This Is What It's Like To Be Lovers [ON HOLD]

A/N - Rules of this world

Hello, lovely readers!

It swells my heart to see people reading and liking this story. All the inputs I've received have also been helpful - to both boost my ego and have it cry in the corner of the room.

Anyway, I'm here now to describe the rules of the world a little bit. As you can tell, if you've been reading the story, that this world is pretty different from ours. It's sort of mediaeval times, with no electricity, no cars, definitely no phones, and a helluva lot of misogyny. But it's also a magical time, with the people from the tarot deck coming alive and helping our protagonists and also antagonists in their daily lives.

** If you are someone who's well read in the concept of Tarot, kindly correct me if I'm getting something wrong. **

Now, what's a tarot deck? Or, Tarot in general.

"Tarot is the storybook of our life, the mirror to our soul, and the key to our inner wisdom." [biddytarot.com]

As Lari has said to Jade before, tarot cards do not show us our future, they merely guide us to our desires, to our destinies. They hold up before our eyes the facts that we already know, and provide the insight that can help us connect these facts and go through life a little more gracefully. But what are these cards? And who are those people/animals/creatures on the cards?

So, there are 78 cards in a tarot deck, divided into two main categories: Major Arcana, and Minor Arcana.

Major Arcana: They're the hotshots of the tarot world. And they can be both generous and also scary sometimes. There are 22 Major Arcanas, starting with The Fool and ending with The World. It's literally The Fool's (i.e. our) journey through life, represented as "a path to spiritual self-awareness".

The Fool goes through these 20 stages, represented by the cards to reach complete awareness, the final stage, i.e. The World. The stages include The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Heirophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, and Judgement.

The Fool is the main character of the Major Arcana and makes their journey through each of the cards, meeting new teachers and learning new life lessons along the way. Which is something I wanted to incorporate in the story, except in a different way. I made my characters have guides, or patrons that teach them things, and/or help them deal with problems. These patrons can change over the years. For example, Lari previously had the Page of Wands as her patron until the night she met Jade, after which she became The Moon's apprentice.

We've also seen other characters with patrons, like -
The Magician is Jun's patron,
The Sun is Jade's patron,
The Empress is Empress Vivian's patron,
The Lovers are the patrons of Citra and Mali,
Both Death and The Devil are patrons for Emperor Laz II.

I've put only Major Arcanas as patrons for them as these are major characters in the story. But every earthling must have one (and, not more than one) patron Arcana at any given time. But an Arcana, Major or Minor, can obviously have many apprentices/protégés.

Minor Arcana: There are 56 Minor Arcanas, categorised into four suits - Cups, Pentacles, Swords and Wands. A lot like playing cards, there are 10 numbered cards in each suit, alongwith 4 court cards - Page, Knight, Queen and King.

Although named Minor, these cards can hold high significance in a reading. The only minor aspect about them is their temporariness. (Is that a word? I think that's a word!) That is to say, Minor Arcanas often reflect on the past, or throw a glimpse of what's currently happening, and can guide one's steps to manifesting their deeper, more major inner desires.

In my story, the court cards are often shown to have more importance as patrons, or for helping out the Major Arcanas. The numbered cards appear more often in readings, following which the card's indication is also seen to occur shortly. As you must have noticed in the last two chapters with the Five of Wands.

Some more general trivia about the Arcanas:

• Every Arcana - Major or Minor, court or numbered - can appear in a reading in either an upright position or a reversed position. And whatever the card means in an upright position, the reversed means the opposite. Pretty standard, right?
For example, if The Sun upright means warmth, abundance of light, clarity, etc, The Sun reversed would mean darkness, coldness, doubts, conspiracy, etc.

• Every Arcana has their own realm, as we've seen for The Moon multiple times. And, taking an example from this, Earthside (which is just, Earth) in my story has 78 realms (which are just, nations).

• The four Minor Arcana suits represent the four elements of life, seen in astrology as well - Cups as water, Swords as air, Wands as fire, and Pentacles as earth/soil.

• The 16 court cards are often said to share attributes with the 16 MBTI personality types.

• There are many different spreads used while reading for oneself or another person. A person can take one card, or 3, or 4, or arrange it in a Celtic cross, or in the shape of a tree etc. Each spread can have a different significance, and answers different questions for the one whose cards are being read. [The Ultimate Guide to Tarot by Liz Dean]

Some other general rules of this world:

• A person can have deals with an Arcana, that makes them their patron. In return of whatever favor the Arcana is providing, they can ask for something of similar value from the earthling. For example, Jade traded her mother's memories with The Sun for a sword that can defeat Laz II.

• Your patron Arcana can give you weapons, that may be imbued with magical energy. For example, Lari's quiver, given to her by The Moon, that never runs out of arrows.

• You're not supposed to disclose any information about an Arcane realm to other earthlings, unless it's a matter of life and death.

• Major Arcanas have the power to bless or curse earthlings, and blessing someone doesn't necessarily turn them into their patron. However, once a blessing or a curse has left an Arcana's hands, it cannot be taken back. It can only be powered down a little, in case somebody else gets in the way. But if it has already reached the desired earthling, nothing can be done about it anymore. At least, as of yet. *wink *wink

• Earthlings can have familiars (i.e. pets that are magically tethered to them). It has been observed that familiars with humans that talk to them a lot, may start to speak back but only in single words. However, such conversations may not be registered by other animals or even other humans around.
For example, Miss Mewton Pie
Corollary: It is rare to see a person's familiar starting to talk to a different person who they do not share a bond with. However, it is still possible if that person holds a strong bond with the familiar's human.

• An earthling must have a deal with only one Arcana at a given time. Any more than that can be harmful to them, the Arcana, and/or the cosmos as a whole.

Thanks for reading, people. I hope you're enjoying the story, and I hope you keep reading.

Bye!

xoxo,
Aura