Magical Research

CONDUCTING MAGICAL RESEARCH IN GALDUR

Magical research can be conducted by anyone who has levelled up past Novice, the default mage rank (with one exception: see bonus points). The process has two steps:

1. Setting a research goal
2. Accumulating research points
3. SUCCESS!

**RESEARCH GOALS**
There are two types of research goals: new spells, and rank advancement. To set a research goal, tell James or Connie, and we'll write it down in our records, to keep track of your progress. If you lose track of your own progress, you can ask us to check for you at any time. (We might say no if we're busy, of course, but you already knew that. We are badmins.)

*New Spells*
If you want to research a spell, check out the comprehensive spell list on github.com/inclusiverec/magic.Learning a spell requires 10 research points for each point of memory that the spell requires. There are four restrictions on which spells you can research:
- You can't research any spell labelled as a "spell effect." These aren't real spells. They're behind-the-scenes spells used by other spells. For instance, the Call of the Wild spell summons a pack of wolves. To do this, it spams a spell called "tempwolf" that summons just one wolf. You can't learn tempwolf.
- You can't research any spell which has the "enabled: false" configuration option. These are works in progress, or highly experimental spells.
- The spells in spell-cantrips.yml cannot be researched. They are either automatically granted spells, or else they are given as you increase your mage rank.
- You must have enough memory and all spell prerequisites to research a spell.

*Ranking Up*

Every character on the server has a Mage rank. In ascending order, they are: Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master. These ranks determine how much spell memory you have, how much mana you have, and how quickly you can conduct research. Since novices cannot conduct research, they require another mage to train them through a college (see below). The costs for ranking up are:
Novice -> Apprentice: 20
Apprentice -> Journeyman: 50
Journeyman -> Master: 100 (must also complete a masterwork; see colleges)

**ACCUMULATING POINTS**

Research points are gained by purchasing them on a week-to-week basis. Every mage has a maximum allowance of research points that they can purchase. If you are a member of a college, your allowance is doubled:
Apprentices: 1
Journeyman: 3
Master: 5

Once per week (ending on Sundays) you may approach Connie and purchase research points up to your maximum. Each research point costs two emeralds. These emeralds are dumped into lava, and then your total will be updated. You must buy all of your week's points all at once. This is simply a record-keeping measure, so you can't trick the Badmins into selling you more research points than your allowance permits.

**SUCCESS!**

Once you've bought all of the research points, you will succeed! If you were trying to increase your rank (or someone else's: see colleges), the appropriate permissions changes will be made. If you were trying to learn a new spell, you will be given a research tome, which allows for you to immediately learn the spell. You can share the tome around, but beware: if you lose the tome, the admins will not replace it. Treasure it. It is a powerful artifact.

**COLLEGES AND MASTER MAGES**

A college is an organisation based in a settlement which allows for the faster accumulation of research points. Establishing a college requires:
- Either one master or two journeyman mages living in the same settlement.
- That the settlement in question has a magic district (see rules on settlement districts).

Joining a college requires that you live in the settlement where the college is located. It further requires the authorisation of the college masters. It us up to college masters what the requirements of admission are. If there is a conflict between several masters in a college on how to run things, and they cannot resolve it in an amicable manner, a special event will be organised to decide who wins. I like explosions, so I'd say a mage duel or a civil war, but it's negotiated out-of-character with a volunteer referee.

Colleges confer two bonuses. First, you can pool research allowances. To do this, the highest-ranking mage in the research team selects the research goal, which can include ranking up any member of the college. Then everyone who wants to contribute to the project tells the admins that they are putting their research allowance towards the research leader's project. The research leader is in charge of buying research points (though of course they can collect emeralds from other players... or try to, anyway). A college can have multiple research teams.

The second advantage of a college is that it allows journeymen to create masterworks. A masterwork is a project (usually a building, but it could be something else) which brings something unique to the server. If a majority of the server's Master mages don't think you're doing something unique, it doesn't count. Making something big an impressive won't cut it. You need to be creative and find some idea that no one else in Galdur has thought to try. It's probably a good idea to run the idea past server masters BEFORE you start on it, in case they don't think it's unique. This is an additional cost to ranking up to Master, on top of the research points.

Assuming your masterwork is approved, and you accumulate the necessary points, you are now a Master Mage! When you become a Master, you must decide which school of magic you have mastered (Masters can repeat the mastery process several times to accumulate multiple masteries).

**BONUS POINTS**

You can gain bonus research points for completing certain out-of-character tasks. These tasks will vary over time, but might include:
- Writing important articles for the wiki. (1-3 points)
- Writing spells that James is too lazy to write. No sloppy work will be accepted. (1-3 points)
- Participating in server events. (1 point per event)

Bonus points are special in a few senses. They cost no emeralds; they do not count against your research allowance. In addition, Novice mages can accumulate bonus points. So if you can't find someone to train you as an apprentice, this is a way you can get started. You ARE allowed to pool bonus points through a college.