Limitations of Magic

[Mr Underby]

OOC:

I thought it might be useful to begin a discussion about magic, magic users, and the limitations of magic. It's never fun to play an RP with a god who can suddenly turn you into a bouquet of roses, then tap dance on you, whilst you are only holding a popgun loaded with cork.

Having said that, asking a magic user not to use their magic is rather like creating a policeman character then asking him never to pull out his gun.

So, I decided to be upfront about Underby's magic, what he can reasonably do, and what he cannot do. In this way, I hope to open a dialogue in which other magic users might outline our strengths and weaknesses as well. Yes, this does give ammo to those who would oppose us, but for me at least, Underby is a villain, and the villains never win for long, so I am not too worried about it... decide for yourself how much you choose to divulge...


Underby is a strange looking man who claims to be an albino, he works as a fortune teller and is well versed in most methods of divination. His preferred method is though scrying, either in a crystal, or a black mirror. His sight in divination is not perfect, and visions are often murky and symbolic, rather than definite and clear.

He has learned arts which may cloud come people's minds, in which case he can seem to them to have changed into a raven, or perhaps a serpent.

He can feel when others are nearby, and can sometimes tell who that person is, but not always.

[Katherine Montpark]

Hmm...there was a discussion some time ago about including some stipulations on magic in the New Babbage welcome kit. Nothing too binding, just mentioning that magic doesn't work very well here, and possibly a magic "dead zone" around the Academy. I haven't checked the welcome kit in a while - did anything ever get done with that?

I don't think that magic should be discouraged by any means - Babbage wouldn't be what it is without the magic-using citizens! - but I also don't think it should be used to godmode anything either. In my mind, magic in a steampunk victorian setting is something secretive and not well understood, conducted in dark basements and back rooms, possibly with a lot of chanting and ritual and unnecessary paraphernalia to give ambiance. Perhaps that's just my love of Lovecraft coming through. The only "easy magic" I could see being plausible would be from creatures who are inherently magical, like Mara, Softpaw, or Lunar from Steelhead to name a few. Even then, though, I don't think that a magical creature would be traipsing around Babbage turning turtles into teacups or shapeshifting in the middle of city hall.

[Mr Underby]

I would be interested in hearing from Mara, Softpaw and Lunar about how their magic works, and what the limitations are.

[Mara Razor]

I think everyone here knows what Mara is - she's a fae/sidhe/elf. She is 183 years old, so that would make her born sometime in the early - mid-1700's. The granddaughter of the Celtic goddess Brigid, she has most of the powers attributed to Brigid (most notably fire, healing, and an ability to make things grow) on a much more limited basis. Like when Skyler was brought into the soup kitchen not breathing Mara had to perform CPR (nothing magic about that) combined with her healing abilities to bring Skyler back. Her magic alone would not have saved Skyler. Like most fae, she is exceptionally strong and fast, and does have the ability to pull and send life force if she can get a grip on bare skin.

Whenever I fight in-world, I try to IM the other person, so that we can agree on what Mara's going to do that person and how they're either going to get out of it or also hurt Mara. Because threats of spine ripping aside, I think killing someone else's character is uncool (unless they consent to it like the Mole King), and I don't mind getting my butt kicked as long as I get a few good licks in. Like Mara's been trying to impress on young Skyler - immortal does not mean invincible.

She is also an herbalist and has a lot of knowledge of human medicine which she uses to bolster her healing abilities.

[Mr. Tenk]

interesting.. that makes you old enough to remember the old empire and the collapse, which was 132 years ago.

[Mara Razor]

I was still living at court at that time, but yes, we heard about it.

[Mr. Tenk]

Thanks YoYo, i suppose this discussion is long overdue. I've been stalling on that history card and this might be the piece i've been waiting for.

Occultism definatly exists in Babbage - whether practiced by actual sorcerors or by charlatans remains to be seen. This stays in line with victorian obsessions, pre-enlightenment mathematics, and the lovecraftian mythos that is so dear to many of you. What is completely unappropriate is what i call "zappity-zappity" magic, which if allowed, gets even more kindergarten than those gunplay rp sims. Take that to a Harry Potter sim, there are many to choose from, please.

Ghosts exist as an unexplainable phenomena.

[Victor]

Thing that gets me though is how can ya roleplay against a magic user? I just dont see a way round it.

The problem with me is the background to my character. I purposefully hold almost 90% of his background back, sure he's a timelord...can travel to far off distant lands, has the technology to level New Babbage into a crumbling pile of ash, but, due to the canonicity of the Doctor Who universe and being part of the Omega High Council of Timelords im bound by the "no undue interference" laws...which if ya ask me suck, although there is loopholes around that.

Mornington is over 250 years old, even he doesnt know his real age (he lost count after the second century alive) but he's not a full blown gallifreyan who can live for thousands of years, he's part vampyre (hence the fangs) part lycan (hence the appearance as a wolf sometimes) and got in a nasty fight with the Deathsmiths of Goth who "tortured him" in the year 2276 by infusing him with the genetic traits of the Hail Bringers...the ice dragons of goth (hence the occaisional appearance as a dragon). In the old days he ran around drawing the blood of his victims, after a certain timespan and after the Lycan Wars had finished he found he had the ability to change into a few other different forms, each form has its own special ability and trait. The downside is his "normal" look basically wouldnt go down too well in New Babbage, black horned wings, gelf/satyre locked hoofs, long trailing hair down to his ankles and the "Mark Of Goth" tatoo across his entire upper body....not the kind of look you want while running an hotel.

He's got abilities, can lift anyone up and carry them off to whereever he wants inworld (ask elleon, shes seen it first hand), can imprison someone in a solid block of ice (thats a nice trick actually) and given a chance can sink his teeth into someone neck and drop them dead instantly, or knock them out for a good few hours. As a last resort he can tie up the power generators of the house in Clockhaven to the main power stack of the station, and send a directed beam of artron energy to someone, which would wipe them off of history completley (done that a few times....was fun, blew the power relays though).

...but here's the thing...i choose to hold back on a large proportion of all that above. Strictly half of it isnt magic, its technical in nature which means that the "dead magic zones" in New Babbage wouldnt effect it, but the power is so great it would outmatch anything in a timeline lower down than the current timeline of the station. As for the vampyre/lycan thing, that shows through when i feel like it, but i dont use most of the powers, cause to be honest i've been running into more and more magic user's in New Babbage using magic or hinting at magic in RP.

Sometimes i just wanna pull out my Demat Gun and say "magic your way out of non existance then"...then shoot...the demat gun has no known block, no known defence, and wipes a persons timeline from existance in ALL realities...again, dont use it, too powerfull.

When roleplaying in NB i started to think about the normal, everyday humans walking around in NB, trying to roleplay in a steampunk world of faes, elfs, demons, sorcerers...i decided to purposefully hold back on the vast majority of what my character does outside of New Babbage, so i declared New Babbage his "Holiday home away from the station"...and it still is his "holiday home".

[Mr. Tenk]

thanks for leaving all that at work, Mr. Mornington.
I always wonder how can ya possibly rp with someone that turns into a giant dragon?

[Victor]

Thats also why i dont usually change into a dragon, at least with dragons when ya kill them they stay dead though. Dragons are just big flying lizards that spit fire at ya, no magic involved there.

[Ceejay Writer]

If you're Ceejay, you RP by checking yourself into rehab and SWEARING to cut down on the Absinthe.

(As long as I'm responding. Ceejay mostly feels that magic is smoke and mirrors, trapdoors and sleight of hand, based on her own experiences while coming of age in the circus. She's tricked the crowds and knows how to fool folk. If confronted with real magic, her instinct will be to try to figure out how it was done, based on common magician tricks.)

[Mr Underby]

And indeed most of Underby's magic is exactly that. He wouldn't be able to point a finger at someone and make them drop dead, though I'm sure he would want to.

His magic is mostly in the area between what exists as "True Reality" and the false reality which exists within our subjective minds. His magic plays on the subjective nature, not the true nature.

So, for me, how can you roleplay against THIS magic user? The same way you would against a regular run-of-the-mill person. You will NOT be "zapped" by me. Ever. The most Underby would be able to do in retaliation would be to go home, cook up a ritual which may or may not even affect you.

[Ghilayne Andrew]

Would it be fair to call Mr. Underby's use of magic more along the lines of a hypnotist, then?