Wow, I got writing! Here’s the home world of the mages in the sci-fi meets fantasy storyline.
Mages’ World (Geisa)
Geisa is the fourth planet out from a yellow, M-class star much like Earth’s sun. It has one very large landmass that stretches nearly pole to pole and covers over a quarter of the planet’s surface with numerous outlying islands, some of them very large in size. In all the inhabited worlds in the galaxy, Geisa is different. Here, magic is everyday.
This landmass is known by the natives as Deurna’dae, the god’s palm. Ancient mythology says the god Daeun reached up from the sea, his womb in his mother Geisa and extended his hand open towards the sun. There, life flourished.
At the far north and south are tundra-like expanses. The northwest is rocky and the inlets are filled with icebergs and zelfin, striped seal-like blubbery creatures that are awkward on land but with their long tusks can gore a whale with lightning speed in the ocean.
The Western Spines, a tall, jagged range of mountains comes south/southeast out of this northwest region staying close to the coast. The small areas between the coast and mountains are lush with life. Many towns flourish here which focus on fishing and trade with merchant ships. Zelfin oil and skins are brought down by hunters.
Some communities mine the spines and bring in raw ores as well as beautifully crafted armour and jewelry. These groups typically consist of a few large families who have lived in the mining community, called a gneninchel, a very long time (most gneninchel have less than a dozen large families which have been there for several centuries). These people are very close-lipped around strangers. While they make jewelry for sale, they rarely wear anything decorative or garish and frown on excessive, showy behavior.
To the east of the mountain range is a large, vast desert. While some nomadic tribes claim this as their home along with the dakra, a flying rat-like reptile about the size of a person, and the jhunnis, a carnivorous sandworm, not many others travel here except to go across for merchant routes. The Ouhnai, the nomads, generally leave the merchants alone though for unknown reasons various groups are attacked brutally, and often no bodies are found, they simply disappear, their belongings left on the road.
Towards the equator the mountains turn to gentle hills and rolling plains. The desert turns to plains as well towards the east coast and the south. Here a vast inland salty sea separates the western and eastern mid-sections of the continent. The sea is Daeun Suil, God’s Eye. Daeun looks out on his peoples from this ocean. Changing salt content and currents make the inland lake unpredictable and cursed by many people. Those who live on the shore have rites to protect themselves from the spirits of the cursed ocean. To the west the plains turn to forest, then to rain forest at the equator around a vast river that runs from the mountains and splits, into the larger ocean and the inland one. Along the east coast the plains turn to marshes, swamps, and bogs between the inland coast and the eastern coast of the continent. The Grey Glades house many creatures and spirits. Dangerous at night, the locals bar up their fort-like towns but celebrate wildly during the day. The grey folk, as they are called, seem to have this bi-personality built in. They can be seen wearing garish clothing and even piercings and body tattoos, and often travel playing music and weaving beautiful tapestries and textiles. But they are solemn and wary at night. If they must be out, even in a foreign land, they wear dark, bland clothing and are usually silent.
In the southern portion of the continent are more of the larger cities. Giant castles dot the hilly landside in the lands of the Kingdom of Maer’nuc. This is the largest governmental entity by far. The nomads of the desert are believed to have a council overseeing the various tribes, though little is known. For the miners, each community has a system of rank based on clan and achievements as well as popular opinion through which decisions are made. Each gneninchel is independent but communicates and does business with the others. The grey folk will be mercenaries if needed and each fort city is very independent.
The southern lands are often just called Maer’nuc for they are virtually one and the same. Deep forests, rivers, and lakes dot the countryside between fields and hillside. Harsh winds blow onto the cliffs on the east coast. Some of the largest and most beautiful islands are to the east of this coast, thus some ports exist to do trade with them, but for the most part the best sailing is on the west coast. A small dormant volcano chain lies to the far south just before the tundra. The lands around it are dead, rocky crags.
Most of the southern continent is Maer’nuc, a fairly traditional kingdom. At times the king of this nation has been vain enough to consider the other peoples across the continent his own. Usually, the others, especially to the north don’t care as what the king thinks doesn’t mean an iota to their lives. There have been kings in the past, such as Ciocras, who tried to build castles across the entire continent, and had the clerics of Daeun enlighten the ‘savages’ of the north. This, the northerners had a problem with and revolted, decimating the kingdom’s army and coffers. Since then few have tried to be so bold. At times various islands near the coast are under the winged mount and sword-wielding knight banner of Maer’nuc, and decades later they are independent. Some baronies are part of the kingdom in name only depending on who holds the title of baron or baroness.
The predominant religion is that of worshipping Geisa, the water mother and Daeun, the earth son and father of all. Everyone pays heed to the denizens of the spirit world, not so much worshipping them as practicing rites to keep them satisfied and at bay. The grey folk pay greater heed to the spirit world though and are said to walk freely in both worlds just as some spirit folk do.
The native people are called the Seiachan, though as can be seen there are many different cultures within their one race. Their technology is roughly medieval level: primitive herbs and cutting for medicine, nobles tending to get more education than commoners or merchants.
The most amazing thing about Geisa is the spirit magic. Nearly every person born has some innate ability to draw from the spirit world. Once someone dies their spirit wanders the land towards the watery, reflective barrier (that only the dead and those who spirit walk can see) that separates the spirit realm from the real one. Usually, they cross over and never come back. Some never do cross, others come back, and others still hover in the watery boundary, never quite in either realm.
Essentially, a Seiachan’s ability is to tap into this spirit realm and pull powerful energies to do almost anything magic can be considered to do: summon a fireball, heal a wound, talk to the dead, make a wall melt away. Some are stronger than others. Each culture practices their abilities differently. Some can even cross the boundary while still alive. Generally the ability is fairly weak without using a spirit stone, a particular stone mined which can be used for some time to amplify a mage’s powers. Carefully used a stone can last centuries, poorly used it is barely worth a single use. While nearly everyone can do some little trick, only a small few who are powerful and dedicated enough study to become a mage or magess.
While the world could be unbalanced by magery, those who study it respect it for what it is. They use it sparingly (to varying degrees). But they all realize that if too much is used, the boundary between spirit world and real one can become weak.