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Post by Toz76 on Dec 12, 2018 19:17:35 GMT -5
In my most recent post, I introduced a bunch of new elements. Most of it is just background stuff, but I put some thought into it in case we want to use it later.
WHAT IS THE MAGIC UNDERGROUND? While the colorfolk were fighting on a tiny island over nothing, the rest of the world was doing magic too. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as world travel became easier, mages from different parts of the world began encountering each other. This led to conflict between three of the most powerful factions: the Guild Of Damoni, the Order of Gerade, and the Altavoces U Pixan. In 1949, with the Akademie der Magier and Лед коснулся joining negotiations as neutral parties, the five mager magic guilds decided to band together to combat the one form of magic they all agreed was dangerous: cults centered around a single figure. Thus, the international magic community was formed. Soon after the alliance was formed, work on the Magic Underground began. The Magic Underground is a small pocket dimension shaped like a half-sphere. Unlike most pocket dimensions, this one was created completely from scratch and every detail was planned. The five factions (six, since the PIC joined in 1991) argue for years about the next expansion to the pocket dimension, before expanding it in one-kilometer increments. Currently, the radius of the pocket dimension is 8 kilometers. Hundreds of seemingly ordinary restaurants, bars, and travel agents the world over secretly hold a passage to a nearly identical building within the magic underground. For the purposes of our story, the only entrance on the island the colorfolk inhabit is in a bar called the Goddess Of Drinks in Blackwell,. While the Enchanto-Armors forbid the use of violent magic within the Magic Underground itself, the factions are given a lot of freedom to offer services other factions may find reprehensible. For example, the Guild Of Damoni hires out its private army or individual soldiers as bounty hunters and assassins, despite the Icetouched being pacifists.
FACTIONS OF THE UNDERGROUND: Akademie der Magier (Academy Of Magic): Located high in the Alps of Germany, this hidden magic school is where most mages get their formal magic education. Guild Of Damoni: It's just GOD from the previous game, TBH Лед коснулся (Icetouched): Deep in the arctic circle in Siberia, a magic artifact gives the entire region a natural necromantic energy. The Icetouched took advantage of this to create the most advanced magic hospital in existence, and are renowned as magic healers. Order Of Gerade: A group of American mages who advocate for the secrecy of magic being maintained. Majika Suoremus: Essentially magical cops. Whether they're good at their job, overpowered, incompetent buffoons, or ACAB is up for debate. Altavoces U Pixan (Spirit Speakers): One of the oldest surviving magic organizations, the Spirit Speakers have existed in some form since the time of the Toltec Empire. They openly view the Black Stuff as a good thing, but they view the black stuff as a symbol of freedom from repression rather than "evil"
MISCELLANEOUS: Enchanto-Armor: Magically animated suits of armor, similar to golems but more like a computer than an animal, built to serve as a police force for the Underground by Majika Supremus (More to be added later)
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Post by Toz76 on Jul 18, 2019 0:40:42 GMT -5
History of the underground:
174 AD: The visionary prophet Enkbret flees Magykka after the death of Damoni with sixteen companions. They are bound for Elbaf, but get blown off course and land in Iceland. 622 AD: The beginnings of what would become Altavoces U Pixan form when seven mages in modern-day Mexico discover an ancient black-and-gold device of unknown origin, known today as the Clock Of Ethics. 689 AD: The descendants of Enkbret's companions resoundly defeat a Viking invasion, and decide to begin fortifying their town, Höfuðstöðvar. 808 AD: High Mage Gathery founds the Akademie Der Magier deep in the Alps. 992 AD: A meteorite destroys the Siberian settlement of Kutansk. The survivors discover that they have become strangely cold-resistant and capable of great necromantic feats and become the Icetouched. 1114 AD: The descendants of Enkbert build Borgin Ekkert and retreat underground. 1250 AD: The Constantinople Mage's Guild establishes Magika Supremus, a special division of mages meant to crack down on "dark arts". 1361: Orcs fleeing Magykka reach Iceland and clash with the descendants of Enkbert. 1364: Dhamphir Darkmore unites the descendants of Enkbert and the Orcs due to their shared reverence for Damoni, and the Guild Of Damoni is born. 1467: The Icetouched Ambassador Klla makes a pilgrimage to spread healing to the rest of Siberia. Legends of a "blue-skinned healing folk" soon spread throughout the known world. 1478: The Scholarly War is fought between Majika Supremus, who value secrecy, and the Akademie Der Magier, who wish to continue their teaching. The Akademie is too warded for Majika Supremus to breach them, but they are unable to overpower Majika Supremus, so eventually the factions reach an uneasy truce, with the Akademie forced to operate in secret. 1578: Altavoces U Pixan, which has spread throughout North and South America, begins plotting against the European settlers. 1623: The Akademie Der Magier makes an alliance with a faction called the Last Battalion to destroy a band of Catholic Mages called the Divine Manifestation. Majika Supremus destroys the Last Battalion in response due to the risk of exposing magic. 1674: Altavoces U Pixan activity on New Fuentes prompts a missionary and former Majika Supremus operative named Henry Gerade to found the Order Of Gerade, a faction meant to defend mages in the New World. 1717: During a routine mission in China, checking up on a faction called the Bloodless Blade, an Icetouched agent is murdered by a Majika Supremus agent who believed him to be a lich. 1776: Altavoces U Pixan and the Order Of Gerade both support the rebels in the Revolutionary War, the former because they wish to weaken the settlers and the latter because of issues with the British stance on magic. 1831: The first Majika Supremus outpost in Iceland is established, prompting the Guild Of Damoni to begin industrializing. 1856: The 97 Year War begins. Altavoces U Pixan and the Order Of Gerade begin battling it out over whether old or new magic dominates on the New World. 1873: The Icetouched fail to save the leader of the Bloodless Blade, starting a mistrust between the two factions. 1931: The Guild Of Damoni declares war on the Akademie Der Magier and Majika Supremus. The two factions are unable to band together against the guild due to preexisting grudges. 1934: The Bloodless Blade joins the war on the side of Magika Supremus, prompting the Guild Of Damoni and the Akademie Der Magier to declare war on them. The Icetouched remain neutral. 1941: The Guild Of Damoni accidentally attacks a Order Of Gerade ship, leading to them declaring war on the Guild. As a result, Altavoces U Pixan allies with the Guild Of Damoni. 1946: Altavoces U Pixan, the Guild Of Damoni, and the Icetouched pool their resources to create a Tesseract, which they unleash in the middle of Bloodless Blade HQ. The entire faction is trapped inside, presumably killed. The other three factions declare this a war crime, and the Icetouched defect from the alliance in horror at what their ordinarily peaceful organization has done. 1953: A second Tesseract is used by the Akademie Der Magier on a band of necromancers in Cairo. The event has thousands of witnesses and comes very close to revealing magic to the world. Later that year, the six factions sign the Bloodless Blade Memorial treaty and form the Magic Underground, to prevent another such use of devastating war magic. 1978: The physical city of the Magic Underground is built in a pocket dimension. Over the next several decades, it will be expanded and grow to be the largest settlement of Mages anywhere in the world (even though it's technically not on earth at all). Although New Kutansk, Borgin Ekkert, and the Akademie Der Magier Alps campus remain in use, and in fact grow due to the encreased ability to travel anywhere in the Magic World, the Magic Underground remains a symbol for global magic cooperation and peace.
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Post by Toz76 on Oct 8, 2019 18:09:10 GMT -5
Leadership of each faction:
Akademie Der Magier The academy has the most transparent leadership of the factions. The headmaster of the academy is chosen from among the senior staff by an election amongst the faculty, and serves for life. The current headmaster is Headmaster Luncrett.
Guild Of Damoni The Guild's ruling council is shrouded in secrecy. Representatives from the council are sent to the Magic Underground to represent them in political discussion, but it is unknown how powerful these representatives are within GOD. Fark Devonshire and Nifsara Hunt are the best-known representatives. Representatives are nearly always accompanied by elite guards known as the Finger Of Damoni. FOD soldiers have been extensively modified with magitek, making them emotionally numb, very fast, and impervious to a lot of damage.
Icetouched The leaders of the Icetouched are the 17 original founders of the faction, who are usually frozen in a vault underneath their headquarters to preserve their remains. These individuals are collectively known as The Eternal Winter. When a centralized leader is needed, one of these leaders is woken at random, dons a ceremonial Siberian Tiger robe and mask, and ascends to a throne made of ice to adjudicate all decisions. The names of the various members of The Eternal Winter are unknown, and they are for all intents and purposes interchangable, as they have decayed to the point that even their sex is hard to determine. However, their services are not often called upon, and in most situations the non-TEW elders of the Icetouched vote on the proper course of action and elect representatives from their senior healers.
Majika Supremus
The High Paladins of the High Council are regarded as both the supreme court and de facto "rulers" of the Magic World; this being a preventive measure to ensure no one person ever becomes the "Ruler of all Mages," a title that pretty much everyone agrees should never belong to any one single individual. Although their powers are limited, only holding trial on those who commit the most heinous of crimes, and passing proposed bills sent from the House of Debate, their leadership in times of crisis brings assurance to the masses and their representation of the whole magic world is considered a symbol of the unity that exists within.
High Paladins of the High Council are elected by popular vote in their respective regions; they can serve a maximum of 3 10-year terms (talks are ongoing about reducing it to two)
In addition to the High Paladins of the High Council, there are also "Chief Paladins," one each who runs the Paladin Division (i.e. the "police officers" of the magic world), The Corrections Division and the Court Division.
A High Paladin also oversees the House of Debate, but this role is mostly as "peacekeeper" than anything else; not holding a power to vote, this job ensures that peace is maintained with The House of Debate and arguments are resolved civilly in regard to the proposition of laws of the Magic World.
Order Of Gerade The Order Of Gerade is led by eight magical knights called the Elemental Patriots, one representing each of the eight elements. They are elected to four-year terms in the position based on their elemental affinities, and can serve up to five terms. An election is held every six months, staggered so that an entire council of Patriots can't be replaced all at once. The Patriot of Fire is generally the most visible of the Patriots in terms of interaction with the rest of the MU. Patriots gain a special suit of Patriot Armor that enhances their natural ability and masks their appearance while worn, meaning people outside the Order don't often know the identities of each of the Patriots. Allegations of a ninth Patriot Of Honey that defected to the Spirit Speakers in protest of the Order's actions against Native American mages are unconfirmed.
Spirit Speakers [To be expanded]
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Post by Toz76 on Oct 9, 2019 22:14:35 GMT -5
The Laws Of The Magic World
Magic is a force that, in theory, anyone can harness. This can, and in ancient times did, lead to people using this power to do great harm. To attempt to regulate this, various people have attempted to create "magical laws". Unlike physical laws like the eight laws of magic or the laws of gravity, these are actual "laws" that count as crimes and have punishments. The four taboos is the most famous example of these laws. Of course, magic laws are difficult to enforce. It's impossible to just magically detect violations of magic law anywhere in the world. Majika Supremus monitors magical activity as best it can, but they can't stop everyone.
The laws of the Magic Underground are determined by a vote. Two representatives from each faction and five representatives of the non-faction magical community convene every time a law is being debated. Before the founding of the Magic Underground, Majika Supremus and the Order Of Gerade attempted to enforce "laws" of their own, but due to the protests of the Guild Of Damoni and Spirit Speakers, these laws were thrown out and a new code of laws was written from scratch. The four taboos are still in place, but parts of the magic underground are more lenient. The ban on Honey Magic persists despite protests from the Spirit Speakers and the Academy.
Majika Supremus has the primary authority to persecute and imprison criminals. The Order Of Gerade briefly shared this ability, but was stripped of it after lengthy protests from the Spirit Speakers. However, nowadays, many opponents of Majika Supremus view their power to enforce laws, judge criminals, and imprison them to be an unfair amount of power and advocate returning some of that power to the other factions, particularly the relatively powerless Spirit Speakers. Ironically, the Guild Of Damoni, which runs the entire MU military, complains most often about their unfair amount of power. (Then again, the Guild Of Damoni is also the faction most likely to break these laws.)
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Post by Toz76 on Oct 9, 2019 22:33:37 GMT -5
Minor Factions:
These factions joined the MU after its initial founding. They have little actual political power within the MU, but are big enough to influence policy in a lot of ways.
The Union Of North African Mages: A society of mages from modern-day Egypt, Libya, and Sudan, the UONAM is the most powerful magical faction in Africa. They typically side with the Spirit Speakers on most issues, but disagree strongly with the SS's pro-necromancy stance.
Arabian Alchemist Guild: The AAG was founded in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1800s. They are skilled with herbalism and alchemy based magic, and people from the AAG are regularly invited to the Akademie Der Magier to teach.
Society Against Magic Regulation And Bans: SAMRAB was founded in 1987 to protest the banning of transformation magic, a ban they successfully campaigned to overturn. These days, they have become increasingly radical and fight to overturn nearly all magical laws, including the Necromancy Taboo. Majika Supremus considers them a threat to the security of the Magic Underground, but they have a lot of sympathy among the common folk and are known to be well liked by the Guild Of Damoni.
Grey Fox A healer's guild based in northern Japan. Grey Fox ironically has a very hostile relationship with the Icetouched, believing that they deserved to be one of the main factions of the MU as the "more influential healer's guild"
The Bloodied Blade The Bloodless Blade was a powerful China-based faction that was destroyed by a Tesseract shortly before the creation of the Magic Underground. The Bloodied Blade was founded by survivors of the attack, and is primarily aimed at fighting the development of more magic WMDs like the Tesseract.
Circle Of The Burned Beasts A collective of druids who believe that fossil fuels contain the souls of billions of animals and plants, they oppose any kind of magic or technology that goes against the natural order. The Icetouched is the only major faction that seems to take them seriously, but since one faction hails from Siberia and the other from Iran, they don't often meet in person.
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Post by Toz76 on Mar 1, 2020 20:52:43 GMT -5
The Physical Location
Part 1: Language
The Magic Underground is filled with a diverse group of mages from all over the world. Each faction has its own native language: Majika Supremus primarily utilizes Greek and Latin, the Icetouched use a dialect of Russian, the Spirit Speakers speak a language derived from Toltec and Aztec languages, the Guild of Damoni primarily speak Icelandic with Orcish and even some Futhark mixed in, the Order of Gerade speak American English, and the Akademie Der Magier traditionally uses German. But the magical community also incorporates other languages, such as Ordonian, the "Unknown Language", Mandarin Chinese, Egyptian, French, Turkish, Presuisoltian... you get the idea. As a result, no official language exists in the magic underground. This makes communication rather difficult, as you might imagine, so schoolchildren learn the basics of all of the languages spoken by a major faction. As a result, a hybrid language called "MU pidgin" by some has emerged, combining words from Greek, English, Icelandic, Russian, and various other languages, but grammar that mashes together English, German, Orcish, and Aztec. However, most residents simply cast "Paladin Tremoir's Unprepared Tongue", which enables the listener to understand the literal meaning of everything said around for a period of 12 hours. This spell unfortunately means metaphors do not translate well, and it has serious flaws due to being created by a Greek MS Paladin 500 years ago and being unchanged since then, it still serves well enough for everyday use.
Part 2: Districts Of The City
The city is laid out in a circle. At the very center is the Central District (aptly named). The rest of the city is portioned out like spokes on a wheel, divided into eight sections, numbered 1 to 8 clockwise. Sections 1 and 2 go to the non-faction groups to do with as they please. Section 3 goes to the Akademie Der Magier, section 4 to the Icetouched, section 5 to the Guild of Damoni, section 6 to the Spirit Speakers, section 7 to Majika Supremus, and section 8 to the Order Of Gerade. Additionally, the sections are further divided into sections based on when they were built. When it was founded in 1978, only the Central District and Zone A existed. Zone B was added in 1982, Zone C in 1991, Zone D in 2003, and most recently Zone E in 2015. This results in 41 distinct "regions" of the city.
[to be expanded]
The Central District
Occupying the central kilometer of the city, the central district is the home of much of the administrative parts of the city. At the very center of the city, the Majiospire, a massive tower that grows another kilometer with each update, contains complex magical machinery that maintains the stability of the underground. Around the base of the tower is Cooperation Square, a large open area with various planters, places to sit, and statues commemorating magic history up to the end of the Great War in 1953. Also in the central district are various administrative buildings, including the Department Of Portal Maintenance, the Hall Of Democracy where the MU Senate meets, the Museum Of Magic, the Orcish Embassy, the Department Of Peace Maintaining, the Department Of Secrecy (not as sinister as it sounds, it's just about protecting the magic world from being discovered), etc.
Zone A
The first districts to be created, the eight regions of zone A are primarily functional. Region A1 and A2 contain housing, hotels, and a K-12 Magic School capable of teaching 5000 students. A3 contains an extention of the Akademie Campus, including modern facilities for the housing of ancient artifacts. A4 contains a small hospital for in-city medical emergencies, as well as residences built for the unique needs of the Icetouched. A5 contains a variety of storefronts and businesses for GOD-sanctioned groups to work out of, although dodgier groups like bounty hunters and necromancers are not allowed here. A6 contains a variety of temples and shrines for the Spirit Speakers and other religiously-minded factions to worship. A7 contains housing like A1 and A2, as well as a base of operations for Majika Supremus MU cops and the manufacturing of Enchanto-Armor. A8 contains a variety of other storefronts, including locations for popular American brands such as McDonalds and Starbucks to operate in the underground.
Zone B
Zone B was built just four years after Zone A, and is very similar to Zone A as a result. B1 and B2 not only contain housing, but also contain bases of operation for various minor factions, such as UONAM, SAMRAB, Grey Fox, and others. B3 is a small forest meant for students to relax in, although it has proved popular among druids as well. B4 is best described as a "pit of snow", and is forever kept at a very low temperature. The Icetouched love it, but humans need to wear several layers to even enter. B5 is an industrial district, where the GOD manufactures various majitek items (their facilities in Iceland remain a well-kept secret). The Spirit Speakers have turned B6 into an "Illusion Well", an experimental area where one can manifest physical realizations of their fantasies. Following the "Busty Dragon Army" incident, access to the Illusion Well is strictly regulated. B7 is a "magic-free zone", maintained by Majika Supremus primarily to serve as an area to confine magic mischief-makers, although it has also proved to be a popular place for sporting arenas and other things where magic could be used to cheat. Finally, B8 is fairly uncreative, simply more housing.
Zone C
Zone D
Zone E
Part 3: Noteworthy Places
[To be expanded]
Subsection: Monuments and memorials in the Magic Underground-
A rich history and culture permeates the magic world, and this includes the various monuments and memorials honoring and/or commemorating various individuals, groups and events. Here is a sample of some notable landmarks:
(Specific locations TBD)
Magic in general:
Founding Fathers Memorial Plaza
A park with statues standing in the center, each statue depicting Pyros, Father of Fire Magic, Aquos, Father of Water Magic, Aeros, Father of Air Magic, and Terros, Father of Earth Magic. Commemorates the founding fathers of magic
Majika Supremus:
Founding monument:
A depiction of the Great Mage Gathering of 1250 commemorates the founding of Majika Supremus itself
Constantinople Accords Monument:
The carved stone monument depicts a group of eight mages (one for each element) each holding an olive branch with arm extended, and all eight olive branches meeting in the center. Commemorates the Great Mage Gathering of 1260 when the Constantinople Accords were ratified.
Academy of magic
(To be expanded)
Order of Gerade
(To be expanded)
Icetouched
(To be expanded)
Guild of Damoni:
(to be expanded)
Colorfolk of Ordos:
While they never had the “political” (“politics” is seen as a dirty word in Magic society) influence of the big six factions, the legendary sworn defenders of Ordos still made their mark on magic word history, with their intellectual contributions and defense of Ordos, which was considered one of the major hubs of the Magic world in its prime.
Monuments to the Colorfolk include:
Blake Erdagovern Library and Memorial:
Renowned Colorman scholar and fourth Man In Blue, his intellectual contributions, such as the Eight Laws of Magic, were many and influential. What Plato and Socrates are to philosophy, Blake Erdagovern was to the field of magic research.
A statue of him, standing in front of a solid rock of granite, with the eight laws of magic chiseled into the stone, stands in the center of this small patch of land, which stands in front of the entrance to a library dedicated in his honor, and maintained by the Academy of Magic
Memorial to the heroes of the Apocalypse War:
commemorates the Colorfolk who protects Ordos from “the very incarnations of War, Death, Famine and Pestilence themselves,” and by extension, protecting one of the major hubs of the Magic world. Statues depict 10 Colormen (one for each year of the war), with weapons drawn and spells being cast, attacking metaphorical representations of the four threats
Orc Wars Memorial Garden: Built in 2015 under the direction of Andrew Erdagovern to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the end of the Ordosian Orc Wars, the garden has a stone monument surrounded by 13 Olive trees; one for each year the war was fought.
The four figures depict two Colormen and two Orc warriors. Carrick Eskal, the then Man In Yellow, and Kelvin Gridlon, the then Man In Cerulean, two of the most celebrated "heroes of the Orc War," are seen respectfully greeting a depiction of a warrior orc of the Foglag tribe, and a warrior orc of the Utjen tribe. In turn, the warriors are depicted holding their weapons in a traditional "welcome salute" towards the Colormen. The inscription (TBD) is carved in the ground in front of the monument.
(More to come)
Other:
Heroes of the Great Fire Memorial:
The Ordos Great Fire of 827 was seen as proof that magic and non-magic folk could work together, and is a much remembered event.
The memorial consists of eight statues; one of the then King of Ordos, and the rest of the leaders of the Ordosian Fire, water, air, earth, ice, light and electric factions.
The seven leaders stand at attention as the King raises his scepter, as if to knight them; the memorial is modeled after a famous Ordosian painting commemorating the event
Occasionally, protests are held at the memorial; dark-specialized factions often band together to try and have a statue erected of the dark magic faction leader; arguing that they were well-intentioned and did not actually cause the fire to spread.
The proposals are always shot down, due to the dark faction “not having accomplished anything meaningful” during the fire; the incident involving the accidental destruction of the elf village is the most cited incident with regard to the common argument that the Ordosian dark magic faction were “reckless in their handling of the situation”.
The dark factions have refused to back down and even today the “fight” continues
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