Hellgate Hotel

The Current Situation

Nivvean imperial politics are always cutthroat, but things are particularly fractious and unstable right now.

Empress Archelada Serafin is ambitious, even by the standards of corporate Imperials, and there's a widespread perception that she's bitten off more than she can chew -- that she's spread the resources of the Empire too thin, and that her numerous projects are failing much too often. She has sent the Imperial armies into multiple border wars, in hopes of reclaiming lands lost to the "barbarians" decades ago; she has given Imperial backing to a large number of corporate resource-extraction colonies on Zareas, which are beset by expensive logistical difficulties and even-more-expensive local discontent; she has created a network of intensive "schools" designed to create and train spirit mages of various kinds, and some of the first "products" of those "schools" have been extremely troubling.

The military is quite sure that it wants to oust her as soon as possible, and claim its place on top. It hasn't made its move yet chiefly because its two foremost leaders -- Thariden of the Heart-Eater Brotherhood, and Lady Red Cloud of the Knights of the Dream -- hate each other with a passion, and have been unable to determine which of them will be put forth as the military's Imperial candidate.

The civil service has thus far remained quiet and uncommitted in this struggle.

Certain Major Nivvean Corporations

Imperial Energy Enterprises (IEE) is without question the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of the Nivvean economic world, and the first-among-equals in the council of the corporations. Its main focus is on geomancy and geomantic architecture -- it built most of the key infrastructure in every city on Nivveas -- but it's an enormous expansive corporate behemoth, and it does a great many things in the general realms of heavy industry and construction. Politically, it's mostly a force for small-c conservatism, since it benefits more than anyone from the status quo. Its executives regard many of the present Empress's projects as attempts to build up IEE's rivals at its expense. Unlike many of the major corps, it's not a family business in any sense.

Fifty years ago, the Dazzling Smile Corporation (DS) was a small and insignificant company, a manufacturer of toothpaste and cosmetics. Since then, its rise has been meteoric, especially now that its former President has been crowned Empress. It got to that point largely by expanding into other consumer goods -- snack foods, toys, and vid-spheres -- and by conducting the most aggressive marketing/branding campaign in Nivvean history. (Political cartoons often depict Archelada Serafin as Wingy, Dazzling Smile's omnipresent angel mascot.) Unsurprisingly, it has received a lot of patronage from the Empress, and there have been subsidized trade expeditions to get DS products into foreign markets. Of course, this involves setting up manufacturing centers in foreign lands, given the prohibitive expense of intercontinental shipping.

Calron Textiles (CT) is synonymous with the clothing industry on Nivveas. Not only does it own pretty much all of the industrial-scale manufacture, it also owns most of the major clothing stores, and even largely controls the fashion world through its designer academies and its publications. The Calron lineage is probably the single most elite, top-of-the-upper-crust family in Nivvean high society; status-conscious young men and women from across the Empire flock to work for the company. CT is especially infamous on Zareas, for its sweatshop towns and for the armies of monster-hunters that it dispatches every year to bring in rare and valuable pelts.

The Earth Heart Mining Corporation (EHM) is even more closely held by its ruling family than most Nivvean corps. The Dajins have handed the Presidentship of EHM down from parent to child through twelve generations. Earth Heart has been especially aggressive about expanding in Zareas over the course of the last couple of decades, investing heavily in rare and valuable metals, and for some reason staking its claim on a lot of land with ancient Zarean ruins on it.

Delfin Family Hospitality (DFH) is a mid-size, middling-influence corp that runs the hotel industry on Nivveas. It's noteworthy for being the only corp with any sizeable presence on Morleas, where Delfin hotels are a watchword for luxury. It's also noteworthy, at the present moment, for scandal. Ten years ago, the family heir left the corporation behind, fled Nivveas altogether, and set up her own privately-owned resort in the wilds of Zareas.

Certain Noteworthy Sects and Fraternities

The Heart-Eater Brotherhood is an infamously aggressive, widely-disliked fraternity that specializes heavily in raid warfare and scorched-earth tactics. It is notorious for recruiting blood ghouls -- spirit mages who can gain strength and vitality through cannibalism -- as well as bandits, village toughs, and other disreputable sorts. After decades at the bottom of the military's baroque prestige hierarchy, recent years have seen it rise meteorically, largely thanks to Empress Archelada Serafin's interest in reclaiming and pacifying the borderlands.

The Knights of the Dream are a wealthy and sophisticated sect that recruits from Kharan. Their work mostly involves policing wealthy neighborhoods and providing high-level security (often working in tandem with corporate or civil-service forces). The Knights favor mnemonists, diviners, and psychics of various kinds.

The Cloud Spear Sect is one of the oldest, most traditional, and most respected fraternities in the military. It has been controlled by the Gehrman clan for twelve generations. It operates mostly in the western provinces, where it maintains fortresses on the border with Ihmenet and various other barbarian kingdoms. The Cloud Spears also supply martial instructors to other, younger sects with less-well-developed arts and styles. Their ranks contain a noteworthily large number of Storm Children, but their martial doctrine is flexible and versatile, without particular emphasis on any one kind of magic.

The Iron Legion is the single largest sect in the military. It refuses to accept spirit mages of any kind, and its doctrine promises to make a great warrior out of any ordinary man or woman through intense disciplined training. It is presently responsible for road security and bandit management in almost half the Empire, and while it has never been particularly influential politically, its relevance is quickly becoming undeniable.

The first proper update has been taking a while mostly because the character of Lí Lan has been taking a while to congeal in my head; I kept starting and then going "no, this is wrong" and tossing out what I had. But over the weekend, I hit on the correct answer and things are going smoothly now.

However, I started a new job today, and onboarding stuff is eating a fair chunk of my writing time. So it might be another couple of days before I get the first story post up. By way of apology, have a lore post: a large index of spirit magic varieties, including many that you have not yet seen. Your fellow heroes at the Hellgate have by now been fully generated (though not all of them have names yet), so have fun speculating on what sorts of spirit mages you'll be fighting alongside!

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Ancestral Scion
Ancestral scions can conjure forth spiritual entities that appear to be the ghosts or phantoms of their own genetic predecessors. These ancestor-ghosts can fight on behalf of the mages who summon them, and -- sometimes -- offer up their own skills and knowledge. As a scion grows in power, their ghosts will display more coherence-of-personality and more capacity for independent action. Scholars are divided as to whether these entities are genuinely the spiritual remnants of deceased humans, or merely psychic projections of the summoner's imagination; scions themselves tend to have strong feelings on this issue. All known ancestral scions come from a few famous lineages, which manifest this form of magic with great regularity; the most noteworthy of these is the royal line of Gavis.

Animator
Animators wield the so-called "breath of life," which they can imbue into unmoving and unliving objects, granting those objects temporary mobility -- and even a temporary sort of operational intelligence. At an Animator's command, brooms will sweep, knives will cut of their own accord, and carts will roll themselves forward without any need for horses. This is an extremely versatile form of magic, and tends to be in great demand for commercial applications. Animators' Guilds can be found in many cities, selling their magic services for high prices.
Necromancy is, properly understood, the use of Animation magic on once-living organic tissues; certain savants believe that there is remarkable power and utility to be gained from necromantic techniques, but any such practice is regarded as vile the world over, for obvious reasons. (Scholars claim that the tremendous receptivity to Animation displayed by organic matter has troubling metaphysical implications.)

Archivist
Their magic revolves around fighting entropy: preserving things in their current form, preventing collapse and erosion. The physical aspect of their power usually manifests as ice manipulation. Archivists are invaluable in logistics, albeit some act as front-line fighters. Masters of this discipline seem to be capable of halting their ageing altogether. Archivists tend to be conservative and rigid.
(Contributed by @sportoner)

Beast Soul Adept
Some mages find that their empowered spirit takes the form of an "inner beast" of some kind -- a true spiritual self that is animalistic, or monstrous, and that can be partly unleashed into the world through the expenditure of power. This is one of the very most common and widespread kinds of spirit magic, although it can take many different forms, since an "inner beast" can be practically anything. It is also, usually, one of the most straightforwardly physical kinds of magic. Beast Soul Adepts can temporarily give themselves features of their totemic identities: claws, fangs, wings, whatever is appropriate. They can often employ the senses, or the instincts, or the unusual abilities, of their beasts. At the heights of their ability, they can fully transform into bestial shape.

Body Savant
Body savants' magic focuses on control and manipulation of their own physical forms. At a basic level, most mages of this kind are effortlessly healthy and fit, and resist most nonmagical diseases. Those who choose to hone this power develop an intuitive familiarity with the thousand intricate interconnected systems of their own bodies -- a familiarity usually supplemented by intensive, long-term study -- to better understand their limitations, and then push those limitations as far as possible. Body savants are ever surefooted and poised, capable of delivering precise and shattering blows with their bare hands and feet, and can control their adrenaline and serotonin levels to modulate their instinctual reactions or keep themselves awake and on their feet far longer than normal. Masters of this discipline can reshape their body on the macro-level: creating backup organs, coaxing spikes of bone to serve as armor or weapons, and even healing from mortal wounds.

Cosmic Essence Sage
These mages wield a supremely esoteric kind of power, one that reflects the conceptual duality underlying existence: positivity and negativity, which is to say, presence and absence. Their more overt abilities allow them to project magic into the world in its rawest and purest form, usually shaping it into wards and barriers and other very simple constructions. Their subtler negative abilities allow them to weaken, or even drain, external arcane phenomena. Cosmic Essence Sages are found almost exclusively on Nivveas, where their brand of magic (and the associated insights) have been given particular prestige and veneration since time immemorial. Many of them are affiliated with the Nivvean civil service, that most ancient and respectable institution.

Dazzler
Light is the tool, weapon and toy of a Dazzler. At their most basic level they can create bursts of blinding brilliance, but more subtle adepts can make swirling, hypnotic patterns, or focus light into searing beams that pierce flesh or even metal and stone, or simply beautiful displays of illuminated artistry. Dazzlers are known for exuberance and energy - their magic is at least half performance, and they say that this matching of emotion to wavelength is not mere preference, but integral to their magic.
(Contributed by @KreenWarrior)

Echo Caller
Echo Callers make for excellent scholars and researchers in arcane fields, for their power allows them to perceive magical phenomena directly -- synesthetically "seeing" the flows and patterns of the aetheric forces -- like no one else can. They are most famous, however, for their ability to make their own magic conform to the patterns that they "see." Which is to say; during the brief moments when the residue of a spell or magical effect lingers in the world, an echo mime can often cast that same spell or create that same effect, regardless of its origins.

Fatebinder
These rare mages are able to feel out the thin, fragile tendrils of fate that draw each individual towards his or her destiny like tethers of spidersilk. No mortal mage can break the hanging threads of fate, nor reweave them...but fatebinders can gently loop them around other individuals or items, ensuring that their futures will be closely intertwined for a time. Fatebinders may use their own destiny-threads as a quick and convenient source for bindings that will last the span of their own lives, or expend a much greater effort to manipulate the threads of others. The effects of this may vary from minor bindings, like ensuring that someone never loses a cherished possession, to major intricate tangles that can change the course of history. Practitioners of this discipline understand that each binding or knot they create tugs at the weave of reality in oblique and unpredictable ways, and true masters can even sometimes pluck at a thread and sense the vibrations of what may come of the future if it is disturbed.

Forger
Forgers are prized the world over, for they are the makers of magical tools and weaponry -- which is to say, they are the only ones who can put magic power in the hands of anyone other than a spirit mage. Were they more common, and were they better-able to shape their creations from common materials, they might change the ordering of the world; as it is, their numbers are few, and the reagents with which they can work are rare. As it is, Forged arrows that always fly true and Forged swords that can fight under their own power are the treasures of kingdoms. The classical Forger temperament is obsessive, perfectionist, and misanthropic; how much of this is the natural consequence of the circumstances of their work, and how much is romantic stereotype, is unclear.

Ghost
To tread in the realms of the ethereal and unreal, to walk out of step with the rest of reality -- that is what it means to be a Ghost. At its most basic, this spirit magic allows one to pass through solid objects as though they were nothing but the wisps of a dream, but with skill and practice a Ghost can step out of phase with any aspect of existence. Light, gravity, even magic itself; to a true Ghost, all of these and more are nothing but fragile constructs, to be indulged or ignored as the whim takes them. There are even whispered tales that the greatest Ghosts are able to walk outside of the very fabric of space and time... but those are surely only fanciful rumours, and nothing more.
(Contributed by @NSMS)

Living Crucible
Living crucibles wield a bizarre and viscerally physical form of magic; they can eat almost anything without injury, and they draw temporary power from what they consume. From any sort of ordinary foodstuff or common substance, the power gains are so trivial as to be unnoticeable, but rare materials (or the flesh of powerful beings) can grant a living crucible all sorts of strange and potent abilities. Many mages of this kind try to carry around a small supply of gold and jewels, to be eaten whenever mighty magics are needed.

Mnemonist
Many mages of many kinds possess at least some small measure of psychometry: the ability to sense echoes-of-the-past that are strongly connected to a particular person, place, or item. Those who choose to focus on this power can often learn to experience and interpret these echoes with greater clarity. Although perceptible ambient memories are rare, and generally appear only in connection with moments of great emotion or spectacular amounts of magic, a master mnemonist can go searching for a particular event or moment of the past -- experiencing it through multiple perspectives, and even turning themself into an amplifier to transmit their understanding directly to others. Mnemonism is not a particularly combat-oriented kind of magic, but mnemonists who do take up arms learn to capitalize on their ability to gather valuable information about their enemies' capabilities and weaknesses.

Phrase Flyters
Phrase Flyters are simple - violence is their language and language is their violence. The most common request other mages make is to please stop punning - but to this brand of magic, puns punctuate and actuate every cause and effect there is! When they make a truly clever play on words, they truly make the clever words play out. Most will only amount to a massively aggravating illusionist, but perception can be made reality all-too-quickly at their tongues.
(Contributed by @huhYeahGoodPoint)

Purifier
Purifiers wield the magic of the purging flame, which they generally perceive as burning eternally inside their heart, waiting to be unleashed on the world. Purifiers are known for their skill with the obvious combative applications of fire, but the purging flame is also capable of much subtler applications. Applied with careful skill, it can purge poison from food, or disease from a living body. Applied with very careful skill, it can purge memories -- or even entire aspects of personality -- from the mind of someone who is willing to be so changed. As a rule, this kind of magic manifests among people who have a deep-seated desire to change the world around them.

Shadow Dancer
This brand of spirit magic revolves around solidifying, and manipulating, shadows. The most fundamental shadow dancer techniques mostly revolve around the mage turning their own shadow into a capable, empowered ally -- a scout and spy and combat partner, perfectly in synch with its master's thoughts, perfectly silent. Shadow dancers can also manipulate ambient shadows, transforming them into temporary weapons or hiding-places. Shadow dancers are uncommon even by spirit-mage standards, and they tend to be extremely secretive.

Silver Knight
A mage of this kind can conjure forth, at will, a suit of armor and a weapon -- uniquely individual in its form, but always gleaming silver -- shaped from pure magic force. It is said that a silver knight's arms and armor are physical manifestations of their very soul. Their weapon can strike with unnatural force, but is practically weightless in their hands, and can be intuitively maneuvered with great skill; their armor is nigh-impervious, but does not hinder their movement at all. Silver knights are found all over the world, and often make lives for themselves as elite soldiers, for many armies prize them above all other kinds of mages.

Stonelaw Enforcer
Though Stonelaw Enforcers are visible on the battlefield for the walls they raise, the terrain they manipulate, and the boulders they hurl, their true power does not rest in mere manipulations of soil and rock. Rather, they wield the conceptual essence of the earth: the principles of weight and mass, of absorption and solidity, are theirs to command. While found all over the world, they are most prized in Morleas, for the tense peaces and wary alliances of that continent are ever in need of those who can help raise fortresses and suppress raiding parties.

Stormchild
Storm magic is among the most widespread kinds of spirit magic, and for many people, the stormchild is the absolute classic archetype of the magician. Stormchildren can soar through the air like birds, and they can unleash blasts of lightning from their hands. Their skills are, of course, prized by armies -- they make for excellent scouts, and are unmatched as air-artillery -- but as a rule they are free-spirited and rebellious. They often live restless and nomadic lives, although there are a few Nivvean martial sects with traditions of helping stormchildren discipline themselves and channel their power.

Wild Warden
In some people the call of the Wild is not merely heard: it is felt, resonating through their very soul. Wild Wardens are the ultimate expression of this, the bridge between man and beast. At their earliest stages, they're capable of communicating with animals in very limited terms, using them to scout, pass messages, or even to help defend themselves. As they gain power and experience, they may choose a particular animal to bond with; forging a soul link that allows that Wild Warden to take on aspects of their partners for a limited time. At their greatest, Wild Wardens are capable of transforming into animals, starting with their bonded, and expanding as they come to know other beasts and how they function and live.
(Contributed by @TempestK)