School of Sorcery

[X] "I'm a girl."
[X] "I have goblin blood."
[X] "I'm cute. That usually gets me what I want." (+1 Charisma)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[X] "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[X] "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"

[X] "I'm a boy."
[X] "I have elven blood."
[X] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[X] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[X] "Um..."

Determined but sickly elven boy in lead.

[X] "I'm a boy."
[X] "I have elven blood."
[X] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[X] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[X] "Um..."

Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
[X] "I'm a girl."

Are you a Sambian pureblood? Or are you a half-breed?
[X] "I have Kaflor blood."

What would you say is your greatest strength?
[X] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)

What would you say is your greatest weakness?
[X] "I am small and puny." (-1 Strength)

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
[X] "Eleven metres per second or forty kilometres per hour, approximately."

Sick from growing up in a warzone, determined from growing up in a warzone.

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I'm a Sambian pureblood."
[x] "I'm a quick learner." (+1 Insight)
[x] "I'm magically weak. But don't tell anyone." (-1 Magic)
[x] "I dunno."

Frankly, I kind of find the idea of being a Sambian Pureblood a bit too vanilla.

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[X] "I'm a quick learner." (+1 Insight)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[X] "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

[X] "I have elven blood."
[X] "Magic comes easily to me." (+1 Magic)
[X] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)

Well if nonebinary isn't an option I guess I'll go with girl and also half goblin sounds interesting, I wanna start a revolution!

[X] "I'm a girl."
[X] "I have goblin blood."
[X] "I've been through a lot already. But I've survived." (+1 Durability)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[X] Eleven metres per second or forty kilometres per hour, approximately

[X] "I'm a girl."
[X] "I have goblin blood."
[X] "I'm cute. That usually gets me what I want." (+1 Charisma)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[X] "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"

Mr BreaksIt said:

Frankly, I kind of find the idea of being a Sambian Pureblood a bit too vanilla.

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Some people like vanilla. That's up to them.

Zam said:

Well if nonebinary isn't an option I guess I'll go with girl

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I didn't include 'non-binary' as a choice, partly because I'm not confident in my ability to write from the perspective of a non-binary character* and partly because the Sambian Empire is the kind of place that might try to forcibly 'cure' someone who doesn't conform to their society's gender norms. I'd prefer it if this quest's dark and creepy undertones didn't come to the surface until the protagonist is ready to confront them.
*The Hedge Maze God doesn't count because 'he' was meant to be a sexless ethereal being with a somewhat alien perspective, for whom gender meant very little. (Also, I tended to default to male pronouns when I was writing about 'him'.)

VoidZero said:

Determined but sickly elven boy in lead.

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Hmm. It occurs to me that it might help you to know more about what each ability does, before I close the vote and make your decisions irreversible. Below, I'm going to describe them in more detail, so that you can make an informed choice. (Those of you who've already voted should feel free to change your votes if you wish.)

Agility is a measure of how fast and nimble you are, but it's also used for actions which involve stealth and manual dexterity. It's probably an oversimplification and not very true to life, but it keeps the game rules nice and streamlined. There are many skills which benefit from your having high Agility (for example, archery, dancing, disarming traps, horse-riding, moving stealthily, and so on). Also, in combat, it helps determine the initiative order and gives you a bonus to your Defence.

Charisma is a measure of how easily you make friends and influence people. In a quest like this, interacting with NPCs is an important part of the gameplay. Being able to befriend them, persuade them, deceive them or gather information from them can be very useful. (Also, if you fancy learning a musical instrument, that depends on Charisma as well.)

Durability is a measure of how tough you are. Having low Durability means that you'll need to rest more. Therefore, you'll have less time to socialize, explore the school, take part in the various clubs and societies, and so on. On the other hand, having high Durability means you don't need as much rest, so you'll have more time to spend as you wish. In combat, Durability is very important because it determines your Defence and your hit points.

Insight represents your capacity for learning, understanding, and making useful inferences from the information you have. In this quest, having high Insight is very useful because it means you can more quickly learn new skills and improve the ones you already have.

Magic is a measure of how much magical power you have at your disposal. Having higher Magic increases the power of your spells and makes them more difficult to resist.

Strength is a measure of your athletic ability and physical might. It determines your carrying capacity and is used for actions which require physical strength (e.g. climbing, swimming, lifting weights, etcetera). Certain weapons, tools, and armour types have a minimum strength requirement before they can be used effectively.

Willpower determines how well you resist magical attacks and mental effects. Having high Willpower enables you to ignore Fatigue penalties, to an extent (it depends on how fatigued you are and how much Willpower you have). Also, you may use Willpower instead of Magic as a bonus to certain of your magical abilities, if you wish.

I hope that helps! Thank you for voting!

EDIT: Also, if there are any Sufficient Velocity subscribers reading this, could I request a new tag: 'pottering about'? (It's a Harry Potter reference, lol.)

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."

-Durability is a greater drawback then previously thought.

Chandagnac said:

EDIT: Also, if there are any Sufficient Velocity subscribers reading this, could I request a new tag: 'Pottering about'? (It's a Harry Potter reference, lol.)

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Ask and ye shall recieve.

Chandagnac said:

I didn't include 'non-binary' as a choice, partly because I'm not confident in my ability to write from the perspective of a non-binary character* and partly because the Sambian Empire is the kind of place that might try to forcibly 'cure' someone who doesn't conform to their society's gender norms. I'd prefer it if this quest's dark and creepy undertones didn't come to the surface until the protagonist is ready to confront them.
*The Hedge Maze God doesn't count because 'he' was meant to be a sexless ethereal being with a somewhat alien perspective, for whom gender meant very little. (Also, I tended to default to male pronouns when I was writing about 'him'.)

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Ah I see, that is totally fair and good to know, thanks for the response!

Well, in that case I am definitely not voting for negative durability.

[X] "I'm a boy."
[X] "I have elven blood."
[X] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[X] "I'm small and puny." (-1 Strength)
[X] "Um..."

[x] "I'm a boy."
[x] "I have elven blood."
[x] "I'm very determined." (+1 Willpower)
[x] "I was a sickly child." (-1 Durability)
[x] "Eleven metres per second or twenty-four miles an hour, approximately."