The Phucain
The Phucain are a tribe of magic users from all over the nation. They’ve never really been tied to any patch of land, except occasionally literally. During the last hundred years, in fact, they have been mostly famous for being high above the land, either rising or falling rapidly.
The Phucain have two major skill-sets, which has rendered them on either far side of the popularity scale since time immemorial. The first, is they are the foremost practicioners of magic in the Idyll Empire, and the foremost experimenters with this form of energy. They are ruled by the council of magi, which considers itself a city-state in its own right, and believes its members to be constrained only by their own magi nation.You will recognise another Phucain magician by their hat. Hats are obligatory in the group, and each has his own personalised but which obviously indicates his preferred form of magic. These are the three forms of magic, known as Up, Around, Sex Appeal and Bacon.Up magic is the power of flight, of propulsion, of uplifting. It is very much a magic for the magician who is going somewhere, and has in the last hundred years been a very popular form indeed. Up magic is inevitably noisy and explosive, and used in combat for fireballs and repellents. In normal life it is a normal, albeit extremely hazardous, method for transporting objects that will land undamaged. Up magicians can be recognised by their use of red pointy hats, almost always made out of a durable material – usually metal – for the best aerodynamicism. They are painted uniquely, and each magician has a special symbol mounted at the apex of his hat for easy identification on a crowded battlefield. Most will also have a tally of the number of items killed by their magic since they last replaced their hat, these include battlefield wins, but also – and a lot more frequently – birds in flight, and unfortunate pedestrians in their landing zone. Advanced Up magic can only be produced in uptime with presentations of appropriate permits, releases and flight plans to IS personnel.Sex Appeal magic is a little understood sub-tribe, very popular where it is practiced, but almost inevitability risks the life of the magicians who practice it. Within IS, in order to attempt to avoid inevitable lawsuits and complains, SA magic will be mostly a ha… … a skill which the player must have for their character to be able to do it. It should be noted that there are roleplay consequences with attempting to play a mage of Sex Appeal whilst maintaining the Way of Virtue.
Bacon Magic is one of the most useful forms of power within the system, able to cause not only characters, but their players, to be roused from deepest slumber. There will be more of the incredible power of Bacon Magic in a future briefing.
Around magic is the power of machinery, of mechanics and clockwork, of flamethrowers and steam engines, of brass and wood. They wear hats of this style, again pointed, but with a cone of brass and copper with a brim of polished mahogany. Again, their personal symbol sits at the apex for easy identification and/or blame. Primarily, these Phucain magi are creators of devices, of things that go whirr in the night, that help on the battlefield and almost fail to explode in peacetime. They are famous for their enchanted clockwork, which will enhance the endurance and power of any object they are affixed to, and there is a great demand for these items. Indeed, any item in the empire will be improved if you stick a Phucain cog on it.