Been developing on /co/ since like last weekend or so and yet none of the people who are working on it thought of starting a /coc/ thread. Decided to fix the problem.>So here's some of what we've worked out so far:>Locations-> Salem, MA>-Louisiana Bayou (heavy Voodoo emphasis)>-Rocky Mountains>-Groom Lake (government run)>-Texas Arcana&Magic (cow magic, mossy oak camo wands)>At the lower level students are divided up into grades by year, K-12 basically. If they choose to move onto higher education it's divided up into more specialized schools of study but still requiring cross study with different schools, college basically.>Quiddich isn't popular. Boufball, a game all about strategy and strength, is.>Wizards and witches don't completely isolate themselves from muggles like the Europeans do. They also take advantage of modern technology.>Also CSI: Salem.
More stuff>Salem, MA (oldest school in the country, has a high emphasis on Lovecraftian magic research)Rocky Mountains (center for Native American magic practice and located in an area of great spiritual power)
What the hell is 'cow magic'?
This might help:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2889350/14/Bungle_in_the_Jungle_A_Harry_Potter_Adventure
in b4 'All Fiction is Shit'
>>13819I have wondered this myself. Maybe, since the Texas magic school is a parody of Texas A&M they attempt to better livestock through magic the way the real world counterpart attempts to do it through science. That or they transform cows into a myriad of magical beasts.
>>13819First thing that popped into my head was like... a magical version of an agricultural school. You know, for those who never really had any potential other than for digging in the dirt. Only with magic.
Don't forget the magic guns. They come in a variety of models. Some use magic bullets, some are revolver wands, etc.
>>13824Outlaw Star Caster-gun's then? I'd dig it. Also guns enhanced with magic would be awesome. For some reason though getting a 100% magical gun seems to be at least exceedingly difficult in this setting, but no one said anything about individual parts, frictionless barrels and magazines linked to a pocket dimension filled with bullets here we come.
>>Outlaw Star Caster-gun's then? I'd dig it.EVERYTHING needs more Caster-Guns.
These are really good>I'm finding the idea of magic based IT guys funny for some reason. Maybe they actually pull double duty by being the guys to introduce more isolated wizards to newer modern concepts while also being on call to fix any magical device that's gone haywire for some reason. It pays well but there's not a lot of room for advancement, and generally the MT guys in the magic world have the same attitudes as the IT guys in the real world.>Also magic version of gun nuts, who love to collect interesting and esoteric magical weapons (enchanted swords and armors) just for the bragging rights of showing them off.>Expand the Texas school to include a department that specializes in dealing with magical phenomena in extra terrestrial situations (magic astronauts that almost always work in a special branch of NASA). Or just general avionics.
>>13817>-Groom Lake (government run) Like regular US muggle government? The Brits have a separate magical government, so why can't we? I imagine it as a wizard-run entity with very loose ties to the muggle one - basically, only the president and a few top people know of wizards' existence. Also, why does it have to be a government run school? Is it like West Point? Since the wizard population is so sparse compared to muggles, I don't see a need or desire for an army here. They just need an elite FBI-like force, which is how I imagine the Aurors. With an American affinity for acronyms, they'd probably have a less poetic title.
Dr. Orpheus is a professor at one of the schools, but is currently on sabbatical, TO RIGHT THAT WHICH IS WRONG AND TO REPAIR THE TORN CURTAIN OF TIME ITSELF!
>>13825I think we need some limits on the gun thing. Maybe you can only use old fashioned revolvers around that much magic (I'm thinking of tech in HP, which is inexplicably retro, like radios with dial tuners). And pocket dimensions... ergh. No. One gun = six bullets. Otherwise it's just madness.
Disturbingly accurate:"I can imagine wands in America are treated by American wizard teens in the same way teens treat their cellphones.So Wands are mass produced by companies and built with special features or some shit.""Yes, yes, and double yes. Wizards or not, America = capitalism and mass produced garbage. It's what we're good at.""iwand?"
>>13833But more modern guns still work on very simple mechanical principles. Bullets are loaded from a clip do to force from a spring. Automatic guns use recoil or pressurized gas to recock the hammer.
>>13834American teens are hardly alone in the disgustingly capitalist department, but yeah. In the books people feel a really elemental connection to their wands, though, so hopefully it wouldn't be like that. I can't guarantee those kids wouldn't bling the shit out of those wands, though.
>>13833Well that may be true but think about it like this:The government of the muggle and magical worlds are more closely nit in the US. This is one of the original concepts for this whole thing.They very well may field a military force of magic users for those times when magic threats pop up.Take the US view of weaponization and now apply it to magic. You're going to have some crazy breakthroughs accompanied by a lot of failures to be sure, but ultimately there will be at least a modicum of fusion between magic and tech. That doesn't mean pocket dimensions filled with ammo are doable though, but there will be something that makes guns + magic awesome/scary/scaryawesome.On the revolver issue that's more of "I'm scarred this will make magic pointless" over "This shouldn't be able to work." Both semi and fully automatic weapons are primarily mechanical in nature. If you told me that electronic sensors and night vision didn't work I'd say fine, but so long as it's all done mechanically I don't see magic interfering with it.
Nikola Tesla founding a Magical Tech school is an Jawesome idea.
>>13838It makes sense. Think of all the Lovecraftian shit that keeps going down in New England. It's ridiculous.
>>13838>On the revolver issue that's more of "I'm scarred this will make magic pointless" over "This shouldn't be able to work." Both semi and fully automatic weapons are primarily mechanical in nature. If you told me that electronic sensors and night vision didn't work I'd say fine, but so long as it's all done mechanically I don't see magic interfering with it.Right. So we think that it's mainly electricity that gets knocked out by strong magic. We could also say that it's the Old World pureblood mentality that prevents British wizards from truly embracing muggle innovations or working with them. I'm starting to get onboard with the guns a little bit now, but I still feel that they are just out of the Harry Potter spirit, ya know?Funny that we're all focusing on weaponry too. I guess that's to be expected, since the books were about war and everything.
>>13841It's not all focused on war. Wizards have magical cell phones that never run down the battery, always get the night fee, and are never out of range.
>>13841Well also this topic is focused on the US and the US is heavily associated with guns and war. Also see OP's pic. We will eventually get to the stage where we discuss the merits of magically buffed body armor and personal defense measures but it hasn't been brought up yet.Things like the ipod wand and .pdf spell books have been brought up though. I also imagine magical Air-Jordan's that actually make you jump higher, and magical Harley-Davidsons may be around.
>>13839This. Even if he did not found a school he has to at the very least be a huge influence on magic + tech
>>13843>magical Harley-Davidsons may be around.Do Fucking Want
Several thoughts:The American counterpart to the European phoenix is the Thunder Bird. :)It's fine for the magical government to be centered somewhere heavily populated like DC or New Orleans, but the K-12 schools should probably be out in the middle of nowhere, like Hogwarts is. You don't want untrained kids accidentally alerting New York to your secret society's existence. Somebody in the /co/ thread suggested using ravens as messenger birds, as they are intelligent and commonly seen in many American locales more often than owls. I love this idea. Lastly, does anybody remember how difficult it is supposed to be to travel between countries and across oceans? I'm just curious if it's by broom or what, because it sounds horrible compared to airplane flight.
>>13847Pfft. Brooms are for those lame Europeans who want to cruise around and say "chow!" It'll only take a few hours of awesome scenery to get across on your Sky-King Harley-Davidson.I could see using ravens, but owls are so awesome. I wouldn't mind though, having the Raven's talk would be a must. I do imagine the schools are situated in the wilderness or more likely in an area that doesn't completely exist in the mortal world.
>>13847Delivery birds are obsolete. US wizards have magical email and cell phones.
>>13848Sky-King Harley Davidson. This sounds unscrupulously, outrageously awesome.
>Tesla's head in a jar is still around and teaches classes.
I sort of like the idea that Japan's Magical Schools are a reverent mix of traditional and... industrial, if you will. Schools look like Shinto Temples with the uniforms being either the temple maiden outfits for the ladies, and I guess the normal military style uniform (with hat) for men. With classes that range from herbalism and alchemy (mixtures and salves) to integrating magical runes into computing systems or soul transferring into robotic systems.
You know what state has a shitload of room and not a lot of people?Alaska.
>You know with all these magical creatures running around, all the Japanese youngsters would partake in real life pokeymans.>You are now imagining Pokemon battles being treated like underground dog fights with special task forces of Wizards assigned to shut these operations down.
What, no guns that shoot magic bullets?
>>13853Point to Bones!Though it what would it's focus be? You can't just cram every Wizard in the US into one school, at least five should exist, and now one more for Alaska. Maybe they share the school with Canadian transfer students?We need to think of some of the items that would be prevalent in a community like this. I enjoy my Sky-King idea, but what else might one see a US Wizard using?
>>13855I just thought it was a given and wasn't in need of expounding. Caster bullets are of course awesome, especially if they use a spell that has a long as incantation, but can be fired instantly.
>>13855
>>13817 >-Louisiana Bayou (heavy Voodoo emphasis)Yeah, someone also mentioned some spanish spells and mexican stuff.I don't know what came out of it
>>13856Canadians and Russians and whatnot.Maybe instead of a chopper, a snowmobile. Or a more mundane sled, magically enhanced.What about pocket binoculars or telescopes, given a little extra oomph? Or they could craft temporary items out of snow! Instant snowball cannon! Only lasts for a few hours, though.
There needs to be a school in California or New York, simply for variety sake. Those places have immigrants from all over the world, and thus all sort of different magic.
The Alaskan school can take some influence from Inuit mythology.
Each school should have it's own ghost mascot. Tesla's school has the ghost of Edison floating around Jeeves style, annoying only Tesla and making up absurd stories about how his scientific exploits
>>13849Magical companion or device that exists in real life? I'd take inconvenient yet awesome pet anyday. I could only get behind the idea of magic phones if they looked like portable rotary phones for simple lolz sake. And email seems out of the question... electronic mail seems anathema to magic in general.>>13853I'm pretty sure I'd do almost anything to avoid spending my formative years in Alaska. How about Baton Rouge? I hear it's underpopulated there, and full of Red Wands.
The magic schools in the US would probably be funded by the goverment, or at least be connected in some way.
>>13860No, not a sled! A snowboard! One that can take you uphill!
>>13864How about parchments enchanted to transfer messages from one person to another? Like sending text messages except you have parchment instead?
Sup?
>>13856>what else might one see a US Wizard using?cell phone = some sort of portable floo device. Special lighter with a compartment for floo powder that works only for audio, not visual communication. Maybe it uses a jacked up form of floo powder that's a bit pricey, which leads to the same love/hate relationship muggles have with their cell service providers. I'm trying to think of some native magical flora and fauna. All I got is the jackalope and bigfoot. Oh, and the Thunder Bird from earlier.
>>13861 >CaliforniaI just know there is going to be a student/teacher like this guy.
>>13870He's that minor character everybody loves and most people complain about him not getting enough focus in the story.
>>13867
Mandy is a student and uses void magic, also necromancer. She talks to death, or Grim.Also, she obviously evil
Someone made this list. Revise it as fits.Gonna try and get light vs dark. List is still open though.Light:Mark TwainTelsa's headSun RaMoe BergDon Juan Matus (maybe neutral, just read his wiki page)Teddy Motherfuckin Roosevelt (he's on Rushmoore for a reason...)Edgar CayceAndy Kaufman as a ghostThomas JeffersonBenjamin FranklinDark Side:Aleister CrowleyL. Ron HubbardAnton Szandor LaVey (may not actually be evil, but probably misunderstood)Thomas EdisonDarker than Black side:H.P. LovecraftEdgar Allen PoeI don't know where to put these guys:Austin Osman SpareSitting BullMalcolm X (killed by Death Eaters)Henry FordGarth EnnisMusicians as Magic users:Ray CharlesMiles DavisDavid BowieFreddy Mercury
I keep thinking about a school in New York, and I suddenly can't stop thinking about the Ghostbusters.Why, /coc/? Why?
>>13875new list would I guess add Michael Jackson, Alexander the Crystal Seer, Houdini, Andrew Jackson (ghost, dueling instructor), and as squibs: David Blaine and Criss Angel.At least one person wanted H.P Lovecraft on the light not dark side.
>>13876Because someone would end up making a magical proton pack, in order to fight a golem made of snow or marshmallow.
>>13853But no one wants to go to school in Alaska.
>>13877I agree with that person, as the idea of him being>headmaster that banished some great and scary ancient evil by caging it in a spell like in the cthulhu comics(everytime someone reads or says the line from the book, about in how cthulhu sleeps in his city waiting, cthulhu actually gets put into a deeper sleep, so the more people that read the spell the more asleep these ancient horrors will stay)Pleases me.
Voodoo magic would be the best.Although probably very controversial, since it would have to deal with dolls, animal sacrifices, and other fucked up stuff.
Louisianafag here, do you have a name/location for the school in my state?
>>13882Well it's in the bayous obviously.
>>13882 >>13881 >>13883 I was just playing that recent Fallout 3 expansion pack, and yeah, the bayou is a place you don't want to be.
>>13875Elvis is a magical musician, and so are Bob Dylan and the Osmonds. (The Osmonds are dark, though; don't trust those smiles)I wonder if there wouldn't be deep, deep conflicts with the Native American wizards? Did a parallel conflict play out alongside the muggle conquest of the Americas, with the Europeans using a new/stronger form of magic than what the natives had? Also, I would think that a KKK/Death Eater type group would be more active in the states than in the UK, what with our plethora of colorful immigrants.
>>13882I feel like someone from there, someone more familiar with the culture, would be in the best position to name it. Or at least, start compiling ideas for it.
Okay I am really bad at drawing, but here is a pic I drew of Tesla's head in a jar. :(
>>13888lol, I like the drawing, but why can't Tesla just be a ghost? They had a ghost teacher in HP.
>>13888 lol, awesome
>>13889Because Tesla is SCIENCE!
I have a feeling that the Texas school is in College Station or an extra dimensional parody thereof. The answer to most questions of location would probably be "Extra Dimensional space that personifies the region it inhabits". So the Louisiana school would have the rivers and bayous as well as other traits you associate with Louisiana, while Texas would have a mishmash of features (Forests to the East, Deserts to West, Hills to the South and Mountains to the North). Take the features you associate most with the region and then place them all around the school grounds basically. Thoughts?
>>13884>>13883Oh but the bayous are a wonderful placeNooks and cranniesShallows and deeps.Alligators and worse
>>13892creative idea but I take issue with the concept of extradimensional space. It sort of exists in canon in the form of cars that are bigger than they should be, but not on a large scale. In Goblet of Fire, the wizards went through a lot of trouble to arrange a place big enough for the Quidditch world cup to take place in England. They actually had to rent campsites from muggles. So if the magic existed to create enormous extradimensional spaces I think we would have seen it by now. (and no, I don't think it's a matter of American vs. English philosophy like a lot of what we're talking about.)Ew, I think my Potternerd is showing...
>>13880I guess what I was trying to say with "Darker than Black" was "appears evil but is really on a whole 'nother playing field"So Lovecraft and Poe weren't just wizards, the name for the type of magic they do is the same of their name.I guess I would also add Robert W. Service b/c I really like "Cremation of Sam McGee", some Dark Alaskan magic goin' on there.
>>13882 Awesome pic. This thread need more Native American magic though.Pic somewhat related.
>>13894Since my Potter knowledge is pretty slim (I've watched a couple of movies) where is Hogwarts then? I was always led to believe that it existed apart from normal reality in some fashion.
>>13898Middle of Nowhere, Scotland. Part of the fun of Potter stuff for me is the fact that wizards live alongside normal people, but in hidden ways.
>>13899Hmm well I won't argue the point, makes the need for a magic train, superfluous to me though. Texas is fine, we've got plenty of wide open space to hide stuff in, Lousiana may have to use the Bayou's as stated before, everyone else besides Alaska though...? I mean it'd be a little difficult to have a full fledged magic school right in the heart of NYNY.Actually looking back at OP those locations seem like they wouldn't have a hard time being "out of the way" enough. Also when in doubt "Underground Bunkers!"
Do they wear uniforms, or what?
THOUGHT BUBBLE.Bermuda Triangle. Related to anything?
>>13882Also Louisianafag here.The name of the school should be something Cajun-French, yeah?And I was imagining the school being set in like an abandoned plantation estate or something. The houses could be bigger inside than out, and the students could stay out in the old slave quarters.Either that, or it could be set in an abandoned orphanage. There's actually a location like that near where I live, and it would be perfect for a magical school, if it were in a different place.I imagine that such small places would work because the Louisiana school probably would not be very big.
>>13904 Yeah, that sounds good
>>13902Probably not, the more Ivy league ones might, but that'd the exception not the rule.
>>13882 Remids me of Hex
>>13907I miss Hex. Really wanted to see him come back and try to fight Ben as a kid....At the risk of taking the thread off-topic.
>>13904 Herehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie
The Louisiana school strikes me as being particularly dangerous. The instructors don't put as much effort into making sure the students stay safe, and there aren't near as many 'off-limits' areas as somewhere like Hogwarts. The easiest way to learn is through life experience. Natural selection will pick off the bad students in a damn hurry.
>>13910Story concept:The Louisiana School of Magic has always had its fair share of dangers. The school was originally founded to make sure the mouth of the Mississippi remained safe from the multitude of supernatural threats that chose to make the area their home. Recently due to the Tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, much of the schools protective wards and failsafes have been put out of commission. Some of the inhabitants that have lain dormant for centuries, are now begining to awake, and the head master of the school has made the controversial decision to bring in outside assistance. Teams of monster hunters are being formed and must reestablish the school's old defenses unless these esoteric creatures change the face of the muggle world forever.It sounds a little bit like "Ghostbusters: The Big Easy" but I think it'd be a fun backdrop to put some characters in, and gives a single setting to focus on while allowing for characters to come from the other schools. Have Lovecraft be an integral part of the story and bring Tesla (with Edison in tow) as a special consultant to assist with the problem, and I would read it.
>>13909Ooh, that would be awesome.And instead of house elves who do the cooking and maintenance and whatnot, zombie slaves do all the work.>>13910YES.Alligators are approved pets and/or snack foods, and certain legalities (like the approved drinking age) are completely ignored.
>>13915Fucking fund it.We need to start working on this.Like pronto.
>>13917Okay then let's start with questions shall we?1. Who is the Headmaster/Dean of the Louisiana School?2. What is his personality? I expect him to be the foremost expert on Voodoo magic of course, but what else can we say about him?3. What is the official name of the University? I agree that a Cajun name would be cool, but I have no pool of knowledge to call on for naming it in such a fashion.4. How big is the school? It's probably not as big as Hogwarts obviously but is it lightly staffed or does it have numbers that would rival a mundane University?5. What are some good mystical monsters? It doesn't all have to be what you've heard of in stories related to the bayou, we could even through a bonified Hydra in there or a manticore.6. What are some cool ideas for the resident staff?7. What's the closest city to the school? 8. What would be some cool mystical items or places to include? 9. How heavily should we look into the Loa for ideas? 10. What's a crazy ass event that we can cook up to happen at the peak of Mardi Gras?That's all I got for now, I'll try and think up some characters and a story hook/macguffin.
>>13918>10. What's a crazy ass event that we can cook up to happen at the peak of Mardi Gras?The final exams. And/or graduation day. One of those two. Maybe both could happen in the same night.
So, we know that we are going to have guns that shoot magic bulletsHowever, do we know if the kids also have them?Perhaps only the teachers.Than again, since someone mentioned that this is a school with little supervision, probably lots of student have them. And use them to kill those damn Lovecraft type monsters.
>>13920 Gangs
>>13918>What are some good mystical monsters?http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters.htmlCheck under all of the categories. I am positive that there are several from the south or even Louisiana.
>>13919I was thinking more of a "Oh Shit!!" type happening. I think they would give the students off for Mardi Gras but having it act as the focus for a magical ritual that must be performed yearly would also be awesome. The spell requires a fuckton of positive emotions to be congregated into a single defined place, and once there is enough of those emotions the ritual takes place and seals the big bad macguffin into place for another year.May also tie into the finals/graduation day stuff.
>>13922Weeding through it, plucking out some interesting ones.Adlet (Alaska)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/hyrbid/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=63Gatormen (Florida - Louisiana)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/hyrbid/index.php?detail=monster&idmonster=87Jackalopes (Mid-Western US)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/hyrbid/index.php?detail=monster&idmonster=94Devil Monkeys (US)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/hairy/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=249Honey Island Swamp Monster (Louisiana, Mississippi)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/hairy/index.php?detail=monster&idmonster=216Illiamna (Alaska)http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/lakemonsters/index.php?detail=monster&idmonster=146
>>13920Guns are reserved for graduates and the staff. Certain exceptions may exist to this rule (being a part of a group that follows special restrictions and supervision) but the students are expected to prove themselves worthy of handling the weapons by surviving with their wits and their wands. The mentality is "A wand can be used to do whatever you need it to, it can defend, it can comfort and it can attack. A gun is used only for one thing. Killing. Until you've proved that you can handle yourself responsibly and not rely on it as a crutch, this university will not allow you to be in possession of a firearm let alone an enchanted version thereof. If you have time to complain I suggest you get back to your studies and learn the value of using the tools at hand."
>>13922 Monsters from the south, uh?
>>13922 The Jersey Devil
>>13924Gatormen are freaking terrifying. Those must make an appearance.
>>13928Agreed. Learning to deal with them would be integral to survival at the school. This school would also have it's own version of campus police, designed to protect the younger members of the school from the things that go bump in the night. They most defiantly would have magic bullet guns and the like.