The cart rattles beneath you, the constant clatter of wheels on cobblestones making it hard to focus on what had come before.
You remember the day you found out about your potential. You were only eleven, and the magical testing so common in the lands of the Pact and Vorstal had come to your city. Skarator was a small city by the standards of the Undying Empire, and a poor one as well. You had spent the day begging, and searching for coins on the side of the road where the merchants had passed through. Normally you didn't find anything, but two years ago you'd found a gold solidus, and that had kept your family in hearth and home for months.
Where the fruit stall normally sat is a small cast-iron cart, about three feet in length and one foot across. Carved into it are lines, barely perceptible to the naked eye, crisscrossing the flat top of the cart in all sorts of way. Behind it sits a man, old and wizened, who, upon seeing you, calls you over.
"Flitling! Come over here!"
You approach hesitantly.
"What?"
"You want to make some coin?"
You eye him cautiously. Nobody just offers money, not without something in return.
"Put your hand on this cart of mine, and you might just find an opportunity in return."
"You're not a wizard, are you?"
He laughs, a dry sound.
"Flit, if I were a wizard, I wouldn't need to call you over. If I was, you couldn't stop me doing what I wanted anyhow. No, this is a resonance tester, property of one of the Undying hisself. You put your hand on that, and we'll find out if you have magic. If you do... well, that might make you worth something, wouldn't you say?"
Still cautious, you approach. You put your hand on the cart. The old man grunts, and closes his eyes for a moment, tracing something in the air with his hands. A blue symbol flashes in the air briefly, and then is gone.
Then the cart begins to glow. First the lines on top. Then smaller lines on the sides, and finally you can even see light coming from underneath, reflecting onto the muddy pools of water below. The old man looks satisfied. Moments later, the glow intensifies, going from bright to blinding, and the iron begins to heat. With a yelp you snatch your hand away.
"Saint's tits! Flit, you're fit to bursting with magic. I think I've got someone you need to see..."
A particularly sharp bump brings you back to reality.
Ten minutes away is the Preparatory, the place you've pinned all your hopes and dreams on. If you'd known the power you had then, you would never have bargained it away the way you did. Still, the bargain brought money, and a stipend as well. Your brothers and sisters are well-cared for, and you have enough to enter a school of magic. The cart clatters along for a few minutes more, and stops. You peer over the high side of the cart.
Beyond you sits an squat brick building, topped with a pair of particularly ugly gargoyles, in front of a high fence, wreathed with blades and spikes at the top of each post.
"Out you get. Six nummus, if you please."
You pick six small bronze coins out of your moneybag and give them to the cartier. He cracks his whip, and the horses turn around, trotting off to another location along his route.
Past the gates lie a clustering of red brick buildings, clustered around a single tall tower. You draw breath sharply. That's where you're bound. That tower.
As you walk towards the gates, a voice calls out from the squat building.
"New student or delivery?"
You turn your head. An old woman sits in the building, with a large pile of paperwork in front of her.
"New student!"
She looks you up and down.
"Scholarship or payment?"
"Payment. I've brought a letter-of-credit from the Creaking Bank-"
"I deal with scholarships. Fill out this paperwork. Once you're done, head in the gates, first building on your left is the treasury. They'll take payment there and provide you with a receipt and a student badge. Here, I've got a copy of the forms you'll need there as well. Fill them out, get the damn things off my desk."
She hands you a pile of papers, as well as a quill and pot of ink. You sit down at a nearby desk provided and start to work through the paperwork.
It's mostly boring and just confirming details you've already sent ahead of you, but there are a few things you might want to change...
Firstly, we now vote on character gender.
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
This has no real impact on gameplay, but it's harder to write a character description without it.
Secondly, your name.
The default female name is Janka. The default male name is Ulos. The default last name is 'Flitter', referring to a member of the Imperial underclass. Lastname is locked. Feel free to write in if it doesn't tickle your fancy, otherwise we'll go with the default.
Thirdly, your accommodations. As a first-year student the Preparatory requires you reside on campus, but there are several options available for you. Keep in mind you have budgeted 100 coins for each year's accommodation. Spend more, and you'll need to make it up somehow in the coming months and years. Spend less, and you'll have more money available.
You currently have 100 coins available to spend on accommodation. This only has to be paid monthly - if you can find some way of making or borrowing money before then you should be fine.
[ ] The Smokestack - Accommodation above the laboratories. Mostly third and fourth-year alchemy students who want to be close to their experiments. Of course, you're close to said experiments, which make noise and smoke, often at peculiar hours through the night. Given the location, it's very cheap.
Lower Alchemy study DC. Late-night study DC increased for anything but alchemy due to the noise and smell. You gain Trait: Sleep Deprivation (-5 penalty on all rolls) for the first month of school. Harder to make friends as most third and fourth-years have no interest in you. 60 coins per year.
[ ] The Dorms - Traditional choice for a first year. Most of the first years stay here. Cheap, relatively quiet, though is the furthest of the dorms from the library. You have to share a room. You can also opt to pay another 25 coins and get a room to yourself.
No bonuses or maluses to study. 75 coins per year for shared room, 100 coins per year for own room. Own room has no stat advantages, but if your roommate is too loud it could impact you and if they're too nosy it could make it hard to keep anything you're doing a secret.
[ ] The Tower Dungeon - Yes, somewhat stereotypical, though much less damp than might be expected. The rooms are quite nice and mostly taken by the upperclassmen. Expensive, however, as access to the library without having to walk half an hour home (and there), which amounts to almost an hour every day of time savings.
Lower study action DC. Hard to make friends among the upperclassmen. 140 coins per year.
[ ] The Tower Rooms - Typically the province of the well-connected, the Tower Rooms are a few levels down from the lodgings of the teachers. Luxury and close access to your mentors , running hot water and easy access to the library.
Lower study action DC, minor diplomacy bonus to all actions involving your teachers. People will assume you are rich or well-connected and act accordingly. 200 coins per year.
This will be a relatively quick vote. If we get a few votes in quick succession that agree, or one option takes a clear majority, I'll just go in that direction. Important votes I'll leave up for longer, but I'd rather keep the story rolling where possible.
