, would that reach the finder?

They would not be able to gather information that is easily changed. If the target they are tracking is male, morphs to female, the pathfinder would still sense them as male.

Nivel's Question

Do pycons show signs of having Pathfinder magic? they don't have the same eyes as other races.

It wouldn't be fair to exclude them. Pathfinding would find a way to recognizably display itself.

Ssafirsotibones' Questions

1- In regards to being unable to use Pathfinding if you were blind, what if you were a morpher and grew extra/new eyes, either to replace or in addition to your normal two?(assuming they are at this point likely a expert or master morpher, and so it would be feasible to do this long term-ish) Would those new eyes once more allow you to use the magic?

As stated before and in the writeup, blind PCs - despite any magic augmenting their sight - cannot use Pathfinding. Period. End of story. No exceptions. The magic rejects them.

2- If you were a morpher, would it be possible to use the magic to hide these distinctive changes, or would it be constant and immutable? Along that vein, if you grew extra eyes, would those also normally gain this special coloration? Would you be able to use Iraso vision through these extra eyes?

As stated before, these indications of Pathfinding cannot be covered up. They are clearly displayed despite morphing. No, any magically augmented eyes would not work for Pathfinding. The magic rejects them. Only normally functioning eyes would be able to utilize Pathfinding.

3- Iraso vision- What all can be seen in this? Is it limited to what you can see with your mundane eyes? If you were following a trail for instance, and it led to someone hiding behind a door or a wall, would you be able to see their djed body as if they were standing before you, or would the wall be enough to block this?

I've added images to the writeup to helpfully show you what you'd see with Iraso vision. If you look at them you will note you will see what you normally see with your vision plus the overlayed djed trails. I'm not sure how much clearer I can get on that. The wall, in your scenario, would block a djed body because you cannot see the actual body. But you'd see the trail vanishing through the doorway regardless of the doors state of opened or closed etc.

4- If you've seen a particular trail of a particular item, person, or animal, would you recognize it right away as that said things trail? If I know Bob, have tracked him down, and know the given trail leads to him, upon coming across it again later would I know its Bob's trail?

Depends on how good your memory was. If you've seen handwriting before are you automatically going to recognize it? A signature? Someone's artwork? Someone's favorite sweater? It depends. I'm sure some people will Godrp that they ALWAYS recognize the signature if they've seen it before. Would that be right? I don't think so. Hopefully most of you wouldn't think so too. MAybe if the sweater had a distinct stain that looked like your uncles nose you'd recognize it right away... but those are special cases.

5- If its possible to make Magecrafted items that function as a Pathfinder, could it be possible to make a Anti-Pathfinding item, one that blocks the reading of ones djed and thus tracking by a Pathfinder, such as a cloak of anti-Pathfinding?(with the assumption in mind that a Pathfinder would likely need to assist in its making)

Im not ruling anything out. The writeup states magecrafters in conjunction to pathfinders might make magecrafting items. Anti-Pathfinding items would be harder. All require hd ticket approval.

6- Would changing into dhani form affect using this magic at all? Or would magical body changes, Dhani, Kelvic, etc, not affect it so long as you still had eyes? (bats might have an issue here)

As stated in the writeup, no this does not effect the ability of a person to use Pathfinding so long as they have functioning natural eyes. Bats won't have an issue. They see naturally in their own way and a lot better than most scientists have historically given them credit for.

[Kyo]

This is so cool! It would be awesome to try to combine with Inavalti.

[Gossamer]

I'm going to have to get my grumpy hat on here a moment.

I've had a TON of requests for permission to learn this. Great right? Wrong. The requests have almost universally have read 'This is sooo perfect for my PC. Can I learn this?" I'm flattered you love the new Lost Discipline, but uh... you realize its perfect for you and a ton of other people.... and yet you are giving me no detail... absolutely zero creative detail on how you are going to learn it. The answer every time in those request cases are going to be NO. We don't give general permissions in the Help Desk. Did you forget that?

We require nice layed out plots! We require well formed ideas! We want to know how you want to go about doing it and why. Wow us. Woo us. Get us on board for your idea. Nothing is easy. There's no high mountain loner that knows Pathfinding thats going to suddenly teach your pc. Your random new puppy is not going to be a pathfinder puppy who loves you so much they teach you. Come on. Think like a storyteller. That's what we are here for! Tell stories. Give us a bit of an outline. Work for it.

I got my first request five minutes after the article was posted (snooping in the wiki much?!?!) and the last one came a few minutes ago. Enoughs enough. Stop asking for permission for a general 'can I learn' and think! Have we ever done that? Nope. Never. Aren't going to start now.