london ♔ shadowkind convention

[rationalizes]

WHO || Jeanne Gar, Kat Samcelot, Mark Sandazhard, Francesca, Alainn O'Rourke, Alaric Saltzman, The Doctor, Brantley River, Maxwell Briggard, Kate Beckett, Helen Magnus, Stiles Stilinski, Adam Weiss, Sylar, Will Graham, Abigail Hobbs, Lila Zacharov, Lydia Martin, Draken Crombe, Lis'sa Trinall, Belle Desrosiers, Aurelius Greyfire
WHAT || London hosts an academic convention regarding the phenomena of the Veil and Shadowkind
WHERE || London, England
WHEN || June 7th, 2014, evening.
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

It's been over a hundred years since mankind first came to a global realization that magic and monsters were real and walked among us. Yet in all that time, much about the process of how or why remains a mystery, and a subject of great speculation among scholars the world over.

This is why London hosts an annual convention to discuss these complicated matters, both from a scientific and social perspective. There's something for everyone with even a passing interest in understanding the Veil, magic, or the various races that share this world. Sir Jeanne Gar, a young member of the Dragon's Hoard, has been asked to present some of her research at said convention, and has invited many of the Knights to come fill the seats, and explore the other lectures.

The hall is large and brimming with scholars both young and ancient, as well as those of a variety of unusual Shadowkind species.  It makes for great people watching from the food court, at least.

Comments

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen was far too focused on getting a front row seat to even see that Gar was all flustered out in the hall. But she's front and center and ready to support her friend!!]

[rationalizes]

[ gar finally makes it to the podium, where she tries to square her cards on the stand and... ends up spilling them all over. they fly in all directions onto the floor and she turns bright red as she mumbles into the mic: ] Sorry, I-- [ and then bends to start frantically picking them up though now they're all out of order... ]

[ex_ric243]

[Alaric happens to be sitting near Helen, as one of her dates I guess since nerds travel in packs and they probably set this whole thing up so their schedules matched up like a bunch of high school students.

And since he's got a front row seat, he's quick to jump up and help play pick up when Gar drops her speech all over the floor.]

Relax. [Said as he hands over a pile of those scattered index cards.] You'll be great.

[rationalizes]

[ she nearly bumps into him with an embarrassed little smile ] Oh! Er... [ she blushes and accepts the cards, saying quietly and gratefully: ] Thank you, Ric. [ she stands up back at the podium again, looking a bit less nervous at least. until her eyes scan to the door in the back where she sees sir chessing walking in and then she just stops talking halfway through her introduction. ]

Er, good morning. I'm Jeanne Gar from the Kar-- [ oh yeah there's the forgetting how to talk part.

jack shoots her a very small encouraging nod and slides quietly into a seat in the second row next to lis'sa. gar exhales and restarts. ] From the Karthur Institute. Most of the research I'll be discussing today was conducted at Oxford University and the Karthur Institute, and it relates to a branch of science that is, well, quite new. New enough that I've had to coin a name for it - arcane physics.

[beatemup]

[Max had been sitting behind Alaric, playing games on his NDS with earphone on. So, he didn't notice the whole thing, but he did stop playing right after Gar started her lecture. He is here now and the most decent thing to do is at least pretend to listen, right?]

Seriously? There's physics in arcane magic? I thought that stuff is purely brain power. Is she just making things up?

[He leans forward, whispering to Alaric. They might not have a great start but Max doesn't hate him that much yet and he is bored, so he'll bother the closest person he knows in his vicinity.]

[ex_ric243]

[What luck... Alaric may not hate Max but he definitely remembers that little tantrum the other man threw in the Dragon's Hoard laboratory. He shifts uncomfortably when Max starts talking, so that he can turn just enough to glance back at him and whisper--]

Pay attention. [You might learn something would be the unspoken statement here.]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen reaches over to pat Ric's knee fondly like thx boo. For helping Gar and shushing that guy. This is why she keeps you around. Helen turns her attention back to Gar with a reassuring smile. You got this gurl.]

[rationalizes]

[ luckily gar crit failed and didn't hear any of that. and now she seems to be hitting her stride, because as soon as she can start talking about this, she just gets excited and forgets to be nervous entirely. (perform: speech 20) ]

Arcane physics is a branch of science that operates under the assumption that magic, while not subject to the rules that govern most of our natural world, is subject to rules of its own that we simply have not come to understand yet. Once, the rules of physics were unknown to us, but now we have come to master them, and make them work to our benefit. Similarly, an understanding of the energy fields that control arcane forces could potentially allow us to manipulate magic via an application of technology.

[beatemup]

[This guy is no fun. Max leans back, slouching on his seat, trying to pay attention. And he does listen, the topic of her lecture is somewhat interesting. Controling magic via technologies, that would be cool. Imagine a phone app that can freely shoots fireball by pressing a button. Just like a magic wand in the shape of a smartphone.]

[rationalizes]

My own research has continued to support the idea of magical energy fields that surround us at all times, invisible to the human eye. It is actually the rise and fall of these energy fields that allows magic to function during what we call a Shadow incursion, as opposed to when the fields are at their lowest point - when there is no magic for anyone to 'tap into', so to speak. It is my personal theory that when the Veil opens initially it releases a sort of charge to these energy fields, that, when the charge depletes, results in the Veil's falling shut again, and means that magic is once again inaccessible. What prompts the Veil to open again may indeed be attributed to a 'build-up' of magic on the other side, which exerts enough pressure against the weak spots of the extradimensional fabric to eventually cause it to burst again, flooding our world once again with this eldritch energy.

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen follows along, knowing a great deal of this information, but thrilled to hear Jeanne speak about something she's clearly so passionate about. If she could chinhands in her seat, she would.]

[rationalizes]

If this is true, it may be possible to learn to stimulate these energy fields in a way that we can essentially create what would be referred to magically in the Shadow World as a portal, effectively a gateway from one world to the next. Thus far, travel from our world to any other has seemed to be entirely blocked. This would allow us to actually walk from our world into Faerun... or perhaps any other dimension. Although I also speculate that the reason for the large amount of traffic into our world comes from a sort of 'proximity' between our two dimensions, meaning it is likely easiest to create this gateway into Faerun.

[daredtobelieve]

[Leaning over towards Ric to whisper:]

Imagine the sorts of things we could see if we managed it.

[Helen would go on so many field trips hahaha.]

[rationalizes]

I began my research on developing this Shadow Gate as an undergraduate at Oxford University in tandem with another young man who shared the same vision, named Phillip Gorski. Together we came very close to being able to measure these invisible energy fields, and have worked out the calculations necessary for construction of this theoretical gate - with a few important missing pieces of data that I still hope to be able to collect in my lifetime.

[killmypatience]

[Kate is just sitting there, listening rapt attention, because she was TOTALLY HERE THE ENTIRE TIME the narration just ... sucks. But please do go on, Gar, this is all really interesting.]

[beatemup]

[What? They can make comments but he can't? Yeah, he doesn't take that well. He leans forward again and repeats the words he received from Ric. And to add the annoyance, he even mimics the way Ric said it.] Pay attention.

[ex_ric243]

[omg this bitch. ric is about to lose his shit on somebody.]

[druidisms]

[ don't worry, gus has got this. he literally walks in in the middle of gar's speech with starbucks because he's a shitty human being. and he didn't get shit for any of y'all, except maybe a cruller for lis'sa, lucky girl. but he sits down near the group of knights like it ain't not thang, giving gar a thumbs up like go on little boo. you're doing great kiddo.

and to maxwell... ] If you're not saying anything useful don't say anything. [ listen to your mentor, ok? he's grading you as we speak. (no, he's not.) ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Gross. Helen didn't want your coffee anyway. In fact, she gives him a nose wrinkle because she can smell it. She does mouth "thank you" to him at the way he's instructed his squire to quiet down.]

[beatemup]

[Yeah, Max is about to lose some shit too. Why are y'all ganging up on him? You guys are like Mean Girls of the Knight. He glares at the recently arrived guy.] Yeah, like everything that comes out of your mouth is useful. [He retreats back to his seat and sit like a boss as if taunting the whole group. Also, once again. When all the attention goes toward him, he points his finger toward Gar and mimics Ric again.] Pay attention.

[rationalizes]

[ omg gus' interruption really fucking throws her i guess because as she goes to try to put up her diagram of the shadow gate she gets nervous and knocks the whole board over on its easel, ahahahah. kat rushes to help her pick it up as she tries to cover. ] Er, this is er... this... is the power source... which still requires some, well, much... research to become a reality.

[daredtobelieve]

[Oh my god children. Helen turns and gives Max her sternest mom look. No really. Intimidate nat 20.]

[beatemup]

[He retreats back, scared at her (will 18). He is scared enough that it makes him wants to leave, not without making a commotion though. (wis 0)] What!? She can talk, I can't! [He points at Helen, but he tries to avoid eye contact at all cost.] Shadowkind-friendly my ass! You guys are ganging up on me just because I have orc in my blood. Fine! I'll leave. I hope you and your human-only circle enjoy kissing each other's stinky asses. [And he hastily leaves. He has lost all of his chance getting promoted, hasn't he?]

[ex_ric243]

[w o w. did that really just happen? it's probably a good thing that max decided to vacate the premises because alaric was about to roll a will save to tolerate this guy any longer. he's looking back as max makes his exit like good riddance, asshole. gus control your squire ok.

[druidisms]

Well, that was exciting. [ /spontaneously retires. ] What were you saying about a power source, Jeanne? [ he's just going to direct all the attention back to the tiny future dragon's claw like nothing happened. ]