#siliverse

the Order cells can be vastly different. they range grom single people to families to small organizations, and sometimes survive through the generations by passing down the leadership

the cells are uncooperative with each other, and their interactions are mostly limited to recognition of "territories". however there are some common approaches that Harbingers have noted and use to categorize the cells

seekers ⛧ further labeled with Fabeir, Harbinger, Otherside or Tradition, the cell actively looks for signs of magic with the goal of seizing people, objects and information

hunters ⛧ further labeled with Fabeir, Harbinger, Otherside or Tradition, the cell actively looks for signs of magic with the goal of killing and destroying

diplomatic ⛧ the cell can be reasoned with

combative ⛧ the cell will attack on sight

extremist ⛧ the cell will kill on sight and torture any prisoners

mundane ⛧ the cell uses purely human weapons and tactics

arcane ⛧ also labeled as "hypocritical", the cell makes use of artifacts and stolen knowledge

the cells don't really have a name, and identify between them only based on territory. they have come to blows with each other at times, but that happens more in the case of a cell dying out, which prompts other cells to expand their territory

the cells get into many more fights with Fabeirs (which they only call spirits or demons depending on local culture) and with the Harbingers, and regularly have outright battles with the latter for the control of territories

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i. am a technician at heart. i love advanced physics and calculus and analysis and all my little studies and estimations and approximations and models. i find it so satisfying when different parts of how we know and study the universe click together with mathematical precision. big fan

so that's where i started. from where maths and physics perfectly meet and click: electromagnetism. now this is gonna get a little bit technical but stick with me

magic starts at a really small scale with the mianirs: quantum-scale particles that — like electrons, photons and most subatomic particles — behave like both mass and wave and thus collapse classical physics

i'm not gonna bore you with how many quarks and which ones they're made of. suffice to say that there are two of them: mions and vions, both with neutral electrical charge but mions have a positive mana charge and vions have a negative one

mianirs can be stored in a neutral mana charge, but if there is a charge difference then the mions will move toward the negative charge (as opposed to the electricity where electrons move toward the positive charge). this flow of mions is what results into magic

mianirs can also do one other thing, which is micro-vibrate around their position. the combination of vibration frequency and particle wavelength gives you the different elemental resonances!

and then if the frequency is zero and the mianirs don't vibrate, then the mana and its magic are clear. but if the frequency is over a certain limit then it fucks up the wavelength, which makes mions and vions collapse on each other, which collapses the atom and now you have corrupted mana with no fucking wavelength, just vibration, which is really close to the no wavelength-no vibration mana of the Void. which is really fun, because now the Void creatures only need to reach that vibration frequency (much easier as a fucking mass) to get inside the Realm and start collapsing atoms!

i love the Void :D

suffice to say, quantum magic and magical physics are big areas of research right now all over Ona, Nodi, Pi'Enk, Reiki and Izerko, plus godsdamned Hålsvarþur

now that we're over the technicalities, the juicy part: magic and technology work together because they're both based on sciences. the magical properties of objects and living beings can be measured and classified.

magic is an art and a science. it can be enhanced and stabilized through physical, visual and vocal means, but at its base it works because there is a mana field to take advantage of. somewhere on a notebook or another is still have some half-assed equations and laws for it, because i am exactly the kind of nerd that finds name-dropping the "Faltan-Huss law of mana conservation" is extremely funny. but that's an aside, and the mana field works regardless of them both to do magic and to interact with electricity. because to have a mana field you need a mana potential, which means mana is an energy and if it's an energy then it can always be converted into work and heat, which you can use to spin a turbine to generate clean renewable electricity

on a more everyday scale, magic works by a combination of mana resonance and mana path to achieve different effects, but certain mana paths can still the resonance into clear mana. so all that you really need is a mana path that holds as long as you want your spell to last. how do you get that?

for instanteus / short term magic, spellcasting and mana manipulation work well. both use body movement to create the path, and then spellcasting uses voice projection methods to enhance it while mana manipulation (through hours meditation and training) stabilizes the external path at mana-field level

on the longer term, you're looking more at arrays and sigils, potions, spellweaving and runes. these ones work by visually and physically creating mana paths and / or taking advantage of the magical properties of things. they require a lot of studying, but they are extremely versatile, durable and stable, and so these are the ones that usually get industrialized / integrated into technology

couple of examples for you

in Revolve we have Ele, completely human character with a mana core too small to do magic. instead she's an artificer. a "trademark" of hers are these blast-bombs she made at home. they're as big as a tennis ball, and they work like this: the metal ball is cave, with three compartments inside separated with a soft plastic. one compartment has vinegar, one has water and baking soda and the third as a little bit of quartz powder. when the ball is thrown, the internal separator shatters, the vinegar and water+baking soda react chemically and generate a mana charge, which gets amplified by the quartz powder, which hits a rune carved into the outer shell, which explodes with the kind of magic the rune directs it into. she used zero mana of her own to create something that really really hurts

another example is the modified denim i was telling you about that is used by the Harbingers for protective wear. it works more on a spellweaving technique, with mianirs being physically threaded into the fabric

spellweaving also works on a shorter term by threading the mianirs through the air and holding the path. this one is actually a technique that Ike and his dad for diagnostic spells that need to last anywhere between ten minutes to an hour, or for shields and temporary enhancers

also, runes. runes are by far the best. they are extremely durable and stable, they can be compounded onto a single objects (or living creature!) and into sigils or arrays that draw the mana into the desired effect. which is why they are the most ancient and widespread for of magic after elemental

there are seventeen runic systems in Navilee only, with one more from Izerko, three from Ferive, seven or eight from Zimuria plus however many the fuck there are on Earth

runes are deeply favored as a form of magic by the Harbingers, who — madlads that they are — have managed to get their hands on, preserve and learn two sistems from Ferive, five from Zimuria, eleven from Navilee and all the ones from Earth, plus! two that close to no one else knows

listen to me here, Harbingers got their hands on Ademaric and Archaic runes. these are runic systems that people all over Izerko and Navilee are frothing at the mouth to find traces of. they are respectively the runic system of the great empire that was destroyed in the War of Arcana and the runic system that the Great Forces developed to stabylize the edges of the Realms before the Livi existed

would you like to know how many other people have access to information about these runic systems? four on Izerko. one on Navilee

that's it. and they have only recently started to crack the information and be able to understand the systems

(as an aside, two of these people are Aleji and Reyenn and honestly, if those three ever meet it's gonna be a holy trio of "lmao what is gender", "i love my partner(s)" and caffeine-fueled magical research. it makes me eye the potential sequel more and more)

but the Harbingers? they've been working with those systems since before they were an organization. they have centuries of experience with both of those runic systems. their most used runic system is literally a modernized version of the Ademaric system

they put them on clothes to make the clothes resistant. they put them on themselves (rune tattoos my beloved) to make themselves stronger. they put them on the back of their phones to generate noiseless bubbles. on the cars to make them safer to drive in bad weather. on jewelry for protection. on houses for protectionon entrances to hide them and lock them. someone out there is experimenting with runes on pet collars to make animals capable of human comunication

so Harbingers (but not only) love runes and spellweaving and potions. so do many people in Izerko and Navilee. they require a lot of study, practice, technicism and some decent math skills to integrate with technology, but they are so so worth it

but also, technomages that use lightning resonances to mimic electrons and fuck up your currents and signals and hack into your security systems. technomagic is illegal in Reiki, Pi'Enk, Ona, Nodi, Zet, Fyma, Uyla, Ekre Kas'Ti, and a few more. this does not stop people like Dajsper

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Izerko is the youngest of all the Realms, formed at the start of the War of Arcana six thousand years ago: as the first Livi was cast out of Arcana and tore through the edges of Vaieni and Ferive, parts of those Realms fell through with viem and were bound to vier energy

the Realm created itself around the host of the First Fallen, who has since then been called the Opal Queen of the Realm, and is held together by their shared mana. many people fled here to protect themselves from the War of Arcana, which was wrecking havoc on Vaieni. after the war, many Kori took refuge here, helping shape the Realm into what it is now and bringing even more people, their followers

Izerko has no sky. it is entirely made of a system of tall underground caves, disposed more or less into five levels stacked one on top of the other and identified through common properties of the terrain and of the living creatures in them.

in total, Izerko is made of forty-three caves, all unique in purpose, structure, vegetation, fauna and sometimes even composition of the stone itself. while some caves have a dedicated purpose, such as urban areas, farming or water collection, many are much more varied

occasionally, apertures into the ground connect caves one above the other, allowing air, water and light to travel among them, and used by the people to transport materials from one level to another. the various levels are also connected by a singular staircase going from the highest level — the Luminary — to the only cave in the lowest level, which houses the capital Dusmuriziet

as it is completely underground, Izerko has no sky. and consequently, it has no suns or moons. instead, the day cycle is regulated by mosses — named xysinads or fade mosses — that grow over the cave walls and ceilings (especially in the Luminary layer) and glow at different intensities in a steady rhythm

most of the cycle of life is taken care of by the people of Izerko, who grow xysinads and other glowing plants and crystals where the ground is most fertile, redirect the water up the levels through feats of engineering and magic, and adapt the caves to their needs. the entire ecosystem is made and maintained by the Izerkean people

Deris

the limited light and vast amount of magic needed to live in Izerko, as well as the close contact with the Kori and their hosts, made change necessary for the survival of the people who took refuge into the Realm. as such, they rapidly evolved a number of traits that make them uniquely adapted to this dark, harsh and highly magical environment that make them very distinct from their predecessor, to the point they are considered a whole other species (much like the shirevi that evolved from humans on Navilee)

this new species, named deri, is highly recognizable for their eyes and ears, optimized to see magic and in the dark and to hear at a greater range. as such, deri eyes have very bright irises with white diamond-shaped pupils and (for pureblooded deris) black scleras, while their ears are long, pointed and downturned, with a great range of motion

deris are not a unitary species, as they evolved in three phases as a result of the three major migrations that populated Izerko. as such, they can be further classified in three subspecies, more adapted to life in Izerko the longer they've been there:

deri'lamis evolved from the third migration, about two thousand years ago. they tend to have darker skin, and only really present deri eyes and ears

deri'seneis are by far the majority of the population and they come from the second migration (a little over five thousand years ago, right after the War of Arcana ended). they're the ones who followed the Kori, and they developed really bright hair colors, a far larger mana core and serious muscles

deri'kerijis descend from the humans in the first migration. they were the people taking refuge in Izerko immediately after it formed, working alongside the first Kori to go there to shape the Realm and hold it together. they are the most similar to the Livi, probably because the people in the first migration often had relationships with the hosts of the Kori. in fact, they have a lot in common with half-Livis, such as claws, fangs and extremely mana-sensitive horns. they also have a wider range of skin and hair colors, not necessarily as bright or pale as deri'seneis

Realm and Kingdom

Izerko is an incredibly small Realm. it's total surface area is roughly equivalent to Greece's, and it's population is a little smaller than Argentina's. the various caves also rely majorly on one another for survival and cannot be independant

thus, politically and governamentally Izerko acts as a sovereign nation on it's entire territory. it's led by the Opal Queen, accompanied by the Council of the Twelve (twelve ministers; traditionally three Kori hosts, three elected from noble families and six elected among the people), who oversee the overall organization and delegate specific tasks to more local authorities

Izerko has a few noble families, which are pureblooded deri'keriji families documented to descend directly from the eighty or so people who helped the Kori shape Izerko during the first migration

there is one rumor that spread recently (last couple hundred years) across Izerko and into other Realms about a different type of organization: the Opal Court, supposedly the Opal Queen's innermost circle, made up of diplomats, functionaries, spies, assasins and guards, recogniziable for taking on a gemstone's name as an alias. no one has been ablo to prove its existance so far

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Harbingers are volounteers and are spread over the globe. they still have a clear organization with a central administration, which maintains a (now) digital database of all its members (with their statuses, ranks, locations, specializations and eventual talents) and the research they make into the various types of magic, which is freely accessible to all members

Harbingers are ranked by experience and power, so that they are unlikely to walk into situations too dangerous for them, they work somewhat independently and locally, but send alerts and requests for help if things get more insidious. other Harbingers with more freedom of movement travel around the world to help with alerts

while the knowledge of magic that the Harbingers possess is often passed down family lines, children are under no obligation to follow their parent's footsteps. instead, the Harbingers look for and welcome new people who respect and research magic

either way, children under the age of sixteen are not allowed to fully join; from age sixteen to age eighteen they are only allowed to train and they can only become field operatives once they're adults, though for the first two years they are still under supervision and only on low-level situations

Harbingers divide themselves into three branches:

administration ⛧ the Overseers are in charge of maintaning and updating the databases, testing Harbingers for their rank, organization, funding and a modicum of "mission control" for Sentinels, as well as some training

research ⛧ the Savants do the majority of the studying, experimention and research about the various magics and Fabeirs, taking care to document and publish their results. most Sentinels also do their own studies, but not to the same scale

field operations ⛧ the Sentinels take care of the legwork, like intervening when the Fabeir go off the rails, mediating, tracking signs of magic and of new Trades or stopping humans from harming magic

as the goal of the organization is the study of the supernatural and mythological, this also translates into protecting magic. often, this brings them into conflict with the Order of the Exorcists and to interct with the Fabeir

of all human mana-users, Harbingers are the most in tune with non-human magic. in fact about 40% of all Harbingers hold traded magic of some kind, but they make up for 80% of Sentinels. additionally, in their study of all forms of magic, the Harbingers have run into signs of the new Navilean magics, Izerk magic and the old Vimurian magic, which they are slowly integrating in their own

Harbingers have their own terminology for those who have Traded something for magic, with names that depend on the Talent gained:

Sight ⛧ Augur augurs are people who saw too much. saw the writing on the walls and weren't believed. saw the details of other people and went ignored. they trade their sight, literal or figurative, for the ability to find and track magic, and to see the connections between it

Power ⛧ Champion champions are people who found a weakness within themselves and could not stand it; who weren't strong enough and let the people they loved be hurt. they trade their affection for power, enough to protect others but growing isolated and distrusted

Word ⛧ Envoy envoys are people who have been hurt by words, either by those of others, had their own twisted against them, or punished for speaking up. they trade their voice and their willingness to speak for the languages of magic and authority in their words

Soul ⛧ Medium mediums are often people on the edge of death, whether by injury or illness, or whose world is crumbling around them. they trade their innocence and health for a second shot, one prone to hopelessness but in the company and respect of magic

Core ⛧ Spellmaster spellmasters are people who've had to hide their wonder and eccentricity and grew too weary and jaded. they trade their ability to hide and slip unnoticed for a chance at wonder again, and magic leaves them changed for it

Key ⛧ Warder warders are people who were manipulated and led around by others, used and mocked and swore no more. they trade their warmth and trust for the key to other's heart, now able to pull the strings and lock others away