Ask Luna #1

From: Elana

Hi, I’m interested in learning more about different types of magic, including ones that aren’t mentioned in the Encyclopedia Arcana. Can you tell me more about how the abilities of enchanters work? Also, are there such things as sound mages, and if so, how does their magic work?
 

Enchanters/enchantresses seem to be fairly common – the first one I met was called Meredith and the less said about her the better, but I’ve seen lots more since I started going to classes.  They can affect emotions, but it’s hard to know how they do it since their whole thing is that you never know what they’re doing with it or even whether they’re using it on you.  It’s kind of creepy to be honest.  I think there’s an Encyclopaedia article on them, I might go dig it up.

There are sound mages too, but I haven’t seen as many of them – I only met one once and the only things I saw her do were party tricks like making music and ventriloquism (she was really good at mimicking voices).  They’re supposed to be able to do more destructive stuff like making things vibrate until they shatter, but I haven’t seen it.

From: Richard Thiemann (Serack)

How many Light Council mages are in Britan/London?
Are any of the Light Council factions more personality driven than ideologically driven? 
Do you know what factions Talisid and Levistus are?
I got the idea from the Encyclopedia that the Concords are global, and that parts of the structure of mage society are quite ancient. Are these ancient roots European? Was mage influence more global before European influence spread? 
———————–
I have no problems with you answering the above questions piecemeal. Especially that last one. 
 

You certainly got your money’s worth out of that email, didn’t you?  Okay, from the top:

1. I was told there are supposed to be about a couple of thousand in Britain.  I have no idea how many there are in London (how would you tell, anyway?  Put trackers on them?)

2. I’m not sure what you mean.  If you’re asking what the factions are like from the inside, it’s not something I’d know much about.  Pretty much all of what I hear about Council politics is from apprentice gossip.

3. Levistus is supposed to have links with the isolationist and director factions, I think.  I don’t know about Talisid but from the times I’ve met him and from how Alex has described the factions he acts like a Guardian.

4. How on EARTH am I supposed to know that?  I barely know enough to figure out which way is up in the mage world now and you’re asking me about how things were thousands of years ago?  Go ask Sonder, he’ll probably talk your ear off about it. 

From: Orion

Hi, I was wondering how many sub-catagories their are for each of the three families? and if it is possible for mages other than elementals mages to use gate magic?
 

The way Alex explains it, there are as many sub-categories of magic as you decide to give names to.  It’s like asking how many shades of blue there are.  Every mage’s abilities are slightly different, so it’s up to you whether you say they’re the same type or not. 

I’m pretty sure there are a few types of non-elemental mages who can use gate magic.  Space mages can definitely use it, I can tell you that one for sure.  Although I’m not sure if it’s the same thing – it was more of a blink-and-you’re-there deal, faster than the gates I usually see.  I think they’re actually better at it than elementalists are.

From: V. Stevermer

Hi, I was wondering, around what age do most mages/adepts usually discover their abilities? And how do they go about getting trained? How would some kid who just discovered he can manipulate fire or air or something learn more about the world of magic and find someone to teach him?
 

Most mages seem to think it happens around mid-teens – I’ve heard ages from 13 all the way up to 17-18, but I think it starts younger than that.  From the stories I’ve heard from other apprentices they can use magic before that, it’s just more gradual – it grows with you.  At least that was what happened to me.

Getting trained is basically a crap shoot.  The lucky ones get spotted by a nice Light or independent mage while they’re still young and become an apprentice that way.  The really lucky ones have a Light mage as a family member or a family friend and get brought up in mage society from day one.  The unlucky ones get spotted by a mage who’s not so nice.  I’ve heard some pretty horrible stories about what can happen to the unlucky ones.

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2 Responses to Ask Luna #1

  1. Serack says:

    Thanks Luna 😉

  2. Luna Mancuso says:

    No problem, glad it helped.

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