Glossary:

  ?ther: Free-flowing magical energy.

  ?therics: The manipulation of ?ther to create magical effects, either through personal spellcasting or with enchanted devices.

  ?thernet: A worldwide information network accessible via phones or rune tablets.

  Abjurer: A magic user who specializes in protective magic, including spells of resistance and barriers.

  Alignment: A two-axis system used to categorize philosophical beliefs. The first axis contrasts Lawful (a belief in strong, well-defined rules for society) versus Chaotic (a belief in personal freedom from external restraints). The second axis contrasts Good versus Evil, the precise definitions of which are less universally agreed upon. To not agree strongly with either side of either axis is dubbed neutrality; a philosophy which is Neutral on both axes is known as "True Neutral."

  Alphabet: The Common tongue as spoken in the Empire contains two special letters. Ash (?) is the letter of magic, used to refer to ?ther and the manipulation thereof. Thorn (t) is the letter of divinity; a being with a thorn in their name is either a deity or someone with a very close relation to one.

  Ampha: An orcish woman who works at Dyralight. As a warlock, she did not choose this job herself, but was instructed to work there.

  Ancient Arcana: The language of magic in previous Ages. It has largely fallen out of fashion since the discovery of ?therics.

  Apogee Zumolan: An enchanter working for Dyralight, Apogee is a Dancer, a mysterious race not commonly known in the Empire. Like all Dancers, he has an inborn gift for summoning magic. He is exceptionally youthful in appearance, looking to be in his mid-to-late teens, despite being well over 100 years old.

  Bard: An adventurer who specializes in the working of sonic magic and imbuing music with magical effects, and in comprehending and manipulating the emotions of others, typically but not always for benevolent purposes.

  Beast: A non-sapient, non-magical animal.

  Brad Webb: A young human professional. He recently graduated with a degree in enchanting, and managed to land a job at Dyralight.

  Buffer States: Term used in the Empire for a group of dwarven kingdoms in the Underworld, allied with the Empire. The term comes from their position as a buffer between the surface world and the Netherworld.

  Chaos War: A decades-long war that brought the Fifth Age to a close. Described by modern historians as a conflict where Chaotic-aligned forces warred to break down all order throughout Mundus, even the natural order of reality itself.

  Charles Ellis: A paladin of Metas and father of four children. Felicity is his oldest, and his only daughter.

  Chitothia: One of the kingdoms of the Empire, where Brad moved to for his new job.

  Codices: The sacred scriptures of the Metasite religion.

  Council of High Lords: A body composed of the kings, queens, and highest-ranking nobility of the Empire. They serve as an advisory council to the Emperor, handling the day-to-day business of laws and administration. Among their duties is to choose the next Emperor should the current one die without an heir.

  Dahet: A Chaotic Neutral god of the panteon, known colloquially as the Raging Warrior, but his followers often refer to him as the Father of Struggles. His doctrine is known as the Rites of Struggle, and deals with fighting against and overcoming the challenges that worshippers face in their lives, particularly ones that arise due to circumstances beyond their control. Associated with the number 13.

  Dancer: The common term for the Leialepa'sina'ka'ui, a race from a remote, isolated island that many kith do not even know exists. Dancers are physically distinguished by their youthful appearance, dark skin, pointed ears, and a small horn in the middle of their forehead. The horn hints at an extraplanar heritage, and they believe the horn is the source of their race's Summoner abilities, which every Dancer has an inborn gift for.

  Dungeon: A location, typically underground, created and maintained by a Core for the purpose of challenging adventurers who delve into it. A typical dungeon consists of multiple floors populated by monsters, traps, and treasures, often organized around some unifying theme in their design.

  Dungeon Core: A magical crystal with the ability to build a dungeon. Cores are believed to have some degree of intelligence and the ability to plan, though it is debatable whether they possess full sapience.

  Dragon: A race of sapient, magical beings that, in the Sixth Age moreso than any other, can no longer be considered the most powerful race on Mundus. They have an uneasy but largely peaceful coexistence with kith. Many of them have adapted to the changing times and grow their hoards of wealth through business and entrepreneurship.

  Dyralight: A large corporation with offices across the Empire. A household name, they make many products, but are best known for lighting and for their high-end automobiles. Owned by Dryalist.

  Dyralist: A great bronze dragon who predates the Sixth Age. The founder and CEO of Dyralight, Inc.

  Emperor: The ruler of the Empire. Believed to be Level 9, which would make him one of the highest-leveled kith on Mundus. The Fast Keys are entrusted to his care, as they have been for every emperor since Valaminat.

  Empire: A coalition of thirty kingdoms ruled by a centralized Emperor and his bureaucracy. The Empire arose out of the ashes of the Chaos War, spans an entire continent, and has kept the peace in their part of the world remarkably well ever since.

  Epic: Having to do with levels beyond the twentieth. Considered mythical in modern times.

  Esott: A preacher who leads a Metasite congregation. The word comes from an Eld Gnomish term referring to one who is both architect and foreman for a crew of builders.

  Everbreak: A feature of Lutreron, a wound upon the world left over from the Chaos War.

  Fast Keys: Colloquial name for The Keys To Hold Fast The Gates Of The Outer Planes, a powerful artifact forged by Valaminat at the end of the Chaos War. Its purpose is to interdict planar travel, especially by beings of great power. Its effect is not absolute; summon magic and other effects can pull lesser extraplanar beings onto the Prime Material plane, but Mundus remains largely barred to more powerful visitors.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Felicity Ellis: A young paladin of Metas who recently served for three years as a missionary in Lutreron. Due to the ongoing conflicts there which saw the kobolds she preached to in a near-constant state of danger, she has reached the fifth level and is considered a combat veteran.

  Feurdanf: A brand of car produced by Dyralight, notable for its self-driving features.

  Fifth Age: The Age prior to the modern Age, brought to an end by the Chaos War.

  Fractured Reality: An event at the end of the Chaos War which is quite poorly understood, in which the basic laws that govern "reality as we know it" broke down in some way. It was brought to an end, and the Chaos War along with it, by a group of adventurers led by Valaminat.

  FV: Farsight vision, a magical technique where images and sounds can be captured, recorded, or broadcast to boxes designed to receive and display them.

  Gareth Meranas: A mysterious human with the appearance of the god Metas and some poorly-understood connection to him. He believes himself to be a general from the Chaos War, but his story does not match the history known to the citizens of the Empire in many points.

  GSP: Geomantic Stelae Positioning, a technique by which one's current position can be determined to a great degree of accuracy by triangulating against a global network of specially-prepared standing stones. It forms the basis for the wayfinding feature used by mapping spells on modern phones.

  Joanna Cooper: A tiefling enchanter working for Dyralight. Her grandfather was an incubus, which has left a hereditary curse upon his kith descendants, a tainted aura that projects a field of lust, influencing any members of the opposite sex nearby.

  Jonathan Daniels: The Esott of a local congregation in Sharliya. Known for his hard-line preaching against Evil, which many consider out of touch in modern times, which has given him a quite unfavorable reputation in the region.

  Kade: A felyn demihuman who works as an enchanter at Dyralight, Kade is an older man nearing retirement age who has trained as a monk. He is the architect of the Feurdanf self-driving project, and knows the rune schemas inside and out.

  Kayla Reynolds: A human enchanter working for Dyralight. She is assigned as Brad's "work buddy" to show him the ropes. Sees herself as more of a Bard than a Wizard.

  Kelamek Emberfury: A dwarven enchanter who started at Dyralight the same day as Brad and works on the same team as him. He hails from the Buffer States.

  Kith: An inclusive term for all sapient, humanoid races that are native to Mundus. The word is its own plural, and is typically used in contexts where residents of other worlds might say "person" or "people."

  Level: A measure of the mana concentration in a being's body. Higher-level beings find their health and strength fortified, as well as having access to greater magical capabilities. Anyone beyond the fourth level is considered unusually powerful in the Empire.

  Lutreron: A land located on a distant continent, the kobold homeland. It exists in a continuous state of inter-tribal warfare as kobold warlords struggle endlessly for supremacy.

  Mana: Magical energy.

  Marelet: A Lawful Good god of the panteon, known as the Lady of wisdom. Associated with the sacred number 12.

  Metas: A Lawful Good god of the panteon, known as the Builder. Associated with the sacred number 20. His doctrine is known as the Path of Metas.

  Monster: A non-sapient animal that is magical in nature.

  Mundus: The name of the world in the Common tongue.

  Netherworld: A realm deep beneath the surface, filled with hordes of chaotic beings such as goblins and nether dwarves.

  Outsider: A magical being native to other planes and made of their essence. An Outsider can only be killed on their native plane; if killed in a different plane, they are banished to their home and must spend some time to recuperate before leaving it.

  Paladin: A consecrated warrior who gains strength from their devotion to a deity.

  Piercing: The act of gaining unauthorized access to an ?theric network or the data thereon. One who engages in piercing is called a piercer.

  Pocket Dimension: A small demiplane that typically is only accessible from one unique point, used to create space for private use. Due to their intimate connection with the Prime Material plane and their extremely limited scope, they are not affected by the Fast Keys.

  Preservationist: A faction within Imperial government that seeks the continuation of the current state of affairs, particularly with regard to moral philosophy.

  Prime Material Plane: A plane of reality where physical laws work "like normal." The least inherently magical of all the planes.

  Restorationist: A faction within Imperial government that acknowledges Evil as harmful and seeks a return to the ways of earlier times when Evil was not given so much free rein in Imperial life.

  Rune: A symbol of power that creates a specific effect. In ?theric magic, spells and enchantments are made by combining runes together.

  Rune Plate: A small, thin piece of stone a bit smaller than a credit card whose properties make them easy to etch active magical schemas in. Typically used for creating ad hoc enchantments, which can be used to enchant an object by pressing the plate against it. Mini rune plates exist for enchanting smaller objects; they are approximately 1/3 the size of a standard rune plate in both height and width. Due to their size and brittle nature, rune plates are not used in industrial-grade enchanting.

  Rune Simulator: A spell on a rune tablet, used for designing and testing enchantment schemas.

  Rune Tablet: A magical device enchanted to perform general information-processing tasks.

  Sacred Geometry: A set of solid constructs that have religious significance to Good-aligned kith on Mundus. The sacred shapes and their associated numbers are the sphere (1), the tetrathedron (4), the cube (6), the octahedron (8), the decahedron (10), the dodecahedron (12), and the icosahedron (20). Each Good god of the panteon is associated with one of these solids and its corresponding number.

  Sacred Numbers: The numbers 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20, associated with the sacred geometrical shapes.

  Schema: A group of runes arranged to form an enchantment.

  Sharliya: A city in Chitothia, populated by approximately 100,000 kith. Home to the Dyralight office where Brad got his first job out of college.

  Sixth Age: The modern age of Mundus, a time characterized by peace, prosperity, and high technology based on ?theric enchantments.

  Spatial Bag: A small bag or purse enchanted with access to a private pocket dimension, used to store and conveniently large amounts of items without needing to worry about bulk or weight. A common item in the Empire; it's considered normal for kith to carry one around in their day-to-day lives.

  Spell Slots: A pre-?theric system of magic that kith of the Sixth Age are happy to not be subject to, considering it a curse that placed severe limits on their magical potential.

  Talat: A Neutral Good god of the panteon, known as the Peacegiver. Associated with the sacred number 10.

  Thaxil's Tower: A sociological theory developed by a researcher named Thaxil, postulating that the needs and desires of kith can be arranged hierarchically like the floors of a tower. According to the theory, when lower, more fundamental needs are satisfied, such as physical security and access to basic needs, kith naturally seek to climb to higher levels of the tower to work towards more aspirational goals.

  Torrin Smith: A dwarven enchanter who works at Dyralight. Manager of the Feurdanf self-driving project.

  Tower: A magical structure that resembles a dungeon in many ways, but is believed to be something entirely different in nature, created by the gods rather than by dungeon cores. Unlike dungeons, which tend to have a unifying theme, the various floors of a tower are often wildly dissimilar to one another. It is believed that towers vanish once their end is reached, with the first (and only) adventurer(s) to clear it receiving a powerful boon from the gods.

  Transformationist: A faction within Imperial government that is Chaotic in their views, seeking deep and wild changes to the Empire and its workings.

  Underworld: A realm that exists below ground but near the surface world. Beneath the Empire, it is principally inhabited by Dwarven kingdoms who are allied with the Empire.

  Valaminat: And adventurer from the Fifth Age, renowned as the greatest hero of the Chaos War, who brought it to a close, established the Empire, and forged the Fast Keys to prevent wide-scale extraplanar interference in the affairs of Mundus.

  Vivian: A half-elven woman woman who Brad finds particularly beautiful. She and Brad were a couple during college for an extended period, which abruptly ended upon graduation as she decided not to continue their relationship, leaving Brad emotionally devastated. Follows an Evil alignment.

  Warlock: A magic user whose power is drawn from a pact with a powerful, non-divine being. The warlock trades their freedom for magical gifts; in return for their power they are required to do their patron's bidding. Warlocks are free to renounce their pact, but will lose the magical power they have been granted if they do so.

  Wizard: A magic user who studies the practice of magic from an academic perspective, building spells through an understanding of the underlying rules of magic.

  Tanet: A Neutral Evil god of deceit and trickery, known as The Dual-Minded. Associated with the number 5.

  Afterword:

  Paul Twister, after spending so much time on his story and then so much time hopelessly writers-blocked and unable to make any meaningful progress there. But a lot of it arose from my process; this was a far more freeform, discovery-written story than my earlier tales ever were. There were entire characters that I ended up not using because they just didn't fit the shape the story was taking. Gareth was originally planned to be openly an avatar of the deposed Metas, on a quest to regain his power and divinity, but that's just didn't fit the tone of the story that was unfolding. And so on. (YouTuber recent "Fantasy Heroine" series has resonated pretty strongly with me, depicting an author's exasperated relationship with a strong-willed main character who just won't do what she wants and produce the nice, tidy story she has in mind.)

  Paul Twister, mostly because my earliest writings ended up feeling too similar to the work of Brandon Sanderson and this was an obvious way to build something distinct, but now I feel more confident in having found my own "voice" and my own style. Even so, I didn't originally intend for it to make up such a large part of the story, which would have led to a very different ending.

  The Avengers and in Winter Soldier that he's uncomfortable with the changes in America since his day, by Endgame he's assimilated surprisingly well into modern society. So again, I looked at this and asked "what happens if you do the opposite? He doesn't think a lot of the changes are for the better, he wants to turn back the clock to a better time, and who's going to be able to stop someone as powerful as him if he makes a serious attempt at it?" Out of that strange mixture, Gareth arose.

  per se, they are definitely in a game world. They understand Levels, everyone has an Inventory they carry around as a part of ordinary life, they're able to use magic to build new buildings in a matter of days, and so on. What does society look like in a world like that when it advances to the modern age? What happens when modern attitudes arise that cause them to view the past with disfavor? And then when things they thought belonged in the past abruptly become relevant again, how do they cope? How would the traditional party roles translate to a modern setting? What happens when politics tries to worm its way into every aspect of their lives, whether anyone wants it there or not?

  Critical Role shout-outs sprinkled throughout the first book, the second book will be titled "Can We Even Try?" and should get started sometime in the next few weeks, once I've had some time to rest.