"Specific elf practice. Apparently not hard to have the hang of as a new elf."

“Do they make, like, phones and computers for sprites and fairies and pixies — and undines if they’re always wet — or is it more of a leaving all that behind situation?”

"Alphazon has all these needs and more covered."

“Hm. Do daeva have to be physically in the room with the emotions or do they work over the internet?”

"Must be in person."

“Well, I can’t say I ever considered turning into a snake before,¹ but a lot of these choices seem to come with significant chores by which ‘sleep’ — something I already have to do — looks pretty attractive by comparison. Is there a catch? And what other factors should I be comparing species on — I mean, in what ways do they differ, besides the physical characteristics and presumably miscellaneous social assumptions based on who would pick their lifestyle?”

¹ It wouldn’t have helped.

"Catch is that you can stop already needing to sleep. Other features are culture stuff as you are guessing, mana generation as we have spoken of - including how fast it is and how much space it has for filling - and affinities - which magics are cheaper to get. So if you very much want to be a rune enchanter with the very fanciest familiar, this makes a case for neutral over daeva, for instance."

Tap tap. “I think I need more of the rest of the picture. What magics are there?”

"There are many 'wild' magics, encapsulated-like, and then there are 'ranked' magics, the common kinds and the kinds you can only get by being factional one way or another. In what order will you best learn the things?"

“Uh, let’s go with the ones that are common kinds.”

"Elementalisms! It is like Avatar the Last Airbender in here except there is also nature and psionics and metal which count as their own elementalisms also. If you are a sorceress, you can do it all. If you are an academic or a warlock, you get ones you have affinity for, plus one, and that is all. Then you have alchemy for potions, runes for magic items, curses for going 'fuck you' at people real good, hexes for transmutation, witchery for your hat 'n broomstick 'n stuff, familiarity for having a magic critter, necromancy for bones and ghosts shenanigans, consortation for the summoning of demons, portals for the hither to yon, divination for knowing what gives, and aethernautics for stars planets demiplanes and oddities."

“Are affinities a thing that I already have or do they get picked or determined later?”

“Is the, uh, mythological tendency of witches to cursing people for for reasons that aren‘t ‘they attacked me first’ derived from some fact?”

“Do magic items including building computers out of magic?”

"Affinities are mostly by species, sometimes by wild magic that tacks on a specialness to your species, sometimes by very expensive alchemy. Witches are like anybody really, but it is a very - fighty culture. Many immortal people, you wind up with the outdated values butting heads with the new, and folks getting a bit callous about the mayflies - even neutrals live longer than ordinary humans - and others defending them, and also there are monsters and things like that. Runes do not so much do computers, for this you might want to make nice with Alphazon, our very own this side of the veil magitech megacorp."

“So what is magitech made with? I hope you’re not going to tell me that’s an Alphazon trade secret.”

"Unfortunately that is what I am going to tell you. I can hook you up with them but I am not myself hooked up, I am a neutral awakener."

Someone in this room may have found what they’re going to be butting heads about.

“Okay. Anyway. For kinds of magic, how much am I picking now versus later? Like, is ‘runes’ something I pick in awakening, or finer than that, or does everyone get to pick it up when they are interested?”

"Decisions you set in stone here with me are species, type - that is sorceress academic or warlock, and if warlock which patron - and if you wish to be fated to fall in with a faction such that you can buy their magic right off. You can nonfatedly go making friends and influencing people all over the worlds later on without my help, and you can buy up all your wild and ranked magic later too should this be how you roll, such as if you wish to read all of Witchipedia before you touch a bit of it. Anything that is not one of those, or a wild magic affecting one of those, free to leave for later."

“What are types?”

"Types give also-sort-of-affinities - different kind, not mix and match with species ones, but still make some magics cheaper. I mentioned already about sorceresses getting all the elementalisms when others do not. Main underlying difference besides this is where the power is from. Academics study, sorceresses practice, warlocks run errands for a god or something who makes them the offer. Warlocks grow fastest, academics slowest. Academics have slightly higher long run total power caps. Warlocks get bribes."

“To clarify, by ‘power’ you mean being able to do more different things, or bigger things, which is separate from mana?”

"Right. All the mana in the world will not make me able to teleport by psionics because that is rank three and I do not have rank three in it."