chalk

[alicornucopia]

In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.

In unison, they complete their shared spell.

~~~

with Adarin (Aestrix)

with Ekador (kappa)

with Brilliance (kappa)

with the admin (kappa)

with Teah (kappa)

with Katran (lambda)

with Hall (kappa)

with Joy (kappa)

with Kalinda (Christy Hotwater)

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah, the reactivity I have in mind will activate if they touch the circle, so enough water for them to swim close and put a hand on it will do. And there can be a watermage or maybe just a spell to make hovering water on the Elcenian end, and a canal, and we make sure they line up, and they can get into the ocean from there, and maybe if they live in the opposite corner of the world they have a bit of a trip but at least they aren't drowning. Size I'm thinking they'd need maybe ten percent of its area in a blob near an edge."

[ending_of]

"How large do you mean your circle or circles to be? I will need to create a suitable place to put them."

[alicornucopia]

"About the length of this room in radius. There's no compelling reason to have them near each other if that makes layouts more convenient or whatever."

[ending_of]

"It seems most convenient to have them in the same room but separated by some distance. A transit station in the upper base level of the tower should be suitable. It will connect to the indexed catacomb transit, and to the upper and lower Tower Stations."

[alicornucopia]

"That would probably sound great if I knew what those places were."

[ending_of]

"My domain is bisected by an extremely tall cliff. At the arbitrarily chosen centerpoint of the cliff, there is a tall tower. It reaches from the bottom of the cliff to the top and then that distance again up into the air. The transit systems of the upper and lower levels are distinct, and each has a separate station at its own level of the tower, called Tower Station in both cases. The catacombs are the complex of tunnels and rooms in which the unwoken dead are stored until waking. They radiate outward from the tower, beginning at the upper base level, which is just under ground level for the high side of the cliffs. I intend to create an indexed transit system for them, which will have its hub in a room containing your circles. Transit systems work by teleportation in a way that seems similar in some respects to your teleportation circles, except more convenient and organized."

[alicornucopia]

"Arbitrarily chosen centerpoint? Is it infinite?" asks Kaylo.

[ending_of]

"Yes."

[alicornucopia]

"Coooool. Okay, so yeah, as long as there's uniquely defined sufficient space in your domain - does it not have a name besides 'your domain'? - then the caster will be able to aim the scry that handles that end's reactivity in just fine. The spell will technically all be located in and working from Elcenia; wizardry doesn't play nice in other worlds."

[ending_of]

"The two levels have been nicknamed Downside and Upside respectively, but my domain as a whole is nameless. Is wizardry the type of magic related to the numeric quantity attached to Elcenians?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes. It is that thing. The numeric quantity is called channeling capacity and if you are about to tell me you can screw around with CC for fun and profit I will become very annoyed that you are too warded to high-five."

[ending_of]

She grins.

"It is possible that I could," she says. "But the numeric quantity is associated with an entity whose minimum lifespan equates to that of this universe, and I cannot communicate with it directly or predict its reaction if it notices the numbers changing."

[alicornucopia]

"Wizarding reservoir," says Kaylo. "...By entity what exactly do you mean?"

[ending_of]

"I can perceive that it has a mind which makes decisions, but not very much more beyond that."

[alicornucopia]

"Of all the ridiculous insane teeth-grinding things you could have told me? 'The Sand Dusk Chanters are right' was not high on my list of guesses."

[ending_of]

"Who are the Sand Dusk Chanters?"

[alicornucopia]

"They're this ridiculous little cult that took some specious, methodologically laughable research suggesting that the reservoir was sentient and concluded that they ought to worship it," says Kaylo, sounding like he's talking from under seven hundred pounds of weapons-grade exasperation. "I might have to actually talk to one in order to get ahold of some of their 'prayer spells' in order to let you talk to it. Although I think their best spells only convince it to give you weird colors and stuff."

[ending_of]

"Does this," she inquires, "mean that you do not want to high-five me after all?"

[alicornucopia]

"It's hardly your fault that a weird little cult happens to have extracted about half a correct guess from some solider literature," sighs Kaylo.

[ending_of]

She grins again.

[alicornucopia]

"Are you likely to be able to make anything of it if I cast one of their prayer spells on you and the reservoir makes you see colors in response to things you say?"

[ending_of]

"I do not know. It seems unlikely to have much depth as a communication method."

[alicornucopia]

"Maybe they've gotten it to do other things too, although I'm pretty sure if they'd gotten it to say anything much that'd be in the news. I'm going to have to talk to one. I'm going to have to pretend to respect their beliefs, probably. Ugh. It's worth a try," he sighs.

[ending_of]

"It occurs to me," she says after a moment, "that unlike most species, yours has no natural settling point for the aging process. It seems potentially convenient to make the young dead able to age normally, but at what point should they stop? I assume it would not be convenient if they continued growing indefinitely."

[alicornucopia]

"Uh, yeah, that would get really inconvenient after a few more thousand years. I guess we should stop no later than four thousand years. Never having exceeded twenty feet nose to tail myself I'm not sure if it should be earlier than that given the choice... could ask Mom and Dad after I fetch them, though."