Talk to me about Volgon Magi-tech

What is it's deal.

>>42866843

Seconding.

What are souls?

A reaper on Floor 2 chained through several of us with an etheral chain, extracting the soul out of the body - but the body stayed alive and the soul was still in one piece. Losing either means death, but you can clearly seperate the two so long as neither is destroyed. Or maybe even then?

Latvian said every soul has a star and every star has a code, so if you can find the code for the star you can find the code for a given soul and then you can... something.

so could you summon a soul without a body if you found the code? They can manifest, surely, but would they disappear again without flesh to hold them? Quest did some calculations on soul retrieval, so even if this is a difficult art it's obviously a possible one. It's a known thing. But what do you actually retrieve, then? A soul, or the imprinted memory of a creature? A brief flickering ghostly presence that fades without something solid to hold it? Because then to bring back a soul you'd need a container.

And what are stars, the things you're gathering codes with? The stars themselves are eaten bit by bit by the Mal, replaced by Monster Signs. So it can't just be star signs you use to code for souls, but something else. But codes for stars is also Runic magic given form because that's a language of magic based on star signs and star codes, crystalized into a set of power. Guides use leylines but power the magic they cast with their own souls.

It all comes back to bloody souls. Even aether crystals is the crystalized backdraft of destroyed world escaping upwards, the soul stuff of planes devoured.

We were even told that the star/monster signs change depending on which side of the cosmic tower you look out from; does that change what you can summon and code for? What you can cast?

ARgh, monster signs and souls. It's confusing. Clearly Summoners for instance can call down *something* to aid them, but what?

Sooouuuls

>>42866843

Volgon Magitek falls under the umbrella of aetheric manipulation that originates from the emergent sciences of Volgon. It has sincce spawned three practices.

Logistry,

Alquemistry

and Machina

At its root, Volgon Magitek does not produce its own magic, instead relying on naturally occuring aether condensations known simply as Elemental Crystals to power specially made machinery that harvests their power. It is said that at the bottom of the Magitek iceberg is a literal colossus of world data that is churning deep within its Logistry networks containing more than a million years of experimental data going as far back as the Time of Antiquity.
However as these sciences were ever untested in the unique environment of the Spiral, a lot of it had to be revised or retested to what is known as Magitek today.

The first hurdle was to seek a power source for all the "electronic" and "ballistic" devices that the old world once had to do this, Alquemistry had to concoct ways of sourcing energy from crystals and ultimately sourcing crystals from the natural plane. This endeavor brought about the discovery of near magical effects that practitioners of Avalon Mages enjoyed. Logistry was then used to deconstruct runic into a micro processing algorithm that created exacting magical effects that could be incurred amplitudinaly like force fields and dissolution arrays but lead to horrendous usage of aetheric crystals rendering it only applicable in Military operations. And when it came to the construction of the two it was inevitable that the warmachine had to be fed and so Machina came about as an industry with which ancient machines such as robotics were exhumed to be placed at the fore once more bigger and better than their old world counterparts without heed of costs.

This however did not stop the Volgons from consuming and sacking territories for crystals in order to power their warmachines and gain more data.

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>>42867111
Spirits are well Uhm

This question has an answer but why does it feel so loaded. ;;;; n ;;;;

=
The advent of a soul is tricky. Magic does as much to depict it as a current essence of oneself but what exactly gets held when this happens ? Aethers ? Stars ? Matter ? It's all very theoretical to say the least but the stars have an answer and its said that Summoning does much of the same.


How does the floors become so populated with monsters after being torn apart by the Rend ? It's believed that a type of memory - or data - exists within the whorls of the Aethersea and that the stars are positioned much like markers in this chaotic rend to pinpoint an exact location of one person's instance. We call this phenomenon as simply "Recalling" since the universe is on the process of dying it will do this once - sporadically and chaotically before finally disappearing in absolute nothing. How does this explain a soul ?

It doesn't but it provides a map of how tangled and exacting a single life is since a soul is not just Where, but When, and finally How and Will. One can recreate a body but without memories is a newborn reincarnate. And one may store a memory in a book but ultimately continue on without changing or making anything new without a body. The points in between these two define a soul.

Empirically what IS known is this:
-Souls are condensed aethers. Whether they were made of them or aethers became trapped is unknown.
- Souls occupy a subliminal plane allowing them to interact in different dimensional planes. And since dimensional planes begin collapsing as the malebolgia nears this effect becomes clearer and more apparent.

- . One can say that a Soul is needed to pass on genetic data or can pass off as a proxy. Humanity has developed many customs in which one can ascend the floors even as they die. Indeed the treatment of the dead are about as varied and sacred as practical and defensive magicks.

>>42867377

What can you tell me about runners? Why is it that so many people from from different places, but have similar skills and meet up on a floor after having escaped from somewhere else. I'm no scientist or magician, but I've been told it could be some sort of universal constant?

Being (possibly) immortal, I will have a lot of time to think about that.

>>42867142

So Logistry is studying magic and stuff, and is pretty much what Maths are to Science, and we've seen Alquemists already so we have some idea of what their stuff involves.

I'm going to take a gander at who has the Machina market cornered, tell me about Scifaxes, or Scifaxi, what is the collective noun for them, a catastrophe of Scifaxs?

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>>42866713
Tell us about the faeries in the Floors setting. Faeries can be completely different in each setting they can be varied from evil soul-sucking nightmares to benevolent and gentle winged humanoids of flesh and blood.

What are faeries? Where do they live? Where do they came from? What do they do, are they intelligent monster creatuers or something completey different? What is their relation to other people/creatures like for example us Runners?

You mentioned they have their own separate magic is this known like dragons or is still secretive? Is it possible to acquire their aid and their magic similarly to dragons?

Finally how do you spell their name here, fairy or faery?

>>42867493
A doomsday.

>>42867377
well it's a big question, but I appreciate you taking the time to try and answer the very nature of the soul.

Strange, tricky stuff is a great answer. Memories of things that were and things to come. I really asked because I wanted to know if there was something we should do when the body died - so we can properly enact rituals for our dead Runners. We've amased quite a backlog of the dead and the gone, and it would be proper to give them a good send off.

"It being the part of you that continues" is good answer.

I wonder if we can use the thinning of the spot between dimensions as the Mal approaches to rescue those we've lost, sort of fish their souls out of the soup of aether. Although I think the Order disliked that idea.

>>42867596

Ah of course.

But seriously though, tell me about Scifaxs, what do they do, where would I learn how to become one?

The only thing I remember was something my old Sergeant told me, I can't quite remember but I think it was "A discussion between 3 Scifaxes, will end up with 4 points of view"

I never really understood what he meant by that

>>42867482
Worlds are strange and yet similar. Every mythos develops similarly with some outliers that possess completely different moral compasses. But here in the central spirals those that believe in the values of the Enlightenment Period and the Golden age tend to flock. Whereas those of "Fire" Morality can be found in the outlying spirals and on the top and bottom floors. I'll not get into detail about those on the Outer Wall however...

>>42867671
As such, unless we find the rare exception, most runners escaping the Mal or people from established and long running empires will often have similar backgrounds.

>>42867529
Faeries are what you would consider a newborn soul that has emerged from the astra - the realm of thought. They are .. to a point, primordial ideas of elements given shape and emotion and subsist on such emotions. Things like promises keep them alive and breaking promises are a death sentence to them. Being icons of pure idea they contract with humans and subsist on their spiritual run off - dont worry they wont take more than they're promised.

Faeries are considered a symbiotic organism but a sapient race. Each element they represent aligns them with an emotion , for example:

Lux Fae represent Truth and Virtue.
Teras Fae represent Survival and Prosperity
Aquas Fae represent Knowledge and Curiosity
Aerias Fae represent Humor and Courage
Firas Fae represent Passion and Power
Whilst Darc Fae are about Justice and Promise.

There are much and more emotions but each Fae has one thing in common- They are absolutely CONDUCTIVE to their element- allowing their emotions to power their magic like so. Alternatively they have a hard time interacting with anything in the physical realm if it doesn't apply to their element.

I'm actually interested in learning more of the Qr'loon. We know they are a trading empire and have ties to Red Street but not much else.

>>42867874

Are Ghouls an evolutionary pathway to normal humans? While being undead they seemingly have a *working* body. What happens after that, it the next step body modification, or are sentient sane ghouls a dead end without further change to be done?

>>42867915
The Qr'Loon [Pronounced Kow-Loo] was once the remnants of a millenium old empire that ruled 3 oceanic stars that comprised a 12 star chain called the Zodiac Road. its expansive civilizations have been reduced to roughly a hundred thousandth of its size with its seed population booming from a single passenger that crashed into the Crystal Corridors some 12,000 Floors ago. Much and more can be said about them as a people but currently they hide a lot of details about their people and arts. Not to mention their extremely large size

>>42867142

What's the Spiral?

The cosmic formation this multilevel tower forms into is named thusly. The diameter closer to the malebolgia reaches a more certain size of 1Titan but higher than that is vastly wider and extremely uncharted with countless worlds and stars flooding in virtually every floor.

It is the world we currently ascend.

How do I learn Core Magic?

>>42870328
You must not learn core magic.

>>42870389
If I must not learn it... What happens if I learn it anyways?

>>42870389
>Contemplates learning the forbidden along with the heretical.

Is there a knight/weisskreiger faction/guild?

>>42870767
The order

>>42870866
Fine upstanding folk, kinda boring and judgemental however

Can someone give me a brief rundown on the factions? Who they are, what they do, their significance in the adventure so far etc.

>>42871984

I got this, I have the list from a thread a while back saved.

[The Skyward Order] Is a rather zealous religious order that was leftover from the remnants of the defeated [Ignyllian Star Forces]
who uses aethercrafts to sail the stars in order to escape the Malebolgia. Vaunted as our best chance at fighting against Humanity's threats and indeed our ever watchful guardian if we are to stray too far from the path of the stairs.

[The Volgon Army] Currently the longest thriving civilization on recordto still remain functional after the Malebolgia hit. It is said that they hold the keys to a time before the Malebolgia happened but her technocratic leaders have stayed on the path of conservative industrialism, using millitary and science to hoard resources and power their War-Machines.
However because their presence is so vast, it becomes hard to determine what their true intentions or purpose truly is anymore below their command levels. And thus Militia men who were graced with their better hands have sought to ascend the ranks of this timeless nation no doubt to strike it reach or seek out the truth of our times.

[The 13th Chapter of Scholomance] Ever since the fall of the 11th Chapter and the failed expedition of the 12th Chapter into the Malebolgia the 13 Order of the Scholomance was rebuilt by her immortal caretakers in the heart of the Crystal Corridors whose halls and libraries continue to collect dust and books so ancient, one could engage in conversation with their grandchildren through spirited notes. And thus Mages and even inquisitive Guides find a home here among the resident Scholars.

(1/2)

>>42872040

[Shiraiya Clinic] Funded jointly by the Scifax of the old Volgon Technocracy and the mortal counterparts of the Scholomance, Shiraiya Clinic delves in the extermination and mitigation of monstrous threats in the name of survival. It is rumoured that their projects on the evolution of humans focuses on survival in the Mal.

[Red Street] - Employs the services of many a derring dos in what is considered the "free-est" of factions, composed of various small runner groups and strong ties with the Qrloon trade federation. [Yours truly] acts as one of many arms of information, trade, and acquisition. For this we rely on [Rogues] and [Hunters] both to get the people and goods that we need for a job or a client. You wish to file a [Request] for people[s] and item's ? We don't come cheap.

>Everything beyond this point is stuff I have written

[House of M] - Secret Club guys. Probably evil, probably not actually evil. No one knows anything about them really anyone that is sent to find out doesn't return. They showed up during a 3 way clusterfuck between factions one day with 10 people and a huge Dragon called [Jormungar] and pretty much kicked everyone's ass. Since then they have become in a way the 6th faction.

We've met these dudes once on the previous floor, where one guy from it showed up to take some dude who had just attempted to summon a really bad thing into the Observatory away. Be wary, be /very/ wary.

>>42870491
The plane and honest truth is that the Malebolgia will come. One does not need further proof than down below to know why this is a bad idea. It was said that the origin of the Mal had come about from the irresponsible uses of Magic - what was once a limitless spring of boundless aether was in truth a voracious collector slowly tearing open a fabric into our plane waiting for the costs to reach its peak.

>>42871984
The factions are people who employ Runners for one reason or another and provide services to them. There are six big ones that we know about currently. We are not currently affiliated with any one faction though we have made a few inroads towards knowing a few of them a bit better. Though not all encounters with them have been positive.

>>42872040
>>42872114
Thank you Burk.

A few things to add.

The Schola is primarily concerned with magic. All magic. They will use magic on items and sell magical items. They can also use magic to fuse items together to produce new items. They also accept monster parts for zenny or a chance for a new rune.

Skyward Order. These guys are great for the more straight laced of our Runners to learn new skills. They also have an ability called Draw Out which allows one to take a unique weapon or item and create a skill or spell from it. Also Knight gear.

Shiraya Clinic is the place for Ghouls. If you want a piece of Monster grafted to you go here. They will also sell Hunter and Slayer gear here and buy monsters and monster parts.

Red Street. Beyond selling rogue and hunter gear and buying monster stuff we don't know much about them.

House of M. We have seen nothing of the services these guys provide. Not even a shop.

Volgon Technocracy. GUNS! BULLETS! Also they are the place to go for Aetheric Crystals. A wily Runner can make a fortune off buying, selling and trading crystals.

Note : Red Street will also take in human prisoners.

What's with the Llama and how does he handle transactions without opposable thumbs?

>>42873843
he uses his tongue, clearly.

>>42872128
Okay but what about RESPONSIBLE use of magic?

>>42877627
Anything Runic / Leyline comes from the environment ,
Magitek is sourced from crystals,
Outsiders, Faerie, Dragons and monster are also viable sources of magic.
Songcraft and Quigon are sourced from Human belief are also viable and sustainable sources of magic.

Hells even blood magic is susitainable sources of magic.

But Core Magic ? There is no explanation as to where its limitless power comes from and on that alone the malebolgia comes right for us. Its ability to draw from the seemingly endless void is such that it immediately draws its ire to our position.

>>42877925

"..if Core Magic is connected to the Malebolgia phenomenon, understanding the mechanisms could play heavily on arresting the current situation. Perhaps a passive study or observation of Core Magic might shed some light?"

>>42879094
The scholomance was permitted to exist simply on that alone. Every Sign or so our faculty would get badgered about the findings, lately the visits have decreased however....

>>42879276

"Do you know who we would go to in order to find tasks to assist in the research of Core Magic, tasks that would suit a group with a particular skill set like ours?"

>>42879542
Those who seek out answers to the malebolgia seek out rare artifacts known only as Monoliths. These ancient constructs are said to pop up every once in a while but no one truly knows what they are. Only that once they have been submitted to the Scholomance they are immediately taken into their research group without condition or consent... It makes you wonder but then again I don't envy their job either. It's said that those who study under the Librarian are said to be extremely talented geniuses.

>>42879776
Geniuses? Talent? Sounds like a job for me!
Where do we find these monoliths and how do I get in on the goodies for this so called Librarian?
Who is this Librarian?

On another note, how would I got about making my own magical books?
I'd probably use up my own blood for the ink as for the other materials...
How much research would it take to come up or discover new runes?

>>42879776
"Wait, why do those who seek out things about the Malebolgia also seek out these Monoliths? What possible connection exists between them besides both being mysterious? I understand why just about anyone who wants payment from the Schola would do so, but why those specifically seeking information about the Malebolgia? Some link to Core Magic?"

So what happens if you mix vacuum and space? Create a zone where space does't exist?

What is the highest known floor?

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Work in progress. The direction might change some. Not quite feeling parts of it. We'll see, though..