What if: Ilvermorny

[Admin Sora]

Okay y'all! So I'm super curious. We've learned a lot about the North American school the past year or so, and I don't think I'm alone in wondering what life must be like there and what the students are like. Being a roleplayer it also makes me wonder what sort of character(a) I'd write about if I ever did rp Ilvermorny.

So! This is just a fun discussion thread to share the ideas we've all had, because why not? Like what sort of character would you play? Where would they be from? Who would you use as a playby? Whatever the heck you want!


One idea I had quite a while ago was an Alaskan kid who was from the far northern part of the state, the ones you can only get to by plane and are still very much tribal run and such. It'd be interesting to see how magic would change their way of living up there. Like maybe there is actually a small magical town, since it's so isolated! Obviously I'd use a Native American (or someone that can pass as Native American playby) like Tanaya Beatty.

Another idea I had would be an older gentleman, also Native American from Arizona or New Mexico who teaches something like 'Shamanism' at the school. (No idea what the subject might be but I feel like it's possible they'd teach something about Native American magic in the states!). I'd probably use Adam Beach.

Since we don't know a lot about Ilvermorny obviously it leaves a lot up to the imagination!

[Deleted]

I've been playing this game since I joined.

[Admin Sora]

Well play it again!!!

[ADMIN DEE]

I am HERE for this.

So I would 100% want to use Sebastian Stan as an American from NYC because why not, and make him a descendant of Percival Graves. So, probably an Auror for MACUSA and a former Pukwudgie because Pukwudgie pride, y'all.

Another idea I have would be to use Dwayne the Rock Johnson as a professor at Ilvermorny. Obviously he's got some Polynesian roots, so maybe he'd be from Hawaii or something. I'm thinking since the Rock is so massive, he'd probably be a DADA teacher or something. Imagine an American version of Neville Longbottom but like 10x more badass, if that's even possible.

[Other TJ]

Fine I guess.


One idea I've had since some of us were joking about it in Cbox one night is some dark wizard. Not in the sense of hating on blood status or muggles but more illegal dark activities. Smuggling illegal items and animals. Owns some dark underground club somewhere in London for all this dark activities. (Underground house-elf fighting.) Maybe some American mob connection as well trying to branch out into London with all the purifier talk going on. He grew up in American and during his time at Ilvermorny was pretty much the evil Newt or Hagrid of the school. Probably expelled from the school for going too far at one point.

Played by Jesse eisenburg while he was playing Lex Luthor.

[COLIN!]

i'm down for illegal house elf fight club


also, I always imagined that a lot of their schooling has to do with more natural forms of magic, considering native american and voodoo magics that we know about. while the school was built on the european values, it's also still america, and different kinds finding their way in seems possible. i like to think that black market trading and shady dealings is a huge problem in major cities, and that voodoo is still a super exclusive club :3

[Admin Sora]

A few more ideas. A few of the ideas I've had are slightly based off of people and stories I've heard in real life, but obviously changed. They were just based to expand on.

So this one would be an almost stereotypical Italian family that immigrated to the US, probably the grandparents who opened a restaurant. Probably had tons of kids, and likewise the character had tons of siblings. The character would be a third generation American, and Halfblood . The grandparents are very traditional and set in their ways. Their father married an American witch ( that the grandparents dislike even to this day), and he got a nice surprise when he found out. All the kids obviously inherited magic and basically the family has a grand old time trying to ensure grandma and grandpa don't find out because if they can't accept their dad marrying a non-Italian they really won't like her being a witch and passing it on! I'd probably use Mimi Elashiry.

The American dreamer type story. The father is from Africa (I'd say Ghana or somewhere) that grew up in a pretty poor area and poor lifestyle. He managed to come over to the United States for university on a full ride scholarship (cause he's probably some awesome genius) and got citizenship eventually, married, and basically lived the American dream. The character is no-maj born, but their parents are super supportive of it because of her father's experience in entering a foreign world. Cora Emmanuel, or Sira Kante.

[Admin Sora]

Gosh guys, am I the only one with character ideas? Bahaha!


So more ideas. First I would use Nam Joo Hyuk. Basically the idea behind him would be an awkward foreigner. Like he was born and raised in Korea, but his family immigrated to the states last year. All he really knew about the USA before the move was what he's learned from tv, so he really doesn't understand the culture or anything really about normal life and that gets him into quite a bit of trouble, obviously! Basically he's always putting his foot in his mouth and saying things he shouldn't, and stereotyping everyone.

Another idea would use Lee Sung Kyung, and she'd be sort of the stereotypical 'grew up on the wrong side of the tracks'. Basically she's grown up in a pretty bad part of town, with half a dozen siblings all from different fathers because her mother works as a prostitute. So I envision her as very mature for her age because she's had to care for all of her younger half-siblings. She's obviously never had much in life and what she has had she's had to fight for. So she' extremely hard working and takes on every challenge that comes her way head on.

[Other TJ]

Not so much a character idea but something funny I realized while re-reading Ilvermorny stuff for Daniel.

Gaunt blood and by an extension Slytherin's blood is possibly still around in America. It'd be mostly mixed with No-maj so there isn't a way this would really come up. Isolt was from the Gaunt families disowned daughter. She had twins, a witch and a no-maj. The witch never had children wanting to rid the world of the gaunt blood line but the story didn't say anything of the other daughter who went to marry and live with her husband in an Indian tribe.

Just something funny I always thought about since I read it. Also secret excuse to have an American Parseltongue.

[Deleted]

Late to the party, but:

Child of really famous movie stars/singers/ TV icons (Taylor Swift’s kids with whomever, Harrison Ford’s descendants, etc.)

Child stars (current Disney/nickelodeon actors that film on holidays/young musicians who have already hit it big)

Similar to the above - Californian kids who feel displaced in the strange new weather and East Coast manorisms (see movie “Wild Child” for more inspiration)

Alaskan girl who stress fishes (this one might just be me…)

Along with above: native Alaskan culture. The idea of Sila (The breath of the world) and other stories and philosophies that differ slightly from the native teachings and ideals of the lower 48 tribes

We could go along with the “Twilight” idea of vampires living in the PNW and vampire/wizard children.

@luke’s siblings

[Deleted]

• All those folks from the South or the West Coast or whatever who don't do snow and have become REALLY good at warming charms to compensate.
• The total stereotypical Californian No-Maj-born rich girl (like... Elle Woods or Cher from Clueless stereotypical) who is top of the pack back home, but is totally out of her depth at Ilvermorny where she's starting from scratch.
  
• The Hogwarts transfer student who is... kind of obnoxious about it, to be honest. They point out that Ilvermorny's traditions are cribbed off of Hogwarts's at about every point, and it's annoying, BUT they're British, and that's enough that they've made a few friends, because there is always an Anglophile. 
• The West Coast kids who complain about jet lag (portkey lag?) at the beginning of each semester and everyone just rolls their eyes.
• The Prairie kid who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'hill' until they get to Ilvermorny.
• The Silicon Valley No-Maj-born kid who does not know how to handle not having their computer/smartphone/whatever at school. They'll have invented their way around it by the time they graduate, but struggle to find anyone to back their product and get them to market, in no small part due to the Statute of Secrecy. Either ends up in jail for violating it, or becomes a No-Maj Studies professor instead.
• That one kid who is obsessed with American Football or baseball and can't get his classmates to play with him because they just want to play Quodpot.

And because there are varying opinions on whether Canada is in Ilvermorny's catchment:

• Canada does remote like pretty much nowhere else in the world, and there are more than a few communities that are fly-in only, or ice-road access, or one-ship-a-year, or... seriously remote. SO, someone from those communities (probably no-Maj-born) who flips out at the discovery of the Floo and Portkeys and Apparition because that can help solve that problem and make their communities lives better, only to be stymied by the Statute of Secrecy.
• Or on the same theme, someone from a small Wizarding-only community, which is very neatly protected by the fact that the only way to get there is by Wizarding transport, and who goes to Ilvermorny and is exposed to No-Maj culture in a new way and is absolutely captivated.
• The Francophones who just like... build their little French club and are happy to help you learn French but sometimes they just want to speak their home language. I see it as a mix of immigrants from French-speaking countries in Africa and the Carribbean, Quebecois and other Franco-Canadiens, and such, so their French is a unique blend of all these different origins and accents and idioms to the point that it's literally been called 'Ilvermorny Creole'.

... i did not expect that to be that long, oops