The Ancient Language of the Mages - Introduction

There are exactly 221 characters in the ancient language forming the words the mages use to form their spells. These Characters are words all on their own as well and are all split into 5 categories. 1 Character Word might be repeated within a second or third category as the meaning can influence that path of spells.

The 5 categories are based on five elements Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Lightning. And each category has two sides; Light and Shadow. A spell can either be Balanced or Unbalanced, it’s wise to keep a spell Balanced as Unbalanced spells in the hands of incompetent Mages can easily go out of control from the caster. A Balanced spell takes on a new for, this form determined by 1 or up to 5 pathways. Basic spells consist of 1 pathway, these spells take on form purely based on the elemental category the spell’s words fall under. Ice, for example, requires 2 pathways, that is if used by someone who does not have an affinity for Ice magic. These two pathways are Wind and Water. Those that can use Ice magic directly can use either Wind or Water words in one spell without using a second path. A path is considered as 1 ‘sentence’ a second path consists of 2 ‘sentences’, etc. The more pathways a spell has the harder to cast the spell, and the more energy it demands, most mages can only use up to 3 pathways; that holds true even for most Elders.

The words that do repeat under a secondary category are connection words often used to lap between to pathways; though it’s these words that make Unbalanced spells. The very first spell seen during the Averisa’s Examination is an Unbalanced spell she knitted not knowing what would come of it; theatrically it should not even have worked as the words are from all over in just one pathway, but perhaps due to the many connective words and her blood, the spell was able to take root.

A key rule of thumb (But not definite) is as follows:

Fire words contains ‘i’ sounds – Strong sounds

Lightning contains ‘u’ sounds – Sharp sounds

Wind – ‘o’ sounds – soft, windy sounds

Water – ‘e’ sounds – soft and sharp sounds

And Earth contains ‘a’ sounds – strong flat sounds

Y can be either of the elements depending on the way its sound(s) is changed - strengthening and silencing of the sounds can also lead to a change in category (Element) as well as it's combination with other characters to form a new 'word'.

Words with more than one syllable often are connective words, again not always. For example Ai as a breathless sound is wind, but Ai when spoken strongly is Water. Ai though spelled the same the common language is two different words entirely in the Ancient language of the Mages. Ai too can act as a connective word in spell for ice, depending on whether you use it as with wind or water the effect it has on a spell difference greatly.

Thus the uses and combinations are vast; as there can for a second pathway with in just one path. These spells are the often the spell used by those casting ice magic directly, for an example. Or plant or metal…

Elements that do not mix well and often form unbalanced spells are water and fire, fire and ice, wind and water, wind and lightning, lighting and fire, fire and plant; are just a few examples.

PS! In the second part all the characters will be given in the common tongue (English) and a link to few the written language as is (On my Patreon account)