Ask Luka Ivrian

There’s SO MUCH you can study. Infinite options and combinations! Some people actually don’t understand the limitations of magic, and how much we need people to be able to do things like, say, be electricians and plumbers? No magic in the world is gonna [redacted by meadow] your pipes. So there’s a lot of apprenticeships that humans especially like to get into. 

But there’s also art, medicine, magical arts, history, magical history, science--Anything you can imagine. Plus, there’s apprenticeships in magic for every aspect. Ptery’s an apprentice healer and apparently they’re pretty good at it. 

It’s based on three things. 

1. The amount of magic that can flow through them. Most people in the world, regardless of whether they are mages or not, can channel a lot of magic. That makes most therics mammals or birds. The less magic someone has, the lower they fall on the evolutionary chain. Those with no magic at all, or “null magic” become invertebrates of some kind, and are unable to pass on what they are. 

2. Personality. An outgoing, intelligent, curious person might become a raven, while someone with a more reserved, shy, introverted personality might become a nightjar. Someone who prefers being in the background wouldn’t become, say, a flamingo. HOWEVER! It’s also up to the way the person in question interprets the animal. An outgoing person who considers cats aloof and distant wouldn’t become a cat theric, but someone who’s ever owned a cat and considers them loving, talkative, and in-your-face might!

3. Zodiac. Affects the particular form and color of that animal. Some, like Luka, are centaur-like, while there’s likely a giant fucking theric spider somewhere out there that just looks like a literal spider and is utterly terrifying. 

It doesn’t feel great. 

I mean it has its advantages. I won’t lie. Especially with the type I am... I literally have web hammocks strung across my bedroom, so that’s fun. But one thing I learned early on is that the stress of being a theric takes about 20 aur off the human lifespan. I’ll be lucky to make it to the age of 60. And therics are more likely to have senility issues when they get older... Some forget the rules and the moon cycle and... 

Well, let’s just say they don’t have a peaceful end. 

Some therics even end things themselves before it gets too bad. I don’t know if I’ll have to do that. I hope not. I really hope I don’t even have to consider it. 

A lot of the discrimination kinda comes from the past, when the rules weren’t clear and it seemed therics would randomly go crazy with no explanation. Most people still don’t have a good understanding of how thericry works, and I guess it’s much easier to be afraid of something you don’t understand. 

I mean, petals (as Meadow would say), it would take a couple hours at most to read about thericry and at least try to be understanding. The resources are there! There’s hundreds of books about it now! There’s even a terminal module for new therics and friends/family. 

That’s why I kept it a secret for so long. I mean, the people closest to me will probably understand, but if things get bad... If--I don’t know. If something happens... 

I don’t really celebrate the “new year” myself. It’s weird to me. Kind of a non-holiday. ‘Cuz it’s time, you know? One tick it’s one year, then the next it’s another? What’s special about that? Good job, Erit! You’ve gone around the sun again! Nice work. I wonder if it’ll happen again or if we’ll have a disaster on our hands next time!

Meadow and I are learning Kyrnian Sign Language.

No. No, if someone goes feral, they generally don’t come back from it. This happened a lot when therics first started appearing. I know... I’ve done the research. When new spells, curses, or blessings are created, no one really knows how they work--what their limits are, how to alleviate symptoms or the bad parts, how to utilize the good parts. So in the past, many therics would go feral and no one could explain why. So it was thought that virtually any theric was at risk of losing their mind.

I think it’s really sad. And terrifying. You know how old biases persist even though problems have been solved? That’s still true. Thericry is one of the oldest afflictions on Erit, it’s well-studied, and there’s very little we can’t easily explain. And yet...

It’s one of the easiest things I ever discovered about myself! I realized I wasn’t really attracted to people in elementary school when all my other friends were dating.

This is always a weird question. I tied Meadow up for asking me, but that was just instinct, I swear.

[Meadow edit: Not instinct.]

Yes, I make webs. It took a while to learn, but on some level, it was instinctual. They’re very strong... I even made a loft in my bedroom that’s kinda like a hammock. I used to think all spider silk was sticky, but it’s not!

I’m a lot bigger than a regular spider, so I think the web is a lot stronger. Meadow couldn’t break out of it. I’ve kinda perfected delicate work, too. Like this:

I mean to be fair he shouldn’t have fallen asleep. Ever.

As for bugs... Well. They’re a bit too small. I don’t use the adhesive sort of web very often besides.

*luka.exe has panicked and crashed at the prospect of friends*

yeah ::::(

A little-known fact is that thericry is associated with the god Antirrhopus, who is the god of fauna. And some people who use his magic ARE able to understand animals!

I learned this during the many, many nights I was searching for a cure :E There isn’t one that I can find, and knowing Antirrhopus, if there is one it would involve mass sacrifice of some sort of creature. 

There was this theory that offering the god one thousand unicorns on the night of six full moons could cure thericry, but it was in this really old journal and it really wasn’t peer reviewed or even printed on actual paper. The only copy I could find was literally bound on unicorn skin, so I’m thinking the author just had a vendetta against unicorns. Plus, the next date when there’ll be six full moons all at the same time is like 300 years in the future and I think I’ll probably be dead. Fingers crossed though!

OH FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD 

[Meadow Edit: keep in mind she is 100% flattered during this whole tirade)]

[Luka Edit: MEADOW STOP EDITING MY POSTS]

YOU DON’T WANT TO DIE FOR ME! Enjoy life! Love life! You never know what might happen to lessen your life expectancy! And it’s really hard to come to terms with that when it happens!

I’ve gone through it. Benji’s gone through it. (Although he’s effectively immortal now, which probably messes with your head in a different way) and Meadow... Well. That’s a story for another time.