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transmogrified-in-the-void · 9 months ago

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Affinity for Chaos, Chapter One: Magic

Welcome to Mogira, a magical land full of a large variety of different races, classes, and ways of life. But when long dead secrets start to reawaken, and the truth about Magic becomes more and more complicated, only Alarad is willing to see how far the rabbit hole goes.

“Before recorded time, this world was unmolded, unmade; a blank canvas yet to be used.” Agentium Kakadi says while drawing out a rough map of Mogira. “The Kuna Mora, Gods among Gods, looked at this and decided to mercifully paint upon it. They gave us a Body to move,” she draws the outline of a Human, “a Mind to think,” a circle is added to the head of the Human, “and a Spirit to feel.” And finally adds lines connecting throughout the outline.

She turns around with the chalk wielded like a wand as she moves it throughout the sea of students. “But I’m sure you all know this by now. You’re not here to learn myths and histories that have been repeated and recorded since you were born. You’re here to learn about Magic. What is myth? What is history? By the time you finish this class, you’ll be able to tell the difference.”

Kakadi pulls out a soft blue piece of chalk from her pocket, and turns to the board. She waves it over the drawings she made, and a light film of water appears to wash them off. The class behind her gasps as she pockets the blue chalk again.

“What is Magic?” She says as she writes it on the board in her normal white chalk. She spins around again, and looks at the students with slivered eyes. “Tell me, who knows the answer.”

A clawed, purple hand raises through the expanse of heads. Kakadi points to it. “You, stand up and say your name.”

The owner of the hand stands up, showing a dark purple Tiefling with ribbed horns that curl back behind their ears, and into the thick black hair behind it. Their dark black eyes reflect the sphere of light floating in the room and betray no pupils. “I’m Shadi Nightshade, Professor.” Their voice, though trembling, echoes through the room.

“Good to make your acquaintance Shadi.” Kakadi tilts her head to the Tiefling. “What is Magic?”

Shadi takes a stabilizing breath. “Magic is what makes Affinities and Ley Lines. It’s the concentrated lifeblood of Mogira.” They sit down the moment the last syllable leaves their tongue.

Kakadi nods along, and looks at the rest of her students. “Very good. It’s, for the most part, correct, except for one minor issue. Magic made Affinities. Because, other than the few Ley Lines that exist, Magic is dead. It died with the Kuna Mora.”

Another hand raises, this one thick with muscle and fat, and dark green skin. Kakadi points to it. “Yes, stand up and state your name and question.”

An Orc stands up this time, with large canines pointing out of her lips and a stocky body. Her dark hair is ornately braided with a streak of green. “I’m Rutta Bagdomna. What about Silencers? Or Chaos Bringers? They clearly aren’t using Affinities.”

She sits back down, and the class starts to mutter amongst themselves. Kakadi contemplates, and taps at her beak. “I do not believe Silencers are using true Magic.” She starts, and the class quiets to listen. “Magic is not consuming in the way Silencers are. And no Chaos Bringer has lived beyond their fledgeling years to be sure of if they have Magic or not.”

She looks at the class again, and perks up. “But if one did, I’d love to find out.”

Alarad Moridi-Engador wishes she had just died. A life debt her ass, Agentium Kakadi just wanted free labor. She looks at the closet still very full of books. Not completely full, the last three hours had carved out a small place where she can stand, but full enough that she can’t see the back of the hell-space.

Maybe Ali should’ve let the Fire Bolt hit her the first time. Or maybe she shouldn’t have walked into that damn store in the first place, Elvish books or not. She didn’t get what she wanted anyways, just what could be a lifetime of subservience to the world's most annoying Macawsi.

And one other thing! Agentium (no way in Shepsa Ali’s calling her Kakadi) might be able to fool the average Central dweller into believing her Water chalk lie, but not Ali. Those feathers of hers are blindingly light, and no one who is trying to refine Water can hold any Light spell for as long as she can. The chalk is like any other Bard weapon, imbued with Affinity and able to be used with just a little knowledge.

Not that Ali’s going to let the bird know that she knows. If she’s lucky, Agentium will have her work the rest of the semester and release her. If she’s really lucky, Agentium will take her to the Forests. But who knows, Bards are the worst, and any Fae that leaves the Forests don’t want to go back.

“Alarad! Have you finished yet?” Agentium yells from her office, and Ali swallows the urge to yell profanities back at her.

“Not yet!” She yells back, and glares at the evil book closet. She silently stomps over and climbs the ladder to get another handful of books. “Have you finished yet? I’ll finish you, I swear to Mora.” She mutters, grabbing three heavy books and sliding down the ladder.

Ali marches over to the second bookcase and shoves the books on one of the shelves right as Agentium walks out of her office. “What are you doing?!” She screeches and glides over to the one completely filled bookshelf. “These are so unorganized! Why didn’t you organize them?!” She turns to Ali with such force that a few feathers float down to the ground.

“How did you want them organized? By subject matter, alphabetically by author, alphabetically by title, the Yewed number system?” Ali lists out with her fingers, and Agentium raises a hand to stop her.

“Stop, I get it. Separate by subject matter, and then organize alphabetically by author, thank you.” Her yellow eyes make contact with Ali’s gray ones. “I set up a place for you to sleep in the back of my office. I came out to tell you I’m leaving for the day. Make sure everything is cleaned up before you go to bed.”

With that, Agentium swoops out of the classroom, leaving Ali to reorganize an entire bookshelf and a half by herself.

Ali turns to the monstrously sized bookshelf with a loud groan. “I hate it here.” She says to the books, and the ball of light disappears, bathing the room in darkness. There’s a beat of silence, and then she screams.

It has to be early morning by the time Ali shuffles to the office. Luckily there were a few candles burning in there when the light went out, but that meant Ali had to finish her work by candlelight rather than by starlight.

As angry and tired and frustrated as she was, it was an order from her debtor, and free room and board wasn’t something she could just turn down. So she grabbed the ladder and started to pile the books off the shelves into meticulously organized groups. There were six bookshelves in total, two on each wall except for the one with the chalkboard. So six general categories, that’s step one.

The more and more books Ali took from the full shelf, the more she realized what an unusually lucky situation she found herself in. Books on the history of Mogira and various Kuna Mora myths were plentiful, which made sense for a History of Mogira and Magic professor. There were also a couple books on the history of weapon development, weapon crafting and use, Affinity imbuement, Affinity refinement, various languages, the such.

But what really made Ali reconsider how she felt about sorting through the book closet were the books on development for the Origin Affinities, and the books on Fae. The very things she had been seeking out when the damned life debt was made.

It had to be late by the time everything was taken down and sorted, so instead of worrying about sorting through every single author, she just put the piles on one of the book shelves to be alphabetized another day. Except for one: Light: What is it?, a book that she recognized from one of her previous jaunts to a bookstore. Want to gain an Affinity? Look no further! The table sign had read, and that very book was stacked between Learning Fire and The Everlasting Earth.

So now she shuffles into the office, the sky outside starting to lighten in preparation for the Sun’s grand arrival. There’s a mattress shoved in the corner next to a tall cabinet with a few sheets neatly pulled overtop. There’s a clean pillow, and a heavy blanket folded neatly on the end. Ali can’t help the exhausted smile that falls on her face. Agentium may be rude and bossy and annoying, but at least she knew what a bed was supposed to be. Which is better than some other people Ali knows.

She moves herself and the pillow to the wall, and gently maneuvers the book into the crack between the mattress and the cabinet. Then she shakes the blanket out, curls up under it, and falls asleep.

The door slamming open startles Ali awake, and her fingers race over the edge of the mattress and brush over the dust cover. She pushes herself up as Agentium struts into the office. She stands in front of the mattress with her hands on her hips, and looks at Ali with a gleam in her eyes.

“You get to have a free education!” Agentium says, and Ali knows she’d be smiling if she had lips. “You’ll be sitting in for my lectures! Can’t have you rummaging around my office, ey?”

Ali holds back a groan. That sounds so boring, sitting through however many lectures of the same information over and over and over again. “Can I just sort through your books instead?”

“Nope! That’s too disruptive!” She chirps. “But if you’re that desperate, you can choose one or two to read, if I approve of them.”

Ali perks up at that. That’s something, at least. She puts a second thing in the list of not shitty things Agentium has done: let her read (sometimes). “Are there things that you’ll say no to always? Asking so I don’t bring up a thousand books you’ll say no to.” In her head, she starts pleading to let her read anything about Origin Affinities.

Agentium strokes her beak as she thinks. “Hmm. Nothing about the Fae Forests, not until I get to that section of my lectures, and no Affinity books.”

Ali curses the Mora. Every single time it seems luck is on her side, something proves her wrong. “Languages are okay?”

Agentium nods. “As long as it is a language book, any one of those is fine.”

Ali nods, refusing to look at her hidden secret just to the right of her. Learning languages in the day was infinitely better than sitting in the same boring class five times over. Add the fact that it’s any language? If she finds a way out of this debt, knowing at least a rudimentary amount of all major languages could get her out of Central.

“Now get ready, my class should start showing up in the next ten minutes.” With that, she moves to her desk and starts to shuffle and grab various papers. Ali stretches, stands up, and walks out to the main classroom to search the bookcases.

She walks up to the one that she’s pretty sure all the language books got shoved into last night, and scans the various titles. Most of them seem to be advanced, if the unintelligible scribbles where the titles should be are anything to go by. Ironically, the book on Elvish that she got blasted at for wanting isn’t here, but there’s a book on Fae languages. She grabs that one, as well as one on Giantish, and sits in the far corner seat by the window.

It’s golden red outside as the Sun starts to rise, and the few trees that are visible sway slightly in what must be a light breeze. Ali’s only been trapped in this classroom two days and she misses the warmth of sunshine, the smell of grass, the way soft dirt would give to her feet as she ran. Which is funny, because the last time she truly got to experience those things was back when she was wide-eyed and tiny, before the reality of her existence forced her to grow up.

She shakes the thought from her head. No need to bring back things long since passed. She flips open Fae Tongues, and starts on the introductory page.

“I would like to start by stating that Fae as they were are no longer alive. The Great Dying cut off the lifeforce of all Fae, and so anything that lives in the Fae Forests are instead much more Humanoid, so that they do not wither like their ancestors did.” Ali slowly mutters out loud, finger tracing the words on the page. “The Macawsi are the only race that is more Fae than Humanoid, and this is only because the Rianhanon (see pg. 141) merged their Fae and bird halves, severely decreasing their necessity for Magic.”

Someone slumps into the seat next to Ali, and she jumps and looks at a tall, purple Tiefling stretching their arms out. They turn to look at Ali, and grin, showing the slight point to their two sets of canines.

“Did I startle you?” They ask, and hold out a hand. “Sorry about that. I’m Shadi.”

Ali carefully puts her hand in theirs, and gives a singular shake. “Alarad, but everyone calls me Ali.”

Shadi hums, and turns to take some paper and a few books out of their bag. “Nice to meet you, Ali. New to this class?”

Ali just nods, and goes back to her book. The sky is lighter now, and she’s only finished the first paragraph. Shadi leans over Ali to see what she’s reading, and she notices how quickly their eyes move down the entire page.

“Interested in Fae?” Shadi’s voice is curious, but the way they raise one eyebrow betrays their judgment. Their eyes flick to the point on Ali’s ears, and she has the strong urge to slam her fist in their face.

“What’s it to you?” Tieflings were Fae, right? Ali can’t remember; it’s been too long since she read about the Fae races. The only one she remembers are the Macawsi and Elves, because the few she knew in the past wouldn’t shut up about it.

Shadi shrugs, and turns back to face the front. They look at the students starting to filter in with boredom. “I’ve just never met an Elf who wants to learn about anything other than their own race.”

A cold shock runs through every Spirit line in Ali’s body. “I’m not an Elf.” She says, but her voice is weakened. Could she be an Elf? She had thought that she’d crossed that possibility out years ago, but maybe-

“Could have fooled me.” Shadi grumbles, and they flip open a notebook to an empty page. That’s when a large presence steps behind them, and they sit up straight with a visible shiver.

“You’re in my seat, Nightshade.” The largest Orc Ali’s ever seen (which was one other, a rather beautiful Orc woman who was making a dress for her betrothal ceremony) growls at Shadi, who moves all of their belongings one seat over without a moment of hesitation. The orc then drops herself in the newly emptied seat, and turns to Ali. “Who’re you?”

Ali’s mouth is dry. “I- uh, Ali. Actually it’s Alarad, but you- people call me Ali.” She stammers out. And then she curses herself for saying things that stupidly.

“Rutta.” She smiles, and the few teeth that peek out from behind her lips are pushed out slightly. “Don’t worry about Shad, they’re the judgiest piece of shit I’ve ever met.”

There’s a betrayed ‘hey!’ from Shadi, and Ali lets out a breath. “Oh, okay.” She says dumbly.

Rutta chuckles. “So you’re really not an Elf?”

At that, Shadi leans forwards so that they can look at Ali.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so.” The weakness is back in her voice, and she wants to beat it into not being like that. “I’ve met plenty of Elves, and they haven’t said anything like that to me.”

Rutta glances back at Shadi, whose eyes are scrunched in confusion. “What?” They say louder than they probably intended, if the dark blush that rises to their face says anything about it.

“Do you have any amount of Light Affinity?” Rutta asks, and Ali shakes her head. She’s not going to admit she has a Light Origin book, or that the reason she has it is so that she can see what she’s doing when Agentium leaves for the day. Because then she’ll have to tell them that she’s not in this class, just that she has a life debt.

Both Rutta and Shadi hum, and glance back at each other. They then look at Ali with a pointed focus. “Do you know anything about Fae?”

Ali shakes her head again, and feels her face heat up slightly in embarrassment. She knows how apparent her Fae ancestry is in her features, and she hates that the only thing she knows is that her father is Fae of some descent, but she has no clue what he was.

She shoves the thoughts of her father down. He disappeared before she could know anything. She doesn’t need answers from or because of him.

“Well, Shadi and I are only two of the couple of Foresters who came here, so if you want to learn more, we can help out.”

Ali almost says yes, but the tug on her Spirit center reminds her of her place. “Sorry, I can’t right now. Rain check?”

Rutta and Shadi nod, and Shadi opens their mouth to say something when Agentium slams open the door to her office and struts out. The sun peeking through the windows light up her feathers, making her have a God-like glow.

“Welcome back to class!” She chirps. “As you have learned, Magic was a very powerful, much more concentrated and abundant version of the Affinities we all know now. So today we’re going to go over the day it died, also called The Great Dying by scholars who study Affinities and the history of Mogira such as myself.”

Ali, who had been preparing to ignore the entire lecture that the Light Macawsi was going to give, sat forwards at the mention of The Great Dying. Maybe she’ll talk about the Fae’s reaction to it, and all the different races in the Forests.

Ali listens to Agentium ramble on and on about the Kuna Mora and their sudden death and disappearance. Which is so boring she almost falls asleep. She knows this already! Anyone who’s ever met a Kuna Mara would know this!

So she makes the first decision against the pull of her Spirit center, and raises her hand. Agentium’s golden eyes glare at her, but she calls upon Ali anyways.

“What about the Kuna Mara, professor?” She puts as much emphasis on ‘professor’ as possible, and tilts her head innocently. “I mean, they are the only constructed race in existence, and every single one of them will state that they were made in the form of the Mora by the Mora. How did The Great Dying not kill them, especially since so many Fae, who aren’t connected to the Mora, died in the wake of it?”

Rutta stares wide-eyed at Ali, and Shadi whispers something in her ear.

Agentium, on the other hand, has rolled her shoulders back. “The Kuna Mara are a myth.” She says, and Ali stands up so fast her chair falls over.

“They are not a myth!” She yells. “I’ve met them!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes!”

Agentium tilts her head and clicks her beak. “There are no records of a Kuna Mara living anywhere in Mogira. Any that you think you’ve met must have been delusional.”

Ali grits her teeth and glares at Agentium. “That’s because they’re not recorded as people. Did you not hear me? I said they’re the only constructed race ever, and every single one of them has been working for decades under a fucking life debt.”

There’s a sharp pain in her Spirit center, and Ali collapses with a scream. “Oh no, I don’t think you’re feeling well.” Agentium coos with sympathy. “Rutta, could you carry her outside so she can rest?”

Ali feels herself being hoisted to her feet by an arm, and she shuffles out of the room. She lets herself be gently let down against a wall. Everything burns, it hurts, she wants to cry.

“Are you okay?” Shadi’s voice slides through the fog filling Ali’s mind. “What’s going on?”

Ali stifles a cry as another painful shock runs through her entire body, and she curls into herself. It hurts, it hurts so badly. She wants to rip her Spirit lines out just to stop it all.

Something touches her arm, and recedes quickly with a matching yell of shock. She struggles to open her eyes, and can faintly see Rutta cradling her hand as Shadi stares at something above Ali’s eyes. Her eyes are forced closed again, and she carefully sits back up

Slowly, the heat starts to trickle up her legs, her arms, curling around her throat and dissipates on her head. The tension leaves with it, making her slump against the warm stone behind her. She takes a deep breath, and opens her eyes again to see Rutta and Shadi muttering to each other quickly.

Ali, using the wall, gets to her feet. She wobbles at first, regaining the sensation in her feet, but stabilizes quickly. She turns to Rutta and Shadi, who are still absorbed in their conversation.

She starts for the classroom, but a cold, clawed hand grabs her elbow and tugs her back. “What the Shepsa are you doing?” She starts to protest, but Shadi puts their other hand over her mouth.

“Shhhh, Kakadi will come out if you yell.” They hiss. “What the fuck happened in there?”

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Ali pushes their hands away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Rutta barks out a single laugh. “Yeah, we’re past that Ali.” She holds out the hand that has been held up to her chest, revealing inflamed and peeling skin. “You burned my hand with your skin. If you don’t have a Light Affinity, you for sure have a Fire one. A strong one at that.”

Ali shakes her head and glares at the pair. “That’s impossible, since I don’t have a single Affinity. I’ve met plenty of people who have them, sure, but I don’t have any. Plus, Fire is a Mind Affinity, and this was all Spirit.” She flinches as there’s a small shock. Lucky her, that’s not revealing the fact that it’s a life debt.

Shadi starts choking on their spit as Rutta gapes at Ali. “That’s- that’s impossible.” Rutta runs a hand over her braids. “Shad, you saw it, right?”

Shadi nods vigorously while they try to clear their throat. “Ali.” They cough. “Ali, your hair was on fire.”

The world stills around the three of them as the stability that Ali had found on her feet starts to crumble. “No, no, that was definitely Spirit pains. There’s no way- that’s- no.” Tremors start to make themselves known in her arms and legs as she stares at the ground with unseeing eyes. “What does that even mean? Spirit Fire is impossible, I can’t, I have no Affinities.”

A cautious hand slowly presses on her shoulder, and she looks up at Shadi. Their normally black eyes start to have a light glow of dark purple around them as their face takes a look of deadly seriousness. “Ali, I don’t know what’s going on with you, or if those are normal, but you need to get to either the Forests or the Tunnels before it gets worse.”

Ali starts to brush off their hand again, but it tightens, and the glow gets brighter. “No, listen to me. Rutta grew up with foster parents, she never got to experience the Forests and Orc tribes until she was much older. But I was born there, under a New Moon and stormy skies. If you have an uncontrolled or unknown Affinity that’s starting to draw on other Aspects to be used, and you’re not even aware of it, those are the only places that will keep you and everyone around you safe. Do you understand me? You are in danger, and those around you are in danger. You need to go.”

Ali grips Shadi’s wrist, and wrenches their hand away. She takes a single step towards them, making them step back. “Thanks for the advice, but I think I’ll be fine.” She snarls. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. I’ve done just fine my whole life, and I’ll continue being just fine without your quote unquote advice.”

She steps back, and takes a quick glance at both Shadi and Rutta. “Take her to a Healer or something, I’m going to get back to sitting by the window.” She waves dismissively at Rutta, and walks away with tall shoulders, and an uneasy feeling lining her gut.

Things, it seems, are going to get complicated.

#original writing #writeblr #my writing #p bangs the keys #fantasy #fantasy world #magic #original magic system #magic system #fantasy character #affinity for chaos

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powered-universe-official · 2 years ago

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Affinities

READ! Some specific notations or number values have been replaced, as this is posted for feedback on readability, understanding, and question.

Affinities and Casting

When Magic is dead and gone, how does a world find a way to create without creating? They find themselves making Affinities to the five Origins that each mortal is, in one way or another, connected to: Fire, Earth, Water, Light, and Dark. Through growing and refining those Origin Affinities, the Origins revealed more powerful Affinities one can wield, if powerful enough.

As is the case with all things that can truly Create, there are two Affinities one cannot gain through normal means. These are Taint, and Chaos. Both are made when conflicting Affinities are combined. More often than not, this creates the all consuming Tainted Affinity, that takes over all Affinities, and can Create nothing. Rarely, this creates Chaos Affinity, which is all consuming and can Create everything. This is the Affinity and Magic that was found in all Sorcerers, and is considered the most powerful and dangerous Affinity for one to yield.

Casting

Every spell and effect will have 3 attributes above the described use/effect. These are Use, Drain, and Affinity. The importance of Use is described more within the Class descriptions, but it is essentially the primary function of the spell/effect, and one’s Class or Subclass will define how Use affects casting. Affinity is self explanatory. It is the Affinity one must have at least X Affinity experience to be able to cast the spell/effect.

Drain is more complicated. When using a spell/effect, one’s Affinity experience can also double as one’s Affinity extent. This is the amount of Drain one can take from a specific Affinity before it starts to affect their Casting Value. If a spell/effect has a Drain higher than the remaining Affinity extent, one can start to use the [HEALTH] of the Casting Value instead. If the Drain of a spell/effect is higher than the maximum Affinity extent, then it may not be used at all.

Gaining Affinity Experience

With any Spellcaster or Psychic they have the ability to learn any of the five Origin Affinities, but they can only have one primary Affinity. Their primary Affinity is the first Affinity they decide to study and develop.

In order to “study” an Affinity, one must have a strong enough metaphysical presence to be able to properly wield one. One’s Casting Value must be X in order to begin working on an Affinity. Once one’s Casting Value reaches X, the chosen Origin Affinity gains X Affinity experience.

When one’s Casting Value increases, one’s Affinity experience increases. For every point increased in the specified Casting Value, three points of Affinity experience are gained to distribute within the Affinities. The only rule is that one’s primary Origin Affinity must have more experience than any other Affinity, with the exception of if the primary Affinity is at its highest experience score. Any given Affinity may only have at most X experience. In order to start using any spells or effects, an Affinity must have an Affinity experience of X.

Refining Affinities

With each of the five Origin Affinities, one gains the ability to refine them into something more powerful, encompassing, and/or specific. Fire eventually becomes Energy, Earth eventually becomes Life. Light turns Solar, Dark turns Lunar, and Water turns Ice.

In order to Refine an Affinity, one’s Affinity experience with the Origin Affinity must reach X. For Fire and Earth, in order to reach their final Refinement, the Origin Affinity must have an Affinity experience value of X.

Below is a chart mapping out the refinement flow of all the Origin Affinities.

Combined Affinities

When studying multiple Affinities, it is possible to combine the effects of some of them for a new, potentially greater effect. In order to combine Affinities in the first place, one must have a strong enough personal presence to be able to successfully bring them together, and therefore one’s Mind score should be equal to or greater than the combined experience scores of both Affinities. If it is not, one must make a successful Mind check (10 + the combined experience scores) to succeed.

All effects of combined Affinities are decided by the Game Master, with the exception of any Affinities that have conflict.

Conflicting Affinities

Some Affinities cannot be combined regardless of one’s Mind. If one attempts to combine either Light and Dark, or Fire and Water (as their Origin Affinities, and not any refined Affinity), they will unequivocally fail. Attempting to combine these will lead to one of three effects: the stronger Affinity’s effect continues with no consequence, one’s Affinities become Tainted, or one’s Affinities become Chaotic.

To see which of these comes into effect, one must roll 2d100s. If either of the d100s lands on a 01, one becomes Tainted (see in Taint section). If both d100s land on the same number, one becomes Chaotic (see in Chaos section). If neither happens, the Affinity with more experience is the stronger Affinity, and its effect will follow through.

There are no exceptions to this rule.

There are two Affinities, however, that while conflicting, do not have any consequences. These are the Affinities of Water and Energy. If these Affinities interact in any way, if the experience of the Water Affinity is greater than the experience of the Origin Fire Affinity, the Energy is dispelled and null.

#the affinity system #tas #tas mechanics #ttrpg

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