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[filiusenox]

((

Okay, I'm going to GM fiat against elves, orcs and goblins because I don't really want us ending up in D&D-land.  Maaybe trolls, but the dominant species here is humanity.  I will allow hatcuri however, on the understanding that your homelands are pretty distant and because they don't seem horribly cliched just yet.  Don't disappoint me in that.  One sapient non-human race is enough.

Wait does this mean im nonexistent?  I was just thinking that all the elves beside like three of them were dead.))

[Yoink]

Waery, standing to one side of Lord Trubaldsome's seat, had little interest in the various conversations of those before the King. His lord continued to stare coldly at the general, tipping his hat in a brief greeting to Lord yl Marchis, but Waery's focus was elsewhere.
His wandering attention caught a few words of a conversation from across the room, "...was in Miring, a terrible massacre, yes." "I hear the walls were stained red with..." The voices moved on, out of his hearing, but Waery was intrigued. He looked across the room, eyes tracking the source, until he spotted a couple of young, extravagantly dressed minor noblewoman walking along together, chatting.

Uneasy, Waery glanced from the two to Trubaldsome, and back again. Trubaldsome didn't need him at the moment, and news of conflict in Miring could be terribly important... But he was a soldier, not a courtier! He did not relish trading gossip with a couple of ditzy nobles, no, he copped enough of that from his lord.
But... Trubaldsome seemed perfectly content, speaking to yl Marchis for a moment, "Ah, I do not believe we've met? I am Lord Trubaldsome, son of the late King of Miring. I imagine you have heard of me, hm?" He sipped his wine and nodded amiably, before sliding his gaze back to stare daggers at Kaguro.

Waery sighed inwardly. He had to do this, despite his apprehensions.
Leaving the young Lord to his silks, wine, cushions and his elaborate, intricately-crafted act, he stepped quietly back from Trubaldsome's side, leaving him with the small group around the King, and clumsily shoved his way through the Court's throngs to head off the two young women.
Now or never. He drew a deep breath, trying desperately to remember some of the 'manners lessons' Trubaldsome had made him take. "Er, greetin's m'ladies! Fine weather fer turnips, innit?" He didn't think he did so badly, but the two noblewoman stared blankly at him, so he tried his best, charming smile.
This did not quite have the desired effect... A smile, upon the weather-beaten visage of a rough, grizzled burly soldier, clad in servicable black tunic and trousers decorated only with the crest of Miring, was rather more intimidating than appealing.
He suppressed a grimace and plunged. "I coul'n't help but overhear ye speakin' of troubles in Miring, afore? Would ye mind kindly tellin' me a little more of it? Would be muchly grateful, m'ladies."
This was not going well... His vocal chords were more suited to roaring orders on the field of battle than sharing pleasantries within the court.
It did not help that, looking upon these two innocent young ladies, all he could think of were the cold, dead faces of those he'd killed, those who tried to blackmail his lord... He told himself it was necessary and pushed them from his mind, as he had done countless times before, but still the pictures came. Nevertheless, this news could be of great importance, and he was determined to hear more of it, fearsome appearance or no.

Actions: As Trubaldsome sits with the King, Waery overhears a bit of gossip about recent events in Miring, and attempts to get more information from the two noblewomen speaking about it. Perhaps easier said than done with his mediocre people skills and coarse appearance.

((OOC: Just a bit of backstory, Waery served Trubaldsome's father, the last king of Miring, for many years and was his trusted guard and advisor. When the eldest of the king's sons, Leuki, had him killed, (however he did it) Waery quickly joined with young Trubaldsome, effectively exiled by his older brother on pain of death.
Waery puts up with Trubaldsome, mostly in the hope of one day avenging his king... ))

[Terenos]

((Damnable rumors from Miring making it here before me. That said, Hopefully the rumor mill cranks out things about a daring diplomat from Elbreth, a demon with a sword.
Kinda slows things a bit having everything currently hang upon ThatKid. But thats okay.))

[Iituem]

((

Okay, I'm going to GM fiat against elves, orcs and goblins because I don't really want us ending up in D&D-land.  Maaybe trolls, but the dominant species here is humanity.  I will allow hatcuri however, on the understanding that your homelands are pretty distant and because they don't seem horribly cliched just yet.  Don't disappoint me in that.  One sapient non-human race is enough.

Wait does this mean im nonexistent?  I was just thinking that all the elves beside like three of them were dead.))

You're not human?  I must have missed that, though I suppose it may have been implied by your father serving the king's great grandfather as 'The Black Knight'.  Well, we've established the existence of magic now.  How do you feel about being from a line of extremely long-lived humans instead (Numenor-style)?

(Why am I so against fantastic races in this game?  Chiefly because I'd like to see people's alliances split along ideological or political lines, rather than engaging in speciesism.  Racism within the context of the game is perfectly fine, from an OOC perspective.  Just that the races are all human.)

((Damnable rumors from Miring making it here before me. That said, Hopefully the rumor mill cranks out things about a daring diplomat from Elbreth, a demon with a sword.
Kinda slows things a bit having everything currently hang upon ThatKid. But thats okay.))

It's only been a day.; this game is just that fast-paced.  I'm enjoying the rest, myself.  Of course, bear in mind that in the first week/month he's been back he's not only found out that his nobles are running riot at home, learned through you of external strife and might be facing unrest in the streets, a giant talking lizard and a demon summoner just appeared in his throne room.  King's post is probably going to be pretty involved when it comes to it - but I can't know what the king's responses will be.


Waery: [2]  The two noblewomen shun you instantly.  Looks like you'll have to rely on other sources of information than courtly gossip.

[Terenos]

Well if you go by the theoretical layout of his last post, I havent even arrived yet, by the time that Trubaldsome is trying to frame Kaguro for (whatever I wasnt paying attention.) So yeah, these rumors move fast. But thats understandable, I was wounded and traveling slowly.

[filiusenox]

((Okay.Now i got to go edit some things.))

[Knave]

(Why am I so against fantastic races in this game?  Chiefly because I'd like to see people's alliances split along ideological or political lines, rather than engaging in speciesism.  Racism within the context of the game is perfectly fine, from an OOC perspective.  Just that the races are all human.)

((Just want to say that I`m glad there won`t be too many strange species running around. I totally agree with your reasoning. That being said, I don`t mind a few pointy-earred long living people either. Just don`t expect the Grand Master to trust them

I hope that you rule similarly on magic. Let it exist, but make it very rare. The fact that a mage with bound demon appeared in the court should be a big deal I would imagine. ))

[King_of_the_weasels]

((I sure love me some science, even if the outcome destroys something and has only a few uses.

[Iituem]

Prevalance of Magic

I'm going to rule that magic and magic-users range from uncommon to very rare (depending on region and type of magic).  Here, a court wizard might be a big thing.  Elsewhere, every minor nation might have one.  Magic will often have a social cost besides its material and fatigue costs.  All forms of magic are essentially limited by these three factors:

Efficiency/Cost:  If it was easier to summon vegetables out of the air, nobody would farm.  If sustained light sources were easier to make and to make available than candles, chandlers would go out of business.  Farmers and chandlers exist, so it becomes apparent that there are some things (most things) that magic cannot do as well as mundane methods, assuming it can do them at all.  Alternately it may be the case that magic can do these things as easily or even easier than by mundane methods, but the associated costs or consequences (see Power Source) may be too great for it to be worthwhile.  It may be easier for a Summoner to 'create' fruit out of thin air than to farm it, but there's no guarantee that it will remain fruit once he stops concentrating.  Magic excels at doing things that simply aren't possible yet (or at all) through mundane means.

Power Source:  This ties partially back into costs, but the idea is that all magic requires a power source to work.  This might take the form of ingredients and reagents that are charged with whatever force powers spells and expended in the course of casting.  It might be that you can only access an otherwise free and available power source in a certain area or at a certain time (or when the stars are in alignment).  Or it may be that the power source comes from living entities (or not-quite-living ones), that to power your spell you may need to drain the life force from another, or to summon and bind a demonic spirit to power it.  Power sources limit where and when magic can be applied and bring additional costs and consequences to its use.

Social Cost:  Part of the social cost of magic depends upon the costs or consequences of its use.  If you can heal someone back to full health, but the power source comes from draining another person's life force to death, this may not sit well with the population.  Dragging the dead back into the world of the living for information or service might similarly not sit well with people.  You might skip all these messy power source issues by using the relatively clean, renewable source of bound demons to run your spells - but there's always the fear they'll break loose and lay waste to the world of the living.  Another part comes from the fear of the strange or different; even if your wizards are only constrained by the need to gather and perform spells at midnight in the deep forest, that's still strange occult behaviour.  People have historically been lynched for less, and in any case such figures might be treated with suspicion or ostracised for being clearly different.  A third, less obvious part of the social cost of magic comes into play on the occasions when magic can do a job as well as or even better than a mundane source.  If a mage rolls into town who can forge perfectly balanced steel swords with a wave of his wand, the Armourer's Guild is going to take some very sharp steps to drive him out of business (and out of town) before he can cut in on their trade any further.


Magic with lesser costs, more benign power sources and more socially acceptable practices are more likely to exist in the world on a merely uncommon level.  Wizards who summon vast demon-led skeletal armies through the blood sacrifice of peasants on the night of the full moon are going to be understandably rare.  Players intending to play wizards might do well to consider the Abilities, Costs, Consequences, Power Source and Social Cost of the style of magic they use.

Abilities:  Call into being objects or creates in temporary material forms, bind into service.
Power Source:  Demonic spirits required to power creation and maintain form of summoned entities.
Direct Costs:  Some type of material (type irrelevant) to serve as base for 'creation'.  Air is acceptable, but large volume needed.
Consequences:  When demon banished, objects may crumble to dust with demon's departure or else revert to original form.  Summoned creatures can go rogue if demon breaks free (demon gains possession of created being).  Even if all goes well, summoner earns enmity of demonic realm.
Social Costs:  People typically fear demons breaking loose and going on rampages.  Demonic realm fails to look kindly on inhabitants being summoned and bound into service.

[adwarf]

I want to go ahead, and state this, but Gil. isn't a typical bound demon it took five mages to summon him, and the sheer amount of power required a seal to be put on Hiatsu's arm to keep him tied to this world if its cut the demon is released, adn returns to his realm.

[filiusenox]

((Five powerful mages? That thing can't be THAT powerful...It took five magicains to bind a high-level demon that alters time and space and matter with each step in the bartimuas trilogies, and they weren't that high up.))

[adwarf]

((Five powerful mages? That thing can't be THAT powerful...It took five magicains to bind a high-level demon that alters time and space and matter with each step in the bartimuas trilogies, and they weren't that high up.))

((Not powerful mages its just the ceremony required five mages most take one, but he is quite powerful about 100 times stronger than my character so the seal on his arm is sort of a kill switch for an a emergency))

[Digital Hellhound]

((Heh, I just read those books. I was actually thinking that bound dzinnis would be in widespread use on the Storm Coast earlier, but I wasn't sure if we had magic or not and I didn't have time to mention it.))

[Knave]

((Five powerful mages? That thing can't be THAT powerful...It took five magicains to bind a high-level demon that alters time and space and matter with each step in the bartimuas trilogies, and they weren't that high up.))

((Not powerful mages its just the ceremony required five mages most take one, but he is quite powerful about 100 times stronger than my character so the seal on his arm is sort of a kill switch for an a emergency))

((adwarf, I don`t see the need to make your character all powerful right out the gate. If you are already a high master mage at the age of 17 with an demon that is a master in all weapons bound to your service. Where do have to go development wise? Instead of just stating you have a super powerful (100 times!?) demon in your service, write about it! Make it one of your character's goals, tell us a story about his struggles to become the best, instead of just saying you are. It will be far more interesting.

Look at Yoink's character. He fails more than he succeeds and has very little both in land or men. But his writing is interesting and I love to read a bout his latest scheme, win or lose. His is a character that I'm really looking forward to rp with!))

[adwarf]

((My character can use most magic yes, but to use any magic other than basic, or summoning he has to use a Grimore, and he can't use Gil. to much because it has a chance of killing him. He has much to imrpove in, and he has to be atleast semi-powerful to establish a Magic Academy. Also I thought I already stated this, but I can't force Gil. to do anything he doesn't want to, so he is useless about 50% of the time since he is notriously lazy(In his cat fomr he usually lies on my characters shoulder)))