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Back when he'd called Hohkmat home, they'd been a martial culture. They'd been warriors. Ayche's expression is stony when he receives the news. His feelings about it are mixed - he's had decades already to come to terms with the fact that Hohkmat was no longer his home. That it had changed into something more... civil. More stable. Less exciting. But this is the way of the world - all things fall with time. It isn't the first time he's lost a home, or the tenth. He glances at the statue of himself he'd stolen from the city several years prior - it sits in the basement now. He uses it as a coat rack. Then he continues strapping on his armor. There are always new battles to fight.

Ayche is moving some of his belongings out of his old office in the Chamber of Fire. It's been many, many years since he was back in the city - thankfully, that old sword is still right where he left it. He tilts his head as he steps off the lift and heads back out onto the empty streets. "What was that?" "Must have been the wind."

lol?

When the time came, Ayche had done what was necessary, and he'd done it well. But in another world, it wouldn't have been necessary at all, and sometimes he still thinks about what that alternate history might have looked like. Maybe they could have fought side by side. At the very least, they would have had another chance to duel - finally settle the tie. They never did find out who would win in a fair fight.

Lore seems pretty cool, and an arcanism return would be nice. The Flat version of the shield spell seems a little strong - one emote once connected to deflect an attack is basically the same speed as Air Evocation's Redirect, except it works on any attack and not just projectiles. It would probably make sense to add an emote to the cast time, or further reduce the number of charges and force the caster to remain stationary for the turn when using the spell.

Human lifetimes have always seemed short - but now, after so many centuries, it's begun to feel as though they pass in the blink of an eye. Children grow into adults, live fulfilling lives, grow sick, and die almost before Ayche can react. When the news reaches him, Ayche is quiet. He'd never known the queen well, but he'd known the impact she'd made, and he'd been proud to fight alongside her. He'd had misgivings initially - privately, of course - about sending the magi of Hohkmat to follow a child with a crown into battle. Over the course of the war, those misgivings faded. He'd seen the strength of her leadership, and the effect it had. Perhaps, he decides, it's a uniquely human strength. How brightly they burn, despite - or maybe because of - their limited time in the world. His moment of silence for the fallen queen stretches into a minute of silence. Then ten. Maybe more. It's easier for him to lose track of time nowadays.

Bows probably need a change, but I don't think rolling/DnDifying the server is the solution. Even with a stat modifier, I feel like rolling every emote would get clunky (and stats like stealth or investigation would realistically very rarely be used outside of ST events, if at all). IMO projectile effectiveness vs plate armor should be buffed, and within a certain range (or maybe a certain minimum/maximum range band) arrows should just hit or have some sort of effect reliably. Not sure about a specific system for tracking/recognizing skill in archery. The same arguments apply to swordfighting, other forms of martial combat, or really any skill in general. It might feel frustrating to do sparring/target practice/other training RP without your character becoming any more mechanically effective than someone whose character has done all that offscreen, but the RP itself is the reward.

Ayche sits by his tent, somewhere in the wilderness. It's not entirely clear how the letter got to him - it's not as though he has an address these days, and he's sure that letter wasn't there a few moments ago, when he'd turned away to start a fire. He would've noticed a courier slipping into his campsite. He reads the letter over once, then twice. He's done his duty, he's received recognition - and now, once again, he's free. Part of him wonders if things would have turned out differently, if he'd never left Hohkmat. But a general without a war to fight is just a politician, and he's never been much of a politician. Still, he wishes he'd been there at the end.

Ayche sits by a river somewhere, fishing rod in hand. His warhammer's propped up against his camping supplies nearby. He's lived a fairly peaceful existence in the years since the end of the war and his retirement. His visit to Hohkmat the previous day was the first visit in many years. He's still deciding how he feels about it, truth be told. He'd known, at some level, that Hohkmat's system of conflict was unsustainable. You can't build a government based on infighting and dueling for positions and plotting - you just can't. Not one that lasts, anyway. The Age of Knowledge will bring stability. Stability will make Hohkmat a better place to live. But it might make things less interesting, too. In the centuries before Hohkmat, Ayche avoided any sort of involvement in government. He's never been the sort of mage who was content to sit in a tower, a library, a laboratory. There's one kind of life that appeals to him, and he realized he'd be able to find it in Hohkmat the first time he fought Lanre to a standstill in the dueling arena, all those years ago. Well, he's a wanderer now, and the war is over. Hohkmat isn't home for him anymore. Maybe it hasn't been since the war ended. It's home to plenty of others, though, and those people are in good hands with Faeryel. That will have to be enough. There's a tug on the line, a splash in the water. Ayche sets his thoughts aside. Dinner first. And then, maybe, he'll go find some trouble.

Ayche looks around his office beneath the Chamber of Fire for the final time. He's done his part. It's time for him to figure out what comes next. And now, he's got all the time in the world to do so.

I have a clarification question - Scions are limited to 6m spells. With this amendment, would a brisk step with a focus look like this? 6m base > focus doubles to 12m > subtract 4m as T3 brisk step has an 8m range. Final range is 8m. (Basically, can a focus be used to get up to the range listed in lore, if the spell would normally have a shorter range than the one in lore?)

Ayche sits in a dark room alone, staring at nothing. Once the adrenaline has faded, and he's no longer in the midst of combat, he's left to contemplate his actions. He's left to contemplate what he was forced to do after. "I wish there had been another way," he murmurs to nobody in particular. They're the first words he's said since before the event, and nobody is around to hear them. "Whatever else happened - you were strong in a way many magi weren't. In another world, we would have fought together." An hour later - maybe two - he rises with shaking hands and goes to burn his bloodstained robes and mask. They've already served the one purpose they were made for, anyway.

I'm ambivalent on the idea of fire evocation becoming a two slot magic. This seems like a well-written rewrite, but I'm not sure why fire evocation needs a rewrite in the first place. It looks like one of the biggest issues with the old lore, the Flamethrower spell, hasn't been addressed in this one, either - where an eminent with Incanter's Flow up can cast Flamethrower within two emotes if connected. The level of power Flamethrower offers with Incanter's Flow seems a little high given the emote count, since it's almost always a fight-ending spell against a standard combatant (given the pain and burns will disorient someone enough to prevent them from effectively avoiding the continuous flames), and since Incanter's Flow can be reached almost immediately after a fight begins with the following steps: Given your emote counts for this lore, the same would still be possible under the new lore - I'd advise potentially changing the T4 variant of Flamethrower to T5 but keeping the same emote count (so that Incanter's Flow won't interact with it) or specifically specifying that Incanter's Flow won't work on Flamethrower.(Edit: This will be much less of an issue if sam's Incanter's Flow amendment passes, so this doesn't necessarily need to be changed.) Also, I'm a bit confused by Flame Implement - Enwreathe can be cast on an ally's weapon, can the Flame Implement be handed off, or does that count as 'losing grip'? Also, if it maintains the current connection guidelines that Enwreathe has, then it would mostly only be usable by Eminents (once Incanter's Flow is up) and Scions. However, since it's T4, Scions wouldn't have access to it - Is this intended to be an Eminent-only spell? All that being said, I do like the new modifiers, and they look pretty interesting.

Ayche is in the Vizier's office beneath the Chamber of Fire, making preparations for the next battle, when the news comes. Peace has been achieved. The war is won. He pushes his paperwork aside - it's redundant now, anyway. He's proud of the work the Hohkmati battlemagi under his command have done for Petra, and proud to have fought alongside the Covenant. "Victory," he murmurs to himself. A smile crosses his face as he heads upstairs to join the other magi celebrating in the streets.