Fantasy Reckless Kings [Seeking more Players]

[AtlannianSpy]

Once a shining beacon of modern technology and international cooperation, New Atlantis is now an immense hive of crime effectively controlled by hundreds of crime lords, gangs and clannish secret societies. These "Reckless Kings" are currently only held back by their rivalries with each other. Should one of these groups ever rise to dominance over the others the situation may escalate completely beyond our ability to control it...


-  Organised Crime in New Atlantis, 2016 white paper.



In 2030, global tensions surrounding dwindling fuel reserves were suddenly disrupted by the discovery of a startling new energy source. Named nexite by its discoverer, professor R. Kuril, this purple crystal is an immensely powerful, efficient and clean energy source. First discovered in Russia where it kicked off the great Russian boom, the desire to control nexite deposits sparked an immensely destructive war. Lasting from 2036 to 2046 the Nexite wars wreaked havoc across the globe, displacing millions of people including an up until then unknown group of people.


Magi.


Having remained in hiding for much of the modern era, mages were reintroduced to the world when it was discovered that the vast majority of nexite deposits were located beneath magical settlements. When these areas were fought over the residents were forced to abandon them although a few opted to try and fight they were quickly wiped out. The nexite war eventually ended in a rough stalemate, borders were redrawn, strategic nexite deposits were divided up between the two major alliances but the question remained as to how to handle the problem of magical refugees. In total almost 20 million magical peoples had been displaced by the conflict. Their former homes now vital strategic assets these people had to be relocated. Due to the potential danger even one mage could potentially pose and the high level of resentment produced by their forced resettlement in mundane society was considered too dangerous, a creative solution was necessary. That solution was New Atlantis. An enormous, artificial island built by the combined efforts of five countries, custom built to house 20 million refugees, although not a perfect solution it was the best the world could come up with. 


Fast forward twenty years and New Atlantis has become a bustling megacity of almost thirty million people, its original population spurred on by migration and high birthrates. It has also became the world capital for organised crime. Conventional policing methods have proven totally inadequate for handling the abilities of a majority magical population and the city is largely controlled by various gangs and crime syndicates all vying for superiority. Although the existing power balance between the gangs has brokered an uneasy peace ancient feuds between the old gangs are on the verge of flaring up and the younger groups nipping at their heels are hungry for blood. New Atlantis is a kingdom of dynamite, ruled by reckless kings.


Hello there. What you just read is the pitch for an idea I've been chewing on for a while, in summary a vast, futuristic mega city ruled by gangs of mages and wizards all battling for supremacy. The rp would focus on a group of new recruits to a medium sized gang as they climb up the ranks, battle it out with rival gangs and law enforcement and manage their relationships with each other. As the rp progresses and our scope widens players would eventually be managing their own cliques or even striking out on their own. Think flashy fight scenes, intrigue and drama, all that good stuff. So I dunno if that sounds interesting or you have advice or suggestions lemme know, I'm curious to see what people think.


Update: If you're reading this just now then New Atlantis is well underway! We haven't started the IC yet but a Character template is available and there's plenty of lore to dive into already. If you'd like to come take a look you can fund us here If you have any questions stop by the OOC for a chat.

 

[JRPG]

I'm interested in the concept. I just have a few questions. Does magic effect things regarding the user's appearance? What's the magic system like? How does the magic system work? Those are just my major questions. I'll probably have more, once they're answered.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Does,magic affect things regarding the user's appearance? It can do, it depends on the particular school of magic, some may alter the user's physical body intentionally to achieve some kind of purpose whereas others may alter the appearance of the caster as a side effect.


What's the magic system like? How does the magic system work?  Good question! I'm reusing a system of magic I developed for an older project so it's hopefully reasonably fleshed out without me spending countless hours on it. This is going to a be a bit wall-of-texty so heads up.


Basic principles of magic


Magic is the principle of using the highly malleable entity known as mana to manifest some kind of notable change in the world. Though present all over the world mana is only detectable by about 1% of the population and a much smaller percentage of that 1% receive the necessary training to actually use it to cast spells.


A spell can be thought of as the process of shaping mana by applying information to it, mana is such a reactive substance that sufficiently precise and detailed thought alone is sufficient to cause it to take shape. This phenomenon means state of mind is of critical importance to a mage, uncertainty about the effects of the spell produce the uncertainties themselves, distraction or a lack of focus can cause dangerous malfunctions, in general a firm belief in the principles of magic is necessary to cast magic. This principle also has positive effects, the more a particular instance of magic is performed the easier it is for others to believe in it and perform it themselves. Known as the familiarity effect, this makes older, more popular schools of magic easier to learn and able to reach higher levels of raw power whereas newer schools of magic have to contend with high inefficiency at first even if their effects are more streamlined and useful then archaic styles steeped in theoretically pointless ritual and mythology. The familiarity effect functions at both the individual and group levels, the more a large group of mages uses a spell the easier it is for a people in general to use that spell but a single mage can also increase their familiarity with a certain spell and be capable of casting it quite easily while others struggle with it. A useful metaphor t o use is paths through a forest: If many travellers take the same path through the forest it eventually becomes worn in and easy to walk along and pick up. At the same time, if someone travels upon a little known goat track many times they will eventually learn to recognise and follow it easily where others may not.


The familiarity effect makes it naturally difficult to create entirely new spells, although variations on or enhancements of old spells are easier. The majority of mages spend most of their careers learning the spells handed down by their masters, adding one or two spells themselves that are in turn handed down and refined by their students, in this way the school as a whole continues to grow. Of course the truly powerful masters of magic create and refine many spells, having a spell that is little known is a significant tactical advantage well worth the time invested to obtain it.


Anatomy of a spell, the six steps of casting


Any spell from the most basic cantrip to earth shattering rituals can be broken up into six steps, each of critical importance.



The source


The source is where the mana that will power the spell is drawn from. While Mana  occurs naturally almost everywhere it only manifests in usable quantities in a limited number of places although it can also be artificially stored in others via the application of certain processes. The most reliable and readily available is typically the soul of the person casting the spell, with practice and sufficient will power a mage can generate immense quantities of mana from their soul although overuse of this technique can have deleterious effects on the health of the user. Other favoured sources include naturally occurring minerals and plants and less commonly the souls of other people. Mana can also be granted by magical beings such as spirits and deities though typically stringent conditions must be met or certain services performed before such beings give out their mana. Mana stored in an object in the manner described above is considered passive and cannot be used to cast a spell until its is drawn out.


Drawing
 


Drawing is the act of extracting or drawing out mana from the source and preparing it for use in a spell. Usually this requires physical contact with the source (although advanced mages have displayed the capacity to remotely draw). The mana is pulled out of its source and concentrated in an object, most typically the body of the caster, where it appears as an eerie light that grows in intensity as more mana is drawn out until the spell is cast. The precise colour and other qualities of the mana can be indicative of both the source used and the quality of the spell about to cast and so analysing the drawing of one's opponent can be a deciding factor in magical duels. Interestingly, merely drawing mana out and gathering it in an object has a number of significant effects, in the human body for example active mana massively increases durability and the speed at which the body can function, resulting in massive improvements in durability, strength, agility and reaction time. These gains are so notable that a suitably powerful mage can overwhelm an opponent merely by drawing out mana and physically attacking them, thereby concealing valuable knowledge of their more powerful spells. This effect is thought to be the origin of human myths surrounding ki or life force and many schools of magic stress the use of these techniques in conjunction with more sophisticated spells, incorporating elements of martial arts into their tactics.



Drawing is the first stage at which a mage's natural qualities start to tell as every living being has a sharply defined capacity for storing active mana. More mana must be drawn out at one time to perform more powerful spells however the penalty for exceeding one's capacity, known rather quaintly as mana sickness, can be quite severe ranging from dizziness, headaches and tiredness up to brain and nerve damage, insanity and death depending on how far the mage exceeds their capacity. Capacity can be increased via training however the disparity between natural capacities can be so great as to require decades more training focused exclusively on improving it meaning many schools refuse to take on students without sufficient natural capacity.


Incantation.



Once the mana is drawn out it must be shaped into a usable form, this is accomplished by incantations. Despite the name incantations can also be performed via physical movements or written symbols, technically any method of transferring information should be theoretically capable of being used to perform incantations. The renowned American warlock Dean Newicker performed several successful incantations over radio waves and telegraph services however experiments into electronic communications methods such as email or internet streaming have produced only puzzling and rather spectacular failures. The incantation essentially instructs the mana, telling it to form a certain shape or act in a certain way when certain parameters are met. However because mana has almost no structure to begin with and intense amount of information is required to properly shape it, leading to the primary limiter on spell power, incantation length. 


Though it is theoretically possible to shape mana without a pre-written incantation most mages agree keeping track of that much information is beyond human ability, so called "Free Casting" is something of a holy grail for magic, a perfect, unattainable expression of everything magic is, unbridled creativity. 


Incantations are typically measured in tomes, a standard unit of measurement which describes an incantation written down in a large book. A tome is not entirely precise due to high levels of secrecy and the lack of cooperation in the magical community but generally speaking a tome is understood to contain around 360,000 words and to take an average person about twenty hours to recite aloud (most mages can usually reduce this to about ten through training and practice.) Even the most basic spells that are likely to be of use in combat, hurling a baseball sized fireball or summoning a normal bat to harass one's foe for example, usually require about one tome's worth of incantation and more advanced spells can require tens, hundreds or even thousands of tomes' worth of incanting. Obviously if even the simplest of spells required ten hours to cast magic would never be of any practical use in combat and would likely never have been studied to the depth it has. This is where the next step, compression, comes in.


Compression.



If a spell is to be used in practical situations something has to be done about the length of incantations, this process is known as compression and it is perhaps one the most important and poorly understood aspects of magic. Simply put the first time a mage uses a new spell they must recite its incantation in its entirety however once they have done this they can begin shortening the incantation by creating data points that, in the mage's mind, represent multiple data points of the original incantation, thereby heavily reducing the amount of recital needed to cast the spell. With repeated readings and castings of the spell the process of compression can be repeated on the shortened incantation, shortening it even further. With sufficient study, recital and practice with the spell a lengthy, twenty hour long incantation can be shortened down to a short sentence or even a single word. One of the most popular and oldest methods for word based incantations is known as primacy, the first letter of each word in the incantation is taken and the results are strung together to form new words. What the new words precisely look like is up to the inclination of the mage in question and so even mages using the same method of compression on the same spell will end up with different compressed incantations. 

It's important to note that while compressing a spell once takes only a single recital of the spell, subsequent compression typically require multiple readings and lengthy meditation sessions, the time required to compress is exponential so the first compression which might turn a ten hour incantation into a five hour one will only take several hours of reading whereas the 49th compression which turns a five second incantation into a two point five second incantation can take months or even years of study and meditation. Despite this case of diminishing returns many mages do compress their spells to this level, especially combat focused mages as the scant few seconds can often be a case of life or death in battle. 

While Compression is an acquired skill rather than a natural ability its also true that some mages acquire and master it more rapidly than others. A talent for compression is the second factor after mana capacity for deciding a mage's raw power and some schools of magic which emphasise rapid use of less powerful spells value it even more than capacity. 



Targeting.



Perhaps the easiest to understand part of a typical spell, targeting is simply the process of designating what the spell in question is going to attempt to affect. Different spells have different targeting requirements, some need a trajectory or vector for a projectile or beam to travel across, others target a section of the ground or another surface while others still require designating a specific object, creature or person as the target. Targeting can be performed via a number of methods, pointing fingers or simply focusing the eyes are common methods but some spells require marking the target with some kind of symbol or designating an area with a magic circle or other device. Anticipating where a particular spell will land by reading the movements of a mage as they target it is an important factor in combating mages. 

Execution



The final stage of casting a spell and the most passive from the perspective of the caster. During the execution phase the spell can no longer be altered or cancelled in any way, its effects simply play out as in accordance with the spells' incantation, fireballs fly through the air, golems assemble themselves out of any nearby components, magical snakes pursue and attempt to devour their prey. The precise length of the execution phase varies according to the precise nature of the spell in question and environmental factors can play a role. For example if the target is further away and the spell cast produces a projectile that must travel towards the target than the execution phase will naturally take longer, especially if the target is an opponent who takes evasive action. Because of the lack of direct control during this phase, the execution phase is the most vulnerable to counters, that is methods of dealing with an enemies’ spell, such as evading its effects or blocking or disrupting it with a spell of one's own. Some spells require the caster to actively control the spell as long as it is maintained, essentially combining the targeting and execution phases 

 

[A Mysterious Figure]

This seems interesting, I'm not too sure if I'll be able to join just yet (possible life clashes and with the amount of stuff I've taken on at the moment) but I'll keep an eye out.

 

[JRPG]

@AtlannianSpy I appreciate your lengthy detail on the magic system, as well as your answers to my question. I'll read it over, but it may take a while for me to memorize it, since the post certainly is a ton to catch up on. I actually have no questions regarding your post, but I may during the RP.


I like the familiarity effect. I can see it allowing the user to develop particular magic spells due to their backstory/origins, and how they progress in the RP. Maybe one develops a skill in order to combat a rival, or to better survive in a society/gang that values tourneys. It also explains why some magic users would cast some spells faster, than other spells.


I'm hyped for this RP, so good luck.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

This seems interesting, I'm not too sure if I'll be able to join just yet (possible life clashes and with the amount of stuff I've taken on at the moment) but I'll keep an eye out.

cool, feel free to follow us at your leisure.

@AtlannianSpy I appreciate your lengthy detail on the magic system, as well as your answers to my question. I'll read it over, but it may take a while for me to memorize it, since the post certainly is a ton to catch up on. I actually have no questions regarding your post, but I may during the RP.


I like the familiarity effect. I can see it allowing the user to develop particular magic spells due to their backstory/origins, and how they progress in the RP. Maybe one develops a skill in order to combat a rival, or to better survive in a society/gang that values tourneys. It also explains why some magic users would cast some spells faster, than other spells.


I'm hyped for this RP, so good luck.

You don't have to memorise it or anything lol, it'll always be there to reference. I'm glad you like it though, I'll be dripfeeding in more lore and background info as I prepare it so stay tuned I guess.

 

[JRPG]

@AtlannianSpy Alright, I'll stay tuned. Although, I wouldn't post all the lore here. I notice you're nearing 250 posts, so maybe you can do a hosted project, and have a lore thread?

 

[VoxMultis]

This seems interesting! I look forward to seeing where this goes!

 

[AtlannianSpy]

@AtlannianSpy Alright, I'll stay tuned. Although, I wouldn't post all the lore here. I notice you're nearing 250 posts, so maybe you can do a hosted project, and have a lore thread?

Yeah that's the plan, I've actually been posting a lot more than usual to try and edge over that 250 mark.

 

[JRPG]

@AtlannianSpy Great, can't wait!

 

[A Mysterious Figure]

Yeah that's the plan, I've actually been posting a lot more than usual to try and edge over that 250 mark.

You only need one more post!

 

[AtlannianSpy]

You only need one more post!

We made it! 


I do still have a fair bit of prep work to do so tue rp might not be up for a coupke of days yet.

 

[A Mysterious Figure]

We made it! 


I do still have a fair bit of prep work to do so tue rp might not be up for a coupke of days yet.

That's cool, I'm fine with waiting myself. (I'm trying to get my post count up myself at the moment for my own role play... Unfortunately, I've got more than one post to make.)

 

[Historical Storyteller]

I like the way you detailed the principles of magic. It's good work.


I think I'll add a character that does not use magic but he uses dirty tactics to win a fight. What he lacks in magical ability, he compensates for the amount of preparation he goes through. This has downsides though, he spends a lot of money just to be fully equipped to deal with rival mages and he has to find the equipment in the first place.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Hey so sorry for not keeping you guys posted these last couple of days. Reckless Kings is now a hosted project but it is currently a bit of skeleton, these next few days I will be adding to it an prettying it up. Tomorrow I will invite you all so you can scope it out but right now it's like 3:30 am and I'm sure it is liberally peppered with typos so I need to look at it with fresh eyes in the morning before it's ready for open house as it were.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Status report: It's the still very much a work in progress but we have a workable skeleton and the rules are in place so I'm handing out invites now. I'm just gonna go ahead and invite everyone who's poked their head in in any capacity so feel free to ignore it if you want.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

It's time to prepare my character sheet beforehand then. It's going to require a lot of thought as my character is a normal human being with no cybernetic implants or magical power. He would be handicapped in combat, but he would still be able to put up a fight...


Hmm, imma need to think this through first...


Still I'd love to have a character without magic powers for the heck of it!

 

[AtlannianSpy]

That miiiight be tricky. Not impossible exactly just difficult. You might want to read the Principals of magic post, especially the subsection "mana and the human body and soul" which will have some stuff to take into account if you're going to try and circumvent magic entirely.

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

I see that there's a Conjuration school of magic that basically of uses summons.  Does that include summoning demons or evil spirits, and if so is possession a thing in this setting?  I've got an idea for a character that might involved a half-failed summoning leading to a half-failed possession leading to a rather odd "I give you a body to live in, so you protect me" kind of symbiosis.


Can Manifestation be used to create complex machines out of magic?  I'm thinking things like a gun... or an attack helicopter... or a fleet of attack helicopters.  My other idea for a character involves a guy with a lot of raw ability but zero interest in magic until he's told it can be used to make cool non-magic weapons.  


Is there going to be time skips beyond "oh it's the next day now btw" mini kind?


Is there a hard character limit?  I don't think I saw it stated in the rules if players are only allowed one or some number of characters.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

@AtlannianSpy


Hmm, you're right it's difficult considering that he is facing foes that have superhuman levels of strength, speed, reaction time, stamina, and possibly much smarter or able to process information at a faster rate. Going against a heavily armed human is hard enough, but trying to duke it out with a superhuman that can cast a bolt of lightning with their hands, turn reality against you, or summon freaky demons to tear your ass into two? That's no no. I fear that if he is not used properly he may become a load for the party.


 However, there a number of roles that I can see for a normal human to take.


1. He may take the role of an Organizer. As an organizer he can manage the operations of the gang, he would come up with ways to expand the gang by looking for any suitable opportunities that may profit the organization. This does not require magic at all, it just takes good business sense.


2. He may take the role of a Leader. This crosses the line with the role of Mediator, as he resolves disputes between members within the organization and makes peace with other rival organizations, he may take up the banner of the organization himself, motivate people to do their jobs along the way, and take control of any ongoing activities.


3. He may take the role of a Mediator. Everybody in the different six magical schools lean towards one line of behavior and so they may not get along well with each other. This normal human who is not like them, but he can still understand them to a degree without managing to alienate them can facilitate a relationship between the magi that don't get along with each other 


4 .He may take the role of a Diplomat. Face it, nobody expects the pipsqueak to set the entire place on fire with a snap of a finger. Since he poses not much of a threat to an enemy, he may be sent to negotiate terms with other parties with little risk.


If he has to fight anyway, I would want him to use some magically augmented gun, grenades, swords, etc. I don't want him to use cybernetic implants because it would be a sci-fi element when the focus of this roleplay is more on fantasy. Anyways, I'm kind of hesitant to make a non-magical character considering the history the magi have with humans. The nexite war could have made the magi have bad blood with the humans.


Note: If these don't just fit into the context of the roleplay, then I'll have to use a character with magical powers then. I was thinking of one that uses magic so he can take a lot of damage and heal himself.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Ok, I've finally thought of what my character will be like.


He'll be a student of sociology (a science that studies the groups and cultures of people) that was constantly told to drop college to help run the family business. Finally wanting to get away with all of that and pursue his dreams, he embarks on an expedition made up of only himself to study a particularly interesting group of people, the magi, but it was not just the magi, it was going to be the magi gangs of New Atlantis.


He would read a few articles about these people but he realized that there was a dearth of information on these magical people. Sure, they knew how this magic worked but they didn't know how they lived, what their lives were like before the Nexite wars, and how they felt about all these changes. He wanted to get heart-to-heart with them so he fully understand them and hopefully he would share his experience with the non-magical peoples of earth so they could know what a magi feels.


(Eh, if you say it's cool then I'm gonna definitely pick this character! It's just that after reading some reviews on the book of Gang Leader for a Day I've become skeptical of the author who wrote it.)

 

[AtlannianSpy]

I see that there's a Conjuration school of magic that basically of uses summons.  Does that include summoning demons or evil spirits, and if so is possession a thing in this setting?  I've got an idea for a character that might involved a half-failed summoning leading to a half-failed possession leading to a rather odd "I give you a body to live in, so you protect me" kind of symbiosis.

Yup, well kind of, spirits and demons don't really subscribe to human notions of morality so it might not be accurate to call them "evil" Demons exist but they can be viewed as having an important ecological role almost, the RP a lot of this theory was lifted from was focused around demons so they aren't generic badguys. Demons feed on the souls of the deceased and then release them as particles that eventually form new souls so without demons you would start getting babies being born without souls. Eating the souls of still living humans is a pretty big taboo for demons but it's a quick and dirty way to get stronger very quickly so some greedy or impatient demons do it anyways. Such a demon would actually have a good reason to stay in our realm as they would be an outcast and a fugitive in the demon plane so they might try to hide out here, sustaining there form with a host's mana.

Can Manifestation be used to create complex machines out of magic?  I'm thinking things like a gun... or an attack helicopter... or a fleet of attack helicopters.  My other idea for a character involves a guy with a lot of raw ability but zero interest in magic until he's told it can be used to make cool non-magic weapons.  

Yes, although it would be very difficult and not  exactly worth doing just using manifestation. The more complex something is the longer the incantation to will it out of nowhere would be and for all that complexity your opponent could destroy it much more easily with like a fireball or something so over the course of the battle they're going to pull ahead just by countering your moves with more basic ones. You could do things like manifest bullets and maybe even missiles though,


 It might be more effective to build the helicopter or what have you manually and then increasing it's power and abilities with Imbuement. With that you could things like make an helicopter entirely out of something very hard and make it fly and attack with magic so it would be much more efficient.

Is there going to be time skips beyond "oh it's the next day now btw" mini kind?

Probably at some point, like between arcs and stuff. I don't have nay specifically planned yet but I'd like to have tool in my pocket if it would be useful to move us forwards at some point. People might also be involved in side or mini arcs that take place at different times for convenience sake. 

Is there a hard character limit?  I don't think I saw it stated in the rules if players are only allowed one or some number of characters.

Nooo not a hard limit, although I'll probably ask people to stick to one for a while until we all get our feet under us. I always feel like two or three is the most characters people can juggle without losing something. If people have like five characters or something they inevitably end up not paying attention to some of them which kind of sucks for the other players who try to invest in relationships of some sort with those chracters.

Ok, I've finally thought of what my character will be like.


He'll be a student of sociology (a science that studies the groups and cultures of people) that was constantly told to drop college to help run the family business. Finally wanting to get away with all of that and pursue his dreams, he embarks on an expedition made up of only himself to study a particularly interesting group of people, the magi, but it was not just the magi, it was going to be the magi gangs of New Atlantis.


He would read a few articles about these people but he realized that there was a dearth of information on these magical people. Sure, they knew how this magic worked but they didn't know how they lived, what their lives were like before the Nexite wars, and how they felt about all these changes. He wanted to get heart-to-heart with them so he fully understand them and hopefully he would share his experience with the non-magical peoples of earth so they could know what a magi feels.


This character was inspired by the book Gang Leader for a Day written by Sudhir Venkatesh, who actually spent years of his life studying a group of gangs in Chicago. I think I better re-read some parts of the book and continue reading the parts I haven't read yet. I'm halfway done by the way, There are just so many books out there that sometimes I stop reading one book to read another....

That sounds cool! Kinda reminds me of Green Street Hooligans, I'm planning to make a mentorish character to point you guys in the right direction who is a bit of a nerd for history and politics (because I would like a good IC mouthpiece to dump all my lore through) so I imagine they would get along.


If you want such a character to not be defenceless you have few options. 


1. As you correctly figured you could have them use Imbued items to level the playing field, you could have something that is powerful but  has limited uses as a kind of last resort or you could have more reliable stuff, you would still run into issues with not having superhuman reflexes and such. One option is items that summon creatures to fight for you since that would be mainly reliant on their strength not yours although it might clash with the aesthetic you want. I guess the issue with these sorts of solutions is that you don't have natural way to grow stronger beyond acquiring stronger items whereas other players would be improving their capabilities and developing new spells. 


Maybe you could befriend a rookie Imbuer who is honing their skills and making gradually stronger prototypes who is happy to test out their inventions on this character?


2. Precisely controlling one's mana is not technically magic since it doesn't require incantations, it's technically closer to honing a natural function of the body and you could learn to do it without learning magic. You could have your character learn he has the potential for that when he meets mages but decide not to learn a particular school of magic to preserve his neutrality or something. The problem here is that it would have to be someone technically capable of magic who simply chooses not to learn it which isn't precisely the same thing as not being magical at all. The lore establishes that such people exist but it might not be what you're going for. 

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Eh, my character doesn't have to be so young and rebellious. Maybe he can be an undercover journalist looking for the big scoop, a story that will catch the attention of a lot of readers. He's inexperienced in dealing with gangs and he only has theoretical knowledge of mages, but to keep the story fresh and full of action he won't be a naive character that's easily shocked.


He's been waiting for the day he'll be assigned to New Atlantis for years now, and today he's convinced his superiors that sending a journalist to New Atlantis to study the gangs, although highly dangerous, would give the people a unique perspective on the magical gangs of New Atlantis through the eyes of an insider with a non-magical background.


(Er, I don't know much about journalism but I'll give it a shot anyway.)


@AtlannianSpy


Yes, any help from that Imbued rookie would be great!


Oh shit, I just realized something. Mana doesn't really have to come from the soul of a person, right? It's everywhere and one just simply has to find a way to collect it. If such a way is found, then even a non-magical person like this journalist character can be reasonably badass in his own way.


All this journalist has to learn is mana collection, mana storage, and mana control to the point of a high level of mastery to be able to compete with the more powerful characters. He won't cast spells, but he will augment his body to the point of being a superhuman. If this art were to spread, then the way humanity would fight would change forever. And that journalist will be the first ones to pioneer these techniques.


Damn, my character won't be far behind the others even without magic. He's going to rely a lot on that rookie Imbuer for equipment though. The only problem is if he overdoes it then he will get mana sickness that can be as bad as your entire body exploding from too much pressure to a simple headache. If my character does get mana sickness, I'd like him to get white hair and white eyes in the process!


Anyways, I've been thinking of this album as the list of his theme songs.


VHS Glitch - Evil Technology


As a character there will be several conflicts that he will fight...


1. The Truth vs Propaganda - Our character has a genuine interest in the magi, but powerful forces outside the city of New Atlantis have already influenced him to think of magi as dangerous people. When he sees them for himself, he becomes even more afraid but he learns that they are humans like him, just humans with magic.


2. Mana - Once he learns mana, will he disclose the secret arts to the public so that they will get interested in it? This might cause the peoples of the Earth to force the magi into teaching this art. Or will he keep it a secret? And he may even hunt down people who wish to expose this art, to keep the magi people safe.


3. Law and Chaos - He may not be a naive person, but he still has qualms about breaking the law at first. The journalist is after all a law-abiding citizen, but he will gradually become more ruthless and cunning as the series progresses.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Eh, my character doesn't have to be so young and rebellious. Maybe he can be an undercover journalist looking for the big scoop, a story that will catch the attention of a lot of readers. He's inexperienced in dealing with gangs and he only has theoretical knowledge of mages, but to keep the story fresh and full of action he won't be a naive character that's easily shocked.


He's been waiting for the day he'll be assigned to New Atlantis for years now, and today he's convinced his superiors that sending a journalist to New Atlantis to study the gangs, although highly dangerous, would give the people a unique perspective on the magical gangs of New Atlantis through the eyes of an insider with a non-magical background.


(Er, I don't know much about journalism but I'll give it a shot anyway.)


@AtlannianSpy


Yes, any help from that Imbued rookie would be great!


Oh shit, I just realized something. Mana doesn't really have to come from the soul of a person, right? It's everywhere and one just simply has to find a way to collect it. If such a way is found, then even a non-magical person like this journalist character can be reasonably badass in his own way.


All this journalist has to learn is mana collection, mana storage, and mana control to the point of a high level of mastery to be able to compete with the more powerful characters. He won't cast spells, but he will augment his body to the point of being a superhuman. If this art were to spread, then the way humanity would fight would change forever. And that journalist will be the first ones to pioneer these techniques.


Damn, my character won't be far behind the others even without magic. He's going to rely a lot on that rookie Imbuer for equipment though. The only problem is if he overdoes it then he will get mana sickness that can be as bad as your entire body exploding from too much pressure to a simple headache. If my character does get mana sickness, I'd like him to get white hair and white eyes in the process!


Anyways, I've been thinking of this album as the list of his theme songs.


VHS Glitch - Evil Technology

That sounds ripe for a "Becoming the thing you're infiltrating" style storyline, if he experiences combat for the first time and decides he likes it that could be really interesting. 


It'd be neat if someone wanted to play as the Imbuer but if not I'll make them, be a nice background character to mess around with. 


Yes there would be plenty of external sources of of mana to use in that way some of which would already have been developed for mages that have good capacity but struggle with mana generation for some reason. PLants might be a good one because you could turn them into pills or something, like a badass herbal remedy. 

 

[Historical Storyteller]

That sounds ripe for a "Becoming the thing you're infiltrating" style storyline, if he experiences combat for the first time and decides he likes it that could be really interesting. 


It'd be neat if someone wanted to play as the Imbuer but if not I'll make them, be a nice background character to mess around with. 


Yes there would be plenty of external sources of of mana to use in that way some of which would already have been developed for mages that have good capacity but struggle with mana generation for some reason. PLants might be a good one because you could turn them into pills or something, like a badass herbal remedy. 

He probably won't like combat, but the thrill of being able to use mana will get to him. Not only that, the opportunity to experience a whole new world so completely different from his own will transform him. I like the idea of a gangster journalist, he'll be all like, "Bringing the truth in with a shotgun blast."


I don't know if he'll become a full gangster yet, but all I can say is that it sounds really catchy. This entire storyline could be more accurately summed up as "Becoming the Mask".


You really thought of the story, Atlannian, there's room for a lot of possibilities. I like that!