Alright, before I buckle down on this sheet, I wanna contribute back to this power level conversation.

I severely misunderstood the "use" of magic in this RP. I think most of us need to make the mental adjustment from "battle mages" to "fighters with badass emergency magic." 

I imagine that if all seven of us used one vial of external ether a day, and accounting for fuel to travel to the continent as well as back... We would have half a year? I don't quite remember how large the ships are, and I'm also assuming that none of the hundreds of other people are using ether. This is "ace in the hole" level stuff. If 1 vial can run the necessities and amenities of a household for one year, I can totally believe that it could cause a sizable explosion from a highly trained (if young) professional.

With this in mind, I'd like to ask about visual illusions. I would think that Ilya (the name I've decided on, since my character is Varyan) would take pains to extend his reach of water spells to work with light and create false images. Upon contact, of course, they would be revealed as the thick mist they are, and the attention to detail required would doubtless require Ilya's full concentration - years of practice or not.