Commission for RyuAragon on Twitter! Hyden meets with Fusa to discuss the finer points of spellcraft

Commission for RyuAragon on Twitter! Hyden meets with Fusa to discuss the finer points of spellcraft. Their views on magic are somewhat different, with Fusa taking a bit more of a spiritual approach, while Hyden has a more analytical “anything that exists can be dissected, refined, and optimized by me” mad scientist kind of approach. However, this just makes the conversations more interesting–it seems they have a lot to learn from each other’s techniques! …Provided they can avoid this whole thing turning into a heated argument, of course.I’ll also take this opportunity to discuss one of the settings in Amaranthine (or, at least, in Amaranthine’s past, back during Hyden’s heyday). The Eastern Kingdom–pictured here–was one of the two famous “old kingdoms” that fell during the great war. Though much smaller than the neighboring Western Kingdom, the Eastern Kingdom was known throughout the ancient world for its beautiful, ornate cities, which rose high above the desert sands and shone like gems, lush with art, culture, and knowledge. Perhaps most of all, the Eastern lands were renown for their advanced magical knowledge–something that made them the envy of their neighbors (especially the Western Kingdom), and that drew mages from all over the world to its great cities to study and exchange ideas.It was this last point that was of particular interest to Hyden. The Eastern Kingdom had a long history with magic, and the wizards who graduated from their excellent mage academies were said to be the finest in the world. Nearly all of the most famous and influential books on magic were originally penned in the Eastern Kingdom’s language, and it is said that the Eastern Sultan’s private royal libraries contained documentation on highly advanced, secretive magical techniques known nowhere else in the world.Though the East and the West had been rivals for centuries and were frequently at war, during brief times of uneasy peace, Hyden would often make his way across the border to purchase books, artifacts, rare spell materials, and other goods. As a Western Kingdom nobleman in service of the king, he was naturally viewed with suspicion even during peacetime, but over the years, his silver tongue and willingness to offer generous bribes allowed him to get his claws on quite a few things that he really shouldn’t have had access to. So often did he travel that some of the other Western Kingdom nobles began to suspect that he might be sharing more than just coin with their on-and-off enemies across the border…Of course, all that turned out to be a moot point–when full scale war did eventually break out and Hyden was drafted into combat in service of the West, his deplorable actions on the battlefield made him a persona non grata and put a firm and permanent end to any relationship he may have had with the East.(…Technically, this picture wouldn’t be able to be 100% canon, since Hyden committed his war crimes in his late 30s. By the time he looks the way he does here, he would have been blacklisted for nearly two decades. If you’ve ever played Red Dead Redemption 2, you know what happens if you try to enter Blackwater? …Yeah.) -- source link

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