[Meta #4] Practical Applications of Magic (Bits o' Meta)

[writerawakened]

An anima mage skilled with fire can light a hearth, stoke a campfire, light a candle. Even people whose innate magical ability is not strong enough to use magic as a weapon of war can use a fire tome for simple purposes like lighting a dark room or warming the edge of a blade (with practice). After all, in Dozla and Garcia's A support, Dozla is

Comments

[amielleon]

Cool stuff! I like the observation about dark magic. Maybe that's why schools of swordsmanship are so quick to insist that they're about MENTAL DISCIPLINE!!!1

Also, worth noting that Excalibur is the only sign of a wind tome in Magvel - I think that's significant (and wrote that meta into New World and had to cut it for the contest version, sob).

[writerawakened]

Maybe that's why schools of swordsmanship are so quick to insist that they're about MENTAL DISCIPLINE!!!1

Hehe. :P Of all the major forms of (real) weaponry from FE, swords are the only ones from history developed specifically for war. Bows and knives can be used for hunting, axes can chop wood, and spears can be used for fishing, but swords are most suited for combat.

(and wrote that meta into New World and had to cut it for the contest version, sob).

Ooh, now my curiosity is piqued 8D

[mark_asphodel]

Great post. Totally agreed about the practical applications of magic making life easier-- that is, in Archanea and anything you might believe is descended from it, quite literally what magic is for.

Lightning would work as a medieval signal flare of sorts. Just look for the bolt!

Right, or a colored pillar of flame.

Dark magic is the only type that has no practical application aside from killing, crippling, or otherwise causing harm or confusion

Ooh, very good. Worth noting that in Archanea (where magic is the equivalent of GE or Dow), there is no "dark magic" as a class on its own... so presumably rogue mages developed those on their own. More like mad scientists than practitioners of "elder magic," you know?

[writerawakened]

Thanks!

Right, or a colored pillar of flame.

Yeah, given the conspicuous nature of battle animations in FE, pretty much any type of magic could be used as a signal, huh? XD

Worth noting that in Archanea (where magic is the equivalent of GE or Dow), there is no "dark magic" as a class on its own... so presumably rogue mages developed those on their own.

Interesting. There's definitely an element of the unnatural and the synthetic going on.

[gunlord]

*rubs WA contentedly*

That said, while I agree with you in that Dark magic is viewed with suspicion because it has so many risks, I'm not sure it's entirely useless in non-combat related contexts as well. As you point out, Lightning would serve purposes as a "medieval signal flare," but so would darkness--those purple sigils that pop up whenever you use a Dark spell would be good at getting attention, for instance. There may be other ways such magic would make itself useful, especially since Dark magicians can use more benign forms of magic like Staves (Druids and Dark Druids can heal, light up dark places, etc.) :o

[writerawakened]

Well, that's true--but I think in that case those sorts of effects would be secondary to the power of elder magic in wartime. After all, fire began as a way to give warmth and cook meat before it became a weapon of war, but I'm not so sure as to what dark magic was originally intended for.

Of course there's a lot you could do with dark magic, IMO--snuff out candles, make a lit room dark, maybe use it to muffle sound somehow, and probably even used for spying (like with the "dark bugs" you mentioned in Wayward Son 8D). But all of those things (extinguishing light, spying) are what most people would consider "underhanded purposes". It's true that a lot of skilled dark mages can use staves and anima and stuff, but dark magic itself is still pretty sketchy, IMO.