#MAGIC SCHOOL

[aylameridiandrawsstuff]

Visit Raya Lucaria!

I love this view - one of the most beautiful in the whole game in my opinion.

You can grab prints of this (and all the other Elden Ring travel posters!) here: https://www.inprnt.com/collections/aylameridian/elden-ring-travel-posters/

[torteen]

This advertisement is for Infinity Alchemist, a dark academia fantasy about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power from the bestselling and award-winning author of Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender.

The art featured in this image is by Chris Sack. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Defy All Limits.

For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret. When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power. As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.

[fox-teeth]

Will this academic rivalry between two nerdy, socially awkward witches lead them to greater magical heights--or a life of CRIME?!

Find out only in the Perfect Crime Party anthology from Iron Circus Comics -- only a few hours left to back!

The Backerkit projects ends at 11 PM EDT today (9/27), we're fully funded and currently working on creator bonuses!

[dunmeshistash]

are the kids in the dryad chapter cover art supposed to reference characters we know or are they just random kids?

It's other random students from the magic school Falin and Marcille attended I think

[mask131]

I saw again another post implying that J.K. Rowling "invented" the idea of a "school for wizards/school for witches" in fiction... *sigh*. Again, while Hogwarts definitively marked the cultural landscape and changed our modern vision of what a "school of sorcery/magic school" is supposed to be... Rowling invented nothing, and there were many, MANY, magic schools in fiction long before the first Harry Potter book was released. As much in fiction for adults as fiction for children. Let me recap some big points:

The Invisible College, from Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land, one year before Harry Potter - AND which forms a parody/reference to most of the schools listed below.

Wizard's Hall, from the titular Wizard's Hall book by Jane Yolen - six years before Harry Potter.

Groosham Grange, from the novel of the same name by Anthony Horowitz, nine years before Harry Potter.

The Unseen University, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld - 14 years before Harry Potter.

Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, from Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch, 23 years before Harry Potter

The island of Roke, from the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin - 29 years before Harry Potter.

We can even go back to Dom Daniel, from T.H. White's original version of The Once and Future King, 58 years before Harry Potter.

And I am not even counting the various "magic colleges" and "sorcery academies" that appeared in role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons long before Harry Potter came out...

Conclusion: Hogwarts is interesting and influential... But not inventive.

[apolline-lucy]

THE HOLLOWS moodboard : sapphic witches, ghost cats, & necromancy

[candlelightgames]

We’re thrilled to announce PROJECT SPELLSTRUCK, a next-generation narrative game that captures the ultimate magic school experience✨

[corkinavoid]

Mood board for Fiance to a Star

Chapter 4: Samhain Night

Soundtracks:

Running through the forest - Taboo Gimmick by Junichi Matsumoto (I personally think you can pretty much align it with Tim running from the vulture, then meeting Danny - you'll hear the quiet part - then Cujo appearing and Tim and Danny running again, it's really perfect, I love it)

Fighting - Wizardry Monsters by Junichi Matsumoto

Questions and Forest Ambiance as a whole - In the Ancient Forest by Junichi Matsumoto

Also, welcome the fic's new co-creator, @ashleyreyland, who is now helping me with the editing! Thank you so much <3

[almakrowan]

so i used to love jk stuff growing up but in last 15-ish years this whole franchise is a constant source of series of disappointment and bitter pain that I'm doing my best to avoid LOL 🤧 I really wanted to draw and write my OCs in a wizard world AU so.. I made my own!!!!

I basically built a whole world and stuff, it's still work in progress but I wanted to share anyway!!! [Google doc]

And here are some CUTE UNIFORMS IDEAS for my dark academia magic school 🩷🙏

And some notes on use of familiars! (your OC can have a traditional pet-familiar, or an astral familiar, like a little animal ghost!!!! CUTE!!!)

Anyway, yeah, I've been having so much fun with it so far, I can't wait to make moree 🙏🩷 Please see the google doc for more world- and schoolbuilding hehe it's still pretty barebone but I like it a lot 🩷

[dungeonofthedragon]

Magical School TTRPG

With the announcement of Dimension 20's Misfits and Magic season two, now is the perfect time for a post about different games for playing out your wizard school dreams, 100% free of TERF nonsense.

(season one of Misfits and Magic used Kids on Brooms, a magical spin on the popular Kids on Bikes. If you're in Aotearoa, you can support a fantastic local business and find copies of the latter here!)

Esoterica, Her Majesty's College of the Arcane

Style: Narrative

Device: Prompts, GMless

The lightest and most whimsical game on this list- also, it's totally free! Grab a friend or three and have your own magical school adventures today.

Our Spell is Steel

Style: Theatre of the mind tabletop

Device: Dice

This game isn't a traditional magic school game, but it can scratch a similar itch if you're looking for a darker vibe. Players take on the roles of neophyte mages born and raised to serve an empire. Tragedy, revolution, and magical drama are all on the cards here, and this game is just as suitable for a one-shot as it is for ongoing play.

Tangled Blessings

Style: Journaling, GMless

Device: Tarot

Tangled Blessings is set in a cursed magical university. The game revolves around a pair of exceptionally talented rivals. It is played from the perspective of one (or both) of these students, who are reflecting on their time studying here before their long anticipated, climactic final duel.

Worth noting is that you and your rival don't have to be enemies! You could also play this from the perspective of siblings, best friends, or even lovers...there are endless possibilities.

Wyrdwood Wand

Style: Tactical grid-based tabletop

Device: Dice

Wyrdwood Wand is a game I've been keeping a close eye on lately. Young wizards attend a magical academy full of danger and intrigue. Monsters and spirits abound, and there'll always be something exciting to get up to!

[linolinoing]

[raakdos-battlemap]

The Biblioplex - Scrying Chamber 32x56

The Biblioplex is a vast library that is said to hold the knowledge of the Multiverse. The largest library in the Multiverse, it is an enormous domed building that rises above the rest of the campus in Strixhaven, Arcavios.

More variations of this map:

[torteen]

This advertisement is for Infinity Alchemist, a dark academia fantasy about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power from the bestselling and award-winning author of Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender.

The art featured in this image is by Chris Sack. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

“Magic was once thought to only be gifted to the unique or special, the chosen ones. Now it was commonly known that every single person in the world had the capability to become an alchemist.”

For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret. When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power. As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.

[amysgoblinhorde]

The Anti-JK Rowling: Praise for TJ Klune

I am going to overshare. I do not apologise for this.

Way back in the mid 1990s, I was I young girl in school and I was badly suffering the years of harassment and abuse by my peers and also by the grown ups who should have cared for me. I was told I brought it on myself by being weird, I was told I was an attention seeker (yes, and can't you hear me cry for help?) and it was actually the lip curling disdain of the teachers that broke me the most.

I began to feel like maybe I did deserve it. I must have been so unpleasant, so hideous a person that others could see me for what I was and the universe itself was punishing me. I developed Body Dysmorphic Disorder, I kept checking mirrors to see if I could glimpse the monster, mocking myself whenever I thought I looked normal.

Anyway. It all came to a head in my third year, when I became admittedly a bit of an edgelord. I sucked in the darkness and screamed it out.

I was sent to a hospital school. This was a little tiny class of mixed ages for children who needed extra help. It was better here, I made friends - but I also learned a dark lesson here that no child should have to -

There is an appropriate face for trauma.

And I didn't have it. I was not the cute cancer kid. I was not the brave smiling little trooper. I was told by some of the staff in the hospital school that I didn't really belong there, I should consider myself lucky. One teacher said that those of us who were there for mental health issues were weak, we had failed. If we were braver we would be in a normal school.

I would have been 11 when the first Harry Potter book came out, though I didn't read any until sixth form college. I wanted to know what the fuss was about, a movie was being made.

I thought they were fun, as many did. But I can't pretend it didn't hammer an extra nail into my heart as it yet again told me that there was an acceptable face for trauma and it was not mine.

Harry Potter. He was written to be a good looking lad, sporty. Tragically dead parents that he didn't remember anything about. Suffered abuse, but it didn't break him in any inconvenient way. He was a tragically brave little hero with his friends the impossibly clever poster girl (who incidentally was very pretty when she wanted to be) and the token dweeb who appears to have mostly be written to prop up the other two.

Then we have Neville. His story was genuinely heartbreaking and yes it was addressed, but not really. His horrors are not something we talk about. Let's not go there, let's treat it like a dark embarrassing secret. But what a brave lad he is, standing up to his friends! Not for, you know, visiting his brain damaged parents and living with his abusive grandmother. No, no, it's the friends he stands up to. Brave silly Neville. Not the hero, of course. But isn't he brave?

And at last we come to TJ Klune. I read The House in the Cerulean Sea only recently. And wow. I laughed and cried in equal measure.

As with Harry Potter, we have a collection of magical youths, learning to navigate their powers as they grow. But the differences are diamond sharp, the focus instead on all the right things while still being joyful, fantastic and often hilarious.

How can this brilliant man get it so right in such a simple way? It's obvious, when you think about it.

All traumatised children matter.

There is no right face of trauma, least of all on a child, but hey let's not leave out the grown ups. At 40 years of age I thought I knew this, but I must have kept my younger self in a little cell in my mind (ahhh but she's different, she was a monster. We don't talk about her ...).

I was David. And I was Lucy. Why is it so much easier to forgive myself when I see myself as a yeti?

Children will lash out. Forgive yourself that. Children can be little weirdos, little balls of chaos and anger. That's okay. And no child's suffering should be ignored in favour of another, no matter what they look like or what they have done.

No child should be expected to be a poster boy hero, and no child should be chastised if they do not perform trauma right.

So yeah ... Thanks for reading until the end. And thanks to TJ Klune for making a 40 year old woman feel so many things, the strangest of all being forgiveness and acceptance of her 13 year old self.

Also, Chauncey is handsome as crap.

[dunmeshistash]

I think Marcile was "magic homeschooled", so to speak, so I don't think she actually ever "graduated". In chapter 57 Laios asked why she went to school with Falin if she is so much older, and Marcile said she was a researched and not an student. I originally thought that she meant she had graduated earlier, but according to her timeline she joined the academy just 2 years before Falin. So I think she already joined as a researched and was allowed to take classes in between her job.

True I completely forgot about this! Thank you!

[apilgrimpassingby]

Choose Your Magic School

So, a while back I developed a magic school divided into nine sub-schools; each sub-school is located on a mountaintop, collectively forming a circle of mountains, with a common space between them where students from all schools can meet.

The locations of the sub-schools are as follows:

Alchemists are located in a steampunk-style castle atop a mountain covered in birch woods, and they have an aviary of phoenixes.

Conjurers (think Ancient-Egyptian-style magic) are located in a giant pyramid atop a mountain covered in gardens like this, and they have a living sphinx who patrols the base.

Mystics are located in a wooden monastery atop a mountain covered in frozen waterfalls and snowy trees, and they have a yeti who hides in the forest.

Necromancers (who here can be good or evil) are located in catacombs amidst a mountain covered in mausoleums, gravestones etc. and willow and yew trees, and they have a pack of hellhounds who act as class pets.

Observers (UFO-based magic) are located in a giant observatory atop a mountain covered in dark pine woods, and they have a mothman who swoops around the trees.

Shamans are located in a treetop village atop a mountain covered in jungle, and they get up to and down from the villages by means of griffins.

Sorcerers (stereotypical evil magic, but can be good or evil) are located in a huge black tower atop a mountain covered in ash and dead trees, and they have a dragon in a cave on the mo.

Witches (rural magic) are located in a cute village of cottages atop a mountain covered in oak, beeches and streams, and they have a stable of unicorns.

Wizards (high-church-styled magic) are located in a Romanesque abbey complex atop a mountain covered in herb gardens, and they have apparitions of seraphim.

Tagging @roses-red-and-pink, @melisssg99, @cactusflowerfemme and @rebelnurse