Adventure Hook: Wounded Mage

[Tallor]

Long ago, during the Orc Wars, a mage named Alex "Stonewall" Anders was supporting their bretheren on the battlefield, providing impenetrable shields for the attacking forces. They were making siege on a settlement they had lost earlier in their campaign, and morale was high--they were close to pulling the noose on the High Chieftain himself, who was waiting on the walls.

In their haste, the mage forgot to shield themselves, and was hit in the heart by a stray arrow.

By sheer luck and the quick work of combat-expedient surgery, Alex the Mage survived, but a shard of the arrow had broken off and was dangerously close to their heart. Worse, it was no ordinary arrowhead, but one made from nullmetal of the deepest orc mines, where magic cannot survive.

The nullmetal shard penalized all magic on the mage, including the mage's own. Neither the magics of humans nor the blessings of clerics could remove the shard without killing them.

The once-powerful mage has been in a slump ever since, retired and unable to continue their field work due to the constant penalty on their magical powers. However, a local group of would-be mages, well-read on Alex Anders' exceptional heroism and magery, banded together as a sort of fan club, and began collecting every splinter of information regarding nonmagical trauma surgery. Although they don't have the skills themselves, they know the locations of a few artifacts and supernatural ingredients that could keep Alex stable while a master surgeon removes the nullmetal shard using traditional methods.

Now they just need a team of heroes to make the journey to collect them.

[simply Nathan]

Okay, I am legitimately curious. Why is the singular mage referred to with plural pronouns?

[Tallor]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

Okay, I am legitimately curious. Why is the singular mage referred to with plural pronouns?

Gender neutrality!

[Anaraxes]

Presumably "Alex" is meant to be an ambiguous name as well.

Here, the confusion is particularly painful because there is an actual plural in the story from the very first sentence, the mages as a group. They were laying siege to a town they had lost. So thereafter, it's unclear whether the antecedent for a "they" is meant to be the mages or Alex.

[DeathDaisy]

I really like that hook, I'll make sure to save it for later use!

and except for the second paragraph I don't think there's that much room for confusion, "they" is an established use for undefined gender singular.

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by DeathDaisy

I really like that hook, I'll make sure to save it for later use!

and except for the second paragraph I don't think there's that much room for confusion, "they" is an established use for undefined gender singular.

The problem comes when there is a defined (and even named!) subject but the undefined gender singular "they" is still used. It's a very unusual situation except on Saturday Night Live.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Presumably "Alex" is meant to be an ambiguous name as well.

Here, the confusion is particularly painful because there is an actual plural in the story from the very first sentence, the mages as a group. They were laying siege to a town they had lost. So thereafter, it's unclear whether the antecedent for a "they" is meant to be the mages or Alex.

"They" is a perfectly acceptable singular neutral term.

Or it was until the mid 18th century. Damned British Parliament!

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

"They" is a perfectly acceptable singular neutral term.

Or it was until the mid 18th century. Damned British Parliament!

I prefer "he" as the neutral term since it sounds nicer, personally. It always feels weird to see a single person referred to as a group IME

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Tallor

Gender neutrality!

Not seeing the benefit here, actually.