#fratera lore

there is a city sized university called Gresse on the island nation of Yixa. Gresse is a university committed solely to the study of magic and magi, and they own a gigantic fleet of quite possibly hundreds of thousands of ships that go out to almost every country in the world - countries under the Gresse Concordisse - to pick magi up and take them back to Gresse. No one except the highest higher ups in Gresse themselves know exactly why this is considered necessary. Within the terms of the Gresse Concordisse it is plainly stated that any realised magi withholding themselves from the ships and refusing passage to Gresse is committing a crime against Yixa, as is anyone knowingly harbouring them.

Saal is (secretly. Secretly , secretly) a magi ; a Pathetic one, but one nonetheless. He also just so happens to live in what would likely be classed as the 3rd most anti-magic nation in the world, Ulor. (he has some serious self image issues.)

Ulor is a country that is almost entirely run by various underground thieves guilds that have existed as long as the country itself. They are deeply entrenched in the culture of Ulor. There is no Ulor without the guilds. Despite the lowlives that make up their ranks - known as scaru - and their propensity for drinks, drugs, gambling, whores, fights and cursing, the guilds are perfectly organised and calculated, and spare no sympathy for anyone in the way.

Saal Fera is a scaru belonging to the guild 'Fratera', the guild in charge of the southernmost territories of Ulor. He's pretty much the exact opposite of organised and calculated, and very much in the way. Him being magi and therefore technically a fugitive was enough to make him a massive liability as is - without the extra mess of him then going and accidentally getting a valuable and talented guild brother, a man named Omalivilian, killed on the job. His standing with the guild master Amaria dropping from unfavourable to straight up resentful, Saal is now at risk of being dropped by the guild; even worse, Amaria has threatened to save everyone the trouble and report him to the ships to have him taken away to Gresse if he doesn't seriously make up for what he's done.

The guild is split into groups called divisas, and Divisa three is made up by Saal and his two best friends: Vitra and Divus.

And then there's Livilial, who's a member of guild Fratera who joined after escaping from her home country to Ulor, who has now made it her life's goal to make Saal as miserable as humanly possible even if that means getting him kicked out the guild for good; Omalivilian was her beloved younger brother. However, Livilial and Saal already have a complicated past, meaning her feelings about him are a lot more conflicted that she'd like to admit.

Thanks for the ask !

Of course! So one of Amaria's parents was exactly like Livilial and Omalivilian - a null escapee from Brin . Therefore she is half Brinik , and speaks a decent amount of it because she was taught it growing up . Part of the reason she dislikes Saal so much is because he (unintentionally) broke Livilial's heart and Amaria was simply inclined to pity Livilial more because of her background . Amaria plays favourites BIGTIME .

I went through my Big Name List because I knew I had an all female divisa down somewhere and thought it would be funny to make the all female divisa canonically 4/5ths lesbian

Generally speaking , they are immediately placed into the divisa that corresponds with their location , and their training is the responsibility of the older guild members around them . It is expected of every scaru that they will have to teach a new recruit at some point (fun fact , AAAAAAAAAGES ago that was a drafted up plot idea I had for a more lighthearted story about divisa III before the actual story took shape - them being forced to take in a new little recruit together)

This system works well because being raised amongst their divisa members helps them to learn how to work WITH the specific people they are going to be surrounded by, and find their role in the group, whilst learning their general skills . Two birds with one stone. It also helps forge connections that are useful ; a divisa that raised each other up from the ground is going to be looking out for each other, which is always better than a divisa that isn't invested in the others' lives. The way that a divisa works together and which roles they need in their divisa tends to develop organically over all this time, too, which another reason why adult recruits aren't favoured; they are often out of place as they haven't developed with the rest.

And yeah, dangerous as though it may be , recruits are put on jobs IMMEDIATELY, and those jobs ARE their training. Tends to be simple jobs though, and the typa shit a kid would be good at ; pickpocketing, sneaking into a place to - say - open the door for the real thieves, distracting people getting sympathy by acting like a cute sad little beggar. Easy stuff at first .

(Not gonna lie at all I've been meaning forever to put a name and some personality to the Divisa III members that came before, and raised Divus and Saal and Vitra, cause realistically speaking they really ought to be pretty important people .. 😬 . And I need to decide whether any of them are still alive cause if they are there's no reason why DIII wouldn't visit them ...........😬. I will get round to that)