For wells and fractures and how they relate, you also have to look at individual wells to see where they can forrm. So answering your questions first:
So, from what I gather, minor fractures can occur just about anywhere and as writers we're allowed to 'create' them and have our characters find them. Finding them is made easier if you have some special skill like ethersight, but happening upon a fracture is possible as well.
Yep
Around the minor fracture there will be some class 1 wells.
It depends on the well. Sometimes a class 2 well of a type that appears near minor fractures can occur, sometimes others. You have to check the well information to see what is appropriate to appear at a place.
Entering the fracture itself is like entering a series of tunnels and getting near the heart allows one to find more powerful wells, but it's "dangerous".
No, minor fractures are too small for any person to enter and typically don't have an entrance to Emea as such. For powerful wells such as found in the veins and hearts of fractures, you'd need to find a faultline, a major, or a Grand Fracture. These are usually specifically written up and cannot just be created off the cuff.
1 - What kind of dangers would a mage face both outside the fracture and near the heart? I get the impression that using magic (and in Luvi's case, Runes) is not a good idea... so is there some kind of recommended skill set so that we can confidently gather without killing our characters?
2 - How many wells can we expect to get from a typical minor fracture? A handful of class ones or a couple class twos sounds fair to me... but I wanted to make sure I wasn't expecting too many/few
3 - Is ensorcelling basics be learned from books? I heard that most people get teachers (and I intend to use one, later) but I figured I'd ask.
1. Emeyan Beings that are hungry for ether and ether-wielding mages. Various chaotic features in the fractures themselves. The Wells themselves (which are liable to explode if mishandle them or dig them out too forcefully) Casting magic in a fracture is what we call a 'Crazy idea'. Like lighting a match in a chamber filled with accelerant gas.
2. Here we tend to follow the gathering rules. Typicaly that means however you gathered the wells (digging them out of the earth would refer to mining. Finding them strewn about would more be fieldcraft.) Anything else would be anywhere from 1- 4 worth of classes of wells per thread per level of gathering skill per thread, if you want a mechanical ballpark that we've mostly stuck to here.
3. There'd probably be ensorcelling books and resources strewn about, but a teacher is much more important for learning a specific method. Because everyone has their own way of ensorcelling and reading a static resource like a book would naturally lead to some bad, skewed, or inert results, especially if your research skill is low.
From the Crafting Primer:
A Note on Gathering/Producing Edibles:
Typically the rule of thumb here, is to produce a measure of 4 materials/edibles per skill level in an individual thread. So at novice smithing/woodworking/field craft/textile production (respectively) you'll come up with 4 pieces of useable metal or wood or cloth if you're gathering/processing materials. Similarly, if brewing potions, at competent you'll be able to produce as much as 8 potions in a single thread.
If something I said is wrong please correct me! My goal is to have Luvi happen across a fracture and gather some low level wells so she can start her ensorcelling journey.
