Oh, and to give everyone an idea of where we will be at when the story begins, our characters will all be gathering at Hub City, named so because it is the largest hub for interplanar travel. It's a floating city (I'm using Cloud City from Star Wars for visual references) that sits in a void between planes, encased in a bubble that gives it an artificial atmosphere and simulated a day and night cycle. Usually, people will first depart from their original plane, arrive at Hub City, and then depart to their destination plane. The Hub City Transportation Authority monitors interplanar travel to avoid collisions between various people jumping back and forth. Basically, the Authority has thousands of Seers who can sense incoming and outgoing travelers and can pinpoint exact locations for magical portals to open to avoid collisions, and then use their minds to move portals to those locations. So, because of that, Arcane runes or incantations used to open the portals when going through Hub City don't specify an exact location, only one of the many Port Zones, and then let the Seers guide their incoming portals to an exact location within the specified Zone. The same is done when exiting Hub City, using a small, predefined geographical radius if no participating Port Zones are at the destination area.
CaptainManbeard
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It's been difficult to find options to sneak away to write (family stuff), I leave all my stuff open on my computer and try to sneak away to work on stuff when I can, lol. Anyway, got most of the stuff figured out, right now it's just a matter of getting the time to edit everything together and get the images ready and the formatting and everything.
As I'm thinking about my characters, I decided to make the Dark Acolyte not actually related to anyone in the Cult of Tiamat, but rather an orphan who was saved from the streets by a high-ranking member and became her apprentice, similar to a Sith arrangement. I want to have the option of him encountering a long-lost sibling at some point who may be able to pull him back some from the darkness, but I'm not gonna decide whether or not that happens until later.
Also, I should note that when the ultimate climax of Volume I comes to an end, any of the student villains who publicly participated will probably get expelled from Qrowdell, but prior to the three year time jump, we can say they just began training with the Cult full time. And I'm sure there will be ample opportunity throughout for student who began regretting their dark path to reverse course, but I imagine anyone who plays a Dark Acolyte character intends on reveling in their evildoer ways XD XD XD.
As I'm thinking about my characters, I decided to make the Dark Acolyte not actually related to anyone in the Cult of Tiamat, but rather an orphan who was saved from the streets by a high-ranking member and became her apprentice, similar to a Sith arrangement. I want to have the option of him encountering a long-lost sibling at some point who may be able to pull him back some from the darkness, but I'm not gonna decide whether or not that happens until later.
Also, I should note that when the ultimate climax of Volume I comes to an end, any of the student villains who publicly participated will probably get expelled from Qrowdell, but prior to the three year time jump, we can say they just began training with the Cult full time. And I'm sure there will be ample opportunity throughout for student who began regretting their dark path to reverse course, but I imagine anyone who plays a Dark Acolyte character intends on reveling in their evildoer ways XD XD XD.
One aspect I will probably implement is user-controlled combat NPCs. Since there will be wildly inconsistent power levels and god-tier abilities, player vs player or gm vs player duels will be a nightmare to manage, so instead, each co-writer will also be controlling any NPCs/monsters they fight with so that they can write out the battle scenes as if doing it for a novel. Basically, what that means, is that at the beginning of any combat situation, I will throw enemies at any participating characters, give a little info card at the bottom of the post saying what the enemies are capable of and how difficult the fight should be, and then the co-writers will take over that fight their characters are engaged in.
So, if it's a group combat, I will just throw out a bunch of enemies and then co-writers can claim targets in OOC like, "Okay, I'm going to have John focus on the ogre," or "Jack and I discussed via PM that we are gonna double team the troll."
So, if it's a group combat, I will just throw out a bunch of enemies and then co-writers can claim targets in OOC like, "Okay, I'm going to have John focus on the ogre," or "Jack and I discussed via PM that we are gonna double team the troll."
So I’m just going to plonk these here for brainstorming possible Arcane Conduits.
Now that gives me an idea for a Conduit similar to the Spin Swords from Power Rangers Samurai/Super Samurai. Basically, discs with Arcane Tongue spells engraved into them that slide onto a sword to power up different attacks.
As for magic duels, yeah, they'll be just as flashy as anime battles, or similar to these:
Also, I do want to clarify a few things for everyone, just in case it wasn't apparent in the intro post or the subsequent posts - while different planes may have different cultures and technologies, on Earth, it is modern day, let's say August of 2023 when they first go to Orientation. As stated in the intro post, the time of day at the Academy within it's sub-planar realm is synced with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) at the Royal Observatory in London.
An inquiry about Anti-Magic was made to me via PM, so I am now including that as one of the types. I am also changing Chaos Magic to say it's not extinct. Any power or effect you can possibly imagine that doesn't fall under Natural Magic, Psionic Magic, or Anti-Magic now falls under Chaos Magic, and all characters can use any of the four types to their heart's content. Basically, what that means is that, whatever ideas you have for your character, no matter what they are, get an automatic green light. There is no need for any further requests to me to keep defining what effects are acceptable and how far the envelope can be pushed on various types of magic. Everything is okay, no need to ask me any longer.
To clarify further on my last post, since everything is now combined into two types of magic that will be available to the characters at first, you can now have whatever abilities for your characters that you want, and you can use both types of magic freely. The only difference is whether the magic effects something that is already present in the world or if you create something new, but don't worry about specifying which is which, just write your abilities however you want and we won't worry about which type of magic you are casting since they are both open to everyone.
As for the classes at the school, I am only going to list like four main required courses, and I'll allow you all to invent your own electives for other classes.
As for the classes at the school, I am only going to list like four main required courses, and I'll allow you all to invent your own electives for other classes.
You know, I feel like even having eight different types of magic may be going too far, because then there is a bunch of extra information for people to remember about what goes under what element, and as stated before, one of my goals is to minimize how much corrective action I'll have to take to keep people within boundaries. So, here's what I'm going to have in the main thread when it goes up:
The Mortal Planes are parallel universes that co-exist in the same space at different vibrational frequences and are connected through various Prime Nexus Points where travel between them in possible using various magical means. Earth is one such Point.
The Aether is a realm of raw energy and power that surrounds the Mortal Planes and penetrates them, like the Force in Star Wars. All magic is fueled using Mana channeled from the Aether.
There are three types of magic:
Natural Magic: Anything that converts Mana into some physical energy or structure in the world, such as manipulating or conjuring the elements, casting healing spells, bending light, crafting illusions, affecting gravity, teleportation, time-travel, etc.
Psionic Magic: Does not create or conjure anything, but rather uses Mana to fuel psionic abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, and the various other kinetics. Basically, you can control what is already present - including the elements - but you cannot create anything new.
Chaos Magic: Only theoretical, said to be the limitless magic of the Celestials, who are thought to have died out millions of years ago.
The Arcane Tongue is a metaphysical language that was embedded into the fabric of the Aether by the Celestials. Vocally, there is only one dialect the Aether recognizes, but there are over a dozen different runic translations that can be used. Just use your imagination for that, I will not define specific words or phrases.
Basic magic can be done at will, but more complex applications require use of runes from the Arcane Tongue, which are engraved onto your Arcane Conduits, such as wands, swords, amulets, etc. You can also utilize a grimoire with spells written in the Arcane Tongue and channel Mana into the ink to activate the spell.
Anytime the Arcane Tongue is spoken, use triple brackets. {{{"Like this"}}} You may use this method to call out spells and have that vocal component in the Arcane Tongue act as a Conduit as well.
I may add a few extra details with the main thread goes live, but I want to keep information needed for co-writers to remember to an absolute minimum.
The Mortal Planes are parallel universes that co-exist in the same space at different vibrational frequences and are connected through various Prime Nexus Points where travel between them in possible using various magical means. Earth is one such Point.
The Aether is a realm of raw energy and power that surrounds the Mortal Planes and penetrates them, like the Force in Star Wars. All magic is fueled using Mana channeled from the Aether.
There are three types of magic:
Natural Magic: Anything that converts Mana into some physical energy or structure in the world, such as manipulating or conjuring the elements, casting healing spells, bending light, crafting illusions, affecting gravity, teleportation, time-travel, etc.
Psionic Magic: Does not create or conjure anything, but rather uses Mana to fuel psionic abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, and the various other kinetics. Basically, you can control what is already present - including the elements - but you cannot create anything new.
Chaos Magic: Only theoretical, said to be the limitless magic of the Celestials, who are thought to have died out millions of years ago.
The Arcane Tongue is a metaphysical language that was embedded into the fabric of the Aether by the Celestials. Vocally, there is only one dialect the Aether recognizes, but there are over a dozen different runic translations that can be used. Just use your imagination for that, I will not define specific words or phrases.
Basic magic can be done at will, but more complex applications require use of runes from the Arcane Tongue, which are engraved onto your Arcane Conduits, such as wands, swords, amulets, etc. You can also utilize a grimoire with spells written in the Arcane Tongue and channel Mana into the ink to activate the spell.
Anytime the Arcane Tongue is spoken, use triple brackets. {{{"Like this"}}} You may use this method to call out spells and have that vocal component in the Arcane Tongue act as a Conduit as well.
I may add a few extra details with the main thread goes live, but I want to keep information needed for co-writers to remember to an absolute minimum.
<Snipped quote by CaptainManbeard>
I suppose things like healing magic being part of Geomancy.
Pyromancy being used to inspire people through emotions like passion etc.
using Pyromancy to purify curses.
Generally more esoteric uses to the schools of magic than throwing the elements.
Like what school would things like Conjuration and Transmutation fall into?
Ah, I judge from the terminology here, you're referring to the original magic system I had planned. Much has changed since that was posted, and when the main thread goes live, it's going to be much more open and freeform. In the newest iteration, I've completely removed boundaries from specific mancies and such, and everything boils down to eight kinds of magic: Universal Magic, Fire Magic, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Water Magic, Infernal Magic, Cosmic Magic, and the extinct magic from the gods, Chaos Magic.
When the main thread goes live, my goal is to have a clear picture for everyone about what magic goes where without overburdening people with a giant magic system to remember that I then have to monitor and enforce. I hope to have that ironed out by the weekend.
How literal are the elements? Can we play with more metaphorical aspects of elemental magic?
What did you have in mind?
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