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Sounsyy · **08-03-2013, 12:30 AM**

(08-03-2013, 12:02 AM)Ashren Snow Wrote: I actually totally forgot about the zombie thing, though that doesn't necessarily mean we'll never see anything from Sil'dih again, perhaps we'll encounter it later on as some kind of Necropolis that wants revenge on Ul'dah for what they did, maybe the home of this games version of the Lich boss.

Oh I didn't mean to imply we'd never hear from Sil'dih again. Just confirming that Ul'dah's sister nation Sil'dih was infact wiped out in a war with Ul'dah. But we do see a lot of Sil'dih artifacts and lost architecture in ARR. There's several ancient Sil'dihn ruins in Western and Southern Thanalan. So very likely that we will see more lore revolving around Sil'dih. Also quite possible we'll have a Sil'dihn dungeon involving some undead. That could be a lot of fun.Â

We already have a dungeon in a Gelmorran Ruin and The Wanderer's Palace is a part of Nym, so that leaves Sil'dih as the only dungeon-less lost civilization. For now.

Myxie Tryxle · **08-03-2013, 12:59 AM**

(08-02-2013, 06:22 PM)Evie Wrote: 2) Was there an academy for higher studying of Magics? Think other games like Dragon Age with the Mages academy, or Elder Scrolls with a similar. Or like a graduate school where all the best mages go to study in order to research and share advanced techniques etc etc.

Hi Evie,

As far as the lore of the types of magic goes, the manner in which magic is practiced depends on the type of magic. They describe it a little when you get into the guild quests that each type of magic is practiced very differently. Thaumaturges (and black mages) harness the energy within themselves to create their magic and project it into the world. Conjurers (and white mages) harness the latent magical energies that flow throughout the environment and shape it to their purpose. No clue on Arcanists, as we can't play those yet, but their books suggest their power comes from knowledge of rune words of power/creation or something like that.

I would equate this to the manner in which real world students study science. To say you're a scientist is a blanket term, equivalent to describing yourself as simply "a mage." Most people pick one discipline and study it almost exclusively, becoming biologists, chemists, physicists, etc. For the typical (NPC) student in Eorzea, it would likely take a lifetime of study to master just one of these schools of magic, equivalent to getting a PhD in one of those scientific fields.

If that were the case, trying to put all three types of magic in the same college may be considered unnecessary or even distracting. For the typical student, trying to master all three schools of magic at once could be equivalent to trying to get a PhD in biology, chemistry, and astrophysics at the same time. For exceptionally intelligent individuals (and PCs are exceptional individuals), it could be possible, but for the average student it pretty much guarantees they'll fail at all three when they could succeed if they were trying for just one.

Also, real world colleges tend to specialize to be stronger in one field than another. While a college may offer graduate degrees in biology and chemistry, their bio program could be average compared to other schools while their chemistry department is one of the top 5 in the country. It's likely each of the magic guilds would offer rudimentary instruction into a broad base of magical theory, but that would be introductory and lead into their specialized field. Better to be the top school in one field than average in several.

Not saying it isn't possible. It just may not have been practical up to this point to try and bring study of all three types of magic together because the average (NPC) mage couldn't handle it. The arrival of a wave of super-intelligent or talented PCs could certainly change that.

All of this of course being speculation to rationalize the real reason (game design) where the developers had three schools of magic to divide among three starting cities.

Evie · **08-03-2013, 01:20 AM**

I was thinking more of like a place for those exceptional students to met and trade ideas and thoughts. Kind of like Aristotle's or Socrate's discussions where ideas are shared to the betterment of all branches.

Also there are branches of science that work together, example Biochemistry. So could there be branches of magic that build on one another. WithÂ this it's more curiosity about how the system works then trying to make something crazy for my character idea (just going to keep that one magic type or another.)

FreelanceWizard · **08-03-2013, 01:28 AM**

(08-03-2013, 01:20 AM)Evie Wrote: I was thinking more of like a place for those exceptional students to met and trade ideas and thoughts. Kind of like Aristotle's or Socrate's discussions where ideas are shared to the betterment of all branches.

Also there are branches of science that work together, example Biochemistry. So could there be branches of magic that build on one another. WithÂ this it's more curiosity about how the system works then trying to make something crazy for my character idea (just going to keep that one magic type or another.)

In lore, I'm not personally aware of such a place. The Adventurers' Guilds sort of serve that purpose, but they're not mage-specific.

We do know that the Disciplines of Magic are sufficiently different from each other in method (Thaumaturgy evokes internal Aether, Conjury invokes external Aether from the elements, Arcana uses internal Aether patterned by runes and external Aether drawn from gemstones) and point of view (Thaumaturgy focuses on power, Conjury on unity with and respect for life, and we don't know anything about Arcana yet) that they don't really build on each other; while they can share some spells at somewhat reduced power, greater knowledge in one doesn't translate to superior ability in another mechanically. The Disciplines of Magic share the same power source, more or less, insofar as they rely on shaping Aether into spells, but how they get there is very different.

That said, I expect that a lot of mage players will have their characters poke around at the metaphysics and try to come up with "unified theories of magic," so to speak, that can explain the lore and the game mechanics. My character has one, though of course I don't assert that she's correct OOC.

Myxie Tryxle · **08-03-2013, 02:50 AM**

(08-03-2013, 01:20 AM)Evie Wrote: Also there are branches of science that work together, example Biochemistry. So could there be branches of magic that build on one another. WithÂ this it's more curiosity about how the system works then trying to make something crazy for my character idea (just going to keep that one magic type or another.)

Biochemistry is actually a lot more biology than chemistry, but my view may be biased seeing as how I'm a biologist. I see what you're getting at though.

That's where the cross-class skill slots come in. Not sure how familiar you are with the mechanics of the game, but every five levels you unlock a cross class skill slot. Depending on what class you're playing, you have many choices for what skills to fill them with, but you have to level other classes to unlock the skills themselves (for example, leveling conjury to level 4 unlocks cure, which almost every other class can use as a cross class skill). Just looking at thaumaturge, you have 24 different cross class skills you can unlock, with a maximum of 10 cross class slots to put them in, allowing for a lot of versatility. This is before we even know what skills arcanist brings to the table.

Here's a link to a website with that information for all the class.

Just looking at the list for thaumaturge, seven of their cross class skills are learned from conjury, so you can easily incorporate other magics, but the majority of your power comes from your primary class (17 class skills and 11 traits that boost important attributes or augment specific class skills).

Also of note, when you activate a job, it affects these cross class slots. Your choices become more limited, but the job skills automatically fill in some of the cross class slots (if I understand the mechanic correctly - haven't actually done this in game yet).

Evie · **08-03-2013, 03:28 AM**

[quote pid=40149 dateline=1375512659]
Callipygian
Biochemistry is actually a lot more biology than chemistry, but my view may be biased seeing as how I'm a biologist. Â I see what you're getting at though.

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I got my degree in chemistry and they let me count Biochem as an upper level Chemistry class at my college, since it was very organic chemistry related. All the memorizing!

Â Smile

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes