Family Name: Flamel
Leader/Notable Members:Estelle Flamel: The official head of the Flamel family who rarely leaves her mansion. Estelle is one of the few, if not only, living members of the ancient House of Elendil and has lived over hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years. Though she looks like the same individual, Estelle's appearance has never been consistent with the actual flow of time. Every now and then Estelle appears to look a different age. Many have attempted and even succeeded in killing Estelle during her long life, but for some odd reason, she always “came back to life”. She is thought to have prolonged her life through alchemic means. Estelle is a powerful witch who seems to be unaffected by the current magic problem the Flamels are facing. It is rumored that she can see still see the stars in the heavens, regardless of the season, thus, is still able to perform astrological divination.
Alexander D. Flamel: Uncle of Pazel. Alexander is the unofficial head of the Flamel family who serves as Estelle's representative in public meetings. He has a total of four symbols tattooed on to him. One symbol is tattooed on his tongue with the meaning “ice”; The symbol for “armor” is one large elaborate tattoo that covers most of his entire being; the symbol for “speed” is on the bottom of his feet; and on the palm of his hands is the symbol for “sleep”.
Beauregard D. Flamel: A handsome alchemist who has aged extremely well. Beauregard was, and still is, notorious for being a playboy. He is thought to have numerous illegitimate children all over the world. Many claim he used magic to seduce his lovers. Father of Alexander and Brea.
Economic Standing: Wealthy
Magical Standing: Once a powerful family, the Flamel have become somewhat of an underdog over the years due to the fact that their family has been producing fewer witches with each coming Emergence. In addition to the lack of witches, the few witches they do have seem to have problems with even the simplest of magic spells which are considered parlor tricks to other witch families. Fortunately, as if to compensate for the lack of magic abilities, the Flamel witches are considered geniuses in regard to alchemy and the Flamel's mysterious symbol magic has kept most enemies at bay. Their magical artifacts and homemade ingredients are considered to be top notch and are highly valued within the witch community. The Flamel often does business with other witches who request their merchandise.
The Flamel is a relatively large family, with plenty of smaller branch families, but a majority of its members are normal humans and witches are of the minority. Few Flamel humans living near or at the Flamel estate, but many have moved away from their home. Those who do leave the magic world, tend to become very successful in the career they choose. Any witches that originally lived far way are sent to live at the estate where the family laboratory is located at.
Magical Standing: Once a powerful family, the Flamels have become somewhat of an underdog over the years due to the fact that their family has been producing fewer witches with each coming Emergence. In addition to the lack of witches, the few witches they do have seem to have problems with even the simplest of magic spells which are considered parlor tricks to other witch families. Fortunately, as if to compensate for the lack of magic abilities, the Flamel witches are considered geniuses in regard to alchemy and the Flamel's mysterious symbol magic has kept most enemies at bay. Their magical artifacts and homemade ingredients are considered to be top notch and are highly valued within the witch community. The Flamel often does business with other witches who request their merchandise.
The Flamel family is a relatively large one, with plenty of smaller branch families, but a majority of its members are normal humans and witches are of the minority. Few Flamel humans live near or at one the Flamel's estates. Many have moved away from their homes for one reason or another. Those who do leave the magic world, tend to become very successful in the career they choose. Any witches that originally lived far way are sent to live at one of the estates where a family laboratory is located.
Values: Being a house full of alchemists, the Flamel value knowledge, experience, and creativity. Though the Flamel respect tradition and take pride in their heritage, they are not known for being orthodox; new ideas do not arise from sticking to the old ways. The Flamel are somewhat laid back, allowing the individual to express themselves freely and are capable of accepting certain types of failure as a learning success. They can, however, become extremely strict when business and education are involved: they will accept nothing less than perfect. For the Flamel family, being bored is a sin.
Magical Style: The Flamel family is proficient in the school of
alchemy and
symbol magic.
Symbol magic, roughly explained, is a type of magic that uses “symbols” (which can range from drawings to letters) to cause a special event to occur. What event occurs largely depends on what the symbol means. For example, if the witch places a symbol that basically means “fire explosion” and the symbol is activated, a fire explosion would occur. Symbol magic can also be used for summoning, but such magic are considered “expensive” to the Flamels since the summon usually requires various other items in order to “pay” for the summoned creature's services or to make them submit to the summoner.
In the context of symbol magic, everything matters: every line, space, color, and even material used to draw/write the symbol can change the meaning and the effects of that symbol. As long as the symbol exists it can always be activated or is still active. Even when the symbol looks like it disappeared in the eyes of an untrained individual, it is possible that it still remains, so one must double check using some kind of magic or magic item.
For the average witch of the Flamel family to cast a spell, without the assistance of a magic artifact or required preparation, the symbols must be tattooed/branded on to their body. The strength of each symbol is largely dependent on how powerful the witch is. The more complex the symbol is (thus more complex the meaning is), the witch has less limitations concerning the ability that symbol grants them. Additional symbols can be added onto the body, but there are regulations. First, it must be understood that symbols posses great power. If the witch is not ready to control them, the symbols will mentally and/or physically destroy the witch. There is physically only so much space on a person to place a symbol and still be effective. It is also strongly advised that the witch selects symbols that work in harmony and not against each other. A powerful witch may be able to withstand a few conflicting symbols, but the average witch will be overwhelmed by the conflicting symbols and suffer consequences ranging from being unable to control one or both of the symbols to simply dying.
Symbols can be removed from both the body or object, but both are so time and resource consuming that it is actually easier to kill or destroy the person/living thing or object. This is especially true for symbols branded on a living thing. It can take years and lot of materials to completely remove the symbol.
Family History: The Flamels are the descendants of an ancient witch clan known as the House of Elendil. Members of the House of Elendil were said to be
astrologers gifted in stellar magic. With the disappearance of the stars, however, their stellar magic weakened significantly and rendered then practically useless. The House of Elendil eventually divided into multiple independent families with their own leaders and their own specialty. One of these many branched families were the Flamels.
No one knows whether it is related to the House of Elendil having star related magic or not, but some time after the disappearance of the stars, the decedents of the Flamel family started to become less prone to magic; with each coming Emergence, fewer children became witches. As a witch family, their social status began to waver within the witch community, but as a mortal family the Flamels eventually became celebrities. Thanks to their rigorous alchemy and symbol deciphering training since a young age, the non-witches of the Flamel family often became world-acclaimed scientists, medical doctors, chefs, and artists.
princess
Lemons
mickilennial
vietmyke
Pen Name
Kaithe Dame
High Moon
Snowdrops
Charley
SilverPaw
