#fridgephilosopher

Basically, MAGIC is the ability to harness energy that would otherwise be dissipated, and mold it according to one's will. Different cultures have different methods for doing that; even within a same culture, there are disagreements among academics and disenfranchised practitioners. Different areas of the world are more favourable to certain kinds of magic, and prejudiced against others, so characters need to be careful with their magic use depending on where their journeys take them, sometimes deciding not to use magic at all to avoid ruffling any feathers. As I've mentioned to you in DMs, I have outlined several generations of this world and its politics, and of course views on culture, customs, and magic change with time. The overall view during the period where the novel I'm currently writing takes place has a clear divide between White Magic and Black Magic; despite Black Magic having a bad reputation for mostly dealing with dead things and taboo practices, both White and Black Magic are taught at institutions privileged youths can enter. The thing that is abso-fucking-lutely not allowed? Mixing and matching, and experimenting outside of the preestablished curricula, and depending on the level of the... infraction... people can be disappeared. This brings me to the main character of the novel I'm writing. Meet Odette, an incredibly talented mage, but equally curious and stubborn.

(art by my sister, you can find more of her work here)

I usually struggle picking a character to center a story around, it usually takes me a while to decide, but in this case, it was the easiest choice I could make. See, I created Odette as a mirrored version of an iconic character from Brazilian literature. Bear with me, I will try to be brief: Back in 1865, Brazilian author José de Alencar wrote a novel called Iracema, named after the titular character: an indigenous woman, daughter of the chief of a local tribe. Iracema, known as "the virgin with the honey lips", the most beautiful young woman in the tribe, and of course, the one who is going to be paired off with the white man that shows up in their territory.

José de Alencar intended to create a sort of creation myth to the Brazilian people, as part of a bigger literary movement called "indianism". Reading this book at school was... difficult. Although the writing was really good and there were certainly interesting elements based on the coastal rainforest ecosystem and peoples, the whole relationship between Iracema and Martim (the white man) never really sat right with me.