The Minds of Almantha

[Landis963]

Okay. I like this. Although it does make me think that a dry desert would logically be a magical dead zone. The Atacama Desert has been virtually rain-free for 100k years, and there is so little water and/or wind or anything that even bacteria can't live there. You may recall this from an excellent Top Gear episode if you check BBC America at all. So there could be places in the world where magic just...doesn't work. No leylines at all. No wind. No water. No volcanism. No plantlife (or very very little).

British TV's always great. That actually makes sense, although I think Alabas became a desert over time. Or maybe in some great catastrophe, triggered either by some Almanthan saboteur, an overzealous rebel, or a reckless member of the noble forces. Maybe... A supervolcanic eruption?

So, the Artificial Nexus orbiting the moon keeps magic flowing to Alabas? Or did it's using Solar power burn out the Magic in the users in Alabas. Since the Minds rebelled and used other Nexi, they never used the solar one, and so never burned out. Maybe Arrusif is trying to gain control of that one, and his undead state renders him uniquely able to use the Artificial Nexus without threat of burnout. Or the Solar Nexus itself was put up there, not by Alabas, but by the Minds, Arrusif specifically. The Solar Power can't be used by mortals, and so it basically screws with Non-Mind-Nexus derived magics. Anyone trying to work magic outside the Mind's sphere of influence can't do it anymore.

Just some thoughts.

The point of the Artificial Moon was to project energy to Alabas, yes. However, it quickly became apparent that far too much energy went into keeping it pointed at Alabas, and it fell into a stable orbit after they stopped meddling. It is, however, an invention of Alabas, specifically as an improvement on the original design.

I'll have to think a bit more on how solar-energy magic differs from normal magic, though.