Riffing of this somehow, I have a question that hopefully hasn’t been posed yet.
We’ve talked about affinities in the context of use by their respective guild members, but what about being used by people of other guilds? We saw it a bit during Deirdre’s expedition, where she and Colby performed Tome Kindling.
How do we think cross-guild affinity use might alter the effects of a spell? For example, if a Gossmere utilized Sand and Stone Scrying, what would that look like? Or a Weatherwatch attempting time shifting? I feel like the affects of the spells could be similar, but perhaps the method of casting is different. Like a big Goss party being held to attempt a communal scrying. What thoughts do folks have on this?
Oooh, I really hadn’t thought of that! I just assumed dear Colby was a polyguild!
That’s a really interesting concept… I think Gossmere sand and stone scrying would be like… Amber crystals and sawdust taken from the trees that grow on the plains? Like with Colby the affinity works the same but with a flair of the guild of the practitioner.
I also think there is some magiq totally unaffected by what guild you’re a part of. Silver casts just fine, and they don’t have guilds at all.
Biased as I am, I assume Flinterforge can tinker our way into any piece of magiq. But there’d be duck tape, or the magiq equivalent of it, and it might go boing at odd intervals.
Can you imagine!!! A Flinter in their workshop casting some Magiq while another one frantically flys around them patching bits of it up it just makes me soo happy that they’re tinkering with other guilds affinities and putting their tweaks on them
Part of The Forge that always resonates with me is:
“There’s a thing that needs doing.”
“Right, we’re on it.”
“But you don’t have half the materials.”
“A few simple swaps will be fine.”
“… and you’ve not read to the end!”
“You said it needed doing now, let’s start!”
(Aghast) “But what if it goes wrong?”
“What do you think the goggles are for?!”
Sorry if this has already been asked or addressed, it was suggested this thread was more appropriate for this line of questioning…
I assume that all magiq can be done by anyone, but your guild affinities make a spell stronger/more likely to succeed?
Or are you limited to you guild affinity magiqs?
Are there magiq classifications that aren’t linked to a guild, too powerful or to weak to be noted?
I also wondered if their was a summary/dummies guide for affinities?
I know there are lots of short stories, and they give great detail, but I guess I’m hunting more of a quick reference guide. These are ones I put together for the Thornmouth affinities and they could be wrong.
Time Shifting - elongate or compress time for self/multiple people/tech(compile code in seconds instead of hours) or time travel…
Philosomancy - (pure speculation) ability to visualise and run through potential outcomes of a situation applying known and speculated variables, think Dr Strange and the time stone in Avengers: Infinity War
Second Mind - splitting of mind, allowing 2+ tasks simultaneously. Possibly similar to Alar and the game Seek the Stone referenced early in ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss
Astral Thinking - not a clue
Tome Kindling - ability to copy personal knowledge/memory in to a book. External back up of the human mind? Possibly required skill to access knowledge/memories left by others?
Peering Arts - seeing what isn’t there, additional context and details, what others can’t see, default out of box problem solving, scrying, fortune telling, reading palimpsest without getting a headache…
Also in TMP Technomancy is mentioned, does this span other affinities and is someone who specialises in technology implementation or is it a unique affinity? Would they struggle to apply the same skill to a person/object? Eg they could blink to cast a protective spell on a server to protect the content, but would struggle to cast the same spell on a home or book.
Admitted newbie, here, but the sense I’ve gotten is that the affinities are spells (or classes of spells, maybe?) for which people in particular guilds have a more intuitive understanding. For a mundane example, I have a more intuitive understanding of language than I do of math. I can do math, certainly, but I don’t see the connections between mathematical concepts as easily as others do which makes it harder for me to learn and implement.
So an affinity could mean the spell is stronger or easier to cast than other spells might be, but not necessarily that they couldn’t make use of a spell aligned with a different guild. I’d imagine the effects might be a bit more unpredictable and the spell sickness might be worse when working outside your guild affinities, though.
Navimancy - true knowing of actuall physical placement in world/worlds, enhanced tracking/route planning, knowledge of object/people locations within spell boundaries, cant get lost, directions/path to what you want/need even if destination isnt actually known
The Swift Tongues of Kalivar - The Swift Tongues of Kalivar is a specific Fall Watch spell that allows the caster to channel Kalivars spirit and his clever, witty, magical, dexterous tongue.
Calls a spirit into the casters body. Weatherwatch know it specifically as this, because Kalivar was one of the greatest Weatherwatchers ever, famous for talking his way into and out of every situation he could and ensuring that not a drop of his crews blood was ever spilt, he is outgoing and amazingly easy to channel. TSToK can be applied to channel any ancestor or person you have a link to.
For most Weatherwatch learning this skill through the guild, Kalivar is the first person they will successfully channel. Kalivars spirit and his clever, witty, magical, dexterous tongue are great if you’re in a tight spot and need a hand from a devlish gent.
Unanchored - ability to unbind 2+ things, eg ignore gravity and fly/float, out of body exp disconnection body and mind/soul, split the atom
Fall Watch - Calls forth the spirits of the dead as independent corpreal forms.
Languidimensional Touch - can access other dimensions and pocket universes (think Discworld Unseen University Archchancellor Ridcullys inderdimensional pool table/filing system, Room 3b, the tropical paradise in Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geographys’ bathroom) Neithercourirs?
Torchminder - control, dim/turn off/turn on a source of illumination (credit to @Cj_Heighton)
Working on the other guilds too, posting each as they reach as close to completion as I can get atm.
Can you imagine!!! A Flinter in their workshop casting some Magiq while another one frantically flys around them patching bits of it up 