(07-13-2014, 10:15 AM)岡本 秀樹 Wrote: Because while I have hardly researched I also have not seen a guide on magic right in my face, and you would think it would be rather relevant in a world dependent on magic.
Actually, the reason you haven't seen a good guide is that getting roleplayers to agree on anything is pretty much like trying to herd cats - an endeavor that will only end in tears and alcohol.
Quote: But I would like to as a community acollect all the information on Aether and magic and formulate it into a guide with community bound laws and guidelines to help guide players when it comes to magic characters and their capabilities using the lore as much as is there and logical reasoning for the rest.
The entire community is not on these forums as is. Â And the community that is on these forums really doesn't agree on much of anything. Â It's going to be very hard - or more likely impossible - to get everyone to agree together on a set of rules for "how to use magic." Â Everyone is different, and honestly, each player is free to play their character however they like.
Quote:It is somewhat well known the Garleans do drink tea cheerfully with the primals.
I think you mean, "The Garleans want to slaughter any and all Primals forever and ever."
Quote:(Side question. What are elementals? Embodied aether that took a control of a certain element of its environment and started hovering around aimlessly?)
We don't know. Â It's not stated. Â We do know that the Elementals of the Shroud are not aimless, but that's about it.
Quote:There could be animals in game that can use magic too, but I do not know of any and regardless it does not really change the nature of the question, what allows some of them to use magic and what restricts others? Are the bodies of some simply rejecting of Aether in large amounts? Or is it an environmental adaptation? Are all creatures able to use magic but some simply not smart enough to use it? Then what about Garleans? Garleans are just as smart as everyone else but yet they still can't use magic themselves.
The short answer is, "We don't know." Â It's never explained.
Quote:One explanation I tried to come up with myself is that sense the center of Eorzea is on the the biggest Aether hot spots in the world that it allowed are bodies to adapt over time and be able to control large amounts of aether, enough to be able to cast a spell at least. But for Garleans where they grew up Aether was not overly abundant in the air as it would be in Eorzea or Othard so their bodies did not adjust to be able to use the amount of aether needed to cast a spell. It makes you wonder if a Eorzean were to go to Garlemald and cast a spell what exactly would happen with the significantly smaller air-aether content. If it would even cast at all? But we don't know and it is simply a far out there guess of mine.
Considering that Garlemald was surrounded by kingdoms where people had no problem using magic (which actually put them at a severe disadvantage prior to "re-discovering" magitek, I don't think your theory holds up. Â The Garlean inability to harness their own aether appears to be a genetic quirk.
Quote:Another thing is Aether in its solidified form seems to be crystal, or in massive condensed amounts it turns things to crystal. I am not really sure. And we know that is is possible to extract this aether and turn it into energy to power magitek. But to what degree does crystal actually affect magic. If you were touch a giant aether infested crystal then cast a spell would it be amplified by the greater power source? Could ones body even HANDLE that much aether flowing through them to cast a spell? How much CAN a persons body handle aether wise? You would think there is a limit. Can some races handle larger amounts of aether better than others? (Like in the Garleans case?) What would happen if you cast a spell ON a crystal? Would it absorb it? Or perhaps explode with energy like putting fire to gun powder?
I don't think levels are ever given. Â If you're practicing Thaumaturgy, you need to have some kind of aetheric reserves naturally or the magic can kill you because of how it's used (you draw on your own aether). Â The magic that Arcanists and Conjurers use, however, is simply drawn from the aether around them, and there does not appear to be a limit to how much they can channel - although Conjury is limited, it is not limited by the person casting it. Â It's limited by the Elementals who won't let mortal men draw on more than just a small fraction of Succor.
Quote:Also a topic to touch upon is the actual USING of magic. It seems impossible to use magic without casting something normally through a medium of some sort like an arcanist's book of geometric shapes and jibber jabber or a Conjurers big wooden stick.
Selphie, an NPC in the Conjurer questline, casts Conjury multiple times without ever using a wand or staff. Â She simply stretches her hand out. Â She has a wand on her, but she doesn't pick it up.
Quote:Most also take time to cast. What is actually going on? And how does one actually CAST magic? Does it really require a medium? as from what I know Black mages pull from the "Black" or something and that does not seem to require a medium to cast other than ones own body. (Another side question; What is the black and what is the void? They seem like awkward cousins of aether that I definitely do not understand.)
It's not really explained in game. Â The Black is the void, however, as far as I know.
Quote:I am pretty sure I have seen people roleplay for arcanists as having to write intricate geometric shapes/symbols into a book to activate a cast. But why do they have to do this? It seems like with conjurors they can just cast from surrounding aether (*Does not know how a conjuror works*) and wouldn't it be far easier just to do what they do? Or does pulling from raw aether outside of a pretty symbolized medium require a stronger body handling of aether that would prove too difficult to some so they are forced to revert to arcanist methods. For all I know arcanist magic and conjuror magic could have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with aether and each other. Although I hope they would because it would be a whole hell of a lot more confusing if they were not at least distantly related.
Arcanists use math to make magic from the aether around them. Â It's just how that particular class of magick-users works. Â It's explained fairly well (though not in-depth) in the Arcanist questline, which I encourage you to experience. Â As for Conjurers, they draw from the aether (lifeforce) around them. Â The magic that Arcanists cast is unrelated to the magic that Conjurers cast. Â Conjurers draw from Succor, or White Magic, but are only granted access to a very small part of that magic by the Elementals of the Shroud (who are policing the use of Conjury and White Magic). Â Arcanists simply draw from ambient aether, as far as I can tell.
Quote:Another thing is (I may be a bit redudent here I am kind of forgetting what I have already gone over) is to what DEGREE you can harness the aether and turn it into magic with. Primal's seem to ABSORB aether and get extremely powerful. Dalamund as it was getting dragged towards Hydaelyn was also sucking up a crap ton of aether from the planet itself as the elder primal Bahamut fed of its energy correct. How much can a primal actually hold? Could it absorb the whole planet? Or would it eventually break down from the absolutely insane amount of aether? There must be some limit as to how much a person or primal can take even if it is just a certain amount of the surrounding air content otherwise what stops a primal from being a aetherical black hole and just sucking all the aether from the planet whenever is spawns? To what degree is it limited? And more importantly to what degree is it limited on a player? In the intro cut scene you see the old archon dude build a extremely huge badass shield that protects from Bahamuts mega flares of awesomeness, what allows him to get THAT powerful? And what kept him from being powerful enough to hold it and it eventually shattering his staff. Was it his staff that was just an insanely powerful medium and him controlling it well? Or did he actually have the ability to control aether to that extent? If the former does this mean that even an amatuer in magic could do MASSIVE destruction if given a medium that could handle it? Or is there actually personal limitations depending on how long you have practiced using it. Is it like a muscle in that the more you stress it at a steady and organized pace the stronger it gets and will grow? But even muscles have limitations... Don't they?
No idea.
Quote:I kind of wonder the science of magic and what you can actually do with it and what you can't do with it. You can conjure elements with it. You can heal wounds with it. But to what degree? Do you have to be able to see/imagine what you are doing? Meaning if you want to cast a fireball do you imagine the aether surrounding your hand combusting then controlling it from there? And for healing does it only heal injuries you can visibly see and imagine healing? Which is why more grievous injuries require more concentration to imagine repairing all the damadge done and why for some people it is supposedly difficult to repair damaged vocal chords because I mean, how to you imagine repairing damaged vocal chords? I do not even know what they look like! Or is it something ENTIRELY different?
We don't know, and every player is different. Â There is no right or wrong answer here.
Quote:Ahh... I can't really think of much more at the moment (*has stayed up all night and is very tired*) But I know there is definitely more questions that could be asked and I highly encourage anyone and everyone who has a question about aether and magic and their abilities to post it in the comments. Not all these questions have answers in the lore I am sure. But I would like to learn everything there is to know about magic that is IN the lore then fill in the blanks with as I said before, community decided guidelines that make sense until SE releases an official explanation. So any facts you find. Post them! Educate the rest of the people like me so that way next time I talk aether I can actually feel like I slightly know what I am talking about! And any suggestions for how the grey areas of aetherical lore work should ALSO be posted! As any and all ideas are welcome in the pursuit of order and greater knowledge of how things work in this world of magical beauty.
I hope that if we can get enough information and fill in the blanks with our own we can make a guide on Aether and magic with how it works that can be somewhat understandable and help guide RPers in how to use and handle magic. It might help avoid those situations where under one characters logic it seems impossible to heal a broken bone instantiously while under others they can instantly heal a whole BODY of broken bones to somewhat good health. Then there is conflict on who is magically correct in their healing abilities. I would also still love to hear answer to the title question. I apologize for this being a giant thread of questions but I merely want to get the best understanding of Aether/magic that I can.
The thing is, everyone isn't going to agree on which magic is kosher, and which magic is not. Â No one is "magically correct" or "magically incorrect." There are no real rules or guidelines, and no one here has the right to create them. Â People are allowed to play what they want, and if you don't like someone's style of magic, you don't have to play with them.
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