Note on Blog; On the Powers of mages

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who's read my blog for doing so. I may not say it often but I value your input and your willingness to put up with my often long winded, rambling, and generally unpublishable grammar/spelling.



I do these sorts of side notes quite often, in case you haven't noticed. It's because I always loved the appendices. Think of this as the background information that most of the characters know, and I'm just putting out there for you to know.







Petra is the most powerful Mage to date; but what is it that defines that power?

Simply put, a mage's power is defined by their capacity to wield magic. Experience and natural affinity are the ruling factors therein.

Natural affinity is the most important factor for most mages. This affinity decides how well a magic user can grasp certain fields of magic. As an example, Alicea has a particular affinity for the air and lightning. Shecan still wield other sorts of magic, but she will always be most effective when she attacks with a bolt of electricity or a gale force wind. Not in damage, fire kills just as easily for her as it would for anyone else, but in energy use. It costs her less to use lightning than to use fire.
But natural affinity also defines how much total energy a magic user would have. This is usually set to a scale. The default scale is the 'T' Scale. A T0 would be a non-user, with a T11 like Petra being unthinkably powerful, and an above-average mage like Alicea being a T7. Immortals are held on an 'I' scale, which indicates experience more than affinity; that's an issue for another day though.
Average depends on the race; Nielda are not more powerful at max, but rather simply more powerful on average(few T1-T2 and more T3-T4 than humans). Ga-Vok average at about a T2, with a moderate total population. Jaguans average at a T5, but have a total magic using population of less than a percent. Gravagans average at T2, with a total magical population of 95%. In essence, average power rises as total pop lowers.

Experience is next most important. A mage's capacity to wield magic improves as they use it. If you do something a hundred times it comes more naturally than if you've only done it once. This is one of the reasons Immortals are epiclly more powerful than mortals; they've been doing this for so long they can drop a hail of pure unadulterated destruction over a square mile radius without even thinking about it, which is made all the easier by it's not really costing them anything. This is how Petra could stop armies in their tracks and command millions of undead. Magic costs an Immortal next to nothing; even for a new immortal, the cost of over exerting your power is gone. You just have to sleep it off when you're done. But even for a mortal mage, experience is critical to success in magic. Practice makes perfect.

Nieldic naming conventions

Might as well start where I did. Nielda itself is a word derived from the people's own conventions. Niel was the name of a major deity; in reality he was a powerful Dryad. Niel was attributed having taught the Nielda how to build walls and canals; the staples of early Nieldic archeitecture. By the time of the Junlaerd Niel himself was long dead, but he was revered as the high god of the generally accepted pantheon. The Nielda considred him their spiritual father, the one who first initiated civilization. Thus the sufix, 'da'.

The Nielda divide people up primarily by parental status. Until you have children you are Da, child. Mulda is son; Felda daughter. Once you have children you become Dair, parent; Muldair being father and in turn Feldair is mother. That particular set of names tends to confuse humans who find themselves in the vicinity of Nielda. Many a traveller has mistakenly confused the two. Dadair is grandparent, translating roughly as, one whose child is a parent; feldafeldair being you maternal grandmother; muldamuldair being a paternal grandfather, and so on. Beyond that the Nielda simply refer to relatives as 'eldair' which means more or less exactly like the word it resembles. Siblings are 'dan', muldan or feldan. uncles and aunts are 'feldairmuldan or feldairfeldan' or conversly if on the father's side. There is little mistaking how a relative is related to you.

It should be pointed out now that all Nieldic linguistic notes refer to so called 'high Nieldic'; the language in which magic is spoken and which Nielda use to confuse other races. Day to day affairs have been conducted in Common, an internationaized variety of English, since first contact with humans was made in the 4300s(Nieldic standard of course). Even most Nielda find it to cmbersome for daily use.

Felda, and Mulda are still used frequently for names though; primarily by the nobility, and upper classes of Nieldic society. Gansfeld(muld) would be the daughter(son) of a lord, lord being the rank of nobility at which political power exsists. Since there are no less than a hundred such lords the 'Gan' is usually substituted for the world of origin.
Gan translates as chief or leader; lord is just the modern translation.
You may have noticed a name, Spielgan, used. The name means 'war chief' or 'battle leader'; but is used more often as 'captain'. Their are two seperate, at times intertwining, Spielgan families. The Anatolian Spielgans are low nobility, and are loyal followers of the local Stone family. The Imperial Spielgans are the semi-hereditary captains of the guard; A position they have managed to hold through constant vigilance and consistently good politics.

Another useful word is 'Hoval'. It translates as house, but is used as clan. The most freqeuent use is in the formal introduction of a noble. Ah du Petra, felda du hoval laerd, is the example I'll use. The common translation is 'I am Petra, daughter of the Imperial House'. Though it translates in meaning as 'I'm Petra Laerdsfeld, submit to me or I'll destroy you and everything you hold dear' since that is the main thing a member of the Imperial family expects when introducing themselves to a non-noble. Laerd is king, but the Nielda use it interchangably with emperor.

The last two words you should know are 'Shaditha' and 'Zink' as well as the latter's derivatives. The first translates as demon, although it is the root of the common word shade. It refers to both the demons themselves and to the brand of magic they use. It is never spoken, always either muttered cautiously or cryed angrily; depending on the circumstances.
The second word, 'Zink' refers to the Nieldic embodiement of death. She is maternal and compassionate. She is also the only member of the Nieldic pantheon with no historical origin. The verbed form is 'Zikat', it is a word with magical bonds to prevent its use as a death command; though a powerful magic user can override those bonds. This particular set of words is used very cautiously, For reasons that shall be seen.