lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴

You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest.

Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again.

► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing.

► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now.

► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do.

► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

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"Well, a little rain never hurts, I suppose." Syrlya gestures for him to go ahead. His attention is more on Strange than the environment, as he's curious what form spellcasting takes with this 'English magic'.

With a little nod, Strange takes a few steps away from Syrlya. He closes his eyes, muttering something under his breath. As he continues to mutter, he raises his hands in the air, but points them at an angle, towards a patch of trees a few feet away from them. Clouds start to gather over the patch of trees, thankfully passing over Sylya and Strange. And then, it starts to rain.

Some of the rain manages to get them wet because it's rain, rain's terrible at staying in one place, but most of the rain manages to stay within the patch of trees. As he hears the rain start to fall, Strange moves his arms down, stops muttering, and opens his eyes. Even though he's cast this spell plenty of times, he still seems a bit astonished that the spell was cast correctly and stayed in relatively one place.

"There you go! Have a storm."

Syrlya leans a little closer as he hears the murmuring. He's less interested in the storm brewing overhead as he is the way that Strange... what had he said, persuades it to appear. It's only once Strange casts the spell that he turns to witness the miniature storm over the trees.

"What was it that you were saying, just now? The spell."

"The spell? I was simply asking the clouds to appear and the rain to start." It's said as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. That's just how magic is done in England. One asks the elements and asks nature to move and hopes that they're willing to listen.

"Unless you were asking about the technical text?" It's still raining, despite the fact that Strange seems to be paying no attention to the actual rain and is instead talking to Syrlya.

Syrlya quirks a brow. "Yes! Do you not need to phrase your request in a specific manner? Or is it the gesture which must be precise? How do you ensure that the spell actually works?"

"I do need to phrase it in a specific manner, the gesture isn't precise but it certainly helps, and I know it actually works when it actually works." Strange answers the questions as if he's rattling off a list.

"Of course, half the time it's hard to tell what the specific manner is. Some of the older spells used by magicians of the past rarely work. I usually end up making my own additions just to get a result close to the ones they claim will happen."

And that's said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. The fact that some spells don't work is an understandable hazard of the magic, but a damn annoying one at that.

So Strange isn't really a studied magician? Syrlya feels that must be admirable on its own, to have to learn magic through trial and error. He's about to ask about Strange's personal history with spellcasting, but his brain skips over the next thing he says a second time and his eye's widen.

"What do you mean they 'rarely work'? It is all the same magic, is it not? How does a spell just stop working?" How does magic stop working? It's one thing to lose ancient magic, but quite another to find it and have it end up completely defunct.

And at that question, Strange shrugs! Sorry Syrlya, he's got no idea. Strange isn't a studied magician but also flies by the seat of his pants for a lot of magic as well. "For a few hundred years, England didn't have any magic--only recently has magic come back to England thanks to the actions of my former teacher and myself. Perhaps that has something to do with the reason the spells don't work?"

It's certainly a shaky hypothesis but, at least in Strange's mind, it's a plausible one. Of course, he doesn't realize that by mentioning the vanishing of magic, he's opened up more questions than expected.

It does only raise more questions, but Syrlya realizes that Strange probably doesn't have the answers he's looking for. Surely, to remove magic, it would have to be something on the power of an Elder Dragon. And even they did not consume the entirety of magic. Unless it wasn't that magic was removed, but was being blocked or siphoned elsewhere?

He shifts back on his heels, regarding Strange. He's terrible at guessing age as is, and while Strange looks... mostly human, it's hard to tell.

"You said this was the magic of your county, correct? What about the state of magic in other parts of your world? Did it disappear as well? And how long ago did you bring it back?"

"If anywhere else had magic, then they were doing a damn good job of hiding it." Strange knew that nobody in Europe had magic, otherwise they'd have used it in the peninsula. But places like Africa, Asia...he hadn't heard of anybody having magic there but, then again, that doesn't mean it didn't exist.

"As for how long ago it was brought back..." There's a pause, while Strange does some quick sums. "Less than ten years ago, I'd imagine? Though really, I've no idea how long Norrell was practicing before he decided to go public with his magic--come to think of it, I've no idea how long Childermass was practicing either."

It seems Strange has succeeded in confusing himself more than he's succeeded at giving Syrlya an actual answer.

Syrlya furrows his brow. It's harder for him to add Strange's story up when he knows magic only as a permanent, integrated force of the world. Was the magic Strange used, perhaps, not native to his world at all, but came from somewhere else? It's nothing he's ever heard occurring, but it's also not worse an explanation than... anything else.

He ends up just staring at Strange for a while with a critical expression, lost in his thoughts... before he remembers he's having a conversation and blinks rapidly back to focus.

"Oh--there really are only so few of you, then? Are your practices similar?"

Fortunately for Syrlya, Strange is also lost in his thoughts, trying to understand and piece out just how long ago Norrell must have started practicing magic and how the devil he learned he was a magician to begin with. So, as Syrlya starts the conversation back up, Strange also blinks rapidly back to focus and remembers right, they're in the middle of a conversation.

"I suppose so? The basic techniques are the same, but our specialties are different. Take Childermass, for example. He does this marvelous spell with shadows that I don't think I'll ever be able to cast. But at the same time, I doubt he'll be able to match anything I do with reflections."

That brings Strange's magic right back around to familiarity. "Then that is not unlike professions of magic in Tyria. You are a much more capable caster if you specialize, rather than attempt to do everything at once." After all, the deeper you understood a particular form of magic, the more flexible and grandiose you could be with it.

"But I suppose less clearly defined... if the magic has changed so much that older practices do now work, then you really are nurturing a new growth from the start. That's fascinating."

Strange just soaks in that flattery. A capable caster? Nurturing a new growth of magic? Well, don't mind him as he just indulges in a moment of preening. However, that moment is just that, a moment, before he admits something to Syrlya.

"I hope I'm nurturing a new growth," said with utmost honesty. "English magic is too much a part of my home for it to stop with the handful of magicians we currently have."

If Strange had his way? Anyone who would want to use magic should be able to.

"Magic is power. That alone means that it will survive... provided some mystical force does not take it all away again, of course."

Doesn't sound like there's a lot they can do about that.

"At least for England, the Raven King's got to show back up again if he wishes to take away English magic. He's the only mystical force capable of reshaping the world to that extent which I know of."

There's a yearning in Strange's tone of voice as he mentions the Raven King. Obviously he wouldn't want his magic to vanish, but the idea of meeting, of even catching a glimpse of the Raven King is tantalizing.

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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