IntroductionHUNTERS AND HUNTRESSESS... The first and sometimes the last line of defense between mankind and some of the biggest threats that it faces - vampires, the undead, dragons, ethereal and indescribable beings from other worlds whose power levels render modern military arms ineffective. Ever since the Collision back in the Middle Ages introduced magic to humanity, humans have lived both with the advantages of magic and the threat of it hanging over their head. That includes both the threat of humans using magic against other humans, and beings that are of magical nature and hostile intent themselves, ranging from ordinary predators such as vampires to dangerou entities which can’t be explained through science and will destroy all in their warpath without hesitation.
Magic is, in simpler terms, like fire. Capable of great benefit but also of great harm, able to build a civilization up to great heights or take it down entirely depending on its use. In such a world, where magic and its users coexist with the regular population, there have to be people dedicated to combating such dangers… Firefighters, if you will. But these fires aren’t of the natural kind - dark mages raising armies of ethereal fighters to do their bidding, dragons in the streets of New York City, vampires living in the countryside and preying on the unsuspecting local populace, and humans attempting to use their magic to cheat their way through the regular world - these are all things that Hunters and Huntresses deal with.
The name ‘Hunter’ might sound like a violent title… Because it is. Anyone committed to the life of a Hunter is committed to a life of battle, a life of going wherever the latest ‘fire’ is to put it out by any means necessary, from the jungles of South America to the bustling cityscapes of North America and Asia, to the traditional castles and mountains of Europe. It’s not an easy life. It’s also not a life for everyone - some end up quitting after a year or two, others don’t even make it through the training.
But even though the job is unforgiving, you find yourself here, in the city of Santa Marina, one of the most important locations for magic in North America. In front of you, you can see a building shining in the light, made from white stone, one part of the building turning into a dome while the tower stretches into the sky and houses a massive clock face… It’s the most recognizable building at the Santa Marina Hunter Academy, recently established but already one of the finest places around to learn the skills needed for the trade. If you manage to make it through here, you’ll have made it through the last step to becoming a full time Hunter.
The job isn’t easy, but will you have what it takes? Will you make it through the live fire training, the pressure of competition with your class, and the dangers of the job? And will you be able to aid in saving the world from the threats beyond?
That, depends of course, on what you do in the story that lies ahead...Welcome To The Hunter AcademyWHAT IS THIS RP? Long story short, it involves a mix of genres and takes from the good parts of some past RPs of mine to make something new. Expect to see inspiration from the academy genre, to superhero genre to some extent, and even from anime, but an original lore with new mechanics that are both well thought out enough to be consistent and flexible enough to not limit players unnecessarily.
The theme is magic, obviously, and if it wasn’t clear from the start of the thread, you’ll be playing (at least for now) as students at the Santa Marina Hunter Academy. This sprawling and well funded complex is one of the academies located around the world dedicated to training Hunters and Huntresses - people who deal with magical threats of both the human and nonhuman kind. You could think of them as magic police, except the threats that these cops deal with tend to be far more dangerous than just stopping some petty crime like shoplifting or a carjacking. Thus, much training is required before someone becomes a full time professional Hunter, and four year academies like this exist to serve that purpose. The one in Santa Marina is one of the largest despite being one of the newest, and you will play either a first year or second year student there.
What should you expect from life at one of the largest Hunter academies? The likely answer to that is a mix of intense training with live fire exercises, regular college life with a chance to socialize with the other students and find your way through the sometimes confusing and always interesting social games of the magic world, as well as field exercises which will count more than anything else for your training and will send you out with professional Hunters to see how the job is done for real - but don’t expect others to do all the work. Students are expected to be able to use the skills they’ve learned in the classroom under pressure in the field… Which ties into field assignments counting for a large part of each student’s grade.
When it comes to the RP and which parts of academy life are shown, you can feel free to pick between social scenes and training/field assignments for your characters freely, giving you some room to decide what you want to do - the main requirement is that you keep up with the average number of assignments rather than falling behind dramatically in this regard, although there’s not a firm requirement for the amount of field missions you have to attend.
The format of the RP focuses on the academy at Santa Marina, but you should also keep in mind that the storyline isn’t necessarily closed - there is a main story which will largely be handled by the thread staff, but things like training excursions, personal storylines, and side arcs are possible if you can find one or more people interested in writing them with you.The Lore of Men And MagicTHE WORLD OF MAGIC IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM REGULAR LIFE. While mages live in plain sight and are integrated with society rather than keeping their craft a secret and living separate lives, the worlds of mages and the world of regular humans are still oftentimes very separate - because of circumstances more than anything, usually. But before you can understand mages, you must understand magic itself. How does magic work exactly? It’s not as complicated as one might think.
Essentially, magic involves channeling supernatural energy known as mana - this energy is produced by the planet itself, or possibly by some other source… The origins of mana have been long debated with no answer in sight. Regardless, mana comes in multiple forms - stable and unstable. The human body, or at least, the bodies of magic capable humans, can purify mana into its stable form. However, the body can only contain a limited amount of mana, which is why mages aren’t capable of simply using unlimited spells within a short period of time. Unrefined mana, on the other hand, can still be used but at a much greater risk - unstable mana presents the risk of a dangerous backfire with every spell, making it only a viable option in desperate situations thanks to the threat of serious injury or worse.
Essentially, mages redirect mana into various uses. All schools of magic are based on mana and causing it to change forms - the magic of a fire mage and a necromancer might be completely different, but at their root, both of them are simply using mana and applying it to different tasks. Mana is the common thread in all magic that makes it possible, and all mages are capable of handling mana. How much stable mana someone can hold in their body at one time is influenced by their skill level - perhaps obviously, more experienced mages are able to store more mana in their body which allows them to use more magic before they run out. There are exceptions, but generally, more mana makes for a more powerful mage.
Magic also comes in categories. All spells and other magical abilities can be sorted under these categories, which are recognized by the Magic Assembly, the organization that effectively serves as the governing body to set the rules for the use of magic and oversee its use - although the Assembly isn’t the one directly involved in enforcement against those who break the rules.
Schools of Magic
Four Classical Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air
Four Near Elements: Wood, Metal, Lightning, Force
Two Sides of the Balance: Holy, Light, Darkness, Infernal
Cosmic Magic: Astral, Space, Time
Seven New Schools of Magic: Physical, Psychic/Mental, Necromantic, Blood, Enchantment/Runic, Alchemical, Biological
It’s important to note that space-time magic is banned except for the most powerful NPCs, both for balancing reasons and because these types of magic tend to mess with the flow of action. Darkness/Infernal magic and blood magic are not banned, but tend to be looked down upon in-universe for various reasons, and are not commonly used by Hunters.
The schools of magic, of course, aren’t the only aspect to the magic world. There’s other things to be aware of such as non human races and the different species based bonuses and downsides that they receive, as well as the history of the world that you’re about to step into. For more about that, keep reading below.The Santa Marina Hunter AcademyWELCOME TO SANTA MARINA, FLORIDA. Founded by the Spanish in the earlier days of America, the city is one of the main centers for the magic community in the United States, as mages showed up first from Spain and then from Italy and other European countries in the early history of the settlement. The city’s status as a popular landing spot for mages quickly led to a number of magical houses setting up here, and made the city one of the hubs for magic research in the United States - today, the city of Santa Marina is somewhat large and fits in a bit more with the rest of the country, regular people now living in the city more than they did in the past and outnumbering the mages.
Still, the magic population can be seen represented in the elite of the city, as some of the most established families through the years - this has also made Santa Marina something of a hub for Hunters, which is part of the reason why the Hunters Association decided to open an academy here out of all the places that would have been possible. The academy itself is smaller than most college campuses but far more dense, with much of the things that one would find in a typical campus squeezed down to a small size, with the campus located in the Calero Hills district of Santa Marina… Also known as the richest part of the city, where much of the old money lives.
Students will live on site, with all student housing being located within the North Apartment Block on the far northern end of the campus. The main classrooms and other facilities used in day to day teaching are located a small walk away from there near the middle of the campus, while the main place for large assemblies is the Concert Hall, which is at the southern end of the campus and is sometimes used to raise money by housing public concerts with musicians from the surrounding area and beyond. Feel free to keep this information in mind when sending your characters to and from classes.
Calero Hills is located about fifteen minutes to the west of downtown Santa Marina, while Santa Marina as a whole is located on the coast, about an hour and a half to the north of Miami. While Miami is the nearest major city, students can also expect field assignments in a number of locales ranging from Santa Marina itself to other cities in the United States to even foreign destinations such as Europe… The Hunters Association spares no expense when it comes to training its members.
Classes themselves for the most part revolve around magical skills and about other skills which tie into the work of being a Hunter - cold reading, dealing with crisis situations, first aid, skill with both magical and conventional weapons, and other things along these lines. Few classes cover the ‘traditional’ subjects that one would usually study in college. The workload is also lighter than most colleges, with less essay style assignments… However, the lighter workload in the class is more than made up for by the intensive exercises in the field.Academy EnrollmentIF YOU STILL FIND YOURSELF INTERESTED, CONTINUE READING AHEAD. First off, please make sure that you’ve gotten familiar with the lore posted above - if you simply read the introduction and then skipped to this section to apply, you’re going to lack some info which would greatly help you in making a smooth jump into the RP. Second, be sure to read this section carefully as it explains how to fill out the application.
When selecting your magic, you’ll have three sections to fill out - the first one asks for your magic categories, and you can find the list of categories by looking further up in the thread. The second one asks for your mana capacity. First year students begin with 150. Second year students begin with 200. You will be able to raise this number through active participation in the RP and through good mission performance… Don’t ask when you can raise your mana number. If you perform well enough in the field, it will happen eventually, although the higher your mana count, the longer it takes to raise it. Changes in this number should be reflected by editing the application.
Finally, the Spells/Abilities section is where you list everything that you can do with your magic - please list all of your magic related abilities and spells here, as anything not on this list won’t be recognized in the IC. You can list as many things as you want but if you add too many powerful spells or skills the application may be nerfed before being accepted. After listing the name of each spell or ability, it is important that you add a mana points cost in brackets. This, for example, is a correctly written out spell. Adding the cost allows you to see how many times you can use a spell without running out of mana.
Lightning Shot [10] - Shoots lightning in multiple directions and causes damage on impact.
Don’t worry too much about how much each spell should cost - if the numbers don’t look right when you submit the application, the thread staff will inform you of what they should be instead. As a general rule, the more powerful the attack, the more mana it consumes. The last thing you should be aware of before applying is the status of the various nonhumans, if you intend to make such a character… Their information is further up in this thread and should be read before applying as a nonhuman. If you’d like to play a species not listed there, or need something cleared up, you can also ask on this thread.
With that out of the way, you can look below for the rules and application.
