Dead Cruiser

Council of the Night

Marsh invites you to fuck around and find out.

Council of the Night

Marsh was in Istanbul when the letter came for him. Or rather, he was close by it, plumbing the depths of the Black Sea. It was a difficult task, but a rewarding one, as the salt content of the sea required constant adaptation to breathe within its depths, but the host of ruins along its floor were exquisite. Marsh had almost come to have an appreciation for human history, given his long decades searching through the remnants of their past. The letter came as a small surprise, as Marsh was only so close to Transylvania because Dracula had summoned him a few years earlier. He traveled very slowly, preferring to go alone by water routes, as public transportation made him feel unnecessarily exposed.

Luckily, he had no need for such measures this time. The vampiric servant that had tracked down Marsh's encampment on the Sea's shores had come by means of a rugged automobile, and was prepared to chauffeur him back to Dracula's castle. The few days of travel that followed were awkward and uncomfortable. The vampire sent to collect Marsh obviously found him as repellent as normal humans did, and suffered constantly from his foul odor and insidious presence. Marsh similarly did not care much for the undead, and particularly not vampires. As much as he would like to think that such perversions of nature were a uniquely human creation, there were similar monsters in his own time. The Grey Weavers of the tunnel-kingdoms, servants of the Spinner in the Dark came to mind.

Once they were free of the prying eyes of common humans, Marsh let his disguise slip, and resumed his natural form. A scaly fish-man that perspired foul, ranine mucous sat looking very out of place in the passenger seat of an offroad vehicle. He didn't expect Dracula to bill him for the cost of having the car reupholstered. They would probably just have to burn the thing to be rid of the smell. Despite being so close, Marsh was one of the last to arrive, probably due to the difficulty inherent to finding him. He came stomping in, his webbed flippers leaving soggy marks on the rug, as the human, Garnier his name was, was going on his rant.

"Humans," he gurgled contemptuously, "No bloody sense of proportion." Marsh had to partially transform his laryngeal structure to even be capable of uttering sounds resembling human speech. The result was... barely adequate. An awful, wet croaking that sounded like a man gargling mud. "Do you have any idea how many of you buggers there are? Nearly eight billion. We, the others, number in the thousands-- a million at best. There are simply too many of them and too few of us to ever make a difference. You can take the city, but you won't hold it. Much worse than that, is that you'll make life unmanageable for those of us content where we are. There'll be no hiding after that. They'll kill themselves by the million just to get rid of one of us. They'll do it, too. It'll take time, but they'll do it." Marsh flexed his webbed hand, admiring the sharp black claws that tipped his fingers, before his inhuman gaze snapped back to Garnier. "You're a madman and a fool, and I'll curtail your errand myself before you get a chance to doom us all."

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

Had a long day at work, but I am Logged TF On™ for the night, and ready to take care of your concerns.

A quick heads up is that I think we'll be good to have the OOC up shortly, perhaps tonight, maybe tomorrow. It won't really have any new information besides what is already in the OP of this thread, but it'll essentially be the staging ground for people to submit and finalize their characters sheets. If you want a place in the game, I'm not putting a hard cap on players just yet, but I recommend getting a sheet written.

Now then. To business.

@Gisk A "successful" summoning of a Tutelary involves the creation of a telepathic and empathic bond between the summoner and the Tutelary. The Tutelary receives access to the summoner's knowledge and memory, but can also have the summoner's willpower and spells directly channeled through them. Most Tutelaries are deferential to their masters enough to do their bidding merely by command, but if needed they can have their will subsumed by the sorcerer's to ensure that their commands are followed. A Tutelary that does not form this link, or is too willful or indifferent toward their summoner, or one that is too powerful for the summoner to fully command, would be considered a "failed" summoning, and such a being would be promptly banished.

The relationships that Tutelaries develop with their masters over time can become quite complex, but those summoned by Novitiates are normally quite fond of their masters. Depending on the nature of the Tutelary, they can take on a demeanor not unlike a parent or older sibling toward their young master. The act of summoning them into our dimension is considered a tremendous gift, as beings as weak as them are typically at the bottom of the "food chain" within the Aether. It is a chaotic dimension and far from all beings within it are benevolent.

Sufficient damage to their physical form will banish a Tutelary back to the Aether. Sorcerers that have had their Tutelary banished by some means have been known to summon another, but the bond between a Sorcerer and their original Tutelary is nearly impossible to replace. For that reason, some Sorcerers that lose their Tutelary go without one from that point on. Attempting to summon the same Tutelary again after they've been banished is the ultimate game of needle in a needle stack. It's like trying to retrieve exactly the same cup of water that one just dumped into the ocean.

Most Tutelaries summoned by Novitiates have never been in our dimension before, or any dimension other than the Aether. The Tutelary of, say, a dead Sorcerer that has returned to the Aether would be a different type of consciousness than one freshly-summoned. More powerful by dint of their time spent in our dimension studying magic, a more powerful form of consciousness. That makes it unlikely that a Novitiate would "successfully" (see above) summon such a Tutelary. However, if such a Tutelary wished to return to our dimension, for whatever strange reason they may have, and sought out the summoning of a Novitiate for that purpose, that would be the most likely scenario for such an occurrence.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@Crusader Lord If you would like, or you could PM me with them.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@Obscene Symphony I don't plan for you to be spread across more than maybe two Cults, and there will be opportunities to interact in greater Photep.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@Achronum A good question, but one that requires a complex answer. Spellcasting can take a variety of forms on Ea, but most of those are what Photepi Sorcerers would refer to dismissively as "witchcraft." Incantations, summoning circles, sacrifices, that sort of thing.

What differentiates Sorcery as our characters understand it is that it uses similar theoretical components, but they exist solely within the Sorcerer's mind. Sorcerers use their will and focus to direct and transmute aetheric energy, and so for them, "spells" resemble formulas or programs that they must perform mentally in order to manifest magical power. This requires considerable mental and physical discipline, somewhat akin to one who practices Yoga as part of their religion. However, these are the basic tenets of Sorcery. You need to be able to do this competently in order to even be considered for induction into the Cults of Heka.

The practices and research that more experienced and powerful Sorcerers engage in are more complex. They frequently study the effect that external influences have on spellcasting; the interplay of the cosmos, Ea, and the Aether. They train vigorously to be able to draw and control more energy from the Aether without overwhelming themselves. They condition their senses to gain more insight into the tides and tempests of the Aether, and what can be learned from their patterns. Larger and more complex spellcraft requires the tools of "witchcraft," but in much more sophisticated forms. Glyphs are designed as aetheric conduits or focusing tools, and can be large and ornate enough to have entire buildings as part of their geometric structure. Incantations are most often used as a means of coordinating the spellcasting efforts of multiple Sorcerers pooling their power for a group ritual. Sacrifices... are the domain of Demonologists, and so are not the concern of bright young Novitiates such as yourselves.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@Obscene SymphonyIf you want to, sure.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@SilverPaw In my mind there's little difference between an illusion and any other kind of magical attack. You attempt to manifest it, and it either succeeds or fails. Things like pure mind control are master-level spells that won't be in player hands for a long time if at all. I don't anticipate PvP having much presence in this RP, and I would expect that we're all mature enough to handle IC conflict in a reasomable and empathetic manner.

This is my personal philosophy but I don't really pay particular mind to the idea of being "overpowered" in freeform roleplay like this. RP is based on a social contract; if I can trust you to follow basic rules of RP etiquette, I should be able to trust you not to ruin the game with your character's powers.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

@Cu Chulainn I can't work with the concept as you're currently describing it. I'll give you a metaphor to get across why it doesn't work out. In our world, scientists theorize about the existence of dark matter, but they can't actually prove its existence. Then one day, an undergraduate at MIT shows up with photos of dark matter from a Polaroid camera. When pressed about how this was accomplished, they claim to be a savant.

Does this make my position any clearer? We can work out ideas for your character over PM if you would like.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

Also I would like to point out at this juncture that we're currently suffering from a dearth of female characters. The couple of other characters I've seen, currently waiting in the wings, are also males. While I'm not saying I won't approve of any more boys, a little balance would go a long way.