I've done my sentence but committed no crime

[wolfehawke]

Who: Adalwolfe Hawke and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Iskaulit
When: Nowish

Broadcast

[The video pops up with Adalwolfe's face centered in the camera, but with the background moving behind him, clearly showing the familiar corridors of the Iskaulit. He's making his way to his new job at Málum as bartender.]

So I noticed on the list of scheduled lectures posted a bit ago that there are several on magic, not to mention several people I've spoken with having positive or relaxed reactions to its use. It's incredibly strange to me that everyone is so open and accepting of this, considering the doctrine regarding magic in my home of Thedas, so it begs the following question and I hope at least someone from outside of Thedas will indulge me:

What is magic like on your world? Is it regulated? Does everyone have the ability to use it, or only a small number of people? Are there prejudices that go along with that.

Ah, well, I suppose that's more than one question. Still, if you're willing to talk about it, please feel free to respond to this post and I'll get back to you when I'm finished with work. Thank you!

[The video clicks off.]


Action

It's only a short walk from the hanger to the bar, but Adalwolfe takes his time since he can't watch where he's going very well as he's recording on his device. Which could lead to all kinds of problems. He seems to be avoiding walls okay, but if a person, say, came out of a corridor nearby or happened to step in front of him at just the right time before he put down the little screen, he might just bowl right into them, or walk right past without noticing a mischievous foot out for him to trip over. Honestly, he's an open target. Or at least seems like it...

Comments

video

[sonofgold]

[Al nodded.]

If you mean laws as in government regulations, there are some- alchemists who work for the military, like Brother did, have to pass a test and renew their certification every year. Otherwise, there's not much in the way of regulation. Anybody has the potential to do alchemy, but most people just aren't good at it or choose not to do it.

Alchemy is also bound by natural laws. I can't conjure something from thin air, and I couldn't take, say, a block of wood and turn it into a stone. It's all about knowing chemistry.

video

[wolfehawke]

Ah I see, so it's not something like being able to burn down villages on a whim or summon demons or the like.

[He lets out a small huff at himself.]

Not that I condone the steps the Chantry in Thedas takes to suppress things like that, but it does make sense why your alchemy would have less oversight than true magic, in that case.

video

[sonofgold]

No... alchemy can be used for combat, but doing large-scale transmutations takes a lot of energy and is hard to contain. See, to transmute you need to draw a circle with runes written around the edges, and the alchemist then uses the power of the earth's movements for his transmutation. The circle restrains the power, and the runes shape what the transmutation is supposed to do. If your alchemy has no sort of containment, it can backfire horribly and injure or kill the person trying to do it.

[wolfehawke]

I was taught a bit about this. My father learned in the Circle and they cover some transmutation. Usually it's just changing one base material into another though. If you want to fight with magic, there are a lot of other schools of study much more suited to it, though the way they're classified varies from Circle to Circle. Some forces that are considered separate schools in one Circle could be all under one umbrella by another.

[sonofgold]

[Al listened to all of this with interest.]

Brother and I mostly used our alchemy to turn our surroundings into weapons and barriers, rather than directly attack. Brother used to have an Automail arm- that's a prosthetic limb made of metal- and he often shaped the end into a blade. My friend Major Armstrong used stone and debris to make flying projectiles, and Teacher... well, Teacher preferred to just pummel the enemy with as much force as she could, without much regard to whatever damage she might cause. Either way, conservation of mass still applies. Teacher could make a gigantic fist rise from the ground, but she'd pull up soil and rock to shape it with and leave an indentation.

[wolfehawke]

Well of course, you can't pull the earth up and expect it not to leave a mark. That would be conjuration, not transmutation, and it's far more difficult. Much easier to use what's already there than create something new from nothing.

[sonofgold]

Exactly. Doing a transmutation correctly is difficult enough- and the matter would have to come from somewhere. It's better if you know what you're working with and where it came from.