Winchester College of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Potterverse) - Interest Check

[Crash]

Winchester College of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The Game

This is a Light – Sandbox style game set in an alternate Potterverse setting.  It will be LGBTQ friendly.  The idea being a Wizarding College set on the West Coast of the United States of America.  It would be set in 2017 and after an education reform that removed dangerous spells from the hands of adolescence and moved them into the hands of “adults.”

The setting is a Wizarding College that funnels students in from other schools around the world.  Instead of Houses there will be Dorms and Fraternities and Sororities to join.  The schools in the US have a Quidditch league similar to NCAA Football that is popular among the No-Maj students.

Being that this is a college that does attract a wide variety of students there will be some allowance for Half-Veela, Part Vampire, Half-Giant characters.  Not many but they are there.  Some special abilities will be allowed too.  I am undecided yet on how many of these will be allowed. Students could be transferring in from Ilvermorny, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Baeuxbaton, Castelobruxo, Koldovstoretz, Mahoutokoro School of Magic or Uagadou School of Magic.

School History

1790 - Rappaport's Law

The law was intended to create absolute segregation between the No-Maj and wizarding communities. It banned witches and wizards from marrying or befriending No-Majs, allowing only interactions "necessary to perform daily activities," and meted out "harsh" penalties for fraternization with No-Majs. To ensure complete conformity with the Law, only upon reaching the age of majority (eighteen) would a witch or wizard be legally allowed to carry a wand outside school: wands were issued when students first arrived at School and had to be left at school during vacations.

Rappaport's Law had the long-term consequence of driving the American wizarding community even deeper underground and widening the cultural divide between the wizarding communities of the United States and Europe. In Europe, wizarding governments clandestinely cooperated and communicated with their Muggle counterparts, and witches and wizards were free to marry and befriend Muggles. However, in the United States, the Magical Congress of the United States of America exercised complete independence from the No-Maj government, and wizards and witches increasingly came to view the country's No-Maj population with hostility. The law also required all wizards in America to apply for and carry a wand permit, so as to keep track of magical activity and keep track of wizards who use magic against the limits set by the law.

1922 - Founding

Margaret Winchester founded the Winchester School for Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1922 when her Aunt, Sarah Winchester, died and left her fortune to young Margaret.  With her inheritance Margaret purchased an island in the San Francisco Bay just north of Alcatraz known to the Wizarding community as Foggy Bottom.  The island was reported to be haunted, but Margaret Winchester had a rapport with ghosts having befriended the many hundreds that roamed the Winchester Estate antagonizing her aunt.  With the rest of her inheritance she commissioned the sprawling mansion that covers the vast majority of the island.

Margaret was a No-Maj witch and the descendant of the infamous Winchester line, a family of known Scourers and dark wizards.  As such the Winchester school was not remotely as famous as Ilvermorny.  Margaret held none of her family’s old notions about the evil’s of magic nor their hatred of it.  She was ever diligent in keeping Scourer sympathizers away from her school.  A large No-Maj population of wizarding students came to call the school home. There were rumors that the school bent Rappaport’s Law to the point of breaking many times under Margaret’s leadership.  She was even arrested twice for endangering Wizarding society existence to the No-Maj population.  None of the charges stuck as eye witnesses never came forward to denounce her.

1930’s-1950’s

The Winchester School remained small for the next thirty years.  The only significant influx of students was from a number of prominent pureblood families that saw the school as a relatively safe haven despite the checkered past of the Headmistress’s family.  Margaret had proven herself to be a diligent and protective Headmistress who had rooted out a number of attempts to expose the school to the No-Maj communities nearby.  Tensions often ran high between No-Maj and Pureblood/Half-Blood Students.  Margaret divided the students into “Houses.” Like Ilvermorny and Hogwarts.  She created a yearly contest between the houses so they could blow of steam without resorting to real violence.  This contest involved a quidditch tournament, an obstacle course and a puzzle or mystery to solve.

During this time, she also worked out a ferry service from Pier 39 -1/2 to allow easier access to the school which had previously only been obtainable by broom, floo or apparition.

1960’s

The 1960’s brought significant change to the Winchester School.  Progressive thought was already encouraged by Margaret and she embraced the social change of the decade.  The repeal of Rappaport’s Law brought a huge increase in enrollment and the school grew significantly.  No-Maj relatives of teachers and students were invited to the island and some of them even settled with the wizarding community of Foggy Bottom that had grown up around the docks.  No-Maj cultural influence has remained a part of The Winchester School ever since, to the point that some No-Maj technology has become commonplace.

Rappaport's Law Repeal

1965

The social change sweeping the United States No-Maj communities swept through the Wizarding communities as well.  New Age spiritualism and new found interest in the occult actually brought No-Maj and Wizards closer together.  A huge counter culture movement gathered steam in put immense pressure on the old guard Williams administration who eventually repealed Rappaport's Law in 1965.

Wand registration and permitting remains with no students able to carry wands outside of school grounds until the age of 18.

1970’s-1980’s

Already influenced by No-Maj culture the educational reform was embraced fully by the school.  Never as large as Ilvermorny or Salem, Margaret made the decision to transition the school to a College of Witchcraft and Wizardry to focus on advanced spellcasting methods and subjects.  The currently enrolled students remained until they were of age to enter College, but no new students were admitted unless they were of college age.  This removed the need for “Houses” and the older students were instead allowed to form Fraternities and Sororities after submitting a charter and signing a code of conduct agreement with the former Headmistress now Dean of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Students that chose not to join a Fraternity or Sorority were allowed to continue living in the school dorms.

Education Reform

1973

The American Wizarding community comes to their senses and limits access to young witches and wizards.  Patterning their education system after the No-Maj system.  Magical training of students is limited to very basic spells using training wands.  Any attempt to use a spell listed as dangerous by the Department of Education causes the training wand to "short out" and the spell to fail.  New wands are only handed out by the school so children who repeatedly try to cast dangerous spells can be expelled from school.  Wizarding secondary schools (high schools) focus heavily on magic history, No-Maj studies and magical theory.  Beginning Potions classes and spells needed to pass HARES are taught in Wizarding High School.  HARES are the equivalent of No-Maj SAT schools and College entrance exams.  In college students learn advanced spells and can receive there wand permits upon admittance. 

1990’s-2000’s

The school’s reputation continues to grow and a number of prominent witches and wizards come to teach at Winchester College.  Guest instructors from other schools are not uncommon.  During the time of the Second Wizarding War the school became a haven for European students.  Scourer attacks started up again, but the school weathered even those storms during this time.  Many former Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students chose to stay at Winchester College to continue their education.

2010’s-Now

The School is known world wide and receives students from across the globe.  The HexPad is the newest rage at the school and replacing the Owl as the preferred form of communication and wizarding social media.  Dean Margaret Winchester passes away in 2016 at the age of 115.  The school mourns her loss for the better part of the year before electing Jasmine Harlow as the new Dean of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Jasmine has yet to be tested in her capacity as Dean and as a Pureblood Witch makes the large population of No-Maj students a bit nervous.  So far she has shown to be a fair if stern leader, but time will tell.

Dorms, Fraternities and Sororities

Grades

Characters (WIP)

Rules and Regulations


The following are the rules and regulations set for Winchester College of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please read these thoroughly and understand that by applying it is implied that you understand what you have read and commit to it. While we attempt to keep these rules stagnant throughout the course of the game, if something begins to pose a problem we will make a rule about it and enforce it.

Disclaimer : We reserve the right to add rules as necessary.

• Be excellent to one another. Do not fight. Do not squabble. If an altercation between players occurs, please bring the matter to myself or your residential Co-GM (if I add them) who will periodically patrol the thread for me when I cannot. We will be perfectly happy to sort out the discrepancy between the players and arrive to the most fair and just solution allowed. Do not turn us into a broken family.
• Do not God Mod another player's character! Due to the nature of the characters it is easy to accidentally cross into this territory. Please do not control their actions. YOU control YOUR character. On that same tangent please do not make yourself invulnerable to everything. Nothing more boring than a “perfect” character.
• NO PLAYER CHARACTER MAY BE KILLED WITHOUT PLAYER'S EXPLICIT PERMISSION TO DO SO. There is no leeway to this rule. Don't do it.
• Never, EVER do something to a player's character they do not like. Consult with the player before making a decision that you think might be a bother to them, even if they list it as okay in their Ons and Offs. Communication is paramount between players! Please use it.
• Communication is important. If you are going to be gone longer than a day or two, please try to notify the GMs. We are very understanding about outside life – Trust me. I, myself, am a Full-Time Worker, Husband and Dad and I go to school part time. I am busy and sometimes it gets hectic. Everyone has lives. That is okay. But let us know so we're not missing you.
• You are not expected to post once a day. Post when you can.
• Please have a good grasp of the English Language and Grammar Structure before applying. We fancy individuals that use complete sentences, full thought, and detail their posts with enough for another character to react to. I am not tying certain post lengths to this game, but I beg you not to use one to three line posts. That would be VERY difficult for another player to react to. Use your best judgment, but give enough for the players to respond to. Multi-Paragraph is best. Remember, a paragraph is a construction of thought usually ranging between three to five sentences.
• Please use tags in the header of your post.All posts should have tags noting who your character is talking too, about or noticing.  This will help people find conversations that involve their characters in threads that may hold multiple conversations.  Acceptable tags are: another character’s name, OPEN or CLOSED.  Open means anyone can join the conversation or scene.  CLOSED means that player does not want the scene interrupted by other players.
• Players are responsible for not creating Paradoxes. Players are allowed to create multiple scenes for their characters at different times of the day or week simultaneously.  It is the players responsibility of they choose to do this to not create paradoxes by playing multiple scenes that occur at the same time.

Thank you Faustus and Broken Bonds for letting me pilfer much of their rules.

[Kaia]

You know I am <3

[Crash]

You know I am <3

Glad to see you Miss Kaia!

[Cythieus]

I am really interested in this too. Kind of have a character idea cooking in my head already.

[himawari]

Tentatively interested :D CUZ MAGICCCCCC~

[Codexa]

- Peeks in and waves -

Looks good Crash!!

[Crash]

Thanks for the interest everyone.

Hi Codexa!

If anyone has questions feel free to ask.  I don’t have everything written up yet. So ask away.