How Magique Came To Be
Each nation in the Six Realms has a magique system unique to them, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with a story:
Once upon a time — oh, who am I kidding? Magique didn’t have a fairytale beginning. Magique happened accidentally when the world formed.
You see, far outside what the naked eye can view in the skies of the Realms, there was a comet. The comet flew too close to a small gas giant and became trapped in its gravity well, slowly getting crushed and decimated by the atmosphere. The gas giant itself had no repercussions from this, but when the comet disintegrated, the exposed core lit the gas of the world.
The mingling of the core within the atmosphere led to drastic shifts, and after millennia, the planet's atmosphere became habitable. The Six deities, intrigued by how this little nothing planet could suddenly sustain life, investigated it. One deity, the All Father, researched this planet’s transformation and found out about the magique.
He shared his findings with the other five, and together they set about creating the Six Realms. They laboured for centuries, creating different races and species, but the magiqual properties of this new world leeched into every aspect. In time, the Six learned how to harness the magique and wield it for themselves. Some denied their creations the power, others didn’t.
After many, many centuries, the All father made Godlings, which created a rift between the Velryn, his first creation, and the Godlings, who had greater access to magiques. During the War of the Godlings, the All Father left, stripping magique from many of the Godlings for how they used it. But he left a select few with it, though it was no longer as powerful and he split it into five different styles and ensured that every person is born with a unique magiqual based name (this name differs from their real name and most don’t even know about it). That name doesn’t come into play often, but for those who know it, they can amplify their magique. (It’s fun, but not necessary to know, with one exception, Vastolian magique).
This magique became known as innate, or core-based magique. Quinn and Cassius wield core-based magique. Within core-based magique, there are five categories linked to five of the kingdoms. The second magique was made by the descendants of the Godling, Printan (the first Tzar of the Imperium of Twili). This magique is called Runic Magique.
Innate Magique
Every innate user is born with a core. This core is akin to a soul. It has sentience and without it the user will die. Each core is unique and varies in strength. An innate user cannot grow their core past its limit. Weaker cores yield to a stronger core in a strictly magiqual fight. That’s not to say a caster can’t use it to fight, but it will shatter before the stronger opponent’s (unless the weaker caster can overpower or incapacitate the stronger using another technique alongside magique).
Innate magique takes years to master and varies depending on the nation the user is born in. Alongside that, each nation has their own way of teaching and train their innate users. Innate users use their hands as a medium to point the flow of energy. Older users might use a yew staff, but it's rare.
How the magique works is a combination of energy and spoken words. There are rumours of people casting wordless magique but it’s an undocumented phenomenon. Generally, a caster will outstretch their hand and call out a spell in the magiqual language of their core’s homeland. A Vastolian magique user cannot use Old Acturian to cast magique.
Intermingling between different nations has never led to a new form of magique (despite numerous attempts) which baffles researchers. For whatever reason, there are only five types of cores possible: Arcturian, Luzian, Vastolian, Greerlandian, and Whitian.
Arcturian Magique
Arctus has combative magique, and their language is Old Arcturian. It’s one of the three most versatile magiques. Arcturians have studied it extensively and created many useful spells that help in areas other than combat. They tweaked certain spells to help with crop growth and harvest, other spells they made to combat the seasons (Arcturian winters are bitterly cold).
Of course there are drawbacks to Arcturian magique. While all magiques require energy from its caster, Arcturian is the one most likely to lead to a user overextending and shattering their core, especially when it comes to summoning. Another thing Arcturian magiquers are prone to is an early death because of the mandatory five-year military conscription that comes from the “privilege” of attending the famed Arcturian Academy. I will go into greater depth about the Academy another day. For now, just know, it's not always a good institution, but it is where all Arcturian magiquers train.
Summoning is a special ability that some Arcturian magiquers can use. Your core must be incredibly strong and you cannot go against the contract made with the Spirit Beast (that’s going to be a whole different blog post). In Arctus, there are currently twelve users capable of hosting a Spirit Beast, and only two that have shown up (so far) in the series.
Luzian Magique
Luzian’s have dubbed their magique as healing magique. Don’t let that fool you. They learned to weaponise it pretty quickly. As the self-proclaimed best healers in the Realms, they know a lot about how the body works, what plants can help with illness and, obviously, what ones can hinder. While not as versatile as Arcturian magique, people have still been creative with it. Some among them learned how to ensure a cut won’t heal, thus leading to a person bleeding out. They also have been researching necromancy, so that’s fun.
The energy drawbacks for Luzian’s is almost as taxing as it is for Arcturian's, especially on a battlefield, but if their patient isn’t in imminent danger, they can take a break. They use a mentor-apprentice method for training, which means no mandatory military service, but some people can’t always afford a mentor, or just can’t find someone. This leads to a lot of poorer users being self-taught and there is a stigma against self-taught users.
There is a special form of magique that about three Luzian's can do (more are capable, but they haven’t reached their full potential), and technically only two of them know about it. They are Seers, their magique hones in on the ebbs and flows of the world, feeling the rifts and broken pieces giving them the ability to try to “heal” (for lack of a better term) these broken parts in the world through visions.
Vastolian Magique
Vastolians are the mind-benders. They can traverse leagues to enter another's mind. It's scary to think that someone else can rummage around through your mind and you wouldn’t know. Thankfully, there are only two or three Vastolians capable of the aforementioned leagues. Most require line of sight.
The largest drawback for Vastolian magique isn’t energy, it actually requires the least amount of energy of the five. Its biggest problem is that pesky name. With a target’s given name and line of sight, you may learn the magiqual name if they don’t know how to protect it. The more incapacitated or distracted they are, the easier it is to steal. Once a Vastolian has the name, you can essentially do what you want to them.
Vastolian magique is the most dangerous if a wielder is incapable of controlling their core. This is because that pesky name rule goes out the window. If the caster’s core weakens to the point of shattering, their magique starts flying out of their body like mini lightning strikes. Since it’s not being contained or controlled as soon as it touches someone, it immediately makes them hear and see things that aren’t there. Vastolians, as soon as magique is detected in a child, take them from their home and to the Emperor’s palace to be trained by the Sages. Entering another Vastolian's mind without permission from the Emperor is a high sin.
Greerlandian Magique
Their magique is related to Vastolian. Where the Vastolians use telepathic abilities, the Greerlandians use telekinetic abilities. They have built massive cities, walls, and other fortifications, which leads to difficulties fighting them. They took the concept of “the best offence is a good defense” and ran with it. In terms of fighting ability, they made it work. That extremely large boulder can flatten an entire cohort before they can get to you. For them, it's about getting creative with their magique.
As it’s related somewhat to Vastolian, it also doesn’t require a lot of energy. Its main drawback is the creativeness of the caster (and the strength of their core). That boulder example only works once if the caster’s core is weak, or the caster might drop it too soon. The caster also has to imagine and will the object to move using their magiqual language, Excress. Which means a caster needs to learn all the words in Excress, which is a notoriously difficult language to speak.
With the innate difficulties, Greerlandians have not discovered any special abilities like the Arcturians or Luwian's, nor have they learned about any significant/ dangerous concerns their magiques can pose. Greerlandian magique users attend schools from the time they are five until they are fifteen. They learn with their non-magiqually capable peers, and all Greerlandians learn Excress. Magique born children can choose to continue their education after fifteen by attending a university like school dedicated to honing their craft.
Whitian Magique
The illusionists of the Realms. Whitian magique is the only innate magique capable of mimicking every other nation, just a lot less powerful. Using their language, Velos, they can weave almost anything into existence, but only a pale reflection. For example, an Arcturian can summon a spectral weapon into their hand, it will cause damage and make someone bleed. A Whitian can copy that, but the damage it does will be artificial. The target will feel something and their brain will register damage. In reality, the Whitian used some surface level Vastolian magique to make it feel like you were hit by the weapon. In truth, their magique is actually more like shapeshifting. They are essentially transforming their core to act like another nation’s core.
Once again, there is an energy cost, and because they are mimicking at least two forms of magique, it’s a significant cost. While versatile, keeping up an illusion for long periods in a fight is hard. The caster has to keep their concentration the entire time or their illusion will fail, not to mention, Whitian magiquers are subject to the core rule regarding how a stronger core will outmatch a weaker one. Because they are shifting their cores (and using two different styles at once) their “fake” core will be weaker. Now most Whitians get past this by mimicking Arcturian and Vastolian magique against nations that aren’t Arctus or Vasto. When they fight the Arcturians they will use Vastolian and Greerlandian. Against Vastolians they will try to use Greerlandian, hoping to scare them.
Or they will use their special ability. Along with the shapeshifting nature of their cores, about half of Greerlandian users are capable of a shared spell that, translated, means Mass Hallucination. Here, they aren’t mimicking anyone. A group of ten Whitian magiquers will cast the spell together and create what appears to be a large group of something (knights or combatants) to trick the enemy into thinking their numbers are greater and force the opponent to call for a retreat. It works surprisingly well.
Join me next time as I explain Runic Magique, it's origins, how it works, and a bit about the Runic Language.
