My world. Part One.

In summary, because this is a really brief (I’m trying!) outline of the story that’s in my head. Yes I know its fantasy. Yes I know it’s not the next great Australian novel, but it’s the story that I know I want to tell.

Magic

This is a world where ‘magic’ (for the lack of a better term) is inherent in every creature, sort of like the Force. This ‘force’ envelops the world, and it can be worked through effort of will (I’m calling it ‘the tide’, as it’s reminiscent of water, flowing everywhere), where one’s conviction affects the tide, and the tide brings about the desired effect.

For example, if you believe that a lightning bolt will streak out of the heavens and strike someone. If you believe in that so complicity and completely, then it will happen. Conversely, if a large group of persons perceive that so-and-so is invulnerable, then chances are, that person would become invulnerable. ‘Magic’, as it were, is perception plus belief. Faith, therefore, is of paramount importance.

Over time, people have devised short-cuts to magic. These short cuts involve careful dissemination of information that given a specific combination of factors (incantations, reagents, etc), specific effects will occur. This belief of the populace creates this in reality, and therefore for some, magic is now a matter of route (which it really isn’t, and is sort of cheating).

We pick up the story when this world has barely recovered from the aftermath of a faith-inspired war. Religions are largely outlawed, and sorcerers are a dying breed, simply because of people’s perceptions. The populace wants magic to become extinct, and therefore the tide is making it so.

Character leads

I’ve got three major characters, each of which is really based off an aspect of me, sort of.

My lead is a ranger-type. Think Aragorn. He’s got a lot of repressed aggression which he doesn’t let out, and he’s driven by a search for ‘inner peace’, whatever that means. He’s confident, but at the same time secretly fearful, and therefore he holds himself back from being the best that he can be. His journey is about self-actualisation, to ‘become oneself’.

The femme fatale is a disgraced former knight. She’s overly concerned with honour and ‘doing what’s right’ to the point where she’s hard to get along with. She’s also fixated on her past, on who she used to be, and her fall from grace; that fixation guides her actions. Her journey is about acceptance.

My mage fellow is an alcoholic belligerent older man with a head full of knowledge but no conviction to use it. He’s loud and boisterous, but really affects this persona to hide from himself. He used to be a big shot, but now he’s nothing, and people are out to get him for reasons only he knows. He’s a constant source of hilarity and exasperation. His journey is about recovering faith.

World

The current world comprises of several large factions, each having a rough real-world analogy, after a fashion. The story begins as the result of political turmoil, but really becomes about the nature of humanness, life, and the perceptions that govern it.

Boron is based largely off the classical Roman empire. It’s large, powerful and highly organised and efficient. Its people are unusually practical, stoic, and overly concerned with the notion of personal and familial honour. Boron is the breadbasket of the known world.

Damasc is based on medieval Britain. It’s a largely feudal-based monarchy, and its people are little more than servants supporting the bourgeois social elite. The populace is largely content. It is known for its literary and creative accomplishments, as well as being arguably the single largest source of raw material (hardwoods, iron, etc) in the world.

Menathas is a kingdom of convenience, run by an elite merchant class, and represents the triumph of capitalism over conscience, where anything and anyone can be bought or sold and loyalty is a matter of coinage. They are enormously wealthy and are the bankers and traders of the world.

Sanction is a completely secularised land where science is prized above all else. The people eschew even the idea of the existence of magic, and are concerned with personal perfection and ‘sacrifice for the greater good’. The people are quite unbending and overly stern. Some would say ‘voluntarily repressed’.

Aldur is a magiocracy and the sole haven for the practice of magic in the world. This land is steeped in magic, which powers everything from street lamps to local sanitation. The people are reclusive and secretive.

Okay, that's long enough. More to come in the future. Please comment as you see fit, thanks!