#mosas

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WIP Introduction: Magicians of Sky and Sea

[Image Description: a collage of six images. On the upper left side, a photo showing the sunset on clouds. Under it, a photo of the sea and a photo of a forest. On the lower right side, a photo showing a green-colored sea. Above it, a photo of a girl dressed as a witch with her back towards the viewer, looking at a landscape; and a photo of the sky with clouds. End Image Description.]

Disclaimer: some things are not final, and they are prone to change.

Progress: first draft in progress.

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Title: Magicians of Sky and Sea (MoSaS)

Genre: Fantasy / Coming of age / Slice-of-life / Adventure

Themes: Friendship / Travelling / Insecurities about the future / Relationship with nature / Passage of time / Found Family / Healing past broken connections

Setting: the world of Atosk, a world with a floating continent. Four races dwell in here: the navari, the krekna, the torenden and the swamp dragons.

Summary: In the world of Esner, magic is commonplace. However, higher studies of magic are followed only by those who truly wish to do so: the Magicians. In order to become a Magician, you must pass an exam: be sent in the world of Atosk and forge pacts with the Spirits of the World that dwell in there. After all, it’s the only way to learn how to open a portal to return back home.

Zephyr is a fledgling Magician who has spent two years in Atosk already, getting ready to depart for her exam with her animal companion, the gryphon Gale. However, on the day before her depart, she gets told that another Magician has arrived in the village she resides in. Zephyr meets Floria, a girl who absolutely isn’t a Magician, who absolutely isn’t supposed to be there, but who is absolutely adamant on meeting the Spirit of the Stars.

But the journey isn’t easy. Some Spirits can be demanding and wary of outsiders, and inner doubts can have much greater effect that the Magicians take account for. Between merchants obsessed with glass, the Spirit of the Fauna that never stops inviting people over for tea, counterfeit magic gardens and other Magicians that just prefer to have a good time, Zephyr and her friends are pretty sure to have the adventure of a lifetime.

@odyssCharacters:

Zephyr: the main character. A 17-year old apprentice Magician who has been living in Atosk for two years, living as an apothecary. She is from the Suant School. She has a natural talent for Floral and Plant Magic. Highly impulsive and energetic, it wouldn’t be wrong to define her as an hurricane.

Gale: Zephyr’s 6-years old animal companion, a blue talking gryphon. Born from an egg that literally fell from the sky, he has been searching for his origins ever since. Calm and collected, but pretty aloof unless you get to know him.

Floria: a 18-years old girl who bribed a Spirit to get to Atosk. Quite adaptable, she never wished for an adventure but she thought it was time to settle some things. However, she can be extremely shy and too passive for her own good.

Sorun: 17-years old apprentice Magician from the Crestenford School. Has a natural talent for Animal Magic. She’s been living in Atosk for quite some time already, working as an animal doctor. Extremely dependable and thoughtful person, although deep down she’s fairly lazy. Unlike other Schools, Crestenford Magicians don’t have an animal companion.

Sylvan: 19-years old apprentice Magician from the Suant School. Still looking for his Talent (...or is he?). From a revered family of Magicians, Sylvan only wishes to uphold the dignity of his name. The giant bird Garun is his animal companion. Quite cocky and arrogant, however his wishes are genuine.

Scarlet: 16-years old Magician from the Suant School, and Zephyr’s rival (at least, that’s what Zephyr thinks). She has a natural talent for Wind Magic. She travels with the dragon Orba, her animal companion. She doesn’t come from a family of Magicians, and decided to become one to fulfill her dream. Mainly a loner, she however genuinely enjoys the company of people she grows affectionate to.

Belfi: 16-years old Quorri Magician. He’s royalty and everybody knows it, but he swears he’s a commoner. He decided to partake in the exam, despite it being rare among his race, in order to get a taste of freedom (his words). He travels with the flying lizard Azmer. He has a talent for Thunder Magic.

Taglist:

@dragonstoravens @timefirewrites @stardustandsun   @calcographer

@viawrites-andacts @ink-fireplace-coffee​

@thethistlegirlwrites @zielenbloesem @scmalarky @merigreenleaf @thiscrypticfangirl @henrike-does-writing-sometimes​ @strosmkai-rum​

@kitblogsthings​ @waysofink @odysseywritings

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Paper Plane

A little scene I thought up. Big thanks to @creativepromptsforwriting for the Prompt! I took the “paper planes” one from the list of January prompts.

It’s set after Magicians of Sky and Sea, but there are no spoilers.

Summary: Scarlet makes a child’s day.

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Scarlet liked calm days.

The spring wind swayed the leaves above her, filtering the sun and creating spots of light on the shadowed grass.

The last cold whiffs of winter were disappearing, and life was blossoming over the streets. The park was filled with people enjoying the warm sunlight, sitting in front of the small lake glittering like diamonds.

Scarlet stretched her arms. Her hand, instead of touching the grass, fell onto her dragon's head. Orba responded to the petting with a satisfied purr, before stretching her legs.

The dragon's voice reached her mind: "Such a fine day, isn't it?"

Scarlet nodded. She raised her hands to sign: "So different from Atosk."

"That was Zephyr's fault."

Scarlet chuckled: "You are right."

Orba stood up and arched her back, stretching on the grass before sitting down.

"Scarlet?"

The girl raised her head.

"A child is crying."

She jolted up, looking around: "Where? Why?"

Orba's head pointed at the lake: "Over there."

Scarlet squinted her eyes, and there she saw her: a little girl was crying on the lake's shore.

Without a second thought, she approached her, Orba beside her.

She waved at the girl, who raised her gaze.

"Hello, I'm Scarlet, and this is Orba", she signed. She saw Orba talk to the girl, and the little one nodded.

"I'm Alfia", Orba's voice reached her mind.

"Where are your parents, Alfia? Why are you here alone?"

The girl pointed at one of the buildings right in front of the park: "It's not too far. My parents let me come here alone."

Scarlet nodded, and knelt beside the girl, looking at her in the eyes: "Why are you crying?"

The little girl sniffed and opened her hands, revealing a crumpled piece of paper. Scarlet frowned and took it: she opened it carefully. It was blank.

She tilted in her hand in confusion: "What is it?"

"It was supposed to be a paper plane."

"Oh!" Scarlet smiled, "I'm quite good with paper planes."

"I'm not."

"I can teach you", Scarlet took her notebook out and ripped one of its pages.

She showed the girl how to fold the paper, making sure she was following each and every moment. At the end, she ripped another paper from her notebook and gave it to her: "Now it's your turn."

Alfia's tears had dried up already, when she raised her creation with a smile. "Can I make it fly?"

The Magician nodded, and stood up. She raised her own paper plane and, with the other hand, started counting: "3, 2, 1... go!"

The two paper planes took off from their hands, floating gently in the air before landing in soft thuds on the grass. Scarlet's had landed a bit further than Alfia's.

The little girl pouted and the Magician chuckled. She lightly tapped her on the shoulder and raised a hand to ask her to wait. She gathered the two paper planes and returned to the girl. She closed her eyes and, with a light tap of her fingers, she two paper creations begun to lift on her palm, floating in the air.

The little girl's eyes widened at the marvel, clapping her hands: "A Wind spell!"

Scarlet nodded, controlling the paper planes. She made them fly around them in swift motions, before making them raise high above them, flying in intricate patterns. With a simple thought, she added colored trails behind them, and the two paper planes created geometric figures, symbols and simple animal drawings in the sky, disappearing in glowing flashes.

In the end, Scarlet made them land on the ground in a flashy color cloud, and Alfia jumped towards her own paper plane, eyes brimming with joy.

Only in that moment Scarlet raised her gaze, and noticed a bunch of children gathered around them, wide-eyed.

"Orba?" she didn't sign, calling the dragon with her mind.

"Yes?"

"Who are all these kids?"

"They came as soon as you made those paper planes draw those lines."

"What do they want?"

Orba chuckled: "I think they want to see another show of yours."

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It's been sometimes since I shared my progress with Magicians of Sky and Sea, so I thought to let you know what I'm up to!

What I've done:

- I've been working on the worldbuilding. I have a very basic map I've been using to properly pin down the relationships between all the races, the influences they could have had with one another, and their histories.

- For that reason, I've also been working on a timeline!

- For all the Atosk's races, the basics are all down. General cultures, religion, values, how they see magic, any forbidden things... However this applies only for some of the "cultural groups". For example, I have worked extensively for the fire torenden that are part of the Alliance, but for those who live on another continent I don't have anything yet. But it's a good base!

- I ACTUALLY HAD AN IDEA FOR ANOTHER STORY SET IN ATOSK AND I'm very happy about that because it means the world is starting to become more developed to the point it can house multiple stories! This story is absolutely not related to Magicians at all.

Work that still has to be done

- Pretty much most of Esner. Except for a few basic things, Esner is still barebones. However this isn't really a problem: the story is set in Atosk, and all the things I need for the protagonists are already set. This is just me who wants to worldbuild as long as I can heheheh

- Magicbuilding! I still have to properly work on the differences between Magicians, common magic users, and Innate Talents users.

- Fix the outline.

So, what's the plan?

The plan is to dedicate this month to tackle these last things that I still miss, especially the Magicbuilding and the outline. I'll continue the first draft from where I left off after NaNo in February! That's the plan, at least.

I could start before that too, it depends on how quickly I manage to fix these things.

I am planning to have a complete first draft by May. Then I'll start editing.

Thanks for all the interest so far, and sorry for the news drought. I am planning to share some Worldbuilding bits soon-ish!

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Magicians of Sky and Sea Character Intro - Belfi

Name: Belfi

Age: 16 years old (at the start of the story)

Pronouns: he/him

Innate Magic: Thunder Magic

Animal Companion: the flying lizard (not dragon!) Azmer

Personality

The friendliest person that has ever crossed the mortal realms, probably. Belfi considers everybody that greets him back his friend and will do anything for them. He is also very prone to say whatever comes to his mind, but he never means any harm. Pretty pushy and talkative, he has a very hard time understanding personal boundaries.

About

He is a quorri, a race of anthropomorphic frogs that hails from Esner.

Belfi is actually royalty, heir of the throne of his kingdom. However, he despises his role, and decided to partake the Magician exam to be free for once. He showed great magical capabilities since youth and he was trained in magic, although quorri Magicians actually don't follow any of the traditional Schools. However, he's not the first quorri to partake in the exam, it's just pretty rare.

Belfi, at the start of the story, has recently arrived in Atosk and he is very eager to show what he's capable of.

Thunder Magic can be a dangerous type of magic in the wrong hands, being able to control thunders at will. People with it as their Innate Magic tend to have faster reflexes.

Trivia:

He has a weird talent for climbing trees, but getting off from them is another matter entirely.

He is pretty out-of-the-loop regarding many things about what's usual for his peers.

Once he starts talking about fish and fishing, he never stops talking.

He’s afraid of bugs.

Character Written Portrait:

The water gurgled between the trees, the shining lights of the city sent golden stripes on the waves. The moonlight made the leaves silver, while silent footsteps bent the grass. He turned around one last time, a smile on his face, before running down the slope.

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If you were to ask an Atoskian why they avoid the woods, the answer would be “The Spirit of the Fauna will take you.”

A gasp would be heard, and you’d press on: “Do the taken people ever return?”

“Oh, yes. They do.”

You’d be confused, and ask how they return.

“Pretty good. I mean, they aren’t hurt or anything. Maybe a little bit annoyed but that’s it.”

“Then why is it so dangerous?”

“Being invited over for tea and a chat for the tenth time in a week isn’t fun. We have jobs to do. The Spirit of the Fauna can slack off all day, but we can’t. He doesn’t understand that.”

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Changes in Magicians of Sky and Sea

As I said in the intro post of my wip, not everything is still final in the story, and things are prone to change.

So now I am here to explain some changes that I have put in the story!

Name Changes

Lufur's name will be changed to Gale. Would Zephyr name a gryphon Gale, also because her own name is wind-related? Absolutely yes.

General Changes

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to properly think how a world with moving islands would work so... I scrapped that. The continents are now usual continents. But! The floating island stays and that one does move.

New Character

Meet Belfi! He is a quorri, a race of anthropomorphic frogs hailing from Esner. He is actually royalty, everybody knows that, but he swears he's a commoner. Too bad that his Animal Companion, the giant flying lizard (not a dragon!) Azmer keeps calling him "His Highness". He escaped from his home to partake in the exam to discover what freedom tastes like. His innate talent is Thunder Magic. Quorri Magicians don't really follow the traditional Schools, preferring to leave the education of their mages to their own groups. That's why it's very rare to see quorries partaking in the exam, but Belfi isn't the first one.

A new character called Volani, a navari from Atosk, will soon be introduced too, but I'll dedicate a full post to her because reasons.

All the changes will be applied to the Masterpost too.

Thanks for all the interest!

Taglist: (ask to be added/removed!)

@dragonstoravens @timefirewrites @stardustandsun  @thethistlegirlwrites

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Magicians of Sky and Sea Character Intro - Zephyr

Picrew made by omoulo: https://picrew.me/image_maker/391245

[Image Description: the portrait of a young girl, grinning at the viewer while winking. She has freckles on her face. She has short black hair and green eyes. She is wearing a white shirt and a black jacket, a necklace with a yellow stone is around her neck. The background is light green, with a white circle in the middle. End ID.]

Name: Zephyr

Age: 17 (at the start of the story)

Pronouns: she/her

Innate Magic: Plant and Floral

Animal Companion: the blue gryphon Gale

Personality

The perfect word to describe Zephyr is “hurricane”. She is a bundle of energy, always striving to improve herself and helping those around her doing the same. While she seems the kind of person to never get discouraged, she’s actually prone to feel bad at her own mistakes. She has a generous nature, but her stubborness may leave her stuck on first impressions.

About

Ever since she was a child, Zephyr has dreamt of becoming a Magician just like her mother. She really loves her craft and dedicates a lot of time and energy to it, striving to always improve. However, she is unsure about what will happen once her exam is over.

At the start of the story, she has already spent two years in Atosk, working as an apothecary and gaining the affection of the village she is living in. A few days before departing to start her exam, she meets Floria, a girl who bribed a Spirit to arrive in Atosk. She begs Zephyr to help her meet the Spirit of the Stars, and while the girl is unsure at first, in the end she accepts as long as she won’t hinder her exam.

Plant and Floral Magic isn’t a type of offensive magic. It allows its user to have an easier time caring for plants and instinctually knowing which ones are better to use in potions and herbal remedies.

Trivia

She has a weird talent for tying knots.

She really loves music and dancing. She has smuggled a radio in Atosk just to keep listening to music,

She knows sign language. She isn’t exactly fluent, but she can hold a conversation. She learned it because she wanted to communicate with Scarlet, whom she saw as a “rival” back in magic school.

Despite her best efforts, she was the last one in her class to acquire her animal companion, finding Gale one year later than all her peers.

Character Written Portrait

The sun shone through the shutters, blades of light striping the wall and landing on her eyes. She opened one, grin adorning her mouth, and stood up in an explosion of bedsheets. Her feet thumped on the floor, hands clenched in fists, and she opened the window, letting the room spring to life. She raised her arms towards the pink morning sky, ready for a new day.

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Magicians of Sky and Sea Character Intro - Sylvan

Picrew made by omoulo: https://picrew.me/image_maker/391245

[Image Description: a portrait of a boy with short black hair, dark brown eyes, and he wears glasses. He has an annoyed expression. He wears a black shirt with white sleeves. The background is gray and there is a white circle in the middle. End ID.]

Name: Sylvan

Age: 19 (at the start of the story)

Pronouns: he/him

Innate Magic: still not found. or is it

Animal Companion: the giant bird Garun.

Personality:

Pretty aloof, Sylvan prefers to be on his own. Kinda arrogant and cocky, but he has the skills to show for it. However, with his family and friends he shows a completely different side, being really kind and compassionate.

About:

Born in a family of high ranked Magicians, Sylvan had high expectations placed upon him since he was young. He worked hard to fulfill those expectations, despite some flaws like not having found his Innate Magic yet. His family doesn’t scorn him for that, but they are worried about him.

In the story, Sylvan has already been in Atosk for four years and made pacts with a few Spirits. However, something seems to slow him down in his quest.

Trivia:

He has a very bad sense of direction, Garun often has to help him find the right way.

He has a huge passion for swimming, and it’s his go-to activity when he has to clear his mind.

He can probably tell you everything there is to know about stars and constellations.

He can’t handle spicy food.

Character Written Portrait:

Clutching a small glittering brooch in his hands, he let a sparkle reflect in his eye. He closed the brooch, the lamp giving white streaks on its bronze coating. A muffled song came from afar, whispering in the trees. He looked at the leaves under the moonlight, the sprawled books forgotten.