[The Sunken Conundrum] Research [Closed]

[Hadrian]

30th Winter, 510 A.V. The stories didn't do the library justice. When the doors opened, he saw the film of water across the threshold like the surface of water when he plied his hydromancy. Instead of making him weary or jumpy as so many of the city's illusions had, it startled a delighted laugh out of him, and he seemed rather a boy again. He reached out to touch the water with a pale, slender hand, his long, tapering fingers made for music or fine, dexterous work. The ripples were soothing somehow, though his hand came away dry. Whatever magic was at work here, illusion or other, was fascinating. When someone grunted, he stepped aside, watching the form disappear into the water, everything beyond the barrier warped by its refraction of light and liquid surface. He looked more closely, his eyes engaging Auristics without needing to blink or focus for an undue amount of time, but it was as he suspected: as was so much of Alvadas, his Vision was confounded. The building glowed with magic, and perhaps a Master Aurist would be able to see through its secrets, but not Hadrian. A lesson in humility, that. He walked through the barrier, reveling in the feel of the water on him, slipping through his clothes to touch every intimate part of him, and yet, apart. He knew that when he exited the building, the water would not come with him. But surely he could not breathe... He began to look around, wondering if he should retreat, when he felt the skin along his ribs itching. His gaze saw through the fabric of his clothes, still enhanced by Auristics and saw that his body had developed gills. He had dabbled a little in Morphing, but he was not capable of this! All the same, he watched how the djed flowed differently around his new gills, wondering if he would be able to work them himself from that model if he went and practiced his Morphing in a swimming pool. Imagine, to go to Mura and swim with the Konti! Or visit the Charoda on their own terms! Then he remembered that one must move for gills to work, she he kicked toward the reference desk and the need to breathe suddenly faded away. He loosened his shirt so more water could get through them, not wanting the cloth to cause a blockage. As a bookish lad growing up, he didn't quite have the skill at swimming that he ought, so it took him an embarrassing amount of time to get over to the reference desk. So long that he was too embarrassed to ask for help, so merely secured some paper and a bit of something to write with. He marveled that the paper wasn't disintegrating in the water, but that would be the same magical logic as protected all those books and scrolls. As he swam inexpertly to the directory, he wondered what would happen if he created some water of his own with hydromancy. Then he wondered what would happen if he went to the restroom to urinate... Then he got the church giggles for a minute, but tried to choke them back when he got to the directory, which he had to grab a hold of so as not to float past. He would get the hang of this swimming thing. After all, he had gills now. He was practically a fish! "Now how do you all organize your books?" he asked rhetorically, perusing the directory. "Magic. Check. Familiary and Summoning, all right. Voiding. Projection, Hypnotism... Hmm. I hope I have enough paper." He began to swim upward.

[Hadrian]

When Hadrian hit his head, his swimming rather dubiously controlled, he decided that the time had come to stop. He flailed around until he was looking the shelf in the right direction, or from the right direction. Whatever. Whether this was illusion or some other powerful magic, he wasn't sure, but reality was strange if not altered. He smiled, quite pleased. His head had hit one of the shelves he was looking for. Pulling out a volume on Projection, he began refreshing his memory. He knew the theory of most magical disciplines from his survey courses at the University, but actually practicing them was another matter. Shaking his head, he put the book back. He was going to have to find a teacher for that, now that Rigil had disappeared without the promised instruction. Pulling himself along the shelf, legs kicking to the side to move him through the water faster, he searched until he found a few promising tomes on the related fields of Summoning, Voiding, and Familiary. The first was a world magic, which meant he would probably do best at that, but Voiding would be so useful, and perhaps if he was meant to be alone in life, he might at least have a Familiar with whom to bond. Was that a weakness? Perhaps. It bore further research, anyway. Gravity was strange in the watery environment, and he remembered that he needed to keep moving so those gills would work. Apparently they just worked better with some of the flow of water taken care of; perhaps it was just psychosomatic. But in his movement, he caught sight of a book on Hypnotism, and collected that as well. Looking in nearly every direction, he found the closest thing to a carrel and pushed off the bookshelf with his feet to swim awkwardly in that direction. He managed to get there and get himself situated without hitting his head, but it felt strange not to sit. Instead, he wrapped his legs around the base of the carrel in order that he should not float away. He laid out paper and the books, and by some stretch of logic, those at least stayed on the desktop without help. He read for hours, taking notes, drawing diagrams. Minimal circles, focused circles, elaborate circles, 3-circles, 5-circles, 6-circles, 8-circles... His mind tried to compute the mathematics involved, and he couldn't help but wonder if another book would have even more options, or perhaps he would eventually discover some. He scribbled down astral coordinates, wishing he had been blessed by Ionu so he could create an illusory model of the other worlds in relation to each other. A star-map. There were worlds with other forms of life, old Alahean outposts, the Diverse... It made one feel small to know that the vastness of Mizahar was not the be all and end all of existence. It also excited Hadrian to no end. And Voiding would be so useful when he had a workshop; he could hold things in stasis in the Void without taking up room. Or he could, possibly learn to open multiple portals and travel from Avanthal to Ahnatep in the blink of an eye! Of course there were dangers. There were always dangers, but one could prepare for danger and reap such benefits! Perhaps it wouldn't be so very bad to have a Familiar, but it looked like he would have to find someone with a Familiar in order to help broker a deal with some other Fyrdenese creature. It was a frightening prospect in some senses; like marrying a woman sight unseen. What if they grew to hate each other? It was, again, a risk. It bore thinking on, in any case. And what breed of familiar to choose? When he got to the book on Hypnotism, he decided that he was too burned out on note taking to continue, and so he merely read that one, skimming over things he already knew, at least in theory, until his eyes lit upon something new.

[Puzzle]

Thread Complete! "What a well made thread we have here." Going to the library by oneself: an activity boring to most, but to the academic it is a joyous necessity. The difficulty is in keeping these kind of things fresh. Alvadas brings the advantage of wonderful illusions that are always good to break proceedings up. Of course, too much and they detract of the essential spirit of research. When it comes to further research (as when one is an academic and magician, there are always to be more research threads), always try to keep things within a framework of plot. One should have fun first and foremost, and never let things become a chore, and if you want to keep research threads fun and exciting, give them either a sense of immediacy or intrigue. The last thing one ever wants is their threads about adventures in a wondrous fantasy world, learning magic and studying arcane secrets, is to have things become pedestrian, which you did a good job of avoiding in this case. I don't blame you for stopping after two posts. It is the sign of a mature artist to know when to commit and quit to a subject matter. Better you give a small thread to grade that was fun and such a little joy to read then drag out some long and tedious post filled with obsessive and obtuse precision, demanding skill-points and lore. I will say though all the humorous musings and thoughts of your character were downright adorable though. Maybe not a basket of puppies, but at least a puppy jaunting over to a full food dish, in terms of cuteness that is. I didn't give you points in Familiary, Voiding, or Summoning on the grounds that you did not do these things, you learned of them. There is always a theoretical component and a practical component. If you had skill in them, this would have been an advancement of your skills, as you would be "a practitioner of Familary/Voiding/Summoning learning about their art." Instead it is "A student of magic learning about another form of magic". That step from zero points in a skill to one point and climbing is a big one, and I hope you understand my reticence in any award of them. If anything, I would say your character is primed to go on to try and attempt them. It certainly shines better when one is first attempting an art that you are less inclined to fail should you already have a strong idea of what to do, backed up by IC consideration and char-sheet-listed lore. I hope that when Hadrian goes on to attempt these forms of magic, he is fruitful and successful, and he grows into a great mage and a deeper character because of it. All in all, good show old chap!   Skills Observation +2 Auristics +1 Swimming +1 Drawing +2 Mathematics +1   Lore Illusions and Divination Wonder and Illusions Negatives of Familiars Summoning Theory Basic Planar Mechanics   Reward Unencrypted astral coordinates of Swalden