[Other FULL] Vale Institute of Magic [M] [OOC/SU]

[Lucifer-san]

So....as of late there has been a sort of I guess hiatus in action among members of the RP so what is the official status currently? I can understand that people are busy with school and stuff, I myself am quite backed up as well, but this didn't really even get pushed off the ground so what's going to happen now?

 

[Songbird]

It's still active. It's kind of just on pause. With Colony busy too frequently right now (he's not even able to get on PC as much as he'd like), and me more or less unable to run an entire RP myself, it'll continue as soon as Colony is able to find sufficient free time between his studies.

 

[Colony]

Hello all, uni has finally let up for a while (finals week should be the last I disappear), so I hope that Birdy and I can get the next update out and continue from where we left off. If your character is at the fields, fantastic. If not, then please do so. In addition, I'd like to see who all's still here so that I can update the main post and look for new blood accordingly.

 

[Geras]

I'm definitely still in, and looking forward to the update.

 

[Lucifer-san]

I'm here and about, just waiting in the background for something to happen.

 

[Nathan]

If there's a spot available after the clean-up, I'd like to partake in this.

 

[Nakuzami]

I'm kind of still around lately, yes. d:

 

[doge]

Hi, present. twenty characters

 

[Songbird]

If there's a spot available after the clean-up, I'd like to partake in this.

There was a spot available in the first place. We're just weeding out the weak with an unfortunate circumstance resulting in their death removal.

Go ahead and sign up.

 

[Cosmic Fury]

I know it's really late for that, and RL has been an immense pain to me. Is there a way for me to get back in using my original character?

I have all the info saved up from the last RP, all ready to go.

 

[Nathan]

Name: Alexis Turner

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Element: Earth/Metal

Spells:

Stone Cloak | As the name suggests, Alexis is able to cover some parts of his body with thick stones allowing for either a solid defense or a powerful attack. However there are several downsides to this spell. First off, he must either be transporting a small reserve of rock shards to expand into large rocks or be in a rocky area if he doesn't want to use his own reserve. Secondly, this spell considerably reduces his movements since the cloak is pretty heavy, thus he tires easily.

Metal Shots | Alexis forms thin metal projectiles with whatever sources of metal he might have at his dispositions, whether it might be a small reserve of mercury or a sword he will shatter into the necessary shape. Being hitting with a little number of these projectiles doesn't cause much damage but when you're hit with many of them, you might begin to feel a little dizzy.

Earth Pulse | Putting his bare hands in direct contact with the ground, ceramic, mosaic and such don't count, Alex can check the vibrations of the ground, which allows him to roughly determine the number of people present in a specific place and their exact positions.

​

Appearance: Standing at an average 5'7" and weighing around 140 pounds, Alexis is the epitome of a normal teenage boy. He has a relatively lean physique since he dislikes being too muscular. He was "gifted" with absolutely normal brown eyes and wavy black hair with blonde highlights. Being an hygiene freak he always makes sure his hair is well made and his beard perfectly trimmed.

As for his attire, Alex has always been one for simplicity and discretion. So no vibrant colors or extremely graphic shirts. His wardrobe mainly consists of plain shirts of varying colors, which usually are white, grey, black and beige. He always make sure to carry pants with deep pockets so he can store small amounts of mercury and rock shards for a case of emergency.

Personality: Alexis is a rather calm individual. He mostly likes to keep to himself and will try avoiding others' problems as much as he can. Alex has never been one to be extremely fond of social interactions thus don't expect him to go out of his way to try and make friends. Knowing he might act awkwardly in hugely crowded gatherings, he tries to get out of them as quickly as he can and will probably be uneasy if dragged into one unless the people are super close to him. Talking about people being close to him, it's actually kinda hard to get Alex to open up and trust you due to issues from his childhood.

However, he is a pretty competitive person and will rarely accept defeat. He is able to go very far just for the sake of winning. Alexis also is very stubborn. Once he has set his mind on doing or getting something, nothing will stop him from achieving it.

History: The Turner family have had a long history with the Earth magic.

Other:
​

 

[Songbird]

@Cosmic Fury, you will have to make some changes to make it acceptable within the new iteration of the Vale universe, but Tiberius can (for the most part) return for his official first appearance, since the last Vale kind of died before you introduced him.

Namely, we're expecting a little more out of the appearance and personality sections than the previous Vale. The spells will also need reworking, since the limit has been bumped to five from three, and we won't exempt Eruption from the "No Last Ditch Efforts" guideline we recently implemented and repeatedly complain about to other applicants.

The history, however, can stay more or less intact, with just some wording changes, whatever Colony points out since I'm feeling lazy at the time of writing this post, and whatever I point out when you submit your new application. :3

Overall, though, while the story is similar across the board, there are quite a few changes to the mechanics we're using for Vale, so there are some necessary changes to be made that may end up making Tiberius a somewhat different character.

 

[Nathan]

Little question. What level of mastery can we have with our element?

I've also seen dual elements being wielded, would mines be okay?

 

[Cosmic Fury]

@Cosmic Fury, you will have to make some changes to make it acceptable within the new iteration of the Vale universe, but Tiberius can (for the most part) return for his official first appearance, since the last Vale kind of died before you introduced him.

Namely, we're expecting a little more out of the appearance and personality sections than the previous Vale. The spells will also need reworking, since the limit has been bumped to five from three, and we won't exempt Eruption from the "No Last Ditch Efforts" guideline we recently implemented and repeatedly complain about to other applicants.

The history, however, can stay more or less intact, with just some wording changes, whatever Colony points out since I'm feeling lazy at the time of writing this post, and whatever I point out when you submit your new application. :3

Overall, though, while the story is similar across the board, there are quite a few changes to the mechanics we're using for Vale, so there are some necessary changes to be made that may end up making Tiberius a somewhat different character.

I can definitely see that. By the way, I'm seriously looking into making him a fire & spirit/light guy, seeing as I've already come up with tons of ideas in that department.

As for the spells, they can easily be reworked to have their own unique benefits and corresponding limitations, seeing as my character will likely hate last-ditch measures anyway.

Overall I'm going to try to keep the same character, but with rather fundamental differences in appearance and personality. For stuff about his history (with my end being kept sort of the same), I would very much love some feedback. I'm always on Skype when of work, so I'll easily be able to get in touch that way.

For the sign up itself, I personally expect it to take a while. This will pretty much be my only active RP for a while, most likely, until around December... So I will hopefully have ample time to post actively.

 

[Colony]

@Cosmic Fury: Sorry, but spirit and light don't function that way. They, along with darkness, can not be paired with another element. In addition, the spirit slot has already been filled.

 

[Songbird]

@Nathan, mastery can vary, and is completely reliant on your character's upbringing (some are already very good at what they're currently capable of before arriving at Vale, while others are relative novices to using their magic in combat), but your choice of elements is unacceptable.

If you hover your mouse over the Element section in the signup template, you'll see something similar to this: You can use either a single base element (earth/water/air/fire), two base elements, or a base element and its "advanced" version. As such, you can't have both Earth (a base element) and Lightning (an advanced version of a different base element). In the case of Earth, you'd have to choose between Metal and Nature; you can't have both.

That said...

@RejectionTheHedgie, elements do not mix. Water and Air don't make Ice. (They didn't even make Ice in the original Vale, where elements did combine.) So, going off what I just stated above, you have to choose between Water+Air and Water+Ice. Since you aren't listing any air-based abilities in the first place, the latter seems like the obvious option. We also require more of a description on listed spells. This is on top of other things of note in your sheet, many of which will be listed in the spoiler below. I've bolded the important parts. Other concerns will be brought up by Colony.

Spoiler:

Firstly, we've noticed that you're primarily using a picture to help describe your character's appearance. While we don't mind it being there, there needs to be a thorough and clear written description, so having a picture at all is unneeded. Also, "beautiful blue eyes" makes me think you're saying "I think it's beautiful". As a general rule, we don't want to see subjective descriptions (that is, based solely on opinion).

The scar is completely unnecessary. Literally nobody is going to see it, and it will never be mentioned unless explicitly brought up by Sai, and that's not a good thing. The way she got it is frankly a terrible reason in itself. Why does she have it on the back of her neck? Why not the arm or leg? You know, something she might actually fall on.

Magic cannot be used unconsciously. This isn't really a matter of mechanics—it simply requires an intense amount of training to be able to lazily control a supernatural force so easily. It's just that, like with "last ditch effort" kind of abilities, it's almost always a cop-out, and it sucks; therefore, we don't accept it.

Vale isn't going to wait for you. If you're of an appropriate age, you will be invited. If you don't attend immediately, you're most likely not going to attend at all, and Vale will no longer consider you.

Much like my question about how she managed to get a scar on the back of her neck, the lack of thorough description about anything is a general concern we're having. We can't accept cutting corners in how a character became who they are.

 

[RejectiontheHedgie]

Edited just a bit, if it's not there yet let me know! ^-^

 

[Cosmic Fury]

Looks like it's all done! ^_^

Name: Adrian Tiberius Drake

Nickname: Ty (If anyone other than his mother calls him this, it's a surefire way to provoke him.)

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Element: Fire/Earth

Spells​

Spoiler:

Eruption: Adrian takes a chunk of earth and causes it to blast upwards from the ground. This is one of his favorite ways of disrupting his opponent and damaging them at the same time. While a simple and effective spell, he does have to watch out for very dense ground, since it always takes more effort to make it tear itself apart.

In spite of the name, Eruption is exclusively an Earth spell. In order to make it involve fire, he needs to incorporate another fire ability or spell to make Eruption involve something other than flying rocks and sand.

Flash Fire: Using his fire, Adrian leaves what appears to be a scorch mark with either his hands or feet. Using this mark, he can remotely set off a harsh 5' blast of fire that damages everything around it, the mark itself included. This blast is indiscriminate, and can hit more than just the intended target if the wrong person comes too close. Also, this mark can be washed or rubbed off -- or even blasted away with his own magic. So, he has to remember where he leaves them.

Sunburn: Adrian rapidly heats up everything in the area surrounding him, including both the air and the ground. This spell boosts any other fire-related abilities, effects, and spells of his, so long as he remains in the same area as the one he's actively heating up. The closer his opponents get to him, the more chances they have of suffering from burns because of the air being heated up to such extremes.

On an unrelated note, this spell is also his favorite way of dealing with food stains on his (mostly) heat-proof clothes. He simply burns them off when he's in a place where it's safe to do so. In conjunction with using his control over Earth to deal with dirt stains, he uses this spell to stay looking clean and sharp -- even in bright colors.

Pitfall: Adrian rapidly alters the ground's integrity, forming a type of volcanic sand. This sudden shift in the ground creates a highly unstable quicksand that will swiftly trap any opponent who walks over it.

To take this spell to the next level, he immediately follows up by rapidly heating the sand to extremes, creating a pool of magma. This quickly creates a nearly impassable barrier (to most aside from himself) that he can use to restrict movement on the field. He can also make this spell actively cause damage using Eruption on the resulting pool of magma, to strike his opponents with molten rock instead of plain sand and pebbles.

Blast Off: Adrian's take on the Igna family's Propulsion spell. He creates a violent explosion under his feet using his Fire magic, his Earth magic, or both depending on what the circumstances are. This spell launches him a modest distance into the air, allowing him to effectively leap clear over his target while potentially inflicting damage at the same time. While this spell's applications are seemingly endless, he typically reserves this spell for only two purposes: to surprise his opponent or to quickly retreat from an unwanted fight.

Appearance​

Spoiler:

A person with a more slender build, he stands at about 5'7". He isn't the tallest person around, and he certainly isn't the strongest. At first glance you might think he's a bit rough around the edges or otherwise unrefined, but any sort of trained eye can easily tell his look is very carefully maintained, and that everything he wears contributes to whichever impression he desires to send to others -- usually that of a casual but sophisticated person.

Overall, he looks like your average pretty boy, just a little more polished up than most. Much of the time, he tends to wear solid colors, depending on his mood and the time of day. As for the clothes themselves, they're made of a special material made for the family by an associate of theirs that happens to be almost completely heat-proof. How this is done, Adrian has no idea. What he does know is that the material has a consistency close to cotton, is comfortable, and not immune to the effects of his own Earth magic (with the exception of his dirt removal trick), in spite of all the family's tailors could accomplish.

Day to day, his appearance is rarely the same. He tends to wear something very much different from day to day, but those who know him quickly realize that when it comes to fashion, he's still a creature of habit. For example, he rarely wears anything too flashy nor too dull, and he generally goes for a more conservative look when going out anywhere. Rarely has anyone seen Adrian openly flaunting his family's wealth, with the exception of formal events and important family functions.

Personality​

Spoiler:

Most of the time, Adrian isn't an easily excitable person. Instead of leaping headfirst into a situation, he simply holds back long enough to learn everything he can from his surroundings before he begins to take more direct action. Many who aren't familiar with him simply dismiss him as passive, ignorant of his ceaselessly working mind.

When he's around friends though, or otherwise engaged in an interesting conversation with someone, he tends to brighten up and actively contribute to what's going on around him, instead of simply hovering in the background, passively pushing the situation at hand around in his favor. While he's not weak by any means, he's still a softie -- although he usually hates to admit it in front of those he doesn't know.

Even though he has a love for learning, he's still a bit introverted. Having lived a sheltered life, he never got out much to make friends -- and the evidence has shown itself on those occasions he has actually gone out of the family's estate, in spite of the many social lessons taught to him by his parents and various tutors. Along with his thorough education, and his ever-persistent desire to sharpen his own mind, he's grown to be very smart, even if he's not all that sociable around those he hasn't gotten to know yet.

As for direct conflicts that he simply cannot avoid, Adrian has an atypically simple approach to them: If anyone ever attacks him or his own, he'll actively do his best to ensure the offender is permanently discouraged from doing so again -- by any means he deems necessary.

History​

Spoiler:

A family descended from a noble who lived during medieval times, the Drakes are now a prominent and very wealthy family in modern-day America. Over the last century they rose from obscurity to become among the nation's elite weapons designers for a very long time, before selling their businesses and factories to another prominent defense contractor. Since, the family has settled down to a more relaxed lifestyle -- one that suits the fortune that they have built for themselves.

In addition to this, they have managed to pass down their many traditions from father to son. In recent decades, the late Elijah Drake introduced the teaching of various martial arts to members of the family. This new tradition has been repeated in various methods over the years, in order to keep the family's power and prestige intact through the next generation. Over the years, the Drake family's name has become synonymous with "power" and "strength," because of their collective dedication to remaining at the top of the food chain.

However, the family's history isn't without its flaws. Even though their general reputation is that of a civilized family, they are known to a select few as being the descendants of the powerful geomancer Elijah Drake, who was allegedly responsible for setting off at least one of atomic bombs that hit Japan at the end of WWII. Some even suspected that he himself WAS the bomb -- or else was the one who created it with his bare hands.

Regardless of the speculation, this event (whether it actually happened or not) haunted the family and its otherwise illustrious reputation for years. Tiberius Drake, Elijah Drake's son, was known for his strong sense of honor. He did all he could to restore the family's pride and glory, so that when people looked at a Drake, their first impression would be of the one they saw, not their infamous ancestor.

Charles was Tiberius's eldest son, and he proved to be just as much of a Drake as the rest of the family. He was strong, resourceful, and completely headstrong. Unlike his father, he believed that one's personal honor was never tied to their family -- it was theirs, and theirs alone. This philosophy was the cause of most of the conflicts that Charles had with his father and grandfather, and the rift that developed between them was never repaired even after Elijah Drake had passed away.

Somewhat like Charles, Tricia was an oddity for her family, in her own way. Well after WWII had ended, Tricia Smith was the first in her family to use magic, shortly before entering high school. After a flaming outburst after school one day, Tricia was picked up by a classmate named Jon to control her pyromancy, and he seemed unnaturally knowledgeable about the powers she displayed. He introduced her to his family, and Jon's aging father turned out to be a medic during the war, becoming one of America's forerunners in the utilities of fire magic. Jon was set to take over his father's school as a teacher. During her training, Tricia grew intimate with Jon, but they had broken things off some time after graduation. Tricia later met a headstrong man named Charles, and built her life with him.

______________________________________

Their son, Adrian Tiberius Drake, was partly named after his grandfather. Much like Charles, Adrian was both headstrong after his own way, and took to his mother very early on instead of his father. Much to Charles's disappointment, Adrian's fighting style grew to revolve around quick and fluid movements, simple spells, and defending himself by constantly disrupting his opponents. This sort of style was completely peculiar to the rest of the Drake family, who usually preferred using their sheer strength and endurance to carry the day.

Over time, Charles's rather forcible methods of teaching his son tore a rift in his relationship with his son. In spite of the fact that this caused his son to hate him with a passion, he persisted, and it paid off after a fashion. Over time, Adrian's mind and magic had both strengthened, and he had learned how to strengthen himself and his magic at the right moments. It wasn't much to Charles, but he took what he could get, and kept doing what he could to make his son the strongest he could possibly be.

One day, Adrian and his father's mutual disdain for of each other had reached its peak. After witnessing his mother fight with his dad over his future, he stepped in and tried to intervene on his mother's behalf when he sensed that the argument was about to become violent. This earned a solid blow from his angry father, whose fuse was already short that day. Quite naturally, a fight ensued, but this time both decided to put their all into it. Both were stubborn in their own way, and both refused to back down in the slightest.

Adrian fought with an intensity that he never had before -- he perceived that he wasn't only physically defending himself, but his mother as well. Charles, on the other hand couldn't stand his own son's brazen attitude anymore, and decided to teach a lesson that Adrian would never forget. The fight, although brief, was the fiercest display of fire and earth magic that Adrian had ever used, and Charles happily obliged to match his son's magic with more than equal force. The rapidly escalated the violence of their attacks -- Adrian because he couldn't beat his dad, and Charles because he wanted to overpower his son enough to really knock some sense into him.

After seeing Tricia nearly get hurt with one of their Earth spells, they both finally agreed on something -- it was time to draw the line. They both witnessed the destruction they had caused, and both had seen what could happen had they abused their abilities like this. It was a hard lesson for both, and it was one neither would ever forget. Even though the two respected one another in their own way after this, they still clashed frequently as usual -- albeit in far less violent ways than those they resorted to that day.

After he turned 15, he received a letter from Vale, inviting him to attend, and to grow as a mage through the hardships he would face there. Tricia was reluctant to let her son go, but Charles was all too eager to send him off. His parting words to Adrian were, "If I can't teach you, they will. And if they can't, they'll break you -- physically, and mentally."

Code: Challenge me!!!

Other​

Spoiler:

In addition to his spells, there are a few noteworthy abilities that his training along with his magic skills has given him.

He's able to withstand his own magic, nearly to the point of complete immunity from his own spells, including his Lightning Sand. He is also able to both deliver and withstand impacts made with these elements, to the point where he can jump from a relatively high place and land safely, or stick his hand in an oven and avoid getting burned without potholders. However, even his (mostly) heat-proof clothes have their own limits, and those limits are usually where he draws the line if he's ever forced into close-quarters combat.

In addition, he's able to ward off the cold using his own magic, usually in the form of simply heating up his own body. This results in him having a high (and varying) body temperature, along with a high resistance to most diseases, simply because of the hostile internal environment this causes microbes.

Rain and other very wet things are a one-way ticket to disaster for him. All you need is a good splash of cold water to completely neuter his fire. Keep him cold, dripping, and wet, and it's all over.

 

[Colony]

@RejectiontheHedgie: So, after rereading your SU and evaluating the (admittedly negligible) changes, the problems that stand out are as follows.

Spoiler:

Name: The name Sai Jones doesn't really mesh culturally. Vale is still based in modern Earth, so the name should fit with their heritage or should otherwise be explained in some form. No random white girl is going to have a Japanese name and an American last name, right? Where are her parents from that make this happen?

Spells: First, I'd like to mention that there is a maximum spell count of five to start with. There's nothing wrong with having less than five spells, but less than three tends to mean a notable lack of diversity and inspiration. Neither spell strikes me as particularly special. In fact, both function on the very same effect of impact-based explosions, which is frankly just a waste.

Frost Arrow is a normal projectile attack (made to look like a bow and arrow for no reason since she's supposed to be a martial artist) with a minor splash effect. Ice Knuckle does the exact same thing in melee form, but does as much (if not more) damage to Sai than it would to her opponent.

There are so many opportunities to make use of ice magic, and water magic is still an option as well. Please ask yourself as many questions as you possibly can when making them. How would she fight? What does she base her magic on? Do the spells even fit her as a character?

Appearance:

1) Seeing how Sai is 5'5, which is actually slightly taller than average for American women and 3 inches taller than the average for a Japanese woman (assuming she is Japanese), she is not "shorter than most." Making an assumption about facts is not usually a very good way to go about describing a character's details, as the information tends to be very different from its counterpart in reality.

2) There's a bit of poorly worded phrasing in the appearance that suggests Sai has a "childish" appearance. Now, if she was in her twenties or thirties, it would make sense—at 25 they could look 15—but when you describe a teenager as childish, you are left with only confusion. To say a teenager looks childish would generally indicate that they look prepubescent; maybe eight years old. No teenager wants to look eight. Small details such as these are quite notable, so please keep them in mind.

3) In addition to the childish appearance issue, Sai's so called stiff stance seems very illogical. Martial artists train for years to develop fluid movements (watch some fighters, they're always moving, even when standing still), so why would Sai (who has trained for years) have such a rigid stance at any point?

4) Why does Sai wear a bandana around her arm? It seems like a rather unusual wardrobe choice for her character, and there's no explanation as to why she has it in the first place.

5) She's 16 and still described in the history as receiving the letter three years beforehand. There are only two options for prospective students when they receive their Vale invitation: either pack their bags and leave that second or pass on attending one of the most prestigious high schools in the U.S.

Personality: There's a small problem with consistency between the personality and history, which I feel would be more appropriate to note in the personality section. Put simply, the personality described in the personality and the personality described in the history don't match at all.

Sai is described as a rebellious child, but then has a massive personality overhaul as a result of a very mild event. She almost fell off a roof, which shouldn't change her so completely (and shouldn't even injure her if she didn't actually fall). A total 180 like the one you describe requires intense trauma of some kind; PTSD-level stuff. There's nothing particularly wrong with Sai being calm or rebellious, but it needs to make sense. Please research information when using it; it will improve things immensely.

History: The primary problem I have with the history is that there's not a lot of detail at all, and it generally just looks uninspired.

Where is Sai's family from? Why does she have a very American last name and a Japanese first name? Her father apparently taught martial arts, but that doesn't automatically make him Japanese. That's just racist. What did he teach? It's not like there's only karate.

What were her experiences with magic as she grew up (Vale is attracted to those with experience)? How does she just randomly start controlling a puddle? It's a terrible excuse for having discovered one's abilities. More importantly, since her mother is apparently exclusively a water mage, when did she develop her ice magic? What did her mother teach her?

 

[RejectiontheHedgie]

Alright. I'm redoing the whole thing, so everything will be different. I'll let you know when I'm done. :)

EDIT: Done