ERode

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

Naw, works either way. I welcome people adding more shitfuckery into the world, honestly.

Either way, it's gucci.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

Iz gud. smh not 'seaborn' though. Is the shipwreck due to straying too close to Australia, or a separate thing?

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

@SgtEasy@Jumbus
You're both good to go. I'll say that a secret is very hard to keep when you've made an enemy out of a noble though, Jumbus, so he'll be
'famous' regardless. People probably wouldn't know of his actual abilities, more just that he's a Universal Genius who's decided to waste his life on Mesmerology.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

I’ll say that he’ll find his best successes with hive-minded insects like bees or ants right now, just in terms of being able to perceive the Formulae of their minds. As a Polymath, he’ll also have the potential/ability to perform fairly well in all other Majors, because that’s essentially the prerequisite you need in order to pursue Mesmerology as more than a meme. With no encounters with Edenic Beasts, he’ll also be a natural born Dynamicist, which is also pretty rare to begin with. Basically, the dude’s fame would easily stretch beyond Vienna, and he’ll only be held back by his choice of Major.

He’ll definitely be able to modify his own memories with ease, because that can easily just be a pure-Egoism feat. He won’t be able to transfer at all though. I’d say he can direct hive-minded insects to go places if he has their queen with him, and he can vaguely affect how aggressive vermin are.

I established Mesmerology as part of the world building and as a meme option. Those who can pursue it with any modicum of success will be extremely capable individuals though, while those who can’t actually succeed in that field are funny little trolls.

Qualia: Mission Sub Rosa

Student Roster

Character Sheet Template

[anime appearance]
NAME
Age | Gender | Height | Weight
Nation | Major | Specialization

Their Story
As little and as much as you need to explain the general bits and pieces that made who your character is, how they became recognized as one of the world’s best and brightest, and why they’ve decided to fall in with shady organizations and become a spy.

---

Organization: Only the name, please.
Current Mission: I'll fill this out in a PM.
Secret: I'll fill this out in a PM.

Example CS

Solomon Antedivula

17 y/o | Male | 5'10 | 142 lbs
The Nation of the Rose King, France | Egoism | Prehensile Blood

Solomon was just a poor boy living in a first-generation immigrant's family on the countryside of France. As a child, he worked tirelessly on the sunny hills of the Rose King's domain. Sadly, he was bullied in school for not being into baguettes. One day while he was being bullied, a wandering Mongolian horseback archer came by and took a shine to the kid for a plot-based reason. They taught him the fundamentals of Egoism, exchanged telephone numbers with the lad, and over the course of many years, Solomon telecommuted his Polymath training, having the grit and determination to essentially self-study a wide field of works while also engaging in lots of self-reflection.

And then, on his twelfth birthday, he decided that he could do it. With a scalpel, a mirror, and a towel, he carved his first set of Formula upon his back during the early hours of the morning, and was irrevocably changed. Word spread quick of the Self-Made Polymath of Ardennes, and Solomon vibed with that, even though he wasn't really sure what he should do with this outside of training more.

But when that same Mongolian mounted archer called him again and offered him a job, Solomon knew.

Debts were to be paid, and kindness could not be left unrewarded.

Some years later, he secured his position in Bermuda, as an agent of Khan Academy, a "non-profit organization meant to make education available for all."

---

Organization: Khan Academy
Mission: Befriend the Student Council President, PC 1.
Secret: Solomon is actually a double agent. His true allegiance lies with the Greatest Bond, a crime syndicate operating in Germany, who has gained his loyalty by teaching him of the wonders of steamed bread.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

@Psyker Landshark@Click This@Vega7285@Shovel@banjoanjo@Izurich
@Liotrent@Robocat@Medili@Greengoat@Dog@Zombehs@Silverpaw@SgtEasy@Sir Cheems@Jumbus
Your mission, enclosed, if you choose to accept.

If you've got a CS that I had no further issues with, post it in the Character Tab. Feel free to join the Discord too, for instant communications. If everyone ends up joining, that'll be 16 people, but this is fine.

Qualia: Mission Sub Rosa

_{On the seventh day, seeing our world in its entirety, God left.}

The luxury skyliner Queen Titania was a marvel of Formulization and engineering, a brass juggernaut of an airship that had all the amenities one needed to enjoy a thirty-day trip around the world. Gorgeous greenhouses full of exotic flora and avians served as wonderful areas to enjoy fresh fruit and well-brewed teas. Indoor sports gyms bedecked with equipment for all games of athleticism made friends and rivals out of the growing number of erudite youths who entered the ship at each stop on its global tour. Even the library, though it paled in comparison to Alexandra’s vastness, was a soothing marvel, all mahogany and leather as crystal players resonated classic music at astounding clarity. And even the dining rooms, both private and public, looked to be places that one ought only to go when dressed to the nines, the on-board chefs managing to delight with their crosscultural culinary creations every evening. There were no shortage of distractions onboard the Queen Titania, no shortage of entertainments and pleasures to partake for the two thousand prodigies within its spacious bowels.

But today was the thirtieth day, and the clear skies encouraged all to crowd around the concave windows of the foremost atrium to witness the one thing that the Queen Titania could not offer:

The Academic City of Bermuda, an artificial island on the equator made of brass and steel, its many towers jutting out as if to scrape at the underbelly of the airship.

Fifty years has passed since a tenuous truce rose from the ashes of the Futile War, and the crystallization of that peace now stood below the two thousand students. It was a lasting symbol of peace and cooperation, a cloistered space away that served as a neutral ground, where no individual government could profess power and where the youths who would shape the future of the world could learn to build a unified future.

But you were different.

For you were here for a specific purpose, a purpose determined by the government agency, by the secret society, that sponsored your admission to this prestigious academy. Through subterfuge and subversion, your goals will be accomplished with all the sophistication of an expert spy, all while you maintain the disguise of just another erudite student.

Those naïve fools, those sheltered academics, none would be any the wiser as you execute your schemes and machinations with precision and tact.

…

What you didn’t know, however, was that every other freshman aboard was also a spy.

HISTORIA TERRAE

The world was complete, but the rest was not.

Beyond the stretches of the atmosphere, that boundary line between life and death, rests not the vastness of space, not the allure of the celestial objects, not the fiery wrath of the Sun nor the brilliant nobility of the stars, but rather a mass of chaotic abstractions and half-formed entities. T’was the detritus of creation, left behind by the all-powerful existence that willed the world to being, and t’was the grail of forbidden knowledge that drove astronomers and philosophers to delirium and madness:

Formula, the divine calculus of the Creator, from which the world was given shape.

And through the sweat and blood of trial and error, through the inspiration and dedication of the prodigies and the passionate, the academics of the European nation-states solved the secrets of the stars and encroached upon hallowed domain. The Scientific Revolution set the Occident ablaze as Formulization was turned from a miracle to a study, countless inventions made at a blinding rate. Stones more buoyant than helium. Engines that ran without need for fuel. Towers that bottled lightning and dispersed it through the skies. And as cities changed overnight, as the lives of all within the continent improved by leaps and bounds, so too did the ambition of the powerful.

Wielding technologies that existed outside the bounds of natural laws, holding the power to distort the very fabrics of reality, the Europeans boarded their flying dreadnoughts, resolved to bring Enlightenment to the savage lands around them, and sparked off the Age of Exploration…

…but were met by civilizations who matched them in might.

In the Orient, warrior-philosophers had turned the divine science of creation inwards and casted aside pre-conceptions of humanity to actualize their martial ideals. Wielding starsteel stolen from the abstract firmament, they cleaved through false laws and mortal flesh alike, unrivalled and without peer beneath Heaven’s gaze.

In the New World, the Edenic Beasts have granted their gifts unto the indigenous empires that revered and devoured them, favouring mortal shamans and champions with eyes to perceive the Formula of the intangible. With the power to grasp the substance of storm and stream, they delivered supernatural destruction upon the invaders, becoming avatars of dynamism and disaster.

In the Dark Continent, the manifold tribes stalemated Western encroachment with their own reality-defining scripts, having teased out the truth of the incomplete universe from the inconsistencies of sunlight and moonlight. Armed with textile tools invariably more flexible in usage than the strictly-designed technologies of the Occident, they stalemated their northern neighbours across the harsh deserts and unforgiving shores.

The Age of Exploration ended within a month, every national power confident in the capabilities of their own Formulizations, and the Futile War began, a five year long conflict that maintained a bloody stalemate on all fronts and ended in a miserable ceasefire with countless lives lost and nothing truly accomplished. Whether innovative design, blasphemous alchemy, superhuman might, or skyshaping skill, none alone was enough to ensure global hegemony.

What was needed was synthesis. What was needed was the knowledge of the enemy.

On the semicentennial celebration of world peace, the Academic City of Bermuda, an artificial island off the coast of Abya Yala, was revealed to the general public. A cloistered society for the world’s best and brightest youths to convene and mingle, it was ostensibly established to form greater bonds between the next generation of Polymaths, promoting peace and progress for the betterment of the concrete planet. And though such a lie was sweet enough to be believed by the proles and the politicians, the subjects and the monarchs, clandestine government agencies and surreptitious secret societies knew better.

Bermuda was but the next stage in a war that has never ended.

DIVINUS FORMULA

Formula, the divine calculus of the Creator, from which the world was given shape.

Though to the layman, Formulization is simply an incomprehensible magic, to Polymaths, those trained in the craft of manipulating reality, it is a science that draws from all fields of human knowledge, from mathematics and physics to philosophy and astrology. A closer and yet paradoxically broader understanding of the world is what allows Polymaths to perceive the Formula that the world is composed of and thus be able to influence it. As Formulization is a craft that largely relies upon manipulating what already exists, there are still inviolable rules and limitations that must be followed, regardless of how fantastical the craft is, or how powerful the Polymaths are.

The effects of Formula spread from points of physical contact. No matter how knowledgeable, a Polymath can not influence what they can not touch, and any property or manipulation they extend must come from themselves.

Unseen Formulae cannot be influenced. Regardless of whether or not one is able to see the physical object in question, if they are incapable of perceiving the Formula that constructs it, Polymaths cannot change it.

The Formulae that construct organic beings, whether flora or fauna, are incredibly difficult to affect, due to their ever-changing nature, to the extent that most treat it as simply impossible and not worth pursuing.

The more powerful or widespread the effect one wishes to create, the more time it takes to write the script, and the greater the cost upon oneself. This cost manifests itself as Abstraction, as the Polymath’s body loses tangibility, starting from the point of physical contact. While simple rest would resolve the cost of most commonplace Formulizations, it was not uncommon for Polymaths during wartime to disappear entirely, leaving no trace of their existence. In extreme cases, the cost of Abstraction is borne not just by the Polymath themselves, but also their surroundings.

STUDIA CREATIONIS

After the Futile War, all forms of Formulization were standardized into four Majors, each with various Specializations within. Though traditionalists are stubborn in the purity of their specific Major, the modern-day Polymath have at least a basic understanding of the principles and theories behind other Majors.

Technologism is the craft of altering the properties of solids. The more enduring the object is, the more permanent the effect, which allows for the creation and invention of materials and tools that would otherwise be impossible to make. Relative to other Majors, Technologists find it the most difficult to spontaneously generate powerful Formulizations, but also suffer the least from Abstraction. Traditionally, they use their dominant hand’s pointer finger to manipulate Formula, a habit partially inspired by The Creation of Adam.

The three great inventions of the Scientific Revolution (the Steam Core, the Peizogravitas, and the Telesma System) were all products of Technologism. No other Major has affected the modern era quite as much.

Dynamicism is the craft of manipulating the path of intangibles, such as liquids, gases, and energies. While they must constantly work to maintain the effects they impose with their Formulizations, this tradeoff allows them to flexibly manipulate what is impossible for Technologists to write on. Of the four Majors, Dynamicists possess the greatest ability to perceive Formulae and most of them have only obtained such an ability through the favour of Abya Yala’s Edenic Beasts. Traditionally, they use the palm of both hands to manipulate Formula, as Dynamicists physically ‘pull’ or ‘push’ what intangibles they control.

The Dynamism of Lightning is banned by the Geneva Convention, and all known practitioners are either under heavy surveillance or to be killed on sight. Historically, no one has been able to perceive the Formula of Light.

Egoism is the craft of transforming the self. Originating from the meditation and enlightenment of Oriental monks, Egoists possess no significant ability to perceive Formulae of the outer world, but instead are intimately aware of the Formulae the inner world, that of their muscles and organs, their bones and their blood. Rejecting their pre-conceived notions of self, they pursue their personal ideals instead, tattooing artful scripts upon their bodies to serve as the framework for their Formula transformation. Through this, superhuman attributes are achieved, and through this, they take on bestial traits, losing their humanity. Traditionally, Egoists tattoo their scripts upon their backs, creating displays of ink-art that grow in complexity and beauty as they veer further away from their humanity.

Though a controversial Major to pursue as a Polymath, due to how meaningless superhuman might is for most careers, the personal benefits sometimes outweigh all other consideration. In some cultures, Egoists are known as Flamechasers.

Mesmerology is the newest and least developed craft. Born from a synthesis of the three traditional Majors, Mesmerologists claim to have the ability to perceive the Formulae of the mind and to be able to alter the properties of such, allowing them to subsequently manipulate memories, reroute brain functions, and even transfer knowledge directly from one mind to another. These are merely claims, of course, and any Polymath who brands themselves as a Mesmerologist would be the laughing stock of any proper convention.

But if there was ever a Universal Genius, perhaps they would be able to do what Mesmerology promises.

FACTA MAGNORUM

In 100 AD, Ptolemy began recording the shapes of starlight, which he believed to be glimpses of the Creator’s Formula.

In 1512 AD, Michelangelo painted The Creation of Adam, commemorating both the Sistine Chapel as well as his first successful attempt at perceiving and altering Formulae.

In 1537 AD, Paracelsus completed his standardization and systematization of Technologism, becoming the father of the craft and paving the road for an academic route towards becoming a Polymath.

In 1541 AD, Paracelsus, in his hubris, crafted a Formulae script that altered the world irrevocably. The days in a year was reduced to 360. Everything within a 150 kilometer radius of Salzburg was lost in Abstraction. Paracelsus was posthumously stripped of all titles.

In 32 EE, the Age of Exploration started, ended, and gave way to the Futile War.

In 87 EE, the Academic City of Bermuda finished construction, welcoming the first generation of students.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

@SgtEasyThat’s some good fucking food. Anyhow, the only real correction to make is that the Edenic Beasts don’t teach how to perceive the Formulae of intangible substances, but rather work to supercharge your ability to perceive instead. It’s very much a gift that changes the way you view the world, as opposed to like, just special training/knowledge. That’s why a big portion of being a Dynamicist that HASN’T been favoured by an Edenic Beast is like, being ridiculously talented and lucky.

@Vega7285Cute to think of parties in terms of RPG, when the only real parties out here are social events filled with enough innuendo to cause a flower garden lass to faint from the debauchery.

@DogStill missing dat appearance, dude.

@JumbusTragically, the implication behind Mesmerology in the OOC is that there’s not a single Mesmerologist in the world that can actually do what they claim to be able to do, as the very nature of this particular Major works against the most difficult parts of Formulization in general, due to requiring you to essentially alter the properties of the intangibles (memories/thoughts) of a living being (which is difficult enough to do when it’s yourself). The hurdle to Mesmerology is high enough that everything about it is theoretical and there’s no systematized method of actually attaining it. So a school that can produce Mesmerologists (that aren’t just scam artists) is out of the question. Either find another Major, accept that Franz is lying through his teeth, or make him a real genius of geniuses.

Otherwise, the backstory is good enough. You’ll want to talk to Dog about how Austira-Hungary exists when the Ottoman Empire also does. Qualia isn't anything relevant to the world though.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

@IzurichBatteries are a thing, but they’re fairly clunky and pointless. Easier to get a Steam Core and have it generate electricity through SCIENCE rather than store a shit ton of heavy batteries with limited lifespan.

@DogYes, your specialty can be something unrelated to escalating the arms race. I don’t know why these spies think they’re gonna be starting in a hack and slash or something kekekek. Most Technologists will be speccing in things that aren’t obviously attached to warfare.

Anyways, backstory is ok. Becoming a Polymath, even in a small village, is something that would immediately catch the attention of the rich and influential, because Polymaths are actually much rarer than an RP cast full of them would suggest. Might need to adjust the timeline of his life to accommodate for that.

You’re missing a picture for his appearance though.

@SgtEasySound shenanigans via heat dynamicism is a fresh idea. I like it. Wouldn’t allow for total sound nullification, but it’s otherwise pretty interesting to have in your pocket. Remember that there’s the whole thing where cold air vacuums in hot air though (I think). Your character will be constantly needing to gather up more and more heat to compensate for the vacuum effect, unless he’s working with the dynamicism of wind too.

Qualia: Steampunk Spies, School Life Scandals, and Eldritch Spice

>everyone speccing under the assumption of combat
>but no one prepared for the chess arc


@Dog For purposes of aesthetic, I would prefer not to have combustion engines. People get free wireless electricity anyhow due to the Telesma System, so you don’t really need it. As for the mechanics of it, I’ll say that right now, it can function as a flash light that creates a wall of light with durability akin to a normal window. It doesn’t work as a bubble and the range will be fairly low due to how light naturally diffuses. Could be a magnum opus that your character’s figuring out though.

@Click ThisPretty sure I already told you about it, but you’ll need some way to send your constructs instructions in order for them to act. Otherwise it’s good. Nice to see an organization that isn’t just WARTIME BBY.

@SgtEasyYes. Heat Dynamicism is how you get cool fire bender bros doing BBQ during summer frat parties. Remember though that you must be physically touching that thing to pull heat out of an object. So it’s not like you can remotely freeze something…and if you’re in the area of something that’s rapidly dropping in temperature, that’ll be bad for you too. Generally the more you try to take something out, the harder it becomes. Imagine it like hauling out a net of fish. The more fish you haul, the better, but also the heavier it gets. Absolute zero through heat dynamicism is possible but so far only in theory.

@SilverPaw The limits of electricity is basically vaguely being within civilization. You’ll want the Steam Core if you plan on adventuring into the deep sea, but if you’re just swimming in a touristy beach, you’ll have electricity there.