Prologue
When the towers first decended upon the world, humanity was whipped up into a frenzy. On that day, hundreds of pillars—each build of some sort of material, though seldom the same as one another—seemed to appear all across the planet without so much as a sound. The people living nearby would be hard-pressed to ignore such massive structures appearing all of a sudden, but the theories as to what they were and why they were here were few and far between. Some blamed aliens; others, an act of divinity heralding the end. But one thing seemed to be certain: no matter what people tried, each and every one was nigh impenetrable.
Or, rather, impenetrable save a sole pair of doors, massive and ominous, serving as their entrance.
It went without saying that the governments of each nation moved quickly to secure the areas; people were evacuated, containment zones set up—everything to at least posture like they had the situation under control.
But it was then that things grew... Strange.
Scientists who had begun to analyze the area quickly become aware of a certain something radiating from the towers—an odd element that seemed to have been absorbed by the people nearby and that was spreading out into the world around them.
And those nearest the towers as they first appeared began to develop powers that one could only describe as "magic".
The first scouting drones also soon reported back as to what was hiding behind those doors: spaces far larger than they had any right to be, filled with fantastical flora and fauna—and no small number of hostiles. Only one expedition in Tokyo found something different: a large floating gateway, bound by stone and glowing runes in the center of the floor.
Before any decision could be made to send a drone through it and see what could be retrieved (if any), though, those on guard soon found that whoever (or whatever) was on the other side had made the first move. The portal began to waver, and as the soldiers on duty readied their weapons...
Out came what could only have been described as a young man bearing metal armor lifted straight out of a fantasy game—followed closely behind by someone who, with pale golden hair and pointed ears extending behind her, could only be seen as an elf straight out of Tolkien.
In other words, a realm of fantasy awaited the people of Earth—and, in a way, a world developed bereft of magic awaited beyond the veil of their newfound "acquaintances".
To say that the coming days were chaotic would have been an understatement.
With no other tower sharing that same portal, delegates the world over flocked to Tokyo to try and establish relationships with that fantasy realm on the other side, in hopes that the world beyond might not only have an explanation to the strange phenomenon that had befallen them, but also to capitalize on the coming revolution.
The "Age of Fantasy", as many would come to call it, had only just begun.
A World of Swords and Magic
The fantasy realm that has since been connected to Earth goes by the name Valmerin, and it is by all accounts what someone on Earth would consider to be a "high fantasy" world. Though only very basic diplomatic contact has been established with the nation of Prynzfir by means of the portal within the tower in Tokyo, a few basic facts have been established thus far.
- Technology has not advanced far past that of the medieval era on Earth; the exception to this rule is in the usage of magic in lieu of modern conveniences.
- Some magical translation spell is at play when it comes to verbal dialogue. The written language remains undecipherable as of now, but linguistic trends indicate that their common tongue is phonetic and thus can be transliterated to some extent. As of right now, though, dialogue must be dictated and transcribed if it is to be recorded—and this goes both ways.
- There are quite a few sapient species living within Prynzfir beyond just humans. Physiology does seem to differ between them, but none seem outlandishly "alien" by Earth standards.
The Nature of Magic
Magic—or magic so far as people understand it—is the process of using mana in a structured manner such that a desired outcome is created as a result of that. Magic, by nature, runs contrary to many of the laws of physics, even if what it creates may follow it, which has already left so many scientists attempting to consider the implications of such a system relative to the laws of the natural world. For the moment (and with the field basically unexplored both on Earth and within the realm it now connects to), however, magic is only really understood in the context of itself—especially when the "exceptions" start brought into the conversation.
Magic has traditionally been categorized into one of two categories, as per Prynzfirian records: "traditional" magic and "blessings". Traditional magic (or, more simply, just magic) is a blanket term used to describe any spell or field of magic that is not directly influenced by some sort of "divine" amplifier. The variety of magic types that this encompasses includes but is not limited to:
- Elemental magic of all varieties
- Status magic, which itself can be split into enhancement and debilitation spells
- Healing and divine magic
- "Life Magic", which is a general-use term for any number of miscellaneous spells generally used for day-to-day convenience (for example, maintaining the temperature of an object for a period of time)
Most traditional spells are single-purpose and are designed to execute one thing in a certain way. While their use cases may be flexible, the manner in which they act upon the world and the results they produce are clearly defined within the parameters of their spells. Changing those parameters would change the spell, and doing so without understanding the mechanics behind the spells (which are generally cast using some form of verbal or physical conduit) could lead to less-than-desirable results.
Despite the naming schema, blessed magic does not occupy the same niche as what we might consider "holy" magic—in other words, magic traditionally attributed to clergy in fantasy such as removal of curses or healing—but does derive itself from a similar origin. Blessing magic usually derives itself from the power of divinities of Valmerin, whereupon one such being bestows upon a mortal the ability to invoke power well beyond most of their kin at the cost of only being able to draw upon those magicks that their patron has an affinity for.
What might be more intriguing, however, is the presence of what seems to be a third category of magic—one unique to Earth, comparable in a way to blessings. Colloqually dubbed "unique" magic, wielders of this type tend less towards standard elemental or metaphysical schema, but more towards concepts and abilities with those as a basis. As with the magic of the blessed, those who wield unique magic cannot generally expand outside of their given domain insofar as we have observed. The only consistent thread we have found among these people is that they were in close proximity to a Tower when it manifested, and no more.
Right, that should be enough for a basis. I want this RP to be a bit looser in terms of structure than most that I've run, but the core concept is more or less presented as-is. As ever, I'm open for questions, so feel free to ask. For those who might have something cooking already while this is still in a preliminary stage, though, here's a form for your troubles.
