Chapter Text
"In the fairytales, when the knight in shining armor is killed defending his fair maiden,
she brings him back to life with a magical kiss, and they live happily ever after.
But this wasn’t that sort of fairytale."
This as a Glossary or Index for the specifics of my adapted world.
This will be a summary of the changes to the world, more in depth explanations at the end:
The new Covens:
After Belos’ deposement from the throne the coven system was reorganized into the School or Branch System. The main difference being, a witch can learn another magic type after proving a certain level of proficiency and control of their chosen primary branch.
-Replacing Coven marks {outside of them being used to drain/restrict magic, they did not provide any information} every witch gets a certification card that is magically enchanted so only select individuals can change it. These cards have some basic Id info on them, along with achievements and permits. The main feature however, is the barren tree design. This certificate is issued upon entering a magic school. Initially there is no tree. For the first 2 years of being in magic school, a witch learns the basic theory and A SINGULAR basic spell from each school. Upon entering the equivalent of High school they are expected to pick a branch to specialize in FOR NOW. If during the year there is ample reason for a transfer to a different branch an application or request can be submitted. After graduating each student of a branch is expected to have a minimum of one leaf on the branch they chose. (The leaf is magically added to the id/certificate card and shows level of proficiency/what knowledge the possessor of the card can handle).
-Witches can choose to specialize in other schools/branches so long as their main branch is of at least intermediate level (five leaves). 1-4 leaves signifies a beginner. 5-10 indicates an intermediate witch of that branch, 11-15 indicates an Advanced user of that magic type. 16-19 indicates an Expert of that magic type. 20 indicates a master of that magic type. This is done to ensure no Witch tries to use magic that's too advanced for their control. As while magic should not be overly restricted, there should be guidelines (not chains, guidelines to aid in usage). The main school is indicated by the leaves being rimmed with a golden “thread”.
Who leads what?:
-Luz has taken up a post as the head of the Glyph Branch or School of magic as well as being elected as the head regent AKA the one in charge of addressing the public and breaking ties.
-Darius is in charge of the Abominations Branch/School but has appointed Amity as his successor
-In addition to being headmistress of her Wild Magic school Edalyn has been made the new head of Potions(She rarely attends the meetings for lawmaking and trusts King with her vote as her personal assistant. King enjoys being able to make a difference).
-Eberwolf is still the lead of the Beast Keeping Branch/School.
-Adrian managed to retain as head of the Illusionist Branch/School.
-Hunter has taken over as the leader of the Adeptus Militarum (The replacement of the Emperor’s coven as a police force and main military/defensive force of the isles). Carves Palisman in his spare time.
-Willow took over as head of the Plant/nature Branch/School (Still plays Flyer derby in her free time),
-Hettie managed to retain control of the Healing Branch/School.
-Celine became head of the Oracle Branch/School.
-Lilith became head of the Construction Branch/School(Due to her knowledge of architecture and city planning). .
-Raine remained in charge of the Bard Branch/School
Where are some of the Others now?
-In preparation for further contact with the human realm Vee and Augustus aka Gus have been assigned as ambassadors. Gus primarily works on how to explain magic and the Isles to humans in a way that won't horrify them and Vee gathers intelligence on trends, news, political climate, and other potentially useful information of the human realm.
-King has all four of his primary Glyphs.
-For an unknown reason, around five years after King’s Father’s spirit passed on, his (King’s Dad) glyphs suddenly reactivated and are interchangeable with his sons.
-Despite being the daughters of the Head Regent and a Councilman’s successor, Ziya and Ayzee are raised like normal children… well as normal as Luz and Amity can manage.
Adeptus Militarum:
-The primary mandate of the Adeptus Militarum (AM) is to protect the Boiling Isles security and interests. Which do include free, but safe expression of self. force composition is kept classified, with the known number of officers/agents being in the low thousands. This includes the repurposed Abominations that had been made for Belos by Blight industries. The Abominations newer modern models are stripped of weapons and are used to supplement workforces such as farming and construction. The Military Variants have heavy armour and weapons and are primarily used as a force multiplier. In terms of known witches/demons/mixed-members, there are around 3,000 reported.
-The primary four branches being:
Militant:
This group is the Paramilitary, military, and maritime sub groups. They number around 800 personnel, and are responsible for the FOB and trade lane protection during peace time. Pirates and rebels/Belos supporters do still exist.
Tactical Police:
Trained in riot control, VIP protection, and counter-terrorism, this unit handles internal unrest and secures critical infrastructure (ie, government facilities) This group numbers around 600 personnel.
Civilian Police:
The traditional constabulary handles day-to-day law enforcement, traffic, investigations, and community safety. This particular group also is given the prerogative to host public aid events with community service or other such activities to show that they are just people and not Coven Scouts. This group numbers around 800, with only a quarter being full time.
Reserve/Special interests:
These are the reserve forces for if any of the other three branches require aid, or the Specialists and government researchers that go in the field. This group numbers 800.
-Gear. Each branch has their own unique uniforms and gear based on their job/purpose. In addition, each branch has around 50-100 officers in charge of orders and directing Logistics.
The SOP for expansion of the Isles’ interests (such as new FOBs, trade lanes ect) is to do this peacefully. Training for the militant branches similar to the US Marines with incorporated time for Magic as part of MOS or specialization training. It's still a relatively new branch of government/new militant force so there isn't much difference between those trained for Air borne, naval or land positions aside from their individual certifications which is tracked in a more secure version of the ID card's system I covered earlier.
-The AM's held territory is primarily the Isles, a land mass is roughly a total of 9,614 square miles plus some archipelago chains, the farthest being 25 nautical miles out. The AM has outposts and FOBs set up here. As Belos was isolationist, most other groups on the planet, which is as of yet unnamed but Luz refers to the world as The Demon Realm so we'll designate it DR-001, were fairly neutral towards them. Since the reconfiguration, around when Luz was half way through her time at Eda's University of Wild Magic, these views started to improve. Most of the other interests are for resource acquisition. Such as establishing safe mines in/under the Boiling sea. The oceans of DR-001 are scalding to boiling in temperature.
Other Systems/Arcane integration and technologies:
-The System for the ID cards where the authentication is stored is encrypted to ONLY be accessed by certain individuals. Once AM officers either:
- A) Reach a certain rank, or
- B) Earn a specific Certification
-The reason why this works so well is because each witch has a specific magic signature. Like a finger print. And if someone who, outside of extraordinary circumstances, is caught manipulating those Ids or at least the certification portions of it, they'd face steep charges and penalties. Using signature specifics Oracle and Construction magic constructs, store the lists of people and their authentication levels at Adeptus Militarum headquarters and stations.
-They can access it to view, but only Council members and around 20 other select individuals can change the database. And only their Magical signatures, with the exception of Luz she has a different more secure way that is currently unknown to anyone that isn't her or Amity, are the only way to access those parts of the system. Considering the Isles has around 600,000 sentient peoples who call it home, that's a fairly reasonably sized group.
The Era of Belos:
-While those under the age of 18 are told the story of The Evil Emperor (There used to be an Evil Emperor who played at being kind. Then one day, a Human arrived. On adventures, this human would go. And discover the Villainy of the throne. Through trial, through peril our hero fights. To free all, who call the Isles Home. Our guiding Light, the final fight she did face. Fallen to the Cursed Lord, raised by The Titan. Victory was assured. And so our tale comes to an end. With the Fall of The Evil Emperor, and the Rise of the Goodwitch.)
-The full story (Aside from Luz messing with time pools) is kept in an arcane computer system that requires an Adults ID to unlock as the full story includes the bloody, gory and gruesome details of how the Coven Sigils were made, Project Basilisk and other depraved and horrific projects that Belos did.
How Magic Works (Glyph Users Vs Natural Casters):
-Magic is wielded in two primary ways: through a bile sack, an internal organ for witches, and through glyphs, ancient symbols that channel magic from the environment. Glyphs are a universal method, while bile sacks are biological and unique to witches and certain demons.
-Glyphs: Originally “discovered” by Philip Whittebane, and later refined/perfected by Luz noceda. Glyph magic is the source of all magic on the Boiling Isles, which is the physical manifestation of a deceased Titan. The Titan's son, King, also possesses the ability to create his own unique glyphs.
-Function and mechanics:
-A "written language" of magic: Glyphs are symbols found in the environment that function as a programming language to command the magic in the air. They do not require a bile sack to be cast.
-Four basic elements: The core magic system revolves around four fundamental glyphs:
-Light
-Fire
-Ice
-Plant
-Complex combinations: Combining these basic glyphs in specific sequences can produce more complex spells, such as invisibility, teleportation, or petrification. Incorrectly combining them can have disastrous results.
-Limitations:
-Environmental reliance: Glyphs do not work in the Human Realm because they draw power from the magic present in the Titan's remains that form the Boiling Isles.
-Physical toll: Carving glyphs into a living being, such as Philip Wittebane did, is dangerous and can damage the body because the body cannot handle the raw magic.
-Discovery: The Titan's spirit selectively reveals glyphs to those it favors, which is why Luz was able to learn them so quickly compared to Belos.
-Bile sacks
-The most common way to cast magic on the Boiling Isles, a bile sack is a natural, internal reservoir of magic possessed by witches and some bipedal demons.
Function and mechanics
-Internal magic source: The bile sack is an organ attached to the user's heart that stores and channels magical energy. This allows them to cast spells by drawing a spell circle in the air, without needing to draw glyphs on a physical surface.
-Convenience and versatility: Because witches carry their power inside them, they can perform magic instantly and instinctively. A bile sack also allows them to use magic even in places where ambient magic is not present, such as the Human Realm.
-Emotionally connected: A witch's magic is tied to their emotions. Intense feelings can increase the power of their magic, but also make it more chaotic and difficult to control.
-Physical limitations: Using too much magic can drain and fatigue a witch's bile sack, requiring a recharge period. Over time, excessive strain can lead to organ failure, as happened to Eda.
-Origin: Bile sacks are an evolved feature in the flora and fauna of the Boiling Isles, likely containing a diluted form of the Titan's blood that descended from his remains.
-Witches vs. humans: As a human, Luz does not have a bile sack and must therefore rely on glyphs. Some theories suggest that a witch's greater reliance on magic means humans have better physical stamina due to a larger lung capacity.
A quick study of Hybrid Biology, a look at Ziya and Ayzee:
-To start, the biology of a ‘Witch’ is primarily different in that their muscles and bones are around ¾ or three quarters of the density of a human's. They also have smaller hearts by comparison. The trade off? They get the aforementioned Bile Sacks to cast magic. One may ask then “How do two Hybrids/Half-Breeds like Ziya and Ayzee do magic when they are Half-witch and Half-Human?
-Well, that’d be a good question, the answer being: Their Bile Sacks are smaller than most witches their age. Meaning, in terms of traditional spell casting they're actually weaker. Ie, Ayzee primarily uses Mechanical devices enhanced with Arcane materials and glyphs with small additions of Abomination matter to develop her gadgets and tools that will be seen in the story.
-Ziya on the other hand, uses a low cost/highly efficient school of Magic. Illusions. She casts simple illusions of the glyphs/Glyph Combinations she want’s to use, and then feeds a miniscule amount of energy into it to activate the Glyphs. The initial energy for creating the Illusion is reabsorbed so the only “lost” energy is the activation/interaction energy. This method allows Ziya to use Glyphs far more freely than her Mother, Luz Noceda, could and to create new combinations on the fly, as we’ll see in the story.
-A side effect of the way their genetics/biology works is that over time, a small amount of Arcane bile actually “bleeds” over into their hearts. The bile has taken on a role similar to Plasma, fully replacing the regular non-magic plasma in their bodies by the time they’re 10. The older they get, the more and more concentrated this ‘plasma’ gets. It DOES NOT negatively impact either of them, and outside of still allowing them to grow stronger (Like a regular witchlet whose Bile sack would grow larger as they grow older anyway) and explaining a plot point later in the Story.
The Timeline and a quick Author’s Note:
-This is all around 20 years later after the end of Luz’s story (She’s around 34 years old now),
-A/n, If you have any questions about specifics or other parts of my new system please let me know.
As for my posting schedule. Starting this Friday-Sunday (12/9 - 14/9) I will be posting one chapter a week until the Arch is finished. Then i will be taking a haitus to recuporate and write the next arc. Then the cycle will repeat. There will be a total of 7 arcs as of me posting this. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this fic. It is a little outside of what I'm used to (longer form and Character driven instead of Action) so please keep that in mind.
I have also created songs for this. if you'd like to see the full lyrics, let me know. Bits and pieces of the lyrics are in fact used in the fic, sometimes as song others as dialogue, I have also created an "Opening" and "Closing" Theme song. the idea being this fic will be episodic.