Building an Urban Fantasy Setting

[Shadowsoul]

While I have my own Urban Fantasy setting I think it would be interesting to see what was developed from a group effort, since there seems to be a number of people interested in UF on these boards.

The rules are as follows.

You can post one statement at a time. These can be.

A rule of magic/the supernatural or how it is viewed. E.g. An immensely powerful spirit is manipulating the consciousness of the entire human race in order to suppress knowledge of magic, its motives are unknown.

Description of a standard race/creature. E.g. Vampires are split into two types. The living 'leeches' who drain life from the target but do not necessarily have to kill them. And the undead 'revenants' who can only sustain themselves by killing a victim and feeding on the deathly energies thus released.

A note that a particular race/creature is non-existent or unimportant in this setting. Such a statement must be followed with a description of an original or unusual creature. E.g. Lycanthropy was purged from the civilised world by the Eighteenth Century but America is still haunted by Wendigo. Wendigo are etc etc.

A note that a particular trope is banned from this setting. Preferably followed by a new trope.


Having posted one statement you must wait for at least one other person to post before adding a new statement.

[Shadowsoul]

I'll start us off.

'Magic' is the result of intelligences capable of reaching into another 'higher' state of being or aspect of the universe. By tapping into this realm magic users are capable of defying the laws of of this realm of the universe. It takes considerable self belief and imagination to do this however and many practitioners follow a particular belief system in order to tap in the 'other-realm'. If they didn't then they would be unable to maintain their mind's integrity within this alien realm.

[Karmakaze]

The "Werewolf" as it appears in common usage actually refers to several relatively unrelated phenomena (which accounts for the general confusion found in reports.)

Hereditary lycanthropy - an innate shapeshifting ability runs in some families. Most commonly it involves a shift to one animal form (most commonly, but by no means exclusively) a wolf. In some bloodlines only males or only females are affected. Not every family member necessarily inherits the trait and it may seem to skip generation (as with red hair or blue eyes). Hereditary lyncanthropes tend to turn into "true animals", although with some human cognition retained and are rarely feral or excessively violent unless other factors are in play. They may be obliged to shift shapes on a schedule, but tend to have a fair level of control.
Generational lyncanthropy - although this mimics hereditary lycanthropy, it is more properly a curse rather than an innate ability. It tend to affect only one individual member per generation (and often only after the previous afflicted person passes on). The alter form is most often a wolf and slightly less often one of the great cats (with other animal forms being much less common.). Unlike hereditary lycanthropes, generational lycanthropes rarely have control over their transformation and are almost always feral or violent. They are also more likely to retain their human mass, making unusually large examples of their animal form.
Contagious lyncanthropy - another variety of curse. The afflicted rarely transform fully, rather come to a sort of "beast man" form, maddened with pain or rage. Persons who are mauled and survive (although survival is rare) will usually find themselves suffering from the curse in turn. In one of the more common variations of this curse, an afflicted person can be cured if (a) someone higher in the chain of the curse is killed and (b) he or she has not yet committed murder under the influence of the curse.
Skinwalking - In this variation, a sorcerer skins and prepared the skin of an animal and can then wear it to take that animal's form. Depending upon the skill with which the sorcerer enchants the skin, he or she may retain human cognition while transformed or be able to bind the skin to unwilling victims. As this technique is closely related to blood magic, very few consider practitioners to be benign.

[Markdoc]

The "higher state" that magic taps is merely the vast unconscious of all humans: as such it reflects the current cultural state of the population: that state varies from place as the population generating it does and what can be drawn from it reflects - to some extent - their cultural biases.

Normal humans touch this state when dreaming: mages can tap it while awake. In some circumstances (generally involving a magical breach to that realm) it can spill over into the waking world, resulting in monsters or people with abnormal powers.

There are no "magical races" - the different types of vampires, werewolves, Yuan-ti, chupacubra, etc are all manifestations of the dream state or people who have been altered by some connection. That's why monsters have traditionally been area specific, even if some primal fears are found everywhere and why (for example) western magic like Alchemy is different from Kabbalism and they are both different from Feng Shui, both in methods and in goals and philosophy.

There: that incorporates the two previous posts :D

cheers, Mark

[Curufea]

Collectors are a group of specialised mages and alchemists that harvest supernatural creatures - the dreamstuff creations of the collective unconscious. The are a particularly amoral group that supply the upper and lower echelons of mage society as some of these manifestations are quite benign and not monsters at all.

However, the quintessence of dreams is powerful for all types of alchemy and magic use.

[csyphrett]

Ghosts are the action of mental energy remembered by the environment. Some are just echoes left over by repetition. Some are bodiless minds roaming their old haunts, depending on the area to remain the same to keep existing.
CES

[Old Man]

There is no inherent talent or genetic requirement to cast magic; in theory anyone could become a Mage with appropriate instruction and practice. In practice, however, certain personalities are better suited to access the outer planes. Daydreamers, artists, musicians, eccentric scientists, outcasts, and the insane are all more likely to be able to see beyond and accept dimensions other than the mundane.

[Shadowsoul]

The principle of Tribute is vital to many forms of magic. It occurrs whenever someone focuses their own belief, worship or some other strong emotion on something else and thus charges it with potential energy. Such energy is not always recognisable as magic. It is the charge that a rock star feels when the crowd roars their name, it is the force that empowers some people to become mighty heroes or terrible villains. Unfortunately those who are not prepared for this potential energy can become unbalanced by it, this is the reason why so many celebrities have chaotic personal lives or burn out quicker than they should.

Mages can harvest such energy to increase their own power. Beware of the sorcerer who controls his own cult of personality.

However, much of this tributed energy is actually absorbed by places or items. Years and even centuries of belief serve to make a stone circle a place of magic or turn a once mundane sword into a powerful artefact. With modern mass communication such artefacts can be created much more quickly than before. Although areas tend to gain power in their own right many artefacts absorb energy from the belief directed at their owners.
As an example a cane used by Alice Cooper in several of his music videos would have some use in certain rituals and would count as a magic weapon. However a truly famous item, such as Excalibur, (or something that many, many people believed was Excalibur), would be far more potent. Other examples. Davy Crockett's cap can make you a better marksman. Props from Lord of the Rings will eventually gain magical properties. A hand from Big Ben will grant powers over time. A ring once worn by Marilyn Monroe will increase one's powers of seduction.

[Curufea]

There is no inherent talent or genetic requirement to cast magic; in theory anyone could become a Mage with appropriate instruction and practice. In practice, however, certain personalities are better suited to access the outer planes. Daydreamers, artists, musicians, eccentric scientists, outcasts, and the insane are all more likely to be able to see beyond and accept dimensions other than the mundane.

I'd like to modify this as it being a latent ability - but ingesting dreamstuff (ie whatever supernatural creatures are made of) will unlock it, and possibly improve a humans connection to magic. It is possibly to overdose as well - which either means the magic consumes the person, or the person becomes a supernatural creature themselves (and thence a target of the Collectors they have probably been a member of).

[Spence]

Some sorceries need blood (sometimes in quantity) to complete/empower their dark rituals, the fresher the better. This gave rise to rumors which became legends of blood drinking but non-existent Vampires. What other creatures of folklore and legend trace their genesis back to sorcerous ritual?

[Curufea]

Some sorceries need blood (sometimes in quantity) to complete/empower their dark rituals, the fresher the better. This gave rise to rumors which became legends of blood drinking but non-existent Vampires. What other creatures of folklore and legend trace their genesis back to sorcerous ritual?

Incubus, Succubus and the modern Alien Abductions are just half-remembered memories from sorcerous practices. Notoriously the harvesting of sex-dreams by particular sorcerers specialising in harvesting the energy involved from living victims.

[Spence]

Incubus, Succubus and the modern Alien Abductions are just half-remembered memories from sorcerous practices. Notoriously the harvesting of sex-dreams by particular sorcerers specialising in harvesting the energy involved from living victims.

Good ones.....

*steals ideas for use later*

[Old Man]

Regardless of who can and cannot invoke magic, there are countless superficial ways for people to achieve the proper effect depending on their background or training. Seances, voodoo sacrifice, Goth candle magic, tribal chanting, rock music, arcane mathematics, etc. Any of these is as likely to be effective as any other, though obviously certain spellcasting methods are more commonplace than others. The main similarity is that all forms of spellcasting tend to be ritualistic in nature and relatively subtle in effect--no fireballs here.

[Curufea]

And to deny one of the tropes-
Religion works and is a valid defence against the other kinds of magic mentioned above. Rituals, trappings, etc - much like other forms of magic.

Gods are also supernatural creatures hunted by the collectors :)

[Blue Jogger]

Just like in the non-magical world, there are those who plunder resources much faster than its ability to renew. However, there are the rare few, that make much magic then they use and invested in people, places and things in the hope to make the world more magical.

However, unbeknown to them, too much magic can be as deleterious as too little. Far too little, is easily known, lack of hope becomes despair and perhaps even lead to depression and death. Too much, and the body becomes lost in wonder, delusion and grandeur. Unlike other addictions, magic overdose is rarely fatal by itself but the loss of judgment and intellect can be.