The Reawakening OOC
The Reawakening ICSummary:
•Advanced with high levels of character development and moral intrigue
•Set in a present day Earth (Canada, near Lethbridge/Calgary), right at the point in time where people begin developing elemental magical powers
•Themes: fantasy RP, including themes of magic, cultural shifts, persecution, animal bonding and, through that, a close connection to the Earth, other fun thingies :D
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I'll consider 1 more player, but you'd have to have a rocking sheet. If you're interested PM me.
To be accepted you must read over everything in this post, and be willing to do quite a bit of catch-up reading as well. (I won't expect you to read through the whole OOC, the important stuff is all in the first post).
You must be willing and able to be, and stay, active - by which I mean posting 1-2 times every week. Our posts do tend to be long right now, but they won't always be so crazy-long. The main thing is detail, believability, and dedication.
I'm more than willing to answer any questions, so go ahead and ask. :)
It seems like a spring day, just an average day where the sun strengthens another small measure and the warmth soaks into the soil loosening winter's hold on the land. A day just like a thousand others through the years, and yet not like them at all.
It doesn't matter where you were; sleeping, standing in line, at work. No matter where you were you felt it the same as all the others like you. You felt a jolt, a sharp and piercing momentary pain deep inside your mind and body both - like nothing you had ever experienced before. And then an awakening. A sensation of unfurling awareness rippling out from your core through your limbs and...its gone.
Nothing. It was nothing. You shake off your sense of discomfort, of ill ease. Turn a rueful grin on your confused co-worker and mouth words about not enough sleep or a sudden headache, but you can’t shake the sense that something is happening.
Even if it had passed without notice that one moment was the one that would change your life, and the world.
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The next day you notice something strange; maybe the man in the cubicle down the hall calls in sick - the one who never calls in sick. Maybe it's the barista at your favorite coffee spot who's missing, and the other workers are murmuring and passing glances about her leaving mid-shift. Maybe you don't notice for a day or two - maybe you refuse to acknowledge any sort of shift in your world view. It doesn't matter, the change is here and your belief or disbelief won't change that.
Within three days you can't pretend you don't notice anymore. There are few of them but they seem to be everywhere; the woman in the apartment above you is suddenly mobbed by a flock of sparrows, and seems overjoyed at it. Your confusion trails you and only intensifies when you see a fox trotting down Centre Street in the wake of a man.
They are everywhere.
It’s only been days and suddenly your small town is consumed by a flurry of news and gossip; this girl has a weasel or ferret, that boy was seen with a deer. Animals of all sorts are invading the town and none of them are leaving. On the news you see it's happening everywhere, and not everyone is amazed and amused.
A gang of men crowds around a teenage boy and a lynx on the news, they jeer and taunt as the cat hisses and swipes at them. Suddenly someone is pushed forward, and a fight begins in earnest. You turn away from the violence caught on live news, but the next day you hear the boy died and his cat was shot.
The woman with the sparrows, your neighbor, is attacked on her way home from work and you see the broken bodies of three sparrows lying limp in the dust as you want past. The bruises under her eyes and the tears as she grieves for the sparrows is too close, to near for comfort. These things aren't supposed to happen here, not in your town.
You keep your head down and try to go on as though nothing has changed, but you feel something stirring in you; anger, possibly hate...but something else too. Suddenly the life you always wanted is a hollow shell of a thing and something in you is crying out for fulfillment.
And then he is there. Warm fur, the scent of the forest, and love like nothing you have ever felt fitting perfectly into the hollow deep inside. You drink in his scent and touch as a parched man gulps cool water. It bathes your soul and you are whole again, and more than whole. Together.
But the spark within is not gone. It grows and grows until you are full to bursting and when a cocky teen throws a sandwich wrapper and yells "Filthy creature-lover!" the crudeness of his words and the mocking implications of his tone are suddenly too much. It breaks free and a flicker of flame twitches from your fingers and almost, almost, reaches his startled face before it flickers and dies. Just enough, this time. He runs from you as flicker-flames dance on your fingertips. Terrifying and exhilarating all at once, this something that welled up from within.
So this is what has been awakened in you - Power.
Will you be afraid? Will you master it? What changes will the touch and caring of a wild thing bring to your life? Care to find out?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered what it would be like if some people suddenly had magic. I’ve also wondered what it would be like to have an animal soul mate. This RP is a blend of those two ideas.
Everything is set in a modern day world, the only difference being that the people are more likely to be antagonistic and suspicious of anything magical. There are fewer books, shows, and movies about anything to do with magic or special powers and being interested in those things is seen as more than a little childish and strange.
Our characters will begin to develop their powers slowly, and the strength and control will grow gradually throughout the game (If you expect to jump in and throw fireballs you’re on the wrong track ;) ). Since this is a huge change they’re going through there will be a focus on character development and interaction.
The magic is loosely based on a combination of the styles used in Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books (the mages) and Anne Bishop’s Pillar of the Earth series. You do not need to have read any of these books to enjoy the game, or understand the magic. I will give you all the info you need :D
Basically, it is elemental, with the four elements and their attributes (aside from any offensive fun-things ;) ) being:
Air:
heightened awareness sensing creatures/people
force fields - shifting
mind-melding
power sharing
when tired air powers tend to gust and vanish - like the wind
find it hard to tell when they're running out of energy until almost too late (makes them tend to faint if they overextend)
Air shields are hard to spot or penetrate because they constantly shift and change
Water:
sensitive to emotions of others
force fields - flexible
flexibility in magical thinking
sensitive to magical energy
mind-melding
when tired water energy slowly goes from a full on-gush to a trickle
water mages get lots of advance notice when they're tiring, but will have a gradual reduction in their power as they tire
very smooth power, easy to share and can help smooth rough joins or cracks in a shield
Earth:
force fields - strong
steady and stable powers
growing things
healing
good support
lots of notice before they tire, hold steady and strong right until they are out
their shields tend to be either like rock - craggy and brittle in places, or like a forest of overlapping trees - small holes here and there, the strength made by strong limbs intertwining.
Fire:
force fields - lashing out
most aggressive
flashes of power
changing one type of power into another
creative use of power
When tired fire energy tends to flicker for a bit then suddenly blink out. Some advance notice, but not a lot. Fire mages tend to over extend themselves if needed anyways, fires of passion ect ;)
Fire shields are shifting, and full of energy. They also work as a defense because they will singe or burn anything attacking them.
Any one person can have up to three of the elements, but the more elements they have the less concentrated it will be. You can't have both Fire and Water though.
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Once you join the game and we’ve gone through this system of assigning strengths you’ll never need to worry about randomization or dice rolls again. This is strictly to give you an idea of how strong you will be in comparison to the other players and to add an element of randomness to the powers. (Maybe-sorta to prevent a bunch of SUPER POWERFUL WIZARDS who can kill anything with little creative thought. Flaws are fun, perfect characters with perfect powers much less so.)
Each player will get a personalized bunch of magical info for their character, including some info only they get. That is the magical info you’ll work from when building your posts.
Characters can have affinities for certain part of their element; ie, a Fire mage could have an affinity for electricity, or an Earth mage an affinity for rocks or plants, A Water/Air mage could feel an affinity for thunder storms or hurricanes, ect . You will have complete control over that (within reason...Nem and I reserve veto power)…but every element has the same basic powers and that’s where we’ll start. Affinities won’t become a factor right at the beginning, but they will play a big part overall.
In general these are the sorts of small-magics, that are innate, you would begin having shortly after bonding, there wouldn’t be a ton of control over them initially either:
Air
-Small bursts of wind, but uncontrolled (knocking over a cup or pile of paper)
-In the case of strong emotions little dust devils will spring up
-Slightly sharpened hearing/sense when someone is near (10 feet or so, even around corners)
Water
-Water droplets can be summoned, but not really controlled (must be water nearby)
-Strong emotions cause puddles to form at your feet or water in containers to spill, no control about it
-emotional sensitivity to others begins to develop (ie, if you're next to someone having a mental breakdown you won't be doing so hot either)
-If also a healer - bruises will fade a little faster, cuts will heal cleanly (will NOT apply to other people!)
Earth
-Pebbles, sand, or little clods of dirt can be flung around without any control (pebbles might roll to or away from your feet in all direction, or a small pebble might suddenly fling away in a random direction)
-Strong emotions cause little tremors, or sudden dips in the ground (think potholes)
-If also a healer - bruises will fade a little faster, cuts will heal cleanly (will NOT apply to other people!)
Fire
-small sparks or mini flames for a brief second (no flinging fire balls!) but not very directed - your hands will have flicker-flames dancing around them, ect.
-Small amount of protection from flames - when you're upset (ie your own anger-flames won't burn you, but if you calm down and they haven't gone out you'll be susceptible.)
-In the case of strong emotions your hands will heat up to the point that they will burn highly flammable materials like paper, wool, ect
-If you have two powers the other will be less controllable
Other powers and abilities will be added as things progress. Generally if you aren’t sure about something you want to be able to do send me a PM describing it and I’ll give you a yes/no/sorta/later ;)