Want it? Have it. Love it? Keep it. Why be without when you can be an Optimist.
Overview: The Optimists are conjurers and necromancers, idealists and realists, bureaucrats and believers. They don’t want to stop the Unraveling. They want to outlive it. Their mission is simple to say and impossible to execute: build a new world before this one collapses. Conjure safety. Preserve memory. Escape with grace.
From the ivory towers of Plate 1 to the welfare conjuring stations on Plate 5, the Optimists are everywhere resources flow. Join them, and you’ll never want again. Join them, and your children might have a tomorrow.
Philosophy: The Unraveling isn’t a war to be won. It’s a deadline. The Optimists believe in a future, just not this one. Through a massive magical initiative called The Tomorrow Project, they are constructing an entirely new plane of existence. Their conjurers generate the scaffolding. Their necromancers bind it with memory. When it’s ready, those deemed worthy will leave this world behind.
Is that cowardice? Salvation? Or just realism with better branding?
Figures: At the heart of the Optimists is Grand Magus Matilda R. Brightside, a halfling sorcerer-lich and the city’s most beloved political figure. Born into poverty on Plate 5, she rose to power not by being the smartest, but by being the one who smiled, baked cookies, and survived. Her charm is legendary. Her control is absolute.
Supporting her is Dr. Voxcanius Jon, the chief arcanoengineer of the Tomorrow Project, a brilliant conjuration wizard obsessed with structural spell integrity and metaphysical load balancing. Matilda conjures dreams. Cael makes them not collapse.
Projects: The Tomorrow Project is the crown jewel and quiet panic of the Optimists. It’s expensive, unstable, and half-working. But it’s the plan. In the meantime, the Optimists run conjuration-fed welfare hubs, necromantic hospice programs, and elite educational institutions.
The Optimists do what they can to uplift the city when they can.
Plate Relations: They rule Plates 1 and 2 with wealth, smiles, and soft power. On Plate 3, they’re the aspirational elite. On Plates 5 and 6, they’re the system that sometimes sends free bread and sometimes forgets you exist. They control funding, research, and nearly all conjuration-based infrastructure.
They helped put Sutherland Dash and the new Paragons in power. They still need him to buy time. But they plan to leave him behind. And while they insist they respect the New Faith of Plate 6, Matilda has a paladin friend, after all, divine magic remains banned on Plate 2 and heavily regulated on Plate 3. It’s not prejudice. It’s policy.
Magic Affiliation Conjuration and Necromancy, the future and the past. They conjure buildings, supplies, even artificial memories. Their necromancers don’t raise armies, they bottle identity, preserve minds, and offer “graceful exits.” To the Optimists, magic isn’t a weapon. It’s a migration tool.
Example Hooks
- You grew up with nothing. They conjured something. Now you want in.
- You lost someone. Their necromancers helped you remember them forever.
- You saw the Unraveling once, and believe in the Tomorrow project.
- Mechanical Hook: Ideal for Conjurers, Necromancers, Wizards of means or ambition, or Sorcerers looking for institutional legitimacy.
- You’ll never be alone on the battlefield or adventuring when their level 1 feat options let you choose between an unusually skilled familiar or the power to keep allies up.
- Tone / Aesthetic
- Smells like: lemon disinfectant, conjured coffee, ozone and lavender
- Sounds like: arcane startup chimes, diplomatic jazz, softly repeating affirmations
- Feels like: calm you didn’t ask for
- Symbols: gold circle over open hands, spectral dove, white robes, pastel shirts and teal gloves.
Secrets & Subtext
- The Tomorrow Project isn’t ready.
- They are deathly Xenophobic of the return of Divine Magic to the city.
- Matilda’s greatest flaw? She doesn’t understand the banned magics we might just need.
- On the other end of the spectrum Lucien Jr, a preening Aarakrokra necromancer and Plate 1 elite, is the loudest voice in a new Optimist movement tired of Matilda’s… optimism and generosity.