A/N: You know how I said this was a purely AD&D cross? I lied, I have no problems stealing from other settings, say Pathfinder, if I think it makes thematic sense. The concept of the Witch class belongs to Paizo, not me. And no, Taylor is not becoming one.

(A Witch, I mean).

Alecto 2.7

The clock was like the ticking of a bomb.

I wondered if Piggot meant it that way, for those occasions she needed to fully impress upon her victims how utterly and completely pissed she was.

Of course, the "anticipation" side of this had been ruined, as she had decided to see the morons responsible for not classifying Chimaera as an S-Class before me. Half the people standing in the building now knew what a truly enraged Piggot was like, particularly the debriefing room downstairs from her office (Miss Militia's comment when I found I was asked for a "personal evaluation" was "May God have mercy on your soul"). I swear, people triggered from that kind of ire (oh, the irony).

I still dreaded what would come out of the Director's mouth, but at least I knew the general gist of what it was going to be. Hence why dad was here, as I think I needed someone to hide behind once she got going.

The first minute or so passed in silence, except for that infernal ticking. Yamada and the other psychologist, the one I told about the dream of the surreal battlefield and the sergeant (or rather, the 23rd Platoon's leader) looked about as nervous as I did. Intimidation tactics, I guessed. Piggot was trying to insinuate this was an evaluation about being kicked out for psychological reasons. It worked; I was trying to shrink back into my wings.

Then the Director cleared her throat.

"You didn't tell me you could summon backup," she said, utterly devoid of emotion.

"Up until very recently, I didn't know," I replied. Called it, this was going to be the sticking point. I had rehearsed for this. I could do this.

"Ah. An understandable error," she said, completely unconvinced. I had retracted the Medusas to avoid her stink, but it didn't take Alexandria to tell she was thinking of the best way to fully impress upon me the rather sour mood she was in, besides throwing me under an industrial press. I might live through that.

"Well, understandable for COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS!"

I jumped a little at that. Being the focus of the Piggot scream was a little more alarming than simply hearing the Piggot scream. Only a little though.

"Those men and women died because you didn't fucking realize you had a fucking distress beacon built into you! There are dozens of children I have to write a note to tell their parents died defending their lives, and that's just the PRT! How many civilians died because of your rotting mass that you call a brain!?"

"I thought the Dinar was a dream!"

"Ah, yes, the dream," she said, voice dripping with malice. "The dream which you noted to a psychiatrist was, and I quote 'incredibly vivid, like it was a waking memory'. Why the hell did you not note that-"

"I never gave you those records!", the psychologist to the left of Yamada said.

"It's called a warrant, look it up," Piggot said briskly. The shrink muttered something unintelligible. Good to know the McClusky-Naegi Act pissed off more people than my mom and now, me.

"Back to my point, you knew full well this dream was unique, why didn't you at least test it-"

"It is not unique!" Yamada was speaking up now. "She has a remarkable tendency to retain many of her dreams-"

"Her power fantasy dreams, if I remember," Piggot shot back. "Her power fantasy dreams, involving a person that now seems to be a genuine historical figure, noted in your report for signs of antisocial personality-"

"Because it's a crime to daydream now, is it?" Dad. "If that's the metric we're using, we might as well arrest you for war crimes right now, I've heard the rumors-"

"My opinion on parahumans and my position in managing them is none of your concern, and is also irrelevant, Hebert!" She had actually stood up now. "My concern is making sure thisnightmare never happens again, and your daughter is at least partially to blame-"

"SHE'S A TEENAGE GIRL WHO WAS SCARED OUT OF HER MIND AND IS SANE ENOUGH TO NOT CONFUSE DREAMS WITH REALITY!"

"She is also, as cynical as it seems, a soldier, and the mistakes of a soldier cost lives-"

"YOU WANT TO TALK SOLDIERS, DIRECTOR!? WHERE WAS ONE PARTICULAR SOLDIER IN ALL THIS!? WHERE WERE YOU, DIRECTOR!?"

A flinch from Piggot. Wait a minute…

Medusa out.

"I was late. I am ashamed to admit it, but I get stuck in traffic as much as anyone else(lie)-"

"That's a horrible lie, Director, and you know it," I said, nearly growling. She wants this not happening again? Let's put where blame lies in all cases. Shows you for yelling at my dad.

Another flinch. "I fail to see how that…" her voice trailed off as she saw the snake. Busted.

"Even if this guy wasn't drinking in every little fuck up you're done for the past week, you live practically on premises. You could have walked, since I doubt you're so unhealthy you can't at least use a sidewalk. Hell, given that the news was likely blaring Chimaera's attack as an emergency update, the adrenaline could have allowed you to, I don't know, get out of the car and run?"

Piggot's rage died a little. Points for that, she could admit when she screwed up instead of going straight into doublethink and drowning out the point in more anger. "...I have health problems, recently aggravated by insomnia. I was currently checking in for dialysis and refilling my heart medication."

Dad grinned wildly, victory in sight. "SEE? IF YOU HAD SOME KIND OF, I DON'T KNOW, ALERT SYSTEM FOR WHEN YOUR STAND-INS NEED SOME KIND OF DIRECTION, MAYBE YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS! OR, I DON'T KNOW, GO ON A DIET-"

"My kidneys were lost in the attack on Ellisburg! I've done more than you ever will in your self-righteous little life-"

"EVERYONE, SHUT UP!"

Much to my surprise, everyone did just that. It may have had something to do with the fact I hit the lance against the door, resulting in an estraz gunshot.

I didn't know what came over me. One second, I was white-hot with rage over Piggot insulting my father, the next, I suddenly knew, deep in my bones, what I needed to do in order to restore some semblance of order.

I inhaled deeply. "Look. I made a mistake in judgement, and I hate myself for it. I really wish there was some way to tell my past self that it wasn't just a dream, I had a teleporter with me all along."

I spun to face Piggot. "This does not give you, Director, the right to go around blaming everyone for the most outside context of outside context problems. Yes, there was a breakdown in command, but I'm not your backup commander. I am not to blame for the fuckups that led to this fiasco, only for not containing it on my own. I am truly, deeply sorry for that, and I will happily accept whatever sanctions for my negligence - hell, make it so I can't go ten feet away from Sophia on pain of electric shocks - but you are not justified in claiming that I can see the future better than you do."

"As for you, dad," I said, spinning around. "Fat insults? Seriously? This woman is in a great deal of anguish from the loss of some of her men, many of which she personally knew, and you're insulting her weight? Not. Cool."

Dad turned very red, trying very hard to avoid my eyes. "Sorry," he muttered as he slunk back to his chair, looking massively ashamed of himself. Probably feeling more guilty than I was for that, but I needed to show Piggot I sympathized with her despite my objections.

...Holy shit that was cynical. On the other hand, she probably couldn't exercise very well if she lost her kidneys, so...no, that was cynical. Maybe this was that "ruler" quality Chimaera mentioned? Would I start seeing ways to use politics to my advantage too? Was I bound for a future that Otto von Bismark would rise from his grave to applaud?

...Probably better than turning out like Chimaera.

Shaking my sudden horrifying epiphany off, I stepped back. "Now, about the device that the 23rd's leader gave Miss Militia - can we at least do that and possibly get some idea of what is going on?"

The shapeshifter leaned against the back of the walls in his cell. Okay, it wasn't so much a cell so much as an interrogation room with bars, but same difference. He wasn't going anywhere, just in case.

"I take it the dragon golem is your voice?"

The Dragon-suit nodded. "If by that you mean an autonomous drone by which I interface with the world outside Canada, yes. I don't really have the opportunity to leave my home, and being able to simply transport one here to activate is much more convenient."

"So, your voice. Got it." He stood up. "From your surface thoughts, I get that you call yourself Dragon but aren't one, and you're here to examine me while the...President, I think you call him, gets here to see the projector activate."

Ah yes, surface thoughts. More than a bit alarming when he ended up nearly falling on the floor laughing when Armsmaster told him he couldn't possibly read minds. Then recited a bunch of random factoids about Armsmaster's day, guessed three numbers he was thinking (pi, Euler's constant, and zero), and then then proceeded to answer several questions before they were asked just to annoy him. A CAT scan was awaiting authorization just after this.

Dragon nodded. "Ambassador, actually, as we aren't sure what that thing actually does. Could be a bomb, which means…" A shrug. "Rather underhanded and even more cruel to him, but caution rules the day." I detected a little bitterness in here tone. "And the ambassador is more skilled with interpersonal social skills than the actual President anyway."

"Eh, good idea, given who made it." He sat down, tipping an imaginary hat. "Nex'rik Aeba, at your service. Before you ask, other races call mine dopplegangers, which given how we have no name for ourselves works just as well. We never saw the need to form our own culture given how we can simply mold ourselves into a member of another. Only time we ever really meet is if we're working on a job together or..." He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Vagaries of reproduction aside," Dragon said hurriedly, "you seem to have implied there are multiple sapient species, many of them likely humanoid given the limits of your shapeshifting. Is this correct?"

"I'm more amazed you don't," Nex'rik said. "I was nearly shocked out of that damned blindfold when I realized that there are only humans and mutant humans on this world."

"Truth," said Armsmaster, off to the side. "...I think. It isn't calibrated to...dopplegangers."

"Which is why I'm here," I said. "Mr…?"

"Last name's Aeba, but please, call me Nex'rik. Aeba isn't even a surname, it's my imago - my casual identity when I don't feel like letting all my grey hang out."

A race of shapeshifters with favored faces in their daily life. Makes sense. "Mr. Nex'rik, could you please tell me what color the sky is, but not blue?"

"...A pleasant green with crimson clouds (lie)."

"He's telling the truth. About many races, I mean." Huh. Wondered why kind of...evolutionary…

Wait.

"I believe you said only humans?" Dragon asked before I did.

"Well, yes. Unless you have a hidden population of my kind or changelings, I don't see any other races." Nex'rik paused. "Despite what the reptid people seem to think. Yuan-ti aren't thatsubtle, they're too egotistical for that."

Silence for a second. "...What?"

Dragon began haltingly. "Do you mean to imply...humans exist on your world?"

"Er, yes? No offense, but you guys breed like rabbits. Very clever, very stubborn rabbits who will do anything to survive, and very good at learning how. At least in the short term."

A very long pause.

Finally, Armsmaster broke the silence. "Well, I suppose we can finally slot Chimaera into the 'not an alien, just crazier than a shithouse owl' column."

Miss Militia nodded. "Her claims were...suspect. Frankly I'm a little relieved, the world still makes sense."

Nex'rik looked as caught off guard as I was. "Huh?"

"We believe your world - Aebrynis, I think - is not a different planet, at least the way you would define it," Dragon explained. "We actually think it's an alternate version of the world you're currently in, Earth Bet."

Oh.

Actually...that did make more sense, now that I thought about it. The theory was that my Azrai dreams was genetic encoding of the, ahem, God of Darkness' (and the more I thought about that title, the cornier it sounded) life story. If he appeared - or triggered - early in Aebrynis' history, and his own megalomanical (how else could you describe a person who capitalized first-person pronouns?) interpretation of events was in any way accurate, the world would look very, very strange.

Shame nobody told that to Nex'rik, though. "Alternate version? W-what?"

"Think of it this way - our world is a way yours could have turned out if something was different in its past, existing in, er….a different place than Aebrynis."

Nex'rik's eyes widened in shock…

Then a look of realization came to his face. "So that's why this world lacks magic."

What.

The Protectorate members all were about as caught off guard as I was.

As one, all native Earthlings, including me, said as one, "Magic?"

"Twiddling fingers to control the weather, dark rituals meant to make the dead rise as armies, enchanting items, that kind of thing?" He shrugged. "Fact of life where I come from. May be how we dopplegangers came to be."

What.

Armsmaster cleared his throat rather loudly. "Magic? Excuse me, but would that happen to resemble parahuman powers like my own or-"

"If it makes you feel better, the way it's studied is a science," an amused Nex'rik interjected. "But unlike your parahumans, anyone non-blooded can use it, so long as they don't mind being illusionists-slash-diviners, or possibly a soul debt to the fae for witchcraft."

What.

"Fae? Witchcraft?...back up and explain a little. Please," Miss Militia said, clutching her head.

Nex'rik leaned forward, obviously proud of the fact he knew more about what was going on than we did. "I'm not the expert here, but a witch client of mine explained it that there's this plane, this alternate dimension that overlays our own, the Shadow World. There, physics and normal laws don't apply, reality is defined by thought, perception, and a force that is more like a living entity than an ironclad way the universe works."

I desperately willed the Medusas to taste the air, trying to convince myself he was trying to make fun of us. No dice.

What.

"Thing is, the Shadow World doesn't remain on its side. It wants to mingle with the mortal world when it can, so it constantly pushes against the wall between worlds, like a tide." To illustrate this, he brought his hands forward and began to tap the fingertips of one hand against the phalanges of another. "Normally, the wall is strong, but certain events can cause the Shadow World's tide to become stronger," he began to push constantly at that, "so that it breaks through and starts giving those of us who enjoy gravity making you fall instead of float a really bad day." The tapping fingers pushed through the "wall" hand, and started wiggling.

I saw all adult capes tense a little.

"Magic, on the other hand, is the art and science," he said as he separated his hands again, "of opening minute, predictable holes in the wall to make the Shadow World do what you want." He opened a small gap between two of his "wall" fingers and suck a fingertip through for a second before closing the gap.

Wha-actually, no, that sounded reasonable.

...Comparatively speaking.

"...Could you define the remark about witchcraft?" Dragon's tone of voice sounded somewhat more nervous than before.

"Two main different kinds of common magic. First, lesser magic involves drawing on the most ephemeral parts of the Shadow World, illusions and information, and thus the easiest to get through the wall. Nixes the need for divine blood, and they're actually better at their niche than wizards. Pisses off the latter to no end."

"Next, witchcraft, relies on contacting the fae, the beings who live in the Shadow World, and promise to further their particular focus of existence in the world in return for a primal link to the Shadow World in the form of an animal familiar. Think of it as the difference between making your own sword and buying another from a master blacksmith who is really stringent about what you use it for."

I felt the world stop spinning. Okay, confusing information, but I would mana-

Wait, wizards?

Dragon asked the question before I did. "You mentioned wizards. Mind explaining the difference between them and the other two? There may be a similarity between our parahumans and them."

"Well, first, wizards have to have a link to the Shadow World in their veins. This is either someone of elven-"

"Elven?" Wasn't sure who asked that. Could have been all of us.

"Well, Sidhelien, if you want to have your head up your ass about it. Nobody's sure where they came from, they're pretty close to mortal plane-native fae." He shrugged. "Have heads bigger than their ears, think they're the most wonderful creatures to ever exist. Still enjoy sleeping with humans, despite the fact they blame you for not being the Rulers of Everything anymore."

I darkly wondered if it wasn't the other way around. I knew what happened to native populations displaced by empires.

"Any, those of elven descent, like Kursor before she became the Chimaera (may her journey to the Abyss be long and painful), or with divine blood either inherited or stolen like…"

He gestured at me.

"My savior, actually. I believe I've forgotten to thank you in the confusion, so thank you."

…

...
WHAT.

"They're a lot more versatile, have access to magic that can affect entire countries - summoning legions of the undead, changing the weather to fiery apocalypse, that sort of thing. You don't want to get into a fight with a nation with a wizard-regent."

...I honestly wasn't sure what precisely caused my mind to undergo a systems reboot. The fact that Nex'rik was so utterly casual about this, the fact that, somewhere in the vast array of Earths, there existed a world where constant invasion by an alternate dimension made of magic was complete normal, or the fact that I was apparently a dormant, female form of Gandalf the Grey.

After about five minutes, Armsmaster finally spoke up. "...You do realize that Chimaera could have done something to your mind that made you buy into her delusions, correct? Or are simply mistaken and you speak of normal para beings?"

Please let that be the case, his strained tone left unasked. And in that, he and I agreed, for if the Shadow World, a perpetual alien invader, existed in one alternate Earth...

"Ah, actually that was probably the reason I was chosen by her."

Reaching into Flashbang's costume, Nex'rik pulled out a tiny wooden sculpture of a sparrow. "A gift from that witch client I told you about. Not a magician myself, but I know how to read the instructions."

He flipped open the wings of the sparrow.

The eyes of the sculpture glowed an eerie blue, and for a moment, it looked like a living sparrow.

Then the wings snapped shut.

And an equally blue portal appeared directly behind him.

"Before you ask, I'm not risking the Shadow World to run away from some fine hosts. That would be stupid, both for my reputation and my health. I'm doing this so you can see for yourself. Whatever you do there, be polite."

I heard something between a frustrated sigh and strangulation from Armsmaster. "I hate it when certain theories are right…" he muttered as he crushed the bridge of his nose.

"In all actuality, Taylor, this is likely a failure to translate into English properly."

I blinked. That was unexpected.

...On the other hand, I could have been attacked by a herd of pink elephants singing a marching tune, and things would make just as much sense as they did now.

The interview had ended at that point, the Protectorate trio to confer about this new revelation. I, on the other hand, needed to sit down on something rather comfy.

So, I was apparently a living conduit to an alien dimension, inhabited by fairies, that wanted to invade conventional space and turn everything into a live reenactment of surrealist paintings. At least Nex'rik didn't seem to think it was much to be concerned about.

On the other hand, his race could have been a product of said alien dimension, so of course he wouldn't mind.

Could this be why Glaistig Uaine went mad, I wondered? Did her power cause her to merge with an actual fae, and it took control of her? Worse, did the two identities of the girl who became the Fairy Queen and the fae merge, and her insanity was a product of never knowing who she really was?

Was that what happened to Chimaera?

And would the same thing happen to me one day?

I tried not to think about that last bit too hard.

Miss Militia breaking my train of thought before I did was thankful. Otherwise my mind would probably invent possible stories involving being trapped in my own mind while an evil fairy marveled at the feeling of my dad's heart in my talons.

"Sorry?"

"Dragon and Armsmaster think that since the divergence point between Earth Bet and Aebrynis happened long before we developed the idea of magic being science we haven't nailed down yet. Based on Nex'rik's analogies, his world still uses swords and more primitive technology, implying that it went a completely different path of development."

"Bottom line is, we think his world's researchers discovered where parahuman powers come from in the first place early in their technological development, and then their following tech development was built on that." she continued. "Since the Shadow World is so obviously different from the reality we know, they came to separate the idea of mundane technology from it into what they call magic, both because the supernatural was still an accepted part of daily life, and...um..." She materialized her gun. "It's an understandable conclusion. You don't call a car engine a clock, after all, even if they're both machines, and our capes are so different from his non-wizard magicians he doesn't think we're the same thing."

I mulled it over in my head. If parahumans in general were conduits, and Aebrynis simply developed a way to artificially replicate them…

...I suddenly felt both very relieved and very silly.

True, this wasn't a confirmation of my sanity, far from it, but as far as I could tell most capes found their general level of instability and stayed there. The Shadow World was still something to be alarmed about, but at least it was something that Earth Bet had a lot of experience with already, even if our boundary was a hell of a lot stronger than Aebrynis'.

In fact, this was probably going to be a massive relief to humanity in general, now that I thought of it. With that same discovery of artificial cape powers having been made once, it could probably be done again over here. With the ability to create new capes, however generic they were, came the ability for normal people to stand up to villains more easily, not to mention easily replicable Tinkertech like that bird of his. Yes, it would probably take a decade or so, but things looked like they could turn out fairly well.

Of course there was also the fae of our parallel who would likely turn hostile at the sudden intrusion or the possibility that whatever dimensional wall that prevented it from intruding would weaken (given how Armsmaster reacted, he was probably fully aware of that, too), so I willed myself to not get my hopes up. I didn't want to aggravate my already poor luck by tempting it.

"So...I'm a normal cape?" I said, not really having anything else to say.

"Not...quite."

I looked over at the source of the mildly synthesized Canadian voice. "Huh? From the sound of things I just happen to have a power that's native to another, rather strange alternate Earth-"

"You do, but the issue is, your power is also strange," Armsmaster finished for Dragon, obviously trying to find the words without offending me.

"...And this makes it different from other monstrous powers how?"

"Because it does not have the biological structure of a native parahuman power. Beyond…no offense, beyond the obvious, I mean." Dragon said.

"None taken." Frankly given Dragon's near scentless smell, it was hard to take offense from her to begin with.

It was amazing how a mechanical wyvern could look perturbed. "I'm going to tell you you an obscure fact, Taylor; parahumans have extra lobes in their brains."

Okay, that was something Dr. Adler didn't tell me.

Even Armsmaster caught on, or at least was told this was going to happen by the much more socially adept cape. "We don't advertise it, as we already have one villainous Tinker obsessed with its structure. Her name is Bonesaw."

Ah. "All is forgiven," I said.

"In any case, the extra lobe, the corona gemma, is usually differently shaped from parahuman to parahuman. The only commonalities between coronas is that it only appeared after their owners' respective triggers, and its location in the normal structure of the brain. We assume that it is entirely devoted to control of the power, and working off the data Mr. Nex'rik gave us, likely the interface between a parahuman's mind and the Shadow World."

I nodded. "Okay. So, what makes mine different enough to be alarming?"

"You don't have one," Armsmaster stated bluntly.

Both Miss Militia and I stiffened. "What?" we said in unison.

"The neurologists didn't notice it at first, because of the network of nerves that connects your human brain to the Medusas'," Dragon continued. "However, upon closer examination, the nerves are all the neurological modification you have."

"Dr. Adler's staff thought it was strange, but they assumed that, given the difference in structure between coronas, that the nerve network and Medusa brains were your particular iteration of the lobe," Armsmaster explained. "In all truth they were also likely rushing their report to avoid angering her after Dr. Bixby was publicly fired-"

Dragon cleared her throat, a sound enhanced by the size of her suit. "...and this is entirely irrelevant to the topic, so I will let Dragon explain," Armsmaster finished.

"However, during their autopsies, we also found that lack of a true lobe was shared by Chimaera and Sphinx," Dragon finished. "The Sphinx's brain has a similar neural network and enlarged normal lobes that enhanced his sense of smell and allowed his more feline reflexes to function, so it was also thought to be a variant corona. It was only after I examined Chimaera's brain and, forgive my intrusion but I was ordered to do so, retrieved your records that I realized that same neural net and mild alteration of normal parts of the brain was a commonality between all of you. Not anything that was clearly a gemma in sight."

I mulled this over. "So...you're saying that, er, awnsheghlen brain upgrades work differently than native parahumans."

"That's what I theorized at first. Then I took a look at the blood samples of both deceased awnsheghlen."

A viewscreen on the suit's chest turned on, revealing what looked to be a photo of...some kind of neuron? It looked strange. Almost like the ends had blobs on them.

"This variety of cell was found in high numbers in both Chimaera and Sphinx's bloodstreams. It is not a nerve cell, because it was found free-floating and and apparently alive in small numbers in both bloodstreams. Those odd shapes on the ends of its telon-sorry, its branches? Those are stem cells, the building blocks of other cells."

It took me a second to catch on.

"...You think those things are responsible for the mutations awnsheghlen have?"

"At a running guess, yes. They also probably are responsible for the connection that, ahem, wizards have to the Shadow World," Armsmaster finished. "That dimension is also what probably what gives the, er...let's call them Azrai neurons for now because I'm awful at Latin and what name I'd come up with likely doesn't describe them very well once we understand them better, the energy they need to function. Dragon dissected one of them and she couldn't find a way they process energy from the bloodstream."

Miss Militia was nodding now. "That's...actually very interesting. Any theories on why Chimaera thought awnsheghlen powers went to their killer?"

"Blood contamination, I would assume," Dragon said. "The killer absorbs a few...Azrai neurons from the blood of the dying awnsheghlen, and that shock of energy I saw after Taylor killed the Sphinx is likely a mechanism Azrai made to ensure they would be jump...started...after...…colonization….."

A very long pause, as we suddenly remembered the other awnsheghlen-killer.

"Pardon my asking, but did a similar visual display occur with Ms. Dallon?"

The rest of us nodded.

The viewscreen quickly flickered to a TRANSMISSION IN PROGRESS screen even as Armsmaster and Miss Militia reached for their radio.

"Brockton Bay PRT Security," the voice at the other end said.

"Dragon. Has Panacea left the building?"

"With her father and her sister. It was agreed that she would be more comfortable at home. Why, is there something wrong?"

"Send a medical team, stat. We believe she may have been exposed to a biological agent."

"Roger," the voice said before clicking off.

Please, let them get there before she starts to mutate, I thought. I did not want to know what would happen if you added mutant neurological cells to a parahuman nervous system, especially when the parahuman in question was already nearly catatonic.

A/N: Mid-Arc Interlude next, then one more chapter and then end of Arc interlude. Plans subject to change as the writer's spirit takes me.

Also, I'm crossing over science fiction and fantasy. I pretty much have to give some (pseudo)scientific common ground between the two. You don't like it, I refer you to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where this kind of blending of science and fantasy happened in D&D. Written by Gary Gygax himself. Please excuse any bad biology; think of it as the result of Dragon only having five minutes to look over the data and not having a lot of info to go on.

Also, Nex'rik is actually wrong on several counts. He's forgotten about the existence of Bards, and doesn't realize that ley lines flow from sites of natural beauty. He does know you need ley lines for country-affecting Realm Spells, but he didn't think that was relevant to the conversation. Despite what you may think, though, he's right about wizard powers being genetic in Birthright, they're more like 3.5 Sorcerers there.