The Legend Mirror guide

The second edition of The Beast of Callaire is coming out in a couple month's time (late August), with a totally new cover, book design, updated text, and just general overhaul. So I thought it would be pretty cool to post the guide to The Legend Mirror that you can find in the front of the books. 

If you ever wanted a clear guide to Legend-Bloods and Numina, you now have it!! If you got your version of The Beast of Callaire from Smashwords, you can now download a new version with the guide in the front. And if you haven't read The Beast of Callaire, from tomorrow all Kindle editions will have the guide, and in a couple days you'll be able to get it from Barnes & Noble too!

And for those who can't update the versions they already have, you can find the guide below!

~Saruuh

A GUIDE TO THE BEINGS OF

THE LEGEND MIRROR

NUMEN

These ancient beings can be classified into two categories, Gods and Creatures. These are a species, like human or canine.

GODS (e.g. Juno, Jupiter, Venus)

How mythological? The original Gods the Romans worshipped.

Magic? Enough to cause a world war.

Dangerous? Hella.

CREATURES (e.g. the Manticore, the Phoenix)

How mythological? The original Creatures of folklore and bedtime stories.

Magic? Enough to Change forms at will and tear through armies of Legendaries.

Dangerous? Hella.

LEGENDARY

Legendaries are the descendants of the Numina, and can be classified into two categories depending on how much Legend is in their DNA. These are also a species.

LEGEND-BLOOD (e.g. Yasmin, Cornelia, Mavers)

How mythological? Pretty mythical.

Human DNA? None at all.

How many Legendary or Numina parents? Two.

Magic? If they have God ancestors, it’s very likely.

Do they Change form? If they have Creature ancestors, it’s very likely.

Dangerous? About as much as a lion.

CROSS-BLOOD (e.g. Vic, Guy, Willa)

How mythological? Fairly mythical.

Human DNA? Yep.

How much human DNA? Depends. A Cross-Blood could have one human parent, a human grandparent, or a human many-greats ancestor. It all results in a weakening of Legend, and makes them a Cross-Blood—though some are much stronger than others.

Magic? Unlikely, and it’s weak in the rare cases its present.

Do they Change form? Extremely unlikely, since they wouldn’t have enough Legend to spark the Change.

Dangerous? About as much as a household cat.

Breed of Legendary

Depending on what Numina ancestors a Legendary has, they can belong to one of two (or both!) of the following breeds. Returning to the canine example, if you have a dog they might be a Labrador or a Poodle. If you have a Legendary, they might be Dei or Crea.

Example: the child of a human and a Legend-Blood descendant of Mars would be a Cross-Blood Dei because 1) human and 2) God. Things get tricky when a child is a descendant of a God and a Creature—for example, the child of a Legend-Blood descendant of Juno and a Legend-Blood descendant of the Phoenix would be a Legend-Blood Crea and Dei (like Yasmin Wikke!)

DEI (e.g. Minnie, Guy, Mavers)

Descended from Gods? Yep.

Descended from Creatures? Nope.

Can be either Legend- or Cross-Blood? Yep.

Magic? Yes, although Cross-Bloods with majority human DNA will only have weak Majick—Aqua Majick with an ability to only influence water temperature, for example, instead of being able to manipulate water into any form like most Legend-Bloods with Aqua.

CREA (e.g. Ran, Willa, Vic)

Descended from Gods? Nope.

Descended from Creatures? Yep.

Can be either Legend- or Cross-Blood? Yep.

Magic? Extremely rare, and only ever elemental Majick connected to their location of Change. If they change near the sea, they’d most likely develop Aqua Majick, for example. Majick in a Crea only ever occurs when the Legendary has a God ancestor.

PURE

The children of all-human ancestors.

Any mythological ties? Nope.

Any magic? Nope.