Magic and mayhem

[Hiroku]

I want to do a modern RP where magic is not something entirely hidden away. So not the typical "Magicals hid from the humans for thousands of years." I want people to be more aware of the existence of the otherworldly races and magic. It would still be held in awe to an extent, and perhaps there are communities where it's just thought to be fairy tales and urban legends.

So I want to do a roleplay where in a town or city, two types of magicals are having a gang war, say Vamps and Werewolves as an example(Which I will not use in the RP because those are too typical, unless they win by popular demand). They've got a feud for whatever reason and are more or less terrorizing the other less powerful magicals and regular citizens.

In are called the "Monster Slayers" for lack of a more creative term. Regular and magical professionals who work together or solo to deal with these types of situations around the country. They could be in the government/ police force, or a private agency, or just vigilantes depending.

I can't decide what sort of magicals should be having the gang war, but I want it to be something people can feel free to choose a side on, or be a monsterslayer.

I'm not much good on intricacies such as why they're fighting, could be any reason, a family feud, territory disputes, control of magical contraband. I've been thinking about it for days and nothing is sparking, so I like to have people give input so I can bounce ideas around.

[Deleted]

Suppose they find a well that actually influences the level of power that magicals are born with. So one side is gradually getting stronger and their young is becoming far more dangerous. Opposite side would be threatened so they make the first strike to take the territory surrounding the water well.

[Hiroku]

I'm liking this idea, thanks for responding.

[Hiroku]

Hmm, I want magic and technology to be on a somewhat even footing, for example a shielding spell cannot work against both magical and physical attacks at the same time, or a spell to make a car break down will not work against a computer because the two things are built so differently.

I want none-magical beings to have a somewhat even footing against magicals. Maybe I'll use magical items that regulars can use. But I dunno. I figure also "Mythic" things like wooden stakes killing vampires would come into play, as well as holy items.

Iron is strong against fairies in many stories, so perhaps regular monster-slayers will incorporate iron into their gear.

[sun88]

So perhaps something like Iron armor or iron based swords or weaponry. Maybe guns that shoot iron bullets? I don't know. I've been reading a lot of Punisher lately

[Hiroku]

Yeah, like that. And silver of course for werewolves and such. Perhaps their armor and weaponry would be an alloy of metals since iron by itself is very heavy. The more iron you have the better your attacks and defense, but the more cumbersome they are, and the slower you move.

[sun88]

Not if you make the armor breathable and flexible. Light armor to maneuver and to carry more weapons.

[Hiroku]

True in that.

[sun88]

I'd give a monster slayer character some thought into playing

[Hiroku]

Here is what I have so far, decided to go a little further into the future than modern times. Tell me if I'm putting too much info. I often wind up going too deep into details and then need to trim things down, but don't know where to cut and what to save.

~*~---------------------------------~*~

Ever wonder what a fantasy world would be like if their technology grew and they advanced much as we have to our modern day times? Magic alongside technology, having a witch for a neighbor would be no more surprising than a little old lady with ten cats.

Let us take it one step further, and say this is a post-post apocalyptic world. A great war broke out that devastated the world, and it has been long enough that technology and magic have somewhat rebuilt themselves. Towns and cities have been rebuilt midst the ruins of the old.

Certain technologies and magic were lost in the “Apocalypse War” as it is known. Then came the Dark Ages, and now an age of rebuilding.

There is no longer a witch class, for the ability to fuse magic and harvested ingredients to create potions, poisons, and medicines has been lost. Alchemists have since taken on the role of creating things from ingredients, but they lack magic, so no potions that put you in an enchanted sleep or change your physical appearance.

As such for a long time people have been unable to enchant physical items. In the last 20 years a breakthrough came when Alchemists and Wizards worked together, and now items can be enchanted, but only as a one time use. So you can make your sword burst into flame on activation, but only for one stab or swing, then it is just a regular sword again, or an item can change its shape for a set amount of time. These items will either need to be re-enchanted, or if the enchantment is a poor one, your item may be destroyed, so be careful who you buy your enchantments from.

It would seem that a none-magical person would not stand much of a chance against a wizard or vampire, but “regular” races such as humans, anthropomorphs, dwaves, and the like, do have silver and iron on their side. Weapons and armor of iron and iron alloy are employed to aid the regulars when it comes to a fight against magic or strongly magical races/creatures. And wooden stakes still kill vampires. Because of its wide use, iron and silver are more precious than gold in this world. As such poorer people use lighter armor or armor that is a different metal and iron mixed.

A note on magic: the currently known magic cannot work against both magic and physical things at the same time. If you want to block a magical attack, you have to use a shield spell that blocks magic. To stop a physical object like a speeding bullet or a rock, you need to know a completely different type of shield spell. Using a spell that say, melts through physical objects, cannot melt through a magical barrier.

Ancient technology: Magical items that do not lose their magic after a single use. The “technology” for making these items was lost when the dark ages came about. Here and there these things resurface and if they're not snatched up by the local government for research, then they can cause quite the nuisance.

The ancient items last forever, and their magic is strong. A regular sword with a fire spell on it will only cause a fiery blow once on activation. A sword of ancient technology will have a fiery strike every time. These items also work against both magic and physical attacks simultaneously, so you can imagine how prized they are.

Transportation spell: Needs two items with the same activation spell, limited in their range. An ancient technology item would be able to transport you anywhere over and over without a second item for the destination.

Monster-Slayers: Derogatorily named peacekeepers. These people form a loose police and courier system since long distance magical communication is lost, and technological communication is spotty and limited to land lines which are not widely spread due to the nature of the “Wild lands.” Monster Slayers were originally set up to keep magicals in check as they had a one-up on regular people for a long time and some abused their power. There was bias on both sides and the magicals felt that they were being lumped with magical monsters, thus the name grew in popularity for the police force.

Counties and Wild Lands: Counties of farmland and scattered towns/cities are cut off from other counties by the Wild Lands, miles of land where monsters, radioactive, and magical residue from the Apocalypse have congregated and seeped into the earth and air. Forests and plains are surprisingly resilient and have grown back, but eatable plants and animals are highly toxic unless properly prepared. Out here you need a gas mask and a magic warding cloak or suit to get from county to county. Usually only Couriers brave these gaps between civilization. Each county's Monster Slayers form their own police force but they keep in communication with each other in case they need more manpower, or are passing on fugitive names.


~*~----~*~

A piece of ancient technology had been found in the relatively small town of Twin Rivers. A mage found something that has given him/her enough power to go against the resident gang of dragons who more or less ruled the town and surrounding countryside. Now a gang war has broken out and all the other residents of Twin Rivers are being caught in the crossfire.

[sun88]

This reminds me of final fantasy x with Yevon, the al-bhed and machina. Once magic left them, they evolved and started to rely on machinery instead of magic

[Hiroku]

Technology will be set back as well of course. I'm not sure how set back though, like how advanced guns should be, or if cars should still work or if they are perhaps rare items that only rich people have because of the difficulty of getting oil because...

BB se+ems to enjoy *walking around my keyboard.

Anyway, I don't know 'cause I'd like my character to move from place to place on a motorcycle. XP I hate thinking overly much on these types of things, but if I don't then I fear it will cause confusion later. It's odd because when I want to write a story I don't think too deeply about how anything works, but when I roleplay suddenly I have to have everything in its place.

[sun88]

We need giant mechanical robots. And motorcycles would be cool too. Like a magic vs technology vibe.

[Hiroku]

Giant robots I'm not too sure about. Maybe if it was a lost technology deal so there would only be one or two around.

Ug, I'm having such a block about this. I really want to start an introduction and get to it but I can't write 'cause I still have too much I want to work out, but I feel like I'm making this too complicated since it's just a roleplay. I even put the idea to my writing group to get some input on the magic vs technology and man vs man/nature/supernatural.

Naturally instead of getting right down to the writing right after the meeting I waited until today and now I can't remember what input they gave me. Blarg. I need some chocolate so i can think.

[sun88]

Well take your time and make sure the story is what you want it to me. I would hate for it to go in a direction you wouldn't want it to.

[Hiroku]

Got the rules of the world down, there's quite a bit there, and what may be the beginning of a introduction of my second dragon lady as a potential antagonist/hero. I don't really want to play her though so I'll likely change that so that there are morely clearly three sides of this fight to choose from.

~*~-------------


Magic and technology are both wonderful and terrible. Sadly the two came to be terrible in the time of the Apocalypse when the world went to hell. Bombs went off, demons were summoned, and people were killed in every way imaginable, as individuals, or as a faceless mass wiped from the globe.

Two hundred years after the apocalypse, society has tried to rebuild itself. Certain technologies and magics have been lost, especially the legendary items of power, items that were both magically and technologically manufactured.

Magic lost:

Potions: magic through potion making has been lost. Since potion-making was from the witch-class it is considered that the witch-class was wiped out in the apocalypse as the ability to create potions through the use of magical and natural means combined is lost, perhaps from a depletion/damage of natural magic in the world.

Inborn healing: healers have all but disappeared as the link they once shared with the natural world is either depleted or damaged. Considered to have been wiped out, but rumors pop up now and then of a healer existing here or there. And there's no end of false healers popping up and scamming people. Being able to magically heal yourself is not possible. (Or pass it by me if you absolutely must).

Multi-use: Pure magic cannot work for both magical things and physical at the same time. For example a magical shield cannot block a physical attack and a magical attack at the same time. You must be able to create two different types of shield spells, and you cannot cast them at the same time. Magical fire, often called fairy fire or fox fire, created from magic and not from a natural source, cannot burn through physical things or hurt a person. Regular fire that you enhance through magic (Make hotter or more of) will hurt physical things.

Enchanted items multi-use: It is impossible to enchant an item to do anything for more than one time. So a sword will only become a flaming sword for a single swing or strike, a pair of transporter rocks(There must be a sender and receiver item) will only transport an item from point A to point B once before they must be enchanted again, which takes time.

Tir na Nog: The fairy world, never one to choose sides, even in such a great war as the Apocalypse, has closed its borders with the regular world. There are still remnants of fairy-kind in the world, hiding out in the few beautiful places left, and allegedly still secret ways to reach the fairy realm, but they are almost mere folk tales now.

Lost Technology:

Cell phones, internet, television, multi-mode weapons (A weapon that with a quick adjustments becomes another weapon such as a blade becoming a gun or a bow.) Nukes, airplanes and other flying machines and weapons of mass destruction.

cybernetic technology: Now-a-days if you lose a limb you're pretty much back to having either no limb or a very primitive mechanical one that does not function smoothly. Wizards and enchanters can make your limb function more to your will for a large fee. Animating false limbs lasts for a couple hours to several days depending on the enchantment, instead of just for one time like regular items because reasons. XP

Giant mechs: Gone. Lost in the apocalypse. Some people have made primitive ones, but making a mech that bends to your slightest movements is similar to cybernetic technology.

Nano-machinery: used mostly for healing and transformation, the technology and blueprints for making these micro robots has been lost, but over the years people who had these in them in the past have passed them down like genes into the following generations. So there are people out there who can do minimal transformation, such as the tips of their fingers, or heal a little more quickly than others (No over-night healing unless you can give me a good reason to let your character heal more quickly).

Force fields and lasers: Lost.

Lost Artifacts: Items of magical and technological power combined: Perhaps an item that can transport you anywhere, or a sword that turns into flames on command, or a cell phone that can let you instantly communicate with another person, or summon a gigapet monster to do battle. Use some imagination on this one. Lost artifacts can work on both the magical and physical plane at the same time.

Rare items: Cars and motor cycles are rarer items in the world, usually held by more wealthy people or those in the police force since gas is a bit harder to come by. Trains are around but no rails, or very limited ones since lines were destroyed in the apocalypse.

~*~

Wizards: Deal in casting spells and some enchanting. Whether you are a boy or girl you are considered a wizard if you can do these things.

Mages: people with the inborn ability to manipulate fire, earth, air, or water. The last three are difficult to master due to the ties they have in nature, and the damage of their links in the Apocalypse.

Fire: True, none fairy fire, has the unusual capacity to cause some small damage to a magical shield or otherwise counteract magic as well as things of the physical plain, but only in the hands of a master. (Ask permission to be a master fire mage, please.)

Botanists: People with the ability to manipulate plants. These are rare people with both earth and water abilities, thus their ability to influence plants, but neither element on its own.

Shifters: Those that can organically shape shift into one type of creature, and their own race, such as an elf that can shift into a squirrel, then back again. Often mixed up with were creatures, who only shapeshift on the full moon, and are no longer in control of their mind during transformation.

Muggles: none magical races such as humans, dwarves, animal people, some elves, and other races or individuals that do not have a magical affinity are collectively called muggles.

Monster-hunter/slayer: After the war, muggles were at a distinct disadvantage to the magicals, and were less able to protect themselves from the monsters that had existed before the apocalypse, or were born from the magical and nuclear fallout. Banding together and training to be strong contenders who could protect the less fortunate, these people became a loose police force that has developed over the years. Since they were mostly made up of muggles, there was inevitable discrimination despite their best efforts and magicals felt that they unfairly grouped all magicals together with the magical monsters that no one wanted around, so the derogatory “Monster-hunter” or Monster-slayer” name was given to them.

The muggles's Ace: Even with training it would seem muggles would still be at a disadvantage, but they do have one item on their side to even the odds and that is Iron. A natural void to magic, iron is practically gold to most people, and can be used in weapons and armor. It is in high demand so it's more likely that Monster-hunters will have it and people with more money at their disposal. Often, for the less fortunate, a metal alloy can be made, but it of course would leave a person less well protected. However there are also muggles who go macho and don't use iron armor or weapons but still get in the thick of things.

Iron does not work against vampires and werewolves, but wooden stakes and silver weapons or bullets do respectively. The iron rule may not apply for certain other races of magicals as well, but they have their own various weaknesses, which may or may not still be known since the apocalypse.

The land and other things:

Walls, some a couple miles, others hundreds, close off the various “Counties” where communities live and work. There are some safe roads between most of the counties but outside the walls is mostly the nuclear and magical fallout from the apocalypse. Yes, magic can pollute just as much as technology. Out here are monsters, demons, and creatures that have adapted to the radioactivity. People try to avoid traversing across these except under the most dire circumstances, preferring to stick to the few longer, but safer routes(If you don't count the criminal element that can frequent certain roads).

~*~-----------~*~

Ellery Win gazed down upon her domain from her den atop the small mountain.

They were a good people, if poor when compared to the standards of so many ages ago. Ellery Win dwelt often on the ages past, from before the time of the great wars. Before attack magic had advanced so far as to wipe out whole cities of people, before the bombs of the muggles spread such devastation, and before the nuclear and magical fallout that had reduced the world to something of a salvaging stone age.

So many innocent people, so much knowledge and beauty, lost in the rubble of the Apocalypse. Ellery Win now understood her cousin's devastation when the library of Alexandria was destroyed. So much lost because of the inborn sin of all mortal races.

And immortal. She shouldn't be racist against the mortals. Goodness knows she had done much evil in her time, blinded by ideals.

She had learned from her mistakes though, and she had the mark of her sin left upon her as a constant reminder of what she had been and still was.

A dragon. Ah, but it was hard not to look back on those times with some measure of regret when she was feeling powerless to help those she loved.

And she loved the whole town she protected. Loved them all; And wanted them to love her, too. And they did, because she protected them from the fallout; from the rogue demons and mutated monsters that lived on the fringes, looking for a way past the walls to get in and kill every being in their path.

Detestable things, they were not made for love. They were an abomination. If Ellery Win but still had her true dragon form and powers, she would destroy the demons, the most dangerous of enemies.

Speaking of enemies....

Ellery Win looked back towards the town and felt her bruised side. Some upstart from the Grivaldi family had somehow gained hold of a strange artifact. Drunk on power, he had dared to oppose Ellery Win's governance of the town. The Grivaldi family were always a troublesome lot, trying to undermine Ellery Win and take with fear, what she had earned by love.

Tch. She loved all her subjects, but the Grivaldis had overstepped their bounds and now had to pay, either with their lives, or with expulsion from the county.

[Hiroku]

Holy crap that's a lot. I didn't realize I had so much information. Need to trim it down somehow so i don't scare roleplayers off.

[sun88]

So who's Ellery Win

[Hiroku]

This character here, my other dragon lady. I finally got around to naming her, and yes, all dragons have two separate names that must be said together as a whole, otherwise they are unlikely to respond.

coro-yuki.deviantart.com/art/New-Challenger-Approaches-596512946

I don't feel she's quite right for the setting though. Like you mentioned it may be a good idea to make this a tech vs. magic deal, but every time I try to write it seems I go in a magic vs. magic direction. XP And I can't decide what the artifact should be that is giving one side a boost.

See anything that could be simplified?

[sun88]

I think that the about of characters can be simplified. Like there can be elemental mages, mages who manipulate life, death, light, darkness and shapeshift. All under the category of mage.

[gravitron]

It seems to be mostly fine with me. May be a little long, but I'm not one to simplify--- If I tried to help, I'd just end up making it longer. I also love magic, and the magic vs magic deal seems natural to me.... The story seems great. Maybe this artifact could be a really powerful, legendary weapon such as an ancient sword or staff. I can't really think how to improve it, I love it already.
Can't wait for it to be available to the public.

[Hiroku]

@ Sun: manipulating death and life would probably be a lost art, but perhaps the artifact is one that summons the dead. To me mages have always been controllers of the natural elements but I wanted to limit them to the four common elements. I do enjoy me my little dark mages but I thought I'd go the Avatar route on this one rather than my usual method, which would add even more explanations and rules, not to mention the elemental entities.

@grav: Thanks. I hope it will come to fruition but life is hectic right now and I'm at a writer's block on how to start and establish the setting. Like I said I want people to feel free to join one side of the conflict or the other, or go a different route.

[sun88]

I see