#i joked earlier that magic was his dinosaurs phase but he never grew out of it

[randomnameless]

I thought about magic too during the lockdown so it's not up to date but in general,

I find it fascinating how, from the golems to magic, Agarthan, uh, magitech seems to be inspired by the Nabatean one, but is ultimately more refined (Titanuses look more sturdy and modern than Rhea's golems) and Dark Magic, as opposed to White (faith) or Black (reason) magic is something of an Agarthan exclusive branch of magic (where they focus more on the "science" aspect of magitech?).

Also, there's this line Macuil mentions in his paralogue :

Have a taste of my power...

My bad, the non lolcalised line :

魔道の起源たる力、 とくと味わうがいい……！

Birdie roughly saying something like (mechanical translation'n'all) eat my power that is the origin of magic

But Nopes created tomes (which is wtf) and more importantly, gave Macuil's sacred regalia a name, in the localised version it's "Wind Caller's Genesis" which is noted to be, in the jp version, called Origin if the Wind-Calling.

Now, we know Macuil is supposed to be known for his magical abilities and how he "pioneered" magic studies, but I don't think the dude himself is the "origin" of magic.

Maybe he wasn't saying he - himself - was the origin of magic, but his power comes from this origin, aka Sothis.

Sothis, the origin/source of magic in Fodlan, created Nabateans, that's why Macuil claims his power is the source/origin of magic, since it comes from Sothis herself?

Nabateans being "magic" beings also comes from Linhardt's mention, in the last chapter of CF, where he calls Rhea's roars (the one she uses to boost her golems) "unadultered magic" - Nabateans can use raw/unadultered magic (or just magic by roaring), but humans need formulas and whatnot?

Tl;Dr : Sothis landed from the Blue star, and taught tech and magic to humans (agarthans). Agarthans "refined" the magic Sothis taught them with maths and created some sort of magitech, then warred against Sothis and lost.

Later on, Nopes reveals that Agarthan magitech isn't able to fight/face/defend against one of Sothis's kids firing her laser (that's how epimenides dies for the first time!).

-> Rhea's laser > maths

Fodlan Magic

Alright what I've found:

Faith/Reason

Faith (white) and Reason (black) magic are different in practice. Faith is powered by... well, faith, whether that be in a higher power or someone else. It can also be used for healing. Two examples of this are closing up wounds faster and raising a body's vital energy.

Reason magic is far more offensive and involves the manipulation of different elements. You do not need faith to use Reason magic, although Lysithea does hypothesize that reason, while necessary, cannot result in true understanding without a little faith... whatever that means.

Both of them are things that you have to study. You can have a talent for it, but Annette's support with Sylvain tells us that there are formulas involved.

Despite all these differences, Faith and Reason both have the same magic circle.

Class Change

Caspar getting blown up

As you can see, there is text on the outer ring. If I am correct, this text says:

"The goddess always lives in heaven and Fodlan. She is watching over us. As the mother of all living beings. As support of all mindful things."

It is also unlikely that this text was created by the Church of Seiros. An amnesiac Sothis in the beginning of the game will have the exact same text on her own magic circle, but that could be an oversight.

The words on the ring below appear to be Binah, Netzah, Keter, Gevurah, Yesod and Tif'eret. These are sephiroths on the kabbalistic Tree of Life.

Keter = Kether, Netzah = Netzach, Gevurah = Gebuhar, Tif'eret = Tiphareth

The symbols on the larger circles are are Uranus (♅), Jupiter (♃), and Mercury (☿). Uranus is Daath, Jupiter is Chesed, and Mercury is Hod.

They show up when you are showing off a crest.

Interestingly, they do not show up when Edelgard reveals her Crest of Flames.

The user's crest will show up in the middle of the circle. If the user has no crest, it will be empty.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to reference the symbols between each sephiroth

The symbols in the smaller circles are the Sun (☉︎), Moon (☾) and Venus (♀). The Sun is Tipharet, the Moon is Yesod, and Venus is Netzach. They are connected to form a triangle.

The only sephiroths not accounted for are Chokmah (Neptune) and Malkuth (Earth). The absence of Chokmah might indicate a lack of wisdom, while the absence of Malkuth could mean that the magic is more connected to the divine than to the physical world.

The text talking about the goddess, and the abscence of Malkuth (the physical realm), could all mean that Faith/Reason directly originates from Sothis.

Dark magic

Dark magic is very different from Faith and Reason, to the point that it has its own magic circle. Finding clear pictures of this is nearly impossible, but this is what I have been able to get so far:

Three Hopes: Azure Gleam Ending cutscene

Three Hopes: Opening cutscene

I have not been able to get a full view of the text on the outer rings, but it seems to be a mathematical formula.

The circles containing the symbols are all the same size, unlike with Faith/Reason magic. The symbols are letters in the Greek alphabet:

Delta (δ): the 4th letter, representing change and difference.

Theta (Θ): the 8th letter, which is connected to thought, intellect, reasoning, and mental processing.

Xi (ξ): the 14th letter which... doesn't seem to have a specific symbolic meaning. It can be used in mathematics to represent a variable or unknown quantity.

Chi (Χ): the 22nd letter, symbolizing life force, energy, and sometimes vitality. Xi (ξ) which doesn't really have a symbolic meaning.

Psi (Ψ): the 23rd letter, associated with psychology and spiritual matters.

Omega (Ω): The last letter, symbolizing the end. The Alpha, or "beginning," could be Sothis.

In the middle of the circle there is a triangle with an eye over it. It looks similar to the Eye of Providence or the All-Seeing Eye.

This eye shows up in Thales's design as well.

The earring looks like a simplified version of the dark magic circle

It also shows up on Solon's robes!

Mini dark magic circle with the eye under it

You might've recognized the Eye of Providence as the symbol for the "Illuminati," but it actually finds its origins in Christianity, where it is a symbol of God's omniscience and providence.

The Agarthans may not worship Sothis, but we know they had their own religion. Their book talks about Thinis, where the old gods were supposed to dwell. The wording implies that Sothis awakening there was a betrayal, as it went against their religion. Perhaps this eye is connected to those "old gods."

All in all, dark magic seems to originate from the Agarthans. They are supposed to be technologically advanced, so their magic having tons of mathematical formulas makes sense.

TLDR: Dark magic = math, Faith/Reason = our lady and savior

Feel free to point out things that I might have missed!

Edit: Mixed up Daath and Chokmah. This is why I need to proofread something at least twenty times before posting!

[radioromantic-moved]

a study in semantics

(hey, does this look familiar? it should! because i fucked up and it got deleted for a little while. things are okay now)

i came up with the headcanon that frank calls me a ray of sunshine initially sarcastically before it evolves into an actual affectionate nickname. and yeah, that’s what this is.

word count: 1650

They say in the business world that first impressions are everything.

Nyx probably didn’t get the memo. Actually, they probably got the memo and promptly chose to purposefully ignore it. 

They show up to interview for a position at Toy Zone wearing all black, with a close-cropped mess of blond hair as the main splash of color in a wardrobe that would probably camouflage them in a dark room. The way they cross their arms over their chest and stare across the desk they’re sitting in front of, Frаnk feels vaguely like he’s the one being interviewed.

“Aren’t you a little ray of sunshine,” he mutters to himself.

They level a bright green stare at him. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying, I’m guessing ‘cheerful’ isn’t one of the reasons you’re going to list as to why I should hire you.”

“I’ll have you know, my close friends find me delightful.”

He can’t tell if they’re joking. They deliver everything in the same sort of dry, vaguely amused sounding tone, as if they’re watching a somewhat-interesting movie. 

“We have a uniform here, you know,” he says. “It might clash with your aesthetic a little.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that from what you’ve got going on.”

They gesture at his bright red polo, name tag dangling conspicuously from it. “I can handle the shirt,” they shrug, “as long as I can still wear this coat. I feel like I’d have a case to sue if you guys didn’t let me wear this coat.”

It is a cool coat.

“There isn’t anything in our rulebook about letting you wear a coat over the shirt. Just don’t let it cover your nametag. But back on track, we still have to figure out if we’re hiring you at all. Do you work well in a team?”

                                                      ---

 It’s been a few weeks. 

And yes, he hired them.

People aren’t exactly clamoring to work at Hatchetfield’s one toy store smack in the middle of a shopping mall, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. 

Supply and demand notwithstanding, Nyx is on the team now. They get along surprisingly well with Leх (actually, not that surprising. They seem to be someone who never grew out of their edgy teen phase anyway), and whenever they’re on break the two of them engage in spirited discussions about--

“No, I’m serious. You’ve got the vibe.”

“Dude, I’m a high school dropout. Aren’t they all, like, cheerleaders or prom queens or something?”

“What? No! Don’t you know your lore? In the real kitschy ones, cheerleaders and prom queens die first.”

Frаnk stops dead in his tracks. “What in the world are you two talking about?”

“Leх would be the final girl in a horror movie,” says Nyx. “She doesn’t believe me.”

“Have you met me?” protests the younger of the two cashiers. “I’d probably run right into the middle of some shitstorm of a situation and get myself decapitated or something because it was a panic response.”

Frank shrugs. “I’m with her on that one.”

Nyx scoffs. “You’re just petty because you’d be the first one to die, Frаnk. Actually, scratch that--” they stare at him for a few seconds with that weirdly intense gaze of theirs-- “second. Final response. You’d die second in a horror movie.”

“Man,” he says, shaking his head, “you really are a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”

Leх pats Nyx on the back. “Damn straight.”

                                                       ---

bossdude: Can I ask you for a favor?

me: okay shoot

bossdude: Something came up. I’m not gonna be able to open on Sunday. You’re the oldest staff member I have, so consider yourself officially temporarily promoted.

me: whoa whoa whoa

dude 

you want ME to open

on SUNDAY

bossdude: It’s one day. You can handle it.

me: alright but don’t blame me if people are dissatisfied with my subpar customer service and lackluster welcoming skills

so dissatisfied that it translates into anger

and eventually a boycott

and eventually you won’t need to find sunday replacements

because our store will be only a fading memory  in the greater hatchetfield consciousness

why did you let me open on sunday?!? why?!?

bossdude: For the love of--

Always a ray of sunshine, aren’t you.

I’ll see if Leх or Alice can help out.

You type fast.

me: awwww, thanks

                                                      ---

Nyx groans, resting their head on the counter. “I did not get enough sleep last night. I’m dead tired.”

“Well, you better snap out of it,” he says. “We’re already down one pair of hands today because you insisted you’d work overtime if Leх took the day off to watch her sister.”

Nyx lifts their head. “Of course I did. Her sister’s got a fever. I may be weird and creepy and kind of mean sometimes, but I’m not a monster. Workers have to assist one another when the corporate millstone attempts to grind away our humanity.”

“Still a ray of sunshine, I see.” He sets down two coffee cups next to them on the counter. “Maybe this’ll help wake you up. I went across the street before you came in and picked them up. The one on the left’s yours.”

 They take a tentative sip. “Hey, a white chocolate mocha. How’d you know?”

“You were talking about getting one after work last week. I remember it since it seemed like a weird order for you--you know, with your everything.”

Nyx grins. It’s a small one, but somehow, it seems to light up the whole store. “What? I think it’s a perfectly reasonable drink for a ray of sunshine such as myself.”

With that smile, he thinks, they could almost live up to that nickname for real. 

He doesn’t say that out loud.

“Oh, and, um, thanks. For the drink, I mean. It was surprisingly generous of you.”

“No problem.”

                                                      ---

“Now that was what I call a successful day.” Frаnk places a hand over his heart in faux-affection. “I love rich kids’ birthdays.”

Nyx looks up from rearranging the cash register. “Little Jonathan is sure gonna be occupied for...uh, maybe two days, before he gets bored and starts asking for more stuff.”

“Nice to see you’re as much of a ray of sunshine as ever,” he says, and there’s something suspiciously like fondness tinging his voice.

“Well, it’s not that I’m not grateful for the bonus.” They slide the cash register shut. “I can finally treat myself to a ticket to that alien invasion movie I’ve been wanting to see.”

“Aliens. Why am I not surprised?”

“Oh, and I’m sure your taste in movies is so highbrow.”

“I never said that. I like alien movies. You know, I was also planning to go see that at some point. And, you know, I guess today is as good a day as any.”

He didn’t think that. He has no idea why he said that.

They raise their eyebrows. “Are you asking me on a date?”

WHAT.

“What?! No, I was just, you know, bringing up the fact that I like alien movies and I might see that one on my own time. Maybe today, maybe some other day--still vague. Still working out the details. You know how it is.”

“Ah. Now everything is much clearer,” deadpans Nyx.

“But you know, and I’m speaking from a business perspective here--seeing as we both want to see the same movie, and we both have free time and the means to see it today, it would be convenient for both of us if we...in a strictly platonic sense, here--if we saw it...together? Assuming we’d be paying for our own refreshments.”

“Well, how can I say no to such a captivating offer?” says Nyx with a shrug. “You’re paying for your own ticket, too, though.”

“Aww. Can I suggest--?”

“You cannot.”

                                                      ---

Frаnk enters the supply closet and confirms a long standing hypothesis of his. 

“If it weren’t for the hair, I wouldn’t have known you were in here.”

“The dark is my natural habitat. One day I will return there for good,” says Nyx without turning around.

“Sometimes I think you’re just screwing with me.”

“Yeah, that one was a joke,” they admit. They swivel around to face him. They’re sitting on a box. 

“Any particular reason why you’re in here and not, you know, doing your job?”

“Mrs. Monroe’s in again--she wanted me to check the back for one of those dinosaur puzzles. The longer I’m in here, the more time she thinks I’m dedicating to her request. And I just needed to take a breather.”

“I could issue a write up for that, you know.”

“Well, I could be looking for a puzzle and be taking a breather at the same time.”

“We don’t have any of those puzzles.”

They place a hand on their cheek in mock-surprise. “Oh, really? I wonder what I was taking so long for! I was sure a sold-out item would magically appear in the back once she asked about it!”

“I see you’re a ray of sunshine as usual today.”

They scoff. “Oh, you could have used that earlier. A single sarcastic comment is a waste of ‘ray of sunshine’ compared to the ‘I will return to the dark’ thing.”

“Didn’t you say that was a joke?”

“Well, yeah, but a purposeful one. I gave you the setup and everything. C’mon.”

“I’ll--I’ll do better next time?”

“Oh, how the tables have turned,” Nyx remarks.

                                                      ---

He calls Leх a ray of sunshine once and never again. 

It feels wrong coming out and only more wrong when Leх looks at him sideways. “Don’t call me that. It feels creepy.”

“Yeah, I’m...not doing that again.”

“You’re lucky Nyx wasn’t here to hear that,” says Leх as she organizes stuffed animals. “Might have made the whole thing lose its meaning.”

“What--there’s no meaning to it, and it’s not a whole thing.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” says Leх with a rare smile.

It’s more of a smirk, really.