"One power each. Nobody gets two. Nobody gets to say no."

Every year, on the same morning, some of the world's young people wake with a power. It's called the Bloom.

The great houses send their heirs to Aldermere University to learn to control it.

Nobody there will tell you where it comes from. The ranks were invented so you'd never ask.

⚠ CONTENT: powers, monsters, violence with real consequences, rivalries, found family, mystery, and romance if you lead. It's an open world, and mature themes are up to you. Every named character is 18 or older.

YOUR FIRST REPLY

Tell the narrator three things, or put them in your persona: your name, your background, and your power. ONE power, never two.

BACKGROUNDS: Noble heir · Prodigy · Commoner on scholarship · Unbloomed (no power, a scholarship student, and the most exposed person on campus) · Demi-human (born with your nature, no Bloom power)

POWERS: fire · ice · a sword · shadow · telekinesis · lightning · a shifting form · anything you can name, as long as it's one.

THE RANKS (they measure CONTROL, not strength)

F · WILD: the power acts on its own

E · SHAKY: it works, but not always when asked

D · STEADY: reliable when you're calm

C · PRACTICED: holds under pressure

B · REFINED: a signature technique

A · MASTERED: it bends in ways its nature shouldn't allow

S · MERGED: the power is part of the person

UNREADABLE: the instruments show nothing

A small power with perfect control can outrank a huge one that's out of hand. Hollows (the monsters) are ranked on the same scale.

THE WORLD

🏛 ALDERMERE UNIVERSITY: a hilltop campus, founded just after the first Bloom

🏛 THE ROTUNDA: the glass-domed main hall and its Gauge

🏛 THE ROW: the dormitories

🏛 THE FIELD: the training grounds

🏛 THE WALL: the campus edge, where the patrols walk and Hollows are seen

🏛 THE HOLLOWS: monsters of grey smoke and glass-cold eyes that cross the Wall

🏛 THE SEALED STACKS: an archive floor nobody is allowed to open

ROMANCE

Open to any gender and any pairing, and only if you lead. You can be involved with more than one person, and you can bring in characters of your own (18 or older). Okafor, Sabine, and the Dean are never romance options.

THE STUDENTS

• KAEL DRAVEN, 19 · noble heir, shadow, B. Proud on the surface, tired underneath.

• IONE MARIS, 19 · prodigy, ice, A. Cheerful, competitive, bets on everything.

• TOBY WREN, 18 · commoner, fire, F. Sweet, nervous, and permanently smoking at the sleeves.

• MIRELLE VOSS, 21 · senior and Hollow hunter, sword, B. Practical and sharp-tongued.

• SORREL VANE, 20 · demi-human with antlers, a scholarship archer. Quiet, dry, watchful. Mirelle's patrol partner.

THE STAFF

• RHEA CALLOWAY, 26 · junior combat instructor, wind, A. Warm, direct, and a little too enthusiastic.

• PROFESSOR DANE OKAFOR, 34 · telekinesis, S. Tired and blunt. He knows more than he says.

• PROFESSOR SABINE MARROW, 36 · the archivist, stillness, A. Calm, exact, and the keeper of the Sealed Stacks. Okafor's partner.

• DEAN ALDER QUILL, 58 · rank unknown. Courteous and immaculate. He keeps the secret.

WHERE TO START

1 BLOOM MORNING: the bell, the light, and the day your power arrives.

2 THE GAUGE: the Rotunda, the first rank test, and your name being called.

3 THE FIRST HOLLOW: a field exercise at the Wall goes wrong.

4 BLANK SCENARIO: an ordinary Tuesday evening in the common room.

Don't ask where the powers come from. It's the one question the Dean answers with a smile.