So... one of the problems is that a lot of the metaphysics of the world of XIV aren't very well explained. There's some pretty core metaphysics that are extremely different between 1.0 and 2.0, not fully explained, or simply not explained at all. Add into that the slow reveals each patch about Primals, Ascians, and the Echo, and you have a game that really just glosses over most of magic theory with a, "Hey, this is Final Fantasy. People use magic, okay?" Much of metaphysics in XIV -- including what MP represents, what "spells" represent (discrete magical works like in D&D? Common effects like in Mage: the Ascension? Are they taught? Intuited? Can you make your own?), how key an implement is to casting -- falls into the category of grey areas of lore.
The trick to grey areas of lore is that we can't try to say, "this is how this must be," because doing so steps on the ability of other RPers to play what they want. Consider one grey area of arcanima lore -- the personality and behavior of pets. A lot of RPers play their carbuncles as having personalities, emotions, and "pet-like" behaviors that vary from "guardian" to "lap dog." There's a little bit of support for this from the NPCs in the training circle of the arcanists' guild, but there's support against it in that it never gets mentioned by any of the trainers (if arcanists were typically snuggling with their carbuncles all the time, some NPC would probably say something about that
). No explicit statement is made either way, so we have an opportunity for characters to differentiate themselves and for players to interpret the lore differently. L'yhta's carbuncles, for instance, are purely aetheric constructs that have no personality. They're basically a very persistent spell for her, not a magic puppy that follows her around. How do I reconcile the different approaches? OOC, I recognize it's a grey area and accept that others will want to play different things that still mesh with the lore. IC, L'yhta views this as an area ripe for research, and uses it to surmise that summoning spells build their physical pattern partially from the thought patterns of their summoner; the spell quite literally, so she believes, creates the summon its summoner wants, down to the personality (or lack thereof) of the construct.
LiadansWhisper makes an excellent point, which is that no one really has the authority to say what the "right answer" is in these grey areas of lore, and magic in XIV is full of such areas. IMO, the best way to go is to come up with a metaphysical system that works with lore and with your character, and have that be the way your character views and approaches magic. We might call it a "paradigm," to lift a term from Mage: the Ascension. You can then use this as a springboard for RP with other magically inclined characters, as you discuss your different theories on how a clearly poorly understood force operates. Remember: no matter how awesome Eorzea's mages may seem, they clearly are only scratching the surface of what was known and done during the War of the Magi and the Allagan Empire (e.g., cloning, capturing Primals to power magical devices, controlling the minds of dragons, stopping time, giant unbreakable magical barriers, Ultima). They're like alchemists compared to today's quantum chemists.
The trick to grey areas of lore is that we can't try to say, "this is how this must be," because doing so steps on the ability of other RPers to play what they want. Consider one grey area of arcanima lore -- the personality and behavior of pets. A lot of RPers play their carbuncles as having personalities, emotions, and "pet-like" behaviors that vary from "guardian" to "lap dog." There's a little bit of support for this from the NPCs in the training circle of the arcanists' guild, but there's support against it in that it never gets mentioned by any of the trainers (if arcanists were typically snuggling with their carbuncles all the time, some NPC would probably say something about that
). No explicit statement is made either way, so we have an opportunity for characters to differentiate themselves and for players to interpret the lore differently. L'yhta's carbuncles, for instance, are purely aetheric constructs that have no personality. They're basically a very persistent spell for her, not a magic puppy that follows her around. How do I reconcile the different approaches? OOC, I recognize it's a grey area and accept that others will want to play different things that still mesh with the lore. IC, L'yhta views this as an area ripe for research, and uses it to surmise that summoning spells build their physical pattern partially from the thought patterns of their summoner; the spell quite literally, so she believes, creates the summon its summoner wants, down to the personality (or lack thereof) of the construct.LiadansWhisper makes an excellent point, which is that no one really has the authority to say what the "right answer" is in these grey areas of lore, and magic in XIV is full of such areas. IMO, the best way to go is to come up with a metaphysical system that works with lore and with your character, and have that be the way your character views and approaches magic. We might call it a "paradigm," to lift a term from Mage: the Ascension.
You can then use this as a springboard for RP with other magically inclined characters, as you discuss your different theories on how a clearly poorly understood force operates. Remember: no matter how awesome Eorzea's mages may seem, they clearly are only scratching the surface of what was known and done during the War of the Magi and the Allagan Empire (e.g., cloning, capturing Primals to power magical devices, controlling the minds of dragons, stopping time, giant unbreakable magical barriers, Ultima). They're like alchemists compared to today's quantum chemists.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
