[A picture of a wizard putting a worm on a fishing hook using magic.]
C is for Caster, a general term, from men who cast magic to those who fish with a worm.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Kole went back to his room that night after their fruitless search to prepare for his morning session with Lonin. He didn’t know what to expect, but he wanted to be ready in case...
2024-06-07 03:41:52 +0000 UTC View PostMany people say many things about Tal of Storms. Some can say that he was a great hero, others a monster.
Foreword of Tallen Elmheart A Biography by Rail Dahnchild
—
“Congratulations,” Underbrook’s voice said in all the student’s minds. “There has been an incident on campus Tigereye have been called upon to help resolve. Make your way to the village to collect the reward, and we will collect you from there later today.”...
In this biography, I will not try to paint him in any light bu the truth, but here in the foreword I will say this:
When that young mage looked at me, and offered to help me, I saw that he genuinely cared about me and my friends. It shocked me then, and to this day still surprises me with all the more I learn. As he prepared to fight the war that would follow—with the fate of Kaltis on their shoulders—he and his friends stopped to help a group of nobody urchins find a ...
When this author was a child, she was invited to join a burgeoning school in the then-nowhere town of Edgewater by a then-unknown mage. I almost declined.
Foreword of Tallen Elmheart A Biography by Rail Dahnchild
—
For the first time in what felt like months, Kole woke up and didn’t immediately head to the training field. Instead, he got up, went to the showers, and met his friends for a quick breakfast before they were to head out to their ...
Few on Kaltis can say their life hasn’t been drastically altered for the better because of the deeds of Mage Tallen Elmheart. Fewer still can they boast that Tallen put them on the path to greatness—or at least out of the path of destitution.
Foreword of Tallen Elmheart A Biography by Rail Dahnchild
—
After an hour of indulging himself in the shiny new spells available to him, Kole forced himself to return his attention to refining Magic Miss...
2024-05-24 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post[A silhouette of a man laughing]
X is for Xoctule the shadowing figure, is he a god, or something much bigger? His wants are as unknown as his whereabouts, but of one thing there can be no doubts. The onr thing about Xoctule that is known to be true, is if you think you know Xoctule I don’t want to know you.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Kole spent the night after his meeting with Underbrook returning to his magical study,...
[A comical picture of a werewolf standing upright after having stepped on a rake, the handle of which swung up to strike its snout.]
W is for werewolves, the lycanthrope cursed. Of Kaltis’ monsters I’d say they’re the worst. But have you no fear, dear child of mine for what they lack in kindness, they also like in mind.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Kole ran back to his room in the library. He had five hours to study i...
[A picture of a coffin propped up against a wall, opened to reveal a clown.]
V is for vampires but have you no fear, for these creatures are myth, not real, it’s clear. They may sound scary and ready to bite, but they should not cause you to fear the night.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
On the way back to campus, everyone explained their own methods of trying to gain entry. Kole left out the part about going to will call t...
[A picture of a man shooting fire from his hands, with the flames forming a whispy dragon.]
S is for sorcerers, magicians by blood, they've been shunned and feared since after the Flood. From dragons, or gods, or fairies or mysteries, sorcerers of all origins have long storied histories.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
“You can’t go to a play dressed like that!” Zale said, chastising all three of them as they walked acro...
[A picture of a mountaintop with a cutout showing the city of Hollow Peak within. Above the city floats a black orb symbolizing the Primordial of Space that resides there.]
P is for Primordias, the Fonts manifest in the realm. Some exist in harmony while others overwhelm. If people or beasts can live alongside them for years or decades, then primals may crop up in their children somedays.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
“Wha...
[A picture of a stereotypical mage wearing a pointed had and colorful robe.]
M is for mage, a title of honor for wizards and mages but it's lost its significance through all of the ages. Once a title for the greatest of all, it is now a name for magicians great and small.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Three hours later, Kole lay in the grass, gasping for air. With the martial training yards full, Zale had made them run throu...
[A painting of the classically styled images of Waas, Torc, Faust, and Aurial kneeling before a glowing white featureless figure depicting Oan]
G is for gods, the children of Oan, he made them before leaving for reaches unknown. They created the Fonts with each other's assistance and used them to build our very existence.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Once the papers had been collected, and the professors had read them, they...
[An image of a starry sky filled with multicolored lights between the stars. The lights and stars form the shape of Kaltis.]
F is Fonts, the pillars of the reality, they embody the concepts from thinking to gravity. They started with creation and refined it from there, and they govern the world from the seas to your hair.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
The classroom that had once been dedicated to the furtherment of adventuri...
[A picture of two dwarves dancing, with ribbons of stone flowing around them.]
E is for Earth primals, the dwarves call them Stoneweavers. These primals are made of Torc’s most devote believers.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Rakin and Zale burst out of the cave, Kole and Doug following further behind. As Kole rounded the corner, the cave opened into a vast cavern at least a hundred feet around and extending far beyond what...
[A gold dragon and a red dragon fighting in the sky.]
D is for dragon, the first children of the gods, but their connection to Faust placed them at odds. The power of the betrayer corrupted their minds, and to preserve all the races they fled to protect the frailer kinds. Once protected by the power of Bild’s metallic sheen, the pacted dragons grew stable, rational, and pristine.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
The attack ha...
[A picture of lightning striking the tip of an island mountain in a storm.]
B is for Bond primals from the Iron Vein isle so remote, they share their home with a breed of Bond primal goat. The tribe is a strong noble warrior folk, and to them, honor and courage are no joke.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
The caravan guards set began patrolling around the circle of the wagons each night that followed, and the adventurers in t...
[A picture of two children holding hands and flying in a bright blue sky]
A is for Air primals who soar through the skies, they hail from Revan the castle that flies
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
After everyone had gotten through yelling at Kole and they’d gotten back on the road, Kole sat in the back of his wagon while Zale drove it, Doug and Rakin riding on either side.
“How’d you know to jump out the way?” ...
With great care and an equalization of pressure, it is possible to pierce the membrane of a bubble to gain access to its contents. Likewise, pocket realms—and the Material Realm itself—can be accessed from beings beyond our Realms. The membrane of the Material Realm is strong, the great dragons of old only just able to break out in their flight. As such, the Material Realm is largely protected by outside invasion. The voidling incursions of the Last Dragon War being an exception, as t...
2024-04-08 07:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Faust’s influence originally began to corrupt the dragons, shortly after their births, the dragons fled to the far reaches of the world to protect the Illusian races from their newfound covetous desires. Many dragons returned to the world of men after mastering their urges, but many more did not. Some that disappeared had discovered a way to pierce the veil of the realm and hide in the void beyond. Those that did brought the Material Realm with them and pocket realms grew around th...
2024-04-05 07:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIf the Material Realm were a bubble, pocket realms could be thought to be smaller bubbles clinging to its side. Their contents are separate from the larger bubble, but made of the same air. As they are separated from the environment beyond, they are also separated from the air within the larger bubble. Much like with bubbles, if the surface of a pocket realm were to be pierced, it could pop, releasing its contents into the void. If, however, the membrane between the smaller bubble and the...
2024-04-01 07:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dahn, or Tower in Torcish, was the first proof we had that extra-dimensional spaces. The ensouled artifact was created by the silver dragon Tomvian as a place to facilitate education and the pursuit of knowledge. Tomvian was a white dragon, turned silver after accepting the Pact of Bild. He created the Dahn and gifted it to the dwarves who later died in battle against the Avatar.
-Pocket Realms, From Theory to Fact
—
Kole arrived at the tr...
Prior to the first dragon war, extra dimensional spaces were objects of theory. Even the Spacial master of the Hollow Peak, formerly know as Altian, could only compress space, never create it. Their crowning achievement, the hollowed out mountain cave in which they’d crammed a city, had only expanded the region within.
-Pocket Realms, From Theory to Fact
—
Kole spent a productive night alone alternating between work on Thunderwave and Shield. He’d ...
The Dahn surfaced in the early days of the Last Dragon War after being discovered and Bonded by Daulf Dragon Slayer, Chosen of Illunia. Since then, largely theorized to be due to the events of the war itself, pocket realms of more varieties have made themselves known.
-Pocket Realms, From Theory to Fact
—
Discussion amongst all the PREVENT students for the remainder of the week was centered around the impending dungeon trial. Few saw it as the...
It was long theorized that extradimensional spaces, also known as pocket realms, could be created using the power of the Fonts. The Fonts, after all, where used by the gods to create the Realm as we know it and the Illusian races had full access to these tools of arcane might. The primary difference, in this context at least, between the gods and men was simply a matter of scale.
-Pocket Realms, From Theory to Fact
—
Kole hadn’t thought it p...
[The king disembarks a carriage in the drive of the country estate and bursts through the front doors. On seeing the interior of the renovated country estate, he falls to his knees and weeps.]
Handmaiden: Is it not to your liking? The queen went to great lengths to recreate the rooms to match the lost palace.
Labored screams ring out from offstage, and then cease.
-Act III of the Keyhole of Time
—
“So,” Tall...
The King: Send my wife away, to the country. How can she die in her room if she is not there?
The Seer: Distance is a flimsy shield against the power of fate.
The King: Then we shall burn down the royal suites. As soon as she is gone from the city, burn the palace down.
The Seer: As you wish my king.
-Act I of the Keyhole of Time
—
Kole really wanted to sleep, eat, and shower after the battle, bu...
The King: Then we shall send her away. No
tragedy can occur in the royal suites if the queen is not in them.
Court Seer: Majesty, I have told you before, but I must remind you again. Once seen, the future must come to pass. It is inevitable and cannot be avoided.
The King: And I will tell you again my friend and faithful seer, nothing is inevitable but my own will.
-Act I of the Keyhole of Time
—<...
[The king’s private chambers]
The Court Seer burst into the room while the king reads at his desk.
Court Seer: Your majesty! The future has been revealed to my eyes and in it I have seen a tragedy.
The King: What have you seen?
Court Seer: Your wife, the lady queen, giving birth to the royal heir. Blood floods the floor of her royal suites, and the baby and mother lost.
The king stares into the distanc...
Here lies a king, broken of heart and of spirit.
With power over all, he presumed his dominion expanded over time itself.
When mortal trifle with what even gods avoid, only tragedy can follow.
To glimpse the future is to look upon a mountain through a keyhole.
-Prologue of the Keyhole of Time
—
Kole stared at the gem in his hand, mind racing as to how it got there.
Did Gus sneak this i...
Bilieth and Erebog, while tolerated, were not loved. Not approached to make a race of their own, they performed experiments in secret to uncover the missing piece of creation. They created many horrors in their pursuit before realizing their goal was beyond their abilities. From these experiments, the feralkin were born. Learning from their own creation, they captured the races of the other gods and began to warp them. Through these defilements, many more horrors were brought into the wor...
2024-02-23 12:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post