Ok, I just want to say "Welcome to the tribe" sounds so much cooler than "Welcome to the sub"

Thanks for the welcome. Sorry it took me a while to respond, but I've been busy with family over the holiday and I was typing up a summary (which is still really long) of my world for you in the small moments I had to myself.

Aciena is the name of my world, and the two countries my story spans over which are called Ciercel and Durain. To understand why magic has been banned you need to know some of the history of the two countries. Since the beginning of Aciena, until a hundred years before the current setting of my novel, those who had the ability to use magic were known as Ciercelese and were sent to Ciercel to learn how to use their magic. They were viewed as blessed by Ciena, the goddess who the Ciercelese believed created Aciena, and therefore they were chosen to rule those who don't have the ability to use magic. The people of Durain were forced by the Ciercelese to work as slaves on farms and raise livestock for the Cierelese to use in their magical sacrificial rituals.

Ciena is formed of three consubstantial persons known as Cierae, Cieneas, and Cierona. They are all distinct and yet one being. To use magic, you must make a sacrifice to one part of Ciena, and depending on the type of sacrifice, one of her persons will grant the mage temporary power. Cierona accepts animal sacrifices, Cierae accepts human sacrifice, and Cieneas accepts self-sacrifice. Most Ciercelese choose to worship one part of Ciena and will specialize in that kind of sacrificial magic. However, there are limitations to drawing upon Ciena’s power and if a mage does it too often, Ciena will curse them depending on the type of sacrificial magic that has been called upon too many times. There was a Ciercelese mage known as Galthius who worshipped Cierae and would use thousands of Durainian slaves in his rituals (which had been banned only 30 years prior and the worshipping of Cierae was becoming taboo). Those who use too much of Cierae’s powers turn into demons that have to feast upon the life source of humans to continue to live. The Ciercelese had created a force of mages who are supposed to catch anyone before they change, but Galthius had been doing his rituals in secret and had transformed before anyone had noticed.

Unfortunately for the Ciercelese, because of Galthius, the Durainians knew that they were being killed by Ciercelese and were restless. As a demon, Galthius knew that he would soon be killed off by the Ciercelese, and so he decided to use the restlessness of the Durainians. One night he presented himself to a Durainian slave called Glor, and told him that the Ciercelese goddess was actually a devil. That Galthius himself was the true God and the Durainians were his children. Galthius told Glor that he was the chosen one to deliver his people from bondage and destroy the Ciercelese and their wickedness. Glor believed Galthius, and Galthius possessed Glor’s body thus giving him what the Durainians came to see were the powers of a true god. Glor became Glorthius, the god and deliverer of the Durainians, and the Durainians were able to overthrow the Ciercelese partly by the power of Glorthius and also by withholding and killing the animals that the Ciercelese sacrificed for power.

All magic was banned and Glorthius set up a church to worship him and to also remove magic from amongst the people. The position of Glorthius passes between the eldest living son, and Galthius possesses each of them when they rule. Now, about 100 years later a...

Thanks for the welcome. Sorry it took me a while to respond, but I've been busy with family over the holiday and I was typing up a summary (which is still really long) of my world for you in the small moments I had to myself.

Aciena is the name of my world, and the two countries my story spans over which are called Ciercel and Durain. To understand why magic has been banned you need to know some of the history of the two countries. Since the beginning of Aciena, until a hundred years before the current setting of my novel, those who had the ability to use magic were known as Ciercelese and were sent to Ciercel to learn how to use their magic. They were viewed as blessed by Ciena, the goddess who the Ciercelese believed created Aciena, and therefore they were chosen to rule those who don't have the ability to use magic. The people of Durain were forced by the Ciercelese to work as slaves on farms and raise livestock for the Cierelese to use in their magical sacrificial rituals.

Ciena is formed of three consubstantial persons known as Cierae, Cieneas, and Cierona. They are all distinct and yet one being. To use magic, you must make a sacrifice to one part of Ciena, and depending on the type of sacrifice, one of her persons will grant the mage temporary power. Cierona accepts animal sacrifices, Cierae accepts human sacrifice, and Cieneas accepts self-sacrifice. Most Ciercelese choose to worship one part of Ciena and will specialize in that kind of sacrificial magic. However, there are limitations to drawing upon Ciena’s power and if a mage does it too often, Ciena will curse them depending on the type of sacrificial magic that has been called upon too many times. There was a Ciercelese mage known as Galthius who worshipped Cierae and would use thousands of Durainian slaves in his rituals (which had been banned only 30 years prior and the worshipping of Cierae was becoming taboo). Those who use too much of Cierae’s powers turn into demons that have to feast upon the life source of humans to continue to live. The Ciercelese had created a force of mages who are supposed to catch anyone before they change, but Galthius had been doing his rituals in secret and had transformed before anyone had noticed.

Unfortunately for the Ciercelese, because of Galthius, the Durainians knew that they were being killed by Ciercelese and were restless. As a demon, Galthius knew that he would soon be killed off by the Ciercelese, and so he decided to use the restlessness of the Durainians. One night he presented himself to a Durainian slave called Glor, and told him that the Ciercelese goddess was actually a devil. That Galthius himself was the true God and the Durainians were his children. Galthius told Glor that he was the chosen one to deliver his people from bondage and destroy the Ciercelese and their wickedness. Glor believed Galthius, and Galthius possessed Glor’s body thus giving him what the Durainians came to see were the powers of a true god. Glor became Glorthius, the god and deliverer of the Durainians, and the Durainians were able to overthrow the Ciercelese partly by the power of Glorthius and also by withholding and killing the animals that the Ciercelese sacrificed for power.

All magic was banned and Glorthius set up a church to worship him and to also remove magic from amongst the people. The position of Glorthius passes between the eldest living son, and Galthius possesses each of them when they rule. Now, about 100 years later after the Ciercelese were overthrown, Ciercel has become overcome by a growing desert that had been caused by the Ciercelese who had tried to draw power from the flora to fight the Durainians, which had never been done before. The few Ciercelese left live in the desert using their magic to survive there as it is the only place those without magic cannot travel through without perishing. They have become nomads and their magic is not as strong as it used to be.

Durain has been struggling internally as the differences between the once slaves are building divides amongst them. There are three kinds of Durain people. The first are the Sheenians, who are the Durainians who raise livestock, the Pescians, who are the fishermen, and the Crelians, who grow agriculture. Many of them pride themselves for which group they have descended from, even if they might not have the same work as their group is known for doing. The tensions are starting to grow so strong that fighting and killing frequently happens between each group. The current Glorthius believes it is because they have lacked common enemy so he is looking towards building an empire by conquering other countries around them. There are other countries that are well known, but I haven’t developed them as much yet. There is one far away in the east called Sangtria which is composed of tribes led by a chief and his shaman, who uses magic that they believe is based on reincarnation. It is actually similar to the Ciercelese magic in that they use a life source to create magic.

Hopefully everything made sense, but I've been building this world for a long time now and sometimes I forget that I changed something. My next goal is to put everything I wrote for my class in a more manageable format, like a wiki or something.

Thank you so much!! :)

Thanks! I'll be sure to share soon.

Likewise :)