Pluvious
But first, tea
@TacitLaurel
Shucks, I'd love to have you with us too, but 4 people is really the maximum I'm willing to go with this particular role play. Best to you!
@SkyGinge
Now that we've got official approval from all members of the group, welcome! I'm loving your enthusiasm and all your questions. This is definitely a collaborative effort, and I love to see my partners get involved in the planning process. Sorry for the delay on information about the world/magic. My comprehensive reply won't be up until perhaps Wednesday. Until then, I just won't have enough time to clearly articulate my thoughts. But I've decided the setting will be an alternate Edwardian universe. Let's say 1910.
@King Misanthrope
Here's a snippet about magic that hopefully sheds a little light on what our magicians will be dealing with:
A big element of this system of magic is speech. I'm calling it lexical magic for now, but basically a spell's success, potency, immediacy, etc. deal not only with saying the "right" words (more on this later), but also with how those words are said, and of course the spellcaster's degree of concentration and experience.
Example: let's say I want to make a pot of tea. I have the kettle filled and over the stove. I could say "Tea, please" but such a vague spell is a recipe for disaster. Only the most talented magicians can successfully pull off a spell like this. Instead, for better chances of success, I should say something like this: "Water, boil" while focusing on picturing the water in my kettle bubbling at a steady boil. This last step is crucial. Without adequately seeing the outcome in your mind, the spell is likely to go off course. Let's say the spell was clearly spoken and I had enough focus to pull it off. I now have a kettle of boiling water, ready for my tea of choice. And it only took me 30 seconds.
Here's the catch: because our own language is used to cast spells, and because the same spell can be cast in so many ways, magical mishaps have become relatively common. So having a professional sphere in which these mistakes can be properly corrected (the way a surgeon can properly remove a ruptured spleen), is necessary. The likelihood of error is also why magic is not as domestic an art as I've just made it seem. If you're not gifted or trained in the skill, would you risk setting your whole house on fire when you only meant to light a single log in the grate? No! At least I hope your answer is no. Think of it as if a magician was any other skilled professional who needs legal approval to begin working in their field of choice. You cannot (and probably shouldn't) give legal advice without having gone to law school. You also probably shouldn't try to wire the electrical in your house if you've never been taught the basics of electrical safety. It doesn't prevent people from trying, but it generally makes magic a common but less accessible facet of this world.
Does that make sense? I ended up saying more than I intended to, so hopefully no one is super confused!
On a side note, now that we have three applicants, I'd like to see if any of you is interested in being Bannon's current assistant. Under this role, your character will tend upkeep of the offices and living quarters. Basically, it's a glorified housekeeper. So far, for however brief or long a time this character has been with Bannon, the job has been non-magical, and doesn't require Letters (this doesn't necessarily mean no magic is used). But maybe this character has been learning in secret, taking midnight courses at a local college and practicing out of the building. Or maybe this character is already qualified to practice magic, and has been slumming it in this position in the hope that when Bannon finally takes on an apprentice, he'd/she'd be the obvious choice. And imagine his/her fury when Bannon takes two complete strangers instead! Or maybe this particular character cannot, for whatever reason (money, station, family, reputation, etc) get into a school of magic, though he/she may be a prodigy. Maybe working with Bannon is the only way he/she can practice magic, albeit illegally. What I'm trying to say is I'd love for one of your characters to have a prexisting relationship with Bannon as his assistant . But there's absolutely no pressure! If you'd all rather be brand new apprentices, that's cool. Or even if one of you would like to be Bannon's sole associate (his business ain't doing so hot right now - all his staff have abandoned him - reasons for this in my CS), that'd be great too. We'd need to work out some background and character dynamics, but that should be fun!! Any takers? :)
Shucks, I'd love to have you with us too, but 4 people is really the maximum I'm willing to go with this particular role play. Best to you!
@SkyGinge
Now that we've got official approval from all members of the group, welcome! I'm loving your enthusiasm and all your questions. This is definitely a collaborative effort, and I love to see my partners get involved in the planning process. Sorry for the delay on information about the world/magic. My comprehensive reply won't be up until perhaps Wednesday. Until then, I just won't have enough time to clearly articulate my thoughts. But I've decided the setting will be an alternate Edwardian universe. Let's say 1910.
@King Misanthrope
Here's a snippet about magic that hopefully sheds a little light on what our magicians will be dealing with:
A big element of this system of magic is speech. I'm calling it lexical magic for now, but basically a spell's success, potency, immediacy, etc. deal not only with saying the "right" words (more on this later), but also with how those words are said, and of course the spellcaster's degree of concentration and experience.
Example: let's say I want to make a pot of tea. I have the kettle filled and over the stove. I could say "Tea, please" but such a vague spell is a recipe for disaster. Only the most talented magicians can successfully pull off a spell like this. Instead, for better chances of success, I should say something like this: "Water, boil" while focusing on picturing the water in my kettle bubbling at a steady boil. This last step is crucial. Without adequately seeing the outcome in your mind, the spell is likely to go off course. Let's say the spell was clearly spoken and I had enough focus to pull it off. I now have a kettle of boiling water, ready for my tea of choice. And it only took me 30 seconds.
Here's the catch: because our own language is used to cast spells, and because the same spell can be cast in so many ways, magical mishaps have become relatively common. So having a professional sphere in which these mistakes can be properly corrected (the way a surgeon can properly remove a ruptured spleen), is necessary. The likelihood of error is also why magic is not as domestic an art as I've just made it seem. If you're not gifted or trained in the skill, would you risk setting your whole house on fire when you only meant to light a single log in the grate? No! At least I hope your answer is no. Think of it as if a magician was any other skilled professional who needs legal approval to begin working in their field of choice. You cannot (and probably shouldn't) give legal advice without having gone to law school. You also probably shouldn't try to wire the electrical in your house if you've never been taught the basics of electrical safety. It doesn't prevent people from trying, but it generally makes magic a common but less accessible facet of this world.
Does that make sense? I ended up saying more than I intended to, so hopefully no one is super confused!
On a side note, now that we have three applicants, I'd like to see if any of you is interested in being Bannon's current assistant. Under this role, your character will tend upkeep of the offices and living quarters. Basically, it's a glorified housekeeper. So far, for however brief or long a time this character has been with Bannon, the job has been non-magical, and doesn't require Letters (this doesn't necessarily mean no magic is used). But maybe this character has been learning in secret, taking midnight courses at a local college and practicing out of the building. Or maybe this character is already qualified to practice magic, and has been slumming it in this position in the hope that when Bannon finally takes on an apprentice, he'd/she'd be the obvious choice. And imagine his/her fury when Bannon takes two complete strangers instead! Or maybe this particular character cannot, for whatever reason (money, station, family, reputation, etc) get into a school of magic, though he/she may be a prodigy. Maybe working with Bannon is the only way he/she can practice magic, albeit illegally. What I'm trying to say is I'd love for one of your characters to have a prexisting relationship with Bannon as his assistant . But there's absolutely no pressure! If you'd all rather be brand new apprentices, that's cool. Or even if one of you would like to be Bannon's sole associate (his business ain't doing so hot right now - all his staff have abandoned him - reasons for this in my CS), that'd be great too. We'd need to work out some background and character dynamics, but that should be fun!! Any takers? :)
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I though he was one of those "Short fame" type of teenagers here. Well, my fault for not keeping track of Bulgarian music for... as long as I could remember 
