I'm still interested, I came for the magical research that could weave into swordplay in an interesting way, I think it should be a mix of both learning from others and learning from that to make spells for themselves.

@Thinslayer

Still here, still interested. Researching and learning a wide variety of magic is what I’m here for. I wanna be a wizard, not a sorcerer; discovering the essence of magic to weave the world around me rather than just being a conduit of it. Goro gunna have some choice words for those with innate magic abilities compared to his entirely academically obtained skills.

@Lucius Cypher I mean I thought of making Warden a sorcerer or a wizard.
But honestly I thought a spell sword would fit with more of his character and past battle experience.

To me a sorcerer and wizard are two different things. Sorcerers are born or therwise obtained magic without much effort on their part; they basically got lucky and just know how to use it. Wizards are different though. There’s no innate talent for magic, no special abilities or bloodline. They just learned through trial and error.

It’s the difference between a born prodigy and a hard worker. A lot of people want to have the shortcut of having the already innate talent for magic or whatever, but I’d prefer earning my power rather than just getting lucky on the die. Makes you fight smarter rather than harder. Though admittedly, it can be depressing when you e just learned how to sling firebolts and Mage hands while everyone else seems to have the innate ability to burn down entire villages or melt someone from the inside out at level 1. But I digress.

I'm still interested in staying if everyone else is.

My new post introduces our new main villain, whose unhealthy obsession will bring useful levels of antagonism.

Main story post should arrive next week.

Breakdown of True Magic types, and contrast with Mana Magic

While this story primarily revolves around mana-based magic, there is another form known as "true magic." True magic draws upon one's life force, the will to live, to affect the world. Unlike mana-magic, it requires a medium in order to work, as well as substantial spiritual power to affect the world to any noticeable degree. The most common spellcasting method uses a spiritually sensitive individual as the medium and demons for the power source. As you can imagine, this is extremely foolhardy, so the Ancients developed a brand new method, which the Immortals use. The Ancient method uses advanced nanomachines as the medium and the person's own spirit as the power source. They dubbed it "dust magic," or "seed magic" in some circles.

Dust magic is considerably weaker than mana magic, and detrimental to your mental health. Excessive use of dust magic separates much of your spirit from your body, resulting in side effects such as dizziness, confusion, depression, temporary insanity, and out-of-body experiences. In short, it's highly unpleasant business.

Mana magic, on the other hand, draws upon the ambient mana energy for its power, and naturally responds to your thoughts without the aid of a medium. Abundant, powerful, and versatile, mana magic is superior in nearly every way. The concepts behind the use of dust and mana magics are much the same, however, requiring the power of imagination for their creative abilities.

The above lore bit explains a few things in the upcoming scene. The Immortals shaped the world of Aion, and dust magic is how they did it. Since Winter already has experience with spellcasting through dust magic, she'll be able to help the player characters understand the concepts of mana magic up to a certain point. However, due to the limitations of her magic, her experience will only take her so far. Spells of moderate complexity will be beyond her ken, and we'll have to develop those on our own.

Lore: Waru Mountain

Surrounded by rainforest and packed with snow at its peak, Waru mountain was once the ancient nesting ground of the twelve mighty beasts, the Guardians of Aion. Created by the Immortals to defend the planet in their absence, many of the Guardians instead descended into bestial madness and went their own separate ways. The mountain remains a holy site for the Waru tribes, and climbing to its peak has become a rite of passage for many aspiring priests. The few who make it to the top are said to ascend to heaven, where they allegedly help the gods create new species.

The truth is...surprisingly accurate...and a little more gruesome...

I'm feeling a little rusty, so how was the post? Adequate, lacking?...

@Thinslayer

I don't think I saw anything for Catarina. Did she manage to hit the assassin with her bow or not?

@Norschtalen Crud crud crud, I KNEW I'd forgotten someone. I'd been mulling over how to handle Catarina and forgot to actually write anything. I'll get right on it.

@Thinslayer I like it, for the most part, clean and clear, but I want to point out that the thug that fired a magic blast missed Warden because Goro hit him with his Javelin first.

@Norschtalen Her arrow hit its mark. Edit: spoilers removed