@Half Pint lol whoops! As Bing said, the blurb under the appearance section was from the pirates RP :D I was editing the app from that and was clearly a bit sleepy. I've fixed it.
Welcome to Phi Mu Lambda, your friendly wizarding fraternity at Arizona State! Well I say fraternity, but really it’s a sorority as well – we take anyone who passed their magic classes at High School and still has the right number of fingers! I know you’ll have all the usual High School spells, including a few for your specialization and you’ve probably picked up one or two others along the way!
So I’m sure you’re wondering how we got to this awesome place! Drinking fountain behind the old derelict science labs, chuck a simple light source spell at the fountain and boom! Frat house in a pocket dimension! Just don’t let any normies see you throwing that spell, the Magic Inspectorate really, really, don’t like it when we get spotted doing spells by normies. Though that’s the good thing about being at a party University. If people are properly drunk or on shrooms they probably won’t notice… provided you don’t do anything too ridiculous.
We know some of you might have applied for that OTHER, less friendly, wizarding fraternity, Delta Iota Kappa. Tough break if they didn't let you in, but I promise you, we might be more open, and not have quite as much money, but we're way more awesome!
So anyway, we’re throwing a party tonight and you are expected to attend. Got to start the year off right, you know! Just remember, spells require accurate and precise hand movements with your wand. If you’re drunk or blazed, you might get them wrong and all sorts of funny stuff might happen. So resist the urge to try to impress the target of your affections if you’ve had one too many! Or don’t! It might be funny.
So enjoy your time here, enjoy our perfect climate quad and enchanted grove while you’re attending whatever normie class you’re doing out there in the actual Arizona State. Consider Phi Mu Lambda your personal haven. Just relax and ignore all that stuff about Witchfinders and Megalomaniac Wizards trying to take over the world. It almost certainly won’t have any effect on us!
INTRO
And an OOC Welcome to Phi Mu Lambda: Friendly Wizarding Fraternity!
In this RP you will play the part of new student at Arizona State University, who happens to also be magically gifted. The world of Phi Mu Lambda is exactly like ours with the exception that magic is (secretly) real and about 1/100,000 people are born with the gift. Mostly to other gifted families.
Sensibly, you have chosen to join a wizarding fraternity, while studying whatever subject you are actually here to learn. This means you can hang out with your own kind of people, spending some of your time in the comparatively safe space of the 'Phi Mu Lambda' pocket dimension where you can do all kinds of silly things away from the prying eyes of your normal classmates.
Magic is a secret and being seen doing it will draw the ire of the Magic Inspectorate, which could imprison you or worse if they think you are out of control... it may also draw the attention of Witch Finders, but more on them later.
There is a more exclusive Wizarding Fraternity on campus, Delta Iota Kappa. Either you didn't apply or they turned you down (bummer) - either way they are now your rivals in all things.
There are dark forces at play in the world that you are dimly aware of. Witch Finders have recently started hunting your kind again, after several centuries of peace and while they might not be magically gifted, firearms have made these people VERY dangerous. There are also stories of a shadowy organisation with plans of world domination operating in the shadows of the wizarding world. These things may well come to affect your first year at Arizona State.
Before that though, you are here to do what the magical community does best - Party! (And hopefully pass some of your exams) I've tagged this as 18+ as there will probably be references to drug use.
This RP will be open to latecomers. If you arrive late we will simply say you just decided to join.
YOUR LIFE SO FAR...
You are magically gifted. Odds are you are from a family of magically gifted people. This is a good thing as all young mages are given an examination by the Magic Inspectorate at the time of graduation and you will have been tutored by your parents or siblings.
If you weren't born into a magically gifted family, you will have been found by the Magic Inspectorate and assigned a tutor who will have worked with you in secret to bring you up to the required standard.
You passed your exams. Maybe you excellent, maybe you just scraped by.
Other than that, your life has been normal so far. Your parents will have done mundane jobs of some description (though may have used magic to help get themselves ahead) and you did well enough in your normal subjects at High School to go onto further education. For some reason, most magically gifted people in the USA go to Arizona State University and there are a number of covert scholarships for magically gifted people if your family lacks the means to put you through the University on their own.
Two magical fraternities exist on Campus. Delta Iota Kappa take the cream of the crop: people likely to go on to big things. Phi Mu Lambda takes anyone. You are in Phi Mu Lambda. Maybe you hate the elites of the world and wanted to be in Phi Mu Lambda. Maybe the elites of the world wouldn't let you in. Both fraternities have pocket-dimension frat houses where you can do magic without upsetting the normal students.
Outside of these details, just about anything could have happened to you!
MAGIC & SPELLS
Magic in this universe is performed with concentration and intricate hand movements using a wand as a focusing device. You don't necessarily need to be touching your wand to perform a spell, provided it is within a foot or so and it moves in the right pattern... which is to say if you, for instance, hide your wand in the handle of an umbrella, you can still perform a spell by waving your umbrella around. You cannot, however, telekinetically move your wand around as telekinesis requires the wand to move before it works... this means that a magic user can be disarmed relatively easily.
Spells require concentration and will drain you over time. Most of the time this won't be an issue, but if, for instance, you do something majorly reality altering, like saving someone's life after a car crash, don't expect to be firing on all cylinders afterwards.
Spells travel out from the user, are visible to a magically inclined person and can be blocked with a shield, if someone else was expecting a spell to come their way.
Obviously if you get drunk or stoned or similar (and it would be rude not to), and then you try to do magic, it could well go wrong. If the situation calls for it, I may alert you in the OOC that your spell has gone hilariously wrong. The details on spells below will give you some idea of how they could go wrong...
Common High School Spells
i.e. the spells you needed to master at high school.
Pure magical energy hitting things can be a bit destructive and hitting people isn't very good for them. Who'd have thought! The most simple spell a wizard can perform, the trick is in controlling the amount of magical energy you throw about. A small amount can hurt or stun someone. Too much can kill them. You can imagine what this might do to a china vase.
You can send manipulate thermal energy sending out either a wave of heat or cold. It's relatively simple to send a blast of energy out to about 45 yards before it dissipates. With a bit of concentration you can channel the energy to be a bit more useful than a general wall of destruction, using this spell to light a candle or a fireplace... though if you screw it up you might end up setting the whole room on fire or giving someone frostbite.
A slight variation of thermal manipulation where you create a blazing source of light from the end of your wand (or object hiding it). Who needs a torch when you can do this? ...though if you get it wrong you could end up burning your eyebrows off rather than creating light.
You can use this power to push or pull objects of about the size of a person or smaller (that you can actually see). With a bit of focus you can levitate and manipulate objects with fine precision... though there is the potential for an 'unfocused' person to accidentally pick up the wrong object or accidentally throw something across the room instead of gently lifting it.
Your basic defensive spell. Creates a telekinetic shield in front of you, covering about 90 degrees. It can break with enough damage but will absorb a few magical bolts (or bullets). If you screw it up though you could accidentally give someone a telekinetic shove.
Make a static object look, sound and/or smell like something else. Very handy in discouraging people from looking too closely at something. If you are in an altered state there is a strong danger your illusion might end up looking more like a Salvador Dali painting than real life.
Help cells to repair and regrow! In it's simplest form you can use this to grow your hair out. In a more complex form you can bring someone back from the brink of death though this will be EXTREMELY taxing on you and your target will take a day or two to be back to their normal selves (OOC: i.e. you will heal up between fights, not instantly get back into it). If you cock this one up you could give someone a huge, cancerous tumour, so maybe don't screw around with this one!
Speciality Spells
You specialised in something. These are your bonus spells, depending upon what you chose. You will probably gather there will be four specialities to choose from when creating a character...
You have learned to move your illusionary barrier around, meaning you can move around unseen - literally! Of course this requires a lot of concentration if you aren't going to accidentally end up with your disembodied arm floating around in front of you or something similarly silly happening.
You've done enough screwing around with illusion magic that you can see traces of it when it is in use. This means that, if you are paying attention you can spot a hidden object or person.
You can focus a beam of magic, gradually destroying everything in it's path. Very handy if you want to break a telekinetic shield, or drill into masonry and couldn't be bothered getting the tool kit out. Being a bit distracted can result in you firing off lots of energy bolts, like you're your very own fireworks display
You have perfected the telekinetic shield spell and can create a dome shield over a small area, protecting against destruction raining down from all directions. This requires a lot of concentration and will wear you out pretty quickly.
You can telepathically send a thought to someone within eyeline without anyone hearing it. If you are both telepaths you can hold a conversation! The more unfocussed you are, the more 'static' there will be on the line.
You have spent enough time screwing around trying to send messages to people that you can sense when someone means you harm and is about to do something dangerous. You should get your shield up faster than most. If you aren't on some kind of mushroom and imagining the whole thing!
Working with what you, or another mage knows, you can imbue an object with the power to continuously cast a certain spell (e.g. you could make a cloak that turns the user invisible), or cast a spell when triggered by something that might trigger the passive abilities of another mage (e.g. you could make a statue spit fire at someone with hostile intent).
THE RULES
In summary, 'don't be a dick'. But here they are if that comment is confusing:
Decisions My word and the word of all Co-OPs is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-OPs and not your fellow writers. On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. So don’t ask me to overrule one of the others. I won’t.
Post Quality I don’t have a problem with short posts but please use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc. Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you.
Posting Commitment Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to make a post every 48 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post for extended periods of time, please let us know on the Discord or in the OOC thread. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off if I'm feeling particularly malicious.
Posting Speed On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, feel free to carry on the scene without them.
OOC thread Manners Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread and in the Discord channel. Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome on the OOC. You will be warned once. If you can’t control yourself I will ask you to remove yourself from the thread.
IC thread Manners Remember, we are writing a story together, not trying to win.
Character Death Player death is possible in this RP, though will be quite rare and easily avoidable. Please don’t write that you have killed another character unless you have OOC permission from the character's owner to do it. Beat them into a pulp or take them prisoner, but don’t kill them. Having said that, if someone does something really stupid (such as attacking a ship of the line with a schooner, on your own), I reserve the right to announce your character has got themselves killed. Likewise, if someone goes inactive without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill their character off.
Keep it tasteful What is tasteful? Whatever I say it is! Generally speaking if there isn't a narrative reason for writing stuff other people will find offensive, don't write it. We'll ask you to correct, warn and/or ban depending upon how far outside the realms of common decency you are and whether we think you're taking the piss or not.
Banning Players I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to do so if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.
APPLICATION FORMS
The moment you have been waiting for!
This app will give you the opportunity to bring a spell of your own devising in with you. In general try to make it in keeping with the nature of the speciality you chose. I will scrutinise these carefully and, if they seem overpowered, I'll ask you to tone it down.
When devising a spell think a bit about what might happen if you give more/less power or concentration and what might happen if you screw it up.
I'd recommend you write as a freshman. If, however, you want to write a sophmore or someone else who might have been in Phi Mu Lambda for longer, I'll consider it. I'd recommend not doing this unless you're on the discord so we can talk about stuff your character should know.
Character Description
Name: Nationality: Sex: Age: Appearance:(Feel free to describe with text or put pictures in here)
Strengths and Weaknesses
Speciality: (Illusion, Defense, Telepathy or Artifice) Any Unique Spell: (Feel free to create one that is in keeping with your specialty) Non-Magical Skills: (Is there anything you are significantly better at than most other people? If you include something, make sure it is backed up in the background) Misc. Weaknesses: (Is there anything your character is really rubbish at? Not essential you put anything in, but can be fun)
Background:
Major: (what are you majoring in for your degree - e.g. history, biology, politics... magic is not a subject) Backstory:(How did you come to be here?)
Momin Asinger: First Mate of the Vengeance Species/Race: Addonian Human Sex: Male Age: 39 Appearance: tall, muscular 6' tall, dark hair and eyes
Strengths and Weaknesses
Skills: A competent and experienced pirate with a moderate amount of skill in most aspects of seamanship. Strong swimmer. Weaknesses: No particular weaknesses.
Background:
Backstory:Momin Asinger was born 39 years ago in the town of Hatha on the South coast of the Circle Sea. Momin's father was a soldier in the Amir's of Hatha's army which is sizeable for an Addonian city, due to the proximity of the city to the Blight.
Momin followed in the family tradition and entered the army, though after several years of patrolling for, and occasionally fighting orcs, Momin began to realise he far preferred the sea to the sand and instead signed up about a Corsair ship that preyed on shipping along the human controlled portions of the coast, stealing their cargo and selling the captives into servitude either in the Empire on amongst the Addonian cities.
Six years ago, in the midst of a storm, Momin's ship hit rocks and broke up off the wild West coast of Favis. Momin was one of the few crew who managed to swim to safety, managing to build a fire with the survivors.
The fire was spotted, two nights later by a Monchian poleacre, the Hiver, captained at the time by Anquetil Champernon. Champeron offered to pick the Addonians up and, in exchange for a period of service on his vessel, drop them off at a friendly port.
Momin gratefully accepted, finding he quite liked the charming Captain Champernon and, when his agreed period of service came to an end, joined the Monchian's crew, eventually rising to be the man's first mate.
After Champernon's death, hit by grapeshot from a swivel gun mounted on a Calarian galleon, Momin had been somewhat concerned about what might happen to the ship. When his vivacious but otherwise totally inexperienced blue-blooded 'common law wife' decided she would take over as Captain, his concern had turned to dread...
Though that dread quickly lifted when he realised Coralie knew she knew nothing and wanted his help to learn. Momin mentored the young Captain, discovering that she had a much better head for numbers than the late Captain Champernon had done if not quite the skill at sailing, though she makes up for any shortcomings by surrounding herself with good people - a trait Momin found he rather likes in a leader.
After working with Captain D'Ambois for several years, Momin has remained her right hand and become a firm friend on top of that.
With theme music because that's practically a rule!
Mina-Sakh was an oasis on the border between the Circle sea and the inland sea of sand. A dust blown walled city that rose out from the rocky shore with thick ancient walls protecting the elegant towers and arches of the city itself. The city had a port, fully walled, with a small entry point that the garrison could control entry to with a harbour chain. As if the squat fortress and chain tower bristling with artillery were not enough of a deterrent to unauthorised entry.
The Amir of Mina-Sakh, safe in his palace at the heart of the city, liked to think of his city as the South Coast's premium trade port. Which it probably was, but it was better known as one of the largest pirate ports on in the circle sea and the merchants of the city had no qualms in trading for both the loot from captured vessels and any unfortunate captives who happened to be unable to pay a ransom to whichever Pirate had taken them.
The sun was high in the sky. The spring night chill was well and truly burned off and the day beginning to become unpleasantly hot. Down by the Port, a young Monchian woman, pale in comparison to the locals, with big blue eyes sat drinking arak with one of the local men, a muscular Addonian with a couple of day's growth of scruffy stubble on his chin. She had put on a local tunic and sandals which were more comfortable in the warm weather than one of the thick, multi-layered dresses that were fashionable in the Northern lands. She lifted the glass of arak in front of her in a toast to her companion, "Well, here's to another successful voyage my friend."
The Addonian lifted his own glass and they clinked them together. The pair were in the shade provided by the colonnades that ran all sides of the port. The slight breeze carried the smell of salt air and fish, "The Imperials seem to be out in force," he remarked darkly, "Their bounty hunters seem to be getting more common by the day," he gave a wry laugh, "It is almost like they are preparing for something, or perhaps sensing a change in the wind."
The woman pouted, taking a sip from her drink, "Do you mean to say it isn't my brilliant sailing that got us away?"
"Oh absolutely," he waved to the barman who approached with the bottle to top them up, "Simko!" he called the man by name, "Pour yourself a drink. Come join us for a moment."
The bartender did as he was asked, returning a few moments later with his own arak, sitting down between the two of them in the shade, "So, , what can I do for you two today?" he asked, apparently assuming they wanted to discuss something.
The woman giggled, "So suspicious! But yes.. I think Momin was about to ask what news there is about port?"
Simko say back, running a hand though thinning hair, "Well, as it happens, there is something worth you knowing," he paused, perhaps for dramatic effect, "The Ambassador from the Union has someone issuing letters of marque at Palace Court, they're not being particularly fussy about who they issue to from what I hear."
The pair exchanged a glance before the man, Momin turned back to Simko, "That, my friend, is very helpful news."
The Palace Court
Unlike the sandstone that most of the city was built of, the Palace itself was made of white marble that reflected the sun back quite uncomfortably for anyone trying to study the intricate geometric patterns etched into the columns of the Court Colonnade. The Doel representatives had set up in the shade provided by one of them. They looked hot in their thick Northern coats. The Naval Officer seated at a desk with a quill even had one of those long, curly wigs on that were so fashionable amongst the nobility, though he had hired a young local boy to fan him constantly. Probably not a bad idea.
Momin and his companion had slouched against a column some distance away, "Well, Captain, want to get your letter?" he asked her.
The woman looked up at him, then gave a small smirk, "Yes... but let's just wait for a few moments. I'm interested to see who else is looking for a contract to go raiding. I'd wager they'll be trying to get us to hit the Calarians out in the Main."
Momin inclined his head in agreement, "Almost certainly."
A war was brewing. Though whether it was between the Calarians and the Doel and their Northern Allies or with the Empire was anyone's guess. Calaria was growing more powerful by the day and other states looked at them with fear, greed or both.
I like the character concept. Would you like to put her on the Vengeance? Also, if you hop onto discord we can brainstorm some of that. Her backstory mirrors D'Ambois enough that I can see them having a proxy mother-daughter relationship.
Name: Coralie D'Ambois: Captain of the Vengeance Species/Race: Monchian Human Sex: Female Age: 24 Appearance:slight, 5'4'', dark hair, blue eyes
Strengths and Weaknesses
Skills: Coralie D'Ambois is literate and numerate. Also quite handy with a cutlass. Noble background makes her quite capable of talking to and negotiating with people in high places. Weaknesses: Navigation is a dark art Coralie does not really understand.
Background:
Backstory:Coralie D'Ambois was born as the younger daughter of a not-particularly significant Vichian Noble House, but one with delusions of grandeur. Her mother, Callia was a member of the Hasikos dynasty from Inbur... not that Coralie remotely cared about any of that nonsense.
At 17, much to the horror of her parents, Coralie eloped with the notorious (and handsome) corsair, Anquetil Champernon, Captain of the polacre, Hiver . After a year together, Coralie fell pregnant, bearing the corsair a son, also named Anquetil. Only a year later though, the younger Anquetil died of scarlet fever. Coralie was, by all accounts, inconsolable, and the situation was only made worse when the news reached her some months later that Anquetil Senior had died of his wounds after being hit by grapeshot off the Calarian Main.
Coralie attempted to return home, only to find the doors barred to her. Coralie was disowned and neither of her parents would allow her into the house, let alone see her. The scandal she had brought on the family was, it was explained by a butler, too much to bear.
This left Coralie in a rather precarious position as she was quite without any means to support herself. Realising a lack of relatives meant that there was dispute over who owned Anquetil's assets, Coralie decided to make a bid for then arguing she was, in effect, his common law wife and that he had intended to marry her when he returned from his voyage (which was a pure fabrication). The chance paid off and Coralie inherited Anquetil's apartment at port, the Hiver and a whole lot of debt she hadn't realised he had.
The Hiver needed to put to sea and make some money, fast. Mostly to escape the scrutiny of the debt collectors, although also because she needed the distraction, Coralie decided to 'Captain' the ship herself though, in reality, for the first few voyages, she remained a figurehead and let the ship be run by her First Mate, Momin Asinger, while she learned the trade.
Full of simmering anger at life and her family, Coralie renamed the Hiver, Vengeance.
The first voyage brought back a small haul, enough to save the ship, though not the apartment and Coralie put to sea again.
Better at finances than the late Anquetil Champernon, Coralie has made a reasonable amount of money as a 'privateer' over the last six years and has grown into a capable Captain in her own right. Her goal is to earn enough money to set up in a house larger and more opulent than that of her parents - it's not a particularly plausible goal, but it is what drives her. She is known to be kind to captured sailors but, conversely, to try to screw every last drop of ransom money out of captured nobles, despite being a blue-blood herself.
Member
Urizen,
Eviledd1984,
Badarby,
Half Pint,
Thayr,
Marybecker,
Noctis,
Crimson Flame
