Some questions about Arcanist/Scholar lore.

[Gwen]

I've been reading through some older threads so I think I have the grasp on the basics of it all, but there's a few things that I'm not really certain of, or just think could be interesting for potential character ideas.  

 

 

1. 

So if Scholar tomes are different, and contain more text and strategy rather than the symbols required to cast certain spells, how do they actually go about casting spells... Do their tomes contain all the same symbols that they require PLUS the text, or is there something I'm missing there?

Bonus question, what exactly do those strategies/text talk about specifically?

 

2. 

Would it be possible to turn their book itself into a sort of familiar, I'm not really sure on the extent of what they would want to do with it, but I was thinking perhaps something along the lines of having the book try and stay where it needs to be e.g floating instead of needing to be held, or returning to it's owner if it was dropped or knocked away or even just turning to certain pages. 

 

3.

Going back to the symbols required, a lot of people ask if they could cast from memory of the shapes, but what from what I understand it's about the ink used as well, so about if they just had certain spells in tattoo form, or say somehow inscribed or drawn onto the top of rings or other jewellery, I know it wouldn't be an easy thing to create, but it wouldn't be impossible, right?  

 

4.

Lastly just more of a general question which often holds my creativity back, but what is the extent of the type of magic they can produce. Are all the spells tied to a specific school of magic (As the in game spells all seem to be about damage over time spells and such) Would they be able to produce fire or other kind of elemental spells that a thaumaturge could do?

 

Thank you :bouncy:

[Sounsyy]

First off, there's a few lore compilations of mine that I'm going to be referencing extensively, so I'll go ahead and throw those up here. I know that they should answer a couple of your questions outright.

 

-Aether and Magic Lore Compilation Index

-Schools of Magic, Arther Sources, Foci, Channeling Aids, and Aetherial Tattoos

-Arcanum, Carbuncles, and Mealvaan's Gate Lore

-Older Scholar Lore Overview

 

 

1] The tomes likely contain both a wealth of military strategies as well as the glyphs and spells to enact them. The tome of Golbas Rombas, who saved Nym from the Sixth Umbral flood using the Maelstrom stratagem, contained a number of cunning strategies, as well as the means to cast them. As to what, exactly, those texts say specifically, I couldn't tell you. This is probably the best answer you'll find:

 

Anyroad' date=' 'tis a copy o' the Omnilex ye want, a right bleedin' rare grimoire what's supposed to contain all the military tactics ever conceived by man.[/quote']

 

 

2] This came up in a recent thread. Yes, using arcane quickening arts (specifically referred to as Bibliomancy when animating books) on inanimate objects is quite a common practice in Sharlayan. Considering Nym utilized golem magicks and many other types of familiars, it's possible the Sharlayans learned of it via Nymian texts (though that's not to say Mhach and Amdapor didn't also extensively practice golem magicks alongside Nym).

 

 

3] Currently in the realm of headcanon, but theoretically possible. This question gets covered in that second link at the top!

 

 

4] This is another theoretical, but possibly. I think I briefly mentioned it in the very top link, but magic is not static. Mages are always learning, experimenting, and mixing various forms of magic. (Look at Red Mage or Scriptomancy or how the Nymian Scholars originally created faeries as inter-ship messengers before discovering they were really really powerful aetherial beings.)

 

If you want to create a geometry that summons fire, then have your character formulate a geometry that conjures fire! Basically what you learn in game or what you learn from job quests / the soul crystal is what his being taught and proven to work. But beyond that is a wider realm of possibilities.

 

I like to think of it like this: At Hogwarts they teach you the basic spells that everyone knows like expeliarmus, but then you see Dumbledore do all kinds of crazy stuff like giant water bubble or transfiguring flying glass shards into sand. And it becomes obvious that there's still a lot of learning to do beyond your graduation at Hogwarts because they don't teach you that stuff. It's the same with the guilds (and I think 1.0 illustrated this much better as you only got guild-issued quests at lvl 20, 30, and 36). There's stuff they can teach you, but actually going out, improving, and learning new things is done on your own.

 

 

Hope this helps answer your questions! ^^

[Gwen]

4]   This is another theoretical, but possibly. I think I briefly mentioned it in the very top link, but magic is not static. Mages are always learning, experimenting, and mixing various forms of magic. (Look at Red Mage or Scriptomancy or how the Nymian Scholars originally created faeries as inter-ship messengers before discovering they were really really powerful aetherial beings.)

 

If you want to create a geometry that summons fire, then have your character formulate a geometry that conjures fire! Basically what you learn in game or what you learn from job quests / the soul crystal is what his being taught and proven to work. But beyond that is a wider realm of possibilities.

 

I like to think of it like this: At Hogwarts they teach you the basic spells that everyone knows like expeliarmus, but then you see Dumbledore do all kinds of crazy stuff like giant water bubble or transfiguring flying glass shards into sand. And it becomes obvious that there's still a lot of learning to do beyond your graduation at Hogwarts because they don't teach you that stuff. It's the same with the guilds (and I think 1.0 illustrated this much better as you only got guild-issued quests at lvl 20, 30, and 36). There's stuff they can teach you, but actually going out, improving, and learning new things is done on your own.

 

 

Hope this helps answer your questions! ^^

Thank you! I found a couple of the links in older threads but not all of them!

 

And yeah, I figured it was the like your Hogwarts example but I just wasn't really sure if there was any kind of limitations. So going off of that, would you think replicating an exact spell from black/white magic be harder for a arcanist to do as it would be using their own power instead of drawing from outside sources (In most cases)... OR would it in be possible to be more powerful if you had access to a greater pool of aether from a particularly powerful mage than drawing in from nearby sources would allow... If that makes sense (I think what I'm trying to say is in a similar sense to discussing CNJ/WM using their own aether for spells). Or would that also be in the realms of headcannon?

[Sounsyy]

So going off of that, would you think replicating an exact spell from black/white magic be harder for a arcanist to do as it would be using their own power instead of drawing from outside sources (In most cases)... OR would it in be possible to be more powerful if you had access to a greater pool of aether from a particularly powerful mage than drawing in from nearby sources would allow... If that makes sense (I think what I'm trying to say is in a similar sense to discussing CNJ/WM using their own aether for spells). Or would that also be in the realms of headcannon?

 

When specifically talking about Black and White Magic (and even Conjury and Summoning to some extent), the reason they draw from external sources is because the spells they are attempting to cast are too powerful for any one mage to wield safely.

 

So if you're really trying to conjure a meteor using geometries, theoretically it could be done, but someone still has to pay the cost of that spell in aether, which would most likely kill any living person. Arcanists can, to some extent drain aether from the environment or manipulate it into external reservoirs, but everything they cast still has to go through their body/mana. That's the ultimate limiting factor for an arcanist delivering high level forbidden magicks outside of how the magick is designed to be cast.

[Gwen]

When specifically talking about Black and White Magic (and even Conjury and Summoning to some extent), the reason they draw from external sources is because the spells they are attempting to cast are too powerful for any one mage to wield safely.

 

So if you're really trying to conjure a meteor using geometries, theoretically it could be done, but someone still has to pay the cost of that spell in aether, which would most likely kill any living person. Arcanists can, to some extent drain aether from the environment or manipulate it into external reservoirs, but everything they cast still has to go through their body/mana. That's the ultimate limiting factor for an arcanist delivering high level forbidden magicks outside of how the magick is designed to be cast.

Alright good to know, I don't really have any specific spells in mind but more just knowing if it would be possible in general, but that pretty much how I thought it was, just wasn't sure if it was somehow not possible just because it's an arcanist!

 

 

Thanks for the help! :moogle:

[Alastair Helyous]

Lastly just more of a general question which often holds my creativity back, but what is the extent of the type of magic they can produce. Are all the spells tied to a specific school of magic (As the in game spells all seem to be about damage over time spells and such) Would they be able to produce fire or other kind of elemental spells that a thaumaturge could do?

 

 

I'd like to expand a bit on this last part;

It is a known fact that Conjury can actually use the other 3 elements we usually associate with Thaumaturgy and to a certain extent Black Magic. However, in-game we don't see any Conjurer/White Mage flinging a fire ball at enemies due to mere balance choices taken during the production of A Realm Reborn. But, lorewise, just like there are elementals and sprites for Earth, Water and Wind there are those for Fire (as seen in Thanalan), Lightning (as seen in Mor Dhona) and Ice (found all over Coerthas). Thus, a Conjurer would be able to "borrow" Aether from those elements and conjure those aspects of nature.

 

It is also valuable to know that there are more "classes" over Hydaelin than there are available to the player. Take a look at the Chirurgeons found among Ishgardian spellcasters. Effectively they are Conjurers, but they take a completely different approach to their magic since they are trained at the Scholasticate under the watchful eye of the Church. And, depending on how similar to traditional Gridanian conjury and Ishgardian chirurgy are to each other, I like to imagine they are attuned to the element of ice instead of water, for example.

 

In the end, magic is basically Aether being focused or aspected under an element to achieve a desired goal (read: blast one's enemies into oblivion). While exotic, I see no reason why one couldn't call winds of gale to blow an enemy away with Thaumaturgy. The only reason we use the present spells is because we are trained by the Order of Nald'thal who, in their duality philosophy, employ the use of Umbral and Astral properties in magic while the elements of ice, fire and lightning, naturally chosen for funeral rites, are focused for battle properties (and the Thaumaturges are also undertakers and part of the clergy body of the Order of Nald'thal). Using the same principle we have people such as Ser Hermenost the Thunderous, who wields an axe on the battlefield but he is also a skilled mage who devised an unique method of combat that involves imbuing his axe with lightning. An element of Thaumaturgy not being using thaumaturgy-ly.

 

What brings us back to Arcanima. It is obvious an Arcanist can reproduce elemental magic with their arcane geometries. They merely choose to apply them into their familiars instead of using directly on their magic (probably a fossil of their Allagan summoning roots, now long forgotten). But now, if one Arcanist decided to draw a certain shape in their grimoire that happens to aspect Aether into fire, yes they certainly would be fully able to launch flames.