Rook Parlour plan to leave Library of Qamar to teach at their own facilities; also general musing on Class individuality

[Rias]

The advanced teachers of sorcery at the Library of Qamar, virtually all members of the illustrious Rook Parlour, recently agreed among themselves to withdraw from the Library grounds. One such representative stated:

"We still wish to teach sorcery to those who have the interest and the aptitude, but it seems that offering these teachings at the Library was causing many to view the art of sorcery as little more than a curiosity and a plaything. Not only was the respect of the art diminished, but we worried there was too much risk of reckless use among students who didn't respect or truly understand what they were wielding. This is why we have refrained from teaching our more advanced techniques thus far. Taking into account the tragic accidents we've seen occur after introducing the familiar-summoning ritual, we've agreed that offering our teachings at what amounts to a public school is not the responsible thing to do."

The famed sorcery experts will soon be withdrawing to their own facilities, such as the Rook Parlour facility in Mistral Lake. There are also rumors of an enclave of the Parlour not far from Shadgard, though well outside the town's walls due to the town's policy on the teaching and practice of sorcery within their borders. The Parlour will continue to teach those who seek advanced knowledge of sorcerous arts at these locations, but will require these seekers to make certain agreements with the Parlour itself and prove their understanding of sorcery in an attempt to impress upon these aspiring warlocks both the intricacies and the dangers of the sorcerous arts. Perhaps they might even find some individuals who have the potential to rise in and become a credit to the Rook Parlour itself.

The Library of Qamar has shown both understanding and support for this decision. Library representative Scholar Faris commented: "We are sad to see so many talented and knowledgeable teachers leave our premises, but we understand and agree with why they are doing so. We will maintain some of our own sorcery-related literature and teachers here at the Library to help seekers learn and study the basic theory, but will point those seeking to learn and practice potent sorcerous rituals to the Parlour for more advanced training."

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The Warlock class will soon(tm) have its abilities moved to Rook Parlour locations. They will still have their room in the Library of Qamar in which they can study and increase their Sorcery skill, but for their abilities they will need to go to one of the Parlour sites. Before being given access to the Parlour sites, a Warlock character will need to go through a crash course on sorcery and correctly answer some questions to prove their understanding, similar to what happens as part of the the druidry initiation process.

This will also involve making some agreements with Rook Parlour as an organization and working more directly with them. They are the resident experts on sorcery, and those seeking expertise themselves will need to go to them in order to learn. Some may be less comfortable with associating with the Parlour, but that's the only option available in the Lost Lands. It can be an interesting point of conflict as part of a character's story. Is it worth working with these people the character doesn't like/trust (for whatever reason - though I've always tried to present the Parlour as a very respectable group) in order to achieve what they want? Will there be some inner conflict as they wrestle with the reality of that being their only available option?

This is all part of the Warlock class, and will not count as a Society choice. All this is being done for a few reasons:
- To make the Warlock class and sorcery be more understood and to feel more meaningful than some random thing anyone can just walk up to a public school and learn on a whim during a slow weekend.
- To get Rook Parlour more involved in the world and lore. I've missed them dearly as an organization.
- To move sorcery training away from the Library of Qamar. The Library remains dedicated to the gathering and sharing of all knowledge, but on the other hand it *does* become increasingly awkward to, say, see flyers on a wall saying "Learn to reanimate the dead today! Come on down to the public Library for free classes! Impress your friends!" This is a big part of why some Warlock abilities haven't been released yet. It just didn't feel right, and it had the potential to cause issues with the Library's reputation, to say nothing of the silliness/believability issues of the situation.

This potentially marks the beginning of a shift to more things like this happening. One of my greatest struggles with COGG has been how empty it's felt with all the deliberately generic and inoffensive stuff, particularly for Guilds and their Classes. I've had virtually no motivation to work on Guilds and Classes because they just have so very little soul to them. Not all will be shifting to alternate organizations like this - I imagine Physickers and Arcanists will remain about how they are at the Library, for instance. But by splitting others out from the Library, the Library of Qamar itself can then also become more of its own entity and have an identity as an organization, without having to constantly play bland and neutral and opinion-free with such a wide variety of practices and outlooks and ideals under its roof. A similar thing will probably happen with some of the Warrior classes as well (Nightblades and Berserkers are the ones I'm looking at in particular) at some point. Adventurers - they never had a central guild hall in the first place, so it will be easy to just add specific class areas for them.

[tulpa]

Shifting the ability learning away to another location is a neat way of negotiating this. I've always found it strange that Primalists can learn War Riding from the comfort of their Scholar Guild quarters, for example.

Still, I admit some anxiety about the direction Nightblades will take, especially given the direction of the wind here with Warlocks. The reasons are quite selfish, since whatever the vision for the class is, it's likely have a dramatic effect on my character's RP and my choices so far. If NBs were to have their own secret location specifically associated with learning Sorcery, I think that would sit easy with me, provided the more martial, "assassin-like" qualities of the class also have their distinct place (possibly still within the confines of Stormholdt?)

edit/disclaimer: This is I suppose my knee-jerk reaction to things, I will have a good old think.

[Lexx416]

I'm a fan of this, especially having Warlocks have a test they have to take. I've been a huge proponent of giving them something similar to what Druids get - honestly I think that Arcana should probably have something similar, maybe not a test you have to pass but a task in Qamar that walks you through the steps of studying a plate, buying chalk, and drawing your first circle.

[darkangel]

I definitely look forward to this. Especially in how the Nightblade location change or developments will influence my character's RP.

[Dennis]

I think it's very healthy to let yourself have fun as a developer and this sounds all very exciting. I can't wait to see how this implements!

[Gorth]

Though I'm rather opinionated, my opinions do tend to change like leafs on a strong breeze, so I'll simply say, I agree with the idea that some of the classes feel a bit vague and or bland. I personally, at this time, believe that a nearly class-less system would be optimal, though, of course, ripping all of the underlying class systems away wouldn't really be feasible. I appreciate this take, though, because some of them feel a little game-y.