Ah yes, the programmer's dilemma: Which is more important, deadlines or proper code?
And why do I feel like the highlighted glyph is important?
the casual linguist in me wonders what the highlighted glyph was originally supposed to look like (not that I expect Ambarrgh had a full language in mind....).
I suppose peer-review isn't really Aliph's cup of tea, is it.
I love seeing the intricacies of magic at work like this but explained like its a regular and common thing people do everyday because it is in their world. I like the idea of someone complaining about their floating glowing crystals glowing blue instead of red or a spell that was supposed to emulate fireworks just shoots off white light instead.
I guess I just love looking at the science of magic at work in an almost everyday setting.
If you're going to look at magic the way computer programming is in our world, does that make Aliph a magic nerd?
Lesse, he has glasses, is reclusive, and is single-mindedly focused on one thing.
I'd say yes.
ah magic.. where a misspelling can cause a literal mis-spell.
QuoteBad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Yabi was cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)
Quote from: HaDDea on March 16, 2015, 02:44:18 AM
I suppose peer-review isn't really Aliph's cup of tea, is it.
He's the sort who considers that he doesn't
have any peers.
Be careful what you Wish for.
Could be a whole lot worse. Aliph would have been an absolute natural in the Bartimaeus universe. ALL the magicians there are ambition-mad toads that'd sell their mother out for materials to summon a few more imps.
They draw all their magic power from summoned elementals, which they chain to Earth and use as both direct slaves and as mana batteries. However, the summoning and binding rituals have to be done with EXACTING care.
One missing 't cross' and the summoned elemental gets loose. The first thing they do? Assume some material form just long enough to eat the magician. They quite enjoy it. The magician, needless to say, does not. Then they go right back to the plane they got yanked out of.
Aliph probably wouldn't have lasted all that long. ^.^