Meridias

  Terminus Circuit: An ancient technology left behind by a long-forgotten race. A Terminus Circuit is black in color, and has the same feel as stone. There are three white rings near the base and one vertical line running up through the rings and to the top of the terminus, then down the other side. These lines are channels that pulsate with energy when the terminus is activated. The terminus can transport people and objects instantaneously, but only to other terminus. There is no way to interact with a terminus except by a terminal that the elves helped the Knights of Ragnarok develop. The terminus in Ragnarok is silver in color because the Knights built it with the help of the elves. It is made up of a material known as sepherim. (There are 480 Terminus Circuit’s in the World Forest).

  Silk: A white sand like substance that can determine a living beings elemental affinities just by being touched or it can be stimulated by a person’s magical energy. It will take the form of the elemental affinities of the being by either forming terra with the elements or by taking the form of the elements, such as making a flame. Silk can be fashioned into a paper-like substance called Anima Construer.

  Anima Construer: A special paper made using Silk that takes a snapshot of the users soul. It reveals their elemental orientation, but each paper can only be used once.

  Heracles Armored Transport: The Heracles armored transport is a beetle-shaped hover vehicle that can transport up six people, and a driver, safely. The metal is durable and can withstand direct impact from a tank. The knights of Ragnarok use these transports to quickly transport troops into the heart of Ellicia.

  The Elves

  The elves are a race of long-lived individuals. They are a sight to behold and captivate almost all who gaze upon their grace. There are two groups of elves, those who adhere to tradition and magic, and those who follow innovation and technology. They parted ways many centuries ago and now live in two cities. Tellia Armon, the first home of the elves is located south of the Weeping Scar in the southern quadrant of the World Forest. Ellicia, the elves of innovation, live far to the north at the edge of the World Forest. The journey between the two cities takes over a month of walking and is filled with dangerous. The elves of Tellia Armon and Ellicia were distant at first but in the last century the two towns have become more amicable and maintain contact with each other. The split of the elves into two towns happened nearly 2,100 years ago, around the time that the portals to Earth were closed. Most elves have black or brown hair though in extremely rare cases there are blonde elves.

  Elvin Words

  Aioven – Fate Ender

  Aiontjil – Fate Silver, an elvin metal

  Tjileist – Silver Feather

  Leist – Feather

  Tjila – Silver

  El’Nasir – New Life

  Places

  Antlion Den: A large region of the desert that the Antlions control. There are many tunnels hidden under the sands that go on for miles.

  Ellicia: Home of the elves who live by the plains of Megiddo. The elder, Angurvadel, leads these elves in their endeavor to combine nature and technology.

  Tellia Armon: Home of the elves who live deep within the forest beyond a large crater. They adhere to tradition and frown upon technology.

  Ragnarok: The town of the Knights of Ragnarok. At the center of the town there is a large 13 story tower called Tel’kedar. Nearby the tower are a mess hall, barracks for the knights, a vehicle bay, an R & D building, a Community Center and various shops between it and Tel’Kedar.

  Tel’kedar: The central tower in Ragnarok. It houses the portal machines and the Terminus Circuit.

  Elrik’s Emporium: A clothing shop run by Elrik who creates custom clothing and armor for customers in Ragnarok.

  The World Forest: A forest that covers a huge swath of land on Meridias. The forest itself is somewhere in the range of nearly 2,000 miles across. Outside of the forest is a desert that covers the rest of the planet. The Weeping Scar lies in the center of this forest.

  El’Nasir: A star that shines brightly in the skies of Meridias. Its name means ‘new life’ and is said to be a sign of fortune to come.

  Eastern Oregon Military Base: The base is surrounded by solid concrete walls that are nearly 16 feet tall and lined with barbed wire. There are several structures on the base that consists of living quarters, a prison section, an underground section where secret projects are being worked on, a training ground, and a command building and several vehicle bays. The entire facility is state of the art and highly secret compared to other military bases in the country.

  Magic

  Magic is comprised of the four main elements: fire, water, earth and air. A person usually uses the element that they have the most affinity towards but that does not mean they are restricted to using that one element. The four elements have child, or sub-elements. Such as ice, which is a sub-element of water.

  Light and Dark element are not a part of the four main elements because they are an expression of a person’s spiritual orientation. A person that is spiritually grey cannot use light or dark element. In extremely rare cases a person can use both Light and Dark element and is an indication of someone who is spiritually balanced.

  There are also imaginary elements and some of these represent things that have been created by man, such as the shield or sword. Someone who has an affinity towards swords, such as Tim, can easily recognize the materials necessary for creating swords, and can sometimes even make them through practice. The process of creation can vary from person to person. There was an elvin warrior from long ago who could create swords from thin air and shoot them at his opponents. That man had an orientation of sword which is different from affinity. (More on affinities and orientations later.)

  Besides the four main elements there is a fifth element known as Aether. It is not included with the four elements because it is not something that makes up the world, but rather the element that makes up the heavens. Aether is also considered an imaginary element as there is no concrete evidence of its existence. It is almost unheard of for someone to have an affinity or orientation of Aether.

  How Magic Works

  There are two different terms that are used to associate a person with an element. These terms are affinity and orientation. The term affinity is often misunderstood as the representation of a person’s personality because of their affinity towards an element(s). All affinity means is the attraction towards a particular element(s). Though a person can have an affinity and an orientation of the same element.

  The term orientation is far more significant than affinity. A person who has an orientation of an element is aligned to that element. This means that the person is most in-tune with that element and it is a representation of their personality. A person can only have one orientation but it can change if their personality does. Using the element that you’re oriented towards is as easy and natural as breathing. A persons will behave in accordance with their elemental orientation like an instinct, a driving force behind their personality that they naturally follow.

  There is a third term called an origin. It is not necessarily associated with magic because everyone that lives has an origin and acts in accordance to their origin. Similar to orientation but different because it is not related to a person’s personality. Rather it is a driving force that a person acts in harmony with. It could be thought of as an underlying instinct that is followed without thought. A person isn’t typically aware of their origin, but if they become aware of it they find it nearly impossible to stray from it as it is like an impulse that that can only be followed.

  The usage of magic is a complicated process as it requires an understanding of the spell that is to be cast as well as being able to shape ones energy in the spell that is used. People often facilitate the use of incantations as a suggestion to change themselves (focus) more easily when casting magic. Magic tends to leave behind traces that others sensitive to magic can find unless the traces are intentionally destroyed, or too much time has passed and the traces have
faded away.

  A person that has the potential to use magic must first be exposed to concentrated magical energy for their body to ‘turn on’, or activate the mage core even if they already have magical energy in their body. The exposure to magical energy acts as a spark that turns on the part of the mage creates more magical energy. Much like turning on a factory production line. The same principle applies to using magic. A person must use a small bit of their energy as a spark to ‘start the engine’ which activates the magic conduit in a person’s body so that they can process magical energy and use it in spells. Once the conduit is activated magical energy will flow through it, so anyone sensitive to magical energy will be able to sense someone who is preparing to use a spell. Using a magic of a particular element means understanding and aligning your consciousness with the element you’re using.

  Elunduil is an exception to most of these rules. He does not need to facilitate the use of incantations nor does he seem to have to activate a conduit in his body to use magic. Furthermore, Elunduil does not leave behind a footprint when using magic, nor can his energy be sensed until his magic takes form.

  Magic Terms and Types

  Mage Core: The mage core is connected to the magic conduit that flows throughout the body and produces magical energy. The quality of the core varies from person to person.

  Node: Throughout a mages conduit there are nodes. Most of the nodes can be found at the end of the conduit which is at the hands, feet, and head. A node is essentially a point on a mage’s body where magical energy can exit and leave from. If one where to obstruct all of a mages nodes then the mage could seriously harm themselves trying to use magic since the energy would have nowhere to go and would end up overloading the person’s nodes.

  Sensing Magic: Sensing Magic is an inherent ability that most mages possess to varying degrees depending on their training. The most basic of these abilities is being able to sense magical energy around the mage. This sense can be honed and refined to more precisely sense energy through training. The next step to this would be being able to discern different energy signatures which can also lead to learning how to use magic to detect certain objects or life forms. Knowing the composition of the object in that one wants to sense also greatly helps in sensing it. Sensing magic can be blocked either through magic or by certain materials that can block sensing magic. Distance is also a factor in how easy it is to sense something. One of the most advanced forms of sensing magic is the ability to see magic itself. How one perceives magical energy varies from person to person. This particular ability is referred to as False Imagery and more information about that magic can be read under its section.

  Healing Magic: Healing undergoes the same process of activation that other magic users do, but healing magic does not use incantations since a deep understanding of anatomy and healing techniques is required before even using magic to heal, otherwise many things could go wrong. Most healers go into a trance when healing so that they can find and repair damaged areas. They must be careful when fighting diseases lest they end up damaging a person or over exerting themselves. All healing magic falls under the element Life.

  Auras: An emanation of one’s presence ie a commanding or intimidating presence. Using magical energy with an aura can provide beneficial effects to allies, such as healing or bolstering against fear or shielding them from the elements. Auras can also be used to weaken or hinder enemies. There are people that can actually manifest their aura and use it to attack in various ways without the aid of magic. These people are called Aura Wielders and are very rare.

  To use an aura with magic one must concentrate their magical energy around their body and the outwards. This can be difficult to a mage in training since they aren’t as used to controlling their energy and utilizing the other nodes in their body. They also have to maintain the state of mind of the aura that they want to use. Concentrating magical energy around the body requires the user to first release magical energy out of their main five nodes: The hands, feet, and head.

  Aura’s manifested and given form have varying appearances and capabilities depending on the personality of the user. Some examples are auras that have properties similar to one of the elements such as fire. The abilities of these manifested aura’s can also vary. Draining energy from those they touch, igniting things, etc.

  Genesis Seed: A crystallization of ones imagined terra. It overwrites a part of reality with the users world and is extremely difficult to use since the world rejects such an alteration. That means that not only does a person need the energy to impose their world upon the current reality, but they also need the energy to maintain the boundary field as the world attempts to ‘correct’ the damage.

  A Genesis Seed is often a crystallization of a person’s ideals but it can also be a person’s fears. For some the world that they crystallize is “The Answer” sought after and obtained through the course of one’s life.

  Those that can use a Genesis Seed can crystallize the world(s) they use into seed form. Putting the world into seed form can be difficult, but doing so will reduce the penalties of calling forth that world since that world already exists in a seed state and only needs energy to expand. Other people can use a Genesis Seed that has been put into seed form. It is also rare but a person can call forth worlds that others have used though doing so usually means aligning themselves to the ideals of that world.

  The boundary field of a Genesis Seed can vary, but one key characteristic that they all share is that a person on the outside cannot view or interact with the inside, and vice-versa. The edge around a boundary field will often appear translucent like space is distorted around it.

  False Imagery: The ability to use one's imagination to perceive that which is not there. A normal person can use their imagination and their senses to pretend that they can see things that others cannot. However someone using magic can make those perceptions a reality. Since the eyes work with the mind a person must understand the concept of what they are trying to see otherwise it will be nothing more than a mirage. An example of this would be being able to see magic in the form of colors. This utilizes the person's ability to sense magic with their mind, or imagination, acting as the engine that produces the imagery that the user understands. How each person perceives the same thing will vary since how a person perceives the world around them is different.

  Seals: There are many kinds of seals in the world. From ones that act as locks to ones can restrict certain kinds of magic. Seals are made up of highly concentrated magical energy that act similarly to a complex maze. Unlike a maze however there need not be a way to navigate from the outside to the inside. The walls of a seal are highly concentrated magical energy that can be set to act as a conditional filter or they can completely block out anything and everything. Breaking a seal can be accomplished by using a higher concentration of magical energy to break down the walls but it isn’t always practical to do so. Another method is to find the weak spots in the seals and to cause the seal itself to collapse by putting pressure onto these weak points. Sometimes seals are set up to be unlocked and unlocking them requires either the right word of by sending magical energy down the right path. Some seals are set up to punish those that would try to break them and can have a strong enough magic feedback to be fatal to the interloper.

  Life Necrosis: A magical ailment that can be caused by straining one’s life force. It has various stages, starting with Life Blink which causes the person afflicted to seem to stop for a moment. During that moment they could be considered dead as their connection to Life is briefly lost. The next stage is Life Draught. This stage is more severe than Life Blink and leaves the afflicted person stopped for long stretches of time until eventually their connection to Life is lost completely which is the final stage: Life Necrosis.

  How Enchanting Works

  Enchanting can be a long process that takes many days, weeks, or even months to complete. First one must determine what it is they want to enchant and what kind of enchantme
nt they want to give to it. Then they must determine their method, be it Spell Weave Enchanting or Conceptual Enchanting. After that the requisite materials must be gathered. Precious gemstones are a must if the enchantment is to last for a long time. The gems act as a container for that retains the ‘form’ of the enchantment and also acts as a focal point for the conduits that are woven into the object that it is enchanting. Once the gemstone is entrenched into the object the enchanter must engrave conduits into the object that will carry the magic of the enchantment throughout it. This is typically easier to do with an elvin metal called Aiontjil (Fate Silver), a rare metal that is not only immensely durable but also carries magic through it quite well. Next the enchanter must create the enchantment they want to use and to engrave it into the gem, or gems. This process can take a long time as one must not make any mistakes during the process as it is near impossible to change the magic in the gem once a spell has been etched into the crystalline structure. Once the gem(s) is fully prepared the enchanter must activate the enchantment they placed.

  Spell Weave Enchanting: This type of enchanting uses various spells in conjunction with one another to create a desired effect. It can get quite complex when many different types of spells are in play but typically there will be spells woven in that will act as conditional statements that will activate either itself or some other spell when the conditions are met. The complexity that this type of enchanting can reach is incredible and it can take months sometimes to weave in all the right spells for a specific enchantment. It also has the drawback of the user needing to be capable of using the spells in the enchantment that they are trying to make.