Questions, questions and more questions (READ THE OP FOR ANSWERS)

[Tydvs]

Ah, so like, in the case of teleportation, a regular human could take a plane from, say, Japan, to England. A mage would, instead, teleport. While the teleportation may be instant, an advantage over plane travel, there would be another cost, making sure that the law of equivalent exchange remains intact, yeah? If that is correct, then my only question is if mana/od, along with whatever time it takes to set up the ritual, are sufficient, or would there be some other cost? Also, if the time to set up the ritual itself is apart of the cost, is it impossible to set up a designated 'teleportation line,' like one of those fireplaces in Harry Potter or something (I'm not at all well versed in HP, but it was the first thing brought to mind.)

[Rafflesiac]

Well, no, he's just insulting your Servant, like he does no matter who your Servant is.

There's no joke, just shade.

[SpoonyViking]

Ah, so like, in the case of teleportation, a regular human could take a plane from, say, Japan, to England. A mage would, instead, teleport.

Not to nitpick, but while the general thinking is correct, teleportation (or rather, all forms of manipulation of space) is one of those things which is considered True Magic and can't be done by regular mages.

[Tydvs]

Ah, I see. Nitpicking is fine! I'd rather know than not know.

[Menwearpink]

The best bet is Imaginary Numbers practically. Dark Sakura or Shadow Boarder style. That's more parallel diving tho I guess, technically.

For stuff like mental magics the equivalency exchange is also that it effects your own mind. Curses, mental magic... most magic one way or another comes back to you. Makes sense since magecraft is done through hypnosis of one's self.

For other examples you'll become more bestial with animal magic like Svin.

[Mcjon01]

Not to nitpick, but while the general thinking is correct, teleportation (or rather, all forms of manipulation of space) is one of those things which is considered True Magic and can't be done by regular mages.

Yeah, rather than teleporting they anchor a magical rubber band to their destination, connect the other end to their trusty broomstick, and fling themselves around the world at supersonic speeds

Or more likely just hypnotize the ticket agent into giving them a free first class boarding pass

[the god of world-0]

But where is the fun in that?

[Mcjon01]

The free drinks

[You]

Ah, so like, in the case of teleportation, a regular human could take a plane from, say, Japan, to England. A mage would, instead, teleport. While the teleportation may be instant, an advantage over plane travel, there would be another cost, making sure that the law of equivalent exchange remains intact, yeah? If that is correct, then my only question is if mana/od, along with whatever time it takes to set up the ritual, are sufficient, or would there be some other cost? Also, if the time to set up the ritual itself is apart of the cost, is it impossible to set up a designated 'teleportation line,' like one of those fireplaces in Harry Potter or something (I'm not at all well versed in HP, but it was the first thing brought to mind.)

To use your teleportation ritual as basis.
If Magus A who knows nothing about teleportation wants to teleport. They would have to first do research and find a mystery that they can replicate or create a mystery from an assortment of other mysteries to teleport.
You would need to procure the correct land, spiritually landscape that land to fit the ritual, get all the proper reagents, if the proper reagents can't be found find replacements or create replacements, figure out what time of day or the year would work for you, check the formula and foundation of that mystery fits with the one your family or land use, if it doesn't fit modify all that somehow so it fits. And then you have to do this for your destination as well otherwise who knows what could happen to your body. Then you got to do experiments to make sure this works. But you got to remember that -

Accordingly, magecrafts powerful enough to interfere with Nature will obviously require enough magical energy (mana) to fill Nature just to execute them. There is a limit to the magecrafts that can be executed using an individual’s magical energy alone.

so it's not like you can continuously do experiments and refine.
All these processes take exorbitant amounts of money, magical energy, and time.
When you consider all these elements into making a teleportation ritual or any ritual happen, riding a plane is definitely easier.

- - - Updated - - -

Or more likely just hypnotize the ticket agent into giving them a free first class boarding pass

Considering the equivalent exchange of mental magecraft like that, it's possible that a majority of people who get upgraded in flights are magi or people standing behind a magus.

[Tydvs]

Excuse me, btw. I realize throughout this thread, I've just vomited my stream of thought as I've been responding. Sorry if it makes me sound dense, but anyway.

Given that's the case, would you say, then, magecraft is only really worth using in case that involve little cost (i.e. the difference of using a lighter vs. a small fire incantation) or in cases where doing so with the means of modern science would be more risky (i.e. in the case of the tower of sun and moon, in LEM2 vol. 2, I imagine the creation of the most beautiful person, whether it be more expensive or not, carries with it... if not less, then different risks through magecraft rather than, say, plastic surgery.)

[You]

Excuse me, btw. I realize throughout this thread, I've just vomited my stream of thought as I've been responding. Sorry if it makes me sound dense, but anyway.

Given that's the case, would you say, then, magecraft is only really worth using in case that involve little cost (i.e. the difference of using a lighter vs. a small fire incantation) or in cases where doing so with the means of modern science would be more risky (i.e. in the case of the tower of sun and moon, in LEM2 vol. 2, I imagine the creation of the most beautiful person, whether it be more expensive or not, carries with it... if not less, than different risks through magecraft rather than, say, plastic surgery.)

An archetypical magus would tell you magecraft should only be used in trying to reach the root.
Which is what Lord Byron did with the Gold and Silver Princesses. He took on all the costs because that was their purpose.

But to be a magus is also to be human. People use magecraft when they rationalize that it's worth it. And it's not like every piece of magecraft is super complex, it depends on the mystery in question.

- - - Updated - - -

like Leaddemon said

Well, to be honest, the modern world doesn't recognize the existence of magi.
As we believe, control, and learn things that are immeasurable, our existence is incompatible with the modern world.
Because it's kind of meaningless.
Going to a normal school and becoming a normal adult will bring you far more happiness than studying magic.

Human technology is great.
In the past few hundred years, it has been leading the way ahead of magic.
Nothing is impossible for humans.
The miracles once only possible through magic are now "tools" and not miraculous at all.

Still, magic has its good points.
Just as there are things possible only through science,
there are also things possible only through magic.
It was the master of the Tohsaka family who said that if science is moving toward the future, magic is moving toward the past.
Something about the past and the future ending up at the same place, everything always running toward the zero point.
Let's put off all these difficult discussions. They should wait until we're old.

magic in this translation is magecraft.

[Tydvs]

Fair enough. I need to remember magi feverishly hunt after the root. I suppose, in a general sense as I'm writing, I'll just try to think 1.) How great of a mystery is trying to be achieved --> 2.) Given that mysteries scale, what would be an appropriate cost. --> 3.) Is there a way that science can achieve the same effect for a lower cost. --> 4.) Would using this scientific method be damaging to the magi's ego, or otherwise be too unmagelike to be reasonable. From there, I'll decide what a character I write does.

[Lily Emilio]

Is your character Maxwell Demon?

[Tydvs]

I dunno who that is.

[Lily Emilio]

He's a special Servant who cannot exist normally. He mentioned these 2 lines. One is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magecraft.” (by Arthur C. Clarke) and "Any sufficiently advanced magecraft is indistinguishable from technology." (by ???)

Your questions about science vs magecraft reminded me of him.

[Tydvs]

Ah, I see. I've definitely heard the Clarke quote before in things like time travel stories. But, no, I have no specific character in mind atm. A lot of my inspiration to write was gained from reading LEM2, and considering how heavily that story focuses on magecraft rather than something like a holy grail war, I wanted to have a solid grasp of the mechanics since I'm inspired to write a story where the mages play a large role. I'm unsure if I'm going to include servants or a holy grail war at all at this point, and I'm not even sure what my story will be about, plot wise. I've acted as DM for my D&D group since we formed, so stories, worldbuilding, and crafting characters has always been a passion of mine.

[Tydvs]

Hey, another question. So, as I'm getting into character creation, and I'm getting a bit stuck on a few things. To start, magic circuits.

I know an average magus has 20, and people like Rin have 40, but I also read somewhere that she has "30 sub circuits" or something, and I'm not sure what that is. Is it referring to how a magic crest may also work like magic circuits or something? Assuming 20 is average, thus being C, figuring out the letter grade for quantity is easy. Quality, on the other hand, is harder.

I realize as I type this that there is a distinct possibility that there is simply no answer, and letter grades are simply an approximation, but is there any specific units that can be tied to circuits? I've seen circuits have their output described in units, and I wanted to know if there were specific numbers on what is average, and the upper and lower limit to this unit output.

When it comes to composition, I can't find a thing about it, and before looking into other Magus' the people of this board had create, I didn't even know they came in different configurations. I assume there aren't many, and regular would probably do fine for most characters anyway, but if anyone could enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

Finally, I keep seeing something called Image Colour. What is that? I haven't the faintest.

Thank you, sorry for the barrage of questions, but your answers and insights are much appreciated!

[You]

Image colour is just the colour they associate with the character.

[Dullahan]

I'm not even sure what my story will be about, plot wise.

I think you'd be better off getting this part nailed down before doing what you're doing now.

[SpoonyViking]

Yeah, rather than teleporting they anchor a magical rubber band to their destination, connect the other end to their trusty broomstick, and fling themselves around the world at supersonic speeds

Is that what Touko does? Or is that Aoko?