Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

Reducio

Irina took a deep breath as she looked at the a millionth box that Ollivander removed from the shelf. Her heart was beating quickly and she worked hard to contain her mounting excitement. Wandmaking had been a passion of hers for years; learning the characteristsic associated with each component of the wand was intriguing. She had been in the store for a very long time though, and her difficulty in finding a wand was beginning to confuse her.

"Exactly 12 inches, Reed wood and Wampus Hair, Unyielding. It's a complex choice but it may do the trick. Try it!"

Irina thought about the combination as she eyed the box. Exactly 12 inches. That was pretty long for a wand, usually indicating a dramatic and lively character. Well, that was Irina to a T. Irina believed that to win someone over, you should be yourself, a tactic that had often led to overwhelming people. She was very loud and incredibly confident, always smiling and trying to make new friends. It made complete sense that her chosen wand would be long - but the fact that this wand was 12 inches meant nothing. All of the other wands had been of similar lengths but they hadn't matched at all. Wand length - 108

She reached forwards and opened the lid of the box, peering at the wand inside. Reed wood. Irina was not altogether surprised. The wand suggested a confident character in both speech and actions. It usually bonded with someone who was protective of their friends and firm in their beliefs. Irina gave a small smile as she realised it suited her perfectly. She was incredibly stubborn in what she believed, sometimes one of her downfalls. Her mum often said that only a mountain troll could shift her. And growing up in a close family had led her to become very protective over anyone she felt close to. Wand Wood - 106

Irina reached forwards, hand outstretched to pick up the beautifully detailed wand. Wampus Hair. She screwed her eyes up as she tried to remember all she could about it. As far as she could remember, it caused the wand to choose a Wizard in tune with their emotions and skilled with their mind. It surprised her how well the core matched her - despite her age, Irina was incredibly empathetic, almost always able to see how people were feeling and what they might be thinking. She also seemed to remember that the core swayed the wand to choose someone with charisma and good at being a leader. The charisma was a tick; she had a very large and usually kind presence. But she wasn't so sure about being a leader. It wasn't that she avoided the spotlight, she just didn't really care! 'Maybe the core is revealing something I wasn't aware of?' Wand core - 153

Irina nudged aside the lid, fingers brushing the wood. Unyielding. It was basic wand lore that the flexibility of the wood hinted at the owner's adaptability and willingness to change. It was a blunt truth then to see that she was in fact more stubborn than she had initially realised. 'But,' she reflected, 'I really am a stubborn old kneazle.' Even when it came to moving house, she had loathed the amount of change it brought, taking far longer to settle into her new home than the rest of the family. And when it came to being told she was wrong, you miht as well tell the sky to stop being blue. Even if she knew she was wrong, she would not accept it - another shortcoming of hers. Wand Flexibility - 129

Finally, she closed her hand around the wand and lifted it out of the box. A shiver went up the length of her arm, followed by a wave of warmth. The wand emitted small bubbles that popped and reappeared before they finally dispursed. Irina gave a broad grin - she had finally been chosen.

Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

Encyclopedia Link: Here!
Applying for: Nonverbal Magic [Year 6]
Description:

Reducio

She’s just quiet, were the words spoken over her seemingly since birth. They spouted mainly from the lips of her parents, but sometimes from teachers and friends. To some this was some sort of negative, but for most it was just a fact. Bridget was introverted, and when she was younger she’d been quite shy as well. When she said words they were concise. Quiet was an oversimplification but the truth: she communicated well enough to lead her duelling team and keep friends and engage in classes, but the quiet was something she held like a soft winter coat.

It had started as mere curiosity, fingers brushing over the spines of books that held the secrets of a more sophisticated approach to magic. There was nothing wrong with saying the incantations aloud—and she frankly couldn’t imagine the halls of Hogwarts without muttered and shouted Latin-adjacent jibberish—but there was something alluring about this technique that so many skilled witches and wizards were noted to know. At the core of it, she would always be that wide-eyed first year traipsing into the library for the first time, overwhelmed but fascinated by the breadth and scope of things to know, hungry to discover them all.

(And she couldn’t help but picture a scene like out of a horror movie. One where frantically whispered syllables could get you killed, and she knew her imagination was overactive in this regard and she hadn’t been in those harrowing situations that had come to shape her time at Hogwarts in over a year, but she liked the thought of it just the same. Another tool.)

So she cracked open that first book. It was more a theoretical interest at first, but quickly she was itching to test it herself. Years of teaching had drilled into her caution that echoed now: improperly cast spells had consequences, and those consequences could be disastrous. So like the careful person she was, she dedicated an untouched section of her notebook to making plans and taking notes. Once she had the theory (an array of notes from much harder to cast with equal power to my wand wood shouldn’t help or hinder nonverbal magic), her first attempt would be simple, a return to one of the very first spells she’d ever learned.

Sitting crossed-leg on her dormitory bed, notebook balanced on her leg and a feather set in front of her, preparing to cast Wingardium Leviosa of all things, reeked a certain patheticness. She shut her lips around the feeling (and because she wouldn’t need them) and lifted her wand. And became rapidly appreciative that she’d picked an active hour to do this, the dorms not swarming with peers who would ogle at her lack of success. It was just some kind of mental hurdle, she knew, and once she got over it the process would be much more productive, but first she had to find the hurdle. Because how did you cast nonverbally? Did you scream the incantation in your head? Did you have to clear your mind, like how the Force worked?

She found her answer in the same technique she’d been using since she’d endeavored to stop the whole exploding spells in her face business (which did happen more times than she was willing to admit that first day of testing): visualization. Picturing what you wanted the spell to do seemed to be half the battle with magic. And she was a little older and wiser than she’d been even then, had seen this levitation spell cast so many times that of course she could picture it. It was second nature. Swish and a flick and her faces screwed up in concentration and then, finally, it rose, shaky and weak but magic.

Her study persisted from there, crammed in around duelling practices and frantic review for OWLs. Any nonessential spells, she reasoned—those not set in the context of class or sparring—could be attempted nonverbally, as a persistent mode of practice. Conjuring an umbrella on a rainy day? An opportunity to practice. Repairing the edge of her homework she’d accidentally ripped? Another opportunity. Magic surrounded her, and so steadily she gained a grasp on this wordless approach. It might never be as easy or efficient as pronouncing the spell’s words, but it has become precisely what she wanted it to be: a viable tool.

Word Count | 725/400

Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

Link to your encyclopedia thread: X
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Seer
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Reducio

Something strange flows through the bloodlines of the Dae family. Every so often within lines, a child is born completely normal at first, but their corrupted root soon reveals itself, spouting prophecies of extreme nature, revealing the child to be a danger. There is something simply wrong with these children, their foresight something simply inexplainable.

To most of this pure blooded line, this is a curse that conspires to poison their perfectly bred heirs, that picks and chooses who it wants to blight, who it wants to ruin. They've tried everything to eradicate this indecency, but whatever they've done never has seemed to work. So, the knowledge of this forbidden curse regressed into the stuff of myths throughout the dynasty, with each family desperately trying to forget about the genes that might make their way into their precious children.

And then, in 1949, Dae Hae-Won is born to Dae Seungri and Ryu Mi-Hi, two pure-blooded wizards in South Korea and, like normal, the parents pray, hope and wish that their child will not fall prey to the broken bloodline that they have been cursed with for generations. The new family settle down with their first daughter, ultimately ending up having another two children, a daughter and a son, and each child lives a perfect, care-free early childhood.

But then it starts. At age 13, Hae-Won begins to speak of things that she has seen, delusions, visions, glimpses into a not so distant future. All her teachers would exclaim how she never got into any trouble, and was always 'in the right place at the right time', how she had such a wild imagination for such a young girl. It seems that all the praying was for nothing, as all signs point to their seemingly flawless eldest daughter being what they hoped she wouldn't be: a Seer.

Suddenly, the idea of having two more children suddenly becomes one of the greatest decisions Seungri and Mi-Hi had ever made, as their second born, Soojin, quickly becomes the family favourite. As for Hae-Won, she simply begins to fade away. Nothing truly becomes of her and, as the years roll over, she slowly fades into the myths of her very being. People say she emigrated west in order to find a new life, or perhaps she stayed in South Korea, holed up somewhere like the witch of the woods, alone with only herself, a self that she was poisoned with.

Soojin, however, grows up to be a powerful witch in and around Busan, the picture perfect child of her parents, a solid heir to the Dae legacy. She seemingly has all but forgotten of what came of her sister, and this fuels her drive to succeed. Soojin marries a foreign man of African and British descent, a one Jack Whittaker, a move that her family didn't approve of at first, but quickly came to love once they saw the money lining his family coffers.

When the happy couple discover their first pregnancy, however, the odds and gamble of genes come back into play like a brass band. Jack knows nothing of the ill-fated shaded side to his wife's family. How could he? He knows nothing of the shame and disgust that lives in Soojin's mind during her pregnancy, how terrified she is that her daughter will end up a Seer. All he knows is that he is going to start a family with his wife that he loves, and he can't be happier.

Luckily, their first daughter is born and grows up normally, but when Min-Ji is 8 and she still hasn't had her first instance of magic yet, then her parents begin to worry. Whilst Jack worries that he has a squib for a daughter and according to him, nobody pureblood would marry a squib, Soojin fears that there is something.. else targeting her daughter.

The dangerous blend of squib distaste and the hidden hate of a Seer daughter motivates the parents in the end to cast their daughter out to England, where she grows up with the Whittaker family, who are, like their son, blissfully unaware of what plagues the legacy their heir married into.

In the end, Min-Ji, now Melissa, is neither a squib nor Seer, so her exile seems futile, however turns out to be a dangerous lifeline for whoever next inherits these genes, which just so happen to skip to her daughter, Twyla.

She doesn’t know it yet, but Twyla’s lucky streak just so happens to be more than meets the eye, and much more dangerous too.

IF YOU ARE APPLYING FOR A SPECIAL RACE OR TALENT:
Please list out your stats using the 6-point stat system:
Old stats:
sta: 7 | eva: 6 | str: 3 | wis: 7 | arc: 5 | acc: 7
New stats:
sta: 5 | eva: 8 | str: 1 | wis: 7 | arc: 1 | acc: 8

Status: Pending, Beatrice, 20 July
In your stats, you have evasion twice. One of them will need to be strength.

Status: Approved, Beatrice 21 July

Character Stats using the 6-point stat system:
STAMINA: 5
EVASION: 5
STRENGTH: 2
WISDOM: 6
ARCANE POWER: 6
ACCURACY: 6

Status: Approved, Beatrice 20 July
Trunk does not exist. Will add when index registration is complete.

Edit: Pending
Missed that strength was missing.

Status: Approved, Beatrice, July 21

User not index. Trunk has been locked.

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Here
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Perfectionist II
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it): Word Count: 442/400

Reducio

Cassius’ first official duel had not gone the way he would have liked. While the Gryffindors technically secured the victory, his true opponent had been himself. Despite the rigorous training regimen he had committed himself to, he had made mistakes. His wandwork was sloppy and in his incantations slurred in the heat of the conflict. Much of it he chalked up to nerves, but was not the purpose of practice to ensure no matter the distraction he would still be able to perform the required magic? It should be instinctual and almost mindless to a degree, as second-nature as breathing.

And yet he had fallen short of that expectation.

Resolved to not allow such a personal failing to occur again, it was back to the drawing board. Clearly whatever training regimen he and his tutor had agreed upon was becoming insufficient for the demands of his year. It was not enough to simply practice the spells on his own. He required live experience. While Cassius was not sure he had the time to dedicate to the unofficial dueling clubs in addition to his house team, he still endeavored to observe as much as he was permitted to. Seeing the spells in use against live targets and not against target dummies were a great help.

Most helpfully were the practice duels with his teammates and even some acquaintances. While the stakes were not as high with these sparring sessions, there was no substitute for standing on that dueling stage and staring down your opponent, observing their every movement in an attempt to anticipate their next move. It was exhilarating and challenging and the more he did it the better he got. Cassius did not notice a change overnight, but as the weeks passed he began to notice subtle improvements. Spell movement he once thought he had gotten as close to perfection as possible became ever so better. Under pressure he felt calmer and more in control.

His true test came at the beginning of summer break at the end of his third year. While studying for the advancement examination that would see him accelerate his studies to his fifth year, his tutor, a “retired” cursebreaker, told him that he was now old enough that sparring against target dummies in the courtyard of his family estate was no longer sufficient. Rather, Cassius would be dueling the man himself.

The young ravenclaw was not expected to win nor did he expect it himself. They were not true duels in that sense. But the experience gained and insights gleaned every time his tutor effortlessly sent him to the ground were invaluable in Cassius’ quest for perfection.

Status: Pending, Beatrice 20 July
Students are unable to practice magic at home during Summer. Please choose a different time.

I've had things clarified. Everything is fine.

Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Here
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Spell Spread
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it): Word Count: 467/400

Reducio

Cassius’ first official duel as a member of the Ravenclaw team had ended in defeat. That which could go wrong essentially did go wrong. While the pureblood put little stock in luck and chance, that duel was enough to make him reconsider that position. Questions of philosophy aside, one highlight of that encounter was witnessing his dueling partner do something he had read about but not yet seen in-person.

With one spell she had… cast two spells? No, it was the same spell. That much was certain. There was only one wand movement and one incantation. Yet, it had targeted both opponents. How? Beyond the pure impressive nature of the ability, the utility of being able to cast one spell for double the effect was immeasurable. He needed to know how it was done.

Not wanting to bother his dueling partner, especially after such a disappointing loss in which he underperformed, Cassius set about learning the ability in the same way he learned anything. That way began with a trip to the library.

Some stereotypes were accurate more often than they were wrong. For Cassius, the stereotype that all ravenclaws loved the library was definitely accurate. Claiming an open table in one of the more quiet corners of the towering room, the young wizard scoured the bookshelves for anything and everything having to do with the ability. Several large volumes and late evenings later, Cassius felt he had soaked up what knowledge that could be gleaned from written word. Theory was helpful but unless he put those words into action, it was purely academic in utility.

In-between classes when there was ample enough time, Cassius would journey out to the castle grounds and find a secluded spot to practice. The seclusion was helpful both for his concentration and to avoid inadvertently injuring another student. As with learning any new thing, he struggled at first. However, each failure only empowered his determination to find success. The more he practiced, the more he began to understand what the literature and spell guides had meant. It took time. Precious time he had far too little of; but, this was worth it. It had to be worth it.

Finally, some tiring weeks after his ill-fated duel, Cassius did that which he set out to do. It was by mistake at first, his exhaustion causing his arm to move in a slightly different manner than he might have with more energy but that proved to be the key. He was striving to be almost too perfect at the movements. Too perfect with the incantations. It caused him to be too rigid which did not allow him to really feel what needed to be done. Relaxing his muscles had helped and once he figured out what needed to be done, he found success.

Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

Status: Approved, Beatrice, 20 July

User not indexed. Trunk has been locked.

STATUS: Denied, Opeila 21/07
You are past 30 days since your validation, so you cannot apply for special races and talents anymore. You may choose a human ability instead.

Status: Pending, Jake 30 July
Hi Lunally - your app says that Lunally was a dhampir while her twin sister was not - but if they are twins and both have vampire blood, they would both be a dhampir. Unlike something like Seer, dhampir is not a recessive trait

Status: Pending, Jake 14 August
I know now from owls that Lunally's sister is a Dhampir, but her parents hadn't talked to her about it. But I think the app still needs more explanation, as it seems like if Lunally was told why would her sister not be told? Or why would her sister not know she is Dhampir when she has the symptoms? If she did she did have issues accepting being Dhampir, maybe some denial, and took it out on Lunally could that be explained more?

Status: Duplicate, Jake 23 August
User made edits but in another post later in the thread.