Letter Bee — Roleplayer Guild

The Cycle of Ages: A Dystopic Magical RP

Do you ever wonder why Magic was forbidden, taboo, prohibited? Do you ever wonder why people object to it so much? It's not just because of Religion, or Science, but because long ago, one Mage caused such damage, caused so much corruption, that the only way to destroy him was through the destruction of all magical lore. This one Mage, the Mage that was so terrifying that the most widespread creeds in the world condemn the occult, was called Thaobath (Abomination in Hebrew), and this is not his story.

Nor is it the story of how a group of brave men and women, sterotypical heroes all, rediscovered the gifts of Magic and defeated Thaobath when he returned to the world in the year 2013, when Magic, after a long time of absence, came back to the world and gave humanity the power to rewrite reality.

No, this is the story of what came after.

For sometimes, Heroes wreck things worse than the Villains.

After the death of Thaobath, a voice sounded throughout the world, a voice saying that the scriptural injunctions against magic, put in place in the most widespread faiths of Earth in order to starve out Thaobath, have been obsoleted, and humanity was free to use Magic once more. Whether this voice was God or the Gods' did not matter. What mattered was that Humanity abused their newfound freedom.

When a Mage used arcane powers to create a field that stops Fission Reactions from occurring, at the same time as two other Magi discovered Free Energy, the heroes began to doubt. When Nations went to war with Magi in their ranks, when Economies reeled and keeled over due to the effects of Conjuration and Transmutation, the heroes began to panic. And when the states of the world redrew the map in a free-for-all, they despaired, and disappeared.

Now, it is 2019, and the world is divided into several Magical States and Federations, some fair, some foul, all of them imperfect, and people have begun to wonder: Should the injunctions have been removed at all?

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And there you have it, an RP outside of my comfort zone, an RP where good things have to be earned, to be striven for, instead of just being thrown into your lap just because you are 'good'. A world of incomplete victories (or at least, as incomplete as I can make them), where even though there are bright spots, it has to be continually chased after.

Magic

You have to be wondering; what is Magic? Are you using the Nine Spheres again?

The answer is no; instead, I'm using my own system.

Basically, there are two types of Magic:

Temporary/Imagination Magic - Exactly as it says on the Tin; a Mage can set stuff on fire, turn people into frogs, change shape and size, and a lot of other things, just by concentrating on them. However, once he stops concentrating, everything he does, including Death, is reversed. However, a way around this can be found by affecting something that already exists - for example, lifting a person several dozen meters into the air, then dropping him.

Ritual Magic - The ability to make Temporary/Imagination Magic permanent through means of a ritual, which is either a word+gesture combination, the creation of magical potions using alchemy, or even just a more elaborate version of mundane actions, like first aid. Available Rituals are Healing, Destruction, Mentalism, Summoning, Necromancy, and much, much more.

You start out with Temporary Magic and three types of Rituals. Yes, you can make up your own types of ritual if it's not too overpowered; here's a rough guideline:

1 Mage with one type of ritual can destroy/affect entire buildings.

5 Magi working in concert can destroy/affect half a city.

10 Magi working together can bring about a flipping' Supertyphoon.

Major Factions

The United States of America: America has had a mix of hardships and prosperity. On the one hand, many countries no longer listen to it as they used to. On the other hand, they've reaped the full benefits of Magitech, which helped the nation re-industrialize once its markets and factories in the Third World were cut off from it. However, there are still scars from the 'Michaeline Insurgency', where a rogue group of Christian Extremists waged war using 'Angelic' Magic (Destruction Rituals), as well as the destruction of its interests in the Middle East. America is now a nation licking its wounds, not yet deciding what path to choose in this Brave New World...

The Chinese Democratic Republic: The shock of Magic's arrival screwed up the CDR's timetables for economic and military growth, and empowered insurgents and rebels all across the country. It's hamfisted attempts to suppress, and then use, Magic led to growing discontent, discontent made worse by the discovery of Anti-Nuclear fields, Anti-Nuclear fields that made a joke of China's nuclear deterrent. Then, came a series of megatyphoons which turned out to be magically created...by Vietnam. In response, China invaded said country, only to be set upon by a clandestine alliance of the Vietnamese and other nations, who had upgraded their armed forces using Magic, hurling Earthquakes, more Hurricanes, and Natural Disasters on the Chinese until the homefront collapsed in rebellion.

Now, the Chinese Democratic Republic is finding its feet, holding only a scattered network of territories ranging from the North China Plain and the Southern Jungles. But it has vowed to reunite the Chinese Heartland...and seek revenge.

The European Union: Depending on what part you look at, the European Union is either a land of liberal democratic happiness, or a xenophobic oligarchy that is sliding again into fascism. Needless to say, it can be both depending on the whims of public opinion in each country. If the people in say, Lichenstien want to accept immigrants, then they EU will accept immigrants. If those in Italy want to shoot down the foreigners' boats, then, well, the EU will do that. Same for stuff like minority rights; Jews and LGBT people generally have it better than Roma and Disabled people, but even this varies by country.

The Aishanid Khalifanate: Hoo boy. Basically, the coming of Magic and the defeat of Thaobath caused the Saudi State to collapse, but before IS can swoop in, someone else did; a female Mage of absurd power who claimed to be descended from a 'Hidden Line' of descendants of Muhammad and Aisha, the latter who, according to this Female Mage should have won The Battle of the Camel*. The Mage then, after crowing herself Aisha II, was set upon by an horde of religious fanatics who wanted to expunge her heresy from this world - said religious fanatics lasted five seconds. Aisha II then summoned an army of False Angels, Winged Horses, and other beings from the annals of Legend to kill everyone who immediately took up arms against her, while sparing those who stayed their hand, fled, or even those who only pretended to believe her.

Deciding not to notice that those who pretended to believe her were only pretending, she then proceeded to turn the Rub-Al-Khali into flowing grasslands and forests, a fertile farmland where the few who did swallow her propaganda were allowed to live in peace.

Now, the Aishanid Caliphanate occupies all the Arabian Peninsula, including the western parts of the Persian Gulf.

The Southeast Asian Alliance: Either the last, best hope for Democracy and Human Rights in the Third World, or a bunch of backstabbing, dirty traitors who threw the world into chaos by kicking China in the balls, the SEAA is a nation enjoying economic prosperity, as well as gradual social liberalization. Led by 'The Triad' of  Vietnam, The Philippines, and Indonesia, the SEAA is a close family with both skeletons in the closet, as well as a new generation of people ready to make a positive impact on the world. Basically, the most morally 'White' faction, although again, they're backstabbing traitors.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Camel

Rules:

1.) No Godmoding or Powergaming, aka no controlling other players' actions, no defeating your enemy in one shot, and no shrugging of all hits without a magical shield.
2.) There will be no discussion of IRL, OOC Politics, either past, present, or future, in this RP.
3.) You can be, sigh, villainous, but not psychotic. Your character must be able to work with others, even if its just to use them as meatshields or pack mules.
4.) At the same token, I'd like there to be at least one intelligent, competent, and somewhat diplomatic 'good' person in the group.
5.) Be polite to others.
6.) Yes, you can teach Magic to Non-Magi.
7.) Of course I used hand waves and token gestures in the premise, which is supposed to be implausible. So don't complain.

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Filipino RPer

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