It Began in a Tavern - World and Lore Encyclopedia

[Luxuria]

ETA: As of August 13, 2025, the GM of this roleplay is @ps102. Please direct all questions to him.

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It Began in a Tavern - Lore Encyclopedia
All info compiled/clarified by @ps102.
The Lore and World Building were collectively made by @ps102, @Louanne Learning, @IgnitedxSoul and @Luxuria.

Index

Base Magic System
Ether
E-Cells
Conventional Magic
Blood/Dark Magic

Advanced Magic
Spirit Magic
The Old Spells

Setting/Political Lore
Government
Social Classes
Geography and Geopolitics

World Lore
Symbol Language
Fragments and the Gear
Mythology
The Book of Embers
Scrolls of Yuuna and Kurai
Day of Calamity
​

 

[Luxuria]

Ether​

What is Ether?
Ether is the essence of everything. The world is made up of atoms (elements such as lithium), atoms are made up of subatomic particles (neutrons, protons), and subatomic particles are made up of quarks. This is all real science.

This is where it gets fictional. Quarks are made up of Ether, the most pure form of matter there is. The scriptures mention it as the "building block of everything".

Is Ether Magic?
Ether itself is not magic. It's just the source of the world. Mages, however, use it to perform magic. They have special cells known as E-Cells (short for Ether cells). There is a dedicated section on E-Cells.

 

[Luxuria]

E-Cells
​

Also known as Ether Cells, E-Cells are specific type of cells present within a mage's body. They're the core mechanism behind their magic.

Raw Ether, not woven into elements, is everywhere. The E-Cells within mages capture particles of Ether within their walls. A highly specialized biomechanism then takes the stored Ether and transforms itself into an element.

In simpler words, E-cells transform into atoms through their internal bio mechanisms.

Any Element?
As discussed in the conventional magic section, no. A mage must train hard to learn how to produce a specific element such as lithium.

How Does A Mage Command The Cell To Transform?
Through memory within the brain. The transformative mechanism inside E-cells is flexible and can be driven to produce any element. The drive comes from a mage's memory—which transmits a set of specific instructions.

The process is not all that well known. It's still under investigated by scientists. These are the basic findings.

Who Can Make E-Cells? Can Someone Train Themselves Into It?
The body of mages have a specific body part that generates them. In other words, it's in their DNA. A non-mage cannot give birth to a mage unless one of the parents is a mage. And even then, the chances are 50/50.

Can A Non-Mage Steal E-Cells?
Yes. This is covered in the "Blood Magic" section.

 

[Luxuria]

Conventional Magic
​

It's also known as elemental magic, and it's also the most common type of magic. When people talk about magic, they almost always refer to this type of magic. It is one of the two categories.

How Does A Mage Perform Conventional Magic?
A mage takes Ether and with their E-cells, constructs an element (such as oxygen). They then construct another element (such as hydrogen) and combines them into a compound. In this case, H2O, also known as water! It's basic chemistry.

The whole idea is... mages have the ability to bring elements into existence.

That's all there is to it?
Yes. That's all there is to performing magic. You just need to know basic chemistry: Elements and compounds.

But it's not all there is. Some rules exist.

Can Any Mage Create Any Element?
No. Before a mage can create an element, they must know how to create it. That takes immense practice. They can't just create anything they want on a whim. This is so there is a balance by adding time.

For a mage to create a simple water style for example, they must have practiced creating oxygen and hydrogen.

Mages with complex styles can creates lots of different elements. Most young, inexperienced mages can't do this kind of magic.

 

[Luxuria]

Advanced Magic
​

Some mages (such as Gamma) have performed magic that simply isn't possible by simply creating elements. They vanish, appear out of thin air, float, and other various acts that can't be explained by the rules of conventional magic.

This type of magic is performed by very, very few individuals. Not even the Queen herself can perform it.

What Exactly Is It?
It's also referred as "spirit magic" In many ways, conventional magic conforms to the rules of physics. The body properties of a mage are built to manipulate the world around them by synthesizing ether into elements.

Advanced magic is a lot more than this. Users don't just create, they skip the laws of physics altogether. Their bodies are not capable of this on their own. The only beings in the world who can override the laws of physics are spirits.

When a human is in a condition known as "perfect harmony" with a spirit, they gain access to their abilities, including their advanced magic.

Is it all powerful?
No. Even the spirits have limits by design. For example, Gamma is in perfect harmony with the spirit of autumn. The spirit of autumn itself has limited abilities.

Can Anyone Fuse With A Spirit?
Not really. To fuse with a spirit, the human must have the necessary Ether reserves in order to drive their abilities.

 

[Luxuria]

Blood/Dark Magic​

It's possible for a non-mage to take the blood of a mage, which contains E-Cells, and inject it to their own blood stream. This allows a non-mage to use magic.

Is There A Catch?
There are some severe limitations to this approach:

1. A non-mage's body is not made to handle magic. Every time they use magic, there is massive recoil, and their health takes a hit.
2. It's not considered ethical and it's dubbed as a taboo.
3. The more blood magic is used, the more their overall lifespan is reduced.

How Much Blood Magic Is Too Much?
That varies from individual to individual, but generally, they can't use too much at once. They have to let their body recover between uses.

What Sort of Recoil Is There?
That again varies from individual to individual. It can range from relatively simple tissue damage to a severe psychological and/or physical damage of all degrees.

What Is The Reason Behind The Recoil?
When E-Cells transform, they produce a shockwave-like effect. They also produce various toxic byproducts—chemicals that have all sorts of negative effects on the body. Mages have evolved to withstand E-Cell Recoil.

 

[Luxuria]

Government
​

The government is in the form of a monarchy. For centuries, the royal family has ruled over the land, and have been widely accepted by the general society in recognition for their power, wits, and general abilities as rulers.

This is the public definition of them. In reality, the monarchs are viewed by many as dictators who have no regard for the classes below them. Often, any groups who publicly perform demonstrations against them are condemned and are often legally sentenced to unfortunate fates.

Currently, Queen Melina reigns. Under her, the country has made vast advancements in science and overall global standing. She is known for her austere and merciless ruling style. The monarchs were always strict rulers, but Melina's government upped that aspect by ten fold.

A most common saying about the current government is: They will stop at nothing to get what they want.

 

[Luxuria]

Social Classes​

The world's society is class-based and is divided into several different ones that are arranged in a bottom-to-top hierarchy. The lower you are in the hierarchy, the worst you are regarded in the system.

Starting from top to bottom, these are the different available classes:

1. Royal Class
The highest class is the royal class. Monarchs rule over the country and they have the most influence over political world. As rulers, they are also well-off and profit from the efforts of all classes that is below them.

Most royals are also excellent mages. The queen in particular is regarded as the most powerful mage in the country.

2. Mage Class
Anyone who can perform magic belongs to the mage class. Mages are systematically favored over non-mages. They have overall better opportunities and are highly respected by the general population for their natural abilities to manipulate the world.

Every mage has their own particular magic style that they worked hard to develop during their lifetime. Some mages have highly complex styles and are regarded as sages.

A sage is a highly experienced mage with usually decades of practice and improvement under their belts. Their magic styles are usually complex, highly specialized, and highly valued. There almost none young sages.

3. Scientist Class
Although a number lower, the scientist class is mostly equal to the mage class. Scientists are mostly regarded for their research. Their work can range from studies about how the world works, to how magic itself works. The physiological difference between mages and non-mages is an example field of study.

Science was not always held in high regard. But over the years, the value of knowledge increased and became recognized even by the government, which used to place all of its faith in magic. Queen Melina was the monarch who changed this and officially recognized science as an official, and highly valuable, position in society.

4. Poet Class
Poets include artists, merchants, farmers, and workers of any kind that do not fall into the above classes. They're the workforce that keep society running.

They're less respected socially and are usually paid less for their work. It is not terribly uncommon for a poet to become highly respected. But it is a lot harder.

6. Lab Rat Class
Lab rats are at the bottom of the hierarchy. They're criminals who have been ostracized by society and considered the lowest of the low. They're usually kept in captivity for scientific experiments conducted by the government.

Not all lab rats are criminals. Some have been wronged by the legal system. Some have even be framed.

 

[Luxuria]

Geography and Geopolitics
​

The story is located in the Kingdom of Ardea—a fictional country in the European continent. It's known and recognized by most countries as the "cradle of all life" because the River of Beginnings is located at its center.

It's divided into four discreet domains: The fire, water, air and earth regions. In ancient times, those regions used to be ruled by tribes that practiced an elemental style exclusively. Wars were fought and each tribe lived in isolation until the country was eventually united by the current monarchs as a result of an all-out war that ended in tragedy.

At present, these names are purely kept for geographical purposes, and any style of magic can be practiced anywhere throughout the land as long as the mage in question holds a license issued by the monarchy that now governs.

Each regions has its own cities, towns, and special places. The capital is located in the Earth region, which is symbolic of how the royal family has roots from the earth tribe.

 

[Luxuria]

Mythology
The River of Beginnings
​

In ages past, the world was still. The trees, water, and air unmoving; until lightning lit the ends of the earth. Founts of green, purple, pink and blue Ether danced across the skies, filling the world with life. The trees grew, the oceans moved, and the air stirred fires across the lands. The world was alive and all living things sprang forth, Ether within their hearts.

However, when humans walked forth into the sunlight when the fires abated, only a few remembered the old ways- when mankind was one with Ether. So, those without were sent to live in the shadows, watched over by those who were truly connected to the world.

 

[Louanne Learning]

 

[ps102]

The Old Spells
​

Any spell that belongs to the "Old Spells" are of unknown origin, and unknown makers. It's debated by scholars whether humans created them. But most agree that they are ancient, and maybe not that much older than the world. Some claim that they were used to create the world itself. Old Spells are hard to study because most mages cannot cast them.

Conventional Magic prioritizes creation of something (fire, water, air). Old Spells do not create. They perform any kind of function as simple as heating water to as advanced as transposing a soul to one body from another. The royals feared their potential power and chose to hide them from their population as much as possible to reduce the possibility of someone discovering a way to cast them.

Every Old Spell is written in an equivalently old language known simply as Symbol Language. Symbols are physically written to any surface and connect to each other using lines to form a networked-like structure—called the marking. The more complex a spell is, the more symbols and lines are required. When a very advanced Old Spell is viewed from a distance, it looks like an impossible labyrinth.

Extreme precision is required to correctly write an Old Spell. No human can do it alone. A spirit is often needed to assist with its casting, but there is no theoretical reason as to why a human can't do it alone. Only a practical one.

 

[ps102]

Symbol Language
​

An ancient language made up of complex symbols. Every symbol represents "pure" function. Pure simply means singular and atomic—it doesn't do multiple things, but one. A single symbol is useless for that reason. A good analogy for this are numbers. All ten numbers (0-9) are required for math to be meaningful.

Nobody knows its origins. Some speculate that the world was made using this language. But this claim is often dismissed for the simple reason that most cannot even proof the supposed functions behind the ancient symbols. To most, they look like any other character.

In reality, this is because only a very few can write these symbols successfully. Precision is required. Furthermore, measuring the effect they exhibit once written is impossible with current technology, making scientific proof impossible.

 

[ps102]

The Celestial Gear and The Fragments
​

The Celestial Gear, often referred to as just the gear, is an extremely powerful palm-shaped object that can alter and influence the world. The spirits used it back in the beginning of time to create everything as it is now. For example, Yuuna made light and Kurai darkness. It can be used to alter the world in almost anyway. The only thing the gear cannot affect is the most basic element of existence: Ether. It can only use Ether to create bigger elements through combination. It can also be used for fast destruction.

The gear is multilayered. A reference can be found here. After the day of calamity, the spirits fragmented it into its seven parts—known simply as the fragments—and scattered them throughout the world so the event may never repeat again. The seven fragments correspond to the seven colors of the spectrum, and accordingly to seven gods -

1. Red — Chaos (Original god formed from the void)
2. Orange — Aether (God of air)
3. Yellow — Chronos (God of time)
4. Green — Gaia (God of Earth)
5. Blue — Hemera (God of day)
6. Indigo — Eros (God of love)
7. Violet — Tartarus (God of the Underworld)

The user must drive the gear in order to harness its capability. Spirits can do it naturally, but humans cannot. They require immense Ether reserves to use it meaningfully.

It works with turns. The way a user turns the gear affects what it does. A full turn will cause the rebirth of the universe.

 

[Louanne Learning]

The Book of Embers

The Book of Embers is the sacred scriptures of beginnings and endings. From the smallest to the largest things, including life itself, it lays out how to bring about change.

In our story, its knowledge was used to resurrect the Ghosts of Kodama Abbey. The Book described how the High Mage and High Scientist would come together with a royal violin, and thus awake the ghosts.

The Book of Embers describes the various uses of the Celestial Gear. Not only does it describe the gear’s structure, but also its many functions. Its applications are broad in scope, the cause of many diverse effects, including the renewal of existence itself.

The final chapter in the Book of Embers outlines the doctrine of Eternal Recurrence. This doctrine states that the universe echoes through an eternity of infinite cycles, dying and being reborn in the fire of change. This is accomplished with a special turning of the Celestial Gear, which may result in a rearrangement of the circular motions of the heavens. It can lead to either purification or corruption, depending on who has control of the moving celestial image. In other words, the type of magic used to make the turn decides the future.

 

[ps102]

Scrolls of Yuuna and Kurai​

The two scrolls, along with The Book of Embers, are part of the three scriptures.

The Scroll of Yuuna predicts that three women, each representing one of the three major social classes, will embark on an adventure to change the world. Each of the trio will provide their own unique experience to create the diversity required to bring balance and order instead of chaos, discord and inequality. Light, peace and harmony are the core themes of the scroll.

The Scroll of Kurai predicts that a warrior will cease the legendary gear and grasp all of existence. She will use her power to tear the world apart and restore it anew. A big part of the scroll tells epic stories on how the warrior will achieve the feat. Many of the stories hint how the warrior will destroy the sun and bring darkness, but darkness is portrayed as positive.

Both of the scrolls were written by Yuuna and Kurai. They encapsulate the will of each spirit. Kurai wrote his scroll to depict the warrior Melina is meant to be, while Yuuna wrote her scroll to tell her of her ideal visions for humanity and the wider world.