essence shards and laboratories!

[criticalfault]

Another giant post from jhordon! aaaaaah scary!

So I had this idea for some kind of new awesomeness that could be brought to elemancers and in general anyone who uses any kind of Elemancy or perhaps even Sorcery, should people feel that laboratories are the way to go with everyone.


In short I thought it would be awesome if we could actually use those samples we collect for things (Just as Sorcerers use their shreds for things) and I also thought it should be both in a lab settling (because labs are awesome) and not require combat, but still be VERY dangerous (Because forging ahead always is!)

The idea breaks down into two parts. The first is the collection of the Essence Shards and the second what someone can do with them.

What are they?
Essence shards - they are what is uniquely different from sample to sample. its what the Elemancy college has been collecting for years and been secretly studying in order to advance their understanding of magic. They are special bits of elemental magic trapped within a static form. They can be harvested at certain sites a certain times. (I figured some kind of task thrown in with the with the normal gather tasks that yields a chance for some).

Gather Shard tasks - These would just be like gathering samples except when you would go to said location you would be required to "Harvest" the shards. This would take an immerse amount of energy and time (Thus you would need protection or get lucky.) I figured something like 60 to 120 seconds of RT as you spend 100s of energy gathering. Any one place shouldn't ever yield more than your mancy your gathering with divided by 100.

Experiment with them!
So with the Laboratory studies, it would be sweet if we could setup labs in the college. Then have permits (That cost WAAAAY more. Like 1000!) and take these shards in there and "experiment" with them. You could choose how many you wanted to experiment with at a time and it would then decide how dangerous your experiment is. If your experiment is only with 1 or 2 pawns of Essence then its dangerous but not terribly so. You would be able to learn 2 full points in a mancy of the pawns you choose (So at the moment only Geo and Hydro) and give you the standard bonus speed for the next 5 ranks. However, there should also be a chance to fail, which can do all kinds of dangerous things!

So the more you study, the more the chance for both good and bad things! This shouldn't be a completely reliable advancement. Its always a gamble.

-Explosions (Which should happen often enough.) that damage / chance to kill you.

-Strange affects on magic for awhile (Hours? Days?) -

The glow - Making it so you had a subtle glow, making it impossible to hide effectively.

Oppressive Magic - People can just tell your magical, magic user, etc

Unsubtly - Your unable to aid with your magic without risk of hurting another.

Many more i'm sure!