Random AEQ Questions

    >First, more source abuse (this all assumes we bind a POP to ourselves obviously):
    >1. Can we make it so that Finn's tattoos do not cause him constant strain and pain while inside the source's influence? It would be nice for him to be able to relax once and a while.


Sadly, not without actually modifying Finn's physical makeup while he's near the Source. Doing that sort of thing is kind of a bad idea in general. Whilst you can make it difficult for mages to draw in energy or even counter the effects of Finn's magic, his tattoos draw on his innate power and so you can't really stop them from doing their thing safely.

    >2. Could we cause his soul to repair itself while inside the source? Basically resetting the accumulated strain to 0 with enough time.


Well, for one, you can't affect people's souls with the Source. They're located on another plane of existence so they're not actually within the radius. Secondly, Finn's problem isn't really a problem with his soul in that way. The tattoos are straining his body but unless it's left to fester (the ten years that Merce mentioned) then his soul will be untouched - once he's passed that point his life will be permanently shorter (and be getting shorter) save for other methods for extending it.

You can set his timelimit back to the maximum (about 10-15 years) by having him spend time near the Source, but it couldn't be an instant thing. It would probably be a case of each year being replenished gives him another year on his countdown clock, so to speak.

    >3. Can we make the keep bigger on the inside?


Yes. Spatial manipulation is easy. You can't make it infinitely large as it strains Talon's mind to keep the place so big (the reality-bending isn't a set-and-forget, he has to permanently maintain it personally. This is why powerful sorcerors can overwhelm it, they simply use too much magical power too quickly for the controller and it acts like astral power) - probably a multiplier equal to his Perception.

     >4. Can we increase the gravity in certain sections of the Keep, fill it with "enemy" constructs (that can't permanently kill anyone obviously), and run the Order of the Griffon through it until they get /fit/?


Yes, but like gravity training in DBZ they'll only ever be as strong as the next set of unusually overpowered villains.

More seriously, although they would become tough nuts the training times wouldn't be any faster than the cave idea (the harder training is offset by the fact that they're not in any danger). The main benefit would be that you wouldn't have to worry about 'overconsuming' the XP pool.

    >5. Maybe something similar for mages, (make it more difficult to cast magic, with results something similar to resistance training? Should probably ask the genius mage for better suggestions)


Probably the best things you can offer mages are cheap and easy healing, infinite catalysts, infinite copies of research tomes in a library and training rooms that vary the conditions of casting.

    >Bows:

    >Does the high draw/low strength enchantment Mal made stack with empowerment? Assuming you have a high enough quality version for said empowered soldier.


 The draw enchantment essentially just adds X pounds of force to the bow. It's largely being used to enable more average archers to fire with much more force but could also be extended to let the expert archers fire already high draw bows with a little more force. As it's a fixed amount and not proportional, the benefit of the enchantment diminishes as the bow's draw increases.

    >Talon hasn't gotten a new bow, has he? How much longer until his own bow snaps under the strain of being drawn by Str 7 Talon, instead of the Str 5 he was at the start of the quest?


You can probably assume that Talon's using a beast of a bow, with a draw-weight so high that normal people couldn't even begin to use it. Maloric could probably just whack a ton of reinforcement on a bow to support this sort of insanity.

With that said, although the mechanics would be similar (increasing strength lowers the DC) the actual effect of the shots would be different if he picked up a more suitable bow. The God-Knights basically use gigantic bows of steel that shoot ballista bolts to make use of their enormous strength. Narratively, they would be able to do much more damage but would be slower to fire and probably less accurate at extreme ranges (and completely unsuitable to fire on the move without absurd levels of strength).

    >With the navy, I think that you first need to figure out what each navy sees as its mission, then assume it built a force structure to handle that.


That's more or less what I've done. I have the themes and generals ideas of the navies down. I just need to determine how to spec them and how naval battles will work. My reimagining of the land calculations is going to reflect the more narrative flow of battles and the naval stuff probably will, too. Thanks for the suggestions, however.

    >As for Tarunine, my question are:
    >Are the natives are human?

Yes.

    >Do they form a distinct faction (or factions), or have they been absorbed by the colonists?

Basically a number of small tribes spread across the dozen or so islands.

        >Did old Farloun have a colony before the RSK wiped them out? Farloun itself apparently has some islands, so it probably had a substantial navy before Fenix killed them all and was presumably capable of colonizing the place.Same with the other kingdoms that got bumped off in the past 30 or so years. Heck, Darlesia could have tried its hand at colonization during its height and lost it when Vitria rebelled, might have been part of its overreach.

Farlou didn't have much of a navy as their islands are relatively close to the mainland (English Channel or Bass Strait distance) and they were a little overconfident in their magic. Not sure if I'll have any other colonies or anything. Taurine will probably be a little more fantasy wilds than New World.

    >Random things:
    >Does Darvui's rebellion or Asfel's regency have any name besides that of their ruler? Or has Talon started a trend?


The naming actually relates mostly to the politics of their separation. Asfael hasn't separated from the RSK and has basically just formed an autonomous region within it. It might get named eventually but she's not going to name it so as not to appear like she's seceding. Darvui, on the other hand, hasn't actually claimed any territory. He simply has a military and a bunch of mages and prevents the RSK from controlling the lands. As such, he hasn't actually formed an empire - he's basically some random guy with a whole lot of power controlling a region.

    >Could you give the Mage Guard hardliner faction another name besides warden?


I'll try to give them all proper names once I finalise the factions.

    >If a magister ended up summoning a sprite, is there anything stopping them from binding as many sprites as he can support magically? I assume binding more familiars than you can keep at full power is considered poor form, but starting a debate amongst York mages as to the virtues of multiple sprites vs a single great elemental would probably make more willing to give it another go since its less likely that they'll lose face.


The power required to support additional familiars increases rapidly - supporting 2 requires the power of 3, 3 requires the power of 7 etc. Plus, most familiars don't like sharing. Sala and Sylph won't be a problem because they're sisters, but having multiple unrelated familiars is just asknig for trouble. Finally, mages probably don't like the idea of sharing their lives with even more familiars - many don't like sharing their life with one and summoning a familiar is taken at seriously by most. If you tried to make summoning familiars purely a matter of function then you'd likely upset many of the older ones and even the Summoner towers