Music

Music is an invaluable and inexhaustible resource in the Clarkwoods Literary Universe. Traditionally used in the arenas of self-expression and entertainment, music also has powerful magical applications—particularly in the realm of Eden, where it is used as fuel source for stoys and plays a critical role in the creation of new universes.

Typical Usage

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines music as, “vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.” Its versatility in expressing said emotion(s) has made it a common element in rituals and traditions throughout the known universe.

A critical part of many social events and religious ceremonies, music also has private applications. Whether played or listened to, it is used extensively in the processing and expression of emotions. It can be utilized therapeutically or medicinally, and has also proven to be quite effective in conflict resolution.

Magical Usage

Scholars believe that music was as crucial to the creation of the universe as the flames of Phina and the waters of Mira. This theory is given credence by the fact that each time an iteration of reality collapses, it is only through music that a new iteration can begin.

Each of the “ages” in Eden has culminated in a chorus of seven voices gathering upon the shores of The River Without End to sing a new reality into existence. While other attempts were certainly made to recreate life as it had been before reality’s refugees arrived in this purgatorial paradise, only through music could they finally return to the lives that they knew before.

Beyond the shaping of reality, music is also a powerful component in the casting of spells and the enchantment of objects. For example, the eleven weapon known as the stoy, a 5–6' staff in need of a magical core, can be powered by “the songs of lovelorn teenagers.”