The Hourglass Order

[Force and Fury]

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Five Gods. Five Magics. Five Thrones.

From the sparkling cities of the Ensollian basin with their spires and minarets that soar into the burning sun, to the vast golden fields of Crisia and Perrence glistening with morning dew and the promise of bountiful harvests, to the proud stone keeps and snowcapped peaks of Eskand in the South, the land of Constantia is one of balance, peace, and time-honoured virtue, bound together by magics gifted to the Firstborn by the Gods themselves. Honest lords and just kings preside over a loyal, beloved, and industrious populace. All is well.

Except that it isn’t.

Following the collapse of the Avincian Empire a thousand years ago at the hands of howling Eskandish hordes, no single entity has been able to unify the disparate peoples of the continent. Petty nobles, conquerors, and greedy kings have fought for the scraps, ruthlessly exploiting the common people and squeezing everything that they can from the land itself. Under their rule, Constantia has bled.

Their grip on power has been maintained through the stranglehold they have over magic. It has been regulated, controlled, studied and, most importantly, monopolized. The ability to use it manifests in arcane and unpredictable ways, but first and foremost, it’s in your blood. If your ancestors used magic, it is likely that you will be able to use it too. If they didn’t, then your chances are slim.

Yet, the march of social progress necessarily follows that of technological. As Constantian culture, learning, and religion have spread across the globe on the sails of caravels and galleons and a wealthy new class of merchants and artisans has emerged, there have been stirrings. Potent new paths to power and prosperity have revealed themselves, and those of common blood have increasingly bought their way into the use of magic by ‘marrying up’. With or without the approval of those in charge of it, the world is changing. Some people warn that the gods are stirring. Others dare whisper that the gods are not real.

Into this potent mix of burgeoning opportunity and lurking peril steps you: a first-year student at the Ersand'Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy. As a member of the storied establishment's newest cohort, you bring your hopes, your fears, your background, and considerable power in 'The Gift' with you. It is said that your group, aged fourteen to eighteen and born during the double ascendance of Shune the Learner, is the strongest in a century. That strength will be needed. Representatives from the world's great nations will be gathering at Ersand'Enise mere weeks after your arrival for the Conclave of the Five Thrones, and tensions are high.

This time, however, the delegates will need to be protected not only from each other's political machinations but from three new and novel threats. Over the past handful of years, aberrations have begun appearing in increasing numbers and this pattern seems unlikely to reverse of its own accord. Holes in the fabric of reality - shapes of man, beast, and object alike formed of the purest blackness - coming into contact with them can empower the magic of those skilled in The Gift at the cost of addiction. However, it can also drive those not as blessed to insanity or even death. For reasons unknown, but perhaps related, the mysterious yasoi have turned precipitously away from human society. The only other sentient species on the planet, they have been shy friends and unconventional allies for most of history, but the past few decades have seen them become fiercely insular and even hostile. There is talk of them closing the mountain passes that sustain trade and travel for much of the Western half of the continent. Into this scene steps the Traveler: a shadowy but charismatic figure who has been harnessing the power of the aberrations and stirring up class conflict. He preaches a revolutionary message to the common people that threatens war at a pivotal moment. It is clear that he seeks to tear down the existing order, but what he intends to replace it with is as yet unknown.

Of course, you, dear young student, have nothing to worry about. Heads older and wiser than yours have matters firmly in hand. Still... it pays to be vigilant, doesn't it?

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Five Gods

The Pentad of the Quentic Faith

Ipte. Shune. Oraff. Eshiran. Dami.

Lover, Learner, Creator, Destroyer, Judge: All magics and all of creation pay homage to The Pentad who brought them into being. Their existence is beyond human understanding, their ways both arcane and divine, and their gifts the foundations of life itself. May their will be done now and forever.

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Ipte: The Lover

Ipte is known as The Lover and occupies the first position in the sign of the Pentad. One places their right hand beneath their left shoulder when making the sign. Like their four fellow Gods, Ipte possesses a female aspect - Ahn-Ipte, the Queen of Beauty - and a male aspect - Ipte-Zept, the Lord of Love. The two aspects' legendary artifacts are the Rose and the Lyre, respectively, and the deity is associated with the element of Air, the Magnetic school of magic, and the year's first season of Hundri, in the depths of winter. The blessing of Ipte, oft delivered by Hundrian monks and nuns, is "Ipte enchant you."

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Shune: The Learner

Shune is known as The Learner and occupies the second position in the sign of the Pentad. One places their left hand beneath their right shoulder when making the sign. Like their four fellow Gods, Shune possesses a female aspect - Ahn-Shune, the Keeper of Knowledge - and a male aspect - Shune-Zept, the Seeker of Knowledge. The two aspects' legendary artifacts are the Record Book and the Lantern, respectively, and the deity is associated with the element of Lightning, the Arcane school of magic, and the year's second season of Stresia, when the spring bloom begins. The blessing of Shune, oft delivered by Stresian monks and nuns, is "Shune enlighten you."

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Oraff: The Creator

Oraff is known as The Creator and occupies the third position in the sign of the Pentad. One places their left hand upon their right hip when making the sign. Like their four fellow Gods, Oraff possesses a female aspect - Ahn-Oraff, the Giver of Life - and a male aspect - Oraff-Zept, the Preserver of Life. The two aspects' legendary artifacts are the Tree of Life and the Ambrosia, respectively, and the deity is associated with the element of Water, the Binding school of magic, and the year's third season of Dorrad, in the hottest months. The blessing of Oraff, oft delivered by Dordian monks and nuns, is "Oraff keep you."

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Eshiran: The Destroyer

Eshiran is known as The Destroyer and occupies the fourth position in the sign of the Pentad. One places their right hand upon their left hip when making the sign. Like their four fellow Gods, Eshiran possesses a female aspect - Ahn-Eshiran, the Hand of Death - and a male aspect - Eshiran-Zept, the Bringer of War. The two aspects' legendary artifacts are the Skull and the Sword, respectively, and the deity is associated with the element of Fire, the Chemical school of magic, and the year's fourth season of Rezain, when the harvest takes place. The blessing of Eshiran, oft delivered by Rezaindian monks and nuns, is "Eshiran spare you" or, in some cases, "Eshiran empower you."

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Dami: The Judge

Dami is known as The Judge and occupies the fifth and final position in the sign of the Pentad. One retracts their hands from the hips and presses their palms together in a sign of reverence below their chest. Like their four fellow Gods, Dami possesses a female aspect - Ahn-Dami, the Giver of Choice - and a male aspect - Dami-Zept, the Arbiter of Justice. The two aspects' legendary artifacts are the Scale and the Hammer, respectively, and the deity is associated with the element of Earth, the Kinetic school of magic, and the year's fifth and final season of Somnes, when the harvest is over and cold rains coat the land. The blessing of Dami, oft delivered by Somnian monks and nuns, is "Dami guide you."

Five Magics

The Gift

Magnetic. Arcane. Binding. Chemical. Kinetic.

Magic is a blessing of the Gods and so is called, respectfully, The Gift. Yet, it does not come from nowhere. Before any spells can be cast, no matter how trivial, all magical power must be drawn from sources of energy abundant in the world. The five great schools of magic - Magnetic, Arcane, Binding, Chemical, and Kinetic, draw from the heat, light, metabolic, kinetic, potential, and electric energies of one's surroundings. Those skilled in The Gift may then convert one type of energy into another within themselves. You might draw heat from a raging fire, but that does not mean that you need to cast a fireball. If you can afford an extra few seconds, then you might decide on Arc Lightning from the Magnetic school or a telekinetic shove. Spells from all five canonical schools are made viable through the blessed act of conversion. However, there have long been rumours of other - forbidden - magics: Blood, Atomic, Temporal, and Dark Magics that promise far greater power if used as well as far greater consequences...

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Magnetic Magic

• Drawing: Magnetic magic draws its energy from the polarity of atoms and molecules, using their tendencies to attract and repel each other to build powerful charges.
• Offense: While magnetic mages have a reputation for being defensive counterpunchers, they are more than capable of mounting independent (and often terrifying) offense of their own. They rely on creating charges and polarizations first and then capitalizing on those.
• Defense: With Magnetic mages, the line between offense and defense is often blurred, as they tend to be masters of subtle and sneaky techniques that cause their opponents to destroy themselves or set them up to be countered mercilessly.
• Utility: Magnetic mages tend not to directly favour utility spells, most of their repertoires being multifunctional. However, their ability to set up their environments, manipulate electric currents, and move charged objects using magnetism can be helpful.

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Arcane Magic

• Drawing: Arcane magic uses the radiative energy of heat (thermal) and light as a power source. As a result, it has a virtually limitless (and potentially overwhelming) supply of power during the day and in warmer places and considerably less at night and in colder places.
• Casts from this school focus on using heat and light in a multitude of different ways. Partially as a result, Arcane is easily the most balanced school in terms of offensive, defensive, and utility spells, boasting impressive flexibility that enables adherents to take either subtle or aggressive approaches. This, combined with the sheer abundance and ready availability of heat and light energy makes Arcane the preferred school for mages than any other.
• Offense: In terms of offense, arcane magic users can focus the powers of heat and light to burn and blind. Intensely focused beams of light and heat can cut and burn holes in solid objects, while fire can spread rapidly and offensive draws can cause targets to freeze to death.
• Defense: Defensively, arcane magic can warp and bend the visible light spectrum to allow a user to disappear from sight and can manipulate temperatures and the surrounding environment to negate incoming attacks.
• Utility: In terms of utility, arcanists can create powerful illusions, as well as provide light and heat. Especially intense heat can cauterize wounds.

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Binding Magic

• Drawing: Binding magic is unique in that it is primarily a casting school. Drawing is rarely undertaken as it involves not the repurposing of energy but the repurposing of matter by destroying it and using its potential energy. In some cases, this can be used to remove foreign objects from the body and treat patients or to prevent harm. However, the 'blood price' of turning matter into energy is not a reputable form of magic and is strongly discouraged outside of healing utility.
• Difficulty: A Binding mage must be highly skilled in the art of drawing, so as not to inflict any harm while removing unwanted matter. She also needs to possess a thorough understanding of the human body and be skilled in the art of converting, for when other -less dangerous - sources of energy are required. Due to the abundance of sources and the horrifying destructive potential of Binding magic if misused, it is only taught at the most prestigious of academies and only to students who pass a rigorous set of tests designed to gauge their intellectual and moral fortitude.
• Offense: Binding Magic is not used for offense.
• Defense: The ability to covert matter into usable energy, and vise versa, makes Binding a massively powerful school of magic on the defensive side of the ledger. Binding practitioners can destroy enemy projectiles, heal wounds from trivial to fatal, invigorate allies, and materialize barriers for protection.
• Utility: There is significant overlap between defense and utility when going the Binding route, but this school of magic remains a powerhouse. The ability to create passages for allies and obstacles for enemies is of considerable use. One may also materialize simple, useful devices. Exceptionally skilled Binders may even 'seal' simple spells by creating items that, when drawn from, release the necessary energy and type of energy for the spell.

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Chemical Magic

• Drawing: Chemical magic uses the power of chemical reactions as a source. It can use smaller reactions to trigger larger reactions, amplifying the power of the initial spell exponentially and creating a power loop to draw more from. Be careful, though! These can quickly spiral out of control.
• Offense: Chemical mages are known for their terrifying array of offensive skills, and these come in two primary varieties: External and Internal. The former focuses on manipulating and often chemically altering the environment to generate powerful reactions in the form of combustion, explosions, and corrosives, which can be further perpetuated for cataclysmic results. The latter focuses on manipulating the biochemical properties of a living target’s body to injure, incapacitate, dominate, or destroy it.
• Defense: While they are offensive powerhouses, Chemical mages are markedly weaker on defense, relying predominantly on their ability to keep opponents on the back foot and, at higher skill levels, to deceive and dominate them mentally.
• Utility: In terms of utility, Chemical mages possess a plethora of skills beneficial to both themselves and allies, from minor casts augmenting moods and abilities, to transmutation, to powerful healing and even quasi-resurrection spells.

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Kinetic Magic

• Drawing: Kinetic Magic uses the power of kinetic energy as a source, meaning that the simple act of anything with mass in motion can power it. It also interacts with less obvious forms of motion and energy, such as sound waves and gravity.
• Offense: There are three distinct approaches to kinetic offense. The first seeks to manipulate motion and sound within the environment to use it against the target. The second focuses on offensive drawing and manipulating the target itself. The third approach uses the kinetic energy of the environment to turn the caster’s body into a powerful weapon.
• Defense: Defensively, Kinetic magic’s telekinesis can allow its caster to throw objects into the path of attacks to act as shield instead of using them as offense. Additionally, the manipulation of sound is a subtle but powerful tool.
• Utility: In terms of utility, the telekinetic abilities of the kinetic school are front and center, though their multifunctional nature makes them potent offensive and defensive tools as well. Kinetic spells can also augment their caster’s movements and help him to levitate, making him a very elusive target.

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Other Magics

Atomic Magic

Long treated as a sub-school of Arcane and known as 'Deep Arcane', most senior practitioners of The Gift have now come to recognize Atomic Magic as a school in its own right. To draw from this incredibly powerful but near-impossible to master source, one must split or join the very smallest particles of matter imaginable, using the immense power generated to cast spells. The only reason that Atomic Magic has not received official recognition is due to the primacy of Five. There is no God within the Pentad to represent this unofficial school.

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Blood Magic

Blood Magic is simply 'Binding Magic' unbound. Due to its immense destructive potential, extreme ease of use, and the spectre of sealed spells being sold to those not versed in the Gift (thereby breaking the noble classes' stranglehold on magic), the school that should be known as Blood Magic and that should be a foundational school, has instead been tamed. Controlled, regulated, and served with a heaping dose of moralism, Binding Magic - the diluted version taught in academies - is nonetheless considered dangerous and its practitioners carefully watched.

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Temporal Magic

The average magic caster belongs to an elite group, yet it is rare for even him to have heard more than rumours about Temporal Magic. Its secrets sealed away in dusty old tomes and locked securely in the vaults of the grandest academies' libraries, this is a forbidden magic to all but the most eminent of masters. Practitioners of the Temporal school - numbering no more than two dozen - draw power from the fabric of spacetime itself, manipulating it in order to teleport and manipulate time. Yet, despite offering such fantastic power, Temporal Magic is rarely used. Some say that there is a price to pay; that it causes 'aberrations': holes in the fabric of reality that can drive those who encounter them to the most horrible of insanities.

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Dark Magic

Some have heard whispers of a yet-more terrifying magic than that of the Temporal school. It is able to create spells from nowhere. It does not need to draw energy or destroy matter or else the energy and matter that it uses is dark, in a sense, like this unknown potential school.

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Five Thrones

A World Order

Crystal. Radiant. Verdant. Ivory. Iron.

In the beginning, when the Firstborn crawled out from their caves and looked up at the heavens, they saw five moons in the night sky. When they had grown wise enough in the ways of the world to understand that the five moons were the messengers of the Five members of the Pentad, they found bestowed upon them knowledge of The Gift and many other great things with which to build the civilizations that stand today. This did not happen all in a single place or at a single time. Rather, it came to those who were prepared for it. Five great kingdoms arose to lead the world into the light and grace of the Pentad. Over the centuries, the identities of those Five kingdoms have changed, as all things change. Their mandate has remained, however. Holding one of the Five Thrones marks a country with leadership, power, and blessings. Every five-by-five years, when the conclave of Zenos meets in the hallowed halls of Ersand'Enise, representatives of all civilized lands make their cases as to why their people should hold one of the the thrones with all of the privileges and responsibilities that it entails. Of course... having a little bit of money on hand or an especially large army also helps.

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Crystal: Perrence

God represented: Ipte
Currently held by: Perrence (250 years)
Appearance: The current iteration of this throne has been in existence for two-hundred-fifty years, since the Conclave of the Five Thrones began being formally held. Other, similar versions predate it, as Perrence has always held the Crystal Throne. This version is an imposing yet elegant structure made largely of amethyst, tourmaline, and quartz crystals, held together by bands of gold and silver and inlaid with fine filigree in the form of vines and roses. It is often adorned with fresh seasonal flowers and, during Rezain, fine produce, recently harvested.

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Radiant: Revidia

God represented: Shune
Currently held by: Revidia (175 years)
Appearance: The current iteration of this throne has been in existence for twenty-five years. It is rebuilt and improved upon before every congregation. This version is made of molded stained glass designed to evoke crashing waves and a seashell-shaped backrest. It is illuminated through the use of Arcane Magic and projects the scenes on its stained glass panels onto the walls of the throne room. Whenever the Radiant Throne is occupied, a practitioner of The Gift must be present to maintain its glow.

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Verdant: Eskand

God Represented: Oraff
Currently held by: Eskand (75 years, Ath & Loh disputed)
Appearance: The current iteration of this throne has been in existence since the beginning of recorded history, though it has been used only occasionally, when Eskand is in ascendance enough to justify occupying one of the five thrones. Some theorize that the throne's beauty and storied nature is one of the main reasons why this currently unremarkable nation occupies such a place of honour. The Eskandish version of the Verdant Throne is sculpted from a living tree of unknown species, ancient and gnarled. Great branches snake around it, carefully sculpted over time, forming armrests, providing an evergreen canopy of shade, and blooming with flowers and delectable red fruit seasonally.

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Ivory: Belzagg

God Represented: Eshiran
Currently held by: Belzagg (50 years)
Appearance: The current iteration of this throne has been in existence for one hundred years, ever since Belzagg felt it should've been theirs. As relative outsiders to the internal politics of Constantia, this mighty but insular empire was frozen out of the running for a very long time. The throne itself is also known as the Throne of Bones (Lebaz k'Agmar) and is an elegant, eerie structure made of elephant tusks, sabre-toothed tiger fangs, and animal skulls won during the Belzaggic Emperor's hunts. These trophies are polished to a lustrous sheen, inlaid with gold and rare gemstones, and added to the Ivory Throne over time.

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Iron: Torragon

God Represented: Dami
Currently held by: Torragon (100 years)
Appearance: The current iteration of this throne has been in existence for one hundred years, but portions of it can be traced back at least three hundred, to the throne of Samaur the Hammer, first chieftain of the Torraro people to be consecrated king. Angular and imposing, the Iron Throne is forged from what seems to be a single massive coal-black hunk of iron. Intricate scenes of the nation's history are carved in thin bands around its back and armrests and, above the monarch's head is mounted the famous Eye of the Judge - Samaur's legendary ruby, which is larger than a man's fist. The great chair is said to be distinctly uncomfortable to sit on. Perhaps this is a reflection of the Torragonese belief that a leader does not command by word, but by action.

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Laws of the Land

One: Our OOC and IC are now live and I'm looking for a group of give or take eight twelve players. You will all be first year students at the Ersand'Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy and, if we have enough people, you'll be divided into four groups (each with an NPC). You enter the school at a time of considerable intrigue, but there's no definitive 'big bad' yet (or is there?). Aberrations are popping up everywhere and it's certainly alarming, but you can always just not touch them and you'll be okay, right? Then, there's the Traveler and his followers who rove about the countryside, preaching revolutionary ideas, exposing people to the dangerous magic of aberrations, and seeking to enflame tensions. Finally, there is the increasing withdrawal and hostility of the once-common yasoi from human society. It definitely feels like this won't be a normal first year at Ersand'Enise... Try to take into account how your character might interact with some of these factors when designing her or him.

- TL;DR: Basically, think Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones meets Naruto and Avatar TLA.

Two: Be active but have a life too. Try to post every couple of days but at least once per week and try to post a meaty paragraph or two at a time. We'll use discord as well for things like conversations where long paragraphs would be impractical. If you're going inactive for a while, tell me and I'll work something out. Otherwise, your character becomes an NPC and being an NPC sucks, right?

- TL;DR: be active and write quality posts, but there aren't any super rigid guidelines.

Three: Characters should be human or (in special cases) yasoi. They should be between ages fourteen and eighteen. Design your character to be interesting to RP and to play a role in the story that we'll be co-constructing, not to win the game or be more awesome than everyone else. 'Chosen One' types are boring. Real life isn't all about main characters. There's a lot of lore, but reading the relevant parts will help, so I encourage it. The most essential rule here is: be a good-faith actor.

- TL;DR: humans only, make sure they fit the setting, and be creative instead of lazy.

Four: To the end stated above, powerplaying is no bueno here. As for metagaming, a general rule is: RP based solely on what your character knows IC and what she's like IC, not what you know OOC and what you're like OOC. Character development is a good thing and characters can get stronger, but your character can't suddenly pull some temporal magic out of his ass when he's in a tight spot. That's lazy writing and subverts the stakes we're trying to build in a good story. Basically, if you're only looking to play a cataclysmically powerful edgelord necromancer, I feel you, but you can do it somewhere else.

- TL;DR: don't be cringe or a dick, cool?

Five: As for reading the lore? I know that there's an utterly intimidating amount of it on the next few slides and in the OOC, so of course you're not expected to read it all (though you can if you're cool like that). Just make sure that you read the Essential Lore in the three posts below and look up anything that specifically pertains to your character. Also, ask questions on discord if you're not sure.

- TL;DR: you don't have to read all of the lore, but read the basics and the stuff relevant to what you wanna do.

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Essential Lore

Here, you'll find all of the essentials for this RPG. Read through this and you'll have a basic idea of what this is about and how it works. If there's something that you don't understand very well or would like to know more about, you'll probably find it in the next three posts under 'Advanced Lore'.

The Magic

The Magic

This RPG uses a system of magic that aims for a sort of fantastical realism and that treats magic a bit more like a science. Basically, you draw energy (thermal, magnetic, kinetic, chemical, etc) into yourself from your surroundings and use that power to cast your spells. The type of source and cast are known as the ‘school’ of your magic.

• There are three essential components of any spell: drawing, converting, and casting.
• The quickest spells pull from a source and cast magic of the same school. E.g. you pull thermal energy from a fire and cast a fireball.
• If you’re a bit more skilled, you can take a moment to draw energy from an abundant source and convert it into another type of energy to cast a spell from another school. E.g. you draw from the massive kinetic energy of waves at sea and use it to cast a lightning bolt.
• There are numerous ways in which a magic user can increase the power of her spells, but the most basic factor is one’s magic capacity, as measured by the Rahman-Albanda Scale (RAS). Basically, this is the amount of energy that you can draw into yourself from the environment at one time. The more energy that you can draw, the stronger that your spells can be.

The World

The World

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Sipenta is an earthlike low fantasy world full of different languages, cultures, religions, and interesting settings. There are plenty of background politics and lurking dangers. Some particulars are:

• The story takes place in a time period roughly similar to the early-mid 1600s on Earth. Society is very class-stratified and the use of magic is near-monopolized by the upper classes.
• There are different names for the days, months, and seasons (and different numbers of them) than we're used to.
• The Ersand’Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy is located in a region broadly similar to southwestern Europe on the Mediterranean Sea.
• There is another intelligent species that inhabits the world of Sipenta along with humans. Called the yasoi, they have traditionally been present in society amongst us. However, over the past few decades, they have markedly withdrawn.
• There has also been an increase in the appearance of aberrations, which are pitch-black holes in spacetime that can cause heightened ability to use magic but also addiction and insanity in those who come into contact with them. For those with very little to no magical capacity, touching an aberration can prove fatal. Some theorize that the aberrations are connected to particular types of magic use.
• Recently, a mysterious and charismatic figure known as ‘The Traveler’ has been harnessing the power of these aberrations and stirring up class conflict, preaching a revolutionary message to the common people that threatens war at a moment when delegates of all of the continent’s major nations are set to meet in Ersand’Enise for the Conclave of the Five Thrones. This takes place only once every twenty-five years and, while people older and wiser assure you that there is nothing to worry about, you sense that there is a very good chance that things might get ugly.

The School

The School

You’re all first-year students entering the Ersand’Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy. It is located in a free city of the same name. You’ve entered as part of a five year cohort, so the oldest of you will be eighteen and the youngest will be fourteen. You’ll live and study here, in the city, for the next five years, under the care and tutelage of master thaumaturges known as Zenos. You’ll have magic classes (focused on different schools of magic and different aspects of its use) and general classes, as well as some free time. You’ll also be apprenticed to a particular Zeno along with a group of three fellow students and you’ll spend a considerable amount of time with them. However, the dangers mentioned earlier are bubbling just beneath the surface and they threaten to explode and plunge you and your peers - unprepared novices - into the thick of a conflict that could define the future of your world.

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Student Applications

The Academy selects its students from among the best and brightest that the finest families of Constantia and Severa have on offer. To make it into these hallowed halls, you will have to provide a compelling case. Be it exceptional wealth, political clout, raw magical talent, or good old-fashioned hard work, you will have to have done something - at some point - to stand out. Otherwise, there are lesser academies for people like you. They aren't bad places by any means; they just... aren't Ersand'Enise. In addition to social, political, monetary, and ability factors, when assessing your application, our admissions council will take into account your understanding of the world, your ability to work with others, a balance between your uniqueness and ease of integration into our system, your literacy level, and your strength of character and dedication to your craft.

Character Sheet

Full Name

A character quote or motto

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Age | Gender | Nationality | Social Class | RAS Level

P E R S O N A L I T Y

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So, I know that your conception of your character can change as the story moves along or even as you write this application and get a feel for her. The purpose of this exercise is to try to think of five (or possibly more) essential traits, followed by a brief paragraph below the bullet points to summarize what your character is like and how we can expect her to interact with others.

L A N G U A G E S

What languauges can your character speak, and how fluently? How many is he literate in? As a general guide, keep in mind that everyone will be fluent in their native tongue and that virtually all nobles and wealthier merchants would also be expected to know Avincian and perhaps a reasonable amount of one other major language like Perrench, Revidian, Torragonese, Virangish, Belzaggic, or Eskandish.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

What does your character look like? How does he dress? How old is he? What are his defining features? Does he have any particularly noteworthy traits, birthmarks, possessions, or scars?

T H E G I F T

Just what can your character do with The Gift? What makes her worthy of entrance into Ersand'Enise? Please provide a clear description of her magical aptitudes, favoured schools (if any), prior training, current magical capacity, and any original spells that she may be working to master. Remember, these are students, so they can be gifted, but they are not masters. The goal here isn't necessarily to be the strongest (though that's not an automatic strike); it's to create a compelling character.

B A C K G R O U N D

At their young age, perhaps your character doesn't have too much personal history yet, but everybody has a background and a context. What is his home like? Who are his people? What has he done and learned so far in life? Where has he been and who has he met? Please try to keep this below two or three solid paragraphs.

M O T I V A T I O N

What gets your character up every morning and, more particularly, why is she eager to be here? (or is she?) What does she hope to gain from this opportunity (if she views it as one) and what does she want out of life in general? What are her goals? (and, conversely, what are her fears?)

I N V E N T O R Y

What sort of personal items, tools, cash, jewellery, or weapons (!) does your character usually carry, and what might we find stashed in his home or dormitory? These should ideally be age, region, and social-class appropriate, have some sort of use, and tell us something about him.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

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There's more to a character than her magical abilities! What other skills has she acquired outside of The Gift? What are some of her personal strengths? Please remember the early-modern (roughly 1600s) setting of this RPG and try to make skills appropriate.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

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Nobody's perfect. What are some things that your character just tends to struggle with? What are some personality traits of his that may cause problems for himself and others? Is there anything that most people might expect him to know that he doesn't?

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Anything not covered above goes here. You can leave this blank if you like.

Raw Code CS

[center][h2][u] Full Name [/u][/h2]
[img]i.imgur.com/tZGKpnd.png[/img][/center]
[b][center] A character quote or motto [/center][/b]

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[center][h3][b] Age | Gender | Nationality | Social Class | RAS Level [/b] [/h3][/center]

[h3][u]P E R S O N A L I T Y [/u][/h3]
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So, I know that your conception of your character can change as the story moves along or even as you write this application and get a feel for her. The purpose of this exercise is to try to think of five (or possibly more) essential traits, followed by a brief paragraph below the bullet points to summarize what your character is like and how we can expect her to interact with others.

[h3][u]C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E [/u][/h3]
What does your character look like? How does he dress? How old is he? What are his defining features? Does he have any particularly noteworthy traits, birthmarks, possessions, or scars?

[h3][u]L A N G U A G E S [/u][/h3]
What languauges can your character speak, and how fluently? How many is he literate in? As a general guide, keep in mind that everyone will be fluent in their native tongue and that virtually all nobles and wealthier merchants would also be expected to know Avincian and perhaps a reasonable amount of one other major language like Perrench, Revidian, Torragonese, Virangish, Belzaggic, or Eskandish.

[h3][u]T H E G I F T [/u][/h3]
Just what can your character do with The Gift? What makes her worthy of entrance into Ersand'Enise? Please provide a clear description of her magical aptitudes, favoured schools (if any), prior training, current magical capacity, and any original spells that she may be working to master. Remember, these are students, so they can be gifted, but they are not masters. The goal here isn't necessarily to be the strongest; it's to create a compelling character.

[h3][u]B A C K G R O U N D [/u][/h3]
At their young age, perhaps your character doesn't have too much personal history yet, but everybody has a background and a context. What is his home like? Who are his people? What has he done and learned so far in life? Where has he been and who has he met? Please try to keep this below two or three solid paragraphs.

[h3][u]M O T I V A T I O N [/u][/h3]
What gets your character up every morning and, more particularly, why is she eager to be here? (or [i]is[/i] she?) What does she hope to gain from this opportunity (if she views it as one) and what does she want out of life in general? What are her goals? (and, conversely, what are her fears?)

[h3][u]I N V E N T O R Y [/u][/h3]
What sort of personal items, tools, cash, jewellery, or weapons (!) does your character usually carry, and what might we find stashed in his home or dormitory? These should ideally be age, region, and social-class appropriate, have some sort of use, and tell us something about him.

[h3][u]S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S [/u][/h3]
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There's more to a character than her magical abilities! What other skills has she acquired outside of The Gift? What are some of her personal strengths? Please remember the early-modern (roughly 1600s) setting of this RPG and try to make skills appropriate.

[h3][u]W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S [/u][/h3]
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Nobody's perfect. What are some things that your character just tends to struggle with? What are some personality traits of his that may cause problems for himself and others? Is there anything that most people might expect him to know that he doesn't?

[h3][u]M I S C E L L A N E O U S [/u][/h3]
Anything not covered above goes here. You can leave this blank if you like.

Discord Link & OOC

Don't be shy! Join up if you're interested or even if you just have questions or wanna watch this coalesce.

Discord

OOC

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Welcome to Ersand'Enise!

[Force and Fury]

Advanced Lore: The World

Here, you will find basically everything that you need to know about the world of Sipenta, down to some of the itty-bitty details and idiosyncrasies of the world. Warning: it's a lot (about 15 pages), but there's also plenty that hasn't been written down or isn't covered here, and there's plenty more that just hasn't been thought of yet. If you have any ideas, I'd love to co-construct some more of this lore with your input!

World Map

The World of Sipenta

Full Size Image

The Landscape

Five Continents

Sipenta is an Earth-sized world with a similar climate, day length, and year length. However, there are a number of subtle but important differences: for starters, the land distribution is somewhat different, with the bulk of temperate land in the global south. A far greater percentage of the overall landmass also falls within the tropics and subtropics as compared to Earth. Though the climate is moderated for the many nations located along the Ensollian Sea, the primacy of more tropical and Mediterranean-style cultures over temperate ones is evident.

A lower percentage of Sipenta's surface area is also made up of land: twenty-four percent compared to twenty-nine percent for Earth. The effect is twofold: the vast majority of major countries border the ocean. In fact, within the triad of Constantia, Severa, and Tarlon, only a single nation - Inipor - is landlocked and, even then, it has an outlet to the sea through the great Arapora River system. This closenness to the sea has played a significant role in encouraging trade and exchange of ideas. From a climactic standpoint, it means that the moderating effect of the ocean is more easily felt. Except for the most inland portions of Callanast, Severa, and Rettand, few regions experience significant and long-lived temperature extremes.

Of the five continents, Callanast is by far the largest, with every major biome represented. The central part of the continent, in particular, is home to towering mountain ranges and great steppes, while the eastern arm is home to vast forests and fertile plains. In the south stretches the Neverritsuk Peninsula, as yet undiscovered by Constantian and Severan explorers: frigid, mountainous, and near barren, its furthest reaches constitute the most inhospitable place on the planet. The enormous Olaxec-Kuska-Washawi river system dominates the continent, joining nations as disparate as Chappauri at one end and Sawand at the other. At the very heart of Callanast and of this river system lies the Gods' Eye: a large crater lake nestled amongst the sparkling glaciers of the highest portion of the inland mountain ranges. From these headwaters spring the Olaxec, headed northwest, and the Kuska, headed southeast. Each river sustains a population of millions.

Next is Severa, marginally larger than its partner to the south: Constantia. For all intents and purposes, these two continents, along with their much smaller partner Tarlon, act as a single entity, sharing much in the way of trade, technology, culture, and religion. Aside from the swampy region of the Arapora Estuary, the western half of Severa is divided roughly equally into coastal highland rainforest, mountains, and the vast desert of inner Torragon and Firraz, graduating to savannah in the south. Its eastern portion is mostly savannah and rainforest as well, with a Mediterranean climate along the southern coast.

Constantia is similar in composition, but rife with bays, inlets, lakes, inland seas, and peninsulas. Its irregular coastline is ancient and home to hundreds of archipelagos. Except for the western highlands populated largely by yasoi and the golden fields of southern Perrence, most of its inhabited landmass is relatively close to a coastline. In the south lie the cold, mountainous lands of Eskand, peppered with fjords, glaciers, and taiga forest.

Rettand is named after the great country that dominates more than ninety percent of its area. While roughly half of its landmass is above the tree line and covered only with inhospitable tundra and roving herds of muskox and mammoth, thick forests and increasingly rich farmland take over as one moves south. Bays, inlets, and islands support a thriving maritime trade and fishing industry and are home to unique flora and fauna encountered nowhere else in the world.

Tarlon is the smallest of the five continents and, in many ways, simply an extension of the northern part of Severa, though it is geologically and tectonically distinct. Most of it is made of ancient, eroded mountains and rolling hills, similar to the Canadian Shield. Much of the interior is rocky, or else wetlands and forest. The center of this micro-continent is dominated by the Tantas Sea: an enormous lake famous for its megafauna and dark, cloudy water.

The Yasoi

A People Apart

The yasoi are an intelligent, magic-using species closely related to humans (think elves or dwarves within fantasy or neanderthals for a real-life example). Historically less numerous than humans, they possess a different (and much stronger) sort of connection with magic, weaving it holistically into the very fabric of their society in a multitude of subtle ways. For thousands of years, they have inhabited the towering highland forests of Constantia though, in the last couple hundred, they've consolidated within the eastern arm of the continent, establishing human-style countries of their own: Hypari, Yarsoc, Tanso, Oiyac, Mycormi, and Parmoy.

Within their societies, yasoi tend to be distinctly less communal than humans. From an early age, they are largely independent and are expected to seek out knowledge and purpose. They are near-boundlessly curious, often setting off on long travels in search of adventure, new experiences, and - most importantly - riches. Yasoi are hoarders, with a need to collect rare and valuable things, which they either treasure, seek to sell or trade for even greater prizes, or adorn themselves with. For most yasoi, the mere knowledge that they possess something of rarity or value can put them in a good state of mind. A Mette'stiroi (yasoi swap meet) is an event not to be missed. Fortunes are won and lost, alcohol flows liberally, stories and music fill the air, and babies tend to be made. Following these meets, individuals will generally withdraw into their own pursuits once more, as few things hold a yasoi's attention for long. It is rare not to see them in motion, humming, tapping their feet, or fiddling with something. In rare cases, they might be found in a state of intense focus. They can lose days on a single great task, with little care for other needs. It is in this way - in addition to their natural proclivity - that they become such masters of The Gift. Indeed, most view humans as unskilled practitioners and dangerous dabblers.

Their lifespans also seem to help in terms of magical knowledge. Despite their overall similarity to humans, yasoi tend to live considerably longer, with an average natural lifespan of some hundred-twenty years. It has been theorized that this longevity is due to their subtle, constant use of Temporal Magic. Of course, in practice, many fall victim to their restless natures, meeting with accidents or illness long before they would naturally expire. While they are surprisingly hardy, yasoi are generally long-limbed and lightly built. Their lanky frames tend to make them excellent climbers and they can leap considerably further than humans. While they are not particularly strong, nor are they fast sprinters, they are possessed of excellent endurance and agility. Their eyes - often green, gold, or blue - tend to be narrow and are noticeably larger than those of humans, set above high, prominent cheekbones. Yasoi tend to be pale of skin, with an almost greyish undertone. Their hair is thick and similar to that of humans, though sparse along the sides of their heads and extending along the backs of their necks often past their shoulder blades. Their fingernails and toenails are thick, fast-growing, and sharper than those of humans, and their ears tend to be slightly larger and perhaps a tiny bit pointed.

Overall, yasoi have been a familiar presence in the world of Sipenta for as long as their human cousins can remember. For all of their differences and the mutual wariness that has characterized many of their interactions, the two species are remarkably similar and have often worked in concert. Over the past couple of centuries, however, yasoi have become an increasingly uncommon sight in human towns and cities. Where, once upon a time, one would not bat an eyelash at seeing one of these people, they have morphed into a novelty. Indeed, many who live in small rural villages may now go their entire lives without seeing a yasoi. With the establishment of their own countries and the rumoured introduction of stricter codes and laws, it seems that the once joyful and adventurous yasoi have become cold and insular. Just what is going on behind the strictly-guarded borders of their six nations remains a deepening mystery to the human world.

Cultures, Races, Regions, and Languages

Regions

Sipenta is home to a myriad of different cultures based on region, religion, social class, and other identity factors. For the purposes of our RPG, we'll be breaking these down by region and focusing mainly on those of Constantia and Severa, where Ersand'Enise is located and the Quentic faith is predominant.

As a general rule, the lingua franca (common tongue) that most people would speak, similar to how many of us use English as a common medium and how Europeans used Latin in the past, is Avincian: the old language of the Avincian Empire. Most noble and wealthier merchant characters would be expected to have a strong command of this language in addition to their native tongue and perhaps one other major language.

West Severa: Strange Bedfellows

Politics: The section of the continent made up of everything to the west of the Torragonese narrows is dominated by three great nations: Malabash, Virang, and Torragon, with their smaller neighbours Inipor, Tettar Kansa, and Firraz generally forced to ally or pay tribute, though the storied history of Inipor and its role as a center of religion and trade render it somewhat sacrosanct. Virang and Torragon have reputations as warlike and expansionist states, and Inipor serves as a useful buffer between them.
Language: The dominant language family here is the Inipori, though Torragonese is primarily Avincian-based. There are also smatterings of other Avincian tongues, as well as Belzaggic and Rettanese enclaves.
Landscape: The landscape varies from humid highland tropical in the west, to lowland tropical and mangrove around the mouth of the Arapora, to mountainous in the center, arid in the northeast, and savannah in the southeast.
Racial Makeup: The inhabitants of West Severa are generally what we would consider analogous to Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, and South Asian, though many inhabitants of southeastern Torragon would be closer to southern Europeans. Within Inipor and Torragon, in particular, are sizable expatriate merchant and artistic communities from East Severa that we would consider Black. Virang is home to a large and highly influential enclave of Rettanese who fled there nearly two hundred years ago during a time of dynastic strife in their home country. These people, who we would consider East Asian, have retained a strong sense of their language and culture.
Religion: Unlike in the majority of the twin continents, where the Quentic faith dominates, West Severa is primarily Hexaic, worshiping six Gods instead of the Pentad (they claim that Sipenta itself is a messenger of the Sixth Gof: Vashdal, The Dreamer). Miharapori, in the far south of Inipor, is the seat of this religion. Unlike its neighbours, Torragon, conquered centuries ago by nomadic tribes of Constantian origin, is Quentic, and this is the source of considerable tension and numerous casus belli. In theory, this is the religion of state, harshly enforced, but in practice, the Torragonese are practical-minded people. There is room for all religions in their society, so long as the heathens pay their annual head tax and refrain from holding high public positions.

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East Severa: Fighting the Power

Politics: Ever since the unification of the Belzaggic peoples under Hazwumi IV (known as 'the Wise'), the Empire of Belzagg has enjoyed overwhelming primacy among the states to the East of the Torragonese narrows. Its military might on the continent is rivaled only by Torragon and its economic clout regularly allows it to dictate trade terms. The closest thing that it has to a rival is the Republic of Joru, which controls the other half of the narrows on land with its ally of convenience, Torragon, as well as the narrows of the Ensollian Sea. The Republic has also managed, through canny political maneuvering, to make allies of Revidia and Segona to the south, and prop up an ecosystem of nominally democratic buffer states between itself and the expansionist powerhouse that is Belzagg.
Language: Belzaggic languages predominate here, though the tongue of the Zagromo Islands to the east has diverged significantly over the centuries, Mezegolese dialects number in the hundreds, and the Joruban language has seen substantial changes to reflect the spirit of the revolution (among the changes, hierarchical language has been reworked and people refer to each other as 'brother' or 'sister'). In port cities, it is also not uncommon to hear a number of Avincian tongues spoken, though the Empire enthusiastically encourages foreigners to learn and use Belzaggic while on Belzaggic soil.
Landscape: The western half of East Severa is primarily savannah, inhabited by much of the flora and fauna that one would expect. Along the coast, the climate is primarily Mediterranean. Eventually, this savannah transitions into fertile floodplains and tropical rainforest before rising into the Mezegol mountains in the far east.
Racial Makeup: The population of East Severa is overwhelmingly analogous to Black. These people range from what we would consider Somali, Eritrean, and Ethiopian in appearance, to Congolese, Ghanaian, and others. There are also significant expatriate communities of other nations and races in the Republics of Joru and Azjul, but these are much smaller and confined to legally delineated areas in the Empire of Belzagg.
Religion: The population of East Severa is Quentic, though the Belzaggic church does not answer to the Primate of Revidia and appoints its own bishops. In the past, this led to the excommunication of numerous emperors and a discontent among the populace. An agreement was reached whereby the Emperor now does homage and accepts an 'advisor', but retains the rights to his own appointments. In Joru, there is a small but growing movement renouncing religion and embracing a 'New Rationality'. However, this is not officially supported by the authorities of the Republic.

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West Constantia: A Place of Our Own

Politics: The entirety of West Constantia, save the Kingdom of Paggon, is yasoi. Very little of this region's internal politics are known to outsiders, though the Paggonians seem to have reached a state of uneasy understanding with their non-human neighbours. In terms of the six yasoi states, it is known that all six occupy a seat at the annual conclave of nations. Yarsoc is largely irrelevant and is actually somewhat aligned with Paggon. Tanso is locked in a long-running territorial feud with Oiyac and often eyes Paggon as a potential target for expansion. Oiyac views itself as the natural leader of the conclave, though other nations regularly joke that they allow Oiyese politicians to claim such because it will keep them happy and shut them up. Parmoy is, in most regards, a vassal of Oiyac, and Hypari has little political interplay with the others as it is a larger nation and its coast is to the south instead of on the Ensollian Sea. Mycormi is the most uneasy member of the conclave, regularly benefiting from human trade and interaction until recently. Many former merchant sailors have turned to piracy in recent years and the government has turned a blind eye.
Language: With the exception of Paggon, all countries within this region speak yasoi languages, which are different from each other but at least somewhat mutually intelligible. In Paggon, a dialect of Virangese - an Inipori language - is spoken.
Landscape: The western half of Constantia is mostly made up of lush highlands and cloud forests, though eastern Oiyac tends more towards fertile coastal lowlands and Yarsoc is distinctly more arid due to the rain shadow effect. Mycormi, in particular, is home to many rivers, lakes, bays, and islands, with beautiful beaches and rolling dunes.
Racial Makeup: Aside from the generally Middle Eastern-analogous population of Paggon, all people in West Constantia are yasoi. While there are occasional human visitors (closely watched by some nations), there are no permanent human residents except for a small community living in the Human Quarter of the city of Cremyris in Mycormi.
Religion: The Paggonian people are Hexaic in their beliefs, while their yasoi neighbours follow the Chosen Creed, which is an ancient form of proto-Quentism more in line with yasoi philosophy and magic use. Its major divergence from the human faith is its insistence that the Pentad were once mortal beings - and yasoi.

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East Constantia: The Wolf and the Serpent

Politics: For centuries, the politics of the Ensollian Basin have been defined by the rivalry between the Kingdom of Perrence and the Confederation of Revidia. The former controls a vast territory, with rich farmland, a powerful economy, and a large army and population, making it traditionally the dominant power of the region. The latter is an empire of the sea (think Venice), with strategic control of most of the basin's trade and trade routes, a fearsome navy, a preeminent position in the arts and emerging sciences, and the seat (contested) of the Primate of the Quentic Faith. Recently, however, as tumultuous internal politics occupied the king of Perrence, the Doge of Revidia has managed to bring the Kingdom of Segona under his rule in a personal union, making him the most powerful man in Constantia and possibly the world. For the first time in centuries, the 'Hungry Wolf' of Perrence is on the back foot and its vassal states of Miatto, Crisia, and Ciero have been quietly moving towards greater independence. Meanwhile, the yasoi nation of Mycormi quietly builds up forces and reopens negotiations with its old ally, the 'Sea Serpent' of Revidia. At the far southern end of the basin, the burghers of Cirrimane eye the coming storm, hoping to profit for themselves and their quietly powerful country. Finally, the far-flung maritime republics of Balbri, Medrilan, Dorval, and Arrund watch and wait, taking their share of the trade and silently waiting to see which way the chips fall before throwing their lot in with one side or the other. Their intervention could be decisive.
Language: With the exception of Arrund, an insular Inipori exclave, all nations of the Ensollian basin speak languages descended from Avician - tongue of the long-dead empire. Only Cirrimane and tiny Feska speak languages that are hybrids of the Avincian and Eskandish trees.
Landscape: Aside from the highlands and cliffs of Segona, the northern half of East Constantia consists of rolling hills and innumerable islands, bays, straits, and peninsulas. It is a place where fishing, trade, and piracy all thrive. The climate is distinctly Mediterranean for the most part, though it edges towards tropical as one nears yasoi lands. To the south, the great grasslands and forests of Perrence and Crisia are lush and verdant, the farms of these two nations able to feed many millions of mouths. Rivers and lakes meander across the countryside, wolves and deer inhabit the forests, and great herds of wild horses and cattle roam the great plains.
Racial Makeup: We would consider the people of Arrund, who migrated to those islands hundreds of years prior, following a cataclysm in their homeland, distinctly South Asian in appearance. Those from Medrilan comprise the only large Black population outside of Severa. Other than these exceptions, the people of East Constantia are what we would consider White, with some appearing closer to Southern Europeans while others might remind us more of Western and Central Europeans.
Religion: The Ensollian Basin is the heartland of Quentism and it is the state religion or, at the very least, overwhelmingly dominant in every country of this region. The Primate himself is located in the independent city of Verrano and, in many ways, he competes with the Zenos of Ersand'Enise for political and moral clout. The faith has a sometimes uneasy relationship with the practice of magic.

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South Constantia: The Fallen Empire

Politics: However briefly and long ago, the entirety of South Constantia was once a single great Empire: the Empire of Eskand, and it brought the Avincian Empire to its knees. Those days, however, are long gone. Holmania, Enth, Helbahn, and especially Cirrimane have looked increasingly northward over the intervening years. Barth, and the island kingdoms of Juiskarn and Hargelich have broken away, and Eskand itself has fractured: a contested vote in its elective monarchy the culprit, a rift growing into an enduring schism. In such a weakened state, the proud nations of the south have been preyed upon for land, labour, and resources by their northern neighbours. They have by and large lost their ancient beliefs and converted to an uneasy form of Quentism with pagan holdovers. Yet, there is a common language and culture that binds them, and many whisper that, someday, Eskand will rise again.
Language: The people of this region speak languages descended from the ancient Eskandish tongue, though Avincian speech has been increasingly encroaching in the northern lands. In the south, Eskand Ath and Eskand Loh both claim to be the true keepers of the language and fiercely stand by the particulars of their spelling and pronunciation.
Landscape: The north of this region is home to many lakes, rivers and forests. It is a pleasant land of rolling green hills, good for farming. Further south are deep, cool woods of pine, spruce, cedar, and fir, which thin as the altitude rises and the temperature drops. Cold grassland and steppe give way to snow-capped mountains and rugged, rocky coasts, their bays and fjords home to ports and fishing villages.
Racial Makeup: The population of South Constantia is nearly universally what we would consider White. In particular, the vast majority are Northern European in appearance. Only in the northern areas of this region do those of less fair complexions appear in any noteworthy numbers.
Religion: South Constantia is nominally Quentic in its beliefs, though many traditions from the Old Times are still celebrated, often in hybrid form and often in concert with Quentic feasts and rituals. Every once in a while, rumours fly about that there are those who still keep or have returned to the Old Gods - Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Visitor - and these bring about a halfhearted spasm of persecution. Though largely dismissed, perhaps there is a degree of truth to these tales. When pressed on the matter, some Eskandishmen are known to claim that the Old Gods have not died. They are merely asleep.

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Rettand: Crown of the World

Politics: The politics of Rettand are, for the most part, those of Rettan, the country that dominates 93 percent of its area and gives the continent its name. Known for its stability over the ages, this great nation occasionally witnesses periods of internal collapse and strife. The most recent of these was a little bit less than 200 years ago, when the Endou Dynasty collapsed after a catastophic failed invasion of the island nation of Kanjiki. The refugees of the losing side made their way to Virang and settled there. Meanwhile, power soon coalesced around the current ruling dynasty: the Jehan. Today, the twin emperors rule over a land that they claim is peaceful and harmonious.
Language: There are many local dialects of Rettanese, and these are - for the most part - mutually intelligible. Some populations in the far north and far south (actually on Callanast) are not ethnically Rettanese, but their local languages are in decline.
Landscape: The far north of Rettan is endless tundra and glaciers: magnificent desolation at its finest. As one moves further south, great herds of elk, yak, and mammoth roam the highland tundra and pick their way through bogs and muskeg. Sparse taiga forest gives way to thick boreal and seemingnly endless cultivated lands. Terraced fields hug mountainsides in the south and rice paddies spread across lowland floodplains. Subtropical and then tropical archipelagos echo with the calls of monkeys and birds of paradise as you hack your way through thick jungles and bamboo forests before arriving on the Callanasti mainland.
Racial Makeup: Ethnically Rettanese people are what we would consider East Asian. In the south, they graduate more towards Southeast Asian in appearance. In the far north, they might remind of us Siberian or Inuit populations.
Religion: There are a number of religions practiced in Rettan, including - more recently - the Quentic and Hexaic faiths. A particularly interesting one is the Angic Faith, also known as the philosophy of the Sage and the Fool. It advocates for listening to the wisdom of the sage but not forgetting to enjoy one's self, like the fool.

Countries

Constantia

Perrence

By land area, Perrence is the largest country in Consantia, so long as you count the two Eskands separately. While its animal of state is the (now-endangered) Perrencian Wolf,(loup Perençais) many liken this powerful nation to a kraken, with its many grasping arms.

• Location:
• Capital City:
• Head of State:
• Religion(s):
• Animal of State:
• Main Language:
• Other Languages:

Social Class

An Order to All Things

Among most of the human societies of Constantia and Severa, a shared notion of social hierarchy prevails. In some countries and regions, this is expressed as a rigid quasi-caste system. In others, it takes the form of a sort of feudalism. In still others, it masquerades as a species of meritocracy. While there are increasing tensions within this hierarchy and even nations which have rejected it entirely, it remains the dominant system for organizing human societies.

Royalty

~0.1 - 0.5% of the population

Royalty, in most countries, is simply a subset of nobility, and the highest level of social class. Within Hexaic cultures, it carries an understanding that the monarch was chosen by the gods and, in particular, Vashdal, The Dreamer. Within most Quentic cultures, there is also an element of divine right, though it has increasingly come to be challenged and seen by many more as a marker of merit. In Belzagg, especially, the Emperor has taken to offering public displays of his fitness, power, and keenness of mind so that none may question his rule.
Of course, there are countries with elective monarchies, such as Revidia, Cirrimane, and Eskand, where a separate social standing for royalty does not exist. This also applies to the republics surrounding the Ensollian Sea, especially Joru and Arrund, where even the noble prerogative has been challenged or abolished. Where Royalty does enjoy its traditional privileges, however, its ranks are as follows:

• Emperor/Empress
• King/Queen (Sultan/Sultana)
• Archduke/Archduchess (Grand Duke/Grand Duchess)
• Prince/Princess (Emir/Emira)

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Nobility

~2 - 12% of the population

In all countries but the most radical of republics, nobility is either the highest tier on the social hierarchy or the second-highest. These people are responsible for the political, spiritual, magical, and military leadership of the nation. In the majority of countries, the ranks of nobility are as follows:

• Duke/Duchess
• Marquis/Marchioness (Margrave/Margavine)
• Count/Countess (Earl, Yarl)
• Viscount/Viscountess
• Baron/Baroness

In the elective monarchy of Eskand Ath, any noble with a rank of Count or greater may stand for election. In Eskand Loh, one must be at least a Marquis. Revidia largely ignores the order of precedence in noble ranks, and the leader is chosen from amongst the nobility for a life term based on a free vote of all propertied adults who belong to a recognized noble house or a trade guild. In most societies, ranking members of the clergy (abbots, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals) are considered members of the nobility and come largely from noble families. Zenos and other ranking members of the magical establishment are also counted as nobility.

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Merchant

~2 - 7% of the population

In the most traditional of old feudal states as well as the more conservative Hexaic cultures, there are simply nobility and commoners. However, the majority of Constantian and Severan nations recognize the merchant class as a separate entity: a group below nobility who substitute military, religious, and political leadership for economic and scientific. While some merchants are little more than simple sellers of goods, in many cases - especially in Revidia and the maritime republics - there are those who have become wealthier and more politically powerful than their nominal noble superiors. Increasingly, this has led to a variety of responses:

• Intermarriage between the two groups, with nobility gaining wealth and merchants gaining status.
• Class antagonism, with nobility actively trying to prevent the rise of merchants to positions of power and merchants actively trying to undermine noble power.
• An adjustment of rules and privileges for the two classes to place them on more equal footing but with clearly delineated and separate spheres of responsibility.

Use of The Gift is not uncommon within merchant circles, and is often a marker of status and signal of equality to members of the nobility. It certainly opens up doors that might otherwise be closed, and the majority of merchants should have the means to afford tuition for their children at an academy or at least a tutor. If not, their trade guilds are usually happy to view a loan for that education as a worthwhile investment.

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Civil Servant

~1 - 10% of the population

As bureaucracies expand in many countries across the twin continents and monarchs and presidents alike grow wary of the vested interests of the noble and merchant classes, a new social distinction has emerged: that of the civil servant. While accorded similar privileges to artisans in most countries, in a handful, they have become recognized as a distinct social class, with their own rights and responsibilities. In particular, they are highly valued in Belzagg and (outside of the twin continents) Rettan and have a growing role within Revidia and Perrence. In radical republics such as Joru and Arrund, civil servants, though not recognized as a distinct class (these societies do not recognize class itself), are highly regarded, and fill all governmental roles.
As a general rule, few from the civil servant class possess aptitude with The Gift and, if they're trained, it's usually on the dollar of a powerful or wealthy sponsor.

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Artisan

~3 - 10% of the population

Always an informal societal role in most cultures, artisans are the group of people employed in skilled trades: the crafters, weavers, brewers, outfitters, and others who create the wares that society needs to function. Generally considered freemen and exempt from being levied as front-line soldiers in times of military conflict, their skills, often passed down from generation to generation, afford them other minor privileges over commoners in most societies. While most artisans are humble people and many are not literate, some particularly prosperous members of this group market their own wares on a larger scale, blurring the line between merchant and artisan. In other cases, clerks, performers, printers, and recordkeepers are considered artisans, and can become quite wealthy should they play their cards right. While use of The Gift is rare within this group, it is not unheard of, though a magically talented youngster will often require sponsorship from her local lord or trade guild in order to afford tuition at a magic academy. Fortunately, many artisans have connections to these people.

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Commoner

~50 - 90% of the population

Commoners make up the bulk of every state's population, with the vast majority living in small villages and towns in the countryside and subsisting as farmers. Smaller numbers make their livings as sailors, soldiers, miners, fishermen, and labourers. Though some are yeomen, and free to move about the country, others have obligations to their lords, and still others are serfs - entirely tied to the land on which they were born. Unless enlisted for military service or joining a convent or abbey, very few commoners ever travel more than fifty kilometers from their home during their lifetimes and even fewer are literate. Use of The Gift is virtually nonexistent within this lowest and largest of social classes, and on the rare occasions when it appears, talent scouts from Ersand'Enise or another noteworthy academy are usually quick to recognize it and snatch the gifted youngster up. Such families are usually touted as having been blessed by the Pentad and are ennobled to head off the possibility of class antagonism.

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Slave

~5 - 35% of the population

While many countries have outlawed or restricted the keeping of slaves, this reprehensible practice still exists within some. Slaves can come from any previous social class but, in practice, are almost always commoners. Most slaves are adults and children born into slavery are rare. Partially as a result, use of The Gift almost never manifests in slaves and, if it does, is usually hidden or strongly discouraged. Those few in recorded history who've shown exceptional abilities have become the stuff of legend, but there are likely others who were quietly eliminated before they could pose a threat to their masters.

Days, Months, Seasons, and Years

The Rule of Five

Days and Weeks

There are five days of the week, and so seventy-three weeks in a year. In different languages, they are known as:
Avincian: Taldes, Pandes, Orredes, Lepdes, Victendes
Revidian: Taldi, Pandi, Orredi, Lepdi, Viddendi
Perrench: Teldi, Pennedi, Hordi, Lipdi, Bianche
Torragonese: Tasses, Pannes, Orrades, Lendes, Blancho
Loh Eskandish: Dallday, Freckday, Higgensday, Stillday, Shonday
Ath Eskandish: Delday, Frickday, Hegensday, Stalday, Thonday
Belzaggic: Tolduch, Parduch, Gorduch, Lebduch, Zarduch

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Seasons, Months, and Festivals

A year on Sipenta is 365 days long and is divided into five seasons and ten months (two for each season). These months are thirty-six or thirty-seven days long. In different languages, their names are:
Avincian: Tiptos, Tellos, Vardes, Assani, Velles, Mittria, Ardanes, Jores, Carles, and Zales.
Revidian: Tippio, Tello, Varri, Assani, Vellia, Mirrari, Errara, Giorte, Calla, and Zallo
Perrench: Tippe, Tellose, Verdi, Assende, Velle, Metrie, Arres, Jorre, Cheaux, and Seaux.
Torragonese: Tapos, Telosa, Varri, Arrande, Viela, Mata, Hata, Juare, Cali, and Zaron.
Loh Eskandish: Tiktas, Telkas, Vardith, Asted, Velka, Mittrech, Hedreth, Jarred, Kell, and Zeax.
Ath Eskandish: Tiptas, Telas, Varrdi, Astad, Velath, Mittrich, Hadreth, Jorred, Kol, and Zeax.
Belzaggic: Belgo, Tellaz, Vorrag, Azan, Vela, Mota, Homuch, Yogu, Chell, and Zagg.

Hundri

Associated God: Ipte (the lover)
Months: Tiptos and Tellos
Connection to God: time spent with those you love, importance of love and warmth, many children conceived
Equivalent Months: January - first half of March (January 1 - March 14)
Holiday: takes place in the first week of the year and is a continuation of Somnes’ holiday. It begins with a mass catharsis and celebration on the first day, and tails off over the week, representing the course of love and beauty and how it both lasts and fades. Beautiful decorations and feasting. Ample leftovers to be eaten as the feast continues.

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Stresia

Associated God: Shune (the learner)
Months: Vardes and Assani
Connection to God: represents growth and new discovery
Equivalent Months: second half of March - May (March 15 - May 26)
Holiday: takes place in midseason. The day of skills (week of skills for some nobility) in which people hold competitions, concerts, talent shows, and dances. This is a time of pride in one’s accomplishments and skills, particularly in the case of children. This holiday plays very differently depending on class and culture.

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Dorrad

Associated God: Oraff (the creator)
Months: Velles and Mittria
Connection to God: height of flourishing, when the world is most alive
Equivalent Months: end of May - early August (May 27 - August 7)
Holiday: There are two during this season: a Mother’s Day at the start, celebrating the giving of life, and a Father’s Day at the end, celebrating the protection and preservation of life.

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Rezain

Associated God: Eshiran (the destroyer)
Months: Ardanes and Jores
Connection to God: Harvest is the reaping. Summer ends and leaves fall
Equivalent Months: Second half of August - first half of October (August 8 - October 19)
Holiday: Two of them - day of the dead at the start of the season and a harvest festival at the end. Day of the dead varies depending on what sort of year it was and is informally tied to the preserver’s day immediately beforehand. There is a rising trend among the merchant class of holding masquerade balls.

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Somnes

Associated God: Dami (the judge)
Months: Carles and Zales
Connection to God: review of the year, final season is the final say or impression; a sober, somber time
Equivalent Months: second half of October - December (October 20 - December 31)
Holiday: Comes on the last five days of the year. Each day is a year-in-review reflection of how well you served each of the gods, in order, ending with the judge. On that day, you solemnly set your resolutions for the coming year and choose an item to add to your memory box. Every fifth year of your life, you open the box and take an item out each of the five days, reflecting on that instead of the gods. In some cultures, resolutions are between you and Dami, in others, they are discussed and shared around the dinner table, in others, you receive them from people in your life whose roles correspond in some way to each of the gods’. In a few, you only share your resolutions with a single ‘guarantor’, whose job it is to help you stay true to your goals. Your guarantor is usually someone who is senior to you or a responsible peer.

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Years

Years on Sipenta work in a rolling system where five years at a time are dedicated to a particular aspect (or both aspects or neither) and also a particular god of the Pentad before both change. There are four aspect types (ahn, zept, ahn-sept, and none) while there are five gods, so any exact combination only repeats after exactly one century. Essentially, there are three components to a year: the aspect name, the deity name, and a number. For example, the very first year after the deposition of the last Avincian Emperor (which marks the start of the current calendar) was Ahn-Ipte 1. The second was Ahn-Ipte 2, then 3, 4, and 5. After those five years passed, the next aspect was Zept and the next god was Shune, so it was Shune-Zept 1, then Shune-Zept 2, and so on. For a better illustration, please take a look here.

When a five-year cycle honours both aspects of a god, as happens once each century for each god, that god is considered to be in ascendance, as Shune was when the current cohort of students entering the Ersand'Enise Academy was born. Fourteen years have passed so, for reference, the current year is Dami-Zept 54 (or DZ54, for short).

Religious Orders

Five Gods, Five Orders

The Quentic Faith organizes its religious orders into one for each deity in the Pentad. They take variations on the names of their associated seasons. Monks and nuns of a given order are responsible to all five divine members of the Pentad, but especially to the particular deity that they serve. Each order also contains suborders, with their own original vestments, purposes, and structure of governance. Every monastery of monks or convent of nuns is headed by an abbot or abbess, respectively. These are almost always members of the nobility, while other members may be of any social class.

The Hundrian Order

Deity Served: Ipte
Associated Season: Hundri
Blessing: “Ipte enchant you”
Suborders:

• Gold Order Hundrians: Counselors and advisors who facilitate family relationships
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks
• Green Order Hundrians: Gardeners and animal husbandry who cultivate beauty in nature
  - 40% nuns, 60% monks
• Vermilion Order Hundrians: Courtesans and escorts dedicated to the arts of sexual love
  - 70% nuns, 30% monks
• Orange Order Hundrians – Counselors and therapists committed to facilitating marriages
  - 60% nuns, 40% monks
• Turquoise Order Hundrians – Performers, muses, and models who showcase human beauty
  - 40% nuns, 60% monks

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The Stresian Order

Deity Served: Shune
Associated Season: Stresia
Blessing: “Shune enlighten you”
Suborders:

• Stresian Scribes: responsible for the transcription of books and recordkeeping
  - 60% nuns, 40% monks
• Stresian Sages: live in remote areas engaged in the study of time, space, and magic
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks
• Stresian Philosophers: scientists, thinkers, and inventors engaged in the natural sciences
  - 30% nuns, 70% monks
• Stresian Scholars: teachers, instructors, and researchers
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks
• Stresian Thaumaturges: scholars and practitioners of magic, particularly holy magic
  - 60% nuns, 40% monks

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The Dordian Order

Deity Served: Oraff
Associated Season: Dorrad
Blessing: “Oraff keep you”
Suborders:

• Sisters of the Sunrise: dedicated to assisting with childbirth and infant care
  - 100% nuns
• Sisters of the Sunset: doctors, healers, and carers for the elderly
  - 100% nuns
• Brothers of the Sunset: doctors, healers, and carers for the elderly
  - 100% monks
• Brothers of the Unconquered Sun: protectors, paladins, and magical healers
  - 100% monks
• Sisters of the Unconquered Sun: magical healers, menders, and protectors
  - 100% nuns
• Children of the Nourishing Sun: dedicated to the preservation and protection of nature
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks

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The Rezaindian Order

Deity Served: Eshiran
Associated Season: Rezain
Blessing: “Eshiran empower/spare you”
Suborders:

• White Rezaindians: care for the dying, easing their passage to the afterlife
  - 80% nuns, 20% monks
• Grey Rezaindians: burial of the dead, mourning, and commemration
  - 70% nuns, 30% monks
• Black Rezaindians: assassins in service of the Death God
  - 20% nuns, 80% monks
• Brown Rezaindians: maintenance of graveyards and monuments
  - 40% nuns, 60% monks
• Red Rezaindians: warrior monks who spread and protect the faith
  - 10% nuns, 90% monks
• Blue Rezaindians: disposal and destruction of unwanted things
  - 40% nuns, 60% monks

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The Somnian Order

Deity Served: Dami
Associated Season: Somnes
Blessing: “Dami guide you”
Suborders:

• High Somnians: judges, lawyers, and justices of the peace
  - 30% nuns, 70% monks
• Old Somnians: advocates - keepers and enforcers of tradition and morality
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks
• New Somnians: advocates - challengers of traditional morality, guarantors of free choice
  - 50% nuns, 50% monks
• Grand Somnians: advisors to royalty and high nobility, lawmakers
  - 30% nuns, 70% monks
• Light Somnians: protectors of due process, fairness, and legal transparency
  - 60% nuns, 40% monks
• Dark Somnians: dispensers of vigilante justice, clandestine challengers of injustice
  - 20% nuns, 80% monks

[Force and Fury]

Advanced Lore: The School

Here, you will find basically everything that you need to know about the Ersand'Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy, down to some of the itty-bitty details and idiosyncrasies of the school. Warning: it's a lot (about 8 pages), but there's also plenty that hasn't been written down or isn't covered here, and there's plenty more that just hasn't been thought of yet. If you have any ideas, I'd love to co-construct some more of this lore with your input!

School and City Map

City Map

High Resolution City Map

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The Ersand'Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy

Overview

Founded five-hundred-twenty-five years ago by the 'Velvet Duke': renowned arcanist Giacomo the Owl, the Academy of Thaumaturgy has provided the sons and daughters of the greatest houses of Constantia and Severa with the highest quality of education in the arts magical and practical ever since. However, the school's origins predate its founding considerably, with the earliest instruction in The Gift on this site taking place during the reign of the Avincian emperor Macian III, who also built the colosseum used today as the Proving Grounds.

Of course, Ersand'Enise is far more than just a school. It is a mecca of magic famed worldwide. The greatest Arch-Zenos both reside and practice here, queens and emperors come calling for advice and assistance, and the free city that has grown up around the school and interwoven its way into magical life is one of the wealthiest and most beautiful in all of the twin continents. Located on the border of Revidia and Perrence, the school - like the city - is politically neutral and independent. Aside from port fees and a small sales charge, taxes do not exist in Ersand'Enise. Everything is funded by tuition fees and the sale of magical services and reagents by the Academy.

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Places of Interest

The Queensgate

For the majority of the city's history, this is where new students would enter for the first time. However, the awkward design of the street, traffic from the nearby merchants' and crafters' quarters, and lack of space around the entrance made it less than ideal for this purpose. It is still the city's main entrance to the south, but is a bit quieter today than it used to be.

The New Gate

Rebuilt just over one hundred years ago with a small entrance square and a grand boulevard known as Parade Street, the New Gate is where all students undertake their ceremonial first entrance to the city. Of course, many have arrived days or weeks earlier by ship, bustled unceremoniously through the workmanlike Sea Gate, but it's the ceremony that really marks the beginning of their time as a student (and return, each year) at Ersand'Enise. Of course, the New Gate is also a busy trade entrance, with all manner of goods and people coming and going to or from Revidia, to the North.

The Docks

Due to the city's near-tax-free status, Ersand'Enise's small port does a bustling trade, and shipping berths can be quite costly unless a ship is transporting students. This has actually been used as a loophole by some merchants, who allow a student to use their ship's cabin for free in order to take advantage of the port's cost exception. Of course, once one lands and gets through haggling with customs, it is a quick but unpleasant dash through Mudville and the Sea Gate and into the city proper.

Mudville

Having sprung up somewhat out of necessity and increasingly out of neglect, Mudville is the name colloquially given - and locally embraced - to the rough collection of fishing huts, warehouses, taverns, inns and perfectly reputable businesses and dwellings that surround the Port of Ersand'Enise. Existing outside of the city walls, Mudville has a reputation for being lawless - and also a favourite escape for older students looking for a bit of adventure. Almost anything can be found there for the right price and any kind of trouble gotten into. Many a colourful story begins with the refrain, "one time, in Mudville..."

Miller's Hook

Miller's Hook is the name commonly given to the collection of watermills, dwellings, and workshops that hunkers under the shadow of the city walls to the west of The Queensgate. Not very much ever happens there aside from beginner students practicing kinetic magic with water nearby, and some hanging around there during the warmer months due to the presence of a particularly good fishing spot in the area.

The Workmen's Quarter

Existing as it does in the shadow of Macian's thousand-year-old colosseum and full of old housing (some predating the founding of the modern city), this was never going to be high-value real estate, but the working-class people who make up the backbone of Ersand'Enise need somewhere to live, and those who can't afford a place in the Merchants' Quarter or Cathedral Square call this place home. Students see the Workmen's Quarter every time that they head to the Proving Grounds. It is often said jokingly that this is all that they ever see of it.

The Crafters' Quarter

If one needs something built or repaired in Ersand'Enise, this is the part of the city to be. Loud, bustling, and distinctly...pungent, many young noble students find it overwhelming at first, but soon recognize the value of the place and the quality of its craftsmen. Indeed, purchasing a license, nevermind a stall, to do business here is not for the faint of hart or light of wallet. In many cases, skilled yeomen are given places by invitation only.

The Merchants' Quarter

Located conveniently close to the Crafters' Quarter and the Sea Gate, the Merchants' Quarter often feels a world apart from the northern half of the city, dedicated to The Gift. Representatives from various trade guilds, importers, and companies can be found hurrying up and down the cobblestone streets from dawn until dusk on most days of the week. If you need to buy something or are looking to make a quick dollar investing, this is the place to score big...or get taken for a sucker.

The Proving Grounds

Dating all the way back to the times of the Avincian Empire, the Proving Grounds were once an arena for gladiatorial combat. Today, they serve a variety of functions, including routine combat practice, team sports, the annual dueling tournament, an impromptu holiday marketplace, and an amphitheatre for large outdoor performances.

The Arboretum

By far the largest green space in Ersand'Enise, the Arboretum is built on what used to be the fortified castle grounds. As Ersand'Enise is considered sacrosanct and already amply defended by the continent's most powerful Zenos, the structure was torn down and the land repurposed nearly two centuries ago to be a place where students and Zenos could relax, study, socialize, and enjoy the benefits of nature within the safety of the city walls. In practice, it often serves this purpose during the daytime but, at night, is students' absolute favourite place to get drunk and get into all sorts of mischief. In early Stresia, the Arboretum is often filled with howls of laughter at initiation rites gone wrong... or right. The pair of outdoor pavilions are favourite places to hang out and Hedda's Lake (the small pond in the center), is just large enough that people can countenance swimming there during the warmer months.

An ancient place, the Arboretum is full of mysteries and legends, from the unusual number of crows and ravens which roost in its trees to the fabled lost artifact of Eshiran and underground spring said to be at the bottom of Hedda's Lake somewhere; from the rumoured catacombs beneath the park, to the ghost of Erith Lenneker, who drowned herself there one hundred years ago and the...herbal remedies growing in its small forested area. Of course... whether or not any of this is true is another matter entirely, and not a particularly relevant one.

The Violet Enclave

Occupying the western part of the city just south of the Violet Gate, the enclave is a quiet, lightly forested area where most of the academy's serious research is done. Purple-roofed towers and ancient sycamore trees rise into the sky and the hum of magic is ever-present. For reasons unknown to most of the student body, an unusual number of owls roost in the trees and the rafters of this part of the city. The Violet Enclave is also a place of intense mystery and wonder for the students, because they are not allowed there unless given explicit permission to enter. It is said that every Zenith to serve, with the exception of the first - Giacomo the Owl - is buried in the small crypt beneath the Forked Tower. It is further held that the most sensitive parts of this quarter - including the Zenith's Library, where books on forbidden magics are stored - possess magical barriers that can kill a person on contact. In practice, this has meant that sneaking into the enclave is a favourite dare of students, and some have sworn that their friends attempted to make it into the library. For what it's worth, those friends seem to have made it back perfectly intact but, oddly enough, with zero recollection of where they went and what they were doing there.

Cathedral Square

Dominating the northwest quarter of Ersand'Enise is Cathedral Square, where the great cathedral of San Carrera and its four attendant churches are located. For five years at a time, the cathedral is dedicated to the god currently in ascendance (presently Dami-Zept, the Arbiter of Justice), the two larger churches represent the previous god in ascendance and the next, while the two smaller churches represent the other two gods. Though it is not mandatory, students are encouraged to attend worship on the holy day of the god in ascendance, which is a holiday, and are required to attend on feast days. The religious authorities in Verrano have oft viewed the academy with suspicion, so a show of piety is sometimes necessary. For those who follow the Hexaic tradition, there is a small and somewhat neglected temple in the southern part of the Violet Enclave dedicated to Vashdal. It is the only part of the enclave into which students are allowed and a disproportionate number of student infiltrators seem to be Hexaic themselves.

The actual square is an expansive plaza with a fountain at its center, two small parks, and a pair of wells. It is one of the major social centers of the city and hosts a pop-up market during the afternoons of worship days. This is faithfully attended by many of the students, who can often snatch up items that failed to sell on the more permanent markets for a lower price, and is also frequented by the residents of the Workmen's Quarter.

Parade Street

The main north-south thoroughfare in the city, Parade Street was designed to be impressive and the site of parades, hence its name. In the north, near the New Gate, is the Arch of Benedict the Blessed, which all students pass under when entering. Parade Street then arrows straight towards the academy, lined by high-end shops and reagent dealers to one side and the noble dormitories (and Tan-Zeno quarters) to the other. Traffic is diverted east and west around campus proper and the street rejoins south of it, passing around Macian's Arch and the Flatiron building while flanked on its way to the Queensgate by the humbler shops and abodes of the Workmen's and Crafters' Quarters.

The Nobles' Dormitories

The nobility has made up the bulk of Ersand'Enise's student and faculty population since the academy's founding, and both groups are well-served by the Nobles' Dormitories and townhomes. Spreading liberally across the northeastern portion of the city and fronting onto Parade Street, the faculty's townhomes are the largest and most opulent dwellings in the city. A bit further to the east are the noble student dormitories, which are comfortably appointed, located in a quiet (in theory) section of the city close to campus, and appointed with servants. There is a small plaza and park in the middle of this area, with trees, pavilions, a fountain, and a well. It is often a lively place where students enjoy socializing or grabbing drinks and snacks from one of the vendors who wheel their carts into the square.

The Merchants' Dormitories

Located just to the southeast of the Nobles' Dormitories, the Merchants' are similarly appointed, albeit a bit further from campus and the fine shops of Parade Street. Regardless, they are jealously considered the best in the city by some nobles due to their proximity to the Arboretum, which is often informally 'claimed' by the Merchant students of most cohorts. During the harvest festival of Rezain, Razor Street - which marks the boundary between the nobles' and merchants' dormitories - often becomes a battleground in a massive food fight known as the 'produce war'. The nobles try to stop the merchants, artisans, and commons from reaching parade street while the reverse holds true for the Arboretum.

The Commons' Dormitories

The Commons' Dormitories are located right beside the East Gate and are at once the smallest, furthest from campus, and least richly appointed. As yet, the school does not distinguish between members of the Artisan and Common classes, so students from both groups stay here, and they are usually a relatively small cohort who have trouble filling their entire space. What many of the wealthier artisans have taken to doing is leasing unoccupied units and then subletting them to nobles and merchants who are willing to pay for the privilege of maintaining a second, secret or party house a bit further from the watchful eyes of campus. Indeed, the largest dormitory of the Commons section, known informally as 'The Castle', is home to a number of student organizations and is possibly the rowdiest place one will find within the city walls.

The Academy Grounds

The Academy of Ersand'Enise itself occupies the very center of the city and is fenced off from the rest of it, with only a few large openings to let students, faculty, and researchers in and out. A mixture of ancient and modern buildings, it hosts classrooms, lecture halls, alchemist's rooms, a herbalist's garden, runecrafter, theatre, and the Grand Library.

The last of these, in particular, is a wonder, rising over a hundred-fifty feet, with steeples, gargoyles, and flying buttresses galore. Inside are ten floors' worth of magical tomes and more general books, as well as study space for hundreds of students. It is not uncommon to see tired young scholars curled up for a quick nap in one of the library's many nooks and alcoves. In fact, the legend of Cerrick Rampard is often repeated with a certain sort of reverence. Too afraid to stay in his dormitory because of a cruel roommate (who was also a zeno's son), he lived in the library for three years and graduated with honours. Of course, sleeping students aren't the only spectacle. One can regularly witness books floating their way off of the higher shelves or across the atrium in a kinetic grasp, though this is officially discouraged, due to the number of yearly book collisions. Some poor old volumes are positively covered in stitches, patches and glue. Then, there are the birds. It is well-known that the upper levels of the library, beneath the dome, can get drafty during Somnes and Hundri and, despite the best efforts of groundskeepers, students, and even Zenos, owls, crows, and magpies always seem to be able to get inside and build their nests.

Magical Ranks and Responsibilities

Hierachy of Mages

Just like there is a religious hierarchy in Quentism and Hexaism, so there is a hierarchy among practitioners of The Gift. Ersand'Enise stands as the center of the magical world and the head of the academy, known as the Zenith, is also regarded as the foremost practitioner of The Gift in Constantia, Severa, and Tarlon. Zeniths serve for twenty years or until death (whichever comes first), and a retired one is given the title of Paradigm. Assisting the Zenith are twelve Arch-Zenos, six of them practicing in Ersand'Enise itself, and six heading other - lesser - academies across the continent. Below this elite cadre comes the rank of Zeno (Master), which includes most of the noteworthy mages on the continent. Finally, comes the rank of Tan-Zeno (Lesser Master), making up the backbone of the Academy and delivering the bulk of the services that it offers outside of school grounds. Anybody else trained in magic who does not wish to pursue the path of the mage is known as an Alta, and this includes much of the nobility. An Alta authorized to teach basic magic is an Alta-Zeno. Those still learning magic are known as Biro (the plural is the same as the singular). Anybody disbarred by the Academy is known as an Anto, and this is considered a profound disgrace. Below, you'll find the ranks of magic users.

Student Societies

A Place for Every Student?

Like any school, the Ersand'Enise Academy of Thaumaturgy has a bustling student life. There are dozens of clubs, organizations, and societies that one can join, and the first week of each school year is recruitment week. While some of these are centered around hobbies or shared identity, others are related to profession or act as recruiters for lifelong vocations. On top of joining optional clubs, it is mandatory for students to join a guild, and there are three choices.

Guilds

• Magicians’ Guild – 43% of students, exclusive with the Enchanters’ Union, Society of the Gift, and Malturra Society
  - Open to nobility and merchants only, with membership split roughly half-half
  - Considerable commercial and political power with many highly-placed alumni
  - 'Big-tent' group: few students are deeply involved with guild activity
  - Discounts and favours in some shops
  - Often facilitate the annual 'Produce War' between the nobles' and merchants' dorms.
• Society of the Gift - 32% of students, exclusive with the Magician's Guild, Enchanters' Union, and Malturra Society
  - Open to nobility only
  - Ancient, traditional, and well-connected, with many highly-placed alumni
  - Little involvement in society activity for most students
  - If you're active in this group, they can pull strings and open doors for you
  - Reputation for being privileged and snobby
• Enchanters’ Union – 25% of students, exclusive with the Magicians’ Guild and Society of the Gift
  - Open to all, though mostly artisans and commoners, with some merchants
  - Growing political power and considerable activism
  - The union will have members’ backs
  - Actively progressive and reformist
  - Not an asset to belong to in some circles

Clubs

Outside of the three guilds are numerous other optionnal clubs. many of these revolve around student interests and activities and most people would have a pretty good idea of what those might look like. However, some are tied more directly to magic use or ethnicity.

• Loyalists – 11.8%, exclusive with the Malturra Society and Indigo Front
  - Open to nobility, merchants, and artisans, but with tiered membership based on social class
  - Encourages the use of Arcane magic
  - Staunchly loyal to the Zenith and established order
  - Conservative and traditionalist. Most members are wealthy
  - Lots of posers here
• Indigo Front – 11.7%, exclusive with The Loyalists and Olde Bronze Society
  - Open to all
  - Known as the Chemical Mage society
  - History of intellectualism and political activism
  - Recently, traditionally high academic standards have lowered
• Olde Bronze Society – 9.4%, exclusive with the Indigo Front and the Malturra Society
  - Open to all, but membership is tiered loosely on social class
  - The Magnetic Mage society
  - Nominally loyal to the Zenith and established order
  - Some members in very high positions, but their influence is faltering as a group.
• Cloudchasers – 8.3%
  - Open to all
  - The Kinetic Mage society
  - Intellectual optimism and political idealism
  - Strong focus on group building and physical activity.
• Carnation Accord - 7.3%, exclusive with the Malturra Society
  - Open to all, but membership is tiered based on social class
  - The Binding Mage society
  - Lots of religious lip service
  - Actual seminars and instruction on the practice of Binding Magic
• Torragonese League – 5.9%, exclusive with the Red Rangers
  - Open to nobility, merchants, and artisans, with tiered membership based upon social class
  - Members must be Torragonese by birth or background
  - Staunchly loyal to the Torragonese crown
  - Well established and fairly insular.
• Eskandish Circle – 5.1%
  - Open to all, but privileges are informally tiered based upon social class
  - Members must be Eskandish by birth or background
  - Tied to Eskandish druidic-style worship of the Pentad.
  - Ancient and well-established, but always somewhat marginal.
• Pragmatics – 5.1%, exclusive with Eshiran’s Own
  - Open to applicants who pass their entry test
  - The new Chemical mage society
  - Focus on the new sciences and experimental learning, academic diligence
  - ‘Work hard, play hard’ mentality.
  - Pointedly apolitical.
• Malturra Society – 3.2%, exclusive with many other societies
  - Open to merchants, artisans, and commoners. Nobility must pass a test.
  - Presents itself as an alternative Binding Mage Society, but everybody knows that it's really the Blood Mage society
  - Controversial group, known for political dissent
  - Insular and secretive, cool hangouts
• Ruesics – 2.3%
  - Open to all
  - Members follow the teachings of Tanson Ruesi, a famous philosopher and warrior
  - Focus on competency with all forms of magic and the ability to channel
  - Eschew conversion and focus on speed and channelling endurance
• Strakhalists – 2.1%
  - Referral only, open to all otherwise
  - Focus on offensive drawing, usually using Kinetic, Arcane, or Binding magic
  - Members follow the teachings of Rahn Strakha, who invented offensive drawing
  - Pointedly apolitical
  - Willing to use advanced techniques and skew very close to forbidden magics. Main focus is on power.
• Valgardiers – 2%
  - Open to all who pass their test, though membership is loosely tiered
  - Members follow the teachings of Wensa Valgarde, a famous converter
  - Focus on patience and specialization
  - Advanced skills can be reached from any type of draw through conversion techniques.
• Aesthetics – 1.5%, exlcusive with Eshiran's Own
  - Open to all
  - Members reject the violent use of magic
  - Members attempt to be apolitical but tend to skew progressive
  - Tight-knit group that focuses on art, beauty, and creating
• Oceanborn – 1.5%
  - Open to all, but membership is tiered according to social class
  - The society for mages who want to focus on liquid-manipulation abilities
  - Properties off-campus, right on the sea
  - Inclusive group, a little bit flaky
• Society of the Grapes – 1.2% formally, 4% informally
  - Open to merchants and nobility, but welcoming of others
  - Started out as a parody of the Society of the Gift
  - Tight-knit, respect strength of magic and inttellect, unpretentious, throw amazing parties
  - A place where the wealthy do not have to stand on ceremony.
• Steamchurners – 4.8%
  - Open to artisans and merchants, but also to others who pass a test
  - Pointedly unpretentious new Arcane Mages society
  - Strong belief in science, rationality, and humanism
  - Lots of philosphy and drinking
  - A bunch of talented, crazy drunkards
• Red Rangers – 0.3%, exclusive with the Malturra Society and the Torragonese League
  - Open to all, though commanders must be noble
  - Independent ranger corps nominally loyal to the Perrench crown
  - Wide-ranging set of skills, including physical combat and survival: battle mages
  - Group cohesion, respect, self-efficacy, and duty are central values
  - A life of adventure, romance, and danger, but also a lifelong commitment
• Children of the Moon – 0.3%
  - Open to all, though applicants must demonstrate an interest in Mooncasters
  - Originally intended to be a Mooncasters society, but mooncasters are extremely rare
  - Most members are obnoxious fangirls, fanboys, and oddballs
  - When a true mooncaster appears every few cohorts, he or she is basically forced into joining
• Eshiran’s Own – 1.4%, exclusive with The Aesthetics and The Pragmatics
  - Open to all who can pass their test
  - Mostly arcane, chemical and atomic mages, some crypto-blood mages
  - This is the fighters’ society, filled with combat mages
  - Tend to be low academic achievers.
• Firebreathers – 0.2%
  - Open to all
  - Mostly arcane and chemical mages, small, self-assured group
  - Members must have an innate ability to resist fire
  - Access to secret knowledge and focus on highly advanced fire techniques
• Puppeteers – 0.4%
  - Open to all who can pass their test, targeted recruitment
  - Mainly kinetic and magnetic mages
  - Focus on stealth and manipulation of golems and mechanical apparatus
  - Known for being tricksters and eccentrics
• Faceless – 0.01%
  - Invite only, regardless of social class. Secret membership.
  - Fighters for a secular vision of justice and morality
  - Focus on lightbending and stealth techniques
  - Dabble in forbidden magics and considered criminals
  - Frowned upon by the authorities, but they have shadowy powerful benefactors

[Force and Fury]

Advanced Lore: The Gift

Here, you will find basically everything that you need to know about magic in the world of Sipenta, down to some of the itty-bitty details and idiosyncrasies of how it works. Warning: there's a lot (about 15 pages), but there's also plenty that hasn't been written down or isn't covered here, and there's plenty more that just hasn't been thought of yet. If you have any ideas, I'd love to co-construct some more of this lore with your input!

The Rahman-Albanda Scale (RAS) of Magical Capacity

A Necessary but Not Absolute Measure

Developed nearly three hundred years ago by the Arch-Zeno Theofar Rahman and his understudy, Cerise Albanda, the RAS provides a reliable, repeatable, scientific measurement of a person's capacity for The Gift. A massive weight is set spinning and maintained at a set speed by a powerful user (or multiple users) of The Gift in order to generate a specific amount of kinetic energy. Upon a signal, the candidate being tested will draw all of the energy that he can from it and the speed that it slows down to when he is finished will provide a measure of that person's capacity for drawing energy. While the RAS can put a number on how much energy a person is able to safely draw from his surroundings, what it cannot do is give him an absolute measurement of something as abstract as 'power'. Other factors such as drawing range and efficiency, conversion efficiency, spell focusing techniques, environmental and multiplicative effects, and a caster's mastery of a spell all have roles to play. Having a high RAS number certainly doesn't hurt, though. While other factors can change, it is the only one that is more or less immutable. Let's take a bit more of a look, shall we?

What the Numbers Mean

The RAS is not a linear scale. It's exponential. That means that each whole number on it represents double the power of the one before. Let's say that a hypothetical person with a score of one has a magic capacity of 1. If he had a score of two, he would be twice as powerful and his capacity would also be 2. However, let's say that he's not totally useless in magic and give him a score of three. We now have to double the number 2. That means his capacity for magic is 4. Doubling that again, for someone with a RAS score of four gives us a capacity of 8. Let's look at how the level diverges from the actual capacity as we move further up the scale.

1=1 (effectively no magic) - 27% of people
2=2 (no useful magic) - 43% of people
3=4 (minimum for visible magic) - 22% of people
4=8 (parlor tricks) - 6% of people
5=16 (minimum to recieve training in magic) - 1.5% of people
6=32 (average mage) - 0.3% of people
7=64 (average mage) - 0.15% of people
8=128 (prodigy) - 0.05% of people
9=256 (once in a generation) - 0.000001% of people
10=512 (unreached) - 0% of people

As you can see, a simple whole number score becomes a bit imprecise at higher levels, so we can add decimals to the RAS score, like a 6.5 or a 7.85. Also, while everyone has some degree of ability with The Gift, it isn't noticeable or useful until you score at least a three and you can't be considered for training in The Gift unless you score at least a five. Most actual mages have RAS levels of between six and eight and these comprise only a tiny fraction of the overall population. Anything above an eight is prodigious and exceedingly rare, and anything above a nine would be considered a once-in-a-generation type of talent. No human has ever reached a score of ten. So, as you can see, if you've been accepted to Ersand'Enise, you're in pretty elite company.

The Gift Explained

Draw > Contain > Convert > Cast

The power of a mage is based upon a number of factors, but the four steps above are the essentials of any spell, though conversion is optional for some. We've already touched on capacity and schools of magic, so let's take a closer look at exactly how using The Gift works and how one can use it more effectively.

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Spell Power Determinants

• Capacity – all magic users have a capacity for energy that their body can process at a given moment. Effectively, the higher the capacity (as measured by the RAS), the more energy that can be drawn in, contained, and expelled. While other skills can be learned, this one is innate. While it increases as you grow, once you're an adult, your capacity is what it is.
• Reading – Energy exists in a number of forms in nature and artificially: kinetic, arcane (thermal and radiative), chemical, blood (metabolic and matter-based), magnetic, and deep arcane (nuclear). The better that a mage is at reading energy sources, the more ready a supply of energy for spells he will have.
• Drawing – the energy that a magic user relies upon originates in her surroundings. She must be able to sense it, grasp it, and draw it to herself in order to utilize it for casting spells. Drawing is the first active step in transferring the energy from its origin to its eventual target, using the mage as a conduit and, at times, a temporary accumulator.
• Containment - For a period either brief or long, the magic user must contain the drawn energy within herself, and containing large amounts for long periods can be dangerous. It often manifests itself as a sort of pressure that one feels inside, and a mounting headache. Energy contatinend for too long also tends to 'leak out' into one's surroundings and gradually dissipate.
• Conversion – Energy for use in spells can be drawn from a multitude of different types of sources: kinetic (motion, gravity, and sound), arcane (thermal and radiative), chemical, magnetic, blood (potential energy and matter-based), and 'deep arcane' (atomic). Normally, a spell simply intensifies and redirects that energy towards a preferred target. However, with training, a mage can store the drawn energy temporarily and expel it as a different type.
• Efficiency – energy must be pulled from surroundings, contained, (potentially connverted), and then expelled (cast). Energy is not easy to control, and may escape the grasp of the magic user during any of these stages. Maximizing the amount of energy retained through each results in more powerful spells. Basically, the process is as follows: Draw Efficiency >> Containment Efficiency >> Conversion Efficiency >> Expulsion (Cast) Efficiency.
• Focus Words - This is the spoken part of any spell. It is not strictly necessary, but many mages like to use this for more complex or energy-intense spells. Basically, having a routine of prescribed words that correspond to what one is doing can help with maintaining focus and ensuring efficiency.
• Preservation – Drawing, containing, and casting large amounts of energy is often dangerous to the human body, so a mage must spend a certain amount of focus and energy on protecting himself. This is usually accomplished through projection of spells away from the body, or the casting of small counterspells.
• Freecasting – Preservation when casting is often achieved through use of a wand or staff that acts as a focus point for the spell away from the body. In fact, many magic users do not know how to cast any other way. However, with the right protection in place, it is possible to cast without the use of an instrument or focus point, giving the magic user far greater flexibility.
• Multiplying – The energy released by a spell can cause secondary and tertiary effects in the environment, which skilled mages should learn to anticipate and benefit from. Possessing a keen awareness of the potential for these effects and tailoring one’s spells to take advantage of them can multiply the energy output of a cast exponentially.
• Spatial Intensifying (Impact Focusing) – When bursts of energy are diffused over too large of an area, their impact is diluted. A skilled mage can increase their intensity by forcing all of the energy into a small focus point and maintaining that focus all of the way through spell completion.
• Temporal Intensifying (Impact Bursting) – Drawing energy can take a considerable amount of time. While expelling energy is a faster, simpler process, there still tends to be a power curve. This effectively weakens the spell, as the total amount of energy is not used all at once. A disciplined and well-trained mage can release all of her energy in a very short burst to ensure that it reaches its objective with maximum impact.

Magic Blood Types

Primary Mana Types

The factors that cause The Gift to manifest within individuals were, until recently, completely unknown. Thanks to the emergence of the New Sciences and the invention of the microscope, we now know that magical ability is a result of a symbiotic relationship between a human or yasoi and microscopic creatures known as Manas that inhabit his bloodstream. The exact mechanisms by which they come to be there and by which they manipulate energy remain mysterious for the time being. However, scientists have also discovered that there are fundamentally three different types of Manas and that every person alive has one of the three:

• Blueblood: 9%, often found in high noble lineages, 1/11 people – Bluebloods simply tend to be more powerful than other types of mages, with RAS capacities rarely below 7.5. They can draw and expel (cast) prodigious volumes of energy. However, they often struggle somewhat with containment and efficiency, though these obstacles are not insurmountable with the right training and dedication.
• Blackblood: 33%, mainly found in noble lineages, 1/3 people – This is most mages. There are no particular benefits or drawbacks associated with being a blackblood.
• Redblood (Baseborn): 58%, mainly found in non-noble lineages, ~1/2 people – these are people from non-magical lineages who manifest magical power. This is often (but not always) of negligible capacity, but they have a higher chance of manifesting a second, rare Mana type.

Secondary Mana Types

In addition to one's Primary Manas, some individuals also possess a secondary Mana type. These often come with very specific benefits and drawbacks and are usually quite rare. Below are all of the types so far definitively identified by science and the names ascribed to those people who manifest them.

• Mooncaster: in select lineages from Eskand, 1/5000 magic users – Mooncasters are extremely rare, and often possess heightened senses and reflexes. Their base power levels are often quite low, rarely exceeding 6.25. However, they grow exponentially more powerful depending on the position and brightness of the five moons. Given the right position, a mediocre 6.00 on the RAS with a capacity of 32 can become a monstrous 9.25 with a capacity of 320.
• Fireblood: mainly in lineages from West Severa, 1/250 magic users – Firebloods are masters of offensive magic, particularly from the arcane, chemical, and blood schools. Their resistance to magnetic spells covers Chemical’s traditional weakness. They are resistant to hot temperatures and being burned, not having to worry about wasting energy on preservation, but their power levels are often modest, rarely exceeding 7.25.
• Icevein: often in families from Rettand, 1/500 magic users – Iceveins are masters of defensive magic, particularly against arcane, kinetic, and chemical draws. They can draw heat out of targets and slow movement with exceptional ease. They are resistant to cold temperatures and to being frozen, however, their base power levels are often modest, rarely exceeding 7.25.
• Bloodchild: appears universal, but often in children revived using blood magic, 1/200 magic users – Bloodchildren are almost always albino, and are excellent at drawing from matter and at matter reconstitution. They possess a natural proclivity for Binding Magic, but some secretly dabble in Blood Magic. They have an alarming tendency to self-damage and to damage allies when not careful with their drawing.
• Skyborn: often in lineages from East Constantia, 1/150 magic users – Skyborn are generally light on their feet, can self-levitate easily, take a long time to physically tire, and are excellent at evasion. However, they struggle greatly with spells tha involve weight and recoil.
• Truecaster: often in lineages from Torragon, Joru, and Firraz, 1/200 magic users – Truecasters are hobbled by their inability to convert. They can only cast from the same school that they draw from, rendering them inflexible and predictable. However, they compensate by way of prodigious raw power, with capacities almost always over 8.00.
• Thunderchild: often in families from South Constantia, 1/100 magic users – Thunderchildren are highly susceptible to magnetic charges and pick them up easily. This makes them extremely powerful with Magnetic Magic. However, they must always be careful to maintain a balanced charge for fear of significant self-injury.
• Leadvein: mainly in lineages from Belzagg and East Severa, 1/150 – Leadveins are generally solid and balanced. They can safely draw and contain half again the amount of kinetic energy that their capacity would usually allow. They can impart this into physical blows and tend to be highly self-damage resistant. However, they tend to tire easily and can struggle to control their own kinetic force.

Manipulable Mediums

Solids

Often very heavy due to their high density, but capable of maintaining a fully cohesive shape, solids usually require a very large amount of built up energy to be expended to move. However, since they maintain their own shape, they require no extra concentration or energy in order to hold them together.
- E.g. rocks, trees, clothes, living things
- Sometimes, an unchanging shape can be a problem, as solids cannot be manipulated as finely.

Liquids

Often somewhat heavy due to their density, but capable of maintaining only a partially cohesive shape, liquids usually require a fairly large amount of built up energy to move. Since they cannot maintain a fully cohesive shape, they also require some concentration and a lesser amount of energy in order to hold them together.
- E.g. water, blood, chemicals, drinks
- Sometimes, it is easy for a mage to lose control of a large volume of liquid

Gases

Often quite light due to their low density, but incapable of maintaining any sort of cohesive shape, gases usually require a fairly small amount of built up energy to move. However, since they cannot maintain any kind of cohesive shape, they also require considerable concentration and energy in order to hold them together.
- E.g. air, smoke, water vapour, helium
- While easy to manipulate, it is hard to do much by manipulating air alone and directly.

Plasmas

Often virtually weightless due to their extremely low density, but actively resisting any sort of cohesive shape, plasmas usually require virtually no built up energy to move. However, since they are charged and resist a cohesive shape, they also require exceptional concentration and energy in order to hold them together.
- E.g. fire, lightning, electric sparks, stars
- Impossible to control completely, and requires constant sources of energy to maintain it.

Magnetic Magic

Drawing

Magnetic magic draws its power from the polarity of atoms and molecules, using their tendencies to attract and repel each other to build powerful charges.

• Magnetic drawing is not directly offensive. However, drawing too much of one type of charge (positive or negative) from a polarized source can leave it imbalanced, which has powerful consequences.
• Given that all atoms contain charges, magnetism is all around us. However, given that it exists only in a latent, dormant form, converting it into charges that one can draw from is not easy. However, once this is done, Magnetic drawing becomes elementary and a rather powerful source as well that magic users should be careful to exercise control over.

Offense

While magnetic mages have a reputation for being defensive counterpunchers, they are more than capable of mounting independent (and often terrifying) offense of their own.

• Negative charge – a foundational skill that causes a target to become negatively charged, making it highly susceptible to magnetic and electrical attacks as well as magnetism and self-damage. (tiered: 1-2)
• Positive charge – a foundational skill that causes a target to become positively charged, making it highly susceptible to magnetic and electrical attacks as well as magnetism and self-damage. (tiered: 1-2)
• Grounding – a foundational skill that causes the magic user or a target to become grounded, allowing charges to flow through him without suffering self-damage. (tier 1)
• Displaced shock – the caster delivers an electrical shock to an already charged target a distance away through use of a metal conductor, like a wand. (tier 2)
• Impact shock – the caster delivers a powerful electrical shock to any target by making physical contact with them. (tiered: 1-3)
• Arc Lightning – a powerful offensive skill that focuses a massive charge and then unleashes it upon a target. If the target is conductive, Arc Lightning can jump to nearby targets, gaining strength if they’re charged. This spell can easily kill humans and can be incredibly dangerous in environments with large amounts of water or metals, potentially decimating small armies. (tiered: 2-4)

Defense

With Magnetic mages, the line between offense and defense is often blurred, as they tend to be masters of subtle and sneaky techniques that cause their opponents to destroy themselves or set them up to be countered mercilessly (or, you know, just give them a charge and attract/repel them at high speeds into things).

• Repulse (Wreck Chems) – A grounded caster polarizes himself in anticipation of an internal chemical attack, delivering a powerful shock to the chemical caster when she attempts to manipulate liquids within his body. (tier 2)
• Polarize – the caster polarizes the magnetic charges existing within a target, making it highly vulnerable to self-damage when trying to attack using conductive mediums and even at risk of being torn in half by a strong attract/repel combo. (tiered: 2-3)
• Anti-polarize – the caster removes naturally existing polarizations from the target, particularly from liquid mediums such as water. This can wreak havoc on a molecular level, resulting in a target potentially destroying itself if it tries to take action or draw energy immediately after being anti-polarized. (tiered: 2-4)
• Paralyze – The caster blocks the depolarization that cells undergo to activate their resting energy potential and the ability of neurons to send signals, resulting in a living target being temporarily paralyzed. Exceptionally skillful and powerful casts can permanently fry neurons and cells, resulting in serious injury or death. (tiered: 3-4)

Utility

Magnetic mages tend not to directly favour utility spells, most of their repertoires being multifunctional. However, their ability to set up their environments, manipulate electric currents, and move charged objects using magnetism can be helpful and, in some cases, double as powerful offense.

• Attract – the mage uses an opposing charge to pull a charged target towards her or any appropriate conductors in the area. (tiered: 1-2)
• Repel – the mage uses an identical charge to push a charged target away from her or any appropriate conductors in the area. (tiered: 1-2)
• Transmit – a caster with fine control can act as a conduit, drawing and discharging electric current in a smooth, constant flow to power items that use electricity. Unfortunately, there aren’t many in an Early Modern-era world…yet. (tier 3)

Arcane Magic

Drawing

Arcane magic uses the radiative energy of heat and light as a power source. As a result, it has a virtually limitless supply of power during the day and in warmer places and considerably less at night and in colder places.

• This also allows the act of drawing heat to be something of an offensive capability in its own right, since doing so to a great enough degree can be fatal to living things.
• Heat is a powerful and unpredictable source that comes in many forms, from benevolent to destructive, so it is recommended that magic users with an ARS rating below seven exercise extreme caution when drawing from it. While less intense, the sheer abundance of light-based sources can be overwhelming for magic users with a drawing capacity of below seven. Drawing should only be attempted at night or in low temperatures.

Offense

Casts from this school focus on using heat and light in a multitude of different ways. Partially as a result, Arcane is easily the most balanced school in terms of offensive, defensive, and utility spells, boasting impressive flexibility that enables adherents to take either subtle or aggressive approaches. This, combined with the sheer abundance and ready availability of heat and light energy makes Arcane the preferred school for more mages than any other.

In terms of offense, arcane magic users can focus the powers of heat and light to burn and blind. Intensely focused beams of light and heat can cut and burn holes in solid objects, while fire can spread rapidly and offensive draws can cause targets to freeze to death.

• Wyvern’s Breath: redirects or channels intense fire at a target. Given the presence of the right materials, this can quickly spread a powerful inferno. (tiered: 1-3)
• Lich’s Touch: draws the heat from a living thing, either stunning, weakening, or killing it depending on how much is drawn. (tiered 1-3)
• Light of Ahn-Shune: a blinding flash of light that can stun, disorient, or even permanently blind a target. (tiered: 1-2)
• Faerie Fire: focuses intense heat and light on a target, causing living targets immense pain and serious burns even to the point of death, and causing combustible targets to burst into flames. (tiered: 2-3)
• Sword of Eshiran-Zept: a focused beam of pure heat and light that can burn through almost any target with impressive speed and range. (tiered: 3-4)

Defense

Defensively, arcane magic can warp and bend the visible light spectrum to allow a user to disappear from sight and can manipulate temperatures and the surrounding environment to negate incoming attacks.

• Burn Magic: scorches the caster slightly, but banishes all scent effects, tracking, and curses. (tiered: 1-2)
• Blazing Aura: creates a whirling ring of fire around the caster that can burn incoming enemies, environmental nuisances, and physical projectiles as well as acting as a shield against cold-based spells. (tiered: 1-3)
• Freezing Aura: draws all ambient heat from a ring around the caster, keeping him warm but causing his immediate surroundings to become intensely cold, freezing liquids and gases almost instantly and halting all but the most powerful chemical reactions. (tiered: 2-3)
• Veil of Shadows: A simple spell that requires a large amount of energy but allows the user to darken her immediate surroundings and blend in to some extent. (tier 1)
• Ahn-Shune’s Secret: For a small energy cost, allows the user to become invisible while remaining more or less still. Builds upon Veil of Shadows. (tier 2)
• Ahn-Shune’s Enigma: For a moderate energy cost, allows the user or a target to become invisible, even while moving. Builds upon Ahn-Shune’s Secret. (tier 3)

Utility

In terms of utility, arcanists can create powerful illusions, as well as provide light and heat. Especially intense heat can cauterize wounds.

• Ipte-Zept’s Blessing: fills the caster or a target with warmth. Can also have offensive and defensive applications. (tiered: 1-2)
• Shune-Zept’s Torch: focuses light on an area to help one see. (tier 1)
• Mercy of Oraff-Zept (Staunch): cauterizes a wound to prevent further bleeding. (tier 2)
• Shune-Zept’s Trick: allows the caster to bend light and create powerful illusions. (tiered: 3-4)
• Eshiran-Zept’s Army: By bending light, the caster creates a number of doppelgangers that appear exactly like her and mimic her actions even though they are noncorporeal. (tiered: 3-4)

Binding Magic

Drawing

Binding magic is unique in that it is primarily a casting school. Drawing is rarely undertaken as it involves not the repurposing of energy but the repurposing of matter by destroying it and using its potential energy. In some cases, this can be used to remove foreign objects from the body and treat patients or to prevent harm. However, the 'blood price' of turning matter into energy is not a reputable form of magic and is strongly discouraged outside of healing utility.

• The sacred duty of those who use The Gift for Binding is to heal, help, and protect. The offensive uses of drawing for this school of magic are not relevant to its use.
• A Binding mage must be highly skilled in the art of drawing, so as not to inflict any harm while removing unwanted matter. She also needs to possess a thorough understanding of the human body and be skilled in the art of converting, for when other -less dangerous - sources of energy are required. Due to the abundance of sources and the horrifying destructive potential of Binding magic if misused, it is only taught at the most prestigious of academies and only to students who pass a rigorous set of tests designed to gauge their intellectual and moral fortitude.

Offense

• Binding Magic is not used for offense.

Defense

The ability to covert matter into usable energy, and vise versa, makes Binding a massively powerful school of magic on the defensive side of the ledger. Binding practitioners can destroy enemy projectiles, heal wounds from trivial to fatal, invigorate allies, and materialize physical barriers for protection.

• Gift of Eshiran-Zept: a magic user draws offensively from a projectile or other physical object, destroying the threat that it represents. (tiered 1-2)
• Gift of Oraff-Zept: a magic user reconstitutes matter, creating a simple object such as a barrier or bandage, for the purpose of healing or protection. (tiered 1-2)
• Gift of Ahn-Eshiran: harmful foreign substances and damaged flesh are removed from the body of a target and destroyed. (tiered 2-3)
• Gift of Ahn-Oraff: surrounding energies that could be used by enemies to draw from are instead turned into matter and rendered useless to other schools of magic. (tiered 2-3)
• Nourishment of Ahn-Oraff: simple food is created to feed and nourish the magic user and allies. (tiered 2-3)
• Nourishment of Oraff-Zept: wounds are healed through the creation of new flesh. (tiered 3-4)
• Supreme Mercy of Ahn-Eshiran: a recently deceased ally is restored to life by healing fatal wounds and using advanced chemical and magnetic magic to restart metabolic and nervous processes. (tier 4)

Utility

There is significant overlap between defense and utility when going the Binding route, but this school of magic remains a powerhouse. The ability to create passages for allies and obstacles for enemies is of considerable use. One may also materialize simple, useful devices. Exceptionally skilled Binders may even 'seal' simple spells by creating items that, when drawn from, release the necessary energy and type of matter for the spell.

• Promise of Ahn-Shune: An object is created which, when drawn from with Binding Magic (no matter how weak) and coupled with the correct focus words, automatically consumes itself and casts a minor spell. (tier 3)
• Promise of Shune-Zept: An object is created which acts as a trigger for a powerful spell. When the correct focus words are spoken, the item acts as a conduit through which its creator channels energy to the caster or target, allowing for a massively powerful spell. The item itself is then consumed upon use. (tier 4)

Chemical Magic

Drawing

Chemical magic uses the power of chemical reactions as a source. It can use smaller reactions to trigger larger reactions, amplifying the power of the initial spell exponentially.

• As such, it is an extremely energy-efficient school of magic, though if a magic user creates a spell that contains more energy than that magic user can safely draw, he loses control of the spell and it becomes a runaway spell that can harm him.
• Chemical magic is a very accessible school. There are chemical reactions of many different strengths, so almost any magic user can find something that suits her. However, attempting to amplify spells is strongly discouraged without proper training, as these can quickly spiral out of control.

Offense

Chemical mages are known for their terrifying array of offensive skills, and these come in two primary varieties: External and Internal. The former focuses on manipulating and often chemically altering the environment to generate powerful reactions in the form of combustion, explosions, and corrosives, which can be further perpetuated for cataclysmic results. The latter focuses on manipulating the biochemical properties of a living target’s body to injure, incapacitate, dominate, or destroy it.

• Touch of Fire: mixes target substances and adds heat in order to cause combustion and fire. Can amplify, intensify, and spread fire. Given enough energy and the presence of the right fuel, can result in a hellish inferno. (tiered: 1-3)
• Gaze of Sloth: drains a living target of the metabolic and chemical energy that allows it to move, causing it to collapse and often to go unconscious. (tier 1)
• Touch of Corruption: turns normally inert substances violently reactive or corrosive by rendering them highly acidic or basic. (tiered: 2-3)
• Gaze of Terror: Amplifies the production and effect of fear-inducing hormones such as corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and cortisol, paralyzing an enemy with extreme fear. Far more effective on static enemies. (tier 2)
• Touch of Fury (Blockbuster): alters the chemical composition of target substances, or combines them in such a way that an explosion results. This explosion can be amplified, intensified, spread, and perpetuated based on the availability of combustibles and the skill of the mage in improvising them and controlling the results. Under the right conditions, it can level an entire block. (tiered: 2-4)
• Gaze of Agony: biochemically stimulates pain receptors to cause the target to feel pain, from mild discomfort to crippling agony. Far more effective on static enemies. (tier 2)
• Touch of Doom: tears the chemical bonds of molecules within a target apart, resulting in disastrous and (in the case of living targets) lethal reactions and often causing it to disintegrate, combust, or implode. (tiered: 3-4)

Defense

While they are offensive powerhouses, Chemical mages are markedly weaker on defense, relying predominantly on their ability to keep opponents on the back foot and, at higher skill levels, to deceive and dominate them mentally. That doesn't mean that they're helpless though.

• Gaze of Confusion: alters chemical signals within a living target at random, often causing seizures, temporary forgetfulness, distraction, and confusion. Results may be unpredictable. (tier 1)
• Gaze of Deception: alters the chemical properties of the signals sent by the senses to the brain, resulting in low-level illusions and the removal of images from a target’s vision. Far more effective on static enemies. (tiered: 2-3)
• Gaze of Dominion: alters the chemical signals sent to a target’s muscles telling them to move in a certain way, and redirects the target’s body to do the caster’s bidding. Far more effective on static enemies. (tier 4)

Utility

In terms of utility, Chemical mages possess a plethora of skills beneficial to both themselves and allies, from minor casts augmenting moods and abilities, to transmutation, to powerful healing and even resurrection spells. In fact, many consider healing-focused Chemical mages to be a subset of Binding.

• Blessing of Joy: Floods a living target with and stimulates the production of endorphins, causing happiness. (tier 1)
• Blessing of Vigor: Floods a living target with and stimulates the production of adrenaline, allowing for quick action and a short-lived boost to strength and toughness. (tier 1)
• Blessing of Expulsion: neutralizes the chemical properties of poisons, toxins, and corrosives within a chosen target. (tier 2)
• Blessing of Transformation: Alters the chemical structure of a target, transmuting it into another substance. This spell works best on targets of uniform composition. (tiered: 2-3)
• Blessing of Flight / Touch of Force: Channels the reaction of combustible materials directionally, resulting in a rocketlike boost. Can also be used as a short-range offensive spell. Extremely energy intensive. (tiered: 3-4)
• Blessing of Life: Starts or restarts metabolic and neurological processes within a not-yet-alive or recently deceased target, bringing it to life or bringing it back to life. (tier 4)

Kinetic Magic

Drawing

Kinetic Magic uses the power of kinetic energy as a source, meaning that the simple act of anything with mass in motion can power it. It also interacts with less obvious forms of motion and energy, such as sound waves and gravity.

• As with Arcane magic, the act of drawing can be offensive magic in its own right, as drawing the kinetic energy from something can cause it to stop moving.
• While kinetic sources are all around us and accessible to magic users of all ability levels, they must be treated with caution. Draws should be carefully measured so as not to either overwhelm the drawer by tapping into too large and powerful a source or disturb the movement of sources too greatly.

Offense

There are three distinct approaches to kinetic offense. The first seeks to manipulate motion and sound within the environment to use it against the target. The second focuses on offensive drawing and manipulating the target itself. The third approach uses the kinetic energy of the environment to turn the caster’s body into a powerful weapon.

• Siphon momentum: draws momentum from a moving target, slowing it and redirecting that energy into the caster. (tiered: 1-2)
• Deadstop: stops a target completely, rendering it motionless and filling the caster with energy. (tiered: 2-3)
• Sonic Blast: intensifies and loudens sound waves as they move through the air, resulting in a powerful, deafening blast that can stun and disorient living targets in its area of effect, often knocking them unconscious. Lethal to smaller targets (tiered 2-3)
• Heart Killer: stops the motion of a living target’s beating heart, causing it to either be stunned, or if held long enough, to die. (tiered: 3-4)
• Solid Telekinesis: allows the caster to manipulate solids, moving them where she wishes. (tiered 1-3)
• Liquid Telekinesis: allows the caster to manipulate liquids, moving them where he wishes. (tiered 2-3)
• Gaseous Telekinesis: allows the caster to manipulate gases, moving them where she wishes. (tiered 2-3)
• Plasmatic Telekinesis: allows the caster to manipulate plasmas, moving them where he wishes. (tiered 3-4)
• Displaced Strike: Instantly displaces the momentum of a moving object to a different place as directed by the caster. (tiered 2-3)
• Augmented Strike: augments a physical blow to impact its target as if it is carrying significantly more momentum than it actually is. At high levels, you can literally hit like a freight train. (tiered 1-4)

Defense

Defensively, Kinetic magic’s telekinesis can allow its caster to throw objects into the path of attacks to act as shield instead of using them as offense. Additionally, the manipulation of sound is a subtle but powerful tool.

• Impart Momentum: increases the momentum of a moving target, accelerating it using energy drawn from somewhere else. (tiered: 1-3)
• Sonic Break: redirects sound waves as they move through the air, making them seem to come from a different source. (tier 2)
• Sonic Bend: alters sound waves as they move through the air, changing what is eventually heard. (tiered: 3-4)

Defense

In terms of utility, the telekinetic abilities of the kinetic school are front and center, though their multifunctional nature makes them potent offensive and defensive tools as well. Kinetic spells can also augment their caster’s movements and help him to levitate, making him a very elusive target.

• Sonic Negation: draws all of the energy out of sound waves, creating a perfect silence. (tier 2)
• Heroic Leap: imbues a caster’s jump with a great deal of additional momentum, and then draws momentum away from the caster before she lands, pouring it into the next jump or cast. Requires a chain of casts and fast reaction time. (tiered: 1-3)
• Levitate: raises the caster off of the ground. Can be combined with other spells to simulate flight. (tiered: 3-4)

Atomic Magic

Drawing

Atomic (Deep Arcane) magic draws from the immense power created by destroying and fusing atoms. As a result, it can generate massive bursts of energy and power monstrous spells.

• However, nuclear reactions simply don’t exist in nature aside from the insides of stars. These must first be created by powerful casts from other schools. Only then may they become self-sustaining.
• Drawing from Atomic sources requires a considerable initial power investment as well as a good deal of precision. It also generates a sudden burst of great power that can be difficult to contain when drawing. Therefore, only the very strongest of magic users, with RAS ratings above 8.25, are advised to attempt it.

Offense

Atomic Magic is not a standalone school, being dependent upon energy generated through other draws to kickstart its extremely powerful atomic fusion and fission processes, hence its more common title: "Deep Arcane". However, its offensive skills, though limited in terms of options, are virtually unparalleled for their sheer power and destructive capability.

• Embrace of Ahn-Eshiran (Reaper’s Aura): The caster leaks deadly radiation into the area around himself, making attempts to approach him painful, weakening, and potentially deadly. (tiered: 2-3)
• Wrath of Eshiran-Zept (Heaven’s Lance): The caster channels a sustained nuclear reaction in a specific direction, attacking targets with what appears to be an extremely long-range and very potent lance of pure energy. Requires considerable plasma manipulation skill. (tiered: 3-4)
• Curse of the Wretched: mutates a target beyond recognition, depriving it of its thoughts, motivations, and former identity and rendering it very vulnerable to control spells. (tier 3)
• Cataclysm (Godsbane): produces a massive nuclear explosion of unparalleled might, capable of wiping out an army or leveling an entire city. Requires an enormous energy investment, draw time, and considerable spell projection range. (tiered: 4-5)

Defense

In terms of subtle and reparatory defense, options are extremely limited within the Atomic school. However, Atomic mages are masters of direct preventative defense, though their energy usage is extremely high. Approaching a fully powered-up Atomic mage is often suicidal given the phenomenal radiation that their spells generate.

• Protection of Oraff-Zept (Atomic Shield): Surrounds the caster or a nearby target with an energetic field that counters and neutralizes the radiation of Deep Arcane spells. (tier 2)
• Hammer of Dami-Zept (Faceless Thunder): causes a multitude of tiny, controlled explosions that produce powerful directional shockwaves, making it impossible to approach the caster and difficult to strike her with projectiles. (tiered: 2-3)
• Infernal Majesty: The caster temporarily empowers Reaper's Aura to the point that it melts any human-sized object that approaches within five yards in less than a second through hyper-intense radiation. (tiered: 4-5)

Utility

Being a complementary school, and one weighted strongly towards offensive capabilities, Deep Arcane tends to be a bit light on utility, but nonetheless possesses a last-resort healing spell and the intriguing ability to generate near-perpetual energy.

• Mercy of Ahn-Eshiran: sickens and weakens the caster or a selected target, but purges them of diseases, disorders, parasites, and biologically-based attacks. It’s basically instant chemotherapy. (tier 3)
• Infinity Loop: initiates a fusion sequence within an existing radioactive material, creating an extremely powerful and near-inexhaustible energy source. (tier 2)

Blood Magic

Drawing

Blood Magic is basically just Binding magic unfettered, and with more of an offensive focus. On a fundamental level, it functions differently from other magics. It does not draw its power from energy but rather from matter, destroying it in the process in return for its potential energy. Thus does this type of magic demand a ‘blood price.’

• As one might imagine, Blood Magic drawing is a powerful act of offense in and of itself. Matter is destroyed, and the more potential energy stored in that matter, the more energy is drawn.
• It is not particularly difficult to control the amount of matter destroyed and therefore energy created, so blood magic is accessible to most mages. However, its use is strongly discouraged by all relevant authorities due to its destructive nature. Dabbling in blood magic rarely ends well.

Offense

Blood magic casting does not focus on outright offense, instead favouring drawing for that purpose. Instead, it is infamous for its ‘marks’ and ‘curses’, which involve binding the physical matter of a target to either be drawn from when the curse is invoked or to have it cast upon them.

• Blood Mark: Foundational skill that binds a curse, mark, or gift to a specified target, regardless of its location. When first invoked, the caster must make contact with the target. Depending on the strength of the cast and distance of the target, blood marks can last from minutes to years. (tier 1)
• Mark of the Basilisk: Manifests repurposed matter inside of a target, usually in the form of large sharpened spines. (tiered: 2-3)
• Mark of the Bull: manifests repurposed matter as a heavy block above the target. Weak as a basic skill, but deadly when mastered. (tiered: 1-3)
• Mark of the Wolf: Continuously manifests repurposed matter as small, sharp blades above, below, or in the path of a target every time that the magic user draws energy. Death by a thousand cuts. (tiered: 1-2)
• Curse of the Snake: progressively drains and weakens a pre-specified target and transfers that energy to the caster. Think of it as a magical tapeworm, but invisible. (tiered: 1-2)
• Curse of the Dragon: disintegrates a pre-specified target, erasing it from existence and filling the caster with energy (tiered: 3-4)

Defense

Defensively, blood magic can disintegrate physical projectiles before they reach their targets and can create physical shields out of reconstituted matter. Finally, it has access to all of the healing spells of binding magic but, in practice, few dedicated blood mages take the time to learn enough about human or yasoi physiology to be more than rudimentary healers on a utility level.

• Bane of Stone: disintegrates solids immediately and turns them into energy. (tiered: 1-2)
• Bane of Blood: disintegrates liquids immediately and turns them into energy. (tiered: 1-2)
• Bane of Wind: disintegrates gases immediately and turns them into energy. (tiered: 2-3)
• Bane of Fire: disintegrates plasmas immediately and turns them into energy. (tiered: 3-4)
• Sign of the Ram: creates a thick shield capable of deflecting physical attacks (tiered: 1-3)

Utility

Blood magic’s ability to disintegrate and reconstitute is useful for a form of teleportation and healing. When taught, the healing abilities are usually separated from the school of ‘Blood Magic’, combined with select Chemical and Arcane spells and designated ‘Binding’. However, there is nothing stopping a blood mage from learning binding spells.

• Sign of the Frog: creates a large, extremely resilient and springy cushion. (tiered: 1-2)
• Sign of the Mushroom: creates a massive sponge capable of absorbing liquids and neutralizing their properties. (tiered: 1-2)
• Gift of the Bat: allows a caster to disintegrate a target in one place and reconstitute it in another, effectively resulting in teleportation. (tiered: 3-4)
• Gift of the Cat: allows a caster to reconstitute lost or damaged flesh. (tiered: 2-4)

Temporal Magic

Drawing

Temporal Magic draws upon the power of spacetime itself, and doing so without the greatest care can lead to disastrous consequences. Essentially, you're not drawing energy, you're drawing from time and space, collapsing it as you draw.

• Temporal magic is little understood and considered a forbidden magic to all but Arch-Zenos and carefully-selected specialists and techniques for mastering temporal drawing are kept under lock and key in only the grandest of magic academies. The mere act of sensing spacetime in a manner that it could be drawn from is exceedingly difficult and involves potentially years of pushing physical, emotional, and mental boundaries to levels that might be very unsafe.
• Drawing from the fabric of spacetime itself involves warping spacetime in some way. It requires immense power and concentration and is purely an act of chaos unless done with the utmost care and precision. It is not recommended that any magic user attempt to draw from Temporal sources.

Offense

The outright offensive capabilities of temporal casters would appear to be limited and are little understood, but what we know speaks to their status as the ultimate force of chaos, best avoided by mortal beings of any stripe.

• Singularity: Disrupts spacetime to create a powerful gravitational vortex that destroys matter and even energy until cancelled. (tiered: 3-5)
• Collapse Space: Erases a point in space by collapsing the space around it, eliminating anything within. (tiered: 3-4)
• Collapse Time: Erases a point in time by collapsing the time around it, eliminating the effects of anything that took place within that time. (tiered: 4-5)
• Decrepitude: rapidly accelerates the passing of time on a living target to age it to the point of decrepitude in moments. (tiered: 3-4)

Defense

It’s difficult to say where defense, offense, and utility begin and end within the repertoire of a Temporal magic user, though the ability to reset a situation endlessly to the caster’s advantage has virtually unparalleled defensive merit.

• Temporal Waypoint: creates a temporal ‘anchor’ that the caster or a target can return to following a temporal change. (tier 3)
• Spatial Waypoint: creates a spatial ‘anchor’ that the caster or a target can return to following a spatial change. (tier 3)

Utility

Temporal spells represent the be-all and end-all of utility magic, able to imbue their casters with a virtually godlike control over their environment and situation.

• Repeal Time: reverses time up to a maximum distance of the caster’s initial learning of this spell. (tier 4)
• Reject Time: halts the flow of time around the caster, allowing him to alter his surroundings as he pleases until the spell is cancelled. Pausing time results in time pressure, a mental and incorporeal but physically felt weight that grows until it is unbearable and will crush the caster eventually. How long this takes depends on the power of the initial cast and the capacity of its caster. (tiered: 3-5)
• Consume Time: leaps forward in time to a maximum distance of the caster’s death. (tier 4)
• Portal: bends spacetime to create a wormhole between two spatially distinct places. (tiered: 3-4)
• Compress Space: warps space, bringing two targets closer together spatially. Mastering Extend Space helps greatly with learning this skill. (tier 3)
• Extend Space: warps space, forcing two targets further apart spatially. Mastering Compress Space helps greatly with learning this skill. (tier 3)
• Embrace the Void: Not a cast so much as a state of being. A magic user’s understanding of space and time moves away from linear, dimensional models, freeing that magic user from the spatial limits of distance and the temporal limits of her own lifespan. (tier 5)

Dark Magic

Drawing

There are whispers within the Violet Enclave of a type of magic even beyond Temporal: one that seems to draw from an invisible and limitless source. It is hard to say if there is any truth to these, however. Such a magic would seem impossible based on our current understanding of magic. In any event, nobody has ever seen or heard of an actual 'Dark Mage' aside from a few crackpot texts from disreputable sources.

Offense

Who's to say exactly what the fabled 'Dark Mage' could muster in terms of offensive magic. There's a rumour that they can manifest and control aberrations, but there's one problem with that absurd conjecture: nobody's actually ever seen it happen. Honestly... Dark mages aren't real. They can't hurt you!

Defense

Yes, the dark mage will defend himself with the power of... nothing! Seriously, if he doesn't need to draw power, then how can his spells have any power? No reputable practitioner believes in Dark Magic.

Utility

Could you imagine what it'd be like to have a limitless supply of energy? Could you imagine being able to separate yourself from needing a RAS capacity in order to use magic? Many people with vivid imaginations have thought of these things. 'Dark Magic' is the result of their daydreams.

[POOHEAD189]

If I get less busy soon, this looks awesome

[Moon Man]

This looks sick, I'm interested.

[Saiten Algard]

Looks cool. Just need some time to read up on that lore. Haha.

[Izurich]

This doth looketh dope, friend! Read up on the standard lore and joined Discord, now onto reading the A D V A N C E D Lore.

[Force and Fury]

@POOHEAD189 Fingers crossed that things clear up. We'd love to have you. The goal here is to really launch a long-term persistent world with a lot of stories to tell over time.

@Moon Man Sick indeed (but not that kinda 'sick' right now what with the omicron and all). Glad to have you aboard.

@Saiten Algard You're gonna need a lot of time, friend. I'm rooting for you. In the meantime, feel free to join the discord. Believe it or not, that massive infodump actually does not cover everything.

@Izurich Happy to have you aboard. Godspeed, brave one!

[Dark Cloud]

@Force and Fury I'll need to take a Scrooge McDuck level dive into the lore, but consider me quite interested. I don't use Discord though, hope that's okay.

Also I want to toy with the idea of a student who uses the dark magic (ie: necromancy) however not in the goth edgelord way. More in the way of someone who is both scientifically and spiritualy interested in the way that the dark magic works. So like a person going down the beginning of a dark path into forbidden knowledge.

TL;DR A students slippery slope to the dark side.

[Force and Fury]

@Force and Fury I'll need to take a Scrooge McDuck level dive into the lore, but consider me quite interested. I don't use Discord though, hope that's okay.

Also I want to toy with the idea of a student who uses the dark magic (ie: necromancy) however not in the goth edgelord way. More in the way of someone who is both scientifically and spiritualy interested in the way that the dark magic works. So like a person going down the beginning of a dark path into forbidden knowledge.

TL;DR A students slippery slope to the dark side.

@Dark Cloud

In theory, that sounds interesting and I'd love to see that kind of storyline done well (also digging the Scrooge McDuck reference). I can certainly make space for that within the RPG. I'm going to post some further details on how some of the magics work under the 'Advanced Lore: The Gift' section in a little bit, so hopefully that should clear things up in terms of how 'darker' forms of magic would work in this world and give you a strong starting point. TL;DR, there is a forbidden school of magic literally called 'dark' but it isn't what most people would think it is. There are definitely magics that one might consider 'dark', though: particularly blood and binding, some forms of chemical, and temporal. Happy reading and feel free to ask questions if you have any!

[Dark Cloud]

@Force and Fury So what category of magic would implore the use of manipulating not just the flesh nor the bone but what of the soul? I would assume such a thing would be extremely difficult as it seems most magic would be easy if it has an existing physical component to use. It would be dangerous to try to puppeteer a soul and use it in something like animating a corpse.

[Theyra]

Interested, might do a char from a merchant family from Paggon.

[Force and Fury]

Interested, might do a char from a merchant family from Paggon.

@Theyra

Sounds awesome. Feel free to join our discord to help plan.

[Force and Fury]

@Force and Fury So what category of magic would implore the use of manipulating not just the flesh nor the bone but what of the soul? I would assume such a thing would be extremely difficult as it seems most magic would be easy if it has an existing physical component to use. It would be dangerous to try to puppeteer a soul and use it in something like animating a corpse.

@Dark Cloud

Ah, so one of the things that I've done is purposely left it ambiguous as to just how real the religious and spiritual aspects of the world are. Do people have souls? Could a skilled enough chemical mage actually just recreate a person's brain chemistry from when they were alive? Could a binding mage rebuild their flesh and would that be enough? Could a temporal mage temporally pause them or de-age them to immediately after death to prevent decay? Would it do the job? I'm not sure, and that's where you have some room to dabble and play.

[Dark Cloud]

@Force and Fury Okay, I like that creative choice. Could you PM me because I think Dark Magic is the way I'd like to go. And I want to discuss it in private as to keep the ambiguity out of here if you explain it.

[TinyKiwi]

Mara

Mara

To be remembered is to live on in death, very few deserve the cruel fate of being forgotten.
Anybody short of a traitor should be remembered. I will make sure you and yours will not suffer that fate.

17 | Female | Origin: Mycormi / Raised: Holmania | Slave | 7.85

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [Obedient]
❖ [Observant]
❖ [Dedicated]
❖ [Protective]
❖ [Curious]

Oh so very used to silently watching and listening until called upon, Mara is a quiet creature, content to observe the antics of others rather than involve herself directly unless asked. Being raised from childhood as a slave by a practical man who saw the use in a Yasoi Bloodchild, Mara has developed a sort of protective nature of those who keep her around. She is unsurprisingly easy to manipulate in many ways, and naive in just as many. However one must realize that while she is used to being ordered by others and has a strong respect for authority figures, her loyalty always lies with those she considers to hold her leash. Old habits die hard, and though she has recently attained her freedom she finds it hard to act on her own. Not all of her Yasoi nature is lost to her however, as she still retains a very basic grasp of the language as well as the natural curiosity and habit of collecting what can sometimes be strange items that people often attribute to Yasoi.

Overall, Mara is a young lady who finds it difficult to act alone, consistently looking to others for support. When she finds those people however, she is difficult to pull away from them due to her dependent nature and protective attitude. The world is a very big place, and Mara already doesn't know what to do with it.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Tall and lithe with exceptionally pale skin, her hair is strange shade of silvery grey and is often tied back into a loose ponytail. Her stare is piercing, seeming to look straight through anybody she happens to be looking at, however her gaze rarely meets that of anybody else's, preferring instead to avoid eye contact unless spoken to directly. Her wardrobe is unsurprisingly sparse, containing few exceptional garmants of her own choice save a patchy fur lined leather cloak, it's insides stitched with with what seems to be hundreds of names. The sheer number of needle-holes implying at one point there were even more, but they had since been removed. The garmant is obviously old, and once of extremely fine make, but time has taken it's toll and some sections seem to be more patch than cloak. It's patchwork nature however, helps hide the myriad of small pockets hidden along the inside of the cloak, making it exceptionally easy to secret away small objects.

L A N G U A G E S

Yasoi: Basic
Avincian: Conversational
Holmanian: Conversational

T H E G I F T

Being Yasoi gave her a natural gift for magic, and being bloodchild and blueblood only further aided this. She has a dedication to Binding magic, and is rather skilled in it due to her near singular devotion to the art. Few could ignore her presence as she found her freedom, and her presence at the school was due to a single simple fact. It is far easier to keep an eye on a Yasoi Binder within the walls of such an institution than it is when they wander around aimlessly. Her protective nature often places her near the front lines alongside her allies, using more defensive magic to bear the brunt of a force that may otherwise fell her allies. When arriving at the school and notified of the dangerous destructive capabilities of misused binding magic, Mara was not surprised... but was gladdened to hear that she could be taught to draw on her magic in less harmful ways.

B A C K G R O U N D

Born to a Yasoi noble family, Mara was a very sickly child, taking after her mother who passed soon after giving birth. Her father, wracked with grief and terrified of the possibility of losing his only tie to his beloved wife left on this world, spared no expense in the search of a binder or blood mage that could keep her alive. This resulted in Mara becoming a Bloodchild, unsurprisingly. In the short year that followed her recovery, Mara's noble house seemed to disappear nearly overnight, and she was left captured in human lands and eventually enslaved for many years, where she was raised by a practical slave lord who saw the use in a Yasoi Binder.

She proved this usefulness, and despite her poor education, proved a good showpiece and defensive tool far greater than any single hired guard could provide him. Thing do not always last though, and those who take to selling people are not often the most honorable of people. Her owner was eventually killed, and in the chaos that was the attack, she found that with his death there was no reason she was bound to him any longer. He was kind to her however, and his mark and name would remain with her from then on.

Her life before introduction of the school did not last long, but consisted of her search for more of her people, or those who could teach her more about her magic. As expected, it did not take long and now Mara finds herself at the edge of a new world. With so many choices and possibilies, the girl's head spins as she tries to search for something to anchor herself against the tide of new experiences.

M O T I V A T I O N

Answers motivate her beyond most anything else. While she searches for those who would direct her, and those whose judgement she can trust, her true motivation lay almost entirely in her desire to hone her magic, and search for answers about herself and her people. Old memories poke and prod, whispers about her and her people reach her ears, but so little of it makes sense... but it will make sense, in time, else she will force the sense out of this world. She is patient though, she has waited this long to learn, she can wait longer. It cannot be forgotten, for she will not allow it.

I N V E N T O R Y

Sweetie
Kinetic Trained Raven
The last thing you hear before a cup flies across the room and hits you.

With an RAS level of around 4.8, (impressive for a bird) Sweetie knows only a handful of magic from his school, but the first few early years of his life spend around the school paired his intelligence and curiosity means that he knows those few things by heart.

Capable of using Solid Telekenisis, Siphon Momentum and Impart Momentum all at low levels, While he isn't a real mage by any definition of the word, he can be extremely annoying to find paired alongside Mara.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖Household chores (Cooking, sewing, etcetera)
❖Silent Movement
❖Singing
❖Exceptional situational awareness
❖Near Photographic Memory

While some are self explanatory, Mara has always had an exceptional memory, and her experiences in life have given her the habit of moving while making little noise, and taking full advantage of her senses. She is rarely surprised by events around her and even more rarely snuck up on.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖Dependent
❖Slow Reader
❖Poor Constitution
❖Socially inept
❖Stubborn

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Anything not covered above goes here. You can leave this blank if you like.

[Force and Fury]

Mara

Mara

To be remembered is to live on in death, very few deserve the cruel fate of being forgotten.
Anybody short of a traitor should be remembered. I will make sure you and yours will not suffer that fate.

17 | Female | Origin: Mycormi / Raised: Holmania | Slave | 7.85

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [Obedient]
❖ [Observant]
❖ [Dedicated]
❖ [Protective]
❖ [Curious]

Oh so very used to silently watching and listening until called upon, Mara is a quiet creature, content to observe the antics of others rather than involve herself directly unless asked. Being raised from childhood as a slave by a practical man who saw the use in a Yasoi Bloodchild, Mara has developed a sort of protective nature of those who keep her around. She is unsurprisingly easy to manipulate in many ways, and naive in just as many. However one must realize that while she is used to being ordered by others and has a strong respect for authority figures, her loyalty always lies with those she considers to hold her leash. Old habits die hard, and though she has recently attained her freedom she finds it hard to act on her own. Not all of her Yasoi nature is lost to her however, as she still retains a very basic grasp of the language as well as the natural curiosity and habit of collecting what can sometimes be strange items that people often attribute to Yasoi.

Overall, Mara is a young lady who finds it difficult to act alone, consistently looking to others for support. When she finds those people however, she is difficult to pull away from them due to her dependent nature and protective attitude. The world is a very big place, and Mara already doesn't know what to do with it.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Tall and lithe with exceptionally pale skin, her hair is strange shade of silvery grey and is often tied back into a loose ponytail. Her stare is piercing, seeming to look straight through anybody she happens to be looking at, however her gaze rarely meets that of anybody else's, preferring instead to avoid eye contact unless spoken to directly. Her wardrobe is unsurprisingly sparse, containing few exceptional garmants of her own choice save a patchy fur lined leather cloak, it's insides stitched with with what seems to be hundreds of names. The sheer number of needle-holes implying at one point there were even more, but they had since been removed. The garmant is obviously old, and once of extremely fine make, but time has taken it's toll and some sections seem to be more patch than cloak. It's patchwork nature however, helps hide the myriad of small pockets hidden along the inside of the cloak, making it exceptionally easy to secret away small objects.

L A N G U A G E S

Yasoi: Basic
Avincian: Conversational
Holmanian: Conversational

T H E G I F T

Being Yasoi gave her a natural gift for magic, and being bloodchild and blueblood only further aided this. She has a dedication to Binding magic, and is rather skilled in it due to her near singular devotion to the art. Few could ignore her presence as she found her freedom, and her presence at the school was due to a single simple fact. It is far easier to keep an eye on a Yasoi Binder within the walls of such an institution than it is when they wander around aimlessly. Her protective nature often places her near the front lines alongside her allies, using more defensive magic to bear the brunt of a force that may otherwise fell her allies. When arriving at the school and notified of the dangerous destructive capabilities of misused binding magic, Mara was not surprised... but was gladdened to hear that she could be taught to draw on her magic in less harmful ways.

B A C K G R O U N D

Born to a Yasoi noble family, Mara was a very sickly child, taking after her mother who passed soon after giving birth. Her father, wracked with grief and terrified of the possibility of losing his only tie to his beloved wife left on this world, spared no expense in the search of a binder or blood mage that could keep her alive. This resulted in Mara becoming a Bloodchild, unsurprisingly. In the short year that followed her recovery, Mara's noble house seemed to disappear nearly overnight, and she was left captured in human lands and eventually enslaved for many years, where she was raised by a practical slave lord who saw the use in a Yasoi Binder.

She proved this usefulness, and despite her poor education, proved a good showpiece and defensive tool far greater than any single hired guard could provide him. Thing do not always last though, and those who take to selling people are not often the most honorable of people. Her owner was eventually killed, and in the chaos that was the attack, she found that with his death there was no reason she was bound to him any longer. He was kind to her however, and his mark and name would remain with her from then on.

Her life before introduction of the school did not last long, but consisted of her search for more of her people, or those who could teach her more about her magic. As expected, it did not take long and now Mara finds herself at the edge of a new world. With so many choices and possibilies, the girl's head spins as she tries to search for something to anchor herself against the tide of new experiences.

M O T I V A T I O N

Answers motivate her beyond most anything else. While she searches for those who would direct her, and those whose judgement she can trust, her true motivation lay almost entirely in her desire to hone her magic, and search for answers about herself and her people. Old memories poke and prod, whispers about her and her people reach her ears, but so little of it makes sense... but it will make sense, in time, else she will force the sense out of this world. She is patient though, she has waited this long to learn, she can wait longer. It cannot be forgotten, for she will not allow it.

I N V E N T O R Y

What sort of personal items, tools, cash, jewellery, or weapons (!) does your character usually carry, and what might we find stashed in his home or dormitory? These should ideally be age, region, and social-class appropriate, have some sort of use, and tell us something about him.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖Household chores (Cooking, sewing, etcetera)
❖Silent Movement
❖Singing
❖Exceptional situational awareness
❖Near Photographic Memory

While some are self explanatory, Mara has always had an exceptional memory, and her experiences in life have given her the habit of moving while making little noise, and taking full advantage of her senses. She is rarely surprised by events around her and even more rarely snuck up on.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖Dependent
❖Slow Reader
❖Poor Constitution
❖Socially inept
❖Stubborn

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Anything not covered above goes here. You can leave this blank if you like.

@TinyKiwi

Tthanks for making this so quickly. Mara is approved! Just make sure that you fill out the inventory section if there's anything noteworthy that goes there. If not, maybe we can assume that there isn't?

On another note, I think there's enough interest between here and discord that I'm going to drop an official OOC in a couple of days. Stay tuned!

[Izurich]

Up for review!

Ilannaq Sigmundottir

ILANNAQ SIGMUNDOTTIR

"Knowledge unchained, boundless horizons. Progress will always triumph over tradition, such is the truth of the universe."

15 | Female | Rettanese | Merchant | 7.2

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ Curious
❖ Ambitious
❖ Independent
❖ Reckless
❖ Recalcitrant

A born-explorer, Ilannaq takes after her adventurous father more than her bookworm mother, although she does inherit her intelligence. The half-Eskandish half-Rettanese girl embodies the spirit of ancient Eskandish adventurers, one who embraces dynamic change over the boring stagnancy of the status quo. She has little issues in learning new information and adapting to progress, be they mundane or magical. In fact, she easily gets bored if her studies are restricted, especially if it's due to some silly notion such as tradition, "Oh it's forbidden because some wrinkled old fart says it's dangerous... boo hoo", what a bunch of horseshit. Which brings us to the other side of her personality, her boundless curiosity and strong ambitions combined with a lack of life experience make for one reckless young mage with a rebellious streak. Much like a cat, telling Ilannaq that she mustn't do something - especially if it's by an older figure - will just make her want to do said thing more.

A candle burning bright, but as the saying goes, the candle that burns twice as bright will burn half as long.

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Visual References

Full Body


Sans Robe and Hat

Standing at 155cm (5'1") tall, the adolescent girl is around average height for someone of her age and her penchant for arduous explorations keeps her body athletically slim. Born to an Eskandish father and North Rettanese mother - both people of the subarctic climates - leads to her possessing extremely light hair to the point of being silver-white and the fairest skin complexion that a healthy human can naturally have. She may justifiably be mistaken for an albino, but two things set her apart from true albinos: one, her skin - while very pale - still possesses a level of creamy hue that albinos don't, and two, her deep blue eyes that signify the presence of melanin in her irises whereas real albinos will have reddish or pinkish eyes due to their ocular blood vessels giving color in lieu of their transparent irises.

Anna usually clads herself in garments that are quite functional and show her status as a middle-class individual. Her favorite outfit is a set of white blouse, brown vest, and knee-length magenta skirt (which is considered quite risque for Revidian culture among others, but she couldn't care less), and when outdoors, she dons her dark brown magus robe and hat. The latter two are enchanted with moderate protection against wear, tear, and heat in particular due to the fiery nature of her magic.

L A N G U A G E S

Due to her heritage, Anna is fluent in three distinct languages; Eskandish from her father's side, Rettanese from her mother's side, and Avincian from both.

T H E G I F T & B A C K G R O U N D

Ilannaq's introduction into the world of magic was rather... unusual to say the least. Unlike most mages, she wasn't actually born with a high RAS potential. Sure, when considering the whole population of the world, she's among the lucky 6% to be able to perform parlor tricks, something she found out during one of her father & daughter travels in which she made a candle's fire swayed like a snake charmer to his cobra, much to the amusement of other sailors on the ship. In that moment, it seemed like Anna's path in life would be a merchant and explorer, just like her father, little did the young girl know that fate would take her elsewhere.

One day, Anna was happily diving into the sea in search of underwater trinkets to collect; corals, clams, and the like, then she noticed something highly unusual at the corner of her eyes. Upon turning her gaze there, she saw what could only be described as a pitch-black coral. As big as she's tall, the object stood like a sore thumb as unlike its vibrantly colorful fellows, this particular coral seemed to reject light itself, being a void of coral-shaped darkness. It was ominous, exuding an aura of eldritch fear as even sea critters steered clear of the thing.

However, being a curious young girl with perhaps too much courage for her own good, Anna approached the thing... and touched it. At that very moment, the shadow coral seemed to vanish into her hand, seeping like gas infusing itself into her body. She panicked for a split second, but the primal fear of drowning settled her mind as she surfaced into land first before trying to analyze just what in the name of the Pentad just transpired. In the end, she still couldn't make sense on what happened and decided to keep the incident to herself since it was so strange, she assumed no one would believe her anyway.

That very same night, Anna dreamt of being visited a... man? Well, he vaguely looked like a man... except made out of shadows, just like that coral. The umbral figure drew close to her, gently whisked locks of her white hair, and lovingly caressed her neck, tingling her, then he put his mouth right beside her ear, whispering sweet nothings into her before he locked their lips together. She whimpered as pleasurable tingles caressed her adolescent body, not yet an adult but had already experienced puberty, then they laid, just like a husband and wife would.

The following morning, Anna woke up all sweaty and bothered, but most importantly, she felt heat in her very soul, practically begging to be released. She surrendered to her instincts and unleashed a jet of flame from her hands, casting an Arcane spell before she even knew what an Arcane school of magic even is. She was dumbfounded... then followed by a jolt as her mattress caught on fire.

It was an incredibly unusual dream and furthermore, though most of them are impossibly difficult to recollect, Anna still vividly remembers that specific dream to this very day. It must be a sign from the gods, from Eshiran-Zept specifically. The Bringer of War had blessed her, empowered her, and it's her duty to seek more of his blessings. That day marked Anna's new path in life as she started seriously pursuing magic as a career. Her parents are of course proud of her, that their only daughter had The Gift even though both of them are just ordinary folk. They showed their support by hiring a personal tutor for her.

It was through the tutor that Anna learned that she possessed a 'Redblood' primary mana type coupled with a 'Fireblood' secondary, making her naturally talented at offensive magic that revolves around fire and heat. Well, that certainly explains everything. Furthermore, she found out that she has a knack for the Arcane and Chemical schools of magic. All of these discoveries reinforce her belief that she's indeed empowered by Eshiran-Zept, after all, isn't that what the clergy say? "Eshiran empower you." Although she keeps her divine encounters with the The Destroyer a secret from everyone, believing it'll sully the god's blessing through arrogance.

Over the next few years, Anna's knowledge and competence over her two chosen schools grew, and while not an outright genius prodigy, she's quite intelligent, enough to make her reliably progress in her studies without major setbacks. In between her lessons, she continued regularly exploring the world under the guise of field studying, and while not a complete lie - she really was field studying - she had an ulterior motive of searching for more of "Eshiran's Blessings". She felt them calling to her and it's only her god-given duty to fulfill her pilgrimage.

As it turned out, she did find more of those umbral entities, they took many forms, often mimicking mundane objects and people aside from their pitch-black texture. Each time she touched them, they vanished inside her and then she'd get another vivid dream with Eshiran-Zept. What always comes next is an increase in her RAS value, something that befuddled her tutor as he believed that it was unheard of for a Redblood to have a rapidly growing RAS. Of course, Anna knew why, but she didn't need to tell her mentor that.

In fact, it was this perceived rare talent that pushed the tutor recommend Anna for enrollment at Ersand'Enise because someone of such talent shouldn't have anything less than the best magical academy in the world. Safe to say, she managed to nab herself a spot amongst the student body.

Indeed Ersand'Enise is undoubtedly the finest academy for aspiring mages, but Anna also found it an oppressive establishment that clings to useless traditions and hinders progress by placing unnecessary restrictions on learning, who are they to stand in the way of progress?

Heh, no matter, by her own hands under the guidance of Eshiran the Destroyer, she'll destroy the status quo and usher a new age of unchained knowledge, of boundless horizons!

M O T I V A T I O N

Ilannaq firmly stands on the side of progress and views tradition as nothing but ill-fated attempts by the old to maintain their status quo. She believes that the so-called 'aberrations' that she met are actually Eshiran's physical manifestation and that she has been chosen - empowered - by the God of Destruction to bring about change by dismantling the old so the new may prosper. She has been given a divine purpose in life and by the Pentad, she's going to fulfill them.

Her greatest fear is being chained, confined with nowhere to grow. She abhors following rules that she herself doesn't agree with and stuffy ceremonies and rituals are nothing but suffocating. Due to said belief of being 'chosen', she thinks quite highly of herself and thus hates being belittled.

I N V E N T O R Y

Most notably from her personal possessions are two arcane foci, a magus' tools of the trade. The first takes the form of a broom, except it's actually a staff and the 'broom' end contains pockets of phosphorus powder in which she can ignite to provide both heat and rapid chemical reactions for her to draw from and eventually cast her spell through it. The second one is a wand, but with a thicker grip than average, it's functionally similar to her staff in that it contains powdered phosphorus for her to use as a Drawing and Casting aid.

Aside from these items, she loves to collect various trinkets and souvenirs from her travels and those sent to her by her parents. She keeps a journal to record personal notes and sketch things she saw. She isn't the type to flaunt wealth much so she rarely carries a lot of money on her person, just enough for her to get by while she stores the rest at Ersand'Enise's local bank.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖ Well-traveled and street-smart, you can count on her to take care of herself just fine.
❖ Self-assured and courageous, resulting in a strong mental composure. It'll take a lot to genuinely scare her.
❖ Diligent and ambitious, rarely slacks off from her studies.
❖ Proactive contributor and confident decision-maker, any group she's in will not be burdened by stagnancy.
❖ Great swimmer, a given considering her maritime traveler background.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖ Casting Addiction: One of the side-effects of her seeking out "Eshiran's Blessings" is her mind developing a peculiar urge to cast spells, destructively offensive spells to be exact. She derives pleasure from flexing her arcane muscles and the bigger the spell, the more pleasurable it is for her, not unlike a drug addict. If she doesn't get to do this, she'll fall into withdrawal with symptoms ranging from restless fidgets to an overwhelming, uncontrollable compulsion to cast a fireball or two, right then and there regardless of the consequences.
❖ Lack of respect toward authority figures, deserved or not.
❖ Deluded sense of superiority, believes she has been chosen by a god.
❖ Poor repertoire of defensive spells, the method of defense is to explode your enemies first before they can act.
❖ Weak against the cold, which is a bit ironic considering her ethnicity.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

❖ Her faceclaim is Elaina from Majo no Tabitabi.
❖ Her character's concept draws inspiration from Megumin (Konosuba), Illidan Stormrage (Warcraft III), and Enrico Pucci (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure).
❖ Color Code: e783a4

[Force and Fury]

Marlynn

Marlynn Vance

You will never freeze in Ersand'Enise. In fact, I've found you're unlikely to sneeze. You might even think that it's not a big deal, but if you were Eskandish, you would know how I feel.

16 | Female | Eskandish | Noble | 7.23

P E R S O N A L I T Y

❖ [Cultured]
❖ [Puckish]
❖ [Unscrupulous]
❖ [Performer]
❖ [Generous]

Marlynn is the oldest daughter of an Eskandish viscount and has a twin brother, Owain, who she's older than by half an hour. He never hears the end of this. In general, Marlynn is much for clever quips and quick comebacks. She plays the cultured young lady quite convincingly and is well-heeled enough to understand her duties and ultimately, with some grumbling to confidantes, abide by them. She's a bit of a wild child deep down, though: not quite a tomboy, but treads right on the edge of that. She has a soft spot for animals and spends as much time out in the forest or putting her horses through exercises as is socially appropriate. Then, she returns to her studies with perhaps less diligence than she should. She's the kind of person who tends to fall right in the middle of the pack academically. She isn't dumb; she just can't be bothered to jump through all of those hoops with any real enthusiasm. She saves that for the physical and social sides of things.

Though she's a quick talker, good liar, and a bit of a charmer, Marlynn isn't much for gossip and even less for people who talk down to her. Being a low-middling noble is not always easy. Those below you look up jealously and seek to challenge your authority and those above you are the most snobbish sorts who enjoy looking down on you. The world is annoyingly complex and, though Marlynn usually feels as if she's up to the challenge of it, it's oh-so tiring at times and she'd rather things just be simple. Her facade of demure noble feminine virtue is less-than-perfect in these moments and she has the reputation of being a serial eye-roller. She once told her brother, only half-jokingly, "I'm over it, you know? All the being a show pony and smiling and curtsying and talking to people who don't really wanna be talking to me either. Just like... let me find a decent husband who isn't twenty years my senior or smells like turnips and sweat. Set me up with a nice little keep somewhere not-awful. I'll pop out a few kids, get deep into my cups with the other local ladies, yell at my servants a bit, and then just get to do the things I wanna. That'd be nice. That's a happily ever after, right?"

C H A R A C T E R A P P E A R A N C E

Simply put, Marlynn is very pretty and, in her less insecure moments, she knows it. She's tall and slim, with bright blue eyes, long auburn hair, and a light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. There's usually a twinkle of something mischievous in her expression, and you sometimes wonder what must be so funny in her head. Spoiler: it usually isn't what you think.

When she doesn't have to be presentable for others, Marlynn dresses for comfort: a simple tunic and loose, light ankle-length skirt in earthy tones. The ensemble is completed with a cloak and riding hood held together with a simple bronze clasp, some sturdy boots, and a belt with pouches. Her hair is usually pulled back in a loose braid or double ponytails. Of course, Marlynn all dressed up aims to impress. While she isn't much for frilly dresses and prefers clothing that leaves her unencumbered, she'll happily wear ostentatious jewellery. She likes bold and striking patterns, particularly in her house's colours of sapphire blue, gold, and white.

L A N G U A G E S

Marlynn finds sitting with a tutor and learning languages to be just about the most tedious thing in the world. She's fluent in her native Eskandish, of course, and passable in Avincian. She's also picked up a few Revidian and Perrench words and phrases from her regular visits to the port of Pesperlich on family business. That's about it. Secretly, she feels a bit intimidated by the northern nobles with their flawless Avincian and self-conscious about her accent and less-than-perfect way with the language since she's used to being quite clever with words in her native tongue.

T H E G I F T

Marlynn is above average but not exceptional in terms of The Gift, kind of like she is with most things. She prefers drawing from kinetic and arcane sources and favours two styles of magic: the practical things that'll help her look after her horses, make her life easier in small ways, and allow her to augment her performances, as well as illusion magic. She shares a tutor with her brother and, for reasons unknown to either of them, finds it the most amusing thing in the world to just appear in places or pop out of nowhere and scare the living daylights out of people. It's not as if she has any ambition to do sinister things. Being able to alter what people see and turn literally freakin' invisible is just cool, she supposes. As long as Marlynn stands still in a place where the light isn't changing too much, she can actually already go invisible. How awesome is that!? For what it's worth, she isn't bad with Magnetic casting either, because lightning is cool too.

B A C K G R O U N D

Marlynn sometimes feels as if she's not even the main character in her own life. Her upbringing has been, for the most part, utterly unremarkable. Her father is a typical lower-middling noble (a viscount) who looks after his lands, holds court twice per week with the commons and representatives from Pesperlich Town's guilds, and has various little projects going. He complains at not being high-ranking enough to be invited to the college of electors, and tries to petition a friendly great house every once in awhile to bump Pesperlich up to full County status. He funds port improvements when he's had a good harvest and tightens the purse strings when he hasn't. He goes hunting and riding with some of his knights and men-at-arms and, in a non-traditional move, sometimes brings not only Owain, but Marlynn along too. She's quite good with a snaphaunce, able to take a rabbit reliably from 100 yards, though she secretly thinks that bunnies are kinda cute.

Of course, the viscount makes up for that bit of a break from the expected by maintaining a regular search for suitable suitors for his daughter. He hopes to have her marry up as part of his long-term project to get into the college of electors (spoiler: the poor guy has no chance). To serve this ambition, Marlynn spends a considerable amount of time on her needlework, sitting and chatting with her ladies-in-waiting and the neighbouring baron's daughter, Tannifer. She's also expected to maintain musical interests and it's here that she actually has some passion. While, secretly, she prefers tunes more like the bawdy ones that she heard when her party stopped by a tavern in Pesperlich Town one evening a couple of years ago, the viscount had a harpsichord imported at great cost from Perrence for her to play. Marlynn is indeed passable on the 'Scalloped Beast' as she calls it, but she much prefers the lute and making up clever little rhymes to go with her original compositions. While she doesn't stand out as a player, her lyrics are considered quite amusing by most, and she has quite the performer's flair.

In terms of important formative experiences, Marlynn's had few that stand out. There was a pilgrimage to the Verdant Throne when she was eight years old, where she began climbing the tree before being fished out with one of the fruits already in her mouth (she actually lost a baby tooth while biting into it). She also traveled to Ersand'Enise when she was twelve and it was apparent that she and her brother were fairly strong in The Gift. Marlynn decided that she wanted to go there. It sounded ever so much more exciting than her everyday life in Pesperlich: repeating Avincian phrases and practicing calligraphy with her tutors, gossiping with Tannifer, needle and thread in hand, or slamming away at a harpsichord for hours to sheet music brought over from Revidia. In light of this, perhaps it's not surprising that being accepted to Ersand'Enise means a helluva lot to Marlynn Vance. She doesn't come from a bad place. In fact, her life is quite privileged and she knows it. She doesn't have a pain or trauma-filled past, and she's never really even been particularly unique or special. What this place is, though, is agency. She wants some of that, deep down, more than anything else.

M O T I V A T I O N

Um... I may have actually answered this under 'Background'. Oops? Basically, Marlynn's a bored, smart, slightly underachieving creative type who prefers to either be the centre of attention or to be left to her own devices, with little in between. At the end of the day, she wants some agency and control over her life and to be able to chart her own course towards a 'happily ever after' with, perhaps, a not so small dose of fun and adventure along the way. To her, Ersand'Enise represents her first step on that path, and she's both nervous and excited.

I N V E N T O R Y

Marlynn regularly carries a small notebook to write down her wittier ideas and was gifted a big, pretty, gold-winged staff as a going away present. She twirls it when she's bored and uses it to help her cast. She also has quite a bit of jewellery, two nice gold chains, and multiple pairs of shoes and boots. She has a satchel full of focus words for illusory spells that she's trying to master and dozens of pages of sheet music. There is a fine lute and a less-fine lute leaning against her night table or slung over her shoulder at times and her wardrobe is packed full of dresses organized from 'really fancy' to 'plain Jane'. She'd kind of like to train and keep a bird since there are so many here and it's kind of a tradition. She finds magpies rather adorable little pests. Perhaps she'll add an animal familiar at some point.

S T R E N G T H S & S K I L L S

❖ quick-witted
❖ great horseback rider and good with animals
❖ musically talented
❖ kind of has some feminine wiles, actually
❖ very good with illusions

Marlynn's just honestly pretty good at being a competent young noble girl, likeable, and morally somewhat decent despite herself. She's often been only half-jokingly described as 'a little bit above average in everything'. In particular, though, she's good with illusion, animals, and music, and usually pretty socially put together.

W E A K N E S S E S & F L A W S

❖ kind of spoiled, to be honest
❖ not as worldly as she thinks she is
❖ not the most diligent student
❖ has a need to be seen as interesting and fun - can be approval-seeking
❖ pretends to be cynical but honestly just kind of a dreamer who's become a bit afraid to dream

Marlynn can be a bit of a suck. If she's not good at something or doesn't enjoy it, she doesn't really try. She also tends to seek external validation and likes to be a bit of a performer, but only on her own terms. In a practical sense, she sometimes overestimates her own competence and can embarrass herself or get into hot water. Her most common response is to react with stubborn pride, hold it together because Eskandishwomen don't cry, and then go home and ball her eyes out while having a near-anxiety attack. Finally, while she's not a snob, she's still more or less a typical young noble with much of what that entails.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Marlynn will simp for pretty boys. She'll never admit as much and act indignant if you accuse her of it but, deep down, she's a typical thirsty teenager.