October Event Log

Oct. 11th, 2021 10:34 am
[personal profile] magicademymods

October Event Log



Visitors


    Visitors from other Magicademies aren't uncommon, of course. Diatu is home not only to the Sundered and their arrival, but also a dragon, the legacies of Anastara Diatu, Headmaster Birony, and that place that serves chili. It is uncommon for them to all show up in matching black robes like they just stalked out of a warlock convention, but then again, Diatu Magicademy has long since lost any idea of what normal behavior is.

    They bring an artifact, which apparently is draconic in nature, and to that extent, they ask to speak to Professor Ire regarding it. Naturally, the good Professor agrees, joining them on the Walk.

    Within one second of his arrival, golden chains of magic lash around his neck -- one from each of the visitors, who then begin to tighten them.



Warcry


    Ire's roar is not subtle, nor is the way it chokes off. Within moments, pandemonium reins.

    For those brave souls who wish to engage the foreign wizards, know this: they are powerful, strangely so, with an odd force behind their spells and defenses that explains how they are strong enough to corral a dragon. They show no emotion, they feel no pain, and they will not let their attack on Ire fade for a second. But this is their weakness: much of their power is bound up in that attack. Their focus is primarily on the dragon, and so they do not defend themselves by simply slaying all who oppose them. They have one mission and one mission only.

    They have assistance, though. One of them has opened a portal, allowing hordes of devilish imps to run loose, heedless of the damage they might cause. These imps are sharp-toothed, sharp-clawed, and terribly quick, and they desire only to hurt and kill. Of course, the students of Diatu Magicademy are no cowards, and no pushovers; spells fly in response, explosions fill the air and singe hair off those too close, and the battle is sudden chaos worsening every minute as more imps pour out of the portal and more students race from every corner of the campus to join the fray.


Tilt


    Where the hell is Headmaster Birony? Shouldn't she be deus ex machina-ing these situation like the absurdly-powerful wizard that she is, all evidence aside?

    That question receives a partial answer when the entire island of Ascelion drops six feet straight down.

    The drop is faster than gravity, as if something is in fact trying to pull the island down -- which means all people and all things upon it fall slower than it descends. The impact that comes when the island suddenly stops, and stops its inhabitants a moment later, is bone-jarring. Items shatter and snap across the island, canals overtop their channels and pour water onto the streets, bruises and sprains and breaks from the sudden blow are not the worst injuries inflicted.

    Then the island begins to lurch about like a Valhudor student after five straight days of partying, spinning and twisting and jerking around in midair. Students tumble to the ground in droves, exposing themselves to the imps as the tide of battle suddenly shifts. And shifts somewhat back, as the Professors arrive on scene, their powerful magics making up for the loss of support from the students.

    Tumbling, pitching, tilting, whirling, but the battle rages on still. Run away or fight, or simply try to help however you can...


Slow and Steady Victory


    The dragon wizard Grieve accounted for almost everything. His magic, which humans would call Dictation, has rendered his human puppets strong and powerful. His scheme to unleash imps on the grounds has kept the students and faculty from focusing on freeing his victim. His assault on Ascelion itself keeps that meddling Headmaster occupied. Yes, the resistance has proven stronger than expected, but he is certain he will win!

    Grieve did not account for two things. First, Diatu is a ridiculous place. And second, he forgot that the Magicademy has one more sets of defenders.

    First one imp dies, cut in half by a sword stroke too swift for the eye. Then another, impaled by a spear which withdraws like the flick of an eyelash. Then a third, smashed ruthlessly as if by a giant's fist.

    Three allies arrive, to turn the tide: Ballet the Land Whale, wielding her sword; Tango the Land Dolphin, master of the spear; and Waltz the Land Wholphin, coming into her own as a student of the warhammer. With their ability to swim through the ground effortlessly, the cetaceans can strike at the imps from surprise and safety, which is all the forces of Diatu Magicademy need to begin pushing back! If you want to take out a wizard, close the portal, or sever the spells that bind Ire, now is the time to do it!


Recovery


    The battle is won. Not without cost.

    The wizards have been taken into custody, though it's probably futile; when the dragon's magic released their minds, they were only confused and baffled at their situations. They likely remember nothing.

    Ire is all right. Despite the pain of the attack, he's honestly touched that the school rallied to his defense.

    But the students, the Magicademy, the city -- all of them have suffered from being shaken like the fruit pieces inside a gelatin getting slapped. Injuries, some critical, and property damage, often extensive, spread out in waves.

    That was a pretty rough time of it. But at least now you can breathe.

    Right?

    RIGHT?!


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September Event Log

Sep. 8th, 2021 10:26 am
[personal profile] magicademymods

September Event Log



Here's One For Free


    Something about the fall brings out the best in cooks, chefs, and vendors across Anastara, a flurry and frenzy of cooking, experimenting, and tasting that goes miles towards filling bellies left hungry by the hard work of comfortable days and the encroaching chill of cool nights. Bread and bread-relatives in particular take center stage this year, with pretzels, hoagies, buns, and pies coming out in immense quantity.

    The reason? Cheap cheap grain from the Efrecka Principality, where the court wizard advanced agriculture by leaps and bounds through the simple act of blessing the rains. In fact, such is the bounty that numerous restaurants, street vendors, and stall merchants have begun offering samples to the public, under the not-at-all-alarming principle of "the first one is free". And while this technique is actually producing dividends (unlike previous tactics of "an offer you can't refuse" and "those are nice kneecaps, it'd be a shame if someone broke them because you didn't buy a knave sandwich"), no one quite accounted for the interaction of magic-infused grain and whatever weirdness courses through the Sundered.

    So what happens? Well, ever heard of "potion miscibility" rules? Maybe you start breathing fire or acid. Maybe you're terribly flatulent, dizzy, confused, or inexplicably forgotten by gravity. Maybe something wonderful happens and you sprout awesome wings. Maybe something terrible happens and you sprout awesome wings from your nostrils. Whatever the case, you're on an adventure now, for however long this lasts...


What Do I Look Like, A Charity Case?


    Unlike the vast majority of students, the Sundered don't come to the school with a lot of resources and more on the way from home as needed. Though by no means does anyone look down on them for this, the Magicademy recognizes this as an unfortunate disadvantage. After all, not every Sundered is suited for gainful employment in Anastara -- some of them look like dragons, for example, and some of them have the social graces of a pie to the face, if the pie was full of poo and artificial waffles.

    So the Magicademy has offered to pay the Sundered a fair and decent wage for various jobs around the school. Groundskeeping, for example, has fallen behind while Meliandre Tomekin has reluctantly taken her golem servitors offline for a much needed dezanyfication. Students can earn their way by wrangling leaves and plants trying to get ready for winter. For the more prideful, pairs of Sundered can give tours of the facilities to prospective students and their families. Headmaster Birony has an opening for a test dummy, if you feel life is no longer worth living. Whatever your flavor of labor, you can find a way to make some extra dough. Or money, since the dough is probably magical and dangerous as detailed one prompt up.



I Threw It On the Ground


    Most magic classes have reached a point in their curriculum where they address utilizing the local environment for practical and aesthetic effect in spellcasting. Discovery, for example, addresses the creation of material half-in, half-out of objects, which is easily practiced by conjuring a plant of some sort that is properly rooted. Fantastics covers illusion interactions with terrain, as well as style, so students of that art find themselves conjuring flashes and fires that erupt upwards from the ground and also appear to affect the environment. Modification concerns itself with properly accounting for environmental barriers, such as constraints posed by the floor. And Glyphics teaches how to bind these spells into fanciful objects, like glass spheres that shattered and release their spell when smashed at the feet of the wizard in question.

    So as part of classes, and part of homework, aspiring wizards are casting, conjuring, creating, and changing objects with dramatic gestures and waving wands, all focused on the ground in front of them. Needless to say, some results are particularly spectacular. A geyser of water? A rock the size of a building? Blinding light? Accidentally Modifying your partner's pants? The sky's the limit, and we mean that literally, because you probably don't have the magical wherewithal to achieve escape velocity yet.


I'm An Adult


    Particularly concerned with the behavior of some of the latest Sundered, he's not pointing any fingers but he's getting a little tired of certain students coming up with wacky variants on his House's name, Professor Trammel has taken it upon himself to set up optional deportment and courtesy classes. Well, 'optional' unless you're in Gekronus Maius, since he can order you all to attend, and very, very, uncomfortably encouraged by everyone else for the other Sundered.

    Needless to say, much of these courses goes over poorly with the student body, but one section in particularly has an unusually strong grip: Style. No one, absolutely no one, can deny that Professor Trammel has and understands style, and he is exceptionally willing to share that benefit with you. The cut of suits, the length of dresses, the proper fit of vests, the flow of capes and cloaks, the power of iconic appearances and distinct silhouettes... he is a master of all these things, and the spells necessary to achieve them.

    Already, many students are going about campus looking far more snappy than ever before. Is this the time to take on a new look? Or maybe you have an old one from home you'd like to recreate? Could his advice on self-care benefit you? Or maybe you're just determined not to change...


The moral of this story is...

YOU CAN'T TRUST THE SYSTEM.
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August Event Log

Aug. 6th, 2021 07:23 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

August Event Log





Performance of a Lifetime


    Valhudor, ever eager for a chance to take the stage, has launched a flash-theater campaign across the campus. Wherever students might gather, be it the Great Hall or the Promenade or the Library of Starchime or whatever, there a play will erupt, acting out the tumultuous events of the Three Dragon War. The director-ringleaders, with all the ethics of Captain Lominia, don't hesitate to shanghai students into the feature itself. Usually, these roles are that of Cowering Student #1, Useless Faculty Member With One Shoe, or Comedy Relief Pratfall Victim, and you're expected to mostly just sit there, ad-lib a little, and generally make the actors playing the Three Dragons look good. Do you behave just to get it over with, or take your role into your own hands for a little revenge? Or perhaps you're determined to take the role of a dragon and make this play your own!

    Alternatively, you might be looking to cash in on the bounty for the safe return of their performing surface to Brindavil Theater. These students, unfortunately... took the stage.


The Great Familiar Audition


    With finals coming to a close for many students and graduation (or flunking) at hand for many, the cycle of academic life comes full circle once again. Airships discharge students into Anastara, the local schools send their best and brightest up the street, and the constabulary once again has to stop that creepy guy who keeps trying to kidnap school-bound students with a 'magic' train on an alleged, misnumbered 'platform' made of paper mache. And with these students come beasts of all shape and size, eager to audition for the role of familiar.

    Consequently, the campus is absolutely flooded with owls, cats, snakes, rats, and more, all looking for their in with a wizard. Unfortunately, they're just animals, so sometimes this results in unintended hilarity results. There's nothing quite like opening your dresser only for an unexpected snake to pop up and offer you your underwear, unless it's two snakes each offering you half of your underwear after a furious territory dispute ended in a tie. Owls deafen everyone with incessant hooting. Swarms of rats establish packs and engage in dance-fights, probably to catch the eyes of Valhudor students. The cats are oddly the most tolerable potential familiars, since they just wander around pushing stuff off of surfaces and demanding food and attention, the same as they always do. Familiar-cuckoos appear, making every effort to rub out the competition and take their places in order to get fat and lazy off the hard work of their 'master'. Also for some reason a corgi has a shiv and knows how to use it, so you better give him your sausages right now, huh? No, no one will ever believe you.


The Food Cartening


    Though Anastara's restaurants get most of the culinary glory, a true Anastaran will tell you that the food carts of the city are as fundamental to the city as the island of Ascelion itself. When pressed, said Anastaran will reluctantly admit that no, if you take the food carts away the city won't engage in unsupported freefall, but the truth is that as a city of trade, commerce, and tourism, the food carts really are quite amazing here.

    But which one is the best? Famous chef Rodden Grimmslay wants to know the answer, and has issued a challenge to ever food cart: register for Cartfest, where the offerings will be put to the taste-tests of both the chef and the city at large!

    So welcome to the celebration, where food styles from across the Tenscore Kingdoms fill the air with competing, delicious scents and merriment abides. (The breweries are probably the real financial winners here.)


Hailfight


    When you ask a wizard if they are capable of controlling the weather, they will engage in a long, rambling explanation of wind currents, tides, cloud albedo, size and effort, the breakdown of order, and any number of other factors that complicate the issue.

    When you ask a student if they can control the weather, they say, "sure," and with a wave of their wand cause the falling hail to focus directly on you. When, aggrieved, you point out that you hadn't meant it like that, another wave of their wand sends the hailstones that had just hit you back into the air to pelt you again.

    With a fierce hailstorm rolling across Ascelion, battle rages across the campus. From mean-spirited surprise attacks to hailstone chicken to almost literal war zones complete with bunkers, artillery support, and the occasional gas attack depending on what was for lunch, most students just can't resist playing with the hailstones and their magic. Whether you're in a duel, hunkered down in the trenches, a victim of a cheap shot, or an active instigator... you can probably get away, but only with skill and panache can you seize victory!

    (Many years later, linguists will identify this as the root derivation of the otherwise nonsense phrase 'hail, seizer'. Little Tenscore Kingdoms etymology lesson for you all there. Free of charge. Don't say the mod team never did anything for you.)
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January Event Log

Jan. 13th, 2020 06:41 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

January Event Log

An Undoubtedly Universal Holiday For All Worlds


    It has come to the faculty's attention that many of the Sundered are accustomed to some sort of holiday around this time of year, corresponding to the solstice or around thereabouts. To that extent, in the hopes that you all will be more comfortable and happy while stuck here in the Tenscore Kingdoms, they've secretly worked on preparations and planning for just such a holiday here in the Magicademy.

    Let us, then, commence... The Day of Fireflies. The magical holiday where we all gather and give thanks to the magic fireflies who gave us an eternal flame, that we might survive the cold winter nights!

    (It turns out the faculty's main adviser on what the holidays are like was Spyro.)

    Fireflies dance around the academy, bringing warmth and light wherever they shine. The buildings have been decorated in long strips of pollen and nectar to attract the bugs, so that they light the edges and corners in celebration of their presence. A giant firefly balloon hovers over the Great Hall, periodically causing havoc with the delivery airships. Someone magicked up a great tree with multicolored, shimmering needles. Occasionally a golem that looks to be an animated skeleton in a suit shows up and attempts to steal the holiday, giving the students a chance to merrily repel it with a barrage of snowballs; this represents a creature called the Nightmare, which apparently is a part of the holiday legacy as they understand it.

    Welcome to the magical winter holiday of Diatu. Good luck.


The Other Side of We


    I)n the spirit of hope and togetherness and a cheap laugh (though only Cam Birony admits the third reason), the faculty have prepared special Modification circles for the students to use. One person stands in the Base circle, and then a friend steps into the Shape circle. The one who steps into the Shape circle will then assume the very species of the person in the Base circle! Now at last you can experience what it's like to be a dragon, a duck, a human, a furry, and a -- is Tyzias even a troll any more? Who the heck knows?

    Of course, these spells are very new and very experimental, so use at your own risk. You might accidentally get stuck in the form longer than you expect, swap bodies with the person in the Base circle, change partially only, turn strange colors, or turn into a badass dragon.


Wait, Why Would We Turn Into Badass Dragons?


    Because the first test subject for Modification was none other than the legendary, half-mythical dragon Ire -- the Scourge of Gaole, the only dragon in the history of history itself to hold any sympathy for humanity, and occasional penpal of some Sundered students. The great Ire is now only the size of Spyro or so, which clearly troubles him greatly, but nonetheless he is available for you all to talk to! Ask him your questions! Throw snowballs at him! Throw snowballs at him that have questions written on them! This is your chance!


Nothing Coold Possibley Go Wrong


    Classes are starting up again, the campus is bitter cold, and life goes on. It's almost like this is some sort of wildcard prompt.


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December Event Log #1: Someone App Tails So He Can Get Trolled

Dec. 6th, 2019 12:51 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

December Event Log

Now I Face Out


    The thunderous boom that shakes the academy on December 24th isn't all that unusual, considering Diatu's penchant for magical mishaps. But the way the air shifts and warps in an imperceptible way afterwards definitely is. The sky-spanning purple nebula that traps the magicademy in its expanse is a little suspect too. And then there's the yellow-eyed duplicates of yourself that rip themselves away from you in a burst of violet, starry smoke.

    "I am the Shadow, the true self!" the duplicate proclaims in a distorted voice, pointing dramatically at the original. What happens next depends on what the wizard the shadow spawned from is repressing, though. If you have an urge to cut loose and wreck shit, the shadow will be immediately destructive, tearing apart the academy around it. If you refuse to acknowledge a deep trauma in your past, the shadow may perch on a tower and radiate waves of sadness and apathy to get everyone else to feel their pain too. And so on and so forth. Whatever aspects of themself the character refuses to acknowledge, that they feel shame over, the shadow will embody to its most destructive extent possible. Oh, and the guiltier a character feels about whatever they're repressing, the more powerful their shadow is.


I Hold Out


    The only way to stop your shadow is to accept them as a part of yourself. But seeing an embodiment of everything that you hate about yourself and having to reconcile with it is difficult. And at the slightest sign of rejection, the shadow will change into a monstrous form representative of the repressed feelings they were born from and begin lashing out. Violently. While going on an overblown motive rant.

    Oh, boy.

    But hey. Getting to literally fight back against all of the worst parts of yourself is generally cathartic enough to begin the healing process? Right? No? Well, too bad, because this thing isn't going away and somebody needs to take care of it before the situation gets worse. Thankfully, your friends are there to help you through it! Hopefully.


I Reach Out to the Truth


    Of course there's the matter of what caused this phenomenon in the first place, and the calamitous nebula that's keeping Diatu sealed off from the outside world. Close friends of Tyzias may also notice that she's completely vanished as well.

    Once characters reconcile with their shadows, they can see and interact with a spiral staircase leading up to the heavens. However, considering that the staircase is crawling with hostile, mindless generic shadows and that the presence of whatever's at the top can be felt, they may want to bring a few friends before investigating.


We Really Wanted To Include A Gif And Apologize For Ruining This Post. No, This Isn't a Prompt



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October Event Log

Oct. 7th, 2019 02:12 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

October Event Log



Fall Cleaning


    Suddenly and without warning, the lighting in or near every building on campus goes red. A second later, a deep alarm rises in volume as the buildings begin to shake.

    The faculty barely bat an eye as they direct students to get outside quickly. "Fall cleaning," they explain wearily to those students who have never experienced this phenomenon. Older students offer their own explanation as they move: at some point every fall the buildings of the Magicademy rearrange themselves so the cleaning golems can repair their foundations, tend to the ground around them, keep them from sinking into the caverns, that sort of thing. Totally harmless.

    Well, until you realize no one knows where your House tower went. Or till you need to get to class promptly except Kedrigan Hall is in the middle of a lake somehow. Or till the Library of Starchime is down in the middle of the lab caverns and you have to try to study while students practice magic in the aisles.

    But it's okay! This will only last for a couple of days! You can get by, right?


The Bonfire


    To say goodbye to the warmth and hello to the frost, the Magicademy celebrates the changing of seasons with a great bonfire. A massive conglomeration of burning wood sends flame licking up some sixty feet into the air, and the warmth pouring from the huge fire wards off any hint of cold from those nearby. By tradition, the bonfire burns till morning, and many students have bedrolls or tents or even straight-out beds parked nearby so they can take their spot in keeping it lit. Others have brought food and drink, enough to selflessly share with everyone. The whole things is one big party, really; House rivalries and personal animosities and music duels are all set aside for a night as the campus unites in solidarity.

    It's one of the nicer times you could ask for.


This Is Halloween


    Bad news. Terrible news. The worst news imaginable.

    Headmaster Birony has found out about Halloween.

    Diatu Magicademy is nothing but orange and black now. Carved pumpkins wander the campus and aggressively pose for anyone who glances their way (or doesn't...). Spiderwebs litter every hallways and passage, complete with spiders that patiently move their webs out of the way and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience with a sort of weariness that says they know exactly who to blame for this. A twelve-foot-high menorah sits in the Great Hall, leading some to suspect that the Headmaster's Intimations to learn more about the holiday did not produce universally-accurate results.

    Headmaster Birony herself patrols the grounds like a madwoman, slinging extra spookiness wherever she passes and occasionally Discovering costumes straight onto the innocent students she passes. "Spirit of the season!" she yells before fleeing, candy and toilet paper left behind in her path.

    If by this point you are questioning whether the Headmaster ever does actual work, rest assured you're not the first, nor will you be the last, to wonder that.


Research on the SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!)


    This month's assignment, for those willing to undertake it: actually nothing disastrous! Instead, the researchers ask that you compare your world to another Sundered student's, then report back to them on the differences and similarities. They're most interested in magic styles, but anything you give them will have value!
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Don't Touch That Dial

Sep. 23rd, 2019 03:35 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

Don't Touch That Dial



    Once upon a time, a pair of ducks had an idea. "Let's create television and make it so it picks up programming from everyone's home!" they said, as if somehow the Tenscore Kingdoms hadn't suffered enough. Would it shock you to hear the spell didn't go quite right? Would you be amazed to know that it malfunctioned in a horrible way?

    Choke on your disbelief, because IT DID. In front of the Great Hall, right in that arbitrary spot where the trees of the Promenade end and the walls begin, several 55" glass screens suddenly flare to bright blue life... followed by several more, in the unlikeliest places around campus. (What is a glass pane meant for TV doing in your sock drawer? Ask Webby.)


Arrival


    What emerges from the screens -- and we do mean emerges -- is not a flat image, nor a happy purple dinosaur, nor someone wishing to be your neighbor. What emerges is, instead, someone you did not want to see from your home canon. Not necessarily a villain, mind; only someone who will cause conflict, with you and with others, in some way, shape, or form.

    It all comes back to conflict, in the end.

    Now they're here.



22 Minutes, Not Counting Commercials


    They're here, and they're running some version of amok. Maybe they're trying to take a hostage to force you to give themselves up to their power? Maybe they're trying to steal items of power, or capture rare familiars in red-and-white spheres. Maybe they're hitting on that person you really secretly like. Maybe they're just telling everyone about that time you were six years old and ran down the street naked.

    Whatever the case, your nemesis-for-a-day is causing some sort of trouble...



Triumph(?)


    Ultimately, the only way to handle this horrific cross between a holodeck malfunction and a fourth-wall event is the most obvious one: you gotta cram your canon counterpart back into a screen, any screen at all. Through trickery, treachery, spellwork, or pipe-to-the-skull, you have to banish your victim back to whence they came. Of course, no one says you can't unfairly gang up on them...




...help?


    Surely the faculty will help, right?

    Nope. They've all taken right the hell off. Because they, too, are affected by the mirror. Contemplate just who might be summoned by each of these powerful and capable wizards, and perhaps be a little grateful that they did this.

    In charge, in their absence, is the Head of Student Affairs, Richard Willoughs. He seems unaffected, because honestly, students are his worst nightmare, so having to deal with them is only apropos for this disaster. So you're on your own...
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September Event Log

Sep. 4th, 2019 04:45 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

September Event Log



    The Magicademy has a special treat for students this week: Combined Classes. The Curriculum-by-Curriculum education of the Magicademy lends itself to viewing each Curriculum on its own, not part of the greater whole that is magic. So in lieu of normal lessons this week, Professors are joint-teaching classes to show you what you can do by merging magic together.

    Profs. Porfsin & Kith: Making Modification Fantastic


      If Diatu students love anything, it's expressing their individuality by wearing unique clothing, particular ones similar to home in the case of the Sundered. Working together, the good Professors will teach you a basic and beloved trick of wizards everywhere: combining Modification and Fantastics to make a spell that provides you with clothes that are outstandingly fashionable and flamboyant on the outside, but fit perfectly and comfortably despite their flair. At last, the secret of how wizards can swoop around in dramatic capes and flowing robes without constantly tripping!

      Of course, the potential for mayhem is pretty high in practice. Shrinking clothes, accidentally creating a scarf 250 feet long... Professor Trammel has loaned them his familiar, a top hat named Decorum, so it is on hand to quickly deploy wide black censor bars in the event a mishap leaves you perhaps offering more in the way of an Anatomy of the Sundered class than you might expect. But if you work hard and give it your all, you might come out of this looking good indeed!


    Profs. Loshakle & Mala: Advanced Warding


      A lesson Professor Loshakle hammers home in his classes: the more broad the spell, the weaker its effect. A ward against fire specifically will repel so much more fire than a general ward, but of course the fire ward is entirely worthless against lightning. Today, these two Professors show one way to get the best of both world: a Predictive Ward.

      The theory is simple: Suspend an Intimation effect within the ward's construction, then make the ward manifold-responsive -- or in other terms, capable of shifting its focus from one danger to another. The Intimation spell predicts the damage and preemptively shifts the ward to full effect. Simple!

      Enjoy testing them. Since it involves hurling some things at each other. What better way to test a ward than practically?


    Profs. Trammel & King: Pocket Summoning


      One of the problems inherent to Discovery is the danger involved in creation. For example, if you desire a large quantity of water for whatever reason, you need to create it all at once -- you can't create it ahead of time without a way to transport it, for example. Sundering offers an intriguing possibility that actually is much safer than most of its uses: opening a portal into a small pocket dimension, where you can Discover and store whatever you might need, and release it later in small doses or full-tilt.

      Now, mess up the Sundering spell and you could end up discharging a large volume of water or stone or pudding out of midair at a terribly inopportune time. But don't worry! Several groundskeeping golems are on-hand to help with the inevitable messes. Also Professor Trammel knows how to clean clothing. You might need that help.


    Headmaster Camillah Birony: ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO ATTEND THIS CLASS


      This opportunity is unique. For all her flaws, Headmaster Birony is unquestionably a master wizard, who has developed an entire branch of magic hereto undiscovered by wizardkind. The art of working magic on magic, or as she calls it, "Metamagic".

      "And it will be the third Metacurriculum! Wizardkind everywhere will develop and master these powers that I have paved the way for! AND THEY CALLED ME MAD!" she yells to the sky, before flinging her hands wide and laughing maniacally.

      So! You get to start very basic: Modifying a spell to last longer. Pick your favorite spell, any spell, and cast it. While its magical energies still exist in the pattern your will has imposed on them, Modify them. A simple equation. Add 1 to them. Multiply them by 2. Whatever works for you.

      You don't get much more instruction than that, says the Headmaster, because you have to figure out how to make it work for yourself. More than most magic, this depends entirely on your will and your determination. Everything else is just trappings -- take what you want from the foci of Modification, that will help, but find your own path forward.

      And unlike every other lesson, this one is utterly safe. At the first sign of a spell getting out of control or going haywire, Headmaster Birony squelches it like a bug beneath her heel. Not even literally, for a pleasant change!
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August Event Log

Aug. 7th, 2019 02:47 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

August Event Log


Speed of Lightning, Roar of Thunder


    The latest rage in Diatu: portable lightning generators! These little spheres, compact enough to be held in the hand, can launch a miniature bolt of electricity out with flair and pizzazz and surprisingly nonlethal effects. Getting zapped is like getting bit by a horsefly, not much worse.

    Naturally, all sorts of sports and pastimes have grown up overnight. The new sports of Lightning Tag, Lightningball, and Zap Each Other With Lightning Till Someone Collapses Because We're Tough Guys Dammit routinely break out on campus, while people who think they're funny can't go ten seconds without bolting someone's posterior. So what's your role in this? Eager participant? Sportsman? Buttzapper? Or is your idea totally new and wild?


And Break the Laws That They Should Fear


    A rash of thefts plagues Anastara and the Magicademy both. Nothing huge, nothing heavy -- little things, like food, jewelry, trinkets and knickknacks... because the perpetrators are rats. Large and obviously clever rats, who have somehow wormed their way through defensive enchantments and mundane security both with the fearsome tenacity of their species. Look around at just the right time, and you might spot a rat scrambling for the safety of the caverns, something clutched in its jaws. Maybe something of yours?


The Cry Goes Up Both Far and Near


    Finals draw ever-closer, and right about now students start realizing that maybe they don't understand this or that; maybe they could do with some outside material; maybe a second viewpoint would come in handy. Thus this week brings the Diatu Book Exchange! Outside of the Great Hall, students of all sorts brings books they no longer need and exchange them for books they do. The Book Exchange goes past merely scholarly works, though; time has grown it to encompass books of all sorts, from genre fiction and unlikely stories about seemingly ordinary kids attending an engineering boarding school to comics to philosophical works and more. Come to trade, browse, or lust -- there's something here for everyone!


Research on the SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!) SUNDERDOG! (Sunderdog!)


    The research team has learned one important thing: Conflict is the key. The Codification of Sundering is the door.

    Somehow, of late, something has changed the nature of Sundering magic. They do not know why or how, but the very existence of the concept of Sundering magic now causes summoning anomalies that focus on other worlds, resulting in the transport of the Sundered here.

    This is, well, bad. The Codifications should not be slipping, not unless something has the power to completely overwhelm the entirety of human thought and will...

    To test theory more deeply, this month's Research has the Sundered locked in a room with another Sundered, a pair of chairs, and nothing else. The goal is to observe the warp and weft of magic around them with minimal interference from any other source save perhaps each other. So who did you get shut in with, and how long can you just sit and talk without going crazy?
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The Bodyswap Post

Jul. 19th, 2019 07:39 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

The Bodyswap Post


One: Nothing Wrong With Me


    In the blink of an eye, disaster strikes: disaster, in the form of a chaotic misassociation of minds and bodies. Everyone immediately blames Headmaster Birony. But for once, zaniness isn't her fault; a faulty spell has collapsed and sprawled across the campus like so much mayonnaise falling from an ice cream scoop, infused with powerful chaotic energies that make it so difficult to counteract.

    And so here you are: trapped in a body that is not yours.


Something's Got To Give


    At the same time, the multicolored, feathered, amorphous blob monster has emerged without warning, lurching from its attenuated connections with the two innocent students who were used for its summonings into the light of day once more. As they promised, the faculty immediately springs into action, capturing the beast in an immense and convoluted magical cage, which it promptly squirts out of because it is now the size of a cantaloupe.

    In this form, the creature has no power beyond annoyance, and the staff are pretty distracted at the moment (Professor King, for example, is currently a frog), so catching it is low priority. Students are advised to be cautious around it, as it has a tendency to gnaw on things like homework, legs, buildings, and complicated spellwork. On the other hand, wouldn't catching it be worth some renown and recognition -- especially if you managed it in a body not your own?


Push Me Again, This Is The End


    Perhaps shockingly, the Sundered aren't the only people affected by this mess of Modification. Students by the dozen find themselves in the wrong bodies, and that means the Magicademy is chaos. Cat familiars given human form raid the newly-reopened Great Hall, stealing every piece of food they can and knocking down every glass, book, or valuable item left on a horizontal surface above ground height. Unscrupulous souls take advantage of the anonymity in new forms to steal, bully, swipe, or even just catch a glimpse of attractive students of their desired gender at inopportune moments. Others are taking respect of their new bodies so far that they, well, kind of smell thanks to their unwillingness to bathe. Though classes continue as normal, attendance is a nightmare. In short, chaos rules the Magicademy, and spills over uncomfortably often into those doing their best to muddle through...


LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!


    This is the wildcard option.

    We just wanted to put that in a heading.

    Bodies? Bodyswap? Get it? Eh? Eh? Never mind...
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July Event Log

Jul. 8th, 2019 11:15 am
[personal profile] magicademymods

July Event Log


A Reading Rainbow


    Though the publication is ordinarily drier than dry toast Modified to be drier than dried toast, this quarter's issue of Thaumaturgy Today is all the rage around campus. The reason: a series of advances in motile spells! Easier and more powerful than those found in your standard book of spells (any grade), these spells achieve their power by specificity. One spell for lifting fruit, one for lifting laundry, one for lifting books, the list goes on. Though Professor Loshakle is deep at work writing a blistering reply criticizing every nuance of these spells, outside of his wrathful gaze the spells flourish as people practice them on everything they can.

    Copies of the issue are easy to get your hands on, if you want to give these new spells a whirl. On the other hand, your stuff or you yourself might fall victim to the spells of other students, whether by mistake or cruel jest. And woe betide those not human -- since no spell explains how to lift an anthropomorphic duck or a robot, for example, enterprising students are particularly eager to come up with one on their own, and there's only one way to test such things...


It's Raw, You Donkey!


    There was an incident. Mistakes were made. Rice balls were detonated. Puddings were animated and sent on rampages. A cheesebread was found lodged in Makerion Keep, sunk to a depth of three feet in the walls. Whatever happened, and no one seems to have details... the Great Hall is closed and no food is being served.

    So... what're you going to eat? Several pop-up stands have emerged, as enterprising students try to cash in, but that costs money and who knows how the quality is. Headmaster Birony keeps showing up with pies, having made several savory ones that taste really good, actually, but can you really live on pie alone? (And do you really trust Headmaster Birony?) Some students have taken to the ultimate last resort: cooking.

    As it happens, the skills of the chef and of the aspiring mage are not exclusive in principle, but generally learning the one means little time to devote to the other. Faced with an oven or a grill, can you muster up the capability to make something edible? Or will you burn the water and turn bread back into grain, and thus have no choice but to avail yourself of pricey booth cooking or Cam-pies? Of course, the Great Hall will PROBABLY be open again soon, you might be able to last until then...


The Defense Association


    In light of certain recent activities, like horrible monster attacks, Professors Trammel and Kith have teamed up to provide self-defense lessons to students who so desire. Purely optional, this extra class at the end of the school day promises study in shields, wards, basic attack spells, and mobility spells (because sometimes the best thing is to run like heck). Needless to say, these classes are quite the adventure! Students find themselves in dueling circles quite frequently, expected to carefully deflect each other's spells. Hopefully you've got the knack of it; the practice spells they have taught you don't cause any harm, but they sting like the dickens!


Research on the Sundered


    Conflict.

    Conflict seems to be key. As near as the researchers can tell, all the Sundered lead lives that are simply not ordinary, and their experiments in conflict from last month produced results they didn't expect (as you all have learned) but that are most promising. Professor King herself has taken the lead on this experiment, and she warns anyone who volunteers that it is likely to be very dangerous, and they will be taking this very slow.

    They are, she explains, going to try to bridge the gap between you and the world you came from. A SMALL bridge, a proof of concept, no portal home and celebrations yet. But they hope it will work, and be the first step towards getting you back where you belong.

    If you agree, they get to work.

    Any student who undergoes this process immediately regains a power of their choice. It does not have to be on their application, and you do not have to provide proof during AC. It's here now. Only if you do not have a power to regain, you may regain an item instead.

    The price?

    For the next three days, you will be haunted by visions of your greatest enemy, your most hated foe, or the person you least wish to see in the world. Perhaps you hear their laughter in the darkness of your room at night. Perhaps you see a fellow student as them. Perhaps they are taunting you from just behind your shoulder... Whatever form it takes, for three days, you will be at their mercy. Or the mercy of your own mind's imagining them. Or perhaps a combination of the two. Who can say...?
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You Asked For It: The Beach Trip

Jun. 19th, 2019 04:01 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

Be Careful What You Wish For: A Beach Adventure


Crowded Quarters


    To the joy and delight of the Sundered students who feel joy and delight over going to the beach, the Sundered students get to go to the beach in celebration of their completed midterms! Professor Trammel has graciously paid their way on the local airship, which runs regular routes on summer days to the ocean some 45 minutes away, and so every student who so desires can pack up and head onto it to enjoy a fantastic day of fun and adventure!

    Slight downside: the airship is small and packed, as it keeps its fees low by relying on volume to turn a profit. The crowded travel compartment is standing-room-only, and even those who are lucky enough to get seats won't find themselves with much shoulder room. Some people may even find themselves in the lap of a fellow student, which only the most cynical and bitter of minds would abuse as a way to ship-tease (right?). The trip isn't long, just hot and stuffy. You can make it, students!


Wave Your Hands If You're Shore


    The beach at last! Though the hot sun beats down from above, a gentle breeze blows in from the ocean and the water itself is delightfully cool without being icy cold. Waves run about five to six feet in height, enough to be forceful without dominating like some giant curl suitable only for surfing. Though scores of people have set up tents, umbrellas, blankets, and towels across the sands, the Diatu contingent has plenty of space to conjure up tables and chairs, an awning and plenty of shade. Professor Trammel politely deploys Spells of Sunscreening, as well as directing students to the swimwear the school has obtained and the screened canvas changing areas where they can don them. Helpfully, he's obtained all manner of suits to fit any taste, so... choose wisely? Baskets of sandwiches and drinks kept magically chilled offer sustenance for the busy swimmers, and all manner of balls, nets, and beach toys to enjoy.


The Sand Castle Contest


    Early in the afternoon, Professor Trammel announces that a sand castle contest is open to all participants! The rules are as follows:

  • 1. Headmaster Birony is forbidden from competing. (At this, Headmaster Birony sulkily turns Makerion Keep back into stone and sends it back to the Magicademy Campus. Ka students will be finding sand in odd places for a while.)
  • 2. Students may work in teams of no more than 2.
  • 3. You will have an hour to work with any of the sand-castle tools available.
  • 4. Judging will be on creativity, quality, and durability.
  • 5. 'Bedmaster Hirony' is forbidden from competing. (Headmaster Birony rips her fake mustache off and throws it to the ground in frustration.)

    You have a few minutes to form pairs and get ready. Who will win the competition?


Teachers' Day Off


    Some of the Professors, too, have taken the day off! Students are treated to the sight of Professor Trammel digging a hole in the surf so his own knocked-together sand structure goes up against the waves, leaving him to improve its walls and channels each time to make for a better hope of surviving. Professor King is teaching anyone who will listen about a new game she calls Sunder-inlota, which involved lobbing a ball through portals to get it into the other team's goal. Headmaster Birony occupies herself doing a Sorcerer's Apprentice thing with the waves, making them smash and crash against each other with glee, while Professors Porfsin and Trent fail to put campus politics aside and both spend the day trying to attract an audience with their own personal performances. And Professor Kith just... swims and enjoys herself, like a normal human being, which is probably in violation of the Adequate Wackiness In Teaching Staff Proclamation, but no one seems inclined to call her on it.


Fire in the Sky


    As darkness falls over the beach, swimming comes to an end as the gathered people move to get home, their day off done. The Magicademy, however, still has some tricks up its organizational sleeve. With fires conjured along the sands, the Professors take turns cooking -- simple fare like sausages and hamburger patties, that even the less adept among them (coughCamBironycough) can't screw up. And as the last vestiges of sunlight vanish behind the horizon and the beach and ocean are both swept in darkness, Professor Trammel pulls off his final flourish: a Discovery of beautiful lights exploding in the sky, a mixture between fireworks and aurora borealis that paints the night in glory.

    All in all, not a bad day.
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June Event and Intro Log

Jun. 7th, 2019 03:00 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

June Event and Intro Log


Diatu and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Sundering Midterm Results


    It turns out that inadvertently summoning a horrible demon of immense and terrible power is still worth a passing grade: minus a lot of points for summoning the entirely wrong thing, but enough extra credit for successfully doing something so incredibly over-the-top to make up for it just a little. Meanwhile, something something power of running water, there's a demon imprisoned in the fountain, locked behind a massive magic circle of protection. Its flames neither evaporate the water nor are quenched by it, its lashing pointy tail stabs futilely at the stone in an attempt at petty vandalism, and otherwise it squats with otherworldly patience, claws drumming on its thighs. Till someone comes close, and then it calls out.

    "Come! It is in my power to grant a wish to those who ask! Speak your desire and I shall grant it!"

    Of course, the demon's ability to interpret wishes in an extremely jerkass manner is unparalleled by mortal malice. Still, this doesn't stop those students who think they're clever, can outwit a demon, have a background in legal jargon, or just want a turkey sandwich on rye bread with lettuce and mustard and-and they don’t want any zombie turkeys, they don’t want to turn into a turkey themselves, and they don’t want any other weird surprises. Needless to say, it has gone well for none of them -- but will you be the one to break the streak?

    As for the circle, it is specifically warded against meddling, so no freeing the demon (accidentally or otherwise). Those who try to touch it or cross through it are promptly hurled with pinpoint accuracy into a nearby pond that has been put there explicitly for this purpose. (Except for Minamimoto -- if HE messes with it, his pants rip themselves off his body, wrap around his head, and haul him away while shouting the multiplication tables incorrectly.)


Potent Potables


    Students work hard, and they play hard. Around midterms, this often takes the form of picnics with unreserved and unrestricted access to not just copious amounts of barbecue and potato salad, but also alcohol. From fine wines to barrels of beer to Liverpunch Whiskey, all sorts of offerings pop up at the parties that occupy space along the Walk or outside the Towers and Keep. Anastara, you see, has no legal drinking age; like most of the Tenscore Kingdoms, children grow up with alcohol, and generally its consumption is seen as no major event and no special treat. And it simply hasn't occurred to anyone that other cultures on other worlds might not function the same.

    So enjoy a picnic, but also enjoy your free access to the wonders of intoxication.


Physical Challenge (aka the Prompt Least Likely To Cause Suffering)


    Healthy body, healthy mind, the saying goes. Professors Trammel and Kith, adherents to this philosophy, have begun holding extracurricular exercise groups during the off hours. Students can learn proper weightlifting techniques for endurance as well as strength, jog around the campus in groups, play impromptu games that get the body moving, or even just practice slow stretches and what other worlds might call 'yoga'. Captain Lominia aggressively prowls the area, looking for people to scoop into bala-inlota exercises -- far more grueling and dangerous to succeed at if you don't want to be badgered onto the student team, but amazing workouts either way. And Headmaster Birony has set up a fairly extreme obstacle course straight out of a ninja challenge, overseen by Professor Porfsin from behind a cannon which magically flings beanbags at the participants. Those who make it through receive a pie from the Headmaster, who it turns out apparently can make a really darn tasty pie.


Research On the Sundered


    With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.)

    This month, the researchers wish for you to engage in some sort of conflict, clash, or battle with your fellow Sundered. Spars with blunted weapons are the obvious choice, but games of strategy like go, shogi, or Fantastic Foils are also an option. A rousing debate will do as well -- anything that raises passion and energy. The team explains that they've found many of the Sundered who they interviewed have recently been through some sort of conflict or trouble on their world, and they wish to see if there's any magically-measurable aspect they share when challenged.


Wonders Await


    Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Except for the fountain. You can't swim in the fountain till they figure out how to banish the demon.
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Dance Dance Reprobation

May. 22nd, 2019 03:37 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

The Twilight Ball


Arrival


    The Promenade has been transformed. Literally. With Modification. Ha ha. Cough. Crickets. Toad familiars eat the crickets. Circle of life. Animals bow before singing lions. You get the idea.

    Neither tree nor stone form the Promenade now. It is instead a long bridge over a shallow and brilliant pool, the gentle ripples of which catch the afternoon sun and scatter it into a million highlights that play over the Great Hall, the bridge, and those who walk down it. There is no formal receiving line, merely a gentle procession of people across the bridge at whatever speed feels comfortable, slowly making their way to the Great Hall.

    The Great Hall itself has been enchanted to be completely invisible while one is inside it, save for the outline of doors so people can actually find their way out through means other than smacking their noses into the invisible walls till they find a place with no resistance. Thus the twilight for which the ball is named will show all around the dancers, while they are protected from any errant breezes, faint hints of rain, or slime monsters that might otherwise threaten the festivity.

    Come in. Find your date and get comfortable. The fun is just beginning.


Let the Revels Begin


    After Headmaster Birony welcomes everyone with a speech about she's going to get on her boat, go upriver, and kick that sonuvabitch Bison's ass so HORDT that the next Bison-wannabe is gonna feel it, the dance formally begins with a peppy number designed to get people out and moving. The orchestra here comprises some of the finest players available anywhere in the world, thanks to the whole Valhudor shtick and graduates of said house, and the music is infectious as it drifts through the slowly-darkening air.

    But as the dance progresses, they play something for everyone. Martial waltzes and slow dance ballroom numbers. Powerful tunes to lose yourself in, and gentle melodies that slip beneath conversation and encourage intimacy and closeness. Professors Trammel and King treat everyone to an exhibition of what an Earth resident might call 'swing dancing on amphetamines' and many students do call 'the closest I have ever come to death'. No pause for speeches, no announcements or interruptions -- just a steady stream of music, bringing dates and lovers together in dance, as the sun sets and casts the room into gentle and romantic twilight.

    Also a dolphin and a whale are swimming through the floor and they, too, are unmistakably dancing. If this is the weirdest thing you've seen all night, you need your eyes checked.


"Food!


    One of the food tables has been discreetly slid against a wall, where it positively shudders under the weight of a massive buffet open to everyone. The food here tends towards the light, such as fish and vegetables, cucumber sandwiches and thin-sliced meats. Things that will give you energy without weighing you down, so you can keep dancing till the dawn comes.

    At one end of the table, an owl the size of a cupboard sits on a perch, serenely watching the varied drinks laid out for consumption. 'Spiking the punch' is so cliche that no one is going to pretend it won't happen or the students will behave on their honor, so here you get a chaperone.

    Even so, this whole area is a popular gathering spot for those between dances or partners, drawing steady attention throughout the night.


Meanwhile, Elsewhere


    Shockingly, not everyone has found that loving feeling, asked out an attractive someone, and gone to the dance with romance on their minds. The rest of the campus, and of course Anastara itself, remain open as normal... and perhaps even less-minded than normal. The faculty, the familiars, the cleaning golems -- almost all attention is on the dance itself. If there's mischief to manage, now would be the perfect time... or just something else besides wallflowering and missing out.


Wait, Wasn't There a Ghost Dragon and an Off-Brand Shoggoth?


    Professor King managed to find a way around the protoplasmic ooze's resistance to magic and splatted it (with no small amount of help from students and faculty!). The dragon disappeared into the caverns beneath the Magicademy. That certainly isn't ominous and won't inspire anyone to go down there, will it? Don't fall in the river down there. Please don't fall in the river.
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May Event and Intro Log

May. 3rd, 2019 01:19 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

May Event and Intro Log


DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY


May I Have This Dance?


    Though Diatu Magicademy has its share of social events, few capture the attention of the student body quite like the Twilight Ball -- that magical once-a-year dance that crosses the change of day into night and is given over entirely to the dance itself. The focus is not on political visitors, rival schools, local government, or hitting up alumni for money; it is entirely about the pleasure that comes from accompanying a charming and attractive person onto the dance floor and cutting the proverbial rug.

    It is entirely possible the Twilight Ball is beloved because the general student body is aggressively amorous, but no one admits that out loud.

    With the dance on the horizon, the mission of the day becomes finding a partner -- or asking the prettiest or nicest or most tsundere to the ball before anyone else does. The Sundered are particularly popular by virtue of being new, so students may find themselves fending off invitations or even crowds of people interested in being seen on their arms. Even the younger Sundered have a few people in their age group who'd like to pretend they're just as adult as the older students.

    To avoid the mob, one strategy is to find someone else in dire straits and agree to be their date, thus giving both of you protection now and then. Another, stranger, vastly more unorthodox strategy is to actually ask someone out legitimately... if you've got the guts.

    (The third strategy is to go with Headmaster Birony, who has been occasionally heard to bemoan loudly and publicly that she has nobody, HINT HINT. But who could possibly be THAT desperate?)


Love Is In The Water


    Love potions are absolutely, positively, one hundred percent forbidden, on the grounds they tread far too close to the supremely black Curriculum of Dictation. This ultimate and unforgiving ban is every bit as effective as Anastara's rules limiting the speed of carts in the street to a horse's walk.

    So, yes, there's love potion in the water. Someone spilled an entire bucket in the river. These things happen. Luckily, as diluted as it is, the potion doesn't reach the levels of obsessive compulsion that the worst of them can; a person drinking a unfortunate draught instead simply finds themselves attracted in a weird and sharp sort of way to the first person they lay their eyes on, for a period of about thirty minutes.

    Diatu Magicademy is an inclusive and progressive institution, and consequently these potions affect and can target all manner of beings, from ducks and wolf-shifters to robots and dragons. They are pretty convenient about failing to bring about really skeevy pairings, though, so don't worry about being Hot For Professor.


Special Delivery (aka the Least Embarrassing Prompt, which is a sad state of affairs)


    A quick, easy, profitable way to make some money this time of year is by delivering messages, packages, parcels, and treats to students who've caught the eye of another. Whether anonymous or gloriously identified, small token of esteem or bristling bundles of roses and chocolates, the population of the Magicademy takes particular delight in letting others know their feelings. Not always positive feelings, either -- glitter-bomb rejections have only recently begun to diminish in popularity, being replaced by Pie-To-The-Face spells.

    An enterprising student who adds their own spin to this hallowed ceremony of delivery can make bank; singing and performance are popular ways to enhance a message among Valhudor students, and a recent trend finds quartets delivering acapella harmonies to the recipients of love notes. But simple note hauling can still be worth your while... so long as you don't find yourself delivering a creepy confession from a weirdo to one of your dear friends. What are the odds of that happening, though?


Research On the Sundered


    With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.)

    This month, however, the research team informs its applicants that there is no magic being performed. Instead, they ask you to participate in partnered interviews, in which two Sundered compare their worlds and ask each other questions while the researchers take notes. They explain that they wish to find commonalities and differences between worlds, in the hopes that this will help them identify a larger pattern in how the Sundered were brought here.

    How is this bad enough to merit earning a reward this month? As it happens, the researchers who sit with the pair have an Intimation Crystal, which shines red every time someone speaks to deceive in its presence.
    Lie or omit information or cover with half-truths and the interviewer will ask you to go back and try again -- and they encourage you to speak on everything you can. You might end up venturing into dark or unpleasant territory in these interviews...



DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY


Welp, This Happened


    A quiet weekend morning is abruptly quiet no longer.

    With a tumultuous shuddering and an eerie, whistling roar, the first tendril of a far mightier being surges out of a wall on campus, venturing into the cloud-shadowed outdoors for the first time in its existence in this plane. Then, like a cloak shrugged off, the outbuilding it emerged from rises up only to crash to the ground as the Sundered creature rises up to claim it glory.

    It is a nightmare, a horror. A terrible, indescribable thing as large as a small building —a shapeless agglutination of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of light. For some inexplicable reason, it is colored in bands of purple, black, and gold, and several parts of it sprout white feathers.

    That's the bad news.

    The bad news is that this existential threat to reality does not go unnoticed, nor unchallenged. Mere moment after the Sundered creature makes it presence known, a cold wind begins to blow. The temperature abruptly drops thirty degrees, leaving those around in a clammy and miserable chill that feels like they've passed their whole body through one of the ghosts of Makerion Keep. This estimation is not too far wrong, for the pale off-white dragon that emerges from the clouds above is translucent and ethereal, save for the shining eyes of coldest blue that fix on the beast like pinpoints of fire.

    What a ghost dragon is doing here is anyone's guess, but when it opens its jaw to unleash a withering cone of necrotic energy at the Sundered creature, it demonstrates plainly that it will not brook this interloper on its domain.

    In other words, Diatu Magicademy is now home to a kaiju fight. That's the bad news.

    The BAD news is that both these creatures are, by their very nature, incredibly resistant to magic. So even as the professors spill out and split duties of getting students to safety and fending them off, the two beasts barely notice the arcane energy flashing through the air as they begin vigorously brawling.

    Thank goodness this is a weekend, or else you'd all have some serious trouble getting to class on time.


Wonders Await?


    Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. But maybe you should deal with that mess first? We're just saying.
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April Event and Intro Log

Apr. 3rd, 2019 02:04 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

April Event and Intro Log


Plants Off The Path


    Green grass and radiant flower gardens bracket all the major walks on campus, and fragrant scents fill the air all around. Note the key words "major walks" there.

    Move off the common paths and onto 'shortcuts' or less frequented areas of the vast campus and things are quite different. Here, the plants grow just as experience with this chaotic and often dangerous school would lead you to expect. Broad-leafed stalks stretch upwards, petals unfolding to reveal long jets of fire instead of a sensible stamen. Bushes have large toothy mouths, and viciously swallow anyone who comes near (though they are still just bushes, and the victims end up on the their other side just a few scratches worse for wear). A tree grows quills instead of needles; another sprouts paper airplanes instead of leaves. An extremely aggressive pitcher-plant wanders the pathways, mugging students at knifepoint. It's a jungle out there.



Bullies, Of Course


    Surely a Magicademy, with many students already adults and with such an emphasis on learning and control, wouldn't have those who used their magic for such petty ends as making others suffer?

    Uh-huh. A pack of bullies with more spell experience than wisdom has banded together to take delight in the suffering of others. They overtly pick on the small, the meek, and those with less magical skill; they torment the larger, the bold, and the powerful in secret. Worse, they are the clever sorts of bullies, who go out of their way not to get caught and not to do anything that can't be played off or explained away.

    Maybe you attracted their attention by looking weak enough to pick on. Or strong enough to need to be taken down a notch. Or weird enough that you were the Other and thus lesser. Or pretty/handsome enough that you needed to look less attractive so they would look more so. They are pretty good at justifying picking on anyone, really. Are they pestering you by magical tripping or property destruction? Playing keep-away with your class books? Better be careful how you respond; their fathers might hear about it.



Wind At The Docks (aka The Prompt Where You Don't Get Mugged)


    The winds of spring bring something of a dark pastime to Anastara -- dockwatching. Aware that a sudden blast of air can rip across the island at a moment's notice, crowds gather at the docks with the air of those expecting spectacle. All too often, they are rewarded -- in the wake of a sudden wind, airships list violently, or bump into each other, or desperately pull sails and power up their flotation cores to avoid a worse collision. Curses fly through the air, and sometimes even spells. With luck, the audience might even see a pair of vessels engage in an all-out air duel, as two captains driven by pride or vengeance refuse to back down.

    Now, to their credit, the assembled people aren't heartless. If a ship truly looks to be in trouble, or if it's smashed to the ground or into a dock, the people of Anastara don't hesitate to help those on board to safety or ensure that they don't go down with their ship. But mostly it's watching the chaos. It IS quite a show...


Research On the Sundered


    With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.)

    This month, the team has developed a Sundering Glyph designed to detect any influence of the magic on you. Painted on your arm, it will shine with a bright light when a Sundering effect attempts to influence you. They explain that they believe the Sundered are still subject to either the spell that brought them here or new ones, because they have detected remnants of Sundering magic in the wake of students who have mysteriously disappeared. They ask only that you report back when it lights up.

    Problem: when the Glyph erupts, either because of the Glyph itself or the spell it has detected... those who bear it find themselves no longer where they started. Perhaps they find themselves in a classroom late at night. Or the wrong dormitory. Or in the Great Hall in their nightshirt. Or for the utterly lowbrow amongst you, a restroom occupied by the wrong gender. Whatever the case: sorry.


Wonders Await


    Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!


A Special Note


    If you thread out one or more scenes based on the confusion from "Research on the Sundered", respond to the comment on this post with a link to that thread. The results of this will be revealed next month! (It is some sort of regain this month!)
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March Event and Intro Log

Mar. 8th, 2019 03:45 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

March Event and Intro Log


Golem On The Loose


    The rain never stops. Water and mud track all over campus. Diligent cleaning golems stomp about, mopping and scrubbing and polishing and then going back to do it all over again, and again, and again...

    One of them seems to have had it.

    The renegade golem bursts into Kedrigan Hall -- interrupting classes and disrupting labwork to furiously seize students and scrub every last scrap of mud and dirt off of them. All the halls have been locked off with "Under Cleaning" signs, and anyone who enters them meets with the golem's wrath, as it violently plays a pre-recorded message about not interfering with groundskeeping and deploys a giant claw-like tool to grab the interloper and put them back on unforbidden ground. The professors, who are after all completely immune to the golem's attention by its very design, seem to think this is a good learning opportunity for students.

    Is it?


Horrible Spell Doom?


    "Are you sure you're ready for the test on Advanced Gaseous Discovery?" one upperclassman asks the other.

    "Of course I'm sure," the second says confidently. Whipping out a wand from a holster on her belt, she sweeps her wand through the air gracefully, pronouncing several Osmarian sigils as she draws them. Probably. "See, that's a blue cloud--"

    Said blue cloud, which puffs into being as the last syllable left her lips, abruptly doubls in size. Then it doubles in size again. And again.

    The upperclassmen, who have been in Diatu for several years and know exactly what this sort of thing means, don't hesitate. Not even stopping to share a glance between them, they run like crazy, leaving the growing cloud behind just as classes let out and students begin to enter the halls.
    But... surely it doesn't have any weird and wacky side effects, right?


The Bala-inlota Parade (aka The Non-Horrible Prompt)


    To celebrate the start of the Bala-inlota season, Anastara spares no expense. The great parade and associated festival stretches the whole weekend, and the whole city puts on their colors and turns out for the fun. Enterprising vendors sell food, drinks, and souvenirs ranging from small and crude figurines to magical constructs that shine field displays onto flat surfaces so you can watch the action up-close! (Good luck affording that, students.) Practically any sort of entertainment you could want appears on the streets and canals of Anastara, and food and drink flow freely.


Research On the Sundered


    With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All newly-arrived Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.)

    This month, the team has developed a Sundering spell that they warn is crude and unpolished, because the Curriculum is so unpracticed. They hope it will connect to your home worlds and establish a magical link they can build off of to open further passages. No promises! And to those who do undergo this spellwork... it has a certain side effect of confusion, as brief images from your home world flicker across your vision for a few hours afterwards.


Wonders Await


    Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!


A Special Note


    If you thread out one or more scenes based on the confusion from "Research on the Sundered", respond to the comment on this post with a link to that thread. The results of this will be revealed next month! (It is, we're afraid, not a regain, lest your participation be based solely on that hope!)
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Let The Games Begin

Feb. 6th, 2019 03:27 pm
[personal profile] magicademymods

February Event and Intro Log


Orientation Week/Magic Mayhem


    The campus of Diatu Magicademy stretches out before you, confused and chaotic and surging with energy. Where are you headed? To your dorm or suite, to get settled? Maybe you need some food now? Wherever you head off to as your first stop, you have to deal with the snow. Helpful or proud students are passing out various magical remedies to get you where you need to be -- umbrellas with a nasty tendency to dump snow directly onto other people nearby, an iron tube that projects fire but appears to have no off switch, snowshoes that keep you slightly too high off the snow and thus provide no friction for stopping...


Familiar Follies


    Familiars do not harass or harm each other as a rule -- but that doesn't mean they have no pecking order, and the week of Orientation finds them all jockeying for status and position as suits them. This can take the form of pranks, displays, competitions, or simple physical assertiveness towards each other. The goal is simply to be seen as superior by the student body. New wizards especially may find themselves surprised at this behavior of their familiars...


Research On the Sundered


    With the arrival of the Sundered come those wizards engaged in research on their presence here, now set to investigate what brought them here and how to get them home. All Sundered students are asked to meet with representatives of the research team, to introduce themselves and relate what they will of their homes. In addition, the team requests samples of blood, hair, and skin -- carefully magically collected, and the researchers will sign in the presence of the Sundered a Glyphed contract that forbids them from using the samples for a purpose they know will be harmful. (They quite understand your reasons to be suspicious of this collection! And they will not compel anyone who refuses even given these conditions.)

    Furthermore, they request to perform a few spells on you for testing purposes. It is, quite regrettably, possible that if you consent to this testing, you will come away with a temporary side effect -- a slight change of hair color, traveling two steps for every one you take, one hand moving about a second behind the arm it should be attached to, or being ridden by a penguin. No need to worry, these changes won't last more than a day!


Wonders Await


    Diatu Magicademy is open to you in all its glory. Have fun!
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