[Setting]:
Timeframe: Early 5th century — the dawn of the Dark Ages, after the fall of Roman Gaul.
Region: Avesburg, a fictional principality in what is now eastern Belgium, located between the decaying remnants of Rome, the rising Christian Frankish warlords, and the scattered pagan tribes of the Ardennes forests.
Magic & Religion Coexist: The early Christian church is spreading aggressively, but the roots of true Magecraft still linger beneath it — ancient gods sleep in hills, words are spells, and Thaumaturgy operates under natural laws unknown to modern mages.
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Genre
Historical dark fantasy with heavy mysticism
Political intrigue and family drama
Origin myth of a future Heroic Spirit and mage family
Tragedy and legacy, not idealism
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Characters – Full Cast Overview
King Haerwald of Avesburg
Age: Early 40s
Thallian's father — a once-glorious warrior turned stern and pragmatic ruler.
Believes in legacy over sentiment, and sees Thallian's mutation as both miracle and threat
Holds deep guilt for surviving wars that took better men
Emotionally distant, but not unloving — believes hardship sharpens greatness
Worships the Old Law and the Cross both
Secretly trains with Ser Veon to gauge his son's martial prowess
Refuses to allow Thallian to be controlled by the Church or Magi — but might control him himself.
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Queen Isalotte of Ardhain
Age: Late 30s
Thallian's mother, born of a noble Gaulic bloodline with latent magical sight
Warm, quiet, with a prophetic dream-gift she does not fully understand
The first to sense Thallian's change and does not fear it
Reads old runes, sings pre-Christian lullabies, and raises her son with more love than politics
Fears that he will be used or erased by powers greater than the throne
Shares an almost telepathic emotional bond with her son.
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Main Protagonist
Prince Thallian of Avesburg
Age at story start: 10
Titles: Crown Prince of Avesburg, Flesh-Oathed, Founder of the Thallian Line
Traits:
Hardworking, Honest, Brave, Shy, Quiet, Extremely Studious, Genius in Martial Arts
Introverted but deeply empathetic. Speaks only when necessary.
Trained in both courtly etiquette and battlefield pragmatism
Has read both Christian and pagan manuscripts in Latin, Old Belgic, and Gaulic tongues.
Abilities:
Biological Amplification (x100): Passive. All beneficial bodily functions (reflex, healing, stamina, processing, reproduction, etc.) are magnified a hundredfold.
Aspect Alteration (100 Times): Can increase or decrease one chosen aspect of any non-human object or creature he touches. (E.g., make iron lighter, a tree's growth faster, a stone colder, a wolf less aggressive, etc.)
Cannot use this on humans, including himself or his descendants.
Flaws:
Experiences severe biological overloading under emotional duress (e.g., sweating out fevers, hunger spikes, trembling muscles)
Must meditate and fast regularly to remain stable
Emotionally repressed due to vow of chastity, kingdom pressure
Can be too trusting in face of others' manipulation
Arc:
Will evolve from a quiet, haunted boy into a theological war-prince, mastering his abilities and forming a foundational magical lineage, all while never breaking his vows.
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Lady Yseldra of Myrgaut
Age: 15 at introduction
Future Wife of Thallian – Daughter of a noble warrior clan aligned to the Church but secretly practicing a healing-focused form of Thaumaturgy.
Blunt, pious, and instinctively maternal
Unlike Thallian, she is loud, emotional, and fiercely protective
Skilled with holy scripts, healing rites, and herbalism — though she hides her talents
Despite her roughness, she bonds deeply with Thallian over their shared experiences of bodily burden and isolation
Will bear Thallian's thirteen children, becoming co-founder of the Thallian Magus Lineage
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Ser Veon, the Shield-Breaker
Thallian's martial tutor; a disillusioned veteran who lost his arm in the Roman campaigns
Trains the prince in armed combat but becomes his first true friend
Sarcastic, world-weary, but loyal
Serves as a voice of doubt against all prophecy and magic
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Archmagister Elcher of Lothwine
Court Magus, secretly a survivor of a Druidic bloodline
Seeks to harness Thallian as a living ritual to restore pre-Christian thaumaturgy
Instructs Thallian in alchemy and ancient elemental theorems
Envious of the boy's power; schemes to claim his blood through one of Thallian's future children
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Bishop Malden of Treve
Church emissary sent to "educate" Thallian into the Christian theological path
Witty, manipulative, hides heresy behind clever dogma
Secretly believes Thallian is a flesh-made heresy, and plots to control or eliminate him
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Eda and Dunthwin (Twins)
Thallian's younger cousins and childhood companions
Eda: lively, loud, and fascinated with divine texts
Dunthwin: stutters, but is highly attuned to the magical wilds
Both act as spiritual and emotional counterpoints — reflections of futures Thallian may or may not choose
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Comic-Relief - Loyal Castle Servants/Friends
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Bertran the Pot-Boy
Age: 13
Loud-mouthed, food-loving, self-declared "Knight of the Royal Kitchens"
Sneaks into martial drills, wears wooden swords, swears oaths to random objects
Calls Thallian "His Royal Brothness" (mocking title he coined after a soup incident)
Loyal, surprisingly brave when needed — may one day become a knight-sergeant
Thallian's first non-noble friend
Wears a "blessed" apron made of pig leather and carries salt for protection from spirits
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Calla the Linen Girl
Age: 11
Sneaky, sharp-witted, eavesdrops on nobles while doing laundry
Refers to Thallian as "Bookhead"
Knows where everyone hides things in the castle — from rosaries to poison
Comic relief with hidden spy potential later in the story
Makes up fake Latin phrases to sound smarter than she is
Secretly worries Thallian is too serious to survive childhood
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Eofric the Candle Keeper
Age: 19
Perpetually sleepy but remembers everything he's ever seen
Prays nightly to 37 saints, 12 pagan gods, and 4 sheep
Candlelight is his religion — believes flame reveals truth
Becomes an accidental magus assistant
Catches fire at least once per month
Has the most unintentional foreshadowing lines in the story.
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Full Arc & Chapter Structure
ARC I: The Awakening of Thallian (Ch. 1–8)
Theme: Discovery, Control, Fear, Vow
Setting: Royal Castle of Avesburg, surrounded villages, the King's Wood
Overview:
Prince Thallian, age 10, awakens from a coma with his body transformed. His powers begin to manifest in slow, terrifying ways. He hides them at first, but his mother suspects the truth. Court figures begin maneuvering to control or suppress him. Thallian takes a secret vow of celibacy to protect his future — the first binding of the Vow of Flesh. A wolf hunt turns violent, and he uses his powers publicly for the first time — saving lives, but revealing the nature of what he is.