I never really shared what this story is about, so I'd like to get all your guys' opinions.
The story is based in a world where magic is everything, it is an energy which is utilized by all civilizations. It however is a very dangerous and volitile source of power, like radiation, over exposure causes health problems in most organic creatures, usually in the form of mutation. Most who survive the changes are broken husks of their former selves and will attack things in a feral rage. The process of weaving magic is not typical as seen in other novels, weavers used to manipulate magic by using magical stones that naturally drew magical energy to them and forced it into different directions. An ancient race was the first to discover this and realized that various phenomenon that occurred in the world such as sudden brush fires or water appearing out of know here was caused by certain patterns of magical energy forming between said stones. By carefully placing these stones in specific patterns they were able to manipulate magic. This was extremely dangerous of course due to the fact that if they misaligned the stones in any way, a completely different effect may occur, such as an explosion of fire or a powerful earth quake. By carving channels into the stones they were able to manipulate matic with greater precision these eventually became what is now called runes. Over time they found that they could mix certain magically infused liquids with the ground powder of said stones to create inks which could then be used to make books. These were then used to inscribe the various runes into the book. Unlike in other novels, Tomes and spell books are not what store the spells, they in fact only serve as a focus for the weaver and starts the process of forcing the magical energies around the weaver into various oscillating patterns, from there the weaver, whole wears a number of special rings crafted from similarly infuses magical stones to further manipulate the energies into the spell he or she desires.
Naturally as the ancients continued to unlock the secrets to weaving magic, they discovered it could be used as a tool for war, a great battle was waged over structures that helped channel the magical energies in the world to focal points where there could constantly be a flow magical stones and necessary fluids to create the wondrous items that come from weaving (think of them as oil fields) these locations were linked together by endless miles of "pipe work" and the major focal points were called nodes. One of the last empires that could resist the one nation that conquered all others were now pinned against the wall, in a desperate effort to stem the tide and starve their enemy of supplies fueling their war effort they did the unthinkable, that was destroying a node. This caused a catastrophic floss of energy to be released and the sudden release was akin to the breaking of a dam, however with explosive effects. It tore through their enemies lands nearly annihilating their entire country, in turn it bathed everything in a wash of magic including the nation that initiated it. The area that was affected by the explosions was left barren and void of nearly all magical energy. The surviving ancients mutated, but retained their sanity, their curse was becoming nearly magic in of itself which elongated their lives for millennia. They vowed to never let this happen again and decide to serve as guardians as they watched the world pick up the pieces an begin to rebuild. Over the many centuries that followed, they would systematically exterminate any civilization they deemed was heading down the wrong path or two closely in their foot steps, and then let civilization start over again after the most important parts of the previous races were erased.
Espinu picks up with the latest civilization, with two main characters, Valkereus "Valks" Von Caldreia, and Elios Von Streisboroughs.
Valks is a commander as well as a Scholar for the most influential kingdom in the land, Rakour'Draga. He was placed in charge of the Dragen Mounted weavers first Calvary division and is well known for both his exceptional skills as a weaver and his knowledge and seemingly obsession with anything that pertains to the history of magic and the ancients. His obsession with obtaining knowledge has cost many lives during his expeditions, however due to his exploits, in a world where having knowledge on how to utilize magic is key, the Dragen empire has managed to maintain a firm grip on being the most powerful both in martial strength and through knowledge of weaving.
Elios is a long time colleague of Valks, more of a soldier than anything else, he usually accompanies Valks on his expeditions to assist in areas where books can't. He is well versed in the study of the ancients however, unlike Valks he seeks to find ways to improve the ancient ways so that they become more practical to weave magic while Valks firmly follows the more traditional ways of weaving spells.
Plot: Magic is as much of a boom as it is a bane, conflict and war abound constantly as the various kingdoms compete for control of the various lands that are rich in magical ores and other key materials required to develop the magical inks required to make the times and books uses for weaving spells. (the blood of the mutated tends to be the most precious, due to its potency in magical properties. The more potent the materials used in crafting inks, the more energy they draw, thus allowing the weaver to manipulate more power for a greater affect). Trough countless wars, an uneasy truce was forged between the major kingdoms, The Gol'kathian empire, Anistol'Solvir Republic and the Kingdom of Rakour'Draga. Boarder were drawn and all that was discovered was deemed as reserves or properties of each respective nations. Many decades have passed and the truce still holds, however, Rakour'Draga currently has the most powerful military of them all and is the most influential due to the genius and costly actions of one of their most prestigious weavers, Valks Von Caldreia. Because of him, the Dragen kingdom has discovered some of the most and some of the largest ruins as well as a number of focal sites utilized by the ancients. This puts Rakour'Draga in a unique position, since the Scholarum, which is a foundation created to benefit all of the kingdoms must request permission to have access to these ruins since they lay within Dragen lands. Many advancements in the art of weaving have benefitted much from Dragen scholars and weavers, making a truce with Rakour'Draga paramount for the other two nations if they wish to remain on equal military footing with them.
The royal court knows this, and usually uses this to flex thir muscles to get what they want, much to the ire of the other kingdoms who begrudgingly comply. This usually comes in the pen of Dragen weavers and scholars being allowed to bethe first to examine a newly discovered ruin or node due to their expertise on the history of the ancients (This is due In Large part to Rakour'Draga' unfair trade practices in information, which they monopolize on the fact that they are the leading experts in everything regarding the ancients)
This balance of power however is threatened when a major ruin is uncovered at a point where the boards all intervene, this ruin is the largest and most intact, the knowledge inside could potentially allow the other two nations to gain greater power than the Dragen empire, since jurisdiction is questionable, representatives from each nation are sent to discuss who has the right to the ruins.
Valks and Elios were chosen to fulfill this role for the Dragen empire.
(I'll try to cut this down here)
The negotioms are going nowhere and Valks decides to take things into his own hands and investigate the ruins himself, expecting to find old times and artifacts what he discovers is actually a memory vault and tomb for the ancients that have finally passed on. His mere presence causes a chain reaction and the memories locked within the minds of the deceased ancient wash over him from the local magical energies that have been oscillating within the room for energies. He is given a vision of all that has happened and how each civilization has banished before them. All his studies come into clarity and he realizes that something horrible is coming, shorty after he regains consciousness, he is greeted by a very irate Elio who states that his action s could start a war. The other nations are now accusing the Dragen empire of trying to pull a fast one in order to remain in a position of power. Valks nearly hysterical tells Elios that everyone must be warned, and he must report his discovery.
Unfortunately or Valks his reports were dismissed as superstitious babbling and insanity induced by being exposed to such large amounts of magical energy.
He is placed under house arrest by the kingdom where he eventually escapes. Elios requests to go after him but is denied when his superiors tell him Valks is a list cause and will most likely succumb to his exposure.
Several years pass and Valks is not seen. Elios is sent to investigate a node that seems to have malfunctioned, this is highly dangerous task due to the area being flooded with magical energies. What has the Dragen empire concerned is that this has been occurring frequently as of late and they have a suspicion that there is foul work at play and that a rival kibgdom is seeking to savatoge their sources of raw materials. What Elios discovers is that these supicions are partially correct, Valks is actually the one releasing the energies contained in the nodes. When Elios finally manages to fight his way I him and asks him why, Valks claims that the past will repeat itself unless he can eliminate the duties of the guardians. Elios is baffled by his former colleagues speech, Elios tries to explain that Valks is crazy, and that if he intends on releasing every node, everyone will die or worse, mutate.
Valks then rationalizes stating that through chaos they eventually will attain peace since chaos always recedes to serenity. Life will recover and with magic finally being able to roam freely again the guardians (ancients) will no longer have a purpose nor a reason to bring doom to them all. In order to save everything he holds dear, he claims he must be willing to risk destroying it.
Elios of course disagrees and attempts to stop him, while failing to do so he is nearly killed by Valks who then decides to spare him due to their relationship in the past.
Elios manages to make it back to a near by village were he recovers and sends word to his findings. The Royal court then orders Elios I pursue and eliminate Valks, however he is also informed that due to the mistrust caused by Valks' actions several other weavers from the other kingdoms will be accompanying him to seek the now fugitive Valks, whom is responsible for the murder of thousands of civilians.
Kalim gol Heidras and Svintra Gol Nyxserra from the Gol'Kathken empire as well as Talvir Vas Siidra and Vintova Vas Tolmiir from the Anistol'Solvir republic arrive shortly after to assist him.
Through out their trials in this book Elios follows Valks succeeding in some instances in stopping him while failing at many other points. He becomes close to one of the other weavers and dear friend. However his views on magic slowly become twisted as he chases Valks. He sees the suffering of villagers in the frontiers of his kingdom where magic is used as a tool to oppress the locals, at other times as a means to enslave and torture captured soldiers. He sees the corruption that seems to infest his own governments and how results and the quest that his government pursues to gain knowledge at any cost is rife across the nation. He begins to question if it's worth it if they lose their humanity in the process.
One of the greater nodes is on the verge of release and Elios as well as the weaver who he's become fond of are desperately trying to Hal the flow an resell the magical energies. Through out their travels Elios' exploits have made him a hero of all the nations, being responsible for saving countless lives. Just as they are about to seal the node, his friend suddenly stops, horror streaking her face as she shoves him aside and jumps in from of him. To his shock and horror a blade impaled her through her stomach wounding him in the process. Looking for his assailant he his taken aback by the fact that another very dear individual has betrayed him. Hen he asks why, he says that he is an agent working covertly for the Dragen Empire, Elios actions are commendable and his rise in fame was unexpected. He also calls him naive stating that he is too idealistic and that the real reason he was sent on this mission was to become a sacrificial lamb to his country. The rival empire of Anistol'Solvir has been secretly hiding the fact that they have uncovered a large number of nodes that could potentially put them on equal military footing with the Dragen empire, by assassinating him and making it appear that the representing weaver did it while also assisting Valks, it gives The Dragen empire to go to war and take the nodes for themselves. Since this weaver also represents The Kathken empire, he can then report that he was also attacked thus allowing repitore to be established so that both nations will assist in the taking of Anisol'Solvir.
A great battle follows with Elios eventually becoming the winner. He crawls over to his now rapidly ailin friend who then dies in his arms. Elios mentally breaks at this point, everything he's believed in comes crashing down and he rationalizes that it's all because of magic that this has happened. He then rises to his fee and inscribed a spell onto the leaking node, the first book closes with the destruction of the node and the subdering of the land. Creating yet another barren wasteland where it is void of magic.
This marks the end of the first book.
The story is based in a world where magic is everything, it is an energy which is utilized by all civilizations. It however is a very dangerous and volitile source of power, like radiation, over exposure causes health problems in most organic creatures, usually in the form of mutation. Most who survive the changes are broken husks of their former selves and will attack things in a feral rage. The process of weaving magic is not typical as seen in other novels, weavers used to manipulate magic by using magical stones that naturally drew magical energy to them and forced it into different directions. An ancient race was the first to discover this and realized that various phenomenon that occurred in the world such as sudden brush fires or water appearing out of know here was caused by certain patterns of magical energy forming between said stones. By carefully placing these stones in specific patterns they were able to manipulate magic. This was extremely dangerous of course due to the fact that if they misaligned the stones in any way, a completely different effect may occur, such as an explosion of fire or a powerful earth quake. By carving channels into the stones they were able to manipulate matic with greater precision these eventually became what is now called runes. Over time they found that they could mix certain magically infused liquids with the ground powder of said stones to create inks which could then be used to make books. These were then used to inscribe the various runes into the book. Unlike in other novels, Tomes and spell books are not what store the spells, they in fact only serve as a focus for the weaver and starts the process of forcing the magical energies around the weaver into various oscillating patterns, from there the weaver, whole wears a number of special rings crafted from similarly infuses magical stones to further manipulate the energies into the spell he or she desires.
Naturally as the ancients continued to unlock the secrets to weaving magic, they discovered it could be used as a tool for war, a great battle was waged over structures that helped channel the magical energies in the world to focal points where there could constantly be a flow magical stones and necessary fluids to create the wondrous items that come from weaving (think of them as oil fields) these locations were linked together by endless miles of "pipe work" and the major focal points were called nodes. One of the last empires that could resist the one nation that conquered all others were now pinned against the wall, in a desperate effort to stem the tide and starve their enemy of supplies fueling their war effort they did the unthinkable, that was destroying a node. This caused a catastrophic floss of energy to be released and the sudden release was akin to the breaking of a dam, however with explosive effects. It tore through their enemies lands nearly annihilating their entire country, in turn it bathed everything in a wash of magic including the nation that initiated it. The area that was affected by the explosions was left barren and void of nearly all magical energy. The surviving ancients mutated, but retained their sanity, their curse was becoming nearly magic in of itself which elongated their lives for millennia. They vowed to never let this happen again and decide to serve as guardians as they watched the world pick up the pieces an begin to rebuild. Over the many centuries that followed, they would systematically exterminate any civilization they deemed was heading down the wrong path or two closely in their foot steps, and then let civilization start over again after the most important parts of the previous races were erased.
Espinu picks up with the latest civilization, with two main characters, Valkereus "Valks" Von Caldreia, and Elios Von Streisboroughs.
Valks is a commander as well as a Scholar for the most influential kingdom in the land, Rakour'Draga. He was placed in charge of the Dragen Mounted weavers first Calvary division and is well known for both his exceptional skills as a weaver and his knowledge and seemingly obsession with anything that pertains to the history of magic and the ancients. His obsession with obtaining knowledge has cost many lives during his expeditions, however due to his exploits, in a world where having knowledge on how to utilize magic is key, the Dragen empire has managed to maintain a firm grip on being the most powerful both in martial strength and through knowledge of weaving.
Elios is a long time colleague of Valks, more of a soldier than anything else, he usually accompanies Valks on his expeditions to assist in areas where books can't. He is well versed in the study of the ancients however, unlike Valks he seeks to find ways to improve the ancient ways so that they become more practical to weave magic while Valks firmly follows the more traditional ways of weaving spells.
Plot: Magic is as much of a boom as it is a bane, conflict and war abound constantly as the various kingdoms compete for control of the various lands that are rich in magical ores and other key materials required to develop the magical inks required to make the times and books uses for weaving spells. (the blood of the mutated tends to be the most precious, due to its potency in magical properties. The more potent the materials used in crafting inks, the more energy they draw, thus allowing the weaver to manipulate more power for a greater affect). Trough countless wars, an uneasy truce was forged between the major kingdoms, The Gol'kathian empire, Anistol'Solvir Republic and the Kingdom of Rakour'Draga. Boarder were drawn and all that was discovered was deemed as reserves or properties of each respective nations. Many decades have passed and the truce still holds, however, Rakour'Draga currently has the most powerful military of them all and is the most influential due to the genius and costly actions of one of their most prestigious weavers, Valks Von Caldreia. Because of him, the Dragen kingdom has discovered some of the most and some of the largest ruins as well as a number of focal sites utilized by the ancients. This puts Rakour'Draga in a unique position, since the Scholarum, which is a foundation created to benefit all of the kingdoms must request permission to have access to these ruins since they lay within Dragen lands. Many advancements in the art of weaving have benefitted much from Dragen scholars and weavers, making a truce with Rakour'Draga paramount for the other two nations if they wish to remain on equal military footing with them.
The royal court knows this, and usually uses this to flex thir muscles to get what they want, much to the ire of the other kingdoms who begrudgingly comply. This usually comes in the pen of Dragen weavers and scholars being allowed to bethe first to examine a newly discovered ruin or node due to their expertise on the history of the ancients (This is due In Large part to Rakour'Draga' unfair trade practices in information, which they monopolize on the fact that they are the leading experts in everything regarding the ancients)
This balance of power however is threatened when a major ruin is uncovered at a point where the boards all intervene, this ruin is the largest and most intact, the knowledge inside could potentially allow the other two nations to gain greater power than the Dragen empire, since jurisdiction is questionable, representatives from each nation are sent to discuss who has the right to the ruins.
Valks and Elios were chosen to fulfill this role for the Dragen empire.
(I'll try to cut this down here)
The negotioms are going nowhere and Valks decides to take things into his own hands and investigate the ruins himself, expecting to find old times and artifacts what he discovers is actually a memory vault and tomb for the ancients that have finally passed on. His mere presence causes a chain reaction and the memories locked within the minds of the deceased ancient wash over him from the local magical energies that have been oscillating within the room for energies. He is given a vision of all that has happened and how each civilization has banished before them. All his studies come into clarity and he realizes that something horrible is coming, shorty after he regains consciousness, he is greeted by a very irate Elio who states that his action s could start a war. The other nations are now accusing the Dragen empire of trying to pull a fast one in order to remain in a position of power. Valks nearly hysterical tells Elios that everyone must be warned, and he must report his discovery.
Unfortunately or Valks his reports were dismissed as superstitious babbling and insanity induced by being exposed to such large amounts of magical energy.
He is placed under house arrest by the kingdom where he eventually escapes. Elios requests to go after him but is denied when his superiors tell him Valks is a list cause and will most likely succumb to his exposure.
Several years pass and Valks is not seen. Elios is sent to investigate a node that seems to have malfunctioned, this is highly dangerous task due to the area being flooded with magical energies. What has the Dragen empire concerned is that this has been occurring frequently as of late and they have a suspicion that there is foul work at play and that a rival kibgdom is seeking to savatoge their sources of raw materials. What Elios discovers is that these supicions are partially correct, Valks is actually the one releasing the energies contained in the nodes. When Elios finally manages to fight his way I him and asks him why, Valks claims that the past will repeat itself unless he can eliminate the duties of the guardians. Elios is baffled by his former colleagues speech, Elios tries to explain that Valks is crazy, and that if he intends on releasing every node, everyone will die or worse, mutate.
Valks then rationalizes stating that through chaos they eventually will attain peace since chaos always recedes to serenity. Life will recover and with magic finally being able to roam freely again the guardians (ancients) will no longer have a purpose nor a reason to bring doom to them all. In order to save everything he holds dear, he claims he must be willing to risk destroying it.
Elios of course disagrees and attempts to stop him, while failing to do so he is nearly killed by Valks who then decides to spare him due to their relationship in the past.
Elios manages to make it back to a near by village were he recovers and sends word to his findings. The Royal court then orders Elios I pursue and eliminate Valks, however he is also informed that due to the mistrust caused by Valks' actions several other weavers from the other kingdoms will be accompanying him to seek the now fugitive Valks, whom is responsible for the murder of thousands of civilians.
Kalim gol Heidras and Svintra Gol Nyxserra from the Gol'Kathken empire as well as Talvir Vas Siidra and Vintova Vas Tolmiir from the Anistol'Solvir republic arrive shortly after to assist him.
Through out their trials in this book Elios follows Valks succeeding in some instances in stopping him while failing at many other points. He becomes close to one of the other weavers and dear friend. However his views on magic slowly become twisted as he chases Valks. He sees the suffering of villagers in the frontiers of his kingdom where magic is used as a tool to oppress the locals, at other times as a means to enslave and torture captured soldiers. He sees the corruption that seems to infest his own governments and how results and the quest that his government pursues to gain knowledge at any cost is rife across the nation. He begins to question if it's worth it if they lose their humanity in the process.
One of the greater nodes is on the verge of release and Elios as well as the weaver who he's become fond of are desperately trying to Hal the flow an resell the magical energies. Through out their travels Elios' exploits have made him a hero of all the nations, being responsible for saving countless lives. Just as they are about to seal the node, his friend suddenly stops, horror streaking her face as she shoves him aside and jumps in from of him. To his shock and horror a blade impaled her through her stomach wounding him in the process. Looking for his assailant he his taken aback by the fact that another very dear individual has betrayed him. Hen he asks why, he says that he is an agent working covertly for the Dragen Empire, Elios actions are commendable and his rise in fame was unexpected. He also calls him naive stating that he is too idealistic and that the real reason he was sent on this mission was to become a sacrificial lamb to his country. The rival empire of Anistol'Solvir has been secretly hiding the fact that they have uncovered a large number of nodes that could potentially put them on equal military footing with the Dragen empire, by assassinating him and making it appear that the representing weaver did it while also assisting Valks, it gives The Dragen empire to go to war and take the nodes for themselves. Since this weaver also represents The Kathken empire, he can then report that he was also attacked thus allowing repitore to be established so that both nations will assist in the taking of Anisol'Solvir.
A great battle follows with Elios eventually becoming the winner. He crawls over to his now rapidly ailin friend who then dies in his arms. Elios mentally breaks at this point, everything he's believed in comes crashing down and he rationalizes that it's all because of magic that this has happened. He then rises to his fee and inscribed a spell onto the leaking node, the first book closes with the destruction of the node and the subdering of the land. Creating yet another barren wasteland where it is void of magic.
This marks the end of the first book.
