Miina’s Notes
The pile of notes that Miina has been carting around since before she even left home look, on the surface, like a collection of disorganised scratchings; half research journal and half personal diary, written in a badly-spelled chicken scratch that wanders off-line with distressing regularity.A deeper inspection (and not hard to pull off; she doesn’t seem to have any concern if someone else wants to look through them) reveals that they seem to be loosely grouped on magical theme, although prone to going off-topic or including seemingly unrelated sketches at a much higher quality than the rest of her work.Interestingly, despite the regular dips into water, there’s no ink bleeding or water damage to the notes.(The following are cleaned up, especially the older ones)
Spell Levels (?)Zeke told me that I need to keep notes sometimes. I can’t just memorise everything (i don’t know why) when it comes to spells.
And he taught me about spells today! Mages outside don’t just manipulate aether constantly, there’s specific patterns and everything. You need to know how to form them but
---
I don’t think I like spells. Why are they stronger? They’re all so limited and you can’t control it
What use is Fire as a spell? It’s too much power to light something for cooking and doesn’t last long enough for anything else. Animals don’t need it
---
Before he left, Zeke told me about Cura and Fira and Firaga and
So more power isn’t enough? Better spells are entirely different? how do i work this out
---
gutting the mafia would have been easier if i spent more time working on these
(The next few sheets are full of strange diagrams, Miina seemingly trying to represent the manipulation and flow of aether through the process of spellcasting in static images)---
I met some people today and finally a mage that knows more than i do! Only about black magic but that’s fine
She’s all spiky and lizardy and her tail is really neat to watch. She’s cute, and she knows bigger spells
I should ask her
but that’s scary
i’ll just watch
---
(there are occasional diagrams, but there seem to be a lot of sketches of Eve interspersed throughout here)I mostly worked out Fira now and I think I can extend the same idea to the other spells I know, even the ones that Zeke never told me proper names for. It’s a shape(?) to it that lets the effect hook around, but it’s hard in the moment to make sure it has the right target.
But it should be stronger too, right? Am I just not throwing enough power at it?
---
White magic doesn’t use the same shape, the spell falls apart. I think it needs to be looser, more guided than forced. White magic never seems to like being pushed.
---
(the diagrams get increasingly circular and full of spirals)Loops. The hooks can be ‘looped’ around themselves, the same effect each time stacking and stacking to… there’s a limit. Some delicate spells it’s one. Any more and there’s no spell at all.
---
Without Eve for reference, Firaga and all are gonna be hard.
I always used to think it was Fira, but more. But it can’t be. The shape doesn’t allow for it. You can’t build that big without it falling apart, and it’s too…
It needs to be less targeted.
I still hate spells. Why do they work? Is it part of the world or something people did? I could maybe do any of these effects now, but it would be completely exhausting if i just… handled it all. Too much power for a single attack.
I can’t compare to Eve, but I think I should be able to do more than one without collapsing, right?
---
Stupid grovemasters
One good look and it was at an overpowered dispel. If they had just been all alive and all not traitors, then…
(The remainder of the notes on this topic have no real breakthroughs)
MagesZeke says not everyone can be a mage. Why? You might be bad at it (i am) but it’s just something to reach out and twist.
Pretty lights.
---
Not everyone can sense the aether? That’s what he says. You need to know it’s there to manipulate it, and he isn’t sure there’s anyone who can control it without sensing it.
But then he brought back some shiny rocks from Skael, so someone made a machine that could.
---
Zeke gave me a funny look today when i described what i could see. It isn’t that obvious for him? Or anyone else he’s ever spoken to. He says that aether is just an extra sense to him. He can feel it, control it, but not… see it?
Although, he also says he can taste/smell it when it’s strong enough. Just not all the time like me. I wonder when that was?
---
I definitely shouldn’t talk about it. Normal people get confused.
---
Most mages only do some magic? I don’t get it (and Zeke can’t say why either). They just split it into two completely different types and can only use
half. But generally very good.
But shouldn’t a bunch of things work with either? I can only do basic stuff, but if you learn what the aether does for one well enough you can make most things happen.
Like, you could stop a ball by just hardening yourself so the ball doesn’t hit, or you could destroy the force behind it…
It’s just like looking through the other eye.
(
This page has a lot more recent scribbling, notes and diagrams surrounding it, evidence of Miina’s decision to use black magic to facillitate cosmetic healing and – more notably – working out a dispel from the same source.)
---
(
At some point, Miina began listing every mage she’s met and what magic they used, as well as a rough sketch. Rudolf would probably be annoyed to realise she put him in even before his denials.)
---
Rudolf is weird. Well, weird to me, even. He’s done a bunch of magic things now, and they’re not blight-y, just really concentrated black magic. Including shields. Shields! I always said that you could stop something with black magic just as well as white magic, if you could only use one of them.
But now he’s in hospital and refusing healing.
I want to know what’s up with him anyway.
(
The next diagrams appear to be of Rudolf’s body with all the places black magic was supporting him, and a lot of questions raised about how a destructive force could be wrangled into doing this. Miina’s conclusion is that it involves a lot of rejecting the laws of nature so he doesn’t collapse in on himself, and enough of it to become physical is in line with Eidolons... Just a bit imbalanced.)
---
Rudolf’s fused with a demon. That’s…
He should be able to use magic. It doesn’t matter that he can’t sense aether naturally, right? He can do it
now. And the demon should be able to give some instruction.
I’m going to try and make him. Even a little fire is a start.
Then maybe I can talk to the demon. Or Rudolf can for me. It might have answers.
Water MagicI never really thought about why Zeke taught me fire and frost and lightning. I just assumed those were all he knew at the time, and I had plenty of time to try and work out wind while travelling, it was always there.
Frost was close enough to water I just never thought about it.
But after Famfrit and the water crystal, i can see that it’s its own thing. Frost is more about cold, and protections against it cover a lot of water. But you also need physical.
Just, what do I do with water magic? Any water created is (probably) impermanent, unless i work out how to do elemental things with white magic.
---
I could probably work out the water equivalent of Fire and Fira (but not their names. Wet and Wetter?)
What’s the point, though? There’s better ways to hurt someone than to hit them with a wet ball. I don’t have a jar cannon.
---
I need to practice drowning things.
I should keep an eye out for lizards or things on the journey.
---
The sea destroys things pretty well, I’ve watched the waves break things up on the shoreline. I suppose that’s what offensive water should be most of the time? So I have a use for it, I suppose the most powerful spell should literally sweep the enemy away more than it damages them.
But what if I could concentrate all that into one point? I don’t know how to make it into a spell properly. I need to work that out too.
It’s another thing to do while travelling, though. We’re not in a desert now so there’s plenty of thing to pick up and use as targets.
SummonsI never thought about summons or eidolons as a thing until we met one in the desert. How do they work? Is it a spirit projected into the material world with a body made of aether? Or do they exist in the aether and are just given an impetus to materialise? Or do they just pull more
in?It's a shame I can't talk to Cid more; they're really pretty and I want to know how they work. Even if I'm not a summoner…
---
Fuck Leviathan.
---
Esben is summoning fairies now? How did that happen? And does this mean he counts as a mage? He has to have
some sensitivity to aether to be doing something like this, but it doesn't seem anything at all like white or black magic from the outside. I really need to get a better look…
But I don't think he knows much more than I do. That's annoying.
---
I wonder how demons compare? That F guy was solid, but he was entirely black magic (I think, I didn't exactly have time to do a detailed scan). For all they're elemental, the other ones
aren't. I'm not sure if they even count as black and white magic either…
More reasons to talk to Rudolf. And involve Esben.
Member
Expendable
AwesomeZero5
Zapdos
Kronshi
ERode
Fish of Oblivion
Iluvtoji
Not a Sayan