#mother of time // madama mystana

[compulsoryroyalty]

"How much will she remember?"

---

"I'm serious, Friedrich! You know of my condition, I wouldn't be able to describe her in such detail if it wasn't real!"

"And you're sure you're not just fantasizing again?"

---

"Not even a God could erase all of one's memories, Lila. I'm sure you could speak from experience."

"..."

---

"I saw her. Clear as day. We spoke, she called me cute! Do you really expect me to make something like that up?"

"Are you expecting me to disagree, or...?"

---

"Whatever the case, they will remain distant shards of a forgone past. Eventually, she will remember it all. But as of now, it should be as if they never happened."

"Guess that's better than nothing. Better your shit than mine."

---

"You... can't be serious. Do you... truly not believe a word I say?"

"I can not honestly say I do, Your Highness. It's improbable, at best."

"..."

---

"Do you really trust in him that much?"

"Don't got much of a choice. Can't risk her knowing my face yet.

"Plus, he's already deep in this shit. If he doesn't do it, we're both fucked."

---

"Don't you have a meeting with her soon? Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"I. "Suppose you're right, Friedrich. I should get going."

"Mhm."

As the tiny Queen turned her body to face away from the possum, his vacant arm began to manifest a familiar dim lime glow. His eyes kept focus on the back of her head, squinting, as if punching a hole into it. The phantom limb began to dig into his pocket, his stance beginning to shift. Left foot in front of the right, feet planted firmly into the ground. A bright white key slowly snaked it's way out of his pocket, grasped firmly into the arcane energy. He pulled his torso back, his teeth gritting, his eyes coming to a close, his breath hitched.

He muttered under his breath, "Apologies, Kit."

SHINK!

A wave of pain coated her entire form, a pain like no other she had experienced before. As if thousands of millions of tiny pins and needles dug into every inch of flesh and muscle and bone she had.

Her mouth gasped in shock, in pain, for air, for help, but it was completely useless. Her form was already falling. Her eyes were already rolling into the back of her head. Consciousness had left her body long, long ago.

He recoiled as the mass of magicka flung back into his body, taking a step back to keep his balance.

He stood in absolute silence, watching as the bright white key sunk into the fennec's head.

He walked over to her. He bent down to pick her up. He held her form tight as he began his trek to her room.

He wondered if this was really keeping her safe.

[poppy-opossum]

Worldbuilding Wednesday #9: Communication

The earliest forms of long-distance communication on Flora were about what you'd expect, crude mail and courier systems that were slow, inconvenient, and unreliable. Many major conflicts began because of a slight miscommunication that couldn't be cleared up, as they often do. Magic was not well understood at this time, and very few species, such as the bats, had the ability to naturally infuse it into their messages, giving them a major edge over their competing cultures.

It wasn't until the rise of the Mothers of Magic that the first major communications network was established through Madama Silvana's power to freely move throughout space. Not only could she herself travel and transport others over long distances, she could infuse her magic into Spacial Tickets of her sister Mystana's design, that would allow others to cast teleportation magic on her level. There were few scholars the Mothers of Magic trusted with these tickets, as their power could be abused in very obvious ways, and one major incident occurred that limited their use almost entirely. Regardless, this ability to communicate instantaneously meant that theories and discoveries that used to take months to travel could now be done in hours.

As Silvana was only one woman and could only do so much to facillitate communication manually, she and a small group of witches specializing in frequency studies began setting up a proper network in major information hubs, and experimented with sending sound waves over long-distances. Silvana and the other Mothers would vanish from the public eye during its development, but the groundwork was already set in place for a global transmission system, known as ECHO. The system heavily favored the magic-saavy, and at the very least, required a user to know how to astral project themselves. The astral projection would enter a transmitter with a small portal tuned to a large nexus, where an operator would then redirect them to their intended recipient's receiving portal. Additionally, both parties could project into a shared, secure magical space set up in advance.

ECHO itself was mostly rendered obsolute once less intrusive, simpler audiovisual communication systems were developed, but it is still sometimes used in covert operations due to the difficulty in detecting and intercepting it, since it uses tiny physical portals instead of any sort of airborne wave or signal. We see Friedrich use it during his intermission story, with a stealth receiver disguised as a pin and cushion.

As centuries passed by, the concepts involved in communication networks became more complex, eventually culminating in the Echosphere, a vast pocket space where millions of networks physically exist as magical constructs. So, you know. The Internet.

Next week’s public update will be “#10: Funzie Frogo” but $5 patrons get to read it and all other WW updates early.

[compulsoryroyalty]

COUGH!!! HACK!!! COUGH COUGH!!! WHEEEEEEZE!!!!

“You do this every time. Get over yourself.”

The Magi stood over the feline and watched her. The “false” nun was now on her hands and knees, looking to have an especially painful time with the amount of harmful smoke in her system. Her sounds would be concerning to anyone who didn’t know her.

Or, to anyone who wasn’t used to this song and dance.

COUGH COUGH!!!

“If,” HACK, “If you and Sister were more proactive in keeping Mary in check, then I would not need to,” WHEEEEEEEZE, “Do such things every single time we meet.”

“What you and your five billion selves do ain’t our problem. You chose this.”

“Oh, come now Magi Lila,” COUGH, “It is only myself and Fleur, and you know this. “...” A pause, a moment to consider.

“Actually, young Ana might still be around--”

“That’s worse. You realize that’s worse, right?”

The cat shook her head, slowly rising up from the ground to stand. A sigh, a snap of her fingers, a pink aura enveloping her in less than a second. A bright, blinding beam of yellow light shined behind her.

But, as soon as it came into view, a white sphere slowly enveloped it, dimming and reflecting the light off of it’s surface. A calmer, more manageable white light took it’s form behind the feline, the pink aura dissipating off her figure.

Her eyes sprung open.

Crescent moons covered most of her pupils, a sigh escaped her maw.

“I do not get used to this. I do not think I will ever get used to this. “Must she ruin my body every time? Must I have to clean it every time?”

“Hey, you’re the one who went into hiding. Like I said, you chose this.”

“I am ever so eager to return to being Fleur.” She shakes her head once again. “How is Sister?”

“Fine. You know how she is.”

“And Laphoda?”

“M.I.A.”

“I can not say that is not expected. “I would ask more--I am sure I have missed much since our last meeting--but I,”

A pause as she looks over the witch, noticing her overall demeanor shift since she revealed herself. Foot tapping on the ground, arms crossed against her chest, gaze averted from the Mother of Magic.

“Believe that there is a more serious matter to attend to. There would be no other reason for you to waste a ticket on this, correct?”

A nod in response, the human witch wandering over to the nearest pew and sitting at it. “I’m in real deep shit, and I got a sneakin’ suspicion it’s your fault.”

The Mother of Magic shook her head, placing her hands in front of her and followed behind the human... though she did decide to stand instead of sit. Who knows what Mary has been doing on these pews?

... She knows.

She shudders lightly. She sometimes wonders how one can live in such a manner. Did she not take any responsibility for anything?

...

Of course, the answer to that is ‘‘no.’’ Mary’s modus operandi was fun before anything else. Had she been a different person, maybe she would agree with this lifestyle.

But no--there was simply too much to be done to live out life like... like that.

“I assure you, it is not,” she responded, “Whatever has happened here, it is the blame of yourself and yourself alone. As well, I can not have possibly been a culprit in your mistakes--my mind was locked, remember?”

A roll of the human’s eyes, “Yeah no shit. I’m the one that unlocked it, remember? And I’m about to relock it if you keep bein’ difficult.” She stared right back at the Mother, her eyes in a furious squint.

The feline hummed. “What is it that ails you, Magi? What could make you come to such a ridiculous conclusion?”

Wordlessly, a clock--colored a shade of rose pink--appeared in the witch’s hands. She tossed it over to the Mother, it quickly becoming stuck in midair once it was close enough to the feline, as if it got caught on a particularly thick piece of air.

The feline raised a brow, squinting at the off-colored clock---

. . .

“Now, I would expect someone under Sister to know spacial magicka, I am not surprised about that. “But... time, as well? How did you accomplish such a feat?”

“I only know one time spell--“

“And that is?”

“Time-lock.”

By the Gods, Lila.

“And how many times have you used it already?”

“This is my second time... why?”

“It is incomplete, is why.” A swipe of her hand at the floating clock and it continued it’s journey towards the Mother, as if it was never stopped in the first place. And before it reached it’s destination, she was able to catch it without much issue, her hand moving faster than one could perceive, “Preparation spells were never something I had mastered before my absence--”

“Bullshit.” She stood, pointing a finger at the feline, “People use prep-spells all the god damn time--you can’t be tellin’ me that you haven’t mastered something when it’s already in wide use.”

“Alright then, Magi Lila. Tell me,” she started, a frown on her face, “How it could ever be possible for a Time Witch such as myself, to not have entirely figured out something at one point, but for it to exist in another?”

That frustration on Lila’s face? Immediately dropped.

“And as well,” she continued, now pointing a finger at the human, “I would imagine it would be rather rude to go through another person’s room without their full knowledge, Magi.

“Has The Veil truly become that boring?”

The frustration was now replaced with a sheepish grimace! She took a hand to her hat, tilting it down just enough to hide her embarrassment, a light groan accompanying her.

A sigh, “You are an amazing witch, Lila.” She placed the clock on top of the other’s hat, and as soon as it left the Mother’s hands, it became stuck, “Surely you can do more than this.”

A heavy sigh escaped the Magi’s lips.

Just like Silvana. Only difference being was her anger was obviously more controlled. She was more... sympathetic, maybe?

Being a mother must’ve influenced her in some way, probably.

She turned away from the human, her white light now facing in front of her, casting a gray shadow over the witch.

“I will help, if you request it. “But only because I know my Lila and my Silvana would not be very happy knowing about any of this. “And in turn, you will help me as well. Are these conditions fair?”

“I.”

She stopped.

A sigh.

“Yeah, alright.

“Thank you, Madama Mystana.”

“Just Mystana will be fine, Magi.”

[poppy-opossum]

Worldbuilding Wednesday #2: Witches and the Three Branches Of Magic

Another Wednesday, another public WW update.

The Mothers of Magic

Since the beginning, all creatures that descended from the Trees of Life had the ability to manipulate magic, but for a long time, they only knew how to do so unconsciously. It was a silent force, shaping the world around them in subtle ways, and those who were blessed with overt power by their Lucky Stars were considered blessed by the lost gods. In time, centuries of science and research shed light on the true nature of magic, but even then, there were only theories on how to properly harness its potential.

It would not be until the birth of the three Mothers of Magic, Madamas Mystana, Silvana, and Laphoda, that there would be any meaningful breakthroughs.  Born under an especially powerful set of twin Lucky Stars, Mystana and Silvana had the abilities to manipulate Time and Space, respectively. Laphoda had no such power, but compensated easily with sheer intellect and a limitless curiousity.

Young Silvana could travel the world in the blink of an eye, becoming a polyglot and freely exchanging information between various schools of thought like never before, and Mystana used her ability to slow time to a crawl to observe and illustrate magical phenomena in new levels of detail. Laphoda was obsessed with magic's effects on the natural world, collecting materials of all sorts and experimenting with their reactions on one another.

In time, they would all make their own major discoveries that would lead to the creation of the three branches. The more they used their powers, the more Silvana and Mystana became attuned to their own magic, which they discovered they could infuse into external concepts.

Silvana used her extensive knowledge of language to create abstract codes of spoken words that would become the branch of Spells, while Mystana would condense years of her cognizance into seconds in order to calculate and design highly intricate symbols that would become the branch of Charms.

Laphoda had already become a pioneer in the fields of chemistry and alchemy by this point, but studying the biological changes in her sisters opened a new path up to her. Over the course of several years, she would develop the Witch's Brew, a substance that could induce the same magical attunement they had experienced, and in turn, she too became able to infuse magic into her concoctions, creating the branch of Potions.

Witches

Magic could now be intricately controlled through the added use of spoken word, detailed sigil, or chemical compound, widely known as "The Three Branches Of Magic".

The Three Branches revolutionized the world, creating the Golden Era of magical discovery and development. The profession of "witch" was born, an individual who, though years of training and incremental exposure to Witch's Brew, could develop direct control over magic. The path to becoming a witch is a dangerous one, though, as improper use of magic can easily have fatal consequences.

Even just the act of attuning oneself to magic through the Brew could cause one to lose their physical stability without the necessary preparation, in the same way that opening a floodgate too carelessly can cause disaster. In extreme failures, the body is consumed entirely by magic and evaporates in a burst of energy, a death that is fortunately no longer common, thanks to strict guidelines and supervision.

The more attuned to magic, though, the more directly a witch can control magic. At the standard baseline level of 5% attunement, an individual has to go through specially designed devices with particular magical batteries or pre-made charms to produce specific effects. At 15% attunement, they can subtly manipulate their own magic's wavelengths and infuse it directly into such devices, and at 30% attunement, they can use the Three Branches.

At 40%, they can cast spells with fewer words, create charms with less specific designs, and develop more potent potions using smaller pools of materials.  There are many theories about the potential possibilities of witches at higher levels, but strict regulations prevent them from going above 45% attunement, for safety reasons. Many upstart witches claim to "know a guy" who got to 50-60%, with wild stories attached, but always suspiciously have no proof when further pressed.

Next week’s public update will be “#3: History Of The Fenneclands,” but $5 patrons get to read it and all other WW updates early.