Mentor's quest: Great and Bound

[OldShadow]

Once, you where great and powerful, able to shatter the earth and shake the heavens.
But now, since the last Cataclysm, you are bound, limited by chains of Fate, another victim of a new,weak world.
Slowly, with time, you restored some of you'r old power.Not munch, but enough to act in subtle ways.
And if you want to finally make the changes you craved for so long, you will need to act through... lesser beings.

But first, what are you ?

[] Magister of the Conclave
You were once a master of the Art, able to cast the greatest of spells.Such was your mastery, that, like 7 others, you were freed from Fate, an anomaly in a world already scarred by too much exceptions to the rules of reality.
And so, for the freshly made Conclave, war with the four Heavens was inevitable, for the safe order and the liberating freedom could not coexist once again.
This war brought the Cataclysm, that you survived only because of the defense of you'r Domain, before being slowly generated by is magic.
You awaken, still scarred in your very essence, bound like a prisoner to a ruined Domain. Like before, Only victory over the Heavens will bring you freedom.
Pros
*Extremely powerful mage, with mastery over a specific speciality(necromancy,creation magic, transmutation...)
*Ability to initiate others to magic and enchant there very souls, allowing control and use as magic connections of those Disciples, and to build empire from your prison.
* Free from Fate
Cons
* Struck on a Domain delimited by a big building(like a tall tower) under pain of instant death: Divine payload do not just dissipate...
* magic take time,concentration,sometime ressources and can be dangerous if used recklessly: the Art is no plaything...
* Fate and the Heavens want the Magister dead: they don't know where the Magister is, but they know one of the Cataclysm bringer is stil alive.

[] Beast of War
You are one of the many terribles creations used by the Heavens and there opponents, ravager of nations and exterminator of entire peoples. You rebelled against you'r makers and your enslavers, and so you were struck down, for so is the Fate of all terribles Beasts. But you survived, weakened, and now, after an age of healing, you are reading to bring down the slavers and remade the world in your image.
Pro
* Terrible beast of war, only mentor able to act directly and violently on the world.
* Able to produce Spawns, with lesser version of the Beast power, with more ease and in greater number than the other number than other mentors.
* As long as the makers live, can use is Purpose to bring destruction over whole countries, at a step price.
Cons
*Cursed and limited in some ways (if you were a pseudo-vampire,any light will weaken you, for exemple)
*Very limited control over the Spawns, by influencing instincts and urges.
*As long as the makers live, the Beast cannot truly create: is Purpose is to destroy.

[] Agent of Fate
You are a servitor of the Heavens, bond to Fate to bring order and fate to a ravaged world. You new purpose as been recently revealed to you: to discover mortals with great potential and turn into Heroes, turning them into weapons for the purpose of restoring the world.
Pro
* More or less an angel, able to teleport, understand nearly all languages, change shapes and with a divine true form to unleash in extremely dire need.
* Able to interact and influence Fate: can detect disturbance(like an ages-old mage wreaking havoc in the vicinity), read the fate of mortals and manipulating causality and luck.
* Can turn mortals into Heroes, blessed by Fate (given a moderate amont of plot armor and opportunities to grown in power), and with a better access to their Fate in order to "guide" them
Cons
* If Fate is bend too strongly, if the Agent go against is tasks or if he act too directly on the world, the Agent will take a backlash, from temporary weakness to instant erasure from reality.
* Is an agent, bond to the will of Fate: can interpret is orders "creatively", but not go against them.
* Responsible for the actions of free willed, empowered mortals, and must still follow their final destiny(the old weary soldier will probably stay wary, and if is Fate is to die in battle, only how,where and when he die in battle can be influenced.

XXXXXX
Hello everyone! after years of lurking, I finally decided to make my first quest!
It will be about influencing the world through various "Disciples","Heroes" and other pawns, more or less "evil(er) Dumbledore quest"
Also, english is not my first language, so this quest will probably filled with faults and very weird turn of phrases, sorry.
Oh, I nearly forgot: the setting is very weird, "most weapons are made from steel-like ceramic" weird

 

[OldShadow]

for later

 

[OldShadow]

for later

 

[OldShadow]

Did you really survive ? more precisely, are you really the same person you once were ?
Same person, same memory, but you forgot everything separated from magic. You remenber title, spells, arcane secret, but not your family, your friends,your loves.
By the cursed Heavens, you don't even remenber your name !
And your body ! Who would even recognise you, now, when your own Domain power turned you in the living incarnation of your Practice!
In your rage, you remenber the words of your teacher, now sounding how so prophetic:
"Simple magic is easy, welp. You just survive being struck by some Power, a rift open in your soul, and with no more training than a smith, you can
do magic !
Yes, you can die, and then there is days of constant meditations to learn to control the Powers, and then learning all those spells...But this is nothing against the Practices.
You don't learn a Practice, you become it, you cut and sew your soul, your essence, and turn it into something else, something able to channel and control the strongest spells, and to shatter the bounds of this world.But this also mean you become an extension of your power, that doing magic become part of your nature as much as breathing. In the end, if you drawn to much on it, you will become something that exist only by own and why it use magic, a Practice and a goal in a body."
And now, you watch yourself, now the living exemple of a old lesson.
What do the Magister see in himself ? What practice is now reflected in is body?

Spoiler: Practices of the Conclave

[] A statue of perfect silver, reflect of Transmutation
The Practice of Change, paid with a soul filled with tools of refined metals ,shapped into a laboratory able to infuse matter with the various Powers and permanently change it.It is the Practice of potions,of flesh turned to stone, of golems,levitating stone and of turning matter back into power. As a reflection,it bring a body impossibly resistant and perfect conductor and catalyst for the Powers, but that can be destroyed in one strike for one with the right knowledge and the right amount of the Powers
Pros
* Capacity to permanently change matter
* Most resitant body of all options, will keeping the general power boost from all of them
Cons
* Transmutation need direct attention, proximity, time and a great quantity of Powers
* Can be instakill by someone who analysed is body enough

[] A masked and robed figure, wrapped in living flesh and eyes cold, reflect of Mutation
The practice of Life, paid with an essence like a bubling vat, alway filled with the promise of new life, able to change all that live, to spawn life from inanimate matter and bind it to the mage like a dog is bound to is master. This is the Practice of potions, loyal and misshapen servants, hordes of minions, city made of living flesh, bown of living wood and of many attemps to make the perfect being. As a reflection, it bring an ever twisting mass of mutating flesh hidden by symbiotic robes and mask, adapting to all situation and regenerating, but with a mind also changing, with empathy and humanity slipping away so easely...
Pros
* Mastery of life, can create and change all living things, and is only limited by the potential biology of a fantasy world(aka slimes, dragons,driads...)
* Regenrating and mutating body, for a general efficiency boost and a great resistance to extreme conditions (cold, vacuum...)
Cons
* All greater magic must be used trough life, for example, a death ray will probably be some kind of little cyclop, wich will need things like food or affection...
* Greater risk of losing humanity than all other options, and a faster rate.

[] A body covered by constantly shifting runes, reflect of Creation
The Practice of Runes, strange little spirits living inside the Powers, paid simply by being a home. Let them live inside the soul, and they will happily help, forming array able to cast spell after spell with a simple meal of the right Powers, warning about magic being used, combining in great spirit-beast able to rip apart soul, and even, with great amount of Powers, taking physical form, enchanting object and creating true matter from magic. As a reflection, runes and mage are one, they are always there, helping, protecting, warning, advising, always.
Pros
* Mostly independant spells and servants made from runes.
* Early warning system and instinctual use of Runes (magicals attacks automaticaly absorbed by the bodyguests).
Cons
* Runes need Powers to function, so actions far from the Magister will need another source.
* Constant communication with a swarm of various consciousness, can be very distracting and disturbing.

[] A pall specter without face, reflect of Divination
The Practice of Fate, paid with a curse, using bad luck to weave twisted Fate into a soul. With this, a mage can use curses and blessings, use subtle spells from thin strands of Powers, and control Fate itself, taking control of the Heavens's tool.As a reflection, the mage become deply attenued to Fate and the shift of the Powers, bless with awarness and subtle control, but without a body to act physicaly: like Fate, the reflection must be somewhat subtle.
Pros
* Great subtle magic, mostly luck and causality manipulation.
* Incorporal body and bonus to all subtle magic (more or less without direct physical effects, like a curse)
Cons
* Use backdoors in Fate to use magic, quite dangerous, mostly of being noticed by an agent of Fate.
* Cannot act physicaly, malus to direct magic (aka fireball).

You hate, you hate the Conclave for going so far without fear of consequences, you hate the Heavens for striking your hopes down like the tyrannical abomination they are, and you hate yourself, for going so deep in your Practice, and for knowing very well you will kept using it.
Long ago, something happened. You don't exactly remenber why, but it changed you, turning your all around a single unique goal. This is why you did all that you did, this is why you defied Fate and this is why you still fight on, even now.
What is the ultimate goal of the Magister ?

Spoiler: Goals

Goals are the potentials "victory conditions" of the quest, and making actions bringing closer the fulfillment of the selected goal earn Will, a ressource used for great acts of magic. If the Magister ever as a Will of 0, the Magister make an Act of Hubris, some kind of horrible act connected to is goal, and gain some Will back. I will also propose sometime a voluntary Act of Hubris, most of the time when... moraly questionables actions are taken, earning Will and some additional effects.
This is also a choice which give a vague memory of is past to the Magister, one of the base of is identity beyond "Old mage and ennemy of Heavens"
[] Freedom
The Magister seek freedom of choices and actions for all under Heavens and Fate, at all costs.
This choice also make it that the Magister was screwed over by Fate in the past.
[] Power
The Magister seek power for all that are weak in the world.
The Magister's life was destroyed by a being he could do nothing against.
[] True
The Magister seek to discover all that was once hidden about the wold.
The Magister discovered a now forgotten true about the world, proving everything the Magister believed wrong
[] Write in
Propose your own goal, and I will try to adapt it to the quest

If you want to be more than a shadow of the past, you know what need to be done, you need to finish what you once started, to fulfill your goal and finaly end the cycle that was started when you leaned magic and joined the Conclave.
The Magister will stay namless and genderless as long as is goal is not fulfilled.

And for that, you need tools. Thankfully, your Domain still stand, but of what can you find here, under your aegis ?
You can chose one Boon for free, and chose more for the price of one Misfortune by Boon.

Spoiler: Boons

[] Hidden (incompatible with Vain)
The Domain is way harder than normal to find, due to an underground location and costly efforts of camouflage.
[] Large (incompatible with Small)
The Domain is not the size of a palace, but of an entire city, large enough to hold an entire army under your direct control.
[] City (incompatible with Middle of Nowhere)
Normally, your Domain will be next to some villages, here, it will be next to a whole city, giving ample prospects for ressources and potential Disciples.
[] Servants
Some servants of the Magister survived is sleep, ready to serve again. There are loyal, but nether strong nor smart, so don't expect to act without supervision.
[] Ruins
The Domain was once at the site of one of the mage city of the Conclave, and as such, ruins of the past are ready to be scavenged by one with the knowledge to bypass the Conclave defenses.
[] Preserved Domain (Incompatible with Devasted Domain)
The Domain is well preserved, with reserves still more or less full and installations in working conditions.
[] Annihilation Option
The Domain contain a working WMD of the Conclave. Only one use, will reveal your position to Fate and Heavens, but can destroy a whole contry in an instant.
[] Write in
Propose an option ! Contraty to goal, were I will accept almost anything, write in here will need my aproval in the name of balance ( so no "We have 100 Annihilation Options", please)

Spoiler: Misfortunes

[] Vain (incompatible with Hidden)
The Domain is a project of pure ego, a tall gleaming tower dominating the landscape... and obvious for litteraly anyone in proximity. Can still be more or less discret if you can make it look like an old ruine, but expect far more unwanted visitors.
[] Small (incompatible with Large)
The Domain is the size of a building, not a palace or a skyscraper, and more like a church, making it nearly impossible to expand the installations inside it and holding servants or Disciples under direct control.
[] Middle of Nowhere (incompatible with City)
There is no settlements around the Domain, making it way harder to find any potential Disciples or ressources connected with civilization.
[] Devasted Domain (incimpatible with Preserved Domain)
It seem that an Annihilation Option was used near your domain, ruining almost completely your installations and ruining the reserves.
[] Nobody expect the Inquisition !
There is a church of one Heaven near your Domain, a church with an inquisition, a blessed one. You will need to be very discret if you don't want a crusade against you and your Disciples burned with divine fire.
[] A Hole to Darkness
There is a hole to a demonic land in the vicinity, expect the Divine Worms to act like the parasites they are as long as it stay open.
[] A Beast need its rest
There is a sleeping Beast from the War near your Domain, do NOT awaken it without a ridiculous amount of firepower. However, the corpse of a beast is an invaluable ressource for magic...
[] Wasteland
Your Domain sit in a now ravaged land due to the War, good luck finding any ressources, magic or not, in such place. Good thing that the most harmful aftereffect seem to have dissipated.
[] Write in
Propose your ideas, and if they seem balance, I will integrate them.

XXXXXXXXX
So, last update before turn 1!
There is quite a lot in this update, but if fell it is mostly necessary to not make the Magister stand like a sore thumb.
On another topic, do you think I should keep calling the protagonist the Magiser or Magister, to insist on is sexless nature, or just use he,she,it or another pronom ?
I will also make a lore post to explain some of the concept I found are not well explained, in particular, explaining the Powers. For comprehension of the update, the Powers are more or less magical energy, called such because of a theorie of the Conclave that all magical energy come from one unique source, tainted and tampered by various influences: the Powers are varied, but they are one.
I will of course answer any questions and accept any criticisms, this is my first time afer all.

 

[OldShadow]

The Powers are the way the four cities of Maenic explained there abilities to use various magical energies for one same result, and was used by the Conclave as base for their magical theories.
The theorie of the Powers state that all magical energies in the world have one unique source and one unique nature, but that the process of making the world and various actions by powerful entities tainted those energies, and that magic must combine those various stain energies to attain an effect, recovering a part of the unlimited potential of primordial creation. The theorie see this taint, called aspectation, limitation or focalisation as the reason why magic cannot create permanent matter from nothing, even if this was contested by many mages, runes aggregation being a loophole, their pseudolives allowing to make "corpses" from them, creating matter from their new, fixed state.
The Powers recognised by the theorie are:
- Divine Power, energy used by the Heavens and focalised on subtle manipulation of the existing world
- Terestial Power, energy present in the physical world and focalised on his fonction, this energy shape and govern the physical, but cannot create.
- Life Power, energy present in living beings, control everything connected to life.
- Untap Power, energy from the act of creation present around the world, envelloping it, see as the less tainted energy, but seem to be quite chaotic, considered unstable and dangerous.
- Death Power, energy tainted by the Underworld, mostly use to destroy and recycle the death and what is destroyed, banned by the four cities for being considered Void tainted.
- Demon Power, energy of the Divine Parasite and Worms, the UnderEaters. Only present in Demon, who can corrupt the Powers into more Demon Power linked to them, but rapidly degrade into various others Powers if the Demon linked to it is destroyed.

The theorie also recognize the Void, an exterior energy that was used as a tampering in the world creation. Most mage see it as dangerous, being able to twist the rule of the world and seem to have an effect of turning the world in something more like the Void when used. Was declared the source of all taint in the 4 cities, an opinion not shared by the Conclave. The practice of Void magic is called sorcery and induce to act under the Void rules as is price, most sorcerers seem mad due to this.