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]

"I'm not sure how that would work, unless your magic is capable of lots of independent information sorting."

[cardistry]

"Well, yeah, that's just it - I know my magic can handle information, I just don't know what the limits are," he says. "Could be interesting to find out."

[alicornucopia]

"...I am intrigued. What do you currently know about its ability to handle information?"

[cardistry]

"Not a whole lot! And a lot of it's kind of in 'vague guesses' format - my vague guesses are pretty solid, I'm a Device and all, but they're not exactly specific or easy to articulate. Probably the fastest way to start figuring out the details is to sit me in front of a problem and see if I can solve it. Makes the difference between 'I think it can probably handle stuff that's written down pretty well' and, I dunno, 'yes, I can invent a spell to alphabetize books'. That was a random example, but I actually can invent a spell to alphabetize books, the matter manipulation part's almost harder than the sorting."

[alicornucopia]

"Okay, so - I can get ahold of books that mention channeling capacity while excluding those that just mention it offhand because they're spellbooks, with standard library spells. What I can't do with standard library spells is distinguish the ones that have interesting results."

[cardistry]

"Hmm," he says. "Well, what makes results interesting? What kinds of books have you gone through so far?"

[alicornucopia]

"So far no results are interesting, so I don't have any positive examples for your magic to take as training data. Kinds of books are generally going to be research anthologies or theory essays."

[cardistry]

"Hmmm... I wonder how well my magic can summarize," he says. "Might have to try it to see. Summarize and compare - pick out stuff like different research that did basically the same things and got basically the same answers."

[alicornucopia]

"That sounds very interesting. Wizardry does not currently have affordances for that."

[cardistry]

"Wanna go show me some books?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah, sure." Kaylo swallows the last bite of his sandwich and heads for the lift.

[cardistry]

Brilliance is not quite done his ice cream. Omnomnomnomnomnomnom now he is done his ice cream! He does a quick teleport to catch up to Kaylo.

[alicornucopia]

Kaylo snorts slightly, and tells the lift to take them to the library when they're in it.

Here is the library. It has many books in it.

[cardistry]

"Hmm," he says. "Okay, bring me your list of books that mention channeling capacity the right way?"

[alicornucopia]

"...will my bibliography do or do you need the actual books?"

[cardistry]

"If getting the books is easy for you, it'll make things easier," he says. "Just while I'm figuring it out, so I don't have to mess around with an extra layer of search to physically find them and then an extra teleport or flight to bring the targeted ones. Why, is it a big stack?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah, kinda, I've had this project on the back burner for a few years."

[cardistry]

He shrugs. "Will it all physically fit on a table?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes."

[cardistry]

"Then it'll be easier to work with 'em stacked on a table than scattered around a bunch of shelves. At least until I figure out what the hell I'm doing."

[alicornucopia]

"Okay." Kaylo digs out his bibliography, then casts a spell on it. Books start flying at them and piling themselves on the nearest table.

[cardistry]

"Nice," he says, watching the books assemble.

Then he sits at the table and starts designing a spell.

[alicornucopia]

"Do you need anything else?" Kaylo asks.

[cardistry]

"Mm, don't think so. Just the books..."

He waits for the books to finish coming in. Then: "Read," he says, and his spell diagram unfolds beneath the pile. A thin film of rainbow-coloured mana rises to cover the books, gradually, starting at the bottom layer and working its way up. As each book is completed, it flashes slightly. Brilliance looks lost in thought.

[alicornucopia]

Kaylo decides to stand back and supervise and not ask further questions or touch the books till it looks like Brilliance is done.