GUYS PLS READ MY DATEMATE'S WORDS THEY ARE GREAT - Tumblr Posts

HI SO I asked you guys if you’d be interested in hearing about my world and I got a few (very enthusiastic) affirmative answers so!! first of all thank you for the interest, it genuinely means the world to me to hear people be interested in stuff I make. :)

to start with, here’s some background and a little overview of the project!

so a few years ago now, I came up with a fun little idea for a character: a young witch’s apprentice, going on a journey to grow her power and become a witch herself. I decided to create a story for her, and over time it’s grown and changed into something much more involved (and more fun too, I think). I’m calling it Candlewick.

the narrative itself is slow going. I don’t have much to show for it yet, because it hasn’t been my focus for a while. I’ve been more focused on building the setting in which the narrative is set— Nasir. I decided that I wanted to build it myself from the ground up, and while it’s far from complete, I’ve done a lot of work on it, and that’s what I’m eager to share with you!

Nasir is the main backdrop of the story; a continent (one of three on the planet) with biomes ranging from suboceanic coral cities to cold mountainside villages that touch the clouds. and from humans and dryads to rabbitfolk and moon faeries, every living being is connected to each other and the world by magical ties to the Spirits known as Threads.

I want to tell a feel-good story, and a large portion of that, I hope, will shine through in the worldbuilding itself. the goal I’ve had in mind thus far is to create not only something that feels fresh and new, but also to create… well, a kind world. a gentle world. I want to invoke a feeling of magic, of childlike wonder, of safety. I want delving into this world to feel like I, the creator, am giving you, the reader, a big ol bear hug and saying “I know it’s hard. please, rest here a while.” from the physical world to the societies and characters, I hope to make folks feel good.

so yeah! that’s what you guys are getting into! it’s been a fun journey and I’m happy to have more people wanting to come along for the ride. I’m always open to suggestions once I start posting actual content, too; much of what I have down is due in no small part to ideas and inspiration from friends!

okay I’m done, lol. thanks for reading and have a good day/afternoon/night! :3

hello friends, and welcome to the first official installment of what I will now be referring to as the Candlewick Diaries, where I’ll be rambling about my WIP comic and its setting! I'm also thinking about opening my askbox for this so y'all can ask me questions if you want :)

for today’s entry: the magic system.

so I mentioned in the intro post that the world is connected by “magical ties to the Spirits known as Threads.” well, here is where I elaborate on that; it starts way back at the beginning of the world.

once upon a time, back and back and back, there was no Oruna (that's the name of the planet, by the way). there were only the Spirits, and they had grown weary of the silence. they itched to fill this blank canvas before them with something, but had nothing to create with. nothing, that is, except themselves. even the Spirits cannot create from nothing.

so each Spirit began to spin some of their very essence into magical threads, and then together they wove those threads into worlds, and thus Oruna was created. it was not the first planet they wove, nor the last, but it was one of their favorites. because of that extra appreciation for these planets, the Spirits revisited them and breathed them to life, causing the latent energy in the Threads to become an active force in them. in this way, not only did living creatures emerge, but so did sapience, and in tandem, the ability to harness the magic of the Threads.

all living things upon Oruna and the other Awakened Worlds are connected to one or more Threads that grant them specific physical features and/or behaviors. and sapient peoples have the potential to manifest the energy of their Threads in the world: this is what magic is.

Threads of different Spirits manifest in different ways. Threads of Enai (Spirit of Earth and Life) might grant the innate ability to speak with animals, magically heal others, or shape earth on a whim, while those of Nuro (Spirit of the Night and Deception) might grant the power to shapeshift or make oneself invisible. there is great variety in the abilities one can have, even from Threads of the same Spirit.

(note that not all people have the capacity to harness their Threads in this way. to be born with this capability is a completely random occurrence, and it is just as common to be unable to cast magic at all!)

now, time for some nuance: let's talk wild magic, tangles, and Weavers.

when someone is born connected to a single Thread, given that they are able to perform magic, they typically have no issues doing so. the same is true for two or sometimes even three Threads; the magic has a clear path out of the body and into the world. however, when more Threads are present in a person, they start out in a knot. in this state, one's Threads are considered to be tangled, and this tangle causes difficulty casting. the magic does NOT have a clear path out of the body, and while there is the occasional chance that things could go correctly, the results are usually unpredictable and volatile.

trying to cast using a tangled Thread could result in many undesirable outcomes: it could cause the power of any other Thread to manifest instead, cause the intended ability to manifest too weakly or too strongly, or cause the casting to fail altogether. to cast with your Threads tangled is to practice wild magic, and is generally regarded as dangerous, reckless, or foolhardy, depending on the Threads in your tangle.

with great amounts of mental exertion, usually in the form of intense meditation, it is possible to untangle one's Threads and therefore gain the ability to cast normally. sadly though, not everyone can accomplish this, and so there are many tangled people who either try to make the most of their wild magic, or simply stop trying to cast altogether.

finally, there are Weavers: those who are not only strong enough to untangle their Threads, but also to consciously weave them together, creating new abilities for themselves and taking part in the act of creation, as the Spirits once did when they wove the world into being. Weavers are often held in high regard for this reason.

and... I think that's finally all for now! I went on for much longer than I intended, heh, but I hope you enjoyed if you made it this far! thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!