Eternity: Spellbound
Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own
Which is most faint...
Hosts: Tenshi Kain, one to two other cohosts to help with system/co-writing.
Format: Five 48-hour rounds, one 24-hour (infinite) omake, and one 24-hour final.
Character Pool: Mages or
magically-adept characters from all fiction. "Magic" and "magically-adept", in this case, should refer to a character's ability to control or predict the natural world through a source of metaphysical, depletable (or physically/mentally demanding) power - it does not strictly have to be called "magic", but should clearly differ from powers like
ki, chakra, or psionics. The power can be derived innately or harnessed through technology, but the character must be proficient with it and devoted to its practice in some way (battle, study, enlightenment, employment, etc.). Characters who have equal or superior skill in other forms of fighting are allowed, but must be played with moderate magical ability (e.g., Sephiroth, Doctor Doom, and Ky Kiske could conceivably qualify, despite being equally skilled in other areas of combat, but emphasis should be placed on their magical prowess).
Your character's power should not make the rest of us obsolete, nor should it be negligible. Ariel is looking for excellence, not divine mastery. Being able to level a building with substantial effort is fine, but your character should not under his/her own power (or combined with an allowed assist's) be able to willingly and without restraint destroy or reshape a landscape with minimal effort.
As always, if you're not sure, just ask! We'll talk and have brownies.
Recruitment: Invitation.
Ariel, Herald of the Flame, and
Lenna Leamonde, Gamma Epsilon of Magic, will personally invite your characters, offering them the chance to inherit the Deep Magic that Ariel safeguards.
Prize: The prize promised by Ariel is the knowledge of Deep Magic, which translates to complete and virtually peerless mastery of the most powerful magic. He will bestow the winner with limitless knowledge of sorcery and limitless power to command it - you will become a mage above all mages. However, even if this does not particularly move you, Lenna will explain Ariel's captive situation and ask for your help in relieving him of this task.
There is something you, the writer, should feel free to consider about this: the Deep Magic is not necessarily a universal skillset of MP spells from Every Game Ever, or a lifetime supply of
deus ex machina with special effects. This is magic that has not been harnessed by mortal hands or seen by mortal eyes in millions upon millions of years. While Ariel feels and is bonded to its existence, he does not truly know what the magic is capable of. To that end, what it is could ultimately depend on who you are - if, as the victor, you ultimately choose to harness it at all.
Overstory: It has been a part of the Multiverse since it all began - the last great mystery a mortal mind can touch. Legends of the Continuous say that the first magic, the "Deep Magic", was created by the Old Goddess Pele, "the Fire Dancer", and from its inception all other magic spread through the Multiverse. It was her greatest creation, a
means to creation: a path she intended mortals to someday walk and ascend to the realm of the gods. This creation, however, alarmed Phaetheon, brother to the Creator, and he broke the Deep Magic himself, spreading it beyond the range of mortal grasp. The clash between Pele and Phaetheon over their actions left the Mother of Magic dead, and forever darkened Phaetheon's being. Magic has continued to flourish since then, its presence felt in stories across the Multiverse - spells, charms, enchantments - and the secrets of the Deep Magic have faded into the dark.
Where this story truly begins, however, is with the Fire Dancer's last breath.
Today, Lenna Leamonde, the Gamma Epsilon of Magic, is spirited away during a training exercise to an island within the Continuous. There she meets an airy spirit, Ariel, who calls himself "Herald of the Flame." He claims to be the guardian of the Deep Magic - "not made, but cast" by Pele just before her death to impart the knowledge of the Deep Magic she created to a worthy successor among the mortals she so cherished. Bound to do nothing but protect this magic until it passes from him, forbidden to cast even a single spell of it, Ariel begs Lenna's aid in finding a successor, for only then can he be freed from his task.
Intrigued with the nature of such power, and pitying this spellbound spirit, Lenna decides to take a page out of her own book to help him: she proposes a tournament of the most promising mages and magical warriors in the Multiverse, to decide a successor worthy of the mantle. Ariel graciously accepts, believing this to be the destiny Pele had always intended for him, and together they set out to stage a contest of sorcery, such as has never been seen before, upon some of the grandest stages of magic in the Multiverse.
But Lenna is not without questions for this airy spirit. He has apparently waited an indeterminably long time to seek out help, chose to seek
her help, is quite insistent that the tournament begin as soon as possible, and despite his charm and cheer has the look of one hunted - and their journey soon begins to give her the feeling of one followed.
The champions of magic from across the Multiverse are gathering, for a storm of sorcery, a hunt spanning untold millions of years and worlds is about to come to a head, and now is the last chance for the Herald to pass the flame of the Deep Magic to a new bearer - the bearer it was always meant for.
Locations: Locations will consist of magic-themed locales from various media. This is first and foremost a competition of sorcery, so the locales are chosen to provide tests of your prowess as well as opportunities for exploration and interaction.
System: A system with a tentative working name of "Hey, I Can Constitutionally Underachieve, Pigeons!" or HICCUP for short.
...okay, not really -- my target is a straightforward system of spells in five classes (White/restorative, Black/offensive, Green/supportive, Red/enchantment, and an optional Blue/enemy skill comprised of spells learned from Round NPCs) which you'll be able to cast with a set MP gauge. Repeated use of a given spell will allow you to reduce its MP cost and/or enhance it to carry more
oomph. This is subject to Extreme Tweakage once I get a system cohost, but I'd like to keep the general concept alive in an effort to open doors to new players with no tourney experience.*
* Because EMC roots or not, expect me to advertise the hell out of this one if I snag it.
Overview: This is a pet project I've wanted to run for years - the 'caster tournament to end all 'caster tournaments! Its premise is very obviously an homage to my second favorite Shakespeare play, but you could also call it my attempt to Go Retro and run a tournament across some really kickass locales from various media that ultimately boils down to 2-4 awesome characters fighting for the crown. There will be an antagonistic force at work in the story, but that aspect of the plot will be resolved by the semifinals; there will not be a final boss for
Spellbound. Rather, I'm shooting to take a cue from tournaments like
Heart and Soul, where it's largely your stories that put the flesh on the tale as a whole, so while I'll be happy to provide you with components for overstory interaction,
Spellbound has one philosophy in mind, for both the story and the magic it concerns: what it is depends on who you are.
Put on your robe and wizard hat.