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Welcome to The Mysteries of Magic

18:25, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

The Mysteries of Magic

Premise: As far as you knew, you were a completely ordinary person living in the modern world, with all the ills and conveniences that such implied. There was no magic in your life and no inkling that another world outside the one you knew existed.

One day you were given an invitation by a mysterious person to come to New York City to live and study. Study what, you were not told, but your curiosity was piqued, and for one reason or another, you decided against your better judgement to see what this was all about. And so you left your old life behind and found yourself under the protection and tutelage of one of the greatest sorcerers in the world, who possessed powers both strange and wonderful, professing a mystical, almost religious, zeal for the Mysteries, a religious ideology that worshiped no gods and prayed to no power, but only required a devotion to knowledge, not for the acquisition of power or status, but for the love of knowledge itself.

However, you were not the only ward so found in this way, as many others had pierced the veil of secrecy as well. You were sequestered together in an elegant New York brownstone, where you could seek the Mysteries in relative safety and learn more about the strange new cosmos into which you've been thrust. Therein you discovered that you too were gifted with magical spells that allowed you to shape and bend the cosmos to your will.

Such power must be tempered by the wisdom and compassion to use their extraordinary abilities for the right reasons, a philosophy your benefactor attempted to instill in all those who studied the Mysteries. Yet the shadowy, mystical underworld that lurked beneath our own was perilous and populated by those with less than benevolent intentions. Those that sought to rise above the fray were often dragged down to the mud, forced to commit the very atrocities they had hoped to save others from.

But the greater evil still was to do nothing in the face of encroaching darkness.

Notes: This game has a fairly long history, but you will not need to know any of it to join. Think of this as a reboot with a completely different story, albeit set in the same milieu. :)

The world the characters inhabit is one of cruel necessity. In one region of the world, a tyrannical witch-king may rule with an iron fist, while in another region, a court of fairies holds sway, and in yet another, a war rages between the dead and a brood of vampires. All is anarchy, for there is no worldwide governing authority to keep law and order. When one can do extraordinary things as easy as breathing, the law of might makes right prevails.

A veil of secrecy blankets the entire world, leaving most people in ignorance of its true nature, that magic is real and foul creatures lurk at the edge of night.

System: I am more interested in characters and story than in system mechanics. As such, while this game uses a home-brewed version of Dungeons and Dragons, the fiction will often triumph over mechanics. I will always go the path that makes for a better story.