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Don't worry too much about Acts, New Jersey. I'm putting the puzzle together and seeing what I've missed + what needs revision.

First I have to finish Dictates. Then a rewrite of Mandates. All the while adding in a slow chapter here and there of Mantle. Don't tell him, but I'm starting to miss Kha a bit. He was too ornery for my taste and I let myself get sidetracked :-)  THEN I'll have distance and will be able to do a viscious rewrite of Acts. That will get it to a state I'll consider (possibly) ready to publish.

I just need a month of uninterrupted computer time and I could do all of that. Bit too much to ask, but I know I could make that deadline. Eh, I need to sleep too. Maybe two months...

Approx 24 hrs to close a wound. 3 days for infection to set in. Busy ally temps before wound edges get all nappy.

Suggestion: make roman vs new Beth ships the same size start with the same letter. Flotilla and Force. Squadron and Synchrony (you get the idea) that way, the reader can easily parallel the two.

Norm. I'm on the same page. Never understood Raymond either.  Just a lot of characters I don't like running around and talking to each other.

Norm, you're part of the family. Forever.

Haven't laughed that hard in too long. If K writes something snarky, then he's just jealous that you said it first.

Imagine that a new Mage has never put a cap on how much energy he can absorb. Liken it to a car battery, which can only hold so much of a charge. New mages continue to charge themselves, bloat, and then over-saturate. Like the car battery, they get a trickle charge and are absorbing/recharging all the time. Boom.

The staff is like a fuse that is also a plug into the ground. It regulates how much power a Mage uses to recharge. Overload it and it can explode too. (Like when a Mage taps into the matrix)

The matrix is composed of ley lines that flow near or within flowing water. Imagine that regular ground carries a charge like NJC said. The Matrix is like copper wiring and carries a heavier wallop of magical power. Another example is the difference between humidity and sticking your toe in a river. A mage's matrix can be quantified by seeing the discharge and pattern of magic in the nerves if the eyeball.

When a Mage grounds, they connect to the earth and a well of potential power. Each Mage has a reserve carried within them. Once they ground, they can cast spells and replenish their reserve each time. The problem is that the reserve can only handle a certain charge without residual heat and tissue damage.

For example, the motor of your mixer wouldn't power an air conditioner. This doesn't mean the mixer couldn't try. Each Mage can perform a Hail Mary and burn down the house. This could leave them disabled or dead. Or fizzle and do nothing.  This is why new mages explode if they don't learn to ground or accidentally over-reach with a powerful spell.

What Kha did with his thesis was discover that he could rank a mage's ability by watching for changes in the growing mage's reserve. Then he ranked the power of each spell so the new Mage would know what class of spells were safe to learn. Everybody scoffed until his students advanced quicker and (more importantly) didn't blow up. He also gave count limits so that each Mage knew how many spells were safe to cast in a row without taking overload damage.

Anver is second generation. He was raised within Kha's school. He has never overloaded or damaged his matrix. That's one thing that makes him so powerful.

Katerin was made into a Mage. She was forced into a mold of Alina's matrix and survived the experience. She never had a matrix. Instead, all her magic was carried within her wand like a battery. Once gone, the wand has to be recharged by proximity to Alina. Alina used the heartwood of her staff for her personal use. Everybody else has sapwood for their wands. In my story when Alina dies, katerin takes her mistress' wand and then manifests. The stress of being near the duel makes Katerin's matrix evolve into true Mage status.

Essentially, I used electricity as a template. But magic has slightly different rules because...well, because it is magic.

I am so going to use this in my pseudoscience re Acts and Dictates. (Steals and copy/pastes material)

Norm, easy way to remember is that volts are like a waterfall. They are the angle that water descends in a waterfall (so you can have a trickle of water going over a steep slope). Amps are the force of the current. I.E. You can have a lot of water traveling fast through a channel as opposed to the same water going across a wide river. One will sweep you off your feet and drown you. The other allows you to swim across without effort.

This is why they have the term, 'all volts and no amps' re people being smart. Or is it the other way around?

Proof that there is nothing more valuable than an old book. Thanks for pointing this out to me!

A

Oh, and I cut a thousand words already. I'm below at 7266 right now.