Chrono Compendium
Bend of Time - Inactive Projects => Darkness Beyond Time - Dead Project Discussion => Project ZEAL => Topic started by: ZeaLitY on September 26, 2004, 05:44:39 pm
-
This first post will outline the world of ZEAL, and centralizes the mythos so that you do not have to wade through the following pages to understand and write about ZEAL correctly.
~Comparison of Ability~
I'm sure its crossed someone's mind exactly how Keystonians fare against the Zealians in combat, and for that matter, how various Zealians stack up against each other. Bear in mind that the following is not how EVERY SINGLE encounter would play out, but rather a rough guideline. Consider this the "definitive" list as the structure has probably changed a little since the very beginning of our considerations.
(Beginning with the weakest... Characters a tier below another have virtually no chance against the character above in a one-on-one fight to the death.)
Tier One
Keystonian Citizens - The absolute weakest of the weak. These people are your genetic townfolk, soliders, shopkeepers, farmers, whatever. Pretty much fodder for anyone above them.
Zealian Citizens - Citizens of Zeal who lack innate magical talent.
Zealian Citizens II - Citizens of Zeal who have innate magical talent, but have not pursued arcane education of any sort, barring "scientific" magic.
Tier Two
Keystonian Heroes/Heroines - This is the class Gaspar's chosen come from. Note that this considers the characters to be at a "beginning" level of strength - as one who possesses raw talent, but has never set out on an adventure. Over the course of the fic there should be some clear progression from this category. Also worth noting that your character may be quite the veteran to adventure and thus beyond this stage to some degree.
Zealian Wizards - Although notably more powerful than the Keystonian Heroes/Heroines, Zealian Wizards are far from god-like. A small group of heroes & heroines should be capable of defeating one of these without too much difficulty - and while extraordinarily difficult, it is possible for a hero or heroine to defeat a wizard one-on-one.
Zealian Novice Mages - Those who have graduated from the title of "Wizard" and enrolled in one of the high schools of magic, but has not yet sufficently mastered their art.
Tier Three
Nanashi - Very dangerous. Chances are very high that if you encounter a Nanashi, you will not be getting the first shot on them. However, should a group of heroes/heroines/wizards have the chance to return fire, victory is quite possible. Note that Nanashi are highly trained assassins and have no qualms about fighting to the very end - in fact, to do otherwise would be cowardice.
Zealian Advanced Mages - Those who have completed their studies at one of the arcane schools and been rewarded their art's "true" coloured subfusc.
Keystonian Legendary Heroes/Heroines - Think of Crono & Co as they confront Lavos. Legendary Heroes & Heroines should have little trouble defending themselves from Nanashi - even Advanced Mages shouldn't be too much of a threat to these hardy adventurers. Still, they are not so powerful to be able to defeat Mages in numbers, so some caution must be exercised.
Tier Four
Zealian Master Mages I - These are members of the Temporal & Necrology Schools who have not only "graduated", but have gone on to teach and conduct research. They are separated from Class II Mages because their talents do not lend themselves to combat. Necrologists are much like "white mages", focusing on healing & "support" magics. The power of Temporal Mages simply does not translate to combat situations very well.
Zealian Royalty - Zealian Royalty are almost always born with tremendous magical power, although exceptions do exist. However, these Zealians almost never study the arcane sciences so their power is very raw - their true potential is not realized.
Zealian Master Mages II - Similar to Class I Mages, these are Sorcerers/Sorceresses, Summoners, and Enchantresses of tremendous power and each of these three each have an advantage in varying situations.
1. Enchantresses - Enchantresses cannot hope to rival a summoner or sorcerer one-on-one as they lack the destructive power of their peers - furthermore, their charms are noticably less effective against close rivals; however, given a few other subjects to work their magic on, they can prove to be very dangerous.
2. Sorcerers & Sorceresses - Sorcerers & Sorceresses wield the greatest destructive power out of the three, but the problem in a one-on-one match is that it takes considerable amounts of time and consentration to cast these incredibly destructive spells - however, they are so adept with elemental magic that they are able to cast multiple spells at the same time, tossing out weaker ones to hold a rival at bay until a more powerful one is ready.
3. Summoners - Summoners are the toughest to take on toe-to-toe because once they summon another being to assist them, they are free to cast their own spells with little need to maintain control over their summoned ally. While powerful summons do take time, they are considerably shorter than the earth-shattering ones wielded by the sorcerer.
Given time, the sorcerer wins. Given people, the enchantress wins. Otherwise, the summoner dominates all.
Tier Five
The Council - Summoners, Sorcerers, Enchantresses, Necrologists, and Temporal Mages of nearly unfathomable power. Their knowledge of their respective arts is supreme. Even groups of Master Mages would fall before their might.
While it is entirely possible that something may rival the Council's might, it is quite unlikely.
One last point worth noting - as stated above, Keystonians are at a strong disadvantage to their Zealian counterparts. Fortunately for the Keystonians, every battle is not a battle to the death. While Keystonians are used to the rough and tumble of battle and hardships of life, Zealians have developed in a world devoid of conflict and nearly all physical pain. Not only are Zealians considerably more frail than Keystonians, but they also lack the mental hardiness Keystonians possess from frequently facing danger. Furthermore, given that Zealians possess eternal life, the idea that someone could end their existence with a simple stab to the heart is particularly frightening - mortality is mortality, after all.
Unless a Zealian is indeed set on fighting to the very end (as the Nanashi are), all a Keystonian needs to do is give 'em a few bruises - maybe a black eye or a bloody nose - and they'll retreat.
~Magic Schools of ZEAL~
As previously noted, not all citizens of Zeal are innate magic users. Over the years, arranged marriages were utilized to "breed" innates, but as arcane potential increased and a more noticable class structure emerged within Zeal, many aristocrats became concerned that widespread innate status would undermine their social power. As a result, "breeding" programs were discontinued and only ~60% of Zeal's population actually possesses the ability to use magic without the aid of the Mammon Machine.
After completing elementary education around the age of eighteen, students are given the opportunity to continue their studies by enrolling at the Arcane University at Najran. (Najran being the academic center of Zeal.) Mind you, being accepted to Najran is no small task - only the brightest and most talented students are accepted. (It should be noted that while merit is the most important factor in gaining admission, family history and social status often prove to work to the benefit of Zealian aristocrats and gentry.) Once a student had been accepted to Najran, they are bestowed the title of "Wizard" and spend two more years learning the ways of magic.
Wizards - Wizards differ from innate magic users in the fact that while innate users are bound to a single element, wizards learn to overcome this barrier to the point where they can manipulate all elements with an equal degree of skill. As a note of their status, when out in public all wizards must wear a sky blue coloured robe, or "subfusc". [A subfusk is gown that extends slightly further down from the waist and is either buttoned together in the front or tied together by a sash.]
After these two years as a wizard, students are offered the chance to further specialize their talents in one of the other arcane schools in Najran, and the requirements for entry into each school vary.
1. The School of Sorcery - Those who wish to continue studying the elements themselves are bestowed the title of "Sorcerer" or "Sorceress". As well as furthering their elemental prowlness, sorcerers are the only citizens of Zeal (outside the royal family) who are allowed to study Shadow magic. (Due to royal decree, and punishable by death without honour if broken.) Sorcerers wear dark blue subfuscs to note their status. Of all the schools of magic, Sorcery is the most traditional and thus the most theory laden and knowledge-intensive. For this reason, sorcerers are known for being very conservative and overly brainy, taking every opportunity possible to display their unsurpassable knowledge.
Sorcery is unique in the fact that anyone capable of gaining admission is permitted to join. Granted, the higher classes of Zeal tend populate the school, but agents and scientists have been known to become successful sorcerers.
2. The School of Summoning - Those who wish to learn how to conjure up other beings to carry out their bidding are bestowed the title of "Summoner". It should be noted that summoning is a highly personal art - one does not merely summon a pre-existing avatar. The summoner learns how to temporarily call into existence another being and bestow it with properties of the caster's choosing. There is a tremendous learning curve to this school, and thus for most of their careers, summoners appear to be very weak in comparison to their peers. For reasons unknown, most students of this art are male. Summoners in training wear yellow subfuscs, while more experienced summoners wear orange subfuscs. Because their power relies almost entirely on other beings, summoners are known for being slackers, are somewhat lazy, and never punctual.
Because summoning tends to be such a difficult art to learn, only those with extensive amounts of free time and patience tend to join - namely, aristocrats. There are no records of anyone under gentry status ever being accepted, and even the number of gentry in its ranks are slim.
3. The School of Necrology - Those who wish to study the nature of life and death are bestowed the title of "Necrologist". Necrologists, unlike what one might be inclined to think, are not hideous, demented members of society eagerly awaiting the dawn of the dead - rather, they study life processes and learn to manipulate them to their liking. Necrologists are responsible for a number of improvments in Zealian health, including their recently inherited immortality. Necrologists in training wear grey subfuscs, while more experienced necrologists wear black subfuscs. Although they aren't your typical crackpots found in most stories, Necrologists are rather morbid and are generally frowned upon by society because of the odd nature of their research.
Necrology carries such an intense social stigma that aristocrats tend to steer clear of the art, and gentry who aspire to ascend in status avoid it as well. For that reason, most all Necrologists are scientists or gentry who see themselves as having nothing to lose.
4. The School of Enchantment - Those who wish to study the nature of the mind are bestowed the title of "Enchanter" or "Enchantress". (The vast majority of these students being the latter.) Enchantresses are masters of manipulating the minds of others through illusions, toying with their emotions, and even possessing another being outright. Most students of the art are particularly beautiful (or handsome), charismatic and tend to be artistically inclined. Enchantresses in training wear pink subfuscs, (much to the dismay of the males in their order) while more experienced enchantresses wear red subfuscs. Unsurprisingly, they are known for their exaggerated displays of emotion and competitively flirtatious nature.
If you're not a member of the aristocracy, you clearly lack the social grace to become an enchantress. Underclass citizens who are foolish enough to apply are used as research subjects.
5. The School of Temporal Magic - In short, no one wishes to join this school; you are selected to be a part of it and have no choice in the matter. Believed to be an extension of the Council itself, those who became a student of this school are bestowed the title of "Chosen" and wear one colour subfusc throughout their entire career - silver. Little is known about the chosen, other than the fact that most Zealians working in the Dimensional Observation Project are members of this school. Masters of the temporal arts are rumoured to have the capacity to call time itself into submission.
Oddly enough, Zealian gentry are the only class known to be selected into this school. Why the aristocracy is denied access isn't quite clear, but power politics appears to be the most widely accepted reason.
A sixth school exists for magic useful to scientists, including the art of teleknesis and other skills useful to scholars, but the magic used here is so basic and rudimentary that even those who are not innates are permitted to join - however, members of school are not deemed worthy of respect and do not wear a special subfusc.
~Spotlight: Types of Magic~
Sorcery
As noted before, sorcerers & sorceresses are the undisputed masters of elemental magic. Furthermore, outside the royal family, they are the only citizens of Zeal to be allowed to use shadow magic. A few of the more well-known arcane techniques utilized include:
1. Elemental Imbuing: Sorcerers - while rarely resorting to use a weapon themselves - begin their education by learning to endow an object with a desired elemental property. While this may seem trival, learning how to imbue a sword with fire energy without reducing the weapon to a molten heap - and at the same time allowing for it to still actually be wielded by its user - is actually quite an impressive feat. Sorcerers also use this technique to forge armour and jewelry with elemental properties - making it not uncommon to see students with surprising amounts of knowledge in the arts of blacksmithing and goldsmithing.
2. Elemental Focusing: In the process of becoming a wizard, students are taught spells in very basic, cut and dry forms. (Ice I. Ice II. And so on.) Generally, the more powerful forms of these spells are less focused and affect numerous targets. As a sorceress becomes more knowledgable, she learns how to focus or disperse her powers more effectively, striking whoever or whatever she likes with increased force. (In other words, think of Marle's Ice II being channeled at one target instead of everyone.)
3. Elemental Form: A truly terrifying sight to behold; sorcerers bursting into flames or transforming their bodies into water in order to obtain a greater measure of control over a desired element. Although these physical alterations require a great deal of focus and quickly become weary on the caster, master sorcerers are capable of maintaining elemental form effortlessly for prolonged periods of time. One must beware, however, for while changing form encreases a given element's potentcy, it also weakens resistance to other opposing elements.
4. Dual-Casting: Perhaps the most well-known trademark of the sorcerer, upon being recognized as an accomplished student, one is revealed the secret of casting multiple spells at the same time. While most sorcerers will spend the rest of their careers perfecting the technique, anyone who can semi-routinely pull off two spells at once takes great pride in being able to do so.
5. Subconscious Casting: Eventually sorcerers become so powerful - their mastery over the elements so complete - that the natural world appears to simply bow to their whim; candles ignite eeriely as they walk into the room, water freezes into ice as they approach a shore, and so on. To these few sorcerers, the elements respond to their thoughts alone - no verbal prompting or anything of the sort is necessary.
Summoning - Although for the most part, summoners create beings within the properties of their own choosing, there are a few techniques that all summoners learn.
1. Elementaling Summons: While in general, summoners do not call forth pre-existing avatars, the learning curve in creating one's own summons is incredibly difficult. Thus, new students learn to summon one of Rizasu's servants to do their bidding.
2. The Familiar: To demonstrate his competency and earn the orange subfusc, a summoner must permanently call into existence another being to serve as his companion and aide. Every summoner's familiar is unique with its own personality and limited powers. Once birthed, the familiar cannot be unmade, nor can the summoner's link to the familiar be broken - so if one desires to gain any use from his creation, he must treat the familiar with respect.
Enchantment
1. Emotional Manipulation: The first thing an enchantress learns is how to influence the minds of others to their liking, the two most commonly manipulated sentiments being desire and fear. While an enchantress' control over another's emotions is by no means absolute, it is a power that cannot be ignored - especially as one progresses in her studies and her ability to successfully manipulate others increases.
2. Illusionary Magic: Enchantresses are full of unconventional ways to render an opponent powerless and the creation of illusions is another example of this power. As a student becomes more knowledgable, her illusions become more and more convincing. At first they only bring into being a mere image, but in time possessing smells, sounds, and eventually substance.
3. Kobayashian Magic: Unlike sorcerers and summoners, enchantresses rarely ever use elemental power in their spells. As a result, the strength of their elemental magic tends to fade. To counteract this decay, enchantresses combine simple elemental spells with illusions. The result of this combination is a class of magic that actually fools the victim into believing they are in far more pain and sufferring than was actually caused by the elemental spell itself.
4. Possession: The mark of an experienced enchantress, one versed in this art can actually control another's actions outright, easily turning the closest of friends into the most vicious of enemies. While successfully controling the actions of multiple people - the enchantress herself included - is difficult, one eventually learns to control several people at once with only a modest degree of effort.
5. Angelic/Divine Form: While students learn early on how to change their own appearance, incredibly talented enchantresses have been known to shun human form and take on an angelic one - a form both beautiful and terrifying above all comparison.
~Magical Applications~
Several spells exist, the basic ones having a technical and vernacular name. Zealian magic is very organic in the sense that there aren't spells for every little thing. For example, we don't need a Cure/Cure II/Cure III framework with a different element for each step. Upon realizing s/he needed to heal someone, a Necrologist would simply apply the skill they know (Cure) and expend as much magical energy as needed to do the job, whether that energy be water related or light related.
A Zealian mage's "mental spellbook" wouldn't read Fire/Fire II and so on - it would be more along the lines would to manipulate that energy. S/he would think more in terms of how that power is being used - whether its tossing a fireball, or causing an object to explode from within. Get the drift? Think organic. Or like a colouring book. Zealian arcane theory creates lines on paper - the mage then fills it with colour (elements) as they see fit.
In the framework of magic, any specifically named spells are those combinations of magical factors that have been found to work best through extensive experimentation to achieve a certain desired result. For instance, the "Esuna" spell would have exactly the right factors to cure any status ailments from the target. This framework allows for both efficient use of magical energy (as certain combinations will tend to be most efficient) and efficient use of time (its a lot faster to simply cast the predetermined chant for Fira than to judge the enemy's health, guess how much fire energy is needed, set up and say the chant needed for this amount).
The following is a slimmed-down list of notable spells. I've kept the same level system just to give a feeling for the relative powers of these spells. Note that the power levels are of exponential order (something like level 2 is three times as powerful as level 1, level 3 is three times as powerful as level 2, etc.). I've also added level 6 spells for Fire, Water, and Lightning, but keep in mind that level 6 is so freakishly powerful that only the royal family and maybe the council have even the potential to cast level 6 spells. I've also changed the spells around a bit.
Fire
Level 4: Corona (enemy plunged into faux star) - Extreme fire damage to one enemy
Level 5: Supernova (enemies exposed to faux supernova) - Penultimate fire damage to all enemies
Level 6: Hypernova (enemies exposed to faux hypernova) - Ultimate fire damage to all enemies
Aside: Yes, those are the correct Astronomical terms. A Supernova is an exploding star that leaves behind a neutron star. A Hypernova is a more massive exploding star that leaves behind a black hole. These terms are sometimes incorrectly labeled as "Nova" and "Supernova" respectively. In actuality a Nova is a phenomenon in which a white dwarf star gets a lot hotter temporarily.
Water
Level 4: A's Freezing Pulse (alternating cold/moderate to increase damage to the body) - Extreme water damage to one enemy
Level 5: Absolute Zero - Penultimate water damage to all enemies
Level 6: Vacuum Freeze (zero temperature, zero pressure; freeze and boil at the same time) - Ultimate water damage to all enemies
Lightning
Level 4: B's Electric Dynamo (mechanism that generates a constant stream of electricity) - Extreme lightning damage to one enemy
Level 5: B's Pulsar Cannon (faux pulsar shot by characters, the intense magnetic field of which causes an extremely powerful electric field) - Penultimate lightning damage to all enemies
Level 6: Grand Unified Theory (strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces within enemies morph into electricity) - Ultimate lightning damage to all enemies
Shadow
Level 4: Janus' Soul Render (Magus' Dark Matter spell) - Extreme shadow damage to all enemies
Level 5: Cry in the Night (screech in pitch black night meant to terrorize enemies) - Penultimate shadow damage to all enemies
Level 6: D's Eternal Damnation (makes enemies believe they've died and gone to hell) - Ultimate shadow damage to all enemies
Necrology
Level 3: Schala's Holy Light - fully cures all allies' health
Level 3: E's Natural Healing - automatic healing of wounds inflicted on ally for a short time (similar to Regen spell)
Level 4: Schala's Divine Blessing - grants immunity to all status ailments to one ally
Level 4: E's Second Chance - automatically revives character when killed
Level 4: C's Life Stealer - kills enemy, revives ally with to full health
Level 5: E's Renewal - brings back all dead allies with full health
Other
Level 3: Schala's Sacred Aura - all of ally's attributes are greatly increased
Level 5: F's Unquestioned Authority (enchantment) - enemy will do anything caster tells it
Level 6: Mind Clone (enchantment) - enemy's mind is overwritten with copy of caster's mind
Level 5: Rewind (temporal) - a few minutes after the spell is cast, the caster can rewind time to the moment the spell was cast, with knowledge of how this future transpired
Level 6: Gate (temporal) - caster opens up a time portal
~Nanashi: Agents of ZEAL~
Weaponry
Nanashi carry finely tempered and crafted Zealian knives, a descendant in technology from the knife-wielders of 12,000 B.C. Zeal. Nanashi know arcane magic, but generally do not wish to make a huge ruckus or compromise their stealth; they thus use a system of jewels to lend a particular magic effect to the knife (for basis in Chrono series, see http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Jeweled_Knife ). The most rudimentary jewels simply produce an elemental effect, such as Lightning, Fire, Water, and Shadow. This would enable Nanashi to deal with enemies strong against or susceptible to particular types of magic on the fly. Additionally, some jewels transcend the basic four elements and have specific purposes, such as the detaining of souls (see above link), healing, or perhaps even temporal effects.
~Respect in ZEAL~
Bowing & Displays of Respect
Zealians hold fast to the tradition of bowing to one's social superiors and there are several methods of bowing to be utilized depending on the circumstances.
To Royalty - When a member of the royal family is present, everyone drops to their knees regardless of what they are doing and assumes the seeza position - both knees down, arms behind the back, crossed at the palms, and torso leaning foward at ~ 45 degree angle. The idea is that one in the seeza position looks as if they are about to executed. This display of respect highlight's the Crown's power to take life and extend mercy at will. One stays in the seeza position until the royal member leaves or commands them to rise. (Yes, I'm aware this isn't actually what the seeza position is...)
This is reserved only for royalty. Period. To demand this degree of respect is to place oneself on the level of the Crown, an offense punishable by death.
To Aristocracy - Unlike bowing to royality, bowing to an aristocrat is only expected when one of lesser social standing addresses or is addressed by one. Anyone under gentry status should drop down on one knee with head bowed and wait to be acknowledged - gentry are only expected to bow momentarily.
Failure to follow the established rules of respect may or may not not lead to some minor from of punishment, such as a public apology or payment of tribute, depending whether an aristocrat chooses to complain to the Crown. It is worth noting that there are some exceptions here - some social occasions involving aristocracy do not require bowing, such as schooling, shopping, and other limited circumstances. (However, should an aristocrat enter your shop, custom does require to you attend to their needs immediately - unless you're in the unlikely situation of serving royality already.)
To Gentry - A simple bow of the head is ample degree of respect from a social inferior, although Gentry are bad for often trying to extort respect more than is due.
Among other things, an important duty of the Crown is to keep an eye on the social status of Zeal's most well-known families. While social status is in theory based off of innate arcane talent, many other things play an imporant role in establishing family honour, such as the status of one's peers, wealth, education, and so on. Should parents fail to produce offspring with innate talent similiar to their own, they need not worry about losing their status - however, if over several generations a family fails to give birth to anything noteworthy, they may be in danger of being stripped of some of their honour.
It is near impossible for someone not born into the ranks of the gentry or aristocracy to ever ascend to those social heights; however, between gentry and aristocracy, there is a strong degree of mobility.
~Religion of ZEAL~
I. Reincarnation
A keynote in the religion of ZEAL is reincarnation, it reinforces social heirarchy while explaining the cycle of life. It is believed that with each life, one's karma is measured so that when one dies, he or she may be reincarnated into a social position worthy of the past life's deeds. Of course, it is up to the reincarnated person to continue living righteously or become ruthlessly evil; this will be reflected later on. Aristocrats and Gentry use this system to reinforce their positions; they hold that in past lives, they were integral in the well being of ZEAL, and for this service they have been given a just reward.
II. Liquid Structure
There is no central figurehead for religion in ZEAL, as this might give way to popular stereotypes of villains and crusading, fanatic religious leaders. ZEAL's religion is more of a practical organization, demonstrated in IV. Dreams below this paragraph, meaning that while there are organized groups of researchers and practitioners, there is no one body wielding huge social power an dictating correct doctrine.
III. Divine Right
It is a common and rarely challenged belief that the royalty of ZEAL reign with the authority of higher powers. This is confirmed by the fact that royalty possess the greatest genetic ability in magic, and reinforced duly with pomp and splendor. The account within Kajar of "It all began aeons ago, when man'sancestors picked up a shard of a strange red rock...Its power, which was beyond human comprehension, cultivated dreams...In turn, love and hate were born..." has been clarified as a stake of claim by royalty to the first contact and possession of the Frozen Flame long ago.
IV. Dreams
Dreams are a way to tap into the purest and most divine essences of the natural and ethereal dimensions of existence. Enhasa is now regarded as one of, if not the holiest site in ZEAL concerning religion, due to its ancient traditions in embracing dreams and supposed perfection of dream interpretation and application. Those who study enchantment are involved in a special branch of the trade; dreamers who make pilgrimages or have had particularly intense dreams may consult them and allow them to peer into their mind to, in reality, discover causes of anxiety, heightened emotions, or problems, and thus be able to identify the root of dreams and how they relate to the solutions. They are somewhat therapists; a branch of mystics might exist as it does for nearly every religion, believing that actions visualized in dreams should come to pass regardless. They nonetheless do not engage in murder everytime they see it in a dream, but they are highly strange people who subscribe completely to the idea that dreams are an essence of life to be followed.
V. The Pantheon
This the mythology of ZEAL.
-The Divine-
Rizasu - Collective name for Shadow/the four elements; genderless. Likable to the Force or the Tao itself, passing through us. Identifies with School of Sorcery.
The Sea of Zurvan - The essence of Enhasa, it is "the Force" or Tao of the Chrono series, believed to be flowing through and linking everyone together on a divine plane, or perhaps quantum level.
-Main Icons-
Farzad - God of Life/Death, the icon of reincarnation; depicted as a baby growing old throughout the year, and being reborn. Identifies with School of Necrology.
Kimiya - Goddess of Summoning; depicted as a fair lady, being creative, pondering, curious and studious. Shares a rivalry with her brother, Montlasalle.
Montlasalle - God of Enchantment; depicted as a man of such smooth and dashing handsomeness that his presence would make other men blush. Shares a rivalry with Kimiya, though is hardly angry with her; tends to borrow her ideas gracefully. Associated heavily with masks; "All to anyone."
Pouri - Goddess of Time; depicted as having deep, crimson eyes. One eye sees the past, and the other sees the future; she rarely ever speaks, and when she does, absolutely everyone listens. It is rare for her to speak something that is not cryptic, as it is difficult to discern whether she is speaking of the past, present, or future.
-Secondary Icons-
Aguirre - God of music; depicted with his eyes closed and hands outstretched.
~Social Structure of ZEAL~
We've been thinking that since the social structure of the old Zeal depended on innate magic ablity (with the royal family at the top, naturally, and the citizens who leech off the Sun Stone and Mammon Machine on the bottom). Since 13,000 years have passed, we've conjectured that the population has surely risen, and that with the advent of further genetic evolution, different classes of society can exist. We've also been thinking that the guys in charge of Project ZEAL, in having control over time and dimensions, are somewhat more powerful than the royal family, and may be the 'real' power in ZEAL. Anyway, what do you think of this structure of power? Keep in mind that Scientists come from every rank.
1. Council Members - In charge of the time/dimensions project; shadowy. Grew from extended family of the royal family through the ages.
2. Royal Family - King and Queen of ZEAL, and most genetically capable.
3. Aristocracy - High wizards, scientists, and magically-endowed citizens, able to take on Persian names to reflect status.
4. Gentry - Inferior to the aristocracy in magic capability, but nonetheless potent researchers and magic users. Able to take on Latin/Romantic/Anglo names.
5. ZEAL Agents - Agents of Project ZEAL, fierce in combative ability to the point of rivaling some aristocracy, but shunned due to their dirty work.
5. Scientists - Dedicated scientists not part of the elite social classes.
6. Citizens - Regular citizens who display little magic ability or leech off the Mammon Machine and other power sources.
~Chronology of the Series~
The Keystone Dimension essentially exists after the events of Chrono Cross, meaning the Time Devourer is long defeated, and history has proceeded normally. This is the history of the Ideal Dimension, constructed on the Best of Both Worlds theory (that when Serge merged the dimensions, they adopted the most positive history that could be balanced possible), and helpful observations by GrayLensman and myself on the axioms and corollaries governing temporal transforms. This timeline is devoid of Crono's time traveling notes, and any time someone comes in from the Ocean Palace incident, keep in mind that they're arriving from the Lavos Timeline's Ocean Palace incident. The guys in the Keystone Dimension are Time Bastard'd.
Also, if you're wondering how this is all so neatly done, remember Time Bastard and Time Traveler's Immunity. In 1006 A.D., I have it listed that Schala blows Wazuki to the Sea of El Nido to save Serge. Well, firstly, Schala no longer exists at the Darkness Beyond Time after Chrono Cross, right? So how can this happen? Well, since she did this across time as a form of time travel, its preserved in history. Regardless of where Wazuki is at this moment in time, also, he'll disappear at the date of his original departure to Chronopolis (crossing the Sea of Eden during Chrono Cross was a form of time travel) due to Time Bastard. Likewise, no matter how the new Serge lives his life up to 1020 A.D., he's going to flat out be erased from existence when Chrono Cross Serge comes back from the Darkness Beyond Time. Masato Kato was clever; the Chrono series takes care of itself pretty well.
>>65000000 B.C.
-Humans and Reptites evolve and begin to war for control of the planet
-Crono wins Dreamstone from Ayla, and attacks the Reptite Lair to retrieve the Gate Key
-Laruba Village is burned to the ground
-Crono and Ayla defeat Azala
-Lavos lands on the planet, destroying the Tyrano Lair
>>Intermediate
-Lavos's impact causes an Ice Age which drives the humans underground and kills the Reptites off
>>3000000 B.C.
-Humans find the Frozen Flame, which begins modern evolution and capacity for magic
>>Intermediate
-Some humans find the Sun Stone and create Zeal
>>12000 B.C.
-The Masamune is initially forged
-Magus becomes the Prophet and has the Gurus exiled
-The Ocean Palace is completed with the Mammon Machine
-Crono frees Melchior; Schala is abducted
-Crono plunges the Ruby Knife into the Mammon Machine
-Lavos awakens; Magus reveals his true identity
-Crono disappears, though saved in the future
-Schala transports the party and Magus to safety
-Schala disappears through a distortion to the Darkness Beyond Time
-Zeal is destroyed by Lavos :(
-Dalton takes over the Earthbound and Zeal survivors
-Crono's party defeats him and destroys the Blackbird
-The Black Omen forms and rises
-Crono destroys the Black Omen and enters Lavos's Pocket Dimension to defeat him
-Magus comes here to search for Schala
>>Intermediate
-The Ice Age abates
-The Masamune finds its way to Denadoro Mts.
-Several Zeal treasure boxes are scattered across the planet
>>7600 B.C.
-Though Chronopolis does not travel back in time, its staff are still seen leaving the Sea of Eden and settling El Nido
-Chronopolis defeats Dinopolis
-Records of Fate are presumably installed, but inoperable
-Dragonian survivors live on El Nido
>>1 A.D.
-Guardia is founded
>>Intermediate
-The Tyrano Lair surfaces as the Giant's Claw
-Dragonians forge Elements and the Chrono Cross
-Demi-humans evolve possibly from Dragonians or Mystic breeding
-Janus comes in from the Ocean Palace incident and is trained by Ozzie
-The war between Guardia and Mystics begins
>>590 A.D.
-Queen Leene marries into Guardia royalty
-Cyrus is killed while recovering the Masamune, and Glenn is turned into Frog
-Magus breaks the Masamune
-Frog removes Cyrus's body to the Northern Ruins
>>600 A.D.
-Crono saves Queen Leene and rescues Marle
-Tata obtains the Hero's Medal from a depressed Frog
-Tata is hailed by the hero; King Guardia is wounded
-Crono holds back the Mystics at Zenan Bridge
-Crono retrieves both halves of the Masamune
-Frog sojourns to Magus's Lair with Crono
-Magus's spell invokes a huge Gate that sends him to 12000 B.C. and Crono's party to 65000000 B.C.
-The Mystics lose the war effort
-Crono saves Fiona's forest; Robo helps replenish it
-Crono defeats the Mystic Warriors
-Frog makes peace with Cyrus at the Northern Ruins
-Crono obtains the Rainbow Shell, which is kept for 400 years
-Frog returns from Chrono Trigger to live out his life
>>Intermediate
-The Masamune falls asleep and may become demonic
>>920 A.D.
-El Nido is discovered and colonized by mainlanders
-The Acacia Dragoons are set up
>>Intermediate
-Dragonians reach extinction
-Demi-humans are increasingly discriminated against
-Marle's mother dies
-Melchior comes in from the Ocean Palace incident
>>1000 A.D.
-Crono and Marle first meet, and depart to eventually save the world at the Fair
-Crono is put on trial but escapes to the future
-Melchior repairs the Masamune
-Crono's party obtains a clone of Crono
-Crono's party picks up Robo at Fiona's shrine and speaks of the Entity
-Marle reconciles with her father as Yakra XIII is defeated
-Melchior creates the ultimate weapons and armor
-The Moonlight Parade is held; Crono's party departs to their own eras
>>Intermediate
-Crono and Marle probably marry
>>1004 A.D.
-Kid is introduced to the world with Schala's pendant
>>1005 A.D.
-Guardia meets a violent end to Porre; Crono and Marle are involved in some kind of "incident" (they disappear)
-Acacia Dragoons are rumored to tear up the mainland
-?-Radius kills Garai with the evil Masamune
>>1006 A.D.
-Serge is attacked by a panther demon, and is taken to the Sea of El Nido
-Wazuki and Serge depart from the Sea of El Nido, though Wazuki is corrupted
>>1007 A.D.
-?-Radius kills Garai with the evil Masamune
>>Intermediate
-Lucca learns how to craft incomplete Time Eggs, and modifies Kid's pendant
>>1010 A.D.
-Wazuki attempts to kill Serge, but Kid saves him in an act of time traveling
--Note: Ideal Dimension Best of Both Worlds starts here. Mostly not fact--
>>Intermediate
-Belthasar might come in with the Neo-Epoch and stay awhile
-Fargo creates new ship, SS Dawn
-Nikki is entrusted to a traveler
-Acacia incident at the Dead Sea never happens
-Dario lives, and settles down with Riddel
-Radius is Chief of Arni
-Terra Tower doesn't rise
-Nikki tours Marbule, finds Fargo, revelations, Magical Dreamers & happiness
-El Nido is overseen by Porre, but there is not much intervention
-Fritz is in an administrative position on Zenan
-Norris becomes governor of El Nido
-Turnip lives
-Skelly is pieced together
-Greco becomes a major voice in Termina politics
-Sneff performs on the SS Dawn
-Grobyc hunts Porrean bounties
-Pierre searches for the Masamune
>>1020 A.D.
-Serge, Kid, and another person come in from the Darkness Beyond Time's fight with the Time Devourer
-Schala's fate is totally unknown
-These three alone will have buried memories that Chrono Cross ever happened
-Belthasar departs with the Neo-Epoch
>>Intermediate
-Serge possibly marries Kid
>>1999 A.D.
-Lavos's eruption never takes place
>>2300 A.D.
-Belthasar comes in from the Ocean Palace incident, but is Time Bastard'd as soon as Chrono Cross's Belthasar originally departed for the modern era to watch Chrono Cross unfold
-Chronopolis and the Time Crash no longer must be built
>>End of Time
-Gaspar comes in from the Ocean Palace incident
-Gaspar and Spekkio assist Crono in his quest
-Gaspar and Spekkio, besides Belthasar, Schala, Lucca, and Serge's party (Kid and another who fought the Devourer) alone knows that Chrono Cross occurred
~Future Plot Ideas~
Symmetry and I just dreamt up a scene that won't be used for a hell of a long time, but has great potential.
ME LOALZ:
The idea is that towards the end, when the Keystonian Crusaders reach ZEAL, they may come across Enhasa. what if Gaspar, accompanying them, was able to locate the Guru secret room in ancient Enhasa with total ease, uncovering all those tomes of knowledge about life and several unbiased Nu who may come to his aide? Other artifacts from olden Zeal might liei n there as well. It's a small point, but maybe something of interest; a throwback to CT. I'm thinking of a certain rock or two that could unlock a long-buried, totally unexpected triple magic tech that modern ZEALians would have no record of.
SYMATRIE: It would be an awesome scene for Gaspar to reminesce over his life back in Zeal. As he expectedly comes face-to-face with something that is entirely his own once more. Its like being back home, something he never expected to have the chance to do - if only for a brief moment. He should find it EXACTLY as he left it.
-
Aitrus, Symmetry and I have been tossing around ideas for the society of ZEAL. Respond with your comments on how this should work.
We've been thinking that since the social structure of the old Zeal depended on innate magic ablity (with the royal family at the top, naturally, and the citizens who leech off the Sun Stone and Mammon Machine on the bottom). Since 13,000 years have passed, we've conjectured that the population has surely risen, and that with the advent of further genetic evolution, different classes of society can exist. We've also been thinking that the guys in charge of Project ZEAL, in having control over time and dimensions, are somewhat more powerful than the royal family, and may be the 'real' power in ZEAL. Anyway, what do you think of this structure of power? Keep in mind that Scientists come from every rank.
1. Council Members - In charge of the time/dimensions project; shadowy. Grew from extended family of the royal family through the ages.
2. Royal Family - King and Queen of ZEAL, and most genetically capable.
3. Aristocracy - High wizards, scientists, and magically-endowed citizens, able to take on Persian names to reflect status.
4. Gentry - Inferior to the aristocracy in magic capability, but nonetheless potent researchers and magic users. Able to take on Latin/Romantic/Anglo names.
5. ZEAL Agents - Agents of Project ZEAL, fierce in combative ability to the point of rivaling some aristocracy, but shunned due to their dirty work.
5. Scientists - Dedicated scientists not part of the elite social classes.
6. Citizens - Regular citizens who display little magic ability or leech off the Mammon Machine and other power sources.
-
Well, I don't have much to say about all that...It seems all in order & nice 'n' such...Four questions about the Ideal Timeline that has been structured so far...
1. 'Skelly is pieced together'...In the Ideal Timeline, why did Skelly have to die at all? In the dimension where you don't find Skelly's bones (would that be Home World?), he is in the Termina Pub eatin' it up and completely alive.
2. 'Serge possibly marries Kid'...In the end, we see Kid leaving on a boat though...It doesn't seem like they're made for each other if you ask me...But I guess it's still just a possibility that she comes back or something...
3. 'Nikki tours Marbule, finds Fargo, revelations, Magical Dreamers & happiness'...So, then, what about Marcy? Is she involved at all? Is she still with Luccia?
4. 'Grobyc hunts Porrean bounties'...Speaking of Luccia...what about Grobyc & Luccia being brother & sister?
Everything else seems fine to me.
-
Crono and Marle probably get married - I thought that was a sure thing, at least the anime ending would have you believe that.
Greco becomes a major voice in Termina politics - Where did you get this one? I never thought Greco was into politics.
-
Remember that the "ideal timeline" has a good deal of creative liberties taken within it. It would take too long to spell out what happened to everyone involved in CC and really it isn't that necessary to do so.
Much of this information is mere details. Obviously it has an impact on the world, but its not incredibly important to the story at face value. For example, we can claim Crono & Marle got married, but no one is really sure what happened to them when Guardia fell.
Bear in mind the assumptions can be tweaked with if we need to for a particular subplot.
-
Yeah; Skelly won't have ever died, I suppose. The Serge/Kid thing is just conjecture and possibility.
-
A quick glimpse at an important aspect of Zealian society: Arcane Education.
As previously noted, not all citizens of Zeal are innate magic users. Over the years, arranged marriages were utilized to "breed" innates, but as arcane potential increased and a more noticable class structure emerged within Zeal, many aristocrats became concerned that widespread innate status would undermine their social power. As a result, "breeding" programs were discontinued and only ~60% of Zeal's population actually possesses the ability to use magic without the aid of the Mammon Machine.
After completing elementary education around the age of eighteen, students are given the opportunity to continue their studies by enrolling at the Arcane University at Najran. (Najran being the academic center of Zeal.) Mind you, being accepted to Najran is no small task - only the brightest and most talented students are accepted. (It should be noted that while merit is the most important factor in gaining admission, family history and social status often prove to work to the benefit of Zealian aristocrats and gentry.) Once a student had been accepted to Najran, they are bestowed the title of "Wizard" and spend two more years learning the ways of magic.
Wizards - Wizards differ from innate magic users in the fact that while innate users are bound to a single element, wizards learn to overcome this barrier to the point where they can manipulate all elements with an equal degree of skill. As a note of their status, when out in public all wizards must wear a sky blue coloured robe, or "subfusc". [A subfusk is gown that extends slightly further down from the waist and is either buttoned together in the front or tied together by a sash.]
After these two years as a wizard, students are offered the chance to further specialize their talents in one of the other arcane schools in Najran, and the requirements for entry into each school vary.
1. The School of Sorcery - Those who wish to continue studying the elements themselves are bestowed the title of "Sorcerer" or "Sorceress". As well as furthering their elemental prowlness, sorcerers are the only citizens of Zeal (outside the royal family) who are allowed to study Shadow magic. (Due to royal decree, and punishable by death without honour if broken.) Sorcerers wear dark blue subfuscs to note their status. Of all the schools of magic, Sorcery is the most traditional and thus the most theory laden and knowledge-intensive. For this reason, sorcerers are known for being very conservative and overly brainy, taking every opportunity possible to display their unsurpassable knowledge.
Sorcery is unique in the fact that anyone capable of gaining admission is permitted to join. Granted, the higher classes of Zeal tend populate the school, but agents and scientists have been known to become successful sorcerers.
2. The School of Summoning - Those who wish to learn how to conjure up other beings to carry out their bidding are bestowed the title of "Summoner". It should be noted that summoning is a highly personal art - one does not merely summon a pre-existing avatar. The summoner learns how to temporarily call into existence another being and bestow it with properties of the caster's choosing. There is a tremendous learning curve to this school, and thus for most of their careers, summoners appear to be very weak in comparison to their peers. For reasons unknown, most students of this art are male. Summoners in training wear yellow subfuscs, while more experienced summoners wear orange subfuscs. Because their power relies almost entirely on other beings, summoners are known for being slackers, are somewhat lazy, and never punctual.
Because summoning tends to be such a difficult art to learn, only those with extensive amounts of free time and patience tend to join - namely, aristocrats. There are no records of anyone under gentry status ever being accepted, and even the number of gentry in its ranks are slim.
3. The School of Necrology - Those who wish to study the nature of life and death are bestowed the title of "Necrologist". Necrologists, unlike what one might be inclined to think, are not hideous, demented members of society eagerly awaiting the dawn of the dead - rather, they study life processes and learn to manipulate them to their liking. Necrologists are responsible for a number of improvments in Zealian health, including their recently inherited immortality. Necrologists in training wear grey subfuscs, while more experienced necrologists wear black subfuscs. Although they aren't your typical crackpots found in most stories, Necrologists are rather morbid and are generally frowned upon by society because of the odd nature of their research.
Necrology carries such an intense social stigma that aristocrats tend to steer clear of the art, and gentry who aspire to ascend in status avoid it as well. For that reason, most all Necrologists are scientists or gentry who see themselves as having nothing to lose.
4. The School of Enchantment - Those who wish to study the nature of the mind are bestowed the title of "Enchanter" or "Enchantress". (The vast majority of these students being the latter.) Enchantresses are masters of manipulating the minds of others through illusions, toying with their emotions, and even possessing another being outright. Most students of the art are particularly beautiful (or handsome), charismatic and tend to be artistically inclined. Enchantresses in training wear pink subfuscs, (much to the dismay of the males in their order) while more experienced enchantresses wear red subfuscs. Unsurprisingly, they are known for their exaggerated displays of emotion and competitively flirtatious nature.
If you're not a member of the aristocracy, you clearly lack the social grace to become an enchantress. Underclass citizens who are foolish enough to apply are used as research subjects.
5. The School of Temporal Magic - In short, no one wishes to join this school; you are selected to be a part of it and have no choice in the matter. Believed to be an extension of the Council itself, those who became a student of this school are bestowed the title of "Chosen" and wear one colour subfusc throughout their entire career - silver. Little is known about the chosen, other than the fact that most Zealians working in the Dimensional Observation Project are members of this school. Masters of the temporal arts are rumoured to have the capacity to call time itself into submission.
Oddly enough, Zealian gentry are the only class known to be selected into this school. Why the aristocracy is denied access isn't quite clear, but power politics appears to be the most widely accepted reason.
A sixth school exists for magic useful to scientists, including the art of teleknesis and other skills useful to scholars, but the magic used here is so basic and rudimentary that even those who are not innates are permitted to join - however, members of school are not deemed worthy of respect and do not wear a special subfusc.
-
ZEAL Agents, known as Nanashi (Japanese for nameless)
____
Weaponry
Nanashi carry finely tempered and crafted Zealian knives, a descendant in technology from the knife-wielders of 12,000 B.C. Zeal. Nanashi know arcane magic, but generally do not wish to make a huge ruckus or compromise their stealth; they thus use a system of jewels to lend a particular magic effect to the knife (for basis in Chrono series, see http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Jeweled_Knife ). The most rudimentary jewels simply produce an elemental effect, such as Lightning, Fire, Water, and Shadow. This would enable Nanashi to deal with enemies strong against or susceptible to particular types of magic on the fly. Additionally, some jewels transcend the basic four elements and have specific purposes, such as the detaining of souls (see above link), healing, or perhaps even temporal effects.
-
Weather Forecast For the Various Regions of Keystone World
What is it? I just realized that without a set forecast, some writers could have it a bright sunny day, others a downpour....Heck, we should also clarify season, don't ya think? Just to keep everything going along coherently...
-
Weather Forecast For the Various Regions of Keystone World
What is it? I just realized that without a set forecast, some writers could have it a bright sunny day, others a downpour....Heck, we should also clarify season, don't ya think? Just to keep everything going along coherently...
-
Hmm.
Well, we don't know how long each episode (subplot) will last "fic-time". The party could spend a number of days trying to resolve the Toma subplot. I think it would work best if people would more or less just follow the weather established for the scene by whomever posted first. If its raining, don't suddenly start writing about what a sunny day it is.
Seasons are easier to deal with. I guess we'll just discuss beforehand in the relevant threads and make sure everyone is on the same page.
We're also going to be drawing up another system by which Zeal references time. They'll use the same 24 hour clock and all, but they'll use a different method of noting the year. After all, they've got no reason to use "1000 AD" - AD being generally viewed as the foundation of Guardia in the series if I'm not mistaken. Any suggestions on such a system would be helpful. We've considered counting from the date Zeal was founded, but we're not entirely sure how long Zeal was in existence when Crono & Co first came upon it. Basing dates off of changes in the family line on the throne has also been suggested. (Face it, somewhere along the time they're going to have to call in a cousin or relative as not every King and Queen will have a proper heir.)
Anyway, ideas are very much welcome on that subject.
-
I'd like to throw out an idea I just remembered from a movie called Thrill Seekers/Time Shifters. It was a made-for-tv movie on TBS revolving around time travel and tourists from the future who took part in catastrophic events in the past. Some of you may have seen this; it's pretty damn cool for such a humble undertaking.
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1804126596
The idea is that in the future, the illegal tourist agency is able to construct a temporal deviations protective force field in case one of the tourists significantly alters history. This effect allows the agency to exist for a certain time regardless of history's change, so that agents can be dispatched back in time to clean up the mess and reroute history back on the right route.
I'd like to propose that the Centre for Temporal Research might have such an ability, though I'm not sure what effects this will have on the final resolution of Project ZEAL.
-
A sound idea, one I've actually used in some short stories, but the point is moot in this case. Since the Centre would operate out of ZEAL anyway, their base is outside that timeline and so it wouldn't matter. The only case it might matter in is if someone attempted to go back in time and change ZEAL's history, or possibly for individual agents, if it can be miniaturized or is a spell.
-
I meant to suggest this before. I was rather fond of the idea at the time.
The Council (and the Centre) are clever bastards, right? With all the tampering they're doing to other timelines, you've got to wonder if they ever considered the possibility of an alteration being used against them. There's two (noteable) ways I think you can go from here.
1. The Council is simply too arrogant to ever believe someone who attempt to wipe ZEAL out of existence or alter its own history against their will.
2. The Council has established some security mechanism to prevent such occurances from ever happening.
Now, number one seems less likely to me. We're already operating on the notion that the Council keeps a very tight grip on ZEAL and is downright paranoid that someone or some group is plotting to overthrow them. (The detainment of Sigma, for instance...)
For option two, I'd like to suggest that perhaps the Council - through the Centre - has time bastard'd ZEAL itself. Perhaps they managed to send all of Zeal through time a mere few seconds so that it could never be erased by someone fooling around... furthermore, this could be done every once in awhile to "update" the bastard effect. Thus, the Council could change Zeal's future to its liking, but the same power could never be wielded against it.
It was discussed before that the way to overthrow ZEAL would be to fight it in the past. I'd be a real shock if Gaspar & Co altered the ZEAL timeline in the past only to return to its future and find that vitually nothing had changed.
Ultimately forcing the party to fight ZEAL on its own terms somehow, rather than taking a cheap shot at it - leading to the Crown vs Council confrontation...
-
I'm not so sure that would work, mechanics-wise. Even if ZEAL is transported a few seconds into the future, an entity from this new frame could go back and erase it all anyway. On the other hand, if we go by my Time-Error theory, that method wouldn't work at all. The only way it could work is if all of ZEAL was transported back in its own timeline to the time of its formation.
What I'd propose (it's even canon): ZEAL has used powerful magic similar to what Schala was forced to do in CT to block off entrance to the past of its own timeline. Eventually, the good guys will find a way to get around this (I can think of two possibilities of the top of my head: a new version of Epoch, or somehow using Sigma's ability to get past the magic barrier), and will rewrite the timeline from that point, and saving all the other timelines ZEAL would mess with.
-
Hmm. I don't understand why it wouldn't work.
If a person jumps back in time and kills their father, they're protected from alterations to the timeline from that point onward. Why the same would not apply to say, the entire floating continent?
In anycase, Zeal won't be taken down by altering its past. That was one of the inital ideas, but a couple of new ideas have refocused the plot - namely, the introduction of conflict within Zeal.
-
A point worth reinforcing. Two, actually.
Nanashi - Within Zeal, Nanashi are simply known as assassins. Their true purpose, however, is to carry out the Council's dirty work in the other timelines they encounter.
Centre for Dimensional Research - Remember, this is a very top-secret, low-key ordeal. Virtually no one in Zeal actually knows of the experiments in other timelines - this is something kept under wraps by the Council. Although "conspiracy theories" exist of mad scientists peering into other dimensions, only the Council, the elite within the School of Temporal Magic, and the Nanashi actually know the true nature of the beast.
-
A Thought: Are there still Gurus in ZEAL? I suppose they wouldn't be the same lovable Gurus we know, but are there others who took up the titles of Guru of Life, Time or Reason?
-
A Thought: Are there still Gurus in ZEAL? I suppose they wouldn't be the same lovable Gurus we know, but are there others who took up the titles of Guru of Life, Time or Reason?
That's a good question. I'd suppose ZEAL has evolved beyond such mundane notions as reason. They'd probably have their own, perverted form of it. Remember that we're talking about a gap of ~13,000 years, here. In such a long length of time (longer than any civilization on earth has existed, or even all of human civilization), it is very doubtful that the titles or existence of certain government position would remain intact. The only title/position that tends to stay around is King/Queen.
-
That also raises a good question: What exactly were the jobs of the Gurus? Were they merely honorary positions? Religious posts? Were they like cabinet members? Magical researchers?
I'd guess religious posts. It seems to fit with how they were revered, and (according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru)) the word "Guru" was originally used for a Hindu religious teacher. On this note, it might be a good idea to define what religion (if any) is predominant in ZEAL.
-
Good questions.
It was definately decided upon that the Melchior, Gaspar, and Belthasar from the ZEAL timeline died long ago. Originally, we had considered leaving the posts as honourary positions, but now that just seems like excess baggage. I don't see any reason to keep them around. Unless someone has a smashing idea for them, I say we can the three positions.
As for religion. Worship of the monarch as descending from the gods works, as does some vague belief in a system of reincarnation where one's deeds effect the spirtual energy they possess in the next life. (Thus justifying oppression of those lacking arcane talent as being bad in a past life and those talented as being good.) Although my initial impulse was to dismiss religion as something ZEAL would be 'beyond', I'm somewhat given to the idea now... it would definately add another aspect of Zealian life to write about.
Furthermore, doesn't the ending of Cross (or at least one of them) suggest that Schala, Kid, or whoever had some spiritual beliefs? Yeah. I'm liking this idea now.
-
Hmm. I don't understand why it wouldn't work.
If a person jumps back in time and kills their father, they're protected from alterations to the timeline from that point onward. Why the same would not apply to say, the entire floating continent?
In anycase, Zeal won't be taken down by altering its past. That was one of the inital ideas, but a couple of new ideas have refocused the plot - namely, the introduction of conflict within Zeal.
Well, then we've got the problem of the Impermeability Principle. If all of ZEAL is shunted to the past, it will occupy the same space as the ZEAL of that time (this is also the case for travels to the future, due to the resolution of the Guardia Line Paradox).
It's also possible that if someone travels back through time to a point earlier than the Bastard's destination, they can rewrite time sufficiently so the Bastard's travel won't be recreated in the new timeline. This is because when one travels to the past and changes something, the entire timeline must be rewritten from that point, including any possible jaunts through time after that point. If they prevent the Bastard's original travel, it won't be recreated in this new timeline.
-
Ah.
The moment the "imposed" Zeal appeared in the past, it would collide with the one there at the present. You're right about that. Unlike a person travelling back in time, the floating contients would occupy the same space. However - if I understand Time Bastard correctly, when the moment the throwback occurred is reached, the Zeal already present in that timeline should be discarded to the DBT.
However, if Zeal tranported itself foward in time, that problem would be avoided. And no matter what happened, Zeal appearing at X time in the future becomes an unchangable fact of history, if my understanding is correct.
I suppose this depends heavily on what theories you suscribe to. In anycase, it shouldn't be a problem as far as this fic is concerned. Zeal will not be destroyed in the past.
-
Actually, Time Bastard wouldn't shunt out either past or future ZEAL, as they don't exist at the same time of their existence (see my post in the axioms thread for more explanation). This means that ZEAL would come into conflict with its past or future version for a few seconds, at least. For travels to the future, the Guardia Royal Line Paradox (essentially, Marle meeting her descendants when she traveled to the future) tells us that when something travels to its own future, it arrives in the future that would have occured if it hadn't just left. Therefore, if ZEAL traveled to the future, it would come into conflict with the ZEAL that would have been there if it hadn't traveled to the future.
If we're not going to destroy ZEAL's past, we should still explain why we aren't doing so. Given the problems inherent in Time-Bastarding ZEAL, we should probably just say that they've set up some sort of barrier.
-
There are any number of reasons why ZEAL won't be wiped out in the past, the most important being that there are characters from ZEAL who play important roles in the story.
The story can be easily divided into two sections. The first will focus on Gaspar & Co's attempts to restore the Keystonian timeline as best as possible. This is when all (or the vast majority) of our subplots will be taking place. The second half will focus on Gaspar & Co's crossing over into ZEAL and what they find there.
Hopefully, it will be made clear at that point in the story that ZEAL is not as unified as it appears to be to the Keystonians - and while they certainly don't see much of a problem with erasing from existence a civilization that did the same to everyone else, the Zealians who they encounter do. (Zealians, who like most of ZEAL, had nothing to do with the project to begin with.)
And at that point, those Zealians present the Keystonians with a choice. Desist with your attempts to wipe ZEAL out of existence, or be killed here and now. (A fight which Keystonians have no chance of winning.) In return, a coalition is formed to remove those in power who are responsible and a promise is made that further experiments will not be tolerated.
Whether or not the possibility of ZEAL being destroyed in the past and erased from existence doesn't need to be a point of discussion anymore because it simply won't happen.
-
I should probably expound on a few things. I forget what's been posted on the forums and been discussed over chats, so lemme try and get everyone on the same page.
At some point in time, ZEAL began to research time and alternate dimensions in an extensive, scholastic manner. Upon realizing the potential of what they were dealing with, the Crown began to worry that something might go terribly wrong and that ZEAL might be brought to ruin or destroyed entirely by its own hand or that of another. To co-ordinate and monitor research on space-time, the Crown established the Centre of Temporal and Dimensional Research and created a body - the Council - to manage it. While conducting various experiments, the ultimate goal of the Council was to see to it that no harm came to ZEAL - inparticularly the Crown - in the process.
As any organization with great power tends to do, the Council wandered from its original goal of maintaining order and began to assume more and more power for itself in a slow and largely unnoticed process. While the Council was originally established in secret, over time they simply vanished from all observation. No one, save the Crown, gave them a further thought, and even the royal line had trouble keeping tabs on the shadowy collective's ongoings. Without the general populace knowing, the Council began to conduct research and rewrite history in not only other timelines, but even its own.
While the Council had been in existence for some time, it had not assumed the degree of power it holds over Zealian society now until the advent of immortality. Without anyone but the royal family themselves knowing it, the Council effectively governs the kingdom through the Crown - which has now been reduced to being little more than a puppet.
With their recent (relatively) expansion of power, talk of the Council has arisen once more. While knowing little of it, many Zealians speculate about the truth - although they know not how deep the rabbit hole winds. Within the royal family itself - who for some time have merely accepted their status as masks - there are those who now plot the restoration of their honour and seek to overthrow the Council, though they dare not go public yet with such a rebellion out of fear for their lives.
Aitrus will be writing pretty existensively about this conflict. I'll also be writing about it to a lesser degree, and I'm sure it will come up from time to time through other Zealian characters outside ours.
-
I'm sure its crossed someone's mind exactly how Keystonians fare against the Zealians in combat, and for that matter, how various Zealians stack up against each other. Bear in mind that the following is not how EVERY SINGLE encounter would play out, but rather a rough guideline. Consider this the "definitive" list as the structure has probably changed a little since the very beginning of our considerations.
(Beginning with the weakest... Characters a tier below another have virtually no chance against the character above in a one-on-one fight to the death.)
Tier One
Keystonian Citizens - The absolute weakest of the weak. These people are your genetic townfolk, soliders, shopkeepers, farmers, whatever. Pretty much fodder for anyone above them.
Zealian Citizens - Citizens of Zeal who lack innate magical talent.
Zealian Citizens II - Citizens of Zeal who have innate magical talent, but have not pursued arcane education of any sort, barring "scientific" magic.
Tier Two
Keystonian Heroes/Heroines - This is the class Gaspar's chosen come from. Note that this considers the characters to be at a "beginning" level of strength - as one who possesses raw talent, but has never set out on an adventure. Over the course of the fic there should be some clear progression from this category. Also worth noting that your character may be quite the veteran to adventure and thus beyond this stage to some degree.
Zealian Wizards - Although notably more powerful than the Keystonian Heroes/Heroines, Zealian Wizards are far from god-like. A small group of heroes & heroines should be capable of defeating one of these without too much difficulty - and while extraordinarily difficult, it is possible for a hero or heroine to defeat a wizard one-on-one.
Zealian Novice Mages - Those who have graduated from the title of "Wizard" and enrolled in one of the high schools of magic, but has not yet sufficently mastered their art.
Tier Three
Nanashi - Very dangerous. Chances are very high that if you encounter a Nanashi, you will not be getting the first shot on them. However, should a group of heroes/heroines/wizards have the chance to return fire, victory is quite possible. Note that Nanashi are highly trained assassins and have no qualms about fighting to the very end - in fact, to do otherwise would be cowardice.
Zealian Advanced Mages - Those who have completed their studies at one of the arcane schools and been rewarded their art's "true" coloured subfusc.
Keystonian Legendary Heroes/Heroines - Think of Crono & Co as they confront Lavos. Legendary Heroes & Heroines should have little trouble defending themselves from Nanashi - even Advanced Mages shouldn't be too much of a threat to these hardy adventurers. Still, they are not so powerful to be able to defeat Mages in numbers, so some caution must be exercised.
Tier Four
Zealian Master Mages I - These are members of the Temporal & Necrology Schools who have not only "graduated", but have gone on to teach and conduct research. They are separated from Class II Mages because their talents do not lend themselves to combat. Necrologists are much like "white mages", focusing on healing & "support" magics. The power of Temporal Mages simply does not translate to combat situations very well.
Zealian Royalty - Zealian Royalty are almost always born with tremendous magical power, although exceptions do exist. However, these Zealians almost never study the arcane sciences so their power is very raw - their true potential is not realized.
Zealian Master Mages II - Similar to Class I Mages, these are Sorcerers/Sorceresses, Summoners, and Enchantresses of tremendous power and each of these three each have an advantage in varying situations.
1. Enchantresses - Enchantresses cannot hope to rival a summoner or sorcerer one-on-one as they lack the destructive power of their peers - furthermore, their charms are noticably less effective against close rivals; however, given a few other subjects to work their magic on, they can prove to be very dangerous.
2. Sorcerers & Sorceresses - Sorcerers & Sorceresses wield the greatest destructive power out of the three, but the problem in a one-on-one match is that it takes considerable amounts of time and consentration to cast these incredibly destructive spells - however, they are so adept with elemental magic that they are able to cast multiple spells at the same time, tossing out weaker ones to hold a rival at bay until a more powerful one is ready.
3. Summoners - Summoners are the toughest to take on toe-to-toe because once they summon another being to assist them, they are free to cast their own spells with little need to maintain control over their summoned ally. While powerful summons do take time, they are considerably shorter than the earth-shattering ones wielded by the sorcerer.
Given time, the sorcerer wins. Given people, the enchantress wins. Otherwise, the summoner dominates all.
Tier Five
The Council - Summoners, Sorcerers, Enchantresses, Necrologists, and Temporal Mages of nearly unfathomable power. Their knowledge of their respective arts is supreme. Even groups of Master Mages would fall before their might.
While it is entirely possible that something may rival the Council's might, it is quite unlikely.
One last point worth noting - as stated above, Keystonians are at a strong disadvantage to their Zealian counterparts. Fortunately for the Keystonians, every battle is not a battle to the death. While Keystonians are used to the rough and tumble of battle and hardships of life, Zealians have developed in a world devoid of conflict and nearly all physical pain. Not only are Zealians considerably more frail than Keystonians, but they also lack the mental hardiness Keystonians possess from frequently facing danger. Furthermore, given that Zealians possess eternal life, the idea that someone could end their existence with a simple stab to the heart is particularly frightening - mortality is mortality, after all.
Unless a Zealian is indeed set on fighting to the very end (as the Nanashi are), all a Keystonian needs to do is give 'em a few bruises - maybe a black eye or a bloody nose - and they'll retreat.
-
ZEALIAN RELIGION
by Symmetry and ZeaLitY
I. Reincarnation
A keynote in the religion of ZEAL is reincarnation, it reinforces social heirarchy while explaining the cycle of life. It is believed that with each life, one's karma is measured so that when one dies, he or she may be reincarnated into a social position worthy of the past life's deeds. Of course, it is up to the reincarnated person to continue living righteously or become ruthlessly evil; this will be reflected later on. Aristocrats and Gentry use this system to reinforce their positions; they hold that in past lives, they were integral in the well being of ZEAL, and for this service they have been given a just reward.
II. Liquid Structure
There is no central figurehead for religion in ZEAL, as this might give way to popular stereotypes of villains and crusading, fanatic religious leaders. ZEAL's religion is more of a practical organization, demonstrated in IV. Dreams below this paragraph, meaning that while there are organized groups of researchers and practitioners, there is no one body wielding huge social power an dictating correct doctrine.
III. Divine Right
It is a common and rarely challenged belief that the royalty of ZEAL reign with the authority of higher powers. This is confirmed by the fact that royalty possess the greatest genetic ability in magic, and reinforced duly with pomp and splendor. The account within Kajar of "It all began aeons ago, when man'sancestors picked up a shard of a strange red rock...Its power, which was beyond human comprehension, cultivated dreams...In turn, love and hate were born..." has been clarified as a stake of claim by royalty to the first contact and possession of the Frozen Flame long ago.
IV. Dreams
Dreams are a way to tap into the purest and most divine essences of the natural and ethereal dimensions of existence. Enhasa is now regarded as one of, if not the holiest site in ZEAL concerning religion, due to its ancient traditions in embracing dreams and supposed perfection of dream interpretation and application. Those who study enchantment are involved in a special branch of the trade; dreamers who make pilgrimages or have had particularly intense dreams may consult them and allow them to peer into their mind to, in reality, discover causes of anxiety, heightened emotions, or problems, and thus be able to identify the root of dreams and how they relate to the solutions. They are somewhat therapists; a branch of mystics might exist as it does for nearly every religion, believing that actions visualized in dreams should come to pass regardless. They nonetheless do not engage in murder everytime they see it in a dream, but they are highly strange people who subscribe completely to the idea that dreams are an essence of life to be followed.
V. The Pantheon
This the mythology of ZEAL.
~The Divine~
Rizasu - Collective name for Shadow/the four elements; genderless. Likable to the Force or the Tao itself, passing through us. Identifies with School of Sorcery.
The Sea of Zurvan - The essence of Enhasa, it is "the Force" or Tao of the Chrono series, believed to be flowing through and linking everyone together on a divine plane, or perhaps quantum level.
~Main Icons~
Farzad - God of Life/Death, the icon of reincarnation; depicted as a baby growing old throughout the year, and being reborn. Identifies with School of Necrology.
Kimiya - Goddess of Summoning; depicted as a fair lady, being creative, pondering, curious and studious. Shares a rivalry with her brother, Montlasalle.
Montlasalle - God of Enchantment; depicted as a man of such smooth and dashing handsomeness that his presence would make other men blush. Shares a rivalry with Kimiya, though is hardly angry with her; tends to borrow her ideas gracefully. Associated heavily with masks; "All to anyone."
Pouri - Goddess of Time; depicted as having deep, crimson eyes. One eye sees the past, and the other sees the future; she rarely ever speaks, and when she does, absolutely everyone listens. It is rare for her to speak something that is not cryptic, as it is difficult to discern whether she is speaking of the past, present, or future.
~Secondary Icons~
Aguirre - God of music; depicted with his eyes closed and hands outstretched.
-
Couple of questions I asked on Chronicles, but could probably be answered a bit more specifically here:
According to all I've heard and read, and my own personal experience, level growth in the range of 50 is sufficient to defeat Lavos, though only in a fight of attrition -- but no matter how it is done, accomplishing such a feat would indeed make someone legendary. However, there's still half the growth to be done -- much more than half, truthfully, because stat growth per level is based on a non-linear mathematical function where the character's level X and the stat Y are interrelated, with positive modifiers added to the Y-intercept of the function's graph for stat-enhancing items. I'm not precisely sure what the equation is, but it damn sure isn't a line.
The equation runs something like this:
......... 4/5
y = x + 5
Thusly, my level 70-something CT party has the "max" 999, instead of in the area of 700 health. If we're using this as our base level for the Legendary Keystonian Hero title, then we still have a little under halfway to go before we reach the Council's level.
One of these days, perhaps when marching band is finished, I'm going to go back and play through again and again until every character is at level 99. But I digress.
Are we operating under the assumption that the CT characters never reached 99, due to the extraordinary amount of time required to achieve it, and the fact that realistically, the enemies wouldn't regenerate just so you could get more EXP off of them? Going through the game once and killing every enemy along the way gets you to about 50. If this is so, then even they have potential for growth -- and apparently, so does Lavos.
Question two: just for reference, where do Lavos, FATE, and the Dragon God fall in this scale?
-
Heh.
Don't think of it like "levels".
Roughly, a party of three should be able to take on a corresponding member of the next tier up. Three Legendary Heroes & Heroines can probably show up a Zealian Master Magi II - three Nanashi probably could not. (Note how there are three members of each category save the last...)
The exception being Council members.
Also, on Zealian Royalty. They have the highest "potential" to become powerful sorcerers, summoners, whatever - but rarely do they actually focus on their training enough to become one. If a member of the royalty were actually to devote the appropriate time, however, they would be just a notch below a Council member.
-
Also remember that this is a simplification to give a good guideline. A very clever character may be able to set up an ingenious trap to take out someone a tier above, or circumstances may just happen to favor the underdog.
A specific example: My character, Sigma, would normally count as a mere T1 "Keystonian Citizen," but her power gives her a chance against most magic-users, already seen in her taking out a T3 Zealian Advanced Mage. On the other hand, her power is very unreliable, and she has yet to learn even the most basic of control over it, so she can in no way do this reliably; if the mage were out for blood she wouldn't stand a chance. It was just the circumstances and luck that resulted in this "victory." Additionally, she's so pathetic besides this that she would be mere cannon fodder for Ye Olde Town Guard.
EDIT: Minor grammatical points.
-
ZeaLitY:
Shouldn't the Sea of Zurvan be incorperated into Zealian Mythos/Religion? It was mentioned in Cross by Schala and it seems relatively important...
-
ZeaLitY:
Shouldn't the Sea of Zurvan be incorperated into Zealian Mythos/Religion? It was mentioned in Cross by Schala and it seems relatively important...
Good idea. We'll work on incorporating it somehow. If you've got any ideas, let's hear 'em.
Leebot's got the idea with the comparisons. Its a rough guideline, not something set in stone. Although, I just used "Magi" because it sounded cooler than "Mages".
It does. Doesn't it?
-
So does this mean you intended for the singular to be "Mage"? That's probably better anyway, to avoid confusion with the Magus. I don't mean to quibble, but its good to lay these things out ahead of time for consitency. I'll go edit it to Mage.
-
I'm just used to the whole level thing -- I need a reference point with something I'm familiar with. The problem with imagining it in terms of levels, though, is that both games have a level cap.
But I'm guessing that there is potential for growth, even in Crono's party -- Janus, for example, probably has the potential to master even the most powerful of ZEAL's sorceries...too bad he's not alive anymore to do so, at least not bodily.
It's been made rather clear what King and Queen Zeal did, but what about the ZEAL dimension's Janus and Schala? They were both extraordinarily powerful, and this would lead me to surmise that they have some major part in either ZEAL's history or myths.
-
As for Magus & Schala.
The two of them are unquestionably the most popular Chrono series characters to write about. For that reason, I think we want to avoid them having any serious roles as much as possible. More than likely, they just lived out their days as members of the royal family. After all, with no drama for them to shine in, they're probably not going to rise to the occasion like they did in Keystone.
Maybe Magus did some noteworthy research in the field of shadow magic. I dunno. If someone has a neat idea for them, I'm all for hearing it out, but I'd like to avoid something terribly important to the timeline, y'know?
(Edited earlier post at Leebot's request to avoid confusion.)
-
Yeah, though it might be a little confusing (probably not though) because I'm half-using the Keystone Magus, who I call Gil (he'll be involved in the jailbreak sequence and probably not much more).
-
If we're going to mention Janus at all, it should be minor things, such as:
1) Calling the school of sorcery the "Janus School."
2) A few shadow spells might have "Janus'" in their name (a commonly used mechanic in D&D, with spells like Bigby's Interposing Hand or Mordenkainen's Sword). A few suggestions, based on Magus' spells:
-Dark Bomb -> Janus' Bomb
-Magic Wall -> Janus' Barrier
-Black Hole -> Janus' Elimination
We probably shouldn't do too many, though, as Magus at the height of his power was less powerful than most average ZEALian sorcerers. What I have above would be alright, as we know that Magus probably did come up with these spells on his own, so Janus could have done so in the ZEAL timeline. They'll probably stack among the lower-level Shadow spells, with new, more powerful spells having been developed since his time.
EDIT: Fixed a typo.
-
Would Janus have learned those spells at all? Heck, would he have actually gotten into Magic at all? Even if he did, I don't know if he'd go so far into his Shadow Magic...he just wouldn't have the same reason to. I could see a Janus Barrier if you absolutely think he'd go into Magic, but otherwise? Janus' Elimination sounds silly for one...
I don't think he would have gotten into Magic much at all myself...Not Janus simply as Janus...
-
Oh, so it sounds silly, eh?
That's it! ::Leebot casts Otto's Irresistable Dance on V_Translanka::
-
If we are going to name spells after Janus, they should probably be a little more complex sounding. I'm not really super-familiar with D&D, but I'm played some of the Baldur's Gate games and I've got an idea of what you're talking about, Leebot. Janus' Elimination doesn't sound "arcane" enough to me, although I suppose you were proably just coming up with those as a rough example. Something more like Janus' Grip of Death or Janus' Sphere of Annihilation sounds more "spell-like", if you get my drift.
I sorta concur with Translanka here. I see Magus' power being very much the product of his suffering, both at the hands of Zeal and his separation from it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe its claimed somewhere in CT that Janus seemed to lack any magical power whatsoever. Zeal thought he was a runt. Whether or not they were right about Janus is debatable, but what we do know is that by the time he is known to us as Magus, he becomes a powerful wizard. How much of that power was simply "innate potential" is unknown. I'd like to think that Magus' power was more self-taught and gained through the hardships he endured as he tried to make his way back to Lavos for revenge.
Still, giving Janus some props in the fic is fun as a fan of the series. Naming some spells after him does add richness to the fic as a whole.
-
Kind of off topic for me to argue this but here goes. Janus did have a lot of inate magical talent. The person who said that he didn't seem to have a shread of magic was some Zealian citizen, while it was Melchoir(albeit through hersay by an earthbound citizen) who said that Janus had magical powers for stronger than even Schala.
Anyways the point remains the same that in the world of Zeal now far more powerfull magic exists, but I'm down to name a few spells after Janus as a sort of acknowagement of him.
-
Yes, those were made-up just to give an example. If we wanted, we could put our heads together and come up with something cooler. A few more examples of D&D spell names:
Bigby's Clenched Fist
Bigby's Crushing Hand
Bigby's Forceful Hand
Bigby's Grasping Hand
Evard's Black Tentacles
Leomund's Secure Shelter
Leomund's Tiny Hat
Leomund's Trap
Melf's Acid Arrow
Mordenkainen's Disjunction
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound
Mordenkainen's Lucubration
Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
Nystal's Magical Aura
Nystal's Undetectable Aura
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere
Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer
Rary's Telepathic Bond
Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Tenser's Floating Disk
Tenser's Transformation
As you can see, very few of these spells have clever or cool names. They just say what they do. Granted, this is common throughout D&D, most spell names are pretty indicative of what they do. This by no means means we have to do it this way, but it would be a nice touch to have mages cast Janus' Barrier or somesuch.
-
Agreed.
But a lot those use interesting adjectives. There's a little more to them than just "Bomb". So bring it with your Otto's Irresistable Dance!
I still think Sphere of Annihilation is a damn cool sounding spell. I know I'd want to cast it once or twice.
-
I added the Sea of Zurvan. Man, I'm craving to see a fight scene now that we've got an estimate of ability.
-
Symmetry and I just dreamt up a scene that won't be used for a hell of a long time, but has great potential.
ME LOALZ:
The idea is that towards the end, when the Keystonian Crusaders reach ZEAL, they may come across Enhasa. what if Gaspar, accompanying them, was able to locate the Guru secret room in ancient Enhasa with total ease, uncovering all those tomes of knowledge about life and several unbiased Nu who may come to his aide? Other artifacts from olden Zeal might liei n there as well. It's a small point, but maybe something of interest; a throwback to CT. I'm thinking of a certain rock or two that could unlock a long-buried, totally unexpected triple magic tech that modern ZEALians would have no record of.
SYMATRIE: It would be an awesome scene for Gaspar to reminesce over his life back in Zeal. As he expectedly comes face-to-face with something that is entirely his own once more. Its like being back home, something he never expected to have the chance to do - if only for a brief moment. He should find it EXACTLY as he left it.
-
Unfortunately, Sphere of Annihilation isn't a spell. It's technically considered a minor artifact, but it's better to think of it as an environmental hazard. It's basically a Black Hole without gravity; if you touch it, you're gone.
Let's see here...
Janus' Prismatic Barrier
Janus' Shadow Blast (Dark Bomb)
Janus' Inevitable Doom (Black Hole)
Janus' Soul Render (Dark Matter)
On the flip side...
Schala's Divine Retribution (Some light-elemental attack)
Schala's Blessed Aura (A spell that raises attributes)
Schala's Holy Light (A healing spell)
Of course, if our characters never hear the names of the spells, this will all be for nothing. Perhaps ZEALian mages are fond of shouting out the name of the spell they cast, but this could seem a bit corny. A better alternative would be for one of the ZEALian characters in-the-know to identify them when they're telling the story, or to mention their names to the rest of the party. Of course, we should be careful not to use too many named spells relative to other spells. Perhaps someone should write up a master spell list? I'd be willing to do so, using the various resources at my disposal.
-
I'm against people shouting spells. I like having other people pointing out and recognizing particularly devistating spells, or finding them mentioned in a ZEALian school book or encyclopedia. And I'd say keep the name Black Hole. It describes what it does. If you really want to change it though, how about Janus' Singularity ?
-
Janus' Singularity ?
Schwarzschild is turning in his grave.
-
Janus' Singularity ?
Schwarzschild is turning in his grave.
May you be thouroughly irradiated with Hawking radiation.
-
Let's see here...
Janus' Prismatic Barrier
Janus' Shadow Blast (Dark Bomb)
Janus' Inevitable Doom (Black Hole)
Janus' Soul Render (Dark Matter)
On the flip side...
Schala's Divine Retribution (Some light-elemental attack)
Schala's Blessed Aura (A spell that raises attributes)
Schala's Holy Light (A healing spell)
Alright. Now that's hot.
Of course, if our characters never hear the names of the spells, this will all be for nothing. Perhaps ZEALian mages are fond of shouting out the name of the spell they cast, but this could seem a bit corny. A better alternative would be for one of the ZEALian characters in-the-know to identify them when they're telling the story, or to mention their names to the rest of the party. Of course, we should be careful not to use too many named spells relative to other spells. Perhaps someone should write up a master spell list? I'd be willing to do so, using the various resources at my disposal.
I've kicked around typing up some frequently studied spells (and descriptions) by the Zealians - so I'm all for a list of spells, although it shouldn't be definitive by any means. We should just mention some of the "key" spells that anyone in the art would know.
I don't really care for "FIRE!" and "FIRAGA!", either. Chants in Latin or some other language can be interesting, though.
I had planned on Sessimine frequently pointing out tidbits of arcane knowledge given her status as an instructor, so expect to see them worked into the story through her, for one. (Much to Naomi's dismay.)
-
Yeah, I'm against changing the entire names of the spells, but adding Janus' name to the existing Shadow spells seems fine. Why fix what's not broken, right?
Prismatic Barrier? Why make such long titles for spells? Just to be grandios? That's ludicrous...man I can't spell those words...grandeous? grandeos? ludicrus? whatever...
So far in Magness, I've only had Gil/Magus do some (un-written out) chanting...and only once I actually put in a few Latin words for him to say...maybe I put in an Olde English word too...I don't remember (I was flipping through ye old dictionary and looking at root words)...I think that works for the best...But, my character Hunter, is going to be a little more full of himself, and is definately going to utter a name for a Tech (or two) of his...I think it mainly just depends on the characters uses the spells/techs. If they seem like the type to waste the time shouting out the name of their spell, or maybe it helps them concentrate or some other rubbish, I'm for it...But if it sounds too forced and without any real merit, throw it out.
-
I still tend to hold Janus in higher esteem -- I'd trust Melchior a lot more than some Zealian jerk. He probably was a product of his circumstances, though. However, I still believe that Janus could master any magical technique invented by ZEAL, as his research is likely at the root of them. He's not in the story, though, so that's pure speculation on my part.
For example, my writing -- before eighth grade, I didn't have a damn clue how to write anything. Ever. And then that year comes, and all of a sudden that's what I want to do for a passion. My entire class made promise to write, no matter what else I do. The talent (or what I hope is talent) sprouted late, but it's turned out quite amazingly both as simple writing and for a career as a physicist, just going by what I've been told by the people who read my stuff and give me my grades.
Janus was definitely a late bloomer, but who cares? He could still set this whole county on fire.
As for the levels, potential is still there for any character class, but I'm still not sure where Lavos, FATE, and the Dragon God fit. Does the level you can reach depend on innate potential? I suppose that because of 13,000 years of extra magical genes, the ZEAL residents would have more magical potential than the average human, but in the Keystone timeline, allowing for the destruction of Ayla's tribe and the accepted evolutionary record, not to mention the lore about the Frozen Flame, it took us a few million years to get to where we are now in terms of potential -- a mere 13,000 isn't going to make that much of a difference, unless Lavos' presence is a lot more powerful than we thought.
And the yelling thing...just...no. Chanting, yes. But yelling, despite the obvious similarity in character design, is too DBZ-ish.
-
For example, my writing -- before eighth grade, I didn't have a damn clue how to write anything. Ever. And then that year comes, and all of a sudden that's what I want to do for a passion. My entire class made promise to write, no matter what else I do. The talent (or what I hope is talent) sprouted late, but it's turned out quite amazingly both as simple writing and for a career as a physicist, just going by what I've been told by the people who read my stuff and give me my grades.
[Personal History]That's eerily similar to my own story. Up through the end of eighth grade, everyone thought I was mediocre at writing. I was placed into the average English stream in High School. About half-way through 9th grade, my debate coach commented that I wrote fantastic speaches. Then my English class did a unit on poetry, and during peer-editing, my editors lost marks because they couldn't find enough flaws in my writing (I really don't agree with this grading scheme). Through the following years, my papers started getting perfect scores from time to time (and my teachers really hate giving out perfect scores). I also started to become more enthusiastic about the process. The final paper I wrote in high school was a science fiction report where we got to choose our own subject. The expected length was 3-4 pages. I ended up writing a 10 page in-depth study of Star Trek: First Contact, which ended up being passed around the Math & Science faculty so every Star Trek fan in the staff could read it. What made me get so much better so suddenly? Honestly, it probably has a lot to do with reading Star Trek constantly, and I do mean constantly. The writing style just rubbed off. At this point, well, you can tell by my work on this site that I'm still enthusiastic about both fictional and nonfictional work in the Sci-Fi genre.[/Personal History]
But that's enough about me. I'll get to work on a basic spell list. You can probably expect it up within the next couple of days. This list will be by no means limiting; plenty of mages engage in research for their own, unique spells. The names also won't be set in stone, ZEALians will likely know the same spell by different names, depending on whether they (for instance) prefer the grandiose "Janus' Prismatic Barrier" or the functional "Magic Barrier."
-
There can exist two versions, of course -- the proper and vernacular, just like real life. With nothing to do up in those clouds, I'm sure some flippant group of scholars (named the Chrono Compendium) has complicated everything, but this does not necessarily mean the practitioners use these extended names.
-
For example, my writing -- before eighth grade, I didn't have a damn clue how to write anything. Ever. And then that year comes, and all of a sudden that's what I want to do for a passion. My entire class made promise to write, no matter what else I do. The talent (or what I hope is talent) sprouted late, but it's turned out quite amazingly both as simple writing and for a career as a physicist, just going by what I've been told by the people who read my stuff and give me my grades.
[Personal History]That's eerily similar to my own story. Up through the end of eighth grade, everyone thought I was mediocre at writing. I was placed into the average English stream in High School. About half-way through 9th grade, my debate coach commented that I wrote fantastic speaches. Then my English class did a unit on poetry, and during peer-editing, my editors lost marks because they couldn't find enough flaws in my writing (I really don't agree with this grading scheme). Through the following years, my papers started getting perfect scores from time to time (and my teachers really hate giving out perfect scores). I also started to become more enthusiastic about the process. The final paper I wrote in high school was a science fiction report where we got to choose our own subject. The expected length was 3-4 pages. I ended up writing a 10 page in-depth study of Star Trek: First Contact, which ended up being passed around the Math & Science faculty so every Star Trek fan in the staff could read it. What made me get so much better so suddenly? Honestly, it probably has a lot to do with reading Star Trek constantly, and I do mean constantly. The writing style just rubbed off. At this point, well, you can tell by my work on this site that I'm still enthusiastic about both fictional and nonfictional work in the Sci-Fi genre.[/Personal History]
Heh. My junior English term paper was on the Chrono Trigger Testament. I got a B because I didn't make an index or bibliography.
-
So how are spells catagorized in this fic? It doesn't really matter for my char but I'm intreasted nonetheless. Are they grouped into four cats(fire water lightning and shadow) or six(earth air fire water heaven shadow)? Or is it something different?
-
I'm guessing that Magic follows most of the basic rules of the Chronoverse...Magic is composed of Lightning, Fire, & Water and the Elements are seperated in their whakky color system of White (light and meteors?), Black (darkness, hell, and gravity?), Green (wind and vegetation), Yellow (earth and lightning), red (fire and lava) and Blue (water and ice). Damn them whakky Elements...
-
May I suggest that we divade magic into two types: Elemental and Natural
Elemental would then be divided into the four groups of Fire Ice Air and Earth and Natural would be divided into Holy and Shadow. Natural Magic would be based on Life and Elemental Magic would be based on the physical world sans nature. For instance Earth would not deal with plant life, instead it would include minerals, metals and gravity. Air would include lightning, wind and rain, Fire, fire and heat and water would do water and ice and I guess steam.
Then Holy and Shadow would split spells relating to living things with Shadow skewed towards destruction and death and Holy dealing with Regeneration and life.
thoughts?
-
Again I say, why fix what's not (*entirely*) broken? The Chronoverse clearly defines their set of Magics (& Elements)...Why add/delete/alter (I guess add is alright) what we already know from the series? Plus, that sounds more Final Fantasy-ish...I mean, only Holy-innates would have healing spells under those rules? Chrono World plays by different rules, but they are rules...lets not break them.
-
Well, that, and I don't think anyone is going to be using Cross elements unless they take a stroll through El Nido. Which isn't out of the question, as Elements might actually be a good idea for some quick power and defense for guys like Jack Nova and Juan Gerard. But remember, there's like this guy up at the End of Time that everyone's about to reach. His name is Spekkio :)
-
Yes, but do we use the rules for CT or CC? I'd probably go with CC, as it seems to be just an expanded version of CT's system:
Lightning/Holy -> White
Shadow -> Black
Water -> Blue
Fire -> Red
NA -> Green
NA -> Yellow
A quick explanation of what each color represents:
White - things that come from above the earth (light, heaven)
Black - things that come from below the earth (gravity, hell)
Blue - things related to cold and water
Red - things related to heat and fire
Green - things related to wind and fertile earth
Yellow - things related to barren earth
The only glitch in this setup that Crono used lightning, which was allocated to Yellow. This can possibly be explained by CT not having Yellow, so it was split up somewhat in CC.
-
Well. So far we've built the schools of magic around CT's system since it is "pure" magic. (As opposed to CC's artifical elements.) CC's system seems to provide no support for CT's claim that Shadow is the combination of the other four elements.
I say we keep the magic/element duality that exists now.
Pure magic - innates with the ability to cast spells - work off of CT's system.
Artifical magic - elements - work off of CC's system.
-
More trivial information about Zeal than you really cared to know.
Bowing & Displays of Respect
Zealians hold fast to the tradition of bowing to one's social superiors and there are several methods of bowing to be utilized depending on the circumstances.
To Royalty - When a member of the royal family is present, everyone drops to their knees regardless of what they are doing and assumes the seeza position - both knees down, arms behind the back, crossed at the palms, and torso leaning foward at ~ 45 degree angle. The idea is that one in the seeza position looks as if they are about to executed. This display of respect highlight's the Crown's power to take life and extend mercy at will. One stays in the seeza position until the royal member leaves or commands them to rise. (Yes, I'm aware this isn't actually what the seeza position is...)
This is reserved only for royalty. Period. To demand this degree of respect is to place oneself on the level of the Crown, an offense punishable by death.
To Aristocracy - Unlike bowing to royality, bowing to an aristocrat is only expected when one of lesser social standing addresses or is addressed by one. Anyone under gentry status should drop down on one knee with head bowed and wait to be acknowledged - gentry are only expected to bow momentarily.
Failure to follow the established rules of respect may or may not not lead to some minor from of punishment, such as a public apology or payment of tribute, depending whether an aristocrat chooses to complain to the Crown. It is worth noting that there are some exceptions here - some social occasions involving aristocracy do not require bowing, such as schooling, shopping, and other limited circumstances. (However, should an aristocrat enter your shop, custom does require to you attend to their needs immediately - unless you're in the unlikely situation of serving royality already.)
To Gentry - A simple bow of the head is ample degree of respect from a social inferior, although Gentry are bad for often trying to extort respect more than is due.
Among other things, an important duty of the Crown is to keep an eye on the social status of Zeal's most well-known families. While social status is in theory based off of innate arcane talent, many other things play an imporant role in establishing family honour, such as the status of one's peers, wealth, education, and so on. Should parents fail to produce offspring with innate talent similiar to their own, they need not worry about losing their status - however, if over several generations a family fails to give birth to anything noteworthy, they may be in danger of being stripped of some of their honour.
It is near impossible for someone not born into the ranks of the gentry or aristocracy to ever ascend to those social heights; however, between gentry and aristocracy, there is a strong degree of mobility.
-
I have a question about Crono's placement in all of this.
As I understand it, within the Keystone Dimension, the effects of Crono's actions never take place, because the Time Devourer was defeated and the two worlds became one. Lavos was summarily erased (I suppose), thus making Crono's purpose null and void, correct? Or did Crono still live, though without entering the Gate at the Millennial Fair, thus never leading him on his path to destroy Lavos? Was he erased when his purpose became unnecessary?
Another issue I have is, will Crono and his companions be called on to fight ZEAL and their destruction of different timelines? Or will it simply be non-cannonical characters and a few select individuals from the game, such as Gaspar and Schala, who take on the project? Having some answers would help clear up a few issues I'm having with my character, so thank you in advance.
-
I'll leave your first question to someone else to explain in detail as I need to run. But yes, Crono's actions did indeed happen.
As for this story, he does not play a significant role. If you haven't already, scan through some of the threads we've got posted here and the reasons for that should lie dispersed throughout.
Gaspar, yes.
Schala, beyond being a figure in history, no.
As a rule of thumb, if they were important in CT/CC, they're not involved here much.
-
The ZEAL Project's Keystone Dimension...is devoid of Crono's time traveling notes.
Yes, Crono's actions did indeed happen.
Alright, I'm getting mixed signals. The dimension is devoid of Crono's time-traveling notes, which means that everything he did in another dimension never happened within this one, correct? Or does it simply mean that nobody recorded his actions? As for the second part, does that mean that Crono exists here and is still fighting Lavos (or already has), or did his actions within another dimension simply contribute to the layout of this new one? Any way it works out, Crono could still feasibly exist in the Keystone Dimension, though in a non-cannonical form, correct?
Before I go any further, some clarification on this issue would be gloriously helpful. Thanks.
-
I meant to say that notes such as
*Crono warps to 1000 A.D.
*Crono returns from 2300 A.D.
were left out of the Chronology. The complete Chronology, linked on the main page, has the entire history of the world, including pointers on where Crono was goind during the adventure. These aren't really helpful, so I left them out of this project's timeline listing.
-
Alright, I read your post, ZeaLitY, and then I reread the Keystone timelines on the Chronology page, and I think I finally have it all figured out. But just so you all know where I was going with all this...I intend to have Crono as an NPC in my character's storyline, though he won't directly interact with any of the other characters. It's important to my character's history and setup.
Thanks again, you guys. Oh, and be in the OCReMix General Discussion area around 7:00 EST tonight. You'll be pleased.
-
Alright, here's how I've decided to divide up types of magic. The numbers in parentheses indicate the "levels" of spells contained in that category. I've decided that level 1-3 Fire, Water, Lightning, Light and Basic spells will have both a technical name and a vernacular name, the vernacular name being used most of the time. Most other spells aren't in common use, and will have only a technical name.
Elemental:
Fire (1-5)
Water (1-5)
Lightning (1-5)
Shadow (3-6)
Non-elemental
Basic (1-3)
Advanced (4-6)
Necrology (1-6)
Enchantment (3-6)
Temporal (5-6)
EDIT: Fixed up a few things.
-
Well, that, and I don't think anyone is going to be using Cross elements unless they take a stroll through El Nido. Which isn't out of the question, as Elements might actually be a good idea for some quick power and defense for guys like Jack Nova and Juan Gerard. But remember, there's like this guy up at the End of Time that everyone's about to reach. His name is Spekkio :)
The problem is that Spekkio can only teach magic to those that have the natural ability to use it, but haven't learned how to yet. This could help some characters, but some (like I've planned for Sigma) will be incapable of using magic. If these ones want to use magical abilities, they'll have to use elements.
-
Alright, here's what I've got for elemental magic so far (I put light/necrology in here, but I could put it in the non-elemental section if you guys think that works better). Expressions in parentheses are to explain how the spell appears or functions. The expressions after the hyphens explain the spell's effects. A, B, C, and D are for names of magical researchers that we'll need to determine. The name before the slash is the technical name, the name after it is the vernacular name. If only one name is given, it's the technical name.
EDIT: This is an early draft. See my later posts for the official versions.
Elemental
Fire
Level 1: Pyro Blast/Fire - damage one enemy
Level 2: Rain of Flames/Fira - damage all enemies
Level 3: Flare/Firaga - damage all enemies
Level 4: White Dwarf (character plunged into faux white dwarf) - damage one enemy
Level 5: Red Giant (characters plunged into faux red giant) - damage all enemies
Water
Level 1a: Deep Freeze/Blizzard - damage one enemy
Level 1b: Bubble Snap/Water - damage one enemy
Level 2a: Iceberg/Blizzara - damage all enemies
Level 2b: Monsoon/Watera - damage all enemies
Level 3a: Glacier/Blizzaga - damage all enemies
Level 3b: Flash Flood/Waterga - damage all enemies
Level 4a: A's Freezing Pulse (alternatingly cold and moderate temperature) - damage one enemy
Level 5a: Absolute Zero - damage all enemies
Lightning
Level 1: Lightning Bolt/Thunder - damage one enemy
Level 2: Lightning Storm/Thundara
Level 3: Luminaire/Thundaga
Level 4: B's Electric Dynamo (mechanism that generates a constant stream of electricity) - damage one enemy
Level 5: B's Pulsar Cannon (faux pulsar shot by characters, the intense magnetic field of which causes an extremely powerful electric field) - damage all enemies
Shadow
Level 3a: Janus' Shadow Blast/Dark Bomb - damage one enemy
Level 3b: Grim Reaper/Death - damage all enemies
Level 4a: Janus' Soul Render - damage all enemies
Level 4b: Black Hole - kills all enemies
Level 5a: Cry in the Night (screech in pitch black night meant to terrorize enemies) - damage all enemies
Level 6a: D's Eternal Damnation (makes enemies believe they've died and gone to hell) - damage all enemies
Nonelemental
Necrology
Level 1a: Water of Life/Cure - cure one ally
Level 1b: Healing Breeze/Heal - less powerful than cure, but cures all allies
Level 1c: Physical Restoration/Purify - cures physical status ailments
Level 2a: Rejuvenation/Full Cure - fully cure one ally
Level 2b: Breath of Life/Heal Plus - cures all allies by a large amount
Level 2c: Mental Restoration/Dispel - cures mental status ailments
Level 2d: Revival/Life - bring back dead ally with some health
Level 2e: Essence Drain/Drain - damages enemy and heals caster
Level 3b: Schala's Holy Light/Full Heal - fully cures all allies
Level 3c: Full Restoration/Esuna - cures all status ailments
Level 3d: Renaissance/Full Life - brings back dead ally with full health
Level 4c: Schala's Divine Blessing - grants immunity to all status ailments
Level 4d: Second Chance/Auto Life - automatically revives character when killed
Level 4e: C's Life Stealer - kills enemy, revives ally with to full health
Level 5d: Mass Resurrection - brings back all dead allies with full health
Level 6d: Immortality - makes target immune to natural death
EDIT: Moved Necrology to the Nonelemental section.
-
The ZEAL Project's Keystone Dimension...is devoid of Crono's time traveling notes.
I thought this simply meant the ZEAL Dimension, not the actual Keystone Dimension, which ZEAL has messed with by basically giving Toma the Rainbow Shell. The events of Crono & Co would still occur, because the events of Cross occur because of their actions. The Devourer of Time is outside of time (again, much like Lavos) in the Darkness Beyond Time. The merged timeline has nothing to do with what Crono did, the change involves mainly Serge...at around, what? 1001 or 2? I know Serge aint 20...
Also, in my scene with Gil & Flea, I had them incapacitated by a spell called Brain Bubble, which is a non-elemental enchantment-type spell that causes a ruckus in the ol' gray matter. It even goes so far as to void Gil's Amulet status protection.
-
Claado -
Alright, I read your post, ZeaLitY, and then I reread the Keystone timelines on the Chronology page, and I think I finally have it all figured out. But just so you all know where I was going with all this...I intend to have Crono as an NPC in my character's storyline, though he won't directly interact with any of the other characters. It's important to my character's history and setup.
Perhaps I misunderstood you before.
In the ZEAL timeline, Crono's quest never took place.
In the KEYSTONE timeline, Crono's quest - as well as Serge's - have been completed. Lavos is toast. The Time Devourer is toast.
Involving Crono shouldn't be a serious problem. I forget whether or not it was discussed if he died or not in the fall of Guardia. If its important to your character, then we can work his fate around that no problem.
Leebot -
I hate to quibble over something where effort has already been put into, but I think its important to keep CT's element system intact. Fire, Lightning, Water, Ice need to exist as separate forces, with Shadow being the fusion of all four of previous. After that, we can have a broad "Non-Elemental" category in which everything else falls.
The idea behind schools is not that they all have their own "kinds" of magic, but rather that they utilize existing powers differently.
Arcane students go through a couple of years of education so that they're equally competent in using the four basic elements. After that, they simply use those elements as necessary in conjunction with spells that have no elemental value.
So, a necrologist can use the power of water to heal. Or s/he could use the power of lightning to heal. Its important that the schools of magic have exceeded being bound by the elements and now use the elements for a desired purpose - not the other way around, if that makes sense.
So, there really isn't a separate "light/necrology" elemental category. Light/Holy/Heaven is all just "lightning" as it was in CT.
If that's a little confusing still, I'll be posting some magic-related material later this evening dealing specifically with Summoners, Enchantresses, and Sorcerers. That should clarify any confusion.
-
Fire, Lightning, Water, Ice need to exist as separate forces, with Shadow being the fusion of all four of previous. After that, we can have a broad "Non-Elemental" category in which everything else falls.
ice=Water
Not two seperate things. Both Frog & Marle are Water Magic users.
-
Were they? My bad. I clearly remembered wrong then.
Then the element system does work Lightning, Water, Fire, and Shadow.
In anycase, while I'll get around to dealing with Summoning, Sorcery, and Enchantment later tonight - a few more things and an example so there's no confusion.
Zealian magic is very organic in the sense that there aren't spells for every little thing. For example, we don't need a Cure/Cure II/Cure III framework with a different element for each step. Upon realizing s/he needed to heal someone, a Necrologist would simply apply the skill they know (Cure) and expend as much magical energy as needed to do the job, whether that energy be water related or light related.
A Zealian mage's "mental spellbook" wouldn't read Fire/Fire II and so on - it would be more along the lines would to manipulate that energy. S/he would think more in terms of how that power is being used - whether its tossing a fireball, or causing an object to explode from within. Get the drift? Think organic. Or like a colouring book. Zealian arcane theory creates lines on paper - the mage then fills it with colour (elements) as they see fit.
My pardons if I'm just coming across as bitchy. Its just something I've been kicking around since the project came to.
-
Well, the Ice/Water point is where a bit of the confusion comes in. Additionally, we can't place healing spells in any of the other elements as it can be seen in the game that elemental resistance/immunity to water or lightning has no effect on healing spells. It's probably best to put them in the non-elemental category in this case. When you said four elements, I thought you were including healing in there, so I'll just move it over to the non-elemental section.
My point in the categories for non-elemental magic isn't to say the magic is innately different in any way; it's just a way to keep it organized. Here's a quick guide to what each category includes:
Basic: Miscellaneous spells that any wizard can use with a little training.
Advanced: Miscellaneous spells that only advanced mages can use.
Necrology: Spells relating to life and death. Any wizard can learn spells in the lower three levels, but only Necrologists can learn the higher-level spells.
Enchantment: Mind-affecting spells generally only learned by those in the school of Enchantment.
Temporal: A small number of spells that only the "Chosen" can use.
-
Zealian magic is very organic in the sense that there aren't spells for every little thing. For example, we don't need a Cure/Cure II/Cure III framework with a different element for each step. Upon realizing s/he needed to heal someone, a Necrologist would simply apply the skill they know (Cure) and expend as much magical energy as needed to do the job, whether that energy be water related or light related.
A Zealian mage's "mental spellbook" wouldn't read Fire/Fire II and so on - it would be more along the lines would to manipulate that energy. S/he would think more in terms of how that power is being used - whether its tossing a fireball, or causing an object to explode from within. Get the drift? Think organic. Or like a colouring book. Zealian arcane theory creates lines on paper - the mage then fills it with colour (elements) as they see fit.
My pardons if I'm just coming across as bitchy. Its just something I've been kicking around since the project came to.
Well, even in an "organic" framework, certain agents tend to appear again and again, as these agents are found to be more efficient than those closely similar. Although anything is possible, certain specific combinations tend to work better than others, and will be used more. This is why organic lifeforms tend to differentiate into species, rather than being a continuum of possibility.
In the framework of magic, any specifically named spells are those combinations of magical factors that have been found to work best through extensive experimentation to achieve a certain desired result. For instance, the "Esuna" spell would have exactly the right factors to cure any status ailments from the target. This framework allows for both efficient use of magical energy (as certain combinations will tend to be most efficient) and efficient use of time (its a lot faster to simply cast the predetermined chant for Fira than to judge the enemy's health, guess how much fire energy is needed, set up and say the chant needed for this amount).
I'm basing this off the inference from Zeality mentioning that Sorcerer's needed more time to cast their spells. This leads me to the conclusion that ZEALian spellcasting is more "cast, blast" than "channel energy, keep channeling until enemy is dead."
-
So far, we know of two types of Summoning (really, it could be argued as just one even): Dalton's Summoning of the Golem.Golem Twins/Golem Boss and the Elemental Summoning in Cross.
Dalton's Summoning seemed rather quick, about as much time as any regular spell...
Elemental Summoning was very extensive and required a certain type of spell(s) to be cast before a Summon could be cast, along with an available Star Level.
For another thing...Were Elements confined merely to El Nido? I don't recall this...I thought it was just that the Dragonians found the power points from which the Elements originated all over the world...Elements are natural, and I don't see why ZEAL wouldn't know about them/use them...Whether or not they are more powerful or not compared to Magic is up in the air if you ask me...
-
Well, I'm not sure how elements were actually found, but I'm pretty sure they would never have been found if it weren't for the Dragonians. ZEAL's history is so different that it doesn't have any Dragonians and never explores the surface of the earth, so it is quite likely they never found any elements (remember that in the original timeline, humans never found elements, either).
As for relative power level, the best comparison we have is Luminaire. In CC, it's a level 7 tech, and we know that techs of a given level are generally more powerful than spells of that level, but weaker than summons of that level. So, it's probable that the best CT spells (Luminaire, Flare, Dark Matter) place somewhere between the best CC spells and the CC summons.
-
I'm basing this off the inference from Zeality mentioning that Sorcerer's needed more time to cast their spells. This leads me to the conclusion that ZEALian spellcasting is more "cast, blast" than "channel energy, keep channeling until enemy is dead."
I think that was my comment, actually.
The idea there is that seriously powrful sorcerers & sorceresses are manipulating energies so intense, it takes considerable time and consentration to focus and unleash them. In other words, they don't snap their fingers and boom, Firaga XI owns everything this side of Keystone.
Anyway, as promised. Although I'm tired and will most likely edit this to be more expansive later.
Note that each of the schools is very protective of its knowledge and generally does not share it with outsiders.
Sorcery - As noted before, sorcerers & sorceresses are the undisputed masters of elemental magic. Furthermore, outside the royal family, they are the only citizens of Zeal to be allowed to use shadow magic. A few of the more well-known arcane techniques utilized include:
1. Elemental Imbuing: Sorcerers - while rarely resorting to use a weapon themselves - begin their education by learning to endow an object with a desired elemental property. While this may seem trival, learning how to imbue a sword with fire energy without reducing the weapon to a molten heap - and at the same time allowing for it to still actually be wielded by its user - is actually quite an impressive feat. Sorcerers also use this technique to forge armour and jewelry with elemental properties - making it not uncommon to see students with surprising amounts of knowledge in the arts of blacksmithing and goldsmithing.
2. Elemental Focusing: In the process of becoming a wizard, students are taught spells in very basic, cut and dry forms. (Ice I. Ice II. And so on.) Generally, the more powerful forms of these spells are less focused and affect numerous targets. As a sorceress becomes more knowledgable, she learns how to focus or disperse her powers more effectively, striking whoever or whatever she likes with increased force. (In other words, think of Marle's Ice II being channeled at one target instead of everyone.)
3. Elemental Form: A truly terrifying sight to behold; sorcerers bursting into flames or transforming their bodies into water in order to obtain a greater measure of control over a desired element. Although these physical alterations require a great deal of focus and quickly become weary on the caster, master sorcerers are capable of maintaining elemental form effortlessly for prolonged periods of time. One must beware, however, for while changing form encreases a given element's potentcy, it also weakens resistance to other opposing elements.
4. Dual-Casting: Perhaps the most well-known trademark of the sorcerer, upon being recognized as an accomplished student, one is revealed the secret of casting multiple spells at the same time. While most sorcerers will spend the rest of their careers perfecting the technique, anyone who can semi-routinely pull off two spells at once takes great pride in being able to do so.
5. Subconscious Casting: Eventually sorcerers become so powerful - their mastery over the elements so complete - that the natural world appears to simply bow to their whim; candles ignite eeriely as they walk into the room, water freezes into ice as they approach a shore, and so on. To these few sorcerers, the elements respond to their thoughts alone - no verbal prompting or anything of the sort is necessary.
Grr. I'm tired and I still have more to do. Expect more on Sorcery tomorrow, as well as important concepts in Summoning and Enchantment.
-
I'm curious? How do we write it in to be plausable for the more physical characters to stand up to these guys? It seems like Vtrans' demi human, Zeals' Juan and my Jack would just be punching bags you put on point. If they run with Sygma then she could (later on) nullify the effects, but could other magic users also team up with them and give them higher resistences?
-
Just because Zeal doesn't go down to the surface doesn't mean they wouldn't know...and anyways, who says they don't? I mean, what else do they use Skyways for, right? They found large abundances of Dreamstone, and they also found out about Lavos. I think their scientific minds would require them to explore the lower lands...And if nothing else, perhaps Elements exist on the floating continents as well...I also don't think it can be said (with any definance anyways) that humans never originally found Elements...
Also, I heavily dissagree with the Luminare comparisons...They are similar looking, but I do not think they are the same Tech by any means. No more than the Black Hole Element is the same as Magus' Black Hole Tech. They are different magics set on different rules.
Elements come from the earth directly and are refined into usable something or others for people to use in battle & what-not. Magic is absorbed either directly or indirectly from Lavos. Although it can also be said that Magic is a form of deluted or refined energy from the earth, as Lavos get's its energy from the earth.
Whakky, huh?
I say we stay as far away from explaining too many details about Magic & the Elements as possible...Have people use stuff if they want, but by no means do they have to explicitly explain the origins of whatever-the-funk...I imagine Spekkio will be just as vague with these heroes as the others and everything will be hunky-dory.
-
I'm curious? How do we write it in to be plausable for the more physical characters to stand up to these guys? It seems like Vtrans' demi human, Zeals' Juan and my Jack would just be punching bags you put on point. If they run with Sygma then she could (later on) nullify the effects, but could other magic users also team up with them and give them higher resistences?
I think the comparison of various people within the project is earlier in this thread, if you missed it. The idea is that yes, you are indeed nothing more than a punching bag if placed in a do-or-die situation against some of these Zealians. However - outside of Nanashi, you're not going to be running into many Zealians that have any desire to put their immortal life on the line.
And besides characters growing over the course of the fic, a number of Zealians will join ranks with Gaspar's crew, continuing to make competition against other Zealians more and more viable.
Trust me. Some brute of an Earthbound hunter will be quite an imposing figure to a Zealian that's never really seen combat or raw physical strength before.
say we stay as far away from explaining too many details about Magic & the Elements as possible...Have people use stuff if they want, but by no means do they have to explicitly explain the origins of whatever-the-funk...I imagine Spekkio will be just as vague with these heroes as the others and everything will be hunky-dory.
Yes. This is part of what I'm trying to get at. We can point out key ideas being varying schools of magic and the techniques they employ, but we don't need to spell everything out. It'll be up to the writer to fill in the details as they see fit. Tossing out there some noteable spells adds richness, but we don't need to go to the extreme of mapping out the entire system.
-
That sounds alright to me. The reason I wrote up the spells above is to give an idea of typical or famous spells that may be used more commonly than others. The world will be more flavorful if enemy sorcerers cast "Janus' Soul Render" rather than just send out a blast of shadow energy. They can do either, but the named spells are particular combinations of magical building-blocks that have been found to work well, so will often be used because they're tried-and-true. For writers, don't worry about limiting the mages you write to any set of spells. If the nature of what they want to cast is in their school, chances are they can make it happen if they're powerful enough. However, if the purpose is a common one (such as damaging an enemy), they'll probably use one of the named spells.
-
That sounds alright to me. The reason I wrote up the spells above is to give an idea of typical or famous spells that may be used more commonly than others. The world will be more flavorful if enemy sorcerers cast "Janus' Soul Render" rather than just send out a blast of shadow energy. They can do either, but the named spells are particular combinations of magical building-blocks that have been found to work well, so will often be used because they're tried-and-true. For writers, don't worry about limiting the mages you write to any set of spells. If the nature of what they want to cast is in their school, chances are they can make it happen if they're powerful enough. However, if the purpose is a common one (such as damaging an enemy), they'll probably use one of the named spells.
Yes!
Even though I realize I must appear to be waffling more than John Kerry, this is something I had in mind.
"Named spells", like Janus' X & Schala's Y, are for some reason particularly noteable ones. For example - perhaps Schala's Aura of Regeneration isn't just a simple run of the mill healing spell; it works more like a "smart cure", healing oneself whenever injury is incurred.
Something with a creator's name by it must be unique or interesting in some way, right? That's the purpose in naming them and that's how they give our story more depth.
-
Good to see we've reached an understanding here. I'll leave the spells I've already posted for reference, but I'll highlight (repost here) the upper level or unique spells, based on the assumption that for particularly potent effects, there are fewer ways to achieve the desired result (ie. there's nothing colder than Absolute Zero), so the "ultimate" spells for each element will be unique.
The following is a slimmed-down list of notable spells. I've kept the same level system just to give a feeling for the relative powers of these spells. Note that the power levels are of exponential order (something like level 2 is three times as powerful as level 1, level 3 is three times as powerful as level 2, etc.). I've also added level 6 spells for Fire, Water, and Lightning, but keep in mind that level 6 is so freakishly powerful that only the royal family and maybe the council have even the potential to cast level 6 spells. I've also changed the spells around a bit.
Fire
Level 4: Corona (enemy plunged into faux star) - Extreme fire damage to one enemy
Level 5: Supernova (enemies exposed to faux supernova) - Penultimate fire damage to all enemies
Level 6: Hypernova (enemies exposed to faux hypernova) - Ultimate fire damage to all enemies
Aside: Yes, those are the correct Astronomical terms. A Supernova is an exploding star that leaves behind a neutron star. A Hypernova is a more massive exploding star that leaves behind a black hole. These terms are sometimes incorrectly labeled as "Nova" and "Supernova" respectively. In actuality a Nova is a phenomenon in which a white dwarf star gets a lot hotter temporarily.
Water
Level 4: A's Freezing Pulse (alternating cold/moderate to increase damage to the body) - Extreme water damage to one enemy
Level 5: Absolute Zero - Penultimate water damage to all enemies
Level 6: Vacuum Freeze (zero temperature, zero pressure; freeze and boil at the same time) - Ultimate water damage to all enemies
Lightning
Level 4: B's Electric Dynamo (mechanism that generates a constant stream of electricity) - Extreme lightning damage to one enemy
Level 5: B's Pulsar Cannon (faux pulsar shot by characters, the intense magnetic field of which causes an extremely powerful electric field) - Penultimate lightning damage to all enemies
Level 6: Grand Unified Theory (strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces within enemies morph into electricity) - Ultimate lightning damage to all enemies
Shadow
Level 4: Janus' Soul Render (Magus' Dark Matter spell) - Extreme shadow damage to all enemies
Level 5: Cry in the Night (screech in pitch black night meant to terrorize enemies) - Penultimate shadow damage to all enemies
Level 6: D's Eternal Damnation (makes enemies believe they've died and gone to hell) - Ultimate shadow damage to all enemies
Necrology
Level 3: Schala's Holy Light - fully cures all allies' health
Level 3: E's Natural Healing - automatic healing of wounds inflicted on ally for a short time (similar to Regen spell)
Level 4: Schala's Divine Blessing - grants immunity to all status ailments to one ally
Level 4: E's Second Chance - automatically revives character when killed
Level 4: C's Life Stealer - kills enemy, revives ally with to full health
Level 5: E's Renewal - brings back all dead allies with full health
Other
Level 3: Schala's Sacred Aura - all of ally's attributes are greatly increased
Level 5: F's Unquestioned Authority (enchantment) - enemy will do anything caster tells it
Level 6: Mind Clone (enchantment) - enemy's mind is overwritten with copy of caster's mind
Level 5: Rewind (temporal) - a few minutes after the spell is cast, the caster can rewind time to the moment the spell was cast, with knowledge of how this future transpired
Level 6: Gate (temporal) - caster opens up a time portal
This just leaves us to come up with names for these spellsmiths. Any suggestions for A-F are welcome.
-
Gru-vay.
More general pricniples held by the schools of magic:
Summoning - Although for the most part, summoners create beings within the properties of their own choosing, there are a few techniques that all summoners learn.
1. Elementaling Summons: While in general, summoners do not call forth pre-existing avatars, the learning curve in creating one's own summons is incredibly difficult. Thus, new students learn to summon one of Rizasu's servants to do their bidding.
2. The Familiar: To demonstrate his competency and earn the orange subfusc, a summoner must permanently call into existence another being to serve as his companion and aide. Every summoner's familiar is unique with its own personality and limited powers. Once birthed, the familiar cannot be unmade, nor can the summoner's link to the familiar be broken - so if one desires to gain any use from his creation, he must treat the familiar with respect.
Enchantment
1. Emotional Manipulation: The first thing an enchantress learns is how to influence the minds of others to their liking, the two most commonly manipulated sentiments being desire and fear. While an enchantress' control over another's emotions is by no means absolute, it is a power that cannot be ignored - especially as one progresses in her studies and her ability to successfully manipulate others increases.
2. Illusionary Magic: Enchantresses are full of unconventional ways to render an opponent powerless and the creation of illusions is another example of this power. As a student becomes more knowledgable, her illusions become more and more convincing. At first they only bring into being a mere image, but in time possessing smells, sounds, and eventually substance.
3. Kobayashian Magic: Unlike sorcerers and summoners, enchantresses rarely ever use elemental power in their spells. As a result, the strength of their elemental magic tends to fade. To counteract this decay, enchantresses combine simple elemental spells with illusions. The result of this combination is a class of magic that actually fools the victim into believing they are in far more pain and sufferring than was actually caused by the elemental spell itself.
4. Possession: The mark of an experienced enchantress, one versed in this art can actually control another's actions outright, easily turning the closest of friends into the most vicious of enemies. While successfully controling the actions of multiple people - the enchantress herself included - is difficult, one eventually learns to control several people at once with only a modest degree of effort.
5. Angelic/Divine Form: While students learn early on how to change their own appearance, incredibly talented enchantresses have been known to shun human form and take on an angelic one - a form both beautiful and terrifying above all comparison.
-
Now it seems that we're making this world so detailed that any fanfic we make couldn't do it justice. Might I recommend that after we've finished this fic, we release all the ZEAL data and open it up for anyone to write a fic using this "world"?
-
Heh.
I suppose I like a colourful, detailed world.
ZeaLitY and I were talking about releasing the information here when the project was over as a sort of "travellers guide" the other evening. Originally I figured that most of this would remain hidden, but now I'm quite partial to doing something of that sort.
Definately something worth keeping in mind - although that's probably a good way off.
Expect some other school distinctives in the near future. Because colouring is fun.
-
Yes, I suggested that on AIM somewhere as well. All this information may be leaked throughout the entire fanfiction, but publishing a guide after the fanfiction is complete would be cool and interesting. Authors could comment on the project, and other special features might be included.
-
Sounds good. So, do you plan on releasing this as chapters are finished, or the whole thing at once? The former way would make it more reasonable to release the guide at the end, if that's what you plan on doing.
-
Sounds good. So, do you plan on releasing this as chapters are finished, or the whole thing at once? The former way would make it more reasonable to release the guide at the end, if that's what you plan on doing.
That's the idea - although we might wait until the end of the Toma subplot so we have something with substance to display. (As opposed to just posting the introduction.)
-
1. I think more of the "Ultimate" Spells of Trigger should be incorperated somehow...
Lightning's Luminaire
Water's Hexagon Mist
Fire's Flare
Shadow's Dark Matter
Physical's Grand Stone
Magic's...damn what was that Ultimate Magic attack that Lavos used? Something Star? I've forgotten...
ALthough compared to Supernova & Hypernova, a Flare is somewhat smaller...I still think it should be noted...
Also...Absolute Zero? Although it sounds cool...It's just...Not possible...The closest mankind has gotten, I believe, is Cryo-Freeze (or something), which is like a hundreth-thousanth degree off of Absolute Zero...
-
Shadow Doom Blaze was Lavos's ultimate attack, but the real Lavos core had the coolest thing -- DREAMLESS. It even depicted the ruins of 2300 A.D.
-
ALthough compared to Supernova & Hypernova, a Flare is somewhat smaller...I still think it should be noted...
Also...Absolute Zero? Although it sounds cool...It's just...Not possible...The closest mankind has gotten, I believe, is Cryo-Freeze (or something), which is like a hundreth-thousanth degree off of Absolute Zero...
Is it really a stretch to think that it could be achieved through magic?
I mean really, if you're going to wield the destructive power of a supernova, I don't think absolute zero will be giving you that much trouble. :wink:
-
1. I think more of the "Ultimate" Spells of Trigger should be incorperated somehow...
Lightning's Luminaire
Water's Hexagon Mist
Fire's Flare
Shadow's Dark Matter
Physical's Grand Stone
Magic's...damn what was that Ultimate Magic attack that Lavos used? Something Star? I've forgotten...
ALthough compared to Supernova & Hypernova, a Flare is somewhat smaller...I still think it should be noted...
If you'll reread my original spell list (back a page or two), you'll notice that I included all the CT ultimates as level 3 spells (with the exception of Dark Matter, which was bumped up to level 4 and renamed). This is to show how far above the CT crew's magic ZEALian magic can go.
Also...Absolute Zero? Although it sounds cool...It's just...Not possible...The closest mankind has gotten, I believe, is Cryo-Freeze (or something), which is like a hundreth-thousanth degree off of Absolute Zero...
One word: Magic.
-
Oh, and Grand Stone is too physical to be a ZEALian magic spell (at least, in my opinion). Dreamless, on the other hand, would fit as a level 4 attack spell, but its non-elemental, and I haven't been given any indication that ZEALians use any non-elemental attack spells.
-
I think Absolute Zero should be a possible feat by Zealian Mages(the higher ups anyway) 0 Kelvin is the temperature that atomic particles stop moving, and therefore stop existing, it would be like an instant death ice spell.
It's a bad idea to try to fully explain magic, we should just leave it as the physical manifestation of one's will.
-
Oh, and Grand Stone is too physical to be a ZEALian magic spell (at least, in my opinion). Dreamless, on the other hand, would fit as a level 4 attack spell, but its non-elemental, and I haven't been given any indication that ZEALians use any non-elemental attack spells.
ZeaLitY had an idea for a few spells involving temporal magic, which would definately be non-elemental.
An enchantress would use any number of spells to fool a victim into believing they were being maligned - which I suppose would be "non-elemental". In fact, virtually all enchantments fail to correspond with a particular element.
So yeah, there shouldn't be any problem with Zealians using "non-elemental" spells. If anything, they're the only people who should be using them as Keystonians with magic tend to be bound to a particular element. (At least, those granted their powers by Spekkio.)
-
Hiya, I just joined the project, frankly I didnt expected this to be so damn huge! , I dont know if as a writer I can be at the level of quality
this project requires, but I will do my best!
anyway, I just came up with some ideas for the council, but I dont know were should I post them, so I will just put them here, please feel free to move it if it belongs somewhere else:
*They are really old, some rumors say that they go way back even since the fundation of Zeal (I know they are supposed to be descendants of the royal family, I will explain that later) troughout the centuries they have been living they have mastered each and every single one of the magic schools of Zeal, but as a counterside effect from both their amazingly big magic power and their old age, all of their five senses have been blocked, they can no longer see, hear or even move, not that it matters since they can feel and manipulate their surroundings using advanced magic of all elements and schools.
* Its existence is meant to be a secret to the common citizen, only the royal family and some key members of the aristocracy (mostly scientists) actually know about them, and if anyone dares to talk about them in public they will be soon executed.
* The oficial story behind the Council is that its members got their amazing powers trough breeding and arranged marriages, but the truth is something way darker, they got their powers by messing around with our old friend Lavos, around year 11700 B.C they found a way for mixing their conciences with Lavos´s, wich already had DNA samples of the best magicians in the history of Zeal, and so is how they got their magic knowledge and their intelligence, notice that while Lavos is under control, its mind is still free and set on his final objetive (You know, become a perfect beign, throw big balls of fire...) but this time it has got crazy, since the Zealians live of his energy and somehow depend of it, Lavos sees humans as their ¨children¨, it has got all maternal on them and will protect Zeal at all cost, also, since the evolution of the Zeal dimension has been greatly different from the others, this version of Lavos is way more powerful and destructive that the one that Crono and Co. destroyed in the Keystone dimension.
Lastly I have a big question:
Gaspar lives in the End of Time, from there you can go to any era that you want to, but the thing is, Lavos no longer exit in the Keystone dimension!, so the Time Gates that crono got to travel trough have been shut down, there is no longer a way of traveling trough time in the old way, so, how exactly wiil Gaspar recruit the Chrono Keepers (is my term, do you like it?) and how will he get out of the pocket dimension? perhaps it has already been answered somewhere else in the site, but I am too lazy for search for it...
-
Er. The Council is pretty much a setup, arranged deal. We really don't need anything added to them at the time being.
The Council emerged to oversee Zeal's experiments on time and other dimensions. That's already been established. They aren't some long pre-existing organization from an era beyond the creation of Zeal. And while between the members of the Council, they've got masters of all the schools of magic, no one person could ever hope to achieve that kind of power.
The members of the Council might own a shop or be a member of some powerful aristocratic family - only the royal family knows for sure. Needless to say, their senses are quite intact. As for their age, no one in Zeal is much older than ~1000, for immortality hasn't even been around for that long.
The Council's power stems from its oversight of temporal and dimensional research. Not Lavos. There are no dark pacts with Lavos, as he is not the focus of this story. His only role here is to have his energies channeled by the Mammon Machine. That's it.
-
Is it really a stretch to think that it could be achieved through magic?
I mean really, if you're going to wield the destructive power of a supernova, I don't think absolute zero will be giving you that much trouble.
Yes, it is a stretch, because absolute zero is a kind of absolute impossibility as long as there is any heat in the surrounding area (or is it the universe?). All things connect one way or another, so having that absolute temperture would be a physical impossibility...
-
I remember reading in high school science classes that a needlepoint's worth of energy from the sun would incinerate everything in 60 miles.
No idea if its true. But we're talking magic here. A supernova exposed to one point on the planet isn't exactly realistic either.
-
Everything to do with magic is a physical impossibility; "Absolute Zero" is just one more aspect of it. We're also shooting pulsars past the party and creating black holes (without sucking up the earth), and then making them mysteriously vanish. We're blowing up stars and miraculously only harming the enemy. As if that weren't enough, we also send them straight to hell. My point is that level 5-6 magic is meant to be over the top and impossibly powerful, with the laws of physics being conveniently ignored.
-
Alright, here're a few upper-level non-elemental attack spells:
Level 4 (Enchantment): Dreamless (makes enemies lose hope) - Extreme non-elemental damage to all enemies
Level 5 (Enchantment): Cycle of Pain (every action and thought causes extreme pain, and acknowledgment of pain increases it as well) - Penultimate non-elemental damage to all enemies
Level 6 (Enchantment): Paradox (enemies' minds are destroyed in a forced attempt to comprehend a paradox) - Ultimate non-elemental damage to all enemies
Level 4 (Temporal): Entropy (natural decay accelerated) - Extreme non-elemental damage to one enemy
Level 5 (Temporal): Temporal Scattering (random parts of enemies shunted to the future) - Penultimate non-elemental damage to all enemies
Level 6 (Temporal): Banishment (enemies banished to the Darkness Beyond Time) - Ultimate non-elemental damage to all enemies
-
Mmm...Banishment.
Reaching absolute zero in our universe is a physical impossibility because of Maxwell's Demon aka the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which dictates that energy moves from higher concentrations to lower concentrations -- it is, after all, basically the vibration and movements of molecules. If you kick a soccer ball into a stationary soccer ball, the momentum will balance out. Therefore, a spell that actually has a target reach absolute zero would have to travel to a place imbued with a complete lack of energy -- some kind of dimensional limbo. In essence, they would be cast off into their own miniature universe. Now, you could go to all the trouble of learning how to do that...or you could pick up a heavy blaster cannon and fry their ass. Which one's more convenient?
Actually, the cannon isn't always. If you need to focus your attack on one particular target, such as in a situation where, say, you're right next to a nuclear reactor and your big gun could accidentally hit it and blow both them and you sky-high, you don't want something that's "as clumsy or random as a blaster." Cold attacks of the nature depicted in Chrono universe magic would require extraplanar phenomena to occur to sap energy from a target and direct it somewhere where it would not normally go, but the same sorts of phenomena would have to occur in order for energy to concentrate in an unusual manner at the expense of everything else in the vicinity, as it does in fire attacks. Indeed, unexplainable phenomena are responsible for people being able to do this stuff in the first place. We know from Chrono Cross that even if the Law of Conservation of Energy holds true at every possible level, the Chrono omniverse does not require that each universe within its structure is a closed system unto itself -- the omniverse collectively would be a closed system. Energy could perhaps be directed into another plane of existence, or a sub-universe similar to subspace.
The sun's temperature is over 10,000 degrees Kelvin, due to the high-energy molecular reactions required to sustain the functionality of the flaming plasmatic mass it's composed of. So, yeah, I'd believe that.
I tend to favor the CC system of Fire, Cold, Earth, Wind, Shadow, Holy, and the Chrono Cross, which has yet to be truly named or even classified. (Note the Cold moniker for blue attacks -- it encompasses both ice and water, and it just works for me somehow. Ah, well) Within this system, the first four can be semi-rationalized -- the universe's laws still hold, despite the unnatural mechanisms used to employ its energy, but nearly every facet of the latter two (three, really, but the Cross, as I said, hasn't been properly explained in terms of what energies it employs) seems to scream out "Physics can bite my ass!!" Sending enemies to hell, removing their souls from their bodies, exploding stars and only hurting the bad guys, creating singularities that don't destroy the planet, summoning armies of angels whose blasts heal the party but damage the aggressor, calling asteroids down from space without killing everything within a hundred miles...uhhh, yeah, those are really shining examples of adhering to physics.
[sarcastic face]
But seriously, that's kind of the point -- being able to transcend to the highest level of existence and manipulate the mind and the laws of the universe itself. According to Schala, the universe itself is sentient and therefore can control some of the mechanisms of its makeup, as can all sentient beings. It has its own natural growth, as well, that it would not disturb. Effectively, magic of a physics-defying caliber is the very mind of God.
Question: Are Leebot's lists the official ones, or just ideas? I'm guessing that Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Shadow are the elemental innate spells, and that there are other categories such as temporal spells, necromancy, etc. I haven't had time to really read this -- I've been in St. Louis for the past four days at a band contest.
-
They're rpetty much official right now, save for the very first one. The lower level spells don't need much clarification, and the systems were revised I believe.
-
Can I introduce some history? I'm sketching a love interest for Juan, and the two will have much to teach each other. I've picked an oddball date for her origin -- that of the 1400s, in which Keystonian life is a blend of 19th century Earth. At this period in history, the old states that Porre destroyed long ago have temporarily resurged in power; Guardian dissenters, unhappy Mystics and Chorasians (who both have a natural environmental defense), and lastly, the San Dorino City Project have been lobbying for independency and secession from the Porrean state. My character has been sent on several missions to subdue small rebellions, and reestablish control over these states. El Nido is a hotbed of conspiracy and violence, as its governors side with the Porreans amidst the island nation's struggling for world recognition. Later, an outright offense on Choras to make an example will bring the powers under control, and sow the seeds for the birth of the Central Regime centuries later.
Any problems with this creation of history? I believe it gives us a neat time to examine things, and several conflicts to exploit. It can be revised if need be.
-
The system of how named spells fit into the spectrum of magic has been revised, but this doesn't really affect the spells themselves. I'll go back and edit the first post to make it clear that's not the "official" version.
The most important point about the named spells is this: The list is by no means limiting, the named spells are simply the ones that are found to be particularly effective or unique.
-
One suggestion I just thought of: Should we make a new thread (or something) to keep track of all the data we've set up (characters, magic, ZEALian culture, etc.) so we don't have to search through 15 pages of posts to find what we're looking for?
-
I've been gradually doing that with the first post of this thread as we finalize things. Most of what has been decided upon is included there.
-
Still, an "off-limits" thread with only finalized information might be nice. Perhaps it could have character sketches as well.
It would make it easy for "back-up" purposes. Which we should probably take some time to do very shortly.
-
Depends on whether we want to make up new history or not. An early 1400s date would still leave the question of whether the Keystonian Earth is our Earth open-ended -- some weird crap could still have happened to wipe out the history before the Spaniards arrived on the Western continent. At the same time, the histories could still be totally separate. I think it works, because it makes it to where we don't really have to tackle the issue.
My only major issue with the magic lists so far is that I would've thought that Absolute Zero would be the ultimate Cold attack, simply because of the things it implies within physics, but also the sheer magnitude of the magical force required to counteract what the laws of physics would normally do. Other than that, everything looks awesome. Hats off to Leebot for it.
-
I didn't realize there was any debate about the two world being separate still.
They're definately unrelated, so don't worry about issues that would arise from the fantasy -> reality conversion.
-
What do you mean they're unrelated? Does your memory only extend back 4 years? Don't you remember Lavos coming out and being defeated by Crono & Co.? I don't see how you could have missed that.
-
What do you mean they're unrelated? Does your memory only extend back 4 years? Don't you remember Lavos coming out and being defeated by Crono & Co.? I don't see how you could have missed that.
He's talking about a world in which Chris Colombus colonized Zenan, and the Pope lives in Guardia in 1000 A.D. Real world vs. Masato Kato's.
-
Just read Aitrius & Leebot's Scenes, and all I've gotta say is...WOW.
Backer seems nuttier than a fruitcake, and I likes it...wait, there are nuts in fruitcake, right? i don't think i know anyone that's actually eaten one, much less made one or knows their mysterious and disturbing contents...
Oh, and Radical_Dreamer...I was wondering...It's obvious that the cell of Gil and that of Argus are dissimilar (I didn't even think about a crest-door for the cells)...I believe that Argus would need a specialized cell, I don't argue that or anything...But in the end part, you say two cells down...I was wondering if it could be altered somehow...I see the cells that Gil & Flea are in to be a lined hall, whereas Argus' cell would be a kind of special cell that's probably at the end of the hell...maybe you can make it so we can picture that...or something?
Also, if you (R_D still) haven't read the Character Path deal...I had some ideas there regarding the Pendant that Gil has...
-
What do you mean they're unrelated? Does your memory only extend back 4 years? Don't you remember Lavos coming out and being defeated by Crono & Co.? I don't see how you could have missed that.
He's talking about a world in which Chris Colombus colonized Zenan, and the Pope lives in Guardia in 1000 A.D. Real world vs. Masato Kato's.
I think Leebot left off the /humour tags there. :D
Serious or not, "cue battle music" scored a chuckle with me.
-
Oh, and Radical_Dreamer...I was wondering...It's obvious that the cell of Gil and that of Argus are dissimilar (I didn't even think about a crest-door for the cells)...I believe that Argus would need a specialized cell, I don't argue that or anything...But in the end part, you say two cells down...I was wondering if it could be altered somehow...I see the cells that Gil & Flea are in to be a lined hall, whereas Argus' cell would be a kind of special cell that's probably at the end of the hell...maybe you can make it so we can picture that...or something?
Also, if you (R_D still) haven't read the Character Path deal...I had some ideas there regarding the Pendant that Gil has...
I was invisioning the cells still having the magic field for a door, but a small Mammon Seal over the door, mounted centrally, as a primary locking mechanism. I guess I didn't properly express that, but I can make that change.
I read the Character Path post. I agree that the necklace shouldn't allow Argus's full powers to be realized, but certainly enough to unlock all the cells to create a diversion. I'm thinking that Gil would be throwing around most of the offensive magic, since he's at full power, and uses the forbidden Shadow magic. You said you wanted Flea to sacrifice himself? We could do that, not really sure how you want to go about that. As for Sigma, I was thinking that Argus would read some file by her cell, see her power, and insist in taking her with them because of how useful she could be. Then the three of them make it out of the jail, and have to sneak to the Temporal Mission HQ.
-
My original plan for Sigma was to have her power crop up around this time, deactivating the stasis device. She would then make some attempt to escape, get cornered by guards, and then Argus, Gil, and Flea come through and save her. This early, I plan to have Sigma be oblivious to the fact that she has a special power; she'll be convinced the inquisitors just screwed up. It'll take something big before she'll realize her ability.
EDIT: Freudian slip.
-
Yeah! And you missed the part where Jay Leno got carted off by aliens and replaced with a clone, too! What is wrong with you people? :P
-
Uh...Should that nonsense even be adressed? I didn't think so...
Radical Dreamer, that makes sense about the cells...Although I was thinking that if they had crests on the cells that Gil would immediately think about the Pendant...I thought it would be cool if it was just Argus' special cell that needed it because of his immense magical power...Whereas ZEAL does not see Gil or Flea as any kind of real threat...
Perhaps there are Nanashi present, and after the warning of Argus, Flea tells them to go ahead and that she will deal with them. Having a gift in sorcery and enchantments as her advantage would be useful against them, but in the end, the sheer power and numbers of the Nanashi would overwhelm Flea...Perhaps this would happen after they discover Sigma...thusly making them hurry further to escape the Nanashi which would be on their tail...
Perhaps Sigma's cell shouldn't completely deactivate, but be seriously damaged, and this attracts the attention of the escapees...Perhaps even her life is in danger if they do not help her...?
-
Of course it's nonsense. You need a little nonsense once in a while to unwind a bit.
*spouts a stream of curses at extended essay*
-
A brief duel with a nanashi would definately be interesting. A number of them might be a little too much to handle, but a good fight scene in the jailbreak would be a definate plus.
-
I don't see why Nanashi would be wasting thier time as prison gaurds. I would suggest making the fight a bunch of low tier prison gaurds who try to overwhelm the trio/quartet. Think ninja Turtles vs. the foot clan! Maybe one gets in a lucky shot...
-
Just mentioning the TMNT brings back a lot of awesome memories....awww, yeah.
Strictly aside from the reference, the previous poster has some good ideas.
-
I never meant to suggest Nanashi be prison guards...But, the prison break is going to cause a rukus, is it not? I'm guessing Nanashi will be all over them at least at the time where they decide to spring Sigma...If not just after that...I mean, it's not like each scene takes place one room away from the next, right?
And, Hadriel, nonsense is all good and fun (when it's good and funny of course), but the main need right now is some structure, I believe...So, continue with your nonsense if you feel like it...But I personally believe the thread is lengthy enough w/o.
-
A'ight. My essay's done anyway. After over six months, it's finally finished and off my rather large chest. 4,000 words' worth of stuff about a topic of my choice...aside from stuff like video games or Star Wars. At least, that's what I was told. I could write a 4,000 word essay on stuff like that in 30 minutes. I did my other major essay on physics and finished it fairly quickly, because I enjoy the subject matter. I didn't truly grasp the full significance of my extended essay topic choice, the effects of war on the human psyche, until a few nights ago, when I interviewed a group of war veterans at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post for my paper. The stories I heard there were as earth-shattering as anything else -- far too much so for them to be manufactured tales. That's the kind of arresting emotion and thought I seek when I write something, but I can't hope to live up to what they have done. It is because of people like them that I'm even writing this now.
Some of my best work, writing-wise, is actually done when I'm feeling extremely fatigued, because what I truly feel comes out. At those times, it feels as if some otherworldly power takes over my hands and types the words for me, even though I know they're mine.
In less than two weeks, my senior marching band season effectively ends with the Texas UIL State Marching Contest, and along with it goes many memories good and bad, as well as the hardest schedule I've ever known and probably ever will. Thusly, at that time I will begin to flesh out my existing character more fully, as well as write a short vignette about Ayla and Lavos that I intend on submitting to the fanfiction forum here and to the guys over at Chronicles.
-
So...what exactly makes that less nonsense...?
*damn, now I'm wasting space to reply to wasted space*
-
Heh. Good job.
What makes it less nonsense is that my workload directly applies to when and how much I'm able to work on this.
That said, on to something more important than I am.
-
I made a few assertions in my Roget Parrion scene that should be revealed here.
The Centre for Dimensional Research is a large complex resting on its own island. There are some underground levels, and several stories topside; within it mostly are engineers, mechanics, researchers and analysts who dissect information gathered from research. Four notable room exists -- the Dispatch Chamber, the Observation Deck, the Royal Prison, and the Primary Construct. The Dispatch Chamber contains a large Gate frame that gathers coordinates sent from the Construct and allows travel of large groups of people between dimensions (or time, if such a thing was needed). The Observation Deck, using spectator magic, is capable of monitoring a target dimension in a variety of ways, even perhaps projecting the world around a viewer (similar to Quantum Leap or the Holodeck of Star Trek). The Royal Prison is, in actuality, a branch of the REAL royal prison on the main continent, and is equipped with cutting edge equipment for research done on dimensional prisoners. Lastly, the Primary Construct, by far the most important area of the Centre, contains three vital machines -- firstly, the locator rests there, on which an object is placed and its quantum signatures examined for copies in other dimensions. Secondly, a viewing port using spectator magic exists to its left. Lastly, on the locator's right is a Gate frame that can accomodate about two people, used for immediate "service" access to a dimension if something goes awry and an official dispatch cannot be arranged.
Finally, I've written that dimensions are destroyed after full research is conducted by the releasing of the Frozen Flame within the target dimension to lock level D (a sensitive level, suggested by Chronopolis's usage of it in the Time Crash). Once that is done, a directive is established via the Flame directly to Lavos that forces him to erupt. Done in prehistoric time, this ensures that humanity will never come to pass, and the slate is wiped clean of ZEALian interference and its effects.
-
Character idea here:
I haven't had much time to read the existing story, so forgive me if I screw up, but I had the crazy idea that an accident caused by my character wondering what the big red button does, or alternatively just being pissed off/depressed and accidentally sagging on it, could be the method by which the team arrives at the End of Time.
However, I'm not even sure which world the jailbreak's in, but something could still happen in ZEAL's Time Research Lab that echoes across every dimension involved here.
-
I've been thinking about how the heroes will actually get around. I've thought of vaporous Gates -- unlike Entity Gates, they're more one-time use trips, disposable commodities that Gaspar and others can use. For heavy duty scrambling, Gaspar can always dust off the slick Neo-Epoch.
-
I wouldn't worry, ZeaLitY, about character transportation. Vaporous Gates would be cool, but they won't exactly be necessary. Thou shalt seeth what I mean.
-
It's "thou shalt SEE."
Sorry, but improper Old English irks me. I groaned when Frog made a mistake speaking it in the original CT, especially his line before the final fight with Lavos. It should be the following:
"My life retaineth its meaning...we hath our own will!"
But, anyway, what will happen in ZEAL after the characters break out, regardless of how?
-
I wouldn't worry, ZeaLitY, about character transportation. Vaporous Gates would be cool, but they won't exactly be necessary. Thou shalt seeth what I mean.
I'd recommend against commandeering the fanfic (at least without asking permission); it tends to anger those who've worked to create it in the first place. If you're planning something that could greatly affect the rest of the story and/or characters, you should raise it as a suggestion first.
I figure that temporal transportation would work in one of two ways (possibly both, depending on the circumstances):
1) Gaspar creates gate from the End of Time to whenever.
2) As you said, a one-way passage there, with some manner to create a one-way passage back to the End of Time.
-
I don't plan on taking over the fanfic at all. I've been involved in too many multi-author RPs to do something as stupid as that. All I'm saying is that with the way my character is going to interact with the rest of you guys, it won't be as much of a problem as you may think it is. No god-modding, promise.
-
How would these "vapourous gates" work? I understand their one-shot useage, but who has the capacity to create them?
As an incredibly talented temporal mage, I would suspect Argus has this kind of power, but it's sealed for the time being. (Correct?)
Perhaps Gaspar is the one who creates them - when the party members in an era have completed their task, Gaspar would realize this and could create a gate on demand.
Claado -
While I understand you don't want to give away all your secrets, something involving how the party travels through time is probably something everyone should be aware of. If it really involves something you want to keep under wraps for awhile, at least PM/IM someone and bounce it off them to make sure it won't be problematic.
Its not that I don't trust you or anything, its just that with as many people as we have participating in the project, we need to foster communication about these sort of issues before everyone starts writing too far and we realize there's going to be a conflict of ideas.
-
Probably only Gaspar would be able to make them. Once Argus' powers are fully restored, he may be able to do so as well. I've also laid out plans (in the character paths thread) for Backer to rend a gate to the End of Time (under rather unique circumstances); I wasn't planning on him repeating this anytime soon, but it may be an alternative once he gets more powerful. As a side note, I'm working on really long-term plans for the character of Backer, extending well beyond this fic, so some of what you'll see regarding him will be hinting at this--this particular ability being such a case.