There is a world hidden within your world.
A world of magic that exists only for the blessed ones.
You do not rank amongst them. You never will.
Serve, and their ways will be revealed to you.
Keep the secret of the Pact.
Obey our will in all things.
Serve, and a new life will be allotted to you.
Then you shall walk beside the chosen in their halls of learning.
Not as their equal, but as their better.
INTRODUCTION
Pactbinder is a WiP dark fantasy interactive fiction university novel set in an alt-history England, where you play as a once-ordinary person who has struck a bargain with an eldritch force in order to gain the gift of magic and walk in the hidden world of mages.
Word count is currently ~292k, which covers the game's prologue and first three chapters.
My inspirations are too numerous to do them all real justice, but Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and R.F Kuang’s Babel often find themselves on my mind as I write, as do many of the stories about students attending magical schools that I read growing up.
Outside of literature, I hope that anybody who has enjoyed DMing for or roleplaying a Warlock in a darker Dungeons & Dragons campaign will find something to enjoy in Pactbinder.
Please see below for a more detailed synopsis, a list of features planned to be in the final game and details on the main cast.
SYNOPSIS
Aspiring mages flock to the halls of Hightower to pursue the best arcane education in England, perhaps the world. For those blessed with the Gift of magic, there is no nobler dream than to study beneath the university’s elegant arches and develop skills and connections that will serve one for a lifetime.
However, the Gift is a rare privilege that is almost solely the birthright of the nobly born. This is the way things have been for as long as anybody at Hightower can remember. This year will be different, for rumours abound of a new student born Gifted but raised ignorant of the existence of magic; an oddity anywhere in this world, but particularly scandalous at elitist Hightower.
You are not that student. You’re just the person who stole their life.
As the Pactbinder, a once-ordinary person whose path to Hightower was paved by a bargain struck with an enigmatic entity of unspeakable power, you must fight and scheme to carve out a new life for yourself during your first year at Hightower whilst working to master your stolen magic, serve your patron and discover the university’s secrets without compromising your own.
Ultimately, it will fall on you to answer one question: What price would you pay for the life of your dreams?
CORE CAST
Note that with the exception of the Pactbinder (the MC) and the Entity (their eldritch patron), the core cast are the game’s primary ROs. RO genders are fixed, though all of them can be romanced by male, female and non-binary characters.
The Pactbinder (MC).
Gender: M/F/NB
Appearance: Player determined.
Description: A mysterious individual who stole the gift of magic from an unwary victim who was set to be the first mage born outside of magical society to attend Hightower in decades. Now impersonating that victim to take their place as a student, the Pactbinder must master their stolen magic whilst serving their Patron. How they feel about all this and what they plan to do about it is up to you, as is everything that they do next.
The Entity
Gender: N/A
Appearance: An empty space in misty skies, its outline barely suggestive of a humanoid form. Though its appearance is ever-shifting, it is always crowned by a halo of six red stars.
Mastery: Wields unknowable power over reality far in excess of the works of mortal mages, if indeed it can be compared to them at all.
Description: An enigmatic being who struck a bargain with the Pactbinder in their dreams, granting them power and access to the hidden world of magic in exchange for a lifetime of service. Its nature, true goals and desires are as yet wholly unknowable to the Pactbinder.
Alice Mortimer / Adelais De Mortemer: The Witch
Gender: F
Appearance: Tall, slender and very pale, with aristocratic features, silver-grey eyes and long white hair.
Description: One of the Pactbinder’s collegemates. An inscrutable first-year student with a troubled background and a fearsome reputation, Alice’s customary apathy isn’t quite enough to mask her fiercely intelligent mind, nor the quiet intensity that lurks beneath her listless demeanour. Seemingly the only first year to have already awakened her Gift before joining the university, something considered dangerous and foolhardy by most mages.
Eleanor Whitworth: The Scholar
Gender: F
Appearance: Very short, with braided dirty-blonde hair, a heart-shaped face and warm brown eyes behind round spectacles.
Description: One of the Pactbinder’s collegemates. An academic young woman from a well-respected family of mages recently struck by misfortune, Eleanor seems fixated on restarting the long-banned Hightower Expedition Society, a group dedicated to exploring the ruins beneath the university town. A hard worker and fierce friend who can nevertheless come across a little bossy at times.
Finlay Stuart: The Prince
Gender: M
Appearance: Very tall and thin, almost gangly. Freckled, with short reddish-brown hair and green eyes.
Description: One of the Pactbinder’s collegemates. The second son of the Queen of Scotland, a country which seems to be an entirely independent power in magical society. Finlay himself seems like an affable young man, if a little homesick and uncomfortable with the attention his presence inevitably attracts. However, the circumstances surrounding his arrival to Hightower, which is in England remain shrouded in mystery, particularly given the apparent longstanding enmity between the two countries.
Layla Farouk: The Traveler
Gender: F
Appearance: Average height, lean and fit. Olive skin, hazel eyes and long brown hair that’s often in a ponytail. Constantly on the move.
Description: One of the Pactbinder’s collegemates. The only international student in Hightower’s first-year class, Layla is indelibly marked as an outsider from her very first day. The enthusiastic young woman seems determined to meet this challenge with fierce pride and make her mark on Hightower all the same, whether the university likes it or not.
Marcus Elmgrove: The Rebel
Gender: M
Appearance: Tall, dark-skinned and broad-shouldered. Striking features marked by a scar on his lip. Dark hair and eyes.
Description: One of the Pactbinder’s collegemates. Brooding and cynical, Marcus is the mixed-race son of an influential noble father and a foreign-born mother. As such, he walks the uneasy line between barely-tolerated outsider and accepted member of high society. Though a fierce friend, Marcus struggles to manage the conflict between his resentment of magical society and his desire to fly under the radar.
FEATURES
Master your stolen power as you learn to call spirits, shape the elements, nurture life and / or meddle with minds.
Romance a secretive witch, a homesick prince, a timid would-be explorer, an excitable traveller, or a brooding rebel - or nobody at all - whilst navigating an increasingly complex social life burdened by a secret that you quite literally cannot share.
Embrace or rage against the university’s colonial legacy or work to turn it to your own ends.
Make a name for yourself in one of the university’s Societies, where you can demonstrate your prowess in activities including duelling, exploration and sky-sailing, or dedicate your free time to more secretive goals.
Begin your delve into the endless dungeons beneath the university in search of fortune, power and the answers to the mysteries that haunt you.
Fight, charm, scheme, steal and even kill as you strive to balance your obligations to your Patron with the demands of student life. Pray that the two never come into conflict.
Does a mage’s mastery heavily affect their career prospects? And if so, what careers would specifically seek out ppl of each mastery or even be exclusive to a certain mastery?
Thanks for the ask! Short answer is that it depends on if the mage wants to pursue one of the relatively rare mage-only jobs out there, or if they (like most mages) plan to live the life of a scion of a wealthy family; i.e. managing their inheritance / family investments / continuing to be funded luxuriously by their parents until they inherit.
Mage-only jobs don't really pay great (except for magical healing) - they're mostly passion crafts, like artisans crafting Spirit or Matter infused items, or stuff related specifically to the upkeep of magical society (teaching at a magical university, working in magical parts of the government, etc.) - those are the ones that will normally need actual skill with a Mastery.
More often, they just go into the family business/ investment portfolio, do nothing, or go into politics; which again isn't a pay move so much as a passion one, just here being a passion for power and influence (or, you know, to make the world a better place. Maybe. I'm sure it has happened, once or twice.) So magic for most mages is more a signifier of class and inherited superiority - proof that you're in the ultimate 'in' club - rather than a defining attribute or skill.
For the poorer mages out there (still from noble families, just ones that have fallen on hard times) - normally they'll use their degrees to go and do something like becoming a consultant or an investment banker, etc - a demanding and well-paid job that isn't too discriminatory on the degree you studied at uni, as long as the grade is good and the institution prestigious.
This is a silly question, but would the world of Pactbinder fare better in a zombie apocalypse than ours?There was trouble with necromancy, but not zombies exactly, would mages be better equipped to survive?What about the general non-magical populace?
Thanks for the fun question! I think the non-magical world does about the same; there are some differences subtle and otherwise to our world, but I think in the round there's enough parity that responses to a zombie apocalypse would be similar.
The mage population would do better than average, but how much better depends on the type of zombie; assuming your classic slow shamblers, mages have a huge advantage.
Most mages can't really fight with magic because they're too slow at casting to pull it off reliably under pressure - that's true against a trained duellist, or a dude with a gun or even a knife, but against a lumbering zombie, or a slow moving horde? Even an incompetent Matter mage can probably take a few seconds out to invoke a fireball. Life mages could create food, Spirit mages handle logistics and Mind mages enthrall the Ungifted to act as manual labourers to keep the compounds nice and comfortable...
Plus, as old monied elite, you just know a lot of Gifted families have doomsday prep shelters anyway! So yeah, I certainly wouldn't say magic leads to a better world in a zombie apocalypse, but its certainly a manageable inconvenience for the mages themselves...
Of course, the stronger the zombies are in terms of speed, durability, etc, the less true the above is.
Are there any Gifted specific board games? PB wants to host a games night at Antioch and absolutely crush the cast at Monopoly (because chess is obviously for their Lady in White). But they're open to other new games. Assume the D&D chaos did not burn the dorm down...yet
Fun question!
There are Gifted-specific board games, and there were more in the old days, but they're rare and bespoke things these days. Such a small population means that the tiny number of mages crafting them have to be real extreme hobbyists doing it for passion alone! So most mages play Ungifted board games, video games, sports, etc...
Some more detail, including one exception, below cut.
The closest thing to a non-unique mage's board game is the True King's Game, which is a bit of a hybrid of chess and more complex strategic board games: except the King, the pieces move roughly the same, but can 'turn' to change directions, you can play it on different boards with different terrains and objectives, it technically has support for up to four 'armies' (i.e. players), and there are different Kingspells on the board which, if a King piece moves to them (of course a highly risky endeavour as it risks checkmate), allows them to unleash a big game-changing effect.
Most people think it's less well designed than Chess proper, and it is, but there's a certain fun to it even so.
And fun fact - PB potentially excluded, Marcus is the best at chess at Antioch, followed by Ellie.
Adelais, assuming that's our Lady in White, is only third! Despite her brilliance, she's never tried to memorize openings and patterns; she isn't much of a game player, so she'd improv and rely on pure mental processing power. She'd be a nightmare to play in speed chess specifically, though...
What were you thinking as far as romance dynamics?The recent ask where Alice thought of Finn as easy to tease made me think my PB would also enjoy teasing him but in a romance.I imagine it would add considerable bloat to tailor multiple romance dynamics for specific ro’s rather than a generalized romance path.
Romance mechanics light 'spoilers' below cut.
I'm working on this now, actually! So I'm super curious as to what other people feel about this approach and I'd love to hear feedback on the idea (I know it's hard to have a concrete view until you see it in practise).
Right now, where I'm heading is that when a Pactbinder consciously makes the decision to pursue an RO (first with a soft lock at Christmas, then a hard lock on Valentine's Day), the assumption going in is that they're doing so hoping the romance will succeed / be reciprocated.
This isn't to say the PB will be railroaded into their love for the RO overriding all their other motives and sinister scheming - but nor will there be routes where the PB is just faking the entire romance, because I'm not convinced it would make sense in universe when getting close to someone is so risky for the PB.
So dialogue options per RO route will fit within a few genuine dynamics that I think work well between a Pactbinder and an RO. E.g. for Finlay dialogue options during a romance scene might be (these are just random examples, not a guarantee) gentle / flirty teasing, soft + kind, soft + trying to hide / obfuscate guilt, loving but challenging him to be bolder.
Those are all dialogue routes that I think could make sense for a PB who's interested in Finn, and they're all routes that I think enable Finn to reciprocate that romance. And I think each route is sort of compatible enough that they won't totally blow up the dynamic, so I can react to each of them where appropriate without needing to force the player to pick the same option every time or anything. So a PB can be guilty sometimes, but still push Finn to be brave other times.
Of course, the three to four dynamics for a PB interacting with Adelais, or Marcus, or Layla, or Ellie, might have some overlap - or they might be totally different! But each time they should be things that feel true to the Pactbinder's different personas and the RO's own.
This isn't to say that romances can't fail in Pactbinder - I'm just personally more of a fan of when romances fail when the player does something big and well telegraphed (I'm thinking like in Dragon Age: Origins where you can break an Alistair romance by sparing Loghain), rather than because the player accidentally picked the 'wrong' dialogue choice.
Actually how does Matter work in terms of elemental manifestation? What I mean is, does water and earth require a source whilst fire and air can be produced from the caster? Do they all require sources? Can they all be generated?
Thanks for the ask!
The easiest way to explain this comprehensively is to outline the broader magic system!
Answer below cut, if people want the details in summary (but also this is alluded to in C3 and will be reinforced in C4, so don't stress about missing the important stuff):
To summarize; each Mastery has two forms:
Invocation: The 'basic' power of the Mastery. Usually something very simple and 'intuitive', and much less varied. Fast-casting enough to use in tense situations. Relies on instinct and natural aptitude (and, in the PB's case, the innate power of the Pact...)
Transmutation: The 'advanced' power of the Mastery - these are more sophisticated uses of magic that are slower casting but more versatile and potent. They can rely either on the products of an Invocation, or on the environment, depending on context. These rely on study and understanding - these are the things that are likened to sciences and other undergrad-level studies during C3.
Elemental manifestation is Matter's Invocation - it's the mage summoning quantities of fire, earth, water and air in their immediate vicinity. They don't require sources for any. Invoked elements are however less 'real' than 'natural' matter - Fire won't necessarily burn as hot, earth won't absorb as much damage, etc, and their presence fades over time - e.g. without reinforcement via transmutation, an Invoked wall of stone will crumble into nothing.
Transmutation of Matter covers a wider array of techniques that can be anything from enhancing invocations to make up for the above weakness (e.g. amplifying heat until fire is as hot as the real thing, bolstering earth until it can maintain its structural integrity over time, block deadlier attacks, etc) to more sophisticated or esoteric things (turning one material into another, rebuilding a broken building, disintegrating a prison cell door, etc etc.)
In Pactbinder, we'll see more Invocation than Transmutation over the course of the story, since it's faster-casting and a more natural suit for the kinds of often-urgent situations where skill-checks are needed, but classroom scenes will be more focused around learning Transmutation - since that's what the university is trying to teach, versus the Pactbinder's shenanigans.
If Adelais hadn't awakened prematurely, would she still become a Spirit mage? Does she have an affinity for any other type of magic?
Good question! If Adelais' awakening to magic had happened in the ordinary way at Hightower, she would probably still choose to be a Spirit mage. She's not single-minded on this; I think she'd give any Mastery for which she had an affinity fair consideration and be tempted by each, but I think Spirit would win on balance for her.
I'm going to pull a tentative RAFO on which affinities (if any) the Antioch crew might have for other magics. It's admittedly not likely to be relevant for the Gifted crew in Pactbinder, but we know that very talented mages might be able to start pursuing a second Mastery after giving their Gift a year or two so to recover from their first awakening. So in the event there's a follow up story, it might be explored!
Is it spoilery if I ask what the antioch casts opinions of each other (and possibly the PB) are?
Great question. It's probably spoilery (and extremely complicated to answer, since it's effectively five sets of four opinions, not counting various PB permutations).
So I'll list one initial impression each Antioch member had regarding one of their collegemates, PB aside, and then how that impression has changed after the first couple of months of knowing each other...(aka these answers are current as of C3).
Finlay thought that Layla seemed genuine and nice but kind of exhausting when they first met. He still sort of thinks that, but he now values 'genuine and nice' a lot more (or, more accurately, better realizes that they are rarer virtues than he might have expected) after a few months at Hightower and being gawked at by the rest of the university, so he would now say Layla's good qualities significantly outweigh her negative ones.
Layla thought Eleanor seemed sort of nerdy and boring, but very nice, when they first met. She still thinks she's nerdy and very nice, but now that Ellie has actually started delving into Old Hightower in her free time, Layla also sort of thinks she might be kind of crazy, in a really low-key way? She can respect that; definitely not boring, at least.
Eleanor already knew Marcus, in the way that all the Gifted know of each other, and wasn't really friends with him. She perceived him as one of the 'cool kids' - despite Marcus' specific circumstances, the Elmgroves are pretty up there in terms of family wealth and prestige - but a bit of an edgy and rebellious one. Now she knows him...she likes him much more, he's kinder than she expected, but she hasn't totally changed her opinion - he's definitely as grumpy as she feared!
Marcus knew of Adelais by reputation / background and wasn't happy that she'd be at Antioch - both because of the whole murder accusation thing and because of how much negative attention she'd draw towards the college. After a few months, he finds that he likes her quite a bit - he appreciates and sort of envies her cool practicality. He's still not happy about the attention, but finds it hard to blame her now - especially with Finn, Layla and the PB drawing their fair share too...
Adelais thought that Finlay seemed funny to poke at. So earnest and sheltered, but kinda dopey! Like a big old panda bear. Adelais still thinks Finlay is funny to poke, and she definitely still thinks he's earnest and sheltered, but she doesn't think he's quite as dopey any more. He has been upgraded from normal panda to red panda. She might be quite fond of him, in her way.
As I'm tweaking how I play my PB because certain cast members demand bolder action, I'm realizing I'm playing a PB who already deeply loves and trusts (to a degree) the Antioch cast and keeps everyone else at a polite and aloof distance.
Something something, the Entity promises demigodhood and my PB is just like "only when it benefits my people :) otherwise I will be Hiding in the shadows thank you" haha
This one is a really fun dynamic and one I really wanted to be one of the core ways through the story - it's why I keep checking how the PB feels about their time with the test of Antioch!
Mind magic gives a degree of surface-thought reading at higher tiers of proficiency, but more secretive or mentally disciplined mages (just like the Pactbinder themseoves in C3!) are resistant to it, so it isn't quite going to feel like being Sidestep, unfortunately - much more situational!
A good thing too - imagine how much harder the Pactbinder's life could get...
Will we get more backstory on the MC in later chapters? How it all started for them and what lead them to the deal? We can already choose the motivation but I’m curious about their life before, family and all that
Soft spoiler (for C3) answer below cut
This has already slightly started! You can allude to the MC's family background when talking to Marcus.
Who knows if / when other people might ask personal questions...But I won't yet say how much more we can build out in the future, or how much of their past we'll see (if any).
I know that lightning is perceived as a pinnacle of Matter magic, but are there any other elements that a PB specializing in Matter can adopt as their signature? Kinda feels like we're copying Julian otherwise
Light mechanical spoiler / answer below cut.
The PB is always going to be a generalist when it comes to normal Matter combat abilities, picking the right tool for each job. So in combat, that'll be spears of fire, cutting arcs of wind, chunks of earth, etc.
Lightning isn't a core feature of Matter as a Mastery - it's a distinct and extremely rare technique. So if the Pactbinder has the opportunity to learn it, it would be an optional thing they'd have to spend free time on, rather than something they were forced into.
So there's absolutely no need to copy Julian, even for a Matter specialist, but the MC isn't likely to have a 'signature' element, either - it's something I did think about doing, but it didn't feel intuitively right for the magic system, I think. Most amateur duellists tend to focus on one or two elements, so I feel the MC being more flexible is their signature.
Hi so I was thinking, and it's just a request for the moment I'm not sure if it's the direction you're going for, but I'd actually like my Pactbinder to choose to hyperspecialise rather than diversify at least in first year. Being able to access multiple Masteries is a great perk but I wish I could see what would happen if they choose to instead devote even more time into their first Mastery. Can that be a choice?
Great question. Mechanics spoiler below cut; the short answer is that it is possible, but isn't as straightforward as just taking free time out to study a second Mastery in private.
The progression the Pactbinder gets with their initial Mastery is balanced around them being about as good at that Mastery as is possible at their level of experience at any point in time - they're always going to be top of their class, basically.
That's what they've paid for, and they'd hit some walls trying to push harder than that - it's technically possible, it would just be really inefficient and hit diminishing returns, since they'd be going so far ahead in the curriculum, then wasting time in subsequent classes re-learning stuff. I won't make that an option since it would be a balancing trap for players (and it wouldn't add much to the narrative, since the Pactbinder's already top of the class!)
But - there are advanced magical techniques that depend on high levels of skill with each Mastery, and those take time to learn too; the player may have already discovered the existence of one such skill over the course of C3.
So a single-Mastery specialist Pactbinder might be best served using their free time trying to discover those techniques, then learning them once they have the ability to do so - and of course, since they have more free time than other Pactbinders due to not burning loads of it learning another Mastery, it's easier for them to dedicate the time to finding these techniques and learning them.
NAME OF THE ROSE MENTION‼️‼️‼️ author i know you already mentioned some influences in the intro to Pactbinder but what are YOUR favorite books!!! if that’s too hard what’s the last book you read that you really enjoyed!!
I like most of the books that I've mentioned! Hard to call my favourite book, though. Brothers Karamazov is definitely on the shortlist, as is LOTR's Return of the King. I adore everything Robin Hobb writes, but in particular the Assassin books. I really like East of Eden. Pride and Prejudice, for the dialogue if nothing else. I find Mark Twain's short stories great despite not loving his more famous stuff. Love the first couple of Dune books.
TS Eliot's The Waste Land and The Hollow Men are perpetually on my mind, if poetry counts. Similarly, if playscripts count, I'm a great fan of the Importance of Being Earnest.
In terms of books that I've enjoyed reading lately - I re-read Brideshead Revisited for the first time in many years a few weeks ago, and found it as engaging as it was frustrating, as always. I also re-read Rebecca, and once again and as always was recaptured by its atmosphere. I read the Dublin Murder Squad stuff by Tana French for the first time, and really quite enjoyed most of them.
Aside from Egyptian Arabic and French (for Layla and Adelais, respectively), are the ROs fluent in any other languages?
Great question! I might revisit this answer someday, if others occur to me, but these are the languages I think each RO knows. All fluent in English, of course, so won't mention.
Marcus: Some French (basic proficiency) from his mother, a bit of German (barely capable of reading by now) from school.
Layla: Egyptian Arabic (native, of course), a tiny bit of French.
Finlay: Fluent in both Scots and Scottish Gaelic. Can read a bit of Latin, feels bad that he doesn't know more.
Eleanor: A bit of French and German from school, but that's about it. Can still read in French but finds it tough going. Always wanted to try learning standardized Mandarin but never made the time.
Adelais: French (native), Latin (good reader), Russian (reasonably proficiency, self-taught, reading-only. Only picked it up to read Russian literature natively). If programming languages count, she's decent with Python and good at MATLAB, too... She'd like to get better at Russian and learn more languages, but it's not at the top of her priority list at the moment.
