recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Blood magic

## Author's description

Magic that deals with the manipulation of a person’s life force, usually using the target’s blood as a proxy. Ritual sacrifice, powering spells through one’s own health, improved enhancement rituals and bloodline theft are all accomplished through blood magic.

Life force is a very potent form of mana, useful for a lot of things. Unlike spending mana, however, spending one’s life force is a pretty big deal – life force recovers extremely slowly and the body will not easily relinquish it to the caster. It must be coaxed or forced into allowing it, and no matter the method used it will result in lasting weakening and sickness that will persist for days or even weeks. Vertigo, exhaustion, lethargy and phantom pains are all typical consequences of life force depletion. Additionally, while losing a little life force from time to time will not permanently affect a person, dipping into one’s life force too deeply or too often will inflict permanent consequences… and it’s hard to know where exactly the limit lies.

All of this means that blood mages dislike using their own life force as a rule, and instead focus on stealing it from others. And this stolen life force is usually used for demon summoning. Because of that, blood magic is very, very illegal – easily on par with soul magic, if not worse. Most countries deliberately suppress information about blood magic, other than warning people that it’s bad and they should never use it. Despite that, the field refuses to die out.

## In the story

Zorian gets some information about blood magic from Kael, and then from stolen cultist texts. Zorian classified the use of blood magic magic as follows:

* Tapping your own life force to cast spells. Zorian compares it favorably to drawing on un-assimilated ambient mana (especially so inside the time loop); it's more likely to be fatal, but will have no impact on sanity. Two cases of using as much as possible life force (killing the user) is shown in the story: by an unnamed Ibasan mage and by Daimen. Xvim, Zorian himself and Zach use it once for a limited extent.

* Killing other people to extract and use their life force. This can be bargained away with demons or used in special rituals, since life force is very potent, but it's quite difficult to shape someone else's life force directly.

* Enhancement rituals, allowing people to gain permanent magical abilities at the cost of permanently occupying a portion of their mana reserves. Enhancement rituals do not have to involve blood magic, but incorporating it allows them to be better integrated into the target, reducing the cost and potentially turning them into inheritable bloodlines.

## References

1. ↑ Disciplines of Magic (Worldbuilding Post)
2. ↑ chapter 52
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 chapter 62
4. ↑ chapter 70
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 chapter 91
We Rock! - Winter 2017

**We Rock! - Winter 2017** is a slot event that ran in November, 2017.

## Event Announcement

NTT. Solmare Facebook announcement:

> [Shall we date?: Wizardess Heart+ #495]
> Gedonelune Academy’s Journal
> -Event Announcement by Leslie, Randy, and Cerim-
> Leslie “\*Sigh\* I don’t know what to wear.”
> Randy “You know what you need? You need We Rock! –Winter 2017-!”
> Leslie “Hmm... It seems to offer a variety of selection. Indeed, all very fashionable items.”
> Cerim “Do you happen to be on a date today? Could it be...?”
> Randy “L-Leslie?! Why are you running away?!”
>
>
Ziggurat of the Sun

A ziggurat deep in Xlotic desert, deep into the interior of northern Miasina. It was taken over by a prominent sulrothum tribe. The drawings in the ziggurat (made by humans) ware crudely changed by the sulrothum. This tribe has control over a giant sandworm, which is enhanced with the ability to flight and practical immunity to hostile mind magic (likely by the gods), and access to the Dungeon. It is very advanced by sulrothum standards and has many advantages over its surrounding tribes.

The High Priest of this tribe possesses the imperial ring. This tribe is favoured by at least one angel (despite Alanic calling them "pagan" and agreeing to fight them) and is in close contact with them, as seen when an angel advised them before the activation of the Sovereign Gate to give the ring to the Controller of the time loop shall they ever appear before the tribe, asking for it, as well as informing them about Zach and Zorian coming outside the time loop.

## Notes

1. ↑ by means of a dagger similar to one Daimen found in the imperial orb, as noted by Storm Dream in chapter 85; Zach later figures out how to control Princess with it.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 77
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 chapter 82
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 chapter 88
4. ↑ chapter 80
5. ↑ chapter 99
Hsan

Hsan is a continent to the west of Altazia, where the story takes place. It is distant from both Miasina and Altazia. It has been isolationist and stagnant ever since the Ikosian Empire's fall, who was its main trading partner. Outsiders view it as a very mysterious place, and all sorts of wild tales are told about it.

## Politics

The continent has a history of being unified by a single large nation, which is currently the case. Hsan does possess other states as well, although they’re smaller and live under the shadow of the Grand Dynasty. However, the last few emperors of the Grand Dynasty have been very underwhelming and the empire is slowly stagnating and rotting from the inside. Rebellions are starting to get more common and some of the empire’s vassal lords are not paying their taxes as they should. Meanwhile, the smaller states that live in the Grand Dynasty’s shadow have been more open about trading with Altazia and are rolling out new technologies and mage academies received by their trading partners. Blasphemous voices have started to whisper if it might not be the time for the current Grand Dynasty to fall and a new one to rise from its ashes.

## Magic

Hsan has two main forms of magic. The first one is the Ikosian casting system, which they have imported during the height of Ikosian Empire. Since contact with Altazia and Miasina has been sparse since then, and because Hsan mages have never been as numerous or as supported by their states as mages on other two continents, Hsan mages are a somewhat worse than their counterparts in Altazia and Miasina. Their training methods lag in effectiveness, and their spellcasting necessarily suffers accordingly. This is being rapidly corrected now that Altazia merchants are making a big push in the area, outside the Grand Dynasty territory, at least.

The second form has not been expanded upon yet within the story, but is known to be different from the one used in Altazia and Miasina. Many wild stories about exotic Hsanic spellcasters are told by mages, although little is confirmed and the place is a mystery to the outside world aside from a couple of port towns.

Hsanic mages are more focused on specialized long-term shaping regimens that give them non-structured magical abilities. This gives them a handful of really flexible abilities, but they can’t pick up new spells as easily as Altazian mages do.

## Technology

Hsan is behind the rest of the human world in regards to tech, though it’s possible to get a hold of advanced tech through imports. Some people are trying to set up native workshops/factories, but this is still in the nascent stages.

## Trivia

* Xvim Chao has hsanic heritage.
* A small Hsanic delegation arrives for Cyoria's summer festival dance at the end of the month.

## References

1. ↑ Continents overview (worldbuilding post)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 worldbuilding blog comment
3. ↑ Chapter 71
4. ↑ worldbuilding blog comment
5. ↑ worldbuilding blog comment
6. ↑ worldbuilding blog comment
Gurey Cwili

A shopkeeper who owns Cwili and Rofoltin Equipment, an equipment shop in Knyazov Dveri, a man with little mana but some degree of skill in activating magic items. Hires Zorian to spy on a rival shopkeeper, Vazen. Zorian gets from him a research journal about breaking and bypassing wards, and a spellbook with unspecified illegal spells, all written by Aldwin Rofoltin (his late partner), for the break-in attempt.
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House

There are certain families who have held greater wealth, power, and magical ability for generations. Some of them are officially recognized as **Houses**. A House usually enjoys some autonomy and special privileges. In Eldemar, Houses which hold a seat on the Council of Elders are known as **Noble Houses**. Houses still hold the most political sway, but their influence is waning due to the magical knowledge being relatively freely available through magical schools and libraries that are open to the public.

## Eldemar Houses

### Noble Houses

* Noveda
* Boranova
* Aope
* Zveri (since Tesen Zveri is an Elder)

### Houses

* Reid (unknown if a Noble House)
* Witelsin (unknown if a Noble House)
* Denen

## Houses outside Eldemar

* Zoltan (Ulquaan Ibasa; see also Lady Zoltan)
* Letova (Falkrinea)
* House Iljatir (Kontemar, Xlotic coast; see Neoluma-Manu Iljatir)
* Taramatula (Koth)

## References

1. ↑ chapter 49
2. ↑ chapter 10
Briam

Briam is one of the student in Zorian's class. His family raises fire drakes. He has one, Trogmar, as a familiar. After the Red Robe's removal of aranea under Cyoria, Briam participates in monster hunts in the Dungeon, by using his fire drake as a living flamethrower.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 2
2. ↑ chapter 43

 Third year students
Imaya Kuroshka

Imaya Kuroshka is the owner of the house Zorian decides to live in when he brings his sister to school. Ilsa Zileti recommended her house to Zorian (Ilsa said she and Imaya are friends), explaining Imaya loves children. He first describes her as a lively middle age woman. He also describes her as a landlord who doesn't act like a landlord, probably because she she does things usually left to parents like help take care of his sister, noses into his business, gives advice and cares if he doesn't show up on time.

Kael Tverinov and his daughter live in the same house owned by Imaya. Kael has an alchemy laboratory in the basement.

## Past life

She attended a mage academy in her youth and was a classmate of Ilsa, which is how she met her. She has "a lot of books about esoteric magic" in her home.
Her husband divorced her, as she is infertile, and no cure exists.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 14
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 chapter 17
3. ↑ chapter 59
Wraith

A **wraith** is an incorporeal creature which kills the creatures it attacks and alters their souls into more wraiths.

## Wraith bombs

Sudomir planned to make **wraith bombs** which condain "hundreds" or "thousands" of wraiths, released when the bomb goes off, for attacking entire cities. The invaders were seen using a "clay pot" with "a dozen or so incorporeal wraiths". Out of the time loop, Zorian opined that Red Robe "must have spent ages refining the design in the time loop" and the wraith bombs whose design was brought out of the loop by Red Robe are "superbly well made".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 60
2. ↑ chapter 75
3. ↑ chapter 69
4. ↑ chapter 100
Benisek

by Rizaki717

Classmate of Zorian. Chubby, obsessed with gossip and girls, loud. Not concerned with studying magic, has a ready place in the family business. Zorian was more friendly with Benisek than the other students in the class before the time loop, but grew tired of him as time went on.

Zorian used Benisek:

* to obtain "basic information about everyone in our class" (to check if anyone else except Zach and Zorian himself is a time traveler).
* to spread rumors about the invasion, by telling him about a "nasty terrorist plot to bomb Cyoria during the summer festival", knowing Benisek will then spread it even faster if it is "confidential".
* to try to get information about Veyers Boranova.

Benisek loudly congratulated Zorian on (as he thought) getting a date with Raynie. In the next restart "Benisek had a spontaneous attack of clumsiness when he had tried to loudly congratulate Zorian", "and Zorian hadn't had absolutely anything to do with it". Benisek also blurted out that Zorian has dealings with the aranea in the presence of Zorian's father and mother.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 2
2. ↑ chapter 11
3. ↑ chapter 20
4. ↑ chapter 24
5. ↑ chapter 57
6. ↑ chapter 42
7. ↑ chapter 43
8. ↑ chapter 107
Mrva

drawn by Aslovefromlies; commissioned by Ardvarkeating101

Mrva is a giant golem Zorian made outside the time loop to fight against Red Robe and his allies. Has the best wards Zorian could create, including such exotic ones as protection from dimensional fractures, and an anti-teleportation ward trying to kill the teleporting creature. Mrva was also equipped with a captured soulseizer chrysanthemum with an amplifier for its magic and a prison allowing the soulseizer chrysanthemum to perceive only Quatach-Ichl. This device played a crucial role in neutralizing Quatach-Ichl, although it caused Mrva to expend all crystallized mana powering him and thus stop being animated, and he was destroyed shortly after. Zorian still haven't brought him into functioning condition a month after the attack.

### Appearance

Described as a "six meters tall and fully made from gleaming, nigh-indestructible metal".

### Trivia

* Although Mrva is a golem and therefore doesn't necessarily have a gender, Zorian refers to Mrva using he/him pronouns.
* His name means "crumb" in Serbo-Croatian, most likely an attempt on Zorian's part to make a joke on Mrva's impressive size. Compare Maus (the name means "mouse"), a German super-heavy tank.

## Gallery

Official art of Mrva by Daniel Govar from the Arc 1 kickstarterOfficial art of Mrva by Daniel Govar from the Arc 1 kickstarterdrawn by Aslovefromlies; commissioned by Ardvarkeating101==References==

1. ↑ chapter 102
2. ↑ chapter 103
3. ↑ chapter 107
4. ↑ chapter 101
House Letova

House Letova is a fairly important House in Falkrinea that achieved their status due to their knowledge of certain unique potions that other people could not replicate. Their potion business is booming, giving them plenty of money to throw around to make themselves heard and boost their political influence in Falkrinea and elsewhere. They guard their alchemy secrets very closely and invest a great deal into security.

Zach and Zorian try to break into the House's alchemical repository in chapter 73 as practice for stealing the Imperial Dagger
Ibery Ambercomb

by pocketsleuth

Zorian first describes her as the green turtleneck girl, with spectacles. She works at the academy library and has a crush on Fortov Kazinski, but he seems to ignore it.

She knows a shaping exercise to levitate a book without the cover opening (and taught it to Zorian), as well as library magic.

Near the end of every restart, she gets pushed into a purple creeper patch by Fortov (see there for his explanation). Fortov then tries to get an "anti-rash potion" (which doesn't exist, unlike an anti-rash salve) from his brother Zorian.

When Zorian spread rumors of cultists intending to summon demons at the day of the summer festival in one restart, Ibery commented that the Hole is "something of a holy location for them" and that "They think it's a direct conduit to the Heart of the World".

In one restart, after seeing Zorian cast sophisticated illusions on the train (where mana shaping is disrupted, making spellcasting more difficult) she asks Zorian to come to the library. Turns out that she wants to hire a tutor to improve her magical skills but they cost too much, and she hoped to teach Zorian spells in exchange for tutoring. Zorian disguised his rejection by telling her to "get back to her after the summer festival" (beyond the end of the time loop).

Ibery Ambercomb AIby pocketsleuthby pocketsleuth
## References

1. ↑ chapter 1
2. ↑ chapter 6
3. ↑ chapter 13
4. ↑ chapter 24
5. ↑ chapter 38

 Third year students
Maps

AltaziaAltazia - Political OutlineAltazia's Central ValleyMoL-verse World MapRelief map of MiasinaRelief map of AltaziaWorld Relief Map
## Continents

* Altazia
* Miasina
* Blantyrre
* Hsan

## References

1. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/dodo-ptica/art/Altazia-479207173
2. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/dodo-ptica/art/Altazia-Political-Outline-575261642
3. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/dodo-ptica/art/Altazia-s-Central-Valley-525095257
4. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/dodo-ptica/art/MoL-verse-World-Map-Huge-657220714
Kopriva Reid

Classmate of Zorian. Green haired, like other members of house Reid (which is reputed to be connected to organized crime, although nothing was proven). Swears like a sailor, but otherwise Zorian finds her pleasant enough person to talk to. Helps out in her family business of selling alchemical ingredients based on plants. Sells to Kael (at Zorian's expense) restricted alchemical components in one restart. After the end of the time loop, notes that Zorian "has a serious source of cash".

### Trivia

* In South Slavic languages "kopriva" means nettle.
* The other character with green hair is Batak; he doesn't seem to be related to house Reid.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 20
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 chapter 49
3. ↑ chapter 21
4. ↑ chapter 107
Transformation

Spells that transform the target into something else, in whole or in part. Shapeshifting and many augmentation spells belong in this discipline. Transformation magic works by applying the so called ‘transformation shell’ over the target’s soul, temporarily altering their form. Thus, it requires both the target and the source of the transformation shell to have a soul in order for it to work.

Transformation magic, although not terribly difficult, can have severe consequences if not done correctly. Additionally, a mage that transformed into a non-humanoid form will find it difficult to cast spells, which is a pretty big drawback no matter how impressive the other form is. As such, transformation is not taught to beginning students in most schools and most mages shy away from it. Thus, it is a rather rare form of magic – few mages dabble in it and specializing in it is not common. Most transformation specialists combine their expertise with alchemy, selling transformation potions to mages that need them for some purpose but don’t want to mess with a potentially dangerous field like that.

## References

1. ↑ Disciplines of Magic (Worldbuilding Post)
We Rock! - Summer 2018

**We Rock! - Summer 2018** is a Slot Event that ran from June 03 to 16, 2018.

## Announcement

Ntt. Solmare Facebook announcement:

> [Shall we date?: Wizardess Heart+ #586]
> -Event Announcement by Amelia, Randy, Luca-
> Amelia “Whoa! Randy! You look different today!”
> Randy “Nice, isn’t it? This is called Bunny Sailor Style!”
> Amelia “The bunny ears are so pretty! Fits your character very well!”
> Luca “What about me? This time’s We Rock! has very artistic outfits, it was hard to pick one!”
> Amelia “...Well, you look simple and nice...”
> Luca “Thanks. It’s a Punk-rock Style!”
> Amelia & Randy “Punk-rock...”
>
>

## Note

* Costed x1000 Romance Point per play.
* 28 new avatar items were made for this event.
* Fitting Room was available.

## Gallery

All av itemsUnder the Sea Background (Garden)
Invasion of Cyoria

This is a scheme, planned by the Ulquaan Ibasa, a nation populated by undead who fled the Necromancer Wars, aided by the Cult of the Dragon Below. They feel Eldemar is weak from the Splinter Wars and the Weeping and seek to do much damage.

Prior to the attack, cranium rats were used for espionage.

On the day of the attack, teleport wards were subverted, the city was bombarded with artillery magic, fire elementals were summoned, foreign mages teleport in and attack various enemies, trolls were brought in through the Dungeon to attack civilians, rock worms, and Sudomir's winter wolves, iron beaks and undead. The Cult of the Dragon Below supplies mages to attempt to summon a primordial and kill people.

Demon summoning is in the plans, but in the time loop, which involved separation of the spiritual realms from the material one, this was not possible.

The attempt to summon the primordial was rather poorly conceived of. While the primordial may have been landborn, primordials aren't spirits, they have a material body, and therefore wouldn't disappear and would keep rampaging until slain, something that would have been very hard to do.
Orissa Taramatula

Orissa is Daimen's fiancée, and is a prominent and talented member of the main branch of the Taramatula Family. She is also a scout in Daimen's treasure hunting group, and she uses bees as her main form of attack, defense, and scouting. She's a skilled mind mage, although probably not a psychic, and uses unstructured mind magic to communicate with her bees.

She is described as "tall, shapely woman", "very dark skinned" and "beautiful". With regards to her character, one of Zorian's simulacrums opined that she is "a younger version of Mother" (Cikan Kazinski) .

Orissa Taramatula AI
## References

1. ↑ chapter 67
2. ↑ chapter 72
Eldemar

The country where most of the story takes place. It is located at the eastern shore of the continent of Altazia in the Mother of Learning universe. Cyoria, Korsa, Cirin, Knyazov Dveri are all located in Eldemar.

Originally part of a group of loosely allied states called the Old Alliance (officially Alliance of Eldemar), ruled by Eldemar. A terrible king and internal problems caused it to split apart, and the subsequent wars (Splinter Wars), especially devastating due to guns which allowed smaller countries to defeat larger countries with potent mage armies, split it apart further into smaller groups.

Currently Eldemar is a smaller but very nationalistic monarchy with a yearning for glory and a refusal to accept that the alliance is over. They are engaged in what they call "the Great Northern Push" where they seek to colonize the northern wilderness of the country.

## Trivia

The in-universe splintering of Old Alliance, Eldemar's refusal to accept that and the Splinter Wars parallel real-world Balkanization and in particular the breakup of Yugoslavia, the union of Serbia (where the old capital was located) and Montenegro continuing to call itself "Yugoslavia" for a while and the Yugoslav Wars respectively. The author's native Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 7
2. ↑ chapter 21
3. ↑ chapter 28
Time loop

A time loop that Zorian, Zach, and Red Robe are apparently trapped within.

Every month time seems to go back to the start of the month. An iteration of the loop is sometimes called a **restart**. The people who retain their memories across restarts are also called "**time travelers**" or "**loopers**". They are distinguished by a marker on their souls. Zach was originally the only one. Quatach-Ichl used soul meld on him and Zorian, transferring a chunk of Zach's soul to Zorian along with the marker. This caused Zorian to loop (retain memory) as well. The imperial crown allows the Controller to place a *temporary marker* (referred to as "lesser marker" by the Guardian of the Threshold), which allows the marked person to persist for six restarts. Such people are referred to as **temporary loopers**.

Only the souls are looped but not the physical bodies, so loopers retain memories and can improve their spellcasting skills and mana reserves using the loop but can't become fitter, as any physical body changes (injuries or improvements) are effectively removed at the end of the month.

Zach's death seems to end the loop, as does the emergence of a primordial. Astronomy seems to be normal, and the spiritual realms (inhabited by angels and demons) are cut off.

The soul marker on Zorian and Zach's soul can be tracked, and has a switch to end the loop iteration.

No actual time travel takes place; rather, a "blueprint" of the material plane (possibly limited in size, but certainly including the entire planet) is taken, for each time loop iteration, a copy is produced inside a pocket dimension and allowed to exist for up to one month (local time; the month inside corresponds to a small fraction of a second in the "real" Mother of Learning world), and then destroyed, except for the marked souls, which are moved to the next copy produced from the blueprint. Nevertheless, the expression "time loop" is used to describe the phenomenon, including presumably the designer of the mechanism implementing it (the Sovereign Gate).

The impending destruction is noticed by Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter and Kylae Kuosi, whose divinations produce a "blank" inside the time loop whenever they try to predict the future beyond the day of the summer festival, "as if everything beyond that date simply ceases to exist" (which is true with the regards to the copied world).

## References

1. ↑ chapter 55
2. ↑ chapter 19
3. ↑ chapter 20
Lady Zoltan

"A woman clad in black clothing reminiscent of a military uniform –simple pants, a plain jacket with some kind of crest sewn in on it (it was too far for Zorian to see clearly, but it seemed to feature a skull as a prominent motif; who the hell actually puts a damn skull on their crest?), and heavy leather boots. All very bland and utilitarian, if somewhat sinister-looking due to its black color. She strode purposely forward, gripping a sword strapped to her belt, her expression stony and severe, and Zorian couldn’t help but notice that her pale skin and coal-black hair (currently tied into a tight pony tail) made her seem somewhat vampire-like."

Heir to house Zoltan. Zorian kills her with a focused beam spell. This annoys the lich, who was supposed to keep her safe, even though he didn't like her much as she saw him as part of the old generation of undead.

Lady Zoltan AI
Tinami Aope

Heir of House Aope which is rumored to have risen to high prestige via use of necromancy, demon summoning and mind magic. She is shy and withdrawn, an expert in spider lore, raises tarantulas as a hobby, skilled at combat and has powerful pain causing purple beams. She knows the invisibility spell and taught it to Zorian, and practised mind magic with Zorian in a previous restart and a later one.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 20
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 chapter 21
3. ↑ chapter 26
4. ↑ chapter 25
5. ↑ chapter 41

 Third year students
The five treasures of the Ikosian Emperor

Five items: a ring, a crown, a staff, an orb and a dagger. These five items together are **the Key** needed to unlock the exit from the time loop, located in the Sovereign Gate (that controls the time loop). The lich has one, the crown (mana battery), and the dagger (anti-spirits weapon) is held by the treasury of the king of Eldemar. The orb (pocket dimension) is located in Koth. The ring (providing soul perception) is held in the Ziggurat of the Sun in the Xlotic desert, and the staff (allowing teleportation to 6 undetectable recall points, which can each be used once every 24 hours) is with Violeteye the dragon mage in Blantyrre. The controller marker (which Zach and Zorian have embedded into their souls) allows to find them if they are close by. They appear to be powerful magical items and each have different abilities designed to help with the time loop.

Each of the treasures has a function accessible only within the time loop:

* The orb has a bank of memories that the Controller can use to store and organize their important memories through the restarts, there is a limit to the storage but according to the guardian the memories of the entire restarts would not come close to filling the bank.
* The ring can place a tracking marker on target souls, allowing the ring bearer to track their movements with ease. Effect persists through the restarts but only one can be placed at a time. Soul tracking can be detected by powerful soul mages;
* The crown gave the Controller the ability to place temporary markers on people, bringing them into the time loop for a limited time (6 restarts, normally lasting 6 months). The marker can be reapplied after 12 restarts has passed.;
* The dagger gave the Controller an ability to place a special kind of marker on a soul of the target, letting the time loop know it should not recreate their soul in future restarts. Red Robe claimed it that it kills souls;
* The staff makes the 6 recall points persist between restarts.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 54
2. ↑ chapter 59
3. ↑ chapter 81
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 chapter 85
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 chapter 83
6. ↑ chapter 82
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 chapter 89
8. ↑ chapter 73
9. ↑ chapter 26
Oran

A gruff muscular boy that looks more at home in the boxing ring than in a mage school. He is nicknamed **Grunt** by Taiven for unknown reasons, although she calls both Grunt and Mumble her "minions" at one point, so maybe it's in keeping with that. He likes to play chess. He is part of Taiven's dungeon group, together with Urik. Zorian joined the group as well in some restarts.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 chapter 12
2. ↑ chapter 22
Shivan Archipelago

Archipelago to the south of Altazia and to the north of Miasina, and which connects both continents by facilitating a chain of teleports between the two.

Every island seems to have its own culture and language, although in the past it was momentarily colonized by the Ikosian Empire and the Ikosian language was imposed upon the region. Most inhabitants speak a sort of broken Ikosian which is hard to understand to outsiders.
Jade

Classmate of Zorian. Daughter of a high ranking member of house Witelsin. Zorian describes her as a chatterbox. During a party at Zach's house she was seen with Neolu, Maya, Kiana and Elsie. Taiven described the group as "giggly" and didn't want to interact with them, but because of the group's desire to nose into their classmate's business she had to talk to them anyway. At another time seen by Tinami talking to Neolu. Once tried to turn in a paper late (along with Neolu and Kiana) and became upset when Zorian wouldn't accept it. Pulled out of school after the aranea killing by Red Robe and resulting monster incursions.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 28
2. ↑ chapter 2
3. ↑ chapter 21
4. ↑ chapter 25
5. ↑ chapter 38

 Third year students
Korsa

Korsa is the third biggest city in the kingdom of Eldemar and a major trading hub where many newly minted merchant families live. It is mentioned to have a train station, an accessible alchemical workshop, and a dungeon access. A considerable number of students of Cyoria's Royal Academy of Magical Arts live here.

The city has an extensive textile industry, including one dealing in special clothes made out of spider silk. They receive most of their raw material from Cyoria, but some of it is gathered from the local aranean colony, the Sword Divers Web.

## Known inhabitants of Korsa

* Ibery Ambercomb
* Byrn Ivarin
* Sword Divers Web
	+ Seeker of the Eight Universal Paths

## References

1. ↑ chapter 28
2. ↑ chapter 1
3. ↑ chapter 35
Naim

First generation mage of some soldier that rose to the rank of general after The Splinter Wars left vacancies. Classmate of Zorian's.

After Red Robe gets rid of the aranea in Cyoria he volunteers to hunt monsters along with a number of other classmates. He participates in magical spars with Estin and Zorian (inside the time loop) and in the study group organized by Zorian after the time loop.

He is an expert at martial arts, and according to Edwin he is just as obsessed with combat as the other is with golems. He is very close to Edwin, although they're very different physically and in terms of personality. Naim is calm and restrained, like some sort of serene monk who has achieved enlightenment and could thus no longer be fazed by anything anymore.

## Appearance

Naim is a relatively unassuming brown-haired boy of average height, distinguished only by the fact that he is rather more athletic and fit than the average student.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 43
2. ↑ chapter 107
Soul perception

Soul perception is the ability to see and sense other people's souls, also known as **soul sight**. It is needed to perform most soul magic spells, although it is not strictly necessary as there are meditation exercises capable of giving a similar extent of soul perception, although only in regards to one's own soul. There are multiple ways to gain this ability, and many characters in the story possess it. Most of the people high on the Church Hierarchy have soul perception, as it is one of the most prominent abilities of the Triumvirate Church.

## Methods to obtain soul perception

### Soul perception potions

There are multiple potions that grant the soul perception ability, with the dirge moth chrysalises potion being the most widespread one, although it is only available in 23-year-long intervals.

### Inborn soul perception

Some people are simply born with soul perception, most likely as a result of a hidden bloodline like empathy is. This innate ability is also sometimes called "ghost eyes".

### Near-death experience

Some people, after almost dying, unlock the ability by accident. This is something that can't be reliably replicated or counted on, since it's not really known how it works.

### Sacrificial ritual

Most necromancers use this method. It involves forging a temporary soul bond with a person and experimenting with their soul, effectively torturing and killing them. This is a very painful and slow process for the victim, and it requires the caster to have highly flexible morals. This method is cheap and easy to set up, so it is the most attractive method to necromancers. Zorian and Zach refused to use that method under any circumstances.

### Wearing the imperial ring

The imperial ring grants soul perception, but only while it is worn by the user. Thus, this method is not permanent, unlike all of the above.

## People known to possess soul perception

* Kael Tverinov
* Alanic Zosk
* Silverlake
* Sudomir Kandrei
* Kylae Kuosi
* Zorian Kazinski (acquired it mid-story)
* Quatach-Ichl
* Red Robe

### Users of the imperial ring

* High priest of the sulrothum tribe residing in the Ziggurat of the Sun
* Zach Noveda

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 chapter 74
2. ↑ chapter 83
3. ↑ chapter 16
4. ↑ chapter 32
5. ↑ implied in chapter 58
6. ↑ chapter 75
Chassanah

**Chassanah** is a minor character in Mother of Learning, described as a "weathered old man". He is the "main ward expert" ("Both in making and breaking them") of Daimen Kazinski's tracking team. He warned Zorian that the area is dangerous and gave Zorian a lecture after a fisher vine nearly dragged Zorian off. Later that day, Zorian had to send a golem to rescue Chassanah from a chameleon drake. Still later same day, Chassanah participated in the battle against a divinely enhanced hydra, and after that, sided with Zorian when unhappy team members started insulting him.

## References

1. ↑ chapter 68
2. ↑ chapter 69
Summoning

Summoning is a sub-field of dimensionalism.

## In the story

### Definition disagreements

Within the story, there's some disagreement on what consitutes summoning. Batak does not consider releasing a primordial to be summoning: "Primordials can't be summoned, since they're down here with us already." "What they can be is *set loose*." Sudomir, on the other hand, considers this to be summoning: "That is why they call it a 'summoning' ritual". "Technically, the primordial isn't on the same plane of existence as the rest of us". The angel seemingly agrees with the latter statement when it talks about "primordial gaining access to the material plane".

### Summoning spirits

In the time loop, no summoning of spirits (angels or demons) is possible, as the time loop reality is cut off from the spiritual realms.

Outside the time loop, Kylae Kuosi summons an angel at the request of Zach and Zorian (vouched for by Alanic). The angel gives Zorian a cube (possibly some sort of spell formula unfamiliar to Zorian) and says "Use it to summon me for the final battle".

Quatach-Ichl (together with his simulacrums) summons a bunch of demons while hiding behind the wards of Iasku Mansion.

#### Trivia

Stereotypically, angel summoning uses a blue colored spell formula circle, whereas demon summoning uses a red spell formula circle.

### Other summoning

It is possible to summon objects (like Ilsa did with plates), and familiars (Briam did it with his fire drake familiar). It is unknown how it is related to the recall spell, and whether this should be including in summoning at all.

## References

1. ↑ Disciplines of Magic (Worldbuilding Post)
2. ↑ chapter 26
3. ↑ chapter 52
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 chapter 96
5. ↑ chapter 20
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 chapter 102
7. ↑ chapter 2
8. ↑ chapter 9
Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter

**Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter** is the aranea matriarch of the Cyorian web.

She finds out about the time loop by trawling through Kirielle and Kael's memories after tracking down the rumor about "telepathic spiders" to its source, Zorian Kazinski. She helps Zorian with his initial attempts to learn mind magic in exchange for Zorian carrying her memory packets in his mind from restart to restart. She is later slain and erased from the time loop by Red Robe. Her last memory packet stays within Zorian's mind for a while. It is later revealed that she intended to betray Zorian by being the only one to leave the loop. Outside the time loop, Zorian (through his simulacrum) recruits her as an ally to fight against the invasion; when Spear of Resolve asks what Zorian would do if she refuses, Zorian states that he would "go to one of the other aranean webs" (meaning the Cyorian web would be evicted or even exterminated outright).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 17
2. ↑ chapter 18
3. ↑ chapter 26
4. ↑ chapter 54
5. ↑ chapter 92
Knyazov Dveri

A town to the east of Cyoria, in Eldemar. Sudomir Kandrei is the mayor. Has a Dungeon access, Rank 2 mana well, and many shops (Gurey Cwili's "Cwili and Rofoltin Equipment" and Vazen's General Store are mentioned).

## Trivia

According to the author's comment, "Knyazov Dveri" means "Prince's Gates"/"Gates of the Prince".

## References

1. ↑ chapter 34
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 chapter 27
3. ↑ chapter 28
4. ↑ chapter 30
5. ↑ Word of Domagoj
Urik

A gruff muscular boy that looks more at home in the boxing ring than in a mage school. He is nicknamed **Mumble** by Taiven because he tended to talk really softly, making his speech very hard to understand sometimes. He is part of Taiven's dungeon group, together with Oran. Zorian joined the group as well in some restarts.
Kirma

Kirmais a minor character in Mother of Learning. She is described as "young woman in bright blue clothes". She is a member of Daimen Kazinski's team specializing in searching and scouting the surrounding area by means of scrying and other conventional methods of divination. She uses a divination compass she commissioned from a professional artificer. (Zorian gifted her a better one after she was made a temporary looper in one restart).

## References

1. ↑ chapter 68
2. ↑ chapter 72
3. ↑ chapter 88

Kirma AI
Koth

Region located in southern Miasina. Most of the region presents dense, dangerous jungles, but there are also areas cleared for cultivation and which are more densely inhabited than the jungles. There are many diseases that can be caught here by outsiders. These diseases are usually not lethal, and hardly inconvenience the locals, but they be a nasty experience for turists and may cause them to be bed-ridden for weeeks.

The Taramatula Estate is located in Koth, as well as a patch of jungle called Green Hell, which contains the Imperial Orb.

The Chameleon Drakes are native to this area, along with murderous vines and other dangerous creatures.

This region is said not to have any aranea at all, before the month of the time loop, so the Silent Doorway Adepts are very eager to colonize the area since it means having a whole continent to themselves.
Iasku Mansion

A remote location in the Sarokian Highlands where Vazen sents packages. Zorian visits it and discovers that it is an actual mansion and is defended by iron beaks and winter wolves, including the Silver One. It is owned by Sudomir Kandrei.

It houses an enormous number of undead. They are used to aid the invasion of Cyoria and transported there by means of a dimensional gate linking the mansion to an Ibasan forward base in the Cyoria's Dungeon.
Notably, it contains an undead dragon which is deployed by blowing off the mansion's roof. The dragon can be remotely controlled by Sudomir.

The mansion is heavily warded; the soul of Sudomir's wife is bound to it, allowing the warding scheme to intelligently strike back against analysis attempts.

Outside the time loop, Iasku Mansion is found out to house the kidnapped shifter children. After the discovery, it is attacked again by Zorian, Zach, Alanic, Xvim, Daimen and allies. The skeletal dragon is then deployed (for the second time in the novel). The mansion is also translocated to Cyoria for the final battle, and back to the Sarokian Highlands and two more times after that, ultimately to Ulquaan Ibasa after that (exploiting the planar alignment). It is probable that Fort Oroklo is the intermediate teleportation point between Sarokian Highlands and Ulquaan Ibasa (as it was captured by the Ibasans).

## References

1. ↑ chapter 34
2. ↑ mentioned, for example, in chapter 46
3. ↑ chapter 51
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 chapter 52
5. ↑ chapter 100
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 chapter 101
7. ↑ chapter 102
8. ↑ chapter 106
9. ↑ chapter 107
Blantyrre

The biggest continent, but also the one without significant human presence: the majority of the continent is covered with a thick jungle crawling with dangerous monsters and non-human races. The most advanced species (technologically and magically) are lizardmen, whose city-states and small kingdoms dot the entire continent.

It's a serpentine landmass closely hugging the equator. There are very few humans here – treasure hunters, adventurers and researchers occasionally launch expeditions to explore the area, but there are no permanent human settlements. The many unfamiliar and aggressive magical creatures that make their home in the jungles are one of the reasons why, but there is also the issue that the continent already has a dominant sapient species.

The lizardmen are the dominant force on Blantyrre. Previously, the lizardmen lived almost exclusively along the coasts and rivers of Blantyrre, but now they push ever further into the continent’s interior with every passing day. The coastal communities are still the most advanced and powerful ones, however, due to easiest access to human traders.

## Plot relevance

It is the place where the imperial staff, one part of the Key necessary for the Controller of the time loop to unlock the exit from the time loop.

Zach and Zorian reach Blantyrre on the Pearl of Aranhal in one of the restarts and offer lizardmen great rewards for information on the Bakora gates. They are given help from one of the lizardmen kings. In the next restart, they send Daimen's group there to track down the staff. They find the staff is held by Violeteye, a dragon mage.

## References

1. ↑ Continents Overview - Worldbuilding Post
2. ↑ Sapient Species of the World - Worldbuilding Post
3. ↑ chapter 85
4. ↑ chapter 86
Rea Sashal

Nochka Sashal's mother. She has "jet black hair and dark brown eyes, and the stature and dress of an average housewife". Zorian describes her as a bit scary because "her movements were all fluid and precise, she never stuttered or wavered when she spoke, her gaze was frighteningly intense, and she gave off an air of absolute confidence and composure".
She is a cat shifter.

Zorian told her about cranium rats when they first met. When he later tried to read her mind, he found little more than what she said aloud (presumably meaning she has unstructured mental defenses). He, however, noted that "Rea had ridiculously good hearing" (foreshadowing the later reveal that she is a cat shifter). Her claim of moving to Cyoria "to get away from their rather unpleasant neighbors who were spreading nasty rumors about her whenever they could get away with it" foreshadows the reveal that she was a criminal before meeting Sauh, her husband (presumably the "nasty rumors" were at least partially true).

Outside the time loop, Zorian tried to convince Sashal family to leave the city. Rea noticed that Zorian's "scent is present on almost everyone that has come to talk to me about getting Nochka and the rest of us out of the city" and (correctly) guessed that Zorian "definitely knows more than he lets on" and, regarding Raynie's kidnapped brother, that "In another life, that could have been my little Nochka in his place".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 38
2. ↑ chapter 40
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 chapter 41
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 chapter 39
5. ↑ chapter 100
Batak

A young, green haired man in priestly robes. He and Kylae were assigned to one of Cyoria's church to stop it being looted, despite the lack of attendance. He knows a great deal about spirits.

He talks to Zorian when he comes to see Kylae Kuosi, both when Zorian comes on Spear of Resolve's errand and when Zach and Zorian come to an angel summoning by Kylae. Zorian gave him written reports in two restarts: a report about primordial summoning and another about Sudomir's crimes.

Despite the green hair, he doesn't seem to be related to house Reid.

## Trivia

"Batak" means "leg" (of a bird) in Serbo-Croatian.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 20
2. ↑ chapter 96
3. ↑ chapter 26
4. ↑ chapter 51
Andoril Boranova

**Andoril Boranova** is a minor character in Mother of Learning. He is a member of House Boranova and guardian of Veyers Boranova. Zach and Zorian capture and interrogate him in order to find the whereabouts of Veyers, which Andoril doesn't know, although he supplies them with information about Veyers' general character, behavior and House Boranova internal politics. In particular, Andoril claimed that he wasn't given authority to discipline Veyers, and thus Veyers came and went as Veyers pleased.
Dimensionalism

Spells that manipulate space and time. Teleportation, summoning, temporal dilation, phasing, dimensional gates and pocket dimensions all fall under this discipline. Dimensionalism is a notoriously difficult field of magic to practice. The spells require both great quantity of mana, excellent shaping skills and a great deal of complex theoretical knowledge to pull off.

Due to the high difficulty of the field, as well as the incredible potential for abuse many of its spells have, dimensionalism is not taught to beginning mages. Only by practicing other forms of magic may one eventually grow to a point where they can begin to tackle this field. Even then, access to dimensionalism is often restricted along political lines. All of this makes dimensionalism a fairly rare type of magic amongst mages and it’s vanishingly rare for someone to specialize in it – by the time a mage gains access to dimensionalism, they typically already have their primary specialty and are reluctant to change it. Most dimensionalists are mere dabblers.

## Spells

* recall - summoning something to you.(ch.9)

## References

1. ↑ Disciplines of Magic (Worldbuilding Post)