Would be skill based... sorry tired and sick frown

Isn't there some bit called The Ways coming in this year? I don't really know any details in the slightest as to what they actually are, but it does give me the sense that they're like the Ranger Transit System, except with moongates.

I came up with a similar idea with Crystallize Moonbeam... though that's closer to Rangers creating their own trails and showing it to another Ranger. (Come to think of it, that's exactly what it is. Is this my curse for having a Ranger heart and playing a Moon Mage? =P)

Directly responding, though -- don't know anything about Grazhir shards (sounds cool) -- are you suggesting that, from a predetermined origin location, you can place a beam at a predetermined destination and then operate as normal? If so...

1. Would you have to focus a moonbeam in origin first?
2. If so, how would you move it to the destination? If not... how does that work? (If so, I'd imagine there'd be some kind of device you could focus on and get the same effect as a Locate spell, and then you could Shift.)
3. Assuming a random sample of answers to question 2... Would you need foreknowledge of Shift Moonbeam to do it? I'd say any moonie without Locate is... surprising in the least and any moonie trying to pull this off without Moongate is greedy. =) But Shift (and DG) aren't prereqs for Gate...
4. The natural expansion: Rangers get Personal Trailmarkers, too. Would we get those (eventually)? =D I mean, the idea of creating a beacon and locating it somewhere permanently... drools Teleport home anytime!
5. Why am I awake at this ungodly hour?

If no one fires off some kind of rebuttal to the idea by this weekend, I bet I could work up some kind of document on how it would and should work by Saturday night. =D

-- Rekletiva, Seeker (of a Last Name? =P).

From my understanding, the Grazhir shards work like permanent anchor points. Prep focus moonbeam, cast <moon> <shardname>. Then, go from there.

Also, for the rest of your questions, it's an ability gained at 100th circle, so I would guess that most, if not all people have shift moonbeam by then, if only for lack of options. Unless of course, they simply decide not to take it.

hope that helped

~Curi

* A meteor whistles a merry tune as it skips across the sky as Chakram's soul departs forever to walk the Starry Road.

Announcement: The staff would like you to know that the person responsible for the previous message has been sacked.

<From my understanding, the Grazhir shards work like permanent anchor points. Prep focus moonbeam, cast <moon> <shardname>. Then, go from there.>

Not exactly this way. The ability keeps you from disintegrating when failing a teleport. A failure will send you to the nearest grazhir shard instead. Unfortunately it doesn't save you from a botched moongate.

Player of Cloudcrest

Okay, not much of a document, but I feel like being theoretical for the next half hour.

I'd say that this new ability would have to come after the Grazhir Shards ability. Specifically, it's dependent upon the Grazhir Shards ability. (If this just plain makes it untenable because anyone at that circle can gate anywhere on Elanthia... okay. You may stop reading. <grin>)

===
Theory
===
Note: All commentary on Grazhir shards is pure speculation on my part and not meant to be interpreted as official in any way. Corrections are welcome.

Certain positions are particularly attractive of Tranductive Magic, and thus are capable of drawing a mage teleporting without an anchor to them. These are (what I conceive) the Grazhir shards (as).

Now, one is taught the Grazhir shards ability at 100th circle, and they are therefore beginning as a novice with them. But with some progression, say at 110th or 125th circle, the moon mage is then capable of actively using the shards, rather than using them merely as a failsafe.

A Grazhir shard is essentially a permanent moonbeam. It's always there. It is at 100th circle that you are capable of harnessing its nature so that, in the midst of teleporting to a non-existent beam, you catch ahold of the nearest Grazhir beam and fling yourself there, instead.

At a later point, you become capable of detecting it. And at that point, the Grazhir beam becomes just another beam, your ability to sense it determined by distance and Power Perception. And when you can sense it, you are capable of attempting a moongate to it. (Attempting, because you can still fail due to a lack of mana or something, I'd imagine.)

So essentially, given the ability to sense the Shards and the skill to craft a moongate to them, you can gate from anywhere to any shard. This, of course, takes a lot to pull off, but after 100+, I'd imagine the stretch is not too much.

===
Secondary Theory
===

Dyten's idea wasn't simply to have established anchor points, though... it was also to have established origin points, too.

To this, the answer is necessarily something far more basic. You would need objects with spell matrices equivalent or similar to the one on the stone turtle attached that you could focus on, feed mana to, and open a brief gate for. They'd have to be well-located, too.

===
Practice
===

One necessity is that it wouldn't be solely skill-based. There are various reasons for this.

The Rangers' RTS is skill-based in that it makes sense for it to be. It takes an amount of skill to find the trailhead, and an amount of skill to successfully follow it all the way.

This Shard system, however, is not skill-based. You don't know anything about the shards until you're taught them. I would guess that the spell matrix dwelling on the shards are too difficult for anyone under 100th circle, which is why it's a circle-based ability.

Necessarily, therefore, it is not your skill per se, but your skill as augmented by special knowledge. Knowledge granted upon sufficient promotion in the guild. Circles.

Also consider: Rangers have a lot of trails to work with, yet this makes sense, because there's a lot of nature for them to have trails in. Moon Mages have three moons and one ex-moon. On the other hand, MMs can shift, then teleport/gate anyone virtually anywhere under the sky, whereas Rangers can only follow a person; they can't bring anyone to them. Not the best balancing argument, but I suck at balancing guilds anyway. =P

And I am hereby out of steam.

At this point, with the advent of the Ways, I think we're more or less talking about a moot point... =)