Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

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BadFoMo
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Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#1 Post by BadFoMo »

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Menke
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#2 Post by Menke »

Reni is quite possibly the only dragon I've ever seen who it would make sense for her to say, "I think they're neat."

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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#3 Post by Deaththekat »

RENI'S LITTLE SMILE IS SO [censored] CUTE AHHHHHHHHHHHH



Also, poor Karen, I'm sure Reni will give you a ride one day.
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Ddraig
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#4 Post by Ddraig »

Deaththekat wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:19 am RENI'S LITTLE SMILE IS SO [censored] CUTE AHHHHHHHHHHHH
It absolutely is. Reni is great!

Also, poor Karen, I'm sure Reni will give you a ride one day.
*hides the perv box*
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#5 Post by Elemental Templar »

Magical gate key + magical hot-spot = instant transport! Also given how Raine said that the spring could cause fluctuations, does anyone else wonder if they might overshoot their destination? (or at the very least end up teleporting without their clothes? :wink: :wink: )
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leinglo
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#6 Post by leinglo »

Does that thing work by detecting the home someone has magically registered to them (or something), or does it detect the place you actively consider home? If it's the first, then I guess there shouldn't be any problem so long as Trace still has a magical connection to the estate, but if it's the second...well that key could take them anywhere, or not work at all. As he is now Trace doesn't really have a settled home, does he?

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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#7 Post by Panther »

Elemental Templar wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:46 am Magical gate key + magical hot-spot = instant transport! Also given how Raine said that the spring could cause fluctuations, does anyone else wonder if they might overshoot their destination? (or at the very least end up teleporting without their clothes? :wink: :wink: )
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#8 Post by Deaththekat »

Ddraig wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:24 am *hides the perv box*

BAD. NO PERV BOX FOR KAREN OR RENI. THEY ARE TOO CUTE FOR THAT
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NuclearBird
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#9 Post by NuclearBird »

Huh. That gate key thing SEEMS like it would be exploitable.
Spoiler! Ramblings on the mechanics of magic
It teleports to the place the current holder considers home. That means that it interfaces with the mind, specifically memories, of the user. That's not concerning, since magic is expected to do that. Now HOW it manages to determine the home location is where it gets interesting. See, memory works on a basis of assigning emotional impressions on the echo of sensory input. That means your memories are actually just phantom information cobbled together by your brain to resemble past sensory input, based on how they affect you emotionally. The more an input affects you, the stronger the memory. Having a home, a place you consider FAMILIAR, a place of SAFETY and perhaps SOLACE, must leave a distinct impression, nevermind the convoluted explanation that can be given by the Law of Contagion, Law of Identificaion and Law of Relevance, all subsets of the Law of ASSOCIATION[1].

This means that the gate key homes in on the user's memories of home, AND executes a teleport spell/ritual in one go. The trigger for this seems to be tapping, or slamming the thing on the ground, aside from the requisite mental trigger needed for magic. A straightforward mode of operation.

So, how can we make this a balanced and not story-breaking object? Simple. It obviously has a limited power suply. That giant crystal on it must be where it stores the mana needed and the working medium of the magic. Consequently, it must have a limited range and mass it can transport, since if it were able to teleport you across thhe continent then any notion of the perils of long distance travel for high value targets becomes NULL. This means that the current situation on this page can only come about BECAUSE the group is close to Legacy Estate. I assume if they were farther away, then it would not work.

Otherwise you would have a problem with storytelling, speciffically creating tension, since if these things were even in limited availibility, then it would make things extremely complicated for both sides. Yet we see that this key is possessed by RENI, who said she collects these things. We can assume that these things aren't exactly common, since teleporting is a VERY complicated piece of work in any setting. This implies without implying that gate keys must be EXTRMELY RARE, reserved for high ranking and high value individuals, like kings, high templars and DRAGON PRINCESSES.

Huh. Well, that wraps it up quite well.
We seem to have a bulletproof case for a powerful, limited use bit of magic that will affect the plot only for a limited duration. I hope.

[1]: Link for those interested:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... awsOfMagic
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/S ... agicSystem
If the universe is infinite, does that mean that there is a version of me out there who's thinking the exact same thing?

While we're on the topic of alternate universes, is there one where I'm a lawyer? If yes, then I may be more evil than I thought.

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leinglo
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#10 Post by leinglo »

NuclearBird wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:44 am It teleports to the place the current holder considers home. That means that it interfaces with the mind, specifically memories, of the user. That's not concerning, since magic is expected to do that. Now HOW it manages to determine the home location is where it gets interesting. See, memory works on a basis of assigning emotional impressions on the echo of sensory input. That means your memories are actually just phantom information cobbled together by your brain to resemble past sensory input, based on how they affect you emotionally. The more an input affects you, the stronger the memory. Having a home, a place you consider FAMILIAR, a place of SAFETY and perhaps SOLACE, must leave a distinct impression, nevermind the convoluted explanation that can be given by the Law of Contagion, Law of Identificaion and Law of Relevance, all subsets of the Law of ASSOCIATION[1].
But again, that raises an issue. Amnesiac Trace doesn't have any memories of his old home, or any home at all, for the key to interface with. With the page cutting off just as the key is apparently being activated, I'm betting it will end up malfunctioning and either:
a. teleport the group to a completely random location,
b. teleport the group back to Eric's ship, as that's been the one single residence Trace has spent the most time in,
or c. the key will just blow up.

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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#11 Post by NuclearBird »

leinglo wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:32 am
NuclearBird wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:44 am It teleports to the place the current holder considers home. That means that it interfaces with the mind, specifically memories, of the user. That's not concerning, since magic is expected to do that. Now HOW it manages to determine the home location is where it gets interesting. See, memory works on a basis of assigning emotional impressions on the echo of sensory input. That means your memories are actually just phantom information cobbled together by your brain to resemble past sensory input, based on how they affect you emotionally. The more an input affects you, the stronger the memory. Having a home, a place you consider FAMILIAR, a place of SAFETY and perhaps SOLACE, must leave a distinct impression, nevermind the convoluted explanation that can be given by the Law of Contagion, Law of Identificaion and Law of Relevance, all subsets of the Law of ASSOCIATION[1].
But again, that raises an issue. Amnesiac Trace doesn't have any memories of his old home, or any home at all, for the key to interface with. With the page cutting off just as the key is apparently being activated, I'm betting it will end up malfunctioning and either:
a. teleport the group to a completely random location,
b. teleport the group back to Eric's ship, as that's been the one single residence Trace has spent the most time in,
or c. the key will just blow up.
Or all of the above. Magic, as it turns out can be rather unpredictable when not fulfilling its intended function. A lot like electricity, now that I think about it.
If the universe is infinite, does that mean that there is a version of me out there who's thinking the exact same thing?

While we're on the topic of alternate universes, is there one where I'm a lawyer? If yes, then I may be more evil than I thought.

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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#12 Post by yaytime »

i bet it just ends up sending trace to Reni's home and then every one else has to try and sort it out some how.
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#13 Post by Panther »

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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#14 Post by Ddraig »

NuclearBird wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:44 am Huh. That gate key thing SEEMS like it would be exploitable.
Spoiler! Ramblings on the mechanics of magic
It teleports to the place the current holder considers home. That means that it interfaces with the mind, specifically memories, of the user. That's not concerning, since magic is expected to do that. Now HOW it manages to determine the home location is where it gets interesting. See, memory works on a basis of assigning emotional impressions on the echo of sensory input. That means your memories are actually just phantom information cobbled together by your brain to resemble past sensory input, based on how they affect you emotionally. The more an input affects you, the stronger the memory. Having a home, a place you consider FAMILIAR, a place of SAFETY and perhaps SOLACE, must leave a distinct impression, nevermind the convoluted explanation that can be given by the Law of Contagion, Law of Identificaion and Law of Relevance, all subsets of the Law of ASSOCIATION[1].

This means that the gate key homes in on the user's memories of home, AND executes a teleport spell/ritual in one go. The trigger for this seems to be tapping, or slamming the thing on the ground, aside from the requisite mental trigger needed for magic. A straightforward mode of operation.

So, how can we make this a balanced and not story-breaking object? Simple. It obviously has a limited power suply. That giant crystal on it must be where it stores the mana needed and the working medium of the magic. Consequently, it must have a limited range and mass it can transport, since if it were able to teleport you across thhe continent then any notion of the perils of long distance travel for high value targets becomes NULL. This means that the current situation on this page can only come about BECAUSE the group is close to Legacy Estate. I assume if they were farther away, then it would not work.

Otherwise you would have a problem with storytelling, speciffically creating tension, since if these things were even in limited availibility, then it would make things extremely complicated for both sides. Yet we see that this key is possessed by RENI, who said she collects these things. We can assume that these things aren't exactly common, since teleporting is a VERY complicated piece of work in any setting. This implies without implying that gate keys must be EXTRMELY RARE, reserved for high ranking and high value individuals, like kings, high templars and DRAGON PRINCESSES.

Huh. Well, that wraps it up quite well.
We seem to have a bulletproof case for a powerful, limited use bit of magic that will affect the plot only for a limited duration. I hope.

[1]: Link for those interested:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... awsOfMagic
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/S ... agicSystem
It's also possible that the act of setting up a gate (as Reni mentioned in panel 4 here) leaves a magical marker/roadmap/address/whatever on the person setting it up (perhaps similarly to how waypoints work; reference Natani setting up a waypoint on the Na'rella(sp?) back on the Isle) and that the staff reads that to know where to send someone(s). That doesn't much change the get-out-of-jail-free-card-ness of the staff, but it does bypass the memory/mind interface.

Also, do we have an idea of where Morlin Hall is? That would give us a reference for a minimum range of the staff. My gut suggests it's probably on the mountain somewhere.
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Re: Comic for March 1, 2018: Magic Stick!

#15 Post by NuclearBird »

Ddraig wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:32 pm
NuclearBird wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:44 am Huh. That gate key thing SEEMS like it would be exploitable.
Spoiler! Ramblings on the mechanics of magic
It teleports to the place the current holder considers home. That means that it interfaces with the mind, specifically memories, of the user. That's not concerning, since magic is expected to do that. Now HOW it manages to determine the home location is where it gets interesting. See, memory works on a basis of assigning emotional impressions on the echo of sensory input. That means your memories are actually just phantom information cobbled together by your brain to resemble past sensory input, based on how they affect you emotionally. The more an input affects you, the stronger the memory. Having a home, a place you consider FAMILIAR, a place of SAFETY and perhaps SOLACE, must leave a distinct impression, nevermind the convoluted explanation that can be given by the Law of Contagion, Law of Identificaion and Law of Relevance, all subsets of the Law of ASSOCIATION[1].

This means that the gate key homes in on the user's memories of home, AND executes a teleport spell/ritual in one go. The trigger for this seems to be tapping, or slamming the thing on the ground, aside from the requisite mental trigger needed for magic. A straightforward mode of operation.

So, how can we make this a balanced and not story-breaking object? Simple. It obviously has a limited power suply. That giant crystal on it must be where it stores the mana needed and the working medium of the magic. Consequently, it must have a limited range and mass it can transport, since if it were able to teleport you across thhe continent then any notion of the perils of long distance travel for high value targets becomes NULL. This means that the current situation on this page can only come about BECAUSE the group is close to Legacy Estate. I assume if they were farther away, then it would not work.

Otherwise you would have a problem with storytelling, speciffically creating tension, since if these things were even in limited availibility, then it would make things extremely complicated for both sides. Yet we see that this key is possessed by RENI, who said she collects these things. We can assume that these things aren't exactly common, since teleporting is a VERY complicated piece of work in any setting. This implies without implying that gate keys must be EXTRMELY RARE, reserved for high ranking and high value individuals, like kings, high templars and DRAGON PRINCESSES.

Huh. Well, that wraps it up quite well.
We seem to have a bulletproof case for a powerful, limited use bit of magic that will affect the plot only for a limited duration. I hope.

[1]: Link for those interested:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... awsOfMagic
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/S ... agicSystem
It's also possible that the act of setting up a gate (as Reni mentioned in panel 4 here) leaves a magical marker/roadmap/address/whatever on the person setting it up (perhaps similarly to how waypoints work; reference Natani setting up a waypoint on the Na'rella(sp?) back on the Isle) and that the staff reads that to know where to send someone(s). That doesn't much change the get-out-of-jail-free-card-ness of the staff, but it does bypass the memory/mind interface.

Also, do we have an idea of where Morlin Hall is? That would give us a reference for a minimum range of the staff. My gut suggests it's probably on the mountain somewhere.
Here you go.
If the universe is infinite, does that mean that there is a version of me out there who's thinking the exact same thing?

While we're on the topic of alternate universes, is there one where I'm a lawyer? If yes, then I may be more evil than I thought.

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