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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 23, 2010 23:39:49 GMT -5
(Most of these are mine and are up for discussion, particularly with the other admins, but some of them are canon-bits we all keep forgetting to write down.)
1) Magic is a secret to most mortals for reasons that have nothing to do with the mages, gods, or fae... : )
1a) (This was the First Cataclysm.)
2) Werewolves do still have the urge to pack. Some other shapeshifters also do this, but lycanthropes never do. This is one of the ways hunters tell lycanthropes from normal wolves, though it obviously fails with ursiform and pardiform lycanthropes.
3) Dunehelden is remarkably liberal for allowing lycanthropes in with the general population, and for good reason, given the rate of infection even with magical healing, and the urge to infect-or-kill that comes to all except those with long experience and self-control.
4) Changed-vampire powers run in bloodlines, and are usually very similar without certain... tampering. The child of a vampire and a mortal is a normal born vampire.
5) To all knowledge, Rhythan and Fable have never been in the same room at the same time. Not that this could possibly be important to the plot...
6) Hunters have mostly made up with Werewolves, and mages are pretty scattered in whether they're decent people or not, but they still don't trust vampires. Partly because certain vampire clans are also international organized crime syndicates, occasionally try to take over small nations, or worse.
7) There are very few hunter organizations that go beyond three to five people with a little knowledge and some ammunition, though people have tried to fix this over the centuries. In this information age, that's changing fast.
7b) The organization that the Gilespi (branch of the) family have been a part of for several generations is one of the organized ones.
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Post by Smoke on Jul 7, 2010 14:30:22 GMT -5
Four Rules of Magic, from codex dated 1514, previously informal:
1. Everything has a cost. The cost is rarely immediately obvious.
2. Vulgar magic runs into vulgar resistance.
3. Power enforces subtlety. Subtlety enforces power.
4. Any rule can be subverted with the proper amount of preparation, enough raw power, or- on occasion- the whimsy of the universe.
From the diary of Edward Lamont, Master of Wards and member of the expedition to Arcadia known as 'Dunehelden':
4a. Invoking the latter rule in Arcadia or with any form of its magic is not recommended.
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Post by Smoke on Jul 7, 2010 15:04:17 GMT -5
1) Archmagus (theoretical) | 2) Greater deity | 3) Elder lycanthrope, elder vampire, crisis-powered avatara (theoretical) | | 4) Average deity, powerful mage, powerful Chosen, fully-powered avatara 5) Greater Werewolf, powerful vampire or lycanthrope | 6) Average strong adult lycanthrope or mage, thaumaturge-king (approximate limit of "mortal magic") | 7) Average strong adult Werewolf, vampire, shapeshifter, Chosen, half-powered avatara- in short, most of the teachers fall between 6 and one tick below here 8) Small god | | 9) Average student mage, Werewolf, or Chosen, or adult with relatively new powers 10) Average student shapeshifter or young or newly-turned vampire, mortal student with powers, average amount of power granted to avatara
??) The Fae
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Jul 7, 2010 18:43:56 GMT -5
By popular demand, some sample positions:
1) Not your character. Totally François.
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2) Zeus. The Maiden of Endings*. Also not your character.
| Angel's limit.
3) ??, ??, Poseidon, Hades.
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| ~Thar be NPCs in them thar hills.~ Conall.
4) Most of the Olympians. DH2!Hitoshi.
5) Lhachlhass when unbound. Il Seraph. DH2!Alex.
| Hoshi. Tristan. Ellie, in some aspects.
6) Smoke. Isengrim. Diana.
| Korlian when unbound. Frog.
7) DH2!Kazari. Himmel.
8) The Aetai and Anemoi, when unbound. Sa'id. Rivienne and Vincent.
| Richard Safire.
| Hitoshi. Kemekin. Boreas. Jason. Bird.
9) Alex. Aramis. Rhys. Most of the Aetai and Anemoi. Vincent Hawk, at least as far as magic goes.
10) Blaise. Nina. Lhachlhass and Korlian when bound. Aritha.
Clarifications:
Mages start out slightly more powerful than other things do and have no real limit to their powers, though the vast majority of them end up and stay in the middle of the scale.
Vampires start out relatively weak, but since they're immortal, old ones can gain immense power.
Most untyped shapeshifters are only slightly to moderately more powerful than mortals.
Werewolves start out with a small power boost but bottom out before mages do. Nota Bene: A Greater Werewolf is not a powerful Werewolf. A Greater Werewolf is its own strange creature...
Chosen and avatara (one of the divine power groups) tend to linger around the same places, and are a good middle ground. They can get powerful, but rarely do.
Lycanthropes tend to build a lot of power if they live long enough... and if they're willing to accept the downsides. Elder lycanthropes are very strange things.
The majority of gods are not greater deities, but there's still quite a lot of those.
* shut up D:
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Jul 8, 2010 17:24:26 GMT -5
up for discussion
Doing that with the power-levels atm. Thanks for the people who decided to contact me about it.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Jul 8, 2010 17:56:36 GMT -5
Thoughts so far:
-Bump up the Olympians two ticks. -Smoke, Isengrim, and Diana down one tick. -Hoshi, Tristan, and Ellie down one tick. -Maybe DH2!Hitoshi and DH2!Alex down a tick?
-Clarify "average deity" as major Cthonic gods (Hecate, Nemesis, etc.) -Move down Lycanthropes and Vampires on the upper levels, since their limits should not be nearly as high as Mages.
At some point we should actually write up a section on divine magic because there seems to be a lot of confusion, and I think it would really, really help to have something written up. It might also help to make like, bell curve charts for this.
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Post by Smoke on Jul 16, 2010 20:00:28 GMT -5
See, this is why I wrote this stuff *out* and did comparisons... let's try again, now that people have gotten a look at where the stabs-in-the-dark put us the first time. And now that I have time to be more coherent/specific.
Also note: this is supposed to be a very rough powerscale based on things that derive from some kind of magic. This is not an "X character could kick Y character's ass" list, and anyone using it for that without both backstory justification and consent from all parties is getting their head caved in.
NPCs BE HERE: Greater deities (such as pantheon heads), ancient fae, archmages, elder (1k+) vampires, elder lycanthropes, etc. etc.
1) Average chthonic deity, fully-powered avatara, mage or Chosen of the greatest power someone could reasonably get over a lifetime
2) Greater Werewolf, lycanthrope of the greatest power someone could reasonably get over a lifetime, powerful born vampire of <800y, powerful turned vampire of potentially younger age.
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3) Particularly strong adult mage or lycanthrope. Approximate legendary limit of "mortal magic". Most mages and few lycanthropes end up here after many years of study.
4) Particularly strong adult vampire of ~250-500y., Werewolf, shapeshifter, Chosen. Half-power point for avatara. Most vampires end up here by 500y if not before, most Werewolves by middle age, and few Chosen. Shapeshifters are all over the place.
| Teachers are mostly between 3 and 6.
5) Average-to-doesn't give a damn adult mage, most vampires 100-300y., exceptionally strong turned-vampire of <100y (NPC territory). Theoretical limit for something to be considered a small god.
6) Average adult who's not a mage, including mortals who actually develop their powers.
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7) Most of the random, nameless NPC Fae you will meet are here.
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8) Average student mage, Werewolf, or Chosen. Adult with relatively new powers. 9) Average student anything else, Newly-turned vampire of any age. Average amount of power granted to avatara under normal circumstances.
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Post by Smoke on Jul 16, 2010 20:38:33 GMT -5
This line is reserved for Veronique, if and only if Bre needs to kick your ass IC. When in this mode, Veronique could summon Zeus like a Pokemon if need be. NPCs BE HERE: Zeus. The Maiden. The Olympians. Angel if, when, and only if/when he's being used as such. Possibly others. 1) Michael, surprisingly enough (he cheated). 2) We don't really have any non-NPCs here that I can recall offhand, and I'm not 100% sure we have NPCs here either. | | Unbound Lhachlhass would be somewhere around here. Frog too, probably. 3) Anyone among the mage faculty I'm missing who's both older and more talented than I'm aware. Ellie, but only in her specialty. 4) Himmel? Adult Kazari. | Smoke. Korlian, when unbound. 5) Most of the non-Mage faculty. Boreas, when unbound. 6) Aodh. Sapphire. The rest of the Aetai, when unbound. IIRC, Sa'id and Diana, both being new. | 7) Hitoshi, Kemekin, and Boreas, because they have backstory supporting this. A lot of the more experienced University students are between 6 and here. | 8) Most Academy mages, Werewolves, and Chosen. Alex. Vincent. Uhm. Peace? We don't have many Werewolves. 9) Most other Academy students.
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Post by Rhys Adler on Aug 24, 2010 5:02:04 GMT -5
Personal headcanon: lycanthropes preferentially attack mages.
Notes: They almost certainly would have IB classes somewhere. Also, we need to figure out what's at what semester at some point, and outline who teaches what.
I would also like to note that, in cases where I play one of the teachers, the titles may be a very... in-character way of expressing things. :v
Y = Year-long class S = Semester-long class U = University semester class- usually held MWF, TR, or TRS.
W = A class held roughly once a week, often on Saturdays or in the evenings, for an indefinite amount of time based on student progress. Usually used for supernatural classes, but a few others are also on this schedule.
Core classes:
Language: English Literature I (Y) (Freshman/Sophomore) English Literature II (Y) (Junior/Senior) Advanced English Literature (U) (high-level Academy/University)
Basic Persuasive Writing (S) (essays and such) Advanced Writing Topics (U) (ongoing)
Basic Creative Writing (S) Advanced Creative Writing (U) (ongoing)
English as a Foreign Language I, II (Y) (ongoing) Writing in English (Y) (BPW analogue)
Latin I, II (Y) Transitional Latin (U) (basically Latin I+II refresher) University Latin I, II, III (U) Spanish I, II (Y) Transitional Spanish (U) (basically Spanish I+II refresher) University Spanish I, II, III (U) French I, II, ?? (Y) German I, II, ?? (Y) Mandarin I, II (Y) Probably others, but...
Math:
Elementary Algebra (Y) Basic Euclidean Geometry (S) Geometry and Trigonometry (Y) Intermediate Algebra/Intro to Abstract Algebra (S) Advanced Math I, II (U) (what sort of math varies by semester)
Theories of Pure and Applied Mathematics (S) (basically pre-algebra) Topics in Applied Mathemathics (S) Intro Math for Engineering and Architecture (S) Advanced Applied Math (W)
Science:
Academy Biology (Y) University Biology (U) Intro to Microbiology (S) Ecology (S) Topics in Biology (U)
Academy Chemistry (Y) University Chemistry (U)
Academy Physics (Y) University Physics (U) Advanced University Physics (U)
Astronomy (S)
Anatomy ??
Psychology (??)
Humanities:
Intro to Art (S) Advanced Art (S) Drawing (S) Sculpting I, II (S) Photography I, II (S)
Music Appreciation (S) (elective) Vocal Music (Y) Piano and Keyboard (Y) Orchestra (Y) Advanced Music Theory (U)
Intro to Theatre (S) (theory, some reading- basically an elective class for non-theatre kids) Theatre I (Y) (writing, sets and costumes, light and sound... everything but acting) Theatre II: Still The One With Set-Making (Y) Acting I, II (Y) (requires at least Theatre I. :''3)
World History (Y) (attempts, usually fails, to go from the last couple centuries BCE to WWII with timelines for each inhabited continent. tends to be heavily research and essay-driven.) Western History pre-1600 (Y) (mostly Rome & Europe, a little medieval Africa) Modern Western History (Y) (Europe and the Americas) Eastern History pre-1600 (Y) (usually ends up about half SE Asia and half Middle East) Modern Eastern History (Y) (tends to vary widely based on teacher specialty)
Civilizations of the Ancient World (Y) (mostly China, Egypt, Mesopotamia) History of the Americas (U) Other individual histories, usually focusing on East Asia, Classical Mediterranean civilizations, or European countries. Kinda depends on who's teaching.
Political Science ?? Basic Sociology and/or Anthropology ??
Practicum:
Health and Wellness (S)
Marksmanship (W) Swordfighting (W) Fencing (W) Tactics (S)
Shop (S)
General Supernatural classes:
Orientation (S)
The World of Magic (S) (intended essentially to be a counterpart to Orientation to those really new to this) History of Magical Peoples (Y) History of the Hunt (Y) (required for Hunters)
Arcadia and the Fae (S) (required for Hunters)
Theory of Natural Magics I, II (S) High Magic for non-Mages (S) (required for Hunters)
Mage classes:
(My general theory for this was: what is dangerous? Those are the classes which are split up into different lab and theory courses. What is complicated? Those are the year-long ones.)
Practice and Theory in High Magic (S) (required to take, but not for most intro classes) Advanced Magical Theory (Y)
Basic Warding (S) (also required, for reasons that ought to be obvious) Abjuration (U)
Basic Divination (U) More Divination (W)
What is Elemental Magic? (S) Elements Lab (S) (to be taken in concert with the previous) Advanced Elements Lab (U)
What is Mental Magic? (S) Psychomancy Lab (S) (to be taken in concert with the previous) Advanced Psychomancy Lab (U)
Basic Illusions (S) Advanced Illusions (S)
Necromancy (Y) Healing (Y) Transmutation (??)
Do we have a teacher for biokinesis? What else am I missing?
Shapeshifter classes:
Basic Shapeshifting (W) (how to control your shapeshifting and powers. known to the less kind or more cynical as "lycanthropy class", since almost no one else needs this.)
History of the Werewolf Clans (Y) (open to non-shapeshifters)
powers stuff, other stuff
Vampire classes:
Vampire Studies (S) (history and modern society) Current Events (Y) (politics)
Physical Training (U) (for physical powers; often split into born and turned)
other stuff
Academy Requirements:
Orientation, without explicit written permission from the Head of your section and a statement that you understand the material that would have been presented to you.
EngLit I and II- may switch out either or both for Advanced with teacher's permission- and one of either Creative Writing or Persuasive Writing;
Or EFL and Writing in English;
Any two math classes (with the warning that more may be required for certain colleges);
One year of the same foreign language; One year lab science; World History;
One year of other history or social science classes;
One art credit; one practicum credit;
other stuff
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Vincent Hawk
Ireth
Sexy British Professor of Music
~ Sing like no one's listening ~
Posts: 722
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Post by Vincent Hawk on Aug 24, 2010 12:14:36 GMT -5
You seem to have forgotten all of the Music and/or Choir classes in here.
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Post by Rhys Adler on Aug 24, 2010 19:27:24 GMT -5
Thanks!
Can you folks help me think of more possible supernatural stuff? Or sciences, or practicum classes, or if there are any more languages we have teachers for (not fluent speakers, I mean people with training to teach them)?
Also, if anyone would like to comment on the classes they have someone teach, please feel free. I need Emi to give feedback on whether Ellie teaches, at least.
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