Course of Temptation AU -> Astray AU (What I’m calling it)
LONG POST
current / second (link will be added later)
(Disclaimer : I am not involving myself with the game I was playing before, I’m taking aspects I liked from it to make an AU/story setting for my OCs in COT. I will be sticking to the themes that COT has and nothing more extreme than that.)
First of all, what is the origin of the supernatural in this AU?
This small college town has always attracted the strange, does not matter what kind. Cults have risen and fallen, groups of travelers throughout time have gone missing, and things beyond human seem to come into being. The ‘Elk’ that now representative of the college was once more than just a mascot. It was a being miles high with horns stretching like a tree canopy. This is its land and even if it no longer stands if you are so unlucky as to trip into a small pocket in the mountains you will find yourself in a cave that had been hidden by vines. Finding this massive ‘Elk’ lying within a biological tomb of its own making. Everything looks like plants and vegetation yet it all pulses like flesh. Looking at it is the last thing you will do as you are altered beyond recognition.
Why doesn’t anyone notice these strange things?
There are humans being strange — then theirs the straight up creatures. How does no one notice these creatures?
Well, you need some amount of mana in your body to be able to even perceive beyond your limited world. Magic curtain basically. If you gain mana the first things you’d see are beings in the common category. Above that level the beings use their own magic as an extra layer to protect their actual forms, you either need to gain a lot of mana to brute force perception or become very skilled with the mana you have. Gaining or becoming skilled gets harder for each level. (Witches look like normal humans but it’s easier to see them performing magic when you get better perception.)
‘Extinct’ beings like the ‘Elk’ make their own magic pockets within the world so they aren’t really near humans or beings that often. Generally even with the curtain that obscures magical things people without magical perception will be able to see their true forms. Their areas aren’t easy to get into so anyone that ends up in one by accident or on purpose is very unlucky. It’s eldritch horror is what I’m saying.
What kinds of beings exist in the area? (More detail on these beings will be in a different post, I will edit a link into here when I write it. Some creatures will be referred to by what they are and not the names I will be giving them later on just so it’s more clear what they are.)
Common (beings found within the human population of town/interact a lot with humans) : Minor demonic beings, dream entities, dust sprites
Uncommon (live within town but generally avoid interaction when possible) : Mimics, spider spirits, love bugs, shapeshifters (large category for multiple different beings), witches
Rare (interact with humans still but not in typical social interactions or places) : Holy beings, the success shrine spirit, mind leeches
Very Rare (into the wilderness) : Werewolf, fae, siren, fire light spirits, shadow stalkers
Extremely Rare (if your interacting with them you messed up some how) : Vampires, higher fae, tainted humans, homuncules
Unique (Only one of this type of beings live in the area but aren’t part of the old growth) : Naga, minor god, kitsune, sealed amalgamation, the vengeful creation (controller of homuncules)
‘Extinct’ (Or old growth) : The ‘Elk’, The Watching Star (God of offering), Sentinel (God of preservation). 
Magical items?
Anything you find in town is super low level and you’d need to wear like 15 magic jewelry pieces to even have enough magic to perceive the common level beings. Using magic objects as your source means you have to wear them at all the time since you aren’t absorbing the magic in them. They have their own uses/functions outside of being able to use the mana. Its use can be up to you to imagination since there are loads of em.
What about stuff stronger than that? That be character specific or very important since magical beings use stronger ones that they don’t let easily fall into human hands. Witch items are different from magical items used by beings.
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Fun lore note: Sentinel was once called ‘The hands that pickle’ by a smaller group that once worshipped it. It enjoys pickled things as offerings because this group introduced the concept to it.
