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[witch knights] magic
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The source of magic is mana, which is a natural part of any world with a biosphere
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the power of life
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it is generated, very slowly, by all living creatures, and flows throughout the world in invisible underground energy streams
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called ley lines
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over time, more mana is created by the planet, and it gradually is lost as radiation into space
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so the total amount of mana remains constant
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mana can be crafted by humans into spells
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drawing it out of the ley lines and temporarily storing it in yourself
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then, when you cast the spell, an effect is created, and the mana returns to the planet
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only trace amounts of mana are actually lost from using magic, and the biosphere can easily restore it
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so, limitations
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using a lot of magic in one place can destabilize the local mana flow and make it harder to use magic there until it has time to recover
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and cycling large amounts of mana through your body can also be harmful
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so you're limited by the mana field in the area and by your body's flow capacity
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harnessing mana is a learnable skill, anyone can do it in theory
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however, in the present, Earth's mana field is in very poor shape
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as the Custodes are constantly draining the ley lines and just stockpiling the mana instead of casting with it
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the unique technology that makes them special is long-term static mana storage
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and it is slowly killing the planet
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as mana cannot exist without life, life cannot exist without mana
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so Earth's environment is gradually degrading as the mana field is harvested faster than it can recover
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it is therefore harder to perform magic than it was in the past
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but not impossible
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the skills are mostly lost to information suppression
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this is a big part of the advantage of Witch Armors
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they act as an expanded and enhanced human body
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which can cycle mana from a larger radius and perform larger magic with a smaller mana supply
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this notably means that Witch Armors are weaker in space, further from the biosphere
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the learning and performing of spells is an imprecise, personal art
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there are general principles of how to gather mana and how to craft it into a controllable state
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but the things you are able to do with it are discovered spontaneously and are different per person
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someone gets teleportation, someone else gets pyrokinesis, that's your Spell
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then from there, you can train yourself to diversify
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push the edges of your spell to discover similar things you can do or different ways you can do it
Where Is Harkan
It's kinda like art
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You gotta learn the basic principles
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but once you do everyone's style is wildly different
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this means that Bradamante is not a teleportation mech
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Isobel is a teleportation witch
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meaning that if you swap mechs, you get that mech's loadout and weapons but the new pilot's spells
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sometimes people can spontaneously learn a second spell very different from the first in a moment of inspiration
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like you say, it's like art
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these same general principles also apply to the Custodes, but instead of cycling mana from the environment they just carry mana batteries
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they have immense, unimaginable scope of power, but they are loathe to use it
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because when they cast a spell, the mana does not return to the vault
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it returns to the planet
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so grand displays of power weaken them and strengthen their enemies
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so that's our power system
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lastbastion
Echo
boo(f)
boo(f)
i need to read up more on the new witch knights but i'm liking this
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the bottom line is that "magic as evil capitalists" became "magic as capital"
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the necromancers are now just people who figured out how to fuck the planet for personal gain really efficiently
Echo
I like it.
Echo
Witch Armors are definitely designed to be as mana-efficient as possible, Hamelin places a lot of emphasis on environmentally-responsible technology use.
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which is also just, a necessity
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because the thin mana field means high-cost systems just aren't practical unless you're the Custodes
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whose mechs are all very powerful and have terrible efficiency
Echo
Yeah, absolutely.
Echo
...I think there is an option to try and last-ditch temporarily power your mech with your own life force if you're stranded in deep space and have no other possible source of mana generation, but that is Bad and you Should Not Do It unless you're already going to die anyway.
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similarly powerful but poor-efficiency
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you'll be able to get off one very big spell, then die
Echo
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.