The World of Nero

Guide "Caravanning through Nero"

As you have likely noticed, on Nero there is the ability to cast elemental spells for the mage races, elves, and dwarves. This is due to the specifics of their organisms, which scientists have yet to fully determine.
If your organism is adapted for this, you will be able to cast spells. However, this requires hard work: forcing matter to obey your will is not so simple. Moreover, different types of matter respond differently to various magical influences. They are classified into four main types: earth, air, fire, and water. In essence, controlling earth is the spellcasting of solid substances without a crystal lattice or powders. Air covers any gases. Until recently, fire magic was considered specifically a way to create flame, but recent research has established that this is not the case: the fire we are familiar with is the result of oxidation, while fire mages create something closer to hot plasma. Accordingly, controlling water actually implies the spellcasting of liquids. Specifically liquids: contrary to popular belief, water mages cannot do anything with ice; they can only freeze water (cool it to a low temperature, after which the water becomes ice and slips from the caster's control).
A humanoid's way of thinking and even their mental state can significantly influence their magical abilities. Therefore, different nations tend to study the training of this art from different magical schools. If a humanoid has sufficiently studied one of them, they can proceed to study the next. Few know more than two magical schools; moreover, humanoids often receive titles for such knowledge. Historical figures who knew all four schools can be counted on one hand. Of an unlucky carpenter.
Since ancient times, humanoids have faced one significant problem: impurities. Yes, impurities of substances of one nature inside another could weaken the effectiveness of spells several times over, even if the impurities were not extensive. Therefore, for example, magic cannot be used directly on human tissues: the mixture of substances of different properties that make up the human organism is extremely resistant to magical influence. This led to the development of multi-elemental magic: at first, it was simply a way to cast spells on several types of diverse substances simultaneously. But then it was discovered that multi-elemental magic allows for the control of entirely new types of substances that do not fall into the aforementioned categories. This mainly concerns two-elemental magic, as three-elemental and especially four-elemental magic have been little studied. Examples of such combinations:
earth-fire: metal
earth-water: ice
air-fire: light
earth-air: darkness
air-water: region unstudied
fire-water: electricity.

Relatively recently, new properties of magic were discovered, namely magical fluorescence. What does it consist of? As it turns out, some materials do not react to magical influence at all (as far as has been tested); in any case, it does not manifest externally. But in reality, if the influence is strong enough, they transition to another energy state—simply put, they accumulate magical energy within themselves. Over time, a slow release of this energy occurs, during which the surrounding matter moves as if cast by a true elemental mage, only slowly and carefully. The effect is very similar to the fluorescence of light, which is why it was named so.
Magical fluorescence is currently used by the dascalos. With its help, they create golems: complex mechanisms that contain a supply of compressed air and a system of tubes imitating the work of muscles and a primitive intelligence. As combat practice has shown, golems are indeed effective and fully justify the costs of their creation.



There is no point in rewriting the huge tome that Christoph Eilenberg decided to read to obtain information about this humanoid; it is better to summarize its contents.
Shendar was a mage, one of the students of the Dascalos himself, and lived at a time when developed civilizations were out of the question. The only developed civilization, namely the civilization of the ants, happened to vanish successfully somewhere around that time. The Dascalos, the sole surviving ant, passed his knowledge to those who wished to listen, and Shendar was first on the list to receive knowledge. Physics, mathematics, astronomy, magic—this was the meaning of his entire life. Thanks to his perseverance and the help of the Dascalos, Shendar was far ahead of his time, and there is an opinion that scientists have yet to reach some of the thoughts he expressed.
Shendar created a magnificent library where he gathered his achievements, the achievements of the Dascalos, and information preserved from the ants. The library was long ago lost to the passage of time and the banal inability of the vast majority of Nero's inhabitants at the time to read. There are studies aimed at finding this library, but it has not progressed beyond theory: the library was not found in any of the suspected locations. Although in one place they seemingly found the Dascalos's boot, but this information is still being verified. In any case, most sources agree that the library is located on the Podi peninsula or on one of the islands nearest to it.
Currently, the government of the dascalos is actively dealing with the problem of searching for Shendar's library, and the greatest amount of information can be extracted from them if there is a desire (the government of the dascalos is happy to share its knowledge with all interested parties).