02-23-2021, 09:06 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
Mana does not necessarily equal magic and magic does not necessarily equal mana (Thaumatology goes into that for a bit). In the case of Sanctity, it comes from (presumably) cosmic entities, so it is not really aspected mana. In any case, I prefer magic without mana, as I just do not like the standard magic system.
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02-23-2021, 11:15 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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I did say that this is how I did it. I don't like going into those details, so I just use mana-level as a shorthand for "how well does magic work."
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02-24-2021, 04:00 AM | #23 | |||
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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In fact, if you really look at the mechanics of how Mana and Sanctity interact in that setting all that really differs the two is who the spirits ultimately answer to. If they mainly follow the instructions of wizards is is Mana if they manly follow the instructions of the gods it is Sanctity. Fantasy actual goes out of its way to explain this: "Roman religion draws no sharp line between gods and spirits. Gods are very powerful spirits, rulers of independent domains such as the weather or the sea. ... The Latin word for the power of a god is numen. Much of that power is in the spirits who carry out the god’s orders, so numen also means a spirit, or the god himself in the form of a spirit." (F201) This put Isis in a strange position. She is (presumably) a cosmic entity and yet she doesn't use Sanctity but Mana which puts her followers at a distinct disadvantage compared to the followers of other deities who use Sanctity as where Sanctity is high mana is low and via versa. This effectively is what Powers p 181 says: "In some settings, there may be no fundamental distinction between “magical” and “spirit” or even “divine” powers; “magicians” work by commanding or petitioning supernatural beings." While mana doesn't always work that way it clearly does work that way in Roma Arcana Quote:
It is effectively Path/Book method of magic with no mana...and yes that does come off as contradictory.
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02-24-2021, 06:00 AM | #24 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
Mana is a form of energy, not a shorthand for how easy magic is. Otherwise, very high mana would be great (rather than being a disaster waiting to happen). Roma Arcana is just one weird timeline (they have dinosaurs as well), so it is not possible to generalize its features to other timelines. When talking about magic, Thaumatology is a better resource than Fantasy anyway, and Chapter One presents a lot of options for sources of magic, with mana as only one possible source of magic (similar to the sources in Powers).
For example, you could conceptually have magic with use deities as source rather ambient energy as a source, meaning that magic would depend on service to a deity rather than depend on mana. You could then have Flexible Magic, Path/Book, RPM, etc. being based off a divine paradigm rather than a mana-based paradigm. Only individuals who possessed a deity's preferred traits could use their magic and their magical items (pickier deities would also require that the individual worship them). The main point though is that mana might be more common at lower Qs, but magic does not have to be absent from higher Qs. There could be fundamental forces that can be exploited by truly powerful entities and, through them, mortal practitioners. After all, the default vampires of GURPS are functional in timelines without mana, despite the fact that they are obviously supernatural, indicating fundamental forces that operate across timelines that defy easy explanation. |
02-24-2021, 06:00 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
Just because you're not counting mana points doesn't mean that magic doesn't depend on mana.
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02-24-2021, 10:02 AM | #26 | |||
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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[QUOTE=AlexanderHowl;2368725]When talking about magic, Thaumatology is a better resource than Fantasy anyway, and Chapter One presents a lot of options for sources of magic, with mana as only one possible source of magic (similar to the sources in Powers). It also has "In some beliefs, magic requires the involvement of supernatural beings, usually intangible spirits." which is exactly what is going on with Roma Arcana. Quote:
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02-24-2021, 02:42 PM | #27 | |||||
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Lyonese
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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It doesn't fit with their worldview or scientific rationale, so if they can't avoid it they have ways to counter it but they don't embrace it. The idea of them having a anti-magical defense program is appealing, so they could be very well practiced in artificially creating magic resistance. They already have more advanced cliodynamics, targeted echo shifting and only one Transworld enemy, so magic could be Infinities ace, nothing like Merlin but another weapon in the armoury. That said I seem to remember there being a Centrum Iswat type team, could be fanfiction, not sure. Quote:
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I have a soft spot for standard magic, although amongst RPM and sorcery, different flavours.
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02-24-2021, 03:09 PM | #28 | |
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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As the GURPSwiki section on language points out: Languages also drift as time passes. Shakespeare's Early Modern English had a vastly different spelling, meter, and pronunciation then either 20th century American, British, or Australian English does.. More over. this shift can happen over a relatively short time - Late Victorian English has a different grammar, syntax, and rhythm than any of the English of the early 21st century; almost to the point that it is a "foreign" language. Even "dead" languages, like Latin, are not immune to this shift. Take a gander at Chaucer (about 200 years after the divergence) and look at how different Middle English is compared to what we have: "WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt 4 and heeth The tendre croppes, 5 and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open ye, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages:" The only way Centrum can function the way it does is either the development of English (somehow) followed Homeline's path or they ran into close echos to Homeline early on and learned that form of English from them.
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02-25-2021, 04:43 AM | #29 | |
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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02-25-2021, 07:19 AM | #30 | |
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Re: Question about Infinite Worlds and Quantum level
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We have a rough map of the Known Realities with 843 total. OF these 196 (122 described) are in the Q3-5 range. Another 421 realties can be written off as either echos or out side Homeline's range. This leave 226 of which we only have information on 96. That leaves 130 of which we know nothing about.
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