"Ahhhh, an opinion. They change from one person to the next. Coincidentally, I do not care about yours."
- Uxionus, the Existence of Chaos
A long, long time ago—or, well, more accurately, somewhere in the range of 600 and 1,000 years*, depending who and where you ask—there was once another world—
Er... wait. What was I talking about again?
Wait. Why is there a range of how long ago it was?
And why depending on who and where you ask???
Everyone knows what the Faewildes are; after all, all of Reality was plunged into them following the Fracturing of Reality and the Old World.
The Faewildes are a land of pure magic, where the rules of Unreality constantly change at the whims of Magic Itself or whatever being currently controls it...
And, when Uxionus—the Existence of Chaos—destroyed Reality, it plunged Reality into Unreality, leaving all to suddenly struggle with nothing working as it should.
Nothing... including time or space.
So, depending on who or where you ask... Reality could've been destroyed anywhere from 600 to 1,000* years ago.
And “who or where” varies because it was very easy to get lost in the inconsistent space-time, transporting someone from one “calendar” into another.
Confused?
That's okay.
Because all of Reality is, too.
It's easier if you just learn to accept it.
That's what they did.
Also I'll go MUCH more in-depth another day lol.
Regardless... as the stories go, a long, unknowable time ago, Uxionus—the Existence of Chaos—destroyed Reality during a fit of rage.
We don't know why.
All we know is that he did it.
So, in the end...
... does “why” even matter?
Still, while he broke Reality, Chaos also broke himself in the process. Uxionus fell into a coma following the destruction of the Old World, leaving the other Existentials free to weave an enchantment around his unconscious form to prevent him from ever waking up again.
And so he remains.
Trapped within his coma.
His body within the domain of the Existence of Order, where she's able to use her own power to make absolutely sure he's nowhere near the cusp of waking.
And so he'll remain.
Forever.
... right?
He's been taking a lot more of Order's attention lately...
Chosen name:
Uxionus
A long, long time ago, each of the Existentials chose names for themselves. Now, only Uxionus's is remembered—thanks to humanity (but especially Verithians) carrying on the story of how he destroyed the world.
Age:
???
As an entity born before humanity was even conceived of, it's impossible to know his true age. It's even further complicated when you consider the space-time distortions caused by the Faewildes.
... and even more so when you consider his centuries-long coma.
Due to the endless stories of the destruction of the Old World—the disasters that struck as reality was ruptured and as the Faewildes emerged from the rifts—Uxionus has become an axiom of everything relating to destruction, disaster, natural disasters, strife, and most phenomena relating to the Faewildes' effects on reality.
As the Existential of Chaos, Uxionus is technically a manifestation of the consciousness of Chaos Itself... although, his current "presence" is highly debatable considering his comatose state.
Uxionus is actively being kept comatose by the other Existentials by several layers of magical seals on top of being contained within Order's—his opposite's—domain. This combination of traits has kept the fate of the Existence of Chaos Itself highly uncertain.
What happens when a god slumbers for so long? Will they eventually wake up, one way or another? Or will the power leave them for another more suitable for it?
Maybe we'll find out.
Maybe we'll die waiting for the answer.
It's been hundreds of years.
Status in Existential War:
Noncontender; Uxionus cannot engage in the War while comatose... although, he'd probably just try to destroy the world all over again rather than engage in "the game".
Right?
Spokespiece:
N/A; Uxionus isn't conscious enough to dream, much less communicate with others. RIP. Or, y'know... don't. Considering the whole "literally shattered reality" thing.
The other Existentials rather hope he isn't resting in peace, actually.
(dryly) "What. Any one of you would've done it if you could."
"... I-I... I can. An-d didn't."
[silent, surprised]
[turns a dry, faintly amused smile onto the others] "Well. What about the rest of you? Confident enough to reject? In this—" [vaguely gestures upwards] "—magic, truth-telling-sphere?"
[silence; filled with glares, "well, you ain't wrong" amused expressions, and empty looks of "shut up, already."]
(dryly, only a hint of smugness detectable) "That's what I thought."
"Yes, you heard me correctly... Uxionus."
[can't help a tiny, dark smile] "Scared?"
"... you don't have to answer that, by the way. I know you are."
[snoring]
[eye twitch—]
"So... curious what I've been up to?"
"You have been up to something, then?"
"What, the others haven't started making conspiracy theories about it yet?"
[speaks sass like it's his native tongue]
"It was a joke!"
"Then get a better sense of humour. Or I'll adopt one where I kill you slowly."
[... still snoring]
[slow, deeeeeeeep breath as she struggles to keep her cool—]
(with a hint of cockiness) "Are you sure about that?"
"That's not how Fate works. You mortals think 'everything's always fair' and everyone always 'gets what they deserve'. But nothing ever happens as it does for a symbolic reason. You were either lucky enough for things to work out, or you weren't. I'm sick of hearing you all trying to justify it."
"There HAS to be ANYWHERE else we can put him!"
(takes a deep breath, then slowly) "{Order}, you know better than I—"
[throws her hands out in frustration, snarling]
"I DON'T CARE! You're not the one who has to LISTEN to him fucking SNORING and TALKING IN HIS SLEEP constantly!"
[soft snoring in the background]
(impatience poorly veiled) "So, what are you proposing. Th—"
"ANYWHERE but here!"
"—at risk of waking him up!?"
[snarling and stepping forward, points an accusing finger at him]
"Oh, don't give me that. We ALL know he's probably never waking up! We're all just doing this 'just in case', and you all are juuuuust fine with it, because he's not sitting in the back of YOUR worlds!"
[quirks an eyebrow at her, crossing his arms and leaning his weight on his back leg]
(doubtfully) "Are you sure you wan—"
"YES!"
[tilts his head to the side and raises a hand to stop her]
(impatiently) "Let me finish. Are you sure you want him elsewhere, considering the advantage you get just by—"
[SNOOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEE—]
(crying silently, whispers in his sleep, voice cracking) "... I'm sorry..."
* the timeframe of 600-1000 years ago is directly borrowed from the trinity of Sun and Shadow, Rising From The Ashes, and Waves of Misfortune, which all take place at approximately the same point in time. The timeline(s) naturally vary across stories outside of them, like The Arcane Rifts, where it's closer to 400 years prior.
Tag list:
@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star
i don't know how to word this, so i'm just gonna say
sammy. breaking the rules. <- that stuff. please elaborate if there is any coherence in this request
I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY SENT AN ASK!!!
(people actually do that for non-ask posts???)
Okay, to be completely honest, I think we had a misunderstanding! (I was exhausted when typing that up and was just about to sleep--) I meant that you could/should ask about Sammy, but I wouldn't answer about his magic... but I've done some thinking.
I'll tell you a bit about his magic. 👀
Fair warning: long post!!!
The Way Magic Works™
So, magic. I'll definitely give a much more in-depth explanation one day--I know @honeybewrites REALLY wants one 😂--but I need to give a bit of an explanation here for you to be able to understand why Sammy is Special™.
In my writing, there's technically four different kinds of magic. I describe them as such:
Existential (all-encompassing and literal)
Axiomatic (abstract and "type-casted")
Faerie (abstract and encompassing)
Runic (wizards hurrr durrr)
Each "kind" of magic is named, appropriately, by its source--Existential magic comes from the Existential gods, Axiomatic magic comes from axiom, Faerie magic (or "pure" magic) comes from the Faewildes and is typically associated with faeries, and runic magic originated from the runes non-magical people used in an attempt to match the power of the others.
(I mean, technically runic magic itself is a combination of axiomatic and faerie magic, but--)
Essence Is Equivalent
The one thing all kinds of magic have in common is their shared resource--essence. No matter what kind of magic you use, you're always using up essence in order to do it. The same magical tasks always cost the same amount of essence, meaning the only way to "advance" in magic-casting is to grow your mana pool.
Except for runic magic, but we'll get into that later--
(I hop between using "essence" and "mana" for this explanation, but in-universe it's always called "essence". As a fan of DnD and fantasy games, sometimes using the word "mana" makes more sense to me, haha. Idk if that understanding applies to everyone, but. Essence is essentially just "magical energy".)
Long story short--let's say we have four different people, each with their magic coming from one of each of the different sources. Except, they all have Water magic.
Existential user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x amount of essence
Axiomatic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence
Faerie/Pure user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence
Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes .5x essence
Wait, what? Okay, let's try that again--
A different Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes 1.7x essence
A third Runic user lifts 1 gram of water. It takes x essence
What??? What's the deal with that???
Well, this isn't the time to explain Runic magic in-depth, but long story short? Let's just say it's because they're not doing magic "normally". The other kinds of magic users will always use the same amount of essence, so we'll just stop including the variety for now. Just know it'll be the same amount by default. Except... you won't often run into "default" with runic users. Regardless!
Existential user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence
Axiomatic user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence
Faerie/Pure user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 1000x essence
The first Runic user lifts 1 kg of water. It takes 500x essence
As you can see, it's all equivalent. Both across "types" of magic and in effort-to-gain ratio. So none of them have any sort of advantage!... except literally all of them do.
Similarly, since they're all drawing from essence as their source, there's no "backup" magic system one can use if they run out. If they're out of essence, they're out--nothing they can do.
Actually, wait. I lied.
(aka Essence Banks)
There's a way to store essence for later use--essence banks! Basically, they're just magical items infused with essence. They can be literally everything. Except, they aren't everything.
Confused?
Essence Banks were a runic invention and have to be engraved with appropriate runes to be able to contain essence. Some have actually been commodified and turned into "temporary conduits" (aka, items that allow a non-magic user to wield magic like a mage) through people infusing them with their essence.
This is a case where "pure" magic technically separates from a faerie's magic. Pure magic can be used for literally anything, but faeries... well, it's complicated. Regardless, pure magic originates from the Faewildes, but is different from a faerie's magic.
Pure essence can be used for anything, but an individual's essence can only be used for their respective magic type. (Like, elemental / conceptual, not Existential / Axiomatic and such. That explanation's for another day, though.) Pure magic can only be gotten from the Faewildes through the use of runic magic.
People have turned essence banks into commodities by giving them to others who don't have their magic and allowing them to use it. However, as you can probably imagine, essence banks and conduits of both kinds (permanent and temporary) are expennnnnsive!!! Most who have them use them for themselves, to store their own essence to use later.
Just know--there is no way to just "create" essence! It all comes from SOMEWHERE!
The most common places are from one's self or from the Faewildes.
Essence Banks Do Not Cross "Types" Of Magic
If someone with fire magic got their hands on an essence bank with essence from someone with water magic in it, they wouldn't be able to utilize it for fire magic--only water magic.
Except... not really.
The fire user could use the essence, it would just cost a lot more of the water essence to instead use fire magic.
Why does this sound familiar...?
Hm. Anyway!
I bet you've been wondering--how does any of this relate to Sammy?
Sammy Breaks The Rules of Magic™
So, now that you have an understanding of how magic works in my stories, you can better appreciate Sammy.
Remember what I just said?
Y'know, about how magic all always costs the same amount of essence, how "types" of essence don't translate well to others, and how essence can't just be created?
Well, Sammy heard that, laughed, and said "I'm built different."
"Amplification" doesn't exist in the world of my stories. There's simply no concept of it because of how inherent the idea of "essence is always equivalent" is to magic.
Except... Sammy is an amplifier.
So what does that mean in the universe of my stories?
He's able to make others' magic use less essence. He's able to enhance their abilities, let them do things they couldn't otherwise do. And it doesn't matter what kind of magic either of them have.
Oh! And since he's the amplifier?
His other magic is also always amplified.
Yeah, long story short? He's OP af. Both as an individual, and as a support character.
CONCLUSION!
I actually can't say any more about amplifying because, omfg, it's actually such a spoiler! As I said to you (almost) yesterday, I plan out the series I write to build up to things I'm going to eventually write! Amplifiers are suuuuper important for a number of reasons and, as I said, they basically don't exist! There's only two others wandering about at the time of Rising From the Ashes (the story Sammy's in)! And one of them is a complete hermit who 99.99% of people have no idea exists!
The other... well. He's actually an avatar. An agent of one of the gods. Who knows if/when he'll ever show up? 👀
If you're curious, the (albeit vague) Overarching Goals™ of the series are as follows:
The Arcane Rifts: explores the Faewildes and some of how they've impacted the world. Specifically explores in-universe political relations of Jhandar and Glavnran; the Existential War; the Existence of Magic; and how the Existential gods mess with the world.
Oh... and is Gene's origin story. 😉😘
Sun and Shadow: strongly explores the Faewildes' impact on "the Real World" through their patchworking Lynsmouth into the city it is today. Hints towards plots in RFtA and tCC. Explores faeries themselves through the Major Faerie Characters and the highlights the role of magic in society. Is intended to be an introduction into my weird worldbuilding tbh, haha.
Hints at Existential War and is also where a HUGE worldwide-plot event occurs. Thanks, Quinn! 😈
Rising From the Ashes: explores in-universe political relations, more directly builds on the worldbuilding through the character of Kieran Caron and his school, does some more planting in info about the Existential War, and showcases people in-universe trying to experiment with magic and expand on its capabilities.
The Calamity Crew (name to change): lots of worldbuilding through the literal crew of a merchant ship sailing across the world; builds up in-universe local Axiomatic gods; showcases the literal birth of a lesser god and explores the powers and abilities of gods; showcases people in-universe trying to experiment with magic and expand on its capabilities.
I plan to somehow make stories on the Existential gods' avatars, but don't know how I'll go about that, haha. Also intend to probably make some stories REALLY early in the in-universe timeline completely taking place within the Faewildes. Might merge those ideas together, idk.
If you can't tell, the Existential gods are super important to the overarching story I plan on writing, haha. Part of how I'm planning to build them out is through the very fact that they appear everywhere.
Yknow--because they are!
They're the puppeteers manipulating the entire world in their little game. Their Existential War.
To anyone who read through this all--congrats and omfg, thank you so much???
I know this is a lot and not all of it is exactly easy to understand, haha. I wanted to create a magic system that felt magical, but also was planted in "real" stuff like conservation of matter, haha. I want there to be, like, a limit to it, but also for things to have those good 'ole fashioned "fairy tale"/"gods rule over us all" vibes. Hopefully I've done a good job!
all of your wips sound so cool! i'm really interested in 'soren magic puppet guardian' and 'lynsmouth's 'families',' if you mind sharing some stuff about either of those :)
Sorry for taking so long to get to this! I wanted to be able to give you a good quality answer and have either been busy with other stuff or haven't had the energy to address this yet!
(To anyone wondering, this is an ask from this tag!)
Fair warning: this is going to be LOOOOOONG!
"Soren Magic Puppet Guardian"
So! This (as were all of my threads, haha) was a very on-the-nose name. Soren Ula--the dad of Freya, the MC of Sun and Shadow--is a well-renowned merchant. He owns a massive shipping company that spans most of the world, but what few know about him is that he's both an avatar (an agent of a god) and a faerie!
I've yet to explain what exactly faeries are in my writing, so I'll give a quick explanation! Faeries are almost sub-gods--powerful creatures that technically aren't even "creatures" so much as they are sentient clouds of magic. Most create physical bodies for themselves, but few leave the Faewildes and even fewer attempt to live "normal" lives.
Soren is a faerie of the ocean. Meaning, he is lowkey an actual god of oceans. In-story he's mentioned to have powerful ocean magic--that's because he is the ocean in many ways. He's just long-since taken on a human form to the point that he doesn't even feel dysmorphic in the form he lives in today (which is unheard of in faeries! They always have some aspect of "themselves" on their physical body, or they'll feel detached from and/or uncomfortable in it)!
The reason I explain this faerie business? If you haven't been able to tell, faeries are incredibly powerful creatures with both their own magic and minor reality-warping abilities within The Real World. (The Faewildes is also Real, but... not "the Real World". Just accept that for now, haha.)
(Skipping Spoilers!? 👀)
When Soren found Freya, his long-lost daughter, in Drønhals, he immediately set to getting her a home in the area. He had a vast amount of wealth from his work and he was long-since known to be an avatar of Levebol, so he had little to no problems doing so.
Except... he'd built a life in the time since he'd lost his family. He had his company, he had his work with Kieran Caron, and how many questions would be raised if he suddenly stepped down from it all?
No. As much as he wanted to stay with his daughter, it would be dangerous for him to. And as much as he'd tried hiding his involvement with Caron, it was entirely possible that people could find it out, track him down, and then find her. And she was just a little girl! Not even five!
(Yes, you are reading that correctly. Long-lost daughter. Implications of at LEAST decades passing. And yet she's not even five years old yet? 🤔🤔🤔)
No, he couldn't stay with her. He'd do anything to protect her... including practically abandon her.
Except, Soren didn't have to abandon her, even if he left to pretend everything was exactly as it was before. He still had power, even if it was nowhere as much as he used to. So he created a magic charm with a little bit of his soul in it.
Literally.
This "charm", containing both some of Soren's soul and a good bit of his magic, is capable of creating a "puppet" of sorts that's more of a semi-tangible hologram. Thanks to it having a bit of his soul (something literally only possible thanks to him being a faerie), he's able to "consciousness-switch" with it, letting him, well... be an actual guardian for his daughter.
Or, well, y'know. The closest thing to a guardian you can be when you're essentially puppeteering a robot from thousands of miles away to take care of her.
Long story short! Freya grew up with a "magic puppet guardian" of Soren that he could use to simultaneously always be by her side and, yknow... literally never be there for her. It's caused a LOT of complexes in Freya, and is also the main source of the tension in her relationship with him.
When she was younger, she liked it--it was like having her father with her at all times! And she lovesd her dad! But by her teenaged years it turned into resentment for being a sort of half-measure of his in order to "be there for her". She's actually not aware that he did it to basically minimize the likelihood of Bad People™ noticing her and going after her to hurt Soren, but... tbh it wouldn't change her feelings much on the matter if she did know.
In fairness... it's not like he was never actually there. He'd spend time with her in the form of the puppet whenever he didn't have anything else to do in His Real Body on the Slumbering Serpent (his ship). "He"/the puppet would take care of her in small ways, driven on by the small bits of his consciousness within it to carry out tasks he wished he could do. And, hey! He'd sometimes be able to stop by and spend a few days to a week in his real body whenever the trade routes allowed for it! But, yknow... didn't much make up for the fact that, besides what was essentially a zombie a majority of the time, Freya grew up completely alone (and oh boy there's more to that).
The "puppet" wasn't always active by the way--the charm could be manually disabled/enabled, and the puppet and its magic would withdraw into it as commanded. Whiiiiich is what turned into the case in Freya's mid teens, as she started getting angry with Soren and her whole situation. 😅😭
In case you were wondering! Yes, Soren could see/hear/feel/and everything else through the puppet and charm! When he wasn't "possessing" them, though, it was very faint sensations, like the tiniest of breezes across the cowlicks on your head. Freya personally wondered on more than one occasion if he ever used it to eavesdrop on her (as she ALWAYS kept it with/on her), but he never actually did.
What? He's already basically neglecting her, he didn't need to make her resent him for also invading in her personal business and giving her trust issues!
(Don't worry, though, she got those anyways. 😙👌)
Don't get me wrong--he didn't avoid eavesdropping just because he didn't want to give her trust issues. (Just.)
He also did it as a sign of respect for his daughter! Y'know, because he loves her!
Note: Freya lost the charm at sea during the shipwreck that destroyed the Slumbering Serpent in the first chapter of Sun and Shadow. Who knows where it is now, what will come of it, or if it'll ever appear elsewhere again?
I mean, probably not, right? After all, it got lost at sea! It would be ridiculous for it to end up on land!
... like Freya did. 🤔
Aaaaaand... I think that about does it for "Soren Magic Puppet Guardian"! 😄
This was a LOT, so I think I'm actually going to leave this post here, haha. If you'd also like to hear about Lynsmouth's "Families", please send me another ask! Hope you enjoyed reading and/or that this was as satisfying as you hoped it would be! 😊
This is a continuation post to my explanation of The Faewildes in my writing!
If you'd like to read this, I would strongly recommend starting with part 1! However, it's not the end of the world if you don't, you'll just be lacking a bit of context. Enjoy regardless!
Fair warning: long post!
Why aren't the Faewildes "Real"?
Obviously, the Faewildes are real. They exist and have been plaguing the Real World since the destruction of the Old World. So why aren't they "real"?
When I say "real", I mean that it's (relatively) unchanging and most likely unassociated with magic. The Faewilde Planes are fluid, constantly shifting and changing. Most aren't tethered to any one place, or at least shift around in "location" more than a real place should. So they're not "real" simply because they don't follow the rules of what "real" things should.
Where are the Faewildes?
Well, right here. And... right there. Actually, everywhere!
The Faewildes exist parallel to Reality to a point that realistically, nobody should ever see or enter them. Except... people do? Hm.
As I said before, the Faewildes were formed by countless cracks in Reality. Originally, it was a primordial soup that swept over the Real World, absorbing it and getting absorbed into it. But it's been a long time since then, and the world's done a lot of work sorting itself out. A lot of land has escaped from the Faewildes, settling into Reality wherever it was parallel to at its time of escape, and now makes up the continents and islands known to exist within the Real World.
However, the Faewildes still exist--they're just a lot less solid (or... real 🤔) now that they've lost their ingredients. Now, the soupy Faewildes are primarily broth.
The individual Planes within constantly move around within "the Faewildes", sometimes trading places, sometimes overlapping, sometimes merging, and other times completely destroying each other. But that's a subject for another day.
Due to the shifting, the Plane parallel to Reality could be different from day to day even if you never move from the same spot... and vice versa. To equate this to Our World--say, one day, you're living in a small town in the United States. You accidentally slip into the Faewildes and, shit!!! You saw the portal you came through, you need to find it again and escape!!
So you do.
And you emerge in Beijing, China.
Make it better! Somehow, it's 1652.
Oh, yeah. There's Time Fuckery.
So, you've gotten displaced in time by the Faewildes.
Congratulations! You're never finding your way back. Trust me, you're lucky to have gotten out alive. Don't bother going back in. Y'know... if you even can. Those portals don't usually last for long.
You know those fairy tales where people interact with the fairies, visit them or whatever, and return to their world to find out that an incredible amount of time has passed? Sometimes it's even played for a "oops, time's catching up to you!" and they, like, get Dusted like Peter in Infinity War? (Okay I'm accidentally making too many superhero references now 😂😅)
Yeah, well, GUESS WHO EATS THAT STUFF UP LIKE A STARVING WAR CRIMINAL!?!?
(Me. The answer's me.)
Due to the nature of the Faewildes and how they came from Chaos literally shattering reality, their "time" doesn't work the same as in the Real World. While, to them, time still flows in one direction, the times their Planes connect to in the Real World are disconnected.
To Doctor Who fans, it's not too dissimilar from the Doctor and River Song's meetings! While there's technically no interruption in their lives (or they live from, say, 1 to 30 years old), the other might meet them at 30 first, then 3, then 24, then 18--hopefully you get it!
(I'm making way too many references right now, forgive me. 😅🙏)
Point is, while each (the Faewildes vs Real World) feels like they have a linear timeline, they don't meet up at "the same times", leading to a disconnect that can make people get lost in time.
But that's okay!
People don't tend to survive getting lost in the Faewildes, anyways!
As much as I've enjoyed talking about the Faewildes, I think this is a good stopping point for this post! I'm getting a little tired of explaining them, so I'm going to take a break, work on some other things, and maybe get back to finishing this in a day or few!
Feel free to leave a comment, they're pure serotonin for me!!! 😊
For the WIP Title Tag, I would love to know more about The Faewildes if you feel so inclined!!
OH BOY, THE QUESTION I'VE BEEN MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO ANSWERING!!!! >:DDDD
Forgive me for taking a while to get to this, I've been busy and oh boy, does it have a lot to unpack and explain! And, heh, as I just "alluded" to... it's one of my favorite things in all of my writing! 🥰😙👌
I mean... "ominous-feychild" is a direct reference to them. 😏🤣
Fair warning: long post!
THE FAEWILDES!!!!
Let's break down the name. "Fae" refers to faeries. "Wildes"... well that's obvious. Must be a wild place, right? Except... why is it plural?
To my fellow DnD fans, it might ring some bells. Yes, it is almost a direct rip of the Feywild plane. Except... next to nothing like it. 🤭
There's a lot to explain about the Faewildes, which is kinda why I keep dancing around the subject, haha. In a previous post I just made, I explained what faeries are. Well, I'll get more into them here, but for now: I described them as "sentient clouds of magic." The Faewildes is the birthplace of all faeries, a place of pure, uncontrolled magic swirling about with no care as to what it's doing. Or... quite like a massive cloud of magic. Hm.
The Faewildes' Creation
Nobody can remember exactly when the Faewildes came to be, not even the oldest of the gods. All they can remember is the day the world was destroyed, and the Faewildes emerged through the cracks like a universe-wide tsunami sweeping over all, gods and humans alike.
All the gods know is that it's Chaos's fault. He destroyed the world, likely in a fit of anger with Order. He fucked up everything so entirely that the entire universe cracked. He caused everyone's misery just because... what?
Actually, you know what? Nobody cares! It's Chaos. He does this shit!
And nobody cares that he's in a coma now.
Wait, never mind. We all take that back, we care. Because he needs to stay like that. He fucked up the world, and he can pay for that crime. He deserves it.
Oh, Existences, I think I just got possessed by them for a second. Where were we? OH, RIGHT! The world got destroyed by Chaos, leading to the creation of the Faewildes as it tried "fixing" itself.
See, what Chaos did to destroy the world wasn't any sort of traditional "all natural disasters suddenly occur at once" or zombie apocalypse thing--he broke reality itself. And, unsurprisingly, reality doesn't really like being broken. So the Faewildes has been its way of resolving that issue.
I tend to refer it as a sort of "primordial soup of magic": it holds all the little pieces of the world until they come back together... even if it's not in the way they once were.
What are the Faewildes?
Now to get into the plurality--the Faewildes themselves are plural, though they're usually referred to as "the Faewildes" to those outside because, well... y'know. It's the Soup they're talking about, not the ingredients!
The Faewildes are technically a collection of thousands of Faewilde Planes--and each has their own unique traits, abilities, appearance, rules, etc. Many planes are fragments of what The World Once Was, only submerged in Magic and, most likely, Changed By It. This phenomenon is called "fae-touched", but we'll get into that later, haha.
While some Planes (what are essentially mini-universes) are fragments of The Old World, many more are Pure Faewildes--which means they're pure magic. A lot of them represent one kind of concept or the "essence" of something--like, say, the ocean, laws, nature itself, That One Tree Over There That's Lived Hundreds Of Years, all of bugkind, or the very existence of nonexistence.
This might not all make sense, but that's fine. Some refer to the Faewildes as "the Realm of Madness", and that's for good reason. Not everything has to make sense--a good bit of it follows Magic's dream logic. A realm of Void is simply... nothing.
I don't think I have to explain what happens if you step into it.
Those observant might've noticed something. (Or some things. 😏) Those, er, less observant or less obsessed with trying to figure things out probably didn't. 😂😅 I like to imagine people are interested enough in my stuff to try to figure things out, but that probably isn't the case, haha. Anyways!
I described some of the Planes to be made of "pure magic", they'll represent Something Or Another, and I even used colors on the "concepts" like I use for characters...
And, earlier, I referred to faeries as "sentient clouds of magic".
Oh, boy. You got me right.
Faeries are the Faewildes Themselves
Well, okay--not ALL of the Faewildes is a faerie. Just... a LOT of it.
Faeries are Things and Concepts Brought To Life. Those things have meaning in the magical mess that is the Faewildes, and they'll often develop consciousnesses if they're strong enough. This is how faeries are "sentient clouds of magic", represent concepts or beings, and yet are technically "people" in their own right.
After developing consciousnesses, faeries are able to control everything within their Plane, which I typically refer to as their "domain" or "pocket dimension".
Domain: noun;
✦ an area of territory owned or controlled by a ruler or government
✦ a specified sphere of activity or knowledge
In reference to faeries, their domain is both their "being" (ie, what their consciousness emerged from) and the semi-physical space that they both are and control.
Pocket Dimension--okay I'm sure I don't have to explain this one (and actually just don't have a definition to paste here 😂). My fellow science fans might want to raise the argument about the definition of "dimension", but that's not the point here--it's a term of phrase that people understand, so I use it, haha.
In short: being as they are their domains, faeries within "the Real World" (aka the relatively stable and unchanging world that isn't the Faewildes) are able to teleport into them at will.
Readers of my "Soren Magic Puppet Guardian" post might remember me mentioning that faeries have minor reality warping magic within the Real World. Well... within their domains, they have complete reality warping magic.
To clarify: faeries of things in the Real World don't have complete control over "their being" when it's Real. For example, Soren, noted faerie of the ocean, is not and was never capable of transforming it into, say, a bunch of snakes. However, he could've done so within his domain. While their power may come from Real Things, it is centered within the Faewildes themselves. Despite this, they are still incredibly powerful magic users within the Real World, able to manipulate their domains like a master practitioner.
The fluctuating rules and Existence of the Faewildes is partially because of the inherent reality warping abilities of faeries. They are not their bodies, though they often create them in order to "ground" themselves. Instead, faeries are their domains--and so the domain follows their whims like we blink. Thoughtlessly. It takes effort not to do so, and we'll always inevitably do it before long.
THIS WAS PART 1 OF (PROBABLY) 3!!!
There's a lot to say about the Faewildes, I've already put out a WHOLE BUNCH here, I'm excited to share this and see what y'all have to say, and I don't want to make THAT massive of a post, so I'm going to be splitting this up!!! I'd love to hear what you guys think of this, so feel free to leave comments!
Feel free to reblog and share! 😊
Part 2 |
Tag list: @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star @the-letterbox-archives
