One more update on the story I'm working on · 4:27am Jan 20th, 2019
I'm close to having enough chapters to start the story I've been talking about doing. It's still taking a little time, though, so for now, here's one more piece of delightful lore to chew on.
The Seven Forbidden Magicks - There are seven fields of magic known collectively by this name. The reasons why range from moral and/or ethical constraints to the extreme complexity of the subject involved rendering practical application nearly impossible. While not all of these fields of research are illegal, the research and study of all of them are heavily regulated, due to the possible consequences of misuse.
Necromancy - The magic of undeath. Trying to undo death never works. While the lichfolk demonstrate that, under certain circumstances, a lifeless yet alive state can be achieved before true death, true death itself is irreversible. The undead are sometimes the results of failed attempts to bring back loved ones, but these days are more often the result of some psychopath who wants to cause chaos with a zombie army. Due to its tendency to create horrible undead abominations when things go invariably wrong, unlicensed necromancy is banned nearly everywhere in the world, and obtaining a license to study necromancy is extremely challenging.
Biomancy - The magic of living things. Living things are insanely complicated. Since magic requires that a mage know exactly what he's doing or risk harming himself or others, trying to change a living thing with anything less than total and absolute knowledge of the biology of the lifeform in question will have questionable results at best. For this reason, healing magic does not exist, and is considered solely the domain of the gods and their servants. In most cases, attempting to use biomancy will kill the test subject, and it would take years of experimentation, and thousands of dead test subjects, to get any kind of beneficial results, and said results can be difficult to reproduce. Due to this, Biomancy research is heavily regulated on non-sapient life, and almost universally illegal in regards to sapient life.
Chronomancy - The magic of time. If you thought living things were complicated, you haven't seen anything until you've tried to study time. Most attempts at time magic have ended with immediately hitting The Breaking Point, especially attempts to reverse time. The most that magic users have managed to accomplish is a kind of "Five Minute Restore Point", where it is possible to cause a location to revert back to where it was, up to five minutes after the point is established, but allowing everyone present to retain their memory of the five "undone minutes". The complexity of this action, and the amount of personnel, time, and energy it takes to establish it, means that it is typically used only in extremely unusual circumstances. It's just not practical. After all, how often does one know, hours or even days ahead of time, that they'll need to turn back time five minutes to undo a specific event?
Monstrumancy - The magic of monsters. Monsters want to kill all living things that aren't them. Monster-kin are often super-predators that can unbalance or even destroy entire eco-systems if left unchecked. Magic that tries to enhance or reproduce monsters, or can cause monster-kin to be enhanced or reproduced, is banned, and the study of monsters in general is very heavily regulated. If you have difficulty understanding why, please reread this entry again from beginning to end.
Animomancy - The magic of the mind. The brain is complicated, too, which is not surprising, given that it is a part of a living thing. And much like biomancy, Animomancy often tends to have horrible results when attempted. Trying to use magic to alter someone's mind will often result in madness, catatonia, and/or brain death. Given that furthering this field of study would require destroying the minds of hundreds, if not thousands, of test subjects, and all of said subjects would have to be sapient creatures, it is almost universally banned. The only exception is regarding the spells attached to magic wands and staves, since these are required for the items to bond with the wielder. The modern school of magic taught in Gillertree requires a wand or stave to be used properly.
Maledictumancy - The magic of curses. A curse is a unique subset of magic: Things that are normally impossible through magic are possible if a curse is involved. Curses can be placed upon people, places, and/or things, but it must be spoken aloud for it to work. If it is a curse on a person, the person cursed must hear it. If it is a location, someone present at that location must hear it. When a curse is made, it creates a binding magical contract of sorts, so that a certain effect is brought about until a certain event (Often called a Terminus) has occurred. When cast, the terms and conditions of the curse are engraved in the mind of the person it is cast upon, rendering it unforgettable. A curse's power is inversely proportional to how difficult it is for the Terminus to come about. For example, a curse that has a Terminus of "When pigs fly" would be incredibly weak (Unless an exception was made for pigs loaded into catapults), while a curse that had a Terminus of "The next full moon" would be incredibly strong. Thus, mages who lay curses on others will often use double meanings to make incredibly easy Terminus conditions sound impossible. Example: "You are cursed until you wear the crown of the king of Gillertree." This would seem insanely difficult, since it sounds like it would require one to take over a kingdom, when in truth the solution is as easy as borrowing a hat for a minute. Other methods include using foreign or obscure languages to hide the meaning of the curse and its Terminus. The curse upon the lands of the Furred Folk has proven difficult to break because the wizard who cast it whispered it in the ear of a mute, then promptly murdered that mute before committing suicide himself. The conditions of the curse are thus unknown to all. The wizard's reasons for bringing about this curse remain unknown.
Hemomancy - The magic of blood. Blood is life, and life is blood. No one understands how and/or why blood magic works, and why it can be so powerful, and this is part of why it is considered so dangerous. Some have theorized that blood magic may have "divine" origins, and that all of the verbal components to the spells are in reality prayers to an unknown blood god, spoken in a long dead language. Given that Hemomancy is one of the few known magicks that require spoken chants and rituals to perform, there is some credence to this. Using Hemomancy, one can drain the life from another being and use it to empower spells, control the blood flow within a person and use it to stop their heart, summon terrifying creatures from unknown places through a blood sacrifice, and much, much more. A combination of Necromancy and Hemomancy is said to have been used to create the first vampires. The full extent of what may be possible with hemomancy is currently unknown. Given the horrific and violent nature of this art, it is almost universally outlawed.
The Three Great Calamities - Three possible scenarios that, should they occur, could destroy a country, a continent, or perhaps all life in the world.
The Grand Break - A large number of magic users simultaneously hitting the Breaking Point at the same time. While a single wizard hitting the Breaking Point causes a small, localized event where, for ten seconds, the laws of reality no longer apply, multiple wizards in relatively close proximity to one another hitting the Breaking Point simultaneously will increase the size and duration of the event exponentially. The island kingdom of Algrenlar was destroyed by such an event, allegedly. The "god-king" of the nation wished to become a god in truth, and forced the mages of his realm to try and make it so, over their objections. Over one hundred mages were forced together under threat of violence to themselves and their loved ones, and made to attempt the impossible. The resulting Grand Break encompassed an area of 145,000 square miles, and went on for well over a century. The few expeditions to the island that have returned describe a landscape so strange and alien that words alone cannot do it justice, save that it cannot be inhabited by anyone valuing their life or sanity. Due to this event, mages no longer work together on new and unknown spells in groups greater than twelve, and even then, only in the most secluded places, far away from where innocent people might be caught in the Break if things go wrong. A large enough Grand Break could easily bring about the end of all life as we know it.
Artifacts Of The Bygone Era In The Wrong Hands - The substances known as uranium, plutonium, and other fissionable materials are almost non-existent in the world, for reasons known only to a few. This has put a very real limit on technological development, even if the people of the current age had an interest in pursuing the sciences of old. However, when the Cthulfolk landed, their ship had a small but significant supply of several such materials, and they had retained knowledge of how such materials could be used, or weaponized. This small supply of fissionable material has since been depleted, and the lack of such materials means that these alien beings are trapped here. Thankfully, the Cthulfolk's peaceful nature prevents them from using their remaining technological advantages to try and dominate the other races of the world. However, there is a very real concern that there could be a supply of fission bombs that survived the Age of Chaos, the three centuries when magic first entered the world. If so, and if these weapons still worked, they could cause annihilation on a scale that the people of this modern age cannot begin to imagine. Moreover, given how advanced the technology of old appeared to be, nuclear weaponry is the least of the possible threats that could be lurking in the ruins of the Pre-Magic Era.
The Dungeon Train - A much more likely event than the others, the event known as a Dungeon Train has occurred three times in the last two centuries, although thankfully on smaller, mostly isolated kingdoms. Dungeons become more complex the harder they are to reach. This is by design, as a dungeon is intended to contain the Demon and monsters inside long enough for people brave and skilled enough to overcome them arrive. However, sooner or later, the monsters find their way out if left unchecked, and begin flooding the surrounding countryside, searching for things to kill. Normally, the presence of monster-kin (Giant rats, slimes, etc.) alerts others that there is a dungeon nearby, allowing adventurers to find it and start thinning out the numbers within long before the inhabitants of the dungeon have a chance to find the exit. However, if a dungeon is underground or in a place many people avoid, it can go undiscovered long enough for the monster population within to become truly massive, outnumbering all but the largest armies, with a number of "commanders", monsters with intelligence who can command lesser monsters the way a general commands its soldiers. Normally, when a dungeon is "opened" from within, the monsters inside spread out in a kind of ever-expanding pool going out in all directions, and they spread slowly, as they are searching for prey without any real goal asides from death and destruction. Additionally, the "commanders" do not leave, instead staying inside to guard the demon at the dungeon's core. However, the event known as a Dungeon Train occurs if someone discovers such a dungeon by accident, is discovered by monsters within, and then escapes. The monsters, led by their "commanders" will pursue their prey to the exit of the dungeon, and further beyond to wherever their target decides to run to. After destroying whatever village, town, city, etc. they come across, the monsters will then pursue any survivors to wherever they run to for shelter, and so on until there is no where left to run to. This can lead to a "Train" miles long, consisting of hundreds of thousands of monsters, eradicating dozens of settlements before it can be stopped. If the train is not stopped, however, it can plunge an entire nation into ruin in mere days. Given that there are hundreds of dungeons not yet accounted for, including the currently "unseen" dungeon beneath Gillertree itself, this is a very real threat to the people of the world, and why so much of the world's efforts are dedicated towards the location and eradication of all of the dungeons as soon as possible.
So I take it you are not going to continue "The King is dead, Long live the Emperor" if not that's a shame
This is some really good stuff. Fantasy settings have been done a lot before, but it feels like a lot more thought went into how this one functions as an actual society than usual for fantasy. It also definitely helps that there seem to be established rules for magic here. Note to writers: make rules for your magic. I know the meme is "it's magic, I ain't gotta explain sh
t," but it really helps for making a believable world to implement rules for magic.
On another note, any word on Overgoat? I find myself missing that story, especially the sense of humor it has.
EDIT: It seems I missed the previous posts regarding this story. Looks like I have some reading to do.
EDIT 2: After reading the other posts about this story... Wow, it's a LOT more in-depth than I first realized, and I congratulate you for that. I kinda want to make a D&D campaign in this world now. I probably won't, for a couple reasons (mostly not wanting to step on your toes, as well as my own laziness), but even so, this is REALLY well done.
three things
1) this doesn't sound like an mlp fic what site will it be in?
2) are you planning on continuing your current mlp fics?
3) I kind of hope the main character of this story has a klyntar/Typhon type connection, by that I mean, they would be connected to the monsters but something would be different, like a monster-kin who is more intelligent and can use magic. You brought up several things in the last blog post that seem to sugest something like that is possible. The emphasis you put on humans ability to crossbreed and how easy it was for a sorcerer to turn a kingdom into undead and almost turned them back, suggests that humans in this story are very moldable by magic. Possibly suggesting that with enough magic a monster-kin, human hybrid is possible, I don't mean through normal breeding of course but it sounds possible through other ways.
Time-back spell could be useful for laboratories for dangerous experiments. Things go wrong? Go back 5 minutes and fix everything.
Also, hemomancy could be used by surgeons to prevent bleeding.
And I think "biomancy" could be better named as "vitalomancy". Sounds more ancient and esotheric.
I wonder how the Five Minute Restore Point interacts with the "no bringing back the dead-dead" rule.
Any updates on this, if it's not going to be Mlp based, do you know where you plan on publishing it?