Overall, I'd say that I agree with Andrew on practically everything. Below are a few notes of my own. RulingNations@aol.com wrote: >So prevalence is a combination of integration, display, and access? What >is the balance? > The word itself 'Prevalence' defines the balance... It is a descriptive determinant, more than anything else, and thus it is not possible to give a direct formula. In some societies the prevalence value comes mainly from display, and in others it's the access or integration. >Say, between private use (everyone has enchanted lights and >magical firestarters) and public display (magics at the harbor mouth >keep hostile vessels from entering)? If magic is, in theory, available >to everyone, but only the upper classes can, in actuality, afford it, >how does that affect the rating? What about societies where magic is >expected, but only on special occasions, like births, deaths, and the >like? > In both of those cases the prevalence of magic would not be very big. It is there, but it is not prevalent in the everyday lives of most people.- >>Diversity refers to how many different approaches to the use of magic >>your society allows/teaches/tolerates. >> > >In relation to what? Mirrish hostility to Onagir shamanism doesn't seem >to reduce their magical diversity (Superb). They seem to restrict >necromancy and diabolism as well, and I imagine there are religious >practices they don't approve of either. How can this lead to Superb >Diversity? > I think the superb diversity comes from the fact that Mir has accumulated the most complete knowledge of magic in the whole Qaiyore. Although they don't practice it in all possible ways, they know (or some of them know) about the other ways. Still, 'Superb' might be a bit too high even for Mir. They do have their main school of thought, which kind of dominates the scene. >So diversity doesn't apply within a magical style, only between magical >styles? > No, I think it applies also within magical styles. Like all others, this is a descriptive determinant which combines many facets. Actually, to be complete, the humanity determinants should all be accompanied by short descriptions. >>>The big problem is Sophistication. What can be accomplished with a >>>Fair (0)? >>> Like Andrew said, Poor Sophistication means that you can only get rather crude effects. Legendary Sophistication means that the complexity of the culture's magic surpasses those of any other culture in the game. However, Sophistication is not equal to power. And this is why Mir does not dominate Qaiyore (at the moment). Also, this is the average level of Sophistication. Some primitive cultures may have otherwise crude magic, but have a single type of effect, or spell, in which they can do highly sophisticated magic. Finally, as to 'what can be accomplished'. I'm afraid this is one of those things, that have not really been defined very well. There were some ideas in the Elyria game (see http://www.hut.fi/~vesanto/elyria/magic.html, especially the MagiTech scale), but these thoughts are almost 7 years old, so they have probably been surpassed or ignored already. juuso ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
