The People (I will add to this as characters are added - basically, anybody I might refer to and expect my readers to recognize by name will be here for your reference):

Major Characters

Ezra Wormwood - An editor and aspiring writer who finds himself in the body of a young man named Wuhel in the world of Medias and enthralled to the sorcerer, Fenrik of Westval.

Anise Lyrica Derrigin - Fenrik's niece and a student at the St. Quillia's Etudium. She befriends Ezra while apprenticing under her uncle. She is a 3rd elevation Adept at the start of the story.

Fenrik of Westval - A temperamental sorcerer of considerable power and repute but questionable self-restraint. Fenrik is a 7th elevation Sorcerer at the start of the story.

Franyi Jashopo - Anise's best friend and a brilliant budding magistress (sorceress). Anise's feelings for her may extend beyond friendship.

Rill Ifrit - Full name 'Karill', a beautiful ifrit (fire demon) infernic of enormous potential rescued by Ezra. She was a fire goddess in her past life.

Minor Characters

Anna Glass - Ezra's friend and college crush.

Qinzi - Franyi's family's infernic thrall, an indigo 'nereit' with water powers. She is unusually close with the family.

Gladion - A borrenkin. A crystal-dealer and erstwhile criminal, an associate of Fenrik's.

Eloise - Anise's friend at St. Quillia's. Best friends with Virtupi-Grace.

Virtupi-Grace - A kao-alta and Anise's friend at St. Quillia's. Best friends with Eloise.

Plenakton - An human infernic and the leader of a "demon liberation" organization.

Yacha - A magpie enthralled with the soul of a minor demon, Fenrik's familiar.

Mama Pathula - The kao-etema proprietor of a boarding house where Ezra and Rill stay.

Mr. Teak - A scriben crime lord especially fond of "body work" to produce bodies suitable for demon-thralls. Made overwhelmingly of teak wood, hence the name.

Lusha Dryad - Mr. Teak's steward and a powerful green infernic

Binar - A human sorceress and the Magistress of St. Quillia's Etudium.

Berhu - A kao-alta infernic, one of Plenakton's lieutenants.

Doc Tichaw - An urmal physician with a clinic in the Old City.

 

A note from Ezra Wormwood:

After my sudden and calamitous introduction to Medias, I've decided to compile a brief synopsis of our world, both to help concretize my own thoughts and to provide a guide to my fellow infernics, who may have originated on worlds even stranger and more distant than my own.

Our New World:

We find ourselves on world called Medias - Medias can either refer to the specific planet we stand upon or our entire plane of existence (locals use the term interchangeably), thought to be near the middle of the celestial planes, hence the name. Medias is a world of magic - far more powerful than my home planet of Earth (it is debatable whether Earth had no magic or just negligible amounts) but less powerful than that of the strange arcane realms that many demons and spirits come from.

Most of what I will recount to you, either through my own experience or from the recollections of others, takes place in the city of St. Arbalest, the unofficial capital of Yuya-Sasetù, a continent that has been invaded, pillaged, and developed by colonial corporations. I believe its population to be around three million, with another seven million in the extended territories within its direct control, though this is only a rough estimate. St. Arbalest is a sort of colonial neutral ground, where the corporations must abide by the rules of the local parliament for fear of being shut out of Yuya-Sasetù's largest market. However, these corporations still hold significant sway.

The predominant language in St. Arbalest is Unilog, which is the common trade tongue across much of the world and is broadly pronounceable by most races. However, there are dozens of local dialects and languages originating from the different races or nations of the world. Some of these will be utterly unpronounceable to you unless you cultivate your magical abilities and learn to transcend your limited vocal apparatus.

The Races:

Humans - The humans of Medias appear indistinguishable from the humans of Earth (my home planet) and may, in fact, come from there. I say this because I can find no record of humans on Medias before 1200 years ago, and the various human subraces appear to speak close cousins of Earth languages -  Westricht, for instance, is a Germanic tongue, and many landmarks in St. Arbalest have European-sounding names due to the Westricht-speaking humans in charge of its early settlement. Humans come from a continent to the west of Yuya-Sasetù and often hold positions of prominence due to their unusual affinity for magical cultivation (about half of all high-level mages are humans).

Urmal - The urmal are a species of lemur-like humanoids with short, bristly fur and wide-spaced, side-facing eyes who are native to Yuya-Sasetù. They tend to be shorter than humans, a bit broader, and significantly slower and stronger. A powerful and advanced empire once existed in the urmal's homelands, though they'd been reduced to neolithic levels by the time the colonial corporations showed up - nobody is quite sure what happened. The 'development' of Yuya-Sasetù by human-, borrenkin-, and kao-alta-run colonial corporations amounted to an invasion of the urmal lands and a genocide of their people. About three quarters of their number were killed over five decades of systematic conquest, though this still makes them among the more common races. Because of their physical slowness, they are often perceived as mentally slow (though they are not), and they are generally oppressed and marginalized in St. Arbalest, relegated to hard labor, menial jobs, and the lower servantry.

Borrenkin: The borrenkin are a half-mammal, half-plant symbiotic species. At a casual glance, they appear to be 'tree people', with leaves in their mossy hair, vines and bark covering much of their greenish skin, and small roots sprouting from their toes, within their mouths, and along other parts of their body. However, they are actually equal parts plant and animal, capable of photosynthesis but incapable of surviving off of the sun alone - when deprived of strong light, they become sickly and the young or elderly may die. The borrenkin tend to be taller and hardier than humans and are enormously strong, though not particularly adroit. Their long lifespans make them good mages, though they do not advance in their cultivation as quickly as humans. The borrenkin, kao-alta, and humans are three of the "big four" species that dominate St. Arbalest's political and economic spheres.

Dorthek - The dorthek cannot truly fly, but they can glide for great distances and can effectively fly if they've mastered the magic of wind manipulation. They are a small, feathered race resembling a raptor-like dinosaur, albeit with grasping hands with semi-opposable digits and a flattened, scaly face… the dinosaur-man equivalent of a pug, I suppose. They tend to be slighter and lighter than humans - about half the average person's weight with hollow bones for better gliding. The dorthek are generally regarded as an inferior immigrant race in St. Arbalest, but they are experts with devices and machines and essentially run the city's many airships.

Byoun - Unlike the borrenkin, the byoun are all plant. While they appear to be masses of deep green vegetation in a vaguely humanoid form, they are, in fact, cohesive organisms with their own unique internal organ systems. The byoun are natives of a microcontinent to the north of Yuya-Sasetù, but some had already settled along the continent's coastline when the colonial corporations arrived. While they are not unintelligent, the byoun appear to have a communal herd mentality and appear to recognize the borrenkin as kindred plants. Many wealthy borrenkin, therefore, take families or clans of byoun into their service, serving as the herd leader. Some take this role with great ethical seriousness, but more often the byoun are exploited for their tireless labor and affinity for plants - they are most often seen working the farms outside St. Arbalest or in greenhouses, greengrocers, and herbalist's communes within the city.

Kao-Etema - The kao-etema were originally a subterranean race. They are hairless primates with bulbous, leathery heads, small, near-sighted eyes, and thick burrowing claws on their hands, which city-living kao-etema usually file down. They're about the same size as humans but have stronger upper bodies (good for digging, I suppose) and weaker lower bodies. The kao-etema occupy a social stratum somewhere between the urmal (who are badly oppressed) and their distant cousins, the kao-alta, who have partnered with the humans, borrenkin, and scriben to control St. Arbalest. The kao-etema have a highly traditional matriarchal culture with tightly-knit families and clans overseen by 'warren mothers', but the males are often the public-facing authorities due to the casual sexism that persists in St. Arbalest.

Kao-Alta - The kao-alta are a cave-dwelling alpine race. They and the kao-etema split in some sort of magical schism thousands of years ago for which only vague oral tradition remains. Unlike the kao-etema, the kao-alta have large eyes and keen vision - though they are very sensitive to light and most wear sunglasses throughout the day. Their skin ranges from very pale blue to medium blue and is covered with downy hairs (not unlike a typical human child's), all except for a glorious ruff of fur that extends from the upper shoulders to the middle of the forehead (though the males sometimes go bald along the scalp). This ruff is often silvery, but golden coloration is considered the ideal of kao-alta beauty. The kao-alta have extremely nimble fingers and are known for making finely-detailed art and machinery (similar to the kao-etema, though, they have tough, claw-like nails that they must file down to do so).

Scriben - Nobody knows much about the scriben - not even the scriben. There are perhaps ten thousand members of this race, many of them occupying positions of importance and influence across Yuya-Sasetù. They were found buried in crypts, hidden temples, deep caves, or simply wandering the wilds of the continent when the colonial corporations invaded. Their recollections of the time before that seem vague and offer no understanding as to their origins. The scriben are immortal in that they do not age - they appear to be a construct race made of various magic fabrics, stones, hides, bangles, metal scraps, and pieces of wood imbued with enchantments from a language that nobody can decipher. The scriben can persist indefinitely by replacing one or a few worn or damaged parts at a time - the replacement parts will eventually imprint with the same strange symbols that the rest of their parts contain. However, they can be killed if too many of their component parts are simultaneously damaged, at which point they will collapse into an inanimate pile of loosely-woven bits. The scriben make excellent mages and scholars due to their indefinite lifespans and excellent memories and are a common fixture of St. Arbalest's lower gentry, though they generally eschew positions of high authority.

Infernic - If you're reading this, this is probably you. The infernic are disembodied spirits (usually demons/spirits from planes above or below Medias) who are then summoned and forced to possess an uninhabited (e.g. braindead or seriously mentally-compromised) body. Humans, urmal, dorthek, kao-etema, and kao-alta can all host infernics. An infernic's soul is infused into its body using a ritual and a soul crystal, usually inserted along with a "thrall-plug" that lets the ritualist control you either directly (they can force your body to move how they like) or through painful punishments. Most infernics retain the natural magic they had in their original plane (which, if you are from Earth, is none), though the magic is usually weakened, since virtually all disembodied spirits come from 'lower' planes where magic is stronger and the material realm is weaker. Infernics are considered slaves and property and have even fewer rights in St. Arbalest than the urmal.

Prymen - Prymen closely resemble gorillas in frame and musculature, averaging around 150 kilgrams, much of that densely-corded muscle. Their body hair tends toward the upper end of the human spectrum and their faces resemble those of chimpanzees, albeit with a few vaguely-feline features. And their skin is most often an audaciously vibrant violet. The prymen are a semi-intelligent race, capable of some speech and occasionally conversant in Unilog, but without a whole lot going on upstairs. They can follow simple instructions, are reasonably docile when treated well, and are used for cheap manual labor and brute force, usually in law enforcement. The prymen were once used as slave labor, but have since been granted limited rights - essentially the same rights as the urmal, though they are generally treated better.

The Currencies:

The brownback is the common currency of trade in St. Arbalest. A brownback will get you a decent meal in a restaurant, a nice bottle of wine, or a week in a cheap boarding house. It is a brown-backed paper bill with a picture of the palace on the reverse. The obverse of the bill is designed by the issuing bank (there are about ten) and can be in any legible color and feature whoever's portrait they feel is worth featuring.

The par is worth one twentieth of a brownback. It is a nickel and silver coin, about the size of a US/Canadian quarter, with the House of Parliament on the reverse (hence the name). The obverse hosts a portrait of whoever was Lord Chamberlain of Parliament at the time of its minting. Two par will get you a ride on a streetcar and one par will get you a dozen eggs or a nice loaf of bread.

The brushpin is worth one twentieth of a par and is mostly used for small, cheap items, making change, and bribing small children. They are ring-shaped brass coins slightly smaller than the par and with the Crown of St. Arbalest stamped on both sides. One brownbrush won't buy you much, but three will get you a newspaper and five will get you a piece of fresh fruit.

A stack is short for a "stack of brownbacks" or 1,000 bills. It's quite a bit of money, and only corporations and the very well-to-do think and speak in terms of stacks. A stack will buy you a decent carriage and twenty stacks will buy you a nice city house. Stack is used interchangeably to mean either a literal stack of 1,000 brownbacks or a "blue-pal" bank note worth that much.

Many banks will issue their own notes, called blue-pals (usually pronounced blooples) because of the blue picture of the St. Arbalest's Palace on the back. These notes are not backed by the state but are tendered for an amount backed by either a monetary payment (say, one thousand brownbacks) or in exchange for property (say, your dead mother's house). Blue-pals can be in any amount, though smaller banks will rarely issue them in excess of one stack.

The Ranks of Elevation:

Since so many of Medias's technologies are based on alchemy, sigils, and the power stored in magical crystals, the cultivation of magical power is a skill of great value. The people of Medias refer to the accumulation of magical energies as cultivation and the ascendancy to new levels of power. You can think of the ascendancy levels a bit like the electron orbitals of an atom, in that once you fill the lower levels, the higher levels automatically come into being and possess a greater energy and complexity than what came before.

Infernics like me do not have elevation levels, but rather cultivate power gradually but continuously, possessing a higher baseline but lower ceiling than humans. Most 'greater demon' infernics possess the equivalent raw power of a 4th elevation Adept but have far greater control over whatever element we are attuned to (e.g. an ifrit is gifted in fire and heat manipulation and the use of red or orange crystals). Lesser demons, such as those that inhabit animal familiars, are rarely more powerful than a 2nd elevation Initiate. While magic-users are commonly called 'mages' and esteemed maic-users are called 'magister/magistress', each rank has its own official designation, and these are as follows:

No elevation - Unpowered - People who have not yet achieved their 1st elevation may be able to power weak enchantments with considerable effort, but many never bother to learn.

1st elevation - Novice - This level does little beyond providing a bit more energy for powering enchanted items and the ability to invigorate (activate) them at a small distance rather than through contact. Untrained Unpowered people who frequently use enchanted objects may advance to Novice through this alone.

2nd elevation - Initiate - This is usually the level required for admission into formal magic schools. An initiate has expanded power and the ability to detect arcane (magical) fluctuations, but not with much precision. People with considerable talent may get to this level without formal training, though it takes luck or many years.

3rd elevation - Adept (lesser) - At the first Adept level, a magic-user can begin to cast spells directly (that is, without resorting to alchemy or enchantments), though these spells are never very powerful. They may be quite talented at alchemy and enchantment and often have lucrative careers as the assistants to magical professionals. They may also be 'house mages' for the lower gentry or serve as vice-mages in military forces.

4th elevation - Adept (greater) - there are two Adept levels due to a longstanding quirk in magical education that calls any upperclassman an Adept. At the second Adept level, magic-users commonly gain magical intuitions and a notably greater sensitivity to magic than at previous levels. A far greater range of spell is available to magic-users of this skill level, though these generally take years to develop and most Adepts only develop a handful of spells while focusing on alchemy, sigils, etc. Many greater Adepts serve as house mages for the gentry, either officially or unofficially (e.g. as the wives of influential men). It is estimated that there are a bit under 4,000 greater Adepts in St. Arbalest and her territories.

5th elevation - Mage - this is considered to be the first of the upper echelon levels and the first level at which a magic-user is a competent professional mage, capable of powerful spells and mastering many disciplines due to their extended lifespan, halving the rate of aging in many cases. Most successive elevations halve and re-halve this already-slow rate. Most instructors and researchers at low-prestige Etudiums (magic schools) are Mages.

6th elevation - Magister/Magistress - While Magisters have enhanced versions of all of the abilities that Mages have, their most notable feature is specialization. For some reason, at this level and beyond, many magic-users become significantly more attuned to one of the eight energies (pure, consumption, friction, radiance, growth, stasis, alignment, creation), corresponding to the energy colors white, followed by the colors of the rainbow ROYGBIV. This is thought to be because of similarities between this soul-state and that of elemental demons. Most instructors and researchers at high-prestige Etudiums, such as the Etudium Mystikal St. Arbalest ('St. Arbalest's') are Magisters teaching their area of specialization. Magisters are said to be capable of sensing the world through their familiars.

7th elevation - Sorcerer/Sorceress - There are fewer than fifty Sorcerers throughout St. Arbalest and its territories (which have a population of around ten million). In addition to having greater energies and slowed aging beyond what is observed in the previous elevations, Sorcerers are also significantly bolstered physically. This doesn't translate to strength so much as an increase in durability and healing speed, enabling Sorcerer's to survive injuries and situations that would surely kill a regular person. This ability often comes in handy, as most Sorcerers are serious magic scholars, and accidents happen on occasion.

8th elevation - High Sorcerer/Sorceress - High Sorcerers are the highest-level mages commonly visible to the public - those of 9th or 10th elevation generally occupy positions of great power, controlling governments or fiefdoms from the shadows while engaged in their work. Perhaps the greatest difference between a High Sorcerer and a Sorcerer is the attunement of the arcane senses. That is, they can sense magic with far greater range and sensitivity, with senses said to stretch a kilometer or more (as opposed to the 'mere' hundred meters or so that a sorcerer is capable of). High Sorcerers often gather great troves of information about their surroundings simply by meditating and observing the flux of arcane energies about them.

9th elevation - Master Sorcerer/Mistress Sorceress - On Yuya-Sasetù, there are seven known Master Sorcerers, and four of those seven live within the territories controlled by St. Arbalest (including the current Lord Chamberlain). Of the remaining three, two have carved out their own microstates in the continent's mountainous interior, and another, the borrenkin magic-user Orchule, is executive of the Yuya Development & Trade Corporation. Master sorcerers are immensely powerful and immensely long-lived - the Lord Chamberlain is said to be 350 but looks to be in his early fifties. Among the powers of the Master Sorcerer is the ability to make lesser magic-users (6th elevation and below) into "proxies", temporary thralls whom the Master Sorcerer can act through, albeit with the inherent limitation of that lower mage's power. For this reason, they are rarely seen in public, since they can simply project into the body of a willing (usually) proxy. 

10th elevation - Lord Sorcerer/Lady Sorceress - There are currently no Lord Sorcerers on Yuya-Sasetù, though there are several on Chocho-Koyusu, the "Old World" where kao-alta and borrenkin originate (and where most humans also live). A new Lord Sorcerer (or Lady Sorceress… there may be women among them, and it is unclear that it even matters, given that Lord Sorcerers are said to be able to reform their bodies at will) is a very rare event, with a 9th elevation Master Sorcerer elevating but once every several centuries. However, since Lord Sorcerers are nearly immortal, with lifespans stretching over a thousand years, there are a few at any given time. It is rumored that Ghao Lumya, the human Master Sorcerer who currently serves as Lord Chamberlain of St. Arbalest, is close to attaining this elevation.

11th+ elevation - ??? - while there's no reason to suspect that the 10th elevation is the absolute limit to what a talented individual can acquire, nobody has yet made it past the 10th elevation. This is because, even with a genius mind and phenomenal talent, it takes over a century for a sorcerer to rise from Master to Lord Sorcerer, and elevations beyond this are thought to take at least twice as long, if not much longer. Such a person would be a virtual god and have magical senses that could span entire nations or even the whole continent.