Saint Cyprian Academy Of The Magical Art's

Could anyone suggest some ideas for really cruel school punishmants?

All the best, believable ones actually happened at Victorian boarding schools; beatings, staff-sanctioned ostracism, the occasional bit of homoerotic harassment, that sorta stuff. I'd suggest Boy: Tales of Childhood and other autobiographical musings on the subject by former students of such institutions.

I'd say patronage should manifest itself fairly late by fantasy reckoning; after all, you can't legally enter into a contract without being aware of what's being asked of you - I should think that would go double for magic contracts. Let's say... nine? Eight? I forget, how early do they send kids to St. Cyp's?

edited 3rd Aug '10 2:22:05 AM by FurikoMaru

They start at age twelve. Also does anyone know of a cool historical building to model the school's exterior on?

edited 3rd Aug '10 3:02:09 AM by Zolnier

>_< My knowledge of Australian history is deplorably scanty; hold on a sec, let me look up when exactly people started moving there for reasons other than administration or hard labour...

Okay, so, let's say the school would have been founded about the time of the gold rush, just because that makes it more interesting and provides a handy answer to the Where Did They Get The Money problem that so many magical stories seem to ignore. So you're looking for either Gothic Revival, Italianate or Flight-o'-Fancy, as I like to call the fun non-interrelated Victorian eclectica that rich kooks used to dream up.

Now how would you like me to procede? Is St. Cyp's in a dimension alternate enough that it won't be necessary for me to take the usual climate of its particular physical location on the continent into account when suggesting designs (where is it, by the way)? Has the magical population grown to the extent that there might be more modern additions - maybe in the middle of the 1920s the interhouse rivalries got so heated that ________ House blew up Semiramis Hall, the main _______ dormitory, so now the rebuilt hall is the lone example of Art Deco architecture on campus?

Anyway, I would be remiss if I didn't point you in the direction of my hometown's Old◊ City◊ Hall;◊ it's got a nice imposing look,◊ if that's what you're after.

If, on the other hand, you like appearances to deceive, Italianate◊ is where it's at.◊

Or, I don't know, maybe the school's founder insisted that the main building be modelled after the Basilica San Marco◊ or that the entire thing should look like Potala Palace◊ or something. These people are magic, after all, they're bound to be a little nuts. Just 'cause it's a rollicking boarding school tale doesn't mean it can't take place in a reconstructed Indian temple complex that the founder shipped to the outback after a successful campaign in the Uttar Pradesh. Hell, maybe that's why the school is actively trying to kill the kids.

edited 3rd Aug '10 1:31:42 PM by FurikoMaru

Sure are a lot of options you've made it kind of hard to decide! Potala Palace looks really cool and your town hall looks like a building someone would to house a school for witchcraft.

edited 4th Aug '10 10:45:40 PM by Zolnier

And what weaknesses should come with having certain patrons? And should students use different languages for working magic depending on the reigon their patron originated from, or would that make class to complicated with teachers having tp translate spells into dozens of languges?

edited 4th Aug '10 7:27:00 PM by Zolnier

What could be a good way of deconstructing the medieval aspects (although Saint Cyprian is more Edwardian than anything else) that most Wizarding School's feature?

edited 4th Aug '10 10:43:06 PM by Zolnier

Here's something http://www.cracked.com/article/181_the-6-creepiest-places-earth/ Entry four Winchester Mystery House, sound like an appropriate building to model the school on?

EDIT: Another link http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

edited 5th Aug '10 7:16:01 AM by Zolnier

Furiko Maru, I'd be honoured to have you as an editor. If you still want to.

edited 5th Aug '10 10:29:43 PM by Zolnier

Oh, I'd love to. I won't have a lot of time to spare, seeing as I'm looking for work and writing my own thing too, but I'll definitely be willing to look it over.

I understand. And did you take a look at the mystery house thing? Apparently it built by some heiress to appese the ghosts of all those killed by winchester rifles, it's labyrinthine nature was to confuse the ghosts (odd if you want to make them happy) seems vaugely fitting.

Also, what would happen if two deities wanted to be a child's patron?

I'm quite familiar with the Winchester House; the occult is something of a hobby of mine. I personally find Aokigahara more intriguing, however.

Two gods after a kid? Well, perhaps the youngster gets a proper lightshow in their covenant-dream as the rivals duke it out... or maybe the less-sporting or more ruthless of the two gods claims the child too early, leaving them a bit off in the head. Could be a good justification for the level of cruelty at the school.

Anyway, if you want to deconstruct kooky 'school history' stuff, you should think about the actual consequences of having, say, an alumnus ghost who's sure to think boys these days are being raised to be poofs and girls to be shrewish sluts. Maybe on the magical version of Remembrance Day (I forget, do you guys call it that or do you say Armstice Day?) a bunch of oldboys hang out by the war memorial getting pissed and reminiscing and roping in any student who passes too near to hear loads of Nightmare Fuel-laden stories about how various limbs were lost. Maybe there aren't any portraits in the school since the war with the Fae turned them all into instant portals. I don't know, it's your setting; map out recent magical history as it would best fit your narrative and then hammer out the details.

edited 6th Aug '10 12:51:09 AM by FurikoMaru

Funnily enough the school's history does involve a war between warlock-kind, the Unseelie Court... and vampires. The deciding battle of the war was fought on Saint Cyprian's grounds and was won only with the help of the first year students during "operation stuff the vamps with novice blood until they can barely move". The incident definitely increased the academy's public standing and in the aftermath of the war a law was instituted requiring the execution of any sorceror with a member of the Fae; and yes that includes children, although to be fair most witches and warlocks blessed by the Fair Folk share their tempermant.

Also what kind of AchillesHeels would come with having the patronage of certain gods? Also Aokigahara, isn't that the forest in Japan with all the suicides?

EDIT: Typo

edited 6th Aug '10 1:46:36 AM by Zolnier

I think I've got a way of melding the Witch Species trope with the magical patronage system. All sorcerors are the far removed descendents of demigods and this trikle of divinty in their blood allows them to take some of the god's power into themselves without their blood boiling in their veins and not having to clean up the mess as their brains leak out of their nose. Make sense, does it spoil the "magic"?

Could be a good justification for the level of cruelty at the school.

Sorry for missing the point but why would the dangers of having two gods interested in you justify St Cyp's nature?

As long as the demigod-descendant thing doesn't automatically mean Herakles' progeny all get their power from Zeus, for example, I think it's a good idea.

or maybe the less-sporting or more ruthless of the two gods claims the child too early, leaving them a bit off in the head. Could be a good justification for the level of cruelty at the school.

That's why.

Still what limitations and foibles should be bundled with the power of certain gods?

^_^; Zol, I gotta level with ya; I can't just give you the answer to every question you ask me. You have to think for yourself about some of these problems.

I mean, do you want to open your book thirty years from now and see nothing looking back at you but ideas you borrowed from me?

Yeah sorry I do this when I procrasinate. Still should I email you the first chapter or should I post it on the forums somewhere?

The fora! The fora! Don't just listen to me, seek other opinions too!

Okay, is their an existing thread I should post it in?

Would anyone be willing to serve as a illustrator for this?

edited 8th Aug '10 1:01:33 AM by Zolnier

God-damn it, doublepost.

edited 8th Aug '10 11:45:51 AM by MisterAlways

Saint Cyprian Academy Of The Magical Art's

You imbecile! May Lucifer brand your forehead with an apostrophe in Hades!

edited 8th Aug '10 11:45:00 AM by MisterAlways