These are the rules governing a non-magic user attempting to pass through MUI doors. Members can walk straight in; non-members who are still magic users should pause for a moment at the door so it can read them. There are no guards, but there is a sign advising this posted in front of every door: a simple white sign with bold black letters, attached to a shiny brass stand that's about standard eye height for an average human male. Once proof of magic use is established, entry is granted with no problem. These rules are in effect on every single outside door of this building, though you see the effects most often at the front doors.
All non-magic users who wish entry must either have the special talisman that marks them as a guest of the Institute or suffer the consequence. In order to obtain a talisman, a MUI member must enter the Institute and get one from Information, the large desk just inside the main lobby on the other side of the front doors, and then return outside to give it to their guest. Only MUI members can do this; no talisman will be granted to just any ol' magic user wandering in off the street.
The talisman are about the size of a half-dollar coin, silver, with a polished ruby in the middle. Close inspection will note the MUI crest suspended in the center of the gem. Various important looking runes decorate the silver rim. The talisman's mostly flash, meant to impress the visitors wearing them, but they do provide entrance to the building and to the basic level libraries. The talisman also allows access to certain other rooms, but denies entrance to others, though with no consequence except that the door will not open for the visitor.
A MUI member can have up to four visitors at a time, and while they can wander the building with no problem, it's expected that they'll stick close to the member who brought them in. The talisman must be worn about the neck at all times in order to work; being in a pocket, around a waist, anywhere else except around the neck will render the talisman worthless. This means that all doors inside the building will remain closed and unable to be opened by the visitor, and also usually means that the guards inside the building will stop the visitor and ask to see the talisman. A stern warning to keep the talisman around the neck will follow; the guards won't leave the trespasser alone until the talisman is back where it belongs.
The talisman must be returned to Information before the visitor leaves; going out doesn't require any special protections, only coming in. It's standard operating procedure for the member and his/her visitors to walk up together to the Information desk so the staff member working the desk can visually verify that all guests are still with the member and not wandering idly about the building. The visitors remove the talisman and hand them to the member, who returns them to the desk staff, and then all immediately exit the building via the front doors. Again, this is not required, but it is the generally expected behavior, and anything else may draw suspicion and questioning. Remember that the Institute is deeply invested in maintaining the mystery of magic users and in protecting its secrets from outsiders.
Any attempt to enter the Magic Users' Institute without being a magic user or wearing a talisman will subject the visitor to a strong psychic and physical backlash: the intruder will be thrown back from the door (usually not far enough to throw them down the steps, but they'll hit the marble platform hard), and will suffer a -1 to their Mind stat (and thus all Mind-derived stats) for 12 hours. One hell of a migraine, that. There is usually no physical stat penalty, though, depending on the character, appropriate roleplaying may be required: if your character has a bad back or bruises easily, you should act accordingly.
When this happens, the sign outside the doors, which normally read
will then change to read
for about 30 seconds before fading back into its regular text. If the visitor tries twice more (and each attempt will lower the Mind stat by another -1), the sign will then read
before fading back again. A fourth attempt will knock ANYONE trying it out cold for a period of an hour, at which point, their -4 to Mind and all Mind-derived stats will kick in for the next 11 hours. However, it should be noted that unconscious or dead bodies CAN pass through the Institute's doors without a talisman, even if they are not (or were not) magic users. If possible, obtain a talisman for any unconscious party members inside, so that they're not hassled by the guards once they revive.
For that matter, impatient magic users who don't wait the requested 30 seconds have been known to be knocked back also, with the same consequences (-1 penalty for 12 hours, mocking sign) as a non-magic user. However, having made contact with the doors, no further waiting period is required before they can gain entrance, though the migraine doesn't ease any earlier than it would for anyone else.
Magical Auras
For that matter, all outer doors and the visitors' talisman will "glow" green and gold (as they're enchanted with an Elemental/Spirit combination), and the signs outside the doors will glow mostly gold, tinged with some black (for the mocking). An Unholy user would only be able to see the slight black tinge to the signs, and a Spirit user would only see the golden glow to the sign. Only someone who'd studied both Unholy and Spirit magic would see both. The Information Desk, Membership Office, and other administrative posts have no glow inherently associated with them, though certain items or persons may demonstrate different auras. The membership tags, despite being obviously magical, not only give off no aura or feeling whatsoever, but also seem to push away other auras surrounding them, though a member wearing their tag won't feel anything at all.
.:~Magic Users' Institute Main Page~:.
Entry granted only to members, magic users, and certified guests of members. If you are a magic user, please pause outside the doors for 30 seconds, then enter. Any attempt to enter outside of these circumstances will be repelled by force.
Told You So.
You don't learn, do you?
Various doors inside the Institute will give off auras of different types of magic, discernible to magicians of that type (for example, a certain door looks normal to the non-magic user, the Holy user, and the Spirit user in the group, but the Unholy user will see a sort of black "glow" around the outline of the door). These auras are markers, and nothing more, to mark the sort of experimentation that goes on on the other side. There are signs on some of the more dangerous or classified doors that spell out warnings, but most doors are only marked with floor and room numbers.
.:~Main Index~:.