Celestial versus Earth: beyond spell choices

C

Cúangol

Artisan
Hi there,

I have a few questions about Earth versus Celestial magics, outside of their actual spell selections.

I'm designing my new character, which will likely be a sailor/navigator and earth-caster. To be played mainly in Ashburry, though I'm still interested in what other chapters are doing.

1) Stone versus Earth
From what I can tell from the rulebook, the four celestial-magic elements air/lightning, flame, ice/water, and most importantly stone, are completely separate from the two earth-magic elements of earth and chaos. Does an earth-caster feel everything from "the planet earth" to cast spells, which include the wind hitting their sails and the ocean water under their boats? Or must the earth-caster access the stone at the bottom of the sea, in order to make contact with earth?

Note that on page 45 of the (in-game fictional story) "Tales of Fortannis," Toent worries
Even if they were fresh and rested, I doubt they could call the Earthsong all the way up from the bottom of the sea for a voyage of who-knows-how-long.
Click to expand...

If Toesnt's worry is true, then there must be few earth-casting sailors? If his worry is well-founded, then what is the difference between stone and earth?

2) Wind/water versus Stars
From what I can tell from our "real world" history, two principal methods of navigation are (a) by looking at stars and (b) by wind-charts and water-current-charts.

Related to (1), I'm assuming that a celestial scholar would be more into star-based navigation and sundials, whereas an earth-caster would be more inclined to use wind, water, and landmarks. And that an earth-caster with "Read Magic" to read scrolls might be OK with using both. Thoughts?

3) Existing navigational charts?
On a related thought, does Ashburry (or any other chapter) have wind-charts or water-current-charts for their maps? If not, perhaps my character can have this as a quest... [Any thoughts about an elven kingdom, or any group who hires elves, that would want this?]. Though I suspect there is much (possibly unwritten) knowledge about currents known by sailors and corsairs.

Thanks!
 
In terms of the rules, where exactly earth magic comes from isn't defined as any specific part of the earth. So the source of a caster's earth magic could "include the wind hitting their sails and the ocean water under their boats."

Also, I see navigational preference coming from character background, not from skill choices. So whether you use earth or celestial magic doesn't have to influence how you navigate. I'd look for something in my character history to help there. Any character with any in game skills can navigate with either or both systems you mention.
 
navigation would probably fall under a craftsmen skill. but i understand how you would like to use your magic ability and tune it to your navigation technique. this is pure role play. craftsmen would be useful for plot reasons (IG) to achieve goals that would be otherwise outside the player ability (OOG) but they also make great role play and a small income. there are different cultures that could have practiced magic in different ways IE. navigation. you could write a detailed character history around something like this while following the game mechanic provided by the rule book.
 
Thanks!

A clarification: I am planning to get "Craftsman: navigator."

I am looking for some flavor about my biases towards specific navigational systems, depending on my own magical background (celestial vs. earth).
 
While undefined specifically, celestial magic is traditionally (in the chapters I've played in) harnessed from the "outer" spaces... meaning the stars, the planes, etc. Whereas earth magic is harnessed from the "inner" spaces... meaning the material (including the earth) and life around you.

That's probably the most general way to put it, and what matches with the various elementals from either side of the fence.
 
My primary is a celestial scholar who was also a cook on a ship. Several of the other PCs on that ship were earth scholars... it never made a difference to any of us that we were on a boat or on land. Keep in mind that the fiction, while written "in Fortannis" doesn't always follow the ruleset. Call it creative license, Mike's allowed :thumbsup:

I purchased the Craftsman skills Sailor and Astrologer, and will probably pick up "Navigator" at some point, just to give my card a little more flavor. Sort of a natural progression of learning, in my mind.

And if you look at the 8 types of "traditional" elementals, you have stone/lightning/ice/flame, and then life/death/order/chaos. Order already exists in game, the opposite of chaos... and order elementals throw and channel Prison.
 
Fearless Leader said:
Ideally, to avoid confusion, we should really rename "earth" spells as "order" spells (the opposite of chaos). "I call upon order to cure wounds" and so on.
Click to expand...

its not like people who are calling upon chaos are other then earth scholars.
 
djmeser said:
Fearless Leader said:
Ideally, to avoid confusion, we should really rename "earth" spells as "order" spells (the opposite of chaos). "I call upon order to cure wounds" and so on.
Click to expand...

its not like people who are calling upon chaos are other then earth scholars.
Click to expand...

No, my point is that there is a confusion, especially among new players, between the element of earth (as in the Stone Bolt spell) and "calling upon the earth." Many think it's the same thing, when it isn't. It would be clearer if we said the opposite of chaos was order and if the healing spells called upon the powers of order.
 
I thought the opposite of order was void, since earth has chaos...
 
Cúangol said:
Note that on page 45 of the (in-game fictional story) "Tales of Fortannis," Toent worries
Click to expand...
It's worth pointing out that while the stories are inspired by the events of assorted Alliance games, they are not necessarily canonical nor necessarily adhering to a particular required in-game understanding of the world.
 
jpariury said:
Cúangol said:
Note that on page 45 of the (in-game fictional story) "Tales of Fortannis," Toent worries
Click to expand...
It's worth pointing out that while the stories are inspired by the events of assorted Alliance games, they are not necessarily canonical nor necessarily adhering to a particular required in-game understanding of the world.
Click to expand...

As the editor of the collection, I agree. My novels did not follow completely to the rules either -- for instance, there's only one school of magic in the novels, and gryphons are tossing fireballs and so on. The idea was to get the feel of the world of Fortannis without being so tied to the rules that it limited plots or made it so complicated that a person who has never played the game before would get frustrated with the complexity. What works well for a game does not for fiction, and vice versa.

Plus many of the stories in the collection were written by actual, real, published authors who have never played an Alliance game or a LARP in their lives.

That's why IG the books are fiction, too. None of that stuff ever really happened. :thumbsup:
 
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