Forums » Looking for RP » A Philosophical Search: A General RP (1 (closed)

** EDIT ** -> This RP has been started, but up to and including three people can still join if there is interest! Please post here or PM.

Hello! My name is Javy and I am proposing an RP for the general section of the forum with two people (including myself) already ready to go and open slots for up to three more people.

The idea is that it is a fantasy RP, but I am keeping it semi-realistic in that the only race that can be played is human (there are pets and other animals too of course, but...). Things like the idea of the world having large business cities and some country towns, religion, academia, jobs, and technology; these are all things that are kept as close to realism within reason. There are places such as forests, ruins, dungeons, and all the classical RPG places that include monsters of course.

The key difference is the inclusion of magic and weapons that comes with fantasy territory. Magic is going to be based off of the academic world as translated from the real world into a fantasy world. Mathematics is Symbology, Chemistry is Alchemy, etc. Please see Schimmel's profile page for the full details. For all who join, you need not be an academic character! This is just Schimmel's profile and he is academic. However! Magic comes from learning from a university in this world. So in order to know magic, university education is required. Books are a good substitution too, they work the same way only not quite as effective (teaching yourself without an instructor is not an easy task!).

On the weapons front, there are both ancient (swords, etc.) and modern (guns, etc.). Ancient weapons are obviously no match for modern weapons. However, modern weapons are used only by professionals called Peacekeepers which will be the name representing police, FBI, CIA, etc, so that it's all under one umbrella and where stay away from real-world names for things such as these. Peacekeepers are NPCs, but modern weapons might be obtained throughout the RP. This will be at my discretion due to the nature of ancient weapons just being no match for the modern variety. This also helps to restrain fighting within places where Peacekeepers are as they will end it very quickly (not with death).


Okay, having stated the ground rules and RP idea, here's the real reason to join this RP.

The progression of the story will follow the group of our characters as they pursue a story that begins with Schimmel, caught up in a textbook at Berkenz Institute for Science and Engineering, discovers a research trail that could lead to discovering the true nature of spacetime. Following the trail, the other characters become involved somehow and venture to places that may lead to clues. Along the way, other discoveries about the true nature of the universe may reveal themselves. Your characters can develop their own plotline at your own discretion along the way of course. This culminates in a progression of the world from the realistic idea above, to discovering hidden subtleties that change the idea to something more "out there".

Each player is limited to one character. The exception is that there will be a villain being played by myself that will appear from time to time just to add that extra edge to the story. Obviously, everyone can interact with said villain and it's story will not be limited to just Schimmel. I haven't thought of any specific ideas in regards to this point yet, so feel free to involve some of your own character plots with the villain; he will not be played unfair or biased, just more powerful than us.

Please post here or PM me if you have any questions or are interested in joining the RP!";

I would totally be interested! I'd probably have to read through this again when I'm not falling asleep at the computer, but from what I understand it looks awesome.

I'd probably need to make a new character or something but that's fine by me! If there are still spots open, I'd be interested!

Yep, three spots still open and the RP hasn't progressed very far yet so there's not much text to catch up on. I'd be happy to have you along!

As soon as you're caught up and ready with your character, feel free to introduce your character into the plot somehow (it would ruin the surprise if I told you how and when!). Feel free to allow the character to already know us or meet us for the first time.

Looking forward to it.

Alright! Though I do have a couple questions. I'm sorta dim, so I'll probably like to play a character who doesn't outright go to the university, especially if the majority of the story isn't going to take place there or something. This is mostly because I'm suuuuper OCD about knowing everything about initiating certain things, like how they'd go about the types of "magic" or whatever. Would they draw it and so on? So instead of getting way over my head in trying to understand and apply that knowledge, maybe I should stick with a regular joe! Sooo that leaves me a couple questions instead:

Is the university like the ones in present times - available to those who receive grants or loans or can just flat-out afford it? Or can everyone go without paying sort of like public schools?

Are there people who don't participate in these fields? I ask because I don't want to get too dramatic by being the only one in the world forever and ever who can't and won't pursue a degree in any of these fields and isn't able to use it, haha.

Sorry for the annoying questions!

Or better yet, how do they cast things? I read over the RP and I saw your dude-man write down a code. Does that go for all of the different fields or classes or what have you? If so then that's a lot easier than I thought. ;u;. I'm just the most confuse-able person in the world yay.

These are great questions actually because I haven't thought of them and it helps solidify the idea.

The universities in the game are just like present-day like you say. Loans are what most people have to go through of course.

There are definitely at least half of the world's population who don't participate in the university/magic education, however just like in the real world everyone has to complete high school or they're almost all but helpless. It can be just like the real world such that, for example, someone like a Peacekeeper would only learn up to high school level symbology, then continue on in college to learn how to operate modern weapons, peacekeeping tactics, how to drive with technique, tactic and skill, and so forth. They would probably even learn very specific symbological spells specifically for their purpose. Feel entirely free to choose a career for your character and develop whatever skill set might come with it!

One thing I might note while looking at this is... *if* your character is in a position where a modern weapon might be part of the career, it should be kept such that it's only used if absolutely necessary, considering their power.

As far as casting, I had Schimmel write down the code and the effect take place, but this is an area of total creativity. You could have a character wave symbols with a sword (though that might take some time and effort aha), move their shoe in the dirt, chant them, tattoo them, scar an opponent's body in the shape of symbols... basically however your character is most comfortable aha.

In order for symbology to not be far too easy and too powerful, it needs to be complex. No spell is easy to cast without a complete understanding of what you're doing (hence higher education), and there is a different combination of symbols for everything.

I'll do a simple example of a physics spell here. Imagine a box in a hallway. For Schimmel to telekinetically move the box down the hall to the left, the code would be about eight symbols long and perfectly written. However, in order to move it to the right, he would have to change the fourth and fifth symbols. He would have to change the same to symbols to lift it up. The detail goes as far as the first three symbols representing the curvature of the active force (kind of like you can't pick up your coffee without your hand in the right shape wrapped around it), and the last two symbols could represent the distance he wants it to travel. So it's not really useful to keep a sheet of paper on your character with a page of already written out spells to activate because they will be pretty much useless except for very specific situations.

The more complex a spell, the more complex the code. To slice the box in half would be about thirty, perfectly written, symbols. That's just for a weak cardboard box. The code would have to be rewritten with about eighty symbols to be strong enough to cut a human body in half.

But don't think you need to put all this detail into each and every spell. This can just be what goes on in the background. Just like in my post with the psychology spell, I didn't write out the gory details of what Schimmel actually wrote. Just that he did.

So hopefully that sums up casting, and hopefully paints a clear picture as to why a high proficiency in symbology has a very noticeable effect on casting speed as per the description. The spells of the other disciplines all rely on the technique of symbology.

That's a good point too... only spells rely on symbology. Things like knowing what a good trade is, being able to put on a good poker face (bartering and psychology there respectively), and other passive skills that fall into the various categories have no reliance whatsoever on symbology, not that these categories don't have spells available to them. A character can be extremely effective just by having good sense, intuition and, when it matters, self-defense.

Thank you very much for the questions that really made me think of all this detail I had left out before, it was pretty important!

That's fantastic! Thanks so much for the well-written and in-depth response. I now have a bit of a better idea of what kind of character I'd like to play. I think I'll join in soon then! Thanks soooo much! .

Oh man, I'm keen for this kind of RP. I have a few questions myself -

So modern weaponry exists? What exactly is the limit of modern technology? Old fashioned like typewriters, or more recent - such as computers and smartphones.

I have two characters that can easily be adapted for a RP like this:

Nero was my first choice because he seems like such a perfect fit. He even already uses writing as a magic catalyst D8! However he has a pretty wild personality that can easily run RPs into the ground if there's nobody willing to slap him back into line.

Sumaire is much more mild. Can easily be stripped of wings, and can have his sassy cat lose his voice.

As far as the modern things go, I'd say the best idea is to think of about ten years ago. So there would be nothing like tablets and smartphones (at least not yet! *hint*), and laptops are still pretty heavy and slow, but may or may not be useful nonetheless. They would of course have limited power outside and would be unable to connect to the internet unless in a place where it would be available through wifi. (Data plans aren't around yet aha.)

I would love to say just choose whichever character you feel comfortable with, but I think Sumaire might be out of place. Even without the wings, his species as a Deva and being previously a centaur kind of puts him outside of the concept frame where we live in a world where there are only humans, pets, and opposing creatures.

Just like you said, Nero seems like a good fit. He can even keep his Spirit Magic and Ancient Language somewhat different from what we learn at the university if you want. The implementation and the underlying concept of how it works would necessarily be similar of course, but it does bring up the concept that what we learn at the university isn't necessarily the only thing out there. That would add a whole chunk of depth to what we already have going, which is always a good thing aha.

Thank you for the interest, and hope to hear back that you're in!

Okay. I'm really excited about using Nero. I'll be sure to run anything outside the norm by you to make sure it's legit in the context of the RP.

I was perfectly willing to strip ALL non-human background from Sumaire. But it doesn't really matter, Nero is good too :B.

May I jump in sometime soon?

I would be very interested in this RP. I like the idea of it all. I have a character that is technically human, just a little different. She always retains human shape though.

Let me know what you think about Novo. I would really love to play her if you think she would be a good fit.

Feel free to jump in anytime, Claine!

To kuroi_neko, the idea of a changling isn't really in the concept, BUT I would love to have her IF you can take the concepts we already have and logically explain how it works.

Looking forward to it!

Fascinating concept.

If it takes off and you turn it into a group or similar, I'd be mighty tempted to enlist.

What do you mean by turn it into a group?

Would having a complicated spell code on her body, say her back, justify her ability to change human form?

Not really because as you'll read a few posts ago, spell codes are different for absolutely anything you want to do, necessarily meaning you have to write a new code for everything unless what you're doing is exactly the same every single time.

For something like this, your character would necessarily need the highest level of proficiency in biology, and each transformation would have to be an extremely complex code (therefore requiring the highest level of proficiency in mathematics also which is not usually a skill that comes naturally with biology aha) that is written each time.

If you are thinking of pre-written code for a finite number of different forms, then it depends on how many forms you have. Each code would be written specifically for exactly one form to exactly one other form.

For example, to have two forms A and B, you would need two codes. One for A -> B and one for B -> A.

Three forms, A B C would need six codes:
A -> B
A -> C
B -> A
B -> C
C -> A
C -> B

Continuing this, for just 10 forms you would need 3,628,800 codes, each of which is very complex and would probably fill 3628 books of 1000 pages each if each code were a page long. Let alone having your character search through all of this in the books just to change from one form to another.

The formula for this is the factorial function. It looks like this [ n! ], which here n = # of forms. If you set your computer's calculator to scientific it's probably there. How it works is n! = n * (n-1)! Which means 5! = 5 * 4!, and continuing on 5! = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1. It works the same way for all positive integers. So 9! = 9 * 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1.

The most reasonable number is probably four (4! = 24). So you would have 24 codes, and specific codes to transform from one specific state to another. Next, 5! = 120. If the codes were painstakingly well-written and organized into a good textbook, it wouldn't be too bad if your character had time to search for a few moments. Finally, 6! = 720, which would likely be extremely slow. 5040 at 7! would be more than an incredible hassle, if not impossible.

Don't forget! These are perfectly specific and therefore if your character selected the wrong spell to transform with, just once is all it would take, you're probably dead if not impossibly transfigured into something useless.

I was just referencing the rpr group function, and musing that a continuity based on what you outlined would have the potential to be pretty neat.

I just looked into it. Thank you for recommending it and I agree! I'll think about it again later after the RP has had some time to advance.

Ah, well, I suppose that wouldn't work. The system you have set up is very complex to say the least! (Though, that isn't a bad thing! So please don't take it that way.) Adapting any character to a specific setting is tough, so I am not sure I will be able to make this work, though I love the idea of it all the same.

I would have used my actual mage characters, but they must be played together, and as the allowance is only 1 character per, I had to toss them out.

I may or may not consider Eevi, but I am not sure yet.

Actually, I quite like Eevi as an outspoken female counter-character to the quiet Aranel. As well, I would like to see Eevi in this setting considering her religious upbringing which often clashes with modern science.