Twilight over Arcania: First Arc

The first arc was all about Liara's arrival in Arcania and exploring the consequences it had. It introduced the major powers around her and their motivations. It covered the events that lead to the disappearance of the Dragons, more than a millennia ago.

The events up until now were mostly outside of Liara's control and mostly took place in a small southern portion of the Island Continent of Cullania, and most of them happened inside the Gloria's Temple Complex within the City of Victoria.

I decided to explore Arcania in an expanding radius around Liara. This trend will continue in the second arc. The story will grow in scope and depth as Liara's horizons expand.

This arc covered two periods of time:

Liara's rebirth, from 13/03/Y1500 to the 29/02/Y1503

Cataclysm, from 28/02/Y0000 to 29/02/Y0000

Here is where major characters and institutions are by the end of this arc:

Liara

Liara is a three years old girl with short white hair and red eyes. She was reincarnated with an expanded mind and a unique power by a mysterious entity she calls .

Her quick growth and unbound aptitude for magic earned her the nickname 'Gifted One'.

Followers of Gloria believe her to be a gift from the goddess Gloria herself.

Liara discovered a new, original way to collimate aether, making her the most powerful mage in history. She still lack experience and proper control and cannot weave complex spells.

Major powers are becoming aware of Liara's existence, leading to a power struggle. She had to defend herself in two near death situations.

Liara doesn't really care about the Church of Gloria itself. She cares about her mother, Serina, and her close friends. She wishes to make Arcania a better place.

Serina

Serina is a good natured and naive daughter of Gloria. She was entrusted with the heavy duty of rearing Liara, and came to love her as her own daughter.

Serina is an healer in training and was taught Liara's way of collimating aether, making her one of the most powerful mage alive in the whole continent. Like Liara, she lacks the proper control of magic that only comes from experience.

Meridia

Meridia, formerly the former High Priestess of Gloria, was widely regarded as the most skilled enchantress in the continent. Her mere existence a deterrent against the enemies of the church.

A series of mistakes costed her most of her powers, her sight, a large portion of her lifespan and her position in the church.

She wowed to dedicate the rest of her life to fix her mistakes.

Church of Gloria

Repeated mistakes of the former High Priestess Meridia resulted in the Church losing more than half of it's territories, temples and troops. Just as High Priestess Amigarde managed to salvage the situation, the church suffered another devastating blow at the hands of assassins from The Silence.

The rulers of the church have come to see this series of misfortunes as trials from Gloria herself. They have to clear them to prove themselves worthy of raising the True Daughter of Gloria, the Gifted One, Liara. They believe Liara will make the Church of Gloria into the one and only religion in the whole world.

Knights of Gloria: Steffen, Stella and Feldris

An ambush in the Silent Forest resulted in the Fourth Unit to lose most of it's members. The survivors needed many moons to heal, and after the reorganizations of the Order, they are now stationed in the Gloria's Temple Complex in Victoria. They distinguished themselves in capturing an assassin that infiltrated the main temple.

Royal Family

The Royal Family wishes to adopt Liara and make a princess out of her. Her aptitude for magic makes her a prime candidate for the position of queen.

The Royal Family is prepared to kill Liara to prevent her from being used against the Kingdom.

Cult of Fertility

One of two major religious powers within Victoria. It rose in popularity after a war more than a decade ago, that ended with the death of most conscripted male soldiers, and resulted in many widows and a large gender imbalance.

The Cult of Fertility believe in peace and life, and ostracize war and magic.

The cult is not monolithic and there are many currents of thought within it. The more fanatical and extreme fringes carry out act of terrorism against magi and institutions that make use of them, like the Church of Gloria.

Faber and the Craftsmen's Guild

Nothing really changed for the craftsmen of Victoria. They are still forging artifacts. The only change was that Faber lost a good client, Meridia, the former High Priestess.

The Silence

A secretive crime syndicate that deals in all kind of illegal practices.

It was recently contracted to kill a girl with unbound aptitude within the walls of the Temple of Gloria and despite deploying their most skilled assassins, team Darkness, the attempt at her life failed, resulting in great losses for all parties involved.

The Cataclysm

A world changing event that happened more than a millennia ago. Survivors strived greatly to survive and many races disappeared, including the Dragons.

History became legend, and different cultures filled the blanks and embellished the tale in their own way. This event was so big and unambiguous that every civilization counts the years starting from the day The Cataclysm happened.

Twilight over Arcania: Second Arc

The second arc will see Liara becoming more of an active force in Arcania as she gains a deeper understanding of this world, of it's problems and of it's needs.

Who was ? What even wants from her? How can she make Arcania better? Does she even wants to make Arcania better?

Those are amongst the questions that Liara will try and answer as she grows up.

Amongst other things Liara will finally unlocks the full measure of her unique power: . An ability that allow Liara to see through time and space and to organize information.

How can she lose if she can see the future? How can things not go the way she wants them to? How do battle between Seers unfold? Does her power have limits?

To make the narrative consistent I already outlined the main story thread. Personally, I like how it unfolds. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

As I designed the main story thread, reading the story the first time you see the events unfolding from the perspective of Liara. Reading it a second time, should lead to moments of discovery as you know what was happening beyond the curtains, things Liara didn't know the first time around.

The ending of the second arc will reveal the meaning behind this novel's name.

Twilight over Arcania: Third Arc

I worked out the outline of the main story thread of the third arc as well. It will be more straightforward and will close Liara's storyline for good. By this point it will be clear what's going on and why (mostly) so it will be all about how Liara deals with those events.

will not appear or interfere at all for the rest of the novel. I was in doubt whatever I should reveal motivations at all or leave it up to the reader's imagination.

Right now I feel like rewarding the readers that will stay until the end with a chapter from POV. I have already written it. It will be the very last chapter, and will be similar in structure to the very first chapter.

I find it a fitting end for this novel. I expect the full novel to be about one hundred to two hundred chapters long.

As a bonus, this is what the last sentence in the novel will be: was entertained.