Arcanists and their spells

[Wolfandre]

Actually, it's mentioned in the blm and whm quests and lore that they are unique for using the aether of the land (hence the destruction wrought by the war of the magi.) So, by exclusion, we can see arcanists use their own aether.

Yes, but I had said Thaumaturge and Conjurer, not Black Mage and White Mage. Granted, conjurers don't traditionally use personal aether, but it is shown that it is possible through the conjurer quest line.

snip with a quote from the receptionist

That is actually a bit out of context, given the subject of arcanist spells. Arcanists use their spells to manipulate the aether in their targets bodies to enfeeble and enhance.

However, given how vague her wording is, one could argue that she meant it either way. *shrug*

[Catapult]

So, it turns out we've talked about this once before. Back then, I came up with this interpretation, which I guess is worth revisiting.

Conjury is the magic of nature. It weaves the aether of nature to manipulate nature, thus making it dependant upon an understanding of nature and its elemental guardians. Earth is uplifted, air is moved and water is gathered. Curing magic re-forms the body to close wounds (enhanced in WHM). It is the magic of motion.

Thaumaturgy is the magic of raw energy. It draws forth the aether of one's own wellspring and by regulating their aether in the astral and umbral polarities, are able to channel the latent aether of the world (and void - BLM) through themselves and into an expression of energy. This takes the form of electrical currents, burning heat, or the icy absence there of.

Arcanima is the magic of matter-alteration. Through the use of symbols, they apply aether to transform the environment around them. This can inflict disease and slowly tear at a victim's biology. It can also cause the aether around them to transform into an entity that bears the consciousness of aether (much like how a primal is summoned but on a smaller scale) and bind it to their will. This bears a greater similarity to ancient Allagan techniques, which may have persisted in Nym and the Southern Island areas in isolation from the Black/White advancements of mainland Eorzea.

Motion, Energy and Matter. Three ways of manipulating aether, all with very different results.

I kind of haven't changed my perspective much and I think it fits with a number of other theories. I particularly like Darske's contribution regarding fractals.

[Urthdigger]

Yes, but I had said Thaumaturge and Conjurer, not Black Mage and White Mage. Granted, conjurers don't traditionally use personal aether, but it is shown that it is possible through the conjurer quest

My comment was unrelated to conjurer/thaumaturge. Rather, it was stated that blm/whm are forbidden because they draw aether from the land, and caused an umbral era by their overuse. Given that those two jobs are noteworthy for that, I find it likely that all other classes use personal aether for most of their power.

[Wadoka]

Given that those two jobs are noteworthy for that, I find it likely that all other classes use personal aether for most of their power.

Tricky, that.

Though we've seen from the example of Sylphie and Sylphie's mother, that's certainly possible, we've also seen that even a gifted magus doesn't battery enough "personal" Aether to sustain their life processes through extended drawing on their own stored reserves.

Now given, people who can learn the Way of the Arcanist learn Aetherflow, which allows them to store more Aether in their selves (the mouseover for an active Aetherflow reads "Aether is gathering in the body") It's doubtful even a Heroic Arcanist (us) could long survive without extremely careful husbanding of their Aether.

I see the end result of an Arcanist running out of MP, being, a dead Arcanist, sooner or later.

But to offer a counter, I believe Arcanima to be an art of Subtlety as I mentioned above. Arcanist effects are not, for the most part, loud and showy. Through diligent study and careful refinement of formulae, the Arcanist has learned to generate maximum effect from minimum inputs.

Imagine, it doesn't take a lot of Aether to start a corruption or corrosion process... all things strive towards maximum disorder already. It only takes the right lever in the right place, to paraphrase Aristotle. Now, going the other way? Curing, Resurrection? That's a walk on the wild side, to fight against Entropy, to convince it to look elsewhere for a bit...

[Wolfandre]

My comment was unrelated to conjurer/thaumaturge. Rather, it was stated that blm/whm are forbidden because they draw aether from the land, and caused an umbral era by their overuse. Given that those two jobs are noteworthy for that, I find it likely that all other classes use personal aether for most of their power.

You cannot assign traits to one class based on the specific details given about a completely different job. That would be like saying that all cats meow and since all other animals don't meow, then they must be dogs.

I won't, however, fight the base line of your argument, since we aren't explicitly told where, exactly, arcanists draw their power from.

[Urthdigger]

You cannot assign traits to one class based on the specific details given about a completely different job. That would be like saying that all cats meow and since all other animals don't meow, then they must be dogs.

I won't, however, fight the base line of your argument, since we aren't explicitly told where, exactly, arcanists draw their power from.

A closer example to what I said would be "Meowing is a defining trait of cats. One can thus assume other animals do not meow." Which is a logical assumption.

[gornotck]

Like many assumptions, it's wrong, though.
Forgot, though, that the ink in arcanists' books is made of blood, though. Blood and precious metals.

[Niwashi]

I think conceptually, Arcanists should be thought of as both having and using far less Aether than either Conjurers or Thaumaturges. The precise equations used to manipulate it allow them to create major effects even from the sort of small energy expenditures that the body can safely handle. (This is how they avoid the dangers Sylphie and her mother ran into trying to use Conjury from personal aether alone, since Conjury requires a greater amount of raw power.)

This isn't fully expressed in the amount of MP we have and use, though. Which could either mean I'm wrong in how I'm thinking of it, or could simply be a case where gameplay trumps lore (since ACN having/using far less MP than the other casters would make it difficult to correctly balance cross-class skills). Perhaps we could say that MP is simply measured by a different scale for different classes.

But we know that we are writing in the books so what happens to it? What if our book fills up with all the formulas we're writing out?

Perhaps they would fill up eventually. We know that Arcanists normally keep replacing their books periodically (as we do ourselves every time we upgrade them). The only question in this regard is about the Miqo'te girl we train with and the book she's so emotionally attached to. We know it's highly irregular for her to keep the same grimoire for so long, but we don't know why she hasn't run out of room in it.

[Darske]

Maybe she just has really, really tiny handwriting.

[faris]

Possibly it's already been mentioned in this thread but in ONE fieldcraft or tradecraft quest (possibly miner. Unsure. Or even alchemist.) it is mentioned that the ink used to create grimoires is aetherically conductive.