Appendix A: Map of Leveria
image [https://i.imgur.com/COFslBo.jpeg]
Note: This map of Leveria was drawn, slightly out of scale—allegedly for artistic reasons—by The First Voice of Peace during their early childhood.
Appendix B: The Bluerose Primer on Leveria
My dear uncle and king, Adameon, Fifth of His Name,
I discovered this in the possession of a Kavovan woman employed at Leverith’s Touch. The initial text was in Kavovan, but Serapheena agreed to translate it. Sera retained a copy of her own and is analyzing it but she left this one free of her notations. The Kavovan woman has been placed in the Blood Cells and granted accommodations for gentle care, pending your evaluation and judgment of the situation. My initial questioning has led me to believe this to be the work of Gideon’s Royal Steward, disguised as a helpful message to Kavovan refugees. Sera assures me that my hunches are not paranoid and if Eron Bluerose were truly concerned for their welfare, this woman would have been in Sapphirica rather than Rubinia. Unfortunately, I suspect that his information network in Rubinia may be more extensive than we thought and Kavovan spies, even metamorphs, may be among us.
Yours Loyally,
Captain Jaseon Ruby
-------------
My friend,
I have enclosed summaries of the key elements of Leverian society that are often challenging for the people of our native lands to grasp. These basics will be essential to your ability to adapt to life here. I wish you all the best as you enjoy your freedom from the governors and their indentured servitude. Welcome to Leveria!
The Divine Thirteen
Meladon (MELL-uh-DIN)
Titles: King of the Divine. Divine Father. Great Father. Father of All. The Just.
Role: Meladon is credited with creating the world. Meladon departed the world with his Paradise during the Divine Fratricide. Some priestesses preach that he lives on the moon. It is believed that he welcomes those who live just lives into Paradise upon their death.
Visage: Leverians depict him as a strong, fatherly man wearing a crown on his head and cupping a sphere in his hands.
Traits: He is the embodiment of justice, lawfulness, righteousness, and leadership.
Holyday: Rebirth. Meladon Waxing, Meladon Moon. Rebirth is the first day of the new year. Leverians believe it is a chance to begin anew and to pursue a more just existence. Traditionally, presents are given to celebrate this new beginning.
Zamael (zah-MAY-ell)
Titles: Divine of Death and Corruption. The Dark Brother.
Role: Zamael is blamed for the deaths and departures of the Divine Thirteen. It is believed that Zamael reaps the souls of the dead who are unjust and banishes them to eternal damnation in his Hells. Zamael is the Brother of Meladon and uncle of the eleven Divine Scions. Zamael is the eternal enemy of Leverith, his antithesis.
Visage: A shrouded figure with long, dark hair, a snarling grin, and scythe.
Traits: Death incarnate, corruption, betrayal, jealousy, envy, brutality, mercilessness, hatred, and evil. Zamael seeks to destroy all traces of love and peace.
Holyday: Reaping. Zamael Waxing, Zamael Moon. Reaping is spent trying to scare others, often wearing masks. It is intended to remind people of death and teach them that it is not to be feared. Reaping is seen as a triumph over death for another year.
Gidi (gid-DEE… yes, just like the word giddy)
Titles: Divine of War and Strength. The Great Warrior. The Mighty.
Role: Firstborn of Meladon.
Visage: A bearded, physically robust, armored warrior holding a greatsword.
Traits: Heroism, glory-seeking, uses strength to solve problems, and is emotionally expressive/explosive
Holyday: Catharsis. Gidi Waning, Gidi Moon. Catharsis is a day devoted to feeling your emotions by venting all your frustrations. The goal is to share these and then leave behind the conflict and let go of the distress. This is a day devoted to disclosing things that people have been withholding and brooding upon. In Leveria, this is often facilitated with the potion Remembernot or its active reagent, the Oblivia herb; those without access to Oblivia or Remembernot use alcohol to facilitate forgetting the conflicts inevitably aroused by sharing negative emotions with loved ones.
Yadeen (yah-DEEN)
Titles: Divine of Wisdom, Learning, and Stories. The Arcane. The Scholar. The Storyteller.
Role: Secondborn of Meladon.
Visage: A tall bearded man holding a scroll in his left hand. Yadeen is sometimes depicted with a staff or with a musical instrument.
Traits: Lover of stories, seeker of knowledge, curiosity, and great intellect.
Holyday: Telling. Yadeen Waxing, Yadeen Moon. Telling is an entire day devoted to telling stories with your family and friends.
Ovidon (AH-vee-DON)
Titles: Divine of Commerce, Craftwork, and Labor. The Builder. The Mercantile.
Role: Thirdborn of Meladon.
Visage: A strong, young adult holding a hammer in one hand and a coin in the other.
Traits: Efficient, organized, crafty, persuasive, and articulate.
Holyday: Barter. Ovidon Waning, Ovidon Moon. A festival day where everyone buys, sells, and trades items with their family, friends, and neighbors. Leverians are encouraged to craft something specific for this day and to trade it for another thing that has been crafted for this day.
Norali (nor-RALL-lee)
Titles: Divine of Sun, Stars, and Light. The Illuminator. The Guide.
Role: Fourthborn of Meladon and eldest of the Goddesses.
Visage: A short woman with body length hair holding the stars in her hands.
Traits: Hopeful, instills hope in others, guides those who are lost.
Holyday: Brighten. Norali Waning, Norali Moon. Brighten is a day devoted to light, hope, and kindness. Each person lights a candle and gives it to somebody then says kind things to that person. The goal is to guide the person to happiness or hope for the future, to brighten their face with a smile.
Celegana (SELL-uh-GAH-nuh)
Titles: Divine of Earth and Nature. The Provider. The Bountiful.
Role: Fifthborn of Meladon.
Visage: A tall, sturdy, large-breasted woman holding a tree in her right hand and a stone in her left.
Traits: Strong-minded, stubborn, growth-oriented, wholesome
Holyday: Harvest. Celegana Waxing, Celegana Moon. This is a day of feasting on the bounties of Celegana. Eat. Drink. Eat some more.
Dalis (dale-LISS)
Titles: Divine of Water. The Tranquil. The Serene.
Role: Sixthborn of Meladon.
Visage: A slender lady with a tranquil expression and water in her cupped hands.
Traits: Calm, steady, unemotional
Holyday: Purification. Dalis Waxing, Dalis Moon. This day is devoted to immersing one’s body in water, ideally unclothed, to purify sin and to cleanse one’s spirit and body. In Leveria, this day is often accompanied with frolicking.
Qoryxa (CORE-rick-ZAH)
Titles: Divine of Ice and Cold. The Judge. The Aesthetic. The Vindictive.
Role: Seventhborn of Meladon. Twin of Seraxa.
Visage: A beautiful lady with snowflakes in her hair and hands and icicles growing off her body.
Traits: Appreciates beauty, vindictive, envious, judgmental, traditional, conservative, charitable.
Holyday: Pageant. Qoryxa Waning, Qoryxa Moon. A day devoted to competitions such as beauty contests, martial tournaments, musical rivalries, and any other aspect or performance that can be judged.
Seraxa (seer-RAX-zah)
Titles: Divine of Fire, Flames, and Heat. The Cunning. The Passionate. The Brilliant.
Role: Eigthborn of Meladon. Twin of Qoryxa.
Visage: An athletic woman with a cunning smile, fiery hair, and crossed arms.
Traits: Passionate, clever, liberal, and altruistic.
Holyday: Burning. Seraxa Waning, Seraxa Moon. A day devoted to brainstorming and reflection upon last year’s failures and next year’s successes. Families sit around a bonfire where they burn away the failures of the past to provide fuel for next year’s success.
Zafrir (ZAFF-rear)
Titles: Divine of Wind and Chaos. The Everchanging.
Role: Ninthborn of Meladon.
Visage: A carefree boy forcing air out of his mouth.
Traits: Unpredictable, capricious, and chaotic.
Holyday: Respite. Zafrir Waning, Zafrir Moon. A day devoted to doing nothing at all.
Balbaraq (BALL-burr-RACK)
Titles: Divine of Sky, Storms, and Lightning. The Mischievous. The Storm. The Vengeful.
Role: Tenthborn of Meladon.
Visage: A boy wearing a snarky grin holding a lightning bolt in one hand while his other hand is behind his back.
Traits: Vengeful, boisterous, immature, and inappropriate.
Holyday: Shock. Balbaraq Waning, Balbaraq Moon. A day devoted to trying to shock, trick, and prank others. Unlike other holydays, Leverians continue their work duties on this day to facilitate the shenanigans.
Leverith (LEV-ver-RITH)
Titles: Divine of Love and Dreams. The Innocent. The Lover. The Dreamer.
Role: Eleventhborn of Meladon. Youngest of the Divine Scions.
Visage: A beautiful young woman holding a white carnation and smiling.
Traits: Loving, peaceful, empathic, altruistic, and belief in goodness of others.
Holyday: Embrace. Leverith Waxing, Leverith Moon. A day devoted entirely to spending with your life’s mate. For those without life’s mates, it is a day devoted to spending with someone who may become your life’s mate.
Time
The units of measurement for time in Leveria are based on geometric principles. Days are also often called rotations, representing a complete rotation of the sun. Each day has 24 angles or 360 degrees. An angle is equivalent to the Kavovan hour. Angles are further subdivided into degrees. Each angle has 15 degrees. Degrees are the equivalent of 4 Kavovan minutes. Degrees can be further broken down into turns. Each degree has 240 turns. Turns are the equivalent of the Kavovan second.
In summary, there are 240 turns in a degree, 15 degrees in an angle, 24 angles or 360 degrees in a rotation. In Kavovan terms, there is one second in a turn, 240 seconds or 4 minutes in a degree, 60 minutes or one hour in an angle, and 24 hours in a rotation.
The Leverian year has 13 moons. Each moon consists of the 26-day cycle of the moon waxing into a full moon and waning to a new moon. Thus, the start of a moon is the first day after a new moon (the time when the moon is not visible in the sky) and the last day of the moon is a new moon. There are two 13-day spans within each moon representing whether the moon is waxing or waning. Each moon is named after one of the Divine Thirteen. Within each moon, days are named after the Divine based on birth order except that Zamael goes last in the order. Further, days are identified based on whether the current span is during the period where the moon grows (Waxing) or whether the moon is diminishing (Waning). Thus, each moon has twenty-six days in the following order: Meladon Waxing, Gidi Waxing, Yadeen Waxing, Ovidon Waxing, Norali Waxing, Celegana Waxing, Dalis Waxing, Qoryxa Waxing, Seraxa Waxing, Zafrir Waxing, Balbaraq Waxing, Leverith Waxing, Zamael Waxing, Meladon Waning, Gidi Waning, Yadeen Waning, Ovidon Waning, Norali Waning, Celegana Waning, Dalis Waning, Qoryxa Waning, Seraxa Waning, Zafrir Waning, Balbaraq Waning, Leverith Waning, and Zamael Waning. The full moon occurs on Zamael Waxing and the new moon occurs on Zamael Waning.
It would perhaps be convenient if the ordering of the moons was also dependent on birth order excepting Zamael. However, this is not the case. The ordering of moons is based on seasonal characteristics. For instance, even though Qoryxa and Seraxa are twins, their moons are distal because fiery Seraxa is a summer moon whereas frigid Qoryxa is a winter moon. The Leverian calendar is broken down into seasons with the following ordering of moons:
Spring – Meladon, Leverith, Dalis, ¼ Balbaraq
Summer – ¾ Balbaraq, Norali, Seraxa, ½ Zafrir
Autumn – ½ Zafrir, Ovidon, Celegana, ¾ Gidi
Winter – ¼ Gidi, Qoryxa, Yadeen, Zamael
The Leverians also have a system of dating the year based on the numbered year of the era. Leverians acknowledge five eras. First is the Paradise Era, the time when it is believed that the Divine Thirteen lived on the earth amongst humans. The Paradise Era, abbreviated PE, is considered to have taken place from Creation until Meladon abandoned the world and took his Paradise with him during the Divine Fratricide. The next era was the Dark Era, abbreviated DE. The Dark Era was a period of godlessness and evil that followed the Divine Fratricide and lasted until Philladon Godseer slept beneath Covademara and founded the Leverian Dynasty. The First Leverian Era, abbreviated 1LE, followed and lasted approximately two thousand years starting with Philladon’s declaration and ending with the fall of the Leverian Dynasty. This Era is also called the Era of Love. Though this represents significant improvements form the Dark Era, it may exaggerate the level of peace during this time. The Second Leverian Era, abbreviated 2LE, lasted exactly 500 years. This era ranged from the end of the Leverian Dynasty to the Great Peace between the Ruby and Sapphire Kingdoms that was established by Linus Peacemaker. This was an era rife with near-constant strife between the two disputing inheritors of the Leverian Dynasty. Finally, the present era is called the Third Leverian Era, abbreviated 3LE. This era started with Great Peace and is in its 213th year. Taken together, Leverians report days in the following format: Leverith Waxing, Norali Moon, 213 3LE.
Currency
The Leverian currency system is standardized with several denominations of coin based on the value of the metal. The system has five types of coinage ranging from lowest denomination to highest: Iron iota, copper chip, bronze bit, silver lord, gold Leverian. Each gold leverian is worth 10 silver lords, 100 bronze bits, 200 copper chips, or 1,000 iron iotas. Thus, gold/silver is a 10:1 ratio; silver/bronze is a 10:1 ratio, bronze/copper is a 2:1 ratio, copper/iron is a 5:1 ratio. Golden leverians are imprinted with image of monarchs whereas silver lords are imprinted with the sigils of Leverian archlords. Bronze bits, copper chips, and iron iotas have no standardized adornments.
The Monarchs and Archlords of Leveria
Leverian kings and archlords pass power through hereditary means, prioritizing masculinity and relational proximity. The eldest son of the reigning monarch or archlord is the heir. If the son is deceased, the son’s eldest son is the heir. In the absence of sons or grandsons, the eldest daughter is the heir. In the absence of children, the eldest brother is the heir. In the absence of brothers, the eldest sister is the heir. In the absence of siblings, the eldest uncle is heir. In the absence of uncles, the eldest aunt is the heir. Then to masculine cousins then feminine cousins in greater orders of separation. Finally, with no living family, the line ends.
Ruby Kingdom:
Ruby
Location: Rubinia
King: Adameon Ruby V
Queen: Camellia Tandande
Heir: Prince Adamo Ruby
Seat of Power: The Ruby Castle
Sigil: Thirteen rubies on a field of gold
Military Force: The Rubyguard and Crimsonblades
Arax
Location: Spider’s Head
Archlord: Harvey Arax
Lady: Tarise Rainwater
Heir: Tegenaria Arax (daughter)
Seat of Power: The Spider’s Head
Sigil: A red spider on a blue field
Military Force: The Widowmakers
Bearbreaker
Location: Urzport
Archlord: Wayn Bearbreaker VI
Lady: Hanalei Oshion
Heir: Whelan Bearbreaker (son)
Seat of Power: Urz’s End
Sigil: A man wrestling a bear
Military Force: The Peacewatch
Brighton
Location: Noraligrove
Archlord: Remiel Brighton
Lady: Winoa Vinton (deceased)
Heir: Emeric Brighton (son)
Seat of Power: Sungarden
Sigil: Purple grapevine and apple tree on a green field
Military Force: The Hedgemen
Celvine
Location: Qorath
Archlord: Franseth Celvine
Lady: Master Sameria Floodwater (deceased)
Heir: Irvaine Celvine (grandson)
Seat of Power: The Ice Palace
Sigil: Red harpoon on blue ice field
Military Force: Red Harpoons
Dalardor
Location: Meridian
Archlord: Claudius Dalardor
Lady: Ezrul Oceanrider (cognitive-affectomancer)
Heir: Villiers Dalardor (son)
Seat of Power: The Blue Flame/Erudition
Sigil: Blue flame on a red sea
Military Force: The Sea Blazers
LaGrett
Location: Vidacas
Archlord: Belas LaGrett
Lady: Aurielle Von Gaelrich
Heir: Ramon LaGrett (son)
Seat of Power: The Eye
Sigil: An owl on a purple field
Military Force: Venerable Howlers
Ogden
Location: Ogden
Archlord: Tibero Ogden
Lady: Colette Tandande
Heir: Magnus Ogden (son)
Seat of Power: The Silo
Sigil: White gavel and sword crossing on a field of black
Military Force: The Lawkeepers
Oshion
Location: Oshion
Archlord: Waltaire Oshion
Lady: Nalade of Kavova
Heir: Selena Oshion (daughter)
Seat of Power: The Hull
Sigil: Black sailboat on blue field
Military Force: The Bloodfins
Rainwater
Location: Hardstone
Archlord: Loftlan Rainwater
Lady: Coraline Tandande
Heir: Aiden Rainwater (son)
Seat of Power: The Labyrinth
Sigil: Brown shepherd dog on a gray field
Military Force: Stone Hounds
Tandande
Location: Balbarian
Archlord: Gilebert Tandande
Lady: Delphine Dalardor (deceased)
Heir: Lamont Tandande (son)
Seat of Power: Deepstone Keep
Sigil: Golden lightningbolt striking a brown mountain
Military Force: The Mountain Men
Von Gaelrich
Location: Gaelrich
Archlord: Heinrick Von Gaelrich
Lady: Gellina Celvine (deceased)
Heir: Erich Von Gaelrich (son)
Seat of Power: The Golden Vault
Sigil: A black pickaxe on a field of gold
Military Force: The Golden Blades
Sapphire Kingdom:
Sapphire
Location: Sapphirica
King: Gideon Sapphire
Queen: Hellena Roswell
Heir: Halius Sapphire (son)
Seat of Power: Saphirhold
Sigil: Sapphire on field of silver
Military Force: Sapphireguard and Azureknights
Arpione
Location: Northold
Archlord: Calvin Arpione
Lady: Kira Daravon
Heir: Fyodor Arpione (son)
Seat of Power: The Furnace
Sigil: Blue harpoon on red ice field
Military Force: The Blue Harpoons
Bluvein
Location: Degotus
Archlord: Vanaron Bluvein
Lady: Bona Eckhard
Heir: Ranavon Bluvein (son)
Seat of Power: The Oasis
Sigil: Four blue tears on a sea of sand
Military Force: The (Queen’s) Faithful
Daravon
Location: Tenacity
Archlord: Vladovich Daravon
Lady: Veraline Mercair
Heir: Maxim Daravon (son)
Seat of Power: The Rise
Sigil: Gray Warhammer on field of brown
Military Force: The Hammer Strikers
Eckhard
Location: Eckhard
Archlord: Terreck Eckhard
Lady: Valice Mercair
Heir: Braddeck Eckhard (son)
Seat of Power: Eckhard Hall
Sigil: Charging bull on a field of red
Military Force: The Seekers (of Sin)
Elagrimear
Location: Lelac
Archlady: Elsbeth Elagrimear
Lord: Sir Maxim Daravon
Heir: Fiona Elagrimear (daughter)
Seat of Power: Overwater Keep
Sigil: Gorilla embracing a Bison on field of yellow
Military Force: The Horned Apes
Haliae
Location: Weiss
Archlord: Bardoc Haliae
Lady: Larina Longmeadow (deceased)
Heir: Eluf Haliae (brother)
Seat of Power: The Hold
Sigil: Black ship wheel on field of red
Military Force: The Buccaneers
Heron
Location: Ross
Archlord: Perrine Ross
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Lady: Belle Bluvein
Heir: Robin Ross (son)
Seat of Power: Talon’s Tip
Sigil: Blue heron on a silver field
Military Force: Silver Herons
Longmeadow
Location: Eggerton
Archlord: Edmond Longmeadow
Lady: Hilda Haliae
Heir: Willem Longmeadow (son)
Seat of Power: Wizard’s Watch
Sigil: Brown boulder on blue water under a crimson sky
Military Force: The Foebane
Mercair
Location: Eaglerun
Archlord: Curtis Mercair
Lady: Master Anastasia Lifekeeper (cognitive-affectomancer)
Heir: Manfreid Mercair (son)
Seat of Power: Eagle’s Mouth
Sigil: Silver ship with blue sails on a field of gray
Military Force: The Bluejackets
Pinarus
Location: Maypine
Archlord: Eton Pinarus
Lady: Penelo Oakes (deceased)
Heir: Falen Pinarus (son)
Seat of Power: The Pinnacle
Sigil: Twelve brown trees on a field of green
Military Force: The Sentinels
Roswell
Location: Zafirton
Archlord: Arcturus Roswell
Lady: Master Bethany (cognitive-affectomancer)
Heir: Yuri Roswell (son)
Seat of Power: Windhome
Sigil: A green gust of wind on a field of yellow
Military Force: The Windbreakers
Rolland (provisional)
Location: Vulcan
Archlord: Alain Rolland
Lady: Kalina Daravon
Heir: none
Seat of Power: N/A
Sigil: A cracked stone
Military Force: N/A
Appendix C: An Overview of Love in Leveria
Love Across the World
Chapter One: An Overview of Love in Leveria
By Master Ione Bluerose of the Arcanium
The world is a vast place where millions of people live and love in vastly different ways. Vesarran, Volqori, Kavovan, Mahagan, and Leverian societies have developed distinctive approaches to love throughout the course of our world’s history. Within these continents, different practices have formed and can vary wildly across regions and the goal of this book is to examine these different cultural practices as they present in the world today and to understand the context of where these vast differences have originated from. The first chapter takes us to my home and the broader state of love norms in Leveria. Subsequent chapters will describe specific norms and the historical origins of these norms as well as the differences across Leverian regions.
When people from other societies look at Leveria’s love culture they often widen their eyes in alarm or shake their heads in disgust. Volqori who often lose their virginity after their 30th birthday or Mahagans who only have one mating partner their entire lives struggle to understand the intense promiscuity of Leverians. They have good reason to be shocked by Leverian love practices where it is not uncommon for an eighteen-year-old living in a Leverian city to have had over a hundred different mating partners. Yet, rarely do people from beyond Leveria understand the culture of why this occurs and how it usually happens in the absence of controversy. Let us examine why Leverians not only tolerate, but value, youthful promiscuity.
To understand this, we need to understand Leverian religion. Leverians worship the Divine Leverith, Goddess of Love and Dreams above all other Divines. Leverith was the Divine who spoke to Philladon Godseer in his dreams beneath Covademara and she is the Divine that Philladon named the Leverian Dynasty after. Thus, Leverians believe that none of the Thirteen deserve their faith more than Leverith. Importantly, this means that Leverians are taught from the cradle that finding their life’s mate is the most important thing they will ever do. How Leveria became the land of promiscuity is more difficult to explain and there are several competing theories put forth by different organizations and scholars throughout our history.
The Leverian Temple, headed by the Seeress of Meladon has undoubtedly shaped the evolution of Leverian religious practice and sexuality norms. According to the Temple, one can earn the favor of Leverith by offering sexual acts as tribute to her. If one offers sufficient tribute, they will be presented with Leverith’s Answer, a life’s mate that was designed to be their other half. Thus, Leverians who engage in more intercourse will be more likely to find and bond their perfect partner. The Temple puts forth sermons on this every Meladon’s Day, reinforcing these beliefs.
The Temple’s contributions to Leverian love norms do not end there. They are the distributors of the nirathra herb. The discovery of nirathra’s properties is worth an entire book in itself. For our purposes, nirathra is distributed at Leverian temples to each unbonded male on Meladon’s Day and if taken once every three moons, nirathra can prevent conception for an entire season of the year. Thus, contrary to expectations of other societies, Leverian sexual practices do not lead to an overabundance of children born out of love and bonding either. Equally important, nirathra is one of the reasons why there is extremely low rates of sexually transmitted diseases. The sexually transmitted diseases that plague regions such as Kavova are extremely rare in Leveria, despite having the highest amount of sexual activity. The Temple’s distribution of nirathra and the healing practices of cognitive-affectomancers and medicans have all but eradicated these diseases with the exception of individuals who have engaged in bestiality. Importantly, bestiality is highly uncommon outside of certain regions where men born with little social status and lower levels of sexual attractiveness have few options.
Yet, many theorists suggest that the Temple is not the only source for Leveria’s love norms. Proponents of Darle’s Theory of Pragmatic Inheritance suggest that extreme frolicking is a product of youth engaging in behaviors that would naturally allow them to reproduce and allow their traits to be inherited. Thus, some Leverians will say that Leverian love practices are a way to cope with the sexual urges that are endemic to being human. Rather than casting these natural behaviors as sinful in the cultural script, Leverians place them center stage as heroes and paragons of society. This interpretation of the behavior has gained popularity in recent years alongside Darle’s theory. After all, who can argue against the logic of being yourself?
Still, historians have argued several other reasons for the progressive development of Leverian sexuality. Another explanation that is not often addressed by the Temple is the theory that high levels of sexual activity in youth help Leverians develop their lovemaking abilities which often signal who Leverith’s Answer is. That is, people who practice a skill get better at that skill whether it is copulation or cooking. Further, people who get better at a skill are more likely to impress people with that skill. The man who has practiced making love with a hundred partners is more likely to impress his 101st partner than his 1st. The emotional response to this lust when shared between people who have higher levels of skill is more likely to be interpreted as love. To be blunt, I would rather hire the culinarian who cooked the better meal and partners would rather bond the mate who gave them a more intense orgasm. Therefore, the practice becomes prophetic in that people are more likely to fall in love when they engage in more robust love making.
The Temple has adopted another stance that is more in line with the benefits of having intercourse with dozens of partners. Most priestesses, highly sexually active members of society themselves, will argue that high levels of frolicking will eliminate later sexual curiosity after life’s mates have bonded. Another important misconception of Leverian sexuality is that Leverians continue to be promiscuous after bonding their life’s mate. While this does occur, often more frequently among affluent people who engage in consensual orgies which are often overlooked and rationalized, it does not happen to the extent that people would expect and it is considered sacrilegious by most of society. Thus, if Leverians have more sex, the theory goes, they will have less sinful sex later. Some scholars contest that this theory is not supported by actual behavior. That is, they claim that more promiscuous folk remain more promiscuous after bonding. Anecdotal evidence supports both claims and there exists no systematic research of sufficient methodological design to reliably and validly assess the truth of these diverging hypotheses. I will review the current research and anecdotes supporting and refuting each of these theories in later chapters.
Finally, let us consider the impact of power in shaping these customs in Leveria. Historians often seek to understand why people in power make the decisions they do and Leverian history has ubiquitous examples of rulers who furthered and shaped these beliefs both by decree and personal example. Leverian rulers have advanced the message that offering tribute to Leverith is a dogma that cannot be challenged. The most commonly cited example of how rulers have shaped the evolution of love norms is how current practices only allow women to make tribute with men who have equal or higher social status while men are encouraged to engage in tribute with women who are of equal or lower status. History does not lie. Predominantly male rulers have allowed these norms to evolve to increase the sexual activity of highborn males and lowborn females and decrease the sexual activity of highborn females and lowborn males. The prince may sharpen his skills on the whetstones of countless serving maids while the princess must await her father’s permission and her suitor’s proposal.
Given that princesses are often a king’s most valuable political commodity, we can see why this love norm has been established. Highborn females are not permitted to fall in love with men of lower social class without fear of being banished from their families. Men of lower social status caught mating with a higher status female are often gelded or executed regardless of consent or love. As a woman and a historian who has witnessed these gender differences directly and studied them for most of my life, I will take a stand here and point to this practice as oppressive and against the spirit of what the Temple preaches.
Leverian rulers have also shaped love norms in ways that have led to even more severe oppression. The modern Temple considers sexual acts between members of the same gender as anathema. This belief did not exist during the reign of the Leverian Dynasty and Queen Alexia Leveria herself wrote extensively in her memoirs about the importance of viewing love as love no matter who it is between. The shift from Queen Alexia’s culture of love to our current state can be directly traced to a single event which has been reinforced in the centuries since.
More than five centuries ago, King Mareon Ruby chose not to bond a queen, but rather another man. The two kings were criticized by the Sapphire Kingdom and Ruby archlords who used the situation to gain favor with King Mareon’s younger brother, Melaron. This conspiracy eventually led to Sir Perron, commander of the Crimsonblades, pushing both the king and his husband out of the Ruby Tower and into the Dusk Sea. Perron gained the title Invertkiller and Melaron became king. Both kingdoms continued to use this as reason to demonize people who sexually loved people of the same gender, labelling them as inverts or, more frequently, anathema. These beliefs have been embedded so deeply into society that most Leverians will call for the execution of anyone who engages in sexual love with their own gender. Some sympathy has been garnered in the last century since the publication of Vara’s Annals of an Anathema, a chronicle detailing the travels of Maddeck Eckhard, a cognitive-affectomancer hunted and hated for loving other men. However, much progress is needed before Leveria can return to the “love is love” days of the Love Queen.
Taken together, there are many reasons for Leverian sexual culture that can be explained and understood in context. These reasons explain why lust masquerades as love in Leveria and why very few people are able to resist these powerful social rules about how to find love. It is hard to stand out from the crowd when royalty, nobility, priestesses, parents, and peers are all pressuring you to join in on Leveria’s sexual culture. People who do not engage are publicly pressured and considered deviants for daring to be different. The few people I have encountered with the bravery to do this are often quieter people who have beliefs about love that separate it from lust. Yet, in the face of this belief, anecdotes exist where these iconoclasts find life’s mates, questioning the validity of the whole system. Regardless of these exemplars, Leveria seems deeply committed to these practices.
Another thing many cultures scoff at is the age these practices begin. Youth as young as thirteen or fourteen years old begin on this ritualistic journey of offering tribute to Leverith in exchange for the hopes of Leverith’s Answer, often with encouragement from parents. It is extremely common for a highborn girl to be given incentives to attempt to make tribute with higher born men or cognitive-affectomancers. Likewise, hoping to supplement their family income, parents often send their beautiful young daughters or, much less frequently, well-built sons, to the local tavern to charge fees for their tribute to Leverith.
There are social norms about age differences such that older men who offer tribute with younger women are often ridiculed whereas younger men who offer tribute with older women are often celebrated. Regional differences exist in these age-related norms. However, it is generally considered despicable for a man older than eighteen to be offering tribute with women younger than sixteen. It is considered a vile and sacrilegious act of rape to fornicate with girls who have not yet had their first menstrual cycle. Most archlords have laws against these encounters and the standard is to geld the offending male and allow the young woman’s father to hit him thirteen times with the gelded genitals or his own fists. Still, despite this taboo, kissing and touching between prepubescent children is tolerated more than discouraged, and amongst the participating boys, glorified.
Few Leverians are virgins at the age of fifteen, even among men of low social class who may have less traditionally attractive features thanks to access to tavern maids who offer their bodies for a few iron iotas and priestesses who offer tribute in the Temple. The profession of tavern maid is even revered in Leverian society and protected whereas in other parts of the world it is criminalized and prostitution is often highly dangerous. In Leveria, men who violate consent with tavern maids are often gelded. However, these protections disappear when the man is of highborn status. Gruesome stories exist throughout Leverian history of bonded kings who attended brothels regularly and murdered their lowborn tavern maids just for becoming pregnant.
Sexual violence still occurs, sometimes at appalling levels. During the Dark Era, it was common for clan chiefs to engage in the Right of the First Night which entailed them having permission to bed any bride on their bonding night. Many tribal warlords believed that the women belonged to the tribal warlord first and the husband second. I wish that I could say this practice was left in the Dark Era. Different archlords often revive this heinously oppressive violation of love and this practice is currently in effect by archlords such as Claudius Dalardor of Meridian and Bardoc Haliae of Weiss.
Another equally inhumane violation of sexuality occurs in war. Military rape is ubiquitous in The Gemstone War due to the rage fueled, dehumanizing animosity felt between Ruby and Sapphire. The most extreme case of this frequently occurs among the aforementioned Haliae of Weiss and the Dalardor of Meridian whose archlords often capture attractive women from raids and keep them as sexual slaves. The rape does not discriminate based on social class either. Most unfortunate is the archlord’s daughter captured by an opposing military force.
Leverians often believe that rape is less frequent in Leveria than other societies because of the access to partners. However, the truth may be otherwise. Leveria is not a fantasy land of consent and rape it is a real threat for Leverian women who lack protections or power. It is dangerous to be a physically attractive woman in Leverian society, especially if she is lowborn, as she is a target and her consent is assumed, coerced, or forced. This is not helped by the belief that engaging in sexual behavior with a more traditionally attractive partner is considered to be indicative of greater value of tribute to Leverith.
I will address this in greater detail within its own chapter, but Leverians culturally objectify and evaluate men and women based on their physical appearance at a higher rate than any society other than Kavova because of this belief. Leverians who are considered more aesthetically valuable are considered “blessed by Leverith.” These beliefs have been partly shaped by the tendency for highborn to be more likely to be considered physically attractive after centuries of pragmatic inheritance dictating that aesthetically pleasing traits be passed down by the selection of more attractive partners. These beliefs are also passed down by legends that men of the Leverian Dynasty were extraordinarily well-endowed.
These stories fill their own books but have led to an obsession of phallus size that can certainly be harmful for men who have smaller, average, or even above-average endowment. Men and women alike will laugh at stories of a tavern maid giving refunds and paying a man blessed by Leverith for time spent in embrace. Alas, there is evidence supporting this in the form of a study demonstrating that tavern maids who spent more time with a well-endowed partner were bonded significantly sooner. Of course, they typically ended up bonding that blessed man and were the man’s primary partner as well as the most popular maid in the tavern. An astute mind might wonder if it was the size of the prize or the spending of time together and the beliefs about beauty being granted by divinity which blossomed their love.
While it is hard for men who do not meet aesthetic or phallic standards, they are often perceived as much more than the size of their genitals or the shape of their body. Ladies who do not conform to societal beauty standards experience similar struggles and regularly receive messages that their value is only determined by their appearance. Therefore, while it is dangerous to be a beautiful woman in Leverian society, it is often depressing to be considered unattractive. Further, while the beautiful woman among the lowborn is at higher risk of being raped, the highborn woman falling beneath the beauty standards set by society is at much greater risk of taking their own life. Leverian society has utterly failed both these groups of women.
The societal and personal impact of these cultural norms will be addressed in greater detail in the subsequent chapters. My hope is that this introduction allows you to understand why love is viewed through the lens of lust in Leveria and how Leverian youth are pressured to engage in frequent sexual acts. My hopes are also to illustrate that society has shaped these norms in many different ways and that these norms often enhance or oppress life and love in Leveria.
Appendix D: On Cognitive-Affectomancy
On Cognitive-Affectomancy:
A Letter to the Leverian People
By Master Alexia Bluerose of the Arcanium
Dear Leveria,
From a young age, all Leverians learn about Cognitive-Affectomancy, the mystical powers of wizards and witches. We are captivated by tales of people who can cause devastating infernos that can burn down forests, command the earth to create or level mountains, freeze lakes, fly on the breeze, summon lightning storms, flood a desert, turn night into day, bring a person back to life, and unite three competing armies. We are told stories about legends such as Linus Peacemaker, Pinarus, Queen Emeralda Leveria, and Queen Alexia Leveria who accomplished phenomenal feats with their magical abilities. Within these stories we find truths and myths intertwined and undistinguished. The purpose of my letter is to clarify wherein lies the truth and to dispel the myths surrounding Cognitive-Affectomancy.
Magical powers that defy the laws of reality exist in most geographic regions of this world we share. It is known that some people can change their shapes, seize control of beasts, bond with dragons, breathe underwater, or jump impossibly high (just to list a few). Arcane masters, historians, and priestesses alike debate about why the magical powers present in one nation are nonexistent in others. However, we can conclude that only individuals of Leverian heritage possess the capacity to develop the powers of Cognitive-Affectomancy. That is, only people who have ancestry native to the Leverian continent have become wizards and witches. To support this claim, there are substantiated records of Leverians who developed the capacity for Cognitive-Affectomancy while not living on the Leverian continent but there are no such records of individuals with non-Leverian heritage developing the capacity for Cognitive-Affectomancy while living in Leveria. Therefore, it is ancestry that matters and not location. Cognitive-Affectomancy is unique to Leverians and it has been ever present in our history.
Throughout the Dark Era and the early centuries of the First Leverian Era, we had no name to describe the powers of wizards and witches. The classical cognitive-affectomancers had far less understanding of how their magic worked and no schools were devoted to researching and teaching how to channel divine energy. Given this lack of understanding and the unpredictable potential of these powers, ancient wizards and witches were feared or revered; hunted or heralded. Many tribal warlords of the Dark Era would kill or banish individuals who developed the capacity out of fear of the calamities that a wizard or witch could bring to the tribe. Given the lack of control that ancient wizards had over their skill, this was not always unwise.
Legends exist, passed down through oral tradition, surrounding wizards who accidentally incinerated their tribes. Likewise, legends help us remember that fear of these unknown powers led to heartrending tragedies where a warlord might kill his own child if they developed magical powers. We cannot confidently say what occurred during the Dark Era for our eyes are blind to that world and likely always will be. Neither legends of wizards ruining tribes nor fathers killing wizard sons can be corroborated with evidence. However, these legends cannot be dismissed. They serve as harrowing reminders of what happens when civilization encounters something that it does not understand. These potential tragedies that occurred millennia ago are the reason why this letter is necessary. We fear the unknown and therefore knowledge is the antidote to blind fear. The people of Leveria deserve to know how Cognitive-Affectomancy functions and what it is capable of. Likewise, the potential dangers of Cognitive-Affectomancy serve as the reason why wizards and witches need training institutes where they can learn to safely harness their powers and utilize them to benefit society. Together, proper training and public understanding can prevent these tragedies from recurring.
Not all Dark Era wizards and witches were hunted. A few were heralded as leaders and champions of their tribes because of their unique power. The most famous of these is the original Pinarus, the forefather of the archlords of Maypine. This legend from the Dark Era is substantiated by tradition in Maypine and fits with the historical evidence of that region. However, Pinarus was the exception and although he used his magic to protect his tribe and maintain his resources, he was unable to share his knowledge with others and establish a tradition of safely harnessing and understanding Cognitive-Affectomancy. Pinarus was a lone wizard who achieved greatness independently while other wizards were being hunted or struggling to discover how to use their abilities. Fear and isolation prevented cognitive-affectomancers from congregating to learn more about their powers. Thus, each cognitive-affectomancer was their own master and had limited capacity to develop their skills in the absence of guidance from those who came before. Magical theory in Leveria was stymied until the Leverian Dynasty accepted wizards and witches as allies.
Initially, Philladon, the first Leverian King, was averse to cognitive-affectomancers. In Godseer, the most popular account of Philladon’s life, it is reported that his early experiences with wizards caused profound suffering. Even late into his quest to unite Leveria through diplomacy and conquest, he remained staunch on the purging of cognitive-affectomancers. Philladon feared those who had powers he did not possess and could not control. He was afraid that cognitive-affectomancers would cause substantial harm to his growing kingdom. He ordered the executions of wizards and witches for decades. The shift in this stance and the first important revolution in the history of Cognitive-Affectomancy occurred near the end of Philladon’s life.
King Philladon’s second son, Prince Donovan Leveria, fell in love with Emeralda of the North after she healed him near the lake that has been named after her. Donovan hid his life’s mate’s powers from his father for several moons before the old king himself suffered an illness that looked to be fatal. Emeralda of the North used Leverith’s Spirit to heal the king. This opened the Godseer’s eyes to the utility of channeling divine energy through Cognitive-Affectomancy. At Prince Donovan’s urging, this event led to a transformation where King Philladon and his sons recruited cognitive-affectomancers and offered them protected positions in the Leverian Kingdom. This policy, more than any other, served to reduce the classical fear held toward cognitive-affectomancers and decreased their isolation. After the death of King Philladon, Emeralda Leveria founded and led a council of wizards and witches that began to share strategies for channeling and focusing divine energy. For the first time in history, individual cognitive-affectomancers were not alone with their power.
The council formed by Queen Emeralda continued to be an organization that led to advancements in Leverian magic. During Donovan and Emeralda’s reign, the council standardized the use of mediums. By mediums, I refer to the device that cognitive-affectomancers use as a conduit to channel divine energy. The most common mediums include staffs, wands, scepters, and rods. However, any object that can hold divine energy can be used as a medium. These exemplars are the most common because they tend to be the most effective. Further, the quality of the medium varies depending on the materials in its composition. For instance, my staff is composed of acacia which has a higher affinity with Leverith’s spirit energy. One area of continued research among cognitive-affectomancers is the further exploration of how the composition of the medium enhances or diminishes various divine energies. The findings of that research are beyond the scope of this letter. What is important is that the use of mediums have substantially decreased the risk of harm to the cognitive-affectomancer and improved the accuracy of their spells.
To be clear, cognitive-affectomancers are capable of creating their magic without a medium. However, doing this is dangerous for several reasons. First, the cognitive-affectomancer risks channeling too much divine energy. This can have several outcomes including losing the ability to channel divine energy, severe internal damage, or death. For example, when a cognitive-affectomancer draws in Seraxa’s flames, they can set their insides ablaze. This is prevented by storing that energy in a medium. Second, the use of a medium enhances the potency and the accuracy of the spell. The use of mediums can be traced back to Pinarus; his staff is still on display at the Pinnacle in Maypine. However, historical evidence suggests that Pinarus was the exception. The vast majority of cognitive-affectomancers did not use mediums until Emeralda and her council popularized their use.
Emeralda and her contemporaries have another claim in the history of Cognitive-Affectomancy. They realized that the process of creating a spell required them to imagine it in their mind’s eye, often called the third eye or the inner eye by cognitive-affectomancers. The cognitive-affectomancers of Emeralda’s council and future councils explored techniques to improve the acuity of the inner eye. Many of their techniques are still used or are the progenitors of current best practices. Yet even Queen Emeralda Leveria, one of the most talented witches in history, lacked a detailed understanding of how she achieved her amazing feat of returning King Donovan to life or how she routinely flooded battlefields. In this era, wizards and witches assumed that their capacity to channel divine energy was locked to their natural affinity toward the Divine they channeled. That is, a wizard believed that his ability to channel Seraxa was entirely dependent upon his natural connection to Seraxa. Further, the ancients believed this natural ability was predetermined and could not be changed with any amount of practice. Thus, the ancient Leverians thought that magic was created by mentally focusing on the effect of divine energy and the power of the effect was determined by their affinity to the Divine they channeled. This was the prevailing school of thought for over a thousand years. However, Emeralda and her council were wrong.
One figure changed our entire understanding of Leverian magic: Queen Alexia Leveria. Beyond all doubt, Queen Alexia Leveria was not only the most skilled witch who has ever lived but also the one responsible for the most advancement in understanding how our magic functions. She founded both the Leverian University and the Arcanium as centers of arcane training in addition to leading her own council of cognitive-affectomancers. Most importantly, she rejected the notion that Leverians were born with a static affinity for each Divine. Queen Alexia theorized that we can dynamically shift our attunement to each Divine through our emotional experience. Thus, our ability to channel the Divine is a product of both our ability to mentally imagine our spell with our inner eye and our present emotional state. In other words, our thoughts or cognitions determine the shape our spells take while our affect or emotions amplify how much divine energy we can channel. With her understanding of this process, Queen Alexia Leveria gave our magic its name: Cognitive-Affectomancy.
Queen Alexia was so advanced in her understanding that her conceptualization of our unique Leverian magic has remained unaltered since her death. For almost two thousand years, our focus has been upon exploring how to most closely match our emotions to the Divine we seek to channel and to push the limits of our imagination to create new spells within the framework that Queen Alexia bequeathed us. Thus, covers the history of Cognitive-Affectomancy. The remainder of the letter will focus on demystifying this process and placing it into the present context.
Here is the truth of Cognitive-Affectomancy. Divine energy surrounds us. Seraxa is the heat in the air whereas Qoryxa is the chill. Zafrir is the air itself. Balbaraq is the lightning and clouds. Celegana is in the rocks, the trees, and the dirt. Dalis resides in the water and in the clouds. Norali is in the sun and the stars. Finally, Leverith is more debated. We cannot conclude with absolute certainty where her divine energy comes from. I personally believe that Leverith’s spirit is within us and that its strength is proportionate to the amount of love that resides within. Regardless, the cognitive-affectomancer has to channel this divine energy from its source and into themselves or their medium. The process of channeling is easier when there is more divine energy in the cognitive-affectomancer’s vicinity. That is, a wizard can cast more powerful fire spells with less effort when the temperature is high whereas a witch will have tremendous difficulty conjuring water in a desert. However, the presence of divine energy in the cognitive-affectomancer’s surroundings does not guarantee a successful spell. Drawing the divine energy requires an emotional/affective focus.
Queen Alexia Leveria granted that many cognitive-affectomancers excelled at channeling specific Divine. However, she forever disconfirmed that cognitive-affectomancers were born with an unchanging ability to channel specific Divines. Rather, all people tend to experience certain emotions more easily and this masqueraded as the set-in-stone attunement that Queen Emeralda believed in. However, Queen Alexia taught us that the ability to channel divine energy fluctuated with their emotional state. Witches and wizards still debate how to most aptly attune their own emotions to the Divine. We will return to this later. For now, it is sufficient to say that the divine energy is drawn proportional to the degree that emotion matches the emotions of the Divine being channeled. That is, my ability to channel Leverith’s spirit energy will be amplified if I feel the same emotion that was at the core of Leverith’s personality: love. Still, drawing the divine energy is not enough to create an effective spell.
The surrounding area will feel the loss of the energy. For instance, the air will grow warmer if I channel Qoryxa’s cold energy. However, unless I mentally imagine the spell with my inner eye, the divine energy will do nothing as it slowly seeps back into the area around me. On the other hand, if I mentally imagine Qoryxa’s frost forming into a blizzard and then I release the divine energy, the spell goes from imagination to reality. In summary, to create a magical blizzard I would do the following: 1) Attune my emotions to Qoryxa by conjuring thoughts that increase feelings of vindictive judgement or a cold, calculated rage; 2) Draw Qoryxa’s divine energy into my staff, heating the area around me; 3) Using my inner eye, I mentally imagine the blizzard I want to create. I have to imagine the details of the blizzard very vividly for it to become effective; 4) Release the focus and expel the divine energy from my staff. This entire process can occur in as little as five turns. However, that level of speed requires a phenomenal degree of practice with both attuning one’s emotions to Qoryxa and with mentally imagining a blizzard. This is the purpose of our training.
Cognitive-affectomancers devote much effort to developing mnemonic memory techniques to more rapidly attune emotions and imagine their cognitive focuses. Repeatedly, we practice the same spell until it becomes habit. Though we do not require words or incantations, as many myths would have you believe, we often use a unique word to allow us to more rapidly access our focus and to add emotion to our spell’s release. That is, we can strengthen our spell by amplifying our emotional focus with a shouted word. Since Alexia Leveria, cognitive-affectomancers have been drawing their mnemonic words from the Volqori language to reduce associations with Leverian words. Memorizing the mental imagery of a specific spell is a function of how complex that spell is. Despite it being quite powerful, visualizing a fireball is relatively simple. The challenge with the fireball is achieving a strong enough emotional attunement with Seraxa. On the other hand, imagining several fires breaking out at once is more complex. Casting spells using Leverith’s spirit is infamously challenging. Witches spend thousands of angles studying anatomy alongside medicans because we need to be able to visualize the various organs, blood rivers, muscles, and bones that we hope to heal. Surface level wounds are easier to heal whereas deeper wounds require true mastery of both the body and Leverith. Arguably more challenging are spells that combine multiple divine energy sources. A very small subset of witches and wizards ever master this feat as it requires the cognitive-affectomancer to simultaneously attune to multiple Divines while mentally imagining multiple sources of divine energy combining. In the age of Emeralda and her council, this was the only training that cognitive-affectomancers received. One could easily spend their life practicing the cognitive component of Cognitive-Affectomancy. However, that would be insufficient to truly make the most out of one’s power. The cognitive creates the spell but the affective gives the spell its power.
Since Queen Alexia’s magical renaissance, cognitive-affectomancers have been researching and debating how to best attune oneself to each Divine. Reviewing all of those debates is beyond the scope of this letter. However, my summary of those debates will be presented both to help everyone understand how Cognitive-Affectomancy works and to illuminate the truths that Cognitive-Affectomancy reveals about the Divine Thirteen. First, much of our progress since Queen Alexia has been centered around how to control and master our own emotions. To attune to the Divine, we need to be able to quickly shift what we are feeling or to take advantage of what is naturalistically occurring within us. We learn strategies for emptying ourselves of emotion and returning to a neutral state; Archwizard Theos Stormkin calls this “clearing the plate.” Likewise, we develop skills with “setting the plate” or priming ourselves to feel emotions that we believe facilitate our ability to channel the specific Divine we seek. However, one argument that I have been advocating is that artificially setting the plate leads to substantially weaker spells than utilizing more naturalistic responses to what is occurring to us. In other words, if I feel love towards the person I am healing, it is stronger than if I conjure loving feelings by reflecting on somebody else. Similarly, if I feel a passionate rage in a heated moment during combat, I will be more efficient and effective at channeling Seraxa than I would at channeling Qoryxa after spending time cleaning the plate and resetting it with Qoryxa’s emotions. Therefore, cognitive-affectomancers must be prepared to quickly harness their natural emotions but also capable of shifting them to fit the needs of the situation. I cannot stress enough that this is the most challenging aspect of mastering our magic.
There is a reason why a millennium passed between Emeralda’s first council and the Love Queen’s discovery that attunement to the Divine can be altered based on current emotions. The reason is that we are all born with temperaments and develop personalities that lead to greater occurrences of specific emotions. For cognitive-affectomancers with less flexible emotions, the task of attuning to some Divine becomes a near impossibility. If our emotional tendencies are inconsistent with a Divine, we often become “blocked” from channeling that divine energy. For instance, a witch who struggles to feel calm will be unable to call upon Dalis’s water energy while a wizard who cannot harness vindictive emotions will be blocked from Qoryxa’s frost energy and so on. Our natural tendencies often make it easier to attune to specific Divine and these become our trademark talents. You will often be able to detect a wizard’s trademark talent through their title (e.g., Theos Stormkin is presently unparalleled in channeling Balbaraq whereas the Ruby Archwizard Kai Blazelord is unmatched in channeling Seraxa). There is no shame in being a highly specialized cognitive-affectomancer; devoting oneself to attunement to one primary Divine will undoubtedly confer advantages. These individuals will likely be more efficient at channeling their specialty than cognitive-affectomancers who train in several different Divines. At the same time, the most well-rounded cognitive-affectomancers will pursue their masters in as many of the Divine as possible. Below, I will briefly review the emotional states that are most supported by research as bolstering the capacity to channel divine energy and within this I will disclose the most convincing methodology for this research: awakening.
We do not know whether every Leverian is born with the latent capacity for Cognitive-Affectomancy or if only a few are selected by the Divine at birth. However, we do know that when a cognitive-affectomancer awakens and uses their powers for the first time, it is in situations that involve a very high level of attunement to the Divine they initially channel. Studying thousands of accounts of these awakenings through the ages, combined with practicing attunement in controlled, experimental situations, is the best method we have for assessing how to match our emotions with the Divine we channel. Most often these awakenings occur during intense moments of need; these are deeply personal experiences so I will use no names other than those that have been reported with the permission of the cognitive-affectomancer elsewhere. The dominant theory is that this near-perfect level of attunement is achieved by intense emotional experience but does not require a life-or-death situation. Further, the Divine seem to know when they are being manipulated and will refuse to grant powers in any contrived situation designed to cause an awakening. Tragically, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individuals have been tortured or traumatized with the hopes of forcing them to awaken. There are a heartbreaking number of known cases where this led to the death of an innocent person, often at the hands of a parent, and most often among the children of highborn or cognitive-affectomancers. There is no documented case where this worked. None. The Divine cannot be tricked by our contrivances. But they can bestow their gifts in natural circumstances. Possibly, the study of this letter can allow for individuals to call upon divine energy when they are in need. However, I cannot promise that with any degree of confidence (even though I hope it to be true). Regardless, there is merit in aspiring to attune yourself to one of the Divine Thirteen. Below, I will summarize my conclusions drawn from almost two millennia of research.
Before beginning, I will note that the views expressed here are controversial and will directly conflict with many of the things you have been told. The Divine are not as simple as some make them seem. Often, we can hypothesize that they have a core emotion, but that does an injustice to their complexity. To illustrate, let us first examine Balbaraq. The Divine of the Sky is characterized by the priestesses and theologians as a vengeful prankster. To an extent, they are correct. Attunement with Balbaraq is amplified by vengeful thoughts and feelings. Balbaraq has a penchant for spite, but that is again only looking at the surface of Balbaraq. Further, playing tricks on others tends to be a personality feature of those well-attuned to Balbaraq. For all that, very few reports of Balbaraq awakenings are demonstrations of pranks, spite, or selfish vengeance because these are only surface emotions and actions of Balbaraq. Rather, there are two deeper feelings we see in Balbaraq that the temples and the stories overlook.
First, underneath Balbaraq’s playful tricks is a deep underlying sadness. Many stories of awakenings occur in the context of the wizard wanting to be loved. Many Leverians are familiar with the story of Maddeck Eckhard popularized in ballads inspired by Vara’s Annals of an Anathema. Maddeck awakened after being rejected by his family while his father forced him to have intercourse with a female servant of their household. Maddeck’s sadness, his longing to be loved and accepted, resonated with Balbaraq, who always wanted the love of his brothers and sisters, but was often overlooked. Like Balbaraq, Maddeck was driven to put on a façade that masked his sadness. Thus, he awakened by channeling Balbaraq’s sky to escape the situation. Scholars or theologians who claim that Maddeck’s act was one of vengeful spite miss the true emotions Maddeck experienced and miss the true secrets of Balbaraq. Second, Balbaraq’s vengeance is not one of pure spite. His vengeance is one of wanting to protect the ones you love even at the cost of yourself. Legends tell us that Balbaraq died saving Gidi during The Divine Fratricide; this story is replayed in many awakenings. When the situation seems hopeless, or when a loved one is lost or in extreme danger, the sky beckons to be called. Therefore, Balbaraq is characterized as being a trickster who is vengeful and spiteful. However, I believe that the true path to the sky involves deep sadness and a protective, selfless vengeance. This is the truth of Balbaraq that no priestess can know without having the ability to channel Balbaraq, to feel his pain and longing. He was so much more than a vengeful prankster. Balbaraq was a selfless hero that would do anything to protect or avenge the ones he loved; he was a deeply sad individual who hid his longing for love beneath a mask of pranks.
Let us review the typical emotional experiences of the other Divine channeled by Cognitive-Affectomancers. For male wizards, we have Seraxa’s flames, Qoryxa’s frost, Balbaraq’s sky, Celegana’s earth, and Zafrir’s wind. Seraxa’s flames tend to be associated with feelings of intense, burning passion. Seraxa responds well to altruism, open-mindedness, intellect, and rage. Her powers seem to be more about valence or intensity of emotion rather than honing in on any one of these sentiments. However, feeling passion, rage, open-mindedness, altruism, and using some cunning can deeply enhance the ability to channel Seraxa’s heat. To illustrate, I will disclose my own awakening. I awakened with Seraxa during a moment of intense, passionate anger. Moments before, I was daydreaming about altruistic acts that broke from tradition. Specifically, I was reading Peacemaker and dreaming of peace and exploring how I could help bring peace to Leveria. Perhaps my thoughts had some level of cunning given that I was an eleven-year-old reflecting on how I could help my father arrange alliances or create economic conditions that favored open trade between Sapphire and Ruby. Thus, prior to my awakening I was passionately engaged in intellectualizing, altruism, and open-mindedness. The event that drove me into rage was when somebody stole my copy of Peacemaker and threw it into the hearth when I begged for its return. This event drove me into a hot-blooded rage. Thus, my awakening brought all of Seraxa’s ingredients together. The passion-fueled emotional cocktail stirred until the flames entered my body and my inner eye dreamed of burning something that the source of my rage enjoyed. Thus, I became the first woman reported to channel Seraxa due to theorized perfect attunement. I continue to be naturally drawn to Seraxa and in most situations will find her flames readily awaiting my call. However, despite awakening with Seraxa, my greatest proficiencies lie elsewhere with Leverith’s spirit. I share this anecdote to convey that awakening tends to be associated with an area of strength but that this is not always the case. Take Maddeck Eckhard for instance. Though he awakened with Balbaraq’s sky, Celegana’s earth became his trademark talent. Let us examine Seraxa’s twin sister now.
Qoryxa’s frost operates with many disparities and similarities to Seraxa’s fire. Qoryxa awakenings tend to occur in moments of powerful hatred and cold judgment. Truthfully, a large portion of these awakenings are executions; the wizard-to-be perceives some great wrong that has occurred and Qoryxa grants them the ability to blast an ice spear through the individual that committed injustice. In these cases, murder becomes etched on the heart of the person who calls Qoryxa. Qoryxa is drawn by emotions of cold, distant judgment; by deeming someone unworthy for life. Qoryxa is more complex than that though. Ice also comes when focusing on aesthetics. Many ice wizards are renowned for their emphasis on beauty. Still, Qoryxa’s ice seems to be attuned with feeling envy, wanting something you do not have that somebody else possesses. Further, Qoryxa tends to have a valiant protective side too. She comes most often not in response to personal injury but to injuries to people who have less power. Qoryxa is a defender of public interest and manifests most often in city guards or justicars who believe in the law and order of things. A famous case of this includes King Helaeon Sapphire who famously manifested ice magic to execute a criminal who had been murdering orphans. Heleaon’s awakening fits well with the theory that Qoryxa enjoyed brutal, vindictive punishment, but also with the theory that she longed to protect those who were less fortunate than her. Helaeon was also renowned for his tournaments and beauty contests and more than one historical report indicates that he was envious of people he believed were stronger, smarter, or more attractive than him. Therefore, Qoryxa channeling is facilitated by cold judgment that is either in relation to envy or a desire to protect people less fortunate (or both) and is often linked with an appreciation of beauty or pageantry.
Notably, Helaeon awakened when he was fifty-nine years old. Awakenings can occur at any age but the ability of the cognitive-affectomancer is often predicted by the age of their awakening, with older awakenings predicting less ability. Helaeon continued to use his ice to execute criminals and create art but he never became a formidable or well-rounded wizard. On the other hand, the three youngest awakenings occurred in eleven-year-olds. Two of those awakenings are arguably the most impactful cognitive-affectomancers to ever live: Queen Alexia Leveria and Linus Peacemaker. The third eleven-year-old to awaken was myself. It is my aspiration to live up to the legends of those who came before me and to be the third cognitive-affectomancer to conjure Pacisamorus and bring peace to Leveria.
Moving on, Celegana tends to be associated with feelings of wholesomeness and growth. Awakenings with Celegana tend to come from people who want to make things better or more whole. These awakenings also tend to be affiliated with stubbornness, a refusal to give in or surrender despite the odds. There is a diverse array of awakening stories to choose from, though Celegana tends to be far less popular of an awakening Divine than the previous three discussed. In battle, these powers often manifest when a good-natured soldier is holding a position against the odds and refuses to back down. Outside of battle, these powers may manifest in a farmer who has had many poor Harvests, refuses to leave his farm, and wants the land to provide more bounty. I have read dozens of historical reports that would fit into either of these categories. Ironically, Celegana’s earth energy can be used to inflict destruction despite being incongruent with the underlying emotions of promoting growth. In my training, I have found it easier to use Celegana to protect rather than to destroy. That is, Celegana provides more energy when the motive is to preserve allies through altering the shape of the land relative to destroying enemies by having a chasm swallow them into the earth. Of course, Celegana can be summoned to do both but it will be harder to draw divine energy for malicious, destructive purposes.
Zafrir’s wind is possibly the most complex and perhaps the least understood divine energy. The nature of Zafrir is unpredictable and volatile. Zafrir’s wind is in constant motion and the cognitive-affectomancer needs constantly changing emotion. Research has mounted supporting that fluctuation appears more important than specific emotions. The wind comes most easily to those who are flighty in their feelings or deeply ambivalent. Wind awakenings often come in situations where there is high indecision and much confusion about what to do. However, within these examples we find some evidence that Zafrir seems particularly apt to several conflicting emotions. First, and I would argue foremost, is a yearning feeling. This yearning can be for many things, but it often seems to be most powerful for something that is outside your grasp where there is a threat that it will never be made available. Many awakenings occur when a man is trying to rescue a woman he loves who is captured by enemy forces. One famous awakening occurred when a woman fell off a cliff and a man who yearned to be her lover eased her drop with his awakening. Other awakenings occur in moments of great conflict where paralyzing indecision and grave consequences are co-occurring such as a general has to decide between sacrificing one platoon to give the others a better chance of surviving. Others yet occur when despicable, selfish choices are made such as lusting for power or other personal gains. A famous Haliae Buccaneer awakened when pursuing a highborn prisoner who was fleeing her daily routine of being raped by him. Clearly, more research is needed to clarify Zafrir’s wind. Alas, we may be fated to never truly know the ever-changing wind.
One thing we do know, that many may claim as legend, is that history’s great masters of Zafrir’s wind energy have been able to channel the wind to simulate flying. No known living cognitive-affectomancer can achieve “windwalking” with consistent effect or the confidence to maintain it at a great height or considerable speed. I personally have not attempted this, though levitating my body or another’s is manageable. The skill required to channel that amount of wind for an extended period of time requires truly chaotic emotions that few people will ever possess, such as Burras Windrazor, a Ruby wizard who flew thousands of miles to escape being persecuted as anathema. That covers the five Divine accessed by wizards. Next, we will turn toward the female powers of Norali’s light, Dalis’s water, and Leverith’s spirit.
First, I’d like to mention that it is far easier to combine the feminine Cognitive-Affectomancy together than the masculine. Norali, Dalis, and Leverith are not emotionally exclusive. Let me demonstrate. Norali is most often related to hope and optimism in the face of impossible situations. Those with high Norali attunement often seek to lead others who have lost hope and find the light in every dark situation. Many awakenings with Norali fit this mold. A common theme is that a medican on the battlefield will burst with radiance when persuading a severely wounded soldier that they will be okay. Alternatively, a female soldier will blast foes with blinding light when it seems inevitable that she will be overtaken. Female Cognitive-Affectomancy often gets a reputation for being harmless, but powerful bursts of Norali’s light energy can kill, destroy minds, or permanently blind. Of particular and confusing note, Norali attunement tends to be associated with low hope or optimism in one’s own abilities. These individuals often believe in others and have faith that things will end up okay, but usually not because of them. Many individuals will awaken by siphoning light out of the world and adding to its darkness when dwelling on thoughts of their own hopelessness. This contrasting level of external optimism and internal pessimism confounds channeling Norali. Thus, I find that when channeling Norali it is better to focus on the situation or other people than myself. I want to cast this light so that others can see or so that others can be guided or helped, but not for my own eyes or for my own needs. The lights that flicker out more quickly will be the ones cast to improve one’s own condition in isolation of others. Of course, if the intention is to bring darkness, dwelling on the parts of oneself that are less loved will enhance the spell.
In my experience, Dalis is well-represented by theology. The vast majority of the emotional work is in remaining calm and serene no matter the situation. Awakenings most commonly occur when staying calm amidst a life-threatening crisis. The following are recurring examples: female soldiers calmly flood a battlefield when in danger, lost women calmly conjuring drinking water when going days without, using Dalis’s divine waters when shipwrecked and too far from shore or salvation. Other, rarer, awakenings reflect apathy or a lack of emotions. One example tells a tale of a captured concubine who was repeatedly abused and raped by a Dalardor of Meridian. The story goes that she became so numb and distant from any emotional feeling to protect herself from the pain and loss of control. Once she reached complete numbness, she summoned Dalis and drowned her captor. Again, Dalis and her waters can be just as dangerous as Seraxa and her flames. These awakenings characterized by emotional numbness or apathy tend to be consistent with the most powerfully attuned Dalis channelers. Regardless, Norali’s hopefulness and Dalis’s calmness can coexist relatively seamlessly as opposed to Seraxa’s intense passion and Qoryxa’s cold vindictiveness.
Finally, we have reached the patron Divine of Leveria, Leverith. Leverith’s spirit energy is the embodiment of all of the core values of our society: Love, peace, selflessness, empathy, and the belief in the goodness of others. Inevitably, Leverith awakenings occur when trying to heal people you love who are hurt. They occur when empathizing with the pain of others; they occur when dreaming of peace; they occur when believing that the person you are healing is inherently good. Leverith awakenings occur in the absence of hate. This combination of factors is simple enough to identify, but challenging to emulate for many in a world where vengeance and hatred are so easy to experience. Further, some will criticize these characteristics as being innocent or naïve. Alas, I would rather be innocent and believe in the healing power of love and the inherent goodness of others than believe that the world is full of bad people who should be hated and scorned. Leverith’s spirit energy creates reciprocal bonds that bring people closer together. Feeling love toward a person channels Leverith, which heals that person and makes them feel loved and in turn increases how much they love the witch who healed them. The increased mutual love increases the witch’s ability to heal and feel love toward that individual. This creates a cycle that breaks the bonds of hatred and enhances love. This is the process by which Leverith’s spirit creates Pacisamorus.
Peace is created when love overpowers hate, when empathic understanding remedies vengeful anger. That is my dream, to live in a world where all Leverians live by the ideals of our patron, Divine Leverith. When this day comes, The Gemstone War will be no more. It is my hope that this letter brings greater understanding of Cognitive-Affectomancy and fosters this world that I dream for us. I hope that you all will dream with me.
Sincerely yours with love,
Alexia Bluerose