The Songs in Our Hearts Book One: Reaching Out

Introduction to Music and Northpointe

Along with light and darkness, I'm adding music into the mix. However, that does not mean Guardians of Song will exist because that would screw with the "seven lights, thirteen darknesses" plot, and eventually, you'll see another reason why. While Kingdom Hearts isn't terribly scientific when defining light and darkness, I do plan to use a lot of actual facts on music and sound. Band kids and music theory students alike will understand many of the references I'll be throwing in, but for the rest of the readers, I'm making this quick(ish) guide. Using music, I created an entirely new magic system, so even if you already know about theory, I still recommend reading this.

Quick Theory:

There are two modes that western music is primarily written in: major and minor. Major sounds happy with the right context while minor sounds sad (again, with context). Depending on keys and intervals, a song can make a person feel a certain way. Keys on a musical score determine what notes and chords will be mostly used, and each key is identified depending on the number of sharps or flats present. Keys with more sharps tend to sound "bright" while those that use flats will sound "darker". Band music will use more flat scales than orchestra pieces because bands uses winds and percussion while orchestras mostly use stringed instruments.

I'm making this distinction for symbolic uses in the story.

Instrumage Magic System:

The term "instrumage" refers to a person who has the ability to cast numerous magical spells by playing a song. Their hearts, rather being composed of only light and darkness, have a third component called timbre (pronounced tamber). Timbres come in a variety of colors and most timbres, along with granting a person the ability to cast musical spells, come with nifty abilities such as enhanced strength, hyper empathy, and increased hearing. Most of them even come with an "Unbound Form" that allows a mage to cast and control powerful forms of magic.

Northpointe Culture:

Northpointe is a world where almost everybody sings, dances, or plays an instrument and is situated on a forested cliff that surrounded by a rocky shore. Before anyone asks, yes— there are citizens who are indeed tone deaf. There are four districts: Band and Orchestra (near top of the cliff), Contemporary Pop (along middle of the slope), Electronic, and Military (both are near the beach). Northpointe is also a world where everyone knows about the other worlds.

There is a special kind of tree that grows around Northpointe. Neiro trees are sturdy, black trees that only sprout neiro flowers (they look like ornamental poached egg flowers). The color of the center is based on the timbre of the instrumage it's linked with. Mages can find their flower by placing a hand on the trunk of a tree and looking up before closing their eyes. They should then see a glow where the flower is located. These flowers are sacred to Northpointe's culture as when a mage dies, the flower falls off the tree. With this in mind, instrumages cannot have a Heartless or Nobody because while light and darkness are eternal, songs eventually come to an end.