#wctd lore

[veneritia]

does your world have magic? if so, what is it like?

Congratulations anon! You somehow managed to do the impossible: make me worldbuild WCTD's magic system

I need you to know that this one ask consumed me for a day and a half and ended up spawning a near 1k word page in my wip notion.

Genuinely glad you asked this. No I am not ok

Anyway, here's the highlights of that doc

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While there are various theories and schools of thought about the subject depending on where you grew up and who you ask, there are a few universal characteristics about magic that everyone considers to be true (with exceptions).

All human beings are born with a mystical energy that gives them life***

Imbuing this energy into a target allows it to be controlled; this act is called THAUMATURGY (i.e. magic)

***The notable exception to this are deadbornes, which are humans that are born without this mystical energy (ichor). Though considering that almost all infants with these condition die during or shortly after delivery, it can be said that existence of deadbornes is the exception that proves the rule. As of yet, the etiology of this condition is unknown.

The earliest and oldest demonstrations of thaumaturgy centered around elemental magic: earth, wind, water, fire. The elements are considered to be the rawest form of energy manipulations. As these elements are present in abundance everywhere, they are the easiest to become ‘in-tuned’ to.

There is, however, no universally agreed upon origin of this energy or understanding of how it works. In the Raian continent alone, many scholars have spent lifetimes studying how this mystical energy works and experimenting its limits. A great amount of the current treatises on magic are based around the works of the long destroyed Il’Saharin House of Wisdom. The House of Wisdom referred to a guild of libraries and scholars during the second Saharin Dynasty in central Raia. These scholars amassed and translated a large collection of books and scrolls from all parts of the globe, with a particular focus on magic. This centralized hub of information is what contributed to the Saharin Kingdom’s golden age of arcanum, as the works its scholars produced would greatly influence Raia’s understanding of magic.

One of the most prevailing theories that caught on is that this mystical energy was divinely wrought. According to Trinitarian lore, the goddess of creation Meidther used her own blood (and in some versions, cuts out her own heart) when imbuing life into humans. Among cultures that prayed to this pantheon, this myth is what influenced the idea that this mystical energy is similar to, or flows parallel to, blood. And so they called this energy ICHOR.

Maybe right about now you're thinking "okay you've said all this, but you still haven't explained how magic actually works." This is because I still don't know. Not fully, anyway.

The basic concept of thaumaturgy is that a successful spellwork is done by enacting the right set of commands (spells) imbued with sufficient enough energy (ichor). Though these concepts are non-quantifiable, many teachers like to simplify this idea for new students with the equi ation W = C+E (or if you are in Aetier, W=S+I).

Beyond that, the use of thaumaturgy is further divided into three schools of learning: Exoturgy, Somaturgy, and Lexiturgy.

EXOTURGY is the command and manipulation of objects in the environment. It is the oldest of the three as well as what comes to mind when people think of the word magic. The largest field of study centers around elemental manipulation.

SOMATURGY is the manipulation of the cells, flesh, and energies of the human body. Much of somaturgy lies within the context of healing sickness and wounds, though there have been some recent interest in its application toward body augmentation (e.g, temporarily strengthening bones and muscles, and inhibiting pain receptors).

LEXITURGY is the use of physical script inscribed on an object to host a particular series of commands (i.e. enchantment). It is the youngest out of the three schools, having only existed within the past couple of centuries, and has revolutionized the way magic is thought. It is highly experimental but its potential applications promises to not only make magic more accessible to the untrained, but to expand the limits of how and what kind of magic can be performed.

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And that's a wrap! (for now). Trust me when I say there was more but most of it is extraneous stuff that probably won't feature much in WCTD

Special thanks to Nicole for opening my eyes to the unfortunate thing that is magic academia. Please let me out of this hell

[anomaly00-archive]

When Comes the Dawn | Locations

| The Harem

One of the special privileges of the rulers of the Aetierian Kingdom, stemming all the way back from the emperors and emperesses of the Raian Empire. There were legends of great monarchs keeping a great menagerie of concubines--both male and female--within the secretive walls of the palace harem, and ever greater were rumors of the affairs of the country being settled--not in the throne room or great halls of the palace, but between silk sheets and behind gauzy curtains. 

Raia is rife with legends of beauties bringing about the downfall of countries.

Tales of years past, when the harem was more lively. Filled with scheming consorts and ambitious concubines, of deadly punishments and the occasional murder or five of some favored consort’s rivals.

However, it wasn’t until King Dantalion's reign that the majority of the harem fell into disuse, as it now housed only a single resident: his first and only consort, Illysandre.

Taglist | @schwarzekatze1999 @aloonycynic @dullahanofficial @danger-writes @americanbeasts @thunderbooks @andiwriteunderthemoon @authoressasusual @hell-yeah-fantasy @inky-duchess @thebestmollygrue @brimorganbooks @reignnyx @contes-de-rheio

[veneritia]

I saw on your magic post that you said there was more to know about the magic system in WCTD but that information was mostly extraneous. Is there any way we can still find out what that is? I just love lore. Also I love your WIPS :)))))) You're definetly one of the best writeblrs out there.

OMG THANK YOU!!!!!!

Ok so some cultural stuff: While everyone has the potential to use thaumaturgy, the subject itself is such a highly specialized and time consuming thing to learn, so the majority of trained mages tend to be the upper-middle or aristocratic classes. (You could say that money has its own type of magic T_T) Most teachers also prefer to teach in small groups or one-on-one apprenticeships, making their time high in demand. Thus, being a formally trained mage became a mark of elitism in society.

And as it's also believed that ichor is of divine origin, those who possess an exceptional amount of it are considered to be blessed. More often than not, these "blessed" people tend to produce similarly "blessed" offspring,which further instilled the idea that ichor is intimately interconnected with blood. Aristocratic families use this as a way to purport their superiority, and would go to various means to make sure their own bloodline remains strong. For much of Aetier's history, marriages between people of strong magical essences were desirable enough to even transcend social classes. Lines of succession and inheritances have been redrawn to favor these blessed heirs. And for the middle/lower-class families, producing a mage was one way to climb up in society.

This idea can even be found in literature, which were chock-full of takes of common people finding fame and glory in part due to their incredible magic.

This doesn’t mean that the common populace don’t practice magic, however. It means that many who do aren't formally trained, and the scope and scale of their spells are determined by what's passed down through the family, spells that are beneficial to one’s job, or small healing spells to treat common ailments. Those that enlist or are drafted into Aetier’s imperial Army are even taught how to do basic healing magic for combat, as well as basic earth magic in order to form quick shield walls and to construct bridges and roads during long campaigns.

[anomaly00-archive]

When Comes the Dawn | Locations

Built near the Strait of Medir, surrounded by rich, emerald foliage that contrasted to the shining white stone, the temple stood as the pinnacle of religious devotion. Great pillars held the arched roof at the entrance. Carved into the tympanum was the Pantheon of the Greats, and in the middle, holding the Cradle, stood the Trinity. 

Through the entrance revealed a titanic space. Tall, curved ceilings painted with the figures of deities, martyrs, and saints. Shining chandeliers of floating lights lit the main hallway, guiding Fenice's eyes to the altar at the front. It was tempting to crane her head in every which direction, to take in the intricate detail, the gold lining each arch and every doorway.

At the very end of the Temple was a gigantic semi-circular room. It's ceiling a dome of precious metals, and at the dome's base were a myriad of arched, open windows close together to create the illusion of a levitated dome. The ceiling itself was too high for her to make out the intricate detail at the top, but Fenice was sure that, whatever it was, the artistry was absolutely divine. 

Taglist | @schwarzekatze1999 @aloonycynic @dullahanofficial @danger-writes @americanbeasts @thunderbooks @andiwriteunderthemoon @authoressasusual @hell-yeah-fantasy @inky-duchess @thebestmollygrue @brimorganbooks @reignnyx @contes-de-rheio

[anomaly00-archive]

When Comes the Dawn | Worlbuilding #7

| WIP Intro| |WCTD Masterlist|

“Be not afraid when you see him, clothed in the shadows of the stars he may be. Instead, embrace him, smile upon him, and take his proffered hand. Aphel will be your guide, and his lantern the shining beacon to light your way until you return, finally, to the place where all things began. “ — The Aelied

The Raian Pantheon: Aphel |

The God of Death and Rebirth, he completes the cycle as the youngest of the Trinity as well as the end and renewal of all life. He is said to have been formed from the death of a dying star, signifying life after death.

    Aphel is often depicted as a hooded figure draped in a dark gray cloak, the color gray having been associated with death since it is the same color of human ashes after a body is cremated. He has also been shown to carry with him a staff with a lantern dangling at its end,�� said to have been lit with the fire of a small star, so as to better guide the souls to the Cradle. There is no set depiction for Aphel’s face, though many scholars and theologians agree that the reason for that is because Raians considered it bad luck to envision the true face of death before one’s time.

    Aphel is the only one of the Trinity that has no ‘children,’ though he is also the only one of his siblings to have a widely recognized companion at his side. Eidonus, his loyal watch hound, forever stands by Aphel’s side and is responsible for guiding souls on the verge of reincarnation from Aphel to Meidther to start their new life. 

    “May Aphel look upon thee kindly, for he is the final judge at the end of a cycle. By his scrutiny is through which a soul’s virtue is decided, and it is his advice that his sister, Meidther, takes into consideration when fashioning a soul reincarnation. So live a righteous life, and pray that Aphel may look kindly upon thee.: — The Aelied

    Aphel has no temple of their own for that would imply worshipping separately to his siblings, however, he is largely prayed to during funerals, war, and especially during the annual Festival of Lanterns. This festival honors and celebrates the dead by releasing floating lanterns with a deceased person’s name engraved into the candles to symbolize Aphel’s lantern lighting the way.

    Priest(ess): “To Aphel may thy souls keep, and may the skies welcome thee on thy journey. From the ashes of stars thou were borne, and unto ashes, shalt thou return.”

    Mourners: “Ashes to Ashes dust to dust.”

    (The pyre is lit)

    Mourners: “Rise Again with the fire of the stars.”

    — Excerpt of Raian Funeral Rites

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Taglist | @schwarzekatze1999 @aloonycynic @dullahanofficial @danger-writes @americanbeasts @fierywords @writeunderthecloudsandmoonlight @authoressasusual @hell-yeah-fantasy @inky-duchess @thebestmollygrue @brimorganbooks @reignnyx

[anomaly00-archive]

700 Follower Celebration: A Writing Journey (1/?)

Hey guys! So, to celebrate this milestone I’ll be doing a series of posts talking about how my wip has changed, their inspirations, my growth as a writer. though it’s only been maybe 2? years since I started writeblr, I’m pretty sure I, and my works, have undergone *many* a transformations. And speaking of transformations, this post is dedicated to the journey of my most fickle and ever-changing wip: When Comes the Dawn

The first WIP I ever introduced to tumblr – and my first multi-chapter project ever is When Comes the Dawn, a fantasy/court-intrigue tale featuring court politics, magic, death-defying princesses, and cloak-and-dagger schemes. It is the story I hold near and dear to my heart, even if I do have an on-again-off-again relationship with it. But the story you know now is vastly different to what it used to be. Really, the only thing remotely similar to WCTD and its predecessors are Charles and Fenice (and that’s just their names!)

WCTD started out as a very ambitious high fantasy AU fanfiction with a highly convoluted story line that existed, predominantly, in a 1,500 word prologue and hours upon hours of daydreaming. It did not help that, paranoid little gremlin that I was against people who might look over at my word doc by chance, I coded all of the names of these fanfic characters, keeping only the first letter the same. This eventually led to a detachment between the OG source material and my own work and I just ended up scrapping the entire thing and keeping my cast of (now original) characters. Thus began the era of Chronus. Or, proto-WCTD as I sometimes refer to it.

Chronus had very little connection to present day WCTD except for the name Charles, Fenice, and the three gods that created and watched over the universe. In WCTD, the Trinity were more akin to the gods we have today; igures of worship, omnipresent, with not a lot of proof for their existence except faith-- and I’m saying this as a Catholic. In Chronus, they were actual characters. The gods of Creation/Life, Destiny, and Time/Death (the latter being named Chronus so y’all know where I got the name) watch over the world and intervene when they need to. The lore of the story: through some convoluted circumstance, Chronus ends up dying which is a pretty big bummer since, y’know, his death left the entire universe in stagnation and nothing could die. Uh, the logic gets iffy around here but just understand that Creation and Destiny managed to save the universe but are forced to enlist select humans into being temporary gods of death in exchange for granting their desire. Fenice was one of these humans, Charles was a part of her “wish,” and...more convoluted plot stuff that I honestly can’t remember.

I hated how I spent more time trying to logic the entire plot and ended up scrapping the entire thing. After taking a few months break from this story, I started again by recycling characters and concepts I like. And once again we are left with Fenice, Charles, and the Trinity.

I recycled the backstory I used for Fenice and Charles which had them as royals; a prince and princess caught in the midst of a succession game a la War of Roses. Here, Fenice Alexandra and Charles Alexander were twins tied at the hip, on the run from their power-hungry uncles and planning a way to reclaim their birthright.  I made it through a few chapters, a bit of outlining, and weeks of thinking before I found myself dissatisfied with this story and scrapping it once again. Around this time, I realized I wanted to add magic but not have magic and magical fights be a huge part of the story, so I feel like adding an adventure element would be counterproductive. I also got the idea of a world where everyone had magic, but one of the main characters did not.

I played around with Fenice and Charles’ relationship for a while. One had Fenice being the significantly younger sibling with magic and Charles the older and without (the opposite of where we are today). In every iteration of the story I always had Fenice as the main POV character, so with this set-up, to create conflict, I had the idea of Fenice not wanting the throne (despite being the chosen heir and more than qualified for the position) scheming to get Charles the crown instead (what Charles wants be damned).  Others had this same setting but with Charles still being chosen as heir despite not having magic (which was apparently the number one unspoken rule of succession) which created resentment in Fenice...and made proto-Dantalion (called William at the time) look like a fool. But both these scenarios were just...not something I was particularly interested in. Fenice was insanely OP, everyone looked stupid to me, and honestly? It just seemed boring.

I knew I was close to a break through, so I decided to switch it. Fenice, the elder sibling without magic, who, by a tragic twist of fate, had everything that should be hers instead given to her younger brother. Then, I separated them; the elder lived away from court, the younger lived close to it to wipe away as much chances of them getting along. Then, I worked on their parents. Here, Dantalion, Illysandre, and Titania came into existence. Then, more characters, more plot lines; I connected relations, brewed up even more backstory and lore to make sense of this plot line, steeled myself from making a spin-off prequel, etc. etc. Finally, WCTD reached where it is today. I have no doubt that it’ll still go through massive changes in the future, but for what it is now? It’s the closest I’ve ever been to the story I want to tell.

[anomaly00-archive]

💙💟 for the writer ask game please! :)

💙 How has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now?

Hooo boy, I can go days detailing all of the changes I made to this story, but I'll just cover the essentials. The original original plot for WCTD isn't anywhere close to where it is now. For one, the original story was written as a massive fanfiction au that added a whole bunch of characters, lore, etc. I was pretty embarrassed of my writing at the time (especially fanfiction) so I ended up renaming a bunch of the characters in case anyone I knew irl wanted to read it.

Some time later, I kinda fell out of the fandom, but I still wanted to write the story. Just with original characters and an original concept. This is what I call the "I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this so I'll just throw ideas and hope it sticks phase." The title for this version of the wip was simply called Chronus, and featured apathethic creation gods, a god of death that dies, time travel shenanigans, an apathetic main character (Fenice v.1), and the infinity gauntlet.

After realizing that that idea would go nowhere, I scrapped it and just invested more time in a concept that felt more grounded, which happened to by he mc's (Fenice's) backstory. I ended up trying a few different plot lines with the characters and setting that I have until I settled on the plot of WCTD

💟 how is your style different in this work compared to previous ones? Has it more shifted for the story or just in general?

It really shifts depending on the story. With WCTD I aim for more lyrical prose to capture the glamour and hidden dangers of court life. Reading that in comparison to some of my older wips, you can really see the difference in styles. One wip (simply labeled Mafia because I didn't have a title) was set in the prohibition-esque era with the narrator having more personality combined with more 1920's slang, casual syntax and minor 4th wall breaking. Another (Haine) had a 3rd person deep pov set in modern times, so the majority of the short story was heavily biased from the mc's point of view.