Monthly Make-A-Magus Contest

[Sesto]

3 to Virgil Chaucer. I really like this. I feel like it has the most personality of the magi posted, and is just overall very solid and polished. The concept of his lineage and the Mystic Eyes of Antiquity is damn cool and creative, and something that would fit right in the Nasuverse. I especially think he’d meld really well with Narita and his writing in Strange Fake. Honestly I knew as soon as I read it that it was going to end up being my favourite.

2 to Ceridwen Llewellyn: At first I thought this was almost too dense, but on a second read I like it quite a lot. The weaving of Clock Tower politics was really nice, and I feel like she’d fit right at home in a volume of Case Files, especially considering her family’s history. She does seem just a tiny bit broken though, though the personalities etched into her familiars makes up for it.

1 to Belfagor Frynbalahn: Another very solid sheet. The idea of his magecraft is rather unique, and I share similar thoughts about the Department of Zoology, though I never thought up anything substantial. His personality is quite fun.

Honourable mentions: Minaral Harkion, Briar Alisette

[RoydGolden]

3 points: Virgil Chaucer. Basically everything I like about him I've said already, but his magic is incredibly creative and synergizes with his personality very well. Definitely somebody worthy of showing up in a spinoff someday...

2 points: Count Maddalo. I have a soft spot for dramatic and romantic characters, and tying him to an actual historical figure was a creative touch as well.

1 point: Ceridwen Llewellyn. She's a cute girl and the various critters she can summon are pretty fun. That's all, really.

[You]

10 entries this month. The links are all collected in the first post.

[SleepMode]

3 Points: Virgil. Probably the most creative sheet I've seen so far, and how his abilities ties to History and personality was very nice.
(Me being a history lover may have caused a bit of bias...)

2 Points: Maddalo. I just think the Revelations of the Muses is a very cool concept, to become eternal via leaving behind an artistic medium.

1 Point: Belfagor. I was torn between this guy and Ceridwen, but I felt the whole "Phantasmal Beast in Human Skin" part won me over.

Although they hadn't made it to the Top 3s, Briar, Ceridwen and Charles are all very well-done.

[Spartacus]

I'll try to be objective, but if I could, I want to rate both Virgil and Ceridwen 3. Due to amount of details and shown that the writers put their hearts into them. And I love idealistic stuff like that.

3: Virgil got it because his power and character are integrated nicely.

2: Ceridwen lose to Virgil due to the reason above.

1: Briar, I like him due to his serial killer backstory. I always imagined some magi lab-rat gone berserk and become serial killer, and he remind me of that idea. His power remind me of DBZ villains.

Note to self: Write more heartfully, also research.

[4score7years]

3 Points: Virgil. A lot's been said about this one, but it's seriously great. There's a ton going on in that sheet, but it all syncs together very well. The sheet in and of itself is also quite fun to read, so that's always a plus.

2 Points: Roccoco Varsviotte. A really unusual idea and concept, but I like what was done with it. His character in particular struck me, and you can really feel the theme of "Repetition" throughout the work.

1 Point: Briar. Really sells the idea of a Magus Serial Killer. I think the reality marble is a bit much, but then, it's also what holds the whole thing together, so perhaps not.

[Ayr]

Was hard to decided which I liked most. But, having read through them once more, fairly happy to award points as so:

3 points to Sesto's Count Maddalo. This turned out great from start to finish. Hard to believe this is rushed.

2 points to Rafflesiac's Virgil Chaucer. Really liked this one too, between his personality and background he seems quite fleshed out. Especially liked the spells.

1 point to Asunder's Minaral Harkion. Was a pretty big toss up who would get third place here, but I really liked the concept and background.

And brief honourable mentions for Asterism's Briar, since I really liked the imagery of his RM, along with Leftovers and Balthizar for Ceridwen and Belfagor, who both clearly put a good bit of thought into their character's familiars.

[Bird of Hermes]

Honestly, I'm very happy I was outdone by everyone, nice job.

3 Points - Virgil Chaucer. Very well polished with a lot of personality and polish to him which synergies with his abilities well.

2 Points - Briar Alisette. He was everything Ryuunosuke from Zero could have been and nails the Magus Serial Killer niche.

1 Point - Count Maddalo. He fits the Sealing Designation vibe really well and I honestly couldn't tell he was rushed. Reminds me of the time I posted Victor Frankenstein here.

[You]

Well thank you for all the votes. Time to count up the votes.

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Third Place is a tie with

Spoiler:

getting 6 points.

Second is

Spoiler:

with 14 points

And finally, first is

Spoiler:

Virgil Chaucer who doesn't have a FC but does have 25 points

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So first place gets to decide next month's topic

[Rafflesiac]

Spellcasters.

[Sesto]

gg everyone

This one might be tough as I don't have any preexisting ideas, but it should be fun.

1 point: Count Maddalo. I'm not sure that he had to be theenLord Byron, he could have been just another mage, and I would have been fine with it.

This is probably true. In the original draft of the character (way before this contest, when I had thought up him for a fic) he was just a magus who was inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray and ended up creating something derivative of it. But when I discovered Lord Byron, I thought it would be fun to incorporate him into it. The idea would be that Oscar Wilde wrote the novel in response to Byron, with a message of "please stop, this is what will happen to you". In that case, the painter Basil Hallward from the novel would somewhat represent Oscar himself.

Also, in the original draft he couldn't create portraits for other people. I added that so a Sealing Designation would make more sense (which was another thing he didn't have originally).

[the god of world-0]

So is just submit a sheet?

[You]

So does everyone want to do raff's idea this month
or wait a month before attempting it

[Sesto]

I'm fine with either, to be honest.

[Balthizar]

Same. Whenever works for me.

[Ereus]

Its fine for me.

[Draconic]

I'm good to start now. I think I'm more suited to making a spellcaster anyway.

[You]

Our winner, the esteemed Mongoose, Raff has decided the next topic will be "Spellcasters."
The definition of a Spellcaster is below.

Magus
A person who posses magic circuits and can use magecraft. To distinguish Magi who do research and those who do not, the latter are called Spellcasters.

Good Luck

The Submission Deadline is 07/24/2017 11:59PM PST which is also when voting will begin. The Voting Deadline is 07/31/2017 11:59PM PST.

This information is also in the OP

[Sesto]

i think you should change the deadlines to 11:59 PM of the previous day as it's way less confusing imo, it's what my professors use

[asterism42]

Eliciabelle "Elise" du Couteau


Source

Alias/Nickname/Title: Magic Bullet
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Height/Weight: 171cm, 71kg
Birthplace: Algeria

Likes: Birdwatching
Dislikes: Evil people
Natural Talents: Marksmanship
Natural Enemy: Kiritsugu Emiya

Elemental Alignment: Earth
Circuit Quantity: C
Circuit Quality: B
Circuit Composition: Normal

Biography: The du Couteau’s are a centuries old lineage of spellcasters who, throughout history, have twisted their talents to one purpose alone: battle. They are a family of mercenaries and assassins who follow conflict like ravens, offering their talents to whoever buys them. Such is their eagerness for combat that their magic crest has been lost several times in their history due to their head being killed before assigning an heir. What would normally be a debilitating blow to most families, however, is no setback at all for them, simply reconfiguring their magecraft to adjust. In recent years, the du Couteaus have suffered a string of misfortunes, with Elise being, for all intents and purposes, the last of them (certainly the only currently active one). Raised an assassin, she once viewed herself as a weapon to be aimed and fired, with her epithet of ‘Magic Bullet’ coming from this philosophy rather than her actual spells. However, as she worked as a tool for the rich and powerful, employed to kill whomever they so desired, for whatever reason, a spark of rebellion was birthed in her chest, and she found herself questioning the motives of the people she worked for, the corrupt and avaricious. Accepting a contract to infiltrate and exterminate a group of rebels, she found herself drawn to their cause, their desire to seek a better life for themselves in a harsh world. Though she followed through on her orders to eliminate them, Elise found her spark of rebellion grow into a roaring flame of anger, the anger of the dispossessed towards those who neglected them. Throwing her old life away, she swore to become a vigilante, enforcing a lethal punishment of the cruel and corrupt, and exposing their true natures to the world, to make an example of them. Seeking no glory for herself, and leaving a trail of wicked corpses behind her, she became Nemesis, a Dark Hero, a Hero of Justice who brings punishment down on evildoers.

Character: Once a person who could only be considered a living weapon, an individual who spoke little, and who displayed no emotions, being something like a machine. She stills maintains a stoic façade, but her personality has become that of a compassionate and caring woman. She is at heart a kind person, but because of that is capable of terrible cruelty if she feels it is justified. Something of a ‘twisted saint’, she feels injustice deeply and is deeply grieved by the suffering of the masses, but rather than offering kindness and charity, she instead ruthlessly slaughters the cause of their pain; a shadow cast by the light of justice. Driven and purposeful, she refuses to feel guilt and regret for what she has done. Her refusal to look back is perhaps due to a subconscious preservation instinct, for if she were to look back and see the bloodstained path she has walked, she may very well fall into despair.

Gun Magecraft: Elise uses the magecraft of the du Couteau family: weapon creation. To fit their warlike ways, the du Couteaus tailored their talents towards the creation and maintenance of magical weapons. Elise has altered this ability to fit the modern world; rather than swords and shields, she creates magically enhanced firearms and explosive devices. She is equipped with a variety of firearms for different purposes: pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles etc. Each has been modified to fire her special bullets; it is these bullets rather than the guns themselves which mark her abilities as a spellcaster, drawing from a variety of magical disciplines she creates bullets with various effects applied to them: bullets that can explode, home in on targets, inflict poison and disease, invisible bullets, untraceable bullets, and so on. She also makes her own clothing, using her magecraft to weave threads of cotton, silk, silver and Kevlar together to give her outfits a defensive value equal to the thickest armour.

Gem Magecraft: One of the ways Elise creates her bullets is with gems: by cutting and shaping them into the proper form, she stores power in them, a feat that is easy for her due to her Earth alignment. Filled with mana, even the smallest calibre bullet can detonate with the force of a grenade. Depending on the jewel she uses, she can alter what form the explosion takes, be it fire, ice wind, etc. Due to the methods she employs, the more nuanced abilities of gem magic are beyond her. Aside from gems, she uses materials such as silver, bone, and ice to create her bullets, depending on the effect she wants to cause on her target, such as a curse that causes a sudden cardiac arrest, or a spell that causes calcification of muscles and organs to mimic petrification.

Space-collapsing class firearms

Gambanteinn

– A pair of unusual firearms, Elise’s favourite weapons, personally designed and built by her, and the ones she defaults to when fighting or hunting. Rather than firing bullets, they are designed to gather mana from the air, condense and concentrate it, and then fire it like a bullet. Superficially similar to the gandr technique. The true worth of Gambanteinn, however, is the enchantment it carries. When it fires, it employs the alchemical technique displacement to move the bullet through the air. Specifically, they displace the area where the bullet it aimed with the area around their barrel. The net result is a shot appearing instantly where it is aimed without passing through the surrounding space. As it bypasses space, it will naturally bypass any barriers in the way between Elise and her target. A very useful weapon for an assassin. However, the drawback is she needs to have a clear image of where she’s firing to use it properly. Line of sight is not essential, but very helpful.

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Figured I'd get it in early