kenod

Probably, but keep in mind most characters wouldn't be able to use their powers in this setting. That is a good point though, how will we handle characters moving in from other settings? Allowing them to keep their powers could result in some serious weirdness, especially when interacting with native characters. They'll also have much better scientific knowledge (I think), which means that they could probably become really powerful if they mix it with the local magics, even if it is just general influence by introducing stuff like improved farming techniques and industrialization.

How developed would the area be? For example, do we have habitats, star-lifting, chandelier cities in the gas giant, orbital rings, that kind of stuff? Also, I'd suggest for everybody here to take a look at a Youtube channel called Isaac Arthur, there's a lot of interesting futurist things there that don't actually need any new science to happen. Also, how wide spread and developed are things like cybernetics, genetic engineering and anti-aging tech? I'm not entirely sure how well this would fit with the guilds. For example, the DA would probably be more in the direction of a shadowy group of amoral scientists, possibly using genetic engineering, with them being aliens not making a lot of sense (unless the aliens use biotech of course).

Sounds good to me, though I'm not entirely sure on how the Innate magic idea would work.

Where was that?

This could give some interesting plot-lines with weird cultists. Also, if we have things like nature gods, would the general belief in nature spirits existing give all of them a power boost, even if there was only a single village close to them? This would mean they would always have at least enough power to be a threat, even if there's almost nobody living nearby enough to know of the forest. This could actually lead to a human god doing something similar to what the Christians did back when they first converted Europa, changing local legends from dark nature gods that need to be kept appeased to stories of dwarfs and elves, that help people, or just play pranks, so not something worth praying to. On that note, I'd expect human ascended gods to be a lot friendlier, or at least more understandable to humans, while gods that arose on their own, from concepts for example, or that came to being as a nature spirit would operate much more on blue and orange morality, being hard to understand and dangerous.

I think magical plants could happen. Take a look a lot of medieval folk beliefs, where people thought plants had certain powers, If people think the same thing here than Natural magic would make this likely to happen. On that note, I'd say that taking folk beliefs into account, it would be quite possible for certain places like old forests, hidden springs, and swamps to have magic animals or spirits of their own. These wouldn't really be gods, though it could be a genius loci with some form of control over the area, but other smaller spirits would probably also exist. Also, if the people believing in a god vanish, what happens to the god? Do they just disappear, or do they turn into something lesser, something that still exists, but doesn't have any real power?

Are our characters supposed to be from a specific planet? Also, can the world building necessary for creating our characters be shared @Voidus?

KanMien stood in the alleys near the building, looking at the tavern. "Maybe I can go drink something there," they thought, curious. They shook their head, focusing. They moved to an alley near Mac's, focusing on their ears, making sure they could hear everything. Their hands rested on their guns, the feeling helping them calm down.

Verbal activation would be fun, though I think that the spells being more of a trigger phrase might work better. Basically, the spells would hold a certain meaning to the user, altering their mind into something capable of manipulating their magic. This means that different incantations would allow Innate mages to manifest their abilities in different ways, such as someone capable of creating/manipulating water using a different incantation for summoning a large area rainstorm than for creating a small amount of water to refill their water bag, or someone who can manipulate heat using different incantations for freezing things or lighting things on fire. I think spells would exist inside Ritual magic as well though, mostly as hacks meant to make it more usable in combat or as quick and dirty spellcasting. These would probably be less flexible than Innate magic though, since mentally controlling spell variables would probably be extremely difficult. These would take the forms of paper with parts of spells (or full spells) already written down, so you just have to activate them, or tattoos, or tools with spells inscribed on them. The most difficult would probably drawing out the full spell in your mind, visualizing it. As a side note, I expect Ritual mages who use mental components for their spells to use incantations as well, to help with their focus, or guide their visualizations, possibly having special training where specific words are associated with specific symbols or ways to draw them. Incantations wouldn't have to be in foreign languages either, though something similar to Dresden Files incantations might apply, where people pick foreign languages they don't expect to speak to prevent their training from accidentally having them cast spells whenever they talk.

Unless the reason the characters are having fun is because they ran out of SAN points and broke down, then everything is fine.

Multiple characters would work, but I personally wouldn't like people having characters on both sides, since already knowing what's going happen diminishes the horror. Still, if you prefer running things I don't have an issue with it, just make sure you coordinate stuff with Voidus, to prevent multiple plots colliding with each other.

First: Ouch, my ears. Second: Because people undergoing the horror is just as important as creating the horror, and if you have multiple people writing the villains you'll either run out of people to RP victims or create a giant mess because of the lack of coordination, turning the whole thing into a confusing/comical pile-up of plots, destroying the horror. Check out the SCP Foundation, or H.P. Lovecraft. It should give a good idea of the genre. Note that while the SCP Foundation is cosmic horror to at least some degree, it has a rather unusual format, meaning it might not work as the perfect example. Also, check out the Terrible Writing Advice episode on the topic. It also covers the basics (in between the sarcasm).

I'm not sure about the exact definition, but I think it means that the horror comes from the idea that things infinitely more powerful than us exist, and that we can't do anything about them, with the only reason they haven't destroyed us being that they don't notice us. Basically, horror that uses existential fear as the primary scary thing.

... You guys know we're supposed to be creating the people undergoing the horror, right? Not the people causing the horror. I think we're supposed to at least. As for my preferences: I don't really have issues with anything, but I prefer cosmic horror or supernatural horror, especially the type with a focus on going mad from the revelation. I'm not sure how well that'd translate into the RP though.

More that it has a general magical nature, probably in the form of magic hot spots, and manifests unusual effects, such as floating islands, spirit entities, bioluminescent mushroom forests, that kind of stuff. On the other hand, given that reality would be more pliable in these areas, since the investure means the realms are closer together, a lot of people living together in these areas would influence how the effect manifests, though probably to a lesser degree, and in a more spread-out region. In the same way, people who know what they're doing might be able to work together to try to get the area to create a specific effect, but can't be sure what they'll end up with, creating something like wild magic and nature magic, with this being more effective in nature areas, because there would be less sapient minds around influencing things. That's my take on it at least.

That sounds interesting too, but doesn't really fit with the whole classical fantasy setting that well. It seems more like the type of thing you'd use in a per-historic/tribal setting. On the other hand, it might be possible for one branch of the magic system to use that, or the Ecology magic system might use it to create something similar to wild magic/witchcraft/druidry, using Investure based entities (spren/Shinto Kami) instead of the fireflies, with the dances attracting them and communicating with them.

Alright. I had the following concept for Ritual magic: Basically, in this universe, symbols hold power, with specific arrays of symbols creating specific effects. These symbols need some sort of power though, basically condensed Investure, either mined or created using special machines/spells placed at certain energy hotspots. Each magic system would use different symbols, with different rules for how the symbols would interact with each other, essentially forming sub-variations similar to what you see on Sel. Different from Sel though, is that what the symbols are inscribed on doesn't matter, and symbols can exist in the physical, cognitive and spiritual realms. This means that while most bigger rituals would be large magic circles (actual design differing based on system), it would be possible to create circles by visualizing them as well, using Investure embedded in the body as power source, or only visualizing the part of the circle that controls the variables, leaving the core part as a physical object (difficult, requires a lot of focus, getting your concentration broken can be bad. Mental discipline required needs years/decades of training to reach, and generally only works for a single spell, with only masters capable of improvising). Symbols can also exist in the spiritual realm, which is what causes innate abilities. These symbols can come into existence through random chance (increased by a lot of interaction with magic, especially during birth), or by modifying your soul using rituals (dangerous, painful, damages the psyche, hard to get right, less powerful/flexible). To use these innate abilities a person has to ingest condensed Investure, or possibly use a Lift type thing where calories are converted into Investure. The different collections of symbols is what forms the different branches of magic, most people studying only a single branch because of their complexity, and different branches being more prominent in certain regions, with people there knowing more about them. These branches would include: Necromancy: Basically a combination of Shades, Lifeless and Bloodsealing. Can either animate dead bodies as servants or conserve a dying person as a cognitive shadow, possibly binding the shadows to them. Might also be capable of retrieving information from deceased bodies, as long has they haven't been dead for too long. Probably illegal. Fleshcrafting: Magic manipulating living bodies. Mostly used as healing magic, but cosmetic usage is also possible, though rare. Finds illegal usage in people modifying the bodies of animals and humans without consent, creating new species and using them as servants. Requires a lot of biological knowledge next to the magical knowledge. Soulworking: Directly modifying the soul. Capable of granting someone innate magic, manipulating their powers and doing other weird stuff. Extremely illegal, dangerous and painful. Generally tends to have bad side-effects, especially regarding mental stability. Alchemy: Involves both transmutation as well as giving objects a magical nature, enchanting them. Enchanted objects have their spiritual aspect rewritten, changing their nature and granting them new powers. More general effects: More standard magic stuff, as well as things I haven't thought of. Includes elemental manipulation, teleportation, telepathy, bindings, all kinds of stuff.

Hemalurgy should probably be a type of Ritual magic here, which means it'd require a lot of preparation to use. Since it would probably be illegal as well (killing people and messing with souls sounds like a rather illegal thing) almost nobody would know about it either, or at least how to use it. A mix might work. Basically each power would be a more powerful, flexible version of a Ritual magic effect, with spells easier to perform being more common as powers. Since it'd probably work through the spiritual realm powers would probably also run in family lines, as well as arising through random mutations/magic influences.

Ah, no, I didn't. it seems like a good idea though, and most of my own suggestions were based around that as well (though the Ecology thing changed the mechanics a bit).

Ah, right. I was thinking a similar amount as the number of mistings and ferrings on Scandrial, though possibly with a bit higher power levels. But yeah, Hemalurgy would be possible in this case. I'd personally prefer altering it a bit though, splitting the soul manipulation away from physical mutations, and putting them in separate systems. I was also thinking of doing the same with other magic systems, merging similar ones or splitting those with multiple, different usages.

Do we have Hemalurgy here? I thought we'd be mostly using our own magic systems, not cosmere things, just things inspired by cosmere stuff. For example, the body manipulation magic would be the local version of hemalurgy. Also, if we keep Ritual magic stealing stuff wouldn't really be a thing anymore, since anyone can use it and it's mostly limited to the user's knowledge/resources. The only things you could steal would be Innate magics, which (presumably) would be fairly rare.

Sounds good, though I'd prefer also having a set of magics that people who aren't part of the guilds can access. The guilds would get access to their own specialized forms of magic, but anyone in the world, no matter their guild, can access the base versions. This would help with independent characters, or for the npcs. P.S. For the DA, I'd suggest magics dealing with manipulating bodies, or more darker ones (though those might just be base systems anyone can use, but the DA is more experienced/has less moral issues with them).