This trip wasn't supposed to be through time!
In a strange magical land where anything seems to be possible!
A magical girl webtoon with retro aesthetics thanks to a space-time incident from a rogue time traveler! An unfortunate group of students and teachers at a local prep school were just going on a field trip to a historical site, but their trip also sent them back to 1887 on the dawn of an event that would shape their country's history! Will they jump in, get caught in the crossfire, or stay out?
Stranded in time, and the first witnesses of the rogue time traveler and her party's rule over their country while there's a moratorium on time travel... Unless she could be defeated and overthrown, but she has one of the magical superweapons, and its power backing her up!
But it's not all bad, right? There's still cellphone reception, and some other pieces of modern technology, social attitudes, and improvements to standards of living made their way into this new timeline, but space-time is still being held hostage in a hostile takeover, and some of the stranded people miss their friends and family! (you still probably wouldn't want to live there)
Very, very few mages' power comes close to that of the magical superweapons and their wielders. Who can stop this rogue time traveler when the leaders of the magical bureaucracy have that power, but can't immediately stop her because she exploited their own rules?
Her rival is another rogue time traveler, who is a recruitment officer for the Magical Renegades, and has gone back to the 1880's before to set right what went wrong! She had the help of an ordinary human who would've been involved in that event, and became a legend.
Some of the stranded people crossed paths with the Magical Renegades, who are seeking more recruits among misfits who are willing to take risks using experimental magical weaponry! When they can't rely on raw strength, they have to think outside of the box even if it means going against commonsense!
Changing the past can change the future. The lawful and unlawful time travelers know this!
The time travelers are headed by the staff of the Academy for Time Travel, a lawful institution they are required to enroll in to learn about their powers and their approved uses. The Academy prioritizes research, and usually only permits going to the past for research.
This isn't enough for some time travelers who feel limited from using their power to its fullest potential!
The storylines of Anathema to Commonsense and Extra! Chronicles span 3 timelines.
First: The past has been changed before by other time travelers, but this is the first timeline that is covered, and no time travelers tried, or succeeded in changing the turning point of the S.O.C's history in 1884. It ended at an unspecified point in the 2010's when Aurora went back in time and started the second timeline.
Second: Aurora went back to 1884 to meet Susana, who joined the Magical Renegades. The events overrode the first timeline after this point of divergence.
Third: A rival time traveler also went back to 1884 to override the events of the second timeline, and create a new timeline under her own rule!
The Scattered Archives stories and drawings are grouped by timeline.
Crystals of highly concentrated magic; they have a gear shape, are iridescent and shine in different colors. They are crystalized remnants of space-time; they first appeared in episode 10 of Anathema to Commonsense after the space-time crash and just before the reboot. They're known to form from fluctuations and instabilities in space-time but there may be other ways to create them.
They're scattered around the lands and are highly sought out. Enchanted weapons have been around since ancient times and have the power of superconductor crystals embedded in them. These crystals have also been used for Classical Mages' wands and as an additional ingredient in some spells, though the Classical mages also have their own magical power.
They're essential components of the Nova-class Mages' Startup Devices, and the power source they require to operate.
Based in millennia of study of elemental magics and its rituals, this class spans ancient history. Their practices and rules make up the backbone of The Magestablishment, or the magical bureaucracy.
Initiates must be approved through a process and follow the rules, and each Classical Mage is the member of a chapter with its own leader. Each of their leaders report to the Magic Gatekeepers.
The styles of the Classical Mages have some regional differences around the world, but what they all have in common are their focus on ritual and a pride in how long their techniques have lasted throughout history. Their styles are captivating to the humans who see them warding off malevolent ghosts, demons (or other mages with bad intentions) More powerful spells have more complex rituals.
Magical societies, including the S.O.C when it was a monarchy, tend to have an underlying feudal structure led by a classical mage ruler.
Classical mages are strongly aligned with order, and many still support The Magestablishment, but there has been a growing number who think it is an outdated relic, and that their own practices risk becoming stagnant.
Mages of a newer style of magic, based on magical weaponry, or Startup Devices (also known as Initiation Devices) that can cast spells and initiate users a lot more quickly. When not in use, their Startup Devices take the form of a pocketwatch. On the outside it looks like an ordinary pocketwatch other than the insignia on it, but the inside shows that it is powered by a superconductor crystal.
The Magical Renegades use this style and pioneered it; Avogadro successfully created the first Startup Device in 1876. These give the wielders magically-powered alter-egos, but is experimental, and relies on an external power source. The superconductor crystals are used to power the weapons.
Although the spell-casting times are faster and do away with a lot of the ritual that Classical Mages harness, the Nova-class Mages still like to cast and fight with style. As their alter-egos, they cultivate flashy spells, promote self-expression and wear distinctive costumes. Their weapons also have a distinctive, steampunk look to them.
The creation of a magic alter-ego gives wielders a way to use magic if they couldn't before, and another way they could express themselves. Wielders can revert back to their normal form voluntarily, but can also revert back in the middle of combat if their Startup Device in its weapon form runs out of power, or gets too damaged.
This'd leave most wielders powerless and vulnerable so they still need to be cautious when they fight, despite one of the lines of the Magical Renegades' initiation incantation being "There's no such thing as too much firepower"!
Initiates can bypass the initiation process for Classical Mages. Potentially anyone could become a Nova-class Mage. The Magical Renegades and League of Paine have initiation requirements, but there also exists a market of bootleg devices. They don't have to be regular humans, and could also be another class.
The existence of this class opposes the Magestablishment, and the Nova-class Mages have been shunned by them for "threatening the balance of power", and "allowing the unauthorized use and distribution of magic". This started to change in the S.O.C when the heroic actions of a Nova-class Mage in the Magical Renegades gained national fame, and the groups became more willing to cooperate with each other. Patching this up wasn't without its controversies though.
In the third timeline covered in Anathema to Commonsense, the League of Paine formed as a rival faction mostly comprised of Nova-class Mages, and one that was thought to do the impossible; to get the faction that had been one of the biggest threats to Nova-class Mages under their influence!
Also in the third timeline, the Magic Gatekeepers wonder if the Magical Renegades might be the last hope to save space-time without any disaster.
A class of mage that can use time manipulation magic, and specialize in it. The Academy for Time Travel is another pillar of The Magestablishment by regulating the use of time travel.
The staff of the Academy report to the Magic Gatekeepers. The graduates and students report to the staff, though the graduates are a higher rank. Graduates can lead more research or combat missions.
The time travelers who are loyal to the Academy are firmly on the side of order. The others, not so much!
They can wield other magic styles along with their time manipulation and can be either classical or nova-class mages.
You know... humans. They usually go about their daily lives. Some humans want to become mages, but most want, or need to live regular human lives, and rely on heroic mages to protect them from malevolent ghosts, demons, or even other mages who don't have their best interests at heart.
Becoming a mage could be enticing, but could interfere with school, a job, hobbies or anything else. Just how do those heroes who go to school and then have to save the world at a moment's notice handle it?! That's why humans are more likely to be entertainers, artists and many other professions, though some mages still try.
Humans still have some ways to defend themselves against magical threats. Without the use of magic themselves, they can use potions, amulets and enchanted weapons. The presence of simple iron tools wielded by a human or near one can be enough to ward off some magical enemies; iron has anti-magic properties.
Relations between humans and mages are complex. In some areas and times, such as where Susana's family lived in part of the 19th century, humans grew to distrust mages and rely a lot on their own items to defend themselves since many unethical mages scammed them during their areas' times of hardship.
Mages associated with dark magic, blood magic, and soul magic, and tend to be aligned with chaos over order. This is the most available path to humans who were rejected from the classical mage initiation, and it can achieve much quicker results and other promises, but they must uphold a deal...
This is one answer to the above question, but a witch or warlock with good intentions may not be able to fulfill them when they had to gamble their soul in exchange for their power, and have to make sure they don't lose it!
Becoming a witch can be enticing and for some, the most available option, but it has two major drawbacks:
Witches that fail to uphold the conditions of their contract, lose their soul and become Oath-breakers. The Oath-breakers are a type of demon that are seen as some of the lowest of the low in Classical Mage society that even some members of the Minions of Nemesis look down on them!
Mandatory membership in the Minions of Nemesis upon initiation; a faction led by powerful demons that all witches and demons report to, and regulates the initiations. The Oath-breakers would technically be part of this, but when they're shunned by many in the MON, some of them don't bother and went rogue...
Many people have questioned why hasn't this system been reformed.
Despite the opposition between the Minions of Nemesis and the rest of the Magestablishment, the Minions of Nemesis is a part of it because they need each other to maintain an agreed balance of power in the grand scheme of things. This doesn't stop individual conflicts between witches/warlocks and humans, or with other mages.
Magical super soldiers from a project that combined magic and science... They were intended to be some of the most efficient magic users possible, able to harness the great powers of the magic superconductors directly and also immune to having their souls stolen.
This could've made them some of the most advantaged heroes to defend humans and ghosts against demons, which could've ushered an era of peace, but something didn't go quite as intended, and some people didn't trust the Mage Pluses, and believed they were just living weapons. Some of the records about the Mage Pluses and their origins were also lost.
A few are still known to be active. Of the classes, Mage Pluses have the fastest spell casting times, and are some of the strongest when fighting in a melee style.
A mysterious class of magical beings that have power over space, and powers beyond the fourth wall. They work along side the Academy for Time Travel, and with the Magic Gatekeepers to uphold order of space-time.
Of the classes, they're one of the most on the side of order. They are effectively immortal and invincible to most attacks, which gives them the best defense, but generally can't fight directly due to bureaucracy that every prospective Dimension Weaver must accept.
They can use their powers to manipulate the metaphysical realm in a support role, but usually are only allowed to attack directly in an emergency when authorized by the Magic Gatekeepers.
A council of the four most powerful mages. They wield their immense magical power to maintain the space-time continuum, and their bureaucratic power to run the Magestablishment at the top!
Along with their immense magical power, they also wield the four most powerful magic weapons called the superweapons. Along the edges of space-time as we know it, the Magic Gatekeepers wield the superweapons against extra-dimensional beings that only they are powerful enough to stop from causing destruction.
The leaderships of the classical mage chapters, Academy for Time Travel, and the Dimension Weavers report directly to them. The existence of the Minions of Nemesis has been thorn in the Magic Gatekeepers' side for at least centuries, but one they can't directly deal with because of their own rules.
They're strictly on the side of order, though these four mages have distinct personalities and opinions which can clash with each other, enforcing order to maintain space-time comes first.
There's still the risk of a threat that they could win against, but only if they are fighting at full power with their superweapons in working order... It's not like any of them were stolen or missing!... Right?...
In the third timeline, they almost met their match against the League of Paine, led by a rogue time traveler who successfully exploited their own rules to hold space-time hostage. A limitation and rule of the Magic Gatekeepers' power is that they aren't allowed to fight directly unless someone is enough of a threat to space-time that a disaster is on the verge of happening or already is.
This is a well-intentioned rule, but they consider it very inconvenient this time! This rule must be followed though. Going against it, even though it'd be to stamp out the League as a threat could have other disastrous consequences so they see the Magical Renegades as one of the best hopes of defeating the League and freeing space-time without another disaster.
