CLOK BBS

I'd like my character's background to involve a lot of living off the sea, both for food and income. Is there any spear or net fishing available, or is it just with fishing rods? What about things like diving for oysters or setting lobster traps? Can a fisherman make a decent amount of money when compared to the other professions?

Currently the only fishing set up is with the rods. If you fish for a while and save up the fish you can make a bit of riln. Some fish are worth more than others and are more rare and difficult to catch.

Spear fishing, Fishing nets(something suggested a long while ago) would all be pretty fun.

I did a whole bunch of research on fish types, sizes, weights etc. and did a write up for Rias a few months ago. So eventually we'll see more fish types and an updated fishing system. But nothing has been coded yet aside from the current fishing system.

I also do like the idea of finding oysters for food, and with a chance for a pearl inside. Lobstering could also be quite fun. The issue is we don't have any coastal regions just yet, so that has been a low priority.

We're definitely open to ideas and suggestions which we could put toward a fishing system. (Bait, gear, etc)

So eventually all elemenacers will make their money by fishing? The reasoning behind this being the ability to manipulate air and push a projectile REALLY quickly through the water? Course ye'd then have to dive down and get the bloody thing but at least it won't rip yer guts out.

What are you talking about Isiaa? Stay with the flow. Use Hydromancy to pull the fish and the water around it out of the water and into your bucket.

Hydromancy.. Fishing without fishing rods!

That would be controlling another being. The college discourages such research and indeed such heinous acts. Also, where's the fun in that?

There's a difference. It is considered socially acceptable to burn people to ashes(in the time and setting of CLOK anyway.) It is not considered socially acceptable to control, for instance the blood flow of another person. Or any liquids in their body, seeing as if they could all elemancers would have to do is wave their hands and brains would explode.

This is in response to Rias's post which suddenly vanished.

It was implied somewhere that the less pure water is, the harder it is to control with hydromancy. I believe that it being more difficult to control acid was the example given.

We can still control acid. WE just mix in a little geomancy et volia. Anyway at three channels of water moisture in the air ought to be controllable if someone is a master hydromancer. Causing rainstorms and the such.

I deleted my post so I could take more time to re-think it, since I didn't want to come across as snippy. Since you responded before I was able to get rid of it, I'll share what it was for those who missed it:

Rias wrote: But they have no problem with using a fireball to reduce someone to a smoldering pile of ash.

As far as controlling someone's blood flow (and similar), it's not a question of whether it's socially acceptable - it's that elemancers can't. Just because something is part water doesn't mean hydromancy can then control it, or "sift out" the water portion and control that portion of it. See Reynard's comment about purity. Also, Elemancy can't just target anything in any desired space - there's accuracy, distance, and physical obstructions involved, as seen with aiming bolts. Even if it was pure water, you wouldn't be able to manipulate the water inside someone's body because it's inside their body - there's an obstruction between you and your target: the person's skin (and other stuff that makes up a human body, etc.). Otherwise, pyromancers could just cause a burst of fire inside the person's skull - bye bye brain. Heck, any -mancer could just cause a burst of any element inside the skull, and bye-bye brain.

The University wouldn't have any qualms with someone using hydromancy to manipulate water in order to assist in fishing.

Elemancer's acid control is possible because it is a unique composition completely created by the elemancer from elements the elemancer is capable of controlling, requiring the channeling of the elements involved. If there were a pool of some type of naturally-occurring acid on the ground, the elemancer wouldn't have such ease of control over the stuff, because it is more complicated and varied in its structure, and "impure".

Elemancy is very powerful, but it is also very limited in its capabilities. Elemancers are limited in power due to the limitations of elemancy itself, not due to moral and social guidelines.

No no no. You seems to misunderstand my stance, let me try to explain it better. You do not control the water within the fish's gills or mouth, you control all of the water around it, in every direction for maybe four inches? You lift this egg of water with the fish inside out of the river and bring all of it into your bucket. There is no need in damaging the fish with rusting iron hooks at a chance to catch it.

The fish would fall out unless you could somehow solidify the water. Which would involve aeromancy or geomancy to create some sort of shell. Otherwise you'd just be lifting water with the fish dropping out unless it was very fast, pushing the fish out of the water altogether. That or co-op between an elemancer and a Rook, the elemancer flinging them out of the water and the Rook freezing the water before the fish can fall out. Then the Elemancer calls the water within the shell to him or herself.

Could have the surface of the water bubble be the shell. Sort of like surface tension but stronger.

You could dip your bucket into the water first, then hydromance the water currents to guide the fish into the submerged bucket, and then take the bucket out of the water.

If the fish was near the surface. Just like you can't use goemancy to instantly effect earth deep within a mountain (you'd effect the surface and start from there), you can't use hydromancy to effect water deep below the water surface. So if you wanted to grab a fish from somewhere deep, you'd have to use enough hydromancy to effect all the water from the surface all the way down to the depth of the fish, requiring more energy and effort as you effect more and more water. Too deep and it'd become too complex and draining a task to be possible.

Nootau's "water egg" method could possibly work with a complicated application the Compression Pattern effecting only the edges of the egg. On the fence as to whether that level of detail and accuracy is possible with Compression Pattern though - only effecting the edges and not the whole thing.

So many options, so many chances to fail..

Looking over a few notes, use of Hydromancy in such a way is not efficient nor realistic from its difficulty. Through use of compressing a underwater wave of force within the flowing river could render the fish unconscious from the concussive blast.

The wave itself can be rather thin and well focused, the force projecting from the Elemancer's body rather than further away. Unconscious or dead fish naturally float so it would become a later matter of used controlled water to draw the body to shore.

This uses the same concept that force generated closer to the Elemancer is stronger while the further away the element is projected the weaker it becomes.

Arrowhead on a string+Aeromancy. Much easier and energy efficient. Thus the preferred option for magic users.

Not really, if you have studied how water reflection and density distorts aiming into water.. it is hardly better then spear fishing. Also, that is still using a tool, how would you solve the concept of fishing with just altering the elements?

This may be infeasible depending on the depth of the water, but you could part the waters, leaving the fish behind.

... I think this needs to be said.

Elemancers are not gods.

[quote=Landion]Elemancers are not gods.[/quote]Some strive to become one though.

Ayway parting the waters isn't a divine ability. It would just require three channels of hydromancy.

Hehe! Sorry, this cracked me up. We'll continue to discuss it and see if we can come up with something that works.

I'm sure I'm sounding like a real dreamkiller at this point, but assuming you're going with the classic water-parting scenario (that of a sea), parting an entire sea would require vast amounts of energy and an enormous level of water manipulation that would be far beyond any elemancer's capability, made more difficult by the fact that the water would be impure and foreign water, rather than water conjured by the elemancer herself.

The more matter you're manipulating, the more energy and effort is required. Elemancy is mentally intricate and complicated, and physically draining. It involves much more than "I want this to happen, let it be so." *flick fingers* It's constant intricate mental calculation and adjustment, along with channeling the sheer willpower to manifest the elemancer's desired pattern or design, requiring the elemancer's own energy to effect the required manipulation and changes. Elemancy doesn't equal a life of ease - you still have to put thought, effort, and energy into what you do - it's just another (admittedly advanced and often more convenient) method of accomplishing physical tasks.

I was thinking a pond or at the edge of a lake. But everyone instantly starts thinking about seas of a crimson persuasion. =P