Ask Luna #42

From: Nicola

Dear Luna,

“shadow realms” or (“universe”, I forget the correct term) do seem what other stories call “alternative universes”. When man-made, most often it’s stated there are machines that manipulate the space-time continuum, or even whatever there is between universes to create them or modify their properties.

This got me wondering, can a shadow realm be created exclusively by magic or can an eventual non-magical technology based on post-Einstein physics create them, also?

More generally, can what elemental mages do be done also by technology based on vanilla physics, chemistry and biology?

Many thanks!

I don’t even know what post-Einstein physics are, so I’m probably the wrong person to be asking. But as far as I know, no, if you want a shadow realm, you go to a mage to make one or you go home. Or I guess you could just find an existing one.

The kind of stuff that elemental mages do isn’t the same as what you can do with technology, but yes, you can do it . . . what I mean is, it doesn’t work the same way, but you can produce the same results. So an elemental mage can create a light, but you or I could do the same thing with an electric torch. And you can duplicate some of what an ice mage can do with a freezer, and some of what a fire mage can do with a flamethrower, etc etc.

The big difference is that if you want to do stuff the tech way, you need tools. Mages don’t need tools, they just make it happen. So I’d be kind of surprised if there are any tech-y ways of duplicating magic. It seems to work off a whole different approach.

From: Bruce Donohue

Hello,
Has there ever been a mage that is equally at home with all forms of magic? Meaning they are equally talented in all forms, death, life, elemental, mind, etc…

I think there are legends of mages who were like that, but there aren’t any alive nowadays. Given that mages are supposed to be stronger now than they used to be, that probably means the legends were made up.

From: Bruce Donohue

Hello Luna. How are you doing? Hopefully you haven’t been doing to many menial tasks under the guise of been the shop keeper/apprentice. Alex give you that pay raise?
I have a question that hopefully you might be able to pass onto Alex…
Magic normally is categorized in various families. Abjuration, Conjuration/Summoning, Invocation/Evocation, Necromantic, Illusion, Enchantment etc…
Having said that, we all know about the different types and mages being one thing principally but not another.
let me explain my question first…
If a mage was said to an Invoker/Evoker, that would make him able to cast a wide variety of spells as his main wheelhouse, fire,water,death so essentially battle-like, so my question is: Is there such a thing because that would make a mage much more rounded in the type than specialized as he is a Life Mage, or a Divination Mage etc. Because it appears rather limiting otherwise.

He did give me a pay raise, though it was for something different. Well, I’m not complaining.

As for your question, I’m not 100% sure what you’re saying. There are mages who are specialised in battle – they’re called death mages. But they can’t do everything that fire mages can. If they could, fire mages would be kind of redundant.

I get the feeling what you’re really asking is “can I have ALL THE MAGICS?”, in which case I’m pretty sure the answer’s no. Even if you did have the talent for all the magic types, you wouldn’t have time to develop them all. Diviners like Alex take years to learn how to use their magic – not all magic, just THEIR magic. And it takes them years more to actually master it. There’s no way you could learn ALL the magic types, you’d die of old age before you were halfway through.

As for it being ‘limiting’ . . . what, being able to throw fireballs or stop time or heal wounds isn’t enough for you? You want to be able to do it all at once? Seems greedy as hell to me, but then I guess that’s how a lot of mages think. No matter how much they have, it’s never enough . . .

From: BlackMass

Alex says helikaon with divination can do things he can only dream of has he ever specified also how is old helikaon these days

Guys, can you please proof-read these things before you send them to me? Trying to figure out the content of some of these questions gives me a headache.

No idea how old Helikaon is. I’ve never met the guy. Don’t think Alex sees him much these days.