Anyways, have some magic worldbuilding from One Siren’s Soul! There are three major categories of spells: casts, charms, and curses!
Casts are your average and most common spell, magic cast directly out from a source, and their effects are temporary, at their limits lasting maybe a few days. Charms are spells sealed within objects (or even living things, though that’s not good and other magic-users won’t like you) to be activated later by being charged by a magic source. Their effects’ duration and the amount of times they can be charged is dependent on the quality of the material and the spell itself. And curses are spells that are permanent, and can’t be reversed! Usually they’re negative, but not always~
I probably should’ve made a fancy graphic up for this one but ALAS, the Quill was too tired. -u- Have this instead!
Ya’ll know what’s coming, right? Eheeheee~
Should I tag people for this? I dunno. Doing it anyways.
It’s like a dictionary for magic and siren stuff! Because the document I have for this is an utter mess, here’s an attempt at some form of organization!
Also, this is long and has some spoilers, so see under the cut!
------> MAGIC:
SPELLS: Magic from a source directed to fulfill a specific purpose. Types of spells:
CASTS: The “average” spell. Magic that is extended outwards from a source, either on its own, or funneled through a conduit.
CHARMS: A prepared, but not executed, spell that has been stored within an object. All of the magic necessary for the spell is present, but there is a preliminary requirement that must be met before the spell can be cast forth from the object. This can range from being touched to being sparked with some magic.
CURSES: A spell that has permanent effects. It can not be reversed, and never fades. Can be in a cast or charm form.
SOURCE: The origin of the magic being used. Most often, this is the internal magic of a siren. Commonly, magic is also stored in objects for later use, similar to a charm but without the magic having been craftaed into a spell. Certain unique humans also have internal magic, but most must either use a source object or siren parts to cast magic from.
CONDUIT: The object magic is funneled through in order to change the qualities (and therefore effects) of the magic. A single or multiple conduits can be used.
MAGIC COLOUR: The colour of one’s magic depends on which Alpha the source was descended from. If two sirens have the same magic colour, it means the Alpha they were descended from is a common ancestor.
------> SIRENS:
ALPHA: Alphas are the first sirens created by the Ascendants. They were extremely powerful and had the ability to see and hear lost souls. Those modern-day sirens with the “purest” bloodlines, most connected to the Alphas, possess this ability as well as having more powerful magic.
ASCENDANTS: The very first sirens to exist. Divine-like, powerful entities, with only one Ascendant for each siren type: Forest, Mist, Surge, Light, █████ and ███.
ASCENDANT ARTIFACTS: Unique, magically powerful objects left behind by the Ascendants. Each was once a piece of their form, given up in a relinquishing of a piece of their power. Forest’s Leaf, Mist’s Lock, Surge’s Fang, Light’s Glow, and █████’█ ███, the Siren’s Soul. Only one Artifact may be held by an individual at any time.
ARTIFACT GUARDIANS: Sirens (or magical humans) magically chosen by an Ascendant to protect their Artifact. If the magic within the Artifact senses that the guardian intends to leave it behind without passing it onto a new guardian, a curse befalls the traitor: their magic is absorbed, usually causing death.
LOST SOULS: Sirens that disobeyed a rule of magic during their lifetime, thus anchoring their soul to the living plane. When their soul leaves their body, usually through their death, their soul is unable to go on to the dead’s plane, instead trapped, linked to the remnants of their body, a place, or an object. Lost souls are unable to be sensed by anyone but those with the strongest connection to the Alphas.
STAR KEEPERS: When a siren’s magic is above a certain threshold, they have the ability to see and hear lost souls. Star Keepers are those sirens of this category who have been trained to be guides to these lost souls, in addition to other duties for their Haven, such as recording star events and positions, and interpreting messages from the dead. There is only one Star Keeper per Haven, and each holds the highest rank, their input holding more power than any other siren in deciding what is best for their Haven.
SOUL SEEKERS: A siren equivalent to a historian and anthropologist researching the cultural and biological origins of the siren race and magic itself, with a focus on records of past societies and past events, ancient artifacts both magical and not, and stories and rumors of all siren-kind.
GARDEN WRIGHTS: The sirens of a Haven who have taken the role of caring for and preserving each Haven’s Garden of Memories: the siren equivalent of librarians, but also act as teachers and recorders of memories/writers themselves.
GARDEN OF MEMORIES: A place within a Haven that is built to preserve books and other written media, as well as the main education center. Sculptures, paintings, and other art pieces are also kept here.
HAVENS: Communities of Forest sirens. They are places of peace with a code forbidding fighting, and are known as safe “rest stops” for all siren types. (But mostly only Forest, Mist, and/or Surge sirens.)
SHIVERS: Travelling groups of Surge and/or Mist sirens. Size can range from a single pair to a few families, but Shivers tend to remain relatively small. Shivers are most often wandering communities and usually don’t settle to one location for any fair length of time.
HALF-FINS (This is a fairly big spoiler so maybe skip it if you wanna avoid that): Someone who had a siren parent and a human parent: a half-siren, half-human. When born to a siren, the half-fin is physically the same as a siren, but severely lacks in magic and fin length. When born to a human, the half-fin appears mostly human with minor fangs and some scale patches or tiny fins, traits that speak to their siren blood. Half-fins with human forms usually have a low level of magic, but they can speak siren and lost pieces of themselves still transform into oceanic elements.
FINLINGS: The word for baby or child sirens up until they’re around one century old.
SIREN’S MARK: A siren’s mark is a human that has been magically gifted the ability to breathe underwater by a siren. When fully submerged, a mark has gills similar to siren’s, but when out of water, there is no visible or physical difference between them and other humans.
Anyways, that’s what I have so far!! Enjoy the spoiler hints~
[Send me an emoji and I’ll talk about a related OC!]
A 🦷 (tooth)! Did you know that you can identify a siren’s type by their teeth?
Surge sirens are known for all of their teeth being pointed and sharp (and often serrated!), and they usually have more than one layer of teeth! Just like the sharks they seem so like, they can lose a few of their teeth quite often, but new ones grow in extremely fast!
Mist sirens, similar to Surge sirens, have the majority of their teeth being sharp: however, their front four teeth are identically shaped to humans’, while their eye teeth (canines) are their largest, longest fangs, and the rest of their molars are like miniature versions of these fangs. Very similar to a cat’s fangs! (Mist and Surge sirens are both carnivorous!)
Forest siren teeth are nearly identical to a humans’, but due to their herbivorous diet, their teeth tend to be a lot more dull and flat.
Light sirens... well. Don’t have teeth. They don’t have mouths as we know them, they have beaks! Like most cephalopods!
It’s rather unusual that Celestine’s fangs don’t match any of these four, huh? They’re almost like a mixture of Forest, Mist, and Surge siren teeth... Celestine’s teeth are mostly identical to a humans, but her eye teeth and first molars are replaced by slightly serrated fangs! They aren’t much longer than the rest of her teeth, but they sure are sharp!!
“Oh? There’s an oath, now? A promise of peace. I was never offered any oath, temporary or permanent...”
Meet Lá Lúa, Lost Child of the Lyrae Haven and the Exiled Half-fin!
... The world of magic isn’t very friendly to those born without.
“You’re saying that for two decades I’ve been barred entrance from your pretty little perfect Havens, forced to survive on my own when our species is meant to be communal, and all I had to do was take some star-forsaken OATH!?”
Theme: Imagine Dragons - Believer
Pronouns: They/Them/Their or She/Her
Age: In their early four hundreds. Which is odd, considering their name is a finling’s...
Siren Type: Forest; freshwater but used magic methods to adapt to survival in saltwater.
Magic Colour: Vivid leaf-green
Magic Level: Lowest of the ranks. Barely has any magic, only enough to sustain the most basic of spells.
Base Appearance: Based off of a green/blue and black metallic half-moon betta: green and blue shining scales edged with black; labyrinth gill structure, so they require oxygen from the air as well as the water; and incredibly large, round, black ribbed green/blue fins.
Lá is the sole survivor of the Lyrae Haven Massacre. Despite being the only child of a renowned Star Keeper, Lá was born with severely limited magic. Because of this, she was taken instead of killed when the humans ravaged her home, sold and subjected to terrible acts of abuse. When she finally escaped, she believed herself free, believed she now had the chance to be accepted, to find a true home and another family.
Except all Havens she went to refused to allow her in. You see, Forest sirens are always supposed to be pacifists. The kind that never seeks violence, using their magic to avoid it at all costs. Lá Lúa didn’t have any magic to fall back on. She had to fight to get her freedom. And she enjoyed it. The other Forest sirens didn’t like that.
So they lied to her and called her an exile.
This has got to be the character I’ve been the meanest to. Gotta be.
Sorry, Lá. ;n;
Lá is a fairly major character in book two! They finally gain entrance to a Haven with the main crew’s help~
“You know, I used to hate you, when you were a child. Absolute loathing. I saw a pitiful creature, wasting such a gift, such an honour, on whatever stupid, reckless venture your ignorant curiosity next led you...”
Meet Ahira idu Ren’esyani, Star Keeper of the Lyrae Haven and the True Guardian of Mist’s Lock!
Or, well. Ex-Star Keeper of the Lyrae Haven.
Leila Nikolaeva’s kinda responsible for that.
“... It reminded me too closely of myself, I suppose.”
Theme: Varien ft. Skyelle - Sacred Woods
Pronouns: They/Them/Their or Ve/Vem/Vir
Age: ... uh. Does not apply? They’re... kinda dead. Died when they were close to three centuries old. (100 siren years = about 10 human ones.)
Siren Type: Forest; freshwater but used magic methods to adapt to survival in saltwater.
Magic Colour: Vivid leaf-green
Magic Level: Near highest rank (Quill still needs to come up with a ranking system -u-), direct and pure bloodline descendant of an original Alpha.
Base Appearance: Based off of a golden metallic half-moon betta: golden scales that shine like the metal; labyrinth gill structure, so they require oxygen from the air as well as the water; and incredibly large, round, golden fins (and a fake ego just as big).
Ahira was a Star Keeper in a Forest Haven that no longer exists. Star Keepers are just what they sound like: keepers of the stars, or as is believed by sirens, recorders for the dead. They keep maps of the night sky, and interpret both magical and astronomical phenomena as predictions of the future and guidance from the dead. Their magic is so concentrated because their bloodlines directly link back to one of the Ascendant’s Alphas (the first sirens created by the Ascendants), and due to this they are able to see and hear loose souls, to guide them back to their proper place among the stars.
But what happens when the Star Keeper’s soul itself becomes lost?
Hi! Quill’s introducing important siren characters! Meet the jerk! Who’s dead?? Quill, why are they important if they’re dead???
“An old Surge dialect---notches in driftwood, cut by a shed tooth and preserved by magic. You’re lucky you thought to come to me for this, I’m the only one in this Haven who can read it!”
Meet Sylvie Ley’vathi, Soul Seeker of the Crucis Haven!
Aka a best child who’s doing their best but the world keeps throwing wrenches at them.
“Although... there’s a good reason for that. N-no offense meant, but... Forest sirens can often be rather... Well, I suppose it makes sense, considering my kind is usually known for the aggression and blood thirst and... things...”
Theme: End of Silence - Andrew’s Song
Pronouns: They/Them/Their or Ve/Vem/Vir
Age: Mid-three hundreds? Somewhere around 350 years.
Siren Type: Surge; tropical reef siren, preferring shallow saltwater, but can survive brackish or freshwater.
Magic Colour: Caribbean blue-green
Magic Level: Slightly lower than average, Surge and Forest mixed blood.
Base Appearance: Based off of a blacktip reef shark: soft, sandy beige skin, lighter ventral markings; all fins have black tips outlined with lighter colour; narrowly triangular, finely serrated teeth; and fairly small size.
Sylvie is a Soul Seeker, a siren equivalent to a historian and anthropologist researching the cultural and biological origins of the siren race and magic itself, with a focus on records of past societies and past events, ancient artifacts both magical and not, and stories and rumors of all siren-kind.
But there’s a big difference with Sylvie. They’re a Surge siren, a type more often seen as being violent and brash, with little care for such delicate things as historical documents or the intricacies of complex magic. In order to work as a Soul Seeker in a Forest Haven, they had to make an oath of pacifism---something not to be taken lightly by a siren kind that usually sees cowardice as the worst weakness.
I’ve barely written any of Sylvie at all and I already love them. Quill. They’re supposed to be a *minor* characters please don’t---oh nevermind they’re important now okay fine.
Sylvie helps the crew to translate some ancient documents! Also with... other unexpected important things... ehee.
Quill’s been doing a whole bunch of worldbuilding for Two Witches Woven and needs to rant to vent. Read on if you wish, I suppose? Maybe I’ll make this a series, who knows!
First, some term definitions:
Siren children are called finlings.
The siren parent that gave birth is called their ona, their other siren parent called their heni. (Sirens don’t usually really understand the concept of gender, but there are the few who do self-identify as a specific gender!)
Forest siren communities are called havens.
There are two naming stages in most Forest siren havens:
Early childhood from birth consists of simple two part nicknames, usually based on the circumstances of their birth or the environment of their upbringing. One of the main sirens in the series was named “Rice Leaf” (Lá Lúa) because their ona would sneak through flooded rice paddies (eventually with them) for some stupid reason. This is not usual nor recommended in the least---those fields are heckin’ way too shallow for this and they could have easily been spotted by humans. Yes, Lá unfortunately inherited their ona’s idiocy.
“Wow, how absolutely flattering.”
It’s... very true.
“Ah, I didn’t say you were wrong.”
Once adolescence is reached, a siren is to choose a name for themselves for the rest of their life in a special ceremony (although they do have the option to change it later if they wish)! This name can be from a story, from someone they are/were close to, or just a combination of sounds or words from the Forest language, often helped along by a series of magical rituals that offer guidance from the stars. But, to be honest, most sirens know by this point what name they want to go by. It’s a great cause for excitement and anticipation throughout their early life!
The odd thing is that a lot of these names are quite human-like, and often mimic those from the human cultures near where they were raised... but I suppose that makes sense when many of the books in their garden libraries are human in origin~
Surnames are also given in this ceremony. They consist of a combination of their parents’ surnames, the part before the apostrophe traced back to their ona. So it’s sort of traced matrilineally? In the event that their parents are unknown or were disowned, they take on the surnames of those who raised them, the decision of which part comes first entirely up to the siren being named. Poly relationships are not rare, so some sirens have three or more parts to their surnames---it’s dependent on who they felt most close to throughout their childhood.
Sirens don’t have middle names unless they have some sort of rank that gives them one. They’re usually very short and simple, and denote their job or societal rank (the latter of which is usually based on level of magic). Think of how “Doctor” or “Princess” or “Captain” works with humans, but shortened~
Curious about the siren characters in One Siren’s Soul? Have the important kids (that aren’t overly spoiler filled and are ones that I’ve actually come up with so far ^^’):
Kieran Ley’vathi
Keeva Ley’vathi
Sylvie Ley’vathi
Celia Ley’vathi (despite not being a Surge (or Forest) siren, Celia was adopted and raised by the Lei’vathi family~)
Ahira idu Ren’esyani
Lá Lúa
Runi xe Eli’raein (Snow Shimmer)
Alexis xe Eli’raein (Little Cloud)
Olena (Olena doesn’t have a last name! They’re not a Forest siren and weren’t raised one, either, but... Light siren names don’t really translate well to spoken language, so they agreed to a nickname!)
[Send me a question to help me with magic worldbuilding!]
Thank you for the questions, lovely~ <3
12. What are some things that even magic can’t do? What are some things that you couldn’t do without magic?
In the One Siren’s Soul world, there are rules to do with magic. There are loopholes, of course, but not without consequences!
1) Curses can’t be reversed. In the first book, Dione finds a way around this, but the rule still applies!
2) Time can’t be manipulated. But there are some spells that come very close! (But Dione’s immortality is one of those spells...)
3) The dead can’t be brought back. Dione refuses to believe this one.
3) Souls can’t be split. But they can be linked to more than one thing, and bad things happen when that’s the case. (Actually, now I’m realizing that Dione broke every one of these rules. Oops.)
And there’s all sorts of things that you can do with magic that would be near impossible to do without! Anything to do with lost souls, since they’re technically in another dimension only accessible through magic. Annddd... anything to do with the Ascendants too, I guess!
14. What symbols are linked to magic? How is magic often depicted in illustrations? Are there different words for magic/types of magic?
As magic mainly falls in the four categories of Forest, Surge, Mist, and Light, there are quite a few symbols to represent those base types! Think seaweed, or trees, or leaves for Forest. Waves and whirlpools for Surge. Obviously mist for Mist. And the sun, or stars for Light!
Since active magic manifests in a mist-like state, that’s often how it’s depicted in illustrations, as well! It can be drawn like vividly coloured tendrils, clouds, all sorts of things~
And the main words are the categories (Forest, Surge, Mist, Light, etc.) and the types of spells! (Casts, charms, and curses.)
