Magi AU Bunnies: Part One

Yes, I said Part One. Just this section is three pages in my word processor so there will be more in another post.

Remember that this for an Alternate Universe and my relationship with any show’s canon is always strained.

Solomon was not stupid. He knew perfectly well that not everyone was going to be cool with what he did and planned to do. Some of those unhappy people might decide to do something about it, and that something might be violent.

He knew one of those people was David. Who Solomon knew was {1} extremely powerful, {2} could be very charming when he wanted to be and therefore capable of drawing those unhappy people under his banner, and {3} completely crazy. He also knew that most people don’t notice that last one until it was way too late for them to escape or they have somehow (there might be mind control involved) been convinced that he is the sane one and everyone disagreeing with them are the lunatics who must be stopped.

So he made plans. Lots and lots of plans. Lots of “worse case scenario” speculation. Often with Ugo. Sometimes with Sheba or Arba.

So he wasn’t exactly surprised when his father and Al-Thamen 1.0 did the thing with the Medium. Rather he was surprised by the scale of destruction and violence they were willing to go to. After all, most people don’t try to destroy the planet they are living on! At least not intentionally.

And Solomon was surprised that Arba turned on him (and thank spirits, she wasn’t involved in ALL the planning meetings and discussions).

For the purposes of this AU, Solomon didn’t actually created a new world but simply found a viable planet.

Maybe strengthing the magoi ley lines, etc and such so the world could support the kind of magic he wanted it to took some time – which is why the real action didn’t start until the series proper.

To accomplish the above, Solomon merged his soul with the rukh of the new planet, becoming a guardian spirit for it and it’s inhabitants. (Which in this AU is how the Wisdom of Solomon omnipresence thing works).

Not that Al-Thamen was resting on their laurels. And Arba knew enough about the plans to start herself and the minions sabotaging them as much as possible.

But neither Ugo or Solomon are dirt stupid and changed as much as the plan as they could before things went completely pear-shaped.

The bunnies are leaning toward Sheba pulling a Ugo in her dying moments. Or after her death (“If that Arba thinks killing me is all it takes to get rid of me, does she having another thing coming.”). They are leaning toward her doing something with a certain Magi who is not her son but who really needs someone not evil looking after him.

Ugo reminds Yunan that it is okay that he is tired but allowing Al-Thamen free reign means that he is effectively doing half the work of destroying the world himself.

SINBAD IS NOT DAVID’S REINCARNATION!

A Dungeon Capturer is simply someone who {1} currently* has enough magoi to support at least one Djinn, {2} went through all of the dungeon’s obstacles, fought its monsters, answered the riddles, and jumped through all of the various hoops the Djinn set up to test them, {3} did not die in the process and {4} formed a magical contract with the Djinn.

*If Magi and magicians can increase their personal amount of magoi through exercise and such, I don’t see why other people who use magoi in this setting can’t.

Kings, which the bunnies are thinking about calling the Chosen of Solomon to avoid confusion with the monarch kings running around this setting, are a different kettle of fish. Characteristics include {1} extremely sensitive to rukh, both to the planetary rukh and personal rukh of others – they cannot usually see it but they can feel it. {2} are empaths – it’s part of why they can be so charming. {3}limited clairvoyance and limited foresight, {4} possess an immense capacity (if not always amount) for personal magoi and manipulating magoi energies, {5} are masters of their own destiny – they largely determine their own path in life through that doesn’t stop the rukh from throwing problems in their path – and have a limited ability to alter the path for others through their bonds with them, {6} form magical bonds with their people. These bonds make them especially sensitive to their people’s pain but also has other benefits.

Current proposed Chosen are: Sinbad, Alibaba, Hakuryuu, and Kouha.
The low numbers is simply that Al-Thamen usually kills the Chosen as soon as they find them. If they are already too powerful to kill outright, they do their best to shatter them into a million pieces so that they are either unable to fight, kill themselves, or fall into depravity.

Any suggestions for King Candidates / Chosen: Like Maybe Rashid?

Note that one of the people they form those bonds with are their Djinn. These connections are much harder to break or completely block than the simple contract shared by a Capturer and their Djinn.

The bunnies have proposed that full on Al-Thamen cannot enter a Dungeon and cannot form a contract with a Djinn. That’s why they either work through intermediaries and have to create their own Dark Djinn.

They also like the idea of ALL of the Djinn’s towers appearing around the world at once overnight like mushrooms.

The Magi who were active were doing their best to clear away Al-Thamen plots before they created another Medium.

The bunnies are toying with the idea that most people are aware they aren’t entirely human. Some people handle this knowledge better than others. Some look down on others for not being “pure” enough – either too human, not enough human, or too much of a mixed bag.

If magic is a thing in this world, maybe some things are magically reinforced. Like oaths and wills or things that declare one child the heir over older two . . .

Slaves, especially ones known to be physically powerful (like Fanalis) or possessing magic (like magicians or Dungeon capturers), are chained with special shackles that restrict their magoi and largely prevent them from accessing it. Or draining it like the chains in “Around.”

Some character names might need be adjusted or changed to actually make sense. For instance, since the Kou Empire is very clearly modeled on Imperial China, they propose Hakuryuu Ren is actually Ren Bailong.

Timeline is going to be shuffled around to allow for travel times and such but mostly to give characters’ relationships the time they needed to develop properly (more on that in Part Two).

Some of the bunnies want crossover potential. They have two they keep bringing up:
One of which is because we have people claiming to be gods and those people are violent megalomaniacs and who does that remind us of?
The other is why they want Hakuryuu’s name to be romanized differently.