So since no one else will start it, I guess I will.

First off, I like Kait's idea that we should leave the world and the characters up to each maker's interpretation, but we should have some sort of steady guide to make them all have *some* consistency. Things like names, origins, and....other stuff.

Also, let's make it greatly insulting to Sei somehow. That would be great.

~Shadowtext

I'd like at least some degree of background to start with. I mean, I know it's a school, hence academy, and I know it's about magic stuff, hence arcane, but that's about it. Do we have any real solid concept of how magic works in this world? Or how common it is? Are mages the rare and lucky elite, or are they no rarer than say doctors or lawyers in our world?

Of course, this might get sorted out by whoever goes first, and then I'll have all my questions answered by being lazy. Yay.

- Yan

I had thought the plan was to basically all work at the same time, and hopefully release around the same time....though we wouldn't be combining the projects, I think, so we wouldn't have to release concurrently.

I don't know about how common mages are, but I would think that the school itself should be at least a little elite. Like a magnet school for mages or something, I dunno. Just makes it easier to explain why the kids have such potential.

~ Shadowtext

So, the school's the place for the best and the brightest, while the lesser mages have to make due with experiementation and what guidance they can get from local wizards/witches/etc? Makes sense.

-Yan

DOUBLE POST! SHOCK!

Anyway, considering this is a school, probably some of the easiest reoccuring characters to have would be teachers. Of course, this being a big school, there could easily be multiple teachers for certain subjects, especially particularly popular or fundamental ones. So a few brain storm things:

- The music teacher - Teaches music and bardic magic. Sonic magic and spell songs and the like. Constantly facing getting his funding cut and diverted to the bigger flashier magic divisions. Laid back, almost hippie-ish attitude.

- The gardener - Ex-Druid who left the orders to live a peaceful quiet life. Got tired of the whole "defend every leaf with our lives" of the more fanatical druids, who had recently been dominating the order. Very "zen" fellow. Likes to keep his past quiet so it doesn't come back to haunt him.

-Yan

XD I love the hippy music teacher. In fact, there's a very strong chance that I would want to make my game about her favorite apprentice.

~Shadowtext

DOUBLE POST! NOT SO SHOCKING, BECAUSE SHADOWTEXT ALWAYS HAS SECOND THOUGHTS!

I'm just going to throw a bunch of ideas out there, you guys pick some of the ones you like. And once we've got names, we can start compiling the character list pages.

More teacher ideas:

- Ballistics teacher - A highly disfigured older man. Wears an eyepatch and has only seven fingers total. Riddled with scars. He is very high strung, and possibly a goblin or gnome or something. Teaches the use of magic of a highly volatile nature, the sort that leads to explosions. He may or may not be a pirate.

- Language teacher - A highly eccentric older person who delights in books and word play. Has a bad habit of making puns. Teaches the use of lingual magic, including magic words and rune magic.

- Gym teacher - A hyperactive "berserker" type personality, the Gym Teacher teaches students how to use magic to augment their own abilities, and how to best make use of those enhanced abilities. The Gym Teacher is passionate, but easily distracted. Comes off as stupid despite high intelligence because of inability to focus. Also coaches the school Raddish team.

- Zoology Teacher - Some sort of animal magician, crossbreed, or maybe a lycanthrope. The Arcanozoology teacher teaches about magical creatures, but also teaches magic related to summoning them and augmenting them, as well as magic related to familiars. Easily annoyed and prone to ignoring students who ask questions that he doesn't want to answer.

Keep in mind that I'm writing these after midnight, so my brain's a little addled. Add, remove, or change what you want to the ideas above.

~Shadowtext

I think before getting into teachers, we have to agree on the types of magic, right? How far are we pushing this? These are the ideas I had for Seventh Wish: Etheria.

* One is a scroll writer who has never had an inate ability to use magic. This person however, is able to write special symbols and signs that hold certain powers onto scrolls. Then by tapping the symbols, brings out the spell. These scroll writers are only able to call forth this power after signing a pact with one of the guardians of the world to give them this power. There are very few scroll writers because of the immense amount of knowledge needed to make accurate scrolls. Many inate magic users are jealous that these scroll writers can use spells equal to or even more powerful than their own at such early stages of their training while it takes magic users several years.

* The summoner gains his powers by making blood pacts with magic creatures. The case for a summoner is so rare, however, because of the dangerous risks that come with blood pacts. A blood pact is a certain promise made with a creature born from Etheria--thus being pure magic. These creatures only make a pact with one summoner so it may be called whenever the summoner needs the creature. Through this pact, the creature gives a part of itself to the summoner to draw its magic whenever needed. Thus the summoner can learn some spells as well as summoning. However, when the creature gives the summoner this power, for many summoners it is too much. The power becomes a part of the summoner's psyche, resulting in the creature's mind interfering with the summoner's. Many summoners end up with personality disorders including multiple personalities--meeting their end soon after from insanity.

* The gym teacher would be a mage who relies on stat-altering spells, right?

* Conjuring. Controlling animals, mind-control?

* Gardener leads into potions and brews that can do various things, right?

* Time magic?

Just random blurbs. And showing I contributed. Nyah.

- Sei

I would say the scroll writer could be the language teacher....that was essentially what I saw that person doing. The summoner thing is pretty dark....that's fine if that's what we're going for, but personally I was planning on having a pretty light hearted story. Though there's no reason the different games can't have different tones of course....and if I go with the Music Teacher's Apprentice, that character wouldn't be much affected by the summoning stuff, either.

One thing I'm trying to do is avoid archetypes we've seen in Harry Potter. Which is why I specifically didn't mention a transfiguration teacher (though the Zoology teacher I mentioned is sort of similar to cat teacher lady, only not so kind hearted)....I certainly don't want this to feel too derivative. That said, I love transfigurative magics. Yeah, the Gym Teacher sort of fulfills that role, if you were to use my suggestion.

Conjuration, I would think, would be part of the same "school" of magic as summoning....I come from a bit of a D&D background, though. Animal control and mind control would be under the same heading, too....probably some sort of biological magic. The gardener would probably handle that, since that's usually under a Druid's ability set. But yes, they also make potions, I think.

Personally, I think that the best deal would be think of the sorts of characters we want to have, and then come up with the rules to support those characters' abilities. But if you'd rather work from the bottom up than the top down...

Also! We're either going to need to delete the link to "character brainstorming," or else move some of this stuff once it gets into the stages where we're coming up with more specific concepts, I think.

~Shadowtext

Well, how about this:

"Magic" is the common term for a universal energy. (We can give it some fancy name later.) A building block of the universe, akin to magnetism, gravity and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Or maybe even more fundamental than that. It's also a fair bit less subtle than those, in that it can be seen floating about by those with a knack for it, and occasionally does things like erupt violently for no apparent reason, or solidify into objects. Some attribute these random events to probability and chaos theory. Others claim there's a sort of weak intelligence and conciousness in magic, which seems to have a grain of truth in that particularly powerful individuals seem to make it appear by sheer force of will.

Wizards, sorcerors, warlock, conjurer, etc. are all terms given to people who have the skill to manipulate magic, either directly or indirectly. The uneducated refer to it as "doing magic", as opposed to the correct phrase of "using magic". Magic is the power source, not the end result. There are a variety of magical studies and disciplines, both inherent and learned, though in general those not born with some level of talent rarely go beyond basic applications. These various magical arts vary wildly in source, application, and method. Attempts to define set categories have existed for years, but are continually thwarted by discoveries of new directions and methods. However, some standard areas exist.

Most believe magical apptitude is strongly tied to heredity, citing long lines of powerful mages throughout history. Others argue it's a matter of environment, and magical skill runs in families because children are concieved, born, and grow up in areas of high magical concentration. The occasional appearance of natural grand masters of magic from backwoods areas with no appreciable magical density or history serves to throw both of these theories out of whack, leading to a third that some otherworldly intelligence (like the magic itself) just has a sense of humor.

Oh, and another staff idea.

- Bursar and Treasurer - A juvenile dragon. Mother was killed by wandering humans. Took job as treasurer at academy. Dragons naturally have an unmatched skill for appraisal of gems and such, and a peerless memory to boot. Spends free time napping on top of school treasury. Rather intelligent, but horribly stingy.

-Yan

I agree with the exposition. As to the character, we can't refer to him as the Bursar. Because if we do, I'm not going to be able to stop myself from making him as barmy as Bumi....dried frog pills.

~Shadowtext