themes

magic

• you need a conduit to cast / control it.
• the conduit needs to be magically derived ( ie. you need specialized materials that seemingly cannot be forged by humans ).
• some areas are more naturally magical than others, and magic can “visit” an area it typically does not exist in.
• areas affected by magic are referred to as wellsprings.
• the types of spells one can cast, and the power of those spells, typically correlate to the size & material of the conduit, but the actual formula is more complicated than this in practice ( eg. someone who knows nothing about using a conduit cannot cast with it, no matter how powerful it seems to be, while an “expert” can cast more technical magical & do more damage with a “lesser” conduit or spell ).
• nearly all spells are cast through motion. spoken words can activate them, but it is unreliable.

• magic is a 5th fundamental force of nature in this universe, alongside weak / strong nuclear forces, gravity, and electromagnetism; it can be thought of as entropy given more of an important structural role beyond spontaneity & decay – it alters reality in curious & often unpredictable ways, and can be tangibly interacted with by matter. it can also be thought of like dark matter, in that it is omniscient & observed purely by how it affects other things.
• as a fundamental force, it is generated simply by matter existing & interacting. it is inherent in every aspect of the universe: every atom is drenched in layers of magic, which have additional binding / repelling properties separate to those of the nuclear forces. magic works logically, but rather complexly, and within the same type of atom, different levels of magic may be present ( similar to isotopes ). atoms can transfer magic between each other independent of the laws of interaction dictated by the nuclear forces.
• being structurally random in nature, magic has a desire to “mingle” & make a mess of things. eg. unique material types / new elements can be created spontaneously by magical interactions, and then made stable by how much magic is present + whether or not additional forces are strong enough to return it back to its “normal” state. the more these interactions occur, the more magic is accrued, the more strange things happen ...
• magic attracts to itself easily, creating pockets ( “wellsprings” ) that can cause large-scale transformations to occur. it also falls apart easily, moving on & recongealing to create different effects elsewhere, akin to weather systems. there is a threshold of magical mass that needs to be met in order to form a more permanent pocket, where it will neither gather more magic nor lose the magic it has, but rather, continuously & slowly change the environment it resides in, until something triggers the pocket to break apart – typically, time.
• the force generated by a magical object increases exponentially with the amount of magic present. solid objects tend to have more magical potential than liquid, and liquid more than gas; the more dense the atoms, the more magic can mingle. however, because magic is activated by motion, liquid & gaseous forms of it are more easily conjured / more volatile than their solid ones. ( and just to reiterate: magic itself does not have a state of matter, it just piggybacks on the atoms that do. )

• beginner casters start out with weaker spells: conjure mist, fireball, toxic cloud, etc. spells that form as gases are relatively safe for learning, as they don't do much longterm damage & are easily summoned & dispersed.
• potions are an easy way to cast if the motions required are too difficult to learn for traditional spellcasting. it is difficult to create shelf-stable magical liquids though, so despite its popularity, potion brewing remains mostly a novelty avoided by hardcore magic lovers or serious adventurers.
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flora & fauna

chimera

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undead

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magical humans

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places

nonollos

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main party

corrinthe

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mina

Mina comes from a semi-isolated island region up north, which has been both blessed & cursed as a permanent "magical hotspot". Among the many consequences of this is the consistent emergence of the undead -- slowly ambulating lifeforms that carry decay & disease wherever they go. Old stories say that the people of this land once put their heads together to try & stop the undead invasion, which at the time threatened to wipe out the living population entirely -- and although they succeeded in creating a specialized tool to fell undeath, it ended up being too dangerous for them to wield. Thus, once the undead were dealt with, the people sparred amongst themselves to determine what do with their creation, ultimately separating into two distinct groups, unable to reconcile their beliefs. Mina is a descendant of the people who wished to destroy their creation, looking to turn their energy towards studying undeath & coming to a less-disastrous conclusion should the undead ever grow out of control once more. They moved down to the rolling lowlands of the island & built walled-in settlements, where they have lived in relative peace since. And having an ancestor who was directly involved with the tool's smithing process, Mina in particular was raised to be exceptionally curious of her world & mindful of her past. Although burdened with great expectations, Mina's upbringing wasn't harsh: she was raised with love by her entire community, who taught her magic & medicine, and who instilled in her a deep passion for her home & family. It is of course for this reason, that when she was pulled aside one day by her mentor & told she needed to flee her village alone, that she was struck with a deep, gnashing fear, one which haunts her to this day. A wave of incurable illness had spread throughout her home, with signs pointing to it being the beginnings of undeath. Unaffected by symptoms so far, Mina was selected to carry her culture & their studies with her -- and so, she was gifted a luxurious collection of clothes, jewlery, recipe books, research notes, and more, as well as a young steed from the village's flock, and was instructed to "find help elsewhere, perhaps in a neighboring village". After much arguement, she accepted her fate, vowing to hurry back once she discovered a permanent solution to the plague. And so, she wandered the countryside in search of help, noting how cases of undeath & illness seemed to be on the rise everywhere. Recalling someone well-versed in the natural world that she had met in her childhood, she ventured into the mountains -- territory to the "other half" of the old tale's people -- in search of them, figuring historical grievances could be put aside for the sake of safety & progress. Unfortunately, not only could they not be found, but their entire village was missing too. Baffled & trying to reign in her ever-increasing anxiety, Mina eventually departed the island on one of the very rare merchant vessels that came to trade with the port towns, figuring her answers could be out elsewhere in the world. It has been many years since then -- nearly a decade -- and still she believes she will find her hero & a cure. Undeath is a slowly developing sickness, after all; surely her home has endured to wait for her return.

puck

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bran

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side characters

blacksmith

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