1. Magic
1.1. Alkhern
1.1.1. Consciously controlled
1.1.2. Ritemarks
1.1.3. The Alkhern pride themselves on structure and control, and a lot of their strength and knowledge is topheavy: i.e. it’s exclusive to ruling parties. They have a very restrictive society so they can be predictable and therefore create strong bonds with non-magical people. If they are predictable, they are easier to trust and it’s easier to generate peace with those unlike yourself.
1.2. Aphidrite
1.2.1. Subconsciously influenced
1.2.2. The Aphidrites are less structured and more familial, even tribal. Everyone knows what’s going on with everything, and all voices are heard and all ears hear. They all know about the upcoming tension, whereas only a few powerful Alkhernu, like Evgenia and Ipati, are aware that a storm is brewing.
1.3. Titans
1.4. Immortals
1.4.1. Magically induced immortality
1.5. Staves
1.6. Oracles
2. Technology
2.1. Immortality chip
2.1.1. After receiving their Chips, Aphidrion, Iriphis, Astusal and Milos destroyed the little society inside the hollow Volcano cone (mostly, Aphidrion did this for lack of wanting to be immortal).
2.2. The Renascentia Stone
3. History
3.1. Important character history (Not character development, but scene setting)
3.1.1. The Mercier Family
3.1.1.1. Death of Ambrus and Jacqui
3.1.1.2. Kostya acquiring a staff
3.1.2. The Rebikov Family
3.1.2.1. Aleksei's exile
3.1.2.2. Pavel's death
3.1.2.3. Ipati bequeathing his staff
3.2. General history
3.2.1. The Alliance
3.2.2. The Syndicate
3.3. Actual history vs. Media history (stuff that's true vs. what they tell you)
3.3.1. What the Alkhernu are told about Aphidrites
3.3.2. What the Aphidrites are told about Alkhernu
3.3.3. What normal people are told about Aphidrites and/or Alkhernu
4. "Present time"
4.1. Motives
4.1.1. Why are Kostya and Piri after the Renascentia Stone?
4.1.1.1. Restoring the Staff
4.1.1.2. Possibly a secret motive: to bring parents back to life
4.1.1.2.1. if secret motive: Kostya's, not Piri's. Piri accepts their parents' fate, however much she misses them, she thinks it's better to move on and remember them fondly than to hold a grudge and try to bring them back
4.1.1.3. Kostya wants to keep the Renascentia Stone away from Roxy Fontaine because she intends to sell it to unscrupulous characters
4.1.2. Why did Pavel have the Stone?
4.1.2.1. Sometime in history the Aphidrites stole the Renascentia Stone and had been keeping it, unable to use it because it wouldn't choose any of them. Alyona stole the stone from the family/elder/heritage/whatever, and met with Pavel, handed it off to him, and Pavel was closer to Nikolai than home and gave it to him because he was being pursued.
4.1.3. What is the main catalyst for the war?
4.1.3.1. Alyona's disappearance
4.1.3.2. Tensions between the Alkhernu & Aphidrites
5. Future
5.1. War
5.1.1. Oh, and what does the war look like from various perspectives from either side? In other words, what does the war look like to a civilian in an Alkhern home? A civilian in an Aphidrite home? An Alkhern/Aphidrite soldier on the front lines? A reserve soldier? A political figure? What sort of tactics are being employed? Trench warfare? Psychological warfare? Biological warfare? Guerrilla warfare, spies, double agents, etc.?
5.1.1.1. Mostly magical, very much about one-upping the others
5.1.1.2. to the mortals it looks like a big, cruel pissing contest
5.1.1.3. Aphidrites: trying to present themselves as the peaceful ones but making cruel displays and psychological tactics.
5.1.1.4. Alkhern: fight deliberately; more militarized and organized; army, soldiers, physical blows/tactics.
5.1.2. Alkhernu sort of know the war is coming, the Aphidrites are prepared for the war that’s coming but telling NO ONE outside their own kind, and the non-magical parties have no idea.
5.1.3. A diversion orchestrated by the Oracles to allow them to bump off "problem" people; people they've foreseen to be detrimental to their overarching power.
5.1.3.1. The Oracles have power over all races; Alkhernu, Aphidrites, and Non-Magical, and they're pitting everyone against each other to start the war in order to reveal holes in their power and fix them to reestablish total control over everyone in an effort to keep themselves in power and not be used by anyone else.
5.2. Plot points
6. Characters
6.1. Rebikov Family
6.1.1. Ipati
6.1.2. Evgenia
6.1.2.1. Nikolai
6.1.2.2. Pavel
6.1.2.3. Aleksei
6.2. Mercier Family
6.2.1. Jacqueline [née Didier]
6.2.1.1. Piri
6.2.1.2. Kostya
6.2.2. Ambrus
6.3. Convenient side characters
6.3.1. Katie Beatrix Blackton
6.3.2. Nolan Wolfe
6.3.2.1. formerly Bear
6.4. Convenient antagonists
6.4.1. Dr. Johann Schmidt
6.4.1.1. Father of Aphidrion. His wife was taken and used for the Oracle project while he worked for the Syndicate, working on the Shadowknife, but it went wrong and she died. He preserved her body and went to the Volcano and started helping with the production of the Immortality Chip, trying to find a way to bring his wife back. When he left the Syndicate he left behind his son, now known as Aphidrion, who was taken in by his aunt.
6.4.2. Roxanne Fontaine
6.4.3. Mihai Parasca/Saerus
6.5. Immortals
6.5.1. The Egyptians*
6.5.1.1. *Immortal by birth/magic*
6.5.1.2. Taruk'hai
6.5.1.3. Araia
6.5.1.4. Ohara
6.5.1.5. Anuk'sul
6.5.1.6. Ishta'ohka
6.5.1.7. Riren'dul
6.5.2. Aphidrion
6.5.2.1. Aphidrion is the progenitor of what would become the Aphidrites. He ISN'T an Aphidrite, but his descendants slowly began to develop into the Aphidrites we know today, their power slowly shifting and changing over the generations.
6.5.3. Iriphis
6.5.3.1. a demigod and a troll
6.5.4. Milos
6.5.4.1. Former heir to the family that established the Syndicate and to Iustortia, the city in which the Syndicate was established. Immortal by choice, theorist, no magic.
6.5.5. Astusal
6.5.5.1. False/manmade Oracle. Her soul is a composite of seven souls that will never see life again after her. Immortal by force. Now that she's immortal, her body can withstand the toll of being an Oracle.
6.5.6. Torta*
6.5.6.1. Aphidrion's first A.I. created when he was around eleven. Her two key properties are Forgetfulness and Evolution.
6.6. Alyona
7. Folklore & Mythology
7.1. Bedtime stories/Cautionary tales
7.1.1. Aphidrites tell stories about the "truth"
7.1.2. Alkhern tell stories about the "enemy"
8. Loose Ends
8.1. Immortals, tech, and magic
8.1.1. Magic evolution in non-magical immortals?
8.1.1.1. If non-magical immortals can't become magical through some bizarre form of evolution, is there a genetic anomaly by which a set of twins can have opposite strains of magic?
8.2. How is Ipati/Kostya's Gold Staff broken but still functional?
8.2.1. Can it be put back together somehow?
8.2.1.1. Piri, being a sort-of oracle, can piece it back together
9. Non-magical relations with magic users/magical races
9.1. the non-magical are aware of and have formal ties with the Alkhern for the most part, but they know very little about the Aphidrites, if they know them at all, and generally fear them, which generates the necessary mistrust that leads to conflict.
9.2. Non-magical people are unconcerned with Magical problems; they have their own problems to deal with and they want to keep out of the affairs of the Aphidrites and the Alkhern, but the Oracles have their hand in the control of all three types of people. The Non-magical are being simultaneously coerced by the Aphidrites and the Alkhern in the hopes that they will show allegiance to one side or the other
10. Notes
10.1. Bea and Nolan work for a clandestine agency that is controlled by the Oracles and used as a personal army of hitmen to remove threats to their power
10.1.1. That clandestine agency is used to snub out Aphidrite/Alkhern unions and/or offspring
10.1.1.1. The Oracles find out about Ambrus and Jacqueline and that discovery coincides with Ipati wanting to gain access to Oracle knowledge, and they allow him access on the condition that he Bequeath and destroy his staff at a specific place in a specific manner which would result in the destruction of Ambrus and Jacqueline, thus removing their threat to the Oracles' power.
10.1.1.1.1. The Oracles are unaware of Kostya and Piri's existence because Ambrus hid them so well, and would have been blind to Jacqueline and Ambrus's existence if not for Jacqui's family being against the union and not being secretive about that. The Oracles are also unaware of Ambrus's immortality due to the fact that the Immortality Chip was implanted secretively by a clandestine organization and not recorded.