RP portion" comment, question, suggest or criticize anything. Note that some details are left out as they will be addressed as the RP is up and running.
Premise: A magician has gotten himself stuck in what he dubs the Void World. He seeks to escape from it, so he enlists the help of various individuals to help him break out. After being contacted by him however, strange and terrifying things are beginning to crop up in the normal world.
Why and how did this Void World come to be? What will happen to those he interacts with? And what are these strange instances that are appearing in the world now?
Setting: Takes place in a modern AU (alternate universe). Magic exists to the select few who are aware of it. The magic itself is powered by the energy the planet constantly produces, humans merely mold and channel this power. Interesting to note is that like all other resources, there are hot spots for this energy as well as places where it is nearly nonexistent. In the past, various societies utilized their own versions of this magic, but came to realize it was a threat to their world, and thus cursed everyone to have "locked souls."
But not everyone chose to so willing adhere to this deal. A circle of magicians acted against the rules, but did so discreetly. They developed a method of "unlocking souls" in order to preserve their luxury of power. Because of their selfish actions, they managed to survive the shadows of history while still practicing their arts.
The magic of this world functions differently from the magic of most other conventions. Magic is the physical manifestation of a certain realized ideal or trait in someone (ie: shrewdness, superficiality, generosity, etc.). Most magicians do not possess affinities with basic elements, in fact most of this magic is indirect, but has near-infinite applications depending on who uses them. The assignment of what someone specializes in is also not like most other conventions.
Mastery of someone's respective skills comes not from will or talent, but understanding of the self and the applications of their power. Increasing the effectiveness of that power comes from investment of time and comprehension of what they wish to achieve with their abilities.
Rules/Recruitment:
Here is the character application template
Name: (self explanatory, include nick-names if they have any)
Age: (required to be over 10 years old for basic mental capacity/understanding's sake)
Gender: (male/female)
Alignment: (Good? Evil? Neutral? See guide elsewhere in forum)
Power Level: (on a scale of 1 to 9; 1-3 being human strength, 1 is a child's strength, 4-6 being typical RPG standards, 7-9 approaching godhood, 9 would be "final final boss" power; if you aren't sure ask for details)
Appearance: (what the character looks like: height, build, hair/eye color and basic clothing are required, but feel free to include other details)
Personality: (does not have to be a step-by-step of all variables but what their basic inclinations are)
History: (does not have to be a "from birth to now" history; simply note any notable events in their lives)
Powers: (you can choose to start off as a run-of-the-mill human or a lucky descendant from the elitist magician families; if you choose the latter expect a bit harsher scrutiny)
Equipment: (mementos, unique/self-styled gear that would be on your character's person at any time or 90% of the time)
Weakness: (includes physical or mental shortcomings; if you are of a magician family, list the respective magical weaknesses as well)
All characters will be human by default. They can really be any age except <10 years old. You can apply as an 80-year-old if you so desire.
I will now specify the differences and process for picking between being a magic-less human or of one of the families.
Magic-less humans will be given the option of obtaining magical powers, but at Ivan's (or more accurately, my own) discretion based on the PERSONALITY of your applied character, if you apply as a basic human I will PM you your powers when you character has been deemed acceptable by technical standards. You can also of course suggest/modify your assigned powers as long as I give approval of them.
Those who are applying as a descendant from a magician family will have a stricter character evaluation. Their Personality and Powers must match, additionally you must be ready to justify why that power comes from that personality. Something as mundane as "fiery temper" equating to pyro-abilities is frowned upon. "Godly" abilities such as universally manipulating time, tearing the fabric of dimensions, summoning planet-killers, insta-kills or powers that laugh at the reaper's work are off-limits.
**It's your responsibility to edit your profile!
This is the "unique" character of the RP. Here is his profile. This profile is not impervious to criticisms, so do not hesitate. There will be various NPCs as well, but they are extremely minor.
Name: Ivan Gurdji
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Power Level: 7
Appearance: Ivan is a tad on the short side in terms of height (5’4”), but is otherwise athletic in build. He appears younger than he actually is, but only by a handful of years. His attire has little range or real preference, but often favors wearing loose but semi-formal, monochrome-colored clothing such as a collared shirt combined with durable pants which possess pockets. His features are otherwise normal as he has short, lazily cut black hair and black eyes. Because of his lack of outstanding features he can blend in fairly well in a group of normal people. One of the only out of place visual aspects about him would be the black eyelike tattoos on his wrists which are visible when his sleeves are rolled up.
Personality: Ivan is a fairly bipolar fellow and views the rest of the world as being something to be apathetic to unless directly addressed or confronted. However his manners are excellent and in a formal setting he is quite the gentlemen, but he bores of events and most conversations easily. When boredom has struck, he becomes passive-aggressive and sarcastic in the verbal arena in the off-chance he can provoke an argument. If he is threatened with bodily harm he retaliates without mercy and in fact very rarely backs down from settling a fight out of pride and arrogance. In order for him to truly acknowledge any superior he has to have the concept beaten into him in each respective area (an intellect in the field of knowledge, etc.).
In terms of academics he is quite intelligent but has a severe see-saw of compatibility, if the subject interests him he is obsessive in terms of understanding, practicing and researching it. If the subject is tedious or is deemed too much of a hassle, he forgoes any involvement with that subject unless he is somehow forced to study it. He enjoys the thought of fresh challenges/experiences, and is highly competitive, however as time goes on his pursuit of the challenge is inevitably deemed as either worthy/unworthy; they usually fall into the latter category and are shuffled away as unfinished tasks because of procrastination, disinterest or the pursuit of brighter potentials.
Despite this lazy attitude, Ivan is a very neat and organized individual as well as self-sufficient and independent. He is also a functional teacher, though he has no shame when it comes to grumbling about his pupils or dishing out appropriate punishments to the unruly. Ivan pushes the limits when it comes to antagonizing others but never to the point of breaking, at least on purpose. He also has a terrible habit of creating substantial grudges over usually trivial things, his reasoning for doing so ranges from his mood to the affront to even a roll of a die. Anther ill habit he possesses is his fixation on certain objects and sentiments, as well as hording certain things such as books or magic sets because of their familiarity; in other words he is a pack-rat when it comes to certain types of objects.
He is peeved by women who dress provocatively or act in an overly promiscuous manner as well as men who are physically abusive towards their loved ones. He also has no qualms about cheating outside of organized tests as well as impulsively creating conflicts or dangerous situations to keep himself entertained as his whims demand. Despite this, he manages to be a decent individual but lacks the drive and reason to consistently be considerate unless given significant motivation to behave otherwise.
History: As a child, Ivan was often picky about what classes he should do well in, acing some and outright failing others. He regularly got into fights with teachers and students by generally being disruptive and disagreeable with them. Even though he often came back home with scrapes and bruises for back-talking the older children and was often disciplined by his parents because of reports from school, he often found ways to get around or lessen his punishment.
However as time passed it eventually came to the point that he would be placed into a room with nothing in it but a locked window or else, according to his parents, the lesson wouldn’t sink in. Little did they know that he would entertain himself by watching the changing shadows that flitted about from the light of the window.
In an attempt to avoid future problems and stress, his parents began home-schooling Ivan. Around the age of 10, a shred of discipline managed to stick in his head and he was allowed to return back to regular schooling to encourage more social interaction. He still had problems with getting along with others but these bouts were far more infrequent and much less violent.
Socially he still floundered, but he was doing much better academically. During the course of being back in school, Ivan was exposed to parlor magic and he instantly took a profound interest in it. After this first exposure, he began to obsess over it and despite learning and mastering the tricks of conventional illusions, was convinced that beyond it laid true magic.
He began researching true witchcraft at the age of 13 and maintained a steady and distant relationship with the other students. He was friendly with them on the surface and had gained a small reputation at school for being a magician.
At the age of 16 he’d managed to uncover the idea of the locked soul, which claimed that anything was capable of true magic, it was a matter of unlocking it. That year he managed to somehow enact the spell upon himself, however due to his ignorance, it turned out to actually be part curse. By unlocking this potential, he drove himself insane with visions of the flow of true magic as well as the lingering impressions of past magic. He was placed into an institution where he spent time desperately trying to recreate the lock he had destroyed. Once again he often looked to the dancing light and shadows whenever he found himself lucid enough.
The familiarity evoked security in his mind and as a result, he began subconsciously constructing two entities which presided over light and shadow respectively to cope with his condition. As they spoke to him and comforted him, he slowly eased his mind back into the tolerable scope of the world. He was 20 by the time he left the institution and the two entities had since then become silent, only offering vague words from time to time or flitting about in the corner of his vision.
Shortly after returning home and attempting to resume his studies, his mind began showing signs of deterioration again. In an attempt to stop this, he ended up engraving eye shaped sigils into his arms* (see powers to see why). He managed to do a good job of the markings as well as somehow hiding this act from his family. Despite this painful self-mutilation, it managed to stabilize his mind again.
In this same period between conducting his academic catch-up and necessary daily activities, he began to observe strange things in the shadows and light around him, that it seemed to sometimes fluctuate despite the sources of what was lit and cast were unchanging. He began to experiment and realize he could manipulate these elements and over time began to see what could be achieved with them.
At 26 he’d managed to finally complete his necessary credits of schooling. He’d also taken it upon himself and his growing control over the light and shadows to test it out in public. His main initial source of income was from gambling and doing street magic which proved to be highly effective as no one was capable of proving his tricks otherwise.
From 27 to his current age it was a matter of balancing cheating houses out of their own rules, occasionally fending off the less than favorable company and pretending to be a tutor when blending was necessary. Through time he’d managed to gain his own house, hone his abilities and learn its weaknesses as well as travel the world a fair bit. He has also managed to secure a group of “friends” to associate with but would feel the compulsion to conduct searches of his own to see if there are any other magicians or witches like him. His searches thus far yielded empty results.
But for the most part, it is just a matter of Ivan finding his next challenge to keep life interesting.
Powers/Abilities: Ivan was able to enchant himself into tapping into the forces of light and shadows to do his own bidding. In actuality it is because he has invested his own latent magic into these elements and personality that he can draw uses out of them. A degree of contrast is necessary for either of these elements to be used. Using the shadows and light materializes masses of darkness and energy respectively from the ‘origin pool’ of its source. Save for one exception, he can only utilize full control over one element at a time. It should also be noted that he has full mastery over his magic and is highly creative with it's usage, the techniques listed below are the most primary uses of his skills and they can be modified at will for more creative applications.
Those who are gifted with any portion of magic, psychic powers or any other equivalent of heightened perception will see two floating eyes behind Ivan. One is white while the other is black, both have red markings on them. While his powers are being used, these same eyes gain a more humanoid shape for an instant before disappearing while they are in use. These same figures will not reappear unless their respective element is not being used any longer. These figures will also appear if he wishes to “instruct” a specific element to do a highly specific task, to normal onlookers he appears to be having a conversation with the air. The tattoos on his arms are a constant reminder of the manifestations of these figments of his imagination.
Shadow Chains - By using his own shadow or the shadows of inanimate/mindless objects, the darkness can be stretched and used as binding ropes on a target. These are moderately fast and have strength potentials that scale according to the cast size of the shadow that can be augmented according to Ivan’s evocation and intent. A single shadow cast by thread will not have as much strength/weight as the shadow cast by the trunk of a tree. With proper lighting conditions something as gigantic as a mountain or building can be used, conjoined or otherwise overlapping shadows can also be used. *However the actual strength of the shadow used is NOT always proportional to the resulting shadow, ie: a shadow of a tree branch can be 'stronger' than a mere tree branch.
Shadow Manipulation - An extension and modification of Shadow Chains in which the darkness of the shadow is manipulated into concrete ideas such as spikes, blades, jaws, hands, etc. This attack can be used in conjunction with Shadow Chains with seamless transition. While technically infinite in amount, this manipulated darkness will always be connected to the origin pool of its source, it is extremely difficult to break these. *Depending on the origin shadow they can be made exponentially stronger, his own shadow is an exception to this rule, the 'strength' limit for it can be considered the most limitless as the source of its power would be himself.
Shadow Diving - Ivan can jump into a pool of shadows and emerge from another pool of shadows. Once inside this dimension he can see light highlighting the possible exits. This sort of move is risky as humans are not meant to exist there for extended periods of time, but it is highly convenient for fast travel. The main requirement for this is that the entry/exit shadow pool be big enough for him to squeeze through. Ivan can also attempt to throw others into this realm. Those who are dragged in will experience what it feels like to travel through tar. If they remove themselves from this realm, the barrier between the two dimensions will return to normal.
Light Bullet - An example of this would be to use the shine of an object to create/render damage. If the reflective surface which catches the light is any kind of conventional glass it will explode after one use. The equivalent of this attack would be a hybrid of combustion and piercing. Most applicable sources for this skill would be the light highlights on glass, water and metal and sharp reflections of light created by the before mentioned materials or a mirror. The “trigger” used for this attack is a sharp sound such as snapping fingers, a whistle or a clap. This skill is also extremely useful for a sort of magical sniping and can be used with direct beams of light such as laser pointers, strong flashlights and even a search light. *So in other words he can use things like flashlights as magical blast-torches.
Light Bolt - Areas of light that are contrasted by inanimate shadows can be used as a source for this attack, such as from the floor. This action is indicated by the light of that area seeming to unnaturally intensify, and depending on size/power, it can create an audible sound before discharging an intense surge of heat. This energy moves in an outward/straight direction. There are also variations of this attack which rely on Ivan’s creativity, he can also use his own body as a source for the attack but it tends to have a nasty backlash relative to the output but no where near the damage that is inflicted on outer target.
Star Poisoning - The exception to the exclusive usage of light/shadows would be this attack. Out of all of Ivan's techniques this is weakest and most indirect one. In areas of barely noticeable difference between light and shadow is the ability to enact miasmatic effects on an enemy such has heavy weight and a burning sensation that intensifies based on prolonged exposure. This attack is less effective on most magic-property possessing individuals and can be countered by simply changing the light conditions. However the afflicted are usually unaware of the cause of this and are typically unable to solve their problem before too late. If left in this miasma long enough the individual can and will die.
Watchful - A passive skill, as long as one of the floating eyes is present, Ivan will be very difficult to surprise. They can communicate with each other to protect Ivan, however these actions are usually very simple. It should be noted that these eyes cannot be destroyed or blinded/deceived by illusions or smoke, etc.
Dispell Aura - Ivan has a small resistance to most magic and energy based skills. A newbie magician/witch’s elemental attack may not have an effect at all if it is too weak or a badly constructed enchantment. A skilled practitioner’s attack will not be noticeably affected by this resistance. By the same token, having curative magic cast on him has less of an effect unless it is highly potent. His resistance specialty is to mind-based/spiritual attacks given his mental/spiritual state. *This same aura enables him to be a hearty contender when it comes to withstanding high-powered attacks. An easy well to pierce this is to have an attack that can pierce will-based magic or to simply sap away this power. Given his level of aptitude this is not an easy task for many.
Fighting – Ivan is a decent enough fist-fighter but his damage specialty lies in light/shadow manipulation. His reaction time, speed and endurance are excellent (the growth of such abilities can be attributed to his magic as well). His fighting style is most like boxing as he has practiced it as a hobby, for self-defense and to keep in shape. (It’s from SHADOW BOXING, har har PUN.)
Equipment:
Metal Lighter - One of the few countermeasures Ivan possesses in case he is met with his weakness. Otherwise it is a metal flip-cap lighter which has his initials engraved in it. If he is asked why he carries it, he lies that he was once a smoker. He carries this in his back pocket at all times.
Keychain LED - One of the few countermeasures Ivan possesses in case he is met with his weakness. The keychain serves as a backup in case his lighter isn’t working. This object is typically attached to a chain fixed to a belt-loop and stored in one of his side pockets. Why there is a chain at all is to prevent it from being lost.
Card Box - What appears to be a fancy business-card carrying box, opening it reveals that there is a mirror inside. He carries this in his back pocket.
**One of the only instances where he would be without these items would be when he is without his pants.
Weakness:
Blackout - Should he be stuck inside of a room absolutely devoid of light he will be unable to use his powers (unless of course he has already evoked them, ie: Agari). If he lacks the parameter by which to gauge his powers he will be unable to control it. Another, but more personal reason why he cannot simply dive into the shadows is out of paranoia that he will become lost and die in the other dimension.
Perception/Contrast - If he is unable to perceive shadow and light he will be unable to utilize his powers effectively. If he has already summoned up darkness or light these summons will go berserk; the darkness will attack anything/everything and the light portions will give a final but highly inaccurate blast/burst. Even something as simple as a blindfold can screw him over, however he and the floating eyes will do their damnedest to ensure this doesn’t happen. Should the blinding succeed despite the Watchful skill and his other efforts, he will use his memory to haphazardly attack anything.
Unconsciousness - Being unconscious is when Ivan is at his weakest, which happens frequently due to his human need to sleep, however the floating eyes try to compensate for this by alerting him 'vocally' whenever possible. As a side note, when he is unconscious the floating eyes take on their humanoid shapes. Ivan has been known to have an erratic sleep schedule but his breaking point for no sleep tops out at 32 hours.
