(06-04-2017, 08:03 PM)Valic Wrote:(06-04-2017, 05:21 AM)Valence Wrote: I fear that you are trying to know something akin to why a bard's empyreal arrow isblue-purple-ish rather than red or why a monk's elixir field is blue and not green or red or pink or whatever...For some reason I didn't get a notification when this got responded to, but ty! I mostly asked because of the RDM theory me and some friends made into a google doc (which no one's still responded to yet q.q) because we notice the red mage uses both of those glows for their weapon. Specifically, casting white mana generating skills (veraero/verstone/verholy) makes the conjury/white mage glow while black mana generating skills (verfire/verthunder/verflare) glows the intense purple. So we were wondering what kind of ties that might lead, whether it was how they are bringing about the aether to their weapon to channel or if it's just the element itself.
And I really doubt anyone even among the developers have had a truly thought out answer directly anchored into the lore either. The most probable answer is that of a standard colour association as white with pure, natural, healing magic, and purple as malevolent and/or destructive gloomy magic.
In terms of artistic believability, you could perfectly swap both and have conjury glow purple or even red, and thaumaturgy glow white, but especially in the case of the former, that would probably look very weird to most people, just due to those standard associations. Much like you associate red with danger and green with validation or safety.
Now then, one thing is sure, if the colour is tied to the element being cast, then since both conjury and thaumaturgy aren't limited to a few elements and actually have acces to the full aetherial elemental wheel, then it would probably mean that a conjurer's cane would glow purple when casting fire/ice/thunder and a thaumaturge's rod would glow white when casting earth, water or wind.
I somehow doubt that it's the case, and if there is any reason at all to begin with, I think that the colour is probably more tied to the style of magic and the tools they use to access it, which are diametrically opposed. So, white for a conjurer praying and pleading to elementals to allow them to access nature's bounty, no matter if they try casting Fire/Thunder/Ice ; and purple for a thaumaturge focusing and forcefully channeling their inner aetherial reserves through their weapon, no matter if they try casting Stone/Water/Wind.
I suppose a red mage wouldn't be limited to prayer/elemental pleading and channeling their own aether reserves alone... Unless there's some law/religion/reason being that a person couldn't do both for some reason?
That's interesting.
Although I didn't even consider treating the problem under the aspect of White and Black magics, that are slightly different from their conjury and thaumaturgy counterparts. While Succor/White magic involves a sheer amount of prayers to nature and all the jazz associated with conjury these days due to the padjali legacy and the simple fact that Elementals don't take no shit anymore about slippery uses of that, it is not so certain for Amdapori Succor of old, because prayer and meditation isn't required for Succor to function, unlike conjury: the latter must borrow from the land, thus the meditation, while the former uses a magic that just takes from the planet, much like Black Magic (and both require a soulstone to work properly).
Personally, those colour schemes don't mesh well with my understanding of the lore. We could take them as you say and the game seems to show, as an indication that it's either Stone/Water/Wind (white) or Fire/Thunder/Ice (black) that are being cast, but in terms of elemental mechanics and put in application through the wheel, there is no clear pattern and it makes little sense. Both have astral and umbral elements. Both elements are not diametrically opposed too.
I'm suspecting that if you really require a possible explanation of those colours, then I would guess that everything that requires the use of Black Magic lies on the same principles than thaumaturgy (except the uses doesn't siphon their own aether, they siphon the planet's), thus the purple. And I guess... for some reason, elementals in Gyr Abania don't really mind those red mages to use both black and white magic, so that white magic that lies on a certain elemental allowance (it's their magic after all, produces a white glow...
If Red Magic is really what it claims to be, which is a mixture of Amdapori Succor and Mhachi Black Magic, then its practitioners by definition don't use their personal aether reserves. They should use Hydaelyn's aether. Which also means a certain combination of gems of Shattoto and a White Mage soulstone.
But... Hard to tell, and i'm rather curious to see how the lore in 4.0 will explain that.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu
