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What would happen if an X mated with an X?

Here is a formula:

• If a galdor mates with a human, their offspring is a wick.
• If a galdor mates with a galdor, their offspring will be a galdor or a passive (rarely).
• If a galdor mates with a wick, their offspring will be a wick.
• If a galdor mates with a passive, their offspring will be a galdor or a passive (rarely).
• If a wick mates with a human, their offspring will be a weaker wick.
• If a wick mates with a wick, their offspring will be a wick(or, in rare cases, a passive wick).
• If a human mates with a human, their offspring will be human.
• If a human mates with a passive, their offspring will most likely be a wick.
• If a passive mates with a passive, their offspring will be a galdor or a passive (rarely).
• If a passive mates with a wick their offspring will be a wick.

Please note that this is a socially regulated system, and the scientific truth is far less cut-and-dry, and there are gradated stages of magical ability between wicks and galdori (as evidenced by the decimal classification system). Until a decade or so ago, most galdori believed even a single drop of human blood (even far, far back in one's family history) made the galdor in question a wick. Nowadays they are hardly any more forgiving. Galdori would never admit to having human blood in their family.

Why can't I play any other races? Does your world not have dwarves or elves?

There are no races of dwarves or elves or gnomes or anything of that nature in Thorns.

Won't that get boring?

Character variety comes from individuality, not fulfilling fantasy stereotypes.

Why are the galdori so overpowered?

In this game, the galdori are the oppressing race. This doesn't mean that every galdor needs to actively oppress others, but clearly they would not have gained so much power if they were not more powerful than the humans and wicks. In combat, this means that humans, wicks and passives have to employ other skills to gain an edge over their galdori opponents.

Can I break out of the limitations that society has put on my character's race?

Most of the time it is possible. Our game is very diverse; there are exceptions for every rule. Through extraordinary circumstances, almost anything is possible.

However, there comes a point when there are too MANY of these exceptions being made. Please don't get upset if your character concept is rejected because it is too similar to that of existing characters.

Do wicks gate their passives too?

No, wicks treat their passives just as well as other wicks.

Do wick passives have diableries?

Yes, and they are just as powerful as those of galdori passives. However, for various reasons, parse diableries seem to manifest themselves less often than those of galdor-born passives.

Can my human/galdor/passive join a wick tribe?

If you are not already a part of a tribe, it is possible to join an existing wick tribe, depending on tribal politics, your character's reputation and a lot of other conditional things. Most of the time humans are given sanctuary within a tribe if they request it and if they are friends with a member of the tribe. Passives are often taken in by wicks, who pity them.

Galdori are not allowed to join wick tribes as a rule, though (as stated before) there are always exceptions. Most existing tribes would reject a galdori without a moment's pause, regardless of how friendly that galdor was to them. This is partly prejudice and partly self-preservation.

Are there any non-galdori in the government?

There are a few human file clerks and secretaries, but they are not allowed any real power or access to top-secret material. Wicks are summarily banned from the government, because the government considers them sovereign from the kingdom of Anaxas. Passives are definitely not allowed entrance into government affairs, and are kept away from important buildings for fear of their diableries.

Do any humans work at Brunnhold?

Yes. There are human groundskeepers, kitchen workers, construction workers and more. However, humans are not let into any academic or administrative building; only passives are allowed in places like classrooms, the Library and the offices of teachers.

Who lives in the Stacks?

Humans, wicks and galdori live in the Stacks. The filthier parts of the Stacks generally belong to the nonmagical population, but the cleaner, wealthier part is reserved for certain adjunct faculty. Galdori occasionally decide to live in the Stacks to be close to Brunnhold, even if they do not work for the school. Older students sometimes move to the Stacks to get away from dormitory life. Most of the area businesses benefit greatly from these rich galdori.

I want to play a galdor who is openly accepting of every race. Is this ok?

It might be your gut instinct to want to make a galdor character who, against all probability, loves and accepts all races as equal. You might feel a bit slimy about making your otherwise nice, friendly character behave and think as though all other races are inferior. While we understand this, the reality is that ALL galdori are raised to believe that they are the master race. They don't think that it's wrong or unusual to act this way. In truth, they think that it makes sense; they have the most magical power, so they must be the most advanced race and the clear rulers of the world.

Only a truly transformational experience in a galdor's life would bring them to a different conclusion. You might want to consider letting this transformation happen during roleplay rather than starting your character out as an already accepting character. Regardless of how you personally feel about prejudice (and I think we can all agree that it's a negative thing), in this particular world setting, prejudice is the norm. It does not mean that your character is a bad person, or even flawed; they were simply raised to believe a certain thing, and only through relationships and eye-opening experiences can they change their minds. There are no galdori who are simply born accepting everyone as equal; they are the product of their environments.

It is also worth mentioning that we get a lot of "open, accepting" galdori PCs. You might want to try something a bit more unique.

Are social conditions the same everywhere in Vita?

Certainly not!

In Anaxas, where our game takes place, the gap between rich and poor, galdor and human is very wide indeed. But in other places, there are a variety of different conditions. For example, in Anaxas' neighbor to the north, Mugroba, society is a bit more egalitarian. Galdori still rule over humans, but they allow them a great deal more freedom, and passives are not horribly mistreated.

In some countries like Hox, galdori and humans are kept very far apart and almost never interact, so there are very few wicks in these countries. In Gior, for example, galdori and humans have completely separate governments that keep out of each others' way. In both of these countries, galdori take care of themselves instead of relying on human labor. As a result, they tend to be poorer and less technologically advanced, but more peaceful.

In certain countries like Naulanon, there are only galdori, and no humans or wicks at all. Some kingdoms are entirely uninhabited (like Vezzea and Roannah), and some are impossible to get into (like Shotha).

What happens to the offspring of free passives?

Free galdori or wick passives sometimes mate with each other and have children. When this happens, the resultant child will almost certainly be a galdor or wick (whichever heritage its parents had). In cases of galdori children of passives, the parents typically have to go deep into hiding to avoid their child being taken away from them; if the galdori government found a galdor being raised by passives, they would likely put the parents in jail and put the child into an orphanage.

There have been cases of passives meeting, falling in love and having children without realizing that they are both passives, and are therefore very surprised (and sometimes suspicious) to find that they have sired a galdori child.

Wicks have no social taboo against wick passives mating and having children with wicks, as they know that passives pass on their magical genes to their children.

Are the galdori not aware that passives can bear galdori?

On the contrary; they are very aware of this fact, and it is precisely that fact that motivates the ban against passives marrying one another and having children. They believe it would be improper in the strictest sense for passives to raise galdori. The offspring of passives are considered passives by heritage if not by lack of magical ability, and are denied education.