Literature / The Nullweaver Cycle

Welcome to a hidden world that lurks beneath mundane notice, of occult rites and arcane sciences, of relics and divinations, of primeval spirits whose loyalties may be won with the lure of a wand and the threat of a knife.

The Nullweaver Cycle is a collaboration between co-creators Mabel Harper and Emrys Webb, and set in the Form and Void multiverse. The setting and story are notable for featuring a large LGBT cast, highlighting transgender protagonists, and openly processing sexual trauma.

Set in a switchblade-and-sorcery modern day Chicago, The Nullweaver Cycle novels feature a queer cast, apocalyptic themes, and aesthetics inspired by action-adventure anime series.

The story begins when a hijacked war golem turns on the crowd at a meeting of the Auctoritas Magicae, and prodigy apprentice Jules Nimri deploys his newly-developed "combat alchemy" to bring down the automaton — but only after the construct has slaughtered dozens. Accusations fly in the aftermath of the tragedy, rekindling an ancient inter-faction feud that could plunge the arcane world into war.

Meanwhile, in nearby Chicago, young ex-mage Rory Navarrete is swept back up in the esoteric life he left behind when he stumbles on a coven of apostate mages in the middle of a ritual human sacrifice. After striking them down with his own forbidden magic, Rory rushes the victim to the Auctoritas Magicae's Enclave to seek treatment for a supernatural injury — only to be clapped in irons the moment he sets foot on premises.

Jules negotiates Rory’s release, tentatively reviving a childhood friendship that ended in betrayal. The star-crossed odd couple join forces to investigate the murderous apostates — only to find clues of a deep conspiracy, and a malignant magic long thought extinct. Their discovery could prevent tensions from boiling over, but finding proof is no easy task, and time’s working against them, as Hunter Lockwood, scion of a potent magic dynasty — and Jules’s depraved ex-betrothed — stokes the fires of separatism to fuel his own political rise, pushing the alliance toward the brink much faster than anyone could have imagined.

The series so far consists of:

Those Who Create and Destroy: Part I (2021)

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Provides examples of:

A-F

• After-Action Healing Drama: After Jules manages to trap the rouge war golem in the collapse of the Hall of the Tribunal, he is rushed off to psychic surgery. While recovering, the reaction his parents have ends in his father misgendering him.
• Alchemy Is Magic: Requires at least arrays, an altered state of mind, and purified mana to analyze or transmute matter into potions, metals, elements, and other mundane or magical substances.
• Alien Geometries: In the story, the Fathoms are this, as — despite having specifically designated entry points in the material world — they have no set location themselves.

• The Archmage: Levi Weyland holds the position of Archmagus as leader of the Ordo Arcanus faction.
• Background Magic Field: The City of Delphi is a magically charged location with abundant mana reserves due to its proximity to the Fathoms.
• Badass Bookworm: Jules can read at least four languages, and is well-read on a wide range of research papers, theses, and ancient texts. In addition to this, Jules is also a member of the Order of Martial Magi, having developed his magic specialties for use in combat. For example, during the opening of the story when Jules is presenting a paper before the Tribunal (similar to PhD thesis presentations), he defeats war golems as evidence of his experimental findings in a field of alchemy he has pioneered.
• Ban on Magic: Certain schools of magic are restricted or banned by the Auctoritas Magicae, such as mind-control magic (cogimancy), body-harming magic (maleficium), and some methods of receiving supernatural insight (pythias). In addition to these specific schools, mages are banned from discussing or practicing magic in the presence of mundanes.
• Black Magic: Many of the schools of magic the Auctoritas Magicae has banned causes direct suffering to the body or mind.

• Cellphones Are Useless: Characters repeatedly mention that interference from the Fathoms blocks wireless signals from reaching the headquarters.

• Chosen Conception Partner: Elisha and DeShay choose DeShay's cousin, Devisha, as Elisha's surrogate and egg donor. Elisha and DeShay manage to subvert any adoption angst as they are transparent with their daughter, Leshayva, about her biological parentage during her upbringing. Leshayva refers to Devisha as "Mom", DeShay as "Daddy", and Elisha as "Dad" in the story.

• Color-Coded Eyes: Jules inherited the black eyes of his mother's magic bloodline. Rory notes that it is not the dark-brown that occurs in the mundane world, but rather that his eyes are ink-black.
• Content Warnings: Each chapter opens with content warnings at the beginning, which can be expanded to specify the context without spoilers. For example, the first chapter has a content warning for misgendering that reads "a young trans man is deliberately, repeatedly deadnamed and called by the wrong pronouns".
  • The authors' statement at the beginning of the book opens with, "This book (besides being a fun, kickass action-fantasy epic) has processing of sexual trauma and transcendence of heteronormative patriarchal oppression as two of its central themes. It includes explicit scenes of harassment, misgendering, abuse, and sexual and physical assault that many readers may find upsetting.... If you’re in such a sensitive place, we encourage you to do what feels best for yourself and read with mindfulness and caution, or maybe not at all. (We totally understand.)"

• The Dark Arts: Many of the schools of magic the Auctoritas Magicae has banned causes direct suffering to the body or mind. Unlike other settings, magics that focus on taming daemons or summoning ghosts are not considered dark arts.

• Darker and Edgier: The Nullweaver Cycle is a Spiritual Successor to the web serial in the same multiverse, but is much more explicit and more disturbing. In the authors' own words, "If the web serial is rated R, then the novel is rated NC-17."
• Deuteragonist: While Rory and Jules investigate a coven of apostates, Perfect Elisha provides his point of view in several chapters as he investigates the golem attack on the Enclave.

• Equivalent Exchange: To cause an effect, alchemists are required to either convert their own mana or transmute substances available in the environment. In Jules' words, "In spite of appearances, it all checks out in terms of equivalency."
• Everyone Is Related: Specifically, in the eldership of Ordo: the faction's Prefect is the son of the Archmagus, his cousin is the Magistrate married to the previous Grand Philosopher, his husband is the cousin of the Master-General, his nephew's ex-fiance is the current Grand Philosopher, and the current Grand Philosopher's father is the incumbent Magistrate his nephew is running against.

• Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems: Hunter Lockwood's fearmongering campaign focuses on xenophobic rhetoric and a return to their days of past superiority.
• Fantastic Underclass: Inter-faction law classifies users of certain schools of magic as "apostates", whom the Auctoritas Magicae aggressively seek and control. In the story, Rory (who has an intuitive understanding of maleficium, the school used to harm other's bodies) and Perfect Elisha (who likewise uses cogimancy to read and manipulate other's minds) must keep their abilities secret to avoid imprisonment, punishment, or execution.
• Flashback: Used throughout the story for background and exposition. Thanks to the Switching P.O.V., the novel has covered flashbacks from the points of view of the two protagonists and of the deuteragonist.
• Flashback B-Plot: During the chapters that Rory narrates, he recounts how he and Jules got to know each other as school children, some of their interactions as friends, and hints at how he ruined their friendship.
• Functional Magic: Mages spend their childhoods Training the Gift of Magic at a Wizarding School, and tend to specialize in a discipline. Examples in the story include divination, necromancy, alchemy, goetia, and the assorted apostasies.

G-L

• Geometric Magic: Alchemical arrays, transmutation circles, and elemental symbols are used to effect transmutations and alchemical changes.

• Glamour: Several glamors are introduced in the story, ranging from a set of city-spanning ones used to hide the supernatural attributes of the story's Wainscot Society, to a card that appears to be whatever mundanes most expect to see. Most glamors only work on mundanes and are distinguishable to the eyes of mages, but a master enchanter is capable of making artifacts that cast illusions powerful enough to fool even mages' eyes.

• Hermetic Magic: The first paragraph of the novel muses on the bonds between heavenly bodies and earthly ones and astrology, and start with the classical Hermetic phrase "As above, so below". The story also features Hermetic schools of magic like alchemy, demonology, and divination. One of the major factions of the Auctoritas Magicae is even named the Hermetic Order of Khmun.
• Heroic BSoD: While reading Max's scar, Jules has an episode of dream-like memories, then falls to the floor and has to be slapped awake by Max.
• Human Sacrifice: Rory stumbles on a coven of apostate mages at the beginning of the story who are in the middle of a ritual human sacrifice.
• Interclass Friendship: In their childhoods, Rory and Jules were quite close. While Rory's family is part of the Rising Houses, Jules' family is one of the First Houses.

M-R

• Made of Indestructium: Adamantine, a.k.a. "cold iron", is an untransmutable, unyielding metal that is indestructible by anything else.
• Mage Species: The ability to do magic is passed from parents to children, and it is ultimately based on inheritance. This separation from mundanes has contributed to the isolated community of only mages in the story.
• Magic Fire: Greek fire, a.k.a. brimstone, is the celestial version of sulphur. It is referred to as "the dreaded unquenchable flame", as it can burn through any substance in the universe except for adamantine.

• Make Some Noise: The leader of the Auctoritas Magicae's Tribunal uses a gilded gavel and block that can magically silence the room when used, snatching the vocalizations from the lips of those assembled.

• Magical Society: Ordo Arcanus, the Hermetic Order of Khmun, Fraternitas Mercurii, Hekate Aristokratia, Initiates of the Divine Flame, La Messe Noire are members of the the Six Orders Alliance that established the Auctoritas Magicae. Much of the story takes place in and around the Enclave, the Auctoritas Magicae's headquarters.

• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Rory did something to hurt Jules during their eighth-year Magic Theory class when they were schoolboys, though the specifics have yet to be revealed.

• Power of the Void This seems to be the end-goal of the apostate mages' coven, to bring about the Nihility, a parallel dimension of darkness and void.

S-Z

• Sequel Hook: The first book ends with Perfect Elisha losing his only lead on the apostate mages and almost dying in a Void attack, one of the apostate mages making contact with Rory at his concert, and Jules and the Archmagus being placed at the center of a smear campaign designed to push two factions of the Auctoritas Magicae (Ordo Arcanus and the Hermetic Order of Khmun) to go to war.

• Sobriquet Sex Switch: Jules has kept his name largely intact, with his deadname being nearly identical.

• Trans Relationship Troubles: Neatly subverted with Jules, who at one point anxiously anticipates disclosing to a potential sexual partner. However, Max, who he shared some semi-autobiographical writing with wasn't as oblivious as he worried.

• Unequal Rites: An apostate is any mage that violates the laws of the Auctoritas Magicae. Some of these mages learn apostatic magics formally, but some mages are simply born with an intuitive understanding and approach to an apostate art, their forbidden gifts manifesting during childhood. Regardless of origin, they are persecuted and are either imprisoned, mutilated, or executed if found.
• Urban Fantasy: The story takes place in and around modern-day Chicago, except that there is a secret society of magic users hidden in plain sight.

• We Used to Be Friends: Jules and Rory were best friends for two years during their time as students at Arcanus Academy before Rory betrayed Jules' trust.

• Wizarding School: Both the protagonists were schoolmates at Arcanus Academy in their childhoods, though (as both are young adults by the start of the story) it is only seen in a few flashbacks. Specific classes mentioned so far are Divine Geometry, Esoterica, and Magic Theory.

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