Mages and Half-Mages
OKAY. SO. MAGES.
Mages are...really just people. Genetically, DNA-wise, flesh and bone, they are human. They are not born of any kind of special shit, they are not limited to a certain race, gender, area, or related to a kind of disease pathogen at all. Anything about a Mage that is not standard human was done to them from an utside source. They are not born special at all.
So 20 years before the world ended (2090) this RANDOMASS epidemic happened, people were starting to get these swirls on the sides of their faces. Some had two along ther jawline, others just had one. It was totally random, not limited to any number of people, and effected a pretty even amount of people all around the world, regardless of the amount of humanity left in them.
At first, the world reacted badly. It was widely speculated it was an epidemic. So mages from all around the world were rounded up and put into quarantine untill it was figured out what was going on.
This went well in some places of the world, rather badly in others. The state of quarantine differed drastically, depending on the country of quarantine and the attitude towards mages in the area. In some instances, quarantine was traumatising for some mages. In other instances, it was as normal as an everyday hospital visit.
After some months, it was established that these new Mages were not subject to a disease, but they were different. Mages possessed the neural capabilities of empathy-- to be able to feel the emotion and presense of other beings within an area. This became common knowledge, in order to calm the general public over the hysteria caused over the sidden development.
Mages was a term coined by the media that quickly stuck.
A 'full mage' was a person who had two swirls along their jawline. Full Mages have the ability of empathy, but they cannot filter any of it out. They cannot ignore anything they feel or hear. This was particularly distressing for some Mages. It took quite the getting used to.
Half Mages had one swirl along the jawline, and had all the same abilities as a Full Mage, but they could slightly muffle it. Their empathy can be focused to the full extent of a Full Mage, but it does take concentration. Half Mages had an easier time adapting to the newly developed empathy.
Once this panic was over and done with though, more Mages started to pop up in the younger generations. Swirls would start to develop around12-14 years old (corrosponding to puberty) and gradually fade in, darkening completely after about 2-4 weeks. So it was impossible to tell if a newborn baby was going to be a Mage, as the swirls and abilities did not develop till after this age. It was also impossible to control the birth of Mages, as the reproduction of two mages did not guarantee a Mage baby, nor did the guarantee that two completely human parents would produce a human baby, as Mage babies would often appear in this fashion.
A Mage appearing in a family would often lead to drama, as feelings towards Mages were not all pristine.
Racism and predjudice was plentiful towards Mages, especially due to their unexplained creation. As such, cheek coverings were incorporated into alot of governmental uniforms, and into alot of fachion trends, as a way to decrease active attacks on Mages.
However, there was also an underground society made up of Mages that began during quarantine. Though it started out simply as a place for Mages to join together and function withougt fear of predjudice, it build over the 20 years as another subculture, becoming a culture and society that was getting rapidly recognised over the years. The society was beggining to even form its own religion untill the Apocalypse.
Members of this group would cut nitches into their eyebrows, to signify their dedication to their newlyfound race. This would also cause a rift between Mages themselves, as Mages who were trying to re-integrate into society did not think that this culture was really helping their cause.
Attitudes and treatment of Mages differed depending on the area, their expirience with Mages, and possibly the people who were affected and their attitude towards the development.
~~~
POST-APOCALYPSE
After the end of the world, and the Hysteria, Mages were the only way to really stay alive. Their ultra-sensitivity to the elements made them the only surefire way of detecting ghouls, ghosts, and Sovena.
Mages can sense these, but they are also constantly bombarded by all the sadness, pain, greif, hysteria and depression from the ghosts left on Earth. And there are quite a few.
Most Mages that were left on their own immidiently after the initial Disaster and the Hysteria commonly commited suicide, as they were unable to block out all this emotion.
Living humans, however, acted as a buffer against this wave of depression. A human would dull out all the static, replacing it with their own emotions and feelings in place of the ghost sadness. A human would be dependant on a Mage for detection of ghouls and Sovena, while a Mage would be dependant on a human to keep them from going insane.
The survivors would usually group in small packets, usually no larger than 3-6. Paranoia usually kept most survivors from getting in contact. The current cast is an abnormally large group of people. Larger groups will attract ghouls, so the gang usually splits off into smaller sections and re-groups at random intervals to keep ghouls off their trail.
uhhhhhh i can't think of anything else. Derp.
Mages are...really just people. Genetically, DNA-wise, flesh and bone, they are human. They are not born of any kind of special shit, they are not limited to a certain race, gender, area, or related to a kind of disease pathogen at all. Anything about a Mage that is not standard human was done to them from an utside source. They are not born special at all.
So 20 years before the world ended (2090) this RANDOMASS epidemic happened, people were starting to get these swirls on the sides of their faces. Some had two along ther jawline, others just had one. It was totally random, not limited to any number of people, and effected a pretty even amount of people all around the world, regardless of the amount of humanity left in them.
At first, the world reacted badly. It was widely speculated it was an epidemic. So mages from all around the world were rounded up and put into quarantine untill it was figured out what was going on.
This went well in some places of the world, rather badly in others. The state of quarantine differed drastically, depending on the country of quarantine and the attitude towards mages in the area. In some instances, quarantine was traumatising for some mages. In other instances, it was as normal as an everyday hospital visit.
After some months, it was established that these new Mages were not subject to a disease, but they were different. Mages possessed the neural capabilities of empathy-- to be able to feel the emotion and presense of other beings within an area. This became common knowledge, in order to calm the general public over the hysteria caused over the sidden development.
Mages was a term coined by the media that quickly stuck.
A 'full mage' was a person who had two swirls along their jawline. Full Mages have the ability of empathy, but they cannot filter any of it out. They cannot ignore anything they feel or hear. This was particularly distressing for some Mages. It took quite the getting used to.
Half Mages had one swirl along the jawline, and had all the same abilities as a Full Mage, but they could slightly muffle it. Their empathy can be focused to the full extent of a Full Mage, but it does take concentration. Half Mages had an easier time adapting to the newly developed empathy.
Once this panic was over and done with though, more Mages started to pop up in the younger generations. Swirls would start to develop around12-14 years old (corrosponding to puberty) and gradually fade in, darkening completely after about 2-4 weeks. So it was impossible to tell if a newborn baby was going to be a Mage, as the swirls and abilities did not develop till after this age. It was also impossible to control the birth of Mages, as the reproduction of two mages did not guarantee a Mage baby, nor did the guarantee that two completely human parents would produce a human baby, as Mage babies would often appear in this fashion.
A Mage appearing in a family would often lead to drama, as feelings towards Mages were not all pristine.
Racism and predjudice was plentiful towards Mages, especially due to their unexplained creation. As such, cheek coverings were incorporated into alot of governmental uniforms, and into alot of fachion trends, as a way to decrease active attacks on Mages.
However, there was also an underground society made up of Mages that began during quarantine. Though it started out simply as a place for Mages to join together and function withougt fear of predjudice, it build over the 20 years as another subculture, becoming a culture and society that was getting rapidly recognised over the years. The society was beggining to even form its own religion untill the Apocalypse.
Members of this group would cut nitches into their eyebrows, to signify their dedication to their newlyfound race. This would also cause a rift between Mages themselves, as Mages who were trying to re-integrate into society did not think that this culture was really helping their cause.
Attitudes and treatment of Mages differed depending on the area, their expirience with Mages, and possibly the people who were affected and their attitude towards the development.
~~~
POST-APOCALYPSE
After the end of the world, and the Hysteria, Mages were the only way to really stay alive. Their ultra-sensitivity to the elements made them the only surefire way of detecting ghouls, ghosts, and Sovena.
Mages can sense these, but they are also constantly bombarded by all the sadness, pain, greif, hysteria and depression from the ghosts left on Earth. And there are quite a few.
Most Mages that were left on their own immidiently after the initial Disaster and the Hysteria commonly commited suicide, as they were unable to block out all this emotion.
Living humans, however, acted as a buffer against this wave of depression. A human would dull out all the static, replacing it with their own emotions and feelings in place of the ghost sadness. A human would be dependant on a Mage for detection of ghouls and Sovena, while a Mage would be dependant on a human to keep them from going insane.
The survivors would usually group in small packets, usually no larger than 3-6. Paranoia usually kept most survivors from getting in contact. The current cast is an abnormally large group of people. Larger groups will attract ghouls, so the gang usually splits off into smaller sections and re-groups at random intervals to keep ghouls off their trail.
uhhhhhh i can't think of anything else. Derp.