![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Wardens of Ivalice meta post, Part 2
Believe it or not, I have been working on the next part of Wardens of Ivalice (my epic Final Fantasy XII/Dragon Age crossover) in fits and starts over the past year. I like what I've written so far, but I've realized that it's hard to motivate myself to work too much on the story when I feel like I have too many gaps in my attempt to merge the two universes. So it's time to start hashing these things out, and I'd love some help tossing ideas around.
When I last posted about this topic, one of my biggest concerns was how to reconcile magic use in Ivalice with how magic works in Thedas, and I still haven't really come to any firm decisions. As far as I can tell, anyone in Ivalice can learn any magic spell, provided they learn the precursor spell(s) and purchase a license (a game mechanic that I've never attempted to sensibly translate into real-world action). Some people have higher innate magical power than others (Fran/Penelo/Ashe/Vaan vs. Balthier and Basch, for example), but that just means that the spells will be more powerful when such people cast them. In contrast, people in Thedas are divided into mages and non-mages. You either have access to magical spells, or you don't. And I'm not quite sure how to reconcile that difference.
Outside the obvious -- spells require the caster to tap into a mana pool, which are restored by the passage of time or some sort of potion (lyrium or ether) -- the source of magical power also seems different. In Ivalice, magic is powered by the Mist, which comes from magicite. My headcanon for Thedas (and I've yet to see this contracted, though I would very much appreciate learning otherwise if I'm wrong) is that mages draw their power from the Fade. I've toyed with the possibility that the Veil (the connection between the waking world and the Fade) is much thinner in most parts of Ivalice than it is in Thedas, and so that means more people are able to tap into it. (Although I might have already contracted this theory in The Joining; see below.) This would require some sort of connection between Mist and the Fade. Drawing a connection between magicite and lyrium, a mineral used in Thedas to enhance magical power, would seem to be the next logical step. Could magicite and lyrium be the same thing? Or related to each other?
I've already created some connection between Mist and darkspawn corruption in The Joining. I got this idea because Nabudis is very like a Blighted land, as are other places where the Mist lies heavy such as the Feywood. Fran is sensitive to corruption, just as she is to Mist in some situations, and the darkspawn horde was unable to enter the Golmore Jungle. So any answer I come up with needs to take that into account, as well.
A few related questions:
Can Alistair (or anyone else with Templar skills) block magic use in Ivalice? Or are his abilities useless? Perhaps they work against darkspawn but not fiends that are local to Ivalice? (All the darkspawn in the story so far traveled from Thedas to Ivalice via the Deep Roads/Zertinian Caverns, although now I'm thinking about how new native variations might work…) In Part One, I had a scene where Alim Surana was unable to detect any connection with the Fade when an Ivalice Warden cast a spell. But maybe there's some other way for Templar skills to work.
Can the Wardens who've come to Ivalice to Thedas learn to cast magic? Will they still be able to do so if/when they go back to Thedas?
Any other questions that the story, or my natterings about it, have raised for any of you?
When I last posted about this topic, one of my biggest concerns was how to reconcile magic use in Ivalice with how magic works in Thedas, and I still haven't really come to any firm decisions. As far as I can tell, anyone in Ivalice can learn any magic spell, provided they learn the precursor spell(s) and purchase a license (a game mechanic that I've never attempted to sensibly translate into real-world action). Some people have higher innate magical power than others (Fran/Penelo/Ashe/Vaan vs. Balthier and Basch, for example), but that just means that the spells will be more powerful when such people cast them. In contrast, people in Thedas are divided into mages and non-mages. You either have access to magical spells, or you don't. And I'm not quite sure how to reconcile that difference.
Outside the obvious -- spells require the caster to tap into a mana pool, which are restored by the passage of time or some sort of potion (lyrium or ether) -- the source of magical power also seems different. In Ivalice, magic is powered by the Mist, which comes from magicite. My headcanon for Thedas (and I've yet to see this contracted, though I would very much appreciate learning otherwise if I'm wrong) is that mages draw their power from the Fade. I've toyed with the possibility that the Veil (the connection between the waking world and the Fade) is much thinner in most parts of Ivalice than it is in Thedas, and so that means more people are able to tap into it. (Although I might have already contracted this theory in The Joining; see below.) This would require some sort of connection between Mist and the Fade. Drawing a connection between magicite and lyrium, a mineral used in Thedas to enhance magical power, would seem to be the next logical step. Could magicite and lyrium be the same thing? Or related to each other?
I've already created some connection between Mist and darkspawn corruption in The Joining. I got this idea because Nabudis is very like a Blighted land, as are other places where the Mist lies heavy such as the Feywood. Fran is sensitive to corruption, just as she is to Mist in some situations, and the darkspawn horde was unable to enter the Golmore Jungle. So any answer I come up with needs to take that into account, as well.
A few related questions:
Can Alistair (or anyone else with Templar skills) block magic use in Ivalice? Or are his abilities useless? Perhaps they work against darkspawn but not fiends that are local to Ivalice? (All the darkspawn in the story so far traveled from Thedas to Ivalice via the Deep Roads/Zertinian Caverns, although now I'm thinking about how new native variations might work…) In Part One, I had a scene where Alim Surana was unable to detect any connection with the Fade when an Ivalice Warden cast a spell. But maybe there's some other way for Templar skills to work.
Can the Wardens who've come to Ivalice to Thedas learn to cast magic? Will they still be able to do so if/when they go back to Thedas?
Any other questions that the story, or my natterings about it, have raised for any of you?
no subject
If you posit that all people in Ivalice can do magic because they've been exposed to Mist since before their birth (a sensible theory), doesn't that suggest that the non-mage Thedans are too old to develop sensitivity to it? I could see being a Warden making that either easier or harder -- Wardens heal faster (I think?) than non-Wardens, but they're also slowly decaying thanks to the taint. I am starting to think, though, that Alim should be able to cast spells more easily and with greater power thanks to the easy availablity of Mist.
I do agree that, although you don't *need* to have latent mage genes to be a templar, it makes sense that templars from mage families would have easier access to the pseudo-magical skills than those who aren't. I work on the assumption that Fiona is Alistair's mother (mostly because of character conservation, and a big-ass hint dropped in Asunder), which would put Alistair in that category. And, to go back on my earlier comments above, because of this I think Alistair, in particular, might be able to learn spells in Ivalice. And Carver, too (he's not in The Joining but I have decreed that he's one of the Thedas Wardens who just never got mentioned by name), which could make for some interesting character moments.
Whether any of these are major plot points, I haven't really decided. The one thing that *is* fairly significant is the Mist-taint connection: Fran's sensitivity to the taint, and how the darkspawn horde went out of its way to avoid the Wood, and the Occuria having a connection to the darkspawn invasion (not mentioned here, but I did go into that quite a bit in my previous post). If I could use the magic/Fade connection to make that all work, great. If not, it's somewhat tangential, although still something interesting to play with.
no subject
I'm also thinking that Alim would be far more adept with spell casting wherever the mist is thick. Could create an interesting backfire effect if he doesn't realize how to moderate himself?! Cast a fireball and it turns into a firestorm! Ooops! ;D
No, never headcanoned that one needs mage "genes" to become a templar, just that having latent power might help. Might also help them avoid lyrium addiction if less lyirum is needed to power their pseudo-magic skills.
The Fade connection has potential for interesting and tricky things. I can't remember what you original did with it (if anything) but given how sensitive Viera are to the mist and the words of the forest, perhaps there is some connection?
Very curious to see where you go with all of this.
(and, yes, if Carver works into this, I'd be extra excited although it's already great as is!)
no subject
And if Carver Hawke is along... Someone who has seen red lyrium and how it affected someone? We know the Wardens are interested in the ancient thaig.