The Chronicles of Evil

**The Chronicles of Evil** is an expansive dark fantasy book series conceptualized by Veva Medrano. The story is composed of interconnected series and individual stories that are either tragic or macabre in nature and employs archetypal motifs from classical mythology, medieval history, and fairy tales. It is also it's own possible spin-off for Tyrth.

## Setting

The story is set on Bolganio, a fictional continent in the series' world, with a majority of actions taking place along its western region. The story spans a timeline over 1500 years long, referring to the creation of the "Third Period" and transformation of the god Held into a tree over 500 years before the main story begins.

The region uses a calendar created to commemorate the birth of Hänsel and Gretel, the alleged saviors of the Magic Kingdom Levianta, preceding each year with "EC". The calendar since became the region's standard dating system, with all events occurring before it having their years preceded with "BT".

Over the course of history, the technology and politics gradually progress in a fashion reminiscent of the Western world, developing from large empires and medieval dominions to countries and nations of a more modern era. While the Chronicles' songs and song series stand largely on their own, the story as a whole revolves around the vessels of sin and those directly or indirectly affected by them. Similarly, many of the major historical events of the region are due to the vessels' influence, although unknown in the annals of history.

In the universe, magic is an arcane and dying art that consists of supernatural power present in certain human beings. While magic is implied to be learned by anyone, only those born with a strong magical connection have the talent and potential to learn more advanced or difficult spells. For more complex spells and rituals, an incantation is often recited. The moon is especially important in the casting of magic and magic is at its strongest during a full moon. After the Magic Kingdom's destruction, magic declined until few even believed in its existence, and even fewer practiced it.

## Media

### Books

Veva has written eight light novels and penned several short stories related to the characters or events. Following the completion of her first novel series, a schedule book compiling the information from the previous books was released shortly after her second novel series began publication.

### Manga

Although the first official manga released in the form of a spin-off of The Servant of Evil, it wasn't until the release of The Daughter of Evil series' second novel that official manga began to appear. Most of the manga stories elaborate upon events not portrayed in the light novels, several being side stories that could not fit or were extraneous to the story being told in the novels.

## Themes

The Chronicles of Evil heavily stresses the notion of "evil" and its underlying meaning. Oftentimes, characters that have committed heinous actions and are labeled as evil serve as titular characters with many songs, novels, and manga revolving around them. Veva often has her characters consider the morality versus the justification of their deeds and even has several contemplate the exact meaning of evil, especially when confronted with complex moral dilemmas.

The reasons for each character being evil varies greatly, with some characters being portrayed and recognized as more sympathetic while others are completely monstrous. The series also supports the notion that tendencies to commit evil are sometimes ingrained in a character's personality and makes them more vulnerable or lenient to commit negative acts against humanity, and in one case are simply born with evil. Magic usually plays a role in triggering these tendencies and fully realizing the results of following those sinful lines of thought.

The individual stories within the series play upon the concept of free will versus fate, as character actions are given real consequence in the inevitability of the future. Rooted deeply in the themes present in tragedies and macabres, many characters desperately attempt to escape pain they have suffered or the loss of a loved one, committing evil to reach their ideals. Due to the consequences of their actions, their attempts backfire and lead to either the character's death or even greater loss, and ultimately are left in the same place from where they began.

The gear is symbolic of such free will, as one person's actions or life are represented by a gear in motion, causing a chain reaction that leads to the turning of other gears. The individual cogs form the overall direction of fate and actions that have been done cannot be changed, reflecting the consequences. Despite this, themes of redemption are present in Veva's works, with some character who regretted the evil person they were given a degree of forgiveness from others.

Coinciding with its influence of tragedy and macabre, Veva draws upon many aspects of classical mythology, including Judeo-Christian and Greek names and stories. Many aforementioned themes are derived from these mythologies along with fairy tales and other classic literature that Veva twists to show a darker or more twisted outcome.

The setting of the region itself parallels the European continent's classical and medieval history to an extent, with many states' geographic locations and culture reflecting real world countries, particularly in their feudal societies and influence from the Roman Empire. Similarly, the Bolganio continent's Eastern region is reminiscent of Asia and Evillious' perception of the area is reminiscent of European's view of the mysterious and largely unexplored Orient. Monarchies and other imperial powers present are generally discredited and many members of nobility with large amounts of power are condemned as tyrannical, corrupt, or incompetent, including many of the owners of the vessels of sin. Remnants of aristocracies in the more modern Union State are portrayed as leading to corrupt government systems.