Cast spells from School of Specialization only?

A minor note that I forgot to include in the appendix… If you’re creating a magic-user, they are not completely limited to casting spells from their school of specialization; the Academy gives every student basic training in every school of magic. However, you will never be able to cast the more advanced spells of any school without specializing in it. For example, Anundr (Jesse’s character), while being an illusion mage, will still be able to generate shields of magical energy. He just won’t be able to prevent all of the damage from powerful attacks or counter another caster’s spells effectively. He will still be capable of tossing fireballs, but will be unable to cause a geyser of lava to burst forth from the ground directly under an opponent. He will still be able to heal cuts and bruises, but stopping a strong poison or the flow of blood from a nasty belly wound will be beyond him.

I came to the realization that playing a magic-user wouldn’t be nearly as fun if you were restricted to only casting certain spells… After all, they’re taught to harness magical energy and manipulate it to their will; it only makes sense that they will be able to do a large variety of things with it, regardless of what they choose to specialize in.

Minimum Post Length

You know that ‘two decent paragraphs’ minimum for post length? No. Not gonna happen; not with this RP. I’m going to be a little more demanding, but not by too much. What I’d prefer to see are posts that you have to scroll down to read all of. However, I know that some people find writing such posts difficult, so I’ve devised a loophole. You can fall back on the two good paragraphs rule, if you must, during interaction with other characters. I understand that trying to fulfill a 5000 character minimum is rather difficult when all your character has to do is answer a question. In fact, that’s probably what caused the RP forum to die in all of it’s previous incarnations. In conclusion, here’s what I’d like to see:

- If your post centers around your character, and has very little in the way of interacting with other characters, try to get at least a page.

- If your character is talking / fighting / interacting with someone else’s, you may fall back on the two-paragraph minimum if you find yourself struggling to come up with anything beyond a solid response.

Hopefully this will work out in such a way that the veteran players can make their ridiculously long posts, while activity is kept up by others working off of each other with shorter posts that can be made two or three times a day. Just, please, try to keep the passing of time in mind when posting, and not jump forward a couple hours when someone’s in the middle of something important. In fact… No one’s allowed to change the day without permission, Shadows and I will handle that.

Learning Magic at the Academy?

Shadows and I have been discussing the Academy, and it’s place in the world. We’ve revised how it works a little bit. The Academy is the most prestigious school of magic on the continent, and famous enough to draw students from all over Therion. But, it is not the only school, and attending is not required if you want to use magic. Just like the Tower of Sorcery on Illenia, the Academy is merely the center of all magic on Rethlyn.

We realized that requiring everyone to attend by law, and having magic illegal without training would be, well… A bit of a bother. Avelle, for instance, look down on all the other races. Why would they bother sending their magic-users to the Academy? So, the new take on things is that those who haven’t gone to the Academy are just missing out, unless they have an incredibly knowledgeable individual training them. Academy training can be viewed as a special qualification of sorts, that some employers may require when hiring a magic-user for jobs, but you are no longer required by law to attend if you can work with magic.

Sorcery (as explained by Shadows of Essence)

I will add my two cents to the sorcery question. Penguin, correct me if I’m worng.

As was stated in the OCC, sorcery can almost be considered a specialization unto itself. However there are various specializations avalible to sorcerers. Any form of summoning, ritual magic, or any magic that takes a lot of time or preperation to preform can usuaully be a specialization.

I envision this class almost as a roleplaying device more than a seperate class of magic. Mages and wizards conjure fireballs virtually on demand (even if it does take several minutes) while sorcerers spend a hour or two preparing circles, speaking arcane languages, and chanelling mana to summon a rain of fire upon an unsuspecting town. This is not to say sorcery is all slow (otherwise combat would be impossible), but while the others are saying a quick word or two and channelling mana, you are required to go much more in depth into how and why your charecter’s actions preform the magics they do. In return, you have access to a level of magic most mages only attain with decades of experience.

I have listed some examples below, but feel free to come up with new ones (Penguin Co. and Shadows Inc. reserve the right to reject any ideas not deemed fitting). Seeing as there are not many sorcers, fell free to take a specalizationand make it your own, come up with ideas on how the magic works and how diffrent effect require diffrent actions. A good example is what I did with Necromancy. The language of the dead itself is the cornerstone of the magic, by using the language in spoken tones and in circles (present in nearly all ritual magics) charged with mana channeled in the right way necromancers force the souls of the dead to do thier bidding.

Summoning, controling, and binding. (this is actually broken into diffrent specializations each a SEPERATE specialization)
-Elemental (each element is a seperate specialization) – This covers summoning and binding elementals and creating golems. It also confers the abilities of summoning the chosen element (such as summoning a block of granite) and a limited mastery of it (destorying, moving or controlling). However, this is not as strong a control over the element as a Disciple would have, nor is it anywhere near as fast.
-Necormancy – This is fairly well explained in the OCC. Summoning the dead, death magics, and soul magics.
-Infernal – Traffic with demons.
Divination – Scrying (this right here covers a lot), fortune telling, visions, dream interpetation.
Weather control – While other specilizations and classes can control elements, controling the weather on whole, requires much more discipline and concentration.
Domination – Controling others. While control a single weak minded guard might be a simple and quick ritual, a roomful of strong willed magic users would take considerably more time.

The Homunculus (added by Sammy)

Created by Necromancers, they are in a sense, a smaller and more foul version of a flesh Golem. Rather than using countless corpses, the Homunculus is formed using the body of a humanoid creature, usually a human or an elf. The process is a truly gruesome one, involving some of the most heinous forms of magic outside of Lichcraft and Demon Summoning.

The Process

To create a Homunculus, the Necromancer must first have a corpse that has only been dead for less than a few hours. This often means capturing someone live, and murdering them just before performing the ritual. Too much decay means the body will dissolve after only a few days. Once the victim is slain, all of their blood is drained and magically replaced with a metallic orange-colored liquid known as ichor. This liquid serves as the blood of the Homunculus. Once the ichor is inside the body, unnecessary parts are dissolved out and replaced. All internal organs, except the ear, eyes, and brain are destroyed. The nerves of the body are slightly deadened. Muscles and bones remain intact, however. After the ichor is completely dispersed inside the host body, the Necromancer banishes the soul that once resided in the body. This is easily the most unsavory part of the ritual. A new soul is then used, and usually can be taken from any kind of intelligent animal, but ravens are rather common. Then, binding the animal’s soul to the body and sending magic into the ichor. The ichor takes this initial dose and then slowly begins to draw magic from the natural surroundings (leylines and nexuses) much in the same way Mages do. In fact, Homunculi are easy to detect if one can sense a mage casting a spell. It is weak however and only enough for the Homunculus to sustain itself with. Finally, the Necromancer states his or her name, and places a control spell on the Homunculus, the same used for golems. Note that an animal’s soul isn’t nessecary, but using the original soul can result in a more intelligent Homunculus. (Usually consisting of the intellect of a young child at best.)

Behavior

A Homunculus obeys its master unconditionally, never questioning the orders it is given, much like a golem. If the master leaves it for any period of time, the Homunculus continues performing the last task it was given. Should that master perish, it will still continue to obey the last order, until another master should decide to place a control spell on the wayward Homunculus. They are otherwise emotionless and uncaring, doing only what they are ordered to, and nothing more. They refuse to drink water, as it has the same effect on their Ichor blood that Alcohol has on normal blood. By the same token, Alcohol seems to have little effect on them.

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