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| story:chapter_2 [2025/06/09 18:56] – davenport | story:chapter_2 [2026/06/06 12:12] (current) – davenport |
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| ====Chapter 2: A Single Stone...==== | ====Chapter 2: A Single Stone... -jon==== |
| Will's magical senses had always felt like he was swimming in a stagnant pool of water, but touching this stone gave him the suddenly, overwhelming sense of a flow - like there was suddenly more to explore - something to touch and discover. He had studied and worked to improve his prowess over these years, but he'd never felt a real //pull// in his arcane senses. In this world of grey monotony, the stone drew him away. It pulled in the way a cool fall breeze asks you to walk out into it and just... let... go... | Will's magical senses had always felt like he was swimming in a stagnant pool of water, but touching this stone gave him the suddenly, overwhelming sense of a flow - like there was suddenly more to explore - something to touch and discover. He had studied and worked to improve his prowess over these years, but he'd never felt a real //pull// in his arcane senses. In this world of grey monotony, the stone drew him away. It pulled in the way a cool fall breeze asks you to walk out into it and just... let... go... |
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| "I'm Will, third rank, class 939." Will responded to the question with rote memory. Every student memorized their rank and class at the academy. Ranks were assigned based on birth status. In Will's case, being the son of two non-magi, he had the lowest rank. Your class was the year in which you had been "introduced" to the school. | "I'm Will, third rank, class 939." Will responded to the question with rote memory. Every student memorized their rank and class at the academy. Ranks were assigned based on birth status. In Will's case, being the son of two non-magi, he had the lowest rank. Your class was the year in which you had been "introduced" to the school. |
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| They called it an "introduction", but that was just a light way of saying Will had been kidnapped. Most of the third ranks, and a few second ranks, were kidnapped. Sterility was high in the first ranks (an unfortunate side effect from lifetimes of magic use). With so few born from 'pure' first rank stock, the last several decades had seen a push to keep the number of magi up. Too few and the non-magi populations might catch on to how loose their hold really was. Only about a third of the world's population had any ability. Some could be taught, but a lot was still dependent on how randomly 'gifted' one was by the genetic mutations in their body. | They called it an "introduction", but that was just a light way of saying Will had been kidnapped. Most of the third ranks, and a few second ranks, were kidnapped or recruited. The highest tiers had suffered a severe fertility collapse over the last century due to inbreeding among the purest lines and the cumulative damage from heavy arcana use (especially the secret Void-pulls that kept the planetary barriers running). With fewer and fewer children born to the old families, the regime had begun large-scale recruitment of gifted children from non-magi parents roughly a hundred years earlier simply to keep enough working magi in the system. Only about a third of the world's population had any ability at all. Some could be taught, but most of the real power still came from those who were born with the gift. |
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| A global enchantment had been in place for awhile that could detect a magi anywhere in the arcane world, however it had some limitations in the non-arcane world. With some places nearly inaccessible due to the environment. Using a complex network of enchantments, the heads of the central ministry kept watch over vast portions of the population to find potential 'recruits'. However, there were still some who were just out of reach of the ministry's grasp. Those who weren't under constant surveillance were either criminal magi - usually on the run from authorities for unsanctioned use of magic, or at times revolutionaries who were rebelling against the heavily entrenched system. | A global enchantment had been in place for awhile that could detect a magi anywhere in the arcane world, however it had some limitations in the non-arcane world. With some places nearly inaccessible due to the environment. Using a complex network of enchantments, the heads of the central ministry kept watch over vast portions of the population to find potential 'recruits'. However, there were still some who were just out of reach of the ministry's grasp. Those who weren't under constant surveillance were either criminal magi - usually on the run from authorities for unsanctioned use of magic, or at times revolutionaries who were rebelling against the heavily entrenched system. |