[Orig fic universe] Notes
Background to: http://hazelator.livejournal.com/12319.html#cutid1



General set up:
Futuristic space-faring nation (the 2nd Ionium) with elemental users, yey. Humanity screws up big time on old earth, and escapes elsewhere in the Universe and sets up shop.

Ioniels
Ioniels are the strongest elemental users, and, for historical reasons, also the leaders of the Ionium.They are chosen when they bond with a Spirit (see below). Communication with a Spirit requires a huge amount of skill and power, and only a rare few can even do so, let alone bond. They are appointed for life, and when they die, the Spirit bonds with a replacement, if at all. Not all the Spirits will bond.

There are 7 Spirits, and 7 corresponding Ioniels, each corresponding with an element. These were traditionally defined in the literature of the alien race that first recorded this, and hence does not exactly correspond to the English name.

The Cardinals are the four weaker Spirits, and bond more often. The name of their Ioniel corresponds with the name of the Spirit, where the Ioniel takes an -ion suffix to the stem instead of -al. The four Cardinals are generally regarded as being of the same strength.

Fire - Incarion (the Spirit being Incaral) (Offensive)
Air - Aethlion (Offensive)
Water - Terion (Defensive)
Metal/Earth - Kerathion (Defensive)

The three remaining Spirits are, in order of increasing power:
Storm/Lightning - Zanthion (Offensive)
Abyss (negative energy) - Gilthion (Defensive)
Psion/chi (life force) - Scinthion (Healers)

Naturally, the Def/Off tags are only generalizations. Any element can be used to kill, and a Scinthion can stop someone's heart with a thought, as well as start it. More later.

Spirits

Perception of the common people – that the Spirits are Guardians (they use the word interchangeably) and that they watch over the Ionium and advise and guide the Ioniels.

The Ioniels bond with the Spirits for massive increases in power. They regard the Spirits as a great source of wisdom, and in the history of the Ionium, a decision of the Spirits taken in tandem was generally followed by the Circle. It was clear amongst the founding Ioniels in the 1st Ionium that the Spirits were councilors only and that in the event of irreconcilable divergence, the decision of the Circle would prevail. This was never put to the test, and the sentiment was slowly lost over the generations.

By the time of the 2nd Ionium, and given the fact that the 2nd Ionium owed its foundation to the power granted by Incaral to Cyrus Phoenix, both elemental and non-elemental users revered the Spirits, raising them almost to the level of deities. In some quarters of the Ionium, despite the effort of the Ioniels and the Carithwan to stamp out this practice, the less educated folk would pray to the relevant Guardian for protection and blessings. The Ioniels themselves tended to consider their bonded Spirits superiors instead of partners.

The differences could perhaps also be attributed to the fact that the 1st Ionium was founded upon a Scinthion who was considered one of the wisest leaders and politicians of his time, in a post Earth era where the concept of division of power and democracy and independence raged strongly. The 2nd Ionium was raised from the ashes of war by an Incarion whose primary task was consolidation and war, and where Incaral played an extremely active part in this. Moreover, in the time between the 1st and 2nd Ionium, a lot of exploits of the Ioniels and their bonded Spirits had passed into myth and legend, and been blown out of proportion.

Spirits rarely if ever speak directly to someone they are not bounded to, and the non-Cardinals often reserve their judgments. Gilthial, in particular, has never spoken to non-Gilthions, and almost always concerns itself with only matters relevant to the Gilthion. Scinthal too, rarely speaks, although this is also attributed to the low number of Scinthions.

Structure of Government of the 2nd Ionium
The Arch Ioniel is the first in the Circle of Ioniels, and appointed by the Spirits. This generally goes to the most powerful Ioniel, and thus will be a non-Cardinal if available.

The Arch-Ioniel is the Head of State, the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
The Regent is the Arch's XO and successor and is also always an Ioniel.

The Executive, called the Parliament (note that this civilization is several thousand years removed from present day, and terms have become corrupted over time), consists of Ministers and Ioniels appointed by the Circle. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Westminster system of government, the Executive basically consists of your Ministers with port-folios: e.g.: Defence, Foreign Affairs, Finance, etc.)

The Legislature, called the House of Representatives, consists of elected representatives from the population. (The Legislature is in charge of law making, and is the voice of the masses, so to speak.)

Representatives are elected by their populace in general elections and represent different areas rather than different interests. There is no party system.

The President is the head of the Executive, and the civilian head of Parliament. He (gender male for convenience, although the President in Kedron's time is female), is selected by vote from all citizens. He is subordinate to the Arch-Ioniel and the Regent (except when there is no Arch-Ioniel or Regent.) Office is held for a maximum of 3 terms, where each term is 5 years long. Terms need not be consecutive.

Arch-Ioniel vs President
The Arch has authority to act without consulting the Executive. He may be later vetoed by the Circle or Parliament.
He is mainly concerned with military and external affairs, and the budget, together with the President. Since the Ioniels are also traditionally the dispensors of justice, the first-tier of special appeals in criminal cases is to the Circle, and the second and last to the Arch himself.

The President, on the otherhand, is concerned with the internal affairs of the Ionium and the day-to-day running of it, as well as trade and economic affairs.

It has been said that the Arch is largely a figure-head, while the true power and responsibility of the goverment lies in the President and the Parliament. This is not true.
It has also been said that the President exists to handle the mundane so that the Arch may busy himself with the exceptional.
The Arch is not appointed for any administrative skill, and in the history of the Ionium, some have alienated themselves from all affairs of state, and there is no doubt that during war time, it is the Arch who goes off to make war, leaving the President at home to look after the house.
However, there is nothing to stop the Arch from involving himself in the running of the Ionium within his relevant portfolio, and many Arch-Ioniels during peace time have been heavily involved in civil affairs.

The dichotomy exists because of the nature of the Ioniels. They are selected and trained to be absolutely devoted to duty, and to place th einterests of the Ionium above all others. However, they are primarily trained to be war leaders and ambasssadors, and only secondarily as politicians or administrators. When it was recognized that this was costing the Ionium back in the 1st order, the President was appointed as an advisor and the office was gradually extended as generations of Arch-Ioniels reposited more and more trust and responsibility onto him.

Ioniels who are not part of the Executive serve as a check on the Arch-Ioniel, as well as his most trusted and often most effective aides and officers.

Carithwan
The Carithwan consit of all the (other) trained elemental users. It is an organization associated with the military and the source of all Ioniel-candidates and, ultimately, Ioniels. Members may be formal officers, and usually are, butthere is a small but significant portion that takes on civilian roles and duties.

The Carithwan exists to train elemental users for war, and the occasional Scinthra (Psion elemental user, as opposed to the Psion elemental leader, the Scinthion) as a healer. There is seldom any other use for advanced elemental training. While the Carithwan works closely with the military, it is more of a special operations division and answers solely to the Circle.

History of the Ionium, 1st and 2nd order
Time of Satellion Scinthion, 1st Arch Ioniel of the 1st order

Humanity had left Earth (Solaris) due to Yet Another World War, via a generated, one-way wormhole. They settled on Orias a planet in orbit around Rigel. (History of the fic places this as the blue star in the Orion constellation. If this work ever sees formal publication, this may have to be omitted, because Blue is Cool, but not necessarily life sustaining.)

On Orias, they discovered that some of their number were developing rudimentary abilities to perform 'magic' - the manipulation of energy with their minds.

Several decades later, having taken to the stars and colonized other planets, they made contact with the Vrykardor, a race of humanoids who were powerful elemental users. Despite caution on both sides, some elemental knowledge leaked into the hands of humanity.

A thirst for this knowledge eventually prompted human elemental users to take over the rigid quasi-military government of the time and attempt to enter into negotiations with the Vrykardor to obtain their knowhow. The Vrykardor, wary of the implications that releasing this bombshell into human hands could do, gave only very little away.

Eventually, huamnity declared war on Vry, Vry society, heavily dependent on elemental power, was technologically backward compared to humanity. They lost the war, but destroyed their archives before much of it could fall into human hands.

However, what knowledge gained during that time was sufficient ot give rise to 4 kinds of elemental users. These would later be called the Cardinals -- Fire, Air, Water, Earth/Metal. These factions fell into competition with each other, and specialist users eventually grouped together to form the Great Houses.

After an initial, wary peace, conflict eventually broke out between the Houses, giving rise to a scenario that promised to put the Last World War to shame.

Satellion Ersuba, a houseless elemental user caught in the conflict, banded togheter with other houseless and non-elemental users together on Orias, which had largely been neglected in the rapid expansion. They held out there unitl it became known that Orias was somehow a source of great elemental poewr, and every house was willing to raze each other to the ground in an effort to get hold of it.

Frantic, Satellon went in search of this mythical source of elemental power in an effort to locate it and use its power to bargain for an end to the war. He eventually found the Portal, the gateway through which the Elemental Spirits were able to communicate with humans. There, he bonded with Scinthal to become the first Scinthion, along with two others -- the first Gilthion and the first Zanthion.

Leaders of the Great Houses declared a ceasefire when Satellon brought the knowledge of the existence of the Portal to the bargaining table. They were invited to view it, and in a massive coup de grace, murdered, except for those that bonded with a Spirit. These new Ioniels went home to rule their Houses, but each answered to the authority of the Arch Ioniel, and the war was swiftly ended except for rebellions that the Ioniels spent the rest of their lives putting down.

Peace ws eventually made with the Vrykardor remnant, but some hostiliy always remained between the two races, until a Vrykardor Ioniel was appointed.

The Great Houses eventually merged to form the Ionium.

Elnor Aethlion, 21st Arch Ioniel of the 1st order, ~9 centuries after Satellon Scinthion
Civil war breaks out. Conflict with Vrykardor Republic starts anew. The war is found to be started by Vrykardor insurgents wishing to capture the Portal. Although it is clear that the Spirits will not cooperate with the insurgents, the portal is still an incredible source of power.
The Carithwan is decimated, all Ioniels are killed in the defence of Orias. Vrykardor army pushed back -- Orias lagely destroyed, portal lost. Humanity loses 90% of conrolled territory to Vrykardor. Ceasefire declared since both sides lose their leaders in the conflict; Orias becomes no man's land. Significance of war lost since portal is lost. Elemental knowledge is also lost and considered taboo after this, and elemental users dwindle into insignificance.

Cyrus Incarion, 1st Arch Ioniel of the 2nd order, ~400 years later
Cyrus Incarion -- half human, half Vrykardor (ditto Elnor).
Elemental use now completely taboo -- blamed as cause of war.
Wormhole accident causes Cyrus to fall into a 'portal' in space, contacts Spirits, bonds with Incaral, minted 1st Arch.

Believed the Spirits rigged this, because almost immediately thereafter, a new threat arises -- a new alien race that wipes out a plethora of human colonies.
Cyrus is tasked with reunification (humnakind has largely split into a system of planetary / systemic government). He journeys to Orias, finding the portal mysterioualy uncovered again. Other Ioniels are swiftly appointed. Re-colonizes Orias, uncovers portal, unifies human and Vrykardor, reforms the Ionium and starts the Carithwan again. Falls in love with Jaye Aethlion, his Regent.

The alien threat is pushed back by concerted, combined efforts. Due to shielding and armor technology, space battle is extremely difficult and a lot of combat involves hand-to-hand boarding techniques (which aliens favor) or ground combat. Arrival of elemental users hence turns the tide swiftly. Elemental ship to ship combat is also (re)discovered, and this becomes the turning point of the war.

Circle at the time:
Regent: Jaye Aethlion, female
Simon Kerathion, male
Rikka Terion, female
Vilhelm Gilthion, male.

This is where the story begins.

Ioniels - Abilities
Normal elemental users display a range of power from almost nothing to the ability to combust the very air (Incaras), etcetc. This will all be revealed. Most people have a primary cardinal, with secondaries in others. This is true even for the superior elemental users.

Excerpt:
"Their science teacher had spent painful months explaining to them that elemental energies were not magic in the traditional old Earth way of looking at it. It was energy. It was forces, the same as electromagnetism and gravity and chi, or Psion, the life force that moved through living beings. And there were restrictions, the teacher had tried to tell them. No fire user, not even Cyrus Incarion, could create a fire out of nothing. He needed a spark, and something that could combust, and something that could burn, to sustain the flame. Incarions, by nature of their mastery, could ignite the very air if there was enough oxygen, but most Incaras – simple fire users – had to carry a piece of flint, and often needed flammable material to sustain a good blaze.

But theory had fallen far behind practice in this area, especially with all the knowledge they had lost since leaving old Earth. Scientists were still convinced of the Grand Unified Theory, of proving that the same force that all elemental users manipulated could be equated back to gravity and magnetism, and throw in quantum mechanics while you’re there, thank you. But at the end of the day, no one quite knew why some people could see what the Carithwan described as “Lines”, while some couldn’t, and why some people did it better than others. And no one could quite explain the Spirits.

So for students who had grown up regaled with tales of how elemental users could control fire, air, water and earth with their minds, how Zanthras could call down lightning with a snap of their fingers, and how Scinthras could mysterious heal almost all disease (all vastly exaggerated stories, but how was a child to know that?)… elemental power was magic. And everyone wanted to be an elemental user. "

In actuality, the 'energy' in question for the cardinals is tied to the four states of matter: Solids, liquids, gases, and plasma.
It is believed that Zanthors call on electromagnetic energy. Gilthors' abilities are actually the removal of energy, while Scinthors, as it has been said, deal with life.

All elemental users possess their respective offensive attacks (which usually depends on whatever they can conceivably imagine), as well as the ability to shield from elemental attack. It is not really known what the nature of the shield is, although it is closely tied with an elemental user's primary. The defensive elemental users tend to be stronger in shielding.

The most powerful of Ioniels can sense the thoughts of the unshielded by tapped electromagnetic signals. However, interpretation is the stickler, and requires a great deal of study. Most thought sensors are non-Cardinal Arch Ioniels, and even then most of them can only determine the general shape of emotions rather than specific thoughts. Said that only Satellon Scinthion and Elnor Aethlion were true thought readers, as the two most powerful Arch-Ioniels in the history of the Ionium.

A larger portion of Ioniels (typically all Scinthions and some Gilthions), possess the ability to sense and manipulate the electromagnetic fields of living creatures. Elnor Aethlion was the only living being known to have manipulated the gravitational field of a planet -- manipulating Orias' field to cause the Vrykardorian flagship to crash into the portal, thereby destroying it and sealing the portal in the process. Only a handful of Carithwan and the two surviving Ioniels remained on the planet at the time -- the Carithwan as support and to determine co-ordinates, and to help Tricia Zanthion in holding off the ground asssault and to shield Elnor. Proximity to the portal was necessary to harnass the maximum amount of power.



Gah. I busted my hand.
Brief notes on technology:
- Space travel is effected by mini wormholes / foldspace. Long distance: These are generated externally by large ships / platforms. Short distance: Ships have individual micro-jump drives that allow them to travel several thousand kilometers per jump.
- Lightspeed has not been achieved, so no problem with time-compression.

- Gilthions have never been Arch-Ioniels in the entire history of the Ionium. There is a reason for this.

- Terminology stuff I was talking about? All comes from Vrykardor. Including the really messed up suffix system.

- Much more to come.