Aria Academia

Magic was originally “discovered” by the now patron saint of magic, Aria who was a High Nun and pledged herself to a god who named herself as Ada to her, in the form of a massive maternal dragon (of which doesn't exist in the world as of yet), and took her into her fold and gave unto her the knowledge of rituals and summoning and binding spirits to your will. She went on to teach her disciples about these great powers who learned they were predisposed to be better at one certain type and went on to discover new branches of these magics. Now, 33 years after her death and rise to sainthood, Zita and Allina are trying to open up a school for witches of all ages.

They are currently only taking apprentices to find and teach the best teachers for their school. Laura, Mattie, Jade, and Garnet are their current apprentices. Rosimite is a new hopeful who relies more on theory than practice. Amber is their wealthy investor with mysterious motives and the head of her household. Cedar is their contractor and builder. Wendy is in charge up general upkeep, the kitchens, and most everything else. Cedar later brings in Billiam as the newest hopeful.

Humans live to be around 120 generally and are extremely prolific, twins and more being fairly normal as a natural counterpoint for the increased percentage of couplings that can not produce offspring. Adoption is also common, mostly closed and between good friends that raise their broods together.

The school is less a traditional town school and not like a college in a city either, and more of a castle town with its own farmland with hired workers and their homes and families, blacksmith, mines, water supply, forest, and everything they’d need to sustain themselves. They trade and do business with nearby towns and with the local sentient wildlife that others tend to avoid. The school itself is a veritable castle made of magically molded stone with brilliant “carvings” and design. It is built in a series of circles with courtyards and gardens in the centers of these circles.

In many places around the world magic is considered a gift, a blessing from the gods and to assume you could better their gift with practice or study is foley. Even if they don’t hold these beliefs most don’t know magic is something that can be taught and learned by anyone. Throughout the world people are content in their routines. Everything that could be explored has been explored, for the most part. The Central continent is settling, people are falling into place, but there are some who, while not discontent, yearn for more. More knowledge, more skills, more magic. They will be the ones drawn to the school.

Many burgeoning witches are discouraged from pursuing such a profession since it’s a lengthy and slow process to learn any type of magic and almost no one studies it enough to teach it comprehensively. Women are expected to learn cooking,cleaning, sewing, housekeeping, accounting, or studying any number of more readily available scholarly topics instead of pursuing a career that is not only very specialized but their services aren’t highly sought out and they often have to travel a lot and face being ostracized in many less progressive places.

Magic, often called the Amber Arts, is itself the summoning of temporary constructs, whether it be fire or a familiar or the “hand of Ada” as most call magicks such as levitation and it requires constant attention or concentration to keep them on the physical plane. The type of magic one specializes in varies from person to person and new magic is being invented all the time. It is usually familial magic and is passed down from mother to daughter or sometimes during religious classes at the local church or by traveling nuns. A spark conjured can start a fire and a blade can cut and the results of them will last after the magic ends but you can’t just conjure up a false leg, it will disappear as any magic does.

Most magic relies only on concentration and will to make it work but some other magic, such as runes and sigils, needs a sacrifice. This is predetermined when the sigil is drawn and the magic expended reflects the sacrifice. Most popular is hair, a lock at a time, for small but important stuff. Sometimes if a person overexerts themselves, concentration wise, they can bleed from their eyes or nose or ears or internally which is the most dangerous. People usually know their limits but occasionally they can fall into a trance, taken by the magics they use to fulfil some cosmic balance quota, usually because they were abusing the magic.

If a person is righteous in life Ada may grant them the glory of becoming an angel to do bidding for their patron saint. Once an angel they lose their sense of self, becoming like an obedient newborn that only does as it is told. They are formless, becoming the will of the ever present Ada and doing her bidding. They are the physical nature of magic, the actual force being used. Over time they start to question and decide things for themselves, naming themselves and finding likes and dislikes, once this process begins they are born anew as a saint to serve unto Ada and keep the balance of the universe against entropy. If one is not chosen to be an angel their soul and energy is scattered into the stars to rejoin with Ada, for she creates all life from herself. It’s the spiritual idea of atoms.

Saints can die as well, if they become obsolete or corrupt or overreaching in their goals. There has never been a saint who resisted death when Ada so choose it. At least not yet.

Other than Ada there are several other gods. There is a god of chaos and a god for each planet in the system. The chaos god, Zed, likes Ada’s planet because of all the fun little beings on it and their little lives are so fascinating and so full of turmoil....or at least they will be if Zed has their way. Most gods are born in the heart of their planets when life first blooms in the oceans. They grow as their people grow, learning how to care for them as they begin to need more care, emotionally.

Zed came into being when their entire star system was engulfed by a black hole where the gods of all the planets, in their grief, came together to try and do something but found themselves twisting and melding in the heart of it. They came out the other end but they were not the same. They were one, they were Zed. And they wanted to have some fun! They fulfill the part of the cosmic scale that strives for balance that can not exist when all the gods only want peace for their people. Zed has a bit of a crush on Ada.