"I suppose I'll just have to seduce people for anything else I want, then," she replies, flippantly to cover her clear disappointment. "There's a reason I was stuck in the ritual auxiliary until I got picked up for special forces."

"Noooooo, no need to seduce people. Most things you can get by just asking nicely. Shall we go to meet Conradia? I think she's scheduling for herself less time enchanting so that she can do magic research with you, passing off many of the easier items to the junior wizards."

He opens the door to let her through, then leads her to the Conradian side of the place.

"What made Urizen pick you for special forces? And why were you only in the ritual auxiliary – with an Intelligence of 18, you would have done wonderfully at any of our world's magic academies. Damian Himself only had an Intelligence of 16 when he started studying at Ostenso Magical Academy."

"Sure, I'd like to ditch the need to follow someone around like a duckling, although it's not like I know the layout so I'll probably still need a lot of directing.

Ritual auxiliary is pretty much everyone in the army who can't reliably keep up with the front line - unless you're really dreadful at everything and end up peeling potatoes or something.

I got into special operations because they'd noticed I was smart, tried me on liao, and I was bored enough to say yes; it's not really a role with an excellent life expectancy, usually, but I knew a guy who was putting together a team that was planning to be unusually smart about it, and he convinced me.

I'm not really a magic academy kind of person - I mean, I'm looking forward to teaching and learning stuff here, but people here are keen to know anything and I get to rederive things how I like, not argue over some obtuse formula for marginally improving the safety of some Silutarian mode..."

"True, although it means that you'd be able to wander the greenhouse and lounge all by yourself.

What's liao? I don't think I've heard of that. It's some sort of thing you...eat? Consume?

Yes, I meant magic academy in the neutral sense of...place where you learn and teach magic. We're rather informal here. There are no set classes or lectures or anything like that. If we're teaching someone without any magical knowledge or experience whatsoever, then we'll usually apprentice them to a senior wizard – third-circle or above – until they manage to learn first-circle spells. You're only considered a wizard after you learn first-circle spells: cantrips, because of their simplicity, don't count. We sometimes still teach people who are ineligible to become wizards a few cantrips because they're so useful: Prestidigitation is the most common, with Mending being a far second. I know how to cast Prestidigitation, but I have terrible control and only use it to do laundry and cleaning, which is the most popular use of the spell. It's why it's so popular.

Usually, learning to cast your first cantrips takes months, and it takes several years to attain first-circle spells – Damian and Conrad took three years of study to finally get to first-circle. Of course, that was when they were teenagers. For you, with a higher Intelligence and also a magical background, I think it will go much faster. It's difficult to teach children magic because there's a lot of focus and concentration necessary, and unless they happen to love magic, they simply won't be in the state of mind required to prepare spells.

Once someone reaches first-circle here, then they're free to go and learn about whatever magic they want. We subsidize the magic ink necessary for them to copy the spells every wizard ought to know – all the cantrips, plus mainstays like Mage Armor and Endure Elements, however, we're much more stingy about letting people copy spells if they don't have a soul contract with us. Cantrips and first-circle spells are cheap to copy, though, so it's not that big of a deal. Wizards need to have the spell diagram copied in magic ink – this is ink with ground-up spellsilver suspended in it – in order to be able to prepare and cast it. There are ways to learn how to prepare a spell without this diagram, but it's much harder, and most wizards don't bother.

We don't have a set curriculum or force people into certain lines of study because, as the Conradians say, 'when you overspecialize, you breed in weakness'. The main strength of a wizard is their versatility, and we would never want to hamper that by railroading people. I admit that it makes figuring out unit deployments hellish, though, because you need to know every single person's skills individually." He's kind of pandering, but it is true. Their churches do follow that philosophy.

"Most wizards do specialize in one school because they happen to have a talent for it, or simply really like the spells there. Damian specialized in Enchantment, and Conrad in Transmutation. Of course, you could also choose to remain a Universal wizard and learn everything equally, but that's less popular – all wizards start out as Universal, because novices are equally incompetent at all schools of magic."

They reach the forge where Allegra got her arcane stamper, and Magnus goes inside to fetch Conradia.

"Liao is a drug; it's surprisingly unfussy about how you take it, you can inhale it, drink it, bake it into fudge, drop it in your eyes, some formulations even do direct skin absorption. It's refined from the sap of a plant we call vinum, in its natural state it just gives you dreamless sleep - which is handy for some people - but when refined it makes you - more attuned to the underlying emotional reality of the world? And you can focus that, with training, into emotional effects that stick to people, places or items, or giving people directed dreams, or - interfering with souls, unseating them slightly to cut people off from this ability, laying stray souls to rest, that kind of thing.

The strongest version lets you see visions of past lives, but that's incredibly hard to make - the entire Empire generally managers less than half a dozen doses a season, and it's really trying hard.

The civil service are in charge of all the refining processes, though, unlike a lot of my world's magic I just really wouldn't know where to start with this, even if I had some Vinum in the first place.

I'm still not sure what your magic schools are, they sound a little bit like the Realms are to rituals but not quite."

"Yum, I'd like to try vinum one day. It's sad that I probably wouldn't get to experience it. I'll leave you with Conradia now, she can explain magic schools better than me."

Magnus brings Conradia to Allegra and waves goodbye, walking off.

"Hello, Allegra. Let's go to one of the workrooms," she says, starting to walk. 

"Magic schools. They're less fundamental forces of the universe, like your Realms seem to be, and more like categorizations of spells. The shapes of spells of the same school are similar to one another. There are eight schools of magic, plus one. I think I already told you about them, but only told you about their names, so I'll describe each one of them to you now."

She recites as though from from a textbook.

"Abjuration spells are protective. They create physical or magical barriers, negate magical or physical abilities, harm trespassers, or banish the subject of the spell to another plane of existence. Examples: Mage Armor, Dispel Magic, Forbiddance, Dismissal, Antimagic Field.

Conjuration spells are subdivided into five categories: they can transport creatures from another plane of existence to your plane (calling); create objects or effects on the spot (creation); heal (healing); bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or forms of energy to you (summoning); or transport creatures or objects over great distances (teleportation). Examples: Planar Binding, Create Food and Water, Cure Light Wounds, Summon Monster I, Dimension Door.

Divination spells enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, predict the future, find hidden things, and foil deceptive spells. Examples: Detect Thoughts, Scrying, Find Traps, True Strike.

Enchantment spells affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. All enchantments are mind-affecting spells. They can changes how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend (charm), or force the subject to act in some manner or changes the way its mind works (compulsion). Some compulsion spells determine the subject’s actions or the effects on the subject, others allow you to determine the subject’s actions when you cast the spell, and still others give you ongoing control over the subject. Examples: Charm Person, Geas, Dominate Person, Hold Person, Power Word Kill.

Evocation spells manipulate magical energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, an evocation draws upon magic to create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can deal large amounts of damage. Examples: Acid Arrow, Fireball, Sending, Icy Prison, Gentle Breeze.

Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened. They can create a false sensation (figment), or change a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear (glamer), create an image that others can see, but such that it also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it (pattern), creates a mental image that usually only the caster and the subject of the spell can perceive, which third parties don't see (phantasm), or create something partially real from extradimensional energy (shadow). Examples: Minor Image, Magic Aura, Color Spray, Phantasmal Killer, Shadow Conjuration.

Necromancy spells manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Examples: Deathwatch, False Life, Animate Dead, Circle of Death, Unshakable Chill.

Transmutation spells change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition, which may involve transforming your physical body to take on the shape of another creature with some of its abilities (polymorph). Examples: Masterwork Transformation, Monstrous Physique I, Baleful Polymorph, Stone Shape, Alter Winds.

The ninth special school is called Universal, for a few special spells that correspond to none of the schools. Examples: Prestidigitation, Wish, Permanency, Arcane Mark, Limited Wish. Actually, I shouldn't even call those examples – they represent all of the Universal school spells out there."

She opens the door to the teaching workshop and beckons Allegra inside.

"I think teaching me how to set up a mana crystal site is our first priority as of now, since you say that that requires a season. Better to work on it immediately. Though I'm curious now to see whether there's one particular school of magic you're drawn to. Magnus has probably explained that people usually specialize in one school. I'm specialized in Illusion."

"Conjuration definitely sounds most interesting from that," Allegra replies. "One of the fundamental limits of our... my kind of magic is it can't create something from nothing - this is a little less limiting than it sounds because it can pull things that exist in Realms into the material world, but it's still a big thing.

To build a mana site from scratch, I'll need a location with natural flows of magic - you said you had ley lines, the most significant location you have available on one of those would be best?

I'll also need - hmm, easiest design is probably basins of water, it's a bit maintenance intensive but easier to move things around and see if it's working. Ideally they'd be sculpted to increase surface area, essentially you want lots of possible crystallisation points - but just a dozen large metal bowls will do.

And a range of metal salts, the kind that crystallise out of over-saturated solutions. I'm not sure which ones are best so we'll want a wide range to experiment with and see how they do.

Essentially what we're doing is growing crystals in the basins, and if they're lined up right with the magic flows they'll also absorb power as they crystallise and become mana crystals. You can also do fancy things with mithril mirrors to redirect the ambient magic so more flows through your collecters, which we might have to try if the ley line isn't strong enough, but that's beyond anything I've even got a close look at.

Oh, we might also need to think about air flow, as we're underground - some mana sites are in caves, so it's definitely not impossible, but I think air that's too stagnant will mess up the crystallisation process somehow."

The workroom has a U-shaped table in the middle, with shelves of various items on the shelves. There are tall stools stowed under the table.

"Oh yes, our kind of magic can do that too. Many conjuration (creation) spells have limited durations. If you look at their spellforms, conjuration (creation) spells look similar to evocation spells, which is reflected in their effects.

What possible designs are there for the mana site? Perhaps it might be good to try out multiple different configurations simultaneously. If you give me detailed plans for the bowls, I can create them instantly through Fabricate. 

We have magic items that can create, destroy, and direct air: it's one of the very useful pieces of spell research Conrad and Damian did, and what allows us to live in this hermetically sealed fortress.

I've told everyone who is both interested and potentially useful to you to come along to form a magic research group, since I can't do everything for you. Notably, Dannek, a Damianite druid, specializes in tapping on ley lines for casting. Lucius is our strongest and most skilled alchemist – he's also a Damianite. Aside from that, I've also told Agnes to come. She's newer to learning our magic system and so might be able to help you learn our magic better – sometimes you forget how you became an expert once you are one. They should be arriving in about ten minutes or so. In the meantime, I can recast Lesser Geas on you."

She does that, keeping the same wording as before, but removing the need for a minder, and permitting Allegra to cast spells of her own without permission so long as those spells are not targeted towards anyone in the church. If she plans to do so, then she must describe the spell's effect fully, if the person does not already know the effect, and have them consent to the casting before proceeding.

Allegra considers thanking her for the loosened geas, but having to fully explain detect magic to everyone she wants to cast it on still sounds kind of irritating, and also there's nerding about mana sites to be done, which is much more interesting than social optimisation.

"So, mana sites are most commonly natural features that have formed where magical energy naturally pools, generally near water because that's how you get naturally occurring mana crystals; if you're using the site you then add salts to the water for better production, if it's not naturally running at capacity anyway.

Other forced mana site designs are basically water feature designs - you want the water to circulate enough not to get stagnant without being too turbulent for crystal formation. If you have a magical flow rather than a pooling site, it might be worthwhile to run the water along the direction of flow for at least part of the site.

The completely different design is to bring in existing crystals - usually it'd be spent mana crystals - and attempt to charge them directly from the magical energy, rather than using the crystallisation process to help. You want a giant focusing mirror for this - the one I heard about was a blast crater from a magical explosion, if you'd tried to use it the normal way it wouldn't have kept its shape and polish, so crystals were very carefully placed in the right locations to absorb the ambient power. I'm not convinced it's a good idea with a flowing rather than a pooled source.

With the correct geometry you can just make mana crystalise out of the air, but that's more in the 'rare workings whose secrets have been lost' category.

I can try to sketch some fancy basins, I think that's the best starting point, we might have to carry them around a bit but there's no point in planning anything complicated until we can map out the flows of magic better. Uh, unless your druid friend totally bypasses the process, I am going to need a good hand mirror, a couple of movable standing mirrors, a good light source and possibly some free standing wind chimes for that bit."

A man wearing hide armor walks in. He has pointed ears.

"Hello, Allegra. Pleasure to see you." He smiles. He points to Agnes, who waves, and to another man, who looks a little older. "You already know about Agnes. This is Lucius, our alchemist." Lucius nods.

"We're all very eager to learn from you." His tone of voice implies he's eager to learn other things than magic, but he looks at Allegra and he straightens up and clears his throat.

"I don't think I've seen mana crystals before. But if it doesn't detect to our world's Detect Magic spell, then we would probably have thought it was a regular rock. You only use mana crystals when casting rituals, not spells, right? We don't use rituals at all – well, we do, but it's very rare – and in those cases we don't use mana crystals either. Most of our magic is in spells."

He places a large box that Lucius and him had been carrying on the table, opens it, and takes out a map.

"I'd love to know how you detect magic flows, but I've already mapped them out. I can detect them just by being in their presence. I'm a druid, but I'm a druid that specializes in magic, not nature. If you want rivers, there are several rivers within Teleport range that have nice and strong mana flows." He points to a few spots on the map.

"I also brought our collection of salts with varying solubility in water. What are your mana crystals composed of? Are they of a specific material, or can any crystal be infused with magic?"

"Yes, just spells." He's clearly flirting with her but she doesn't immediately like the look of him, so she decides to file it away for later. "Rivers aren't essential, but if there's a nice small stream lined up in the right direction that makes it easier for us, because we don't have to basically create an artificial one.

I haven't got a full list of permitted materials for a mana crystal, and it probably wouldn't match what you call them anyway - I can feel the language failing to actually match mana crystal seeding salt, so it doesn't have a specific word for the most common variety or this spell can't find it.

I think anything that is possible to crystallise in the conditions available at the site will be worth trying. Most mana crystals are tetragonal or hexagonal - cool, this language has a lot of geometry - so it might be worth prioritising those, although it's not an absolute rule."

She starts examining the map - mostly she's looking for places where strong flows meet each other, which might have usable pooling or eddies rather than having to chase a flow over a longer distance.

He unrolls a map on the table with annotations and shading in colored pencil to mark mana flows.

"Right," he says, pointing to the top left. "We're currently here in Sabertooth Vale. Much of the rivers and lakes of Sarkoris dried up when the Worldwound opened, but there are still some remaining today. As for magic flows, the ones most significant are the meeting of the West Sarkora and North Sarkora rivers to make the Sarkora River proper near the Needleglens. That part is uninhabited.

The second choice is where the West Sellen meets the Sarkora at Storasta. Storasta is inhabited, mostly by druids who want to repair the damage the Worldwound wrought. I have connections with them, but I'd prefer to test a mana site at the Needleglens first, unless it proves unsuitable for whatever reason. Also, it's close to the Mendevian border. I'd rather not the Iomedaeans get access to the secret of mana crystals.

As a last resort, we could try Bridespool Fen, Lake Ipona, or the mouth of the North Sarkora River near Dyinglight. I really really would not want to do that, though, because the waters there are noxious, and there are gibrileths – a disgusting type of demon – as well as fungus cultists." He, as he says, looks very disgusted at the prospect.

"If you just want a place with significant mana buildup that's not necessarily a river, then we can try Shadow Spring. The water there is sulfurous and unsuitable for drinking or bathing in, and there are corrupted humans living there, but compared to the rest of Sarkoris Scar, it's safe. Especially since you have me to protect you." He laughs. "Well, more like Lucius and Conradia. They're way stronger than I am.

Continuing, the Circle of Hierophants is a collection of stone circles – hundreds of them – made by the same druidic order I'm a part of. Well, not really. There are still druids that come from it, who fled when the Worldwound opened more than a century ago that maintain the same traditions, but it is a shadow of its former self. There are siabrae there: corrupted undead druids, but we'll be able to clear them out if we prepare. The magic flows here are particularly strong."

"Hey! I'm almost to second-circle. Don't count me out." Agnes sighs and casts A Look at Dannek's direction.

Going out on an expedition would definitely be enough to push her to second-circle.

"Those last two certainly sound like the kind of places I'd expect to find a natural mana site - big river confluences tend to have too much going on to settle mana into crystal without a lot of engineering work.

It sounds like Shadow Springs should be our first stop, it's closer by and if we're very lucky we'll find natural mana in the sulphur crystals already there."

Staring at the map has distinctly reminded her that she has a terrible headache; her eyes are kind of refusing to focus properly on things. And that is too many random place names to remember without context.

"If that doesn't work then the Circles also sound like the kind of places we can find and experiment with pooled mana, which is easier to get repeatable results out of."

Dannek looks at her for a minute. 

"Are you okay? Do you want a Lesser Restoration? I have it prepared." He's less flirtatious now and more actually concerned. The amount of flirtatiousness remains nonzero, however.

"The distance doesn't matter so long as we're in Sarkoris Scar. As long as it's in Teleport range – which is nine hundred miles – they are the same distance away. We can only travel in and out of the base via teleportation, remember, so what counts is the number of times you go in or out, not the actual distance. Spell slots are the limiting factor. Going outside Sarkoris Scar is problematic because the Wardstones block teleportation across them, but we have Teleport locations near them that mean it just increases the number of teleports necessary to travel.

Still, if you feel that that is the best place to go – you did mention that the sulfur crystals there might be suitable – then we can go tomorrow after we've had a chance to prepare suitable spells for working in the springs: Endure Elements, Resist Energy, Protection from Energy, Life Bubble, Freedom of Movement – the whole works.

The hot springs aren't that dangerous, but the boiling sulfurous water burns the skin, and the springs can spit sulfur fumes into the air. Not very nice to breath in."

"Already had one, apparently speaking to the gods is not so easily shifted," she explains.

"I was kind of hoping you might have a good magical solution to that, yes - everything we - I - know of in the elemental protection area is almost as unpleasant as the problem it's trying to solve, and of course all needs mana crystals too.

The circles sound nicer to work in, but less likely to have already helpfully crystallised some mana for us."

He tilts his head and looks at her for a moment when she mentions she received a god vision. Well, that makes sense. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't special in some way. Talking to otherworldly visitors is the sort of thing gods would spend energy on doing.

"Good news, Life Bubble is a wonderful spell. It protects from temperature, fumes, lack of air, pressure, and also enables you to breathe underwater. I get it a circle earlier than clerics and wizards, so I'll be the one to prepare it tomorrow. It's a little redundant to prepare Endure Elements and Life Bubble together, but Endure Elements lasts the whole day – Life Bubble lasts only two hours per caster level, and has to be divided among all of us.

Yeah, I don't think there's going to be any there. I'm a type of druid called a menhir savant: I used to look after stone circles like that. No crystals to be found."

"As for the basins, do you think you can draft a plan now as a prototype, or would you need to visit before you can make the plan? I have Fabricate now. I was planning on using it for a commission, but that's not urgent or as important. I can prepare more of it tomorrow.

The springs are better in that they're less dangerous. We can fight off mundane humans just fine. The siabrae we would also be able to handle, but we don't want you to get hurt in the fighting – in such a situation, we would Teleport you out, although that's quite a hassle."

"We might not need them, but better to have them around in case." She scans the shelves for obvious paper and writing equipment, hopefully pencils, she can't screw up as badly with pencils as with ink. "I'm not exactly the world's best drafter so these are going to be a bit approximate," she warns, "but it's not super important, if it's going to work it should work in anything, it just helps get the yield up.

If we're working with a natural site we'll need tools for sculpting whatever the local ground material is and probably some materials for diverting water flows - uh, I'd normally use weirwood offcuts which are waterproof, strong and magically unreactive, but I know that weirwood didn't translate well, so we might need to think about it."

There are both pencils and pens on the shelves. She doesn't look over Allegra's plans until she's ready to show them.

"That's fine, I can clean it up when I receive your plan. Alternatively, we can have one of the other crafter wizards to help you with drafting. I have to hold the shape of the entire item when I cast Fabricate: as long as your drawing is to scale, I can figure out the measurements.

No need for tools, that requires too much labor and time. I can prepare several of Move Earth, and Dannek can prepare Move Earth. Perhaps one or two of Transmute Rock to Mud and Control Water. It's a little harder to manage the movement of water at the hot springs, since they're springs and not rivers, so we can't use Alter River to help us. It's fine, though, Move Earth will do most of the work."

"It might be more sensible for me to explain and do a few rough sketches at a crafter, then - I can sort of gesture at the idea, but I'm not convinced I can be precise enough for you.

I think our initial visit is going to be - see if there's existing natural mana, pick some likely looking sites for crystallisation, put our best guesses at appropriate solutions down in bowls. If I'm very confident that somewhere looks almost like a natural site with a few tweaks, we can try that, but I think we'll know more after we've tried a bit of static crystallisation - so we should only need enough landscaping to secure the bowls.

Are the locals going to interfere as soon as we leave? If there isn't natural mana, we're looking at weeks to a month before I expect any of the bowls will yield anything I can detect, and they need to be undisturbed. Oh, and local weather patterns? We might need to make some kind of shelter over the bowls if it gets exciting around there."

"Alright, I'll arrange for you to meet with one of the crafter wizards soon.

Maybe. The springs are surrounded by a village of the same name. The people there are insane from demonplague and have turned into cannibals, so I have no idea whether or not they'll interfere. Our spells don't last very long: the longest lasting spells are on the order of days to weeks, and I don't know of any that would be appropriate that last that long, not without an expensive casting of Permanency. The easiest solution would be to kill the villagers – there are several hundred of them there.

We can do it ourselves, although Rendon would prefer that we Teleport in a bunch of the lower-circle casters who need to develop channeling capacity to do it in our stead. The villagers are strong enough that it would be a significant challenge for them.

We'll also probably need to make a shelter, yes. The weather here at Sarkoris Scar is much calmer than it was back when the Worldwound was opened, but the weather remains harsh and unpredictable. There are blizzards and hailstorms which the bowls will have to withstand."

Allegra feels like she should object to killing several hundred people because they are inconvenient! But also that it might be the kind of thing that her 'chaotic evil' - captors? benefactors? kind of both, really - would not appreciate her objecting about.

Also it does sound like they're not having the greatest time right now, being insane from demonplague and eating each other; maybe whatever happens to them in, presumably the Abyss, would not actually be that much worse for them.

"Yes, hailstorms will really mess things up," she contributes.