Fantasy Lore of The Arcane Guild of Barkbrew

[BlackoutThieving]

The Setting
Long ago, in the corrupt, modern, mercantile city of Sproutholm crime was rampant and the monarchy, grasping at the straws of power they had left, most of which withstood of deciding the hours of the theater and determining which god was prettier looking and the least likely to wipe the city for minor clashes with the religious code bound to be broken by the untamed, perpetually bickering, and in the eyes of most gods, sinning citizens of Sproutholm, decided that they needed to re-conquer their previously held influence and took the riches of and illegalized the Thieves’ guild, the organization that had been responsible for organizing all crime, so that citizens were robbed and vandalized in accordance with their income, and combatted the now rising crime with magic-using guilds sponsored by the monarchy’s freshly stolen funds.The use of magic, having formerly been outlawed, greatly empowered the monarchy, as most people dare not mess with the arcane, by account of the completely rational fear of turning into another exotic creature to be displayed in the cages and pens of the local ooz (Original Organism Zeitgeists) at the expense of a spell gone wrong.

Some people have since proven themselves able to utilize magic without any significant risk and with natural ease, seemingly without any genetic correlation or other factor. Usually, these people don’t tap into their arcane abilities, but those who do typically do so by an inherently magical occurrence, a catalyst, activating their potential. These people are sought out by guilds and subsequently employed, being of high-value.

 

[BlackoutThieving]

Some people have proven themselves able to utilize magic without any significant risk and with natural ease, seemingly without any genetic correlation or other factor. Usually, these people don’t tap into their arcane abilities, but those who do typically do so by an inherently magical occurrence, a catalyst, activating their potential. These people are sought out by guilds and subsequently employed, being of high-value. You have been contacted by The Arcane Guild of Barkbrew, through a letter giving you bad directions to the guildhouse out in the forest of Sproutholm. You may have been given the letter by a crow, a random shady person, or anything you creative can come up with.

In terms of your magical prowess, you’re all going to start out weak. This is supposed to be a longer roleplay; You will progress. As for your magical powers, I will read through your character sheet and judge them for myself, telling you to change something if it’s too powerful. There’s mainly 4 types of magic in this world:

• Innate Magic, aka, Fairy Tail magic

Meaning that you just have some inherent affinity for a specific type of magic, typically centered around a certain concept or power (Flame, ice, monkey, ant-summoning, sound-manipulation, you know, whatever thing you may like) and can use it limited only by “energy” or mana, whatever you wanna call it. Just don’t spam things too much. It is activated by a magical event, which could be a magical frog spitting on you, a god tossing you a dime, falling into a well and waking up wet, whatever you want, as long as it’s supernatural.

• Patron magic, aka Warlockry, aka Magical Sugardaddy

You’re sitting in a tavern. Some random dude gives you a fiver and asks you to piss in a keg of beer down in the cellar every monday. That’s essentially the contract of a patron, except that same guy will come and drown you in piss, should you fail to fulfill your contract (And the fiver represents your magical powers, obviously). A patron can be any very powerful magical creature, if you can make the case. Patron powers have pretty limited growth but there might be workarounds.

• Spell Magic, aka The Hard Way (Why do this to yourself?)

Real wizards are the eighth son of an eighth son, and they don’t use innate magic, they use spellbooks and wacky incantations. If anyone wants to use this, it’s basically Vancian magic (Look it up).

• Magic items, aka Better Get A Wii Remote Strap

Magical items exist in many forms, but there’s rarely, if ever, anyway to progress the magic in them. Some items need attunement, meaning that you need to sleep with it every night and praise it for being a good little Flaming Trident, yes you are. You can this be your power, but it's more exciting to get the in the roleplay.