Imperfectionist

Progressive Arcanum

Yeah, Misa and I have yet to discuss, so my sheet will have to wait for that (it probably won't be too long).

Now, Hanged, my character went into Pythomancy specifically to find a magical creature she could bond with, for protection, something intelligent enough and intimidating enough to make people think twice about fucking with her (basically, she's paranoid). Would she be able to have raised a Griffin in her time at the Academy? And, are Griffins intelligent enough to perform complex tasks?

Progressive Arcanum

Komamisa said
That being said, I actually suggest that TheHangedMan not further explain Ouramancy's origins at all for this very purpose. We'll leave this debate for in-RP itself!

Right, thank you for that reminder. I sometimes forget the key detail that not everyone can be a Magestrava.

I'll second that, unless it somehow has to do with the story he's written out. And, you're welcome. I had to remind myself of the same thing.

Considering the quite small number of viable magestravi in a certain population... Well, I was thinking that there would be only a very small number of skilled Ouramancers in Lismos. Exact numbers can be flexible, of course, but maybe fifty? One-hundred at most, and almost all of them based in the biggest city/capital?

Progressive Arcanum

Yeah, I think we need to agree to disagree. Heh, perhaps there are differing interpretations among Ouramancers themselves? Gods and spirits give conflicting answers, and no one quite knows how it began, where the first Ouramancer bloodlines came from, or why it develops in certain people and not in others.

Remember also that one must be a Magestrava before she/he can be an Ouramancer, so even among the bloodlines such individuals are rare (due to the random nature of magical talent). The bloodlines only mean that the Magestravi who are born to that line are invariably Ouramancers, not that there will be more Magestravi in that bloodline than there are in others.

EDIT: I guess the thoughts are similar... My main point is just that the spirits (whether they are benign or not is irrelevant, as long as they want influence in the physical plane) see the Ouramancers as necessary, because they are the only mortal beings who can cross the bridge and interact with both sides.

Progressive Arcanum

Alright, I've thought about your interpretation of Ouramancy, Misa, and come up with an alternative:

You say that it is an evolutionary response, something to allow these families to survive their multiple encounters with Spirits and Magical Beings... And I don't quite agree. To me, the biggest distinction between Ouramancers and the common people is exactly what Hanged has just said: "Every other kind of Spirit is as you think - only an Ouramancer can communicate and interact with them."

So, there are gods that have an interest in this world, there are the spirits of ancestors and of the simple dead, and they have a single conduit for effective communication with the physical plane: Ouramancy. It isn't an evolutionary response on the part of the humans, it's a path laid down by the Divines themselves. They have crafted Ouramancers as their connection to the physical world, gifting what would have been ordinary magestravi with these altogether unique abilities. After all, how could a human, magical or no, learn to speak with the gods, if that knowledge didn't come from the gods themselves?

Progressive Arcanum

Ah, well, it was one or the other, I just generally default to the first syllables. :) Misa it is.

Speaking of which, Impy works best for me, and I've now called TheHangedMan "Hanged" once or twice without complaint. Is there one you (TheHangedMan) prefer?

Progressive Arcanum

Thanks for the absolutes with the Fae (I just prefer this spelling, incidentally; it looks more Gaelic), Hanged. Um, I've sent a PM to Koma to discuss our characters, so we'll see how that goes... And, well, I'm on the East Coast, USA.

I believe we're on Eastern Daylight at the moment, making it GMT (UTC) -4.

Progressive Arcanum

...that's a little inconsistent, as you haven't mentioned any spirits that can take physical form until now. What other types of "Greater Beings" are there? Demons? Lovecraftian horrors? My character's the one whose whole deal is that she communicates with these things, and I feel like I have very little understanding. Perhaps you could give us a section in the info post specifically detailing the various types of Magical Beings, from ascended ancestors to the recently dead to trickster gods to Zeus and Azathoth...

:/ It might help.

EDIT: My problem is that I have my own interpretations of these things, how I think Ouramancy should work and the types of Beings that are out there, etc, and they are obviously quite different from yours. Compounding that, even with the discussions we've had, this is a very complex branch of magic, and I need to know exactly how you picture the Outer Planes (or whatever), exactly how an Ouramancer speaks to these spirits, and what the Magestrava can do with/to them (again, I have my own ideas, but you obviously have it all figured out already). I'm in the dark here, and my character background's going to suffer if I have to rewrite it because I got the magic wrong...

Progressive Arcanum

Isn't this all going against the explanation of Fae we were given earlier? Spirits, separate and alien to the mortal realm, where only people like Ouramancers could communicate with them?

Progressive Arcanum

Ah, I have another question. You haven't mentioned intelligent humanoids other than humans themselves, so... no non-human races?

Progressive Arcanum

Fantastic, thank you. I'll flesh out the city a bit myself, when I get to that point.