Mages of Atmara: Dark gods arise [high casual]

Meetingwords link in case anyone wants to help me plan things for it, such as factions, enemies, or settlements.  This should be a high casual RP.

	Five hundred years ago the Sorcerer Atmar was leading a battle against the bandits in the plains of Sylira when a Skyship fell to the surface.  Its crash collapsed mines and caves, creating a canyon hundreds on meters deep and kilometers long.  He was unable to go to it immediately, as the war was more important, but soon he began hearing stories of the new gods that had arrived.  It was said that they were studying the magic of this world, though they already had magics of their own.  Soon those stories changed, as the creatures in the area began changing, sometime becoming unstable, even being consumed by an element, some becoming twisted perversions of their former selves.  The new gods were responsible for it, but the locals began to fix their mistakes by killing the perversions.

	This lead to the new gods showing their true selves, as an evil came over the area, driving the people away.  Atmar knew he must protect the people from the evil gods, so he waged a war against them, their mechanical warriors, and their abominations.  Several months later, he managed to slay the last of them, leaving their sky ship at the end of the canyon as a reminder of their existence.

	The magic of the area was thrown into chaos by the battle, however, so he left two groups behind to return it to balance.  The priests built a temple in the canyon, growing mystical lifeforms for use in balancing the magic, and the mages lived on the surface, moving the pockets of magical energies there into each other in order to neutralize them.
A few decade later non-mystical life returned to the plains.  The two groups had begun working together to train replacements for both groups, and a city grew around them.  They named the city Atmara after the great Sorcerer that once lead their ancestors, and it became the only trade city in the plains, as the magic that remained created mystical lifeforms, including predators, which made the area too dangerous for settlement by all but the best warriors.  For that reason the city is only accessible via airship or by land if you are willing to brave the animals in the area.

	The city is a trade hub for two main reasons.  It is a source of many mystical ingredients, grown by both the priests and the mages as well as harvested from the wildlife in the area.  It is also located within a contested area between kingdoms, and acts as a neutral trade center between them, even during war.

	The mages also attract trainees from across the continent.   Their training consists of sending seven recruits to the priests, who then test them and give them a crystal of the element which will teach them the most about seeking balance.  The mages then teach them to use that element by teaching them the basics then sending them on various missions designed to teach them.

	They have detected the evil of the dark gods rising again, as they do from time to time, so they aren't as concerned with the trainees being in groups of seven or with them slowly learning their lessons so that they fully understand them.  If the gods arise again, it could bring ruin to the world, and therefore they must be stopped.

A ship of aliens approached the planet, known by the locals as Triscara.  They had detected strange energy signals from the world, energies which the locals called mystical energies, and wished to study them to increase their understanding of the universe.  When they entered the atmosphere, however, their ship's systems stopped responding as a result of these energies and they crashed into the surface in the middle of a plain which had many mines and caves underneath it.
After the crash they left the ship's robots in charge of repairing the vessel and started their studies.  They met the locals at this time, who believed they were gods, and learned what they could of these mystical energies from the locals.  Soon they reached the point where they needed to study the genetic cause of these energies, or at least the ability to concentrate them, and began to genetically alter the local wildlife.  Most of the experiments failed, however, and the locals became frightened by them, slaying those that survived.
Needing the survivors for further experiments, the aliens placed devices around their ship which would make the locals uneasy, and therefore less willing to enter the area.  This greatly distress the locals, however, and a local hero known as Atmar lead an attack against the aliens.  They fought back for many months, using their ships to clone more local wildlife, including genetically altered forms, to fight for them, but the locals managed to defeat them and kill everyone on board.  The ship continued its work, though, using robots to gather materials from the area and creating more clones.


Witchcraft: The art of concentrating the magic that is inherent, but diffuse in nature, into essences.  It relies on using various stages of life, from algae, mosses, fungi, and bacteria to plants and animals, to concentrate it further from less concentrated versions.  These concentrated magics can then be combined into potions or used by Casters, witches who can channel their Ki into essences to release its stored mystical energy, to cast magic directly.  Anyone can become a witch with enough study.

Magecraft: The art of manipulating mystical energies using Ki, and of enhancing or converting them with Ki.  Mages require concentrated mystical energies to use their abilities, though different types of mages use different types of essences, including mystical energies stored in crystals.  Becoming a mage requires a strong will so that you can learn to control Ki.

Sorcery: A combination of witchcraft and magecraft, it is the art of channeling the energy of nature or essences through or around you and amplifying or controlling it with your Ki.  Only the most skilled users of both witchcraft and magecraft can learn to become sorcerers.

Gods/demigods: They are born with an innate ability to manipulate one form of mystical energy and to concentrate it within their bodies.  Though rare in modern times, they were once numerous.  Their main weakness is the opposite element from their natural one, and they find it extremely difficult to manipulate that opposite element.  In order to become a god a demigod must become a grandmaster of their element or energy.


Grandmasters are magic users who have learned to go beyond the limits of a master with their energy of choice.  A grandmaster can even imbalance the mystical energy within their body and not suffer for it.
Little is known about what it takes to become a grandmaster, but many masters experiment with their energy in order to try and discover more about it and become grandmasters.  It is extremely rare for one to succeed however, and even Atmar was unable to do so, despite the fact that he mastered every element and telekinesis.  The last known grandmaster was over 100 years ago, and he Ascended a few months after becoming one.
Ascension is when a being converts themselves into a specific form of energy and begins existing in that form.  It is believed that most of the gods Ascended, with the few that remained dying off over time.  Their descendants became the Demi-gods.


Elements/Primary energies: The primary forces of nature.
Fire: Opposite Water, it is heat.
Water: Opposite Fire, it is coolness, though only cold in concentrated form.
Earth: Opposite Air, it is solidness, or hardness.
Air: Opposite Earth, it is fluidity.  Often seen combined with water in the motion of that water.
Health: Opposite Decay, it is a measure of how vibrant life is.
Decay: Opposite Health, it is is a measure of the death and decay in an area.
Lightning: It's its own opposite.  There are two forms of it, negative lightning, which can stun and disrupt the muscles, and positive lightning, which injures and kills.  A user must study both forms to master it.

Secondary energies: The forces of manipulation of nature.
Telepathy: The power to sense, communicate with, and control minds.
Telekinesis: The power to move things with the mind.
ESP: The power to know that which you could not.
Spirit: The power to communicate with and manipulate the souls of the dead, and the spirits of the world.
Ki: The energy of the mystical.  Amplifies the control and power of the user's Ki.  Can be used directly to relieve fatigue, enhance endurance, and relieve pain.

Tertiary energies: These are advanced effects.  They are too numerous to name, but complicated to create.


Base: Mages Academy of Atmara
Beliefs: They seek to protect the world from evil, most notably the Dark gods that threatened the world five hundred years ago.
Magic forms: Magecraft
Skills: Fighting arts such as fencing and martial arts.

Base: Temple of Atmara
Beliefs: They seek to bring balance to the world, especially to the mystical aspects of the world.  They build their base next to the a source of imbalance to keep it in check.
Magic forms: Witchcraft, some Magecraft
Skills: martial arts


These are the result of lifeforms being exposed to mystical energies.  If deprived of those energies they will revert to normal lifeforms.  There is also a chance that normal lifeforms will become mystical if exposed to enough mystical energy.  (In genetic terms, the gene for their special trait is turned on by exposure to specific types of energy, and turned off once exposure has dropped too low.)  They store mystical energies inside of them as an "essence", which can be harvested by a properly skilled person. 
Living Fire: A form of yeast that feeds on fire and heat and stores it as an essence.

Living water: A form of plankton that feeds on Water energy and stores it as an essence.

Living Earth: A form of moss that feeds on Earth energy and stores it as an essence.

Living Air: A form of fungus that floats through the air, absorbing air energy from the wind and storing it as an essence.

Health Algae: A form of algea that absorbs health from the ambient environment and stores it as an essence.
Dire Wolf: A wolf that's between the size of a lion and a large horse when full grown, they have absorbed so much Health energy that they are stronger, healthier, and faster than normal wolves by far.  They can also use stored Health to boost their strength and speed further, or to boost their healing rate or immune system.

Decay Fungus: A mushroom that grows on shallow graves and corpses.


Spirit mushroom: A glowing blue-green fungus that grows on shallow graves, dead bodies, and death sights, especially battlefields.




We heard the call for warriors to fight the dark gods and traveled to Atmara to fight.  We will be will be trained as mages if we have the Will, Casters if we don't, and be sent into battle against their minions.  Normally the mages would insist on us being trained as mages in groups of seven, with one person for each element, but the situation is too desperate for them to require it.  If we survive we will be properly trained.
Mages of Atmara: Dark gods arise [high casual]

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