“There were many terrors that the Desolation unleashed upon us, ranging from fire raining from the sky to the very earth tearing itself apart, to the clouds of living death cresting over the horizon unexpectedly. Yet of all of the horrors that we were forced to endure, none struck closer to the heart than the Scorn. Hiding in the plainest of sights, these people effortlessly wove themselves into our societies wearing faces no different than yours or mine, that is at least at first. It w...
2024-07-09 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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“It is quite easy to explain to the uneducated masses, who can’t even begin to fathom the full extent of magic’s potential, exactly what the dark mana is. It is the left-over remnant of what once was. A husk of spent potential akin no different than what a pile of ash is to wood. Completely harmless, so long as one doesn’t overexpose themselves to it. As for us Ascendants on the other hand, dark mana is the price of our ascent. More to the point, it is the poison that each and eve...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“There are many who think that simply becoming an Ascendant, that is actually managing to Awaken heart and soul, is all it takes to reach power. To instantly become something more than just a mere mortal. I am here today to tell you that absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. That all that Awakening grants is potential. The potential to grow beyond what our otherwise mundane bodies and empty souls would allow for. Consequently, it’s not until one begins to make use of tha...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“Of all the shapes and applications of magic that we Incarnates are capable of, there are perhaps none more wonderous than the act of healing, the journey of taking what was damaged, wounded, or made less than, and bringing it back whole. Under the care of a skilled healer, it is possible for the most grievous of physical injuries to wiped away in merely a blink, restoring the flesh back to what it should be. That is if the soul itself has remained intact and unsundered. Should it be da...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“Officially, there are no real rankings or preferences when it comes to affinities and their aspects of mana. Each and every single one is a blessing beyond compare and brings along with it countless uses, applications, and opportunities for the Ascendant. In actual practice, however? Those of the Life affinity are by far the most valuable. More so than every other affinity combined. And truthfully how could it not be? It is the sole affinity and aspect of mana capable of mending grievo...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“It is easy for those not on the path who have witnessed Incarnates duel to think that battle is merely a test of physical might and one’s skill in wielding magic. That whoever wins is simply the stronger or more capable of the pair. However, in practice, nothing could be further from the truth. For while indeed physical prowess and magical aptitude are important factors, it is the unseen exchange in such duels that truly dictates the outcome, the battle of Will against Will.”<...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“Students often ask just why exactly the Archives are set so far away from the Academy proper, especially during the winter when the grounds are covered in all manners of ice, sleet, and snow, making it a true agony to cross. And every time they ask, I give them the same answer: because students, even Dormant students, can’t be trusted. From dog earring books, to sneaking food inside, to taking and or miss-shelving precious tomes, they are a right terror in every sense of the world. N...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“Caught a standout today, belonging to a new and unknown trader named ‘Vincent’, no last name given. Appears as a young man, white hair, possessing no identifiable affiliation or confirmed affinity. Ascendant status is unconfirmed, but potentially a Fallen due to the presence of a crookedly shaped arm and clubfoot leg but with no manamarks. Records indicate ten stair stepping trades of increasing value with a net loss of twenty to twenty-five percent mana each trade. Pattern potenti...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“Live combat drills are one of the most effective ways to train Ardent troops for conflict with the Enemy. While Eidolons will not behave like humanoid casters, the variety of spells and embodiments on display in the typical training group does represent the diversity of foes that will be faced with some degree of accuracy. The rivalries that develop as a result of these combat drills also provide many recruits with the drive they need to succeed.”
—Internal Memo, Ad...
2024-07-08 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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2024-07-05 23:06:54 +0000 UTC
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“The Crest of the Ardent is one of the most sophisticated pieces of magical item manufacture that you are ever likely to see. A device smaller than the palm of your hand, which will nonetheless shield you from death and bodily harm unless you are exposed to ridiculously extreme forces. Just another benefit of signing up today!”
—So You Want To Join The Ardent, Recruitment Brochure
Quartermaster Chul was another fiend, albeit one who was about twice t...
2024-07-05 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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“There is no valor in death. There is no honor in a defeat. History is written by the victors. Failure to recognize this is a weakness, and all weakness is punished.”
—The Necessity, Valtoris Blackstar
Unlike the unfriendly send-off that they’d received on the ship, there were people waiting to greet them once they stepped out of the circle and got over the initial shock.
Again, Sylvas had been fully expecting Ardent in their shining white ar...
2024-07-03 16:18:51 +0000 UTC
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“There are rules in any society, and none more so than the society of elves, where memories are long and grudges carried longer still. To scry another individual without their permission could easily be interpreted as an invasion of privacy not unlike hoisting up their skirts to take a peek underneath. Which is to say, do so at your peril, for the social repercussions are likely to be vigorous and immediate.”
—Fundamentals of Arcane Etiquette, Elenya Starweaver<...
2024-07-01 10:45:41 +0000 UTC
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“Teleportation is a facet of spatial magic, typically empowered by the use of an ample supply of Etherium. The greater the distance travelled, the greater the mana expenditure. There can be no denying its utility, but in practical terms the expenditure is typically too great to justify its use outside of fringe cases.”
—Through the Gates of Reality: Spatial Magic and You, Jakrus’Kal
Morning was a state of mind on a spaceship. There was no sun rise,...
2024-07-01 10:45:37 +0000 UTC
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“Relic worlds are an oddity in the Empyrean and beyond. Places that were destroyed in antiquity, almost always by Eidolons, but that inexplicably retain a living world-soul. It is from them that we learned much of what we now know of how and why Eidolon incursions occur, but they also stand as chilling testaments to what happens when their invasions go unhalted.”
—So You Want To Join The Ardent, Recruitment Brochure
The Ardent who had met them coming...
2024-07-01 10:45:35 +0000 UTC
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“The Ardent, while a complete organization in of itself is further subdivided into multiple branches for more efficient administration and specialization with the two largest branches being the Ardent Navy and the Ardent Infantry Corps. Of these two core branches almost all recruits will at first be enlisted into the Infantry Corps to begin their training and learn the most essential skills expected of an Ardent Servicemember. However once a recruit’s ability progresses to reveal an a...
2024-07-01 10:45:29 +0000 UTC
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“The Standardization of Spells, Embodiments and Paradigms was a necessity for the ongoing growth and prosperity of the Empyrean Alliance. Each culture had their own name for identical magics, and the confusion and overlap became a source of danger. “
—Fundamentals of Arcana, Albrecht Magnus
The day after signing up to join the Ardent was one of learning. First, Sylvas learned what a hangover was. Then he learned that someone who had never tasted alco...
2024-07-01 10:45:26 +0000 UTC
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“The Aions have been called many things by the countless cultures that have encountered their relics throughout history, but the one thing that all agree upon is that they are the source of magic as we now know it. It is their language we speak to cast spells. Their technology we cannibalize to travel the stars. Small wonder that there are rumors to this day of the Aions themselves still walking among us. Like kings disguised as peasants.”
—Aions: The Argument Against...
2024-07-01 10:45:23 +0000 UTC
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“Humans, being the most populous. Elves, being the wisest. Dwarves, the most industrious. Fiends, the hardiest. The Najash, the most naturally cunning. These make up but a fraction of the sapient creatures with which we share this universe.”
—The Sentient Species, Mison Aelweth
Spaceships were less exciting than Sylvas might initially have imagined, though he had hardly gotten the best view of them so far. From waking up in a stark white infirmary so...
2024-07-01 10:45:19 +0000 UTC
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“There are times when destruction is a kindness. When there is a cancer that must be excised so that the healthy body can go on. Sometimes it is an individual. Sometimes it is a world. If universe is a living organism. Then I am the surgeon that saves it.”
—The Necessity, Valtoris Blackstar
Sylvas Vail’s heart felt like it had just stopped. It sat leaden and useless in his chest. “I thought that you said I’d stopped it in time. I thought ...
2024-07-01 10:42:49 +0000 UTC
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“In the realm of magical study, there is nothing more fundamentally misunderstood as a worldsoul. It is, in essence, a mana core for an entire planet. Just as we cultivate our own cores, a worldsoul is a naturally occurring conglomeration of the native floes of mana throughout space. Without it, mana does not gather around a world. Without it, magic cannot be performed there. A soul-less world, is a dead world.”
—Cosmic Errata: Notes on Interplanetary Mana Tides, Ther...
2024-07-01 10:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone!! As you can no doubt tell by now with the barrage that likely went out to your emails...we are getting ready to start serializing the next round of books! Woo!!
As a special sneak peek, you're all getting the chapters ahead of time before they truly go live elsewhere in the world on July 1st for Starbreaker and July 9th for Scion of Magic. From there we will be serializing three chapters a week Monday Wednesday Friday for Starbreaker and Tuesday Thursday Saturday for Scio...
2024-06-28 20:37:53 +0000 UTC
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“Of all the aspects of mana there are in the world, there is none rarer than Aether mana. Considered to be the most pure and stable of all the aspects, the uses for these highly coveted motes are nigh limitless. From enchanting, to alchemy, to artifice, to empowering and cleansing one’s body and spirit regardless of affinity, there is quite literally nothing that it can’t be used for. That is if one can find it. For this rare aspect springs forth from only the deepest and most ancie...
2024-06-28 19:44:14 +0000 UTC
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“The first step for any young aspirant wishing to take their first step upon the Path of Incarnation is to create one’s Nexus, the place where all mana and virtues that they acquire can be safely stored for use. But how is this done you might ask? How is it that we create this wonderful pocket within ourselves to store the wonders of creation? By weaving it from our Soul Tether. By now, each of you should have already discovered this silver strand that spans your Soul Well, connecting...
2024-06-28 19:44:11 +0000 UTC
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“Unfortunately, there is precious little that we can say of the Old Gods, save that they were the ones to break the First. For while they were indeed Gods by any comparable measure of power, they did not linger long among us mortals, and nor did they demand worship. Instead, from what few ancient records tell us, they simply retreated back to the fabled domain of Elysium, the Ivory City of the First, and sealed it away so thoroughly that both of theirs very existence has fallen away to ...
2024-06-28 19:44:06 +0000 UTC
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“Yet if they had hoped that their sundering would quell whatever had triggered their rage, the First Gods were soon proven wrong. For once those below them, the first of the mortals, began to understand what happened to them, they rose up in a blinding fury that paled that of even their once masters. The clergy were slain, the temples were razed, and it is said that even Elysium itself was assaulted by the mightiest of the mortals, who in their unbridled fury enacted vengeance upon the ...
2024-06-28 19:44:03 +0000 UTC
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“It is written, in our most ancient of texts, that when our realm was first ordered out of the infinite nether by the First Gods, and all of life seeded upon its surface, that each and every living thing was born whole. Born with both their body and soul interwoven with one another, a perfect a union as could ever be. Because of this, there was little as to age, infirmity, disease, or any of the other countless maladies of the flesh and mind that we know of and suffer through today. Yet...
2024-06-28 19:43:59 +0000 UTC
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“It is difficult to explain what a Virtue truly is to someone who hasn’t held onto one themselves. Pinned it down with their Will as they sheered it away from the chaff of whatever herb, rock, weapon, beast, spirit, or even person it belonged to. Yes, you read that right, Virtues can be found among the civilized beings of the world too. How do you think we discovered them in the first place? It certainly wasn’t from sending our minds sifting through leaves and crystals...
2024-06-28 19:43:55 +0000 UTC
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“What does it mean to Fall from the Path you ask? Well, it means to suffer a loss of almost indescribable proportions and as such, is considered the worst nightmare that can befall an Incarnate. In the very best of cases, a Fall from the Path means to lose a substantial amount of one’s Incarnation – be it a meld or two, the stability of one’s Nexus, or an entire stage of one’s progress. In the worst of cases it is to lose most if not all of one’s melds, to have one’s body be...
2024-06-28 19:43:52 +0000 UTC
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“Mana is the source of all. It in all its forms is what makes up the bedrock of not only our realm, but the firmament of existence itself. It is the wind that fills our lungs, it is the warmth of the summer sun, it is the frost of the darkest winter. It is all that there ever was and all that there ever will be. So, it is with these final words that I will leave you a warning as you all begin your journey in unraveling its secrets. Never forget or underestimate its limitless potential. ...
2024-06-28 19:43:48 +0000 UTC
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