Gauging interest for a shared universe.

I've been toying with this idea for a while. It's an idea for a shared universe- that is, a universe in which several different authors write stories. The stories could either be self-sustained or collaborative- or, hell, a mixture of both.

So, to get to the idea itself:

The Nephilim Institute For Gifted Individuals is a school for training potential heroes. These heroes can come in a number of forms; mages, mad scientist-types, alchemists, people with magical items, regular superheroes... The list goes on.

There are a variety of classes taught at Nephilim; Basic Swordwork, Advanced Weaponcrafting, Special Topic: Ninja Class, Alchemy 101, and so on.

Of course, it's not all fun and games. There are two major sets of antagonists: the Youkai and the Sidhe. The Seraphim are an unseen, disapproving force, but they never directly challenge the Nephilim.

Of course, they are just the general antagonists; individual characters can also have personal antagonists.

Anyway, the story would follow along a group of new students, all of whom are placed in the Dusk Room. These students soon form a bond after surviving something (no spoilers!), and form a training group together. The story would follow the adventures of these potential heroes.

So, what I'm looking for is:

1. People with some talent at writing;

2. People who would be willing to co-operate with a group of other aspiring authors;

and 3. People who are actually interested in writing in this 'verse.

(Note: Number 1 is optional. Skill at drawing comics counts, or people who are skilled at animations. As long as it tells a story, people are welcome to apply.)

(Actally, an addendum- I'd love to have an animator along :D)

If anyone's interested, then state your interest below. I can post more details as requested- I have the basics of the world sketched out, and should be able to answer any questions you have. An expression of interest is also not a guarantee of being dragged into the 'verse- you can just ask a question if you want, or state your interest then say 'no thanks' at a later date.

I'd just like to not pour too much thought into this 'verse if people don't want to join.

edited 30th Oct '10 2:05:22 AM by CyganAngel

Some Tropes that would be relevant to this 'verse:

Our Angels Are Different: We have the Seraphim, who are the typical angels; they live on a higher plane, only rarely visiting Earth. These lofty beings are perhaps the most powerful beings in existence, with a single Seraphim holding enough power to destroy the Earth with little more than a thought. However, they must limit themselves to three dimensions when visiting Earth, which severely restricts their powers. The Seraphim are alien beings. Interacting with one may be damaging to your mental health.

We also have the Nephilim. These are the descendants of the angels that fell with Lucifer. These days, the Nephilim are trying to atone for their ancestor's misdeeds... Or, at least, most of them are.

The Shinigami are a special branch of angels- essentially, the Angels of Death. They tend to wear black clothing, and always wield large scythes. When a Shinigami is given a target to kill by the Architect, they are granted the power necessary to complete their objective- whether it is a slight boost in strength or speed, or major Reality Warper powers.

(Note: There are Shinigami students at the Institute- however, there are some restrictions on writing them. If anyone expresses interest in writing a Shinigami, I will inform them of the limitations.)

(Second note: There is only one Nephilim student, and I have dibs. However, there are many Nephilim teachers floating around. If anyone is interested in writing one of them, I have no objections.)

.

Our Fairies Are Different: We have the Sidhe, the descendants of the Fae. Further dividing them, we have the Seelie court- those who wish to interact with humans in a benevolent anner; these tend to range from Lawful Good types to True Neutral types; and the Unseelie court, who's individual members either have no desire to interact with humans, or wish to deal with the humans in a malevolent manner. These types rane from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil.

You will not, however, find a Chaotic Good Sidhe. Chaotic Neutral or Evil, fine; but not Good.

(Note: There are Sidhe students at the Institute. There are no concrete rules for writing a Sidhe student as of this moment, apart from the fact that many Sidhe students like to dabble in Alchemy. If anyone wishes to write a Sidhe student's story, I have no objection.)

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Youkai/Obake: Especially Tsukumogami. There is an entrance to a Hell Dimension located in the Entrance Floor, in the basement of the Institute. Obake frequently come through, although most leave after seeing their immediate surroundings. Occasionally, powerful, malevolent Youkai come through, at which point some of the permanent station of Monster Hunters there will entrap the Youkai. Entrapped Youkai are used for either Alchemy classes, if the Youkai carries any reagents within them, or for Senior Combat Classes.

(Note: There are Youkai located within the Institute. Some are students- Kitsune and Inugami are commonly seen taking classes- and some are just boarders, such as the Tsukumogami, who help to protect the school from attack.)

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Badass Normal: Many, many of the teachers have the ability to kick around Physical Gods with ease, through judicious applications of anti-Super weponry, various alchemical weapons, and some mundane magicks.

Some of the students count for this, too. Alchemists are nearly all mundanes with a knack for alchemy; some Demonoligists are mundane; and some Monster Hunters are just able to kick around mid-level Youkaie due to being Crazy Awesome.

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Academy of Adventure: Duh. At times, the wackiness is fun, with a romp through the Midnight Wing as a group of Alchemists throw gender-bender potions at everyone in sight; other times, it's surreal and horrific, as a kitsune loses control of itself and goes on a rampage.

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BFS/BFG: Duh. These are quite common; pretty soon, you become used to people carrying around swords that are bigger than you, or guns that look like they could casually take out a tank.

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All Myths Are True: All of them.

No-one? Nope?

It sounds interesting. Could you go into more detail about how the collaborating would work, exactly? Like, how authors would contribute to various factors of the story / verse, interactions between characters of different authors, etc.?

Wow. That seems like something I really should have included before now.

Okay. I'd imagine that the situation would be like the Whateley Universe's setup. Although you likely have no idea what that means, so to expound:

All the actual Authors would have access to the source material- the Nephilim Bible, if you will. This would have all of the various information on the Universe that we have come up with. It has things like how alchemy works, how the magic system works, the various Yuokai in the world, and the character profiles of the various characters that have been mentioned. No-one else woud have access to this.

Incidentally, I have the basics of this worked out, but not any huge amounts. Weee, research. Fun.

Editing the Bible (It contains all the information on this world- I'm justified in calling it that) would be a simple process. An Author would mention that they'd like to change something. Any other Authors who want to raise an objection would have a day or so to do so. After that, I would run the new information against the established stories, checking for discrepancies. If none were found, the edit would be approved, and I would change it appropriately.

Adding something would be pretty much the same- propose it, objections, I check for inconsistencies, then approve or disapprove it.

As for how the authors would collaborate... That one's a bit simpler. Every time an Author writes a story, he or she would run it past the other authors. This serves two purposes; the other Authors can act as editors, and it allows the other Authors to point out any elements of the story that are incosistent with their own.

Each Author would be required to write up a plot outline, with all major and not-inconsiderate plot points written out. The other authors would check their stories against these plot outlines, in an attempt to reduce plot inconsistencies.

Each Author would be writing one character as their main character- for example, I would be writing Riana, the Nephilim student. These characters would be, for all intents and purposes, our characters- no other Author would be allowed to touch these characters as more than decorations without explicit permission. The same goes for any other characters the Author writes about. Any background characters, however, would be fair game.

In order for someone to be accepted into the Nephilim 'verse as an Author, they would have to first come up with a character and send it off to me. I would say yay or nay, and perhaps offer suggestions on how to immprove it. After that, they would write a scene- between 1500 and 2000 words, and I would judge if their writing is off sufficient quality. If I say yes to that, then they would be an unpublished Author. At that point, they would submit a plot outline. The standards for that are pretty lax- as long as it doesn't seem like it makes the whole 'verse revolve around their character, it's in. At that point, they're free to start writing the story.

Other Authors would be involved in the acceptance/veto process as they get involved in the 'verse, of course. I'm just the only one ATM.

I'm open to suggestions on how to improve the collaboration process.

OK. I've never done a shared universe before, but I'm willing to try it out. Mind if I write a bakeneko?

Hey, whaddya know. I guess telling people how this thing works actually helped

Ettina- I have no objections. Write up the character sheet using the following format:

Name:

Appearance:

Race:

Skills/Abilities:

Personality:

Backstory:

Or whatever. That's my personal character sheet format. Feel free to use your own if you want. Just be sure to include the Appearance and Personality sections, so that other Authors can potentially have your character make a cameo in their stories.

You have two choices with this; you can either send me the character sheet and a plot outline for your story via PM or e-mail, or you can post the character on the Character Advice and Sharing Thread. If you do the first, you'll get an immediate answer (not immediate timewise, but immediate yay or nay), but if you post it on the Advice thread, you'll be getting a lot of feedback from me, which will likely increase your chances.

I'm interested in this. Could you post some information about the academy itself? Some basic things about the educational system, how are the students divided on rooms etc. Since all myths are true, can I choose just about any supernatural being for my student? I don't have any plot in mind yet, so I'll probably try to get some inspiration by researching magical creatures.

edited 31st Oct '10 11:47:06 AM by Dealan

The Nephilim Institute currently has somewhere between 3500 and 4000 students attending at this point. This is split between Alchemists, Mad Scientists, Sidhe students, Youkai Students, Ki Warriors, Monster Hunters and Mythical Monsters.

There are something like four hundred and fifty classes currently running at the Institute. These range from Combat clsses, to Science classes, to Magic Classes, to English classes.

Nephilim Imstiture doesn't run like a normal school. Students have the option of staying for two, four or six years. Students who stay for two years are knon as juniors; four, seniors; and six, adepts.

For your first two years at the school, you are obliged to have telve credits to graduate from each year. Each class is worth a certain amount of credits, depending on the type of lesson and the complexity of the lesson In your third and fourth years, you are obliged to have ten credits to your name; at least four of these credits over the two years must be from Combat classes. In your fifth and sixth years, you are required to have sixteen credits to your name to pass.

Each 'year' can actually be split over however many years you want. For example, a fifth-grade student may one year take Advanced Mad Science 201, worth 3 credits, and Advanced Weaponcrafting, worth 2 credits. The next year, he might take Hiking 101, worth 2 credits, and Surviving Extreme Conditions, worth 2 credits. And in his third year, he might take Mad Scince Weaponry, worth 2 credits; Combat for Mad Scientists, worth 3 credits; and Camping 101, worth 2 credits. after tht, he would be allowed to graduate to his sixth year.

There are twenty-four dorm rooms at Nephilim, with another eight under construction, expected to be completed in two years. Each dorm room can house two hundred students comfortably. The lists of room includes-

Dawn, Noon, Dusk, and Midnight Rooms- The dorms with the reputation for being most casual. They have above-average facilities, and direct access to the Alchemical Labs fro their homeroom.

Jungle, Ocean, City, and Desert Rooms- The dorms for the Youkai. They are designed to resemble the Youkai's home states, to be as comfortable as possible for them. Their homeroom is the largest of all the homerooms, and the roof stands at over sixty feet aay from the floor.

North, East, South, West, NE, NW, SE, and SW rooms- A set of eight rooms that take up the entire third floor at Nephilim. These are known as the most comfortable rooms in Nephilim, with the most advanced facilities. The rooms are about as comfortable as a high-end hotel.

Fire, Water, Earth, and Air- the rooms for Mages. About the same quality as dorms at British boarding schools.

Rain, Snow, Hail and Shine- the rooms for Mythological Creatures. They are manipulated magically, and are exactly as comfortable as the students want them to be.

As for teachers... Generally, classes are taught by the Nephilim. For classes like Alchemical Reagents 101, they hire outside sources, namely retired Alchemists to teach their classes. However, Nephilim teachers do outnumber non-Nephilim teachers.

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Help any? Do you need any more information?

Because I'm feeling generous, is there anything anyone wants to know about the 'verse that I haven't included? I have the Bible of the 'verse open in front of me, and I'm willing to expound on any details people wanna know about.

Offer available for the next couple of hours. After that, it's back to me teasing about facts without revealing them.

For example, how does Alchemy work? What are the rules of magic in this 'verse? What abilities does a Shinigami have? How many different species of Youkai are there?

Offer open 'til ten o'clock EDT. That's eleven o'clock GMT.

So go and ask something. Or I'll cry.

Y.Y

See? I cried...

Oh, well, I didn't really expect anyone to take me up on that offer. Don't even know why I posted that, except that I got bored.

Name: At first, just 'that cat'. I think I'll let some other character coin a name for this character, and then she'll adopt it.

Appearance: A slender, long-limbed tortoiseshell cat (black background with small brown and white blotches) with bright green eyes. Eventually also takes the form of a lanky girl with dark hair and bright green eyes.

Race: bakeneko, a type of youkai

Skills/Abilities: Can shapeshift into human form, grow to lion size, immune to poisoning, mild telepathy (not actual words, but you get a 'sense' of what she's trying to say)

Personality: A temperamental, affectionate cat. Is quite friendly with strangers, unless they mean harm to her friends. Protective of young ones, such as the students (particularly those who are fond of cats). She also likes to hunt, and greatly enjoys playing with her prey. In human form, she doesn't really understand how to act human, though she learns over time. In effect, she tends to act like a severely autistic person.

Backstory: She came out of the portal because a bunch of kitsune drove her out of her home. At first, people aren't sure where the cat came from, and think she might just be a stray. Some students befriend her. Then they notice that closed doors seem to be no barrier to her, and at some point someone sees her turning human to open doors. Around this time, a mean kitsune attacks the school, and she bravely fights against it despite being less powerful than it. Some teachers join in the fight and save her, driving the kitsune away. Then they decide that she can stay, and some of her human friends start teaching her human customs - for example, that humans wear clothes.

And before this goes any further, I think I'd better make this clear; Nephilim's students average out on the Super Weight Scale at about a 2. There are some 3's- some of the teachers, the more powerful Youkai, some of the Myths (like Thor, he's in his third year this year), the Sidhe, the Shinigami.

Of these, only the Shinigami and the Sidhe are freely available to write. Anybody who wishes to write a Myth wil need to PM me personally. Same goes for anyone wishing to write anything outside of what I've specified previousy in the thread; PM me, and I'll judge on a case-by-case basis. This is an attempt to stop Mary Sues getting in, by the way, so I'm not just being a douche.

Ettina- Kittie sounds like fun to write. I don't have any objections to Kittie's power levels; although, I would like to mention that Alchemists have created some extremely virulent poisons. Like, kill-a-human-in-less-than-ten-seconds poisonous. They've also milked animals with venom that is that deadly. How would Kittie stand up to poison that strong?

Apart from that... Kittie's fine. Hmmm, wht was the next step again?

• Checks thread*

Okay. It seems like your next challenge is to challenge the lernean hydra to write out a quick, 1500 word scene involving Kittie, just so I can judge your writing. Don't worry, I'm not too harsh- as long as you have a good grasp on spelling, grammar, and sentence strcture, you should be fine.

After that, you're home free. At that point, we can start collaborating all proper-like.

Does my sample writing about kitty have to be canon?

Nope, not at all.

Ok, I skimmmed, I'll go back later when I have time, but I'm interested, I can draw, I can write.

Character-Name: Idk, Seraphina, maybe. Something long and elaborate and laden with expectations.

Appearance: Small, insubstantial

Race: human (that's allowed, right?)

Skills/Abilities: how well defined is the "mad science" division?

Personality: passive and quiet, with a bitter, malicious side that only comes out when nobody's looking. Bit of a jeckle/hyde, yeah.

Backstory: Parents were superheroes, went to this school, she was pressured into becoming a mad scientist because to her parents' considerable dismay, she doesn't have any powers of her own.

You skimmed? Shock. Gasp. Horror. Never thought anyone would do that. /sarcasm

Seraphina would come a bit too close to Seraphim for comfort, in my opinion. And no-one wants the race of multi-dimensional holy angels pissed at them. If you want a name laden with expectation, try something a bit better like Isabella. Of course, feel free to disregard me; Seraphina could be a good name if you want some conflict with the Seraphim.

Yah, humans are allowed into the Institute. In fact, humans substantially outnumber the other students. I tend to classify the humans by their classes, rather than their race, though. So, to clarify;

Alchemists and Mad Scientists are always human. Ki Warriors are generally human, although they can be Youkai. Monster Hunters can be... anyone, really.

Mad Science... To povide you with a bit of the background I have on it from the Bible:

Mad Science involves the building of advanced devices. Occasionally, these devices can brea the laws of physics, such as a generator being able to generate more than four times the amount of power. Nothing groundbreaking.

The Mad Scientists themselves absorb ambient magic from the air around them. This mainly manifests in the form of an advanced sort of telepathy, in which the magic itself will scan near everyone's mind and pull out their knowledge of engineering... or something. I'm not too clear on this point.

Mad Scientists are mostly known for their works in guns and nanites. They have also had some level of success in steam-punk style power armour.

Additionally, all Mad Scientists have weird hair. It's the ambient magic's fault.

If your character is going to the school because her parents were Monster-Hunters (They're not called superheroes in this universe, as the vast majority of the super-powered people aren't human, and as such aren't recognized.), then may I also suggest she may become an Alchemist?

Also, when you have some more time, could you flesh out your character outline some more? Take, for example, your appearance section- I can't very well write a description of her with that.

I was going to draw you a picture, but words work too. Uhm...sort of all-around pale. White-blonde hair, light-blue eyes, paleish skin, and physically small. We'll leave out that detail of the parental issues in favor of her remaining a Mad scientist...oh, or howbout there's an unspoken assumption that she's illigitimate due to how little physical and magical resemblence she bears to her father? (Her father being some buff Monster Hunter, and her being inexplicibally a mad scientist.)

Wait, can mad scientists also have superpowers? What kind of superpowers could humans be expected to have, and do they ever overlap?

Also, name, Isabella doesn't quite work, but you're right about the Seraphim...ahhm... Lydia, maybe? Lydia Ja Qille?

edited 1st Nov '10 8:50:42 PM by DaeBrayk

A picture would be good; they're worth a thousand words, according to that old saying. I was just using the appearance section as an example. Really, it was the personality and backstory section I was worried about.

For an example... Hmm, let's see...

Name: Riana Ferrier

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Appearance: As all Nephilim do, Riana has short, straight black hair. She has black eyes, and very pale skin.

She is above average height, but not by too much- she’s a bit over five foot ten. Of this, a fair bit is her legs- she has long legs.

She has a delicate build, but you can see hints of muscle definition if you watch her when she is working out.

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Skills/powers: Riana is a Nephilim- a fallen angel, trying to redeem herself to get back into Heaven. As such, she has the generic powers of a Nephilim.

She has a pair of wings on her back. She finds it difficult to launch herself off the ground, though, as a Nephilim’s wings aren’t biologically a part of them. They are extremely thin, designed for gliding more than actually flying.

They have a minor gravitational ability- gravity affects them less than it does mundane. This allows them to stay up in the air when they are gliding. It also has the side-effect of letting them jump higher than the norm.

Nephilim all have the ability to summon swords and armour. Riana personally summons a set of Roman Centurion armour, but with a Corinthian helmet. The armour is coloured black, with a gold trim.

Her sword is a 170-cm long flammard Zweihander.

Both armour and sword are made out of an extremely tough material. However, tey don’t absorb force very well- her armour doesn’t do a very good job of protecting her from harm.

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Personality: Riana is a bubble, enthusiastic person in a social context. She is a happy girl, always talking to everyone and trying to help them with their problems. Even during gloom-and-doom days, like after someone has died, she remains cheerful, although her demeanour changes to be more sombre than usual.

In combat, however, she takes a level in badass, and shuts the hell up. Here, she refuses to talk at all. She becomes more ruthless, pressing any advantage as it becomes open. She will press her advantage against anyone, friend or foe, if she has been pitted against them. This flaw is occasionally used against her; sometimes, she will attack and attack again an enemy, when a better tactic may have been to try and befriend them, gaining you an ally.

She can easily separate the two mindsets. This is an inborn feature in the Nephilim; they have the ability to separate their combat mindsets from their social mindsets.

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Background: Riana used to be the Combat 201 instructor, and the Lieutenant-General of the Nephilim. Back then, she was a very harsh instructor, routinely putting her students in hospital. Graduating from Riana’s Combat 201 class was seen as the ultimate sign of physical prowess.

About a years before the stories start, though, the Nephilim Institute was attacked by a group of Unseelie Sidhe. The attack was repelled by the Nephilim Staff, without the need to even call in the other members of staff, let alone the students. However, Riana was caught in the backlash of a snarled spell.

There were some major side-effects of this spell. The most immediate of these were Riana’s total amnesia; she cannot remember a thing about her past. No alchemist’s potions, mage’s spells, or mad scientist’s devices have been able to restore her memories. Her memories are completely gone.

The other effect of the backlash was a partial sealing of her powers. Riana is no longer as strong as the other Nephilim, nor as fast, or as tough, etc. As such, she is looked down upon by the Nephilim who are not located permanently at the Institute. This, in itself, is damaging to her psyche, as she wonders why people of her kind are looking down on here. She is developing an inferiority complex about this.

Riana kind of has a thing about her past, too. She gets touchy if anyone brings up her past. Of course, some of the students who have previously failed her class take advantage of this opportunity to needle the teacher they see to be at blame.

The Nephilim at the school were surprised when Riana asked them if she was gay. When asked why she thought that, she told them that she seemed to be attracted to females now. Nobody knows if this is an effect of the snarled spell mucking around in her head, or if she was just closeted before. Either way, her cover was blown after a telepath accidentally blurted it out when talking to her in the halls. The Headmaster had to institute an anti-harassment policy around her after that.

The Nephilim are one huge family. Literally; the Nephilim are all related by blood. That squicks some people out when they think about it. However, Riana’s direct parents died long ago, so Riana has no real parents, or brothers or sisters. She is currently being living with the Headmaster himself, but it’s like living with a weird uncle.

And that's my character's profile. That's the general level of detail I manage to coax out of people.

If you're having a bit of trouble with putting that much detail into a character, post her character profile on the Character Sharing thread. I'm active there, and Ill help you; as will a lot of other people.

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Yes, Mad Scientists can have other superpowers. However, as a general rule of thumb, they don't need them to be damned powerful. As stated above, Mad Scientists are known for their ability to produce nanites, which can give them incredible healing powers (athough it costs a lot of power.) They have steam-powered power armours; that's a whole lot of strength right there. They can build futuristic guns up to and incuding localized napalm guns and laser guns. They back a whole lot of power, and are hard to take out unless you're a Sidhe or Youkai Mage.

I like your name, though. Lydia Ja Quille... Excellent.

Rough idea of appearence...

Bear in mind this is the very first sketch i've done of this character, please don't judge my drawing on this alone ^.^

But still, i think I managed to capture pretty well what i had in mind. I'll make a better character profile and read through the rest of the universe rules as soon as I am not desperately avoiding my physics homework.

edited 1st Nov '10 10:59:56 PM by DaeBrayk

Physics homework is probably a good idea. Never does to put off homework.

I'll reserve judgement on the picture until the final draft has been drawing. Wouldn't be fair of me to pass judgement, otherwise.

I look forward to seeing your final character profile.

And... Most of the universe's stuff hasn't been posted yet. Most of it's still sitting in the Bible.

I have to ask since I'm not seeing it, but... How old are the students? Or perhaps, since we're dealing with several species, what human age would describe their maturity level? I'm sorry if I'm missing it, it's 2 AM here and I'm rather tired.

I'm definitely interested and will post a character proposal in the Sharing Thread tomorrow.

Dude, I don't know why, but...

I was just browsing the High Octane Nightmare Fuel links...

And now your avatar is scaring the hell out of me...

It doesn't make any sense...

On a more serious note:

You didn't miss anything. I haven't written that in the thread yet about student's ages. I seem to miss the most obvious questions until someone asks.

The human students can range from anywhere between 13 and 18 for their first year at Nephilim. After that, students progress at their own pace, and can be at school from anywhere between six to more than fifty years. It all depends on how long the student wants to stay. Myths follow this rule.

Youkai's ages tend to vary. Inugami, for example, tend to enter the school at about ten years of age. This is because they mature faster than a human. On the other hand, Tengu don't enrol until their children are forty or more.

The Sidhe are an incredibly long-lived race. They mature slowly, accordingly. Generally, a Sidhe enters their 'teenage' phase of existence at approximatey five centuries old. That time can vary, from between four centuries to six centuries, but that's a good approximation.

Shinigami are... special cases. Shinigami powers manifest the exact second that a person has turned sixteen years of age, and they are immediatey enrolled at Nephilim. They tend to stick around until they have completed every single course offered at Nephilim. And there's enough courses that no Shinigami has graduated yet, in seventy years.

Help? Or no?

Cygan, next time you make an offer like that, make it preferably before midnight. I had so many questions.

Some important ones: How does alchemy work? I will most likely try an alchemist.

What about the setting in general? Some basic things about the state of the world?

And this: "Mad Science involves the building of advanced devices. Occasionally, these devices can break the laws of physics, such as a generator being able to generate more than four times the amount of power. Nothing groundbreaking. "

No matter how read this, such a machine is at the very least horribly groundbreaking.

It would definitely be nice to know how technology and magic interact in this world. Is it a medieval fantasy for the most part, with technology mixed in at unexpected places? More Victorian steampunk? Modern day, just with magic? Almost sci fi with magic? I was imagining something like a SFW Tales of MU but with working technology, Dealan clearly imagines modern day w/ magic.