In the beginning, there was no magic. That was before life, before the spark of imagination that came from an unknown source. This spark lives on today, and was given the name 'magic' long ago, and through the studies of four of humanity's brightest minds, became malleable by mortals.

Unfortunately, like all humans, especially the bright ones, they could not agree on what magic stems from. Normally such a trivial question could be ignored and peace could prosper, but the forms magic manifested relied heavily on the user's beliefs, and thus it was easy to see the minds of any who used it and discriminate against them, often through violence. The four main beliefs, as distinguished by the four books of magic written by those four original magi are: Death, Knowledge, Matter, and the Animate.

Those who believe in their hearts that what is beyond life is the key to magic, call themselves Warlocks, after their long-lost leader's writings. His beliefs were that War and Battle bring out the most powerful and most terrible magics because of the widening of the avenues souls must all venture to to the afterlife. Thus magic stems from closeness to Death. The majority of all Humanity has grown to accept this religion, and thus the main continent is filled with believers, even if most cannot channel the powers it grants.

Some believe that magic was not magic before it was defined. Thus the very definition of magic is not just indefinite matter, or reverberations from the deaths of many, magic is but the manipulation of the mind channeled by it's understanding of the world and thus the magic is more powerful the more of the world you can define. Those who follow this discipline do not believe in anything that cannot be replicated under the most exact conditions possible and seek greater truths, as long as they are true in all cases. Those who believe in definition and only that which can be explained have allied themselves with the Dragons on the surrounding islands of the continent to the East and West, and some remote mountain peaks for connection.

In the beginning, something had to exist. So, naturally, whatever that something was must have created everything, including magic. The only thing that does not die, and thus was never born is earth, rock, and all things solid and unchanging. Magic must be the change deep within that only those close to all things stable can channel. Put more simply, Humans are the medium by which the Magic in everything is put to use, to bring about a minimal change to keep the unchanging parts of the world in balance. The believers of this interpretation call themselves the Tu'chen and live in the most cold and unchanging terrain, that of the frozen wastes of the North.

Life is the key that is most remembered and forgotten in terms of magic. It is easy to remember to do the things to maintain it, and people often can preform extraordinary feats to survive. Mental acuity of humanity has muddled up the magic that animals and beasts of the forest could do with their own, more subtle, magics. Magic is inherent in all things living and can be channeled by reverting back to a more pure life state, nature. Thus the primitive people of the southern forests practice the fusing of the animal and plant spirits into the chosen of their many tribes. Often some of the chosen do not survive the ritual, but those who live and die in the dances of prey and predator are no different.

This story begins in a large city of those who believe in the Book of Knowledge. The city is called Syrtyn, and is built at the base of a large waterfall on the island of Parting, on the Eastern Archipelago.

I'll post more details in a day or two, including character sheets and more definition of the world, but for now tell me what you think. I'm fully open on suggestions, as this idea has been in my head for entirely too long and I need some input on it, lest it might grow stale.

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Anything is Possible...
And Yet, Nothing is Probable.

You have a wonderfully thorough background and environment set up, but there's no mention of what the storyline will be. Some ideas:
Origins: Finding out which path is the true one, perhaps finding that none of them are.
War: Two or more of the disciplines get caught up in a really big conflict.

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The devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you've ever wished for.

-Tucker Max

Yeah, I was going to get to that. Humanity used to be a single civilization, until the war of sundering long ago, caused by the discovery of magic. Now, the winners of that war, the death-worshipers, went to reestablish themselves with their long lost brethren (mostly to establish some sort of dominance over them.) When they came near the Archipelago, unfortunately, a juvenile dragon mistook them for bandits and destroyed their ship. The oligarchy, in control of the main continent's government at the time, viewed them as a threat and asked for the Warlock's (they're revered like priests, so of course they were asked not ordered) assistance. This is the beginning of a war of purification much like the crusades to eliminate the Dragons and any who would try and protect them.

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Anything is Possible...
And Yet, Nothing is Probable.

Sounds pretty interesting. I've already picked my character's following. The only thing is in your last post, you only mentioned the "Dragons and any who would try and protect them". How are the other two orders included in this?

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Makla IS a turkey, no matter what he says. . .

Well, the other two factions tend to keep to themselves. The Tu'chen are very introspective and tend to think that attune oneself to the world is a lifelong goal, one that one must follow his own path to achieve. The life-worshipers are very divided and isolationist to other tribes and nations, and thus have little to no unified world view beyond their forests.

I'm still working on my character. I'm torn between having a Death-worshiper who has lived with the dragons for a while, or just a knowledge-devotee.

The sheet is as follows though:

Name:
Belief:
Description:
Bio:

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Anything is Possible...
And Yet, Nothing is Probable.

So, will the other two beliefs be used, or will they strictly be attached to npc's we encounter throughout the rp? And if they are playable, if someone does pick one of those two beliefs, what would their role be in the rp?

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Makla IS a turkey, no matter what he says. . .

They are most definitely playable. But if you play one, keep in mind that a Feral, as the life-worshipers are called, would be somewhat disagreeable to the average person even in a subtle way. Well, I think the best way to explain it would be to make a character.

Name: Arista
Belief: Life
Description: Wears a form-fitting silk dress, fancy though, and flat footed plain, dirty brown shoes relatively uninspired compared to the dress. Her skin is dark, almost as dark as night, but a few shades lighter. Her eyes are bright green, her dark brown hair tied up in several streamers off the back of her head.
Bio: She is one of the chosen, early in her life her particular tribe's practice was to open up her skull to invite the spirit of a suffering animal in. This barbaric practice did cause her to develop a berserker-like rage when angered, or under the full moon that is contributed to the wolf that now lives in her mind.

Arista, as an example, mocks the norms of the outside world with the dress clashing with the shoes. It's not much, but a sign of her non-conformity. The bio kind of gives you an insight into how barbaric these people are, even though sometimes their methods work in this world, despite a high death toll of those who don't.

As for the Tu'chen:

Name: Zeke
Belief: World
Description: Plain, white robe covering as much as possible. Helps keep the heat away from him, and also reflects the sun's burning rays from the very pale Tu'chen skin much like it does up north. Hair is a light blonde, allowed to grow down to his shoulders as additional protection against the sun.
Bio: He chose to exile himself from the ranks of the Tu'chen, rather than accept his demotion to a lower class within the creche. He bought passage to the mainland from being a cabin boy for a time on the Blue Moon. He was never gifted with the magics of his order, but still strongly believes in them and will use his sword, if necessary, or more often not, to defend them.

Think of the majority of the Tu'chen as the monks of this world, only as a society this can be difficult to maintain. Usually in this kind of environment if you disagree, you can't really fight anyone about it, but if the problem is serious enough the only choice you really have is to leave. Leaving used to be a death sentence, but since the end of the war trade has picked up and passage is a relatively cheap thing to purchase. If you notice, governments are always slow to do anything, which is why many people came to/from different places of the world long before the start of the Dragon War.

These examples should help, I hope. If there is anything I need to go into more detail on, or something I forgot feel free to ask.

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Anything is Possible...
And Yet, Nothing is Probable.