QM: Blog

Æsir (Human). Small confederation of six Earths of which Valaskjalf is their capital. Fought the Tuatha Dé Danann for over 1,000 years until the Tuatha Dé Danann gave it up as a bad job, much to the disappointment of the Æsir who were quite enjoying the fight. Their society is extremely class conscious with a system of prenoms or titles defining upper and lower classes. Mages work openly with the Æsir government but are not in charge in so far as anyone else appears to be either. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Viking/Norse

Anasazi (Human). Small pastoral society with a preponderance of very powerful Mages, peaceful but very isolationist. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Bhutan.

Craebh Ruadh (Human). An Earth where Mages rule ordinary humans, though quite benevolently for the benefit of all. Hostile to the Coalition of the Pure who hoped to find support amongst them but managed only to alienate themselves and earned enmity by assassinating the leader of the Craebh Ruadh who had opposed their proposals. Powerful in magic as a group, but individually no match for the High Mages of Earth. Much of their group magic has Theurgical roots via their priesthood. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Ireland before the Romans.

Nazca (Human and Neanderthal). One of only two (known) Earths where homo-neanderthalis survived, though very much as second-class citizens. Isolationist in nature and ruled by what appears to be some form of criminal secret society backed up by some very heavy duty Mages. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Apartied South Africa.

Olorun (Human). An Earth where religion rules via theurgical magic. Has little interest in other Earths with non-believers. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Yemen.

Phaëtoni (Human and Neanderthal). The other (known) Earth where homo-neanderthalis survived. Very much in the majority over homo-sapiens, though ruling them benevolently. A very peaceful society with little or no magical use. They are allied to the Craebh Ruadh in order to prevent incursions by the Tuatha Dé Danann. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Costa Rica.

Rutasi (Human). An Earth ruled by a world spanning empire whose Emperor is treated as a living god. Highly militaristic, though not expansionist, simply using them to keep the populace in line. Pretends that other worlds do not exist, though their Mages will open a dialogue if there's something that they want or need. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.

Tiamati (Human). A world where mysticism apparently runs riot and Mages are the highest of the high. Largely peaceful though find it difficult to comprehend the Mages of other Earths, nor cope with being treated as their equals. Closest approximate Earth analogy - Egypt under the middle kingdom of the Pharaohs.

Tuatha Dé Danann (Human). Expansionist militaristic society originally holding four Earths in its autarchy (Falias, Gorias, Finias and Murias). Technologically advanced up to about the level of 1800 AD, though uses magic to supplement its military and so are considered very dangerous.
The world of Murias has since seceded from the autarchy and now stands alone amongst the other civilised Earths.
The world of Finias has since been abandoned due to the Nephilim incursion there and subsequent genocide. Closest Earth analogy - Pre- revolutionary France.

Levels of Mage.
Apprentice. An apprentice is bonded to a master for twenty years, during which period he/she is fed, clothed, housed, trained and given a small allowance. They are constantly supervised and monitored to prevent them from breaking the rules and/or killing themselves.
Journeyman/woman. A journeyman/woman is bonded to the same master for a further one hundred years during which they are expected to find work within and without the magical community and pay back their debt of training (not necessarily money, but time and obligation). Many end up in the world of scientific academia where control of the elements and power manipulation helps them reach fairly high levels in universities and research laboratories throughout the world. They are warned not to become too conspicuous. Many also do research within the magical community as well as in various disciplines; magic is too much fun not to play with it.
A few end up working for the Council's enforcement groups around the world and essentially make sure that as few people as possible come into contact with real magic and/or clean up the mess in cases where it goes wrong or there has been a confrontation with the Coalition. It normally requires a high level of discipline to work in enforcement, though there are exceptions and the casualty rate can be quite high.
Mage. A Mage is a fully qualified magic user. He or she is financially independent and free of ties to a master, though most retain ties of affection and respect. They can more or less live where they want and do as they want so long as they follow the Council's rules.
High Mage. Though not a title as such, a High Mage is a one who has mastered the hidden higher magics in the iso depth and quantum layer fields. Whilst many Mages will touch upon one area or another (power, spells, healing, etc.) only a High Mage is master of all. The title is often used confusingly of any senior Mage.
Seer. A Seer is a specialised Mage, highly intelligent (even by Mage standards) and capable in gestalt of correlating masses of information. Specifically a female genome trait, they are very rare and treasured by those races and organisations that have them.

Yes, weighing in at 2mb, 1200 pages in 126 chapters, it's finally in it's SOL format.
I'll increase the posting to at least twice a week and hope you enjoy.

I don't get a lot of feedback, which isn't the problem :-D
The feedback I do get though is highly pertinent, a guy told me that he really liked Magician, but was losing interest as the updates were slow. Another that he didn't want to start reading it until it was finished (quite a few of you are like that).
Well, I've decided to increase the updates of Magician to one every week or so despite it not being finished. Currently I'm up to writing chapter 93), so there's a lot of slack there.I hope by the time the chapters catch up to where I currently am that I'll have completed the work. I reckon it'll take another 20 chapters, but when I first started, I reckoned the book would only be 50)As it is, you're going to have to hope that it's finished before the chapters stop coming, though I can (almost) guarantee it will be finished.
If you want more, sorry, but I will let you know when it's done.

One of my favourite authors passed away yesterday, if you haven't read any of his stuff, you've missed a treat. He had a way with words and a story line I could only envy and not even get close to emulating. RIP Invid Fan, you'll be missed by so very many avid readers.
My condolences to his family particularly his sister.