Lore

Aether artifacts are devices used in Thalassai's magical technology. They help move flying vessels and water, extending the work of aether mages into engineered equipment.

Aether magic is a school of magic that lets mages lift and move people and objects, or crush a target with invisible force. It is practised in Thalcoris, where Zayren serves as the emperor's personal guard.

Air magic is an elemental school of magic that moves air into directed currents. Mages use it to fly, drive sailing vessels, catch falling supplies, and attack with powerful or finely shaped winds.

Airships are flying vessels used in Xalmyrra to carry passengers, cargo, and military supplies.

Anti magic armor is thin, durable silver armor that resists magic while allowing agile movement. Its close fit and light weight make it practical to wear in combat.

Archon is the title of a regional ruler in Thalassai. Its five regions are led by five archons: Thalena, Naryon, Ignaros, Calythos and Zephyra. Thalena governs Chronasis as archon of Space and Time. Zephyra is archon of Air and governs A...

The Attack on Ishtanur was an allied assault led by Simon and Aelius against Zain's capital in Ulzathir. The attackers failed to seize Ishtanur and withdrew after astragons warned them of danger from the fighting at Rimvold.

The Attack on Kaldaryn was an attempt by Azarion and Eliona to kill Kaelion after the ancient Order of Thalion Zenith returned to Valrindor. Their strike devastated part of Kaldaryn City and killed civilians and mages, but Kaelion surviv...

Thalassai uses a numbered year count that is also followed in Valrindor. When Jin Leiyun visited Haverloch, he found that its year matched Xolterra's: 5365. The count does not give the age of the world.

Balance magic is a magical technique learned by Khoradyn from a man he met during an expedition. His training involved extensive meditation, and he stopped aging from that time. Khoradyn still remembered the training long afterward, alth...

The Battle for Cyndarel was the siege and fighting around Cyndarel between Garrik's allied army and Raphael's faction. Raphael was defeated, but both sides suffered heavy losses, and Azarion's uncontrolled hurricane devastated much of ce...

The Battle of Hengzhou was a shaper attack on Hengzhou, the capital of Hengvaris. Khoradyn and Garrik brought their army to repel the attackers, but most of the city was destroyed. Survivors joined them on the march east and helped estab...

The Battle of Raindawn was the defense of Raindawn against Zharrek and the shapers of Shroudvale. Jin Leiyun fought Zharrek while the city's mages held off the assault. The attackers withdrew, but the fighting and Essence draining damage...

The Battle of Valalav was an ambush near the ruins of Arcanis Village after Varnhallow collapsed. Raphael, Eliona, and Azarion targeted the returning mages and used their wounded survivors to draw in Thalena. She escaped into the void wi...

The battle west of Tharendur was an attack on Eira, Kaelion, Xarion, Marcellus, and Kazehiro as they traveled toward the source. Azarion and the mages sent to intercept them were defeated. Eliona arrived during the fighting and negotiate...

The Brighthaven Civil War was a struggle between Isaac's faction and Alistair Voss for control of Brighthaven. It ended with an attack on Voss's government in Radiance Prime, supported by Morozkaya. Vianna killed Voss, and a new triarch...

The Burning Frost Crystal is a first generation god core from Malverand that gave rise to Pyrathalor, the god of fire and ice. Isandriel took it from the vault beneath Maraveth and carried it while seeking someone capable of wielding its...

The Cataclysm was the collision and merging of the previous Xalmyrran cycle with the current one. It devastated Xalmyrra and restored memories of the previous cycle to some survivors.

The Celestial Games are a Thalassai tournament tradition in which mages compete in varied, dangerous trials. Past champions include Hadrian, Aelius and Ignaros. Aelius won several Games, helping him become an imperator. The trials were g...

A chronarc is a senior official serving the archon of Chronasis in Thalassai. Chronarcs help govern the city and manage specialized work from Stella Aeterna.

Constructs are magically shaped forms and manufactured devices used for labor, transport, protection and combat. They range from stone bodies guided by mages to metallic machines powered by Essence.

Copy magic allows a practitioner to reproduce another mage's spells or magic. Barachiel used it during the Malverand Empire, and Aurelia used it to acquire magic from other mages and carry a powerful spell taken from Abraxas.

Cosmic magic is a school of magic used to form starfield barriers, scorching attacks, glyph enchantments and meteor spells. Its light often takes the form of constellations and glowing patterns. Soltheris trains cosmic mages for its armi...

Cycles are repeating versions of Xalmyrra's history. The same people and events recur with differences, while darkness eventually consumes the inhabited land. The storms surrounding the region are connected to its confinement.

Darkness is corruption that consumes living land and produces warped creatures. The Land of Darkness borders southern Xalmyrra, where its fog and beasts threaten villages and travelers.

Darkness magic shapes shadows into tendrils, destructive barriers and solid forms used for restraint, movement and attack. Eira gained it after claiming the spiral shard, and Lythariel taught her to control it.

Divine magic is a golden school of magic used to heal wounds, form protective shields and strengthen bodies and objects. Its practitioners include healers and enchanters who fight at close range. The school is widely practiced in Erenmyr...

Dragon arts are Thundermarch's tradition of elemental magic, bringing fire, lightning and air together under the imagery of dragons and storms. The tradition honors Tianlei, the storm god. Its practitioners do not all command the same el...

Earth magic is a school of elemental magic used to shape stone and the ground. Its practitioners build roads and homes, raise barriers and use the terrain in combat.

Essence is the magical substance mages absorb and shape into spells. It is present in the world around them, including living beings, and can be concentrated in bodies or stored in crystals. It supplies power for casting, but drawing hea...

An essence core is a crystal holding a portable supply of Essence. Mages draw on that stored power to cast spells, while many ordinary tools and vehicles use cores as their fuel.

Essence draining is drawing Essence from a source to fuel magic. Mages may take power from cores or gather it from the world around them. Drawing from the land can also take strength from nearby living beings, so the source and amount ma...

Essence engines are machines that use Essence to power vehicles and constructs. They drive skyships and carts and form part of the machinery fitted inside manufactured constructs.

Essence powered devices put Essence and magic to practical use through manufactured objects. They include everyday light fixtures and portable protective equipment that uses a core to maintain a magical effect.

The abyss is a reversal spell carried by Thalena, who was known as Helena in her youth. It can return a limited area to an earlier state, undoing injuries and deaths and restoring people's positions. Its blue strands form an immense hour...

Essence towers gather Essence into cores, providing stored power for mages and machinery. Their charging artifacts restore depleted cores so the same objects can be used again. Towers stand within cities such as Irrathis and Zeydrith, as...

The Eternal War is Rahmavir's struggle against Abraxas and the Oracles for the source within the Plains of Eternity. Rahmavir sought its power, while Abraxas and his followers guarded it. The Malverand Empire aided Rahmavir for many year...

The Fall of Malverand was the collapse of the Malverand Empire and the wars against its surviving guardian rulers. Once stretching from Xalmyrra to Skarnheim, the empire fractured after Barachiel disappeared. Regional powers fought over...

Fire magic is an elemental school that shapes Essence into flames and heat. Mages use it for cooking, explosive attacks and movement using bursts of flame.

Fusion magic combines two magic schools into a single effect. Its forms include golden lightning, golden hailstorms and golden fire, as well as plasma spells and temporal sun spears.

Gates are massive half circle artifacts that provide passages between distant locations. Their stone and metal frames carry carved symbols. At Erenmyr, eleven symbols line the arch, including a spiral, lightning bolt, sun, moon, diamond...

The geometric core is an artifact that went missing from the ancient Malverand Empire. It is a small object whose form appears to shift between a sphere, triangle and rectangle depending on the angle from which it is viewed.

The Glaive of Frost and Fire is the weapon wielded by the god of frost and fire in his battle with Thalena. Its dual blades combined molten heat with freezing cold, and its strikes melted the stone beneath them.

God cores are artifacts from the Malverand Empire that give shard wielders extraordinary magical power. They include cores with independent gods and others that channel power directly through the wielder. They are relics of Arcanis's wor...

Gods grant shards to chosen mortals and supply their wielders with magic. Their influence reaches through their wielders and believers, shaping both magic and government.

The golden tree is the shard mark formed in a wielder's palm by a pact with Hrzai. Eira carries it after accepting the god's offer to teach her divine magic.

The Great Shaper War was an ancient conflict in Valrindor in which human nations defeated Zharrek's essence shapers and confined the survivors behind a wall around Shroudvale.

A holo band is a wrist device used in the Malverand Intergalactic Empire for communication, information searches and access to authorized systems. Its wearer operates a holographic interface by touching its controls.

Ice magic shapes Essence into cold and ice. Mages freeze water, form solid barriers and projectiles, and make icy surfaces for travel.

Illusion magic is a branch of Temporal Magic that uses Essence to alter perception. Mages hide people and places, change apparent forms and create moving doubles. An illusion can deceive an observer without changing the underlying person...

An imperator holds the highest military rank in Thalassai and commands its legions. Aelius, Hadrian and Marcellus have held it.

The Internal Thalassai War was a conflict among the five regions of Thalassai, deliberately instigated and prolonged by Helena. Millions died and cities burned before her own army conquered the regions and ended the fighting. That army e...

The Jazarel Battle was an operation by the Order against the rival guardians of the Malverand Empire at Jazarel. Thalion brought their forces together, then unleashed Jazarel Lake over the city and surrounding lands. The flood killed mil...

The Kaldaryn Peace Campaigns comprise Garrik and Khoradyn's efforts to end wars across western and central Valrindor through military intervention, negotiated settlements and alliances. Their followers established the Kaldaryn Protectora...

Kytherite, also called Kytheron 4A7, is an energy material used as fuel in the Malverand Intergalactic Empire's warp drive technology. Meridian in the Hyperion system supplies it, while Draxil in the Proxion system holds the richest know...

Life magic grows and controls vegetation and converts darkness into renewed plant life. Eira and Lythariel use it alongside darkness magic.

Lightning magic controls electric power through bolts, storms and shaped weapons.

Mage levels are numerical ranks used to describe magical development and recognize achievements. In Xalmyrra, the council grants ranks, and tournament organizers use them to arrange contests.

Magic takes several distinct forms, each shaping essence differently. Mages can wield more than one type or specialize in a narrower discipline.

Malverand hearts are crystal artifacts that preserve a wearer's essence signature and use essence to repair the body. They were developed in ancient Malverand to protect its guardians. The Heart of Oblivion implanted in Eira is one of th...

Malverine is a language of Valrindor associated with the lost Malverand Empire. It survives in spoken use and in ancient writing.

The Maraveth Core is the central control system of the Malverand Intergalactic Empire, housed beneath Isandro's Palace in Maraveth. Its large, undulating red sphere sits within several layers resembling glass, surrounded by generators, w...

The Maraveth War began in 5365 AX as a campaign against the remaining shapers in Shroudvale. An army led by Garrik of Kaldaryn entered the ruined city of Maraveth, where it encountered Eremion and the forces of Blackcrag Dominion. Their...

Mind magic acts on thought, emotion and consciousness. It includes healing and protective techniques as well as spells that induce sleep or impose outside control. Resonance magic can shape thoughts through sound, while divine magic can...

Nerissa's Invasion of Xalmyrra was an attack on Erenmyr by forces from Theryssa, Thiravos and their neighboring island nations, led by Nerissa with Gabriel's support. The invasion failed when Xalmyrran defenders broke the fleet's assault...

Origin magic is a form of magic distinct from the ordinary schools of essence. It includes unusual senses, inherited abilities and spells that use particles with different properties from essence. Its practitioners range from people with...

Orreries are machines that gather and concentrate essence for mages to draw upon. Thalvian developed them in Soltheris at Aurion's request, initially to strengthen the kingdom's defenses against darkness.

Plasma magic is advanced fire spellwork that produces intensely hot arcs and projectiles. It can be shaped along physical weapons as well as cast outward.

Quasicrystals are crystal structures with ordered patterns that do not repeat. They are found in Thalena's star shard and Nahm's geometric shard, which Virel wields.

The Reflective Nanite Defense System is a defense technology of the Malverand Intergalactic Empire, explored as a possible counter to the Spiral Mandate. Its devices can be assigned to defense and research.

Resonance magic is a school of magic based on vibrations and frequencies. It produces waves of sound and force and assists healing. It is common in Thalcoris, particularly Aurivallis, and less common in Thalassai.

Runic magic gives objects magical properties through inscribed runes. It is practiced in Skarnheim and Vintergard, where it serves transport, craftwork and defense. Its enchantments are related to divine enchantments.

The Shaoying Thundermarch War was a conflict between Shaoying and Thundermarch, centered on Cloudrift.

The Shaper Attack on Rimvold was Zharrek's assault on the capital of Skarnheim to reclaim Zal’therak's shard from Silas. Rimvold survived through the combined defense of Sigurd, Svanhild, Jin and Silas, who carried Zharrek’s final astero...

A shard wielder is a mage who draws on a shard bound into their body. A god can grant a shard through a pact, joining its power to the wielder’s own essence.

Shield generators are devices that create protective barriers for cities. Sol’s generators sustained cosmic blue and gold shields for months during Ulzathir’s invasion of Solvarria. Maintaining these defenses depended on the city’s essen...

Shores of Eternity is the sixth and largest volume of the books Thalena writes with Jin. Originally titled Beneath the Veil , it records their journeys and lives, drawing on accounts from several companions.

The Siege of Omberion was Garrik’s assault on Blackcrag’s capital during his advance from Maraveth. Blackcrag’s defenders and Rahmavir’s chosen repelled the attack by detonating skyships inside the city. Garrik and Aurion shielded the re...

The Siege of Rimvold was Ulzathir’s occupation of Skarnheim’s capital and the allied campaign to recover it. Zain, Gabriel and Ishqari held the city against Virel’s forces. The allies withdrew when Khauren took control of Zain, but recla...

Skyships are metallic aerial constructs used in Brighthaven. They patrol the city’s walls, circling above them at night. Brighthaven exports skyships across Valrindor.

The Solvarria and Pyrenis Campaign was a conflict between Thalassai and Ulzathir. Thalassai first occupied Solvarria by surprise. Zain retaliated against Pyrenis to draw Thalassai’s strongest mages out of Solvarria, but his attack was re...

The Source is a concentration of essence beneath Zarephon, formerly guarded by the Oracles of Eternity. Its outpouring feeds the River of Eternity and sustains the Plains of Eternity, whose expanding, essence rich lands threaten neighbor...

A spellblaster is a portable device used by Rahmavir that fires red corruptor projectiles capable of breaking spells. A model carried by Eliona had a metallic handle and a long tube, small enough to keep inside her robes.

The shard Eira took from the Temple of no Return appeared as purple light swirling in a solid form. Taking it filled her body with essence and left a dark spiral in her palm, glowing purple and black. It gave her the power to wield darkn...

The star shard is a star shaped artifact carried in Thalena’s palm. It appears with glowing white lines against her skin, and she can let it brighten or conceal its essence.

A sun core, also called a solar core, is a dense orb of sunlight found inside Kaelion’s body. Thalena removed his core for study, while an identical orb remains where Xoh’Tenol’s heart would be. The two objects are distinct from Kaelion’...

Sun Magic shapes essence into radiant light and heat. Its miniature suns can restore strength and nurture crops, while sunfire and sun spears burn and blast their targets. Xoh’Tenol supplied power through the sun shard carried by Tazarin...

Thalena’s silver sword is the weapon she made and wielded as Arcanis. Forged from essence cores compressed with aether magic, it holds a reserve of essence as well as serving as a blade. She designed it for use against gods and the shard...

Temporal magic is a rare school of magic that manipulates time through essence. Its blue spells can slow movement, protect people and objects, and move a mage from one place to another by blinking. It also supports unusually precise memo...

The Tenari are the people of Thalcoris, in northern Xolterra. They descend from migrants who left Xalmyrra. Magical instruction and worship of the Sun and Moon have shaped their culture. Their cities include Tequaltor, Xalatun, Chalxata...

The Teryndal Soltheris Battle was a confrontation between Xarion’s coalition and Aurion’s army at the border of Teryndal and Soltheris, following the Cataclysm. Eira tried to stop the war, but her darkness consumed most of both armies an...

The Thalassai Invasion was an attack on Thalassai by an alliance involving Haverloch, Ulzathir, Morozkaya and Brighthaven in the final Xalmyrran cycle. The attackers tried to defeat Thalena and free the captured Pyrathalor. Thalassai rep...

The Thalion Abraxas War was a conflict between the Order of Thalion Zenith and the remaining Malverand guardians, with Abraxas intervening against both sides. Thalion led the Order against Raphael and Eremion, whose fleets threatened its...

The Architect is the third chapter of The Eleven Stories of Old. Thalena completed the chapter and signed it as Author and Architect .

The Eleven Stories of Old is a book of myths, fragmented histories and prophecies found in Irrathis and Xolterra. Its accounts include Arcanis’s feats, the War of Scars and the founding histories of Xolterra’s nations. Copies contain dif...

The Legacy of Thalion Zenith is Thalena’s record of Thalion Zenith and the Order. It recounts Thalion’s deeds, his loyal followers and the creation of the Order, whose elite mages served him directly. The work preserves a history the Ord...

The Thiravos Theryssa Civil War was an ancient conflict between Thiravos and Theryssa during the decline of the Malverand Empire. Their guardian, Remiella, tried to stop the fighting by separating their lands with the power of her wave s...

The Three Obelisks are ancient sets of three towering pillars arranged around a marked platform. Sets exist on several worlds, including one beneath Novaris on Meridian and another beneath an island in the Navan Sea.

Timerifts are volatile tears in space and time. They can displace an area briefly, and large tears can be unstable and destructive.

Trains are vehicles that carry passengers and goods along fixed tracks. Thalena planned a magical rail network for Thalassai after seeing how much faster Earth's modern trains had become. She intended it to improve trade between Chronasi...

The Ulzathir Invasion of Solvarria was Zain's campaign to conquer Solvarria after the failed Thalassai invasion. It ended in victory for Ulzathir, with Archibald installed as Solvarria's ruler.

Unique magic comprises personal abilities that do not fit readily into the established magic schools. These abilities include unusual forms of perception and an exceptional understanding of machinery.

The Varnhallow temporal anomaly was a vast barrier that enclosed Varnhallow outside the ordinary passage of time. Life continued within it, but crossing its boundary could separate travelers and carry them into different eras. Michael, k...

Vector magic is a rare magic school that changes force and direction. It controls the paths of moving bodies and spells, allowing a mage to turn an attack aside or send it back toward its caster. It is a specialty of Haverloch and its go...

Vector voyagers are airships used in Haverloch. Their sleek, symmetrical hulls are diamond shaped, and they fly in precise geometric and zigzagging patterns above cities such as Axanaxa and Alula.

The Vireen expedition was a Malverand colonization mission that left Valrindor in 1021 BX. Eira, then known as Aruviel, led the journey to Vireen, where the settlers were to establish a colony and connect it to Aethrendar Gate through a...

Void rays are thin black attacks used by Abraxas. They emerge from voids and spatial fractures, pierce bodies and shields, and can detonate after striking their targets.

Void travel is movement through the Void or close to its boundary with the physical world. Gates connect distant places through it, while Silas uses Zal'therak's magic to move along its edge.

The War of Scars was a war across Xalmyrra begun by Kaldramir, a Keldaran commander who knew that the region repeated in cycles. His campaign burned much of Xalmyrra. Arcanis ended the fighting by descending over the armies on an astrago...

Water magic is one of the elemental schools. Mages shape and move water for transport, water supply, cleaning and combat.

Windweavers are flying vessels made in Thalassai to carry people and goods. The Thalassai also call them balloons.

Xalmyrran is the shared language of Xalmyrra, used in speech and writing. Its structured form is efficient and relatively easy to learn. People arriving from other worlds can learn to speak it fluently.

The Xolterra War was a manufactured conflict among the Tenari of Thalcoris, centered on Xalatun. The moon goddess Xoh’Metztli controlled the Tenari through resonance magic, making them fight their own people while believing they faced an...