Site Lore Collection

[Tesla Catley]

A lot of us end up creating details that don't get used often enough in roleplay for us to remember very well, or which may confuse members who aren't in the know. As an avid world-builder, I think we need a thread for stuff like this, so we can keep up with fun ideas that other people have made up relevant not only to their characters, but to the whole of the setting.

Aspects like these ought to be optional and shouldn't heavily affect other characters if they don't dig it!

With that said:
TeslaDyne Werewolf Charity, created by Travis, is a foundation for providing support to lycans of all ages and backgrounds. Its meta namesake is my character, Tesla, but in-setting it's named for Nikola Tesla just as Miss Catley is. Nikola Tesla was a wizard, by the way, as were Tesla's brother's namesakes, Kepler, Faraday, and Darwin.

According to me, just now, TeslaDyne operates on a lunisolar calendar, which was instituted in the spring of 2000. New Year is around the spring equinox, each month ends with the full moon, and the month names (and their abbreviations) are as follows:

-enamon (ENA)
-diomon (DI)
-triamon (TR)
-teseramon (TE)
-pendemon (PE)
-eximon (EX)
-eptamon (EP)
-oktomon (OK)
-eneamon (ENE)
-dekamon (DE)
-endekamon (END)
-dodekamon (DO)

Leap years begin with the month of midenmon (MI), then proceed to the rest of the calendar.

[Lawrence Gable]

Migacmagic is an unpublished novel written by Garfield McKinley, an Obliviator with The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Garfield began writing his magnum opus in the summer of 1986, the same year he began working for the Ministry. The first draft of Migacmagic followed the lives of two wizard boys, one Muggleborn and one Pureblood, whose unrelated stories clash in sudden tragedy when the Pureblood is ordered to kill the Muggleborn as part of an initiation ceremony into the Life Drinkers, a fictionalized version of the Death Eaters.

After decades of rejection from publishers and thousands of hours of edits, the novel has ballooned into an unwieldy, 4000+ page epic spanning five generations. It's a devastating contemplation on generational violence and all the forms of oppression that still haunts magical Britain today. By most accounts it's nearly unreadable, with over 400 pages of endnotes containing their own metanarrative. But those who have managed to read Migacmagic believe it's nothing short of a masterpiece, though criticism is often focused on the writing of its young female characters.

Though the book has never been published, Garfield has sent hundreds of manuscripts to publishers over the years and many drafts are floating around the world. At some point, the book ended up in the possession of a Hogwarts professor and, after being fished from the trash, passed around among Hogwarts' bookish population. This edition has a growing cult following, its reputation bolstered by its mysterious existence: no one know who actually wrote Migacmagic because of Garfield's use of a pseudonym. Having written a large portion of Migacmagic on Ministry time, Garfield uses the pseudonym Harrison Harding to avoid having to sign over the rights of the novel to his employers. Many have tried to track this mysterious writer down, but there is no record of him having ever existed.

Recently Migacmagic was uploaded to the burgeoning WizNet, though Garfield remains completely unaware of the novel's passionate fanbase.

[Jacqueline McWilkinleyson]

The Wiznet* is a system of interconnected parchments which provides an experience somewhat reminiscent of the so-called Muggle "Internet." It was invented about 12 years ago by then-schoolboy bachelor Willy Wilkinson (the idea man) and the older Matthew Sugarman (the technical expert). Subsequently to developing the spells required to create the Wiznet, Sugarman cheated Wilkinson out of all the rights to their product and claimed all the glory for himself. He has become very rich (from nothing, as he was Muggleborn) and wants to become the Minister of Magic, but he is thus far too widely disliked, personally, for this to be possible any time soon. (Brielle, look out!)

The Wiznet, now about 12-14 years old, has not quite taken off to the level hoped for by its inventors. Older witches and wizards, in particular, seem quite resistant to its charms. But young, technologically savvy wizardkind have adapted it to their own needs. 

The most accessible way to access the Wiznet is to purchase a ParchPortal from Sugarman's company, Snidget. The ParchPortal is a thick, letter-sized piece of parchment that has been specially enchanted to be synchronized to all other ParchPortals.  The particularly difficult part of the enchantment surrounds the Portal's ability to display only a part of the 'Net at a time (like a "page"), the navigation system, and the very complicated system of permissions which allow users to edit only "pages" which they own or have special access to. 

The official Wiznet accessible by the ParchPortal system consists of mostly official, institutional, or big name business pages. The Ministry of course has a system which runs on the 'Net. VisageScroll is Sugarman's patented page for enabling individuals to message each other, post updates and images, connect with wizards and witches worldwide, etc. Styx is a new business selling books through a storefront existing only virtually (it hasn't taken off yet, but magicoeconomists are predicting a meteoric rise any month now). There are others, which you may invent. The aesthetic of the official Wiznet is minimalist clunky. To navigate the official 'Net, you simply tap your wand to your Portal, say "Open sesame," and a menu of the official options appears for you to tap whatever you want to browse.

However, furious about being cut out of the Wiznet proper, Willy Wilkinson anonymously leaked the spellwork behind the Wiznet in the Quibbler, allowing ordinary folks the freedom to create their own pages and knockoff ParchPortals outside of the official system. Very clever wizards and witches can pull it off themselves, but it's not too difficult to find experts selling their services as Deep Wiznet Installers, who will enchant a piece of parchment to synchronize to the 'Net but without the restrictions of a ParchPortal. 

The aesthetic of the Deep Wiznet is very '90's Muggle Internet in aesthetics. Glitter text. Scrolling banners. Music that plays automatically. Homepages which contain the admin's whole life story and facts about all their interests. It might look a little like this video. People use go by silly usernames (Willy goes by nobones after his incredibly inadequate skeleton). Usergroups have sprung together for all kinds of special interests (Alchemy, Mermish, MigacMagic, werewolf support chats, etc.). People use a search engine called OwlOwlCome to find pages which interest them. To navigate the DeepWeb, with the most typical installation, you write (with an ordinary quill) the ID of the page you wish to view on the top of your parchment, then blow on it. (Tapping also works, if the page you are currently on enables "linking.")

Of course, the black magic practitioners of the wizarding world have found a way to use this technology. The Dark Wiznet is a private network of synchronized parchments accessible only to those privately invited (some former Death Eaters and many black market traders, etc. and also a few Ministry employees who have wormed their way in to observe, though they haven't figured out how to identify other users). There are lots of rumors about the Dark Wiznet, but most of the traffic is from people looking to buy or sell pixie dust and the like. It is very difficult to navigate because there's no search engine and page IDs are chosen to be along the lines of "iHoΔif0Π8to"—impossible to guess unless you have a direct link or were told. 

*Travis and Deb pioneered the concept of the Wiznet, but Travis tasked me with writing the Lore.

[car]

Garden of Aphrodite: Veela Summer Camp

The Garden of Aphrodite was founded in 2009 after it’s founder, Anastasyia Ivanov - a half blooded witch and veela, became jealous after the founding of Lycamp in 2008. Infuriated, she gathered veela-kind and their children together to form their own summer camp for future generations of veelas. While it was born of venom, the camp would eventually become a symbol of love, earning it the name of Aphrodite. The cabins are named after various gods and goddesses of love. The cabin designated ‘Cupid’ is home to the youngest of veela babies.

In 2010, the camp became so large that they had to split it up. Different factions went to different countries, all forming their own Garden of Aphrodite. By 2011 the camp was international.

During the summer, veela teens can enjoy various activities like macaroni art crafting (they do a lot), horseshoes, capture the flag, and tug-of-war to name a few. The camp is overseen by a group of counselors, all with veela-blood of course. Older teens can be junior counselors should they wish to. Every summer, the Bugarian Quidditch cheerleading veelas hold a masterclass in dancing, singing, and other skills.

Lycamp: Werewolf Summer Camp

Lycamp was founded as an outreach program by TeslaDyne in 2008 after legislation was passed that restricted ministry services to werewolves. It was a test that summer which ended up being wildly popular and attracting droves of lycan children, some even from out of the country, and the next year it was held again. By 2011 the camp had its own regular site and cabins. Whispers of Lycamp began to spread from other lycanthropes, leading to several factions of the camp opening all across the world.

The cabins are named after lunar deities and are laid out, ironically, in the shape of a full moon. In the middle of the field where the camp rests, there are various activities for younger werewolves such as Pin-the-tail on the wolf, arts and crafts, tag, etc. Their favorite activity is tug-of-war. Similar to the Garden of Aphrodite, older teens can become junior counselors.

Each summer a potion’s master teaches a class on brewing Wolfsbane potion and every member gets a weekly batch before the full moon. During the full moon, the wolves play games like tag throughout the woods. Young wolves who aren’t used to the pain of transformation get cuddles from junior counselors and counselors.

Lycamp operates on the Lycan calendar, but shifts a little each year to coincide with June so campers can participate in competitions, including the annual capture-the-flag tournament, against the local Garden of Aphrodite camp.