Fairy Tail/HxH's Dark Continent: The Millennium Quest
In the Year 1160, . Ishgar of the East, Alakitasia of the West, and Guiltina of the North. The Three Continents, what could be considered the Mundane World. With the looming threats of Zeref and the Dragon Gods dispelled, the conflicts between these nations and the powerful Wizards and Witches within them have found lasting peace. Without the red haze of violence blinding them, the Magicians of these three continents have pooled their resources, knowledge, and drive for improvement together to look outwards, rather than within.
Thus, the first International Guild: Novus Mundus (New World in Latin, if you want to change it you can) was established with the sole purpose of exploring and hopefully gaining resources within the Great Unknown. For this perilous journey like no other an entirely new difficulty of Quest was officially and unanimously declared by the Magic Council of Ishgar, The Spriggan 20 of Alakitasia, and The Magic Council of Guiltina for any Magicians brave, powerful, and perhaps a fair bit crazy to have their names carved into history:
The Millennium Quest.
Of course, not all Magicians are so altruistic, and thus have banded together to form a shadowy equivalent to the International Guild, a treacherous and powerful Dark Guild Fleet in order to plunder this unprecedented opportunity for all of it's worth and then some.
The International Guild isn't free from blame either, being filled to the brim with various opposing political and magical factions seeking to advance themselves under the guise of scientific altruism.
The Great Unknown
While what horrors truly lie within the endless swathes of land and sea ahead of our brave Magicians cannot be known until seen, some preliminary observations have been made about what awaits within The Great Unknown. Of course, these are just the very basics of what has been able to be documented by spells of scrying or divination, and do not come close to describing the totality of what can be found within The Great Unknown.
Extreme Environments
As the magical saturation of Ether-Nano has increased dramatically, so have the local extremes of every environment. Most environments have the atmosphere and creatures within them filled and enhanced with a corresponding combination of Elements, such as Earth for Canyons, Ice for Tundras, Death and Poison for Deserts, Fire and Earth for Volcanic Mountains, Air and Light for Flying Islands, and combinations of the above and many more are mixed and matched in every possible and impossible way within the Great Unknown.
Unfortunately, the sheer density of Ether-Nano prevents any meaningful use of Scrying or Teleportation magics within them until Magicians personally adapt to the environment themselves
These Environmental Elemental combinations can range from the normal natural elements such as Fire,Water,Air,Earth,etc. to far more esoteric combinations such as Light and Sound for Heavenly Orchestras, Metal and Animation for Machia Factories, Emotion and Pant for Psychedelic Wonderlands,
This also means that Magicians of the corresponding Elements will find their powers increased by a significant amount within a corresponding area, while Magicians of opposing elements will find their spells take extra effort to cast. The boost given by any given environment is proportional to how extreme an environment is. Though even the most powerful of Magicians with a perfect synergistic set of Elements must take heed about just how inhospitable the world around them is regardless of how much of a boost it gives.
Each Environment has a menagerie of magical beasts that take advantage of and are incredibly empowered by wherever they reside. These creatures can range from something that would "only" make for a newbie's first S-Class mission back in the Mundane World, to slumbering apocalyptic beasts of ludicrous power that can rival even the Dragon Gods with sheer physical and magical might. Do not underestimate anything you find here, or the only treasure you will find is a gilded tomb.
Dragons, Gods, and Dragon Gods
While some small, fringe populations of these powerful creatures have found decent footing within the Mundane World, the extremes of the Great Unknown are where their true homes lie. The massively increased amount of Ether-Nano has been suffused within their bodies their entire lives, meaning even the most powerful of Dragon Kings from the Mundane World will find an even match with an average fully-grown Dragon in the Great Unknown, and the same applies for Gods.
Dragons and Gods lord over the above mentioned extreme environments, proliferating their specific magic throughout it to claim vast territories for themselves and whatever subordinates bend the knee within their presence. Though occasionally, these mighty forces can mingle in quite intimate ways, resulting in Dragon Gods. Dragon Gods within the Great Unknown are creatures of cataclysmic power that will grow to match the most powerful of their two component creatures and perhaps surpass them if not culled before they can reach their full potential.
While the relative abundance of Dragons and Gods means that Dragon and God-Slaying Magicians will indeed find more than a few opportunities to apply their unique talents, there are many creatures that roam The Great Unknown that are just as terrifyingly powerful as these recognizable threats that do not have a corresponding Magic designed to kill them. So take heed.
This is not without reward however, as the corpses of Dragons and Gods serve to make immensely powerful magical reagents, and can even bless anyone consuming them raw with their associated Slayer Magic. Though these corpses are typically immediately set on by scavengers and viciously guarded for these same reasons.
Giants
Unlike the merely quite large humanoids that resided in ancient Ishgar, these creatures truly live up to the title. Giants are savage and nomadic humanoids that grow continously throughout their endless lifespans, often enough to rival the size of the largest of human made structures, and even eclipsing mountain ranges for the truly ancient ones. Giants are physically strong enough to smack Dragons out of the sky if bothered, and are known to devour species' to extinction when starving While they are incapable of using Magic as we know it, it remains suffused throughout their bodies, resulting variants for different environments such as Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Hill Giants, Cloud Giants, Death Giants, Storm Giants, and many more.
Giants do not crossbreed outside of their own species and are hated by Dragons and Gods for refusing to submit to any authority asides from their own, so if anybody spots a Dragon Giant or Giant God stomping about, just know it most certainly wasn't consensual.
Sea Monsters
While the Three Continents don't have nearly enough water or water-based game in order to feed a large these massive creatures, The Great Unknown is practically infested with them, the mana-rich waters mutating the lifeforms within into all sorts of terrifying forms, which include but are not limited to: Krakens, Dragon Turtles, Sea Dragons, Megalodons, Sirens, Scyllas, Hydras and many, many more. Often times the sea will be your greatest enemy, not the land.
The information within the Extreme Environments section also applies to the sea, though the extreme environments will always have the Water element as a primary or secondary influencing factor. The weather on these treacherous seas changes to various extremes on a dime, and both Dark and Light Magicians alike must constantly be wary of the hazards laying within the sea.
Demons, Helldrakes, Behemoths, Leviathans, and ????
While within the Three Continents Demons were purely artificial creatures built by Zeref in order to kill himself, these nightmarish and powerful creatures are able take form naturally within the Great Unknown. These creatures are born to oppose the natural order, and form from the opposite elements from within any given Environment, with Fire environments forming Water demons, Sound environments forming Silence Demons, Death environments forming Life Demons, etc
Once Demons reach maturity, they travel outside of their home, causing destruction and death within any Environments they can find. Fortunately, due to being made of pure Ether-Nano and lacking any true biology, these creatures cannot naturally reproduce, and typically only are found together once especially powerful Demons form groups to cause apocalyptic chaos only rivaled by a particularly tyrannical Dragon, God or Dragon God.
Speaking of, while Demons cannot reproduce, they can merge with the corpses of any creatures they find that match the original Elemental opposite they were born from (A Death Demon will merge with a Life-based creature for example), merging their accursed magic with their own and becoming a terrifying magi-biological hybrid. Demons are more than powerful enough to get by on their own and are especially prideful with what type of corpse they merge with, as it is permanent and links them to the mortal plane making them far less immortal than their pure elemental forms.
Demons more often than not seek out Gods, Dragons, Giants, Sea Monsters and all their hybridizations, along with creatures of the same calibre as potential hosts. This results in Nephilim, Helldrakes, Behemoths, and Leviathans, creatures that have immense power over their home and opposite elements (Think a big fuck off Death Dragon with A Nature Demon possessing it, pretty scary) that bring destruction and chaos wherever they happen to go. Though this possession is only possible if a Demon is at relatively the same level as the level of what they intend to possess, and a vast majority of the time the body rejects the Demon and they have to possess a less powerful host.
If a powerful enough Demon manages to get a hold of the corpse of a recently slain Dragon God....only the most ancient of all creatures within the Great Unknown know truly of what happens next, and they shudder whenever thinking about such a thing happening again.
Ancient Secrets
It is a known fact that as a collective, Magicians are quite the big fans of ancient secrets and potential superweapons. Here, they will be found in spades. What may they be? Who knows? It wouldn't be much of a secret if we did now would it.
CYOA Rule Changes
In order to be able to attempt to survive within The Great Unknown, the various Magicians of all three continents have had to fundamentally change their outlook on Magic to vastly improve themselves and prepare for the living nightmares ahead.
Origins
Wanderer:
Unfortunately as Quests are not compatible as a multiplayer feature of the CYOA, This Origin will instead give you a Free 3-Cost Perk, while allowing your actual background to have no restrictions asides from being native to one of the Three Continents. Wanderers are sought after for their magical prowess and not much else, and are an unknown to those they aren't already acquainted with, for better or for worse.
Tribal:
This Origin will not change, still giving you the Physically Fit and Unique Appearance Perks and allowing you to be a Tribe from within the Three Continents.
Prisoner:
This Origin will instead give you 4 Points to spend directly on Magic rather than contributing to your Magical Power Ranking.
Villager:
This Origin will not change, still giving you three Mundane Talents and allowing you to be from a Village from within the Three Continents. Though do note that Mundane Skills increase in usefulness exponentially when you are travelling a hazardous magical zone in a Guildship.
Legacy:
This Origin will change, instead giving you 4 Guild Points, and allowing your heritage to be traced directly to the founders/captains of your given Guildship. (This may be another Anon if you so choose, though they will have to consent to such a thing)
Criminal:
As Companions are not compatible as a multiplayer feature of the CYOA, this Origin will instead give you 2 Points to directly spend on Magic. If you so desire, your prison cell and sentence will still be on whatever Guildship you happen to be on, denying you the ability to purchase or use Amenities (you can potentially use your Guildmate's Amenities, but you have to build trust first). and thoroughly souring your reputation amongst your comrades through infamy or disgust, but giving you a further 5 Points to spend on Magic. This additional option cannot be taken if you are in a Dark Guild.
Foreigner:
This Origin will instead be changed into making you a native either from a remote region of the 3 continents, or a native of the Great Unknown itself. Also, the free +1 Low Tier Magic will be able to be taken without counting to your Magical Sources that will be listed below.
Wealthy:
Though this is quite vague, the Wealth bonus will "upgrade" any Amenities you choose to be quantifiably far better than your poor plebian peers, you will also gain the Connections Guild Amenity
Perks
Most Perks and the effects that they outline will not change from the baseline, though there will be some additional caveats and effects for some.
True Magic Adjustment
While True Magic does immensely reduce the strain the magical environments within the Great Unknown, it does not grant an outright immunity to their effects, especially if your Magic is not compatible with the environment you are in.
Magical Source Adjustments
With the Perks Archmage, True Magic, and Genius, the requirements for a significant loss in power (detailed below) when taking several different kinds of unsynergetic Magic within yourself will be increased. Consider Archmage a +1 to the amount of conflicting magics you can take, and True Magic or Genius as a +2 for this specific scenario along with the baseline benefits they give.
Magical Sources
Magical Investment
Instead of just spending the base amount of Points into whatever Magics you want, you may also put as many points beyond the base amount into any Magic purchase to increase the power, potency, efficiency, talent, etc. that you have with that Magic compared to your peers within your Power Rank. If you wish than you may even spend all of your Points into one singular type of Magic. Though be warned that a lack of versatility in The Great Unknown will have you relying far more on the support of your Guild, and perhaps even rendered useless in cases where the magic in an area counteracts your own.
Magical Capacity
You may take as many different kinds of spells as can afford with your Points, but unless the spells are synergistic and can be reliably combined to form a custom form of magical combat, then dividing your mastery amongst them will in decrease the power of each magical ability within your repertoire. At 3 different kinds of Magic that do not synergize, you'll start to have the potency and effectiveness of your magic go down noticeably to the point of hampering your effectiveness at around 6 different an un-synergizing Magics, you'll be dead weight within the Great Unknown.
Do note that this loss in power only applies to Magics that do not synergize, such as having both kinds of Slayer Magics, conceptually opposed Elements, Necromancy and Druidic Magics, and other such obviously opposing combinations. Magicians are nothing if not ambitious and creative, and finding unorthodox ways to mix and match elements for a perfected style of Magic is one of the charms of the CYOA and Fairy Tail in general.
Impact on Magical Power Rank
While Magical Sources are a major contributing factor on the efficiency, output, and potency of whatever Magic you are using, none of what is within this section explicitly applies to your Magical Power Rank specifically unless you so desire it. This will merely help outline your magical ability compared to your peers within that rank. A horrifically inefficient High Mage is still a High Mage, they may just find themselves being far less useful than other High Mages or even some Wizard Saint level wizards.
Magical Power Ranking
Freedom of Choice, Freedom of Burden
You may choose from whichever Magical Power Ranking you would like to be in, as each has their pros and cons and none are inherently better than another in the grand scheme of things and contribute in their own way to the exploration of The Great Unknown. Average or Strong Mages are in far less danger and can reliably provide support without being detected easily, while High Mages are far easier to detect and serve as the lynchpin of a Guild's combative power.
Powering Up
Not technically an official rule change, but due to the nature of the Great Unknown being far, far more dangerous than anything within the Mundane World, the Magic Power Rankings within this version of the CYOA are incomparably more powerful than what could be their "canon" counterparts shown as examples within the CYOA or can be extrapolated from them. While any Magician will indeed grow in might rapidly to adapt to the Great Unknown, The Magical Power Ranks will still serve as a general guideline for where you stand amongst your peers.
As an example of this growth, the most powerful being ever beheld within The Mundane World is Acnologia, The Dragon King. There will inevitably be many creatures far more powerful than him within the Great Unknown, and thus Magicians must be powerful enough to even hope to combat these threats. Of course, even Millennium Quest-Enhanced High Mages will still find themselves in need of allies within the deeper and more extreme parts of the Great Unknown and the terrifying threats within.
Guild Selection
This will be the section that is changed by far the most, as most people will be part of the International Guild: Novus Mundus. Most all of this section will not apply in a typical manner. First being that every member of a Guild can make Guild Amenity purchases.
All Guildships are modified extensively with spatial magics, so that they are even larger on the inside than the outside, making sure that there is no worries about a theoretical maximum amount of guildmates or not being able to fit any of your purchased Amenities regardless of whatever size they may be.
International Masterwork Guildship
The International Guild is by it's very nature mobile as it goes throughout the vast Great Unknown. Thus, the entire Guild will be upon a grand magical vehicle that can traverse Land, Air, and Sea, and change form to adapt to any environment it finds itself in. This single vehicle is far larger than any Guild ever seen in terms of sheer size, so it will be a Gargantuan Guild, larger than all the other Guild Size options combined. Any Amenities you take will be an upgrade to the ship centered around your personal quarters, asides from Superweapons and Grand Magics. Any guildmate can access these amenities unless they have the Prisoner+ Origin, then they will be denied access until you personally give them consent.
Dark Guildship Fleet
The Dark Guilds will have to choose between ships that either sail Sea or Air, as Dark Guilds cannot or will not pool together the resources afford the monumental task of making a vehicle capable of being on the land of the Great Unknown. Any Amenities purchased will apply to the ship your specific Dark Guild is on and no other. While theoretically other Dark Guilds can access the amenities on your Guildship, it requires a level of trust and cooperation nigh unheard of amongst Dark Guilds.
Amenity Rework
Any purchases of Superweapon or Grand Magic will be added onto the ship as a weapon or utility to use against the monsters of the Great Unknown depending on what you intend to do with the specific purchase of said Grand Magic or Superweapon.
The 'Reputation' Amenity will instead apply to your own reputation, making you an exceptionally famous or infamous Magician. Or if you so desire, the 'Reputation' Amenity can make you a relative unknown amongst the guild, a personal mystery waiting to be solved.
The 'Connections' Amenity will also instead apply to yourself, making you a specifically well connected Magician to the various authority figures that run and fund whatever type of expedition you find yourself in, allowing your decisions about the next place to go to have ever-so-slightly more sway than your peers who haven't discovered the wonders of networking.
Exploration
Start:
Both the International Guild and Dark Fleet start within the red circle, or the Three Continents (shown above). Don't worry about the exact proportions it's not important, all that matters is that the Three Continents are hilariously tiny compared to The Great Unknown.
Journey
Anons of either faction can deliberate on which direction to go to, which can be any direction on the compass. The goal of this is presumably to head towards a landmass or some sort of undersea secret temple or other. Whatever is found within the sea-based Journey can be described by anons during or even after the Journey at the Destination. Depending on how much importance anons of wish to ascribe to the Journey, they can just do a "timeskip" so to speak for their Guild to arrive at the destination without feeling forced to write about the Journey if they do not wish.
Destination
For either faction, the Destination must be decided before arrival, rather than during it. Destinations are specific landmasses or areas of the sea that anons wish to specifically travel to an interact with/within, and will be specifically charted and labeled on the World Map. These Destinations will always fall under some type or types of Extreme Environment listed above, typically consisting of either a single or dual Element-based theme, or perhaps more if applicable. These themes can be decided in any means that anons find satisfactory such as Polls, Rolls, (You)'s, Random Magical Element Generators, etc.
Larger Landmasses may have several different Elemental Divisions within them, but again that is a feature that can and will be deliberated upon.
Everything else within the land/sea masses? Go nuts. The Great Unknown can be as bonkers as you would like and then some as long as it fits the general Element or Elements, and aligned with the theme of both this run and Fairy Tail as a whole.
(Note: While not required by any means, having the "starter islands" be composed single Elements that are more natural, such as Fire or Ice rather than Death-Music or Chaos-Emotion will allow a much smoother transition into The Great Unknown and time for builds to come in without much trouble).
Embarking
Once anons have had their fun with whatever monsters, Giants, Dragons, Gods, undersea creatures, treasures, ancient secrets, etc. that a landmass or sea space several times the size of their home continent has to offer, they may decide as a Faction to Embark from that space. They can choose to sail back eventually if they feel they haven't fully explored it, but overall this does make for definitive chronological progress within the Millennium Quest.
This doesn't mean you have to technically stop writing about whatever place you went to last, it just means that it will take place chronologically before this. Don't worry about organizing it, I'll make a separate rentry for it whenever the first instance of this chronological mixing-up occurs.
The decision to Embark from a journey into a place is a major one, and is not to be taken lightly by any means.