still doesn't have a formal name
Hello! Welcome to the home (for now) of my longest-running, most-changed world. The core of it has stayed the same, but the little details change. A LOT. So, you know, fair warning in advance for that.
The Basics
This story is set in a country called Leskoria. It is a northern island, part of a small chain, and fairly isolated from both its neighbors and the greater world (although the former is mostly by choice). They worship a quartet of progenitor deities, who they believe created the world and gifted humans elemental magic of fire, water, air, earth, and wood.
Twenty-four years ago, there was a battle for the safety of the country, as daemons ripped their way free from the bowels of the earth. With powerful magic unique to each individual, they were able the wreak havoc across the land. They were stopped by a young man named Briasor, who went on to marry into the royal family and, after a few years, become king himself.
However, the influence of the daemons never truly went away, in his eyes. In addition to the elemental magic "natural" to humanity, some people also exhibited stranger magics closer to that of the daemons, unpredictable and erratic. Daemon-spawn, they would be called, children stolen and infected with insidious energies before they had a chance to develop their own magic. Thus, he made a proclamation - that all who developed these daemonic influences would turn themselves in to be cleansed, or suffer imprisonment or death depending on the severity of their transgressions.
Not everyone accepted this decree.
Despite their powers, there was no evidence that the "daemon-spawn" were anything of the sort. In fact, many had fought alongside the elemental and non-mage human warriors in the war against the daemons. One, a celebrated captain in the army who could melt into shadows, broke from the throne, alongside the head diplomat, capable of reading the thoughts of anyone she looked in the eyes.
Even now, twenty years after the decree was signed, the Shields of Leskoria have struggled to gain enough of a foothold to change much. They run smuggling operations, transporting young mages and any family willing to support them out of the country. They raid royal supply caravans for weapons and supplies, organize safehouses across the country to host refugee mages, and work to try and combat the negative opinions spread by the throne. But nothing is ever enough - the king and queen stand firm, untouchable in their castle. The captain was struck down, the diplomat forced into hiding, and their numbers ever-dwindling with time and tragedies.
Major Characters
Sovlen Helgath
Age: 20
Pronouns: he/him
Gender: Guy
Relationships: Rownor (rival/friend/partner), Jayli (mentor), Briasor (father), Elleka (mother)
Magic: Shadow Manipulation
Sovlen is a quiet, smart young man with a habit of trying to fix everything by himself. By the end of the story, he has opened up to the people he's closest to and accepted his magic as a part of himself that not even the gods could surpress.
Rownor Aspentine
Age: 20
Pronouns: he/him
Gender: Transmasc
Relationships: Sovlen (rival/friend/partner), Jayli (mentor), Helena and Kass (adoptive parents), Belli and Korsair (adoptive younger siblings)
Magic: Teleportation
Rownor is a confident, compassionate young man who tends to jump into new situations and experiences headfirst. By the end of the story, he has come into his own as a leader and learned to temper his strong convictions with just enough caution to keep the people he cares about safe.
Jayli Toreas
Age: 56
Pronouns: she/her
Gender: Woman (tired)
Relationships: Rownor (protege), Sovlen (protege), Elleka (ex-friend), Celaden (best friend)
Magic: Mind Reading
Jayli is a clever, firm leader who tries her best to keep the legacy of he best friend alive. By the end of the story, she has realized the dreams that she's been fighting for and let go of the weight of a thousand responsibilities.
Briasor Helgath
Age: 41
Pronouns: he/him
Gender: Man(tm)
Relationships: Elleka (wife), Sovlen (son)
Magic:
Briasor is a stern, terrified king who has built a legacy and reputation he is now desperately clinging to. By the end of the story, he has been made to confront the harm he has done for the sake of his own security.
Minor Characters
Elleka Helgath
Age: 41
Pronouns:
Gender: Woman
Relationships: Briasor (husband), Sovlen (son), Jayli (ex-friend)
Magic:
The queen of Leskoria. Technically outranks Briasor by virtue of actually being of royal blood, but lets him have his crusade against the daemons out of love and practicality - a lot of people respect/fear Briasor, so she lets him and the COuncil handle most things.
Helena and Kass Aspentine
Ages: 47 and 50
Pronouns: she/her and varies
Gender: Woman and Genderfluid
Magic: Shapeshifting and None
"Leaders" of the Rose safehouse in the south. They own a big farm with extra rooms, and love having people over to help with the twins, especially their older brother Rownor.
World-Building
The Continent of Leskoria
Govenrment in leskoria
Leskoria is, primarily, a monarchy. However, there is a Royal Council that assists in making laws and governing the country, with one representative sent from each of the four non-royal noble families. The council also has a few dedicated seats for the commander of the armies of Leskoria, the head diplomat, and the high priest of the Church of the World-Makers, all of which with the exception of the priesthood are chosen by the ruling monarch(s) and approved by the rest of the council. The Council is required for all laws, and may review any policies put in place by the monarchy. If a tiebreaker is needed, the monarch does the honors. If there are multiple monarchs and their opinions differ, it is the one who was born into the royal family who takes precedence. Many laws, however, are simply put into effect, especially for particularly well-respected (or well-feared) monarchs.
The royal family resides in the capitol, and is presided over by the ruling monarch(s). The monarchs, should there be more than one, often act as a unit, but can vote seperately in the Council. The eldest child of the current monarch is considered the heir, with their siblings expected to fill supporting roles in the government or to dedicate themself to an academy or to the priesthood. In the case that the heir is unable to perform their duties, the position falls to the next eldest sibling, and so on down the chain. After that, the current monarch (if any) and the non-noble sections of the council will select a qualified individual from among the nobility, who may present up to two choices from amongst their ranks for consideration.
As previously stated, there are four major noble families scattered throughout Leskoria. Each presides over one of the major cities, and sends one of their own to the capitol for the majority of the year to act as their representative on the Royal Council. The noble families are more varied in their structure and composition than the royal family, and are given liberty to do so as long as they have their structure written down both in their home city and the royal archives (to prevent succession crises), and as long as they fulfill their obligations to the crown. The nobility is the main authority for policies and laws regarding the inner workings of the country.
The military, diplomatic office, and priesthood each play important roles in the Council. These are the only Council seats that can be occupied by civilians, although they often end up being occupied by non-heir members of the royal family. The military and diplomats are the main authorities on foreign policy, with the church giving spiritual and, often, moral advice.
Magic in Leskoria
Magic is a key part of life in Leskoria and the greater world. Though it varies in frequency and type, the basis is the same - some time between the ages of five and ten, parts of the population will develop abilities that go beyond what the human body can accomplish. Simple powers are more common, but magic seems to be almost muscle-like - the more it is used, the more that can be accomplished, and vice versa.
This will only discuss how magic is viewed in Leskoria - different countries and cultures have their own official and unofficial stances on what everything means, even if the underlying mechanics are the same.
Elemental Magic
Elemental magic is a gift from the goddesses, when humanity was first created. A mage is tied to one of the five elements - air, earth, wood, water, or fire. With very few exceptions, mages only control one element each: those rare few who control two usually go on to be priests, community leaders, or generals. Magic is not a universal gift - about half of the population develops any given power, evenly split between the five elements. It doesn't appear to have any blood ties, although some people will swear a certain element runs in their family, and the royal family has been known to have more than its fair share of mage children. Elemental magic comes in two distinct varieties:
Elemental manipulation is often considered the default, and consists of the power to physically manipulate amounts of your base element that exist in the world without touching them. In academic and professional settings, it will be referred to with the suffix "-kinesis", with the mage being a "-kinetic", ie "pyrokinetic" or "aquakinesis". Weaker kinetics are limited to what they can see, while stronger ones may gain the ability to manipulate known but out of sight elements, or even gain the ability to sense them.
Elemental creation and destruction are rarer, and usually come as a pair. They are fairly self-descriptive, but in academic and professional settings will be referred to with "-mancy", the mage being a "-mancer", ie "terramancer" or "floramancy". The strength of the mage determines the amount and quality of the element that they can produce at a time. Particularly powerful elemancers may be able to gain a marginal ability to manipulate their creations, but typically an elemancer will be found working alongside one or more kinetics to supply materials for their work.
Chaotic Magic
Chaotic magic (also known as wild and daemonic magic) is unpredictable, offering less-common and sometimes more powerful abilities, and is generally believed to be the result of daemonic influence. At its worst, some believe that chaos mages are in fact daemons themselves, replaced in early childhood by malignant forces biding their time until they can strike. More charitable opinions suggest that the powers are just leftover energies from the daemon occupations, or that they're just odd manifestations of typical elemental magic. Despite its suspected origin, chaotic magic is not quite the opposite of elemental magic. It maintains the general development timeframe and inner workings like exhaustion and overloads, differing mostly in the powers given.
Due to the nature of chaotic magic, there is no defined set of powers, or a consistent naming scheme. Most chaos mages will adopt quick monikers with their general area of control, occasionally applying elemental-style suffixes, ie umbrakinesis or shadow magic. Some more common areas of magic get collective nicknames, like teleportation and shifting, even though the individual powers may vary in execution.