❂ ——————————————————————— ❂ This is the general lore/plot for document for my characters from the world “Sundial” ^^ There’s a simple and detailed version of the plot!! ❂ ——————————————————————— ❂ SIMPLE: Once upon a time there was a mage called the Watcher went insane and laid a curse over their entire country and also set the 1000 year countdown until the end of the world. The curse changes people from humans to animals, though it doesn’t affect everyone. Hundreds of years later the curse is still present and spreading. One day, an oracle delivers a prophecy that says two mages will be born and will defeat the Watcher, and subsequently, the curse. These two mages, called the Hunter and the Gatherer, were named Hideki and Misora. Deki and Sora were around 13 years old when they developed the curse and met each other. Their curses never progressed to completion. When they were 18, a second curse was placed over Sundial and they decided they needed to find that Watcher as soon as possible. This is where the story begins. ❂ ——————————————————————— ❂ DETAILED: On an island in the Sundial Archipelago¹, in the year 16 B.C.² a very powerful mage³ was born under the light of a red blue moon⁴. The mage, who would later be known as the Watcher, grew more and more unhappy with the state of human civilization as they got older. Eventually, the Watcher reached their breaking point and retreated to the Great Mountain. There, they laid a curse across the archipelago. The Curse of Changing⁵ was selective, it didn’t affect everyone. It only ever affected children and spread like a disease (though the cause of the spreading was unknown). Once the Curse selected its victim, a red symbol would appear on their palm. This ‘symbol’ was the character of an animal, ranging anywhere from a cat to a crow, wolf to a rabbit, or snake to a squirrel. The Curse worked slowly, twisting and changing the bodies of its victims until they held the shape of the animal marked on their hand. Once a Curse victim has been fully changed from human to animal, the red mark on their palm faded to a black or white. Time and time again, the other mages tried to help the Cursed, but there was no cure, and it spread in ways nobody understood. The Curse kept its victims living for hundreds of years by slowly down aging, 100 human years for 1 Cursed year. Years later, the Curse still ran rampant. Those who developed the Curse were scorned, abandoned, and what was becoming increasingly more common, eliminated on the spot. Due to the Curse’s effect on aging, all of the Cursed would have still been alive, if it weren’t for bounty hunters⁶ rising in number. Superstitions around the Curse were on the rise. Many people believed that having multiple children put their children at greater risk of getting the Curse, so most families only ever had one child. The islands of Sundial were dwindling in more ways than one, and they were beginning to reach their breaking point. Until one day, an oracle shared a prophecy⁶ with the world. The Oracle stated that in six years time, two mages would be born, the Hunter and the Gatherer. These two mages would grow up to kill the Watcher, eradicate the Curse, and bring light back to the islands of Sundial. Six years later, the mages were born. Though they were unfortunately orphaned soon after birth (losing their parents either to abandonment or to death), Hideki and Misora both had well spent childhoods, unaware of each other or their destiny to save their country. They met around the time they were 13 or so, when the mark of the curse unexpectedly appeared on their hands. Unlike the traditional curse mark of the word for an animal, Deki and Sora’s hands bore the words ‘Hunter’ and ‘Gatherer’, respectively. The curse still took effect though, halting only when the two met each other for the first time and became aware of their position. Around the time the two mages are 18 or so, the threat of a second curse⁷ looms. Deki and Sora are finally starting to piece together the clues necessary to defeat the Watcher. This is when the story begins.
FOOTNOTESSSSS: Thumbnail - The symbol on the thumbnail is the crest of Sundial (granted it’s the really complicated version) which represents the different islands and colors associated with them. If you tap it you can see the not colored version ^^ 1 - The Sundial Archipelago/Solaehoris is a collection of 13 islands that bend time and are riddled with magic. The names of the 13 islands* are as follows: Cedarhallow (Caedalon), Lowland (Lalow), Bushtrail (Atria), Highdune (Inudine), Dewpoint (Poinew), Hillborn (Hylla), Greenwood (Verarbol), Mistpeak (Miestae), Deepstone (Ollad), Silvershore (Sholevin), Cricketsail, (Kairill) Everbloom (Entern), The Great MountIn (Zenamon) *Ancient name in parentheses 2 - “B.C.” stands for “before curse” and is the equivalent of B.C.E./B.C. in our world. The curse began in the year 0 B.C. The abbreviation “A.C.” stands for “after curse” and is the equivalent of C.E./A.D. in our world. The world is set to end on January 1st, 1000 A.D. if the Hunter and Gatherer don’t defeat the Watcher in time. 3 - The source of Sundial’s magic is their two gods, the Creator and the Destroyer. The three types of magic are Sedgil, Langin and Tagahari. Sedgil is the written form of magic and is derived from the Creator, its associated color is yellow. Langin is the spoken form of magic and is derived from the Destroyer, its associated color is red. Tagahari is a combination of Sedgil and Langin magic, it must be both spoken and written. Its associated color is blue. 4 - The gods grant power to any child born under the light of a blue moon, these children grow up to be mages. Mages born under a normal blue moon are Creator mages. Mages born under a blue moon that is also a lunar eclipse/blood moon are Destroyer mages. Because of this, Destroyer mages are far more rare than Creators. Mages born under a blue moon that occurs on the spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox, or winter solstice are enhanced mages. Enhanced mages can be either Creators or Destroyers. Enhanced mages are capable of casting the immortality spell, so naturally, most of them do. 5 - A spell that acts like a disease, the Curse of Changing selectively turns its victims into animals through a five stage process (stages detailed below). The Watcher casted the curse of changing because he was unhappy with human civilization and thought Sundial would be better off without any people living there. He would’ve cursed the entire archipelago into animals immediately if he could, but even with the help of the Zenith stone, he still wasn’t strong enough. Stage 1: “The Mark” At this point the only noticeable change is a red mark that appears on the dominant hand of the victim. The ‘mark’ is really the character/word for the animal the victim will be turned to. Stage 2: “The Additions/Subtractions” Extra appendages like ears, tails, wings, and fins grow in at this stage. In addition, unnecessary appendages (like normal human ears, for example) disappear into the flesh or are turned into something else (like arms into wings) Stage 3: “The Beast” Often considered to be the most unsettling stage, a stage 3 victim appears as a twisted anthropomorphic version of an animal. The ability to talk is lost in stage 3. Stage 4: “The Growth/Shrinking” The victims body continues to twist into the form of an animal and either shrinks or grows to properly fit its new form. Stage 5: “The Finale” The victim has now fully assumed the form and size of an animal and their curse mark has turned either white or black. 6 - Around a couple hundred years after the initial curse was placed, a few people began to hunt the Cursed for sport and for money. This blossomed into an ugly flower of bounty hunters who would hunt the Cursed out of fear and greed. Some bounty hunters sell the Cursed (former humans, mind you) to butchers and cooks, others to taxidermists, some simply take out wanted Cursed to make a profit. The Marlow’s are considered the most skilled of all bounty hunters, being able to easily identify between the Cursed and normal animals. 7 - The second curse is called the Curse of Darkness, or more commonly, the Sable Blizzard. The Sable is a cold, black, ash like storm that freezes, petrifies and sometimes disintegrates its victims. The Sable is deadly to mages, whose flesh turns to ash on contact. The Cursed are unaffected by the Sable. Normal people are simply frozen in place until the Sable disperses. If one is exposed to the Sable for too long, it can leave them petrified.
