Thursday 20 July 2006

Pic of the day: Typical pale spellcaster, here from the anime Kyou Kara Maou.

Ancestral worldbuilding

This time it is pure worldbuilding, I don't have any characters, nor a story as such. I think I might like this as a setting for a collection of short stories, which would anyway be easier to do for NaNoWriMo. Anyway, for now, worldbuilding,

This is a fantasy world where magic is real and reliable. However, the planet has two humanoid races, and only one of them can wield magic. Or rather two species, for they cannot interbreed, although they are similar enough that it has been tried repeatedly.

The magic-users are easily recognized, since they are all tall and slender and pale and androgynous. You know, the usual stereotype. Pale hair too. The other people is a more mixed lot, although all of them are short and stout in comparison. But they have much more genetic diversity, in terms of skin and hair color, size and shape. In contrast, the magic-users all look like they are family. Which isn't too far off. They are long-lived, but slow to reproduce. I may adjust this later, but I'd guess one child every 10 years at peak speed, and they start late too. So technically a couple of them could have at least two dozen children, perhaps three dozen, in a lifetime, since they live half a millennium or more. However, in the meantime a "normal" human couple will have great-great-great-grandchildren all over the place, so it is not quite the evolutionary advantage it looks like, to be long-lived.

Hmm, we need a name for these magic users. They are not elves or gods or angels. How about Adel? It is a widespread Germanic word meaning "noble", as in barons and counts and such, and it is easy to pronounce, and sounds good both as noun and adjective. Yes, I think I will call them Adel, unless this is already used in some other famous work. The others could just be humans, I guess, or people or something.

Anyway, the reason the Adel are all so similar is that they have gone through much fewer generations since they came into the world. I'm not sure how they came to be, actually. Perhaps the two races came from another world at different times? Or did the Adel evolve from ordinary humans and some really huge mutation made them into a different species? Or were they transformed by some higher power? I'll find out if I need it, no doubt.

The Adel don't much like war. Although their magic would give them the upper hand, death is pretty much unavoidable in a war, and they replenish so slowly. Also, their long lives and small numbers makes each life precious to them. So rather than conflict they prefer to live in symbiosis with the less gifted humans. Fortunately the humans are easily impressed by magic, since they have no such talent themselves. Nor have they developed advanced technology. Why should they, when there is already a different way of doing things? If you need healing, or knowledge of some event long past, or a plentiful harvest... you contact your local Adel. These will no doubt expect a fitting gift in exchange for their benevolence, but it does not take much thinking and it is right there when you need it.

***

The twist to this particular world however is life after death. For humans, this is a matter of faith at best. But not so for the Adel. Their stronger spirit is not blown away by the winds of the otherworld to some unknown location. They stay with their kin, but not quite. Rather, they gradually ascend through a series of afterlives.

In the first afterlife, the deceased are ghosts: Visible to anyone of their own race, and able to talk with them quite freely. They also wield all their magic power, and indeed it continues to grow in the afterlife as it did in the flesh. The older an Adel is, the stronger its magic, and this process is not interrupted by death, as their magic is one of the spirit.

After a time that is probably a bit longer than a generation (Adel tend to get their first children around the age of 100) the ghosts transform again. They become more transparent than before, but also more mobile, able to teleport at will. It is also at this time that most of them become able to lend their magic through channeling, thereby increasing the power of the living. (Or the dead, probably.) After the next transformation, they become much harder to see, in practice visible only to their descendants unless they choose to manifest to someone else. Their power keeps growing, and they are now at their peak when it comes to helping their descendants. Known as Protectors, these ghosts save their children and grandchildren from danger, be it man-made or natural. But eventually also this afterlife-phase comes to an end, and they begin ascending.

The first "heaven" is close to the world, and they can clearly see all that transpires there, although they themselves are not visible unless they step down into the world to meet with their kin or other important people. This is somewhat uncomfortable for them, so for the most part they stay in the spirit realm and lend their aid by channeling. Their descendants beseech them and perform rituals of remembrance, but many of their descendants have never known them in life and may have somewhat incorrect ideas about them.

The second "heaven" is further removed. Manifesting on the material plane is now painful and rarely done for any reason. Since those who knew them in life are now old and start to pass over themselves, these older beings tend to care less for the fate of the individual descendant and may be reluctant to grant wishes they think may be frivolous. When you've not been alive for hundreds of years, "frivolous" tend to be a much wider category than when you are young! They still care for the fate of their tribe of descendants though, although in a more collective way, and can lend great power to trusted representatives of the clan.

Those in the third "heaven" are more like deities to the living: Nobody alive has met them in the flesh, most likely not even as ghosts of the first level. They are known from legends now, which may be less than accurate. They care little for the living, rarely lending them any help except through intercessors in the ghost world. But when they are moved to act, their help can be decisive indeed.

Each afterlife lasts longer than the previous, and in the third "heaven" they remain for so long that they may fade to myth among all their living descendants. Eventually they move on, and it is said that the ghosts who once were most trusted by them can still reach them. But this is rarely done, for their afterlife is now so different from their old lives that they tend to forget the world where they once lived, and move on, shedding all trappings of their old identity. What they become, no Adel can imagine, and they pass beyond the reach of prayer itself, their names forgotten by their descendants and then, it is thought, by themselves.

Humans may believe in reincarnation, but the Adel scoff at such a tragic fate. Why would the rich want to become poor, the strong wish to become weak, or the adult long for the cradle again? For them, to die is to grow up a bit.

***

Ancestor worship is an important part of Adel magic. In fact, their natural magic in this world is rather weak and not much to show off, although some can become somewhat powerful toward the end of their life. But during youth, pretty much all magic is channeling the power of the ancestors. It is even thought that this channeling is what ignites the spark of magic within themselves, in much the same way as a fire will eventually ignite a raw branch which is exposed to it long enough. Without their ancestors, a young Adel is pathetic. With their aid, he or she can perform stunning miracles. No wonder their culture is centered around ancestor worship. And no wonder such a culture is filled with respect, even reverence, for the elderly. For they in turn will be the ones who will give strength and wisdom to their descendants for centuries to come.

This is of course entirely fictional, and does not even resemble any belief held by the author.