World's End Academy

You look up at the wrought iron gates, a stone archway stretches over them engraved with the the words 'World's End Academy. The gates themselves are strangely normal for such an institution. Yet for how simple they are they still stand between you and the rest of your life. But sight is not the only sense you judge them by, a subtle pulse of magic the most basic of probes ends at the fenceline, utteryly dashed against a set of wards beyond your understanding. But more so the gates represent something so much more than yourself.

WEA is the foremost institution of magic that you know of… well, okay, in fact, it's the only one, and fairly new at that. Fifty years ago, eight of the most powerful magic users from across the civilized world came together to set aside the feuds their various traditions had built up over the years and make something new. Together they made it their mission to do something about the 'lost knowledge' business that kept popping up, and also the fireballs, and the zombies. And… there were a lot of good reasons.

It was too late to falter and be intimidated at this last step, though. As per their tradition, to get here, you and a group of other prospective students were brought through an enormous teleportation gate, catching glimpses of crafted worlds where enormous pagodas were built inside ordinary soap bubbles, or where waterfalls flew up inverted pyramids to water jungle gardens sprawling from their tops.

The townhouse at the front of the campus is positively mundane by comparison. So you can afford to step inside.

You're here for a reason.

[Choose your Motivation]


[ ] Ambition - You're here for the reason you suspect everyone is here. Power. Magic is a useful tool, and you intend to leverage as much out of the world as you can. [Increases Difficulty to Hard, Current Difficulty: Normal]

[ ]Romantic - In the literary and emotional sense. You have a fantasy of being swept off your feet, finding the perfect romance, perhaps with a minor nobleman/woman; living out idyllic school days. [Decreases Difficulty to Easy, Current Difficulty: Normal]

[ ] Threat - You didn't even want to be here, but either somebody wasn't okay with you walking around untrained or demanded a wizard for political reasons, now you're here until you can break free of them. [Masters chosen by QM]

[ ]Loyalty - Similar to threat, but without the seething resentment. Maybe your parents saved up to give you a better life, or maybe there's somebody you wish to serve, but you're here to get what you need to help them. [Masters chosen in next post]

[ ]Premonition - You have the sun god's curse. Sometimes you see the future, but sharing it makes it worse. And you know that something bad is going to happen. REALLY bad. And right here is where it starts. Nothing for it but to do something about it yourself. [Unlocks 'Powerless Prophecy' trait, Gain Prophetic Affinity Spells based on witnessing events through time and space are easier to learn and cast]

The constant flow of people coming in through the gate leads you into the main courtyard. Scattered throughout the quad there are glowing sigils and floating crystals seemingly set to lead the students forward. Yet at the same time, they block off all the entrances to the main building.

At first, it seems like there is no way into the building where registration is supposed to take place. And then you see it, a few subtle glows along the wall, a series of portals almost entirely hidden to the mundane eye but just visible to anyone with even the least of talents. Each gate is open for just long enough for a single student to walk in.

Is this their substitution for lines, just warping in whoever's turn it is? It's either perfectly efficient or a colossal mess, and either way it's far from what you are used to. Back home wasn't ideal, but it was at least…

[Choose your Origin]


[ ]Commoner
You're just, like, some guy. You know the world around you as much as anybody does, and most people won't feel threatened by you, though they may feel superior. Your parents had a fairly standard job [which you can pick] and don't have a lot to send you beyond the tuition already paid, but the opportunity for advancement represented by magic is an enticing one. [Local Connections positive trait, Reduced 'Threat' Accumulation, Unaccustomed to Luxury Trait]

[ ]Practical Noble
You always knew you were better than the plebs, this just confirms it. Magic is a popular feather in the cap for any domain, and all but the most superstitious provinces would prefer a wizard to inherit than somebody with no martial or magical skill at all. If you graduate well, you might be able to play that up into a higher position... but, then, you may also just want the ability to conjure your own wine for the seasonal balls. [Courtly Politics positive trait, Subject to Occasional Assassins, Accustomed to Luxury negative trait.]

[ ] Idiot Student Entering 'Cause Abducted Internationally
You come from a far-off land people have probably never heard of, and not entirely by choice. Back home there is no study of magic, instead, the people toil away from dawn to dusk, without appreciation and only because it's expected of them. The population is failing, as the people are so immersed in work that they find no time for love, but the culture is so entrenched it will accept no protests. As a result, now that you find yourself free you're likely to have... issues... responding normally to human relationships, and will have to tamp down both power-madness and materialism if you don't want to be killed for being a huge asshole. [I, your loyal narrative box, actively get to join in and "help" as a positive trait. Fish out of Water negative trait]

[ ] Monster
You're... not human at all, actually. This is hostile territory for you. You're the kind of thing wizards tend to fight as soon as they graduate. But an awful lot of creatures naturally learn magic, and an awful lot more have some kind of natural disguise, if you learn the traditions of those you hunt you, a lot of doors would open. [You can pick what exact sort of thing you are] [Inhuman Power and Inhuman Potential positive traits. Hostile Territory Negative trait.]

[ ] Soldier
You're no shanghaied student, you've got experience with the world. Specifically from the violent parts of it. Dispensation from your troop has given you a chance to learn magic for martial purposes, and you suspect you'll thrive. [Combat experience, very low danger in-school, massively increased danger outside of it, reduced social actions because you're old and unfun.]

[ ] Wicked Noble
You used to be... kind of an asshole. Bossy, demanding, entitled, selfish, the worst. Then one day you caught a premonition of your own life and death, and you saw how an outsider might see you -and HATE you-. It hurt. Maybe just because you diiiiied, but it hurt. This time around you'll do anything you can to avoid your own death, even if it means... being nicer. [Negative Trait: Stained Reputation. Positive Trait: Servants. The Premonition motivation is given as a free bonus motivation.]


Well, it was at least.

Before you know it, a passage opens near enough to you that it would be harder not to step inside, and you find yourself in a well-appointed, wood-walled, and aggressively normal-looking room. Away from the pageantry, ropes mark off a much more orderly queue, weaving back and forth before seven plaques for each of the magical traditions represented at the college.

Every minute or so, a student takes a deep breath, walks up to face one of them, and makes the most important decision of their life.

You take a deep breath, feeling out how ready you are to make that decision yourself.


[Choose your Tradition]



[ ] Wilder
Magic is as innate to you as breathing. As such, aside from theory, there's not a whole lot the college can actually teach you. Really, they're more like babysitters, making sure you don't blow anything up. You'll have an unconventional method to improvement, and you will never be able to learn spells from other people, only by doing. However, you'll have a lot of free time, and will still be casting spells when every other magic user has tired themselves out. [Starting Traits: Self Taught, Delinquent, Mana Wellspring]

[ ] Weaver
The traditional image of a magic user. You wear robes because your sad noodle arms do nothing but turn pages 10 hours a day, if you try to wear armor a lightning bolt will short out on you, at the start of your journey you could lose to a housecat, and there is nobody better at making a beeline for suplexing the laws of reality and making them work for you. [Starting Traits: Scholar, Incomplete]

[ ] Warlock [Male only, but you can sneak in if you really want]
One half of an ancient and apparently still gendered order that has been folded into the college for bookkeeping purposes. Witches and Warlocks draw power not from the world around them, but from specific entities. They are not necessarily demonic, but as long as you don't summon them during class the academy assures you they do not care if they are. From their bond, Warlocks gets spellcasting that is limitless by mortal standards, but with few options. [Starting Traits: Infinite Spell Points, Warlock Patron. If Female gain the Terrible Secret trait]

[ ] Witch [Female only, but you can sneak in if you really want]
The other half of the ancient order. Witches lack the sheer volume of channeling a warlock can manage, but make up for it with purely arcane access to spells that would otherwise require divine intervention. Unlike a warlock, a witch's bond -cannot- be cut off at will. Witches under the effect of truth-telling spells will emphasize 'at will', but still will not divulge how the bond can be broken to those outside their order. [Starting Traits: Hedge Magic, Witch Patron, Touch of the Divine. If Male gain the Terrible Secret trait]

[ ] Warmage
The mage-knights of the world. Warmages have just as high magic reserves as anybody else, but spend less of it at a time, spreading it wide and fusing it with other arts. The arts of a Warmage involve marrying magic with arts such as swordplay and cavalry riding, which often oppose the average mage on the battlefield. A Warmage's life is busy, having to balance a variety of skills, but a freshly graduated Warmage can win fights that Weavers with years of experience might die in. [Starting Skills: Martial Proficiency, Weapon Specialization, Armor Specialization. Unlocks 3 additional equipment slots. Can never cast high magic]

[ ] Wagister
[You're fairly certain it's supposed to be Magister, but somebody has flipped the M on the plaque] - The masters among masters. Magisters are what happens when somebody with natural weaver talents decides to engage in the formal schooling of the other classes anyway. They're not quite as powerful as you might imagine - filtering spells through two magical traditions takes a lot of time and concentration, and they tend to learn spells more slowly than either weavers or wilders while casting fewer to boot, however, they boast a level of mastery with them none can compare to, being able to stretch spells, cast them at a higher level of power than everybody else, or even do things with magic that aren't even spells, but pure demand! [x.75 spell point modifier, x.75 magic increase speed, Mystic Secrets ability pool unlocked, Ability: Surge (Once per turn you can empower a specific action, increasing either the chances of success or the effect produced)]

[ ] Wanderer/Write-in
Founded by a mysterious sage for the sake of anyone too unique or strange to fit into the usual boxes but which can still be trained and looked over. [Covers the most wacky things you can come up with, subject to veto and the addition of traits.]

The line takes exactly as long to clear as it takes you to decide.


[Narration Box here! You can hear me inside these brackets. I'll explain what traits do at the end of entries like this one, and offer you information on how you might 'vote'. For the opening, make a little [Plan] showing your preferred choices for the bare basics of our hero. Once we get into the thick of things you'll have Action Points to spend deciding your schedule for a fortnight of classes, picking out free time as well as what you want to study. Wherever you go, you'll find challenges, and…]


Co-written with @Z_2

Traits

Way of the Magister

Magisters are what happens when somebody with natural weaver talents decides to engage in the formal schooling of the other classes anyway. They're not quite as powerful as you might imagine - filtering spells through two magical traditions takes a lot of time and concentration, and they tend to learn spells more slowly than either Weavers or Wilders while casting fewer to boot, however, they boast a level of mastery with them none can compare to, being able to stretch spells, cast them at a higher level of power than everybody else, or even do things with magic that aren't even spells, but pure demand!
x.75 mana modifier, x.75 magic increase speed, Mystic Secrets ability pool unlocked, Ability: Surge (Once per turn you can empower a specific action, increasing either the chances of success or the effect produced)

Magisterial Casting

Magisterial Casting 1/4: You are now actually a magister, in that spells you cast will be done in the magister's method not just one on paper. Well... one very, very much in training.

Powerless Prophecy

You or an ancestor have been cursed with the ability to see the future but can't convey it to anyone else, at unexpected times, you catch glimpses of horrible fates. You can act to avoid them, but only with what power you yourself possess, as anybody you tell of the idea rejects it as truth and reacts to you as any other liar. At least the prophecies are considerate enough to never interrupt you when you're already in mortal danger!

Inhuman Power- Will-o-wisp

Often confused for the spirits of the dead a, will-o-wisp is both more and less than that. The very essence of souls given form, with enough willpower they may change their shape into such spirits as the Banshee or the Kumiho.[Gain +18 to Intuition and +5 to all other stats

Inhuman Potential

The life cycle of a monster is a strange one, and you have no real idea what you may one day be. [What you currently are isn't even your final form, gaining enough power will eventually trigger a metamorphosis evolving all of your inherent traits and granting even more of the aforementioned stat wodges.]

Hostile Territory

You never should have come here, if anyone ever finds out what you really are, you'd be lucky to escape with your life. [Heheheh…]

Incorporeal Form

You do not exist entirely in the material world and as such your soul can pass through anything that does not possess the spark of magic. [Given that -everything- is at least a little magic at WEU, this is somewhat useless for sneaking around, but if nobody's looking you can at least fly, and outside of the academy you can skip most mobility challenges.]

Heart to Heart

You are virtually impossible to lie to. The immediate intentions of anybody not cloaked with powerful magic are easy for you to read. [Sadly, long-term intentions are much harder, otherwise, this would be an easy mission for you.]

Esoterica

Even if you use your monstrous abilities in public, as long as they're not wildly out of step with the level of competence you exhibit with your magic, anybody except an Archmagister will assume they're just 'weird magister crap'.

Skittish

There's just too much DOOM hanging over you in this place for you to be comfortable! You've got an unavoidable tendency to lose your cool and are prone to stress. People are likely to know you're hiding something, but fortunately, you're hiding so MANY things that their figuring it out is actually less likely.

Local

Turns out, there's one swamp on the continent untouched enough to have innocent wisps, and it's pretty close to the WEA. You gain some additional information about topics in the WEA.

Social Butterfly

No matter where you go or who you are with, you are fast to make friends and connections. And once are established in a place others will turn to you for the who's who and the happening. [Relationships are easier to raise and other people are more likely to reach out to you.]

Insightful

It is hard to hide something from you, the hidden patterns and unconscious trends that others would overlook come to you clear as day. [Massive bonus to inventing your own spells, an otherwise herculean task. Although you're still not exactly going to be ready for it as a first year.]

Sickly

You have never gone a year without getting sick, and suspect you never will. [Will pick up an exotic and troublesome illness every few turns]

Mana Insight (basic)

You have taken the first step in understanding how magic works all that is left is the thousand steps after that. [This trait will pick up more aspects as you learn more about magic in general]
You can identify the most common methods by which magic is cast, and recognize individual spells after seeing them a few times.

Traits in progress

Modern Geometry 1/15
General Math 1/6
Safe Casting (Minor) 1/15
High Society Manners, Basic 1/3
Aiming, Basic 1/3

Inventory

Ring of the Hiding Trellis
Effects: ?????

Spells

Lightwriting

Lightwriting:
School: Verity
Mana: 1 per minute [min 1].
Cast Time: Part of another action
Allows you to write or draw by leaving behind luminous magic in the trail of your fingers. By default, the spell leaves glittering light that can hover in the air for up to a minute. But with your personal twist, the spell currently manifests as heatless flames which emit quite a bit more light, although you may develop the spell more in time.

Heebie Jeebie

Heebie Jeebie:
School: Farsight
Cost: 1 Mana per day.
Provides a passive sensation of doom that reacts to intent directed towards you by living minds within about fifty feet. Notoriously unreliable and uncomfortable. Reacts only to strong intents and reacts to all intents equally. In your case, a sensation like being immersed in something very cold.

Managlass

School: Verity
Cost: 1 mana per square foot [min 1]
Cast Time: 1 second
Creates a shaped construct of millimeter-thick panes of solid magic. Can be shaped almost endlessly and capable of withstanding up to 300 pounds of weight if properly layered and distributed, but is incredibly fragile to sudden impact and dissipates into sparkles after about an hour.

Catch Flame

Catch Flame
School: Generation
Cost: 1 mana
Cast Time: 1 second
Creates an intensely hot burst of flame from the casters's hands. Lasts only for a moment before fading away though any mundane fires it starts will remain.

Body's Need

Body's Need
School: Soul Sight
Cost: 1 mana
Cast Time: Instant
Translates subconscious needs and desires focused on food and other sustenance into a more understandable form

Spells in progress

Snowball

Snowball
School: Generation
0 of 3

Force Bolt

Force Bolt
School: Verity
0 of 3

Mystic Secret

Dual Form Identity

Dual Form Identity
In an instant, you can change your nature between that of a monster and that of a human. Currently, it works just like your disguise did, costing just as much to stay human, but with practice, this technique can easily be developed into partial transformations or other esoteric tricks.]

Inspirations

Phoenixflame Curiosity

[Phoenixflame Curiosity 1/???: Surely a fire spirit could do as well as a human?]

Synergies Unlocked!

Esoterica (Monster + Magister) - even if you use your monstrous abilities in public, as long as they're not wildly out of step with the level of competence you exhibit with your magic, anybody except an Archmagister will assume they're just 'weird magister crap'.

Skittish (Prophecy + Monster) - There's just too much DOOM hanging over you in this place for you to be comfortable! You've got an unavoidable tendency to lose your cool and are prone to stress. People are likely to know you're hiding something, but fortunately, you're hiding so MANY things that their figuring it out is actually less likely.


Registration should not be this stressful! As you wander your third queue of the past hour, part of you wonders if it's a trap. Humans serving humans can't possibly have made merely signing up for a dorm this unnecessarily byzantine. You haven't even thought about classes yet, you're just trying to get your student ID! Not that your ID will show your true species of:

[pick monster type]

[]Slime
Occasionally when an area has enough ambient mana it will spontaneously coalesce into a slime. Slimes form the foundation of all pure mana-based monsters, elementals, and demons. [Mana Wellspring, Amorphous, gain an additional +7 to all stats.]

[]Direwolf
A beast gifted with the spark of magic and cunning, no relation to the mostly human beastfolk. Evolving their shape they may become a true mystical beast ranging from Werewolves to Chimera. [Affinity for Animals, Pack Tactics, gain +13 to Charisma, Resilience, and Prowess]

[]Will-o-wisp
Often confused for the spirits of the dead a, will-o-wisp is both more and less than that. The very essence of souls given form, with enough willpower they may change their shape into such spirits as the Banshee or the Kumiho. [Incorporeal Form, Heart to Heart, gain +18 to Intuition and +5 to all other stats]

[]Zombie
The body of the dead risen from their grave, they maintains some of what they had in life but takes on a new nature through their undeath. Through the accumulation of life energy a simple zombie may become a true power of the night, be it a Vampire or Barrow Wight. [The undead ignore Resilience as a statistic. Natural Necromancer, gain +10 to Intuition, Studiousness, and Prowess]

[]Mandragora
A bundle of roots bound into the likeness of a human in miniature formed from equal parts monstrous essence and the power of nature. With time it may grow into an Alraune or an embodiment of Nature. [One with nature, Rapid growth, gain 25 additional points to freely distribute]

[]Astrocephalus
Born from unknowable dimensions the astrocephalus is the least tentacle of the eldritch things beyond the stars. As their madness and truth spread their true self may emerge in the form of a shoggoth, dark young, or other mind-bending forms. [Great Perspective, Mind of madness, gain +15 Studiousness and +6 to all other stats]


No, instead it will be showing a personalized disguise you made. Everybody back home chipped in and got you a nice Ring of Humanity. So while your appearance may not be what you really look like, it is at least genuinely yours, and as you look at a mirrored alcove in one of the lines, you try to get used to seeing…

[Write in appearance. Or just yell at the QM to pick one]


When you finally summit yet another line, they explain your student ID to you, it's generated from your own magical signature and required to enter most facilities. Scanning it with the wrong signature will let them know instantly if anybody is impersonating you on campus. You tense up as you briefly wonder if generating it from a monster in the first place will cause problems…

[Roll 1d100 + 9999 (You can't die in character creation that would be stupid) = 10081]

But it works out fine and soon enough you're registered as a human student. You let out a sigh of relief as you look over the card, and your pass to a new life as…

[Pick Name, Age, and Gender]


And a mission.

You know what you saw. A black rider falling from a rent in the sky. Body shadowed except for two things.

The gilded clasp of the eight-pointed sun this school uses as heraldry.

And a strange, four-spired staff gathering flames at its edge.

In your dreams, it came in the middle of the night, when all around were asleep and a lone figure gazed up at the stars. And without a word it slew everyone. Buildings, people, all gone in an instant. Only ash remained.

It wouldn't be the only monster pack destroyed in such a way, but this one mattered. It mattered because:

[Pick an alignment:]

[ ] They were innocent.
No matter what you looked like, you lived off mined magic stones and various nonsentient normal people food. You had a village. If somebody had actually asked to trade with you you'd have at least made them a hat or something.

[ ] They were yours.
Your mom. Your dad. Your grandmother and great grandfather and cousin Louie. Did they eat people? Yeah usually. Were they nice people? Not really. But they raised you well, and they were yours, and stopping their deaths would simply be self-defense.

[ ] They were civilized
They were trying to be people, to prove that monsters are more than what they are. Half your village went to human cities in disguise, living and working and it all worked out fine. It was a universal loss of secret… and a murder. And part of you just wants to know why.

[ ] They weren't done
You don't know how the rider figured out where the next plague would be born, you didn't even know that mortal magic could interfere with that kind of fate, but you were -chosen- to bear the next great plague into this world, and you refuse to die until you're done.

So here you were, card in hand. You had dorms to pick, classes to sign up for, and according to some of the ditzier-looking students, yourself to find. But your first step had already been taken, and there was no going back.

You have 60 points to distribute between Charisma, Resilience, Intuition, Studiousnes, and Prowess. An entirely average person has a base stat of 10 across the board while someone with a professional level of focus in an area has a base stat of 20 along with various skill modifiers.

[] [STATS]
-[] Charisma X
-[] Resilience X
-[] Intuition X
-[] Studiousness X
-[] Prowess X


Co-written with @Z_2