"Can you go into some more detail on how that works? In general, and for - Fhar-lang-hn?"

"Sure. Really any concept that someone is sufficiently passionate about and devoted to can be the focus of their clerichood, though it's harder to figure out how to get started with it without clerics of the same thing around to guide you. Every cleric needs a holy symbol - it's the image that matters, not the pendant itself, though we do generally wear them and a lot of our magic requires that we have our symbol on hand to cast it. For clerics of a particular god, we need to use that god's chosen symbol; clerics without gods have to design their own, and it's possible to get it wrong - it's very individual, copying the symbol of another cleric following the same principles usually works but not always. All clerics spend an hour in devotions every day, usually at sunrise. It's important to do it at the same time every day. The time is spent in contemplation of your topic of devotion, and the details past that will vary from one person to another - prayer is common, but not necessary, and I actually usually don't, I prefer to spend it walking and enjoying my surroundings. It usually takes about a month for a new cleric to get their first spells, that way, if they're doing everything right. It's also important to live by the principles of your devotion - that again varies, in what it means in practice, but for example a cleric of Fharlanghn will lose their clerichood if they ever settle down to live in a particular place, immediately if they do it intentionally and after no more than a year if they're intending to keep moving but putting it off for some reason."

"Now, people here do have religions, and holy symbols, and habits of prayer, but nobody's using them to cast spells."

"That's strange. Unfortunately I'm not much for theory, if you're doing everything right and it's still not working."

"I see. What form might more extensive interworld contact take - presumably it's not like the level of contact with, say, Heaven."

"It depends on what kind of transportation we end up being able to do; if a standard plane shift works, we'll be able to set up permanent portals. Of course we'll need to discuss it with your leaders and ours, first. But I expect that will be easy to work out; everyone likes trade opportunities."

"How are your leaders likely to respond?"

"It depends on where we start - I'll want to consult with some of the other clerics first, it's not my specialty. If we're in a hurry we might try Greens, though, I have friends there to advise me. It's a fairly progressive city, mostly human but they get a lot of dwarven trade; I expect they'll treat you like any other traders, at worst. For magic - the biggest wizards' college is in Hempholme, but their government is more conservative, it might be better to work something out with the college directly than try to start there in general. They won't do worse than forbid us from putting in a portal but they won't be quick about it."

"These are local, not national, government bodies?"

"Mmhmm. I'm sure you'll want to talk to the kings too, but most decisions are made closer to home."

"Interesting. Magic doesn't compensate for the lack of communications technology? - Can you describe approximately your level of technology at home?"

"Magic is fairly uncommon, and limited even for those of us who have it - kings and similar will usually have a wizard or two on staff, and often at least one cleric as an adviser, but that's not enough to stay in good enough contact with the rest of their kingdom to make policy decisions like that. Technology -" he considers. "If you don't have magical items we must be well behind you. I have no idea how you'd make a light like that without magic, or anything like your books."

"Gosh, okay. Why is magic uncommon?"

"Different reasons for different sorts - there's two types, arcane and divine. Divine is easier to pick up if you have the calling for it, but the call is fairly rare; most people just aren't clerics or druids, by nature, and it can't be faked. Arcane magic doesn't have that sort of restriction, but it's much more difficult to learn, progressively so for more advanced spells, and most people don't have the aptitude for more than very basic ones. And that's if they can get to a wizard's college at all; their families can't always spare them."

"But rich bright people should be able to pick it up all right?"

"Certainly," he nods.

"What can the different kinds of spellcasters do?"

"It'll be easiest to explain that if you know a little more about out magic in general; it's divided into eight schools, each with certain general kinds of effects. Abjurations are protective spells - barriers, wards, traps, defensive effects cast directly on an individual, effects that negate other magic. Conjuration spells move or create things; teleportation is a conjuration effect, and healing is conjuration because it creates new flesh. Evocations are like conjuration, but they produce or move energy rather than matter. Illusions create imaginary sensations, usually just sight and sound. Divination spells give the caster information, particularly about distant locations, the near future, or undetectable traits. Transmutation changes the properties of creatures, objects, or the world, usually temporarily. Enchantments affect creatures' minds in various ways; putting creatures to sleep, making them unable to move, making them friendly to the caster, or various kinds of mind control. And necromancy manipulates negative energy to produce undead creatures and related effects. Wizardry can do all of those about equally well, though particular wizards usually specialize; clerics can do some of each, but we're best at abjurations and generally more focused on supporting the people around us than conflict. There are also druids and rangers, who are focused on nature and a little more combat-oriented than clerics, and bards, who are more enchantment-oriented. And sorcerers, who can have any kind of magic that wizards can but are individually limited to what their particular bloodline gives them."

"I'm getting the impression of a high conflict society."

"Well, I'm not sure what you're used to; maybe. If it's only humans and restrained summoned daeva here I imagine that would cut down on some of it. And - do you have magical creatures?"

"Only daeva."

"That explains some of it, too. They're less common than mundane animals, but our wild places are still more dangerous than yours - dramatically so, sometimes, if you consider bears a major threat - and there's demand for combat magic in dealing with them."

"Huh - would we be likely to see those coming in through the portals?"

"It's not impossible but if they're in cities it wouldn't be likely, and I expect you'll want that anyway. We can set up additional defenses, too, if that seems called for - that'd be overkill for most things but you might want to make sure you know about it if any dragons want to come through, for example; some of them can shapeshift."

"And they can pass for p- are they people? Are they particularly dangerous?"