Wrath of the Magi

[Grey]

Really last one before I sleep, do all magi have mutations? I saw the mutation part in the doc but I didn't quite understand it.

Magi very explicitly do not have Mutations. Mutations happen when a person who could have been born a Magus isn't. The easiest analogue that comes mind right now is radiation-induced birth defects (though that comparison makes me uncomfortable and I cannot figure out why).

 

[Dusky]

Magi very explicitly do not have Mutations. Mutations happen when a person who could have been born a Magus isn't. The easiest analogue that comes mind right now is radiation-induced birth defects (though that comparison makes me uncomfortable and I cannot figure out why).

Because it suggests that soul patterns are a negative thing caused by an outside force, and also because radiation-induced mutations don't result in superpower-type things irl?


Also, aren't there... phaeder or something? (I'm sure I spelled that wrong.) When manashock goes horribly wrong? Or is that Darkening Skies only? I checked the doc and only saw mention of beasts and explosive death.

 

[Alexandra]

Because it suggests that soul patterns are a negative thing caused by an outside force, and also because radiation-induced mutations don't result in superpower-type things irl?
Also, aren't there... phaeder or something? (I'm sure I spelled that wrong.) When manashock goes horribly wrong? Or is that Darkening Skies only? I checked the doc and only saw mention of beasts and explosive death.

Phaeder are what's left of a mage after their Pattern is torn from them by a particular magic-consuming thing in Darkening Skies.


When manashock results in the death of the mage, the results are Pattern specific, and always terrible. A necromancer may cause the dead to rise for miles around, or drag part of a city into the underworld. Communers could cause spontaneous, rapid mutation of people and animals into monsters.


The effects are largely at the GM's discretion and can make for awesome plot points.


@CrimsonEclipse


Can confirm the Fae are terrifying. The more powerful ones are concepts made manifest, and are best treated like inscrutable aliens, completely divorced from human morality. If you deal with them they require complete devotion, and part of your soul.

 

[Blackadder]

By the way, you said you were putting a max of 6 people Grey, so you might want to clarify who's in and who's not. Unless you're changing the limit.

 

[Grey]

By the way, you said you were putting a max of 6 people Grey, so you might want to clarify who's in and who's not. Unless you're changing the limit.

I find the number of interested posts and number of actual characters completed typically don't match. So I'll pick six from those who actually finish making them.

 

[The Fuzz]

I would like to be in, and shall take a look through and pick a Pattern and character concept which are not yet covered. Give me, like, 30 minutes?


I would like to play a Bersarkr orphan who was given to the conservative Church in Hrothgard and raised in the faith. A school of hard knocks on the left hand and an upbringing of ascetic scholarship on the right have left this chap as a patient, stoic investigator, who has reconciled all of his troublesome origins by deciding to embrace all of them, but grant none of them any especial power over him. He is and was Bersarkr, Hrothgaard, a priestly acolyte, a heretic, an orphan, a scholar, a wanderer, a murderer, and in patience strives to rise above any individual facet of himself.


Perhaps he does not always perfectly succeed.


A Guardian who wields a hammer, but views it with irony. He freely acknowledges that from his point of view, the Venic faith is a misunderstanding of the power he bears, while saying so out loud would not merely be a 'heresy' but a monstrous act of hubris. He cares not about heresy, but would prefer humility over hubris. He is not a god, nor is any other magus.


His name is Brendan.

 

[Stickdom]

So, @Grey, I was looking for something comparable to a Chronomancer as far as abilities and spells would go, I'm just looking for the basics of the Chronomancer's arsenal, I understand stopping and slowing and speeding time, what would be some examples of basic cantrips? I can see them being very good support mages, they can apply afflictions and blessings on both enemies and allies respectively, do they have any real offensive power though?


^EDIT: I just realized that Chronomancers also control space as well as time, which opens up a plethora of other options for me and pretty much renders this question moot. However, I would still be interested in hearing any extraneous tidbits you happen to think of, I may apply them as phlebotinum as needed.


Additionally, what region would be most prevalent to having traces of the old Magocracy still present in it? Not saying that there will be explicit artifacts or ruins nearby, just which region would be a good starting point for him (my character) to originate from and have flashbacks of the area's past to the age of mages?

 

[Grey]

Which Final Fantasy? My memory of time mages is hazy in any of them. And remember, you can influence space, too.


Especially bullshit tricks include getting to re-roll actions because you looked five minutes into the future and saw the roll would fail.

 

[Stickdom]

Well, I'm considering more direct offensive actions, just to see if they work. How would collapsing the space a target is occupying work out? As in how a Chrono can distort space to move longer distances in one step, what if they specifically distorted the space that someone was standing in to be nearly non-existent, would that affect the target at all?

 

[Grey]

That'll take a little more power than you'll initially have access to, but it's not impossible. You can also direct enemy attacks against themselves, which is less directly offensive but within your abilities.

 

[Stickdom]

I figured it would be out of reach initially, but I was just wondering if it was possible at all. So, these mazes that a Chrono has access to, I assume those are some kind of pocket dimension? Is that a toy that we are bringing into the arena as well, or is it something else entirely? And how they are accessed, I assume it would be an enchantment that makes a doorway or other item create some kind of portal effect if certain requirements are met/not met?

 

[Dusky]

Such good questions~.


What does the typical well-to-do Frontier dweller look like? Which industries in the Frontier make money, and which are struggling?


Being the classless American that I am, the only thing I can really think to associate it with is the West as it was during the Manifest Destiny movement and some time thereafter, when everyone was going insane over mining gold and shit.

 

[Grey]

Yes, creating pocket dimensions will be well within your power. You have very fine control over the access parameters, but initially you'll be limited to stuff like making structures bigger on the inside before you graduate to portable doors.

Such good questions~.
What does the typical well-to-do Frontier dweller look like? Which industries in the Frontier make money, and which are struggling?


Being the classless American that I am, the only thing I can really think to associate it with is the West as it was during the Manifest Destiny movement and some time thereafter, when everyone was going insane over mining gold and shit.

You're not far off, to be honest. A well-to-do Frontiersman or woman will usually dress in a manner reminiscent of their homeland, or of the local noble presence if they've worked their way up. You do see a kind of adventurer-chic sometimes, though - for women, it might be court gowns cut and augmented; maybe a bit of leather and metal reinforcement around the waist, shoulders, and so on. For men it might be light armour with flairs from courtly accoutrement added, like sleeves slashed to reveal maille underneath.


Industries that are doing well; fishing, forestry, fur, mining, and tomb raiding. Industries doing poorly; metalwork, agriculture, attempting to raise anything that isn't an especially ornery goat.


Some miners are cheating - there are Magocracy biomachines lurking in some caves that literally eat rock and shit refined iron.

 

[Dusky]

Hrm.


Lightning has a really robust and predetermined backstory that interacts with the setting a lot, but I've been worried that it puts her into a position that is unfairly advantageous. Maybe I should set her up at the bottom of her climb instead of the middle.


Hm.


I'm sure it says it in the doc somewhere, but while I'm posting and bugging you - does the Inquisition's influence and/or power to act extend into the Frontier? How is open use of magic treated there?

 

[Grey]

Remind me what the middle of the climb looks like. Someone with leadership qualities and wealth might be useful to the group and plot.


There are 12 ranked Inquisitors at any time, and two of them are usually traveling the Frontier - often with a complement of Fratremaul, who are basically the church's private army. Open use of Magic tends to be feared, but there is guaranteed at least one village with a Magus protecting them from the horrors that lurk this far from civilisation.

 

[Dusky]

Well, the middle of the climb involved a position of financial power, some past travel and research under her belt, and a few Magi connections scattered across Imeria who have goals similar to her own and who are willing to work with her. Her next steps would be two-fold. 1) Set up & grow the ranks of an organized group of people whose objective is to bring down the Church & Inquisition. Ideally this group would span a large portion of the Frontier. 2) Look into the old Magocracy (and other stories of power as they interest her) and find something that will set her and her people apart from your usual heretics - a secret weapon, of sorts.

 

[Grey]

That sounds like a reasonable starting point, to be honest.


Lex's character is planned to have spent some time down south on research, and potentially as part of an extended secret society of Magi. The money would be gravy, for Lightning.


Some things the group will need can't be bought, afterall, and the things that can are perhaps not important.

 

[Dusky]

Hahaha.


Actually, I think my character won't fit into the group very well, she doesn't bring something unique to her to the table.


I'll be respectfully bowing out. ^-^

 

[Stickdom]

[...]portable doors.

This right here is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Alright, Doosky, you create one of them Torchbearer light gun things and I'll enchant it so that instead of doing damage, it places up to two access points to a pocket dimension. Voila, portal gun ala Portal games series. I have an end-game goal now xD

 

[Dusky]

She didn't have any skill in crafting or anything, hahaha. Anyhow, I'm bowing out.

 

[Blackadder]

On the contrary, lotsa money is very unique for on the run Magi!

 

[SephirothSage]

You have no idea how much I /want/ to.


But know I don't have the time or attention to split between other things I'm doing and this. I can barely keep on things I /do/ have going, and have dropped a few things...


Curses.

 

[Grey]

Maybe next time, Seph.

 

[Coal seam Fire]

Is this full? If not, which Patterns already have strong interest? I noticed the Communer and Chronomancer, but lost track of the others while reading the thread. If I can make sense of it, I am strongly drawn to playing one of those village warden Magi.

 

[Coal seam Fire]

Especially if Necromancer is free, because I just started on Gladstone's Craft sequence.