CaptainManbeard

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

Hope having two Cerebromancers in the group isn’t a problem.

@Crimson Flame

No, it's fine because they can be used differently and you can each choose a different Secondary Arcane Art. It seems your character is geared more towards illusions manipulating visible light with telekinesis, whereas Blizz's character is more like a Jedi.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

I’m thinking I’ll go with a Cerebro martial wizard after all. I have no idea what their secondary will be though.

Here’s what I’m thinking about: Trained by a “retired” Bahamut paladin in their home, who also did Cerebromancy. This paladin taught them psionic techniques, such as telekinesis and some levitational stuff, as well as fighting skills. This paladin was like a role model for them, and they learned a lot about Bahamut’s entire ethos, though wasn’t really interesting in worshipping Bahamut. That means that they have a healthy respect for Bahamut and the teachings of honor and Justice, like growing up with someone who’s openly Christian and passively learning about the religion as a result.

Coming to the academy they’ll have some basic, homeschooled psionic knowledge and hand to hand skills, but they won’t have a level of power comparable to someone who had more formal studies because being taught by a paladin isn’t the same as going to magic school. They use their martial training to use magic, those two things are essentially intertwined. What that means, I don’t know yet but that’s what I’m going with

Focus is probably a magic staff or some other small thing they got from their teacher

@Blizz

Sounds good! And now I suddenly envision what social media might look like for Magi in this reality, LOL! I can just picture your character being homeschooled and looking up magic guide videos on ArcanaTube or something LOL.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

How plausible is it that someone would have had some experience/training with magic before joining a proper academy? I'm thinking of playing someone who's already a bit traveled, and knows enough magic already to fend for themselves on simple mercenary jobs. Would that be ok? I don't imagine they'll be more powerful than the other players per se, but maybe they would already know their affinities and know a small handful of spells before joining the school?

@Light

I mean, they might have trained some at home with their parents, but since this is the equivalent of going off to college, they would probably be considered children prior to enrolling at the Academy. I'm not sure who would hire a child for mercenary work on modern Earth (well besides real-world examples in impoverished areas of the planet), but you could say your character comes from a plane where they have an ages-old tradition of children going on a two-year solo journey when they turn sixteen. At the start of the RP, you could say your character has recently returned home from their pilgrimage or whatever you want to call it, during which they offered their services as a mercenary-for-hire at various locations during their journey. And now that they're eighteen, they've enrolled at the Academy.

As for knowing Arcane Arts prior to coming to the school, I'm fine with them knowing some basic stuff, and we can say some communities and households have their own Crystal Mirrors. You could say that in your character's hometown, wherever that is, they have a town hall with a Crystal Mirror that every child looks into on their sixteenth birthday. Then, once they know their Auras and ideal Conduit, the town craftsmen outfit them for the two year journey. You can also say that prior to this, they received some survival training and basic magic instruction from local mentors.

And actually, I think we should all have something similar so that we are all a little familiar by the time we get to the Academy. My main character is going to have been born and raised in a modern human city, but his high school had a secret "magic class" for Magi students that prepared them for the Academy. If anyone wants to have their characters from a human city as well, feel free to say they were in the same class as him, then they can already be friends prior to the Academy and request to be roommates in the dorms.

I have an idea for a character based roughly on genasi, with the whole lightning or stone spear shtick, I have an alternative for a sorta tomboy girl with general lightning powers

@vietmyke

Sounds good!

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

So Bahamut's generally seen as the "good guy" god and tiamat the "bad bitch but not in the good way" right?

I have a bard character who beat tiamat in a card game once (astral drifter background) but I don't know that much about her lol

@Blizz

Don't worry, I am heavily adapting them for this setting, so previous knowledge of their D&D-related counterparts is not necessary XD.

A little about the gods:

Billions of years ago, at some point after the Big Bang sparked the universe into existence, subatomic globs of primordial ectoplasm throughout the Aetherscape began condensing into larger clumps, eventually becoming something akin to giant glowing space jellyfish with partial cosmic sentience. Modern Magi refer to them as Proto-Gods, and they gradually evolved as the universe expanded and the first signs of life in the Mortal Planes began to appear. Eventually, fragments of the emotions, memories, and dreams of the Mortals began bleeding into the Aetherscape, which sparked the Proto-Gods' transition into the Celestials, the first true gods with greater cosmic sentience (sometimes they are also referred to as Elder Gods or Old Gods). Although it should be noted that no known entity in existence comprehends the full history of the universe or what happened prior to the Big Bang - that is a mystery even the gods have never solved.

The Celestials created the first Prime Nexus Points as they crossed over into the Mortal Planes, silently observing the development of life over many millions of years and employing a strict non-interference policy. After living extremely long lives, they began to feel their energy dim, shocked at the knowledge that even they could grow old and die if enough time passed. Deciding their power could live on in the hands of lesser beings, they began writing the first Arcane Tongues and embedding them into the fabric of the Aetherscape. Selecting chosen Mortals from various races to ascend to godhood, the Celestials taught them how to use magic and then gradually faded from existence. These new deities came to be known as the Ascended Ones (sometimes called the New Gods).

In the planes connected to the Prime Nexus Point on prehistoric Earth, the Ascended Ones included Dragon Gods, Fae Gods, Beast Gods, and Storm Gods, to name a few. Though, it's important to note that none of them knew about Black Mana at that time - the Celestials had deliberately pushed that aspect of the Aetherscape deep into the Outer Void in the hopes no one would ever venture that far. It wasn't until millions of years later - around the height of the Roman Empire - that a group of Cerebromancers first discovered Black Mana. Another thing to note is that the Ascended Ones have long lifespans, but that is only a blink of an eye compared to what the Celestials had. For instance, Bahamut and Tiamat have been alive for about three thousand years and are already considered "old."

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

Okay, so here's the ideas I have

- Technomancer (Electro and geomancy)

- Cerebro monk who uses psionic magic in a more martial way, sort of like in DnD. Maybe some ecomancy for healing

- An aspiring paladin of bahamut/tiamat with pyromancy

that's what I'm considering right now

@Blizz

A Cerebro monk would probably be very similar to a Jedi, which would be awesome XD. But if your character is aspiring to serve Tiamat, who is Bahamut's evil sister, then they should keep that a secret. Otherwise, when the Cult of Tiamat resurfaces and the Paladins come sniffing around, your character would be suspect number one.

And this would be a perfect opportunity to adapt Arkhan the Cruel as the leader of the Cult XD.

Arkhan the Cruel

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

So what do the Paladins of Bahamut do? You saw my CS (or the beginning of it) having a religious figure that they follow is important.

@Crimson Flame

Paladins and Clerics in this reality are normal Magi who use their magic in service of a higher power, the former being more combat oriented like holy knights and the latter being more scholarly like priests. Functionally, they use their abilities the same as everyone else, but in the case of the Paladins of Bahamut, they are employed by the Planar Republic to investigate unauthorized use of the Forbidden Arts or corruption of the Arcane Arts in general.

While the Paladins may be religious and worship Bahamut the Platinum Dragon God, they are forbidden from forcing their faith on anyone else. Bahamut is a kind and wise deity who loathes coercion, deception, and oppression, and in order to become a Paladin or Cleric serving him, one must take the Paragon's Oath, a promise to uphold a strict code of conduct. That being said, in recent centuries Bahamut and most of the other gods have been increasingly absent from the Mortal Planes, which has led to more frequent violations of the Paragon's Oath that are swept under the rug. Around the time our characters are attending the Academy, most of the Paladins have never actually met Bahamut directly and assume they never will. Some of them even think the gods are just myths but play along for the sake of gaining influence.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

I'm put in the mind of someone who uses technomancy. Their primary is cerebromancy and secondary is electromancy, they don't necessarily build machines but they use their primary to bend the "wills" of machines (such as an AI) and their secondary to manipulate the body.

I got a question though, if the Crystal Mirror reveals someone has a "dark" aura such as the one for Necromancy, what's the procedure then? Is that student pulled from the side to be vetted for secret necromancy classes? What if they're really unfortunate and have two dark mana shades? Such as both necromancy and hemomancy?

@Blizz

Well, bending the "will" of anything sounds more like Psychomancy than Cerebromancy, but neither would have an effect on an automaton without a soul. And if you want to move machines' bodies, Geomancy with a focus on metallic substances would fit best. So, to have something akin to a technomancer, I would suggest Geomancy as the Primary Arcane Art and Electromancy as the Secondary Arcane Art.

The Crystal Mirror was only designed to show the eight primary Mana shades because those are the only ones that someone is born with affinities towards. The various shades of Black Mana are beyond the grasps of anyone who has not specifically trained to harness them. Let's envision the Aetherscape as having an Inner Core where the eight shades reside, and then an Outer Void where Black Mana is drawn from.

In Ancient times, people only knew about the eight Mana shades, but it was the efforts of overzealous Cerebromancers who sent mental projections of themselves deeper into the Outer Void that led to the discovery of Black Mana.

Everyone, please feel free to ask more questions and help me further develop this RP world in the process. 😆 I'll work on some more in-universe official terms for stuff as well.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

A pretty neat and organized little system that's still quite open ended. Nice. I'm curious if there are schools of magic for healing, force, sound, light or darkness? Or if these kinds of magic are interspersed among the schools you listed?

And/or are there any Divine arts? Or is all magic learned and therefore Arcane?

I'm also intrigued that time magic is considered taboo in this setting. Not that I disagree with the choice, it's just interesting as a side note.

@Light

Yeah, most of those functions can fall under the eight Arcane Arts. For instance, using Electromancy, one could create soundwaves by firing off a lightning bolt big enough to create a clap of thunder. Or, since sound requires oxygen in order to be heard, you could potentially manipulate that with Aeromancy. And using many of those eight Arts, you can also generate forces, light, and shadows. For instance, fire creates light, which then also creates shadows. As for healing, aspects of the different Arts can be applied to that, but Druids who specialize in the regenerative spells within Ecomancy tend to make the best healers within the students.

And while some people may use their magic in service of a religious figure - such as the Cult of Tiamat or the Paladins of Bahamut - they derive their power from the Aetherscape like everyone else. All magic requires Mana, and all Mana is channeled from the Aetherscape XD.

Though, I do want to specify - the Forbidden Arts are restricted for the students because they require advanced training at specialized schools to master. Chronomancy is used by older, wiser Magi, usually investigators who need to go back in time to secretly witness a crime or gather intel on some dire situation. Any use of Chronomancy is heavily regulated so as to not create paradoxes. Same with Hemomancy and Osteomancy, which are generally only permitted for trained medical doctors and surgeons. Psychomancy and Necromancy are the most restricted of them all and are almost universally condemned outside of wartime.

I hope that answers some of your questions XD.

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

And if anyone would like inspiration for your characters, you can look at the races on D&D Beyond for some ideas:

D&D Beyond

Qrowdell Academy (magical school RP)

I like the idea of a character with runic tattoos- specializing in either electro or geomancy to conjure up weapons from which to throw or hit things with- I like the idea of chucking lightning or stone spears at various baddies. Non human races are allowed, so I guess the followup question is are half-human half-Xrace allowed?

@vietmyke

Yeah, sure! Or you can make up your own race that blends features of other races together. Think of the races as sort of like human ethnicities in places where many different cultures co-mingle - it's a genetic melting pot of diversity XD. I'm sure there will be catboys and bunnygirls and wolfmen and lizard people and birdfolk and everything inbetween running around the Academy, so feel free to use your imagination! XD.