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Alien (&#1063;&#1091;&#1078;&#1072;&#1082;) is a fantasy novel series by Igor' Dravin (&#1048;&#1075;&#1086;&#1088;&#1100; &#1044;&#1088;&#1072;&#1074;&#1080;&#1085;), currently containing 7 finished novels.

The series concerns Vladislav "Vlad" Istrin, who is shown at a very low point in his life. Vlad looks at the only item reminding him of his former life, a combat knife, contemplates suicide, then decides against it and begins [[UsefulNotes/AlcoholismAndAlcoholAbuse drinking his worries away again]]. He blacks out and comes to it in a strange church, watched by paladins in heavy armor. Vlad first thinks of a very elaborate prank, since some of [[TheNewRussia his rich and influential friends]] would have the resources to pull it off, but then gives it up upon seeing [[MagicalLand two moons in the night sky]]. 
With a minimum of information, Vlad is left in the care of Matvey, an inn-keeper from the city of Belgor, who decides to introduce Vlad to the city as his nephew.

----
!!The series provides examples of following tropes:

* AerithAndBob: justified as people from our world have appeared on Arland for centuries. After meeting Father Estor and his paladins Lon and Senar, Vlad is surprised to meet Matvey, Matvey's daughter Yevdokiya "Dunya" and later the noblewoman Tanya[[hottip:*:Matvey and Yevdokiya are slightly archaic russian names, Dunya is the common short form of the latter, Tanya is the common short form of Tat'yana]]. Matvey explains that his grandfather came to Arland almost a century ago, and just happens to be Vlad's compatriot from Russia. Tanya's ancestor has also most likely been a Russian and passed down the rule of naming firstborn daughters of the family this way.
* AbsentMindedProfessor and TooCleverByHalf: Kolar er Kilam, a runic mage and genius magic theoretician. His efforts to restore pre-Interregnum knowledge caused him to conflict with the Church and the Dawn's Order, Arland's largest and most powerful union of mercenary mages. Kolar has tried to reach the druids of the Closed Forest, but was taken prisoner, hauled to the Blighted Catacombs, his magic was [[BreakTheHaughty broken]] and he was scheduled to be sacrificed. Kolar's luck turns as he's saved by Vlad, then in Belgor identifies Vlad as a potential mage and shows Vlad basic runic spells. Turns out that runic magic works by placing runes in spatial patterns and the forgotten pre-Interregnum knowledge contained at least [[spoiler: Cartesian coordinates and fractions]]. Now Kolar has sworn loyalty to Vlad and pursues his dream to restore magic to it's former glory, gladly forgetting anything else.
* AchillesHeel: Catacomb Lords are powerless during their procreation ritual and rely on secrecy and guard details.
* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: the Closed Forest where the druids dwell. Druids are survivors and descendants of the mages who didn't join any side during the Interregnum. They pretend to almost never interfere in things outside of the Closed Forest, although recent events seem to have stirred them.
* AnIcePerson: secondary Ice school, combining Air and Water.
* AreaOfEffect: Trademark of powerful magic. Vlad notes that AoE skills don't need aiming.
* TheBeforetimes: the time before the Interregnum, roughly 1500-2000 years ago. Mostly invoked when speaking of Nirum, the continent destroyed during [[GreatOffscreenWar the Interregnum]]. The islands of Baros and Kilam and the Wild Island are remnants of this continent.
* BlackMagic: while Blood and Death magic and even necromancy can be used for good reasons (it's really important who you're fighting against, not how), the taint and the power of the Fallen fit this trope fully. Granted by the ReligionOfEvil, costing souls, focused through suffering, pain and HumanSacrifice and used to inflict pain, suffering, curses, disfigurement and (un)death.
* BloodMagic: Blood is the secondary school using Earth and Water. Kolar handles this as a profound revelation, yielding a mere: "Really understandable. Water in the human body and the elements composing the body. That's easy." from Vlad. Blood mages are rather rare, as adding the General school would move a mage to the less controversial and far better accepted Mind school.
* BlowYouAway: the primary Air school and the secondary Hurricane school. Better-equipped fleets or even single ships will have an Air mage plying his trade on board.
* BoxingLessonsForSuperman: Runic mages are mostly limited to enchanting and siegecraft, since any given runic spell works by imagining or actually making a spatial pattern of runes and lines between them. Since the pattern simultaneously contains all the properties of the spell, i.e. elements, effect, power, direction, duration etc., runic mages are nigh incapable of hitting mobile targets, as a targeting adjustment requires the mage to imagine the runic pattern from scratch in the new alignment. Vlad teaches Kolar everything he remembers from mathematics: fractions, systems of equations, Cartesian coordinates and Euclidian space, and adds something from mnemonics, e.g. the usage of associative markers. This allows Vlad and Kolar to advance the runic style close to pre-Interregnum levels.
* BurnTheWitch: common form of execution all over Arland. As a hidden act of mercy, the criminal may be quickly killed beforehand, then the corpse burned for the show.
* ChoiceOfTwoWeapons: Common skill on Arland, as the weaponry and weapon use are very close to Middle Ages on Earth. Required skill among Hunters and Rangers. As an example, Vlad usually carries a [[DualWielding couple of asymmetric swords]], a dozen of throwing knives in a harness, 2-4 light throwing axes, a dagger and a combat knife, using magic to both work at range and [[MagicKnight pack more punch into his comparatively light blades]].
* ChurchMilitant: the Order of the Maker's Hand, one of the orders of the Arland church. Commonly referred to as "paladins" or derogatorily as "handies".
** The clerics of Belgor, due to the city's unique status and the proximity of the Blighted Catacombs, are all proficient warriors.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: According to Kolar, this is the source of the [[ReligionIsMagic clerical magic]].
* ColdBloodedTorture: Among the powers granted by the Fallen are creation and usage of Gems of Pain. Gems of Pain are mana storage units created by slowly and painfully killing hundreds of sentients. The desecrated bodies will then be fed to undead and monsters which don't mind consuming dead soulless husks.
* CommonTongue: All races and nations on Arland share the language given to them by the world's Creator. Priests assigned to the "blighted spots" are also responsible for imprinting the CommonTongue on people appearing there with a divine spell.
* CoolGate: intact pre-Interregnum portals, if you can activate them. The Scarlet Order can and has connected all portals they could access into a PortalNetwork.
* CorruptChurch: the Order of the Maker's Servants, according to Vlad the closest thing to inquisition on Arland, is engaged in plays for power both within the Church and outside it. Vlad is slightly shocked to find Servants collaborating with an actual dark sect.
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** Played straight with Blood, Death and Necromancy mages - their affiliations and actions depend on personality and history and aren't solely defined by their powers. The Rangers' second-in-command is a Blood mage, Matvey's daughter Dunya and Shedar of the Lynx clan are Death mages, Dils "Gloomy" and Ol't from Belgor are necromancers, but they all work against the forces of the Fallen.
** Played straight with the vampire species. They have some creepy powers and drink blood, but vampires don't serve the Fallen. And since a Dark mage tried to enslave a clan wholesale, said clan joined the Borderlanders and got approved by the Church.
** Averted with the taint of the Fallen. Serving the Fallen is a quick way to power, wealth and status as long as you don't mind [[HumanSacrifice sacrificing fellow sentients]] and damning your own soul forever. And in case you dismiss the whole thing as Church propaganda - ask a Lord of the Dead (necromancer archmage); they can actually check on souls of the departed.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt:
** As king Eyran II of Dekara took a new mistress called Il'sa, the court turned into this. As the queen died, allegedly poisoned, and the king married his mistress, she began gathering riches, allies and power. Queen Il'sa arranged for several key persons to either retire or be removed, although not before an old courtier managed to render her infertile with a poison. The rule of queen Il'sa culminates in the civil war in Dekara. Many events before, during and after the civil war bear the signature of a foreign influence, showing that another power is working against the kingdom.
** The Ayra sultanate's court is dominated by the sultan's 4 wives. Since they all have at least one son suitable to inherit the throne, the court has descended into a tangle of intrigues and conspirations, culminating in fratricide.
* DemBones: Decayed corpses taken by the power of the Fallen may rise as weak undead, commonly known as skeletons. Their power varies with the level of taint around them. Old skeletons evolve into skeleton warriors. Various servants of the Fallen can turn warriors into skeleton knights, increasing speed, strength and martial skill and granting them basic magic skills. Skeleton knights evolve into skeleton mages after killing a certain amount of sentients, gaining taint-amplified basic spells, but loosing melee skills. A skeleton mage can be turned into a skeleton lord. Skeleton lords are strong mages providing local control for lower ranked skeletons, vastly increasing the combat potential of skeleton units.
* DetectEvil: priests capable of divine magic can perform a spell called "Test of loyalty to the Creator". The amplified version of the spell also includes a memory scan. The Order of Maker's Servants uses this effect of the amplified spell to gather political and financial secrets etc.
* DishingOutDirt: the Earth primary school and the Sandstorm secondary school. Very common among dwarves. Vlad notes that the best dwarven smiths are to some extent Earth mages.
* DisproportionateRetribution: both the Hunters' and the Rangers' Guilds are willing and capable of fighting entire countries to protect or at least avenge their members and the members' families.
** A Hunter seeking to obtain a plot of land to retire left his wife, son and daughter at an inn as he visited the required bureaucrats. A group of young noblemen happened to visit the inn and demanded the pretty young girl to "service" them. As Hunters and their families are exempt from serf laws, the family declined. The noblemen raped the girl and killed both her brother and mother. The Hunter beat the truth out of the inn-keeper, but was arrested and hanged under the pretense of revolting against the king. The Hunters' Guild responded by taking the city by storm and slaughtering the families of the responsible nobles, including the royal family who had denied to investigate the case properly. This event became proverbial as the Slaughtering of Seren.
** A Ranger, accompanied by an elven Life Lady (Life school archmagess, master healer) who carries a debt of life to the Ranger, and some loyal troops happens to save a coven of elven summoners and their guard detail from a band of desert spirits the summoners have lost control of. The Ranger's unit dispatches the spirits and the Life Lady patches the elves up. During the following night, the elven coven and guards assault the Hunter and his troops, mortally wounding the elven magess. As she lays dying, her final wish is to marry the Ranger to repay at least a part of her debt. The Rangers' Guild recognizes the marriage as valid retroactively and calls for revenge. While the Ranger in question would have the resources to avenge his own, the guild-master convinces him that the lesson of Seren must be reinforced, lest someone decides that the Guilds no longer care. The Guild's forces assault the territory of the elven clan responsible, destroy the elven army, storm the city-forest, capture the elven royals, kill the men and take women and children captive. As the elven royals face their subjects, the Rangers give them the choice - to be executed or to go free in exchange of having a quarter of their surviving subjects slaughtered for each royal. The elven king, queen and prince damn their subjects, while the princess chooses to save hers. The Rangers proceed by executing king, queen and prince and forcing the princess to join Saint Auna's Order, but spare all the elven survivors. This event becomes known as the Slaughtering of Siluen. [[spoiler: The Ranger is Vlad, the Life Lady is Kenara.]]
* DualWielding: Most nobles carry a variation of "sword & dagger" as part of their appropriate attire. Justified by frequent duels and the basic etiquette of not carrying shields or heavy two-handed weapons on formal occasions. {{MagicKnight}}s using the gestic or verbal-gestic casting style (which is the fastest and hence most common in combat) often switch between DualWielding and the [[SwordAndGun Spell and Gun]] approach.
Averted with Hunters, Rangers and Borderlanders. Due to often dealing with undead, mutated or tainted opponents, they often carry something heavy and two-handed instead.
* ElementalBaggage: averted. Some schools, e.g. Sandstorm and Hurricane, can only be used in appropriate areas. Fire, Air and their combination, Plasma, are popular due to not having the problem. Life mages are at their strongest in a dense forest and weakened in a desert. Death mages and Necromancers are weak unless sentients very recently died or very regularly came to rest in the area; they are drastically empowered by large losses of life, e.g. on graveyards, on battlefields or during sieges. Vlad is aware that some Water and Ice spells will use his body for materials if the air humidity becomes too low.
* ElementalEmbodiment: The schools of the four classical elements also allow to summon elementals. Those are not too bright, but extremely powerful. Skilled mages enhance the summoning by a telepathic link between summoner and elemental.
* ElementalPowers: The four classical elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air, are commonly described as primary. According to Kolar er Kilam, a genius theoretician of magic, Life, Death, Light and Darkness are also primary, although the Church regards describing clerics as mages a heresy. Kolar most likely has a point, though, since servants and creatures of the Fallen can use dark-tainted spells. Clerics from the Order of the Maker's Servants (Arland's inquisition) have used divine-like spells against humans while this power supposedly only works against the power of the Fallen.
** Spells powered mainly by any single element are primary spells, and schools of such spells are primary schools. It is possible to develop new spells powered by multiple elements, thus founding a new school. Notably, the same combination of elements may yield multiple different schools. Some of those schools: Earth + Fire = Magma; Air + Water = Ice; Air + Water = Hurricane; Air + Water = Fog; Air + Fire = Plasma; Air + Earth = Sandstorm; Earth + Water = Blood. The most notable tertiary school is Blood + General = Mind; the most notable fourth degree school is Earth + Death + Mind = Necromancy. According to Kolar, even fifth degree schools exist.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** The various guilds of thieves and murderers will not cooperate with worshipers of the Fallen, making a distinction between worldly sins that you can confess and seek forgiveness for, and transgressions that damn your soul once and for all.
** Attacking any member of the Order of Saint Auna will not be tolerated. After desperate thieves attacked an Auna's Order's healer and were scared off by a passerby warrior, the thieves' guild had sought forgiveness in their own way - by delivering the wannabe robbers' corpses and a generous donation to the Auna's Order's local branch.
* ExpositionBeam: Mind mages can both read and write compressed memories from and to others at the rather small cost of head aches. Obviously used for briefings and debriefings.
* FamedInStory: 
** Vlad "Lightning" and the master Hunters who [[RoaringRampageOfRescue rescued the She-Wolves]] became living legends on Arland. 
** Dalv "Jester" led an expedition, including a Fire Lord and a powerful cleric from the Melor kingdom, to recover a legendary artifact from the lair of a bkhoot, an archdemon shapeshifter, killing said bkhoot in the process. Due to the expedition's mission and the artifact being state secrets, Dalv "Jester" became famed for besting the bkhoot and plundering the lair on his own.
** Vlad baron el Stoka, count el Artua, earned the title "Death of the Goblins" after a goblin tribe laid siege to the Stoka castle and was decimated by warriors and mages of the Artua county.
** A heavily edited story of a master Ranger's relationship with an elven Life Lady, her death and the following [[DisproportionateRetribution Slaughtering]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge of Siluen]] becomes another legend to rival the story of the Hunters' Guild and their Slaughtering of Seren. [[spoiler: The master Ranger was Dalv "Jester", the Life Lady was Kenara]].
** The Gray Order has declined offers to assassinate the guild-master of the Krays island merchants' guild, the largest commercial organization on the continent. Maitre, an otherwise nameless assassin, has offended the Gray Order by taking the contract and succeeding. 
** [[spoiler: Vlad's problem is that he is Vlad "Lightning", Dalv "Jester", Vlad count el Artua and "Maitre" all in one person. According to Father Estor, Vlad, as other "aliens" before him]], is a catalyst of changes on Arland - the world itself puts him to the test, using friends, allies and loved ones as the stake, and he must fight to survive.
* GenreSavvy: Since fantasy has rapidly become more popular in modern Russia, Vlad has read his share of it, and also is a knowledgeable fan of medieval history. Vlad, after his introduction to the city of Belgor and to magic, actually complains that he didn't get any Marty Stu superpowers on Arland.
* GeometricMagic: many rituals use circles and patterns, usually including appropriate runes.
** Runic magic, both for spellcasting and for enchanting, works by creating a spatial arrangement of runes, either in the caster's mind, or on the item itself.
* {{God}}: the Creator, the being who created Arland and left to create more worlds, leaving his son, the Maker, in charge.
* GreatOffscreenWar and CataclysmBackstory: the Interregnum, a full-out magical world war that raged across Arland about 15 centuries ago. According to the official Church history, the Destroyer himself came to Arland and the Maker opposed him. The Maker fought and banished the Destroyer, but parts of them still remained on Arland. The Destroyer's Heart had been placed upon the desecrated altar of the World's Temple. A small elite force of the Council of the Loyals fought their way to the altar and [[HeroicSacrifice gave their lives]] to banish the Destroyer's Heart from Arland, greatly reducing the Destroyer's influence. The damaged World's Temple and the surrounding land became the tainted Blight. The vast underground areas are now known as the Blighted Catacombs. The Blight houses hordes of monsters, undead forces and demons. Lesser "blights" remain on sites similarly tainted by the Interregnum.
* GreenThumb: common skill among Life mages, practically the trademark of elven or drudic magic. Earth mages don't have this skill and could more accurately be described as "solid state" mages.
* HealingFactor: common among Life mages. The Nar beasts of the Borderlands are famous for their extremely rapid regeneration and hunted to draw healing elixirs from their glands.
* HealingHands: basic skill of Life mages. Water and Blood mages can heal others to some limited extent.
* HealingPotion: elixirs of Life brewed by Life mages. Every Hunter carries at least 2 at all times. Since these elixirs are effectively bottled Life energy, they will also recover stamina and reduce hunger. For messengers it's rare, but not unheard of, to give Life elixirs to horses when delivering crucial information.
* HeKnowsTooMuch and LeaveNoWitnesses: common stratagem on Arland. Employed throughout the population, from criminals to royalty.
* HermeticMagic: technically all non-belief based magic is hermetic on Arland. Some of the post-Interregnum styles are more obviously hermetic, e.g. the shamanic and the ritualistic style. The verbal and the verbal-gestic style were developed for quick combat casting, hence sacrificing spell complexity and power for speed and ease of use.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** The elite company of the Council of the Loyals who entered the Blight Catacombs to banish the Heart of the Destroyer. The banishment ritual has been CastFromHitPoints, resulting in a HeroicSuicide of the entire company.
** Matvey's wife, a Fire mage, while heavily wounded in the Blight Catacombs, used a massive flare spell to lure monsters to herself, and then suicided in an explosion, allowing her husband and her brother to escape.
** Nata, the Life mage and healer of the She-Wolves (all-girl team of 5 Hunters) is the only one conscious as the She-Wolves and Matvey's daughter Dunya are about to be executed. She decides to save their leader Arna and Dunya, forsaking her own life.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters and BecomingTheMask: a [[spoiler: priest of the Lord's Hounds]] called Khoriner has been sent to infiltrate a dark sect worshiping the Fallen in a remote location in the former County of Tariya. Then he managed to instigate an EnemyCivilWar involving the dark sect from Tariya, another dark sect from Karosa, corrupted Creator's Servants (inquisitors) and corrupted high-ranking members of the Merchants' Guild. Khoriner also timed the events to involve Vlad, Vlad's pupils, a clan of church-approved vampires and a clan of dragons, resulting in the annihilation of both dark sects, the corrupted priests and the corrupted merchants, also preventing a massive demon summoning. Khoriner then committed SuicideByCop, forcing Vlad to kill him. Khoriner confessed that he became too tainted himself; he originally accepted the mission [[spoiler: after emerging from a "blighted spot" decades before Vlad and deciding to use his skills from Earth to benefit the Church]].
* HolyHandGrenade: clerics capable of divine magic are rather capable of hurting or outright destroying TheUndead and demonic enemies. Hunters and Rangers don't invite clerics for the simple reason that their power attracts tainted and demonic creatures in a large radius. And the Church would like the fact that the supposedly divine magic also works when fighting regular people under wraps.
* HumanSacrifice:
** Where the church, the Hunters' and the Rangers' guilds use rare gems for mana storage, the Catacomb Lords and affiliates use "gems of pain", created and charged with human sacrifices.
** Catacomb Lords procreate through sacrifice rituals.
** Most necromantic spells require the power of Death to be present in the area, which is most often achieved by sacrifices.
** Dark sects use the participation in human sacrifice rituals as both proof of loyalty and blackmail material.
** The power and the favor of the Fallen is most easily gained in this fashion. Mages, priests and royalty are especially coveted.
* IHaveManyNames:
** Due to TheScottishTrope, the [[{{Satan}} Destroyer]] is referenced in many other ways.
** Vladislav Istrin has accumulated several names over his time on Arland. He's master Hunter Vlad "Lightning", [[spoiler: reincarnated Hellaren, the Ice Aurochs[[hottip:*:in Russian, there is a similarity between "&#1048;&#1089;&#1090;&#1088;", Vlad's surname's basis, and "Ice Tour", the way Vlad is adressed. This name is rendered in latinic letters in the novels.]]]], master Ranger [[SdrawkcabAlias Dalv]] "Jester", baron el Vira, baron el Stoka, count el Artua, founder of the Joker magic school Vlad er Joker, maitre (an otherwise nameless mercenary and assassin), and Slav, a freelancer. Note that due to Vlad and Slav both being short forms of Vladislav, both introductions pass {{LivingLieDetector}}s.
* InSeriesNickname with TheyCallHimSword: The Hunters' and Rangers' Guild share a tradition of assigning a byname to a hunter or ranger promoted to a master level. This nickname is most often related to their weapon of choice or magic school, but may be descriptive in some other way. Vlad has been named "Lightning" as princess Laera witnessed him kill undead warriors using a lightning spell on his swords. After being promoted to the master rank among Rangers, Vlad also goes by Dalv "Jester".
* InstantRunes and other kinds of SimplifiedSpellcasting: averted. All mages have to cast their spells properly. Single-target spells are quick and easy - used in close combat. Area effect spells take time and effort - used on battlefields and during sieges.
** As Vlad, with some mercenaries and friends, storms a castle, the castle's owner summons a low-tier demon to stall the attackers as he flees into a secret passage. Vlad notes that said owner luckily was just a bachelor of Demonology - a master or magister of the same school would either have run further or taken the same time to summon something much nastier.
* KillAndReplace: the {{Doppelganger}} spell can be used for this purpose as the doppelgängers are permanently loyal to their creator.
* KnowledgeBroker: 
** Loviya, widow queen of Litiya. She owes Vlad and often provides crucial information generally not available outside of royal families.
** Valit "Lightning", a retired Hunter and Dekara kingdom's loathed and feared, then deposed and recently reinstated head of secret service.
** The night guilds, i.e. thieves and assassins, have their knowledge brokers. Vlad has some subordinates with criminal careers behind them and doesn't mind asking for favors among the criminals.
* LadyOfWar: Arna "Black", master Huntress, later countess er Artua. Her former team, the She-Wolves, also qualified.
* LanguageOfMagic: The "true language" used in verbal spellcasting. It uses the same runes as the CommonTongue; Kolar assumes that the CommonTongue was developed as a deliberate modification and a safety measure. Since runes function as single words / concepts, a runic mage doesn't have to learn the full extent of the "true language".
* LeadTheTarget: Vlad uses a well-timed axe throw to kill a mage who was good enough to teleport around a cave during the fight, but made the mistake of following a predictable pattern.
* LightEmUp: Magic worked by various clerics usually manifests as blinding white light. The Church claims to be above ElementalPowers and using divine WhiteMagic.
* LivingLieDetector: Mind mages detect lies easily. Blood and Life mages can read individuals by monitoring their vitals, but are rarely proficient in doing so. Mind Mages can defend themselves from detection, but working with MetaphoricallyTrue statements and abusing the ExactWords of the question works unless the Mind mage is actively interrogating you.
* MageKiller: The Black Dragons, bodyguards of the Emperor of the Wild Island, utilize a meditation technique to penetrate magical detection perimeters based on detecting intents. This skill at ambushing or assassinating mages has earned this unit the title "Mage-Killers" in-universe.
* MagicAIsMagicA: magic on Arland has well-understood rules and is taught in universities and schools with people graduating as bachelors and magisters of an element. The ability to summon a primary (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) elemental or the equal amounts of {{Mana}} and skill for other schools are acknowledged with the title of a Lord or Lady of an element.
* MagicIsMental: with the exception of the clergy and the servants of the Fallen, this holds true. Mages have to learn their incantations, gestures, rituals and runes, since merely having a pool of {{Mana}} and the affinity to an element doesn't make a mage, e.g. Dunya, Matvey's daughter, has the potential to be a Death Lady, but no training.
* MagicKnight:
** All mages of the Hunters' Guild are {{MagicKnight}}s by necessity. Non-mages compensate either by being werebeasts or using ImplausibleFencingPowers.
** While the Rangers' Guild employs a few non-combat mages, e.g. for interrogation, those on the front-line also fit this trope.
** The Clan of the Lynx has few mages, but those combine their clan's undisputed martial skill with battle-honed magic.
** Vlad takes his pupils through TrainingFromHell, as most of them started out as either RitualMagic users or came from schools rarely used in direct combat, e.g. Mind or Necromancy.
* MagmaMan: the secondary Magma school.
* TheMaker: the Creator's first son. The Creator creates worlds, but [[NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus his son made Arland into an inhabitable place and created the sapient species to inhabit it]]. According to the Church doctrine, the Creator's son created dragons, tritons, elves and dwarves, and then shared his soul with his last creation, the humans. Then he showed his works to the Creator and was named the Maker.
* MakingASplash: the primary Water school and the related secondary Storm school.
* {{Mana}}, RegeneratingMana and {{ManaPotion}}s: Mana is used to describe the reserves of magical energy of an individual, but not their skill level. The mana reserves are almost impossible to increase, while skill and experience accumulate. Mages can exhaust themselves and need to recover, as to Vlad's surprise alchemists have not discovered a recipe for mana potions. There are three ways to rapidly recover mana: 
** Rare gems called "Taya's Tears" will accumulate mana and, when fully charged, completely recharge any mage upon use. Since the gems work regardless of the user's mana reserves and can not be split among mages, recharging a weaker mage of a crucial element or skill is feasible. "Taya's Tears" are a trademark of Arland's druids, [[spoiler: and actually grow on unique plants]].
** Gems of Pain are Dark artifacts created and recharged by HumanSacrifice. While using and recharging them is easy, making new Gems of Pain is a rare skill. Hunters, Rangers and Maker's Hands (paladins) will destroy these Gems if possible, and those few Dark mages capable of producing them are high priority targets.
** Life Lords and Ladies can essentially bottle their magic into expensive potions known as "Pink Fog". These will completely heal and restore mana; drinking a fraction of the dose works as a partial healing. Life mages are rare, Life Lords and Ladies are even rarer, and producing a "Pink Fog" supposedly exhausts them completely.
* TheMedic: Order of Saint Auna. This Order will accept sentients regardless of race, gender or personal history. The Order of Saint Auna will provide medical help to all sentients at no condition except for being loyal to the Creator and at no cost. It is customary to leave a donation for the order upon leaving their care.
* TheMenInBlack:
** The Order of the Lord's Hounds. Officially, this Order doesn't exist. They are mentioned during an interlude showing a conversation between two high-ranking clerics regarding the possible corruption of another high-ranking cleric in the Narina kingdom. Members have never been revealed until Vlad encountered a Lord's Hound as an undercover infiltrator in a dark sect. The Hounds deal with corruption within the Church and with missions where any other approach is unlikely to succeed.
** The Council of Loyals was instrumental in ending the Interregnum and later in banishing the Heart of the Destroyer. Afterwards the Council supposedly was dissolved, but Vlad encounters more and more hints that they have simply moved to the [[AncientTradition background]]. After proving his worth and loyalty again and again, Vlad is treated to the reveal that [[spoiler: both former heads of the Hunters' and the Rangers' Guilds, Matvey "Leather" and Nils "Old Man" are full members, and current heads of the Guilds, Kar "Volcano" and Yens "Quiet One" are acolytes of the Council]].
** Each kingdom has a secret service of some kind, usually dealing with conspiracies and insurgencies. Levels of competence vary across Arland. Vlad befriends the Dekara kingdom's head of secret service, the retired master Hunter Valit "Lightning".
* MundaneUtility: During a month-long cross-terrain chase after a fleeing Life mage, Vlad and his companions note that none of them knows any spells to cook, clean or repair clothing, treat minor injuries or simply keep away vermin or mosquitoes. Justified as Hunters rarely spend more than a day in the Blighted Catacombs, and the city of Belgor provides for their day-to-day needs in exchange for their loot and fame.
* MutuallyExclusiveMagic: Combinations of Life + Death and Light + Dark are impossible on Arland, although each of these 4 elements has other combinations available.
* {{Necromancer}}: Necromancy is a fourth degree school consisting of Earth, Death and Mind, and overlaps with the Death school. While servants of the Fallen often use necromancy to interact with the undead, necromancy is not exclusively Dark. Necromancers can work in law enforcement or become Hunters due to their proficiency at banishing the undead. Sufficiently ruthless warlords and generals employ necromancers to turn fallen soldiers into readily available cannon fodder.
** Dils "Gloomy" is a master necromancer and a master Hunter.
** Ol't, a baker in Belgor, has been a grain producer and bakery owner before. Being a necromancer, he bought corpses of deceased or executed criminals from prisons and reanimated them to do the hard work. Vlad persuades him to quit baking and start training as a combat necromancer. Ol't is weaker than Dils "Gloomy", but hasn't focused his studies on combat necromancy.
** During their exploits in Tariya, Vlad and Ol't happen upon a damaged Staff of the Dead, a pre-Interregnum Necromancy-enhancing artifact. As Ol't manages to repair it, Vlad simply states: "You fixed it - you get to work with it" and later notes that Ol't, while wielding the artifact, would qualify as a Lord of the Dead (archmage necromancer).
* NervesOfSteel and TheStoic: Vlad needs to infiltrate a sect worshiping the Fallen. Since their most common proof of loyalty to the Fallen requires participating in a HumanSacrifice ritual, Vlad is forced to rely on an emotion suppression spell. As the situation is resolved and Vlad attempts to remove the suppression, he finds himself swinging between the suppressed rational and a new far too emotional state instead of returning to normal.
* NeuralImplanting: a complicated spell from the Life school allows to copy a skill, e.g. fencing, from person to person, including reflexes and muscle memory. In rare cases of compatible magic abilities, a proficiency in a magic school can also be transferred. 
** A Life Lord (Life school archmage) serves as a knowledge and skill repository of the Hunters' Guild, and often pesters Vlad to share his experiences and new skills.
** The Black Dragon Guards from the Wild Island made a tradition of this. Every retiring guardsman passes his entire skills and abilities to his successor, adding a life's worth of new skills to the inherited ones.
** Vlad finds himself on the receiving end of an involuntary implanting, as a former Black Dragon offers him the entire skill set. Vlad declines, thus passing a test of character. Turns out that the Black Dragons can perform a forced emergency implanting.
* NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: averted. Kolar, while explaining the basics of magic to Vlad, states: \\
 "There is the seventh kind of magic, following the four elements, Death and Life. It's the magic of the priests. [...] There are other facts pointing to magic, not to the Maker's power. All I learned about this power is that it's based in will and willpower. I call this Spirit magic. The stronger a person's spirit, the more can be done with this magic. Many things are unclear to me regarding the concentration, form and transfer of energy, but there is an observation. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Where the believers and the temples are plentiful - the Spirit magic multiplies in power]]. Lacking believers, the mage becomes far weaker. I should say that this or a similar magic was wielded by the Creator who made Arland, by his son, the Maker - and I'm afraid to think by whom else. \\
 Vlad reacts with: "Now we're done for. [...] The phrase "Let there be light!" fits Kolar's explanations really nicely. Sacrifices to the Fallen also make sense. And I'll tell Kolar about energy concentration as related to the concentration of believers sometime later. Words like "egregor" are well-seated in my mind. Just one thing I don't understand at all. Why is Kolar still alive? This opinion doesn't merely justify conflicted relations with the Church... If the clergy knew about his idea of categorizing divine wonders as clerical magic, and saints - as archmages, he wouldn't get off as easy as burning at the stake. And his comparison of the Maker and the Destroyer? The Church will destroy all those who may have talked with Kolar. It is a good thing the Church doesn't know."
* OnlyOneName: Hunters, Rangers, priests, monks and members of church-related orders go by their rank and a single name. Nobles may keep their family names, but rarely use them. Vlad notes that during a formal introduction, the first affiliation stated is the most important to the person.
* OurBansheesAreLouder: Banshees are restless souls corrupted by the Fallen's taint. They can inflict a deadly curse which may also carry over to family members. Banshees are bound to blackthorn bushes or ruined buildings they inhabit and can not leave their vicinity.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: averted. Vlad almost suffers a breakdown as the master blacksmith Dorn "Battleaxe" comments on his remote nephew Kerin with the comment of "He's too young at 55 years." 
Vlad blacks out, comes to it in a couple of minutes and proceeds to recite the common dwarven traits to Dorn and Kerin. The blacksmiths agree that dwarves are underground dwellers, masters of mining and blacksmithing and

* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: Gryphons are likely a creation of the Chimera school, one of the least known schools of magic. Their sole known nesting grounds are in the Karosa kingdom. Gryphons are smart, possibly borderline sentient, and are tamed by the military, making Karosa the only kingdom with a functioning air force. An adult gryphon can comfortably carry a basket or a net with several passengers or a load of cargo. Vlad compares a gryphon flock guarded by several dragons to a cargo helicopter squadron with an escort of gunships. Vlad's drake Fuzzy merely considers them a hard-to-catch delicacy.
* OurLichesAreDifferent: Liches are mages who turned to the Fallen seeking immortality. The lich transformation grants undeath and vastly increases the mage's mana reserves and spell power, but lowers intelligence and makes casting complicated spells impossible. Liches accumulate taint and upon reaching some threshold become master-liches; their power grows and their spells become tainted. Repeating the accumulation of taint to a new threshold yields an arch-lich. Arch-liches no longer use elements in their spells, their magic is solely powered by the Fallen's power. Servants of the Fallen can perform a ritual to turn an arch-lich into a demon-lich. A demon-lich is a concentrated pool of taint embedded in the former lich's floating skull.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires are a new species on Arland. They don't carry TheVirus and reproduce as normal mammals. Vampires are faster and stronger than humans, but are limited to the General school of magic. Vampires are capable of speed bursts, rapid regeneration and can turn into mist at will. They need blood to survive and more blood to actively use their powers. Arland's vampires aren't affected by sunlight or holy symbols, but they can be easily enslaved by the power of the Fallen. Vlad notes that vampires make decent livings as mercenaries, assassins and tomb raiders; their clans engage weak Life mages to collect blood from villages. After surviving a life-or-death battle a physiological and psychological change might occur, promoting a vampire to high vampire. Vampire clans on rare occasions accept trusted humans as honorary clan members, granting them access to speed bursts and improved regeneration. Vampires worship neither the Maker nor the Destroyer.
** After a dark mage's attempt to enslave an entire vampire clan, said clan actually joins forces with the Rangers and gets approved by the Church.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Fresh corpses tainted by the power of the Fallen or corpses desecrated by certain rites may rise as zombies. Zombies don't have magic and can survive on human flesh in otherwise untainted areas. Tainted zombies are much faster, smarter and stronger than common ones. Upon consuming a certain amount of victims, a zombie becomes a master-zombie, becoming stronger and faster. Master-zombies exclude a lethal poison from their entire corpses. As with skeletons and mummies, a ritual can turn a master-zombie into a zombie lord. Zombie lords are extremely strong, control their own zombie units and can fire bursts of raw taint.
* PlayingWithFire: the primary Fire school and the recently developed secondary Plasma school.
* {{Plunder}}: 
** The World's Temple has been among other things a treasury and a museum. Due to reasonably common magical RagnarokProofing, most of the valuables remain intact in the Blighted Catacombs and in other lesser treasuries across the world of Arland. After the Destroyer's Heart was banished from the Catacombs, a new natural phenomenon manifested, called "Blight's Breath". On regular intervals, blighted and tainted creatures, but also tainted items will be teleported into the Catacombs. Hunters and Rangers make their livings partially from finding and cleansing such treasures.
** Vlad notes that some people collect objects of art, others collect skulls of their enemies, but he prefers those who collect small round golden engraved objects in large amounts. He's also likely to absorb such collections into his own after having to kill said collectors.
** Vlad, as a baron in the Northern Borderlands of the Dekara kingdom, votes for the Borderlands' barons to join the king's side in the civil war. After the king's army emerges victorious and successfully recaptures the capital from the rebels, the king's chief general grants the Borderlands' barons the rights to plunder the city palaces of those nobles who joined the rebellion.
** Vlad, upon arrival to his newly acquired lands in the Northern Borderlands of Dekara, learned about a forgotten silver mine on his ground. To ensure the friendship of fellow Borderlands' barons, he talked them into founding a mining company with shared responsibilities and shared income. Vlad later notes that the silver mine, the civil war and the victory of the king bound the Borderlanders by the strongest bond on Arland - by sharing honor, bloodshed and wealth.
** Vlad, during his time as a Ranger, is hired to lead an expedition seeking an artifact for the kingdom of Melor. Among a few conditions, he states that all loot except the specified artifact is his to keep.
** The undead inhabiting various tainted locations often carry their original gear, which due to magical RagnarokProofing is usually in rather good condition. Due to a serious loss of metallurgic knowledge during the Interregnum, old steel is an actual commodity.
* ProfessionalKiller:
** Crime on Arland has been organized for several millenia. Kingdoms have their own assassins' guilds.
** The Gray Order is an international organization. This Order always consists of exactly 25 members, grouped in 5 groups of 5, and each unit uses an intermediary to make their deals. Each group contains a master warrior, usually a high vampire, and master mages of the 4 primary elements. All members are sleeper agents living perfectly normal lives between missions. After killing a Gray team, Vlad reveals their corpses to the authorities to find out that the Water mage has been a respected professor of Water magic in one of the best known universities.
** Vlad gets suspicious about Zetr, the village elder of Vlad's Stoka village, since during an attack Zetr shows leadership and martial skill without having a soldiering or mercenary background. Zetr confesses being a wanted fugitive assassin hiding from former associates. Vlad has said associates "removed" and engages Zetr in building Vlad's personal copy of the Gray Order.
* RagnarokProofing: Dragons have enchanted many things before the Interregnum with their trademark durability, upkeep and self-repair spells, including the entire World's Temple. Their work is still visible in the Blighted Catacombs, as damage to the area itself will slowly regenerate. The taint of the Fallen has affected the dragons' spells, and now the Catacombs not only restore themselves, but also change.
* RandomlyGifted: Magic runs at random on Arland. About one child in 1000 is born a mage. Among the Hunters' Guild prominent mages Kar "Volcano" is a noble, Ins "Ice" hails from a backwater mountain tribe, Dils "Gloomy" was a peasant boy and Arna "Black" is a werewolf Water mage. The access to divine spells seems to be random among clerics, but obviously influences promotion chances. Mages are born more often among nobles, and Mother Erita of Saint Auna's Order tells Vlad that two mages are statistically more likely to have gifted children; [[spoiler: the chance increases if the mages are of the same element]]. Magic seems to run in the genes, as two otherwise unrelated and isolated communities, the Lynx clan and the clan Ins "Ice" came from, both show an increased share of mages, up to one in 100.
* RebelliousPrincess: Arna "Black", master Huntress. She joined the Hunters to avoid an unwanted marriage. Vlad later decides that she must have been taught to rule and puts her in charge of the Artua county.
* ReligionOfEvil: the followers of the Fallen. Working with TheUndead, fueling magic by ColdBloodedTorture and HumanSacrifice. State religion on the Baros island. Likely the source behind the shamanic powers of trolls and goblins.
* RepressedMemories:
** Vlad has repressed some traumatic memories from his earlier life in Russia.
** Vlad also carries some repressed memories from a mysterious Overlord-level Ice mage [[spoiler: called Hellaren]]. A fellow Hunter, who happens to be an Ice mage and hails from a very remote tribe, regards Vlad [[spoiler: as Hellaren's reincarnation]].
* RetiredBadass: Matvey has retired from the Hunters' Guild after the death of his wife and [[spoiler: as a precondition to join the Council of the Loyals]].
* RitualMagic: averted. Magic on Arland is an [[RandomlyGifted innate gift]], and the word "ritual" describes a method of casting spells by performing a ritual instead of saying incantations or performing gestures only. Complicated rituals may contain runic, verbal, gestic parts as well as sacrifices and geometric figures.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: the kidnapping of the She-Wolves (an all-girl Hunter team) and Dunya for the Catacomb Lords' procreation ritual triggers this for the entire city of Belgor. In most cases, Hunters would try to find and MercyKill the women. After an almost suicidal distraction by the Hunters' Guild, Vlad leads a crack team of Hunters into the Catacombs. They find the lair of the Catacomb Lords, destroy the guards and save the women. 
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: 
** After exiting the Catacombs, Vlad's team rides for Belgor to allow Bishop Aner to exorcise the rescued women and save their lives permanently. The Hunters are intercepted by a fanatic Creator's Servant (a member of Arland's inquisition), accompanied by Servant guards and several Creator's Hands (paladins). The Servant incapacitates the Hunters within a divine spell's barrier and orders the women executed by piercing their hearts and beheading them, their tainted corpses exorcised and burned on the spot. Vlad unleashes a magic power he isn't supposed to have and proceeds to break the barrier, slaughter the Servant guards and the Hands and finally kill the Servant by breaking the divine shielding spell.
** A successful rebellion in the Litia kingdom almost destroyed the dynasty. The rebels only spared the king's widowed mother and his toddler son. This was a mistake, as the widow queen found allies and reclaimed the throne in the name of her grandson. She then had all the captured noble rebels executed one after another on the exact date of their rebellion.
* {{Satan}}: the Destroyer. According to Church doctrine, the Creator has two sons - the Maker and his opposite, the Destroyer. The [[GreatOffscreenWar Interregnum]] happened as the Maker left Arland to look for the Creator, allowing the Destroyer to attack the world, and forcing the Maker to battle his brother. Due to TheScottishTrope, the Destroyer is commonly referenced by other names, e.g. the Fallen, the Cursed etc.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: a retired and incapacitated Black Dragon offers Vlad to buy his skills by NeuralImplanting. Vlad declines and the Black Dragon tells him that he has passed and is worthy to inherit the Black Dragon's skills and oath of revenge.
* SchizoTech: 
** Magical variety: While magic is a field of active research, occasional artifacts, e.g. Chameleon's Chain, King's Crown, Chain of Elements, are far too advanced for the current level of magical knowledge. Justified since all those artifacts were created before the [[GreatOffscreenWar Interregnum]]. Kolar er Kilam is actively trying to reverse-engineer and copy ancient artifacts with varying degrees of success.
** Vlad, being a history buff of the Middle Ages, knows some general facts about medieval metallurgy as well. He drops bits and hints of knowledge around Korin, a young dwarven smithing genius trying to make a name in Belgor. Korin, having both a steady supply of pre-Interregnum steel, expert Hunters and expert Hunter-affiliated smiths to both guide and goad him, makes several breakthroughs, e.g. rediscovering the damascene steel.
* TheScottishTrope: The entity who desired to corrupt or destroy the world is properly referenced as the Destroyer. Using this name gets his attention, hence the Destroyer is called a plethora of other names, most common ones being the Fallen, the Cursed, the Dark. Being on blessed ground or having the blessing of the Maker negates this effect, though.
* SdrawkcabAlias: Vlad signs into the Rangers' Guild as Dalv.
* SorryThatImDying: As Vlad, badly wounded, crawls to the She-Wolves and Dunya, he finds Nata, their Life mage and healer, still alive and conscious. She has put her hands on Arna and Dunya, healing them, and dies with the words: "Vlad, forgive me, I only managed two."
* SplashDamage: Vlad has developed a spell to forcibly banish certain kinds of spirits. The banishment is quiet, but the material component of the spirit explodes, often dealing splash damage to other enemies. To Vlad's initial surprise, the explosion carries the effect of the spell, allowing for chain reactions.
* SummonMagic and SummoningRitual: Demonology is a well-known magical school. Results vary with power and time available for the ritual: with a pre-existing summoning circle, a bachelor of Demonology whips up a lesser demon within minutes, and Vlad remarks that a magister of the same school would either have summoned something nastier, or scrammed faster. Demons on Arland are Dark servants of the Fallen and thus very unlikely to attack equally Dark summoners.
* {{Telepathy}}: Hypnosis and telepathic communication can be performed by all mages, limited by willpower and degree of familiarity with the person, and are thus assigned to the school of General magic. The Mind school specializes in all matters of offensive and defensive telepathy. Most Mind mages work for various investigative and intelligence-related agencies. Emotion and perception manipulations are used by rare combat-oriented Mind mages; Mind school illusionists obviously have a niche in the entertainment industry.
* ThinkingUpPortals: the individual portal artifacts must have been very common before the Interregnum, as a rather large number of those survived intact. They are obviously related to the well-known stationary portals, since activating an individual portal opens a CoolGate out of thin air. Individual portals differ from the stationary portals of the PortalNetwork maintained by the Scarlet Order in several key aspects:
** Individual portals can be opened anywhere - stationary portals are, well, stationary.
** Individual portals can lead to any location the user is sufficiently familiar with - stationary portals only connect to each other.
** Ownership of an individual portal has to be transferred by elaborate ritual and can only be done once a year or less often - stationary portals can be used by anyone with the correct access spell.
* TopGod: The Creator who created the inhabitable worlds, including Arland. Father to both the Maker and the Destroyer.
* TrappedInAnotherWorld and YouCantGoHomeAgain: premise of the series. An interlude shows a conversation between two clerics addressing each other as "Es" and "Neer", most likely [[spoiler: Father Estor and the current [[ThePope Maker's Deputy]] ]]. They are discussing the phenomenon of people cropping up in the "blighted spots", which has been happening for several centuries and is well-known enough to have contributed the word "derg", meaning "alien", to the CommonTongue. The Church has often taken interest in these "aliens", with Vlad's release "into the wild" with the bare minimum of information and no further training being an exception.
* TheUndead: various forms of undead roam the Blighted areas. They vary by power and tactical role. A basic Hunter's manual alone mentions 7 families of undead: [[{{Mummy}} mummies]] (those lacking the skills to become either a lich or a death knight, retain basic intelligence), liches (mages voluntarily becoming undead), death knights (warriors voluntarily becoming undead), sluagh (warriors too cruel, too hateful and too battle-obsessed to die after falling in battle, retain intelligence), draughrs (revenants, raised ritually from fresh corpses, retain personality), zombies and skeletons (corpses raised by Dark taint, basically mindless killers).
* UnEqualRites: Mages mostly differ by their respective casting methods. The most common are verbal, gestic, ritual and runic, which may be combined in varied fashions. Combat mages most commonly combine verbal and gestic control, while battlefield-scale or siege-grade spells are most often ritual and runic. Enchantments of items, from a fireball ring to a castle wall, are almost exclusively performed by runic mages.
* WhiteMagic: the power of the Creator and the Maker granted to priests and paladins is presented as WhiteMagic in-universe. Kolar er Kilam, a genius theoretician of magic, claims that this only holds true when Church members actively and directly oppose the forces of the Fallen; in other situations they [[ReligionIsMagic channel belief]], technically being equal to the Fallen's servants. The Church hierarchs actually know better since Maker's Servants (inqusition) can use Light magic to [[spoiler: brainwash others or [[LightEmUp cast offensive spells on regular humans]]]].
* YearInsideHourOutside: Matvey's grandfather has left Russia in 1995, but has already spent a century in Arland.

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2nd Jan '13 1:49:54 PM jlt314

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\ "There is the seventh kind of magic, following the four elements, Death and Life. It's the magic of the priests. [...] There are other facts pointing to magic, not to the Maker's power. All I learned about this power is that it's based in will and willpower. I call this Spirit magic. The stronger a person's spirit, the more can be done with this magic. Many things are unclear to me regarding the concentration, form and transfer of energy, but there is an observation. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Where the believers and the temples are plentiful - the Spirit magic multiplies in power]]. Lacking believers, the mage becomes far weaker. I should say that this or a similar magic was wielded by the Creator who made Arland, by his son, the Maker - and I'm afraid to think by whom else. \\
 \ Vlad reacts with: "Now we're done for. [...] The phrase "Let there be light!" fits Kolar's explanations really nicely. Sacrifices to the Fallen also make sense. And I'll tell Kolar about energy concentration as related to the concentration of believers sometime later. Words like "egregor" are well-seated in my mind. Just one thing I don't understand at all. Why is Kolar still alive? This opinion doesn't merely justify conflicted relations with the Church... If the clergy knew about his idea of categorizing divine wonders as clerical magic, and saints - as archmages, he wouldn't get off as easy as burning at the stake. And his comparison of the Maker and the Destroyer? The Church will destroy all those who may have talked with Kolar. It is a good thing the Church doesn't know."

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"There is the seventh kind of magic, following the four elements, Death and Life. It's the magic of the priests. [...] There are other facts pointing to magic, not to the Maker's power. All I learned about this power is that it's based in will and willpower. I call this Spirit magic. The stronger a person's spirit, the more can be done with this magic. Many things are unclear to me regarding the concentration, form and transfer of energy, but there is an observation. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Where the believers and the temples are plentiful - the Spirit magic multiplies in power]]. Lacking believers, the mage becomes far weaker. I should say that this or a similar magic was wielded by the Creator who made Arland, by his son, the Maker - and I'm afraid to think by whom else. \\
  Vlad reacts with: "Now we're done for. [...] The phrase "Let there be light!" fits Kolar's explanations really nicely. Sacrifices to the Fallen also make sense. And I'll tell Kolar about energy concentration as related to the concentration of believers sometime later. Words like "egregor" are well-seated in my mind. Just one thing I don't understand at all. Why is Kolar still alive? This opinion doesn't merely justify conflicted relations with the Church... If the clergy knew about his idea of categorizing divine wonders as clerical magic, and saints - as archmages, he wouldn't get off as easy as burning at the stake. And his comparison of the Maker and the Destroyer? The Church will destroy all those who may have talked with Kolar. It is a good thing the Church doesn't know."

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2nd Jan '13 1:17:49 PM jlt314

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* FamedInStory: 
** Vlad "Lightning" and the master Hunters who [[RoaringRampageOfRescue rescued the She-Wolves]] became living legends on Arland. 
** Dalv "Jester" led an expedition, including a Fire Lord and a powerful cleric from the Melor kingdom, to recover a legendary artifact from the lair of a bkhoot, an archdemon shapeshifter, killing said bkhoot in the process. Due to the expedition's mission and the artifact being state secrets, Dalv "Jester" became famed for besting the bkhoot and plundering the lair on his own.
** Vlad baron el Stoka, count el Artua, earned the title "Death of the Goblins" after a goblin tribe laid siege to the Stoka castle and was decimated by warriors and mages of the Artua county.
** A heavily edited story of a master Ranger's relationship with an elven Life Lady, her death and the following [[DisproportionateRetribution Slaughtering]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge of Siluen]] becomes another legend to rival the story of the Hunters' Guild and their Slaughtering of Seren. [[spoiler: The master Ranger was Dalv "Jester", the Life Lady was Kenara]].
** The Gray Order has declined offers to assassinate the guild-master of the Krays island merchants' guild, the largest commercial organization on the continent. Maitre, an otherwise nameless assassin, has offended the Gray Order by taking the contract and succeeding. 
** [[spoiler: Vlad's problem is that he is Vlad "Lightning", Dalv "Jester", Vlad count el Artua and "Maitre" all in one person. According to Father Estor, Vlad, as other "aliens" before him]], is a catalyst of changes on Arland - the world itself puts him to the test, using friends, allies and loved ones as the stake, and he must fight to survive.

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* ProfessionalKiller:
** Crime on Arland has been organized for several millenia. Kingdoms have their own assassins' guilds.
** The Gray Order is an international organization. This Order always consists of exactly 25 members, grouped in 5 groups of 5, and each unit uses an intermediary to make their deals. Each group contains a master warrior, usually a high vampire, and master mages of the 4 primary elements. All members are sleeper agents living perfectly normal lives between missions. After killing a Gray team, Vlad reveals their corpses to the authorities to find out that the Water mage has been a respected professor of Water magic in one of the best known universities.
** Vlad gets suspicious about Zetr, the village elder of Vlad's Stoka village, since during an attack Zetr shows leadership and martial skill without having a soldiering or mercenary background. Zetr confesses being a wanted fugitive assassin hiding from former associates. Vlad has said associates "removed" and engages Zetr in building Vlad's personal copy of the Gray Order.
* RagnarokProofing: Dragons have enchanted many things before the Interregnum with their trademark durability, upkeep and self-repair spells, including the entire World's Temple. Their work is still visible in the Blighted Catacombs, as damage to the area itself will slowly regenerate. The taint of the Fallen has affected the dragons' spells, and now the Catacombs not only restore themselves, but also change.

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1st Jan '13 12:27:05 PM jlt314

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* NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: averted. Kolar, while explaining the basics of magic to Vlad, states: \\
 \ "There is the seventh kind of magic, following the four elements, Death and Life. It's the magic of the priests. [...] There are other facts pointing to magic, not to the Maker's power. All I learned about this power is that it's based in will and willpower. I call this Spirit magic. The stronger a person's spirit, the more can be done with this magic. Many things are unclear to me regarding the concentration, form and transfer of energy, but there is an observation. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Where the believers and the temples are plentiful - the Spirit magic multiplies in power]]. Lacking believers, the mage becomes far weaker. I should say that this or a similar magic was wielded by the Creator who made Arland, by his son, the Maker - and I'm afraid to think by whom else. \\
 \ Vlad reacts with: "Now we're done for. [...] The phrase "Let there be light!" fits Kolar's explanations really nicely. Sacrifices to the Fallen also make sense. And I'll tell Kolar about energy concentration as related to the concentration of believers sometime later. Words like "egregor" are well-seated in my mind. Just one thing I don't understand at all. Why is Kolar still alive? This opinion doesn't merely justify conflicted relations with the Church... If the clergy knew about his idea of categorizing divine wonders as clerical magic, and saints - as archmages, he wouldn't get off as easy as burning at the stake. And his comparison of the Maker and the Destroyer? The Church will destroy all those who may have talked with Kolar. It is a good thing the Church doesn't know."

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29th Dec '12 2:09:00 PM jlt314

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writing on

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** A Ranger, accompanied by an elven Life Lady (Life school archmagess, master healer) who carries a debt of life to the Ranger, and some loyal troops happens to save a coven of elven summoners and their guard detail from a band of desert spirits the summoners have lost control of. The Ranger's unit dispatches the spirits and the Life Lady patches the elves up. During the following night, the elven coven and guards assault the Hunter and his troops, mortally wounding the elven magess. As she lays dying, her final wish is to marry the Ranger to repay at least a part of her debt. The Rangers' Guild recognizes the marriage as valid retroactively and calls for revenge. While the Ranger in question would have the resources to avenge his own, the guild-master convinces him that the lesson of Seren must be reinforced, lest someone decides that the Guilds no longer care. The Guild's forces assault the territory of the elven clan responsible, destroy the elven army, storm the city-forest, capture the elven royals, kill the men and take women and children captive. As the elven royals face their subjects, the Rangers give them the choice - to be executed or to go free in exchange of having a quarter of their surviving subjects slaughtered for each royal. The elven king, queen and prince damn their subjects, while the princess chooses to save hers. The Rangers proceed by executing king, queen and prince and forcing the princess to join Saint Auna's Order, but spare the elven survivors alltogether. This event becomes known as the Slaughtering of Siluen. [[spoiler: The Ranger is Vlad, the Life Lady is Kenara.]]

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** A Ranger, accompanied by an elven Life Lady (Life school archmagess, master healer) who carries a debt of life to the Ranger, and some loyal troops happens to save a coven of elven summoners and their guard detail from a band of desert spirits the summoners have lost control of. The Ranger's unit dispatches the spirits and the Life Lady patches the elves up. During the following night, the elven coven and guards assault the Hunter and his troops, mortally wounding the elven magess. As she lays dying, her final wish is to marry the Ranger to repay at least a part of her debt. The Rangers' Guild recognizes the marriage as valid retroactively and calls for revenge. While the Ranger in question would have the resources to avenge his own, the guild-master convinces him that the lesson of Seren must be reinforced, lest someone decides that the Guilds no longer care. The Guild's forces assault the territory of the elven clan responsible, destroy the elven army, storm the city-forest, capture the elven royals, kill the men and take women and children captive. As the elven royals face their subjects, the Rangers give them the choice - to be executed or to go free in exchange of having a quarter of their surviving subjects slaughtered for each royal. The elven king, queen and prince damn their subjects, while the princess chooses to save hers. The Rangers proceed by executing king, queen and prince and forcing the princess to join Saint Auna's Order, but spare all the elven survivors. This event becomes known as the Slaughtering of Siluen. [[spoiler: The Ranger is Vlad, the Life Lady is Kenara.]]
* DualWielding: Most nobles carry a variation of "sword & dagger" as part of their appropriate attire. Justified by frequent duels and the basic etiquette of not carrying shields or heavy two-handed weapons on formal occasions. {{MagicKnight}}s using the gestic or verbal-gestic casting style (which is the fastest and hence most common in combat) often switch between DualWielding and the [[SwordAndGun Spell and Gun]] approach.
Averted with Hunters, Rangers and Borderlanders. Due to often dealing with undead, mutated or tainted opponents, they often carry something heavy and two-handed instead.

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* SchizoTech: 
** Magical variety: While magic is a field of active research, occasional artifacts, e.g. Chameleon's Chain, King's Crown, Chain of Elements, are far too advanced for the current level of magical knowledge. Justified since all those artifacts were created before the [[GreatOffscreenWar Interregnum]]. Kolar er Kilam is actively trying to reverse-engineer and copy ancient artifacts with varying degrees of success.
** Vlad, being a history buff of the Middle Ages, knows some general facts about medieval metallurgy as well. He drops bits and hints of knowledge around Korin, a young dwarven smithing genius trying to make a name in Belgor. Korin, having both a steady supply of pre-Interregnum steel, expert Hunters and expert Hunter-affiliated smiths to both guide and goad him, makes several breakthroughs, e.g. rediscovering the damascene steel.
* TheScottishTrope: The entity who desired to corrupt or destroy the world is properly referenced as the Destroyer. Using this name gets his attention, hence the Destroyer is called a plethora of other names, most common ones being the Fallen, the Cursed, the Dark. Being on blessed ground or having the blessing of the Maker negates this effect, though.

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28th Dec '12 5:01:00 PM jlt314

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* GeometricMagic: many rituals use circles and patterns, usually including appropriate runes.
** Runic magic, both for spellcasting and for enchanting, works by creating a spatial arrangement of runes, either in the caster's mind, or on the item itself.
* GreatOffscreenWar and CataclysmBackstory: the Interregnum, a full-out magical world war that raged across Arland about 15 centuries ago. According to the official Church history, the Destroyer himself came to Arland and the Creator (&#1058;&#1074;&#1086;&#1088;&#1077;&#1094;) intervened by sending a messiah called the Maker (&#1057;&#1086;&#1079;&#1076;&#1072;&#1090;&#1077;&#1083;&#1100;) to oppose him. The Maker fought and banished the Destroyer, but parts of them still remained on Arland. The Destroyer's Heart had been placed upon the desecrated altar of the World's Temple. A small elite force of the Council of the Loyals fought their way to the altar and gave their lives to banish the Heart from Arland, greatly reducing the Destroyer's influence. The World's Temple stands tainted and the Catacombs house hordes of monsters, undead forces and demons.

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28th Dec '12 11:16:10 AM jlt314

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* RagnarokProofing: Dragons have enchanted many things before the Interregnum with their trademark durability, upkeep and self-repair spells, including the entire World's Temple. Their work is still visible in the Blighted Catacombs, as damage to the area itself will slowly regenerate.
* RandomlyGifted: Magic runs at random on Arland. About one child in 1000 is born a mage. Among the Hunters' Guild prominent mages Kar "Volcano" is a noble, Ins "Ice" hails from a backwater mountain tribe, Dils "Gloomy" was a peasant boy and Arna "Black" is a werewolf Water mage. The access to divine spells seems to be random among clerics, but obviously influences promotion chances. Mages are born more often among nobles, and Mother Erita of Saint Auna's Order tells Vlad that two mages are statistically more likely to have gifted children; [[spoiler: the chance increases if the mages are of the same element]]. Magic seems to run in the genes, as two otherwise unrelated and isolated communities, the Lynx clan and the clan Ins "Ice" came from, both show an increased share of mages, up to one in 100.

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* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: 
** After exiting the Catacombs, Vlad's team rides for Belgor to allow Bishop Aner to exorcise the rescued women and save their lives permanently. The Hunters are intercepted by a fanatic Creator's Servant (a member of Arland's inquisition), accompanied by Servant guards and several Creator's Hands (paladins). The Servant incapacitates the Hunters within a divine spell's barrier and orders the women executed by piercing their hearts and beheading them, their tainted corpses exorcised and burned on the spot. Vlad unleashes a magic power he isn't supposed to have and proceeds to break the barrier, slaughter the Servant guards and the Hands and finally kill the Servant by breaking the divine shielding spell.
** A successful rebellion in the Litia kingdom almost destroyed the dynasty. The rebels only spared the king's widowed mother and his toddler son. This was a mistake, as the widow queen found allies and reclaimed the throne in the name of her grandson. She then had all the captured noble rebels executed one after another on the exact date of their rebellion.

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27th Dec '12 6:23:10 PM jlt314

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the writing goes on ;)

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* DarkIsNotEvil:
** Played straight with Blood, Death and Necromancy mages - their affiliations and actions depend on personality and history and aren't solely defined by their powers. The Rangers' second-in-command is a Blood mage, Matvey's daughter Dunya and Shedar of the Lynx clan are Death mages, Dils "Gloomy" and Ol't from Belgor are necromancers, but they all work against the forces of the Fallen.
** Played straight with the vampire species. They have some creepy powers and drink blood, but vampires don't serve the Fallen. And since a Dark mage tried to enslave a clan wholesale, said clan joined the Borderlanders and got approved by the Church.
** Averted with the taint of the Fallen. Serving the Fallen is a quick way to power, wealth and status as long as you don't mind [[HumanSacrifice sacrificing fellow sentients]] and damning your own soul forever. And in case you dismiss the whole thing as Church propaganda - ask a Lord of the Dead (necromancer archmage); they can actually check on souls of the departed.

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* {{Necromancer}}: Necromancy is a fourth degree school consisting of Earth, Death and Mind, and overlaps with the Death school. While servants of the Fallen often use necromancy to interact with the undead, necromancy is not exclusively Dark. Necromancers can work in law enforcement or become Hunters due to their proficiency at banishing the undead. Sufficiently ruthless warlords and generals employ necromancers to turn fallen soldiers into readily available cannon fodder.
** Dils "Gloomy" is a master necromancer  and a master Hunter.
** Ol't, a baker in Belgor, has been a grain producer and bakery owner before. Being a necromancer, he bought corpses of deceased or executed criminals from prisons and reanimated them to do the hard work. Vlad persuades him to quit baking and start training as a combat necromancer. Ol't is weaker than Dils "Gloomy", but hasn't focused his studies on combat necromancy.
** During their exploits in Tariya, Vlad and Ol't happen upon a damaged Staff of the Dead, a pre-Interregnum Necromancy-enhancing artifact. As Ol't manages to repair it, Vlad simply states: "You fixed it - you get to work with it" and later notes that Ol't, while wielding the artifact, would qualify as a Lord of the Dead (archmage necromancer).

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27th Dec '12 7:31:29 AM jlt314

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* {{Plunder}}: 
** The World's Temple has been among other things a treasury and a museum. Due to reasonably common magical RagnarokProofing, most of the valuables remain intact in the Blighted Catacombs and in other lesser treasuries across the world of Arland. The Hunters and Rangers make their livings partially from finding said treasures.
** Vlad notes that some people collect objects of art, others collect skulls of their enemies, but he prefers those who collect small round golden engraved objects in large amounts. He's also likely to absorb such collections into his own after having to kill said collectors.
** Vlad, as a baron in the Northern Borderlands of the Dekara kingdom, votes for the Borderlands' barons to join the king's side in the civil war. After the king's army emerges victorious and successfully recaptures the capital from the rebels, the king's chief general grants the Borderlands' barons the rights to plunder the city palaces of those nobles who joined the rebellion.
** Vlad, upon arrival to his newly acquired lands in the Northern Borderlands of Dekara, learned about a forgotten silver mine on his ground. To ensure the friendship of fellow Borderlands' barons, he talked them into founding a mining company with shared responsibilities and shared income. Vlad later notes that the silver mine, the civil war and the victory of the king bound the Borderlanders by the strongest bond on Arland - by sharing honor, bloodshed and wealth.
** Vlad, during his time as a Ranger, is hired to lead an expedition seeking an artifact for the kingdom of Melor. Among a few conditions, he states that all loot except the specified artifact is his to keep.
** The undead inhabiting various tainted locations often carry their original gear, which due to magical RagnarokProofing is usually in rather good condition. Due to a serious loss of metallurgic knowledge during the Interregnum, old steel is an actual commodity.

25th Dec '12 4:52:59 PM jlt314

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* DetectEvil: priests capable of divine magic can perform a spell called "Test of loyalty to the Creator". The amplified version of the spell also includes a memory scan. The Order of Maker's Servants uses this effect of the amplified spell to gather political and financial secrets etc.
* DisproportionateRetribution: both the Hunters' and the Rangers' Guilds are willing and capable of fighting entire countries to protect or at least avenge their members and the members' families.
** A Hunter seeking to obtain a plot of land to retire left his wife, son and daughter at an inn as he visited the required bureaucrats. A group of young noblemen happened to visit the inn and demanded the pretty young girl to "service" them. As Hunters and their families are exempt from serf laws, the family declined. The noblemen raped the girl and killed both her brother and mother. The Hunter beat the truth out of the inn-keeper, but was arrested and hanged under the pretense of revolting against the king. The Hunters' Guild responded by taking the city by storm and slaughtering the families of the responsible nobles, including the royal family who had denied to investigate the case properly. This event became proverbial as the Slaughtering of Seren.
** A Ranger, accompanied by an elven Life Lady (Life school archmagess, master healer) who carries a debt of life to the Ranger, and some loyal troops happens to save a coven of elven summoners and their guard detail from a band of desert spirits the summoners have lost control of. The Ranger's unit dispatches the spirits and the Life Lady patches the elves up. During the following night, the elven coven and guards assault the Hunter and his troops, mortally wounding the elven magess. As she lays dying, her final wish is to marry the Ranger to repay at least a part of her debt. The Rangers' Guild recognizes the marriage as valid retroactively and calls for revenge. While the Ranger in question would have the resources to avenge his own, the guild-master convinces him that the lesson of Seren must be reinforced, lest someone decides that the Guilds no longer care. The Guild's forces assault the territory of the elven clan responsible, destroy the elven army, storm the city-forest, capture the elven royals, kill the men and take women and children captive. As the elven royals face their subjects, the Rangers give them the choice - to be executed or to go free in exchange of having a quarter of their surviving subjects slaughtered for each royal. The elven king, queen and prince damn their subjects, while the princess chooses to save hers. The Rangers proceed by executing king, queen and prince and forcing the princess to join Saint Auna's Order, but spare the elven survivors alltogether. This event becomes known as the Slaughtering of Siluen. [[spoiler: The Ranger is Vlad, the Life Lady is Kenara.]]
* ElementalEmbodiment: The schools of the four classical elements also allow to summon elementals. Those are not too bright, but extremely powerful. Skilled mages enhance the summoning by a telepathic link between summoner and elemental.
* ElementalPowers: The four classical elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air, are commonly described as primary. According to Kolar er Kilam, a genius theoretician of magic, Life, Death, Light and Darkness are also primary, although the Church regards describing clerics as mages a heresy. Kolar most likely has a point, though, since servants and creatures of the Fallen can use dark-tainted spells. Clerics from the Order of the Maker's Servants (Arland's inquisition) have used divine-like spells against humans while this power supposedly only works against the power of the Fallen.
** Spells powered mainly by any single element are primary spells, and schools of such spells are primary schools. It is possible to develop new spells powered by multiple elements, thus founding a new school. Notably, the same combination of elements may yield multiple different schools. Some of those schools: Earth + Fire = Magma; Air + Water = Ice; Air + Water = Hurricane; Air + Water = Fog; Air + Fire = Plasma; Air + Earth = Sandstorm; Earth + Water = Blood. The most notable tertiary school is Blood + General = Mind; the most notable fourth degree school is Earth + Death + Mind = Necromancy. According to Kolar, even fifth degree schools exist.

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* GreatOffscreenWar and CataclysmBackstory: the Interregnum, a full-out magical world war that raged across Arland about 15 centuries ago. According to the official Church history, the Destroyer himself came to Arland and the Creator (&#1058;&#1074;&#1086;&#1088;&#1077;&#1094;) intervend by sending a messias called the Maker (&#1057;&#1086;&#1079;&#1076;&#1072;&#1090;&#1077;&#1083;&#1100;) to oppose him. The Maker fought and banished the Destroyer, but parts of them still remain on Arland. The Destroyer's Heart had been placed upon the desecrated altar of the World's Temple. A small elite force of the Council of the Loyals fought their way to the altar and gave their lives to banish the Heart from Arland, greatly reducing the Destroyer's influence. The World's Temple stands tainted and the Catacombs house hordes of monsters, undead forces and demons.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** The elite company of the Council of the Loyals who entered the Blight Catacombs to banish the Heart of the Destroyer. The banishment ritual has been CastFromHitPoints, resulting in a HeroicSuicide of the entire company.
** Matvey's wife, a Fire mage, while heavily wounded in the Blight Catacombs, used a massive flare spell to lure monsters to herself, and then suicided in an explosion, allowing her husband and her brother to escape.
** Nata, the Life mage and healer of the Wolves (all-girl team of 5 Hunters) is the only one conscious as the Wolves and Matvey's daughter Dunya are about to be executed. She decides to save their leader Arna and Dunya, forsaking her own life.

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* MagicAIsMagicA: magic on Arland has well-understood rules and is taught in universities and schools with people graduating as bachelors, masters and magisters of an element. The ability to summon a primary (earth, air, fire, water) elemental or the equal amounts of {{Mana}} and skill for other schools are aknowledged with the title of a Lord or Lady of an element.
* MagicKnight:
** All mages of the Hunters' Guild are {{MagicKnight}}s by necessity. Non-mages compensate either by being werebeasts or using ImplausibleFencingPowers.
** While the Rangers' Guild employs a few non-combat mages, e.g. for interrogation, those on the front-line also fit this trope.
** The Clan of the Lynx has few mages, but those combine their clan's undisputed martial skill with battle-honed magic.
** Vlad takes his pupils through TrainingFromHell, as most of them started out as either RitualMagic users or came from schools rarely used in direct combat, e.g. Mind or Necromancy.
* {{Mana}}, RegeneratingMana and {{ManaPotion}}s: Mana is used to describe the reserves of magical energy of an individual, but not their skill level. The mana reserves are almost impossible to increase, while skill and experience accumulate. Mages can exhaust themselves and need to recover, as to Vlad's surprise alchemists have not discovered a recipe for mana potions. There are three ways to rapidly recover mana: 
** Rare gems called "Taya's Tears" will accumulate mana and, when fully charged, completely recharge any mage upon use. Since the gems work regardless of the user's mana reserves and can not be split among mages, recharging a weaker mage of a crucial element or skill is feasible. "Taya's Tears" are a trademark of Arland's druids, [[spoiler: and actually grow on unique plants]].
** Gems of Pain are Dark artifacts created and recharged by HumanSacrifice. While using and recharging them is easy, making new Gems of Pain is a rare skill. Hunters, Rangers and Maker's Hands (paladins) will destroy these Gems if possible, and those few Dark mages capable of producing them are high priority targets.
** Life Lords and Ladies can essentially bottle their magic into expensive potions known as "Pink Fog". These will completely heal and restore mana; drinking a fraction of the dose works as a partial healing. Life mages are rare, Life Lords and Ladies are even rarer, and producing a "Pink Fog" supposedly exhausts them completely.

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** The Council of Loyals was instrumental in ending the Interregnum and later in banishing the Heart of the Destroyer. Afterwards the Council supposedly was dissolved, but Vlad encounters more and more hints that they have simply moved to the [[AncientTradition background]]. After proving his worth and loyalty again and again, Vlad is treated to the reveal that [[spoiler: both former heads of the Hunters' and the Rangers' Guilds, Matvey "Leather" and Nils "Old Man" are full members, and current heads of the Guilds, Kar "Volcano" and Yens "Quiet One" are acolytes of the Council]].
* MundaneUtility: During a month-long cross-terrain chase after a fleeing Life mage, Vlad and his companions note that none of them knows any spells to cook, clean or repair clothing, treat minor injuries or simply keep away vermin or mosquitoes. Justified as Hunters rarely spend more than a day in the Blighted Catacombs, and the city of Belgor provides for their day-to-day needs in exchange for their loot and fame.
* MutuallyExclusiveMagic: There are no known combined schools using Life with any other element. Claiming the existence of combinations using Light is a heresy.
* Necromancer: Necromancy is a fourth degree school consisting of Earth, Death and Mind, and overlaps with the Death school. While servants of the Fallen often use necromancy to interact with the undead, necromancy is not exclusively Dark. Necromancers can work in law enforcement or become Hunters due to their proficiency at banishing the undead. Sufficiently ruthless warlords and generals employ necromancers to turn fallen soldiers into readily available cannon fodder.
** Ol't, a baker in Belgor, has been a grain producer and bakery owner before. Being a necromancer, he bought corpses of deceased or executed criminals from prisons and reanimated them to do the hard work. Vlad persuades him to quit baking and start training as a combat necromancer.

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* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires are a new species on Arland. They don't carry TheVirus and reproduce as normal mammals. Vampires are faster and stronger than humans, but are limited to the General school of magic. Vampires are capable of speed bursts, rapid regeneration and can turn into mist at will. They need blood to survive and more blood to actively use their powers. Arland's vampires aren't affected by sunlight or holy symbols, but they can be easily enslaved by the power of the Fallen. Vlad notes that vampires make decent livings as mercenaries, assassins and tomb raiders; their clans engage weak Life mages to collect blood from villages. After surviving a life-or-death battle a physiological and psychological change might occur, promoting a vampire to high vampire. Vampire clans on rare occasions accept trusted humans as honorary clan members, granting them access to speed bursts and improved regeneration. Vampires worship neither the Maker nor the Destroyer.
** After a dark mage's attempt to enslave an entire clan, the clan actually joins forces with the Rangers and gets approved by the Church.

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* TheUndead: various forms of undead roam the Blighted areas. They vary by power and tactical role. A basic Hunter's manual alone mentions 7 families of undead: [[{{Mummy}} mummies]] (those lacking the skills to become either a lich or a death knight, retain basic intelligence), liches (mages voluntarily becoming undead), death knights (warriors voluntarily becoming undead), sluagh (warriors too cruel, too hateful and too battle-obsessed to die after falling in battle, retain intelligence),  draughrs (revenants, raised ritually from fresh corpses, retain personality), zombies and skeletons (corpses raised by Dark taint, basically mindless killers).
* UnEqualRites: Mages mostly differ by their respective casting methods. The most common are verbal, gestic, ritual and runic, which may be combined in varied fashions. Combat mages most commonly combine verbal and gestic control, while battlefield-scale or siege-grade spells are most often ritual and runic. Enchantments of items, from a fireball ring to a castle wall, are almost exclusively performed by runic mages.

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