Saint Cyprian Academy Of The Magical Art's

I wonder if St Cyprian would do anything for Halloween, or would it be tacky?

edited 31st Jul '10 6:04:03 AM by Zolnier

I thought you guys didn't celebrate Halloween in Australia? Shame, too, out in the country you've got all that space for bonfires. Anyway, supposedly Halloween is when ghosts can pass freely through to the human world or take their leave of haunting for the night, regardless of how good or evil they are, so maybe it could be Take Your Deceased Relative To School Day.

However, if you're going to use Halloween, you should use St. Brigid's Day/Imbolc, Beltaine, Yule and so forth as well; no half-measures!

Hey, question; you gonna include any characters who consider themselves Wiccan who get condescended to by 'real' witches?

About the Inherent Gift thing: if you want it to have rules, make it quite literally a gift; magical children are granted power by a patron deity in early childhood - in some cases, when such individuals go on to found powerful families, the deity could become patron to their whole line of descent. Indeed, there could be this whole stigma about 'breaking the chain'; imagine if the main house of a family under the patronage of Dionysus suddenly produced a son with sunny good looks, the ability to tell immediately when he was being lied to, and marksmanship that had to be seen to be believed. The scandal of producing an Apollo-aligned boy could drive the plot of an entire trilogy, if you framed it right, though I would suggest this kind of thing be hinted at, then left to fanfic writers.

edited 31st Jul '10 8:11:46 AM by FurikoMaru

There are some places here that celebrate it, including the place I live in. And hey they're witches it stands to reason that they have different customs then the rest of us. And I going to have them celebrate old pagan holiday's like Yule.

And the patronage of the god's idea. I fucking love it! I look forward to passing it of as my own. Still what pantheon to use?

Oh an yes there is a Wiccan character, everyone thinks she's being redundent as she is already a witch.

edited 31st Jul '10 7:39:33 PM by Zolnier

No need to limit yourself to one pantheon; mix and match! Imagine imbuing humans with power is like the complex, godly version of Risk; someone with only the most tenuous of holds on the human world can multiply their strength by sharing it among fresh followers. And if you want to play up that xenophobia angle you were talking about, you can have the old guard look down on the kid whose patron is Ao Guang or Anansi or someone.

That sounds cool, but wait if sorcerors rely on the power of pagan god's why would they name their school after a Catholic saint of the occult?

edited 31st Jul '10 9:14:16 PM by Zolnier

You think saints don't count as a pantheon? Half of them are pagan deities with new haircuts in respectable non-barbarian clothing, anyway; why do you think Protestants don't like to talk to them?

Hm yes come to think of it is there any reason why the Christian god and saints and wouldn't grant their patronage to witches and warlocks, and how could you reconcile the this really cool idea with the Witch Species trope?

Well, you could say that a lot of families whose patron is the Christian god refuse to send their children to the school because of the Bible's stance on non-God-assisted miracles, and then have a few who do attend who think the other sort need to lighten up.

I'd say don't delve too deeply into genetics, just because if you want your magic to actually be magical, science needs to be soft enough in your universe to gel with it.

edited 31st Jul '10 9:57:20 PM by FurikoMaru

Just imagine the rivaly between the students whose power springs from the Greek pantheon of gods and those under the patronage of one of the Roman god's. "Jupiter? Just a shody knockoff of Zeus loser!" "Jupiter got layed more than that shithead Zeus!" I bet the kid's with Yahweh or one of the saints would get teased because of that suffer not a witch to live verse.

edited 31st Jul '10 10:04:39 PM by Zolnier

Do you think that mythological figures that aren't deities could grant their power the sorceror's? Like say that mermaid that the French aristocracy belived they were descended from Melusina, or Chiron the centaur who become the constellation Sagittarius. Maybe if a witch or warlock reachs A God Am I levels of power they could be someones patron, although this would be like the rarest thing ever.

edited 31st Jul '10 10:19:25 PM by Zolnier

^^ "THE ODINSON CAN TAKE YOU FAGS ANY TIME! OI, LOKI-KID!"

-_- "My name is Magda, Rob; I'm your class president."

"Who asked you? BRING ME MY LONGSWORD, HO!"

*clicks recording device to a stop* "If you idiots don't shut the fuck up right now and get to class, I'm going to take this to Mistress Smith and get all of you expelled for attempting to summon your patrons for a deathmatch with the potential to collaterally kill off the entire student body."

O.o;

*smirk* "My name is Magda Quickfinger, shockheads. Learn it."

-_- "Fuckin' Loki-bitch..."

^ I like it!

edited 31st Jul '10 10:23:50 PM by FurikoMaru

Don't tell Mistress Smith if she get's wind of this she will kill the entire student body!

edited 31st Jul '10 11:03:21 PM by Zolnier

What would the student body think of the Harry Potter books?

edited 1st Aug '10 7:29:21 AM by Zolnier

One of the teachers at the school (the potions teacher) is a Muggle Born of Mages, can anyone suggest a term for one? Aside from the one most sorcerors use "disappointment".

edited 1st Aug '10 1:48:43 AM by Zolnier

Just a question for those more knowledge about mythology than myself. Can anyone sugest to me boons various god's and similar beings could provide to witches and warlocks who they share their power with. Some are obvious like sorcerors who have Hades as a patron would be skilled necromancers, Melusina (the legandary mermaid said to be the ancestor of the French upper class) would impart skills related to the seas and things that reside in them, people with Loki's blessing would great shapeshifting skill. But what the Christian god and other gods with roles harder to define and I would really appreciate if someone could tell me about some more obscure mythological figures that I could use?

edited 1st Aug '10 7:28:43 AM by Zolnier

I can see a few kids of the more tolerant sort thinking of the books as good PR, really lessening the stigma about witchcraft. But I can also see a lot of kids saying, >_< "They can do magic without forging covenants, and they use it to cast tickling charms?" Adults, I think, would have an, "Aw, that's so cute, the little normies wrote a book!" reaction.

Hmm... all I can think of are racial-slur-type deals; stuntie, driftwood, that kind of thing. Maybe astrally-impaired.

Sedna is cool; she's the Inuit sea-goddess of Food and Famine, so she'd probably give people enhanced hunting and cooking/potions skills, the ability to go without food for a long time, and possibly the ability to drain the nutrients from an enemy as a form of vengeance. I get the impression she'd also be the type to shield her disciples from bad marriages, seeing as depending on the myth her father either wanted to marry her off to some wealthy hunter when she was in love with someone else and drowned her when she followed her heart, or traded her to a thunderbird for fish during a lean winter.

If you toss in Set, Dian Mu/Lei Gong and Taranis in addition to Thor, Jupiter and Zeus, you'll have a full complement of notable Ancient World thunder/lightning gods. Or better yet, ignore Jupiter, Zeus and Thor and focus on the rivalry between the more obscure gods mentioned above; it'd take more research, but not every kid is going to be picked by the most famous deities. Not only would that be at odds with common sense and psychology, it would be boring!

Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of television, believe it or not. Maybe you could have fun with that.

Mazu is pretty damned neat, and Tu Di Gong looks to be something like a Chinese Gandalf.

The Zorya seem like pretty good fodder.

It really depends on what kind of story you want to tell.

I was wondering, actually; do you have an editor lined up yet?

edited 1st Aug '10 10:36:03 AM by FurikoMaru

Clare of Assisi? I bet witches and warlocks she blessed would be famous for Magitech. This god's are pretty cool much appreciated thanks. No I don't have an editor and I wan't the book to be a black comedy. And what benifits would spring from having the Christian god as a patron?

Heal the sick, bring forth food, occasionally raise the dead without them coming back wrong, prophesy, transmogrify inanimate objects into living creatures, call the rain, light-related powers, exorcism... you know, life-positive stuff.

I could be your editor, if you want. But shop around for other people first; you really need to find someone whose writing-related judgement you trust, and ideally that someone shouldn't be on the opposite side of the globe. ^_^;

edited 1st Aug '10 8:16:16 PM by FurikoMaru

Just had an idea regarding school houses, perhps what pantheon your patron belongs to determines which house or school team or whatever your part of. Since patron deities tend to run in families this could lead to the "parents making their kids think along house lines" thing you mentioned.

Thanks for the offer and I'll think about it.

I'm just wondering how a child goes about acquiring a patron. Should the parent have to preform a ritaul, does the child's patron appear to them personally and make a big speak and infuse them with some of their power. Should the child just suddenly start displaying powers and then it's just a matter determining which god is providing them with power?

Hey just a thought, what benefits would being blessed by Saint Cyprian (look him up) himself have?

I still think it would be neat to have the houses be officially banned, but unofficially carried on by the students themselves in secret, egged on by the parents.

I like the old appeared-in-a-dream standby; it gives one an interesting point of WMGsery - did a Muggle Born of Mages never have such a dream? Did they have it, but fail some test within it? Or did they turn the god away?

Well, from the look of that Wikipedia entry I'd say any social climber would be damned lucky to have ol' Cyppy on their side; within the context of a world with this magical-patronage system, it seems he managed to play several sides against the middle and then get off scott-free for several years by converting (not that that lasted long). Perhaps he gives his acolytes the gift of blarney in addition to summoning-magic.

But, anyway. I think it would be cute if anyone whose patron is the school's patron has the school on their side - you know, a door goes someplace it normally wouldn't when you're on the run from a teacher who wants to catch you out of bed after curfew; your room cleaning itself (unless you've got a house-elf analogue anyway); that sort of thing. Ooh, maybe it gives you that magic RPG ability to rummage through people's stuff to find things they didn't know were there and that they're perfectly happy to let you keep.

Also, I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cyprian's_School, which makes me want the podunk town the school is found in to be called Crossgates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Such,_Such_Were_the_Joys

edited 2nd Aug '10 11:25:14 AM by FurikoMaru

Those gifts sound fitting, and I do like the idea of unofficial houses. And I'll use the dream thing, and at what age should a witch or warlock come into their magic?

edited 3rd Aug '10 12:21:35 AM by Zolnier