Paths to Power: Overview

One cannot attain greatness on one's own. Perhaps it is harsh, but it is an immutable fact of the Battle Fantasia universe.

Refining oneself is possible, as it is in all things. Students become smarter, martial artists more skilled, and wizards learn ever greater abilities, but in all of these things they are restrained by the limits of their mortal abilities. Even wizards are but dust, on the cosmic scale. But the magical girl's power surpasses all, for they draw on powers greater than mere mortal strength.

Power on Battle Fantasia is calibrated to the Magical Girl, and even novice magical girls strain the limit of mortal ability. A normal human fighter might have some ability in the powered levels, representing their graceful ballet, jaw-shattering right straight, or wall-flattening magic. A genuine master of their art might be able to match or even beat Cure White in Judo or throw a weapon with the precision of Kaitou Jeanne. But Cure White can judo a monster the size of an apartment building, and Kaitou Jeanne can throw that weapon with the force to knock out four trained policemen with one toss. There is, at the end, no contest.

For reasons unknown - and of perpetual frustration to jealous power-seekers - to access this fantastic greater-than-mortal strength, one must have a patron. It is impossible to self-actualize this thunderous power; true greatness cannot be taken, only given. To try otherwise is to court darkness....and even then, falling to darkness is simply forming contracts with the much less picky forces of evil.

There are three general sources of patronage: Artifacts, contracts, and legacies.

• Artifacts are items of great and singular power, with names and legacies of their own. Using an artifact is more than finding it, however; they choose wielders worthy of their strength.

• Contracts are agreements, ranging in grandeur from literal signed documents to a handshake with a powderpuff, between a normal person and a magical being.

• Legacies are the history of your bloodline, or the spirit and power of your past, and the responsibilities that come with that inheritance.

Often, these are interconnected. The princess of a mermaid kingdom may get her mother's staff to allow her to transform into Seafoam Yuu-chan, or a wanderer from a faraway world finds a heartful girl to award the Cherrycane Staff....and his peoples' hopes. All three can even apply - someone forging a contract with a desperate fairy discovers that the fairy was only awakening her latent power as the successor to a long-dead ancestor who saved his people once before. The next morning, her great-great-grandmother's sword has appeared at her bedside!

In fact, all powered individuals have some kind of artifact guiding their power - whether it be a simple transformation stick, a perfume of power, or an actual weapon.

Only an artifact, however, is actually required, and more doesn't entitle a person to any extra power - although as with, for instance, the Smile Precures, several patronage sources may combine to give a person different abilities under different circumstances.

To be clear, this holds for mages, as well; great mages, who can compete on the spectacular level of the magical girl, for the most part have their power boosted by a sacred artifact, or come from a powerful lineage, or are empowered by contracts with magical beings. At the very least, every great mage compounds their lineage or spirit contracts with some particular item through which they cast their spells, unique and special to them. The average grunt with a staff, or even a TSAB soldier with a Device, is simply not of that level.

There's a handful of exceptions to all this. Some rare individuals seemingly sweep out of nowhere with staggering might, with no apparent source for their power. Such individuals often form the basis of modern lineages - Clow Reed, for example. That's a thing that happens, sometimes, in the Battle Fantasia universe, and there is some debate among the magical academics about how it occurs and how it could be harnessed. Many suspect there is simply some secret to their success - perhaps a lesser-known ancestor of their own, an unknown blessing from some mighty patron, or some secret, hoarded artifact. Regardless of this mystery, vast, inexplicable talent is not a valid Path to Power. Such people are generally long-gone mentors, either dead or simply vanished; they are not suitable for play, certainly not as an OC concept. Even if your character doesn't know the provenance of their abilities, you should.

Super-science also deserves mentioning here. There are a number of superscientist characters in BF themes, enough we do have to account for them. Ultimately, throughout the Battle Fantasia universe, sufficiently advanced technology is magic, not the other way around, and super science transformations and weapons are considered a form of Artifact. Superscience-fueled OCs are quite admissable! Typically, it's better to treat this as receiving such items from their inventor, and treat that inventor as you would any other power-granting individual: Like a (possibly especially kooky) mascot.

For the case of magical girl inventors who made their own superscientific weapons, note that such genius is not itself a magical trait, and thus does not need extensive justification. However, they should be able to explain the magic they are using the way everyone else has to; by finding an artifact, such as a special material that they built their power suit out of, and having it deem them worthy; by being the heir to the great legacy of magical girl inventors that has stretched back from prehistory; or by being given materials and guidance by some mentor in exchange for a contract, informal or formal. In short, such people are creating artifacts, and they need to be able to explain how. (In all cases, any PC offering a Path to Power to another character will require prior staff approval.)

There are a number of paths to power on Battle Fantasia - from desperate fairies to finding the Heartful Locket in your father's study, to the forgotten blood of a mountain-moving archmaster and secret reincarnations. The world is full of infinite wonder, but the three components of Artifact, Contract and Legacy can come together to describe it, in some combination or another.

Examples of Paths to Power:

• Usagi Tsukino: Artifact (Transformation Brooch), Legacy (Reincarnated Moon Princess), Contract (With Luna, to fight for love and justice)
• Nanoha Takamachi: Artifact (Raising Heart), Contract (With Raising Heart, to follow her instructions and work hard to protect the world from Lost Logia)
• Mami Tomoe: Artifact (Soul Gem), Contract (With Kyubey, to fight Witches in exchange for one Wish)
• Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Artifact (Ladybug Miraculous), Contract (With Tikki, to protect the world from the misuse of magic), Legacy (Miraculous-users exist throughout history)
• Mai Tokiha: Artifact (Kagutsuchi), Contract (With Nagi, to gain the power to fight Orphans in exchange for putting her most important thing at risk), Legacy (Fated to become a Battle Princess, as symbolized by her HiME birthmark)
• Utena Tenjou: Artifact (Duelist Ring), arguably Contract or Legacy (Dios)
• Tsubomi Hanasaki: Artifact (Heart Perfume), Contract (With Chypre, to protect the Heart Tree)
• Sakura Kinomoto: Artifact (Sealing Rod), Legacy (Clow Reed), Contract (With Keroboros, to find and seal the Clow Cards)
• Akko Kagari: Artifact (Shiny Rod), Legacy (Shiny Chariot)
• Amu Hinamori: Artifact (Her Guardian Characters, Ran, Miki, and Su), Contract (With her Guardian Characters, to become the person she wants to be....well, one of them).

For more information, please see: Paths to Power, Theme