Apologies for the silence, I've been intentionally avoiding the ooc thread to try and break through my block, but it seems like tonight's not going to be any different. I'm honestly kinda bummed out about it, but as long as you guys are still posting then I won't give up. I might be the gm, but you two are the ones breathing life into the roleplay and as far as I'm concerned, your ideas are just as valid as mine. That said though, there are a few things that need to be cleared up that and while deia explained a lot of it better than I could have, there's a bit I'd like to add.

[@Omni5876] first off, don't worry about Leo for the moment. I'm not exactly sure what I want him to do or say yet (probably part of what's causing my block), so it's fine to edit that bit about him out and continue as is. 

Now to answer your questions, I'd say that whether in Belisio or Vaim, mages are quite rare though I'm not sure what would be a good number exactly. I guess they'd be fewer than ki users, who are themselves also quite rare among the average citizenry. I think a suitable analogy would be comparing the number of those who are naturally talented vs those who acquire skill through great effort. Imo both kinds of people are few and far between, but maybe you or deia have a different perspective? In any case, I'd say there'd at least be enough mages for your Shooting Stars idea to work.

As for the advantages of either country, deia already explained it but I'll just make a minor correction. It's not that Belisio has more natural resources, they just have a higher concentration of it. Vaim has more territory and resources overall, but a lot of its land is just dry rock so they must expand for its growing population to prosper. Not any different from how it was pre-cataclysm really, they just don't have the Sorcerer King to rely on anymore. 

Militarily, I'd say that Vaim has the advantage in numbers (in men as well as airships) and more powerful mages, but Belisio's knights and soldiers are an equal match for the Empire's troops, and they'd be more highly motivated in defending their homeland than the Vaimese invaders trying to take it. There's also the fact that the Vaimese are far from home, so they'd be vulnerable to a war of attrition.

Now to clarify on what deia said about healing magic, yes it does exist but it'd be a ki ability, not mana so mages can't use it. That said though, healing magic can be used on them and in a pinch, they could use fire to cauterize wounds or water for cooling burns. Not exactly healing magic, but it helps.

I'd also like to talk a bit more about magic in general, but that'll have to wait as I seem to have run out of time for today. All I have to say is...

[quote=@deia876lat]
(if this isn't what you had in mind, my apologies then for misunderstanding.)
[/quote]
If it wasn't before, it is now.  No need to apologize.