Glacies

Glacies, a frozen land to the north.

An underwater cave brimmed with Aether Crystals, and they continued to grow for a long long time. Among them was a giant ice crystal which would later be known as the mother crystal. This cave, untouched and untouchable by humans due to the extreme cold from the mother crystal allowed for it and other crystals to grow abundantly. The water above the cave started freezing over. The land is surrounded by a barrier of mist. Every plant that grows in Glacies is concentrated in aether, thus often leading to side effects such as hallucinations, nausea, and euphoria. However they do have great healing effects.

Spirits and Demons co-exist with different governments, for that reason there are unusual borders and two names for the country. The official name, Glacies, comes from the spirits, but some demons prefer to call it Vereist, which was what they used before the merge. Neither are wrong, however, as the spirits occupied the land first, the king decided it would be best to let them have the official name. As for the borders, they cut off at different points. Spirits have 5 main regions while demons have 4, none of the sub regions overlap perfectly either.

You can only either have a demon or spirit citizenship. The laws are the same for both races as spirits didn't have official laws before the merge. It may seem the same but they have different rituals and customs they must do. For example, Demon citizens must do coming of age ceremony, and spirit citizens must do certain ritual dances yearly.

## History

The span of each period can greatly differ from the other. The king introduces one whenever he decides that a revolutionary event as occurred.

### 1st Period

Aether overflowed more and more until another group of demons manifested. They tried fighting the moment they were born. The king defeated them all easily and became the ruler, giving each of them a mark and said they would work under him. Each one received a name as well, hence starting the tradition known as the coming of age ceremony.

At first, it was whoever was stronger would have a higher rank as the island was nothing but ice and snow. Rather, more like a glacier than an island. Hence the king called it Glacies. Nothing could develop so power was the only thing.

Language started forming, although it's just the bare bones of the Glacian language.

One day, someone came up with the idea of exploring the world beyond the island, so they flew until they reached something, another island but it brimmed with life and resources. Coming back with things never seen before, the demons started doing all they could with each and every material, whether inserting aether or eating, which helped some learn of "new" elements, namely those specializing in nature and earth.

The first materials to show a reaction were the plants. They were at first reduced to nothing but light blue seeds, which were mutated due to the extreme cold and abundant aether. The demons would just throw them onto the snow. As the days passed, the plants grew with light blue colors. When they were eaten, it seemed demons would start undergoing changes, most commonly horns and tails turned black, the eye whites turned black and/or demons who couldn't use ice aether before suddenly could, but only in those who had a talent in aether and didn't already have a second aether. The demons who couldn't already handle the cold could. With the plants as a food source, their aether became odd as well. It seemed every element with the exception of kinetic and earth had a blue or white color scheme, while also having an ice attribute with the exception of water and fire.

### 2nd Period

The children of demons who manifested from the excess aether showed more stability in their abilities whether by coincidence or otherwise. The king henceforth categorized demons of the first generation as irregulars seeing procreation as the more natural process for their specific race.

Written form of language was invented, which greatly helped the demons record ideas.

Machines started being created with aether crystals to power them.

Huge medical advancements were made, and demons worked far more efficiently than ever before.

A new job came into being known as "recruiters". This slowly increased the population as they got more citizens, only after each one proves to be able to survive the cold climate.

Through many tough battles, the spirits all merged into one large community rather than tribes as due to a few decided to take control.

### 3rd period

The first laws were set in place due to an excess of uncivilized conflict. The king set said laws and said that if anyone is caught going against, it they will be punished. He said it wasn't the act of going against the peace he hated, just demons who were so incompetent they couldn't even hide their tracks. However, he also added that if someone killed a person close to somebody and were judged guilty, the person had the right to kill the convicted for revenge. There was law on rankings, demons with lower ranks must not do any kind of violent act to those of higher rank.

Technology started advancing quickly with demons ingraining multiple complex magic circles into tiny Aether Crystals and ranks, which were just before the power based started being biased towards technicians, schools started being made. It was the golden age of ancient aethercraft.

A trend started among engineers where even if they had discovered an advancement in technology, they'd hide how they did it, only showing the final result happened with the advancement of aethertech. They felt the need to monopolize the market.

Demons also started looking into the arts, it seemed that some could create accurate ice statues instantly with no reference and work if they studied, while others could only create subpar copies even with a reference, unless they spent ages changing it. Sports started having official names and rules, even though before it was just miscellaneous pastimes. Tournaments started being held and the idea of athletes started existing.

With expansions, it had become apparent Glacies was no longer one small town or big city. As it started becoming many, many different cities, they started being separated into regions. The king of Glacies made sure to not use any land claimed by spirits.

Places close to the sea had transporters. The king categorized everything belonging to demons into 4 regions, from the order of the wealthiest to the poorest; Zauber, specializing in aether research and advancement. Many court mages and engineers hail from there. Anstürmen, specializing in training demons who hope to become royal guards, Eis, specializing in cooking, arts, philosophy and the like, and Bilden, the place where raw materials are processed into supplies. Without a specialty, they fell behind the others but they were necessary trading partners nonetheless as they grew most of the crops. He named any region belonging to spirits, Geistland.

Demons with fraudulence started trading with the nearest humans, using ships for transport. This meant more materials were available from non-Glacian workers.

The spirits who were beaten during the 2nd period created a secret criminal organisation called, "False Stigma". Their motivation was to abolish the demons who brought changes, these were mainly compiled of spirits who were previously of high rank within their own tribes, only to have it taken away after getting beaten, and think demons existed to destroy the systems they had in place and the like.

Though at this stage, they are only a small organization.

### 4th period

Even though laws were just set, a massacre of engineers occurred in Zauber by demons from Anstürmen, who were jealous of their higher ranks despite that they believed they worked just as hard. Weaponry started being produced by engineers who valued their lives. However, even if some survived, a lot of technology could no longer be produced as no one understood how to make them due to the previous trend of monopolizing and engineers who haven't found inheritors never told anyone how to reproduce their works. Luckily for the engineers, during this time a recruiter who visited Lycanius found out about artificial aether crystals and the method of creating them, thus saving resources and allowed for better machinery whether it be for defense or otherwise. Due to this, the fights seemed to start dying off. In reality, however, fights between Zaubern and Anstürmen only became more intense, suddenly leading to more lost technology. The citizens of Eis base a lot of artwork on this very conflict. The conflict ended when the king changed the ranks to more agreeable terms. Engineers were ranked based on how important their inventions are, magicians, combatants, and artists were ranked based on once a decade tournaments. Merchants were ranked based on the relevancy of their products and how much treasures they own.

### 5th period

Regions started separating into smaller ones as expansion occurred, while still maintaining the same specialties. Sub regions with more complicated specialties were created, a total of 27 exist to this day. Technology made from the slain engineers of the past that could never again be created started being known as ancient aethertech, they started to be seen as treasures as they had unique effects lost to time.

There was no reason in particular, but spirits and demons started interacting at this stage. Prior to this, they had tried to keep away from each other, but they started sharing ideas and it eventually became standard.

While this would seem like a setback for False Stigma, they moderately expanded due to high amounts of spirits being unhappy with the merge. While this is still a minority compared to the vast population, it's enough to have caused havoc.

### 6th period

The first demon to surpass the king in strength was born. Although fire users often find it difficult to improve their aether, he surpassed all his peers from a young age with unmatched growth and chilling white flames. His weapon was a lantern, and so was named "Leuchte" at his coming of age ceremony.

At this time a pandemic crisis emerged, the citizens of Glacies called it Zunehmen Ende. It was a curse that was spread by False Stigma in an attempt to wipe out as much of the demon population as they could. The symptoms included the spreading of pitch black, branch-like marks on the victim's body, lethargy coupled with insomnia that got worse overtime, coughing up black liquid, and at later stages, black flowers growing out from the victim's right eye. At one stage the victim will go berserk, using up all their energy and die. It spread through either ritual or a cursed one's aether touching another person. 27% of the demons were cursed until they found a way to prevent the spread. All those who go to or are in Glacies were recommended to wear a certain type of pendant or accessory that had a warding property against Zunehmen Ende. The king decided to treat the cursed citizens as if they were already dead, he took away their name but allowed them to keep their status. However, as soon as they choose an inheritor and their inheritor does their coming of age ceremony, their inheritor takes their status. They were advised to wear paper enchanted with sealing magic over their faces.

### 7th period

The golden age of modern aethertech in Glacies. False Stigma is still extremely violent, but every single demon was forced into self-defense courses regardless of their rank. Whether they learned to increase their physical strength, aether potency, or both, they were expected to be able to protect themselves. The king said this was because raising the power of citizens for the meantime would increase the chances of preventing or recovering from an attack while searching for False Stigma's base.

Weapon orbs were invented by who was without argument Glacies' most influential engineer, which gave every demon who used them a unique weapon that suited them. The weapon's power evolving with them, and if their weapons were really rare, unique abilities. They come with the price of 1 life per orb, and so they are incredibly scarce. The people initially thought of using the lives of criminals, however, it seemed that using them created lower quality products. Only those willing to die to become a weapon helped create the quality mentioned above.

## Spirits

Before demons inhabited the land, spirits were very traditional, and didn't have set rules. There were no large communities, rather tribes. The laws differed from tribe to tribe. After seeing the demon king take control over other demons with an iron fist, a few stronger spirits were inspired and decided to take control over all others with overwhelming power. Though because of numbers they did sustain some injuries.

## Demons

Demons get sick easily when they leave Glacies due to them being used to an environment rich in aether, leading to advanced medical technology for the sake of recruiters and traders. However, they have narcotic effects. When leaving for the mainland, most demons bring medical drugs and needles.

Other demons will be discriminated against if if they're weak, lack an aura, are bastards or adopted, and get along better with other races or citizens of different countries. This is due to their competitive nature amongst themselves.

If a parent births twins, triplets, or the like, it's tradition to kill the younger ones and raise the eldest as the younger ones are deemed unnecessary. Most families tend to only care for raising stronger children, and so the one that emerged ffrom the womb first was believed to be above the younger ones in terms of strength.

### King of Demons

A demon manifested from the overabundance of aether, and started growing off some of the excess. The crystals continued growing despite that, as the amount the demon took was minute compared to what's produced.

### Naming

Most demons have 3 names: Given name | Rank | Family name (if they have one). *E.g. Leuchte Schwarz Flamme.*

#### Given name

Name given during coming of age ceremony. It will usually relate to the demon's main personality trait (common in Eis), something unique about their weapon (Ccommon in Anstürmen), a skill they possess or just any oddity.

#### Rank name

Relates to one's hierarchy rank and changes when the demon is promoted or demoted. This name only applies to demons after their coming of age ceremony.

#### Family name

Demons have this at birth if they have parents in Glacies, not including adoptive parents. This is the name people refer to them by while they grow up. It could also apply to the name a person had before moving to Glacies and becoming a citizen. It usually refers to an element or job. There are three ways to obtain a family name.

* If they had a name before moving to Glacies and/or becoming a citizen, this becomes their last name.
* After their aether element, which is usually either water or fire, but can also apply to forestry aether.
	+ These are the rarest types of aether in Glacies. *E.g. If a demon could use fire aether and their child inherited the fire aether, the child would have the name Flamme or else something related.*

* If they don't have any special elements, or didn't have a name, they will be named based on the job of their higher rank parent. If both parents are equal in rank, they'll decide on the spot.
	+ *E.g. If it's a red rank court mage and a gold rank soldier, the child has the surname Magius because red rank is superior.*

## Ranks

A citizen hasn't done their coming of age ceremony and don't have a mark will still have a rank, though typically common or green. Each rank gives a demon a name. The frequency of each rank is given in terms of percentage. All ranks after blue are nobility.

#### Häufig (32%)

[Common Rank] Low ranked citizens, typically farmers or transporters.

### Unreif (31%)

[Green Rank] Either promoted by a higher rank, graduated from higher education or has a job as an artist.

### Blau (21%)

[Blue Rank] Either promoted by a higher rank, has inheritor status, or is an engineer, aetherian, or soldier in the army.

### Silber (11%)

[Silver Rank] Either promoted by a higher rank, are within the top 40% of engineers, magicians, combatants, artists or merchants. They can promote at most 4 to blue rank and 100 to green rank.

### Gold (3%)

[Gold Rank] Either promoted by a higher rank, are officials within towns or cities (those who work with the representative), top 10% of engineers, magicians, combatants and artists. Their yearly salary consists of Aether Crystals. They can promote at most 4 person to silver rank, 40 people to blue rank, and 400 to green rank.

### Rot (1%)

[Red Rank] Either promoted by a higher rank, are government officials, representatives of cities/towns, top thousand engineers, magicians and combatants, top hundred artists, athletes and merchants. They can use a limited amount of resources from the royal treasury per year, and can promote 1 person to gold rank, 7 to silver rank, 100 people to blue rank and 1,000 to green rank.

### Lila (100~ Persons)

[Purple Rank] Either promoted by a black rank, are mid-tier government officials, chosen by the king as one of the top architects, one of the top ten engineers, magicians or combatants. The single greatest at art, athletics and selling relevant products. They can use most resources from the royal treasury with permission and can grant 1 person red rank, 7 people gold rank, 100 people silver rank and 10,000 to blue rank.

### Schwarz (7 Persons)

[Black Rank] 4 highest government officials, the single greatest at engineering, aether and combat. They are allowed to freely use resources as they wish and promote 1 person to purple rank, 7 to red rank, 100 to gold rank and as much as 10% of the Glacian population to silver rank each.

Why some ranks can promote is due to a sort of trade. If a higher rank grants a rank than what a demon already has, that demon now works for the the one who granted them the rank. *E.g. Gold rank promotes a blue to silver, the silver rank now works for the gold rank.*

Government officials are mainly judges or those with unique skills favored by the king, and applies to incredibly specific or exclusive careers, such as the supervisor of the royal archives. However, these exclusive jobs typically require a certain skill.

## Trivial Information

* If humans were to visit, they'd die before they reach the island should they not have any protection from the cold as the temperature in Glacies is too cold for humans in general.
* There is a mist surrounding the island, and has many rumors about it as demons emerge from them should they leave Glacies.
* Aethertech inventions, ranks, aether crystals, loyalty and such are often traded. While Aether Crystals are similar to money, those with the most influence don't see worth in them, so they have to be traded with inventions or skills. For demons, even if you trade loyalty for a higher rank, if you get promoted by the king or someone of higher rank than the person you traded loyalty for, you can stop working for them at any time as your current rank was given by one at a higher position.
* Fire aethertech are expensive in Glacies since weak flames die easily, so higher quality Aether Crystals are necessary.
* Most citizens in Glacies have at least intermediate level ice aether, strength wise, because of the abundance of ice Aether Crystals.
* The citizens hardly interact with the human race with the exception of recruiters or traders for demons. It's because they dislike the notion of hiding their proof of citizenship, that's often confused for slave marks, and the idea of getting sick often and for spirits that don't feel a need to move.
* Everyone wears earrings because language translation aethertech and to ward off Zunehmen Ende. However, the ward is typically a pendant or bracelet. Some now wear a more modern 2-in-1 earring that both translates and wards.