[HUB ISLAND | ICE BREAKERS]

[spellheal]

Who: Coven Members
Where: Coven Base Camp
When: Day 90
Open/Closed: OTA

You're not doing anything right now, right? Good. Genette's using some of the resources taken from Aimintas to create a little get together. Even if you do have something going on, she's not averse to using a little force to make the evening magical. In fact, the magic is exactly how she's pulling this off. Genette is offering you to a little get together at the base camp, which may be all it takes for you to follow her. If not? Your hand is tethered (or some other part of you) quickly and you're led to the camp anyway. This is important, darn it! What's so important? A little "party" of sorts. There's an assortment of foods, some of which have been hastily made since some groups have gone harvesting for new resources, and a large water basin that's acting as a punch bowl. The true purpose of this little activity is a 'get to know you' exercise of sorts. Genette's got a glass container of a large quantity of Elto bones that can short-circuit the tethers, but the caveat is that you have to participate in a little, tethered sharing circle. (It's honestly a good idea to know who you're stuck within your little makeshift coven, but Genette is the pushy sort when she sets her mind to something.) The way to be released from your Elto shackles? Tell everyone your name, where you're from, your magic (seemingly left a little ambiguous) and something else about yourself. Discussions are encouraged! The more people know, the better! After you're done sharing with the class, food and drink is yours to have -- or you can just run off, that's fine too. OOC: Characters who would have absolutely nothing to do with this can of course escape, whether fleeing in the first place or using Elto bones of their own to circuit out their tether. A ▢ This is it -- your character can breathe deeply, unlock their knees and get this little activity over with. All they have to do is share the criteria and they're free to go! B ▢ Afterwards, their free to stick around the area and mingle. There IS food and also drinks. They may also want to have a more private conversation about something they learned tonight.

Comments

[teratias]

To see if I could.

[Which is to say that yes it is private, but he can give the barest version of the truth. A lot of the Holy Grail War was about proving Waver's worth to the eyes of others.

Or at least, that's what he had thought it was going in.]

[rootbound]

Fair enough. I'm guessing your not-dragon didn't necessarily come here with you, though. The other summoner here said the person who was immediately with her didn't...?

[he doesn't know how Hakuno dealt with that, honestly. he could work without Geir for a while, but not with the uncertainty of their situation, of not knowing what was happening to Geir, of not knowing if he'd ever see him again.]

[teratias]

[He had spoken to Hakuno? Interesting. More interesting about the assumption made.]

You're correct. The oaf hasn't shown up at all.

[rootbound]

[Vern looks down at his hands, considering.]

May I ask if you had some kind of connection with him while he was present? Something you could feel, something like the telepathy here, maybe dreams...

[he wants to figure out how similar their summoning systems might be.]

[teratias]

[Waver is quiet for a long time before he speaks. How Vern knows is....unnerving.]

Both. We had both.

[rootbound]

Ah.

[he folds his hands together, debating whether to say it.

well...why not. Waver told him, anyway]

Geir and I shared dreams recently, so -- I had wondered. I summoned him months ago, so it came as a bit of a shock.

[teratias]

Do you usually have a telepathic way of communicating?

[rootbound]

Not apart from the signet. Geir tended to know where I was at any particular time before we came here, but that was more, mm, one-sided.

[teratias]

[Waver frowned, nodding slowly.]

I see. The telepathy is two way, but everything else seems consistent so far.

[rootbound]

I mean, also neither of us really knows all the implications of a blood pact with a god.

[sighs]

That's not a complaint, just...well, you know. It can be weird. How old is the art of evocation where you're from?

[teratias]

Hold up. Blood pact?

[That's a surprising word choice. Waver frowns.]

It's pretty old. Millennia, to be certain.

[rootbound]

[millenia...]

Most summons where I'm from are done with blood to seal the deal. From the theory I read, you need to give a lot for any sort of summon, and giving what you summon more afterward might be able to strengthen them . . . as far as I can tell it's pretty risky, though. I don't think I'd do it twice.

You're very lucky to have established schools, I think. Magic's a lot more scattered at home.

[teratias]

Hm. We use blood in some rituals, but we'd never use the term blood pact. The concept of giving what you summon strength is pretty common though.

[Waver's nose wrinkles at the mention of established schools.]

They're not always such a great beacon of learning and crap.

[rootbound]

Yeah, but at least you have them. There's a small one in Rurik, but other than that, good luck getting any sort of formalized learning happening, especially if you live inland.

[teratias]

...How many practicing magi are there in your world? Like...roughly.

[rootbound]

[tilts his head]

I have no idea. They die a lot in the armies and if they're not in the armies they don't usually like to advertise that they're mages. That makes counting hard.

[teratias]

..I mean, we hate announcing ourselves too but old families are prideful idiots who like to boast so...

[Someone's bitterness is showing.]

I just thought you might know.

[rootbound]

[turns that one over in his head. his tone is almost gentle when he speaks next]

...I think...we come from very different places. Do you have a lot of large cities in your world? How many of the kings are fighting each other actively?

[teratias]

We have big cities, but at present, not that many wars. Or that many kings, come to think of it. Democracies and republics are way more common.

[rootbound]

I don't even know what democracies are...

I think that might explain it, though. Things are more...scattered...at home. You have the port cities and then you have a lot of small towns and villages, and because of the war the geography changes every year. So mages out in the villages fend for themselves in their own communities, and...well, that's how you get no schools. And no old families, come to think of it.

[teratias]

[Waver nods along, listening. But...no. It doesn't check out.]

Well wait, my own country was like that for centuries, but we had schools regardless. Not just for mages, but proper universities for people like doctors and lawyers. Do you have any of that kind of infrastructure?

[rootbound]

...not very much, that I know of...I mean, I haven't hung around the cities for very long, but if there were that kind of thing it would be obvious enough. What's a lawyer?

[there sure are some strange gaps here]

[teratias]

Someone who...wait what's your law system like? I mean, if someone commits a crime, how are they judged?

[rootbound]

Where I was from, usually people either brawled it out or they took it to the headman or headwoman to judge. Nobles and merchants have the power to call a judging-panel in front of a law-sayer, though...they argue the case, and in the end the judging twelve decide if the criminal is guilty and should be punished. Or not.

[ah]

Is a lawyer the same as a law-sayer, then?

[teratias]

Sounds like it is. But to get back to my point: how do they learn their job?