An additional thing about (@ominous-faechild original; do not steal /lhj) runic magic within my writing!
Styluses are essentially the world's early version of wands. They're made to draw runes, but require surfaces to draw on. They always encase—or utilize as the writing utensil—a conduit (an object containing pure magic, ready for use by anyone). After the invention of wands, styluses are often used as "baby's first wand", so to speak.
In other words: styluses become the giant pencil you give a toddler budding wizard for them to begin to learn runic.
For perhaps predictable reasons, artists are often recruited as wizards. Dyscalculia and dyslexia (although not named in-universe) are known to be a particular struggle for budding wizards, however.
Hugo “Cricket” Tinoco from Waves of Misfortune is an example of both. He was sponsored by the Minoguan government to join a runic academy thanks to being a skilled artist, but was eventually forced to drop out due to struggles “recreating” the runes.
(He's got some combination of the two.)
Wands aren't too dissimilar from the tool in Marvel's Doctor Strange that allows them to write in midair. They often resemble the stereotypical image of a wand, and serve as what's essentially a magic pencil that can write in midair.
However, twist: oftentimes, wizards will etch their most-commonly-used spells spells into the sides of their wands. With that, they can then later filter magic through those runes and quickly, easily, and frequently re-use their preferred spells.
Similarly, many more advanced wizards carry around staves—which are essentially larger wands—with larger conduit cores and many, many, many more runic sigils littered across their casing.
While this may seem to (and does, in fact) simplify the art of spellcrafting, there is a risk to relying on previously-etched runes: the caster has to remember where they've put each, or learn to distinguish between them by feel.
Considering the fact that they're often etched as small as possible both to fit more and to keep a possible enemy from seeing what spells you have at the ready... it is very dangerous, indeed, to rely on pre-etched spells. The practice is highly advised against except for master practitioners with several years of experience... and practice.
"Getting a new wand" is also highly frowned upon in this case, because if the caster fails to put their runes in the exact same spots...
Well.
Some "problems" can emerge.
(unlike last time, i've got this pretty solidified in my mind. i just wanted to share because, again, i thought y'all'd find this cool)
just putting some ideas down for my own personal reference (lest i forget) and because i think you guys will find it interesting!
in runic magic (in my worldbuilding), the strongest spells are always more complex. however...
complexity ≠ strength
the more detail within a rune, the more it is doing—so extra details within it will "muddy up the water" so to speak. and, the more a spell does, the more essence it costs to cast it.
therefore, the strongest spells—while often more complex, to be more specific and careful—are also minimized to have the least details possible, in order to be efficient.
plus... the more you have going on, the easier it is to interrupt.
and the longer it'll take for you to draw the rune/cast the spell.
and the more dangerous it is for you not to have its effects.
The Existential War spans the millennia that separates the many, many titles i will be writing for the next several years... and hopefully even beyond that.
Unlike other wips, the Existential War is something closer to a setting than a story—it is the game the Existential Gods are playing with the world. Through their immortal avatars, they manipulate all of humanity along their whims, trying to see who between them can take over the entire world.
... while falling in-line with their majority-agreed-upon 'rules'.
probably.
Zenebe: [vaguely waves a hand in the air, his elbow in the other's hand, and rolls his eyes as he paces and dismissively explains) "Well! Long story short, there's a bunch of gods called the Existentials—they're the Existences of stuff, yadda yadda yadda, {Water} is Water. A long time ago, the Existentials put their heads together and decided it would be a really great idea for them to play chess with a bunch of us lowly, lowly mortals. So!"
Zenebe: [stops, turning to face Louise with a wide grin and a clap of his hands, which he then points at her. With hints of anger underlying his expression and in his otherwise-amused voice:) "They play a game of 'who has how much, and if I have the most, I'm the best' by having us lowly mortals fight each other to claim them territory, and get them even more lowly mortals—"
Mitzie: [has been standing off to the side, listening silently with a scowl and her arms crossed. Finally, turns a sharp look onto him and interrupts:) "Zenebe, cut to the chase."
Mitzie: [turns to meet Louise's eyes instead; voice harsh, but matter-of-fact) "we're avatars. That means, basically, we have to do what a god says. Since we're {Water's} avatars, we have to listen to {Water}."
Zenebe: [offers her a smirk, but turns a much more serious look onto Louise]
Zenebe: (dryly, hints of tension in his voice) "right. What she said."
THEME SONG:
I'm still living in a knife fight
Living like a bad guy
Can't stand what I look like
I keep praying like a saint
Believing it'll change me
But the voices won't leave
I see the tunnel full of light again
I never reach it and it's getting dim
I feel the darkness try to pull me in
It just won't end
It's sinking in my skin
I'm stuck in a war
I️ am broken and torn
Dividing my head and my heart
Between the good and the evil
God and the devil
Demons and angels
They're tearing me apart
(...)
I keep begging for these bad things
Living out my dark dreams
Don't you try to save me
I'm just looking for forgiveness
Someone who can end this
Can I get a witness
It's good for my flesh
It ain't good for my soul
I want it to stop
But I got no control
(reminder: these characters are spread across many stories, each with variable relevance between them. their roles are significant within the war itself. in other words, only a few of them exist per named story—maximum.)
(the trainer avatars are those tasked to train many of the other avatars owned by the same god. due to this role, they often have a lot of influence over their mentees... whether positive or negative.)
EXISTENTIAL RANKINGS:
THE "TOP DOGS":
♛ Order
♛ Storm
♛ Fire
THE "SLEEPING BEARS":
♝ Fate
♝ Magic
♜ Air
♜ Cold
THE UNDERDOGS:
♞ Dark
♞ Earth
♞ Water
NONCONTENDERS:
♚ Death
♚ Chaos (comatose)
ADDITIONAL INFO:
♙ this is not a singular story. it is a collection of many stories, mostly disconnected besides following the individual characters. there will be individual "novellas" pulled out of the existential war/avatar nonsense most often encapsulating their early years or certain important events
♙ there are many HEAVY subjects within these stories, with miscellaneous content warnings varying across each. while i will be listing all of them (i can think of) here, they are not necessarily universal across the novellas
♙ there WILL be deaths. this is magic-war.
♙ most are concentrated in the early existiwar
♙ the early years are especially brutal
♙ avatars from different gods aren't... kind to one another.
♙ despite the deep trauma involved in all this, there IS a planned (and never-going-to-change) ending to the existential war. those who know of the ending say it is a good ending
♙ what that means will not be shared at this time :>
♙ some of the oldest avatars are alive from 20 AA to the very end of the existential war (approx 1000 AA). by nature of the progression of humanity, this will see a variable level of "technology" (read: magitech) across the stories.
♙ being as the avatars are all immortals, they inherently run on a MUCH longer time scale than us. 3 years might feel closer to 5 months, for example
♙ timelines will be displayed along with scenes
♙ HIGH HIGH HIGH AF FANTASY
♙ sometimes even WITH the weed!
♙ i mean wut
♙ MAJORLY action-filled
♙ i mean they're literally at magic-war
♙ includes:
♙ allegories. SO MANY allegories
♙ ex: 90% of avatars are bio kids of the god
♙ like it ain't even subtle
♙ gays. so many gays.
♙ they're all queer
♙ neurodiversity
♙ especially:
♙ autism & ADHD
♙ PTSD
♙ anxiety, depression, &—
♙ racial/cultural diversity
♙ gods exist across the whole world
♙ avatars are born within or adopt cultures
♙ also most are POC.
♙ like over 50%
♙ 25% of the rest aren't even human
CONTENT WARNINGS:
♙ parental issues
♙ as i said, it's allegorical
♙ avatars are LITERALLY slaves
♙ and most are the bio kids of the god(s)
♙ i don't think it's hard lol
♙ neglect, abuse, exploitation, parentification
♙ general abuse, exploitation, and struggles
♙ again, the avatars are literal glorified slaves
♙ addiction
♙ drugs
♙ both "normal" (alcohol, weed) and "hard"
♙ gambling
♙ sex
♙ sex is openly talked about and implied, but will never be shown. fade to black in this hizzouse!
♙ sexual themes will be included in cws
♙ (both in tags and prior to scene)
♙ SA implied and mentioned
♙ NEVER openly displayed
So, magic in tAR actually works pretty much the same as in the rest of my works! Except... also not. (lol)
Like in the rest of the (in-universe) world, magic is infused within everything to one degree or another. The Faewildes' intrusion upon Reality in the early years deeply changed it, and especially imbued magic within humanity.
Now, there's many different kinds of magic. The most commonly known ones are fae and axiomatic magic—magic that is bent and molded by people's beliefs. Fae magic is unique to the fae and the Faewildes (but, as mentioned before, got infused within humanity and the world itself). Axiomatic magic, on the other hand, is naturally local due to how it's shaped by people's beliefs.
In short: axiomatic magic arises from religion, folklore, and stories.
So, while tAR's magic is technically just like the rest of the world's—where magic is typically tied to the individual and always requires essence—tAR has its own unique axiomatic magic.
Significant events important to the plot in Kavo's history led to a mass exodus of mages from the town. However, magic isn't always obvious, can be purposely hidden, and can develop in an individual through exposure or being gifted it later on by a higher power. So there are mages within Kavo, Glavnran—but just about all of them have the local axiomatic magics of one of their gods.
These gods, of course, being Glavnran's main pantheon of five:
- Bhayol (the sea, ocean wind, trade, society)
- Rholvny (fire, the hearth, healing, fertility)
- Zhrizn (wild nature, corruption, disaster)
- Ertzat (death, blizzards, cold, the afterlife)
- and the nigh-forgotten Zhelevol (???)
The gods within the Reborn World (which I'm now realizing I REALLY need to give a different, official name lol) all have wider, more abstract domains than what I just listed. What I described above are simply over-arching concepts that mostly encompass what the Glavni people believe of them.
In other words... what is true of their powers, and always will be.
Kavo's populace is largely devoid of magic, but the few who do have it often hide it, or otherwise have godly associations.
For example:
- Nikolai, the chief of police, was blessed by Ertzat. He has a resistance to the cold, suffers immensely in the heat (lol), and can near-effortlessly control snow and blizzard-winds.
- Indah, the head of Kavo's Church of Rholvny, has a resistance to heat and fire, especially struggles in the cold, and has fire and healing magic.
- Adilzhan, the local devil's messenger boy priest of Zhrizn, has nature magic. He's able to grow and manipulate forestry, has mild control of the earth, and can influence animals around him.
(As well as a few other things... 🙂😉)
- Mislav, a boy whose family was killed by Zhrizn's order Adilzhan and was thereafter taken in by him, has life magic. He's able to control nature around him, influence living things around him, and heal.
(As well as a few other things 😈😘)
Reminder: everyone's magic requires essence—or magical energy—which is separate but related to their typical energy reserves. This is true across all of magic within my stories. Unless you're Sammy or Victor... 🤔
pssst, @caffeinated-starsailor, @teamarine777, @mythicalmagical-monkeyman, do you want to be added to the worldbuilding/or the "all story-related" taglists? I lowkey forgot they exist lol
