Nero Gallagher hates the words "Ordinary High-School Student". Because the moment those words are uttered you can guarantee things are going to get weird. He does everything within his power to make the most of his life at his stupidly large and expensive college prep school (in his own words: high school for snobs.) So that if the world has some weird thing going on in the background, he won't get pulled into it.
You can guess how this goes.
When walking home one rainy night, a strange girl bumps into Nero and hands him a ring.
When taking a side alley home, Nero is attacked by muggers with strange weapons, he reaches into his pocket and finds the ring, once in his hand Nero feels compelled to put it on, and he does so. The ring then transforms itself into a gauntlet. As this happens, Nero suddenly understands the nature of the Gauntlet and uses its power to fend off the muggers with a lightning spell.
Nero returns home shocked, but otherwise okay, and finds the girl who handed him the ring lounging on his couch. She introduces herself as Raine Chevalier, and explains the history of the ring. It is one of the True Arcana, a set of twenty-two Empathic Weapons that grant power to an owner that suits them. They were the basis for the Major Arcana in tarot and the one Nero has is the magician, a gauntlet that can cast any spell, if the user knows the words for them. She tells him that the Arcana have recently become restless and are seeking owners of their own volition, and that the last time this happened, world went to hell, because people went mad with power. She offers to help him keep other Arcanum users from wrecking society, in exchange for food and shelter.
Nero, liking his peace and quiet, instead of refusing her offer, grudgingly accepts that it is necessary. He strives to protect the people caught up in this mess, and works to better understand his new "partner", The Magician's, power.
(Pronounced Arcanum one, not I as in the personal pronoun.)
Character sheet under construction, help snip down the summary, please.
Arcanum I provides examples of:
- Elaborate University High: Avalon College Prep. Nero's "high school for snobs".
- Genre Savvy: Nero, he's a fan of comic books and manga. But he tries not to let it cloud his judgment.
- Lampshade Hanging: Nero, all the dang time. When he first realizes the that he has three unrelated women staying at his apartment, his first thoughts?
- Language of Magic: How the Arcana are used by their masters. note
- Mugging the Monster: Inverted and Played Straight, The muggers who attack Nero all have Minor Arcana, which are like the True Arcana only more numerous and far less powerful. Nero then activates his far and away more powerful Magician, and sends them packing.
- Pretty Freeloaders: Raine, but she's slightly helpful in that, she cleans up after herself. But only herself.
- Shown Their Work: Now, while the actual powers of the arcana are usually pretty literal. I do some research to find out the kind of master that suits the arcanum. Also, I base the Minor Arcana powers off of their symbolism, seeing as they can be used by anyone, and there are are multiple arcana (the artifacts) for each card.
- Tarot Motifs: Well, duh.
- This Is Reality: Nero shifts between this and Genre Savvy depending on the situation.
