Playing a Galdor

So, you want to be a sorcerer!

I'm not surprised. It's a glamorous career - one that affords every galdori a lifetime of success, riches, and often fame. Magic is intoxicating in and of itself. The galdori lust for knowledge and understanding of the world around them, and their passion for academics makes them intelligent and powerful.

The galdori have long reigned over the humans, wicks, and passives, bending them to their will and occasionally employing cruel punishments for disobedience. As a galdor, you will have likely come from an affluent background, and been raised with the knowledge that your race is superior to all others. At age 10, you begin schooling at Brunnhold, which leads to 10 years of being primed to enter society as a fully realized sorcerer. Afterward, the world is your oyster. You will be granted prestigious opportunities, and will be able to pursue the area of your interest.

Be forewarned, however: galdori are probably the most challenging race to play. You will not be allowed to simply ignore the social standards of this race and create a character who is openly accepting of everyone. The preconceived notions about other races are part of the package, and playing this particular race will mean you have to open your mind and deal with the very tough issues of racism and prejudice. More specifically, you will have to deal with playing a character that probably espouses notions that you yourself do not hold. You will have to view them objectively and allow your character to be less than ideal. There are no shortcuts around this.

Pros of playing a sorcerer

You're rich, powerful, smart, and probably have a really good job laid out for you. If you start as a student, your daily needs are taken care of; if you're out of school, you're most likely on the way to a lofty place in society, and you never have to toil in the fields or as much as break a sweat. The friends you make in school will last a lifetime, and you've probably got a lot of influential buddies in the government. You are feared by humans and wicks, and they show you respect, even if they don't mean it.

You also get to do magic, and excel in the field of your choice. Although magic is imperfect and not everything is known about it, a few choice spells in your repertoire won't go amiss in a crisis.

Cons of playing a sorcerer

You're a member of a race that is enslaving 75% of the population of the world, forcing them to worship your gods and denying them the freedom to govern themselves. This is a fact. Your character might not have a problem with this fact, of course, but you (the player) probably do. This will be the most challenging part of playing a galdor.

You don't have as much freedom as you'd like to think - the social customs that constrain you are at times as confining as the laws that constrain the lower races. Even if you choose to leave galdori society, you will never be accepted by the humans and wicks.

Galdori Beginning Skills

Due to their stature and general racial focus on magic and their social status that allows them to choose luxury over physical labor, galdori begin the game with limitationss on their Aptitude Skill choices: their Physical skill cannot begin at Good and their Mental skill cannot begin at Poor.

Aptitude Skills

Mental : Average
Physical : Poor
Social : Good

Mental : Good
Physical : Average
Social : Poor

Mental : Good
Physical : Poor
Social : Average

Focus Skills

An adult galdor has their choice of 1 Proficient Professional Focus Skill and 4 Beginner Focus Skills, one of which must be spent to be at least a Beginner level at a Conversation of Magic.

A child or student galdor has their choice of 5 Beginner Focus Skills, one of which must be in a Beginner level of a Conversation of Magic.

In order to further customize your character, an adult galdor player (not a child/student galdor, however; you must raise to Proficient and higher in-game through narrative play unless you request Moderator permission to begin play otherwise) may spend 1 Beginner Focus Skill slot in order to begin play raise a Focus Skill of your choice to Proficient if they are playing an adult character who has already graduated from Brunnhold. In theory, you may spend 2 Focus Skills to raise more than one Focus Skill to Proficient, leaving you with 1 Beginner Focus Skill of your choice.

You may also spend 1 Focus Skill slot in order to raise a Poor Aptitude Skill to Average or an Average Aptitude Skill to Good or a Good Aptitude Skill to Excellent. You may only spend 1 Focus Skill slot to raise one Aptitude Skill one Tier in this way, no matter how many Focus Skills you have to spend.

Getting into Character

Galdori families are not particularly close - children are removed from their parents at a young age and do not see them often. This provides some conflict for young students. Perhaps your character's parents were brilliant scientists, and your character has a lot to live up to; perhaps they were cold and distant, and your character feels lost and alone. Your character could be a low-scoring galdor and have to deal with the disdain of his peers.

For older galdori, the pressure to be ambitious is key. Maybe your character always wanted to be an explorer, but was shunted into a boring job as a clerk or secretary. Perhaps your brilliant sorcerer was sent to be the mayor of a podunk little town in Anaxas, where he is the only galdor around. Try to reconcile aspects of your galdor's personality with the events that made them who they are today.

Realistic Race Relations

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 transformative experience in a galdor's life would bring them to a different conclusion. You might want to consider letting this transformation happen slowly during an extended period of 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.

Regardless, you should be aware that the majority of our galdori PCs have turned out to be sympathizers, which does not reflect the world standard at all. Making a galdor that conveniently ignores the part of them that tells them to be prejudiced is trying to get all the benefits of the galdor race with none of the drawbacks. The mods are very grateful when they see players who actually consider the racial and social implications of making a galdor instead of trying to sidestep them. So please, consider NOT "going against the grain" (which is actually going with the grain).

Galdori in Combat

Galdori have many positive attributes that aid them in a fight. For example, they are highly intelligent and logical. Their magic is strong and they can easily out-spell a wick. Galdori are also very powerful politically; even a civilian galdor has significant political clout. When casting spells, they have quick reaction times.

However, galdori are physically weak and do not fare well in purely physical combat. Their small size means that they can be overpowered by a stronger foe. They also have decreased endurance and will grow tired as a fight wears on.

Get a job!

As a galdor, your first instinct might be "magic magic magic!" You may wish to start at the absolute top of the tier, as a high-level instructor or a politician. However, being lower on the tier has its own, unique advantages. Playing a student, or a new graduate, or even a child who has just passed his initiation test, you have whole storylines open to you that may not be open to those closer to the top. Remember - all galdori are the elite of society, and are granted relatively high-level positions. No toiling in the field for you!

Some of your options, in a nutshell - you are not limited to these, of course.

Academic - student, teacher, inventor, scientist, librarian, researcher
Magical - seer, spellwriter, theorist
Religious - acolyte, priest, conductor of ceremonies, The Everine
Political - clerk, ambassador, lawmaker, member of the Chair
Law Enforcement - member of The Seventen, judge, lawyer
Adventurer - explorer, tomb raider, cartographer, spy
Medical - doctor, healer
Economic - banker, treasurer (also political), tax collector
Artistic - musician, painter, sculptor, etc.
Social - socialite, homemaker, fashion designer

Remember, if you want to start a character in a very high or influential position, be sure to ask a moderator beforehand.

Galdori goals

Everybody has something they want out of life. Galdori, although raised to take on positions of power, do not always desire it! Remember to base your character's goals on their personality and backstory. Perhaps they want to be Headmaster someday; maybe they desire nothing more than to sit around playing the lute. Maybe they want to get married to a nice galdori woman and have loads of baby galdori. They could even have a modest goal - open their own shop, perhaps, or travel. The government tries to make every galdor into a powerful, influential citizen, but they won't stop a galdor from living the quiet life if he or she wants to.

Try to form a short list of greater goals for your character, and break the list down into short-term goals. For example, if they want to become a Chair, they should first want to get a government job; then they could aspire to a promotion, and spend their time sucking up to people in power. A goal moves the RP forward and gives you something to focus on.