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Okay. It's time for an AI rant.

My nephew is 13 years old. Whenever he writes a paper for school, I check it over and fix all of his mistakes for him. He said to me, "Maybe I'll proofread your paper for you in exchange," meaning one of the scholarly articles I write for work. I said, "Cool," and gave him the file. And he said, "Well, this is full of errors! See, you always say you have a lot to correct on my stuff, and look at all the stuff you got wrong!" And I said, surprised, "What? Where?" Because I'm sure there are typos in the draft I sent him, but not, like, that many.

And then he pointed to the screen and said, "Look at all the blue and red lines you have."

And I said, "Yeah, but those are wrong. Like, those are blue and red lines I'm ignoring because the computer is wrong." And then I paused and added, "You know you can't proofread a paper by just looking at the red and blue lines, right?" And he gave me the blankest look, because that clearly is EXACTLY what he thinks. And it became even clearer suddenly why, whenever I correct something on his paper, his immediate reaction is, "It didn't have a blue or red line."

There's a very good reason for that: THAT'S BECAUSE THE COMPUTER ISN'T SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT IT WAS WRONG.

I am so tired of being sold the idea that computers are better than humans and so we should just outsource everything to them, which is clearly the lesson my nephew is absorbing in U.S. middle school. COMPUTERS ARE NOT BETTER THAN HUMANS. Like, maybe they are better at humans at crawling through rubble to find people trapped inside. They are also better at preserving things in a searchable format. Things like that. Very limited circumstances.

I don't want to sound alarmist but everything I hear about people using generative AI freaks me out. It's not just that I'm freaked out by people being like, "I use it to write novels!" (Although I don't see how they do, I have tried to have it write fiction for me and the output was truly terrible.) But I recognize my bias around creative writing and so no one needs to credit my views on artificial writing. But! Other things are alarming, too! "I use it to brainstorm x, y, or z." But...why? Why not just...use your own brain...to...brain...storm? The computer doesn't even have a brain to brainstorm with! And you might be like, "But it comes up with things that my brain would never think of!" So would other people! You could also brainstorm with other people! Or even through Google to see what other people have thought before you (not AI). Please don't belittle the wonder of thinking.

I just feel like the marketing around generative AI boils down to "Wouldn't it be easier not to use your own brain to think about things?" Everyone. No. It would not be. Please just trust me on this. I'm not just an old person who is out of touch with technology or something. I promise. USE YOUR BRAINS. IT WILL BE OKAY.

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idk if anyone else npticed this but in king for a day, when james has cedric do the fireworks, LOOK AT HIM PLUGGING HIS EARS FROM IT OH MY GOLLY 😭

Its on there for like a split second but man i guess he doesnt like loud noises 😭

AND BAILEYWICK’S EXPRESSION I AM CACKLING OF EVIL

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This though!

If they bring Chrysta in, I’d love to see them interact as mentors. They have both nothing and everything in common and, frankly, their combined lacking social skills would be HILARIOUS.

One of them is amazing at their job, only knows how to do their job, and has thus made their job their personality. (Would love this as a bit.)

The other one stinks at their job, and is really only good at like teaching and occasionally giving life advice? But, somehow missed out on making that their career? (But, yeah … tracks … most of my best teachers were ADHD-ers who were terrible students.)

My God, that would be a great episode. Those two would riff so terribly-beautifully well. You’d get **such** good character development.

… Especially if they had to **teach** together.

Like, I could easily see the two of them becoming friends in the end. But, getting them there?

Chrysta the perfectionist? Cedric the … yeah we all get the picture.

Perfection.

But, they’d be thick as thieves once they were friends, and you know it. No one. NO ONE would be messing with either one of them … except each other.

That dynamic would be so great. Aw … I hope that happens now.

Mostly because, as I’ve said previously, I felt like Chrysta’s character development was really rushed. I don’t dislike her. I just want to … see more of her so I can get a more full picture of her/ let her have more of an arc beyond seeing her learn to give more complete instructions.

She had a couple of nice episodes. But, I’d like her to have more time to breathe.

That said, I’m in complete agreement about Cedric and Roland’s friendship needing development.

With the rise of Wicked, I’d love friendship-bromance #ihavebeenchangedforgood to get some airtime.

There are so many nice parallels you could draw between Sofia and Amber and Roland and Cedric as well on so many different sides.

There could be some kind of oh … I dunno … team up between Charmswell (that’s the new school’s name right?) and EverRealm Academy (that’s Amber’s school? - sorry I stink at names)? And, you’ve got Roland and Cedric chaperoning the event. Roland because he’s a graduate of Amber’s school, and Cedric because Sofia likely voluntold him to do it again - because Roland was going to be there.

So, then, these two end up needing to like *actually* communicate and solve problems while having totally different ideas and styles of doing it. Amber and Sofia also are having disputes of similar natures. In the end, everyone works together and we’re all family! Yay!

There’s SO much you could do with little mini things like that. Roland having graduated from Amber’s school, and Cedric likely popping in and out as faculty at Sofia’s (I mean, at least, that’s how I’d use him.)

The possibilities for inter-school banter and challenges between Sofia and Amber’s school would be endless.

Not to mention how fun it would be to get magic + knights involved and how Tilly might enter the picture that way. Could we finally get an episode that tells us if Cedric and Tilly were friends when they were young if Sofia interacts with James’ knight school/ academy/ place/ thing?

The possibilities are ENDLESS, especially if you make him a teacher/ some sort of occasional guest faculty at Sofia’s school. Like, what a way to make the perpetually tower-locked man touch grass.

That would be so much socialization he might actually perish. / joking.

High up on my wishlist for things I want to see in Royal Magic is Cedric making some friends that *aren’t* Sofia and all the potential awkwardness that comes with it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the relationship between Sofia and Cedric, but it’s possible that in the new show Sofia’s going to be more independent and be getting some new storylines of her own. I think it’s only fair that Cedric get some to himself as well considering he’s so popular.

Plus I **really** wanna see a man who used to never leave his workshop unless he was called upon by a royal to do so try to touch grass and talk to literally anyone besides his 10 year old bestie. His social skills are probably nonexistent and I think it’d be equally funny and cute to watch

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"why did you stop writing your story!!! never stop writing!!!!!!!!!!!" well you see the character had to drive one mile to a new location and the sentence "she got into the car" was quite simply my undoing

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Ok … okay …

I turned my mature content off because I have a small child who likes to look over my shoulder when I’m on my phone and computer.

I did this to (hopefully) prevent them from seeing you know nudity, and *other* things.

I’ve since found out you can blur things, and I noticed some weird posts of mine (that I thought were no more than like PG-13) go missing.

So, I’m like … okay, I guess. I’ll play around with it and turn it on, besides which it has done little to block the stuff I don’t want my kid to see.

So, y’all want to know what has gotten filtered as “mature content?”

My poems.

My watercolor drawings of two young people **dancing** together.

And NEWS ABOUT THE WAR IN PALESTINE!?

WHAT IN FRESH HELLO!?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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I just want to warn that two lines mention common thoughts that were spoken in 2000s/ 2010s as reasons for parents of LGBT+ kids to request their children do everything from hide their identities publicly, enter therapy to "lose their identities," and/or leave the home.

While those ideas are not explored explicitly in this poem, I know references to those phrases can bring up difficult memories for some folks. They do for me, and that's why I write about them & desire to educate folks about that past.

They appear in stanza 7.

The poem is centered around themes from King Lear from Edgar's POV to his father Gloucester.

Dear Gloucester, was i the child you expected to lead you over the mountains to find you a flat plain to find you at all? i never wanted to leave. never wanted to flee never wanted madness to take me never wanted this distance. when this story began, how did you see us? princess and king, dancing to songs about butterflies? as it unfolded, was my honesty mistaken? was my sharp tongue? my running? blind eyes still see princess instead of edgar progress lies in accepting service instead of flattery. yet, you still, at times, believe lies whispered in your ear: "queers are degenerates;" "transgender children abominations." and, you do not see depths of my longing to offer you forgiveness to lead you by the hand. so, old tom will wait, offering wisdom learned in spurning: love, grows despite all obstacles, hurts not forgotten, wounds still running deep. forgiveness, a strange thing, extended outward long before apologies are received. ... then edgar was abused ~ p. s. shuller

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If I ever don't laugh at the Area 51 joke in Lilo & Stitch, assume I'm A. dead or B. I've seen it for the 3rd time this week because it's my kid's movie of the month and am, therefore, quoting it.

Also, original movie Dr. Jumbaa is one of my favorite characters in cinema. He's so silly. I love him.

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That moment when your fic becomes a trilogy because the world is horrifying enough that what you have to say to your kid is spanning three works not one.

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More Shakespeare Thoughts on Sofia the First: Edgar and Edmund and Their Influence on the Characters of Cedric and Grimtrix

So, despite these two characters originally being half-brothers in the play "King Lear," I find their stories really interesting in the context of, specifically, the closing fight call in DotS.

When we're introduced to these two characters in the play King Lear, Edgar is still a pretty young, well liked, dude. However, some productions play him as a bookish and others as *very* youthful and a little too trusting.

Given what we know of the series as a whole, we know that, at one point, Cedric *was* in the good graces of the Enchancian court, his family, and polite society when he was young.

However, circumstances changed, and something he did not do led him to being forced out.

In a similar way, Edmund, wanting power for himself after being shunned for most of his life (and having some legitimate reasons for wanting what he wants), basically turns to Edgar and says "dad is mad at you, no clue why, take this sword, run away, and leave."

So, Edgar does.

After a few back and forth situations like this, Edmund eventually frames Edgar for trying to kill him. Thus, he gains power, titles, and prestige leaving a manhunt out for his brother - who, to this point, hasn't actually done anything wrong.

Thus, Edgar decides to disguise himself as a mad man named "Old Tom."

Now, Old Tom is harmless really. He's just a philosopher who says some really pretty lines of poetry while also running around making double entendres that are kind of ... vulgar?

But, all of this is a disguise. Beneath it, and randomly, you hear Edgar just turning towards the audience as the action around him freezes telling us his actual thoughts and internal monologue - most of which includes how much he **does not** want to die and get caught.

Meanwhile, his half-brother, Edmund, is moving up the ranks of British society by continuing to pit people against each other.

At one point, Edmund even betrays his father to the current reigning monarchs leading to one of the most brutal scenes in theater.

Eventually, Edgar reconnects with his father who wants to die. Edgar refuses to let him, and he has a back and forth with him that includes these lines of dialogue: "This is above all strangeness. Upon the crown o' th' cliff what thing was that Which parted from you? [...] As I stood here below, methought his eyes Were two full moons; he had a thousand noses,Horns whelk'd and wav'd like the enridged sea. It was some fiend. Therefore, thou happy father, Think that the clearest gods, who make them honours Of men's impossibility, have preserv'd thee."

(Act 4, Sc. 6.)

Edgar makes Gloucester think he's survived this massive fall, in reality he just fainted. However, using a different voice (Gloucester having been blinded), Edgar makes Gloucester believe "Old Tom" was actually a devil.

He makes him believe "Old Tom" was "evil."

Now, Edgar still hasn't revealed his true identity. Yet, this voice is "good."

Edgar later uses this same disguise of the "good" beggar to endear himself to the King of Britain (Albany) in an effort to confront his half-brother, Edmund. Edmund has challenged Albany to a duel, and Edgar steps in to try and assist Albany as well as to avenge his/ their father, to save the Princess Cordelia (now Queen of France), and her father, King Lear.

The duel is usually choreographed as pretty brutal. This also with the addition that people have no idea **why** this random dude has showed up to fight Edmund until after Edgar has already won.

Now, the basic translation of what Edgar yells at Edmund before they duel is: "Draw your sword. If I'm lying, you can kill me if you want, I don't really care. Despite everything you have now, you betrayed everyone to get it. You betrayed your gods, your brother, and your father. Everything I have in me is going to prove that you duped everyone."

Edmund responds: "I don't even know your name. I'm not even going to do you the favor of asking what it is despite your face and stance seeming to say you're some kind of noble or knight. So, everything you said, I toss back at you. I'm going to fight you now and stick my sword in your heart."

Now, generally, as I mentioned once before, this battle is usually pretty long. It's also generally choreographed over whatever is marked as Lear's throne. (Some productions choose to modernize the set and, as such, "throne" can be deemed loosely. Production I just saw thone = desk.)

However, post DotS, there are a lot of Good vs. Evil battles in which insults are hurled over Roland's Throne and Cedric is the one battling on the side of good.

Yet, the first time this occurs is when Cedric steps in to **TAKE THE DUEL FROM SOFIA** as Edgar does from Albany.

We also see in both the episode Hexley Hall **and** Day of the Sorcerers Grimtrix using manipulation tactics that are not dissimilar to the ones Edmund employs in "Lear."

However, for me, it's the use of **letters** in DotS that seals the resemblance.

Throughout the play, Edmund is shown to craft several letters that are sometimes legitimate and sometimes forgeries to pit people against each other. The fact that Cedric is handed a mysterious letter in the middle of the conference before being called back into the hands of the master manipulator, only to later duel him after breaking back out of "madness" / "evil" / "coming back into his right mind" seems to speak a lot to me as parallels of Edgar's character.

This, to me, is further shown by the full reconciliation with his father at the end of the series, despite their previous estrangement.

Still would love to get an **on screen** apology. I can imagine it happening off screen at some point. But, there is a part of me that wants to see it happen.

So, yeah.

Have fun with my giant nerd dump about Shakespeare. I love fight choreography. It's really fun to watch (and do.)

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Is Cordelia's Refusing the Position of Royal Sorcerer the Reason She and Goodwyn No Longer Speak? - An Analysis Through the Lense of Shakespeare

So, a recent post has been circulating that showed some screen grabs about Cordelia and her parents not really being on speaking terms, and many have speculated that it may be due to Cordelia's lack of a husband/ Calista's birth being out of wedlock.

However, I am going to raise a different position.

Cordelia is a really interesting name for a character. (Especially given her early relationship with Goodwyn being quite close.)

The most famous Cordelia in literature is the youngest of three daughters in the play "King Lear" by Shakespeare.

Brief Synopsis of Some Stuff For Context:

In the play, King Lear is dividing up his kingdom between his 3 daughters and their spouses/ future spouses by asking them to flatter him. The one that is the most eloquent will get the most land because he's old and slowly going senile.

His older two daughters give these lavish speeches, but Cordelia, who alone remains honest, refuses to lay on the flattery King Lear wants.

He prompts her again, but she refuses saying that she has **shown** him her love all her life by being dutiful. Her words shouldn't matter.

As such, King Lear chews her out, curses at her, and disowns her. The man two whom she was betrothed is refused her dowry by King Lear. So, the man refuses to marry Cordelia.

In every way, Cordelia is publicly disgraced.

Yet, the King of France takes her as his bride, without a dowry, and chooses to marry her because she's honest, pure of heart, and a good person.

In the end, one of her father's advisors sends word to France to tell Cordelia that her father has, effectively, been kicked out into the streets by her two older sisters. His knights have been dismissed. He's literally out amongst the beggars.

She and her husband, the King of France, send troops to try and defeat the armies of Britain, as commanded by Cordelia's sisters.

However, due to Edmund, one of the sons of the Duke of Gloucester, who is helping them, the French armies are defeated and Cordelia and Lear are both captured and taken prisoner by the older sister's armies.

Cordelia is killed on orders by Edmund, who confesses to this after being killed by his half-brother. (Long story, but I'm covering that in another post.) But, he doesn't confess quick enough to save her life, despite trying to do so.

This causes Lear to die of a broken heart.

Meanwhile, Kent, the loyal steward/ advisor, duke guy, wants to go slink off an mourn alone until he dies of old age.

But, Edgar (Edmund's half-brother) basically convinces Kent to stick around and help him and Albany put everything back in order. (Albany was a duke married to one of the 2 older sisters. Albany spends the entire play trying to help his wife see sense and to stop the violence as best he can. Both sisters have now killed each other. One of their husbands died earlier in the play. So, Albany is now firmly in the "king" spot. He has named Edgar his successor because he has no biological children with his wife.)

So, yeah. Great play. Saw it yesterday live. There's a fantastic recording by Royal Shakespeare with Ian McKellen as Lear.

I kept my summary as light as you can for a Shakespearean tragedy. However, the play is really gory. Like, very, very gory.

So, please be advised that most versions include lots of impossibly realistic levels of stage blood and often do include partial nudity if you decide to watch an adaptation of the original "King Lear."

(Part of the play deals with a character wrongfully being accused of an action he did not commit against his father/ family so he decides to go into hiding as someone who is "mad" and some productions take some of his double entendres as "Old Tom" further, and make it raunchier/ more graphic, than others. I've taken several classes on Shakespeare. Shakespeare's writing is **not** all flowers and poetry. You have been warned.)

However, what does all this have to do with Cordelia and Goodwyn?

Great question.

My thought was is that he offered her his position directly. He gift wrapped his position as Royal Sorcerer for her and told her that she was his favored "heir" to take it.

Yet, she told him, with honesty, she didn't want it.

Whatever she was doing before the position was opened, she liked better and she didn't want to give it up.

Yet, I could see Goodwyn taking that as a personal slight. He prepared her for this. He poured all of his time and his resources into her. He gave her everything.

Cedric is a washup (in Goodwyn's mind.)

Who else is going to do this?

Who else will continue to serve the crown when Roland II takes it up?

So, I could see their argument having been about how much he poured into her and how "nothing comes from nothing." I could see the argument being how she wouldn't reach her full potential in whatever kind of other work she had chosen.

However, I do wonder if we won't see some kind of reference to this play in the coming series.

Will we see an episode with the siblings taking on the roles of Cordelia and Edgar and Goodwyn splitting the roles of Lear and Gloucester?

Because, Grimtrix's whole "Everyone thinks I'm good to the point they've given me titles and a position of immense power, but actually I'm a giant backstabbing, butt-face" is exactly the plot Edmund plays in the story of Lear. (Again, more on stage choreo, dialogue, and stuff in a separate post.) Edmund makes a bunch of people look *REALLY* stupid because of it. So, that could be a really interesting thing to see resurface as well. (Before any says anything about Cedric, every one thinks of Edmund as really competent. It's Edmund's believability and poise that allows him to convince people and play double agent. Edgar is the one they eventually think of as crazy and evil **BECAUSE** of Edmund's manipulations.)

It would be cool to get an episode called "Nothing comes from nothing" centered on Goodwyn where ... I don't know ... he actually apologizes? That might be nice.

Can the dude actually speak the words: "I'm sorry?" To both his kids? For pitting them against each other? For totally screwing them up? I'd love that. I'd throw a party.

But, it would be cool to see him not understand why Cedric and Cordelia want to forgive him for all his crap anyway (V. much the postures of how Lear and Gloucester feel about their daughter and son in the play.) Yet, in "King Lear," both fathers receive that forgiveness anyway despite their awful behavior because, honesty is love, and living through and in madness leads to wisdom, and ... I dunno, I think that could play really well for those characters.

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Excuse my nostalgia

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Nothing reminds you that you are in fact a tenor like trying to falsetto “Almost There” from Princess and the Frog and other princess songs your kid’s play group place. XD

The humbling moment where someone is belting what you’re hitting in your whistle voice. Lol

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Awww … no Dada … lol.

Ah well … I’ll cover the 3 months in between the two stories which will explain what happened to Greylock and some of the old characters from the OG show for y’all and for Squish.

Some new(and sorta old) info regarding the sequel btw

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I don’t feel like typing out all my chicken scratch and unhinged ramblings right now. Enjoy this doodle of Cedric’s teacher.

I will eventually add all my notes as comments.

Also, enjoy a doodle of a true OC I developed- Rosa Calderón.

But, I love the character of Cedric’s teacher. I learned more about him in a single song than I did about some characters in a whole episode.

Can we get another reference to him in the new series?

Enjoy. I hope this shows up in the tags?

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So, I made this (in my opinion) really cool piece of fanart. Sadly, tumblr is eating my “photos/image posts” right now for some unknown reason.

Though, my text posts are fine?

But, really my concept designs have been helping me to explore Sofia the First’s magic system and world building, as I have come to create it, in my fanfics.

But, what I wanted to add in a separate post (on a separate topic) was I really hope Royal Magic expands upon both the magic system and the other aspects of world building in StF.

It’s a fun world. I want to see more of it.

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Guyssss I need to see more Cedric fanart 😭 idc what he's doing in the picture as long as it ain't cedfia or any kind of pedophilia/incest BS. I just need more Cedric fanart pls I begggg

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Concept Art Repost: In The Flares/ Hexley Hall Fic Art

Concept Art Explanations & spoilers for fic stuff below the cut.

I had to re-upload this because I think the images exported weird from my phone so Tumblr wouldn't actually post this for anyone other than my mutuals?

So, I started doing some concept art for the flashback scenes that link "In the Flares of the Sun" to the behemoth prequel fic "The Hidden Secrets of Hexley's Hallowed Halls and Her Vine Draped Walls" (still not totally sold on that title.)

However, I have actually been exploring a relatively set magic system which has been fun.

(The magic system of StF is something I hope Royal Magic explores more because that is often where my brain goes when I watch shows. I'm a sucker for cool magic systems. So, I have spent a lot of time building one.)

I'm an avid player of Dungeon's and Dragons. It's the one hobby I've really kept as a parent. So, a lot of what I've developed is based around that and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (one of my other major pre-child interests.)

So, the way I've set up the magic system is as follows:

(Taken from my notes document in my drafting folder for "Hexley Hall fic")

GRADUATE ROBE COLORS + HEXLEY SPECIALIZATIONS:

Note: Fairy Robe/ Fairy Colors are completely different from Sorcery. They don’t color themselves based on discipline really. There’s is based on personality.

Destruction - AKA: War Magics Red and Gold (Goodwyn, Morgana)

Restoration & Abjuration - AKA: Healing, Counter Cursing, and Restoration Magics Dark Purple and Green (Cedric - based on medical school graduation robes)

Transmutation & Alteration - Black and Gold/Orange/White (Baron von Rocha)

Illusion - Black /w blue accent could go the other way but is unusual to see (Greylock)

Note: Grimtrix was of the Head of the School of Illusion before he was headmaster of Hexley during Sofia’s plotline

Conjuration & Evocation - AKA: Summoning Magics Pink, Purple, Lavender (Cordelia, Winnifred)

Enchanting - Gold and Silver

Alchemy/Potion Making - Green, Brown, and Silver (Pecullian's minor & why we see him in this color scheme + why his methods of "Magical Gardening" are different than most)

Divination - Goldenrod, Yellow, Gold, Orange

Magical Teaching - Blue and Light blue (Fionn in the “Sorcerer’s Secret” flashback, Merlin, Wu Chang) -

Note: Pecullian has robes. He just hates them because they get tangled in his hooves. He took one class on Earth studies and decided to just dress like that. + Dresses in color scheme of his minor to honor a teacher he was closest to who taught Alchemy. - more on that later.

Headmaster of Hexley wears some combination of all colors from all of the schools with outer base blue for the school color.

How Magic “Works”:

Mystic Isles is the source of magic.

The academic debate of the professors at Hexley during Cedric's time there is whether magic is directly drawn from the Mystic Isles through scholarship and intellectual prowess or whether each caster has a personal connection to the Isles that can be manifested physically.

The basis for "The Sorcerer's Secret" is that mastery and repetition work through gentle repeated practice, but Fionn (the guy who actually developed the theory) believes in the personal connection theory ("Sparks of Inspiration") which make certain types of magic easier to master based on the caster's personal affinities and abilities.

Note: Part of what draws him to Cedric is that he witnesses Cedric returning Greylock to human form after Greylock decides to "prank" his classmates by turning himself into a salamander before realizing the potion doesn't wear off.

Instead of jumping in to fix it, Fionn observes what the two boys to do remedy the situation. Cedric manages to find the counter spell and cast it. However, Cedric tells Greylock not to tell anyone what happened lest the two of them get into trouble.

More Note: The story Cedric spins for Sofia is a half truth - he did learn that spell in his first year of Sorcery School ... just not in class.

Sofia pouring the salamander potion on herself is the first time Cedric realizes that she has something of a mischievous streak in her, and that her child-like pranks and spirit should be encouraged not hindered.

*** End of my notes ***

So, basically, how I started deciding on the robe colors was, my kid gets hooked on one episode at at time.

I have watched Two Princesses and A Baby, the one with the dancing panda, Baileywhoops, and a handful of others on repeat several times. When Squish gets hooked on one episode, I end up watching **the same episode** every day, multiple times a day, for a week.

So, some episodes I've seen close to 25 or 30 times, some I've seen 15, and some I've only seen once when we watched the whole thing all the way through the first time.

As such, you start to pick up insanely minute details on character's clothing when you watch the same episode after like ... the 10th? time through, in a row.

Anyway, after a while, I started to realize certain characters who share certain magical abilities/ have certain personality traits (Pecullian excepted) generally dress in similar color schemes.

So, I came up with a reason Pecullian would have a loop hole and started running with it.

Also, Cedric's teacher's primary accent, outside of his Hexley robes, is his really prominent green tie. So, you'll notice, the theory still holds up.

So, once I got everyone sorted into schools of magic by the colors they wear, the next step was to figure out what those schools do.

When I was developing the styles of magic for each school, I pulled a decent bit from the sort of overarching themes of both schools of magic from DnD AND "Classes" characters can take.

Meaning, in DnD, basically, most spells cast belong to a particular "type" (school) of magic and those magics are cast by a "Class"/ Occupation of people who do them. (The spells can overlap occupations, sometimes.)

In all honesty, while I gave the schools names and disciplines based on "types"/ schools of magic, sorcerers, when they take a major in them, would probably more akin to taking a "Class" in DnD than actually studying a particular school of magic.

In all honesty, the way Cedric is written in the prequel of this fic, he is kind of like a Cleric without realizing he has patron(s).

(Hint: He meets one of his "patrons" in the canon series. But, he actually has 6, maybe 7 in total that are explored across the fics.)

However, not all Restoration/ Abjuration sorcerers would have patrons. (Though, Fionn suspects the strongest ones do. He has a few of them himself.)

Yet, prior to taking on a "major" in one of the "classes" of magic, Hexley's grade bands are divided up like this:

(From my notes:)

Levels/ Schools:

Junior Level (7-9) 1 (7-8), 2(8-9) , 3(9-10) Middle Level (10-12) 4 (10-11), 5 (11-12), 6 (12-13), High Level (13-16) 7 (13-14), 8 (14-15), 9 (15-16) Master Level (17-22 [when they graduate]) 10 (16-17), 11 (17-18) , 12 (18-19), 13 (19 -20), 14 (20-21), 15 (21-22)

*** End of my notes ***

I based this timeline on the fact that Cedric says he has "15 years of sorcery training."

I would infer, based on the ages of the kids at Royal Prep, that most of the schools, for all residents of the Tri-Kingdoms, that they start educating kids at about 7ish.

Thus, fifteen years later, they would be graduating at 22-ish.

The "Master Level" is when a particular "Class of Magic" is chosen. At that time, they would be split off into dormitories run by their Sorcery Masters in the wings in which they study.

Prior to that, they'd room with other students their age. They have the same roommate for the duration of their time in that grade band.

(I did make Hexley a boarding school. Not sure that's cannon? But, it is for my purposes. Wizard/ Magic schools are always boarding schools.)

During their "High Level" (13-16) years, Cedric and Greylock were roommates. And, it was the last time the two of them would ever be happy in their lives ... kind of.

Depicted in the first image is the last school event before they left for the summer between their High Level and Master Level years. In which, the two of them were split up by choosing different "Classes" of magic, and, thus, Sorcery Masters.

Greylock ended up in the "Illusion" department, run by Grimtrix, who made an "exception," taking Greylock on as an apprentice.

Cedric was one of only five students, at Hexley at least, in the last ten or so years to take on a mastery in Restoration.

Basically, the reason for that is because people have begun to associate Restoration magic with going nuts. This association began when Cedric was like 5? But, post-Incident, he kind of figures people hate him anyway so he's going to do what he wants.

However, he comes to realize exactly **why** everyone is going crazy pretty quickly.

The second image depicts a Restoration spell that was developed about five or so years before Cedric was born. But, basically, using the caster as a conduit, people can die without feeling any pain while getting to speak freely before death because their spirit passes through the body, mind, and magic of the sorcerer casting the spell.

The problem?

No one thinks about the mental and physical toll that takes on the sorcerer casting it.

Cedric ends up learning how to cast it, and casting it dozens of times, at seventeen years old ... for reasons that I will expand upon later in other art.

Though, in that exact image, Cedric basically gets attached to/ connected to someone who is a prophet who ends up giving him visions of his own future/ futures of other folks he will encounter while he's tethered to them.

Again, more on that later.

So, needless to say, my version of Cedric is ... incredibly biased against the Protectors and Sofia's involvement with them based on the backstory I've developed for him.

He's a deeply unreliable narrator in that regard who should not be trusted because he's definitely projecting his own memories on that situation.

Now, there is more to come on **why** this didn't fix all of Cedric's problems if there was documented evidence of what he did.

Because, I promise you I thought of that already. :)

What it boils down to basically is: bias, labels gaining enough weight to hold sway over fact, claims of exaggeration and forgery, and school politics leading to a popular teacher getting their voice heard over one who is not as popular.

So, yeah ... hope you enjoyed this if you read it. Or, just enjoyed the art if you didn't. :D