Ulte, a planet much like Earth, only if Earth was a teeny-tiny bit larger. How large exactly is that planet? Well, there have been (and some still are) beings there that could (and, boy, did they) output as much damage as a modern tactical warhead as frequently, as a normal human could output a punch. The planet is still there, largely intact and it’s not going to disappear any time soon. Well, unless a particularly bad Demon Wave comes. As for the rest about its size… well, I’ll leave it up to your imagination.
Ulte has a large variety of natural and artificial anomalies, like places that are so vast that they couldn’t theoretically fit on the map, mountains so high that their weight alone should’ve taken up some ninety percent of the planet’s mass, underground labyrinths that literally have no end, castles that contain things out of fairytales and appear only under very specific circumstances, places where history itself is looped and unlucky travellers get assimilated into the scenarios and many other fun and exciting attractions. Let’s call them special places for now.
The Demon Wave – a calamity that periodically threatens the continuous existence of Ulte’s current civilization. So far, little has been revealed of its nature. It seems that it has something to do with increased monster (have they appeared in the story?) activities, the awakening of the demons (who have yet to appear in the story), the increased frequency of the special places being awakened and found, the appearance of the heroes and generally a lot of chaos. An average Demon Wave is usually called “A Trial for humanity”, “Apocalypse”, “Descent of Hell” and other similar names by those unlucky enough to be born during those times. The shortest Demon Wave ever on Ulte lasted for thirty years, while the longest took a thousand years to end.
Lachersia was deeply disgusted with humans who forgot about the terrors of the previous Demon Wave just a few decades after its end (Lachersia’s time’s Wave lasted for two hundred years). So have many other Grand Mages and many of the world’s most powerful beings chose to seclude themselves away from civilization over the years. The group of Grand Mages that have secluded themselves in hidden corners of the planet are collectively referred to as “The Hermits” or “Ivory Tower Mages”. Many folk stories feature those mages in one way or another.
Heroes – God’s chosen warriors that are given incredible supernatural powers and other “blessings” by Gods. As a rule of thumb, a hero is chosen by no more than one God. As for how they are chosen… Well, it would be considered blasphemous on Ulte to describe the process as it would tarnish the Gods’ image and reputation.
Only a hero can end a Demon Wave and unless the majority of humanity dies, resulting in the loss of Gods’ interest in Ulte, they will continue to supply new heroes until the Wave ends. Heroes have no obligations (except moral ones) to participate in the humanity’s attempt to end the Demon Wave but more often than not they end up fighting against it. Among the Hermits, there are quite a few “deserter” heroes from past times.
Mage hierarchy: Apprentice – can barely perceive things of arcane nature; Junior Magician – can somewhat proficiently perceive things of arcane nature and cast minor spells with much effort. Most make a living by producing cheap but popular magic tools. Senior Magician – Can proficiently perceive things of arcane nature, cast relatively powerful spells. Magister – A rare and valuable mage whose understanding of magic, personal power and fame are great enough to be considered a particularly important to a nation. A human Magister’s lifespan is usually around 400 years. They are considered to be the pinnacle of mortal magic among the people of Ulte. A Grand Mage – a mage who is considered to have stepped into the domain of Gods in terms of power, wisdom and understanding of the inner workings of the Universe by the people of Ulte. Ulte has no more than ten thousand of these people, most of whom are secluded or are hidden within privileged circles.
If you think that ten thousand is a lot, you must consider that Grand Mages can theoretically endlessly increase their lifespan and they are incredibly versatile when it comes to survival. It’s not strange for a Grand Mage to change their body parts and even damage to the important organs can be fixed. If for a mortal having their head blown off means death, it’s not impossible for a Grand Mage to survive it. Besides, with Ulte’s size, three Grand Mages living in the same kingdom (Trellos-Agapi would actually be around six Russia’s in size) is already considered very dense, making it one of the most influential nations on its Continent.
And the top of the hierarchy (at least in Ulte’s and its universe’s history) is the Archmage. An Archmage being born on a planet with sentient life is very rare. If a Grand Mage is said to be able to step into the domain of Gods, Archmages then are firmly rooted there. An Archmage’s fame can exceed the boundaries of their Universe among the outstanding cases.
Overseer of the Cycle is considered a legendary Grand Mage and he (or more like, it) is able to manipulate the cycle of Reincarnation itself, allowing himself and other creatures to achieve endless life by simply changing the soul’s vessels. His hobby of picking out the most talented and accomplished Grand Mages and allowing them to have a chance to live their live anew after dying is legendary and many planets in many Universes have tales of his existence. He’s not a Necromancer, by the way.
The Archmage once featured in an interlude (the woman in a witch outfit) is recorded to have travelled in time.
Gods – basically the rulers of their Universes. Well, there’re “weak” (like, able to destroy a continent instantly when going all out weak) Gods too and there’re many of them, but they won’t be featured in the story, so who cares? When it comes to Gods, they are basically omnipotent. They are literally born (kind of born, as they partially exist above things like space and time, so they could be considered to have existed all the time) as a manifestation of a Universe’s desire for balance. Basically, they fix bugs in the Universe’s software.
As a rule of thumb, Gods are beyond human understanding. For example, remember the woman in one of the chapters? The one sitting on a throne in the outer space? Well, remember that movie called “Meet Joe Black”? Where Death itself acted through the body of a mortal and where it explained that despite “Joe Black” being Death, he’s more like a side thought of Death rather than Death itself? Yeah, it’s this kind of situation.
Another thing about Gods is that they can only exist in their respective universes. Unless they are Dark Gods.
Dark Gods, well, it’s not important to the lore of this particular story, but there was that guy (-like thing) that once (a very metaphysical once) went “Well, let’s be salty at existence itself and mess it up a bit” and he ended up making way for the existence of Dark Gods, who are kind of like a virus? They just run around and force themselves into Universes and impose their authority on said universes. Like, they break the cycle of Reincarnation and make Necromancers. Or they give things like inertia to universes that didn’t have it before and take away things like mass in universes where there was mass before. Those guys are weird and a bad influence on the children.
Thanks for the chapter