Need reactions to revelation

[Falcos]

Hi all! I'm not sure how to phrase this, but as I can best state it, I need a pallet, so to speak, of reactions that different people would have to a late-game story revelation in my world.

To summarize: Every person who graduates a school of magic in my world is given help in forging what's called an "Icon", essentially proof of graduation/identification that shows them to be a legal user of magic, and able to use it at their own discretion, etc.

In case one of my players somehow found this thread, despite not being members of the forum, please stop reading here.

Revelation: The Icons secretly bind the mages' souls, preventing them from passing to whatever afterlife they otherwise would, and the Icons of deceased magi are kept in a secret room that only the head honchos of the school may access, where said head honchos may then question the deceased and make use of their knowledge.

So, I've come up with a paltry handful of reaction to this revelation for various magi to have if they get told by the players, but no matter how many voices are in my head, I'm still just one person. I am, therefore, asking for other reactions from you guys! Huzzah, community, etc!

In all seriousness, I am trying to flesh out as many people as I can, so as wide a pallet of reactions I can garner is probably wise. Thank you all for your help in advance. :)

[Yora]

I think it might depend quite a lot on the situation in which a person would learn about this and how it is phrased.
One obvious assumption would be that the souls of the old mages are enslaved to power a cabal of dark sorcerers and the entire organization is a huge scam.
Or one could explain the icons as recordings of the knowledge of the mages to be preserved for later generations. That wouldn't sound so bad.
With some clever half-truths, it could even be presented as a way to achieve partial immortality and that this way the mages could continue to support the true goal of the organization even after death. Maybe say that the icons enable the old mages to remain in this world or to communicate from the other side of the border of life and death. That sounds much more positive and less involunatary than trapping the souls.
Younger apprentices might be told that is kept secret so that the truth does not get out through new members who are not yet completely loyal to the organization, but older members would probably be wondering why they were never told of that before and given opportunities to learn from the ancient mages.

[Falcos]

I've planned for the PCs to find out one of two ways. (Naturally, this means that the four players will find a third, fourth, fifth and sixth way.)

The two planned ways are:

A, they accidentally invoke the spirit of a deceased mage by finding their Icon (say, in a dragon's lair) and are therefore left to their own (probably negative) kneejerk reactions.

B, they find out from one of the Masters showing them what is called the "Library of Icons", in which the Master will explain that it is to preserve knowledge, which is the primary goal of the Acadamy.

It's worth mentioning here that amongst the rules and laws of the Acadamy is banning Necromancy or soul-binding, so there's a tone of hypocrisy here.

EDIT: Slightly off-topic, however. I'm mainly trying to think of NPC reactions, which you helped with. Still looking for more, though. Plenty of NPCs to react to this revelation. At least one player, if he finds out through method A, is the type to announce this from the rooftops.

[Blackhawk748]

Honestly im reminded of the Dragon Hearts from the Inheritance Cycle. So if phrased properly its not so bad. That being said if i was in this organization, i would like to know this before i make an Icon.

[Falcos]

The way the Acadamy is set up, if you're a magic user, you either attend and graduate, or you're a criminal.

And if you graduate, you get an Icon.

And this secret isn't exactly common knowledge.

So a large number of people will be finding out this fact long after they've gotten their Icons.

[Laserlight]

Revelation: The Icons secretly bind the mages' souls, preventing them from passing to whatever afterlife they otherwise would, and the Icons of deceased magi are kept in a secret room that only the head honchos of the school may access, where said head honchos may then question the deceased and make use of their knowledge.

"Don't the mages get incredibly bored, just sitting in a room for year after year, with nothing to do but answer the occasional question? They can't read or anything, right?"

"I guess the mages are still okay with this deal after they're dead? Because if not, I'd worry about the quality of the advice I was getting. Um...and they can still cast some spells, too, can't they?"

"So, no matter how evil I am, as long as my icon exists, I don't have to worry about the afterlife? Hmmmmm..."

"Sounds like a collection of lich wannabes."

[Falcos]

That's a great set of reactions, Laserlight...

It also leads me to wonder whether or not I should allow them to retain their spellcasting in death. Hrm. *ponder*

[jqavins]

Revelation: The Icons secretly bind the mages' souls, preventing them from passing to whatever afterlife they otherwise would, and the Icons of deceased magi are kept in a secret room that only the head honchos of the school may access, where said head honchos may then question the deceased and make use of their knowledge.
"And why didn't you tell me this before I graduated, you evil bastard? I'm going to kill you!"

"What happens to the soul if an icon is destroyed?" (Actually, that's a good question; what does happen?)

"What will happen to the souls when I destroy the Acadamy and all the icons?"

"If I destroy my icon now, that means I'll go to my afterlife when I die, right?"

"What about ressurection?" (Another good question; what about ressurection?)

"I don't believe you; the Acadamy would never do anything like that. Besides, it's necromancy, so they can't."

"I knew it!"

"I knew it! Y'know, they also secretly control the whole government by their astral mind control ioun stones."

"Afterlife, schmafterlife."

"I get to be immortal? Cool!"

"They get to be immortal? Damn, I shoulda been a wizard."

"They're immortal? Oh, those poor deers."

"Meh, whatever."

"Now I feel dirty."

[Falcos]

Hooray for more reactions!

As to your questions, if an Icon is destroyed after the mage's death, that mage's soul remains bound to the Icon, even past its destruction. They don't get their afterlife. If it's destroyed beforehand, then their soul is damaged, and while their god (if they have one) won't be happy about it, they do get their afterlife.

As for resurrecting, it's possible if you have the Icon (even if unaware of the secret), but otherwise impossible.

[Eldan]

One essential question here, I think is:
What's the afterlife like? The reactions would hcange a lot.

Heaven and Hell? Good wizards would be livid. Evil wizards would get a way out of hell and would be quite happy. Not unlike being a lich.
Reincarnation? A lot of them would probably be very annoyed, some might prefer keeping their memories and personalities.
Some kind of grey Hades or other dull spirit world? Expect most of them to be very happy to escape that.
It's unknown to even the wizards? Then it would depend on personal beliefs. Expect religious mages to rebel, while others might be skeptical but like the theory.

Hey, some could even start researching the process to improve it. They are essentially scientists, after all. Why bind your soul to an icon, if you could bind it to a mobile golem? Couldn't we at least get some spirit bodies so we can talk to each other?

Oh, another fun thought. Civil Rights for Icons campaign. Give them the right to talk to their families, to have their icons set up where they want, etc.

[jqavins]

"So... Grandpa is there? Can talk to him?"

"Aaa... wow. I... um... don't know what to say."

"Whew, glad I'm not a wizard! Not my problem."

"We found out just in time; graduation is next week. I'm dropping out and going rogue."

"Why?!?"

"Hmm... How can a make a profit from this?" (Starts selling phony "soul talismans" that supposedly protect a wizard from the icon's effect to gullible students.)

[LarwisTheElf]

One thing to remember is that there will always be some people who are adamantly opposed to the idea of soul binding, and will fight against it no matter what. Instead of ignoring that, use it to your advantage. Have a small rebel group (or even several) that seeks to change this. Maybe one group focuses on dissemination of information, trying to get the word out to the public because they believe that everyone has the right to know, while another more radical group actively opposes the system by doing things like kidnapping mages, stealing icons from the vaults, etc. This could lead to good adventure hooks, such as a friend and former classmate has been kidnapped, or being on guard duty at the vaults and facing off against a raid team. There are lots of possibilities here, so make sure to use them.

Also you should consider whether or not the local governments are in on the secret. If they are, then it would be in their best interest to help keep it a secret since they will face public backlash if the secret comes out. If not, then how would they react when they learn about the truth of the icons? It would change greatly based on the type of government, the current leader, and what factions are in play in the kingdom.

Going off of that, maybe a nearby kingdom is currently in the middle of a civil war because someone let slip the truth, and it just escalated from there, with factions joining one side or the other until war broke out. One side is actively trying to stifle information about why the war started, but rumors still manage to make it through to other kingdoms, threatening to cause even more violence to break out.

That actually sounds like a good campaign idea right there.