Falling With Style
04-14-08, 02:32 PM
Name: Alcyone -- pronounced "Al-see-uh-nee"
Age: 22
Race: Human
Hair Color: Rusty brown
Eye Color: …rusty-brown, dilated pupil. The visible one, at least.
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 120 lb.
Occupation: Astromancer, Freelancer, Adventurer, Navigator
Personality:
Often times you’ll find spellcasters whose personality runs counter to their chosen field. There’s no hard and fast rule that says a geomancer must be stodgy and unwavering, or all pyromancers actively seek flammable targets to burn and cackle madly while causing maximum destruction. In fact, chances are in the modern world most wizards or sorcerers simply opt for the pragmatic option: whatever works best.
Alcyone is not one of them. Her head takes permanent residence out in space and very rarely is she seen to focus on the task at hand. Like a star, though, there is a real and tangible force churning at her core, and it’s the drive to prove herself. Not many have heard of astromancy, and many dismiss the eccentric woman as just another flyaway wizard.
This would be a mistake. That nuclear pressure to excel and let others know it only gets held in check by the gravity of common sense, and only barely at that. While her personality is considerably less than pyrotechnic, many find out the hard way that she hates having her skills disparaged.
These are merely guidelines for young Alcyone, though. In truth, she’s a blank slate that’s been sheltered most of her life, with a few colors of chalk thrown in to season. More than anything, it’ll be her experiences that shape this young lady into what she ultimately becomes. In short: time will tell.
Appearance:
Alcyone plays the “eccentric wizard” shtick to the hilt. Her rust-colored hair falls loosely down to her collar, obscuring the left half of her face. The one visible eye, somewhat shadowed by the bent travel hat she wears constantly, glitters an uncannily red shade of brown, almost matching her hair. The nose and mouth are thin, usually grinning as if remembering some lunatic joke from last week.
Her clothing, beyond the hat, clings loosely to her skinny form, overflowing with trinkets and devices for the study of the heavens and supported primarily through a huge leather belt hanging haphazardly off her thin hips. The outfit emphasizes function more than form, being lightweight and sturdy, a mix of slate gray and tanned leathers and linens.
Alcyone has one final article of clothing she’s quite proud of: her goggles. She paid a decent few gold for an Alerian engineer to craft them for her, and unlike most goggle-wearers whose headwear never leaves the forehead, Alcyone employs hers regularly when she flies. After all, wind in the eyes could prove fatal when you have to keep scribbling your flight plan as you go.
History:
As a student of magic, under the tutelage of a prestigious Fallienese academy, the young woman who would take the name “Alcyone” wanted larger and better things than the mundane studies of the elements. Geomancers were boring, and pyromancers too single-minded. Hydromancers, the load of serene twits, had absolutely no concept of fun, always sitting around their little ponds turning water into ice or some nonsense like that. In truth, she felt closest to the aeromancers, the students of the sky. That branch of study, unlike the others, came closest to being truly enjoyable. The way the aeromancers gallivanted about the sky on conjured thermals stirred something in the young woman.
Her actual attempts at aeromancy, though, were pitiful at best. While the true aeromancers could summon up great whirling elementals of wind and dust, billowing clouds to lift them skyward, this young woman’s feet remained thoroughly, disappointingly grounded. These futile efforts earned her the mocking title of “Froggy,” the animal that jumps but can’t fly, implying she’d be better off among the regular wizards or, heaven forbid, the grubby geomancers. She grew to rather resent those aeromancers, haughty bunch of windbags, and resignedly continued her studies in standard sorcery. Any idiot could fire off a magic missile or cast such basic cantrips as that, but she wanted to do something beyond the ordinary, something she could be proud of. Secretly, “Froggy” threw herself into the studies of exotic magics, quintessence, invisible energies and the sky above.
So it was that day when the aeromancers were holding session, a novice swooped down upon a wump of hot air, knocking her playfully around. Retaliation came quickly – she made a small charcoal dash on the parchment she carried, and fell upwards to meet him. The surprised aeromancers all turned around at once – here was Froggy, hovering easily as they, without any thermals or clouds to support her.
“I’ll give you froggy,” she grinned, retrieving a stolen scroll from her pack…
Probation at schools of magic lasts longer than the books make it out to, especially if you’re not some kind of lightning-headed freak or his delinquent posse. When half the school’s novice aeromancy class was found hopping around the edge of the pond catching flies, Froggy herself thus earned an epic punishment. Hurled into her tower by an enraged master aeromancer, the lock clicked behind her and would not budge for six months.
It was totally worth it, though.
At the end of the semester –getting off easy is for buddies of the headmaster and that’s it- a strange professor came to visit. The wizened old man sported robes black as night, but instead of the nasty skull motif of the necromancy department, his looked like he’d worn it while brushing his teeth. The black robe was dotted with tiny silver flecks, and occasionally one would seem to sparkle in the corner of her eye. The old man explained himself as a practitioner of the highest element, something above even the aeromancer’s limited scope. He talked of telescopes and stars, the movements of planets and the great empty blackness of fire and cold. It was an ancient art, and a secret one, an art that her little prank showed she had some talent in.
Froggy was hooked. She moved across the castle to the highest tower, where goggle-eyed old masters taught the art of astromancy. Her power expanded significantly, and soon she was flying higher and faster than the aeromancers themselves. On the occasion of her first full meteor shower, performed upon a partial lunar eclipse, the wizened professor awarded her the traditional new name, a name taken from the very stars she drew power from.
Alcyone.
Thus rechristened, Alcyone –or “Alcie” to her peers- set out upon the traditional sojourn that generations of astromancers had undertaken over the years. She was to travel and learn about the world, surviving on her own before returning within a year’s time to the academy at Fallien’s outskirts. Helpfully, or unhelpfully depending on how you look at it, they provided her with a list of her labors.
Skills:
Astromancy – Average: The practice of astromancy revolves around the nature of the universe itself, primarily concerning itself with gravity. Through astromancy, it’s certainly possible to replicate the effects of more conventional magics (the ever-popular Death From Afar wizard shtick, for example) but you have to be a bit more creative about it. Astromancy requires a solid grasp of the motions of the planets and the locations of the stars, and preparation is key to its execution. Alcyone has to draw diagrams of either the stars or a map of the solar system in order to use most spells, and the materials used will alter the result.
Voracious Reader: Being around magic signs and sigils so much, she’s learned to read most strange and magical languages such as runes, pictograms, hieroglyphs, and any sort of star chart.
-- Astro-Navigation: Students of astromancy are first taught the importance of knowing where you are. It helps to put things in perspective. This means that Alcyone is not only skilled with a telescope, she can tell the positions of stars by memory, navigate either by stars or by the planet’s native magnetic field, and the phase of the moon.
Melee Combat – Below Average: Alcyone has a wizard’s staff, and can hit or trip people with it. That’s about the extent of her expertise, as she leans heavily on her magic.
Clever: As a wizard, and one that has to instantly plot orbital trajectories and diagrams and run though difficult calculations in her head, Alcyone has a lot of mental horsepower. How well this translates into real life remains to be seen.
Specific Spells:
-- Freefall:
“This isn’t flying. It’s falling…with style!”
~ Probably some astromancer, RIP
Her prized cantrip allows Alcyone to replicate the effect of flight by altering the direction of gravity’s pull upon herself. It’s thus not “true” flight, she simply falls in the intended direction, being up, left, down, you name it. As such, her maximum speed is limited solely by terminal velocity – of course, Alcyone more than anyone knows that the “terminal” part isn’t just for show. In theory, it would be possibly to cap out at 120mph with outstretched limbs, and push it up to nearly 200mph as a cannonball.
Of course in practice, there’s no way in hell she’d ever allow herself to go that fast. In fact, right now she literally can't will herself to go past 100mph even curled up - even that's entirely too dangerous for her. It's because Freefall, just like any of her other spells, requires a physics diagram and she can’t very well write if the parchment tears free from her grasp. For this reason, and the fact that it’s very difficult to control, she limits herself to no more than thirty miles per hour most of the time, and a small hovering motion about fifteen miles per hour when low to the ground. Tripping and falling sucks.
Currently, Alcyone can only use this spell upon herself, or external objects no larger than a baseball as a sort of makeshift projectile. Since the object is actually falling, it starts from a dead stop and accelerates outward at 18 feet per second squared, or five and a half meters per second squared if you're metrically inclined. Why it doesn't operate like normal freefall at 32 ft/sec^2 is a mystery Alcyone hasn't figured out yet. Still, this means that damage increases with distance, and from far enough away this could hurt. Alcyone does not have the skill to control this in flight, so it's line of sight only.
-- Bend Light (Basic)
Just as gravity can affect the trajectory of an object, it can also alter the direction of light. To use this spell, Alcyone must draw a diagram of the ray she intends to affect on the ground, with all associated angles and lines. This spell works rather like a telescope, and there's only so much light she can "collect," or bend, at once. Currently, it is limited to the amount of light able to pass through a magnifying glass six inches in diameter.
- Presently, she can only affect the direction of the light by 45 degrees, and can disperse or narrow its beam to a five-foot cone or a pinhead, respectively. This spell only works on light generated by stars, sun and moonlight obviously included. She cannot brighten or dim the light substantially.
-- Meteor (Basic):
Drawing a map of the solar system on the ground, Alcyone plots a course from the system’s far reaches to Althanas’ atmosphere. Depending on the orbital trajectory depicted, the meteor(s) can arrive in years or as early as four posts (four minutes, I think is how it works). Presently, however, they’re good for little more than a pretty show in the sky, as the meteors generated are so small they simply disintegrate upon entry.
From the very few that have made it to earth, Alcyone has learned a lot about the nature of this spell. Primarily, the composition of the meteors depends on what materials with which the orbital trajectory was drawn. Metals will produce more iron-rich meteors, just as drawing it in water will make them mostly ice, and so on. This may not be useful right now, but could prove interesting with some work.
Obviously, this is of little use while underground.
-- Clockwork Universe (Passive) - Lesser: The universe moves in regular cycles, where its revolving planets and regular orbits make astronomical events not only regular, but predictable. The nature of astromancy being what it is, Alcyone gains a boost in ley energy during any astronomical event. The most common type is, of course, a full moon, happening once a month like clockwork, but other events such as solstices, equinoxes, eclipses and the appearance of foreign bodies in the sky can also power her magics.
The rarer an event is, the more energy it radiates, meaning a full moon is a relatively minor increase in power while a faraway supernova could have, well, astronomical results. Right now, with Alcyone a fledgling in her career, such a boost in ley energy can have very unpredictable, likely even dangerous results, and a spell under the influence of strong astronomical events tend towards the antipodes: either it succeeds wildly, or -and rather likely- fails spectacularly. It's up to Alcyone's good judgment in any case.
-- Gravity Pummel - Basic: This spell is unrefined, an invention of Alcyone's own. It works by minutely stretching the space before her backwards, then releasing it, generating a small wave of force as space itself snaps back into place. As it's only in the conceptual stage, the force generated only hits with the impact of an average man's punch, and drains a significant amount of energy from Alcyone to perform.
It is, however, useful in that it's her only spell which doesn't require a physics diagram, operating solely on force of will. This limits it to once every five of her posts, with a minimum cooldown of two of her posts. Finally, it's exceptionally short ranged, extending barely farther than her outstretched arm. It requires a somatic gesture, generally a punch or open palm thrust or the equivalent.
Equipment:
-- Inscribed Pack: As astromancers tend to carry a lot of equipment around with them, they have crafted a special backpack in order to accommodate this. This is a simple leather backpack used by any and all travelers, except for an inscription upon the leather depicting a static body with the Weight force considerably lessened. This pack holds as much as a standard backpack, but no matter what is put into it only weighs up to twenty-five pounds, heavy for a skinny wizard but not totally unmanageable.
-- Astronomer’s Gear: Alcyone has with her a collapsible brass telescope, a small orrery, an astrolabe, and various other paraphernalia for gazing at the heavens. This includes many, many rolled up parchments, a pen and ink, and some charcoal pencils for record keeping.
-- Plain Wizard’s Robe: As an extra change of clothes, Alcyone still has her wizard’s robe tucked inside the bag. As befits a novice, this linen robe is of faded greens and browns, an entirely generic vestment so her specialization isn’t immediately obvious.
-- Airshipman’s Goggles: These goggles, of Alerian make, serve her well when flying (falling) by keeping the wind out of her eyes. They have no special functions save protecting her eyes from wind and moderate damage.
-- Lesser Astromancer's Staff: This is a plain oak wizard's staff which is slightly thicker at the base, where a tightly wrapped bit of leather conceals three short brass legs which can be folded down and turn the staff into a tripod. The top third unscrews and can be replaced with her brass telescope or astrolabe. It has no magical properties, but is lightweight enough to serve as a fine walking stick.
Familiar: Alcyone has no familiar yet, and part of her training is to acquire one before she returns.
Age: 22
Race: Human
Hair Color: Rusty brown
Eye Color: …rusty-brown, dilated pupil. The visible one, at least.
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 120 lb.
Occupation: Astromancer, Freelancer, Adventurer, Navigator
Personality:
Often times you’ll find spellcasters whose personality runs counter to their chosen field. There’s no hard and fast rule that says a geomancer must be stodgy and unwavering, or all pyromancers actively seek flammable targets to burn and cackle madly while causing maximum destruction. In fact, chances are in the modern world most wizards or sorcerers simply opt for the pragmatic option: whatever works best.
Alcyone is not one of them. Her head takes permanent residence out in space and very rarely is she seen to focus on the task at hand. Like a star, though, there is a real and tangible force churning at her core, and it’s the drive to prove herself. Not many have heard of astromancy, and many dismiss the eccentric woman as just another flyaway wizard.
This would be a mistake. That nuclear pressure to excel and let others know it only gets held in check by the gravity of common sense, and only barely at that. While her personality is considerably less than pyrotechnic, many find out the hard way that she hates having her skills disparaged.
These are merely guidelines for young Alcyone, though. In truth, she’s a blank slate that’s been sheltered most of her life, with a few colors of chalk thrown in to season. More than anything, it’ll be her experiences that shape this young lady into what she ultimately becomes. In short: time will tell.
Appearance:
Alcyone plays the “eccentric wizard” shtick to the hilt. Her rust-colored hair falls loosely down to her collar, obscuring the left half of her face. The one visible eye, somewhat shadowed by the bent travel hat she wears constantly, glitters an uncannily red shade of brown, almost matching her hair. The nose and mouth are thin, usually grinning as if remembering some lunatic joke from last week.
Her clothing, beyond the hat, clings loosely to her skinny form, overflowing with trinkets and devices for the study of the heavens and supported primarily through a huge leather belt hanging haphazardly off her thin hips. The outfit emphasizes function more than form, being lightweight and sturdy, a mix of slate gray and tanned leathers and linens.
Alcyone has one final article of clothing she’s quite proud of: her goggles. She paid a decent few gold for an Alerian engineer to craft them for her, and unlike most goggle-wearers whose headwear never leaves the forehead, Alcyone employs hers regularly when she flies. After all, wind in the eyes could prove fatal when you have to keep scribbling your flight plan as you go.
History:
As a student of magic, under the tutelage of a prestigious Fallienese academy, the young woman who would take the name “Alcyone” wanted larger and better things than the mundane studies of the elements. Geomancers were boring, and pyromancers too single-minded. Hydromancers, the load of serene twits, had absolutely no concept of fun, always sitting around their little ponds turning water into ice or some nonsense like that. In truth, she felt closest to the aeromancers, the students of the sky. That branch of study, unlike the others, came closest to being truly enjoyable. The way the aeromancers gallivanted about the sky on conjured thermals stirred something in the young woman.
Her actual attempts at aeromancy, though, were pitiful at best. While the true aeromancers could summon up great whirling elementals of wind and dust, billowing clouds to lift them skyward, this young woman’s feet remained thoroughly, disappointingly grounded. These futile efforts earned her the mocking title of “Froggy,” the animal that jumps but can’t fly, implying she’d be better off among the regular wizards or, heaven forbid, the grubby geomancers. She grew to rather resent those aeromancers, haughty bunch of windbags, and resignedly continued her studies in standard sorcery. Any idiot could fire off a magic missile or cast such basic cantrips as that, but she wanted to do something beyond the ordinary, something she could be proud of. Secretly, “Froggy” threw herself into the studies of exotic magics, quintessence, invisible energies and the sky above.
So it was that day when the aeromancers were holding session, a novice swooped down upon a wump of hot air, knocking her playfully around. Retaliation came quickly – she made a small charcoal dash on the parchment she carried, and fell upwards to meet him. The surprised aeromancers all turned around at once – here was Froggy, hovering easily as they, without any thermals or clouds to support her.
“I’ll give you froggy,” she grinned, retrieving a stolen scroll from her pack…
Probation at schools of magic lasts longer than the books make it out to, especially if you’re not some kind of lightning-headed freak or his delinquent posse. When half the school’s novice aeromancy class was found hopping around the edge of the pond catching flies, Froggy herself thus earned an epic punishment. Hurled into her tower by an enraged master aeromancer, the lock clicked behind her and would not budge for six months.
It was totally worth it, though.
At the end of the semester –getting off easy is for buddies of the headmaster and that’s it- a strange professor came to visit. The wizened old man sported robes black as night, but instead of the nasty skull motif of the necromancy department, his looked like he’d worn it while brushing his teeth. The black robe was dotted with tiny silver flecks, and occasionally one would seem to sparkle in the corner of her eye. The old man explained himself as a practitioner of the highest element, something above even the aeromancer’s limited scope. He talked of telescopes and stars, the movements of planets and the great empty blackness of fire and cold. It was an ancient art, and a secret one, an art that her little prank showed she had some talent in.
Froggy was hooked. She moved across the castle to the highest tower, where goggle-eyed old masters taught the art of astromancy. Her power expanded significantly, and soon she was flying higher and faster than the aeromancers themselves. On the occasion of her first full meteor shower, performed upon a partial lunar eclipse, the wizened professor awarded her the traditional new name, a name taken from the very stars she drew power from.
Alcyone.
Thus rechristened, Alcyone –or “Alcie” to her peers- set out upon the traditional sojourn that generations of astromancers had undertaken over the years. She was to travel and learn about the world, surviving on her own before returning within a year’s time to the academy at Fallien’s outskirts. Helpfully, or unhelpfully depending on how you look at it, they provided her with a list of her labors.
Skills:
Astromancy – Average: The practice of astromancy revolves around the nature of the universe itself, primarily concerning itself with gravity. Through astromancy, it’s certainly possible to replicate the effects of more conventional magics (the ever-popular Death From Afar wizard shtick, for example) but you have to be a bit more creative about it. Astromancy requires a solid grasp of the motions of the planets and the locations of the stars, and preparation is key to its execution. Alcyone has to draw diagrams of either the stars or a map of the solar system in order to use most spells, and the materials used will alter the result.
Voracious Reader: Being around magic signs and sigils so much, she’s learned to read most strange and magical languages such as runes, pictograms, hieroglyphs, and any sort of star chart.
-- Astro-Navigation: Students of astromancy are first taught the importance of knowing where you are. It helps to put things in perspective. This means that Alcyone is not only skilled with a telescope, she can tell the positions of stars by memory, navigate either by stars or by the planet’s native magnetic field, and the phase of the moon.
Melee Combat – Below Average: Alcyone has a wizard’s staff, and can hit or trip people with it. That’s about the extent of her expertise, as she leans heavily on her magic.
Clever: As a wizard, and one that has to instantly plot orbital trajectories and diagrams and run though difficult calculations in her head, Alcyone has a lot of mental horsepower. How well this translates into real life remains to be seen.
Specific Spells:
-- Freefall:
“This isn’t flying. It’s falling…with style!”
~ Probably some astromancer, RIP
Her prized cantrip allows Alcyone to replicate the effect of flight by altering the direction of gravity’s pull upon herself. It’s thus not “true” flight, she simply falls in the intended direction, being up, left, down, you name it. As such, her maximum speed is limited solely by terminal velocity – of course, Alcyone more than anyone knows that the “terminal” part isn’t just for show. In theory, it would be possibly to cap out at 120mph with outstretched limbs, and push it up to nearly 200mph as a cannonball.
Of course in practice, there’s no way in hell she’d ever allow herself to go that fast. In fact, right now she literally can't will herself to go past 100mph even curled up - even that's entirely too dangerous for her. It's because Freefall, just like any of her other spells, requires a physics diagram and she can’t very well write if the parchment tears free from her grasp. For this reason, and the fact that it’s very difficult to control, she limits herself to no more than thirty miles per hour most of the time, and a small hovering motion about fifteen miles per hour when low to the ground. Tripping and falling sucks.
Currently, Alcyone can only use this spell upon herself, or external objects no larger than a baseball as a sort of makeshift projectile. Since the object is actually falling, it starts from a dead stop and accelerates outward at 18 feet per second squared, or five and a half meters per second squared if you're metrically inclined. Why it doesn't operate like normal freefall at 32 ft/sec^2 is a mystery Alcyone hasn't figured out yet. Still, this means that damage increases with distance, and from far enough away this could hurt. Alcyone does not have the skill to control this in flight, so it's line of sight only.
-- Bend Light (Basic)
Just as gravity can affect the trajectory of an object, it can also alter the direction of light. To use this spell, Alcyone must draw a diagram of the ray she intends to affect on the ground, with all associated angles and lines. This spell works rather like a telescope, and there's only so much light she can "collect," or bend, at once. Currently, it is limited to the amount of light able to pass through a magnifying glass six inches in diameter.
- Presently, she can only affect the direction of the light by 45 degrees, and can disperse or narrow its beam to a five-foot cone or a pinhead, respectively. This spell only works on light generated by stars, sun and moonlight obviously included. She cannot brighten or dim the light substantially.
-- Meteor (Basic):
Drawing a map of the solar system on the ground, Alcyone plots a course from the system’s far reaches to Althanas’ atmosphere. Depending on the orbital trajectory depicted, the meteor(s) can arrive in years or as early as four posts (four minutes, I think is how it works). Presently, however, they’re good for little more than a pretty show in the sky, as the meteors generated are so small they simply disintegrate upon entry.
From the very few that have made it to earth, Alcyone has learned a lot about the nature of this spell. Primarily, the composition of the meteors depends on what materials with which the orbital trajectory was drawn. Metals will produce more iron-rich meteors, just as drawing it in water will make them mostly ice, and so on. This may not be useful right now, but could prove interesting with some work.
Obviously, this is of little use while underground.
-- Clockwork Universe (Passive) - Lesser: The universe moves in regular cycles, where its revolving planets and regular orbits make astronomical events not only regular, but predictable. The nature of astromancy being what it is, Alcyone gains a boost in ley energy during any astronomical event. The most common type is, of course, a full moon, happening once a month like clockwork, but other events such as solstices, equinoxes, eclipses and the appearance of foreign bodies in the sky can also power her magics.
The rarer an event is, the more energy it radiates, meaning a full moon is a relatively minor increase in power while a faraway supernova could have, well, astronomical results. Right now, with Alcyone a fledgling in her career, such a boost in ley energy can have very unpredictable, likely even dangerous results, and a spell under the influence of strong astronomical events tend towards the antipodes: either it succeeds wildly, or -and rather likely- fails spectacularly. It's up to Alcyone's good judgment in any case.
-- Gravity Pummel - Basic: This spell is unrefined, an invention of Alcyone's own. It works by minutely stretching the space before her backwards, then releasing it, generating a small wave of force as space itself snaps back into place. As it's only in the conceptual stage, the force generated only hits with the impact of an average man's punch, and drains a significant amount of energy from Alcyone to perform.
It is, however, useful in that it's her only spell which doesn't require a physics diagram, operating solely on force of will. This limits it to once every five of her posts, with a minimum cooldown of two of her posts. Finally, it's exceptionally short ranged, extending barely farther than her outstretched arm. It requires a somatic gesture, generally a punch or open palm thrust or the equivalent.
Equipment:
-- Inscribed Pack: As astromancers tend to carry a lot of equipment around with them, they have crafted a special backpack in order to accommodate this. This is a simple leather backpack used by any and all travelers, except for an inscription upon the leather depicting a static body with the Weight force considerably lessened. This pack holds as much as a standard backpack, but no matter what is put into it only weighs up to twenty-five pounds, heavy for a skinny wizard but not totally unmanageable.
-- Astronomer’s Gear: Alcyone has with her a collapsible brass telescope, a small orrery, an astrolabe, and various other paraphernalia for gazing at the heavens. This includes many, many rolled up parchments, a pen and ink, and some charcoal pencils for record keeping.
-- Plain Wizard’s Robe: As an extra change of clothes, Alcyone still has her wizard’s robe tucked inside the bag. As befits a novice, this linen robe is of faded greens and browns, an entirely generic vestment so her specialization isn’t immediately obvious.
-- Airshipman’s Goggles: These goggles, of Alerian make, serve her well when flying (falling) by keeping the wind out of her eyes. They have no special functions save protecting her eyes from wind and moderate damage.
-- Lesser Astromancer's Staff: This is a plain oak wizard's staff which is slightly thicker at the base, where a tightly wrapped bit of leather conceals three short brass legs which can be folded down and turn the staff into a tripod. The top third unscrews and can be replaced with her brass telescope or astrolabe. It has no magical properties, but is lightweight enough to serve as a fine walking stick.
Familiar: Alcyone has no familiar yet, and part of her training is to acquire one before she returns.