I'm going to go ahead and set a hard date for the year, since we seem to need one; 1998.

Looking it over and weighing the pros and cons, it seems like having magical energy disrupt electronics is a lazy way of hand-waving away the problem, but I know for certain the spirit of it was to have an old-fashioned feeling to Hogwarts - it also helps that it started during a time when technology wasn't so advanced. So here's what we're going to do:

The main issue you would come upon with electronics is that Ilvermorny is not (and probably won't be) on a power grid or otherwise provided with electrical infrastructure; this basically makes computers and things like that obsolete after a few hours or days of use, if you can manage to carry them to the top of the mountain in the first place that is. On top of that, Ilvermorny uses a complicated array of charms and other spells to obfuscate itself from the outside world, but I suppose a little bit of outside communication might not hurt every so often.

I think we should treat it like a summer camp or some other thing like that; you could probably take things like a CD player or a Nokia-type brick phone, but you'd also have to take a heck of a lot of batteries and still use them sparingly. I think that's a nice general rule that indicates the advance of technology while at the same time limiting how much of it is present in order to keep with that old-fashioned theme of wizarding schools.

1998... Cherry Popping Daddies' Zoot Suit Riot, Rammstein's Du Hast, and Barenaked Ladies' One Week.

The year before gave us Tubthumping, Barbie Girl, and the Macarena.

Ah the 90's

Notable Movies of 97 and 98:
Titanic
Jurassic Park
Men in Black
My Best Friend's Wedding
The Fifth Element
The Full Monty

Saving Private Ryan
Godzilla
A Bug's Life
Deep Impact
Mulan,
Lethal Weapon 4



As far as electronics, I actually had a portable solar panel back in the 90s.  It's not something super common but anyone who was super into electronics might know about it.  It also wasn't very fast.

Seamus will just have 2 galleon (or $50) worth of batteries to keep his discman alive while at school.

I think I've finished my character sheet.  She has 2 galleons left over.  :D

In reply to Verity Sheridan (msg # 56):

I have 10 galleons left presently but haven't bought anything except a potioneer's kit, a discman, some cds, and batteries. I looked up how much a portable cd player cost in '98 for reference ($35) and rounded up for the cost ($100 = 4 galleons) for a decent one. No idea what else to get.

Yeah I was considering a gameboy, but those cost something like 90 bucks back in 1998!  No way would she have afforded that and not have had it stolen.

In reply to Verity Sheridan (msg # 58):

No one back home would steal from Seamus because... reasons. :)

And there we go! I've got the debut post up right now, so go ahead and introduce your characters and find something to latch onto. Here's a list of everyone you can interact with for the duration of this adventure:

• Each other
• Captain Rayne
• Professor Sequoyah
• Druscilla
• The brother and/or sister

Good job, Kate. I like the details about what it was like before arriving at the mountain.

interesting, I'm assuming a werewolf Seamus? :P Definitely something that makes you more sensitive to smells?

I thought about putting more in my first post but then that would be less the others could discover through talking with her.  :)

Ummm.... reasons?

I will neither confirm nor deny.... I plead the fifth....

Really looking forward to Kate's reaction to Seamus' awkward pass by.

I'm waiting on Isaac to post, since we've all had a run except him

Are you goung to put up a character description Kate? Still not sure exactly what your character looks like.

updated desc...as you requested Seamus :)

In reply to Kate Damor (msg # 68):

Thank you.  :)

well...looks like isaac hasn't logged on in the last 3 days? who's in favor of moving forward and letting him catch up later and who's in favor of still waiting?

In reply to Kate Damor (msg # 70):

Since we're still in introductions here and nothing important has happened to move things forward plot-wise, I think it's fine to just let him catch up. We should give him more of a chance to interact with us and the NPCs before we move things further than the hike up to the castle(?) though, in my opinion.

I agree, simple talking between us is fairly sandboxy and fine.  :)

Waiting for the brother to reply before I address you question, Isaac.  :)

Seamus had some awkwardness to clear up with even more awkwardness before responding to Isaac, since Isaac wasn't addressing anyone specifically.

Hmmm... now we need Isaac's description...

Whoops. Forgot to put that in there. I’ll update real quick.

In reply to Isaac Dawson (msg # 75):

5'8"? Isaac is huge for an 11-year-old. Half-giant? I'm asking because Seamus would be able to smell it. He wouldn't know what he was smelling, but he'd be able to smell Isaac was different. It's already been guessed why... reasons.... :)

Though about it when I originally started jotting down my notes and didn’t change it to 5’2” when I copy/pasted. Nothing special about him.