OOC: Everyone can continue to mingle within the Elucidate, either interacting with your fellow expedition members or laying out how you spend the days of personal time you were given. In the meantime you can also weigh in here. Malleus, you can also join in here while we wrap up your introductory thread.

This thread isn't an adventure so much as a bit of world building (Quite literally). New adventure opportunities will open up next week

The Elucidate was the tip of a spear and just as all spear tips, it was intended to carve the path for the rest to follow. During the initial chaos of the arrival was easy to forget this, but now that things had settled down Eldereth has turned the full attention of the ship back to its intended purpose.

"In our possession we have three treasures entrusted to us by the Emperor himself," Eldereth shared that day with the dozen mages he'd asked to join him, the others presumably busy with other duties intended to pave the way for what he was discussing. "These wonders eclipse even the miracle which is the Elucidate. These have been called World Shards and their purpose is to impose order upon this unformed plane," the speech has a practiced air, particularly the 'unformed plane' part which certainly did not fit with what they'd seen outside the tower. Still, no one interrupted and Eldereth continued, "These World Shards allow us to dictate the sort of world our kinsmen will arrive to claim and inhabit. Now, while it would tempting enough to create miles and miles or verdant farmland, we must balance our current needs versus those of the colonists and also create resources which can be shipped back to the homeland so our efforts here can enrich our kin back home."

"With that said, I've called this group together to determine how we use our first World Shard. Once its used it will be several weeks for the weave to stabilize again in order to use the next. Our Transmutation expert will take it from here," Eldereth said and motioned towards another mage with him.

"My name is Haemish," the new mage introduced himself. The Transmuter is question seemed to be ancient. With his skin as thin as fine vellum and an intricate map of wrinkles, his hands trembled and his back was bent from the strain of years bearing down on it, it was shocking that the ancient mage had been allowed on this expedition. Not to mention the fact that he had survived that violent landing! Blinking behind huge thick spectacles, his tremulous voice was difficult to hear even in the silence. "Thank you Eldereth," came his thin and trembling voice, "Now, the World Shards are flexible, but they have limits, we can reliable integrate three desired elements, it's only a matter of what we wish to prioritize. When used the Shard will replace the rocky landscape in that area with something more to our liking."

The group had huddled closer to try and better hear the reedy whisper of the wizened mage, "Now, the shard will have a dominant trait, this will be the major influence exercised by the shard. If we pick a dominant trait of farmland, we'll end up with miles of fertile soil. If we wanted a dominant trait of ocean then we'll have a new sea view from our tower. The lesser traits will be present, but to a smaller degree. It gets a bit more complicated if the dominant trait is something more metaphorical, such as lush. Then that trait will overlay the lesser traits. So a major trait of lush and lesser trait of forest means a small forest, but one which grows rapidly." With a rattling chuckle the transmuter concluded proudly, "It's quite a fine bit of magickery if I do say so."


World Shard Traits

Three of the following traits can be imprinted upon the World Shard. A dominant trait and two lesser traits. If the group has a consensus on some of these traits the majority consensus will be used, if there isn't a clear cut winner I'll random pick one of the options that was proposed.

Forest - A forest with a variety of natural vegetation and fauna
Ocean - An ocean that also comes with natural vegetation and fauna
Urban - A ready made city to provide immediate habitation, comes with a number of amenities offered by the empire (Heat, running water, light, etc)
Desert - A desert, it forms with natural gemstone deposits and light foliage and fauna
Caverns - Underground caves form which comes with easily accessed mineral deposits and rarer gemstone deposits
Valley - A naturally fertile valley, its more tame by nature so it offers fewer resources until its cultivated
Mountain - A fortifiable mountain that offers mineral and gemstone deposits, but they'll require work to access
Magically Charged - Magic here is stronger
Lush - This area is particularly fertile, plants and animals reproduce quickly
Mineral Deposits - Metals can be found here in abundance
Flora - A wider variety of flora can be found here, it also reproduces more quickly
Fauna - A wider variety of fauna can be found here, they also reproduce more quickly
Wild - Increases the resources available, but increases natural risks
Tame - Decreases the resources available, but decreases natural risks)
Precious Gems - Precious stones can be found here, not considered a luxury good due to their relevance to magical work
Luxury Goods - Of little practical value to your expedition, but would be highly valued back at home
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:45, Fri 22 Mar.

Aurland considered the marvelous item before him and contemplated what he would do if he could freely reshape a portion of the world. He, of course, quickly determined that a portion of the world was too small and that if he could do anything with the shard it would be to study it. Such power was exactly what he wanted to master for himself, if only in a microcosm. Still he did have a few ideas.

"I believe that the most pertinent combination would be flora, fauna, and magically charged. With our geomancers and conjurers, any terrain can be made to give way to us but we cannot so easily alter ambient arcane forces or bring about the genesis of living creatures. Also think of the potential synergies. Creating novel magical plants and animals which may have unique properties for alchemy, labor, or even simple companionship."

Major: Magically Charged. Minor Flora and Fauna.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Wed 27 Mar.

Steorra considered the options before them, with this world shard thingy. Ultimately, they needed a place where they could have resources if god willing, the conjurers died or the arcanosphere failed or some such. A place they could use as a baseline for resource gathering, exploration, and even as a staging area if needed.

"I'm not so into the idea of magically charged fauna. We are still getting on our feet, and we don't need any mor emonsters and magical beasts and such than we already have on our hands." Steorra said.

"Instead, we should create an area that we can harvest for food in mundane ways, but that also could offer magical opportunities for us." he said. "something that we can use both as a staging area to go further into this 'new' plane, but equally that we can use as a fallback if something happens to the Arcanosphere and we need to find food et cetera elsewhere." he said. "And once we eventually make way for the Empire to follow after us, a place that will be useful for them too." he continued.

"So with that said, I'd like to propose an Enchanted Valley. Something that is useful on the surface, but most certainly will have even more hidden (figurative or otherwise) gems once we explore it or choose to develop it a bit. So I'd like to propose an Enchanted Valley!"

Vote: Enchanted Valley. Major Trait of Valley, and lesser traits of magically Charged and Caverns.

Arzin listened with wide-eyed interest as first Eldereth, and then the wizened Haemish, spoke of the wonders that they could craft with the three so-called World Shards.

Aurland was first to offer his opinion, naming Flora, Fauna, and Magically Charged as his choices for the three Traits to be imposed upon their surrounding area, and Steorra soon followed, proposing a Valley as the Major Trait, with Lesser Traits of Caverns and Magically-Charged..

After a short pause to marshal his own thoughts, Arzin spoke up. "Magically Charged" makes sense to me, as the Dominant Trait. After all, with everyone  in the Tower except for me being a mage of some description, emphasizing this particular Trait would allow you mages to most effectively develop and use your powers."

"Now, Eldereth specifically mentioned that we should build with a mind towards future colonists coming to claim and inhabit the area. That said, I think that the two lesser Traits should be a Valley, with a nearby Mountain."

"I heard the Valley that will be provided by the Shard described as being 'naturally fertile', so that sounds as if it can be easily farmed by colonists who are so inclined. That should make a future colony self-sustainable, with respect to its own food supply."

"Master Haemish described the Mountain as being 'fortifiable', which, to me,  means that it can serve as an easily defensible fallback area for the colonists, should the need arise. Plus, it will provide gems and minerals -- which, when mined, can be exported back to our homeland, to generate funds needed to further improve the colony."

"For the reasons that I have listed, these would be my three choices -- Magically-Charged to benefit us in the here and now, and a Valley and Mountain, which should not prove to be injurious to our present efforts, but which would primarily benefit future colonists."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Wed 27 Mar.

Behind the others, the quiet voice of Mallues drawled out, "Lesser themes of Mountain and Valley will provide a staging ground, if I am to understand the magics at play: perhaps a dormant crater, or a sinkhole or valley end. Defensive, but with access to natural and mineral resources with work."

He nodded thoughtfully as eyes turned to him whilst he spoke, "Greater themes of an abundance of Magic Charge seems a necessary thing to introduce from the start, both for our benefit and - potentially - to bolster the Elucidate"

"It has my vote, Master Azin"

OOC: As the Major Trait of Magically Charged got more votes that stands, valley also got 2 votes. The last category seemed torn between mountains, flora, fauna, caverns with no strong vote so I took a roll and mountains won.

Nodding along serenely as the discussion folded, Haemish seemed entirely unconcerned with what was decided and scribbled down notes on a scrap on paper in spidery writing, behind his wide spectacles his owl-like eyes blinked along placidly. "It sounds as though everyone wants a bit more magic in the air," he chortled happily, his voice a rasping whisper, "I'll see to the calibrations and have the Shard ready in a weeks time."

It felt like there should be a more grandiose conclusion to the meeting after such talk of large scale terraforming, but like most things, even magic required work and preparation. In a weeks time the group would have the magical spectacle of their planning to look forward to.