A World of Progresssive Magic: An Arcane 2100s
An RP by Letter Bee
I. Intro
In the 2010s, the world seemed as though it was on the brink of disaster. The present crises threatened to bring the national order down, but in the end, the nations pulled themselves back from the precipice of apocalypse, and, in 2022, made an accord in New Delhi. Mankind eventually clawed its way back to prosperity and relative peace, but spent the next few decades dealing with its obsessions and its prejudices. Scientists, Visionaries, and Activists, anyone can rule with the power of the pen.
Science, Technology, the infrastructure that created the Global Economy and Computer Technology was preserved, and advanced. The Age of Reason continued on. Humanity finally began to accept each other as family. In the 80 years after the Treaty of New Delhi, the nations of Humanity began to cooperate and unite as never before, in order to conquer its own effects on the Earth. But, all wasn't well, for in the quest for peace, the quest to eliminate human trafficking was neglected. New ways were found to enslave humans, either in cyberspace or in the real world.
Then... something changed. In the laboratories of Pittsburgh, something extraordinary happened. A person only known as the Neuromancer accidentally tapped into a source of energy that can transcend the normal laws of the world. The Age of Reason may have survived, but the Age of Mystics was still approaching...but this time, it will be a World of Progressive Magic.
Mods:
Letter Bee
II. Magic
Magic can be learned from a mentor, or be received from a traumatic experience, but what doesn't change is that one can do things that are outside reality's laws with it. Bascially, you just describe what you can do under 'Magical Powers' (see below), and we'll see if it's too overpowered or not. Note, however, as a rule, that Magi from the Empire State University for Magi and Nonmagi use the Codified Magic System (See below).
Also, magic gained from traumatic experience varies in power: weak traumas produce weak powers, while strong traumas produce strong powers. However, PCs, for now, are confined to Magi who learned magic from mentors; this is to prevent characters who are deliberately screwed up in order to gain more power.
III. The Codified Magic System (Optional, Lore Only)
In New York, Magic is divided into several archetypes, or 'Schools': Life (Healing, Buffing, Controlling Plants and Animals), Energy (Control of Heat, Light, Gravity, Magnetism, etc...), Mentalism (Mind Control, Illusions), Timespace (Superspeed, Teleportation, and Scrying), Fate (Increasing or decreasing Luck), Death (Necromancy and Anti-Necromancy*), Otherness (communing with Spirits, Transformation into a Spirit Creature), Matter (conjuring non-organic, non-undead matter, turning solids into liquids) and Law (making Magic permanent; making Magitech, launching bolts of Silver/White light that harm even High-Level Mages).
The Codified Magic System is seen as a good thing because it grants consistency to the different systems of doing magic, as well as makes learning and categorizing it easier. However, you are not obliged to abide by it, unless you come from the ESU or live there.
*This doesn't seem to make sense, except that in AWPM, Death magic encompasses everything to do with death, including making sure that people die naturally instead of being turned into undead.
Sample: Raymond from ESU can change solids into liquids (Matter), teleport, do scrying, and use superspeed (Timespace), and make his items and buffs permanent, and make magitech (Law).
IV. Places of Power
Demesnes: Places that, because they were special before the Awakening Surge, form a reservoir of magic that strengthens one's spells. Desmenes are attuned to one School, for example; the Ruins of the Statue of Liberty are a Fate Demesne, while the Isle of Corregidor in the Philippines is a Timespace Demesne. Demesnes, to be fully used, need Manses, which are structures that are equivalent to a House, Factory, Power Plant, and Hydroelectric Dam.
Shadowlands: Demesnes made by killing lots of people. Shadowlands cause the dead to rise, creatures to mutate, the air itself to be filled with horror, and its energies can only be used by the most depraved of Magi. Due to the peace, few Demesnes are Shadowlands.
V. The Societies of New York
Empire State University for Magi and Nonmagi: The Neuromancer discovered Magic, and is the most powerful Mage in existence, but he/she didn't develop the present knowledge of the arcane arts. Rather, that task was left for various academics and scientists all over the planet, and foremost among them were the professors of Empire State University, once known mainly for the pursuit of history and literature. It was they who developed the Codified Magic System, offered formal courses to teach magic, and developed sophisticated Magitech, as well as making predictions and commentaries about the effects of Magic on the world. And the best part: the head of ESU isn't even a Mage, but rather a normal human, Arthur Winters.
Arthur was a visionary who saw the possibilities and conflicts of magic early, and dedicated his life to minimizing such conflicts, rallying activists, scientists, and politicians into securing rights for Magi, developing task forces to deter terrorism and crime using magical means, and speaking out against human trafficking. Due to his work, the world began to take on its present, semi-utopian shape.
The Agency: Founded by the United States Government at the discovery of Magic, the Agency is a special organization tasked with stopping Magical crimes and terrorism, sometimes even before they start. With broad powers, both political and magical, and unorthodox methods of action, the operatives of the Agency are frighteningly effective at their job, putting down everything from blood cults to sex slavery rings, and defeating would-be mad scientists and their inventions. While a few criminals do slip past their net from time to time, their efforts have made magic less feared and more loved, which is presicely their goal.
However, the Agency's very effectiveness is its very weakness; by choosing the best of the best, it has left itself with too few operatives, with too much workload. Its enemies grow more numerous by the day, and include more and more magic despite the Agency's efforts...
Arcana Unlimited: Like its namesake in another Canon, Arcana Unlimited wants to take over everyhing. Unlike its namesake in another Canon, Arcana Unlimited doesn't do anything unethical on American soil, but rather does its dirty work in the Developing Countries (the former Third World), which, though more prosperous and more happy than in the previous century, still has laxer laws than the First World, and plenty of corrupt officials who would overlook abuses for money. In places such as Madagascar, the Congo, and India, ArcU buys power over governments, develops new weapons, and does inhumane and illegal biological experiments, all for the purpose of creating an army to dominate the world.
The Mafia: As the world learned to sort out its problems, the Mafia feared loss and irrelevance, but the coming of Magic, although it did much good, also paved the way for a new golden age for organized crime, allowing them new ways of hiding, coercion, and killing. Now, in New York, the crime families run a secret network of slave rings and torture factories, where people let out their desires on the unwilling for money.
VI. Rules:
1.) You can play either a Hero, a Neutral, or a Villain once there are two Heroic characters already (see Rule 9). However, I might rescind this rule should the population of heroes dip.
2.) If you're playing a villain, plots that affect an entire major city, or larger, have to be cleared with me and ajm8888, first.
3.) This world is much, much better than the present, and I want your backstories to reflect that.
4.) The world may be much better than the present, but we'll be visiting the parts of it that are still crapsack; there will still be plenty of mature stuff best left to PMs and Sync.in/MeetingWords.
5.) No godmoding, and no controlling player actions.
6.) I reserve the right to ban players known for godmoding.
7.) Yes, this is the Anti-Shadowrun.
8.) Yes, you can make up your own custom factions.
9.) New Rule: No villains until we get at least two competent heroic PCs. Competence and Heroism are defined by me.
10.) Rules for Conjuration: With Matter, you can conjure up non-living, non-undead stuff, but it's only temporary unless you have Law, even then, you can only conjure as much as your own body weight.
VII. Character Sheet:
Character Sheet
Name:
Age:
Appearence
Personality:
Magical powers/ Physical Abilities
Flaws:
Side: (What faction are you aligned with.)
Bio:
An RP by Letter Bee
I. Intro
In the 2010s, the world seemed as though it was on the brink of disaster. The present crises threatened to bring the national order down, but in the end, the nations pulled themselves back from the precipice of apocalypse, and, in 2022, made an accord in New Delhi. Mankind eventually clawed its way back to prosperity and relative peace, but spent the next few decades dealing with its obsessions and its prejudices. Scientists, Visionaries, and Activists, anyone can rule with the power of the pen.
Science, Technology, the infrastructure that created the Global Economy and Computer Technology was preserved, and advanced. The Age of Reason continued on. Humanity finally began to accept each other as family. In the 80 years after the Treaty of New Delhi, the nations of Humanity began to cooperate and unite as never before, in order to conquer its own effects on the Earth. But, all wasn't well, for in the quest for peace, the quest to eliminate human trafficking was neglected. New ways were found to enslave humans, either in cyberspace or in the real world.
Then... something changed. In the laboratories of Pittsburgh, something extraordinary happened. A person only known as the Neuromancer accidentally tapped into a source of energy that can transcend the normal laws of the world. The Age of Reason may have survived, but the Age of Mystics was still approaching...but this time, it will be a World of Progressive Magic.
Mods:
Letter Bee
II. Magic
Magic can be learned from a mentor, or be received from a traumatic experience, but what doesn't change is that one can do things that are outside reality's laws with it. Bascially, you just describe what you can do under 'Magical Powers' (see below), and we'll see if it's too overpowered or not. Note, however, as a rule, that Magi from the Empire State University for Magi and Nonmagi use the Codified Magic System (See below).
Also, magic gained from traumatic experience varies in power: weak traumas produce weak powers, while strong traumas produce strong powers. However, PCs, for now, are confined to Magi who learned magic from mentors; this is to prevent characters who are deliberately screwed up in order to gain more power.
III. The Codified Magic System (Optional, Lore Only)
In New York, Magic is divided into several archetypes, or 'Schools': Life (Healing, Buffing, Controlling Plants and Animals), Energy (Control of Heat, Light, Gravity, Magnetism, etc...), Mentalism (Mind Control, Illusions), Timespace (Superspeed, Teleportation, and Scrying), Fate (Increasing or decreasing Luck), Death (Necromancy and Anti-Necromancy*), Otherness (communing with Spirits, Transformation into a Spirit Creature), Matter (conjuring non-organic, non-undead matter, turning solids into liquids) and Law (making Magic permanent; making Magitech, launching bolts of Silver/White light that harm even High-Level Mages).
The Codified Magic System is seen as a good thing because it grants consistency to the different systems of doing magic, as well as makes learning and categorizing it easier. However, you are not obliged to abide by it, unless you come from the ESU or live there.
*This doesn't seem to make sense, except that in AWPM, Death magic encompasses everything to do with death, including making sure that people die naturally instead of being turned into undead.
Sample: Raymond from ESU can change solids into liquids (Matter), teleport, do scrying, and use superspeed (Timespace), and make his items and buffs permanent, and make magitech (Law).
IV. Places of Power
Demesnes: Places that, because they were special before the Awakening Surge, form a reservoir of magic that strengthens one's spells. Desmenes are attuned to one School, for example; the Ruins of the Statue of Liberty are a Fate Demesne, while the Isle of Corregidor in the Philippines is a Timespace Demesne. Demesnes, to be fully used, need Manses, which are structures that are equivalent to a House, Factory, Power Plant, and Hydroelectric Dam.
Shadowlands: Demesnes made by killing lots of people. Shadowlands cause the dead to rise, creatures to mutate, the air itself to be filled with horror, and its energies can only be used by the most depraved of Magi. Due to the peace, few Demesnes are Shadowlands.
V. The Societies of New York
Empire State University for Magi and Nonmagi: The Neuromancer discovered Magic, and is the most powerful Mage in existence, but he/she didn't develop the present knowledge of the arcane arts. Rather, that task was left for various academics and scientists all over the planet, and foremost among them were the professors of Empire State University, once known mainly for the pursuit of history and literature. It was they who developed the Codified Magic System, offered formal courses to teach magic, and developed sophisticated Magitech, as well as making predictions and commentaries about the effects of Magic on the world. And the best part: the head of ESU isn't even a Mage, but rather a normal human, Arthur Winters.
Arthur was a visionary who saw the possibilities and conflicts of magic early, and dedicated his life to minimizing such conflicts, rallying activists, scientists, and politicians into securing rights for Magi, developing task forces to deter terrorism and crime using magical means, and speaking out against human trafficking. Due to his work, the world began to take on its present, semi-utopian shape.
The Agency: Founded by the United States Government at the discovery of Magic, the Agency is a special organization tasked with stopping Magical crimes and terrorism, sometimes even before they start. With broad powers, both political and magical, and unorthodox methods of action, the operatives of the Agency are frighteningly effective at their job, putting down everything from blood cults to sex slavery rings, and defeating would-be mad scientists and their inventions. While a few criminals do slip past their net from time to time, their efforts have made magic less feared and more loved, which is presicely their goal.
However, the Agency's very effectiveness is its very weakness; by choosing the best of the best, it has left itself with too few operatives, with too much workload. Its enemies grow more numerous by the day, and include more and more magic despite the Agency's efforts...
Arcana Unlimited: Like its namesake in another Canon, Arcana Unlimited wants to take over everyhing. Unlike its namesake in another Canon, Arcana Unlimited doesn't do anything unethical on American soil, but rather does its dirty work in the Developing Countries (the former Third World), which, though more prosperous and more happy than in the previous century, still has laxer laws than the First World, and plenty of corrupt officials who would overlook abuses for money. In places such as Madagascar, the Congo, and India, ArcU buys power over governments, develops new weapons, and does inhumane and illegal biological experiments, all for the purpose of creating an army to dominate the world.
The Mafia: As the world learned to sort out its problems, the Mafia feared loss and irrelevance, but the coming of Magic, although it did much good, also paved the way for a new golden age for organized crime, allowing them new ways of hiding, coercion, and killing. Now, in New York, the crime families run a secret network of slave rings and torture factories, where people let out their desires on the unwilling for money.
VI. Rules:
1.) You can play either a Hero, a Neutral, or a Villain once there are two Heroic characters already (see Rule 9). However, I might rescind this rule should the population of heroes dip.
2.) If you're playing a villain, plots that affect an entire major city, or larger, have to be cleared with me and ajm8888, first.
3.) This world is much, much better than the present, and I want your backstories to reflect that.
4.) The world may be much better than the present, but we'll be visiting the parts of it that are still crapsack; there will still be plenty of mature stuff best left to PMs and Sync.in/MeetingWords.
5.) No godmoding, and no controlling player actions.
6.) I reserve the right to ban players known for godmoding.
7.) Yes, this is the Anti-Shadowrun.
8.) Yes, you can make up your own custom factions.
9.) New Rule: No villains until we get at least two competent heroic PCs. Competence and Heroism are defined by me.
10.) Rules for Conjuration: With Matter, you can conjure up non-living, non-undead stuff, but it's only temporary unless you have Law, even then, you can only conjure as much as your own body weight.
VII. Character Sheet:
Character Sheet
Name:
Age:
Appearence
Personality:
Magical powers/ Physical Abilities
Flaws:
Side: (What faction are you aligned with.)
Bio:
