From: nasato@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu (Neil Asato)
Subject: Re: Variant magic systems for BTRC
Organization: University of Engineering, College of Engineering
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 20:37:22 GMT

     It occurred to me that there were some points of the 
Plant magic type that were not obviously stated, so I will
clear it up now.
     The user of plant magic is attuned to the Power of a
chosen plant type, but the wizard is not actually a part
of the shared Power. This means that the user must stay either
within 1 meter of a living plant of the appropriate type 
(usually they use a spell to shape plants or branches into
bracelets or belts and return them to normal at the end of the day)
or being in a direct line between groups of plants (this is how
the spirits of dead plant magic users get around). Typically, they
have a thin row of their plants at the border of their property.
They will, also, make their homes out of living plants that have been
magically altered to form buildings (usually includes a halt aging
spell for lasting effect). The users of plant magic for the same
reasons can't add their Power Aptitude to the shared Power.
     The spirits of the dead plant magic users (if surrounded by
a shared Power of 100 or more at the time of death) corresponds to
"regular spirits" in that most of their attributes matches their Power
scores (personal not the shared amount). They can use two different types
of magic. The first is the regular plant magic, which does not "permanently"
drain the shared Power any more than when casting it while the wizard was
alive. The second is the more standard deity use of Meddling Points
(100 "permanent drain" of Power = 1 Meddling point), which does drain the
shared Power. However, the second option does get the regular benefits
of Meddling Points (automatic 2000 base effect per Meddling Point,
instantly cast as desired, has areas of effect that is hard is incredible,
and one use is good for the entire day without maintenance or concentration).
This is one reason why deities do not like plant wizards, and why
plant wizards often have a few spirits of predecessor around.
Also, the amount of Meddling Points that the spirit can use at any
one time is equal to its personal Power.
example scenario: On a world with Orbs of Carnos, this magic evolved
and some deities decided to get rid of this group. They decide to turn
some of the solar reflectors powering the Orbs onto the forest of some
tree-based plant wizards, since the shared Power would overpower any
Meddling Points that they might spend against them (say 1.6 million
shared Power for a 500 acre forest). The spirits probably detect
it instantly, and uses probably uses up 40 Meddling Points each and
pools them together to rechannel the attack somewhere else (like
at the deities' temples, or at the Orbs [either the deities' precious
Orbs will melt or the TL levels on the planet will drop below zero,
which might pose a problem for anything with a metabolism with an
energy output above zero and not have the Power levels that plant
wizards have as protection.
     Despite, the what the plant wizards have going for them, they
rarely take over worlds. They are still vulnerable to non-magic
attacks. Deities do whatever they can to make them miserable. 
While their lives do center around their plants, most prefer
to work with their neighbors (selling their products and getting
equipment that they cannot make on their own) than making them into
enemies. In worlds with high TL levels, many would probably have
television (to know what sort of weather control spells to cast and
what the market for their products is like) and computers (used to 
help keep track plant breeding experiments and other useful knowledge,
and to allow them to post want-ads for outside help to deal in the
complex web of power groups that occurs outside of their normal
influence but affects them).

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