Prologue - A Dying Art (Page 1)
LORE | CHARACTERS | ABOUT / WARNINGS | CHAPTERS
← PREVIOUS | BEGINNING | NEXT →
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: New Simblr story and another one for the occult simmers! Well, not quite new. This story is a revamp of an older story I wrote back in 2021. It takes place 300 years after Divided, in the modern day. (you don't need to read Divided to read this one, it will spoil the first Sages and one character death in Divided and that's it. This will also be a lot shorter) Read more about this story here. A good 80% of the plot ideas are from an old Realm of Magic theories thread comment from the old official Sims forum by @ryttu3k-sims. This was also credited in the original. I have told them this and asked permission to revamp the story to which it was given!] [wolf divider credit]
In the past, people like myself were feared - so much so that we were hunted for centuries.
Whilst the witch-hunts didn't spare anyone of either gender, those who went after us were twice as fearful of the women. We were powerful. We did not do as we were told, and we did not care what was expected of us. We were a living nightmare for the men who made the rules, as well as for the men who broke them. Those who didn't know anything about magic saw themselves as the authorities on the matter, with a Tartosan noble penning a completely-false guide on magic and how to spot a witch.
We were tortured, burned, drowned. Many of the victims were even just regular humans, without a sliver of magic running through their veins. Some were proven posthumously innocent, but what good is proof of innocence when you are not alive to hold them accountable for their mistakes?
Most of my kind were killed. I witnessed the extinction of the mooncasters of old, and it seems the vampires, the descendants of the ancient bloodcasters, may have met the same fate. After years of hard work from magic and mundane folk alike, we managed to overcome the worst of it all.
The history I remember is naught more than inspiration for dreadful literature and movies marred with washed-up starlets these days, a convenient feel-good story of power for the modern folk who didn't know a thing about solidarity - who would more than happily throw their fellow brothers and sisters under the bus in a heartbeat so long as they got what they needed. They were not the granddaughters or grandsons of the witches Lord Volpe could not burn. They couldn't tell an Inferniate from a Chillio.
These days, it seems 'witch' is considered greatly offensive to most with the power of magic, given our blood-soaked history. I would have thought that they may have reclaimed it at some point, but it seems that day is yet to come. Now almost everyone sticks with 'spellcaster'. The bloodline spellcasters were what remained of the olden-day witches, the descendants of the lineages of mundane folk and the true witches. Many of these families in the modern day dedicate their lives to keeping the spirit of magic alive- and that is exactly what myself and my fellow Sages do here at my realm.
This pocket dimension, settled snugly on the edges of space and time, is one of my own creation. It is connected to my own life force, a necessary component in the creation of this realm. As I grow older and weaker, the realm begins to crumble more and more. Nevertheless, I will fight to keep the art of magic alive until I turn to dust.
The teaching of magic is now being passed on to anyone who may want to learn it. About fifty years ago, we finally considered using a spell that would, in theory, imbue a mundane person with the power of magic - and it worked. Thankfully, it is a much safer procedure today.
In my day, non-bloodline spellcasters did not exist; no bloodline caster in the past few hundreds of years would dare share the secrets of their kin with those who sought to destroy them in the past.
For many, my realm is an escape from a world so grounded in reality that it fails to see the beauty of the metaphysical world. It is an escape from a world where those who do not fit the standards of a few are ostracised by the many. Our differences as spellcasters do not matter. All that matters, all that has ever mattered, is our shared passion for magic. As such, our school of magic attracted people from all walks of life, especially those often shut out by the ordinary world.
Of course, this is not something I can do alone. The education of magic is shared between three of us:
Practical magic, represented by the level-headed and resourceful Wolf, is taught by Sage Ethren Reyes. He is a relaxed, honest and hardworking man who came to learn Practical magic in his forties to help him deal with arthritic pain, and now he teaches this to his students. Many students of Practical Magic learn it to assist others who otherwise cannot assist themselves in various ways, or to assist themselves.
Ethren has quite a few disabled students who have found learning Practical Magic to be a useful accommodation. Others who learn Practical magic just want to make the necessary activities of life a little easier. Many see it as dull and boring, and dedicated Practical casters aren't always the most extroverted or excitable - but practicality is a necessity. The headstrong natures of the Mischief and Untamed casters would be lost without them.
Mischief magic, represented by the cunning and tricky Cat, is taught by Sage Keisha Hughes. She's in her mid-thirties, quirky, and a joker at heart. She used to be a 'magician' at children's parties, until she realised there was much more to magic than illusions and card games. Of course, mischief can easily get out of hand, but it can come in handy for a bit of fun- and can even save a life.
Mischief is a popular choice for students who do not have a serious reason for wanting to learn magic, and it's also popular with female spellcasters as a form of non-violent self-defence. In my day, it was only taught within small pocket communities as they feared their power would be misused by others. Some consider it even more dangerous than Untamed magic.
Untamed magic - represented by the ruthless force of nature, the Dragon - is taught by none other than myself. I am Áine Ó Sé, the last of the true witches. Untamed magic, formerly known as Wild magic, is considered by many to be the most powerful, and most terrifying, school of magic. Many fear it so much that they never bother to learn any of the spells.
Some students learn a few Untamed spells, but many do not dedicate themselves to it anymore. Spellcasting 'politics' often gave Untamed magic a bad name, and had done for years. Many were deathly afraid of it, and plenty of casters worried that growing use of such dangerous magic would ruin our image and potentially reignite historical violence against us.