#aurals

The conflict between the magical kingdoms stem from their different values and interests clashing a lot with each other. Even before the Pulsor-Aural war there have been skirmishes on the boarders, between Aurals and Sensors etc. Kyler believes the emotionality and lack of discipline are the reason for the tensions and fights and that by teaching the Pulsor control and coldness, by spreading their teachings, they would be able to create lasting peace between the countries. Their way is the best way, so they are really doing everyone a favour.

Kyler is really passionte about this since he bacame a king at 18. He wants lasting peace. He wants everyone to get along, to comform to certain standards for the sake of stability and safety. And he wants to achieve this now, during his reign, make things move. Sensors don't like figthing, so Pulsors don't respect them and Kyler is sure he will get them to use their powers more usefully. Aurals are excessive and attention-hungry, so he will teach them some humility and abstinence. Don't you want to follow rules that save lives? That protect you and ensure peace? Everyone who disagrees (from Pulsors or foreigners) is a people killer, because they protest the enlightened way of the king to keep everyone safe. Not that Pulsors protested, they really liked it. Their fighting magic means also big emphasis on fighting in their values and culture, being historically an imperial force, taking land by force by the "might makes right" law.

Zephyr's backstory as the hybrid mage

To explain Zephyr's position: Zephyr's mother is a Pulsor who married his father, an Aural knight. They both taught him their fighting techniques and Zephyr felt respect for both their ways. He learned to fight like an Aural, but the knowledge and discipline of Pulsor ways and magic fascinated him and made him stronger. By growing up with connection to both and such vastly different cultures, he had many advatages - there was hardly anyone who could best him in a fight, with magic or fists or swords. He combined techniques, or switched between them to confuse his opponents. Most people hated him for being such a "hybrid" and not choosing one way (mostly out of jealousy) but Leander, a son of a influental noble was impressed and wanted to learn from him. They both understood very early on, that diverstiy of knowledge and skill is a giant win, not a weakness, which protected them from a lot of nationalistic propaganda of Aurals.

Leander didn't have to be in the army or royal guard, because of his family's high status, but he liked fighting and wanted to accomplish something with his own might. He hates the word "priviledge" because it takes from his credit. It implies he is successful, because of the system and not because of his own skills and he hates that. So he joined the royal guards, climbed the ladder and became the princesses's bodyguard and trusted military advisor. The princess Acacia, who loves fighting as much as she loves dancing, who can't keep her mouth shut, who lives for joy of every day and who can't be less than herself under no circumstance. A curious, childish, cheerful princess who loved that she the throne didn't go to her but to her brother/cousin (I'm not sure about this, since I want to have the Aural kingdom also do some nasty stuff by the second half, which will create dissent and conflict in the royal family. Acacia originally had a brother in 5th Magic, so I'm not sure if to use him for this or not and if I can manage to make him morally grey without starting to hate him myself, which is an unfortunate effect they tend to have on me when they are mine.)

Leander introduced Zephyr to Acacia. Or more like Acacia wanted to get out of the company of the court's bootlickers and forced herself on Leander to see what he likes to do and got to meet Zephyr. At first distanful, but quickly fascinted by his strenght and uniqueness, she started to be interested in "hybrid" magic. She didn't like Pulsor magic, as it would force her to give up on the emotions that fuel her Aural magic, which is her greatest pride, but the concept of hybridity, fascinated her, because of it being forbidden and loathed, (she loves breaking taboos and getting attention for being scanalous). So she turned to the other kind of mages - the Sensors.

Sensors

Sensors are a travelling tribespeople who live mostly in the forests, who abondonened their country when it was invaded by Pulsors years ago. Their pacifict culture and individulistic attitudes makes them prone to running, they would never fight for the community or sacriface themselves for their country or people, considering this a nonsense. Hard to track, since they know the mountains, living there in summer and coming down to any of the two kingdoms in winter. Their culture based around knowledge, discussions and life-long mission of learning and coming up with questions with impossible answers. Very philosiphical, educated and deep-thinkers who have many monasteries in the mountains, hidden houses, secret libraries and hideouts where they store their knowledge and document historical events.

Discriminated in all kingdoms, but also marveled for their great knowledge, teaching skills and mastery of all four languages (of Pulsors, Aurals, Universal and their own) they are often hired as scribes (Aurals don't know how to read and write, they consider this useless), translators (Pulsors don't speak any other language than theirs) and tutors by more enlightened people who recognize their usefulness. They are absolutele pacifists and don't use their mind magic for fighting, although they do have defense magic and can be quite brutal in education of their mages (involving mind attacks and mind control techniques) since their mages become keepers of the monasteries and libraries.

Sensor magic requires meditation and knowledge of the element you are connecting to. Skye is the Sensor of water, with very high skill level, marked by the golden ring with three blue circles and the number of the platinum rings she wears, giving her the power of an ambassador of her people.

Something all kingdoms have in common is their high regard for mages and the way they mark magic skill with number of rings. The more rings a mage wears, the higher his mastery. This is done, because a powerful mage also gets his people's representational power, being able to forge alliances by giving his rings to another person. Sensors use platinum (white sheen), Pulsors titanium (darker sheen) and Aurals copper (rose sheen). A mage marked by a foreign metal ring is automatically declared an allie of the kingdom the metal is from, making them untouchable. (This will be important during the peace talks).

Acacia meets and learns from Skye, who currently resides there, observing and writing about the current state of Aural society and developing suprising fondness for Zephyr. Sensors don't differeniate between kingdoms so much (they aren't treated well anywhere), but they appreciate deep thinkers, respectful behaviour and nuanced debates. Zephyr wins Skye over with his own philosophical ideas and dreams of connecting the countries through understanding of the advatages of hybrid magic. By learning from each other, they could come to appreicate their differences. Skye even comfirms to the shock of Acacia, Zeph and Leander that magic can be chosen and learned and doesn't depend from birth, which is a secret kept by all kingdoms. If magic, that determines the culture and behaviour, doesn't hold us together, what will?

The mission

With Pulsor army marching for the capital and becoming more brutal in their killings and taking people away into "reformation camps" under Kyler's reign, Acacia comes up with a plan - they could all go to Pulsors disguised as Sensors, who are known to cross boarders and offer their services to both sides (to earn money for supplies for winter). Acacia would play Skye's role as the Sensor ambassador, with Lenader and Zephyr as her companions and bodyguards and Skye as her maid. (If Pulsors bothered to learn anything about Sensors they would have found this constellation suspicious, because Sensor mages usually travel alone and don't have maids, even though they have the highest standing in their society.) They would get into Kyler's favour, offer a Sensor alliance against Aurals and kill him and his generals, throwing them into chaos and stopping the war.

Zephyr and Kyler

Zephyr images a foolish barbaric general in Kyler. Instead he meets a cultured, well-mannered, polite king whose only dream is Zephyr's own - to end the war and return progress and education to the war-torn kingdoms. Idealisic and deeply caring about his subordinates, with great discipline and hard work going into his training, magic and strategical meetings as well as discussions with advisors, openness and reign. Someone who is constantly studying and improving himself (doesn't help he can't read, write or talk in any other language). Kyler is thrilled by having Sensors who could give him access to books and teach him at least the Universal language, regretting the limits their lack of education in favour of military training (with kids taken for service at 10) did to his people.

Another thing that appeals to Zephyr is the Pulsor culture itself. So disciplined, precise, focused, ambitious, professional, it's the culture he only knows from his mother, shunned by everyone around her, even though she was more capable than anyone he ever met. It's like returning home and rediscovering a part of himself he was always missing. It also downs at him how much he struggled with the Aural mindset, the openess that meant everyone was too loud, too honest, too confrontational, too emotional, too carefree, too forceful. Zephyr realizes after years, how much of an outsider he was and how natural and belonging he feels with the Pulsors, despite them being his enemies.

Zephyr didn't meet much understanding for his dreams of peace. Leander didn't mind the fighting, cause it ment he could be proving his own worth and provess. Acacia wanted Aurals to win, with the hybrid magic being more of a adventurous breaking of rules than anything deeper (something Skye dislikes about her as well). Skye appreciated his ideas, but she was too skeptical it could ever work. Sensors in general don't believe in structural changes and consider the warring kingdoms too stupid to do much else. Skye also hardly considers people to be worth the effort or attention if they don't prove themselves interesting and intelligent enough, like Zephyr had. (How else could Sensors deal with the overall hostility towards them? Most people are too stupid to appreciate them or change or be worth missing out on).

Of course Zephyr is torn about his feelings. How can he feel so good among the Pulsors, who are killing innocent civilits to win a war? Who want to destroy in the name of peace and conformity? Who fight against diversity and differences, all the beautiful things Zephyr appreciates and stands for? What's wrong with him, if he feels so good in the enemy territory? How can he forgive such difference in opinions, such disagreement with his values? How can he see the good in Kyler and deal with the bad? Then again, what does Pulsor culture, way of life, their magic and their civilians have to do with the war and the royal family's decisions of how to lead it? Why should it be hated for something one person in power does?

Here is Kyler, the person in power, with ideals and grand dreams, believing people are good and worth the effort to fight for them and building something good for them. From discussions and spending time with him, Zephyr comes to like him and starts to hope that Kyler could be reasoned with, if he just expanded his horizons and considered Zephyr's solution of teaching each other their magics instead of destroying the others for the sake of having one.

Kyler comes to like Zephyr, because he feels his appreciation for Pulsors and their magic. Zephyr feels like a Pulsor, partly being one and partly liking how they operate. He looks like them, with his dark hair, he behaves like them with his steely resolve. Then Zephyr saves Kyler from a hit by the Shadow mages (magic created from widespreat negative feelings especially among the poor and the grief created by the war. All sides are plagued by Shadow magic that works a lot like Aural magic in reverse, being fueled by negative emotions. All sides also loathe and fear them, even though this magic could be controlled just the same, and isn't corrupt, just new, misunderstood and unknown). Kyler finds out Zephyr is a capable fighter (being a Sensor bodyguard covers it a little, but it's unsual for Sensors to know how to fight, especially physically). Zephyr admits to his feelings of not belonging where he was born, of being interested in more things that allowed by tradition, of liking Pulsor ways. And Kyler, grateful and impressed by his capabilities and skills, listens. He makes Zephyr his companion, advisor, bodyguard and friend. He recognizes him as his equal, is honest with him, showing him what he does and asking him for his opinions and advice. Zephyr gets to speak, and he is listened to, because Kyler is at that stage. The Pulsor king wants to learn, he wants change, he wants to grow.

And that's how they become friends amids the masks, assassination plans and against the wishes of Zephyr's friends. Acacia sees this as a betrayal, Leander is horrified, Skye is afriad. It takes the second half of the story with a spread of a Shadow virus, Kyler getting infected, the group's secret travel to Sensor territory, Zephyr's insistance to save Kye, Skye getting to know and like him, Aural's turn to dictatorship ways because of the virus's threat to connect and resolve the conflict.