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Doran
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Another Guest Lecture

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Saun 6, Arc 721

Saun in Scalvoris, the Mortalborn decided as he woke up that morning, shortly before dawn as he usually did – although the change from night to trial was harder to notice now since one of the suns was always in the sky – was nigh on unbearable. He was not usually someone who complained about the weather – compared to all the other things that were going on in the world it was a minor concern at best – but the sweltering heat made it a little harder to enjoy life. Xiur’s Star ensured that he woke up feeling rested after only four breaks; he wasn’t sure what his sleep would have been like without it though.

Since he’d arrived in Scalvoris Town – he held guest lectures at the local university on a regular basis – he’d taken to always bathing first thing in the morning. Fortunately, the elite room at the Knight’s Rest came with private facilities so that he didn’t have to wait in line. After he had eaten breakfast in the common room – he had decided on a cool fruit juice rather than his usual cup of tea or coffee with hint of vanilla - he changed into clothes that were appropriate for work, a white suit made of a comparatively light material that would not be too unpleasant to wear.

In Viden, he often wore darker colors, here such a thing was out of the question in his opinion though.

The Mortalborn checked the notes that he had made one last time – he would mostly be talking about Blood Magic in general rather than his own work that trial – and then he finally left the inn and made his way through the streets of Scalvoris Town and towards the university. He was looking forward to his class, greatly so – once upon a time, teaching had just been a duty for him, but nowadays he enjoyed sharing his knowledge with others – but for just a few moments, his thoughts went back to the events of the previous trial regardless.

A soft smile was visible on his face for a moment as he remembered how he had danced on the beach, in the rain and under a rainbow sky, and then he quickened his pace. He could already feel the heat that would only get worse the closer it got to noon; the walls of the university would offer at least some protection from that. It was slightly cooler inside.

Once he had arrived at his destination, he quickly made his way to the cafeteria in order to get something to drink – that was something that was particularly important on a trial like this one – and then he found the room that he would be holding his class in. He wrote the topic of his class down on the blackboard that was located at the front, and then he sat down at the desk, removed his notes and his writing materials from his leather satchel and waited for his students to arrive.
Last edited by Doran on Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:09 pm, edited 3 times in total. word count: 508

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Doran
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Re: Another Guest Lecture

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The students in Scalvoris were a more diverse mixture of races than in Viden which was something that the Mortalborn had already noticed when he had held his first series of guest lectures more than an arc prior. There were Biqaj with their fascinating color-changing eyes, humans, Eidisi and even a pair of Ithecal who he assumed to be female. And then there were the Cadouri. He was just going through his notes again when a trio of squirrel Cadouri that had very fluffy tails and wore frilly outfits walked into the classroom, chatting animatedly. They were so cheerful that it did not even leave him unaffected.

He smiled at them.

Some of the students had inclined their head in a greeting when they had entered the classroom, the Cadouri on the other hand immediately walked up to his desk, almost bouncing as they did so, and proclaimed, their eyes shimmering brightly with excitement, “It’s nice to meet you, Professor Thetys! It’s a wonderful trial, isn’t it? So nice and hot and sunny! We’ll go to the beach later on, but for now we are really looking forward to learning more about Blood Magic and alchemy and such! By the way, Lady Saoire is a teacher, too!” they continued and extended their hands for him to shake – all at the same time.

He shook their hands, one after the other because he didn’t have enough hands to do it at the same time before he politely asked them to join their classmates some of whom were smirking. The three squirrel Cadouri went looking for three empty chairs with the same kind of excitement that they seemed to do everything else. He had to admit that he found their attitude somewhat endearing, and he hoped that it would translate well to the actual lesson – and that their enthusiasm for apparently (nearly) everything in life wouldn’t cause them to become reckless.

He also briefly wondered about their comment about Saoire and why they had shared that information with him, but he decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he rose from his chair, positioned himself in front of his desk, his arms crossed over his chest and raised his voice. He decided to start his lesson with two questions rather than immediately launching into a monologue as some of his colleagues tended to – he considered that to be counterproductive. He wanted the class to be at least slightly interactive; and besides, asking questions would allow him to ascertain these young people’s level of knowledge.

They were attending a theoretical class on Blood Magic, an introductory class to be exact (other professors would tell them about other branches of alchemy which would hopefully help them decide what they wanted to specialize in later on). That didn't necessarily mean that they were entirely clueless though.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen”, he spoke in a firm and clear tone of voice so that even the students at the back of the room would have no trouble understanding him. “I will be teaching you a bit about Blood Magic to-trial – it is the branch of alchemy that I specialize in. Before I do so, I would like to ask you two questions though. What do you know about Blood Magic so far? And for those of you that don’t know anything about it yet, what do you think Blood Magic is?”

The three Cadouri immediately raised their hands.
Last edited by Doran on Fri Aug 27, 2021 3:50 am, edited 3 times in total. word count: 583

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Re: Another Guest Lecture

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“Go ahead, please”, he said and inclined his head. He had only wanted one of the Cadouri – the one in the middle - to speak, but to his surprise, all three Cadouri started to excitedly talk about how you could put magic into things with Blood Magic and that you needed blood, of course. They talked very quickly and barely paused in order to take a breath which momentarily made him wonder if they actually needed air. The first part of their answer – that you could put magic into things with Blood Magic – had been correct, but some of the other things that they talked about were a little questionable in his opinion.

When one of the Cadouri wondered about making a potion and imbuing yourself with Rupturing in order to give yourself the ability to teleport around Scalvoris and see all of its wonders, he decided that he had heard enough, cleared his throat and raised a hand so that they would stop. They did so, after a few moments.

“Your classmates were correct in regard to what Blood Magic is”, he spoke in a polite tone of voice and let his gaze drift across the young people in front of him, including the three Cadouri who watched him expectantly now, for a moment before he continued, “Blood Magic allows you to replicate the effects of domain magic, among other things, and in order for Blood Magic to work, you need blood, of course, the blood of a willing mage or blessed individual, to be exact.”

“I would advise anybody to tread with caution though, especially when it comes to the latter – not all Immortals appreciate an alchemist using the blood of their blessed”,
he warned them. That was something that needed to be kept in mind when practicing Blood Magic in his opinion.

Vega had donated her blood, and Xiur had not had a problem with his using it for alchemy – he had in fact made Vega his Champion after the Beacon in Hopetoun had been completed.

Other Immortals might not be as accepting and understanding though.

“That being said, there are limits to what you can do with Blood Magic”, he told them after he had given them a few moments to think about what he had just said. “You cannot turn a living body into a Rupturing portal. The effect would, likely, be disastrous”, he spoke in a firm tone of voice in order to hopefully convey how serious the matter was as he wondered whether anybody had actually tried to turn themselves into a Rupturing portal before. Fortunately, he couldn’t remember anybody that had been that foolish.

(The three Cadouri looked at each other for a moment when he talked about the impossibility of turning a person into a Rupturing portal before they nodded. They were, he concluded, overly enthusiastic and curious, or maybe a little bit naive, but not unreasonable.)

“Furthermore, you cannot ever replicate the abilities of the most skilled of mages - or an Immortal’s champion with Blood Magic”, he continued.

Even though this class was just meant to introduce a group of relatively new students to the field Blood Magic, and it would be a long time until any of those young people would be skilled enough to actively start practicing it, he considered it to be a good idea to instill them with a healthy amount of respect and make them aware of the challenges and dangers involved now.

He was quite pleased when someone was interested in the branch of alchemy that he specialized in, of course, but he would not withhold certain facts, regardless. In his opinion, that was something that would be counterproductive at best and detrimental at worst in the long run.

“What you can do with Blood Magic, for example, is to imbue an item with Omnivision – which is one of the abilities that Attuners have and that gives them a sixth sense of sorts so that they are aware of their surroundings without using their eyes”, he explained as his students were unlikely to be particular familiar with domain magic yet.

(Some of them seemed interested when he mentioned that particular application of Blood Magic, he noticed.)

“It is also important to note that Blood Magic is not permanent, unlike items that were created with natural reagents. Ether is, by its nature, fleeting”, he pointed out.

“You mentioned the blood of mages and blessed individuals”, a young woman with brown hair and blue eyes remarked respectfully just as he had finished and raised her hand as was appropriate. “Didn’t you invent a new technique of sorts?” she wanted to know and looked at him with curiosity.

“The leaflet that they gave us at the start of the season said something about that”, she added.

“And aren’t you one of the heroes that were involved in the conflict with Slag’s Deep?” another student, a somewhat chubby boy with curly black hair and ruddy cheeks wanted to know which caused Doran to briefly raise an eyebrow as the question was not related to the matter at hand.

“I did”, he answered the woman’s question and inclined his head slightly. “I did my Licentiate on the use of racial blood in alchemy and the replication of racial abilities such as an Ellune’s resistance to cold. I invented potions in that regard, and I hope to eventually figure out how to imbue items with racial abilities. I’ll be talking about that in more detail in a future class, if any of you are interested”, he added.

“As for my involvement in the events surrounding Slag’s Deep”, he spoke and briefly turned to face the curly-haired boy. “I was there. That is a topic that should be discussed outside of this room though. For now, let us focus on Blood Magic, please”, he remarked in a firm tone of voice, but with a very light smile – he understood the student’s curiosity; what had happened in Ashan had been extremely impactful - but the focus should be on the class.

The boy seemed disappointed, he noticed, but he ultimately nodded and leaned back slightly in his chair.
Last edited by Doran on Fri Aug 27, 2021 3:44 am, edited 9 times in total. word count: 1035

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Re: Another Guest Lecture

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“I mentioned the potential as well as the limitations of Blood Magic”, Doran reminded the students sometime later. “And I already hinted at the fact that there are certain risks involved. I would like to talk about those risks in more detail now – and about how you can prevent backlash, or at least decrease the risk of backlash happening. Backlash”, he repeated and looked at the students. “Do you have any idea what backlash is or might be?” he wanted to know. As he had half expected, the three Cadouri immediately raised their hands – and even waved them excitedly.

He did not gesture for them to speak this time though. He appreciated that they were so excited to learn more about alchemy, but in his opinion, every student should get the opportunity to say something in class. For that reason, he turned towards a young woman with red hair in the second row that had raised her hand only slightly and shyly.

“Backlash is what happens when alchemy goes wrong?” she asked, making her answer sound almost like a question.

Doran nodded and smiled encouragingly at her because that had, in essence, been correct.

A few moments later, he proceeded to explain what exactly backlash was, that the potential for backlash was greater in material alchemy than it was in potions, and that one could suffer effects that were not unlike Overstepping when handling domain magic reagents (He explained what Overstepping was, of course.). He talked about backlash in a firm and serious tone of voice in order to convey the gravity of the subject matter, but he refrained from going into extreme detail. He wanted the students to be aware of both the vast potential of alchemy and its dangers, but he did not want to shock them with gruesome details.

That was something that would be unacceptable and unprofessional.

He preferred complete, accurate and informative science.

“A certain level of knowledge of medicine or chemistry can prevent backlash or reduce the risk of backlash though. That is why I encourage my students back in Viden to take additional classes in one of these two subjects, or in both of them”, he explained before he let his gaze drift across them once more to see how the students reacted to his statements, and if any seemed confused and looked like they might have question.

“That being said, I will remain at my desk for a while. Feel free to approach me if you have any questions about this class, or about alchemy in general”, he said in a calm and friendly tone of voice sometime later, once the class was coming to an end and the students started to pack their things (and the three Cadouri who had been quiet and listened during class started to chat animatedly once more). “I will also be in the office that your own dean graciously allowed me to use for a while, if there is anything that comes to your mind later on”, he added, and then he waited, for them to say something to him or leave the class.

All in all, he decided as he sat there and packed his own things, wondering if he should head to the beach that afternoon, just like the Cadouri, the class had gone well, although he would likely come up with certain things that he could have done better or differently when he reflected on it in more detail later on – and adjust his plan for the following lesson accordingly.

For the time being, his skill as a teacher paled in comparison to his skill as a researcher.
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Re: Another Guest Lecture

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Player Name: Doran

Points awarded: 10
Magic xp:none

Knowledge:

Alchemy: You cannot turn a living body into a Rupturing portal
Alchemy: Chemistry and medicine can prevent or reduce backlash
Endurance: Enduring the Saun heat
Teaching: Give every student a chance to say something in class
Teaching: Be thorough, but don’t shock your students with gruesome details
Teaching: If there is a term your students may not be familiar with, explain it

Renown: 5
Loot: none
Injuries/Overstepping: none
Wealth Points: none

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level
Notes: Another lesson with Professor Thetys. I found his audience/class to be much improved with the addition of Cadouri students. The three squirrel students (I wonder if these are related to the ones from Saoire's school??) were adorable and easily stole the early thread with their charm.

However, as Doran went on to ask more questions, and the squirrels immediately raised their hands, I think it was wise of him to call on a different student, to spread out the attention he gave the class. Also, those squirrels had a funny way of talking over each other, didn't they?

The lesson on blood magic was interesting too, and the idea of creating a living rupture portal was fascinating, if a little alarming. I actually wonder if something like that is possible, maybe if one could learn to alter living things? Or a potion that temporarily turns you into a rupture creature.

Anyway, he steered them right back on course, and they're probably better off for it. Well done!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!
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