Before I begin, let me just say that this one is a bit unusual. We can tweak it if need be, and there are some ways to approach it. The TL;DR version of it is that the RP would focus on a young sorcerer, his sorceress mother, and possibly his girlfriend when he's old enough to have one. The sorceress would be raising the boy along in her tower in the woods. Said tower would have a walled courtyard and they'd leave it every now and then, so it's not as confining as something like "Tangled" and the boy isn't a prisoner. He is, however, potentially very powerful and needs to learn how to control his magic. If this little hook has you already, feel free to PM me. If you wish to know more details, by all means, read on.
To begin with, it is important to establish what a sorcerer is in this context. As with many RPGs, a sorcerer is someone who was born with his magical abilities. While there is a need to learn how to wield this magic, it is more a matter of learning how to control it more than anything academic. A wizard, by contrast, is someone who learned how to use his magic by studying as part of a magic academy. Anyone can become a wizard with enough time and study, but one has to be born a sorcerer.
Keeping this in mind, it only made sense that the first mages of this world were sorcerers. Before writing, education, and any schools of thought, people simply lacked the intellectual tools needed to develop skills as wizards. The early sorcerers were revered as kings, sometimes even as gods. The sorcerers of the world grew powerful and rich, ruling over many human kingdoms. One of these realms is known as Omicria, the location of the RP. It is a warm country, very much like southern Italy or most of Greece. Very Mediterranean. It is a land known for its beauty, but it has fallen into turmoil recently.
As civilization grew under the watchful eye of the sorcerers, education flourished. Ironically, the very learning the sorcerers of old sponsored led to their downfall as humanity learned how to wield magic through study rather than blood. As time went by, wizards came to outnumber sorcerers, and magical power became more democratized. Combined with a realization that sorcerers were not some divine or chosen caste set above the rest of humanity, the human kingdoms overthrew or abolished their sorcerer kings one by one. Seeing the writing on the wall, the remaining sorcerers withdrew from the world at large, retreating to their ancient towers and to hidden communities, kept wall apart from most people.
The sorcerous community is rather thin, consisting of maybe 0.5% of the human race. Wizards and other learned magic users are perhaps 1%, still enough to seriously outweigh the original mages. Although stripped of their political power, sorcerers still remember what they used to have, and they still see themselves as above the rest of humanity on the whole, and they have little respect for wizards, seeing them as irresponsible dabblers whose skill is too rarely tempered by discipline.
Into this world came YC, the sorceress. Exactly how she ended up a single mother raising a boy in the forest tower is something we'll have to agree on, but the "default" explanation I've come up with is that she wanted a child but didn't want anyone telling her what to do. Sorcerers are very conservative in most ways, including what they see as proper gender roles. YC didn't want to be a part of that. She also wanted to find the most powerful sorcerer who'd lie with her, so as to conceive the most powerful child possible. We can, of course, modify her reasons if that isn't what you're looking for. Maybe her husband died, perhaps she had to hide her child to protect him, or maybe her son is the result of a scandalous affair.
The RP can begin when the son is still a child of about 10 to 12 years old, and we can cut ahead at some point to his teenage years. Just to get it out of the way, this is NOT meant to be some sort of RP with an inappropriate relationship, but there might be mature themes if we RP his conception and if we RP him when he's old enough to have a girlfriend. Because of this, I have to ask that you be at least 18 and that we keep it in the PM section. I am over 18 and a man, just for the record. We follow guild rules and it will all be cool.
We can add conflict at points if we find it necessary, but the main struggle is twofold. For the sorceress, it is a matter of control versus letting her son have more free rein, and for the son, it is a matter of personal discovery versus self-control. For a sorcerer, magic is in one's blood, and every sorcerer is born with a certain maximum potential. For various reasons, this boy's magical potential is extremely high. In order to reach it, he has to be free to practice and explore, but not so much so that he loses control, or else he could kill himself or those around him. In addition to that, much of whether or not a sorcerer can reach his potential depends on the body and emotions, whereas magic is an almost purely mental affair for a wizard. Maintaining a healthy body is important for a sorcerer, and the magic in a sorcerer's bloodstream gives him or her a distinctive appearance. Think of it as having an idealized body type as seen in classical art. As almost being "too perfect" in one's proportions. Like a statue or a relic from a bygone era.
Indeed, much of a sorcerer's life is a relic from the time they were rulers. Their dress, the architecture of their towers, even their technology is all antique even by the medieval-level standards of the realm of Omicria; they even use scrolls for most reading and writing while the rest of the realm has moved on to bound books.
But not all is well in the world. Centuries after the fall of the sorcerers, many of the kingdoms which succeeded them are also in decline, due to internal division, civil and international wars, and the invasion of invading hordes seeking to capitalize on the internal conflict. Omicria is no exception to this decline, and the arts and letters are in decline. Relics or not, the sorcerers' towers are as much vaults for knowledge as anything else; even though the occupants within didn't learn their magic from a school, the sorcerers still preserve much knowledge from the past in the forms of history, literature, grammar, astronomy, botany, alchemy, astrology, medicine, and many other subjects in serious decline in the outside world. YC's tower would be no exception and it would come equipped with a library, albeit one with scrolls instead of books as we know them. They also dress in ancient-style clothing, which can be lighter or heavier than the sample below, but it may look something like this for outdoors:
To sum it up:
- YC is a sorceress, I'll play her son, who eventually come of age. We can also do side characters like his father or a girlfriend.
- Sorcerers are powerful, old-fashioned mages who were born with their powers and live in remote towers.
- The world outside their towers is chaotic and medieval, but the towers themselves are classical, like out of ancient Greece or Rome.
Eventually, the RP will lead to a final result for the sorceress and her son, when he eventually comes of age and finds his place in the world as a fully-grown sorcerer of unparalleled ability. How he will reach that point and what will happen when he does are up to us, the players. With all that said, anyone interested? Again, feel free to PM me. It's easier to deal with this in PMs than in this thread.
And yes, "journey of the sorcerer" is the name of a rather nice piece of music, used in the decidedly non-fantasy TV and movie version of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." Play the music if it helps get you in the mood.
To begin with, it is important to establish what a sorcerer is in this context. As with many RPGs, a sorcerer is someone who was born with his magical abilities. While there is a need to learn how to wield this magic, it is more a matter of learning how to control it more than anything academic. A wizard, by contrast, is someone who learned how to use his magic by studying as part of a magic academy. Anyone can become a wizard with enough time and study, but one has to be born a sorcerer.
Keeping this in mind, it only made sense that the first mages of this world were sorcerers. Before writing, education, and any schools of thought, people simply lacked the intellectual tools needed to develop skills as wizards. The early sorcerers were revered as kings, sometimes even as gods. The sorcerers of the world grew powerful and rich, ruling over many human kingdoms. One of these realms is known as Omicria, the location of the RP. It is a warm country, very much like southern Italy or most of Greece. Very Mediterranean. It is a land known for its beauty, but it has fallen into turmoil recently.
As civilization grew under the watchful eye of the sorcerers, education flourished. Ironically, the very learning the sorcerers of old sponsored led to their downfall as humanity learned how to wield magic through study rather than blood. As time went by, wizards came to outnumber sorcerers, and magical power became more democratized. Combined with a realization that sorcerers were not some divine or chosen caste set above the rest of humanity, the human kingdoms overthrew or abolished their sorcerer kings one by one. Seeing the writing on the wall, the remaining sorcerers withdrew from the world at large, retreating to their ancient towers and to hidden communities, kept wall apart from most people.
The sorcerous community is rather thin, consisting of maybe 0.5% of the human race. Wizards and other learned magic users are perhaps 1%, still enough to seriously outweigh the original mages. Although stripped of their political power, sorcerers still remember what they used to have, and they still see themselves as above the rest of humanity on the whole, and they have little respect for wizards, seeing them as irresponsible dabblers whose skill is too rarely tempered by discipline.
Into this world came YC, the sorceress. Exactly how she ended up a single mother raising a boy in the forest tower is something we'll have to agree on, but the "default" explanation I've come up with is that she wanted a child but didn't want anyone telling her what to do. Sorcerers are very conservative in most ways, including what they see as proper gender roles. YC didn't want to be a part of that. She also wanted to find the most powerful sorcerer who'd lie with her, so as to conceive the most powerful child possible. We can, of course, modify her reasons if that isn't what you're looking for. Maybe her husband died, perhaps she had to hide her child to protect him, or maybe her son is the result of a scandalous affair.
The RP can begin when the son is still a child of about 10 to 12 years old, and we can cut ahead at some point to his teenage years. Just to get it out of the way, this is NOT meant to be some sort of RP with an inappropriate relationship, but there might be mature themes if we RP his conception and if we RP him when he's old enough to have a girlfriend. Because of this, I have to ask that you be at least 18 and that we keep it in the PM section. I am over 18 and a man, just for the record. We follow guild rules and it will all be cool.
We can add conflict at points if we find it necessary, but the main struggle is twofold. For the sorceress, it is a matter of control versus letting her son have more free rein, and for the son, it is a matter of personal discovery versus self-control. For a sorcerer, magic is in one's blood, and every sorcerer is born with a certain maximum potential. For various reasons, this boy's magical potential is extremely high. In order to reach it, he has to be free to practice and explore, but not so much so that he loses control, or else he could kill himself or those around him. In addition to that, much of whether or not a sorcerer can reach his potential depends on the body and emotions, whereas magic is an almost purely mental affair for a wizard. Maintaining a healthy body is important for a sorcerer, and the magic in a sorcerer's bloodstream gives him or her a distinctive appearance. Think of it as having an idealized body type as seen in classical art. As almost being "too perfect" in one's proportions. Like a statue or a relic from a bygone era.
Indeed, much of a sorcerer's life is a relic from the time they were rulers. Their dress, the architecture of their towers, even their technology is all antique even by the medieval-level standards of the realm of Omicria; they even use scrolls for most reading and writing while the rest of the realm has moved on to bound books.
But not all is well in the world. Centuries after the fall of the sorcerers, many of the kingdoms which succeeded them are also in decline, due to internal division, civil and international wars, and the invasion of invading hordes seeking to capitalize on the internal conflict. Omicria is no exception to this decline, and the arts and letters are in decline. Relics or not, the sorcerers' towers are as much vaults for knowledge as anything else; even though the occupants within didn't learn their magic from a school, the sorcerers still preserve much knowledge from the past in the forms of history, literature, grammar, astronomy, botany, alchemy, astrology, medicine, and many other subjects in serious decline in the outside world. YC's tower would be no exception and it would come equipped with a library, albeit one with scrolls instead of books as we know them. They also dress in ancient-style clothing, which can be lighter or heavier than the sample below, but it may look something like this for outdoors:
To sum it up:
- YC is a sorceress, I'll play her son, who eventually come of age. We can also do side characters like his father or a girlfriend.
- Sorcerers are powerful, old-fashioned mages who were born with their powers and live in remote towers.
- The world outside their towers is chaotic and medieval, but the towers themselves are classical, like out of ancient Greece or Rome.
Eventually, the RP will lead to a final result for the sorceress and her son, when he eventually comes of age and finds his place in the world as a fully-grown sorcerer of unparalleled ability. How he will reach that point and what will happen when he does are up to us, the players. With all that said, anyone interested? Again, feel free to PM me. It's easier to deal with this in PMs than in this thread.
And yes, "journey of the sorcerer" is the name of a rather nice piece of music, used in the decidedly non-fantasy TV and movie version of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." Play the music if it helps get you in the mood.