Emoting and Roleplaying *Mancy

[Maina]

So, having read the Metaphysics FAQ, it was my understanding that Elemancy conjures elements and controls what was conjured. I was reading some older threads (particularly one about fishing) that seemed to suggest that Elemancers can also control naturally occurring manifestations of an element. Is this the case? Or has that been changed, and it's only conjured elements?

What are the limitations to roleplaying control outside coded spells? Can you shape water into a little dog and walk it around? Or is it a lot more crude and broad, limited largely to broad strokes like the water shield and splashing people?

What's the difference in control between someone who only has the Apprentice ability and someone who is a Master?

[Sneaky]

As far as I understand it, your control is very limited. I do not think you would be able to conjure a realistic looking dog out of water, but it could be possible, since geomancers are able to make mugs and tools at master level. I'd expect a similar level of mastery over hydromancy would be needed.

[Alila]

Ooh, I can try to help with the first and second. The first is only conjured water, and it can only be shaped before--or maybe during, I am not so clear on the lore there--it is conjured. It is possible to conjure water in the shape of a shield, but not conjure a spray of water and later re-shape it into a shield before it vanishes.
Fine detail or precision is one of the big challenges of elemancy, so adorable hydro-puppies might be unlikely. :( Also, remember anything conjured by elemancy will always vanish after a little while, so there is no need to clean elemancy mud off of yourself once it all fades away.
I am uncertain about the last question, sorry. Also, to my knowledge, this information was all greedily scrounged from around the forum, in the form of Rias Lore Posts. Hopefully it is all accurate, but it is very possible I misinterpreted, misremembered, or wrote something down incorrectly.
-Alila

[Noctere]

*Note: this is my opinion and not official policy and may be amended further by the developer as he sees fit*

As a general rule we do like it when characters use magic in their emotes and other personal custom messaging. The reason behind this is magic has always been a sensitive lore topic and we have always strived to keep it a special and a somewhat rare thing in the world. Also magic emotes tend to escalate quickly (in a very bad way) and, sadly, many have been done in poor taste.

For example player A emotes herself conjuring a dancing flame in her hand, player B sees this and thinks, "Oh so pyromancy can be easily used and moved to her whims." So player B then later emotes a ghostly image of a roughly humanoid face smiling in her hand. Player C sees this and thinks, "'Oh so pyromancy can be controlled to form a shape and animated." Player C now makes a dancing human fire butt that jumps about from person to person making fiery flatulence sounds. Player D sees this.... You get the idea.

I can go over the many metaphysics examples on the forum of why this is not a proper and logical use of any elemancy but most people tend to ignore that and do what they think is "fun" and it often goes unnoticed by us until we find someone using pyromancy to have well, the above example. And this is not just pyromancy but ALL the magic types that suffer from this problem. To be honest this was one of the main reasons why were hesitant to release the emote skill at all but we felt that most players could be trusted to be mature and at least somewhat responsible with it.

So the question comes up, "CAN we use magic in our emotes?" Yes, but please do so under these rough guidelines.
- Avoid using them at all unless you have read most if not all of the forum and wiki documentation regarding the mancy type you are going to use.
- Be active with CLOK for at least 6 months to have a decent grasp of the lore and how things tend to be done.
- Have a high rank in whatever faction you learned your channeling from.
- Do so very sparingly and still show reverence for whatever mancy type you are using lest you anger your faction for irresponsible use of it.
- Sorcery is the most scrutinized and troublesome of all mancy types as it has many taboos and crimes associated with it. Consequences will be had for improper use in emotes and normal spells.
- Pyromancy can continue to burn things after the channeler stops channeling, be warned.
- When possible try to rely on scripted magic effects that the game provides to power your magic roleplay and only use a custom one if all the above guidelines are followed.

*Note: this is my opinion and not official policy and may be amended further by the developer as he sees fit*

[Jirato]

Noctere's post seems good to me.

[Maina]

Thank you all for the input. I've done a bit of scouring of old lore posts as well. Good stuff to know. Seems like it might be pretty difficult to invent a pattern on the spot, so if my character did attempt anything interesting, it would probably fall flat.

[ilsinam]

Thank you all for the input. I've done a bit of scouring of old lore posts as well. Good stuff to know. Seems like it might be pretty difficult to invent a pattern on the spot, so if my character did attempt anything interesting, it would probably fall flat.

it would probably fall flat.

It probably would.
Therefore, I must ask the developers, based on the previous answers, is it possible to "research" and "experimentation" of different patterns In selected areas of element-related Mancy for potential use, through the usage of the commands: think and ritual? (This will probably generate lots of RP opportunities in forming an elemental pattern, for instance, similar to a cryomantic nova - yes, this may require significant high-level of skill in cryomancy to achieve.)

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

[Noctere]

You are welcome to RP research in any way you like, just keep in mind that nothing should be successful or be considered canon unless the GMs have given it their approval. Please keep in mind the guidelines and do so with caution, both OOC and IC.