How

Would

You

Imagine

God?

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• Writing Level: High Casual
• Style: Semi-Sandbox
• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Group Size: TBD
• Posting Frequency: TBD

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Our world balances on a great precipice. The boundary between life and death, reality and oblivion, light and dark is becoming blurred. The center cannot hold and soon we will all come tumbling back towards the center point. This is the plight of humanity, we live on a dying planet, a dying reality and we cannot stop its eventual death. Though we can at least try to slow it down. For as long as humanity draws its breath their indomitable will we shall thrash against the chains of fate. This is where Magi come into play.

They trace their inheritance back to King Solomon of whom was the first to be able to see the slow death of our world. He was the first to attempt to battle the forces beyond the veil of our own reality by tapping into the natural energies found within the leylines to combat these forces. But Solomon as wise and brilliant of a man as he was was also filled with arrogance. So as he grew more accustomed and powerful in the arcane his mind wandered to fancy. In this great hubris he attempted to coerce these forces to his own will rather than banishing them from the realm of man. He would become overwhelmed by these forces, corrupted and eventually killed with his kingdom collapsing soon afterwards as the Tribes of Israel scattered.

The Magi originally were the descendents of Solomon who to pay penance for the King's greed took up the banner in the war that he originally started. This would mark the start of the Guild of Magi. The Guild still stands today battered by the test of time as the Premiere de facto leader of the Magi, policing their doctrine and making sure that the art of Magery would be preserved for as long as our reality held firm. But other groups have broken off from the original like branches upon a great tree and these competing "Philosophies" dominate most of the elder Magi's time as backroom politics is almost constant and unrelenting.

The most prolific and renowned group to come out of this all in the world of Magi are simply known as Keepers. Keepers have no allegiances, not to the guild, the other Philosophies or even each other. Each Keeper is an independent entity, an agent whose loyalty is only to the mission, the original cause of the Magi to hunt beasts. They are the men and women that keep the nightmares away, they are the demon hunters. Keepers work through contracts being hired out by the Guild or others to carry out their sacred duty. The most important of these duties is to deal with Reality Convergences.

Reality Convergences are what happens when leylines become corroded. Their inherent energy begins to leak out in great amounts like some sort of mystical reactor meltdown. When a Convergence occurs the line between our reality and the next becomes blurred and beasts make it through threatening the already fragile balance in our own world. Not to the mention the amounts of energy make them hotbeds of activity as other Magi began to fight over the sites to claim the Convergence. To be able to draw the power out of of the very life force of the earth itself to be able to cast true magic, that shapes the fabric of our very reality.

Well this is where you come in isn't it? Jizakai City within Hokkaido Prefecture is set to be the first Reality Convergence to occur in Japan since the Sengoku. You shall take the place of a young Magi gunning for glory, either working as a Keeper for one of the Philosophies, as an emissary of the Guild or as a freelancer trying to make their own move. But this battle for supremacy is only the top layer beneath is an underlying mystery that beckons to be solved. Jizakai is a dangerous place and the events of this Convergence could very well shape the rest of human history as the boundaries between realities has begun to collapse and this could be the end of it all.

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Magery

Magery is as classically defined by the Guild as the art of pushing the boundaries of our reality. The more practical would think of it as an aspect of science but on an accelerated scale. While Magery of our time is at the pinnacle of continuous research culminating in an entire millenum, it is nothing compared to the power the original founders of the guild wielded who in turn would be dwarfed in comparison to the great powers that Solomon wielded his powers of true reality shaping that can now only be tapped into briefly through drawing in the power of a Reality Convergence. The leylines of the world naturally losing power as Technology grows.

Magery like most highly evolved concepts has very precise rules about them. These rules are broken into many tenants that are study over by Magi with an almost religious fervor. The most basic tenet though can be broken down to the fact that there most always be wood to fuel a fire. Basically to get energy out you need to put energy in. To create a fireball you must draw heat from your surroundings, an open flame or your own body to mix with the energy provided naturally by the Magi to create the desired effect. As a result air manipulation or at least basic air manipulation is a much easier concept for beginners to learn than fire manipulation as air's abundance is much easier to grab from.

The natural energy provided by Magi is best summarized as all Magi have limits. Magi are born naturally with what is called "tainted blood" tainted blood is simply blood that is able to carry the energy radiated by leylines known simply as The Lacrimas a supernatural substance that flows through the air around us, in varying densities depending on the concentration of leylines. Lacrimas control (the amount you can draw in lacrimas from your surroundings to fuel magery) is the mark of any true Magi. To control the very life force of the planet is to control everything. Lacrimas control is not something that can be learned but is rather gifted to a person at birth and measured is letter grades for F to S with most Magi leveling out at the C- level, extremely powerful casters at B+. Nobody since Solomon has ever been able to break past an A- Rank with Solomon himself being the only theorized S+ in existence.

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The Four Philosophies

The Four Philosophies are simply the four greatest authorities of Magi in our reality. They included The Guild, The Unseen Church, The College and The Abbey. They each hold different views upon the place of the Magi in the world and how their power should be used as a result there is a lot of infighting between them all as they scheme to get the upper hand over the others.

The Guild of Magi:
The oldest of all, the Guild is still seen by most as the dominate force in the world of Magi, with most Magi following their rules and heading to their regulations. Generally they are the most conservative of the bunch and try their best to preserve the all mighty status quo. They are against human interaction and tampering as long as it can be helped and would prefer if everything just remained on its course as they try and stop oblivion day by day. They have their own standing army of sorts a group of emissaries and enforces that ensure the Guild's doctrine is followed under penalty of death as they spend most of their time hunting rogue Magi.

The Unseen Church:
The Church are an interesting bunch, one of the first splinter cells to break off from the Guild many years ago. The Church's whole ideal breaks down to the fact that the power they have been granted is a punishment put onto them by God for their unfaithfulness. Their penance is to save the realm of his creation from the beasts and they will do it through any means. They have their own group of Keepers known as Exorcists who deal with any and all "heathens" beast or magi alike and are considered some of the deadliest Magi to live and breath. They generally are considered allies of the Guild as both groups conservative ideologies mold together nicely.

The Magi's College:
The Magi's college consist of researchers and scientists. They are concerned primarily with the history and the further development of the art of Magery. They believe only through pushing the boundaries of what is accepted of Magery. Through extensive archeological digs and testing they are on the cutting edge of Magery with some very interesting developments indeed. They believe only through the mixing of technology and magery to unlock the soul will our reality ever be able to put back into balance again. They have little friends or allies but because of their reclusive nature the others tend not to worry about them.

The Abbey of The Void:
The Abby follows a malleable philosophy of the supremacy of Magery. Magi that follow the teaching of the Abbey believe that the gift of tainted blood is not a curse, a blessing. or the path to the future. They believe that it is the only path. They believe in the so called Inheritance of The Void. Meaning that each reality will eventually come crashing down upon itself and so it is pointless to fight it because Magery itself helps facilitate the problem and it is actually the Magi's duty to bring about the collapse of our reality. So within this collapse the Magi can arise as the new rulers of this transcendence. They are considered radicals and deeply opposed by the Church, The Guild and most of the College mainly because it is believed that their teachings facilitate corruption.

+Bonus+ Keepers
Keepers as mentioned earlier are the fighters of beasts and nightmares, the things that slip through when the barriers between worlds becomes weak. They hold value in their tenets and mission to purge the world of all beasts. These Magi are taken from a young age from their families and sent off to become remorseless killers. Keepers while can be hired out by other Magi to deal with dangerous, near suicidal problems that nobody wants to deal with they hold no loyalties. And so if their employer is perceived to be helping the cause of the beasts, they may be as easily stabbed in the back as well. Their name demands respect and fear amongst Magi as they are things that go bump in the night and they are watching you.

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Hello! Have you managed to read through all of that crash course on lore and come out the otherside intrigued? Well if so that would make me very happy. You could voice any questions and comments you have down below and also voice your interest, once we get a few people I will move everything over to an OCC where I can explain a few more things as well as show off the fancy CS. Alright? Alright! Stay cool dudes!

You've caught my interest. I'm completely unfamiliar with anything Nasuverse, but I trust that won't be an issue, considering it's apparently only an inspiration.

You've caught my interest. I'm completely unfamiliar with anything Nasuverse, but I trust that won't be an issue, considering it's apparently only an inspiration.

Hey look another soul wandering through the void! And you are correct the Nasuverse is only really the starting point upon which it is all branched out of. The work of Kinoko Nasu among other things only served as the fuel to create this crack dream. So you will have no need to know anything about the woks, people that do would just have a better idea thematically I'm going with it, as well as probably understand my own obtuse magic system better out of the gate.

Oh and Sakamichi no Apollon is the most bromantic thing I've seen in a long time. XD

You have peaked my interest sir. So what time period would this take place in? I get the feeling that it is more modern day?

You have peaked my interest sir. So what time period would this take place in? I get the feeling that it is more modern day?

You are correct! I'm not going to name actually dates or anything but you can assume the time period to resemble our own for the most part cars, guns, smartphones, airplanes, and the like. There are some discrepancies in this reality's history that have occurred because of Magery, and well they aren't blatantly obvious ones either so unless your looking hard enough everything would appear normal.

Some would call it more than just bromantic. I'm not sure how I feel about the deeper end.

So let me get this straight:
The way this magic (magery, I guess) works is that you need an element to use an element, as explained in the firewood analogy. As for the fire example you stated you can basically use the temperature of one's surroundings to fuel a flame. My question is, how much of your environment can you use? If someone was in, say, -50 weather in some ice cave, could they still conjure a large fireball or whatever through the temperature (and some good old Magi magic) and make all that ice even more frozen?

Is there an actual limit to the resources you can use or are Magi supposed to use their own discretion?

Or am I getting this all wrong?

Some would call it more than just bromantic. I'm not sure how I feel about the deeper end.

So let me get this straight:
The way this magic (magery, I guess) works is that you need an element to use an element, as explained in the firewood analogy. As for the fire example you stated you can basically use the temperature of one's surroundings to fuel a flame. My question is, how much of your environment can you use? If someone was in, say, -50 weather in some ice cave, could they still conjure a large fireball or whatever through the temperature (and some good old Magi magic) and make all that ice even more frozen?

Is there an actual limit to the resources you can use or are Magi supposed to use their own discretion?

Or am I getting this all wrong?

Well I don't know either but the jamming out in the Church was pretty awesome.

You've actually got the general idea of it down pretty well. Basically how it works is this.

You have a magi, a desired effect, lacrimas, and outside energy.

Let us say a magi wants to make fire as you said like lighting a candle something real basic.

Your Desired effect would be: a lit wick right?

Well how you get there is basically broken down into the equation of Magi+ lacrimas + outside source (in this case for fire some sort of heat source) = desired effect.

So your magi is the catalyst that gets everything moving because they draw the other parts of the equation into them to basically channel to produce the magery.

Lacrimas or the natural base energy floating in the air the comes out of leylines is drawn in by a magi. Depending on their level of lacrimas control essentially their inherent natural born ability to act as reservoir to hold this energy and use it. A magi with more control and hence able to hold more lacrimas in their body will require less work provided by the outside source. For example with a C- level of control (the average of most magi) lacrimas does about 50% of the work in this equation. While somebody like Solomon the only S+ level would have his lacrimas do about 99% of the work.

Outside sources are funny in that basically the less abstract the source is the stronger it is. Meaning that it will take less energy to draw the heat required out of say another lit candle to create the small spark because the fire is a real tangible thing that you can feel and see. Or you could draw the heat from your body which is dangerous because you could kill yourself if you overdraw but to light a candle stick you should be fine. Using the temperature in the air though that is harder because the idea is starting to become more abstract and so while you can drag the temperature out of an area so that the resultant area would cool down to create your fire, a Magi could totally do that though in -50 the heat would very minimal and not provide a lot of get up and go. But it requires more skill because to perform something like this effectively and not tiring yourself out in the process you need more lacrimas control, becaus more lacrimas means less of heat of the air you need to drag out so less stress on your mind. Hell B+ Ranks about as high as most people will see of people in Lacrimas control will even go as far as dragging the geothermal heat of the earth rather than the air because their lacrimas provides most of the energy so they only need a little bit of outside source to fuel something.

Sorry if that got a bit wordy at the end but that should help clear things up a little bit. Basically the more abstract and devoid from the physical self the harder it is to use as a source.

Magi really don't have limits per say they can draw as much as they want but this provides great mental and physical strain on the body to continually draw from the source and process it through their tainted blood. I.E if somebody tries to go God Mode their own internal lacrimas reservoirs would not be able to handle it and their brains would explode. :)

Ah, that makes a lot more sense now. I kinda forgot about lacrimes and whatnot. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

I'm thinking about making someone from the Abbey of the Void.

I'm thinking about making someone from the Abbey of the Void.

Ah the Magi Supremacy KKK or cult or fun knitting circle depending on your viewpoint. Always fun and always mysterious like all the philosophies shrouded in ambiguity as good and evil are such hard concepts to pin down.

And a casual bump bump.

Carefully stating my interest~

Carefully stating my interest~

Hey look at that another person! If we get one to two more individuals, I feel comfortable enough to set up the OCC.

Oh it's a sky. Hello as well though.

Alright Cool that's going to be enough for me to start up the OCC. If anybody else wants to express interest they can but a tighter smaller group works as well. OCC should up in a reasonable amount of time.

Gah, I'll sneak in my interest too. I've been and will be busy for the next while, but this looks too awesome to pass up, so I'll make time for it.

@Sen@MonkeyBusiness@Skyswimsky@Zombehs@XLegs
And as Doctor Frankenstein once said. ook! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!