[h2]Welcome to Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages![/h2][hr][h3]The School[/h3]
Welcome to Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages!, more commonly known as Mordhaben's, or to locals The Institute. We are a school dedicated to educating future generations of Mages in [i]The Way[/i] for the sake of science and safety. Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages was founded in the year 27PW, long before the Unoctocan Empire's founding, and has a long and rich history of progress for the sake of humanity.

Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages is a welcoming place and accepts applications from students of all ages that have completed primary and secondary education, or have gotten a diploma equivalent certification (D.E.C.). Tuition is completely free to students as the Institute is now funded through the Unoctocan Empire's Mage Corps. Graduates are given a license for open usage of advanced and dangerous Magic skills, and are automatically given the option of joining the Mage Corps upon graduation. Graduates are, however, not [i]required[/i] to join the Military, and the majority of graduates go into freelance work or get employment requiring advanced Magic knowledge.

At Mordhaben's, we focus on nurturing the inborn talents in every student. As such, we recognize that not everybody's talents lie in the same areas. The Entrance Exam only requires that applicants pass a single test out of a multitude of different types of test, including written tests of knowledge, practical tests, athletic tests, and tests of strategy. If the honored applicant has a hobby or interest, we request that the applicant informs us so that we may work that hobby or interest into the entrance exam in some form and evaluate whether it has use.

We offer a multitude of courses in academics and military training, with a strong focus on Astronomy, Geology, Strategy, Aircraft Piloting and Maintenance, and Mechanized Cavalry Command and Maintenance. Military training is mandatory for all students as part of our contract with the Unoctocan Empire, and the bare minimum involves basic infantry training, though we strongly recommend taking part in our Aviation and Mechanized Cavalry programs. Specialized subsets of martial arts training are also available, though not necessary and not always recommended - your rifle will always carry you further than knowing how to use a chain whip will.

In addition to our classes, all students will go on weekly mandatory excursions for community service, typically for community safety and defense, or for scientific research. Each student will choose a partner for each excursion, and will be overseen by either a teacher or a professional Mage during their outing. Occasionally, this will include excursions to locations outside of the Empire, so that we may all gain a better understanding of other cultures.

[hr][h3]Setting[/h3]
A mysterious race of beings, seen as Devils by some and as Gods by others, has given humanity a second chance at survival after humanity bombed itself nearly to oblivion. Thousands of years afterwards, humans finally climbed up from the bronze age to something more resembling modern society. Technology is finally on par with pre-cataclysm World War 1, and national tensions are rising. One of the gifts given in addition to humanity's survival was the ability to manipulate the world around them - also thought of as Magic.

A form of martial arts known as The Way has been around ever since the first few generations of survivors sprung up, and has been shifting to fit technological developments ever since. These days, it's essentially military training combined with magical training.

Dedicated colleges for training in The Way have sprung up, and our characters play the roles of students, teachers, and professional Mages. Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages is one of the oldest and most prestigious of them all, but it certainly isn't the only one.

[hider=General History]The year is 7210 AD, or rather, 1210 Post-War. In the year 2322 AD, Earth made first contact with a superior alien civilization. They were nothing like we expected, and rather than utilizing what could be strictly considered technology, they used what humans could only think of as "magic". Their consciousnesses meshed with the foundations of the universe rather than existing under it as ours do. Humanity, in its greed, attempted to uncover how to gain the aliens' powers to alter reality, and in doing so fell into a civil war between those who wished to do so militarily, and those who wished to do so peacefully. The Colony of Grey Mars, the Titan Colonial Mandate, and the Belt Stations' Confederation formed an alliance opposing the Democratic Republic of Terra's aggression, and in 2365, interstellar antiplanetary antimatter missiles were exchanged between both sides, wiping out almost life on Earth, Mars, and Titan. Only some farming and mining stations in the Belt Stations' Confederation were left intact, with very, very few remaining educated people, and with all central libraries destroyed, almost all of humanity's collective knowledge was lost.

Without the support of farms on Mars, the Belters were faced with certain starvation, and made contact with the aliens (who refused to be named, or whose names were unpronounceable via sound - that knowledge has been since lost). The alien civilization was neither benevolent nor malevolent in reality, as their morality does not match our own. But modern humans curse them as demons for what they did, and modern humans curse their ancestors as savages for their own past actions.

The remains of humanity were given roughly what they wanted, in the form of bioengineering, terraforming, and replenishment of flora and fauna, giving them access to something vaguely similar to the aliens' innate abilities and making Earth "habitable" (a somewhat debatable term, given those mysterious beings' difficulties in understanding our needs) once more. And, to boot, these aliens guided a number of the surviving stations back to Earth's surface, where they still rest, oftentimes centers of civilizations. But what humanity gave up wasn't worth it. They had traded their sovereignty and their future for immediate survival.

In the past few thousand years, humans have had to build their civilization back up from the early bronze age, with very little real technology beyond what could be scavenged from the safest old-world ruins. They now know almost nothing of what they once did, save for that space exists and Earth isn't the center of it, that they will one day return to the Stars, and that a civilization of Gods and Devils once saved them from themselves at a great cost. Periodically, landing craft appear on Earth and take the entire population of a small town to who-knows-where without saying a word. And people are getting very, very unhappy about it.
[/hider]

[hider=The Modern Planet]
Earth is a shattered, torn place these days. It's been just under five thousand years since the Solar Civil War tore the planet to shreds, and the Earth is still reeling from the aftereffects of the apocalyptic weapons exchanges. When the missiles struck the Earth, they embedded themselves hundreds of meters into the ground before detonating, effectively cracking the planet open like a clump of clay struck with a baseball bat. Enormous craters were formed as huge chunks of the planet were thrown into the sky, and the explosive shock triggered tectonic activity on levels not seen since the planet first formed and cooled.

Continents have shifted about, new mountain ranges have formed, and existing mountain ranges have been split in half to form deep ravines kilometers deep. Debris thrown into orbit from the explosions includes remainders of old human cities, stone, dirt, clay, and enormous volumes of water. In the past five thousand years, the Earth has gained a new Satellite - much smaller than Luna, but much more unusual. "The Glob", as the common folks call it, is a large hunk of loose mud and gravel saturated with water, and shifts in shape as it passes through the sky, freezing on the side furthest from the sun and shifting from an orb to an oblong egg any time it passes near Luna. Luna itself has had its orbital path thrown off by The Glob, and rather than moving in a proper ellipse, its orbital path shifts on a routine basis, though neither satellite seems to be in any danger of falling out of orbit any time soon.

The Earth also has a spiral of debris hundreds of thousands of kilometers long trailing along on a suborbital trajectory, steadily being pulled back down to the planet between the tropics with the heaviest concentration centered along the Equator. This debris spiral is responsible for ending the Great War that occurred over a thousand years ago, when it finally came back into contact with the planet and rendered the tropics almost uninhabitable. Smaller chunks of debris simply burn up in the atmosphere on descent, but the larger ones have resulted in ceaseless streaks of fire across the sky as the Earth turns, and the spiral trail's slow reentry has caused a thick layer of ash clouds to cover most of the region. These "Deadlands" are now the home of swarms of sapient Monsters who have migrated to escape the steady expansion of hostile human territories.

Tropical weather has grown rarer with the cooling of the oceans in the tropics, and arctic weather has increased in frequency in further north and south latitudes, leaving the remaining habitable regions of the planet with a temperate and pleasant Spring and Summer, but harsh Winters and utterly erratic Autumns.

While some of the most common flora and fauna on the old Earth are still present, the scenery is much different due to the replenishing and terraforming efforts of the alien civilization that saved humanity's remnants from starvation. Large "mushroomlike" trees are more common than pine or oak ever were, several regions have oddly colored and razor sharp grasses, and in general the ecosystem is a completely different beast. Despite the blasted and nearly alien ecosystem, it is perfectly fertile.[/hider]

[hider=Magic]
Humans are pretty much what they always have been in shape, size, appearance, etc., but they have gained a few new tricks. Humans are now able to manipulate the fabric of reality as long as they have access to suitable forms of energy - heat, motion, electricity, radiation, fat stores, whatever. Humans are no more durable than they used to be though, which limits how much power a single person can take in and use, and the initial source of magic energy always has to be the caster's own body (typically resulting in a blood sugar drop). Mages have to "step up" their energy chain with other sources, or else they risk exhausting themselves.

Each person has an affinity for certain forms of reality manipulation, based on their personality and genetics. But attempts to classify such skills have almost all failed, as the potential abilities of each person are far too varied. Elemental manipulation, creating matter from energy, creating energy from matter, telepathy, retroactive manipulation, proactive manipulation, body enhancement, and precognition are just a few of the skills that people can master. No one person has ever successfully mastered more than a few different talents at once, and even within those talents, there are strongly preferred skills, such as pyrokinesis, telekinesis, beast summoning, cosmic disaster creation, and the like, which each person will find they have an affinity for.

A new martial art has appeared that capitalizes on manipulation skills. It's known by many different names - The Way, Star Fist, Gift of Angels, etc., for some very rough translations. But the central concepts are all the same. Intense concentration on the world around oneself, intense concentration on the world one wishes to see, and even more intense concentration on the split between the two concepts have all become an artform. [i]Foundation[/i], the world itself, allows one to protect oneself against and disrupt other manipulations. [i]Vision[/i], the ideal reality, gives insight into what was, is, will be, and what is possible. [i]Compromise[/i] is the ability to split the difference between [i]Foundation[/i] and [i]Vision[/i], and as some have put it, is the art form of arguing with the universe and winning.

The more steadfast one person's [i]Foundation[/i] is, the less effective others' abilities will be against them and their environment. The more powerful one's [i]Compromise[/i] is, the greater the degree to which they can change the environment. [i]Foundation[/i] is almost incapable of completely preventing [i]Compromise[/i] from having an effect, but remaining committed to reality as it currently is certainly makes it harder for others to change it. [i]Vision[/i] is needed in both, to see what is wanted, to see what has happened, to see what still is, and to see what will happen. [i]Foundation[/i] cannot protect without knowing the arguments of [i]Compromise[/i], which [i]Vision[/i] will give, just as [i]Compromise[/i] cannot be achieved without using [i]Vision[/i] to know what changes to make. But [i]Vision[/i] on its own is a powerful tool, and those skilled in it may uncover secret knowledge or even see their own possible fates and make changes to prevent them.

[i]Compromise[/i] can be used to draw energy from alternate sources and magnify the degree of the effect a Mage can create. While the initial power source must be in direct contact with the Mage in some way, the Mage can 'steal' energy from natural occurrences with enough knowledge and experience. This is done by means of using the lowest-skill [i]Compromise[/i] skill - simply pushing magical energy out into the world and drawing a connection between the source within their own body and the source they wish to tap into. Beware, though: the unskilled may experience harsh backlash without knowing how to tailor this connection to their needs, and worse, the use of [i]Vision[/i] may permit others to know when they intend to use magic and where their energy sources are.
[/hider]

[hider=Monsters and Chimeras]
Only some of the life that existed on Earth was able to be resurrected after the great cataclysm - some trees, the most widespread animals, bacteria, viruses, etc. Most life on the planet was created by the alien saviors using their own plants and animals as a base, through intense magical bioengineering. The most dangerous of these are simply referred to as Monsters, and all Monsters are able to use magic either on par with or vastly exceeding the average human. Some Monsters have created their own small, tribal civilizations far away from humans, but there have been clashes between sapient Monsters and humans from time to time.

Whether out of incompetence or as a cruel joke, humans and Monsters are capable of breeding with one another (even when their methods of reproduction are wildly different), which lead to the birth of bizarre hybrids - usually referred to as Chimeras. Chimeras are hated by all of Monsterkind, and humans have a distaste for them because of their strange appearances, so Chimeras typically either live in segregated areas of human cities, or in neighboring tribes of their own. Some societies are more open-minded and welcome Chimeras with open arms.

[hider=Notes on Chimeras and Chimera Generations]
Chimeras are categorized by generations interbred with humans, and by familial Monster genetics. Chimeras may interbreed with other Chimeras, which results in odd mishmashes of Monsterlike features layered on top of the human features they've gained. Monster aspects are universally recessive traits. Chimeras may also breed with Monsters, though this is extremely rare due to Monsters' instinctual repulsion towards Chimeras.

First Generation Chimeras are the most Monsterlike by a long shot, and have typically only gained an Earthlike and humanlike skeletal structure, removing half of their ribs and reforming their limbs and joints to more closely resemble Humans. They typically retain their Monster sizes and most Monster internal and external organs, and tend to have trouble communicating with humans vocally. They are invariably just as intelligent as humans are though, regardless of Monster species in the mix. First Generation Chimeras are the most hated by Monsters, and more aggressive Monsters that might ignore humans will often attack them on sight. A First Generation Cephalopod Chimera would walk on two primary legs and have a human internal structure, but would also have slimy and slick hides and (depending on species) extremely thick and large natural shells, resembling walking nautiluses or squids.

Second Generation Chimeras become more human medically speaking, taking on human internal organs and further reshaping their bodies to resemble humans. Sizes are brought down or up towards human, though not always fully. Some Monster appendages and attributes are lost, and their hides become more mammalian. Second Generation is roughly where Chimeras are guaranteed to have humanlike vocalization abilities, though their voices tend to be very unusual and grating. Second Generation Chimeras onwards have a progressively greater chance of losing their second set of eyes in favor of a humanlike face. A Second Generation Molluscoid Chimera would have a much smaller shell and loses most of its limbs, with the remaining limbs becoming more mammalian and its facial structure moving from completely molluscoid towards humanoid.

Third Generation Chimeras generally have their entire bodies covered in mammalian, humanlike hides, though exterior things like feathers, fur, and spines tend to remain. They have fully humanlike vocalization. Typically, the Monster-esque secondary pair of eyes is gone by the Third Generation. This is roughly where average humans without odd fetishes stop being horrified by their appearances. Third Generation Cephalopod Chimeras may resemble Illithids as presented in Dungeons and Dragons.

Fourth Generation Chimeras are almost entirely humanlike in appearance and behavior, save for a small number of Monster features that may remain, such as claws, carapaces, animalistic ears, fur, feathers, etc. Occasionally duplicate appendages may be present depending on ancestral Monster species, such as a second pair of arms or legs, or the standard Monster secondary pair of eyes. Monsterlike organs that are still functional under the new humanlike form tend to remain - for instance, a Fourth Generation Insectoid Chimera would likely have compound eyes sitting within a human shaped face.

Fifth Generation Chimeras are almost entirely human, only retaining one or two minor Monster attributes, such as digitigrade legs, animalistic ears, tails, shells, wings, and the like. These include animal-like people often present in old Earth animated shows and graphic novels such as nekos and Faunus in RWBY.

Sixth Generation Chimeras only retain vestigial Monster aspects. The most extreme Sixth Generation monster aspect recorded to date has been a case in which a man's big toes were used as a foot support rather than his heels, which were narrow, unpadded, and rested atop his big toes while standing. More common aspects tend to be fewer or more fingers, slightly sharper teeth than average, the ability to wiggle one's tailbone, etc.

Seventh Generation onwards are effectively entirely human, though there is a minor possibility that children borne between two seventh generation Chimeras may resemble Sixth Generation Chimeras if remaining Monster genes are passed on from both parents.[/hider]
[hider=Notes on Monsters]
Monsters come in a multitude of different forms. While they are all capable of performing Magic, they tend to look wildly different from one another, save for a few things in common due to their origin as modified xenofauna.

Monsters generally have complete rib cages rather than half rib cages like Earth fauna do, meaning there is no such thing as a Monster with a soft underbelly. Monster hides are often thicker and more radiation resistant than Earth fauna hides are. Almost all Monster species have four eyes rather than two, with both predatorlike forward eyes and preylike side eyes. And Monster "fur" and "hair" is generally more akin to razor sharp and brittle spines formed of silicate compounds, and resembles either narrow, bladelike scales, or feather shafts. Monster "fur" and "feathers" are also more brittle than Earth fauna equivalents as well, owing to the higher concentration of silica and iron in Monster bodies. Monster pelvic and shoulder joints are always side-mounted rather than vertically mounted, giving their legs a much wider range of motion, and Monsters' pelvises and tailbones extend further to provide their legs more muscle mounting points and greater range of motion.

Monsters are categorized by resemblance to Earth fauna, by size, and by danger rating.

Sizes are U, XS, S, MS, M, ML, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, and X.
Danger Ratings are F, E, D, C, B, A, S, and X.
[/hider][/hider]

[hider=General Geography and Basic Politics]
Mordhaben's Institute is in the remnants of what used to be Wyoming, roughly one hundred miles to the southeast of the tail end of the Rocky Gorge. Further to the west, the Flynenhael Gulf Cliffs stand on either side of the Flynenhael Gulf. Across the Flynenhael Gulf is a large landmass that used to be the western coast of North America, stretching all the way from a narrow land bridge near what used to be Alaska all the way down to Baja California. To the East of Mordhaben's Institute, built near the ruins of Chicago, is the great city of Unoctoc Station, seat of the Unoctocan Empire. Further to the east of that lies the Northeastern Bay - a blasted crater hundreds of miles wide opening up much of the continent to the ocean. Numerous other dry craters are scattered throughout the continent where major population centers used to be, now blooming with fresh life.

In the Southeast, cutting across from what used to be eastern Texas all the way up to what used to be northern Virginia, is the nation of Airelosia, which is currently in a white peace with the Unoctocan Empire following a short-lived conflict and Unoctocan victory in 1204PW. The Unoctocan Empire covers most of the landmass, and borders with the Flynenhael Conglomerate to the west are fuzzy at best and heavily disputed.

The Unoctocan Empire is home to Mordhaben's Institute, and most closely resembles old Prussia culturally, though the government is required to be more egalitarian than its old Earth equivalent simply by merit of the existence of magic. While they do have a royal family, this royal family eternally has the sword of the military held above their heads, and parliament has the sword of its citizens held above their heads as well. Revolution is paradoxically staved off by [i]encouraging[/i] revolution. The language of Unoctocan Common, translated into English for the purposes of this roleplay, is most similar to Gothic and Vandalic with hints of modern German. The Unoctocan Empire was founded in 804PW and has in the past four hundred years expanded westwards from its capital to cover the old territories of Govoria to the north, Swazivan to the southwest, Mordbauvin to the northwest, and Hasval in the center of their territory.

The Flynenhael Conglomerate to the West is less a nation and more a loose confederation of communities, and resemble old tribal societies more than anything, using a mixture of direct democracy and mutual aid, with a strong focus on magic and advanced radio technologies for long distance communications. Each community is free to join and leave the Conglomerate as they please, though the Conglomerate has spent large amounts of resources in ensuring that its member communities are self-sufficient and extremely well protected with static defenses. The Conglomerate has a wildly varied culture stemming from its historical respect for other cultures, save for one defining feature: their dedication to egalitarianism. The Conglomerate is, as such, composed of hundreds of different tribal cultures which have banded together over its long history stretching all the way back to 241 PR (Pre-War). The Flynenhael Conglomerate is the only modern nation to have participated in the Great War over a millennium ago, and is currently embroiled in a soft territorial conflict with the Unoctocan Empire in which border towns regularly switch national identity in exchange for gifts of resources from both respective nations. The Flynenhaeli language sounds similar to modern earth's Welsh with English grammatical structures, but there are dozens of distinct ethnic groups within the Conglomerate with their own tribal languages, and Unoctocan Common has become their second nationally recognized language after a centuries long trade war.

Airelosia to the Southeast is the most brutal by far, with a military meritocratic dictatorship in place that actively encourages would-be rulers to assassinate their superiors, under the thinking that a strong enough leader for their nation's needs will be able to protect themself. Airelosia is a watery place, overrun with the descendents of bamboo and kudzu and continually bombarded with heavy rainy seasons throughout the year, giving it a unique culture all of its own. Airelosia is notable in that it exterminates all traces of non-domesticated Monsters wherever it can, including Chimeras, likely due to its proximity to the Deadlands. Airelosia is the second oldest nation in what used to be North America, and has been around since 0PW, when the population of Aivez revolted against the tyrannical Hozez dynasty in response to Aivezu soldiers being executed for failing to defeat Hasvali forces in combat over the Appalachian Mountains. It's debatable whether the system of governance they came up with was better than what they had before, but it at least seems stable. The Airelosian language is most similar to Spanish and Latin, though its grammatical structure resembles nothing in the modern world. Unoctocan Common has come into widespread usage amongst the nobility and in border regions, though it is not formally recognized as a national language and likely never will be.[/hider]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/hA5aSDF.png[/img]
Shitty Legend: [color=9e0b0f]Unoctocan Empire[/color], [color=00746b]Flynenhael Conglomerate[/color], [color=92278f]Airelosia[/color], [color=222222]Deadlands[/color], [color=0072bc]Unclaimed Territory[/color], [color=000000]Oceans and Seas[/color]

While the Unoctocan/Airelosian border is concrete, all other borders are soft and ill-defined.

[color=fff200]Yellow Stars[/color] are fallen Stations, used as major central cities in the Unoctocan Empire, Flynenhael Conglomerate, and Airelosia. [color=f26522]Orange Blips[/color] are each region's preeminent Mage Universities.

[hider=Major Locations]Mordhaben's Institute is located in the midwest Unoctocan Empire. Ysfel Hwm Davin is located in Flynenhael's trade hub city of Saern Llos. Yuutos Academy is located in the Deadlands, in the Yuutos Peninsula. Universita Centraliz Aivezu is located in northern Airelosia, in Centraliz Aivezu.

The Imperial City of Unoctoc Station is in the northwest Unoctocan Empire, sitting only a few miles outside of the ruins of Chicago and on the coast of the Unoctocan Sea. The city itself is primarily made up of modern brickwork apartment towers and factories, though ancient structures with smooth red clay surfaces and pseudo-Gothic architecture are standing near the Station itself. The Station is a massive cylindrical tower standing at the south end of the city, soaring a two kilometers into the sky and measuring sixty-five meters in diameter. Stained glass windows cover up gaping holes twenty meters in diameter each with jagged edges that have been machined down on the north, southwest, and southeast sides of the tower at 700 meters, 400 meters, and 200 meters in the air respectively. Three ruined and nearly unidentifiable structures with fifty meter long scaffolded tubes lay in a heaps outside of the city, presumably having been knocked off of the station's core during deorbiting. The Station has the words "MINERAL STATION 188" written vertically across its northern side beneath the top window in riveted chrome plating. The time of day may easily be determined by looking at where the reflections are cast off of the shining text, and much of the city's population uses this "station hour" as a measure of when they should take a break from their jobs and take care of other business.

Saern Llos, the greatest trade hub in the Flynenhael Conglomerate, sits in the middle of the enormous peninsula that forms their nation, on the slopes sweeping down from the Flynenhael Gulf Cliffs. The Station is three miles long, narrow, and fifty meters wide and tall, and runs from Northeast to Southwest. What used to be a scientific observation port on the topside of the Northeast end has been converted to The Peoples' Garden, and the length of the western side of the Station has been torn open to expose the tightly packed trade city built within its five decks to the open air and sunset. The words "ANOMALY OBSERVATION STATION, 212" are printed across the eastern side in enormous, bold, black letters. Beneath the overhang formed out of the jagged top of the western side is a two and a half mile bazaar resting along the ground, where foreign traders come to set up stalls, offload inventory, etc. East of the city is a wide, square tunnel sloping many miles downwards through the cliffs' slopes towards the Flynenhael Gulf, and the tunnel shows traces of having been blasted open cleanly with magic. At the end of this tunnel is a port, where trade ships regularly dock to take on and offload goods traded at Saern Llos. Buildings within the Station's decks are made of solid steel, salvaged from the remains of the western wall and made to appear uniform with the outer hull. The inner streets are lit with magically constructed artifacts spewing violet flames rather than electric lights, and the entire top deck is dedicated to the grounds of Ysfel Hwm Davin.

Centrali Publica, the capital of Airelosia, is located on a triangular manmade island of bricks surrounded by hundreds of miles of thick marshland, in the core of the nation near the Aivezu Materitoro Peninsula, a mere four hundred miles from the Deadlands' dust storms and aurora. Centrali Publica's Station's visible portions are similar to a four hundred meter per side triangular pyramid with fifty meter arms tipped in ancient biospheres erupting from each side. The entire station has been painted a brilliant shade of white trimmed in gold, with the number 57 resting upside-down on all visible sides, and the station's arms perform a similar function to Unoctoc Station's shining lettering by casting a shadow across the town. The buildings surrounding the Station are widely made with frames of Shroomwood, which is an off-white form of local fungal tree stem, with layered walls of woven bamboo fibers meant to let cooling breezes through. Upper-caste micro-palaces soar many stories into the sky with open decks and no windows beyond the pull-down shutters of similarly woven bamboo fibers. A shantytown on sticks surrounds the manmade island, stretching for roughly two miles in each direction.

In the northwest Deadlands lies a collapsed, rusted-over space station with merely the number 873 printed across it. Nature has reclaimed much of its structure, and most of the station's outer hull has been buried for millennia. Surrounding the station are massive jungles of indigo shroomtrees and razor sharp crystalline plants, with a river running from southeast to northwest only a mile away. Much of the flora here are all coated in thick layers of foul-smelling mucous secreted from their leaves to keep out excess moisture, and are rendered effectively impossible to set ablaze. Trust us, we've tried before. Three small villages are scattered about, with two villages of grass huts lying in the north and south respectively, and a third village hidden from view, though likely in the west due to the identification of a second species of tribal Monster hunting group different from those in the first two villages. The very air here is deadly poison to all non-local life. It took twenty-four Unoctocan scientific expeditions to gather this much information, during which no fewer than two hundred and ninety-three Imperial Battlemages and scholars have died. No further expeditions are planned for the forseeable future, by order of the Czar.[/hider]

[hr][h3]The Character Sheet[/h3]

Fill this thingy out, double-check your math on character attributes, and PM it to me or shoot me an @Mention with your CS in the OOC tab. Put effort into it, eh?

If you wish to run a Staff or Professional Mage character, PM me with details on what position and/or occupation you want them to take. The RP will be taking place predominantly at the Institute, so if you're bothering making a full CS for them, they're going to have to have a reason to be at the Institute for a long period of time.

[hider=Base Character Sheet: Feel free to add more detail, and please follow the instructions under the Attributes section]
[b]Name:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b] (Picture optional, text description required)

[b]Age:[/b] (16 and up, or Monster equivalent in the event of shorter lifespans)

[b]Species:[/b] Human, Monster (describe type - restricted to S through ML size), or Chimera (list generation and type)

[b]Gender:[/b]

[b]Occupation:[/b] (Students only at this time. List year, first years preferred. Will open up to Professional Mages and staff members at a later date, when the roleplay mandates it).

[b]Personality:[/b] (only what others would notice immediately; I'd recommend filling out the Big Five test scores below, but you can remove those if you have a suitable description)

[i]Openness to Experience:[/i] 0-100
[i]Neuroticism:[/i] 0-100
[i]Agreeableness:[/i] 0-100
[i]Extroversion:[/i] 0-100
[i]Conscientiousness:[/i] 0-100

[b]Attributes:[/b] [hider=Details and Instructions. Remove me when posting]Distribute 40 Points. Most characters' stats should range between 3 and 8. Minmaxing players had better be good at playing that character, because these numbers ain't just for show.

Monster Characters may cap out any given two attributes at 12, and First Generation Chimera characters may cap out any given two attributes at 11, but they still have the same total point value. This is in exchange for their physiological inability to use human equipment.

One point may be spent for any "special" biological ability, such as flight, fire-breathing, acidic blood, etc.

0=Dead or Unresponsive. Don't use this.
1=Severely Disabled
2=Disastrous
3=Exceptionally Poor
4=Poor
5=Average
6=Above Average
7=Gifted
8=Exceptional
9=Monstrous
10=Absurd

P/F/V/C impact what each attribute is most useful for. P = Physical, F = Foundation, V = Vision, C = Compromise.

Strength: P (Pretty obvious. Can you suplex a train or not?)
Endurance: PFC (How long can one continue to work, fight, or use magic?)
Constitution: PF (Welcome to the Salty Spitoon! How tough are ya? - physical durability, including poison resistance)
Agility: P (Gross motor skills - movement speed, acrobatics, climbing, etc.)
Dexterity: P (Fine motor skills - weapons accuracy, finesse, writing neatness)
Intelligence: FVC (In this case, ability to learn new things quickly and draw connections between concepts.)
Wisdom: FV (Resistance to faulty information and impulse control. The lower your Wisdom, the more propaganda you swallow.)
Charisma: C (Social skills, language skills, and animal skills! Contrary to popular belief, not boosted by alcohol.)[/hider]

Strength: 
Endurance: 
Constitution: 
Agility: 
Dexterity: 
Intelligence: 
Wisdom: 
Charisma: 

[b]Magic Type Preference:[/b] (Magic category - manipulation, energy conjuration, object conjuration, time alteration, illusion, etc. - come up with shit if necessary)
[b]Innate Magic Talent:[/b] (specific magic skill that may or may not be linked to magical type preference, such as chucking fireballs, dispelling magic, seeing into an object's past, manipulating playing cards, controlling golems, etc.)
[b]Interests:[/b] (E.g. underwater basket weaving, history, quantum mage-chanics, etc.)
[b]Skills:[/b] (Add a few things your character is good at; you can keep filling it out as the RP goes on.)


[b]Biography:[/b] (3+ paragraphs, 5 preferred. Put your heart into it!)

[/hider]

[hr]

[h3]The Rules[/h3]

[list]
[*] If you've RPed at all, you should know the usual ones: godmoding is frowned upon, controlling other actively played characters is bad, don't metagame, etc.
[*] If you've got to drop out, let the GMs know with an @Mention. Please don't just disappear without warning for weeks. This kills the RP.
[*] Writing Standards are mid Casual. Aim for a paragraph or two, keep things clean. Please don't scare the newbies.
[*] Don't be an ass in the OOC. If a GM or Co-GM tells you to stop a discussion, then stop.
[*] Respect other players. While I encourage characters to be assholes IC, ask the other player before you do something lewd/creepy/unexpectedly violent to their character. Some folks get really, really creeped out by that sort of thing, and I don't want it to cause any problems.
[*] If you're not sure about something, ask the GM and/or Co-GMs.
[*] Real life comes first.
[*] Above all, have fun. :sun
[/list]

[hr]

[h3]Closing Notes[/h3]

I would've put "Slice of Life" up in the tags, but I ran out of space. The roleplay will be moving fairly quickly in terms of IC time - there will be frequent time skips in order to keep things from stagnating and to avoid players' relationships building faster than their characters' relationships. Half the RPs I've been in, I've ended up RPing with other people one-on-one outside of the roleplay because we got bored. Let's not have anyone need to resort to that here.


[u]The format we're going with is as follows:[/u]
Each in-character day will begin with a semi-detailed summary of what topics are covered in each class, happenings around the school, and happenings in the world around us. Players may choose to roleplay any given class periods, in which case I will slow down and stop the time progression so that other interested players can jump in, until they so choose to stop and continue on with the flow of time. If a larger timeskip happens, I will quickly summarize anything important that has happened in the meantime, as well as condensing a list of topics and skills that had been taught during classes. Please try to keep track of what your characters have at least tried to learn, eh? :hehe

[s]And finally: If you're interested and want to know more, please join us on Discord at https://discord.gg/fCbhrcj
Or just go there to hang out and talk about stuff. We'll be using Discord to help in collaborative posts, particularly with mission running.[/s]   Discord stuff no longer relevant.


Hope y'all enjoy!