[B]Magic System[/B]

[U]How does Magic Work?[/U]

All Magic comes from the Sea of Dreams, a realm where reality melds with imagination, and thought alone can reshape worlds. The Sea of Dreams is where Gods, Angels, Devils, and the Eldritch rest, although whether they created the Sea, were created by Humanity's beliefs, or both, is unknown. Everything imagined can be made real in the Sea, but genuine magic is how you can [I]keep[/I] one's creations real outside of it.

To do this, a Normal Human initiates a "Quest" by dreaming so hard that he enters the Sea of Dreams. He then seeks out an Icon, a symbol representing a fundamental aspect of Reality, and drags it to the world. In this RP, [I]Quests can only start when the IC/In-Character Thread has begun[/I], meaning that you have to RP out getting your Icon. Obviously, the more powerful the Icon is, the harder your Quest will be, and you can die in your sleep if you fail. But if you succeed, there is one more step to becoming a full Dreamer, and that is using one of three methods:

Vows: A Dreamer commits themselves to a promise that they must keep, no matter what. As this is a High School RP, this promise must be kept SFW; examples are to care for a family member or a close friend, to protect a place special to you, or to find a person you cherished, but lost, no matter what. Stronger Vows lead to stronger powers, obviously.

Summoning/Anchoring: A Dreamer turns themselves into a tether/anchor/gateway for the Icon to manifest on Earth as its own separate being, albeit one dependent on the Dreamer to stay in the Material World. Basically, they are Pokemon/Digimon/Demons/Personae whom you call out for battle or other uses. The drawback, of course, is that the more powerful they are, the more they can defy your commands if you treat them badly.

Summons are a tier of 1 to 10, with 1 being a Pixie, 8 being Metatron or Satan, and 10 being an entity who can smite you for even daring to consider them as Mons' (God/The Buddha/Fate/Azazoth/[REDACTED]).

Art: A Dreamer can just form a connection to the Sea of Dreams by being good enough at an artistic skill and regularly practicing it with a genuine love for the art. This does not even have to be the traditional artistic skills of painting, drawing, and writing; invention and scientific discovery work as well. This has the advantage of letting you create permanent items (including blessed/cursed music in recordings) that anyone can use (Excalibur! Mechs!).

[U]What does Magic Do?[/U]

When starting their first Quest, a human opens a Blank, an empty place in their soul that can fit a single Icon, which in turn can be bound to the Material World by taking a Vow, Ancestry, or Art. The general rule is the stronger the Vow/Art/Ancestry, the more you can use your Icon, and the more potent your Magic is.

Icons' domains can be anything from Fire (or any Element), to Life (which includes not just healing, but animals and plants), or something more complex like the concept of [I]Systems[/I].

However, they are bound by Three Natural Laws:

1st Natural Law: Magic can be attained by Mortals from the Sea of Dreams through Vows that bind, Summons that invite the Divine, and the practice of Arts that create new things.
2nd Natural Law: All Mortals are free of mental interference as long as they do not give consent to it.
3rd Natural Law: The Domains of Destiny and Fate belong to the Highest Powers (whether God, the Buddha, or the system of Dharma). If you try and proclaim dominion over those without their consent, you [I]will[/I] be struck down by your own Pride and rendered unto ashes.

Also, Icons can be, but aren't always, sapient, and can [I]choose[/I] whether to let the Dreamer bind them. However, once they choose, they cannot withdraw their contributions unless the Dreamer breaks a Vow, cuts off their Summon from the world, or loses love for their Art.

[U]Examples of Magic[/U]

You bind the Shield Icon with a Vow to always protect the innocent, and can project force fields that can take a speeding truck's impact. But then one day, you find out that you have to protect someone you hate, because they [I]are[/I] innocent of a specific crime the authorities want to punish them for.

You are dedicated to making videos; you're good at it, in fact. But with the 'Memory' Icon, your videos can show scenes from the past, from before you were ever born. You can also replicate the memories of others, put them to film for viewing, and as you're not touching the originals, it does not count as mental interference. But when you make a bad film, do you despair so hard you lose your powers, or do you press on?

You can summon Hermes as your personal delivery boy. What do you mean he hates the job and is spreading slander about you to everyone and anyone?

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[b][i]New Magic System[/i][/b]

[u]How does Magic Work?[/u]

All Magic comes from the Sea of Dreams, a realm where reality melds with imagination, and thought alone can reshape worlds. The Sea of Dreams is where Gods, Angels, Devils, and the Eldritch rest, although whether they created the Sea, were created by Humanity's beliefs, or both, is unknown. Everything imagined can be made real in the Sea, but genuine magic is [i]keeping[/i] one's creations real outside of it. To do this, a Dreamer has three ways:

Vows: A Dreamer commits themselves to a set of behaviors and taboos that genuinely cost them; they can give up worldly possessions or commit themselves to hoarding them, forgo drugs and alcohol, or indulge them to self-destruction, and the most popular nowadays, refrain from attacking those one knows are innocent. They can also bargain to let their body be possessed by a Spirit from the Sea, and thus gain their powers; this is normally seen as a very bad idea unless you are sure the Spirit won't harm you.

Bloodline: A Dreamer could be descended from a being of the Sea (for example, a Faerie) and can use that being's powers from mythology and legend. Basically, Demigods, Nephilim (Half Angel, Half-Human), and Deep Ones. However, this bloodline gives your progenitor a door to contact you; this cannot violate the Natural Laws (see below) but they can give you unsolicited advice, tempt you to break your vows (if the Bloodline is a Devil of Lust), or if the entity is strong enough, alter your body to its ideal of 'perfection' (coughAphroditecough).

Art: A Dreamer can just form a connection to the Sea of Dreams by being good enough at an artistic skill and regularly practicing it with a genuine love for the art. This does not even have to be the traditional artistic skills of painting, drawing, and writing; invention and scientific discovery work as well. This has the advantage of letting you create permanent items (including blessed/cursed music in recordings) that anyone can use (Excalibur! Mechs!).

[u]What does Magic Do?[/u]

When becoming a Dreamer, a human starts out with three 'Blanks', empty places in his soul. These can fit any combination of Vows, Arts, and Bloodlines (either a Vow, Art, and Bloodline, three Vows/Bloodlines/Arts, or two Arts, one Vow, etc...). The general rule is the stronger the Vow/Art/Bloodline, the more powerful your Domain, which is the aspect of Reality you can affect using Magic, is.

Domains can be anything from Fire (or any Element), to Life (which includes not just healing, but animals and plants), or something more complex like the concept of [i]Systems[/i]. 

However, they are bound by Three Natural Laws:

1st Natural Law: Magic can be attained by Mortals from the Sea of Dreams through Vows that bind, Bloodlines that invite the Divine, and the practice of Arts that create new things.
2nd Natural Law: All Mortals are free of mental interference as long as they do not give consent to it.
3rd Natural Law: The Domains of Destiny and Fate belong to the Highest Powers (whether God, the Buddha, or the system of Dharma). If you try and proclaim dominion over those without their consent, you [i]will[/i] be struck down by your own Pride and rendered unto ashes.

[u]Examples of Magic[/u]

A Vow not to hurt the innocent, taken with the Barrier Domain, allows one to create energy shields that can stop a speeding truck.

The Art of Singing allows an artist to sing flames to existence, consuming the foes she is bashing in her music; double injury.

Those with the Bloodline of Hermes are good gamblers, traders, and couriers... But Hermes is an unwelcome helicopter ancestor who keeps giving them unwanted advice.
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