Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[PTTG]

I like it.

Hydro's civilization is naturally centered around natural water flows, but nonetheless they take sensible precautions. It's no good to have an ocean at your disposal if your enemies can heave it up and throw it at you. Water powers everything; it even makes light. Some groups use hydrogen gas lamps fueled by magical electrolysis; other cultures use galvanic cells powered by saltwater, and still others make water into nutritious cultures that support glowing algae.

In order to run this water-based civilization, conduits of water run everywhere. Minor, everyday magic workings call for running water at about a faucet-level water pressure. The speed and volume of the water flow is critical as more exceptional workings are attempted.

Petro has fossilized mana suffusing stone. While any old rock has its own magical reserve, once depleted it remains inert -- recharging only over geological time spans. Metals in pure forms are magical conductors, but not great stores of energy themselves. It is large crystals, and most especially complex, alloyed crystals, that are reliable, recharging energy sources. Artificial gemstones count, but only technology can make them, not magic. A stone like those commonly found in wedding rings would be a sufficient power source for everyday use, with the total mass, symmetry, and "charm" all working together to make more powerful sources. "Charm" refers to the unique qualities of a particular gem, such as impurities that give color, unusual kinds of crystallization, and a few other qualities. Smoked quartz (exposed to radiation in formation, causing dark discoloration) is significantly more powerful than clear, for instance.

Again, only metal and stone can be directly influenced by magic, making Petro mages mostly useless against living obstacles(with the exception of things with mineral shells, I suppose...).

Spirare is the air-aspected mana. It is specifically gasses that are affected, giving this place a more direct form of weather control than Hydro. Mages are unsettling beings here. While Hydro mages make cities, and Petro mages are engineers, Spirare mages are unsettlingly close to devastating forces of nature and direct, personal strangling. They either rule or they live on the very edge of civilization, as they can only rarely use their gifts in a productive way on a personal level -- i.e., in a way that makes money.

There is plenty of household magic, but it's not really though of as such. Creating brief gusts of wind helps start fires and clean up dust, and such mundane uses are in a completely separate ontological category from "breath-takers and stormmakers."

Ignus isn't "Pyro" because Pyro is that worldline where all humans have pyromania, or else there's an actual fire-deity ruling human society. Honestly we didn't stick around long enough to find out for sure.

Anyway, Ignus actually sees Oz particles produced by every oxidation reaction. Even a rusting hunk of metal produces a very faint background mana level. Nonetheless real magic calls for proper, visible flame. Household magic makes use of what are effectively gaslights for flame. In fact, one community uses a self-fueling gaslight that uses its own excess magical energy to split water, an inverted form of Hydro's electrolysis lamps.

What? A party consisting of a mage from each world sent to answer a cosmic summons that forces the four to work together in some other worldline? I mean I GUESS it could work. But who wants to see young masters of manipulating four distinct elements work together, fight together, and eventually learn life lessons together?

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by PTTG

A party consisting of a mage from each world sent to answer a cosmic summons that forces the four to work together in some other worldline? I mean I GUESS it could work. But who wants to see young masters of manipulating four distinct elements work together, fight together, and eventually learn life lessons together?

The problem there is the magic types are based on phenomena unique to each wordline. A slightly different route: Perhaps if there was a fifth character whose power generates mana from the hearts of the living to allow their powers to combine on the new planet (Planet N, or the Capital N Planet).

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

There were thousands of musicals before The Producers.

Yes, but specifically WWII song and dance numbers with Nazis made the direct leap to “Springtime for Hitler and Germany” for me.

[Astromancer]

Try this idea, a world were everybody perceives themselves as on a stage set. The Otherworld, Heaven, Hell, Fairyland, etc, are backstage. Nothing seems different to the visitor, but because everybody is playing to an unseen audience it all works out differently.

[PTTG]

Interesting. I suppose fun stuff happens when outsiders get grabbed by a crowd that then "exits stage right."

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Interesting. I suppose fun stuff happens when outsiders get grabbed by a crowd that then "exits stage right."

The proper direction is "Exit, pursued by a bear". (A Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, Act III)

[Astromancer]

I was thinking of it as a belief system unbacked by reality. However, try this, Heaven and Hell are the audience (Hell is the cheap seats). The reactions of the audience can affect the outcome of the "play." Meanwhile, backstage is...strange. Certainly Fairyland is a part of it, but nowhere near all the weirdness. God is presumed to be the director, at least people say there is a director.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

The proper direction is "Exit, pursued by a bear". (A Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, Act III)

Usually a guy in a bear costume, sometimes elaborate, sometimes really cheap. I do wonder how many worldlines had an actual trained bear used at the Globe in Shakespeare's time.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Usually a guy in a bear costume, sometimes elaborate, sometimes really cheap. I do wonder how many worldlines had an actual trained bear used at the Globe in Shakespeare's time.

Possibly this one - there were bear-baiting (which was a popular thing back then) pits near the Globe Theatre.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Usually a guy in a bear costume, sometimes elaborate, sometimes really cheap. I do wonder how many worldlines had an actual trained bear used at the Globe in Shakespeare's time.

I once saw them use a HUGE marionette as the bear. It was at least eight foot at the shoulder.