Hanako Games

Blue magic

#1 by Fierk - Sep 2 2011

Am I the only one who thinks the description for blue magic seems totally off? I mean they say it is transformation magic and yet there are a few teleport like spells, a light spell, a shield spell a cloak spell. Yet none of these seem like transformation, if anything the black magic spell stoneshape seems more like transformation. Does anyone else get the seem feeling?

#2 by hanako - Sep 2 2011

Black magic is capable of reshaping inanimate objects. Blue magic is capable of actually changing things at an intrinsic level.

Which makes perfect sense to a wizard raised in this paradigm and is very confusing to an outsider like HorsePC or most players.

Teleportation, for example, is changing a world-level detail about yourself - your location. You don't turn into tiny bits and beam to a new spot, you don't enter a portal to a shadow realm and scoot through it at high speeds, you simply change where you are.

A stoneshaped object is still stone, just in a different shape - and you can't stoneshape a tree, or a spell, or a concept.

#3 by Fierk - Sep 2 2011

Your right your answer is very confusing and the only way I can even think of it making sense is if somehow when teleporting you are considered part of the world and are thus transforming the world slightly, or maybe a very temporary transformation of yourself into a being capable of teleporting.

Also if it is this confusing to people like the HorsePC wouldnt someone like Ellen mention it in game? I mean I know Grabnier is the teacher but still, I would imagine someone would at least comment on it to their classmates? Or is this all happening off screen in an attempt to save the players sanity?

#4 by Yumeshojo - Sep 2 2011

Sorry, but it seems to make sense to me. Just thought I'd throw it in there that it's not confusing to everyone, but I don't know how to explain it better than Hanako did. I'll but out now, seeing as I'm not helping.

#5 by hanako - Sep 2 2011

Your right your answer is very confusing and the only way I can even think of it making sense is if somehow when teleporting you are considered part of the world and are thus transforming the world slightly, or maybe a very temporary transformation of yourself into a being capable of teleporting.

Changing the world is close to the right idea, although the wizards would still argue that you are changing yourself, by considering your location to be part of yourself.

Blue is also used for illusion spells (changing something's appearance) and metamagic (changing the way other magic behaves). It's extremely powerful, but requires a special sort of mind to comprehend all the interactions.

Also if it is this confusing to people like the HorsePC wouldnt someone like Ellen mention it in game?

This sort of thing is gone into in much more detail in the actual classes your character attends, but since understanding magical theory isn't the main draw of the game, I don't bog players down with ten pages of it that most of them won't care about.

Also, it's a lot easier to explain when you can actually cast spells to demonstrate your principles.

To make things even more fun, the pentachromatic system is NOT the only way to use magic in this world, it's just the way this particular school teaches.