Magical Girl Roadtrip Draft

Magical Girl Roadtrip-1

A modern day world where troubled magical girls and boys receive the power of an ancient knight who yearned for peace. Traveling the roads of their world and now beyond, they fight monsters known as Waysiders that prey on travelers and the lost using the magic of the heart as well as the bonds of friendship.

The Earth of the Roadtrip world is a modern one, set in roughly 2015. Here, magic is a thing of legends yet all around if one's heart is open to it. An ancient Knight known as the Knight of the Road roamed the world in ancient times to right wrongs, defeat monsters, and bring peace to the land. Rejecting others out of fear for their safety, the Knight of the Road's own heart became weary, lonely, and unfulfilled as they pushed away those who would be their friend. A great Black Dragon arose from these feelings, and the two destroyed each other. The magic of the Knight and the Despair of the Black Dragon spread throughout the world due to their twin prayers, and thus the Road Knights were born.

These magical girls and boys are all independent wanderers that travel the roads of the world linked by hidden magical stops called Lost Waystations. Each one is driven by a particular trouble or conflict deep within their heart that both motivates and complicates their lives. They have the ability to fight and banish evil supernatural monsters called Waysiders that form from the Despair of people and places that have have overwhelmed an area. Preying on lost travelers, Waysiders endlessly reform unless the root cause of their existence is removed, or banished by a Road Knight and their companions known as a Traveler's Club. Should true bonds of love and friendship form, they are even able to defeat Dragons that form from the heart of the Club's members should they fall to hopelessness and despair.

Road Knights, Wayfarers, and the idea of magic at large is considered a myth. Most people dismiss them as tales, or outright fiction. Only a few surviving victims saved by Road Knights help circulate the idea that magic is alive and well. With the blossoming of the world, the mundane people of Roadtrip Earth are stubbornly as dismissive and wary of anything that is beyond their simple idea of science and rationality. While world leaders will come to grips with and no doubt reap some benefits, for now travelers from the World Tree are viewed with suspicion at best.

The exception of course is the Road Knights themselves, and those that stumble upon the Lost Waysides. Travelers from the World Tree can see and enter the Lost Waysides, and indeed most Vines are part of the Wayside itself due to the powerful presence of the retired Road Knights that maintain them. Thus it's remarkably easy for the curious and lost to find their way to these spots of rest, recovery, and meeting the scattered souls that roam the roads.

Yet so too can a particularly powerful Waysider be drawn near a Vine not near a Lost Wayside, a dire threat for those unprepared to face their fury.

The Legend of the Knight of the Road
A legend spread amongst travelers is that of the Knight of the Road. Their name, where they came from, or why they chose to begin traveling the roads of the world change with every telling. Some say it was a great personal tragedy. Some say it was forbidden romance. But the journey itself is always the same: the knight saw the troubles of the world's people, and with their magic sword and steed set out to bring peace. Wherever they went, the knight's skill in battle, diplomacy, law, and wisdom was unmatched. Bandits were caught without blood spilled, then given fair trials. With wisdom and love, criminals and victims found forgiveness and acceptance. Outcasts were found families and homes. Even the broken and insane were healed through friendship and compassion. So great were the Knight's feats, that every culture in the world where even a single road was laid knew this kind knight's touch passed down as thousands of tales that became split over time.

Yet the knight of the road still felt empty. Something was missing. Adored and loved by all, even those that were once enemies, the Knight pushed away those who would be friends and traveling companions for fear the endless journey would bring them to harm. The Knight of the Road grew weary in their heart. Born from the resentments of friends left behind and their own lonely heart, a great black dragon emerged. The two clashed for a year without end before mortal blows were traded. Before losing sight, the Knight looked at their enemy and finally understood that they simply wanted a friend.

Knight and Dragon passed, but their magic did not leave this world. Spreading across the Earth, the Knight's magic came to troubled young souls with the pure desire to change the world for the better, and the courage to fight monsters. With the last prayer of the Knight, they wished for all those brave hearts to travel and find the hope, love, and true friends that would allow them to defeat their very own Dragon.

Road Knights
Thus were born the Road Knights. Unseen by most, a few young individuals would grasp the torch of the original Knight's magic, granting them a magic steed and weapon to fight the spirits of the dead Dragon created by the troubles and pain of travelers and civilians that die without hope. These magical monsters began to be known as Waysiders, for their habit of attacking lost people on the side of roads. They can be anywhere from as young as fourteen, and some have even continued their journey into their early twenties. However, the dangers of the road, magical and mundane, usually means that many are either felled quickly or resolve themselves and pass on their magic to others.

Each Road Knight has a magic item that allows them to summon their Steed and Knight's Blade, either given to them by a Road Knight whose fight has ended or is about to fall in battle, or by making a pure wish to protect the Innocent and yearn to solve a personal conflict. By calling out the name of their Steed and Knight's blade, these young men and women become superhuman magical warriors giving them the ability to stand toe to toe with supernatural monsters through the magic of their heart.

A Road Knight names their weapon after something they hold dear or wish to protect, a wish, yearning, or conflict that drives them on a path of constant travel and fighting against horrors of the Waysiders. Motivations of each Road Knight are always personal in the extreme always being an inner trouble or conflict. This can be as simple as wishing to be loved, or as complex as a quest for inner peace. All are flawed people hurting in some way and the journey is a hard one. Some are quiet melancholy knights, others are raging hot-blooded fighters, but their personalities always have an independent streak with deep wanderlust. The open road is their calling, for adventure, to protect others, and to discover themselves.

Abilities, Steed, and Knight's Blade
Each Road Knight is a powerful magical warrior. When transformed, they go from ordinary young men and women into superhuman fighters able to cleave through stone, leap high into the air, and other such magical feats common to the genre. They also have supernatural senses, being able to sense nearby Waysiders as well as similar creatures should they step offworld.
Their Knight's Blade can be anything from a medieval sword, to a powerful shotgun, or even stranger weapons like chainsaws. Once chosen and named, they keep this form until the Knight falls or their pass on their duty. These weapons can generate blasts of energy and wreathe themselves in magic in order to destroy Waysiders, each Knight giving their abilities a name they call out based on the name of their Blade. For example, a Knight's Blade based on love may use an energy blast called 'Lovely Eruption' or a Blade based on peace might have a banishment ability named 'Calming Restoration'.

These weapons cannot do lasting damage to sentient people or living beings. Striking down a person simply knocks them out and upon awakening often gives them a feeling of a strong hangover. True monsters, evil forces of nature, and those few individuals that truly cannot be redeemed however can be banished by a Knight's Blade.

Similarly their Steed can take the form of a metallic riding animal or more often stylized personal vehicles. They are never larger than a pickup truck and always at least the size of a motorcycle. These vehicles never break down, never need refueling, and can travel in even the worst of conditions such as blizzards, pouring rain, and other such hazards untouched along with their rider and any passengers on their Steed. This can be conferred to a single other vehicle by a Road Knight so long as they concentrate and remain with their traveling partner.

Both Blade and Steed are dismissed when the Road Knight untransforms, forming into their chosen magic item known as a Crest: anything from a wand, to a necklace, or a ring, so long as it's small and personal to them.
It is possible for someone mundane from the World Tree with the appropriate pure wish, trouble, and age to become a Road Knight if their heart is in the right state and isn't already claimed by some magic or cause. The Knight of the Road's scattered magic is loving, and will embrace any who would take up a Crest. This would require an upgrade application.
Waysiders, Dragons, and Lost Waystations

Waysiders are magical monsters created by the magic of the original Black Dragon that arose from the Knight of the Road in legend. They form around places where deep misery, despair, abuse, suicide or conflict occurs. Most often, they rise from people whose problems sink them into despair. Their forms can be either animal, or human in shape, but they share a certain look: black, whispy bodies like smoke, golden weapons or claws and teeth, and dark red eyes. Depending on just how powerful the despair that created them is, they can become as large as buildings. Their physical and magical power varies just as wildly. No mundane means of the Roadtrip world can harm them, but those outside of the world can harm them as easily as a Road Knight.

Waysiders can be beaten by those with the proper means physically, but this does not remove their threat. A Waysider will reform endlessly unless either the root cause of the despair in the area is ended, a Road Knight uses their banishing abilities to defeat them, or those from the World Tree with similar cleansing abilities helps finish them. Some Waysiders are so strong that no single Road Knight can beat them, and so often times a Trip consisting of multiple Road Knights will be formed to tackle the problem.

Should the group come to work well together and join forces? They will form more permanent groups known as a Traveler's Club, taking up a name for the group, riding together, and tackling the strongest of Waysiders together. These Clubs however often disband, as the members' problems can easily drive them apart. However, should the Club stand strong, their combined Banishment is far more powerful than the sum of their parts as the heart's magic grows stronger with love and friendship.
The defining wish or inner conflict that dwells within a Road Knight is referred to as a Dragon. This dark aspect of their heart's magic can manifest into a powerful Waysider should a Road Knight lose hope in the world and the thing they wish to overcome. This Dragon cannot hope to be defeated by the Knight who spawned it, and will stop at nothing to destroy them. It can be banished, but once it manifests, the Road Knight loses their powers until they find hope in the world and their inner self once again. Only friendship, love, and a Club of the strongest bonds can bring their wayward Knight to fight again, together finding victory even over the Dragon. A Road Knight whose Dragon is banished gains access to a powerful form known as a White Dragon channeling the strength and skill of the original Knight of the Road.

With such troubled and independent souls, Road Knights are often alone. Yet not all Waysiders can be felled by a single Road Knight. Thus all across the world there exists gathering places hidden by magic from normal civilians called Lost Waystations. Looking akin to rest stops and biker bars, they serve as hotel, restaurant, and tavern all as one. Serving magic restorative drinks called Wanderer's Ale and being anathema to the touch of Waysiders, this is one of few places Road Knights can call a safe home. Staffed by a single former Road Knight that has finished their question against their inner conflict, they act as mentors, guides, and friend to any who enter. Those outside of the world of Magical Road Trip can see and enter these Lost Waystations. So too can those with the potential to become Road Knights pierce the veil and enter.