Wed, 07/15/2009 - 07:29
(This is my first post here, so give some honest criticism!)
In the medieval times, there were eight Houses of magic, Divination, Illusion, Conjuration, Transmutation, Evocation, Necromancy, Abjuration and Enchantment, each held power over the land, each powerful in its own way. Each House of wizardry consisted of fifty of the realm's greatest wizards of that certain school of spells, and each House constantly vied for more power over the kingdom. Even as the feud between the Houses continued, it was a time of peace and trade flourished. The Houses of Eight even opened portals to other worlds to increase trade. But, one day, a dark war began between the Eight Houses when one of the houses was accused of murdering the High Wizard of the House of Evocation.
The Wizard War began and the Houses chose their sides. Many wizards died in that war and the Houses of Necromancy, Transmutation and Divination were nearly wiped out. Soon, the remaining Houses could no longer maintain their rule over the kingdom that was tired of an endless war. The wizards were driven out and they were forgotten as time passed. Wizardry became outlawed and magic became largely unknown.
After centuries, in present day, the descendants of the original Houses have found ancient artifacts of the wizards that could shed light on the Wizard War. As more artifacts and pieces of the past resurface, rumors begin to circle that an ancient and legendary weapon of the House of Necromancy that was made but never used in the War has been found. The descendants of the eight houses will stop at nothing to find that weapon, but their intentions are varied. The House of Conjuration seeks to use it to wipe out the other Houses and summon a demonic army to conquer the world, the House of Evocation seeks to channel with strange powers of the Weapon and master it, others have different plans, but not all of which are good. Several houses have began to form alliances already and others have "special" means of getting information on the Weapon.
I was kind of thinking of using this in a Urban Arcana campaign, what do you all think? Is there a flaw in it or was it good? The idea of a party of illusionists and enchanters part of a House Alliance breaking into a rival house's enclave to rifle through their minds for information on the Weapon is very interesting..
Sat, 07/18/2009 - 18:03
#2
A few ideas
I've just arrived from watching the last "Harry Potter" movie, and these "Houses of Magic" look a bit like the "Houses" in Hogwarts. Sorry to say so: I know it's not a very constructive comment, but it's the first thing that came to my mind, and maybe it's also the first that comes to another readers' minds. You may want to keep your focus clear so the differences are well defined.
Besides that, a few ideas:
- Time erodes everything, and the Houses wouldn't be a exception. Given enough centuries and only a few survivors of each, the houses would have almost disappeared; and probably new ones, under a different name, appeared from their remains. This would give place to two different kinds of "associations": the few, very little in number but "pure" Houses of Old, and the "new" things, that would know magic "from second hand" and use a dirty, mixed, "creole" form of it. You have a good source of conflict here, the "old school" and the "new boys on the block", with many reasons to disagree and fight.
- To me, Houses are too little personal. What is a House? "This House did this", "that house did that" ... they are made of people, and so people should be the ones that do things. Of course, they could move a House to do something, but I believe you should define personalities that did things *and* belonged to a House. Why do those personalities move a House for their objectives? Do they have power over the people of the House, do they represent "oficially" the House? A very interesting option: is someone "external" (not a mage, not a member of the House) blackmailing or otherwise forcing it to do something for his/her own private purposes? (maybe economic ones; the House needs food too ... at least until they have enough power not to depend on someone).
- Schisms. Every politic or religious association has, at least, one schism in its history. Houses shouldn't be an exception. And factions emerged from a schism are always mortal enemies, until the point of doing things just for the sake of damaging the other one, even if they don't profit. Or even if they have to sacrifice something - or someone. Better if the sacrificed one is not aware. Man, being a pawn sure sucks.
I don't know if these are too general for your setting. I hope they are at least a bit useful.
Sun, 07/19/2009 - 00:57
#3
Interesting Comments!
Interesting comments! This really gives me some real ideas, although it's kind of strange that the Houses of Magic makes Harry Potter come to mind.(hate Harry Potter)
Adding a little more depth into the idea, this is what I came up with using a mix of the ideas in the comments:
The Houses live in the shadow of many of the greatest inventions of advances of mankind, and they have more than a little to do with many of the greatest mysteries of the world. Even as the centuries have passed, not all houses have become broken and splintered.
Conjurers - The Conjurers are the strongest house with connections to the crime all over the world, one of their most powerful wizards are rumored to even be behind the Mafia crime bosses. Their connections and influence over the government and crime makes them more powerful than any other house. In recent years, the Conjurers have absorbed most of the house of Illusionists into their ranks after a century of conflict and war.
Evokers - The Evokers are the hidden power behind military weapons and the secret society that governs most of the known world. They are the most organized house that has connections and bases all over the world. The Evokers are the ones with the most information on the hidden weapon and hold most of the house of Necromancers captive for the information. They are the largest threat to the other houses.
Enchanters - The Enchanters have remained hidden from the other houses for centuries, working in the shadows and avoiding conflict. After their years of hard work, they have established connections to many world leaders, political figures, famous actors, threats to the world and many more. Their powers of enchantment allow their agents to completely dominate the minds of their targets, making them a force to be reckoned with. Nobody knows just how much influence the Enchanters have but most know that they are keen on wiping out all others with even a quarter of their power, most notably the Illusionists with similar mind-affecting abilities.
Abjurers - The Abjurers have what could be the most "honest" control over humanity, with connections to many of the paranormal and secret agencies of the world. Many of their members have become "guardians" or "protectors" of mankind by becoming agents and trying to cover up magic at large. They know that mass hysteria will break out once people know that most of the world is controlled by hidden powers. This is perhaps the house with the most non-wizards that are actually good.
That's all I can write for now.
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You might want to make the houses of magic be based on family bloodlines, such as only the desendents of the founders of the house can use thier specialty magic.
Most of the other houses will have a member or two with necromancer blood since the houses probally intermarried, but this would give a reason for relatively weak and inexperience characters with the right ancestors getting tapped by thier houses to find the weapon.
Modern day suggestions.
Diviners: since they got pretty beat up make ther decendents gypsy like travellers and fourtune tellers.
Illusionists: The power behind the entertainment industry.
Conjurers: Crime families, summond creatures leave no evidence and are utterly loyal muscle.
Transmutationists: Another house that got beat up, with thier spells, leave them in the buisness of running the small magic shops that specialize in collecting rare ingrediants, most of which they collect themselves.
Evokers: Arms industry
Necromancers: Mortitians.
Abjurationists: Privete security corperation.
Enchanters: Law firms.