Letter Bee — Roleplayer Guild

Dawn of a New Age - The Return of Magic

I. Intro

Many stories exist of ancient civilizations, of monsters, magic, and wonders. But these are not just legends. 10,000 years ago, Magic was the dominant force on this planet, and was as common as science is today. There is a cycle that determines which force will be in control of civilization, but thanks to the actions of humanity at Atlantis and Babel, that cycle has been thrown askew, with Earth being cut off from Magic longer than usual. But now, something has changed. 

People have begun experiencing visions of winged, angelic beings called Malakim, some beautiful, others terrifying, and some both. Shortly after, those who have seen these beings, whether in dreams or in waking life, began manifesting strange, supernatural gifts, gifts each connected to a facet of existence. These powers have attracted attention both good and bad, as the world's governments have sought to capture and contain these 'Magi'.

In a world that is growing worse, the chaos caused by the Return of Magic might yet unravel an already tense situation...but the Malakim do not want Humanity to destroy itself, and so have given additional guidance to a group of Magi, asking them to turn the tide, to arrest the headlong decline of the world into a 'crapsack' state. Will you answer the call? If so, let the world enter the next phase of its destiny...

Welcome to Dawn of a New Age, the RP. In this RP, magic has begun appearing in the modern world. Your characters are a group of the first people to develop magical abilities. You will be forced onto the run from the US Government, who is looking to acquire your powers and use them as a weapon of war.

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Note; this RP was originally made by Flamelord, but he gave me permission as long as no one, and I repeat no one @mentions him.

II. Magic

There are six disciplines of Magic:

High - There are many theories that try to explain High Magic. Some say that it is the power of The Divine, it is the power of positive emotions, channeled through the human soul. Nevertheless, High Magic is the power of controlling Magical Energy itself, allowing for the ability to see all Magic, to draw available magical energy from the sky and earth, create constructs of condensed Mana, create and fuel magitech and enchanted items, ward people and places from magic, and finally, the ability to create bolts of silver-white light that cause damage that cannot be healed by magic to Mages and Magical creatures... But not ordinary targets, whose burns can be healed as normal.

Note: High Magic has been nerfed; the last sentence has been edited so that only other Mages and Magical Creatures, as well as magitech, receive damage that cannot be healed by Magic.

World - World Magic is control over the physical elements of the world. You want to create Fire? World Magic. You want to alter Gravity to make yourself float? World Magic. You want to use lightning to electrocute a person? World Magic. Basically, if it has nothing to do with changing one thing to another, or controlling something that isn't wholly of this earth? World Magic is your key. Basically, Bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but without healing or spiritual arts and with control over gravity.

Change - This is the magic that deals with changing one thing to another. This magic can knit wounds and reverse aging, cause trees to grow fists and turn vines into whips. This magic can change one substance to another, turning lead into gold, earth into acid, and fire into water. What it cannot do, however, is affect stuff protected by High magic, or mess with things that are already dead. That belongs to another school, the magic of the Underworld.

Underworld - Death is all around us, and the old laws against disturbing the ghosts who chose not to pass on are gone, cast into the wind. Nevertheless, the souls of the departed have to be treated with respect...but it is not the same for their bodies. Underworld Magic is the magic of Necromancy; it is the magic you wield when you want to raise an army of the dead, to control the shadows of the world, to speak with ghosts, and to strike people dead with one blow (this is a high-level spell). You can even use this to transcend death, allowing you continued existence in this world without need for food, drink, and sleep...

Timespace - The magic of traveling vast distances in a single bound, of teleportation, portals, and scrying. The strongest Magi can even control probability, making a person luckier or unluckier, sometimes to absurd levels. But what it can not do is reverse the past; basically, no time travel. Bullet Time and Time Stop are also possibilities for incredibly strong practitioners but have certain requirements that limit their effectiveness in combat.

Bullet Time and Time Stop Nerfs: Bullet Time can only be activated defensively when confronted by attacks too fast for the mundane body to dodge normally. And by that, it only works when people are shooting bullets at the guy and it can only be used to dodge bullets and other attacks - it cannot be used to attack in turn. This keeps what I want - PCs being able to dodge bullets - without making them overpowered in offense, as well as giving PCs the choice not to shoot bullets in the first place.

As for Time Stop, not only can the 'time bubble' be cut apart by Symbols of Will and Magebane (see below), but it doesn't work on sapient beings; it can still be used to stop bullets, explosions, crashing trains, rampaging animals, and lightning strikes, but not melee strikes from sapient beings - neither the user or his opponents can use ranged attacks in a Time Stop. The in-universe reason for this is that having a Soul protects you from unauthorized changes to the timeline, and yes, AI have souls here as well.

Mind Magic - This magic deals with controlling minds and altering emotions of both humans and animals, as well as creating illusions (that aren't holograms), mental compulsions, and even erasing or editing memories. Note that if one has a strong willpower, they can resist or even break the above effects. Note that to resist a Mind Magic effect, they must know or correctly guess that a spell is being cast on them. 

Note - All uses of Mind Magic on other PCs require OOC permission from the Players of said PCs.

Basically, each PC is supposed to mix and match effects from multiple sources of magic, although specialization is a thing.

Countering and Dispelling Magic

Making Anti-Magic spells is a bit complicated, but basically, you first need three High Magic spells, including the Anti-Magic rote, and one spell of the School you want to dispel. For example, if you want to dispel Underworld Magic, you need three High Magic spells and one Underworld Magic spell. As you have six starting spells available, you can theoretically be able to counter or Dispel three schools maximum. You can only counter or dispel High Magic if all six of your starting spells are of that school.

Enchantment Rules

Enchantment requires High Magic and a spell that you or another party member knows, along with an item to be enhcanted. Note however that the weaker and less durable the material is, the magic you can put into it is more limited; for example, oak can be enchanted to emit laser beams, birch cannot. This is the same for metals, and the strongest of spells can only be enchanted into 'Perfected Electrum (more below)'.

Perfected Electrum

Electrum is a mix of Gold and Silver that occurs naturally, but can be made by artificial means. This material, if treated by High and Change Magic by four different Magi (see 'Group Spells' below) can be 'perfected', aka transformed into a metal as hard as diamond yet not as brittle, and whose lightness is that of cloth. But the most valuable property of Perfected Electrum is that it can contain very, very strong spells, except for Resurrection (see below under 'Group Spells'). The Government knows how to make Perfected Electrum.

Group Spells

Basically, multiple spell-casters with different Schools can do things that would strain a single Mage. This also helps in compensating for single Magi's weaknesses in specialization.

Example Spell:

Resurrection (High, Change, Underworld + materials for a new body) - Three Magi, or alternatively, a single Magi who has six High, Change, and Underworld spells each, can bring back a dead person. High Magic is used to supply magical energy for the permanent return of the Soul (said soul must always be willing), Change is used to turn inorganic material into organic matter, and Underworld is used to tug back the Soul from wherever it's been. Resurrection cannot be Enchanted into Items.

III. Non-Magical Options

While Magic faded long before humanity developed religions and ideologies opposed to 'sorcery', belief is one of the ways Humans affect the reality around them. Thus, strong commitment in something can weaken Magic's hold on the mind and body. By holding forth a symbol of what one believes in most deeply (this includes symbols of atheism and secular nationalism), one can create a shield that is proof against all magic that is cast on its holder and the area around its holder. This magic-proof area moves when its holder moves as well, meaning that the 'Hunter' can be somewhat mobile. 

However, the Symbol of Will must not only symbolize a sincere belief, it must also be something one is prepared to lose; it must not be tatooed or permanently grafted into one's body. However, gloves or even power armor are a way around this rule.

Special Note: Mages can have a Symbol of Will as well, but they exchange their magical ability for pure, enduring willpower. They lose three Spell Slots and mark those as [Symbol], [Willpower], [Willpower], instead.

The Government has access to advanced technology, technology that has been kept secret from the rest of the populace. An example of said technology is Power Armor; relatively slim suits of high-end materials powered by super-compact energy cells and equipped with sensors and computer capability. This armor, which resembles that from Halo more than it does Fallout or Warhammer 40k, can be equipped with Symbols of Will, mostly pertaining to the United States Government.

The Government also has access to a green-white material called Magebane, which when it comes into contact with magical defenses, constructs, or Mages themselves, absorbs their magical energies; in short, it's a magical substance that takes away their Mana. Magebane can be used in Power Armor or as bullets, or even melee weapons like truncheons or clubs.

IV. 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.) Any consenting relationship between people of the same age group is allowed, whether it's Homosexual or Hetrosexual. If you cannot stand such things, don't post here in the first place.
3.) Be polite to others.
4.) No talking about IRL Politics. Ever.
5.) Please notify me if you will be gone longer than a few days, I myself will let you guys know if I will be gone.
6.) If anyone doesn't post seven days after the latest GM Post, they're automatically expelled.

V.Signup Form

Name: What’s your characters name?
Age: How old is your character?
Physical Description: What does your character look like?
Place any photo’s here.
Important items: What possessions are important to your character?
Short Bio: Tell us your characters story up to this point.
Skills/Flaws: What are your characters strengths and weaknesses? You need two of each. 
Spell List: 6 Spells overall.

Name: Gavin Prince

Age: 18

Physical Description: 

Important items: Smartphone, Laptop, Pistol, First Aid Kit.

Short Bio: Gavin Prince was the son of an artisan metalworker and sculptor who alternated between making ceremonial swords for rich people, practical swords for martial artists, and abstract art for museums and rich collectors. Sent to college to study fine arts, Gavin found himself attracted to history, literature...and both men and women. Nevertheless, he continued to persevere studying art and other subjects by day, working with his hands with his father by night. Despite said father tending to be...reserved on matters of sex and the body, his sole reaction to Gavin 'coming out' as bisexual was:

"Just get someone who can work with their hands."

And that was that. One day, on the eve of 2012, while 'celebrating' the new years' with his current boyfriend, Gavin fell asleep, drunk. He would then receive a vision of a beautiful, winged woman in white robes, with brown skin and black hair and deep blue eyes. She would then look at Gavin, and say:

"The World is about to be worse. Stop it." Power, exhilirating energy, would then enter Gavin, and he knew this, that this would be part of him, power that can be used to save people, both those with Magic and those without. He would then pick a school, and select two: High and Timespace, and increase his power in them because he only chose two schools out of six. And with that, he would drift back to sleep...

When he woke up, he was sober and without a hangover, and he knew what to do. Some hours later, he would apply for 'leave' from his university while informing his father that he would be going on a trip to study medieval armor-making techniques in Britain; this was a lie.

The truth was that he was going to go to the town of Brightwell, Illinois, where he would then send messages to people that, he knew, had been visited by the Malakim...

Skills/Flaws: 

Metalworker - Gavin knows how to shape metal, and otherwise work with his hands. This also makes him a dab hand at power tools.

Swordsman - Gavin knows the basics of swordsmanship.

Guileless - Gavin is too honest and trusting for his own good.

Inexperienced - Gavin is new to this whole 'saving the world' business.

Spell List: 

Eye of the Monarch (High Magic) - Gavin can see all Magic, whether it is being cast, or a passive effect. This also works on illusions.

Bolt of Prime (High Magic) - Gavin can send out a bolt of silvery-white energy that can inflict damage which cannot be healed by magic.

Dispel Timespace Magic (High Magic) - Gavin can dispel any magic that uses Timespace, including scrying spells.

Archives of Time and Space (Timespace) - Gavin can look at a reflective surface, and see visions of the past, present, and future.

Flight (Timespace) - Gavin can use his control of the fabric of space to fly up into the air without World Magic.

Gate (Timespace) - Gavin can open a portal as small as his fist or as large as an SUV and keep it open for at least 15 minutes. Said portal can lead to any place whose picture he had seen.
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