View unanswered posts | View active topics * FAQ    * Search
* Login 




Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 9 posts ] 
Procyon02
 
PostPosted: Mon, Sep 04 2017, 15:42 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 01 Jun 2009

Is the origin of the mythal shards on Amia (Mystran clerics reclaiming mythal crystals and splitting them into smaller shards) widely known to everyone or is it more obscure knowledge? Likewise does that mean there ICly is a finite amount of shards around Amia or do they somehow replicate through any number of various magical means? And lastly the more powerful a shard the more it weighs, does this mean the varying power types are different sizes (and if so is there a list on the dimensions of each crystal?") or are they simply more dense and thus heavier? I tried looking up any information on them in general and couldn't really find much.

_________________
Image


 
      
Jes
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 5:35 AM 

User avatar

DM

Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Location: Camriiole

Procyon02 wrote:
...(Mystran clerics reclaiming mythal crystals and splitting them into smaller shards)...

That's...not really the origin of the mythals. They came from a time when Red Wizards tried to "freeze" the Weave and the mythals are remnants from that age-old plot. Mystrans want people to use them when they find them because it "releases" the Weave, or something like that. I was not involved in that plot at the time, though I do remember when the mythals replaced the old Thayvian crafting system. Haha!

IC'ly, it does make sense that there is a finite number of mythals, but that number is so vast that we aren't likely to ever see an end to them. There's no way to tell how far-reaching the effects of the Weave Freeze went - which is clear with how you can find them all over the place - Amia, Ruathym, Khem, Frozenfar, etc...

_________________
Login: The Copper Queen
Cromlech - The Best Copper This Side of Ruathym
Zelly Cys'dina - The Wounded Soul, Also Merchant

Aelynthi Nor'alei - The Bubbly Winged Elf


See me DM-side as:
[DM] Hlal | [DM] The Voice


 
      
Procyon02
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 11:38 AM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 01 Jun 2009

I was more meaning the origin of the shards specifically, but that's all knowledge I didn't know. The question still remains would my character, who is new to the region, know about this? Is because the shards have become so widespread that the knowledge of where they came from spread with it? Or is it at least well documented enough that a simple trip to any library would uncover that information without too much effort? Or would my character have to seek out someone more akin to an expert on mythal shards to obtain any of that information?

And I'm still curious as to the weight/size ratio of shards in general. Are they varying sizes in relation to weight or are they of variable density according to power thus increasing the weight without the size necessarily being much different? And a third question comes to mind. Each shard in the game has the same icon, which I take to mean they at least look relatively similar, but as I haven't seen any lore check to determine the power of a mythal does that mean they are easily distinguishable by sight or is it just because of the different weight/size that a character can tell?

_________________
Image


 
      
TormakSaber
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 16:00 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Location: Somewhere

Quote:
IC'ly, it does make sense that there is a finite number of mythals, but that number is so vast that we aren't likely to ever see an end to them. There's no way to tell how far-reaching the effects of the Weave Freeze went - which is clear with how you can find them all over the place - Amia, Ruathym, Khem, Frozenfar, etc...


The phenomenon is known to have affected the entirety of Faerun, and possibly further.

Quote:
Are they varying sizes in relation to weight or are they of variable density according to power thus increasing the weight without the size necessarily being much different?


If you read the description of mythals, this answers your question. They are different physical sizes based on which type of Mythal it is. Divines are (iirc) "menhir sized", and Flawlesses are big enough to need two hands to easily carry.

Quote:
Each shard in the game has the same icon, which I take to mean they at least look relatively similar, but as I haven't seen any lore check to determine the power of a mythal does that mean they are easily distinguishable by sight or is it just because of the different weight/size that a character can tell?


It would be easy to tell just based off of the size of the mythal alone. They all loook relatively similar: rough cut pieces of energetic, pulsating pink to purple crystal.

Quote:
Mystrans want people to use them when they find them because it "releases" the Weave, or something like that


Correct. It releases that energy back into the weave, rather than keeping it trapped.

_________________
Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham


 
      
MisterLich
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 16:20 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 17 Jul 2013

I don't understand how it "releases" the energy into the weave when it seems to be transferring the energy to the item you are crafting. If the energy is simply released, how does a permanent enchantment on items then get conferred?

_________________
Osiris Masud

Image


 
      
Procyon02
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 16:45 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 01 Jun 2009

TormakSaber wrote:
If you read the description of mythals, this answers your question. They are different physical sizes based on which type of Mythal it is. Divines are (iirc) "menhir sized", and Flawlesses are big enough to need two hands to easily carry.


Thanks, I'd have read the descriptions if I had more than a handful of minor mythals, which is what peaked my curiosity in the first place, so that's very helpful to know.

MisterLich wrote:
I don't understand how it "releases" the energy into the weave when it seems to be transferring the energy to the item you are crafting. If the energy is simply released, how does a permanent enchantment on items then get conferred?


This is my supposition on the fact, but I'd imagine the enchantment is a byproduct of pure magic and not the embodiment of it. So in releasing the energy from the shard and focusing it through the item being enchanted as it returns to the weave someone can confer the resulting enchantment, but the energy itself isn't bound into the item.

_________________
Image


 
      
Magiros
 
PostPosted: Tue, Sep 05 2017, 17:14 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 28 Nov 2006

In mythal form the magic is disconnected from the Weave and not flowing freely, imagine dead magic zone around a piece of the Weave, which can't connect into the Weave before released. Once released through Mythal Forge or Portal Wand, the magic is released and connected to the Weave. As a product the item is enchanted with permanency and as it has never been disconnected of the Weave, the energy flows as part of it freely. The Weave as energy is never static, while it moves and flows, the items and creatures are still connected to it and possessing the same magical abilities they have.

Hence, for example anti-magic zones are never permanent to enternity. It divides the flow around the area it is cast on, like a flow a river. However, the Weave as a constant force keeps pushing against the anti-magic boundaries and as time goes by, will collapse the anti-magic field if not reapplied. The duration of the anti-magic zones vary.

Dead Magic Zones are different, the Weave is non-existant in it, they are like islands above water lever and the water can't reach to submerge it. Until fixed by specified and potent means, they remain. Therefore all creatures and items lose their magical potential while inside Dead Magic Zones, however, once reconnected with Weave, by being area where the Weave exists, they have their abilities again.

EDIT: Mythal explanation with the deadmagic zone around is not the best explanation. So, what the cryztalization of the Weave has done it works as if a barrier that prevents the Weave to return to flowing stage. For example, frozen ice is a block, once it melts it returns to liquid form and so to say, part of the sea.

_________________
http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/spells.htm


 
      
Dark Immolation
 
PostPosted: Wed, Sep 06 2017, 2:31 AM 

User avatar

Tester

Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Location: The downeaster "Alexa"

Image


Lol, I think everything has already been appropriately explained at this point, though.

Quote:
The question still remains would my character, who is new to the region, know about this?


Even if your character didn't know about mythals before they came to Amia, it is incredibly likely that they'd hear about them soon after arriving. Among the adventuring, arcane, and crafting communities, they are a essential. Given how prone those groups are to traveling and sharing information, it's really not worth fretting over when and where they would hear about them, IMO. I wouldn't imagine common folk, on Amia or elsewhere, really caring enough to know about them, because they have little relevancy to their daily lives. But it's not like there aren't town wizards and such who, being amicable enough, would share tales of far off places and magical items with those who would ask. The short answer is: yes, they could know about mythals before coming to Amia, especially given mythals appear eslewhere. They just as well might not have heard, too. It's more about the PC's background than anything else.

_________________
Image
You think Magic is your ally... but you merely adopted the Art. He was born in it. Molded by it.
Sometimes, an angel is simply a devil with better intentions.


 
      
TormakSaber
 
PostPosted: Sun, Sep 10 2017, 21:11 PM 

User avatar

Player

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Location: Somewhere

MisterLich wrote:
I don't understand how it "releases" the energy into the weave when it seems to be transferring the energy to the item you are crafting. If the energy is simply released, how does a permanent enchantment on items then get conferred?


Procyon is right.

The energy is released back into the Weave as part of the overall tapestry, rather than being sequestered into the lead-box container that is a Mythal. When magic items are enchanted, that energy isn't removed from the Weave, it's just turned into a different sort of energy. Mythals, however, are actual, solid blocks of magic/"The Weave" such that, in theory, you could crystalize the Weave to such a point that only people who had control and use of Mythals could use magic reliably and to any great degree*. By using Mythals, you release that energy from the 'container' back into the general weave, where it re-enters the tapestry and moves and transfers like normal again.

*This was actually the Aurilites and Thayans plan all along - "Crystallize" the Weave to obtain a general monopoly over its use.

_________________
Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham


 
      
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 9 posts ] 


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group