The rules of magic revisited, Day 1

What things can magic not do? What are the limits of magical power?

--Every race has the possibility to wield magic, but it is more likely to appear in elves and fairies, as their culture relies on it more.

--Casting spells eventually brings on fatigue (this kind of fatigue is different from normal fatigue)

--Reviving someone is possible, but highly unlikely to work

--Since playing music is the primary means of casting magic, it will only work of you name the spell before playing something.

--Of those beings that wield magic, they have at least one type of power. Only one being can wield all twelve elements safely--and that being is the Gemsinger

Starting from the beginning again

Since the world is getting a huge overhaul, the worldbuilding questions will be revisited starting tomorrow

Working hard...

The board has gotten a few members, but it never hurts to ask for more...so come on over to to look around and join us in making The Gemsinger Chronicles a reality

Status of rebuilding

We've batted around some new ideas for the magic and religious systems, and I feel we'e making progress.

Back to the drawing board

The board is coming along nicely, but I'm starting the worldbuilding over now that I've been told that a lot of what I initially wrote will not work

Our own board

We're going to be getting our own forum soon--watch this space for details

UPDATE: The board is here

Major revisions

Patrick has brought up some great points that have caused me to think about starting completely over--redesigning the magical system from the ground up.

The world has a new name, and now its magic is about to get a major shakeup. It's pretty clear that a lot of what I initially wrote isn't going to or can't work

Reshuffling the magia system

After a little tinkering, I have a somewhat redesigned magia system.

The twelve gemstones are divided in two groups of six primaries and six secondaries.

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Light. and Darkness are the six primaries. The secondaries, meanwhile, is where I'm having trouble:

Earth could be split into rocks/crystals and plants and animals (nature), with nature being Earth's secondary
Fire's secondary is unknown at this time
Water's secondary is ice
Wind's secondary is lightning
Light's secondary is holy
Darkness' secondary is possibly Spirit.

Viginette #21

Miresa? What brings you to the kitchen at this hour?" Arune asked as she watched her Other clang and clambor about gathering bowls and ingredients.

"Halliwen dared me to try cooking something using the magia powered stove." Miresa explained as she reached for a cookbook from the bookshelf, being extra careful not to wake the dog that snoozed nearby.

"What's a dare?" Arune was piqued, warily eying the dozing canine every so often.

"A dare is a task you do to prove yourself." Miresa explained. "They can range from harmless to very dangerous."

"And knowing Halliwen, she just gave you this one just to get you into trouble." Arune noted. "The High Mage says that no apprentices can light the stove without his permission or under supervision."

"Well, you're supervising me, right?" Miresa assured Arune. "So we should be just fine."

Arune sighed--there was no way she was going to talk her Other out of a dare. "Very well, I will supervise you. However, you are responsible for anything that goes wrong."

"Understood." Miresa replied as she focused on the stove and fumbled for one of her whistles. "Flaming Aura." With that, she just played a few tense notes on the tiny glowing red instrument, but only one tiny spark came from the fresh logs.

"Try using the bell the cook uses to call the apprentices to dinner." Arune suggested.

"Great idea!" Miresa pocketed her whistle and commanded "Flaming Aura" to the large triangle shaped chime that hung by the entryway from the eastern deck. Once the chime was glowing red with fire magia, Miresa gave it a hard smack, making flames come roaring from the stove at the resulting CLANG!

Arune gasped at the size of the flames. "I have a bad feeling about this...."

Viginette #20

"We've arrived." Galia replied as she led the party into the common room of the inn. While the other girls were admiring the elven designs of animals carved in the furniture and decor, Bradlin noticed a familiar minty smell wafting past his nose. He knew this smell: minted rum, aged for three Diamoons.

"What's the matter, Sir Dragoon?" Arune noticed the pained look on Bradlin's face.

"Some dragoons in my lodge always drank minted rum whever they could, so I can identify it and how long it has been aged by its smell." Bradlin explained. "For best results, you should drink it when it has aged at least one year past the Diamoon it was bottled."

"One year?" a patron gasped. "Minted rum gets better with age, ya shrimp!" he boasted as he gulped down the large glass filled with the dark green concotion. Miresa noticed there were gold flecks floating inside the liquid, most likely leftover sugarcane bits.

"Who are you calling a shrimp?" Bradlin was appalled at the title bestowed on him by the drunken patron. "I happen to be a dragoon in training of the Eastern Star Lodge."

"Ya hear that? The shrimp's not even a full dragoon yet!" mocked another patron, causing more drunken laughter.

"This is bad..." Arune shuddered. At this, a chair went flying, which was countered by a bar stool.

"Come on..." Miresa motioned for the others to follow her upstairs, away from the melee of bottles and furniture that were flying across the room.

"Why anyone would want to drink something that clouds your mind is beyond me." Arune sighed.

Viginette #19

Laughter and the flit of fairy wings filled the air as a group of fairies arrived in the large clearing overlooking the plains--the perfect spot for playing sproutball out of the gaze of human or elven eyes.

"Marfil, you remembered the sprout?" a fairy clad in blue asked as she began fashoning a goal net from some twigs and cobwebs.

"Of course, Susura." a fairy clad in white replied as she set a small brown seed with two small leaves peeking from it on the ground. "We can't play Sproutball without the sprout!" The seed suddenly glowed a faint green to illustrate its bearer's point.

"I'll be happy to make the other goal net." a brown haired fairy in green replied before flitting up to gather some twigs.

"Arune, be on my team!" a fairy in purple begged.

"No, be on mine!" a fairy in yellow protested.

Arune sighed. "Farfalla, Amberlyn, I'll be happy to be on either of your teams if you just say so." she assured both fairies before winding some cobwebs across the twigs to make a goal net.

Once the field was set up, the fairies met at the midpoint of their makeshift field to choose up sides. Amberlyn and Susura were named captains of the two teams, which meant they had to choose five others to complete the lineup.

Amberlyn was first. "I choose Farfalla for my team!"

"And I'll choose Gora for mine." Susura replied. This went on for a while:

"Then I'll pick Serenity for my team!"

"And I choose Arune for mine."

"I choose Vista for my team!"

"I choose Piora for mine."

Once the teams had been decided, Susura asked Arune "Which position do you want to play this time?"

"Goalkeeper." Arune replied as she flitted over to the right goal net and watched the two captains meet at midfield. The sprout then started to fly upward, but Susura whacked it away, beginning the match.

Arune watched as Susura passed the sprout to Piora, but Farfalla stole the sprout and made a mighty heave for the right goal! Arune intercepted it in the right corner and tossed it back to Marfil. Marfil passed it to Susura, but the sprout suddenly turned to ice, making her drop it and allowing Farfalla to steal it as it returned to normal.

"No fair!" Susura complained.

"Cardinal rule of sproutball: the sprout will do anything to ruin the best laid strategy." Arune assured her teammate as she intercepted the sprout again.

It's decided!

Shokiyu will be the new name for my world.

Viginette #18

Yet another viginette where I have to delete the world name....

Miresa sighed as she stared out the window. The temple's belltower had just struck the Hour of Night's Topaz, and she was still unable to sleep. Many questions about her impending quest weighed on her mind: Will the demon lord be after me? How much farther untill we get to Selance? What will Queen Leria ask me to do? Have the Twelve Stones really hidden themselves away from Katva's clutches?

"What are you doing up at this hour, Miresa?" Arune's voice snapped Miresa back to reality and gave her some assurance that she was safe. "You know we have a long way to go to get to Selance."

"I know that, but I'm just afraid of what will happen when we get there..." Miresa sighed. "I mean, I know I have to go, like it or not. But why would Meikon choose me out of the billions of beings on (unknown) as the Sixth Gemsinger?"

"She has Her own ways of doing things, and although we as mortals won't always understand why She chooses to do one thing over another; She has a plan for each mortal. Maybe this quest is part of Her plan for you."

Viginette #17

Continuing on our way to Selance
We saw we had a long way to walk
So Bradlin come up with the "brilliant" idea
To have a dragoon fly us there, so all we had to do was relax and talk

So we walked until we saw a dragoon's outpost
With Selance offered as a stop
20 pieces of gold for the trip
In less time than it takes corn to pop

I ponyed up my share of the twenty pieces
And was told when our dragon would come
Less then ten minutes time, they said
Or you can call me a bum

And so ten minutes came and went
With no dragon to be had
Everyone was getting quite antsy
And I was trying not to get mad

A lovely blue dragon came not long after
Her rider well dressed and dashing
An adventurous twinkle came into his eye
As he assured us we would not be crashing

We held on tight as we soared skyward
But before I could enjoy the ride
I looked down to see just where we were
And saw the ocean at high tide!

I told the dragoon that Selance was the other way
And we needed to be going west
But when told we had to dismount and walk that way
Galia said "Surely you jest!"

But no, it was the truth, he said
So we reluctantly climbed off
In the middle of a misty swamp
That made Arune cough

So tonight we're farther away from Selance
And 20 gold pieces less
Whether or not I ride with a dragoon again
Is up to you to guess

Viginette #16

The thunder rolls outside
My duties at the temple complete for now
And I have a few moments to spare

Siwyn hears my coming
Her deep brown fur ripples from the breeze coming in
Exposing some gold underneath
As she sits and waits

For me to choose a tale to study
While it steadily rains
And I have nothing to tend to

Some days, I choose a lighthearted romance
Of a princess seeking her love
Other days, I may choose a thrilling mystery
So I can match wits with the hero
And solve the crime before I get to the end

A day like today calls for a tale of adventure
From a time long past in our world
So I make my way to my wicker chair
And invite Siwyn nearby
To lose ourselves in another world together

Viginette #15

So we were on our way to Selance one night
When it started to get late
But a town was not far from our position
The guards let us through the gate

Where we then proceeded to find an inn
To rest up for tomorrow
But the night we spent in that little shack
Was one filled with sorrow

The innkeeper tried to make us feel at home
But I guess that can be hard
When the only food you have on hand
Consists mainly of lard

Which not long after it was consumed
Nature it did call
We spent ten minutes each in the bathing room
Ridding ourselves of it all

It didn't help that a barroom brawl
Raged not far from our location
As soon as we regained our bearings
We went to our room to avoid the altercation

But the yells and crashes of chairs and tables
Kept Arune awake for at least an hour
If I'd known a spell to quiet the noise
I'd gladly use the power

The beds were old, crusty and hard
Like sleeping on a rock
I spent most of the night
Wearily eying the clock

And silently pleading with Meikon
To make the dawn come faster
I've learned that next time, we'll sleep in a larger town
To avoid a repeat of this disaster

Viginette #14

"Here we are, everyone...my secret place." Galia smiled as she waited for Miresa, Bradlin, and Arune to arrive.

"If it is your secret place, then our knowing about it doesn't make it secret anymore." Arune interjected as she waited for Miresa to unpack her tent and the jewelry box that served as a dwelling for her.

"I choose to share it with you all because you are my friends, Lady Wingblade." Galia replied. "Only me and those I consider a friend know about the Meadow of Shining Illusion. To anyone else, it is merely a dead end in the Forest of Dawn."

"Fascinating..." With that, Bradlin gathered up some sticks and twigs and began building a campfire. "So, why are we passing through the forest when we don't even need to go to Coraira yet?"

"Miresa may have awakened as the Gemsinger, and done the three deeds the Sixth Gemsinger was foretold to do within hours of awakening, but to actually begin the journey that all Gemsingers have gone on, she must receive the Gemsinger's Quest from the ruler of her own race." Galia explained.

"So that's why we're going to Selance--Leria rules there, and she rules over the humans on this continent..." Arune noted as she watched Bradlin finish starting a hearty blaze.

"That being said, know that we are not being pursued on the journey to Selance--not yet." Galia continued.

"We're not?" Miresa asked. Usually in the stories she'd heard, the Gemsinger and the party were usually pursued to the human capital city by demons and other creatures of the dark realm, and there were plenty of near misses and adventures on the way.

"The demon lord doesn't know you've awakened as the Gemsinger yet, Miresa....but as soon as you find the first of the Twelve Stones, then he will begin his pursuit." Galia replied. "His heart is too far corrupted to shine with the light of magia, and so he cannot sense mortals that have it, even if the being is the Gemsinger. But the magia he can sense comes from the Stones themselves." She let that hang as Bradlin hung some preserved beef over the campfire.

Miresa swallowed hard at the thought of the demon lord following her every move--if she died at the hand of the demon lord, (unknown) would be destroyed!

Viginette #13

"Here we are, Arune...the sea." Miresa began as she finished making her way down a bluff. It had been a day's journey from Telrain, but Miresa felt it was worth the trip. Having a friendly costal town close by the shore didn't hurt, either.

"Wow..." Arune gasped, amazed by the clear blue water and the waves lapping against the shore. "Have you ever wondered what lies at the end of it, Miresa?"

"Well, I do know there are other continents besides where we live..." Miresa stammered. "But I haven't really been to any of them."

"Just think of it--we could discover a continent or civilization long thought to be lost." Arune mused.

"Or better, we discover a brand new civilization no one has ever seen before!" Miresa smiled as she dashed down to the sandy shore. "Imagine what Leria and Kamino both would say!"

"Adventuring would be fun, but unless you have wings or the strength of ten avris, we're not going to cross the sea that easily." Arune sighed. Miresa stopped in her tracks--swimming across the ocean was no easy task, and she barely had enough gold to travel to the beach, and chartering a ship would cost thousands, if not more. Hiring a dragoon was also out of the question, as no dragoon she knew was willing to cross the sea, and if there were, they would also ask for exorbitant fees.

Viginette #12--Prologue first draft

The low rumble of thunder echoed throughout the temple as a group of children made their way through the temple foyer, past the worship hall, and around a corner into a room filled with books of all kinds. One of them, an auburn haired girl with two braids encircling her head, was particularly excited to be there--hearing stories from the Seer was way more interesting than listening to Miss Kurial drone on for hours about kings and queens long since dead.

"Lady Seer, I entrust my class to you this afternoon--the rain and thunder are making them antsy and unwilling to pay attention." she heard Miss Kurial say to the female elf clad in the ornate white robe with colored swirls Seers wore. She clasped her hands together along with her classmates and waited for the elf's response.

After a few tense seconds, the elf also clasped her hands and pointed them at the class. "Welcome, class of Kurial Damis...I have much to tell you today."

Now that the class was officially welcomed, the children walked over to a rug in the center of the floor, and sat down facing the elf. While her classmates would chatter amongst themselves, Miresa just watched the rain that was pounding the temple window--what tale would the Seer tell today? She had learned the elf's name, Galileth Moonblade, some months before, when the elder had formally installed her as Seer of Telrain. While she wasn't sure why some townspeople were so afraid of an elf interceding before the Goddess for a town mainly consisting of humans, the elven Seer had quickly won over many families in Telrain with her soft spoken demeanor and kind heart--so much so that she had earned an affectionate nickname among the children--Galia.

The thumps of the elf organizing a few books and other supplies and another rumble of thunder snapped Miresa back to the present--Galia was about to begin class.

"I see all are present today. Good." Galia smiled as she surveyed the children seated before her. "Today we will discuss one of the world's best known legends--the legend of the one that can wield all Twelve Stones' power. Who can tell me what the popular name for this being is?"

Miresa's hand shot up before anyone else could answer. "Yes, Miresa Selvan?"

"This being is named the Gemsinger." Miresa confidently answered--almost any Sekiyan would know this, she thought.

"Very good." Galia smiled. "The story goes that when Sekiya is in great danger, the Holders that guard the Twelve Stones disappear in some way, and the Stones themselves flee to places filled with many traps and trials to deter the demon lord or other dark beings from finding them."

"But what happens if the demon lord does find them, Lady Galia?" a boy asked.

"Then the world itself feels the effects of the corrupted stone--the wind blows out of control, storms blow up on the sea, and the earth withers away, to name some examples." Galia replied. "The only one worthy of rescuing the Stones from these dungeons is the Gemsinger, whose heart shines with all twelve colors of magia." Some thunder rumbled outside to illustrate Galia's point.

Viginette #11

I depart long before the town awakens
And disappear into the forest outside of town
I feel a sense of belonging there
As I am not far from the hero's home

But that is a day's journey from here
and I don't have that much time
Before the sun rises
And I must return

It's a little cool right now
And the trees climb to the heavens
Obscuring any view
Of the brightening sky

I move quickly
With all the grace and speed of a deer
My footfalls silent to the forest creatures
They know my people are friends of their land

The world starts to gain a little color
As the sun peeks over the horizon
And I arrive in a clearing
I call my own

For only a few moments
I am at peace.