#farnaspa (oc)

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If we'd had a new chapter of ArSen this month it would've been released yesterday. It's not quite the same thing but maybe I can try to soften the blow a little bit by sharing a (very old) snippet of fic featuring some implied Kubard/Shapur.

Kubard walked towards the row of stables, stretching as he did so and stifling a yawn. The morning sun was bright in his eyes. As he passed under the stable’s awning, Shapur’s chestnut stallion snaked its neck over the door of the stall, ears laid back, as bad-tempered as its rider. Upon seeing that it was Kubard, the ears came forward and the nostrils flared wide.  “Here you go,” he said, extracting a sugar lump from his pocket, not above bribery. Farnaspa, who had been waiting for him in the courtyard, looked surprised.  “Is that…?” “Shapur’s horse? Yeah,” Kubard grinned. “Careful,” he added, seeing his captain begin to extend a hand towards the horse’s muzzle. “It bites.” “But not you, apparently,” Farnaspa said with a raised eyebrow.

Uhh let's see, although I can't remember very well I don't think this was ever supposed to be part of a longer work, just a little scene I came up with that amused me. It's set pre-canon, naturally.

Farnaspa is an OC of mine (it's not his usual timeline, but I felt like giving him a little cameo here)

Kubard bribing Shapur's horse with sugar lumps in exactly the same way he learned to soften up Shapur himself with sweet goods ahaha, but as you can hopefully tell, both the horse and rider have become a bit more welcoming of his presence over time (with the implication here being that Shapur spent the night and hasn't left yet).

There's a persistent myth that chestnut horses are fiery/hot-headed in temperament so it always amused me that in the anime Shapur rides a chestnut, given that I see those same traits in him.

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Yeah, and they’re part of the great army of Pars, commanded by the undefeated Shah Andragoras, it’s ridiculous to think they could be feeling... battle nerves? Is that what that skin crawling feeling is? Even though they are a hardened veteran of many campaigns? (As an aside, my poor OC Farnaspa, who I will share more about later, would definitely have picked up on this at Atropatene, not that it would have done any good.)

I had a sudden thought while reading some of my previous conversations with @innerchorus and... since the mist at the Atropatene was manifested artificially with magic I wonder if it has like, potent magical energy (or the aura of the casters leeched off into the mist) that can be felt by sensitive people?? It'd be so cool if that were the case.

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Thanks for sharing, this was a fascinating read! If you want a little more info on Zahhak and who/what he is, there’s some spoilers (along with a lot of other spoilers for the final novel) here that will shed some light on it. I can’t really claim to understand what’s going on there because I haven’t looked at translating that part — but this post is reawakening my enthusiasm for the task of going through the novels and gathering all references to magic etc.

I agree completely that the role of magic and how it is viewed in Pars at the time the series takes place, and what role it had in society before that would be very different. It’s fascinating to think about the time before Zahhak because we are given so little information on it, but whereas I think now sorcery has a bad reputation and followers of the Parsian faith would largely shy away from it, it’s not hard to believe there was a time when it was a more major part of life. Even beyond Zahhak, sorcerers and their cults had influence (Gotarzes had a court full of sorcerors…bad move.).

The series itself seems to position the abilities of the mages of Team Zahhak in opposition to those of Farangis, like evil vs good, and where Farangis’s skills seem to come from training her natural instincts, my impression is that Team Zahhak’s magic is artificial in nature. There’s a few references to the sorcerors having been given spells or techniques by their Master and/or Zahhak which makes me wonder how much of their proficiency is innate. If you look at what little we can see of them, they seem to have been slightly warped by it (black nails, etc), and extreme use of magic seems to have huge negative effects on the user (as with conjuring the mist at Atropatene… again, this is something that goes against nature, and is therefore wrong, which I suspect is how Tanaka was trying to position the use of magic in the series).

I would guess direct use of magic is probably forbidden to priests/priestesses, at least in the present time (again, maybe as a result of magic’s dark role in the history of Pars?). A countermeasure to combat evil use of magic would be okay, as is communicating with spirits like the jinn. I feel like the power needed to use magic has to be drawn from somewhere, which certainly has implications for when and how it is ethical to use.

I’m pretty much just guessing now. Hopefully, I’ll eventually be able to share more details from the novels. I do wonder about the blobs you see embedded in the Master’s hands in the manga — are those part of what enables him to use magic? I have no idea, really.

I like the sort of everyday use of magic drawing on nature that you describe. It may have fallen by the wayside in modern Pars, but perhaps it’s still practised on a smaller level, outside the constraints of the various religious sects and cults. And I do think some people would have an aptitude for it, or a potential, were they to be trained like my one ArSen OC Farnaspa, who had no idea what he was sensing and probably thought he was cursed, RIP. Isfan’s connection to the natural world is definitely something that could be explored in that sense and I love the thought of him as a healer. Perhaps he’d think that’s just how things work and not realise it’s anything special, maybe not even being consciously aware that he’s tapping into that sort of thing, it’s so instinctive. (As an aside, Farangis is skilled as a healer thanks to her training as a priestess!)

And Gieve! I never thought about that, but I really like the idea that he has some kind of innate magical potential that he’s maybe been disregarding all this time. If Farangis can sense it, that could be really interesting. Gieve does seem to have sharp instincts in general.

Farangis is certainly perceptive as far as the sorcerors are concerned; there’s also a scene in the novels where she senses the location of Gurgin in the dark and pins him to a tree with an arrow. I think it’s implied as well that the sorcerors have an unpleasant aura, so sometimes those who are not trained to be attuned to such things might pick up on their presence.

I’m still working on my own headcanons about magic use. I’ve not really settled on anything firm yet aside from that Team Zahhak have been given the power to see in the dark (it feels like a bit of a must, really).

Do you have any headcanons for how magic works in the world of Arslan Senki? I'm endlessly curious about this but there's very little detail in canon (I am slowly going through it looking for info... but I think the best course of action is to just make it up!).

I do have some headcanons, though of course I made them up, I don't have canon facts backing me. So uh, here goes the headcanons:

Magic users and the study of magecraft was much more commonplace and powerful back in the olden days, up until Zahhak's fall actually!

Zahhak had to have learnt magecraft from somewhere, after all. I can't decide between magecraft flourishing under Zahhak's reign or it being suppressed because he's afraid of someone potentially surpassing and defeating him. The latter might be more likely, now that I think about it.

Somehow I cannot imagine stuff like spewing fireballs from your hands or something 🤣 I think magecraft might be more... grounded. Subtle. But yet it's... grand? I don't know how to describe it except it was potent and it could be felt. The presence of magic was something that could be felt or tasted in the air. Holy sites, sacred grounds, abodes of shamans, mages and sorcerers...

I think there's magic embedded in the natural world, and there are times where magic in certain locations/objects would be more potent, for example depending on the time of the year or location of the stars or even time of the day. And while its study and usage would vary from place to place I think a lot of it would involve connecting with the natural world, learning to read it, “borrowing” or taking what is offered by nature, so on and such.

Magic usage would involve... collecting and utilizing the magical energy of the natural world, asking spirits for favors or trading favors with them, having a deity as your patron, powering the sails for a smooth and speedy journey, charming your fires to stay warm for longer... oh and familiars!

Familiars. Familiars. FAMILIARS. Mages of olden days could have djinn and spirits as familiars, and animals too. As for if familiars would be a thing in the current era... I think they'd be few and far between. Running with the idea that magecraft was stomped out with extreme prejudice since Zahhak's reign or fall so much of the knowledge would be lost and magic users in general would be fewer in numbers and also much more isolated from each other. Encountering a sorcerer may be rare, but two sorcerers from two different masters meeting would be even rarer. A clan or a whole organization of magic users? Nigh unthinkable in this day and age. Even if they did exist they'd be very secret.

I think the temples in Pars do utilize some form of magecraft even if all they can do is communicate with and decipher/interpret what the djinn say. They can't make the djinn their familiars (maybe they could in the past, but the knowledge is now long gone) though the djinn may come to favor them. But since no one knows how to start up a contract familiars ain't gonna happen unless someone stumbles upon some lost text or something. As for why the djinn wouldn't just tell them how... well I don't know 🤣

Some individuals are born attuned to magic. Some obtain that ability from having some sort of incident, some sort of brush with the supernatural, in their lives. I don't know why but I think it's more likely to happen in childhood. Perhaps because children's souls and bodies are more susceptible to influence, their potentials yet to be set in stone?

I imagine Isfan as one of those people who had a close brush with the supernatural. Especially in my AU but even outside of that I think this idea really works. I think he'd be really attuned to nature. I had been contemplating healer!Isfan (for au reasons) and when I was discussing it with @concernedbrownbread they said Isfan's healing would be much more nature-based than the more processed medicines, and I agree! Anyways can you tell I love this idea 😭

I don't have the screencaps on hand but during one of my rereads I couldn't help but notice how Farangis and Gieve (on separate occasions) sensed the sorcerers. Farangis when she and Gieve had just joined Team Arslan, and Gieve in Peshawar. From this I headcanoned them as individuals with high magical potential as well. As for whether they were born with it or obtained it in childhood... I still haven't decided. Could go either way.

I also somehow headcanon Arslan as one of those people as well. I couldn't give you a reason why.

There are magic that strengthen on things like bloodshed, hatred, negative emotions, and conflict, and there surely must be magic based on the opposite as well? I don't know where I'm going with this

On that note though, was it ever stated who forged Rukhnabad?? Did the gods gift it to Kaykhusraw? Or... did some sorcerer craft it up for him?

Unrelated but divine magic surely must be hella powerful, perhaps too powerful for mortal bodies.

Perhaps overexposure to magic (either magic in general or the Wrong Kind of magic) can turn humans into not-humans and perhaps that's what happened to Zahhak?

I have no idea how long this post has gotten (I'll see when it is posted) but I hope you liked my headcanons!! I'd love to see y'all's own additions and headcanons!!