“Hello, observers! Have you been waiting to see me?”
A spectre of light floated around happily as it gradually turned into a little mischievous boy. Even so, the air around him was quite mystical, marking the difference between him and the other ordinary boys.
“It’s time for me to clarify some matters about this world, huh? Beware though, this might turn into my mini lecture! Prepare yourself for flood of information!”
Note: The whole chapter is narrated by the spectre-of-light (Aion).
*The World in General*
Some might remember, some might not… This world is different from Earth, the name is Sphaela. This is a world where monsters and magic exist.
The world still has some medieval values, but with the advancement of technology. It’s still different from the Earth as I tried to prevent people from inventing things that could pollute the world and destroy it in the long-term. That is why, many of the technologies are mana-powered. Other power sources include magic stones/jewels, monsters’ cores, areas with abundant mana/energy source—energy mines. reservoir, etc. They are all eco-friendly or at least won’t destroy the planet so bad.
Technology examples: Games, Provice (device that has similar concept with our laptops), Holographic devices (can be used to deliver shows like TVs or as means of communication), mana-powered carriages, teleportation portals, bicycles, flying balloons (or a ship with huge balloon).
People here can also tame monsters and use them as a mean of transportation.
*Geography*
The known area so far:
- The Dragon’s Heritage: A separate continent with harsher living conditions, suitable for the dragon race to live comfortably. After the dragon race isolated themselves in that continent, they also enveloped the continent with barriers to prevent outsiders from disturbing them.
- Riviera Country: A country that was built by humans, also known as the neutral country. There are also other races who live in Riviera, bringing forth mixed breeds, usually between humans and other races.
- Western Riviera has Qwasigreynard as the capital city, the Grabberton family’s duchy. Its west border is connected to Cielle.
- Eastern Riviera has Heartswaarth city as the capital, the Hartmann family’s duchy. Its east border is connected to Naraka.
- Chinosato city is located in the Estrada island, and its border is connected to Naraka.
- The Capitol is—exactly as the name implies—the capital of Riviera country, where the royal family resides (in the castle called as Capicastle).
- Northern Riviera is the Loera family’s duchy.
- Southern Riviera is the Fumitsuna family’s duchy. The border of this territory is next to a ‘neutral zone’ or unclaimed land that often becomes the site of clash for Cielle and Naraka.
- The Kingdom of Cielle: A kingdom ruled by elves. Major races here are elves and dwarves. More shall be revealed as the story progresses.
- Naraka Empire: An empire ruled by Oni/demons. Major races here are oni and beastmen. More shall be revealed as the story progresses.
*Time and Maturity*
A year in Sphaela consists of 420 days, which means each month has 35 days and 5 weeks. Therefore, the humans’ development here exceeds the ones on Earth. Especially more so when it comes to their maturity or brain development.
During the Great War, the humans were the most pressured and on the ‘losing’ point. The ones who survived were mostly the ones with better intelligence and maturity. From then on, they still proceeded to conduct experiments with magic and other possible means to ensure their offsprings would be able to survive, thus making the next generations having a superior intelligence and maturity, speeding up their brain development in overall without reducing their lifespan—which was already quite short at that time.
Let’s not mention about the failed ones~!
PS: The other races’ development differs from the humans’ development.
If you want to know how old a character is in Earth’s standard, just multiply their age by 1.15, and if you want to know your age in Sphaela, just divide it by 1.15~
*Races*
There are currently six officially recognized races:
- Humans
- Dragons
- Oni/Demons
- Beastmen
- Elf
- Dwarf
The seventh race that Lyra mentioned right after she reincarnated was actually an informal category—mixed breed, referring to any child born of two different races. If a child has a dominant elf bloodline with little human blood, they are usually referred as elf.
There is a terminology that mentions all the races or all the sentient humanoid living beings, which is [Omness].
*Special Power: Oracle1OracleSpecial power bestowed upon an individual. Some Oracles even run in the family! *
[Oracle] are special power that often manifest in the Omness. Some are inherited with different rate of inheritance.Known [Oracle]:
- Insight: belongs to the royal family. Its exact effects are currently unknown, but those who possess this usually have an accelerated mental development and wisdom. Its inheritance rate isn’t 100% and the power of Insight differs.
- Hypermind: belongs to the Loera family. Its rate of inheritance and power are currently unknown. It grants them absolute memory or photographic memory and intelligence that exceeds the others.
- Illusion and Transformation: belongs to the Hartmann family with almost 100% rate of inheritance. Its power differs per person and is suggested to have an association with one’s magical power.
Note:
- More information shall be revealed as the story progresses.
- Four ducal houses of Riviera possess their unique Oracle.
*Values of the World*
It’s not exactly the same as the medieval values of the Earth. Sphaela is full of different values and cultures. It’s a coincidence that Reinst was born in a patriarchal family and her mind was already used to see things from patriarchal values. However, there are also families or tribes with matriarchal values, and some with neutral view.
For the Four Ducal Houses of Riviera…
- Grabberton Family: Patriarchal (influenced by their swordsmanship style that focused on strength and their Oracle. Fun fact: their founder was also a male)
- Fumitsuna Family: Matriarchal (influenced by their dance-like swordsmanship style, making women more suited to the style. Fun fact: their founder was a female half-oni)
- Hartmann Family: Neutral
- Loera Family: Neutral
Note that there might be exceptions where a female heir was selected in a patriarchal family and a male heir was selected in a matriarchal family—for other considerations such as their prowess and Oracle ability. Or in case that the heir was an only child and the parents didn’t adopt another child or pointed a child of the branch family as the heir. There are many scenarios that can occur~
In this world, in the patriarchal society, a man can have more than one wife (it’s already portrayed in the story), and likewise for the matriarchal society. Nobles usually feel pressured to maintain their family’s name, therefore, there are many political marriages among nobles, though some have already defied the notion of political marriages and started to favor marriage of love.
Some also see that betrothing their children and let them meet their fiance/fiancee before the marriage as a method to nurture good relationship or love to ensure a smooth marriage later on. It might work, it might not. But then again, everything depends on the respective person.
Other known families:
- Schafer family: Patriarchal
- Flugel family: Matriarchal
*The Royal Family*
The royal family as the one sitting on the top of the hierarchy feels more pressured than anyone else. Each member has to display a good etiquette and mannerism so that they can be the role model in the society, not discriminating between gender. It is not portrayed in the story as Lyra doesn’t seem to be aware of it, and Luca treating it as a given—because that was how he was educated ever since he was very small.
Therefore, the ones who will enter the royal family will also be pressured to be exemplary. In the story, it has been portrayed with Reinst’s intensive training as her family wanted her to be the future queen. In case of the royal family having a female heir, her future husband is also subjected to the same pressure.
Fun fact: the living example would be the previous queen, Seraphina and her husband, Friedrich. Notice how the one with “seo Navarrete” surname is the queen? Yes, it was Friedrich who entered into the royal family and he had undergone some strict training—queen, oops, I mean, king training, haha!
In conclusion, it’s actually a fair treatment that doesn’t have any gender discrimination. …It discriminates someone’s social position, though. But well, the higher someone’s social position, the more rights they have, but the more responsibility they have as well. No pain, no gain.
Needless to say, the royal family is included in the neutral views. The heir selection doesn’t view gender, it focuses more on the heir’s competence and Oracle power. Usually, the stronger Oracle they inherit, the wiser they will be—hence, they are usually chosen to be the heir based on their Oracle power.
*Belief and God*
There is a trinity that’s believed to be the deities of origin. They have pseudonyms or symbols:
- α (Alpha): the beginning, the deity of creation/beginning. The narrator of this chapter would like to tell you that I am the Alpha, Aion. Those who mainly believe or worship me are called Alphians. In their scripture, I am depicted as a pure, innocent child-like figure. Opinions on my gender differ, but that is because sometimes I assume the form of a girl, and sometimes a boy. I can be both. Most humans are Alphians because… guess who the god who likes to meddle and help them during the war? Yes.
- β (Beta): the god who governs all the power in the world. He is a god whose form is the closest to dragons, and is worshipped by the dragon race. Worshippers of Beta are called Betians.
- Ω (Omega): the goddess of time and space (dimension). The pseudonym ‘Omega’ suits her the most as her power can bring about the world’s destruction. Worshippers of Omega are called Omegians. As for her identity… sorry, it’s a classified information!
Those who worship the three of them equally belong to a category called as ‘Triquestra’.
And then… As you may have noticed, there is an antagonist or opposition. Yes, evil deity(-ies) exist(s). As for who they are, it will be explained as the story progresses. Their believers or worshippers also have a certain name, and the pattern is similar to the other deities and believers system. Known evil deity-like figure:
- Miseria: dark shadow depicted as a woman, siding with Yanze.
*Magic Concept*
List of magic affinities:
- Neutral / no attribute. It’s really useful to invent or produce something. Oh, augmenting or imbuing things with magic is also convenient with this attribute. Example of spell : [Physical reinforcement], [speed enhancer]. In a magic affinity tester, the color reaction or symbol to this is [colorless], or [transparent]. Most people with other strong affinity usually have 5 or neutral/middle-ground affinity with neutral attribute. Those with high [Neutral] affinity mostly aren’t strong in other affinities.
- Fire—red
- Water—blue.
- Thunder—yellow.
- Wind—light green
- Ice—light blue. If you cannot use [water] element but you can use both [ice] and [fire], then you can generate water, although it’s inconvenient.
- Earth—brown
- Plant—deep green. Can grant you a power to communicate with the plants, and even command them to do things, like producing toxic, or poisons.
Point of Interruption : Those eight magic elements above are common, especially for humans. The other four elements are rarer, and they include:
- Dark—black. This element specializes in shadow manipulation. You can also see in the dark. Rare in humans, yes. Dark is the magic element that the Oni boast about. It’s impossible for elves to use this element, as far as everyone knows. High mastery of this magic involves conquering the darkness in one’s heart. If failed…
- Light—white. It includes holy magic, light/illumination. As you may have guessed, it’s the magic that elves specialize in. It’s impossible for the Oni to use it.
- Life—grey. Life magic includes healing, buffs, barriers, etc. It’s basically the rarest type. But since it’s essential to have healing and barrier magic, there are lots of magic tools produced to help you convert your magic into a barrier or some healing.
- Void—purple. The unknown element. Mythical element. None is recorded about this magic besides it being incredibly strong. Although, [The Greatest Magician], who was in the [Heroes Coalition] could use it along with other afinities. Some examples of the spells: [Spell Breaker], [Oblivion], [Erasing Memories]. Based on the legend about [The Greatest Magician] and the extent of her [Void] magic, the magic experts concluded that the power consumption for this type of magic is high, and that this magic is associated with high mana capacity, as well.
People can use other magic outside their affinity but it would be more complicated and hard, also it requires higher mana consumption. To be able to use it, they need to master their own affinities first.
One’s magic affinity can be tested as soon as they are 3.25 years old in Sphaela’s calendar, and one’s maximum mana capacity can be tested as one reaches the age of 6.
One’s affinity can be measured using the scale of 0 to 10.
- 0 = unable to use
- 1-3 = weak
- 4-6 = normal
- 7-9 = strong
- 10 = very strong
The known mana capacity counter will list one’s mana from 0 to 1000.
- 0-100 : no affinity in using magic, might be able to use magic (with great difficulty) using the help of enhancing tools and the likes of it.
- 100-200 : lacks affinity, can only use their affinity magic but in the weak form.
- 200-400 : average mana people have, weak for elves and oni. Can convert magic to other element but weak output and for a very short time.
- 400-600 : superior, average for elves and oni.
- 600-800 : high potential, can use other element magic with some ease to some degree, depending on the person and training.
- More than 800 : abnormal, prodigy, extremely talented, normal for dragons, can strongly use other element magic.
- 1000 : the highest known mana, and mana measurer limit is only until 1000.
Degree of chants:
- Voiced incantation in Spraec: least mana cost, easy to do, casting speed the slowest, need least concentration and skill, 100-600 mana
- Half incantation in Spraec: increased mana cost, harder to do, faster casting speed, more concentration and skill. At least 600 mana is needed to do this with ease, no need to imagine anything.
- Nonspraec incantation: can use magic by getting focused and say the word in their language. The detail is the same with half-incantation. Imagining the effect plus magic circle of the element. Possible to construct the spell that is not known in vocabulary. At least 600 mana is needed to do this with ease.
- Silent or voiceless incantation : most mana cost, hardest to do, fastest casting speed, most concentration and skill, possible to construct the spell that is not known in vocabulary by imagining the desired effect and magic circle of the element. Costs more than Nonspraec Incantation, 800+ mana.
*Spraec is the ancient language that holds the power of magic.
Additional information: the ‘Mana’ or ‘magic capacity’ tested will display the amount of mana one can store at once in one’s body. It doesn’t necessarily mean that those with higher mana will definitely be stronger than those with lower mana. If those with lower mana train their affinities hard and can manage their mana consumption well, they can also win against those with higher mana.
Also, stronger magic affinity means nothing if the user doesn’t train it. They can lose against those with mediocre magic affinity who train untilthey’re half-dead to be proficient. But if both are equally trained, the one with higher affinity will win—unless other factors are there, such as battlefield manipulation, magical devices intervention, and so on.
In a battle, you can’t rely purely on one factor, after all~
And that concludes my mini lecture session! Hope you will like this world!
Until then!
Author’s Note:
I hope this extra chapter (full of information though) will clarify matters about this story’s world setting to you guys! Some of the setting might not be portrayed so clearly in the story so far, so I hope this will clear all the doubts. If there’s still anything you want to ask, feel free to type it in the comment section or Discord server/PM my Discord~!
…However, I can’t answer questions that may give off spoilers to the main story >_<
*This chapter/page might be updated as time passes by and more development is apparent.
