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The World I Built

Miseo

Minstrel
I'm going to quickly go through the world I built. Originally I wanted to just talk about the magic system and get feedback on it, but that's not really possible because the magic is so closely related to religion, astrology, and cosmology of my world. So I'm just gonna quickly go over my world building... if you like it, good :) If you have feedback, better :D

Alright so, originally only two things existed. Spirit and Void. The Spirit, also called Bel, spoke and his word carved a path in the void which created time. The word Bel spoke echoed back, bringing some of the void with it, and the echo was called Heylel. In this way Heylel and the other Great Spirits were made. The Great Spirits spoke also and their words echoed back with more of the void, creating more spirits. The spirits kept doing this and created more and more lesser spirits until at last the new spirits being created were more Void than Spirit. Bel turned these lesser spirits into worlds.

Heylel wanted to do the same, so he attacked the spirit Aidenn. Heylel tore out Aidenn's heart from his chest and used it to create the moon, and Aidenn's body was fashioned into a world (which was also called Aidenn). Heylel ruled over this world as its god and king. Heylel used the moon to create life. Heylel provided light to the people who obeyed him, but took light away from those who disobeyed him. Many spirits served Heylel and lived in the darkness and preyed on those who Heylel banished to the darkness (ultimately giving humans an innate fear of the dark). Bel intervened and entered the world as a mortal and gathered people to follow him. Bel eventually fought with Heylel. Heylel killed Bel, but in doing so he released Bel's spirit which flooded and infused Aidenn and provided a new light. With Aidenn freed from Heylel's power, the Great Spirits were able to banish Heylel. The remainder of Bel's spirit coalesced in the sky and became the sun. The spirits who followed Heylel were also banished from the world and became the Outer Darkness, and the spirits that followed Bel were posted at the ends of the realm and protected Aidenn from the Outer Darkness. These spirits are the stars. Eight constellations were created that were bound to human bloodlines, and these constellations bind the wall of stars to the world and provide the world with protection. These bloodlines eventually grow into kingdoms.

Heylel from his banishment was able to create demons on Aidenn. The first demon seduced 7 of the 8 kings of the celestial kingdoms and bore children by them. This compromised 7 of the 8 constellations, allowing some of the influence of the Outer Darkness to reach Aidenn. This influence is what's called "magic". The first demon gave birth to 7 children who ruled over most of the world until they were ousted from power. Afterwards they became known as the Circle and were worshipped as gods by some. The Circle eventually came together and created the Red Star, which is one of the planets. Magic cast under the light of the Red Star is more powerful. But if the Red Star is passing through one of the compromised constellations above it's associated territory, magic is even more powerful - and using magic at this time also carries the risk of driving people to insanity or creating beings known as Abominations as a byproduct of magic use.

Humans can use magic by harnessing the power of the Outer Darkness. In order for the magic to respond to them, they have to be similar enough to the spirits of the darkness that the power would respond to their will. This is done by dark rituals that are tailored to push the caster of the spell into a desired mindset. For example, to be able to sacrifice another human being without remorse would require being in a certain mindset which temporarily molds the individual's spirit to become similar to one of the spirits of the Outer Darkness.

Another way to use magic is by contract, which doesn't require rituals. But this opens the possibility of being possessed by the spirits of the Outer Darkness.

There are other types of magic too. But this is the most common type for humans. Demons and fairies and Saints each use different kinds of magic.

... and that is a very summarized history of my world and its magic system. Any thoughts?
 
I really enjoy this. Question: you never really covered if there was a type of magic or special ability for those who staid with Bel and his spirit henceforth? Other than that I really enjoyed it. Are you planning on any silmarillion-ish book that has all this in a detailed semi-story format? (Not a big issue just curious XD)




So this magic, how do people use it, what can it do, how do you become more powerful, can you ever control the abominations or byproducts?


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Miseo

Minstrel
I really enjoy this. Question: you never really covered if there was a type of magic or special ability for those who staid with Bel and his spirit henceforth? Other than that I really enjoyed it. Are you planning on any silmarillion-ish book that has all this in a detailed semi-story format? (Not a big issue just curious XD)




So this magic, how do people use it, what can it do, how do you become more powerful, can you ever control the abominations or byproducts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it! And no, those who followed Bel didn't directly receive power. During the war between Bel and Heylel, Heylel granted his followers great power, and they became the fairies. Bel taught his followers about love and compassion, which is something the fairies lack because they never accepted Bel's teachings. Bel also indirectly gave his followers spirit. Before, people consisted of body and soul (aka mind), and when they died their soul returned to the moon to be reincarneted. But now the sun, which is Bel's spirit, gives all humans spirit when they are born, which allows them to leave the endless cycle of reincarnation and go to heaven. That's what Bel gave his followers.

There's also the Saints and the Blessed. In the same way that people can utilize the Outer Darkness for magic through a principle of imitation, the Blessed can utilize the power of Bel through prayer and meditation. But it takes many years of prayer and a lifetime devoted to abiding by the teachings of Bel to attain this power, and the Blessed are very rare in this regard. Dark magic is much easier to use in comparison. The Saints are incarnations of Bel. Bel can no longer manifest directly on Aidenn, but every now and then someone is born with a holy mark on them and in time their spirits are transformed to be identical to Bel's, which allows them to use the power of Bel freely. They are basically copies of Bel in human fom. They are also very very rare, and no amount of prayer or meditation can make someone into this.

I was considering maybe doing like a prequel series that deals with the Dark Age when Heylel ruled, the First Age when the Destroyer was first unleased, or the Second Age when the Circle was created. But I am more interested at the moment with writing the main story.

As for how the magic is used, Saints use their power as an extension of themselves. The Blessed use their power through prayer and living a certain lifestyle. Sorcerers who utilize the power of the Outer Darkness use their magic through will, but in order to use magic they either need to have a contract or be similar enough to the Outer Darkness in nature. There are also spells and rituals used to invoke the Outer Darkness. One could use sigils or other symbols that are associated with certain spirits, and by activating these the spirits in the Outer Darkness would become aware of the spell, and can choose to lend their power or not. Invokation is a less certain method than contract and imitation, however, and doesn't have guaranteed success. And of course certain rituals are designed to mold the people performing the rituals into a certain mindset, like murder or rape rituals, which change the person performing them. Sorcerers become more powerful the more similar they become to the Outer Darkness, because the more similar they are the easier it is for them to control the magic. But there is an absolute limit too. The power of the Outer Darkness gets channeled through the human's spirit, so each person has a set capacity of how much power they can manifest.

And no one can really control the abominations. They are created when there is too much dark magic in a certain space. The oversaturation of magic turns the area into a Rift, which is kind of like an alternate dimension contained in Aidenn. Abominations are born in the Rift and are basically magic manifested into some form. Abominations can appear as creatures, or as the location itself, or even an idea.
 
Ok yeah, I just fell in love with this world as a reader! Lol, I can't wait to see what you do here!


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Miseo

Minstrel
I'm glad to hear that! Been working on world building this world for a VERY long time. On and off. It's totally different now than when I started.

I just put up the prologue of my series if you're interested. You'll be introduced to the main character and one of the series many evil gods.
 

Miseo

Minstrel
Thanks! And yeah, you're pretty much spot on. The Judeo-Christian tradition has a lot of material to pull from. Gives a lot to work with. There are other reasons I chose it, but they're not too important.
 

ATKH

Scribe
I agree with everyone this far: Epic, intriguing and has all the good and evil you'd ever need for dozens of great stories. Which is why I'm so intrigued to find out where exactly you go with it.
 
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